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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9831-8.txt b/9831-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6e0c36 --- /dev/null +++ b/9831-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7713 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Court of the Empress Josephine, by +Imbert de Saint-Amand + +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: The Court of the Empress Josephine + +Author: Imbert de Saint-Amand + +Posting Date: November 15, 2011 [EBook #9831] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: October 22, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, +Shawn Wheeler, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + + + + +THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE + +BY + +IMBERT DE SAINT-AMAND + +TRANSLATED BY THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY + +ILLUSTRATED + +1900 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE + + II. THE JOURNEY TO THE BANKS OF THE RHINE + + III. THE POPE'S ARRIVAL AT FONTAINEBLEAU + + IV. THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION + + V. THE CORONATION + + VI. THE DISTRIBUTION OF FLAGS + + VII. THE FESTIVITIES + + VIII. THE ETIQUETTE OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE + + IX. THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE EMPRESS + + X. NAPOLEON'S GALLANTRIES + + XI. THE POPE AT THE TUILERIES + + XII. THE JOURNEY IN ITALY + + XIII. THE CORONATION AT MILAN + + XIV. THE FESTIVITIES AT GENOA + + XV. DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ + + XVI. THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE EUGENE + + XVII. PARIS IN THE BEGINNING OF 1806 + +XVIII. THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF BADEN + + XIX. THE NEW QUEEN OF HOLLAND + + XX. THE EMPRESS AT MAYENCE + + XXI. THE RETURN OF THE EMPRESS TO PARIS + + XXII. THE DEATH OF THE YOUNG NAPOLEON + +XXIII. THE END OF THE WAR + + XXIV. THE EMPEROR'S RETURN + + XXV. THE COURT AT FONTAINEBLEAU + + XXVI. THE END OF THE YEAR 1807 + + + + + +I. + +THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE. + + +"Two-thirds of my life is passed, why should I so distress myself about +what remains? The most brilliant fortune does not deserve all the trouble +I take, the pettiness I detect in myself, or the humiliations and shame I +endure; thirty years will destroy those giants of power which can be seen +only by raising the head; we shall disappear, I who am so petty, and those +whom I regard so eagerly, from whom I expected all my greatness. The most +desirable of all blessings is repose, seclusion, a little spot we can call +our own." When La Bruyère expressed himself so bitterly, when he spoke of +the court "which satisfies no one," but "prevents one from being satisfied +anywhere else," of the court, "that country where the joys are visible but +false, and the sorrows hidden, but real," he had before him the brilliant +Palace of Versailles, the unrivalled glory of the Sun King, a monarchy +which thought itself immovable and eternal. What would he say in this +century when dynasties fail like autumn leaves, and it takes much less +than thirty years to destroy the giants of power; when the exile of to-day +repeats to the exile of the morrow the motto of the churchyard: _Hodie +mihi, eras tibi?_ What would this Christian philosopher say at a time when +royal and imperial palaces have been like caravansaries through which +sovereigns have passed like travellers, when their brief resting-places +have been consumed by the blaze of petroleum and are now but a heap of +ashes? + +The study of any court is sure to teach wisdom and indifference to human +glories. In our France of the nineteenth century, fickle as it has been, +inconstant, fertile in revolutions, recantations, and changes of every +sort, this lesson is more impressive than it has been at any period of our +history. Never has Providence shown more clearly the nothingness of this +world's grandeur and magnificence. Never has the saying of Ecclesiastes +been more exactly verified: "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!" We have +before us the task of describing one of the most sumptuous courts that has +ever existed, and of reviewing splendors all the more brilliant for their +brevity. To this court of Napoleon and Josephine, to this majestic court, +resplendent with glory, wealth, and fame, may well be applied Corneille's +lines:-- + + "All your happiness + Subject to instability + In a moment falls to the ground, + And as it has the brilliancy of glass + It also has its fragility." + +We shall evoke the memory of the dead to revive this vanished court, and +we shall consult, one after another, the persons who were eye-witnesses of +these short-lived wonders. A prefect of the palace, M. de Bausset, wrote: +"When I recall the memorable times of which I have just given a faint +idea, I feel, after so many years, as if I had been taking part in the +gorgeous scenes of the _Arabian Tales_ or of the _Thousand and One +Nights_. The magic picture of all those splendors and glories has +disappeared, and with it all the prestige of ambition and power." One of +the ladies of the palace of the Empress Josephine, Madame de Rémusat, has +expressed the same thought: "I seem to be recalling a dream, but a dream +resembling an Oriental tale, when I describe the lavish luxury of that +period, the disputes for precedence, the claims of rank, the demands of +every one." Yes, in all that there was something dreamlike, and the actors +in that fairy spectacle which is called the Empire, that great show piece, +with its scenery, now brilliant, now terrible, but ever changing, must +have been even more astonished than the spectators. Aix-la-Chapelle and +the court of Charlemagne, the castle of Fontainebleau and the Pope, Notre +Dame and the coronation, the Champ de Mars and the distribution of eagles, +the Cathedral of Milan and the Iron Crown, Genoa the superb and its naval +festival, Austerlitz and the three emperors,--what a setting! what +accessories! what personages! The peal of organs, the intoning of priests, +the applause of the multitude and of the soldiers, the groans of the +dying, the trumpet call, the roll of the drum, ball music, military bands, +the cannon's roar, were the joyful and mournful harmonies heard while the +play went on. What we shall study amid this tumult and agitation is one +woman. We have already studied her as the Viscountess of Beauharnais, as +Citizeness Bonaparte, and as the wife of the First Consul. We shall now +study her in her new part, that of Empress. + +Let us go back to May 18, 1804, to the Palace of Saint Cloud. The Emperor +had just been proclaimed by the Senate before the _plébiscite_ which was +to ratify the new state of things. The curtain has risen, the play begins, +and no drama is fuller of contrasts, of incidents, of movement. The +leading actor, Napoleon, was already as familiar with his part as if he +had played it since his childhood. Josephine is also at home in hers. As a +woman of the world, she had learned, by practice in the drawing-room, to +win even greater victories. For a fashionable beauty there is no great +difference between an armchair and a throne. The minor actors are not so +accustomed to their new position. Nothing is more amusing than the +embarrassment of the courtiers when they have to answer the Emperor's +questions. They begin with a blunder; then, in correcting themselves, they +fall into still worse confusion; ten times a minute was repeated, Sire, +General, Your Majesty, Citizen, First Consul. Constant, the Emperor's +valet de chambre, has given us a description of this 18th of May, 1804, a +day devoted to receptions, presentations, interviews, and congratulations: +"Every one," he says, "was filled with joy in the Palace of Saint Cloud; +every one imagined that he had risen a step, like General Bonaparte, who, +from First Consul, had become a monarch. Men were embracing and +complimenting one another; confiding their share of hopes and plans for +the future; there was no official so humble that he was not fired with +ambition." In a word, the ante-chamber, barring the difference of persons, +presented an exact imitation of what was going on in the drawing-room. It +seemed like a first performance which had long been eagerly expected, +arousing the same eager excitement among the players and the public. The +day which had started bright grew dark; for a long time there were +threatenings of a thunder-storm; but none looked on this as an evil omen. +All were inclined to cheery views. The courtiers displayed their zeal with +all the ardor, the passion, the _furia francese_, which is a national +characteristic, and appears on the battle-field as well as in the ante- +chamber. The French fight and flatter with equal enthusiasm. + +Amid all these manifestations of devotion and delight, the members of the +Imperial family alone, who should have been the most satisfied, and +certainly the most astonished by their greatness, wore an anxious, almost +a grieved look. They alone appeared discontented with their master. Their +pride knew no bounds; their irritability was extreme. Nothing seemed good +enough, for them. In the way of honors privileges, and when we recall +their father's modest at Ajaccio, it is hard to keep from smiling at the +vanity of these new Princes of the blood. Of Napoleon's four brothers, two +were absent and on bad terms with him: Lucien, on account of his marriage +with Madame Jouberton; Jerome, on account of his marriage with Miss +Paterson. His mother, Madame Letitia Bonaparte, an able woman, who +combined great courage with uncommon good sense, had not lost her head +over the wonderful good fortune of the modern Caesar. Having a +presentiment that all this could not last, she economized from motives of +prudence, not of avarice. While the courtiers were celebrating the +Emperor's new triumphs, she lingered in Rome with her son Lucien, whom she +had followed in his voluntary exile, having pronounced in his favor in his +quarrel with Napoleon. As for Joseph and Louis, who, with their wives, had +been raised to the dignity of Grand Elector and Constable, respectively, +one might think that they were overburdened with wealth and honors, and +would be perfectly satisfied. But not at all! They were indignant that +they were not personally mentioned, in the _plébiscite_, by which their +posterity was appointed to succeed to the French crown. This _plébiscite_ +ran thus: "The French people desire the Inheritance of the Imperial +dignity in the direct, natural, or adoptive line of descent from Napoleon +Bonaparte, and in the direct, natural, legitimate line of descent from +Joseph Bonaparte and from Louis Bonaparte, as is determined by the organic +_senatus-consultum_ of the twenty-eighth Floréal, year XII." For the +Emperor's family, these stipulations were the cause of incessant squabbles +and recriminations. Lucien and Jerome regarded their exclusion as an act +of injustice. Joseph and Louis asked indignantly why their descendants +were mentioned when they themselves were excluded. They were very jealous +of Josephine, and of her son, Eugene de Beauharnais, and much annoyed by +the Emperor's reservation of the right of adoption, which threatened them +and held out hopes for Eugene. Louis Bonaparte, indignant with the +slanderous story, according to which his wife, Hortense, had been +Napoleon's mistress, treated her ill, and conceived a dislike for his own +son, who was reported to be that of the Emperor. As for Elisa Bacciochi, +Caroline Murat, and Pauline Borghese, they could not endure the +mortification of being placed below the Empress, their sister-in-law, and +the thought that they had not yet been given the title of Princesses of +the blood, which had been granted to the wife of Joseph and the wife of +Louis, filled them with actual despair. + +Madame de Rémusat, who was present at the first Imperial dinner at St. +Cloud, May 18, 1804, describes this curious repast. General Duroc, Grand +Marshal of the Palace, told all the guests in succession of the titles of +Prince and Princess to be given to Joseph and Louis, and their wives, but +not to the Emperor's sisters, or to their husbands. This fatal news +prostrated Elisa, Caroline, and Pauline. When they sat down at table, +Napoleon was good-humored and merry, possibly at heart enjoying the slight +constraint that this novel formality enforced upon his guests. Madame +Murat, when she heard the Emperor saying frequently _Princess_ Louis, +could not hide her mortification or her tears. Every one was embarrassed, +while Napoleon smiled maliciously. + +The next day the Emperor went to Paris to hold a grand reception at the +Tuileries, for he was not a man to postpone the enjoyment of the splendor +which his satisfied ambition could draw from his new title. In this +palace, where had ruled the Committee of Public Safety, where the +Convention had sat, whence Robespierre had departed in triumph to preside +over the festival in honor of the Supreme Being, nothing was heard but the +titles of Emperor, Empress, My Lord, Prince, Princess, Imperial Highness, +Most Serene Highness. It was asserted that Bonaparte had cut up the red +caps to make the ribbons of the Legions of Honor. The most fanatical +Revolutionists had become conservative as soon as they had anything to +preserve. The Empire was but a few hours old, and already the new-born +court was alive with the same rivalries, jealousies, and vanities that +fill the courts of the oldest monarchies. It was like Versailles, in the +reign of Louis XIV., in the Gallery of Mirrors, or in the drawing-room of +the Oeil de Boeuf. It would have taken a Dangeau to record, hour by hour, +the minute points of etiquette. The Emperor walked, spoke, thought, acted, +like a monarch of an old line. To nothing does a man so readily adapt +himself as to power. One who has been invested with the highest rank is +sure to imagine himself eternal; to think that he has always held it and +will always keep it. Indeed, how is it possible to escape intoxication by +the fumes of perpetual incense? How can a man tell the truth to himself +when there is no one about him courageous enough to tell it to him? When +the press is muzzled, and public power rests only on general approval, +when there is no slave even to remind the triumphant hero, as in the +ancient ovations, that he is only a man, how is it possible to avoid being +infatuated by one's greatness and not to imagine one's self the absolute +master of one's destiny? The new Caesar met with no resistance. He was to +publish scornfully in the _Moniteur_ the protest of Louis XVIII. against +his accession. He was to be adored both by fierce Revolutionists and by +great lords, by regicides and by Royalists and ecclesiastics. It seemed as +if with him everything began, or rather started anew. "The old world was +submerged," says Chateaubriand; "when the flood of anarchy withdrew, +Napoleon appeared at the beginning of a new world, like those giants +described by profane and sacred history at the beginning of society, +appearing on earth after the Deluge." + +The former general of the Revolution enjoyed his situation as absolute +sovereign. He studied the laws of etiquette as closely as he studied the +condition of his troops. He saw that the men of the old régime were more +conversant in the art of flattery, more eager than the new men. As Madame +de Staël says: "Whenever a gentleman of the old court recalled the ancient +etiquette, suggested an additional bow, a certain way at knocking at the +door of an ante-chamber, a ceremonious method of presenting a despatch, of +folding a letter, of concluding it with this or that formula, he greeted +as if he had helped on the happiness of the human race." Napoleon +attached, or pretended to attach, great importance to the thousand +nothings which up the life of courts. He established in the palace the +same discipline as in the camps. Everything became a matter of rule. +Courtiers studied formalities as officers studied the art of war. +Regulations were as closely observed in the drawing-rooms as in the tents. +At the end of a few months Napoleon was to have the most brilliant, the +most rigid court of Europe. At times the whirl of vanities surrounded him +filled with impatience the great central sun, without whom his satellites +would have been nothing. At other times, however, his pride was gratified +by the thought that it was his will, his fancy, which evoked from nothing +all the grandees of the earth. He was not pained at seeing such eagerness +in behalf of trifles that he had invented. He liked to fill his courtiers +with raptures or with despair, by a smile or a frown. He thought his +sisters' ambition childish, but it amused him; and if they had to cry a +little at first, he finally granted them what they wanted. + +May 19, after the family dinner, Madame Murat was more and more distressed +at not being a Princess, when she was a Bonaparte by birth, while Madame +Joseph and Madame Louis, one of whom was a Clary, the other a Beauharnais, +bore that title, and burst out into complaints and reproaches. "Why," she +asked of her all-powerful brother, "why condemn me and my sisters to +obscurity, to contempt, while covering strangers with honors and +dignities?" At first these words annoyed Napoleon. "In fact," he +exclaimed, "judging from your pretensions, one would suppose that we +inherited the crown from the late King our father." At the end of the +interview, Madame Murat, not satisfied with crying, fainted away. Napoleon +softened at once, and a few days later there appeared a notification in +the _Moniteur_ that henceforth the Emperor's sisters should be called +Princesses and Imperial Highnesses. + +The Empress's Maid of Honor was Madame de La Rochefoucauld; her Lady of +the Bedchamber was Madame de Lavalette. Her Ladies of the Palace, whose +number was soon raised to twelve, and later still more augmented, were at +first only four: Madame de Talhouët, Madame de Luçay, Madame de Lauriston, +and Madame de Rémusat. These ladies, too, aroused the hottest jealousies, +and soon they gave rise to a sort of parody of the questions of vanity +that agitated the Emperor's family. The women who were admitted to the +Empress's intimacy could never console themselves for the privileges +accorded to the Ladies of the Palace. + +In essentials all courts are alike. On a greater or smaller scale they are +rank with the same pettinesses, the same chattering gossip, the same +trivial squabbles as the porter's lodge, ante-chambers, and servants' +quarters. If we examine these things from the standpoint of a philosopher, +we shall find but little difference between a steward and a chamberlain, +between a chambermaid and a lady of the palace. We may go further and say +that as soon as they have places and money at their disposal, republicans +have courtesies, as much as monarchs, and everywhere and always there are +to be found people ready to bow low if there is anything on the ground +that they can pick up. Revolutions alter the forms of government, but not +the human heart; afterwards, as before, there exist the same pretensions, +the same prejudices, the same flatteries. The incense may be burned before +a tribune, a dictator, or a Caesar, there are always the same flattering +genuflections, the same cringing. + +The new Empire began most brilliantly, but there was no lack of morose +criticism. The Faubourg Saint Germain was for the most part hostile and +scornful. It looked upon the high dignitaries of the Empire and on the +Emperor himself as upstarts, and all the men of the old régime who went +over to him they branded as renegades. The title of "Citizen" was +suppressed and that of "Monsieur" restored, after having been abandoned in +conversation and writing for twelve years. Miot de Mélito tells us in his +Memoirs that at first public opinion was opposed to this change; even +those who at the beginning had shown the greatest repugnance to being +addressed as Citizen, disliked conferring the title of Monsieur upon +Revolutionists and the rabble, and they pretended to address as Citizen +those whom they saw fit to include in this class. Many turned the new +state of affairs to ridicule. The Parisians, always of a malicious humor, +made perpetual puns and epigrams in abundance. + +The Faubourg Saint Germain, in spite of a few adhesions from personal +motives, preserved an ironical attitude. General de Ségur, then a captain +under the orders of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, observed that in +1804, with the exception of several obscure nobles, either poor or ruined, +and others already attached to Napoleon's civil and military fortune, many +negotiations and various temptations were required to persuade well-known +persons to appear at the court as it was at first constituted. He goes on: +"As a spectator and confidant of the means employed, I witnessed in those +early days many refusals, and some I had to announce myself. I even heard +many bitter complaints on this subject. I remember that in reply I +mentioned to the Empress my own case, and told her what it had cost me to +enlist under the tricolor, and then to enter the First Consul's military +household. The Empress understood me so well that she made to me a similar +confidence, confessing her own struggles, her almost invincible +repugnance, at the end of 1795, in spite of her feeling for Bonaparte, +before she could make up her mind to marry the man whom at that time she +herself used to call General Vendémiaire." + +Although Josephine had become Empress, she remained a Legitimist, and saw +clearly the weak points in the Empire. At the Tuileries, in the chamber of +Marie Antoinette, she felt out of place; she was surprised to have for +Lady of Honor a duchess of an old family, and her sole ambition was to be +pardoned by the Royalists for her elevation, to the highest rank. +Napoleon, too, was much concerned about the Bourbons, in whom he foresaw +his successors, "One of his keenest regrets," wrote Prince Metternich, +"was his inability to invoke legitimacy as the foundation of his power. +Few men have felt more deeply than he the precariousness and fragility of +power when it lacks this foundation, its susceptibility to attack." + +After recalling the Emperor's attempt to induce Louis XVIII. to abandon +his claims to the throne, Prince Metternich goes on: "In speaking to me of +this matter, Napoleon said: 'His reply was noble, full of noble +traditions. In those Legitimists there is something outside of mere +intellectual force.'" The Emperor, who, at the beginning of his career, +displayed such intense Republican enthusiasm, was by nature essentially a +lover of authority and of the monarchy. He would have liked to be a +sovereign of the old stamp. His pleasure in surrounding himself with +members of the old aristocracy attests the aristocratic instincts of the +so-called crowned apostle of democracy. The few Republicans who remained +faithful to the principles were indignant with these tendencies; it was +with grief that they saw the reappearance of the throne; and thus, from +different motives the unreconciled Jacobins and the men of Coblentz who +had not joined the court, showed the same feeling of bitterness and of +hostility to the Empire. + +The trial of General Moreau made clear the germs of opposition which +existed in a latent condition. It is difficult to form an idea of the +enormous throng that blocked all the approaches to the Palace of Justice +the day the trial opened, and continued to crowd them during the twelve +days that the trial lasted, which was as interesting to Royalists as to +Republicans. The most fashionable people of Paris made a point of being +present. Sentence was pronounced June 10. Georges Cadoudal and nineteen of +the accused, among whom were M. Armand de Polignac, and M. de Rivière, +were condemned to death. + +To the Emperor's great surprise, Moreau was sentenced to only two years of +prison. This penalty was remitted, and he was allowed to betake himself to +the United States. To facilitate his establishing himself there, the +Emperor bought his house in the rue d'Anjou Saint Honoré, paying for it +eight hundred thousand francs, much more than it was worth, and then he +gave it to Bernadotte, who did not scruple to accept it. The sum was paid +to Moreau out of the secret fund of the police before he left for Cadiz. +Josephine's urgent solicitations saved the life of the Duke Armand de +Polignac, whose death-sentence was commuted to four years' imprisonment +before being transported. Madame Murat secured a modification of the +sentence of the Marquis de Rivière; and these two acts of leniency, to +which great publicity was given, were of great service in diminishing the +irritation of the Royalists. After Moreau's trial, the opposition, having +become discouraged, and conscious of its weakness, laid down its arms, at +least for a time. Napoleon was everywhere master. + +The Republic was forgotten. Its name still appeared on the coins: "French +Republic, Napoleon, Emperor"; but it survived as a mere ghost. +Nevertheless, the Emperor was anxious to celebrate in 1804 the Republican +festival of July 14; but the object of this festival was so modified that +it would have been hard to see in it the anniversary of the taking of the +Bastille and of the first federation. In the celebration, not a single +word was said about these two events. The official eulogy of the +Revolution was replaced by a formal distribution of crosses of the Legion +of Honor. + +This was the first time that the Emperor and Empress appeared in public in +full pomp. It was also the first time that they availed themselves of the +privilege of driving through the broad road of the garden of the +Tuileries. Accompanied by a magnificent procession, they went in great +splendor to the Invalides, which the Revolution had turned into a Temple +of Mars, and the Empire had turned again to a Catholic Church. At the door +they were received by the Governor and M. de Ségur, Grand Master of +Ceremonies, and at the entrance to the church by the Cardinal du Belloy at +the head of numerous priests. Napoleon and Josephine listened attentively +to the mass; then, after a speech was uttered by the Grand Chancellor of +the Legion of Honor, M. de Lacépède, the Emperor recited the form of the +oath; at the end of which all the members of the Legion shouted "I swear." +This sight aroused the enthusiasm of the crowd, and the applause was loud. +In the middle of the ceremony, Napoleon called up to him Cardinal Caprara, +who had taken a very important part in the negotiations concerning the +Concordat, and was soon to help to persuade the Pope to come to Paris for +the coronation. The Emperor took from his own neck the ribbon of the +Legion of Honor, and gave it to the worthy and aged prelate. Then the +knights of the new order passed in line before the Imperial throne, while +a man of the people, wearing a blouse, took his station on the steps of +the throne. This excited some surprise, and he was asked what he wanted; +he took out his appointment to the Legion. The Emperor at once called him +up, and gave him the cross with the usual kiss. + +The Empress's beauty made a great impression, as we learn from Madame de +Rémusat, who generally prejudiced against her, but on this occasion was +forced to recognize that Josephine, by her tasteful and careful dressing, +succeeded in appearing young and charming amid the many young and pretty +women by whom she was for the first time surrounded. "She stood there," +Madame de Rémusat goes on, "in the full light of the setting sun, wearing +a dress of pink tulle, adorned with silver stars, cut very low after the +fashion of the time, and crowned by a great many diamond clusters; and +this fresh and brilliant dress, her graceful bearing, her delightful +smile, her gentle expression produced such an effect that I heard a number +of persons who had been present at the ceremony say that she effaced all +her suite." Three days later the Emperor started for the camp at Boulogne. + +In spite of the enthusiasm of the people and the army, one thing became +clear to every thoughtful observer, and that was that the new régime, +lacking strength to resist misfortunes, must have perpetual success in +order to live. Napoleon was condemned, by the form of his government, not +merely to succeed, but to dazzle, to astonish, to subjugate. His Empire +required extraordinary magnificence, prodigious effects, Babylonian +festivities, gigantic adventures, colossal victories. His Imperial +escutcheon, to escape contempt, needed rich coats of gilding, and demanded +glory to make up for the lack of antiquity. In order to make himself +acceptable to the European, monarchs, his new brothers, and to remove the +memory of the venerable titles of the Bourbons, this former officer of the +armies of Louis XVI., the former second-lieutenant of artillery, who had +suddenly become a Caesar, a Charlemagne, could make this sudden and +strange transformation comprehensible only through unprecedented fame and +splendor. He desired to have a feudal, majestic court, surrounded by all +the pomp and ceremony of the Middle Ages. He saw how hard was the part he +had to play, and he knew very well how much a nation needs glory to make +it forget liberty. Hence a perpetual effort to make every day outshine the +one before, and first to equal, then to surpass, the splendors of the +oldest and most famous dynasties. This insatiable thirst for action and +for renown was to be the source of Napoleon's strength and also of his +weakness. But only a few clear-sighted men made these reflections when the +Empire began. The masses, with their easy optimism, looked upon the new +Emperor as an infallibly impeccable being, and thought that since he had +not yet been beaten, he was invincible. Josephine indulged in no such +illusions; she knew the defects in her husband's character, and dreaded +the future for him as well as for herself. Singularly enough for one so +surrounded by flatteries, in her whole life her head was never for a +moment turned by pride or infatuation. + + + + +II. + +JOURNEY TO THE BANKS OF THE RHINE + + +Before having himself crowned by the Pope, after the example of +Charlemagne, Napoleon was anxious to go to meditate at the tomb of the +great Carlovingian Emperor, of whom he regarded himself as the worthy +successor. A journey on the banks of the Rhine, a triumphal tour in the +famous German cities which the France of the Revolution had been so proud +to conquer, seemed to the new sovereign a fitting prologue to the pomp of +the coronation. Napoleon was desirous of impressing the imaginations of +people in his new Empire and in the old Empire of Germany. He wished the +trumpets of fame to sound in his honor on both banks of the famous and +disputed river. + +The Empress, who had gone to Aix-la-Chapelle to take the waters, arrived +there a few days before her husband. Napoleon wrote to her, August 6, +1804:-- + +"MY DEAR: I have been here at Calais since midnight; I am thinking of +leaving this evening for Dunkirk. I am satisfied with what I see, and I am +tolerably well. I hope that you will get as much good from the waters as I +get from going about and from seeing the camps and the sea. Eugene has +left for Blois. Hortense is well. Louis is at Plombières. I am very +anxious to see you. You are always essential to my happiness. A thousand +kind messages." + +The Emperor wrote again from Ostend, August 14, 1804:-- + +"MY DEAR: I have not heard from you for several days, though I should have +been glad to hear that the waters have done you good and how you pass your +time. I have been here a week. Day after to-morrow I shall be at Boulogne +for a tolerably brilliant festival. Send me word by the messenger what you +mean to do, and when you shall have finished your baths. I am much +satisfied with the army and the fleet. Eugene is still at Blois. I hear no +more about Hortense than if she were at the Congo. I am writing to scold +her. Many kind wishes for all." + +Napoleon reached Aix-la-Chapelle September 3. The Emperor Francis had, on +the 10th of August, assumed the Imperial title accorded to his house, of +Emperor-elect of Germany, Hereditary Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia +and Hungary. He had then given orders to M. de Cobentzel to go to Aix-la- +Chapelle to present his credentials to Napoleon. Napoleon received the +Austrian diplomatist very kindly, and was soon surrounded by a multitude +of foreign ambassadors who came to pay their respects. He re-established +the annual honors long before paid to the memory of Charlemagne, went down +into the vault, and gave the priests of the Cathedral convincing proofs of +his munificence. The Empress was shown a piece of the true cross which the +Carlovingian Emperor had long worn on his breast as a talisman. She was +offered a holy relic, almost the whole arm of that hero, but she declined +it, saying that she did not wish to deprive Aix-la-Chapelle of so precious +a memorial, especially when she had the arm of a man as great as +Charlemagne to support her. + +From Aix-la-Chapelle, Napoleon and Josephine went to Cologne, then to +Coblentz, then to Mayence, travelling separately. The Emperor left Cologne +September 16 at four in the afternoon, and reached Bonn a little before +nightfall, to start again the next morning. The town pleased her very +much, and she was sorry she could not remain there longer. She stayed at a +fine house with a garden opening on a terrace that looked out over the +Rhine. After supper she walked on the terrace. The delight of the people +assembled below, the peacefulness of the night, and the beauty of the +river in the moonlight, made the evening most enjoyable. At four the next +morning the Empress started off again in her travelling carriage, and at +ten she entered Coblentz. The Emperor did not get there until six in the +evening, having left Cologne the same day. At Bonn he got on horseback to +examine for himself everything that demanded close inspection. From +Coblentz, where a ball was given them, Napoleon and Josephine went to +Mayence, each by a different route. The Emperor followed the highway on +the edge of the Rhine; the Empress ascended the river in a yacht which the +Prince of Nassau Weilburg had placed at her disposal. It was a picturesque +voyage. + +The morning mist soon cleared away. Josephine, who had breakfast served on +deck, admired the many charming scenes between Boppard and Bacharach, the +fertile fields, the towns perched on the steep banks; in the distance, the +mountains covered with forests; then the narrowing river, the bounded +view, the cliffs crowded together, where nothing can be seen but the +river, the sky, and the crags crowned by the mirrored towns of mediaeval +castles. The light boat, as it glided smoothly over the stream, with its +gilded Neptune at the bow, recalled Cleopatra's barge. At times the +silence was profound, then the church-bells would be heard, as well as the +cheers of the peasants on the river-banks. The pettiest villages had sent +guards of honor, had hoisted flags, and raised triumphal arches. Curiously +enough, the right bank, which did not belong to France, seemed to display +quite as much zeal and enthusiasm as the left bank, the French one; on +both sides were the same shouts of welcome, the same demonstrations, the +same salutes. When she reached Saint Goar, on the left bank, the Empress +saw the authorities of the town coming out to meet her, with military +music, in boats decorated with branches of trees; and on the other side of +the river, on the terrace of the castle of Hesse Rheinfels, the Hessian +garrison was presenting arms, and their salutes joined with those of the +inhabitants of Saint Goar, Further on, they shouted through a speaking- +trumpet to hear the famous echo of the Lorelei, with its wonderfully +distinct and frequent repetitions. Then they passed the fantastic castle +of the Palatinate, built in the middle of the stream, and in old times the +refuge of the Countesses Palatine, where their children were born and kept +in security during their babyhood. The Empress landed at Bingen, where she +spent the night, starting again the next morning. Towards three in the +afternoon she reached Mayence, where twelve young girls belonging to the +best families of the city were awaiting her. Almost simultaneously, the +cannon at the other gate announced the Emperor's arrival. + +On his way, Napoleon had noticed on an island in the Rhine, at the very +extremity of the French Empire, the convent of Rolandswerth. He was told +that the nuns who lived there had refused to leave it during the last war, +that very often the cannon-balls of the contending armies had often fallen +on the island without damaging the convent where those holy women were +praying. The Emperor became interested in their fate, and made over to +them the forty or fifty acres of which the little island consisted. + +On their arrival at Mayence, September 21, Napoleon Josephine were most +warmly greeted. In the evening all the streets and public buildings were +illuminated. The Prince Archchancellor of the Germanic Empire, who owed to +the French sovereign the preservation of his wealth and of his title, +desired to pay his respects. The Emperor was surrounded by a real court of +German Princes. The Princess of the House of Hesse, the Duke and Duchess +of Bavaria, the Elector of Baden, who was more than seventy-five years +old, and had come with his son and grandson, appeared as if vassals of the +new Charlemagne, the second Théâtre Français had been summoned from Paris, +and played before this public of Highnesses. Every one was struck by the +celerity with which this crowned soldier had acquired the appearance of a +sovereign belonging to an old line, while he still preserved the language +and appearance of a soldier. One day he asked the hereditary Prince of +Baden: "What did you do yesterday?" The young Prince replied with some +embarrassment that he had strolled about the streets. "You did very +wrong," said Napoleon. "What you ought to have done was to visit the +fortifications and inspect them carefully. How can you tell? Perhaps some +day you will have to besiege Mayence. Who would have told me when I was a +simple artillery officer walking about Toulon that I should be destined to +take that city?" It was at Mayence that the treasures unjustly extorted +from the German Princes were restored to them. It was at Mayence that +Gutenberg's name for the first time received formal homage. + +General de Ségur, In his Memoirs, narrates an anecdote about Napoleon's +stay in this old German city. The Emperor had gone incognito and without +escort to an island in the Rhine, not far from the town. As he was walking +in this almost deserted island, he noticed a wretched hut in which a poor +woman was lamenting that her son had been drafted. "Console yourself," +said Napoleon, without letting her know who he was, and giving her an +assumed name: "Come to Mayence to-morrow and ask for me; I have some +influence with the ministers and I will try to help you." The poor woman +appeared punctually. With delight and surprise she saw that the stranger +was the Emperor of the French. Napoleon delighted to tell her that her +house which had been destroyed by the war should be rebuilt, that he would +give her a little herd and several acres of land, and that her son should +be restored to her. + +A letter in the _Moniteur_ thus described the departure of Napoleon and +Josephine: "Mayence, 11 Vendémiaire (October 3). The Empress left +yesterday for Paris, by way of Saverne and Nancy. The Emperor is just +leaving; he means to visit Frankenthal, Kaiserslanten, and Kreutznach; +then he will take the road to Trèves. The stay of Their Majesties has been +for us a source of lasting pleasure and advantage. The most important +interests of our department have been favorably regulated. We have nothing +now to wish for except an opportunity to show our gratitude, our devotion, +and our fidelity, and the sincerity of the good wishes our citizens +expressed by their unanimous cheers. The Electors, the Princes, and the +many distinguished strangers who have given our city the appearance of a +great capital, are now taking their departure." + +This journey on the banks of the Rhine made a deep impression in France +and throughout Europe. It must be confessed that no one has ever equalled +the Emperor in the art of keeping himself picturesquely before the public. +Napoleon in the crypt at Aix-la-Chapelle, face to face with the shade of +Charlemagne is a subject to inspire a painter or a poet! At Brussels, in +the church of Saint Gudule, Napoleon evoked the memory of Charles V.; at +Aix-la-Chapelle in the Cathedral vault he questioned the shade of +Charlemagne. And as he meditated on the tomb of the Carlovingian hero, so +now do monarchs on their way through Paris meditate in their turn over his +tomb beneath the gilded dome of the Invalides. They go down into the +crypt, look at the porch upheld by twelve great statues of white marble, +each one commemorating a victory, at the mosaic pavement representing a +huge crown with fillets, the sarcophagus of red granite from Finland, +placed on a foundation of green granite from the Vosges. Then they enter +the subterranean chamber, the black marble sanctuary, which contains, +among numerous relics, the sword that Napoleon carried at Austerlitz, the +decorations he wore on his uniform, the gold crown voted him by the city +of Cherbourg, and finally sixty flags won in his victories. The church of +the Invalides Inspires the same thoughts as the Cathedral of +Aix-la-Chapelle. In the two temples kings and great men may make the same +reflection about glory, about death, about the handful of dust which is +all that is left of heroes. + + + + +III. + +THE POPE'S ARRIVAL AT FONTAINEBLEAU. + + +The time for the coronation was drawing near. Napoleon, who had already +received the official recognition of foreign powers, was anxious to have +his Imperial title consecrated by a great religious ceremony, the fame of +which should resound throughout the whole Catholic world. The first date +proposed for the solemnity was the 26th Messidor, Year XII. (July 14, +1804), then that of the 18th Brumaire, Year XIII. (Nov. 9, 1804). But the +choice in each case was unfortunate. It was hard to combine the memory of +the taking of the Bastille with the coronation of a sovereign, and the +18th Brumaire would have recalled the regrets of Republicans and the +services of Lucien Bonaparte, who, after being the main aid of his +brother's fortune, was living at Rome, in disgrace and exile. On the other +hand, the Pope's hesitation, for it was with the greatest difficulty that +he could make up his mind to go to Paris, had further postponed the date, +which was at last fixed for the beginning of December. + +Josephine awaited with impatience and fear an event on which, she felt, +her future fate depended. The Pope, that mysterious and holy person, had +started. Was he to prove her saviour? Was she to be a repudiated wife or a +crowned Empress? The clergy were untiring in their laudations of +Napoleon's glory. Bishops, in their charges, spoke of him as God's elect. +One prelate, speaking of the Empire, had said: "One God and one monarch! +As the God of the Christians is the only one deserving to be adored and +obeyed, you, Napoleon, are the only man worthy to rule the French!" +Another had said: "Napoleon, whom God called from the deserts of Egypt, +like another Moses, will bring peace between the wise Empire of France and +the divine Empire of Christ. The finger of God is here. Let us pray the +Most High to protect with his powerful hand the man he has chosen. May the +new Augustus live and rule forever! Submission is his due because he is +ordered by Providence!" Yet in spite of these extravagant outbursts which +came from every pulpit in the whole French Empire, this restorer of the +altars, this saviour of religion was married only by civil right! From the +ecclesiastic point of view, he was living in concubinage. He had had his +brother Louis's marriage with Hortense de Beauharnais, and his sister +Caroline's with Murat blessed by Cardinal Caprara, but in spite of +Josephine's entreaties, he had denied her this pious satisfaction. It was +on the Pope that the Empress put all her hope; she thought that he would +take pity on her, and by bringing her into conformity with the rules of +the church, would put an end to a condition of things humiliating to her +as a sovereign, and painful to her as a Catholic. + +At the same time Josephine was anxiously wondering whether she was to be +crowned. Her brothers-in-law became more venomous in their intrigues +against her, and desired not only that she be excluded from any part in +the coronation, but also that she should be condemned to divorce on the +pretext of barrenness. Joseph Bonaparte was never tired of saying that +Napoleon ought to marry some foreign Princess, or at least some daughter +of an old French family, and he skilfully laid stress on his own +unselfishness in urging a plan which would necessarily remove himself and +his descendants from the line of inheritance. The Emperor's sisters showed +the same hostility towards Josephine, whom they hated, although she well +deserved their love. Since Napoleon maintained an absolute silence about +his intentions concerning the coronation, the Bonapartes already imagined +that she was going to be divorced, and hence exhibited an untimely delight +which displeased the Emperor and brought him closer to his wife. At last, +tired with family bickerings, he suddenly put an end to them and filled +Josephine with joy by telling her that she was to be crowned at Notre +Dame. + +The reader should turn to the curious account in Miot de Mélito's Memoirs +of the council held at Saint Cloud, November 17, 1804, to arrange the +formalities of the coronation. Of Napoleon's four brothers, two were in +disgrace, Lucien and Jerome, and they were not to be present at the +ceremony. As for Joseph and Louis, it was decided that they should appear, +not as Princes of the blood, but only as high dignitaries of the Empire. +Joseph, it will be remembered, was Grand Elector, and Louis was Constable. + +This decision once taken, Joseph said in the council of November 17: +"Since it has been recognized that, with the exception of the Head of the +State, no one else, whatever his rank, can be regarded as partaking the +honors of sovereignty, and that we especially are not treated as Princes, +but only as high dignitaries, it would not be right that our wives, who +henceforth are only wives of high dignitaries, should as Princesses carry +the train of the Empress's robe, which consequently must be carried by +Ladies of Honor or of the Palace." This remark displeased the Emperor, and +many members of the council cited many examples to refute it, notably that +of Maria de' Medici. Joseph, who had foreseen their arguments, displayed +unexpected erudition: "Maria de' Medici," he said, "was accompanied only +by Queen Margaret, the first wife of Henri IV., and by Madame (Catherine +of Bourbon), the King's sister. The train was carried by a very distant +relative. Queen Margaret had, indeed, offered a fine example of generosity +by being present at the coronation of the woman who took her place and +who, more fortunate than herself, had borne heirs to Henri IV. But she was +not asked to carry the train of Maria de' Medici, and yet Maria de' Medici +had a right to every honor, because she was a mother." This very +transparent allusion to Josephine's barrenness so exasperated Napoleon +that he arose suddenly from his chair and addressed his brother with the +intensest bitterness and violence. After the meeting Joseph proposed to +his brother retiring to Germany. Napoleon relented and, November 27, he +said to his brother: "I have given a great deal of thought to the +difference that has arisen between you and me, and I will confess that +during the six days that this quarrel has lasted, I have not had a +moment's peace. I have even lost my sleep over it, and you are the only +person who has this power over me; I know nothing that disturbs me to this +degree. This influence comes from my old affection for you and from my +recollection of what you did for me in my boyhood, and I am much more +dependent than you think on feelings of that sort.... Take your position +in an hereditary monarchy and be the first of my subjects. That is a fine +enough position, to be the second man in France, perhaps in Europe.... +Comply with my wishes; follow my ideas; do not flatter the patriots when I +drive them away; do not oppose the nobles when I summon them; form your +household according to the principles that have guided me. In a word, be a +Prince, and do not disturb yourself about the importance of the title." + +Joseph at last yielded, and promised that his wife should conform without +a murmur to the ceremonies established for the coronation. Only this +concession was made to their susceptibilities: that in the rules the +phrase, _bear the cloak_ was substituted for _carry the train_, "for," as +Miot de Mélito says, "Vanity will clutch at a straw." + +As for Madame Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother, she persisted in remaining at +Rome with Lucien. In spite of frequent messages from Paris, she was not to +get there until some days after the coronation, a fact which did not +prevent her appearing in the great picture commemorating the event, +painted by David, who was successively Jacobin and Imperialist, and +beginning with the apotheosis of Marat, celebrated that of Napoleon. + +Pope Pius VII., then sixty-two years old, had left Rome November 2, after +praying for a long time at the altar of Saint Peter's, The populace had +followed his carriage for a long distance, weeping with terror at his +undertaking a journey to revolutionary France. At Florence he had been +received by the Queen of Etruria, then a widow and her son's Regent. At +Lyons he became less anxious; a number of the inhabitants crowded about +him, and fell on their knees, asking for the blessing of the Vicar of +Christ. Meanwhile, Napoleon was putting the last touches to the repairs be +had commenced at the Palace of Fontainebleau, to put it in a suitable +condition to receive the Sovereign Pontiff. In less than twenty days the +furnishing of the palace had been completed, and the castle had, as if by +magic, resumed its old-time splendor. + +Every one wondered how the first meeting between the Pope and the Emperor +would take place. Many points of etiquette arose which Napoleon managed to +elude. Pius VII. was to arrive through the forest of Fontainebleau, and +the Emperor was to go to meet him through the forest of Nemours. To +prevent all formality, Napoleon made an excuse of a hunting party. All the +huntsmen, with their carriages, met in the forest. Napoleon was on +horseback, in hunting dress. When he knew that the Pope and his suite were +due at the cross of Saint Hérene--at noon, Sunday, November 25, 1804--he +turned his horse in that direction, and as soon as he reached the half- +moon at the top of the hill, he saw the Pope's carriage arriving. + +According to the account given in the Memoirs of the Duke of Rovigo, the +carriage of Pius VII. stopped, and the pontiff in his white robes got out +by the left-hand door. The road was muddy, and he was averse to stepping +into it with his white silk slippers; but there was nothing to be done. +Napoleon got off his horse to receive him, and sprang cordially into his +arms. These two famous men, who, although they were entire strangers, had +already thought so often of each other, and were to exercise such great +influence over each other's destiny, now met with deep emotion. As they +were embracing, one of the Emperor's carriages, which had been ordered to +drive up, pushed on a few steps as if by an oversight of the coachman; the +footmen held both doors open; the Emperor took that on the right; a court +official pointed to that on the left for the Pope, so that the two +sovereigns entered the same carriage simultaneously by the two doors. The +Emperor sat down naturally on the right-hand side, and this first step +established the etiquette for the whole time of the Pope's stay, without +discussion. + +At the entrance of the Palace of Fontainebleau, the Empress, the high +dignitaries of the Empire, the generals, were formed in a circle to +receive and salute Pius VII. He was welcomed with the utmost reverence. +His fine, noble face, his air of angelic kindness, his soft, yet sonorous +voice, produced a deep impression. Josephine was especially moved by the +presence of the Vicar of Christ. After resting a few moments in his +private apartment, to which he had been conducted by M. de Talleyrand, +High Chamberlain, by General Duroc, Grand Marshal of the Palace, and by M. +de Ségur, Grand Master of Ceremonies, the Pope paid a visit to Napoleon, +who, after an interview of about half an hour, conducted him back to the +hall that was at that time called that of the High Officers. The two +sovereigns dined together, and the Pope went early to bed, to rest himself +after the fatigues of his long journey. The next evening some singers had +been summoned to the Empress's apartment, but Pius VII. withdrew just as +the concert was about to begin. + +In the course of the day Josephine had had a private interview with the +Pope, and had confided to him the secret which so distressed her. She who +was reigning over the greatest of Catholic nations, the consort of the +successor of the very Christian Kings, the wife of a ruler about to be +crowned by the Pope, was married only by civil rite! She entreated Pius +VII. to use all his influence with Napoleon to put an end to a situation +which was a continual torture and reproach to her as a wife and as a +Christian. The Pope appeared touched by the confidence of his dear +daughter, as he always called the Empress, and promised to demand, and, if +necessary, to insist, upon the celebration of the Emperor's religious +marriage, as a condition of the coronation, and this promise filled +Josephine with joy. + +The presence of the Pope and the Emperor, the throng of prelates, +generals, courtiers, and beautiful women, the combination of religious and +Imperial pomp gave to the Castle of the Valois, a few days before +dilapidated and abandoned, new splendor and magnificence. Never in the +most brilliant days of the reign of Francis I., or Henri II., or of Louis +XIV., had this sumptuous residence appeared in greater state. This +wonderful palace is renowned for its superb and picturesque architecture, +its majestic façades, its five courts: that of the White Horse, of the +Fountain, of the Dungeon, of the Princes, of Henri IV. The Festival Hall +is very beautiful, with its rich and abundant ornamentation, its walnut +floor, divided into octagonal panels richly outlined with inlaid gold and +silver, its monumental mantelpiece, with its figures, emblems, and +fantastic frescoes, the brilliant masterpieces of Primaticcio, and of +Nicolo d'Abati. + +Alas! this splendid Fontainebleau, the gorgeous palace where Pope and +Emperor were then living in triumph, was later to be to both an accursed +spot. The Pope was to return to it a prisoner, maltreated though old, +though a priest, though the Vicar of Christ, and there the Emperor was to +drink the cup of humiliation, of despair, to the dregs. It was there that, +conquered, broken, betrayed by fortune, he was to sign his abdication. It +was there that he was to utter those heart-rending words: "It is right; I +receive what I have deserved. I wanted no statues, for I knew that there +was no safety in receiving them at any other hands than those of +posterity. A man to keep them while he lives, needs constant good fortune. +I think of France, which it is terrible to leave in this state, without +frontiers when it had such wide ones!--that is the bitterest of the +humiliations that overwhelm me. To leave France so small when I wished to +make it so great!" It was there that, overcome by immeasurable grief, the +conqueror of so many battles wished to seek in suicide a refuge from the +tortures of thought, and that he was to fail to find death, he who on the +battle-field had squandered so many lives. O mortals, ignorant of your own +fates, how happy you are not to have foreknowledge of them! + + + + +IV. + +THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION. + + +The Empress left Fontainebleau, Thursday, November 29, 1804, in company +with Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, and Madame d'Arberg, Lady +of the Palace, and reached Paris the same day, a few hours before the +Emperor and the Pope, who left Fontainebleau in the same carriage and +entered the Tuileries at eight in the evening. A platoon of Mamelukes +escorted the Imperial carriage, and it was a singular sight to see the +Mussulman escorting the Vicar of Christ. The Pope was installed at the +Tuileries in the Pavilion of Flora. There were attached to his person M. +de Viry, the Emperor's Chamberlain; M. de Luçay, Prefect of the Palace, +and Colonel Durosnel, Equerry. + +All Paris was excited by the approach of the great event. The hotels were +crowded; the population of the capital was nearly doubled, so vast was the +throng of provincials and foreigners. Tradesmen were working night and day +to prepare the dresses and uniforms. In every workshop there was +unparalleled activity. Leroy, who previously had been only a milliner, had +decided for this occasion to undertake dressmaking, and had made Madame +Raimbault, a celebrated dressmaker of the time, his partner. From their +shop came the magnificent robes to be worn by the Empress on Coronation +Day. Her jewels, consisting of a crown, a diadem, and a girdle, were the +work of the jeweller Margueritte. The crown was formed of eight branches +meeting under a gold globe surmounted by a cross. The branches were set +with diamonds, four in the shape of a palm leaf, four in the shape of a +myrtle leaf. Around the curve was a ribbon, inlaid with eight enormous +emeralds. The frontlet was bright with amethysts. The diadem was formed of +four rows of pearls interlaced with diamond leaves, with many large +brilliants, one alone weighing one hundred and forty-nine grains. The +girdle was a gold band, enriched with thirty-nine pink gems. The Emperor's +sceptre had been made by Odiot; it was of solid silver, enlaced by a gold +serpent, and surmounted by a globe on which was a miniature figure of +Charlemagne seated. The hand of justice, the crown, and the sword came +from the workshops of Biennais. The dress of the courtiers was to be very +magnificent; it consisted of a French coat of different colors according +to the duties of the wearer under the Grand Marshal, the High Chamberlain, +and the Grand Equerry, with silver embroidery for all; a cloak worn over +one shoulder, of velvet, lined with satin: a scarf, a lace band, and the +hat caught up in front, and adorned with a feather. The women were to +appear in ball dress, with a train, with a collar of blond-lace, called a +_chérusque_, which was fastened on both shoulders and rose high behind the +head, recalling the fashions of the time of Catherine de' Medici. + +There were rehearsals of the coronation as if it were a spectacular play. +Every one, from the principal actors to the most insignificant assistants, +studied his part most conscientiously; the Masters of Ceremonies were to +act as prompters to those who might forget. The Imperial carriages and +those of the Princes and Princesses one morning were all driven empty to +the neighborhood of Notre Dame, that coachman, postilions, and grooms +might know the route they were to take, and when they were to draw up. The +carriages were superb, the horses magnificent, the liveries sumptuous. +Never in the most extravagant days of the monarchy had such luxury been +seen. + +M. de Bausset says that a week before the coronation the Emperor commanded +of the artist Isabey seven drawings representing the seven principal +ceremonies to take place at Notre Dame, which, however, could not be +rehearsed in the Cathedral on account of the number of workmen busy day +and night in decorating it. To ask at once for seven drawings each +containing more than a hundred persons in action, was asking for the +impossible. Isabey skilfully eluded the difficulty. He bought at the toy +shops all the little dolls he could find, dressed them up as Pope, +Emperor, Empress, Princes, high dignitaries, Chamberlains, Equerries, +Ladies of Honor, Ladies of the Palace, These dolls thus arrayed he +arranged on a plan in relief of the Interior of Notre Dame, and carrying +it to the Emperor, said: "Sire, I bring Your Majesty something better than +the drawings." Napoleon thought the idea ingenious, and used the dolls and +the plan to make every official understand his place and his duty. + +The _Moniteur_ of the 9th Brumaire, Year XIII, (November 30, 1804), +published in advance all the details of the ceremony, which the Emperor +had fixed with as much care as if it had been the plan of a battle. A +difficulty arose on this occasion. The Pope had wished Napoleon to receive +the holy communion in public on the day of the coronation, and Napoleon +had given the matter thought. The Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Ségur, +brought up against the proposition the necessity of a preliminary +confession and the possibility that absolution might be denied him. +"That's not the difficulty," said the Emperor, "the Holy Father knows how +to distinguish between the sins of Caesar and those of the man," Then he +added: "I know that I ought to give an example of respect for religion and +its ministers; so you see that I treat the priests well, go regularly to +mass, and listen to it with all due seriousness and solemnity. But every +one knows me, and how would it be for me, and for others, if I should go +too far? Would not that be setting an example of hypocrisy, and committing +a sacrilege?" The Pope did not insist upon it. This dread of committing +sacrilege Napoleon referred to again at Saint Helena, in 1816: "Everything +was done," he said then, "to persuade me to go in great pomp to communion +at Notre Dame, after the fashion of our kings; I absolutely refused; I did +not believe enough, I said, to get any good from it, and yet I believed +too much to consent to be guilty of sacrilege." + +Another difficulty which gave the Pope much anxiety, and was not settled +in the formalities of the coronation, was whether the Emperor should +receive the crown from the hands of the Sovereign Pontiff. Pius VII. had +brought up the question before leaving Rome, and Cardinal Consalvi had +written on this matter, to which the Vatican attached great importance, as +follows: "All the French Emperors, all those of Germany, who have been +crowned by the Popes, have accepted the crown from them. The Holy Father, +before undertaking this journey, requires to receive from Paris the +assurance that there will be no innovation made in the present case, in +the way of a diminution of the honor and dignity of the Sovereign +Pontiff." At Rome only vague and dilatory answers had been received. In +Paris the Emperor, leaving the matter to be decided on the spur of the +moment, had only said: "I will arrange that myself." + +The preparations at Notre Dame had come to an end. They had been very +considerable. Several houses that hid the north façade had been destroyed. +Before the great entrance, still scarred by the ravages of the +Revolutionists, there had been set up a decoration of painted wood, +representing a vast Gothic porch with three arches upholding the statues +of the thirty-six good cities, the mayors of which were to be present at +the coronation. To the right and the left stood images of Clovis and +Charlemagne, sceptre in hand. Above, between two golden eagles, appeared +the Imperial coat-of-arms. This was intended for the sole entrance of the +Pope and the Emperor. It was connected with the Archbishop's palace by +large, covered, wooden galleries, adorned within by gobelin tapestry. This +palace, to which Pius VII. and Napoleon were to go before they entered the +Cathedral, no longer exists; it was destroyed, February 14, 1831, in an +insurrection. It used to stand just by the side of the church. It was +built in 1161 by Maurice de Sully, rebuilt in 1697 by the Cardinal of +Noailles, embellished in 1750 by the Archbishop de Beaumont, and was the +meeting-place of the Constituent Assembly from October 19 to November 9, +1789. There the Pope and the Emperor were to alight on their way from the +Tuileries and put on their grand coronation robes before entering the +Cathedral. + +The whole church of Notre Dame had been hung with crimson stuffs adorned +with gold fringe, with the arms of the Empire embroidered on the corners. +On each side of the nave and around the choir had been built three rows of +galleries, decorated alike with silk and velvet stuffs fringed with gold, +and flags had been arranged like a trophy about each pillar. Above the +trophies were winged and gilded victories, holding candelabra with a vast +number of candles. There were, besides, twenty-four chandeliers hanging +from the roof. The galleries kept out the light, especially at the season +when the days were short; consequently it had been decided that the +Cathedral should be artificially lit during the ceremony, thus augmenting +the pomp and beauty of the spectacle. The choir, shut off by a railing, +was reserved for the clergy. To the right of the high altar, on a platform +with eleven steps, had been raised the pontifical throne, above which was +a golden dome adorned with the arms of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman +Church. In front and on each side of the pontifical throne were benches +with backs for the cardinals and prelates. For the Emperor and the Empress +had been prepared what was called the great and the little throne. The +little throne was formed of two armchairs, one for Napoleon, the other for +Josephine. These two chairs stood on a platform with four steps, opposite +the high altar. The Emperor and Empress were to occupy them during the +first part of the ceremony. The grand throne was at the other end of the +church, with its back against the great door, which was thus closed. This +great throne stood on a large semicircular platform, and was reached by +twenty-four steps. It stood under a canopy in the shape of a triumphal +arch, upheld by eight columns, and it overlooked the whole church. The +Emperor and the Empress were not to ascend this throne till after the +coronation. + +For the coronation Napoleon had given to the Cathedral a number of holy +vessels in silver-gilt, enriched with diamonds, and very valuable lace +albs, a processional cross, chandeliers, and incense-burners. At the same +time he restored to the Cathedral a great number of relics with which the +piety of Saint Louis had endowed the Sainte Chapelle. In 1791 they had +been deposited in the treasury of Saint Denis, by order of Louis XVI., +thence in 1793 they had been transferred to the cabinet of curiosities in +the National Library, and had been exposed under the Directory, in the +Hall of Antiquities. The Emperor restored them to the worship of the +faithful. + +The preparations were completed, and the ceremony promised to be +magnificent. Madame Junot, afterwards the Duchess of Abrantès, breakfasted +with the Empress at the Tuileries, December 1, 1804, the day before the +coronation. Josephine was much excited and radiantly happy. At breakfast +she told how amiably the Emperor had talked with her that morning and how +he had tried on her head the crown which she was to put on the next day at +Notre Dame. As she said that she shed tears of gratitude. She spoke then +of her pain when Napoleon had refused her request for Lucien's return. "I +wanted to plead this great day," she said, "but Bonaparte spoke so harshly +that I had to keep silent. I wanted to show Lucien that I could return +good for evil; if you have a chance, let him know it." + +In the evening the Senate came to the Tuileries to announce to the Emperor +the result of the _plébiscite_ which approved of the Empire and the matter +of inheritance; 3,521,660 citizens having voted for, and 2,579 against. +Napoleon replied to the President of the Senate with the infatuation that +springs from success and the consciousness of strength: "I ascend the +throne to which I have been called by the unanimous voices of the Senate, +the people, and the army, with my heart full of feeling of the great +destinies of this people whom, from the midst of camps, I first saluted +with the name of great. Since my youth all my thoughts have been devoted +to it, and I must say here, my pleasures and my pains now are nothing but +the pleasures and the pains of my people. My descendants will long fill +this throne. They will never forget that contempt of laws and the +overthrow of the social order are only the results of the weakness and +indecision of rulers." + +The hour of disaster was approaching, but it had not yet struck; the +morrow was to be radiant. Salvos of artillery were fixed every hour from +six in the evening till midnight; at each salvo, the towers, spires, and +public buildings were illuminated for a few minutes by Bengal lights. +Imperial insignia, among others the sword of Charlemagne, were already in +the Church of Notre Dame. General de Ségur, then a captain under the +command of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, was charged to watch that +precious relic during the night. He records one thing about it which +clearly shows the bellicose spirit of the men of the time. One of the +officers guarding the Imperial sword conceived the mad idea of using it +against one of his comrades, who defended himself with his own sabre, and +consoled himself for his defeat and for a slight wound with the thought +that he was beaten by so glorious a weapon. + +That same night, the one before the coronation, Josephine's wishes were +granted. Her union with Napoleon was blessed by the church. An altar was +mysteriously raised in the Tuileries, and there, in the presence of M. de +Talleyrand and the Marshal Berthier, who were the only witnesses, Cardinal +Fesch celebrated, in the profoundest secrecy, the religious marriage of +the Emperor and Empress. The scruples of Pius VII. were thus allayed. +Josephine could be crowned the next day. + + + + +V. + +THE CORONATION. + + +It was December 2, 1804. Since early morning all Paris had been alive. It +was very cold; the sky was covered, but no one thought of the unpleasant +weather. All the streets through which the procession was to pass had been +carefully swept and sprinkled with sand. The inhabitants had decorated the +fronts of their houses according to their tastes and means, with +draperies, tapestry, artificial flowers, and branches of evergreens. Two +lines of infantry were drawn up for a space of about half a league. Long +before the hour of the departure of the Pope and the Emperor from the +Tuileries, a vast throng had gathered in the streets, was crowding every +window, and assembling on every roof. Marshal Murat, Governor of Paris, +offered at an early hour a sumptuous breakfast to the Princes of Germany +who had come to Paris for the coronation--the Elector Archchancellor of +the German Empire, the Princes of Nassau, of Hesse, and of Baden. After +the breakfast they drove to Notre Dame in four superb carriages, drawn by +six horses each, with an escort under the command of one of his aides-de- +camp, and he himself mounted his horse to take his place at the head of +the twenty squadrons of cavalry which were to go in front of the Emperor's +carriage. + +At the Tuileries Napoleon put on what was called the undress attire; this +he was to wear on his way from the palace to the Archbishop's. He was not +to put on full dress, that is to say, the Imperial robes and cloak, until +he was to enter the church. The undress is thus described by Constant, the +Emperor's valet: silk stockings embroidered with gold; low boots of white +velvet, embroidered with gold on the seams; with diamond buttons and +buckles on his garters; a coat of crimson velvet faced with white velvet: +a short cloak of crimson lined with white satin, covering the left +shoulder and fastened on the right-hand side by a double clasp of +diamonds; a black velvet cap, surmounted by two aigrets, a diamond loop, +and for button, the most celebrated of the crown jewels, the Regent. + +The Empress's costume was no less magnificent. She wore a dress, with a +train, of silver brocade covered with gold bees; her shoulders were bare, +but on her arms were tight sleeves embroidered with gold, the upper part +adorned, with diamonds, and fastened to them was a lace ruff worked with +gold which rose behind half up her head. The tight-fitting dress had no +waist, after the fashion of the time, but she wore a gold ribbon as a +girdle, set with thirty-nine pink gems. Her bracelets, ear-rings, and +necklace were formed of precious stones and antique cameos. Her diadem +consisted of four rows of pearls interlaced with clusters of diamonds. The +Empress, whose hair was curled, after the fashion of the reign of Louis +XIV., although forty-one years old, looked, according to Madame de +Rémusat, no more than twenty-five. The Emperor was much struck by +Josephine's beauty in this sumptuous attire; all this luxury impressed +him. He recalled the days of his childhood, and turning to his favorite +brother, he said: "Joseph, if father could see us!" + +Nine o'clock sounded, the hour set for the departure of the Pope, who was +to reach Notre Dame before the Emperor. The Sovereign Pontiff, clad in +white, went down the staircase of the Pavilion of Flora and entered his +carriage, which was drawn by eight horses; above it was a large tiara. At +Rome it was the custom that when the Pope went forth to officiate at one +of the great churches,--for instance, to Saint John Lateran,--for one of +his chamberlains to start a moment before him, mounted on a mule, and +carrying a great processional cross. Pius VII. asked that the same thing +might be done at Paris; consequently the pontifical procession was headed +by a chamberlain whose mule did not fail to amuse the vast crowd that +lined the quays; yet when the Pope passed, all knelt down and received his +blessing with due respect. With cavalry in front and behind, the Pope's +carriage and the eight carriages in which were the cardinals, Italian +prelates and officers who had come from Rome with him, drove slowly along +the quays to the Archbishop's Palace. There were awaiting him all the +French cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, and he was received by the +Cardinal du Belloy, the Archbishop of Paris, as he entered to put on his +pontifical robes. The pontifical procession entered Notre Dame in the +following order; a priest, carrying the apostolic cross; seven acolytes, +carrying the seven golden candlesticks; more than a hundred bishops, +archbishops or cardinals, in cope and mitre, marching two by two; and last +of all the Holy Father, his tiara on his head, under a canopy between two +cardinals who held up the ends of his golden cope. The clergy intoned the +hymn _Tu es Petrus_, which was very impressive, and the Sovereign Pontiff, +after kneeling for a few moments before the high altar, took his seat in +the middle of the choir on the pontifical throne, above which was a dome +adorned with the coat-of-arms of the church. + +The Emperor and the Empress, who were to leave the Tuileries at ten, did +not start till half past ten. They got into the magnificent coronation +carriage which excited the hearty admiration of the crowd, always fond of +show. It was drawn by eight superb horses, splendidly harnessed; upon it +was a golden crown upheld by four eagles with outstretched wings. The four +sides of the coach were of glass, set in slender carved uprights, so that +there was an unobstructed view of Napoleon and Josephine on the back seat, +with Joseph and Louis Bonaparte opposite them. Salvos of artillery +announced the Emperor's departure from the Tuileries. Twenty squadrons of +cavalry, with Marshal Murat at their head, led the procession. Eighteen +carriages, with six horses each, followed, conveying the high dignitaries +and the courtiers. Bands played triumphal marches, and all along the way a +vast crowd saluted this sovereign. The procession starting from the +Tuileries by the Carrousel went along the rue Saint Honoré as far as the +rue de Lombards, crossed the Pont au Change, and then along the quay to +the rue du Parvis Notre Dame and the Archbishop's Palace. Just as the +Emperor and the Empress were entering the palace courtyard, the mist, +which had been thick all the morning, cleared away, and the sun came out +glistening on the gilded decorations of the Imperial coach. The +_Moniteur_, with its official enthusiasm, spoke of "the orb of day +escaping, against every expectation, from the rigid rule of a stormy +season to light up the festal day." + +At the Archbishop's Palace, Napoleon changed his dress, putting on his +coronation robes. This differed entirely from the costume he had worn from +the Tuileries to the palace, and consisted of a tight-fitting gown of +white satin, embroidered with gold on every seam, and of an Imperial +mantle of crimson velvet, all over which were golden bees; it was bordered +by worked branches of olive-tree, laurels, and oak, in circles enclosing +the letter N, with a crown above each one; the lining, the border, and the +cape were of ermine. This cloak, fastened on the right shoulder, while +leaving the arm free, reacted to just above the knee, and weighed no less +than eighty pounds, and though it was held by four persons, Prince Joseph, +Prince Louis, the Archchancellor Cambacérès, the Archtreasurer Lebrun, was +for the Emperor, who was a short man, a sumptuous, but heavy load. He +carried it, however, with fitting majesty. On his head he had put a crown +of golden laurel, the laurel of Caesar; around his neck he wore the +diamond necklace of the Legion of Honor; on his left side he carried a +sword with a large handle--the scabbard was of blue enamel adorned with +gold eagles and bees. At the same time Josephine completed her dressing, +putting on a long red velvet cloak, sprinkled with gold bees, and lined +with ermine; its skirts were upheld by Princesses Joseph, Louis, Elisa, +Pauline, and Charlotte. + +The Imperial procession proceeded from the Archbishop's Palace to Notre +Dame through the wooden gallery, and entered the church, not through the +middle entrance, which was blocked by the great throne, but through one of +the side-doors. They advanced in the following order, with an interval of +ten paces between each group: the ushers, four abreast, the heralds at +arms, two abreast; the Chief Herald at Arms; the pages, four abreast; the +aides of the masters of ceremonies; the masters of ceremonies; the Grand +Master of Ceremonies, M. de Ségur; Marshal Sérurier, carrying on a cushion +the Empress's ring; Marshal Moncey, carrying the basket which was to +receive her cloak; Marshal Murat, carrying her crown on a cushion; the +Empress, with her First Equerry on her right, and her First Chamberlain on +her left; she wore the Imperial cloak, which was supported by the five +Princesses, the cloak of each one of these being supported by an officer +of her household; Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, and Madame de +Lavalette, the Empress's Lady of the Bedchamber; Marshal Kellermann, +carrying the crown of Charlemagne, a diadem with six branches adorned with +valuable cameos; Marshal Perignon, carrying Charlemagne's sceptre, at the +end of which was a ball representing the world, with a small figure of the +great Carlovingian Emperor; Marshal Lefebvre, carrying Charlemagne's +sword; Marshal Bernadotte, carrying Napoleon's necklace; Colonel General +Eugene de Beauharnais, the Emperor's ring; Marshal Berthier, the Imperial +globe; M. de Talleyrand, the basket destined to receive the Emperor's +cloak. Then came the Emperor, the crown of golden laurel on his head, +holding in one hand his silver sceptre, topped by an eagle, and encircled +by a golden serpent, and in the other his hand of justice. His cloak was +supported by his two brothers, Joseph, Grand Elector, and Louis, +Constable, as well as by the Archchancellor Cambacérès and the +Archtreasurer Lebrun. Then followed the Grand Equerry, the Colonel General +of the Guard, and the Grand Marshal of the Palace, the three abreast, the +ministers, four abreast, and the high officers of the army. + +As Napoleon entered the church, the twenty thousand spectators shouted, +"Long live the Emperor!" A cardinal gave holy water to Josephine; the +Cardinal, the Archbishop of Paris, presented it to Napoleon; and the two +prelates, after complimenting the Emperor and the Empress, conducted them +in a procession, under a canopy held by canons, to the smaller throne in +the middle of the choir. There they were to sit during the first part of +the ceremony, near the high altar, on a platform with four steps. As the +Emperor and the Empress entered the choir, the Pope came down from the +pontifical chair, and intoned the _Veni Creator_. The Emperor handed to +the Archchancellor his hand of justice; to the Archtreasurer, his sceptre; +to Prince Joseph, his crown; to Prince Louis, his sword; to the Grand +Chamberlain, his Imperial cloak; to Colonel General Eugene de Beauharnais, +his ring. The six objects formed what were called "the Emperor's +ornaments." They were placed on the altar by the representative +dignitaries, and were to be handed again to the Emperor by the Pope in the +course of the ceremony. The same was true of the "Empress's ornaments," +her ring, cloak, and crown, which, were placed on the altar; the ring, by +Marshal Sérurier; the cloak, by Marshal Moncey; the crown, by Marshal +Murat. Charlemagne's insignia, his crown, sceptre, and sword, remained +during the whole ceremony in the hands of Marshals Kellermann, Perignon, +and Lefebvre, who stood at the right of the small throne in the choir. + +As soon as the ornaments of the Emperor and Empress had been placed on the +altar, the Pope asked the Emperor in Latin if he promised to use every +effort to have law, justice, and peace rule in the church and among his +people; Napoleon touched the gospels with both hands, as it was held out +to him by the Grand Almoner, and answered _Profiteor_. Then the Pope, the +bishops, archbishops, and cardinals knelt before the altar and began the +litany. When they reached the three verses used only at coronations, the +Emperor and Empress also knelt. + +After the litany, the Grand Almoner, another cardinal, and two bishops +advanced towards the small throne, and bowed low before Napoleon and +Josephine, and conducted them to the foot of the altar to receive sacred +unction. The Emperor and Empress knelt on blue velvet cushions placed on +the first step of the altar. The Pope anointed Napoleon on the head and +his two hands, uttering the prayer of consecration: "Mighty and Eternal +God, who didst appoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu to be king +over Israel, making known thy wishes through the prophet Elijah; and who +didst pour holy oil of kings upon the head of Saul and of David, through +the prophet Samuel, send down through my hands, the treasures of thy grace +and of thy blessings upon thy servant Napoleon, whom, in spite of our +unworthiness, we consecrate to-day as Emperor, in thy name." + +Then the Pope anointed the Empress in the same way, reciting this prayer: +"May the Father of eternal glory be thy aid; and may the Omnipotent bless +thee; may he hear thy prayers, and give thee a long life, ever confirming +this blessing and maintaining it forever with all thy people; may he +confound thy enemies; may the sanctification of Christ and the anointing +of this oil ever aid thee, so that he who on earth has given thee his +blessing may give thee in heaven the happiness of the angels, and that +thou mayst be blessed and guarded for eternal life by Jesus Christ, our +Saviour, who lives and reigns forever and ever." + +The Emperor and Empress were then conducted to the small throne, that is +to say, to their two chairs; before each one was a praying-stand. Then +high mass began; it was said by the Pope; the music had been composed by +Paesiello, the Abbé Rose, and Lesueur. There were three hundred +performers, singers, and musicians; among the soloists were the great +singer Laïs, and two famous violinists, Kreutzer and Baillot. At the +_Gradual_ the mass was interrupted for the blessing of the ornaments which +the Emperor and Empress then put on. + +Napoleon, followed by the Archchancellor, the Archtreasurer, the Grand +Chamberlain, the Grand Equerry, and two chamberlains, and Josephine, +accompanied by her Lady of Honor, her Lady of the Bedchamber, her First +Chamberlain, and her First Equerry, advanced towards the altar, and +ascended the steps at the same time; the Sovereign Pontiff, with his back +to the altar, was sitting on a sort of folding-chair. He blessed the +Imperial ornaments, reciting a special prayer for each one. His Holiness +then handed them to the Emperor in the following order: first the ring, +which Napoleon placed on his finger; then the sword, which he put in its +scabbard; the cloak, which his chamberlains fastened on his shoulders, +then the hand of justice and the sceptre which he handed to the +Archchancellor and the Archtreasurer. + +The only ornament left to be given to the Emperor was the crown. It will +be remembered that there had been a long negotiation at Rome to ascertain +whether the Emperor would be crowned by the Pope or would crown himself. +The question was left uncertain, and Napoleon had said that he would +settle it himself at Notre Dame when the time came. Still Pius VII. was +convinced that he was going to place the crown on the sovereign's head. He +had just handed him the ring, the sword, the cloak, the hand of justice, +and the sceptre, and was preparing to do the same thing with the crown. +But the Emperor, who had ascended the last step of the altar, and was +following every motion of the Pope, grasped from his hands the sign of +sovereign power and proudly placed it on his own head. Pius VII., +outwitted and surprised, made no attempt at resistance. + +After thus crowning himself, Napoleon proceeded to crown the Empress. This +was the most solemn moment in Josephine's life; the moment which dispelled +all her incessant dread of divorce, the brilliant verification of her +fondest hopes, the completion of her triumph. Napoleon advanced with +emotion to this companion of his happiest days, to the woman who had +brought him happiness; she was kneeling before him, shedding tears of joy +and gratitude, with her hands clasped and trembling. He recalled all that +he owed her: his happiness, for, thanks to her, he had been blessed with a +requited love; his glory, for it was she who, in 1796, had secured for him +the command of the Army of Italy, the origin of all his triumphs. He must +have been glad at this moment that he had not followed his brother's +malicious suggestions and had not separated from his dear Josephine! The +affection of the young General Bonaparte revived in the heart of the +sovereign. He thought Josephine more gracious, more touching, more lovable +than ever, and it was with an outburst of happiness that he placed the +Imperial diadem on her charming and cherished head. + +The Emperor and Empress, once crowned, proceeded to the great throne, at +the entrance of the church, by the great door, being solemnly led there by +the Pope and the Cardinals. The Imperial procession then formed again in +the order in which it had come to Notre Dame, the Empress going before the +Emperor. At this moment the Princesses seemed to hesitate about carrying +the skirt of the Empress's cloak; Napoleon noticed this, and said a few +severe, firm words to his sisters, and all was smoothed. The procession +reached the foot of the great throne; the Emperor ascended the twenty-four +steps and sat down in full majesty, wearing his crown and Imperial cloak, +holding the hand of justice and the sceptre. At his right, on a seat like +his, but one step lower, the Empress placed herself. Another step lower, +sat the Princesses on simple seats. At the Emperor's left, two steps below +him, were the Princes and high dignitaries. On each side of the platform +the marshals, high officers, and ladies of the court took their places. +The sight was most impressive. The Pope in his turn ascended the twenty- +four steps, and thus commanding the whole Cathedral, extended his hands +over the Emperor and the Empress, and uttered these Latin words, the +formula used for taking the throne: "_In hoc solio confirmare vos Deus, et +in regno aeterno secum regnare faciat Christus!_"--"May God establish you +on your throne, and may Christ cause you to reign with him in his eternal +kingdom!" Then he kissed the Emperor on the cheek, and turning towards the +assembled multitude, said: "_Vivat Imperator in aeternum!_"--"May the +Emperor live forever!" This was what had been said ten centuries before at +Saint Peter's in Rome when the ruler of the same people, Charlemagne, had +been proclaimed Emperor of the West. + +Applause broke forth and three hundred musicians intoned the _Vivat +Imperator_, a hymn composed by the Abbé Rose. The pontifical procession +and the Imperial procession returned to the choir; the Emperor and Empress +resumed their places on the chairs, and the Pope began, the _Te Deum_. +After this, which was sung by four choirs and two orchestras, the mass, +which had been interrupted by the ceremony with the ornaments and the +taking possession of the throne, went on. At the offertory, Napoleon and +Josephine, followed by the two Princes and the five Princesses, went to +lay their offerings before the Pope; these consisted of a silver-gilt +vase, a lump of gold, a lump of silver, and a candle about which were +inlaid thirteen pieces of money. At the elevation Prince Joseph removed +the Emperor's crown, and Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, that +of the Empress. Napoleon and Josephine knelt before the Host, and when +they rose, put their crowns on again. + +When mass was over, the Emperor took the political oath prescribed by the +constitution, which had aroused much opposition in Rome. The presidents of +the great bodies of the state brought him the formula, and with one hand +held over the gospels, the Emperor swore to maintain, the principles of +the Revolution, to preserve the integrity of the territory, and to rule +with an eye to the interest, happiness, and glory of the French people. +The First Herald-at-Arms then called forth in a loud voice: "The most +glorious and most august Emperor Napoleon, Emperor of the French, is +crowned and enthroned: Long live the Emperor!" That was the end of the +ceremony. Salvos of artillery mingled with the applause. + +The solemnity had been most successful, and Napoleon could say with truth +to his brother Joseph: "For me it is a battle won; by my art and the +measures I took, I have succeeded beyond my expectations." Had he not +prophesied accurately when he said to his secretary at the signing of the +Concordat: "Bourrienne, you will see what use I shall make of the +priests!" The golden chasubles had made a brilliant spectacle by the side +of the uniforms; the crosses and the tiara by the side of the swords and +the sceptre. Napoleon, always a master of theatrical effect, had known how +to lend antiquity to his newborn glory by borrowing from the past all its +majesty and pomp, and by skilfully decking himself with what was most +brilliant in the chronicles of remote centuries. From Charlemagne he took +his insignia; from Caesar his golden laurel. The head of a nation that had +grown great by the cross and the sword, he desired to make his coronation +the festival of the church and of the army. + +The Imperial and the pontifical processions returned to the Archbishop's +Palace, and half an hour later proceeded to the Tuileries, through the New +Market, the Place du Châtelet, the rue Saint Denis, the boulevards, the +rue and the Place de la Concorde, the Pont Tournant, and the grand roadway +of the castle. Night had fallen; the houses were illuminated. Five hundred +torches cast their light on the two processions, and by their imposing and +strange brilliancy, the crowd gazed with interest on the new Charlemagne +and the Vicar of Christ. + +Napoleon and Josephine re-entered the Tuileries at half past six; the Pope +at about seven. The Emperor, who was somewhat tired by all this ceremony, +gladly resumed his modest uniform of Colonel of the Chasseurs of the +Guard. He dined alone with Josephine, asking her to keep on her head the +becoming diadem which she wore so gracefully. That evening he chatted +pleasantly with the ladies-in-waiting, and praised the rich dresses they +had worn in such splendor at Notre Dame; he said to them, laughing: "It's +I who deserve the credit for your charming appearance." Then they looked +out of the windows on the illuminated garden, the large flower-garden +surrounded with porches covered with lights, the long alley adorned with +shining colonnades, on the terraces of orange-trees all aglow, with a +number of glasses of various colors on every tree, and finally on the +Place de la Concorde, one blazing star. It was like a sea of flame. + +It was the painter who had been a member of the Convention, the +_montagnard_, the regicide who had insulted Louis XVI., who had painted +the apotheosis of Marat, and with a malicious hand had drawn the features +of Marie Antoinette on her way to the scaffold; it was this artist, this +fierce demagogue, the ardent Revolutionist, who was commissioned with +painting the official representation of the coronation. He carried his +gallantry so far as to choose for his subject, not the moment when +Napoleon crowned himself, but that of the coronation of the Empress; and +when a critic accused him of making Josephine too young, he said: "Go and +say that to her!" When the picture was finished, the Emperor and the court +went to see it in the artist's studio. Napoleon walked up and down for +half an hour, bareheaded, before the canvas, which is about twenty feet +high, about thirty long, and contains one hundred portraits. (It is now at +Versailles in the Hall of the Guards, at the top of the marble staircase.) +The Emperor examined it with the closest attention, while David and all +who were present maintained a respectful silence. This long waiting made +the artist very anxious. At last Napoleon turned towards him and said: +"It's good, David, very good. You have divined all my thought; you have +made me a French knight. I thank you for transmitting to ages to come the +proof of affection I wanted to give to her who shares with me the pains of +government." Then taking two steps towards the artist, he raised his hat +and said, in a loud voice: "David, I salute you." + +Sometimes at Notre Dame in Holy Week, at evening service, when the +Cathedral is lit up as at the coronation, I recall the various ceremonies +of this church: the royal baptisms and marriages there celebrated; the +banners hung from its roof; the _Te Deums_ and _De Profundis_ so often +sung there; Bossuet uttering the funeral oration of the Prince of Condé; +the shameless goddess of Reason profaning the sanctuary. I close my eyes +in meditation, and seem to be present at the coronation, to see Pius VII. +on his pontifical throne, and, before the altar, Napoleon crowning +Josephine with his own hands, I hear the echo of distant litanies, of the +trumpets, of the organ, and of the applause. Then I think of the +nothingness of all human glory and grandeur. Of all the illustrious +persons who have knelt in this old basilica, what is left? Scarcely a few +handfuls of dust. I open my eyes. The days are silent; the crowd has +quietly withdrawn. The lights are out, and at the end of the church, in +the shadow, like a timid star in a cloudy day, burns a solitary lamp. + + + + +VI. + +THE DISTRIBUTION OF FLAGS. + + +The coronation was the signal for a succession of festivities. Napoleon +was anxious that all classes of society should take part in the +rejoicings; that commerce should be benefited; that luxury should do +wonders; and that Paris should take the position of the first city in the +world, the capital of capitals. The day after the coronation was to be the +popular holiday, and the day when the flags were distributed was to be the +festival of the army. Monday, December 3, booths were open on every side +for the entertainment of the crowd. Adulation assumed every guise, even +the humblest; and every form of language, even that of the markets, was +employed to flatter the new sovereign. There was sung, "The joyous round +on the lottery of thirteen thousand fowls, with an accompaniment of +fountains of wine." It was a description of the food distributed to the +poor people of Paris. This song was sung in every street and place, as the +_Ça ira_ was sung in '93. + +The compliment of the marketmen and of their ladies ran thus: "I have +reasoned it out with my wife that a house a thousand times as large as +Notre Dame would not be able to hold all those who have reason to bless +you." In the way of incense, nothing was too gross for the sovereign. One +district said of Napoleon:-- + + "He received for us when God formed him, + The arm of Romulus, the mind of Numa." + +The Empress too was praised:-- + + "Spouse of the hero whom the universe regards, + The Graces accompany you to the temple, + Every one sees in your face the bounty + Of which you distribute the gifts." + +In allusion to her love of flowers this quatrain was composed:-- + + "Josephiniana! this is the new flower + Whose beauty catches my eye. + To join the laurels of Caesar + Nothing less is needed than an immortal flower." + +The Emperor was sung, too, in mythological language, for his flatterers +tried to exhaust all sorts of adulation. On Coronation Day the Prefect of +Police had distributed a poem entitled _The Crown of Napoleon brought from +Olympus command of Jupiter_:-- + + "Mounting one of the coursers of the proud Bellona, + Mercury brings a crown from Olympus; + The king of the gods sends it to the hero of the French + As the reward of his success. + Ye whom he guided a hundred times in the fields of glory, + Phalanx of warriors, children of victory, + Braving the impotent fury of the English, + Sing Napoleon, sing your Emperor." + +December 3 the public rejoicings organized by the government extended from +the Place de la Concorde to the Arsenal. Heralds-at-arms walked through +the city, distributing medals struck to commemorate the coronation. These +medals bore on one side the head of the Emperor, his brow wearing the +crown of the Caesars; on the other, the image of a magistrate, and of an +ancient warrior, supporting on a buckler a crowned hero, wearing an +Imperial mantle. Beneath was the inscription: "The Senate and the People." + +As soon as the heralds-at-arms had passed by, the merry-making began, +continuing till late in the night. There was a distribution of food, as +well as sports of all kinds, reminding one of the times of the Roman +Emperors: _panem et circenses_. On the Place de la Concorde had been built +four large wooden halls for public balls. The cold was severe; there was a +hard frost, but this did not check the universal enjoyment. On the +boulevards there were at every step puppet shows, wandering singers, rope +dancers, greased poles, bands of music. From the Place de la Concorde to +the end of the boulevard Saint Antoine sparkled a double row of colored +lights arrayed like garlands. The Garde Meuble and the Palace of the +Legislative Body were ablaze with lights. The arches of Saint Denis and of +Saint Martin were all covered with lights; the crowd was enraptured with +the fireworks, which had never been so fine. + +The people of Paris had been invited to illuminate the fronts of their +houses, and moved either by enthusiasm or self-interest, they had spent +large sums for this purpose. Among the notable illuminations was that of +the engineer Chevalier, on the Pont Neuf. There was a transparency in +which, amid encircling laurels and myrtles, was to be seen an optician +turning his glass up to the sky towards a bright star, around which was +this inscription: "_In hoc signo salus_!"--"In this sign is safety!" + +December 3 was the first day of the coronation festivities. The third day +was devoted to what the _Moniteur_ called, "arms, valor, fidelity." This +was the day when Napoleon formally presented to the army and to the +National Guard of the Empire the eagles, "which they were always to find +on the field of honor." This ceremony took place on the Champ de Mars. To +quote once more from the _Moniteur_: "This vast field, crowded with +deputations representing France and the army, bore the aspect of a brave +family assembled under the eyes of its chief." The main front of the +Military School had been decorated with a huge gallery, with several tents +as high as the apartments on the first floor. The middle one, resting on +four columns which supported winged victories, covered the thrones of the +Emperor and the Empress. The Princes, the high dignitaries, the ministers, +the marshals of the Empire, the high officers of the crown, the civil +officers, the ladies of the court, were to take their places at the right +of the throne. The gallery, in the middle of which was the Imperial tent, +was in front of the Military School, and was divided into sixteen parts, +eight on each side, representing the sixteen cohorts of the Legion of +Honor. A broad staircase led from this gallery to the Champ de Mars; the +first step was for the presidents of cantons, the prefects, sub-prefects, +and the members of the municipal councils. On the other steps, there +stationed themselves colonels of regiments and presidents of the electoral +colleges of the departments, holding flags surmounted with eagles. On each +side of the staircase were colossal figures of France, one at war, the +other at peace. Twenty-five thousand soldiers, in faultless trim, had been +under arms since six in the morning. + +Unfortunately, the weather was terrible; a thaw had begun and it was +raining in torrents. The Champ de Mars was a sea of mud. The courtiers +who, on the 2d of December, had so belauded the sun, representing it as a +sharer in the festival, a docile slave of the Emperor, were obliged to +acknowledge that it was raining. Madame de Rémusat made a very true remark +about this; she said with truth that one of the commonest, though one of +the absurdest, flatteries of every time, was that of pretending that a +sovereign's need of fine weather was sure to bring it. "At the Tuileries," +she said, "I noticed the opinion that the Emperor needed only to appoint a +review or a hunt for a certain day, and that day would be pleasant. +Whenever that happened, a great deal was said about it, while silence was +kept about rainy or foggy weather. This is exactly what used to happen +under Louis XIV. For the honor of sovereigns I should prefer that they +accepted this childish flattery with indifference or disgust, and that no +one would think of offering it. It was impossible to deny that it rained +during the distribution of the eagles at the Champ de Mars; but how many +people I met the next day, who assured me that the rain had not wet them!" + +In spite of the bad weather, an enormous crowd lined the road through +which the Imperial procession was to pass. The terraces of the Tuileries, +the Place de la Concorde, the _quais_ were thronged. Numberless spectators +covered the slopes of the Champ de Mars. The ever obsequious _Moniteur_, +in its official account of the ceremony, said; "If the spectators were +uncomfortable, there was not one who was not consoled by the feeling that +held him there, and by the expression of his wishes which the applause +made very clear." + +At noon the Emperor and the Empress, followed by their suite, left the +Tuileries in the order observed at the coronation, passed down the broad +road, over the Pont Tournant, through the Place de la Concorde, to the +Champ de Mars. Before their carriage rode the Chasseurs of the Guard and a +squadron of Mamelukes; behind it came the mounted grenadiers and the +chosen Legion. On reaching the Military School, Napoleon and Josephine +received the compliments of the Diplomatic Body; then they put on their +coronation robes, and took their place in the gallery in front of the +building. As soon as the Emperor had seated himself on the throne, cannon +were fired, drums beat, bands played. The deputations from the army, who +were assembled in the Champ de Mars, formed in close columns and came +forward. Then Napoleon arose and said in a loud voice: "Soldiers! These +are your flags; these eagles will always be your rallying point; they will +be wherever your Emperor may think necessary for the defence of his throne +and of his people. You will swear to offer your life in their defence, and +by your courage to keep them always on the path to victory. You swear it?" +Officers and men replied: "We swear it!" + +Alas! these flags were to be always on the path of honor, but not always +on the path of victory, for victory is a female goddess and a fickle one. +Against how many enemies these flags were to be defended, beneath +scorching suns, under avalanches of ice and snow! What heroism, what +miracles of bravery, were to be witnessed by these standards on many a +battle-field! What fatigue, what suffering, what sacrifices, dangers, +wounds, how many glorious deaths, what seas of blood, to come at last to +the most lamentable disasters I Had the future been seen, those drums +would have been draped in black. But the army imagined itself invincible. +The thought of defeat would have called forth a smile of pity. Proud of +itself, of its commander, it shouted with joy and pride as it passed +before the throne. + +A single incident disturbed this martial ceremony. Suddenly an unknown +young man approached the Imperial gallery, and shouted: "Down with the +Emperor! Liberty or death!" This ardent Republican was at once arrested. +His voice had been lost in the music and clatter of arms. + +The rain continued, and soon soaked through the canvas and stuffs +sheltering the throne, The Empress was obliged to leave, with her +daughter, who had recently given birth to a child. The other Princesses +followed this example, with the exception of Madame Murat, who, although +lightly clad, remained exposed to the showers. She said that she was +learning how to endure the inevitable discomforts of the highest rank. + +At five o'clock Napoleon and Josephine were once more at the Tuileries +where a state dinner was given in the Gallery of Diana. In the middle of +this gallery the table of the Emperor and the Empress was placed beneath a +magnificent canopy, on a platform. The Empress sat there with the Emperor +on the right and the Pope on her left. The high officers of the crown, as +well as a colonel-general of the Guard and a prefect of the palace, +remained standing near the Imperial table. + +Pages waited on the tables. The Archchancellor of the German Empire took +his place at that of the Emperor. In the same gallery were set other +tables for the French Princes and for the hereditary Prince of Baden, for +the ministers, for the ladies and officers of the Imperial household. +After the dinner was a concert, at which the Pope consented to be present. +When that was over Pius VII. withdrew, and the evening ended with a ballet +danced by the dancers of the opera in the great hall called since the +Empire the Hall of the Marshals. + + + + +VII. + +THE FESTIVITIES. + + +The winter of 1804-5 was very brilliant. Napoleon was anxious to give the +beginning of his reign an air of splendor. He allowed his officials +generous salaries, but he insisted on their spending all they received in +sumptuous living, in entertaining freely, and receiving distinguished +foreigners. Luxury became compulsory, and trade flourished beyond all +expectations. Paris had never, even in the grandest days of the old +monarchy, known greater social animation. This martial generation, +accustomed to desire a short but merry life, aware that the festivities of +day would be interrupted by the battles of the next, were as eager in the +ball-room as on the battlefield. They hastened to enjoy their present +prosperity as if they foresaw the disasters to come. French gallantry, +which had been forgotten during the Revolution, resumed its sway. The +women were like the fair mistresses of castles in the Middle Ages who gave +their hearts to the bravest knights. Love and glory both became the +fashion. The former Lady of the Bedchamber to Marie Antoinette, Madame +Campan, who taught most of the young women of the court in her school at +Saint Germain, had formed a group of beauties, trained in aristocratic +manners, at the head of whom was her ablest, most intelligent pupil, +Hortense de Beauharnais, who had been married to Prince Louis Bonaparte. +The Grand Chamberlain, M. de Talleyrand, a poor bishop but an excellent +specimen of a grand lord, and the Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Ségur, +whose success as ambassador of Louis XVI. at the court of Catherine was +very great, set the tone in the households of the Emperor and the Empress. + +Napoleon set an example of luxury and elegance. Grand dinners, concerts, +official entertainments succeeded one another with startling rapidity. +Josephine, who was wildly fond of dress, was glad of an excuse to indulge +her extravagant tastes. The Emperor's three sisters lived like real +princesses, rivalling one another in magnificence. Princes Joseph and +Louis displayed the pomp of future kings. + +Almost all the women of the court were young and pretty. It would have +been hard to confer on any one, to the exclusion of the rest, the palm of +beauty. There were three who were especially distinguished: Madame Maret +(later the Duchess of Bassano); Madame Savary (later the Duchess of +Rovigo); and Madame de Canisy (later the Duchess of Vicenza). The last +named had married M. de Canisy, the Emperor's equerry. Later, she got a +divorce and married M. de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza and Grand Equerry. + +At Saint Helena Napoleon thus recounted the origin of this famous beauty: +"Madame de Loméne, the Cardinal's niece, before being put to death in the +Revolution, entrusted to Father Patrault her two young daughters. When the +terror was over, Madame de Brienne, their aunt, who had weathered the +storm and still possessed a large fortune, demanded them of Father +Patrault, who refused to give them up for a long time, on the ground that +their mother had urged him to bring them up as peasants." And Napoleon +went on: "I was then General of the Army of the Interior; and was able to +secure the return of the two children, though with some difficulty, for +Patrault resisted in every way in his power. They were the women whom you +afterwards knew as Madame de Marnésia, and as the beautiful Madame de +Canisy." + +The Duchess of Abrantès, in recalling the brilliant winter of 1804-5, +says, in her Memoirs: "One especially impressive beauty, particularly in +the ball-room, was Madame de Canisy, I have often compared her to a muse. +It would be impossible for a single face to present a fuller combination +of charms than hers: she possessed regular features, a delightful +expression, an attractive smile; her hair was silky and glossy. Seldom +have I seen anything more charming than Madames de Canisy, Maret, and +Savary in entering a ball-room together," + +There was no lack of entertainments at which these beauties shone. The one +given at the Hotel de Ville, December 16, 1804, to the Emperor and the +Empress, was so costly that it kept the city of Paris for many years in +debt. Napoleon, Josephine, Princes Joseph and Louis drove to it in the +coronation coach. Batteries of artillery, stationed on the Pont Neuf, +announced the moment of their arrival, while tables covered with poultry, +and fountains of wine, attracted an enormous crowd to the place; almost +every one had a share in this distribution of food, thanks to the +precautions taken by the authorities of delivering it only to those who +presented a ticket. The front of the Hotel de Ville was illuminated with +colored lanterns. When the Empress entered the apartments reserved for +her, she found there a complete and magnificent gold toilet-service: it +was a present from the City Council. The President of the Council thus +addressed her: "Madame: How could the Parisians, who are so capable of +distinguishing what is good, delicate, and noble, let slip this +opportunity of paying their homage to the profound tenderness, the +touching grace, the true dignity that characterize Your Majesty? The happy +influence of these rare qualities already makes itself felt in all classes +of society, and while your august spouse elevates France in glory, you +inspire it to resume the first rank among the races most renowned for +urbanity." The hall in which the Imperial banquet was to be given was +called the Hall of Victories. On the door was the inscription _Fasti +Napoleoni_, and at intervals, separated by military trophies and +standards, were Latin inscriptions in honor of Napoleon. Before dinner he +was presented with a table-service of silver-gilt by the city of Paris. +Then he took his seat, with the Empress, on a platform beneath a canopy, +and the meal began. During dinner, a band, hidden behind green foliage, +played a symphony of Haydn's, and then was sung a cantata full of flattery +for the Emperor and the Empress. + +After the dinner there were magnificent fireworks. As the first rockets +rose, a second cantata was sung. One of the pieces of fireworks +represented a man-of-war with eighty guns: its decks, masts, sails, and +rigging were represented by glowing lights. Another, which the Emperor +himself set off, represented Mount Saint Bernard sending forth a volcanic +eruption from snow-covered rocks. In the centre appeared the image of +Napoleon at the head of his army, riding up the steep slope of the +mountain. + +This entertainment, which closed with a ball at which seven hundred +persons were present, was a real apotheosis. Madame de Rémusat, speaking +of the extravagant adulation devised for this occasion, says: "A great +deal has been said about the fulsome flatteries of Louis XIV. during his +reign; I am sure that altogether they would not amount to a tenth part of +those that Bonaparte received. I remember that at another festivity given +by the city to the Emperor a few years later, since all inscription had +been exhausted, there were placed above the throne on which he was to sit, +these words from Scripture, in gold letters: _Ego sum qui sum_,--and no +one was shocked." + +The Senate and the Legislative Body also gave grand entertainments in +honor of the coronation. That of the Legislative Body was particularly +brilliant. This assembly, which rivalled the Senate in obsequiousness, had +decided that a marble statue should be raised to the Emperor in the room +where it sat, in honor of the drawing up of the civil code. The day when +this statue was to be inaugurated was chosen for the festivity. The +Empress, followed by a magnificent suite, reached the Palace of the +Legislative Body at about seven in the evening. As she entered, musicians +intoned Glück's famous chorus, which used to be sung on formal occasions +in the reign of Louis XVI., in honor of Marie Antoinette:-- + + "What charms! What majesty!" + +Unanimous applause emphasized the allusions. Then on the President's +invitation, Marshals Murat and Masséna raised the veils that covered the +statue, and all eyes beheld the figure of Napoleon, wearing on his brow a +laurel wreath, in which were mingled oak and olive leaves. Later, at the +time of his abdication at Fontainebleau, Napoleon expressed a regret that +he had permitted his statue to be made during his lifetime. + +Then M. de Vaublanc ascended the tribune, and made a speech full of +extravagant praise; it ended thus: "You live, all of you, threatened by +the perils of the times; you live, and you owe your life to him whose +statue you behold. You return unfortunate exiles; you breathe once more +the delicious air of your own country; you embrace your fathers, your +children, your wives, your friends; all this you owe to him whose statue +you behold. There is no longer any question of his glory; I say nothing +about it; I invoke humanity on one side, gratitude on the other; I ask you +to whom you are indebted for this great, extraordinary, unexpected good +fortune. You all answer with me, It is to the great man whose statue you +behold." Throughout the whole speech, a perfect masterpiece of official +composition, adulation came in like a chorus. The President in his turn +uttered a similar eulogy: "Very few at the time," says Constant, who +describes this occasion, "found this praise extravagant; possibly their +opinions have changed since then." + +After the speeches, dinner was served to three hundred guests, followed by +a magnificent ball. Though, in the middle of the winter, there was a great +show of shrubs and flowers. The Halls of Lucretia and of the Reunion, in +which there was dancing, were like one large bed of roses, laurels, +lilacs, jonquils, lilies, and jasmine. + +Perhaps the finest of all the entertainments was that given to the Emperor +and Empress by the marshals of the Empire in the Opera House. It cost +each, marshal ten thousand francs. The Opera House at that time was in the +rue de Richelieu, where it had been since 1794. (It was the one torn down +during the Restoration, on account of the murder of the Duke of Berry, who +was killed on the threshold.) By means of a floor placed level with the +stage over the orchestra and the pit, there was made a magnificent ball- +room. Twenty-four chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and candelabra were +set on each side of every box. The decorations consisted of silver gauze, +and wreaths of flowers. The uniforms of the men and the dresses of the +women were almost equally magnificent. The eyes of the spectators were +dazzled by dresses trimmed with precious stones. Never had there been seen +such profusion of light, flowers, perfumes, and diamonds. In this magical +setting, fashionable beauties, with their dresses worked with silver and +gold foil, their turbans of Eastern stuffs, their jewels and ancient +cameos, appeared like sultanas. It was a most sumptuous and fairy-like +show. + +The marshals arrived at eight in the evening, the Empress at ten, the +Emperor at eleven; as he entered the ball-room, the applause was so +violent that it was feared that the candles would be put out. A military +march was played, and then there was a concert, closing with the Abbé +Rose's _Vivat Imperator_, which had made such an impression on the +Coronation Day. After the concert, Prince Louis Bonaparte, Marshal Murat, +Eugene de Beauharnais, and Marshal Berthier opened the ball with the +Princesses. The Emperor walked twice around the hall, as if he were +reviewing troops. Then he sat down by the side of the Empress on a raised +platform, and withdrew before the end of the ball. + +Besides all these entertainments there were the grand levees and concerts +at the Tuileries. The Hall of the Marshals was an impressive sight on +those evenings, filled, as it was, with young and pretty women, in +gorgeous dresses, and with men resplendent with stars, epaulettes, +feathered hats, and sword-belts set with diamonds. After the concert the +company would go to the Gallery of Diana, where the supper-tables were +set: that of the Empress, those of the Princesses, of the Lady of Honor, +of the Lady of the Bedchamber, of the Ladles of the Palace. "All these +tables," says the Duchess of Abrantès, "were occupied by women with roses +on their heads, and smiles on their lips, and often with tears in their +eyes; for vanity, everywhere triumphant, holds its court especially at +court. There, favor is everything, disgrace is everything. A chance word +or glance of the Emperor or Empress is a blow and a serious one. What, +then, must be the result of an invitation sent or withheld?" + +During the concert the Empress made up the supper-table; that is to say, +chose the women who were to sit at her table, commissioning her +chamberlain to notify those she had selected. The Princesses did the same, +and the officers of their households likewise informed the women whom they +had chosen. There were but twelve places at the Empress's table; eight or +ten at those of the Princesses. When the chamberlains came to bring these +most welcome invitations, there fluttered through the eight hundred or +thousand women present at the concerts and grand levees an anxious emotion +which amused observers. The aspect of the Gallery of Diana was most +impressive. On the Empress's table shone a golden service amid glass and +Sèvres ware. During the supper the men strolled up and down the gallery, +but as soon as the Emperor appeared, awe and fear appeared on every face. +It seemed as if the times of Louis XIV. had returned, of which La Bruyère +said: "Nothing so disfigures certain courtiers as the presence of their +Prince; I can sometimes scarcely recognize them, so altered are their +features, so degraded their faces. The proud and haughty ones are the most +disturbed, for they change the most; and the upright and modest man comes +out best; he has nothing to change." The Duchess of Abrantès, recalling +the intimidation caused by Napoleon's approach, wrote: "Even those who +nowadays talk about the Corsican with a great show of scorn, those very +ones (I have seen them, and I am not the only one,) were the most timid +before the very shadow of his hat." The women trembled even more. They +dreaded the questions the Emperor might put to them, and, according to +Madame de Rémusat, there was not one who would not gladly have been +anywhere else. During the First Empire, everything, even the festivities, +wore a military air. The sovereign always had the air of a commanding +general. Discipline prevailed, at a ball as well as in a camp, and the +young men took part in those pleasures only to return with renewed zeal +and courage to the battle-field. + + + + +VIII. + +THE ETIQUETTE OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE. + + +By the beginning of 1805 the court was definitely formed. After laborious +studies on the part of a special commission, and long discussions in which +Napoleon took as interested a part as he did in the preparation of the +civil code, all the wheels of etiquette had been arranged, and the +machinery worked with perfect regularity. The Emperor attached great +importance to the subject, from both a political and a social point of +view. In his eyes, etiquette had the great advantage of drawing between +him and those who had recently been his superiors, a distinct line of +separation. He looked upon it as a useful tool of government, as an +accompaniment of glory absolutely essential for a sovereign, especially +for one of recent origin. He was very proud of his court, of the wealth it +displayed, and of the vast results he obtained at a comparatively small +expense, and at Saint Helena he liked to recall its agreeable memory. + +"The Emperor's court," we read in the _Memorial_, "was in every respect +much more magnificent than anything that had been seen up to that time, +and cost infinitely less. The suppression of abuses, order and regularity +in the accounts, made the great difference. His hunting, with the +exception of a few useless or absurd particulars, such as the use of +falcons, was as splendid and as crowded as that of Louis XIV., and it cost +only four hundred thousand francs a year, while the King's cost seven +millions. It was the same way with the table; Duroc's order and severity +wrought wonders. Under the kings, the palaces were not permanently +furnished; the same furniture was transported from one palace to another; +there were no accommodations for the people of the court; every one had to +provide for himself. Under him, however, there was no one in attendance, +who, in the room allotted him, was not as comfortable as at home, or even +more comfortable, so far as what was essential and proper was concerned." + +The court moved as smoothly as a well-drilled regiment. Napoleon would +have shown no mercy to the slightest disregard of the rules he had himself +drawn up after long meditation. The courtiers were expected to be as +familiar with the code of etiquette as were the officers with the manual +of arms. The Emperor noticed the minutest details, busied himself with +everything, saw everything. There had been much more latitude at court +under the old monarchy, and those of the old régime who entered the +Emperor's court were soon wearied by the inflexible severity of its +discipline. The court, moreover, was very splendid. The Faubourg Saint +Germain brought to it its politeness and conversational charm. For his +part, Napoleon speedily assumed the manners of a European sovereign, while +preserving his martial character. He was at the same time Emperor and +commander-in-chief. Yet the military element did not control his court; +the civil element was more powerful there than in other European courts, +the Russian, for example. Napoleon would never have suffered in his +presence the faintest sign of the familiarity of the camp; every one who +crossed the threshold of the Tuileries was compelled to preserve the +manners, the bearing, the language of a courtier. + +The levees and couchees of the sovereign were restored as in the time of +the Bourbons; though under the monarchy they were real things, and a mere +imitation under the Empire. These moments were not devoted to the petty +details of toilette, but rather to receiving, morning and evening, those +members of the civil and military household who had to receive his direct +orders or enjoyed the right of "paying their court at these privileged +hours." At Saint Helena, Napoleon boasted that at the Tuileries he had +suppressed in the matter of etiquette "all that was real and commonplace, +and had substituted what was merely nominal and decorative." "A king," he +said, "is not a natural product; he is a result of civilization. He does +not exist nakedly, but only when dressed." + +Let us try to retrace the lines of etiquette as they existed in 1805, at +the same time indicating the principal members of the Emperor's household +and the nature of their duties. There were many separate duties, each +under the control of a high officer of the Crown, with their provinces +carefully defined and sedulously distinguished from one another. There +were six high officers of the Crown; the Grand Almoner (Cardinal Fesch); +the Grand Marshal of the Palace (General Duroc); the Grand Equerry +(General de Caulaincourt); the Grand Chamberlain (M. de Talleyrand); the +Grand Master of Ceremonies (M. de Ségur). + +The colonels-general were: Marshal Davout, commanding the foot grenadiers; +Marshal Soult, commanding the chasseurs-à-pieds; Marshal Bessières, +commanding the cavalry; Marshal Mortier, commanding the artillery and +sailors. These colonels-general of the Imperial Guard formed part of the +Emperor's household, and enjoyed the prerogatives as the high officers of +the Crown. + +The Grand Almoner was the bishop of the court, wherever that might be. He +gave the Emperor and his court a dispensation from fasting. He accompanied +him to church ceremonies and gave him his prayer-book. At grand dinners he +said grace. He set free the prisoners whom the Emperor pardoned on certain +holy days. + +The Grand Marshal of the palace had charge of the military command in the +Imperial residences; of their maintenance, decoration, and furnishing; of +the assignment of rooms, the supply of food, the heating, lights, silver, +and livery. He commanded the detachments of the Imperial Guard on duty in +the Imperial palaces. He gave orders to beat the reveillé and the tattoo, +to open and shut the palace gates. When the Emperor was with the army, or +travelling, he had to find him quarters. In 1805 the Grand Marshal's +budget amounted to 2,338,167 francs. In 1806 it reached the sum of +2,770,841 francs. There were four tables in the palace,--that of the +officers and ladies-in-waiting, that of the officers of the guard and the +pages, that of the ladies who read to the Empress and introduced visitors. + +The Grand Marshal had under his orders the prefects of the palace: M. de +Luçay, M. de Bausset, and M. de Saint Didier. They had charge of the +provisions, lighting, heating, the silver, and the liveries. They +inspected the kitchens, pantries, cellars, and linen-closet to see that +everything was in order. There was always one prefect of the palace on +duty for a week at a time. He also carried word to the Emperor and the +Empress when a meal was ready, conducted them to the table, and back to +their rooms afterwards. + +The Grand Marshal had also under his orders the governor of the palaces +and the marshals; these last were charged with choosing apartments for the +Emperor and the Empress, and quarters for their suite in the Imperial +residences and on journeys. They had for assistants the quartermasters of +the palace. + +The Master of the Hounds had charge of all the coursing and hunting in the +woods and forests belonging to the Crown. + +The Grand Equerry looked after the stables, the pages, the couriers, and +the Emperor's arms; he also had the supervision of the horses at Saint +Cloud. He walked just before the Emperor when he came forth from his rooms +to ride, gave him his whip, held his reins and the left stirrup. He was +responsible for the good condition of the carriages, the intelligence and +skill of the huntsmen, coachman, and the postilions, the safety and the +training of the horses. In a procession, or on a journey, he was in the +carriage just before the Emperor's. He accompanied the Emperor to the +army, if the sovereign's horse was killed or disabled, it was his duty to +pick the Emperor up and to offer him his own horse. + +The Grand Equerry had four equerries under his orders: Colonels Durosnel, +Defrance, Lefebvre, Vatier, and two equerries in ordinary, M. de Canisy +and M. de Villoutrey. An equerry on duty always accompanied the Emperor, +whether he was driving or riding. If the Emperor drove, the equerry on +duty rode by the right-hand door of the carriage, unless the colonel- +general on duty happened to be on horseback, in which case the equerry +rode on the other side. The equerry on duty walked before the Emperor when +he left or returned to his apartment; he never left the waiting-room +during the day, and slept in the palace. + +The pages, whose governor was General Gardane, were also under the orders +of the Grand Equerry. They were appointed when between fourteen and +sixteen, and held the position until they were eighteen. At grand dinners +and in the apartments of honor, they waited on the Emperor and Empress, +and on the Princes and Princesses. When the Emperor rode out, one followed +on horseback; if he drove, the page got up behind the carriage. When the +sovereign went forth in his state-coach, as many pages as possible +clambered up behind it and upon the box by the side of the coachman. At +receptions, and on days when mass was said, there were eight pages on +duty. They stood in a row when the Emperor returned to his apartment, and +walked before him when he left it. If the Emperor had not returned to the +palace by nightfall, the pages would wait at the entrance-door to walk +before him, carrying lights. The pages, too, served as messengers, and +when they carried letters of the Emperor, the doors were thrown wide open +before them. + +The impression produced by the pages, when they were first on duty at the +Tuileries in 1804, is thus described by a contemporary: "They have been +much noticed, especially in the evening, by the ladies. The fact is, they +are all good-looking boys, particularly the oldest; they have good figures +and wear a new and becoming uniform, and since they are in the service of +a severe master, and of a most kind and indulgent mistress, they have to +be very attentive and considerate. Their full dress differs from livery +only by the lace of their coat which imitates embroidery, by the knot on +their left shoulder, and by the lace frill above their waistcoat, Besides, +in full dress they wear, like footmen, a green coat with all the seams +laced with gold, gold shoe-buckles, a hat with a white feather, but they +have no sword. Perhaps this is well, for they would be playing with it. +They have all been chosen among the sons of generals of divisions and of +high dignitaries of the Empire." + +At Saint Helena Napoleon said, speaking of the pages and the Imperial +stables: "The Emperor's stables cost him three million francs; the horses +cost three thousand francs apiece per year. A page, from six to eight +thousand francs; this last was perhaps the heaviest expense of the palace; +but there was every reason to be satisfied with the education they +received, and with the care taken with them. All the first families of the +Empire sought to get the places for their sons; and they were right." + +The Grand Chamberlain had charge of all the honors of the palace, the +regular audiences, the oaths taken in the Emperor's study, the admissions, +the levees and couchees, the festivities, receptions, theatrical +performances, the music, the boxes of the Emperor and Empress at the +different theatres, the Emperor's wardrobe, his library; he also looked +after the ushers and valets de chambre. + +The Grand Chamberlain had under his orders (this refers to 1805), a First +Chamberlain, M. de Rémusat, and thirteen chamberlains: MM. d'Arberg, A. de +Talleyrand, de Laturbie, de Brigode, de Viry, de Thiard, Garnier de +Lariboisière, d'Hédouville, de Croy, de Mercy-Argenteau, de Zuidwyck, de +Tournon, de Bondy. In the Imperial Almanack of 1805, these men are not +named with their titles, even the _de_ is in all cases omitted or joined +with the name, thus: M. Rémusat, M. Darberg, A. Talleyrand, Laturbie, +Tournon, Dethiard, Deviry, Hédouville, etc., etc. + +The chamberlain on duty was called the chamberlain of the day. At the +palace there were always two chamberlains of the day, one for the grand +apartment, the other for the Emperor's apartment of honor. They were +relieved every week. The principal duties of the chamberlains were to have +charge of introductions to the Emperor, to give orders to the ushers and +valets de chambre, to see that the orders about the receptions were +carried out, and to attend upon the sovereign's levees and couchees. + +Either a chamberlain or one of the Emperor's aides-de-camp served as +Master of the Wardrobe. He had charge of the clothes, the linen, the lace, +the boots and shoes, and of the ribbons of the Legion of Honor. If he +assisted at the Emperor's toilet, he had to hand him his coat, fasten his +ribbon or collar, give him his sword, hat, and gloves, in the Grand +Chamberlain's absence. + +The Grand Master of Ceremonies determined questions of rank and +precedence, drew up and enforced the rules for public, formal ceremonies, +for the reception of sovereigns and hereditary princes, and, foreign +ambassadors and ministers. + +The colonels-general of the Imperial Guard and the Emperor's aides also +made part of the household. + +At ceremonies when the Emperor was in his state-coach, there were two +colonels-general of the Guard at the left door. When he rode, all four +followed close behind. The Grand Equerry, or his substitute, had a place +among them. + +The colonel-general on duty received directly the Emperor's orders +relative to the different requirements of the Imperial Guard, and +transmitted them directly to the other colonels-general. He was quartered +in the palace, in preference to any other officer of the Crown, and as +near as possible to the Emperor's apartment, whether at the residence or +when travelling. In the field he slept in the Emperor's tent. + +Napoleon had twelve aides-de-camp. The one on duty was called the aide-de- +camp of the day, He always had a horse saddled or a carriage harnessed +ready in the stable, to carry any messages the Emperor might give. As soon +as the Emperor had gone to bed, the aide-de-camp on duty was especially +entrusted with guarding him, and he slept in an adjoining room. In the +field the Emperor's aides served as chamberlains. + +There were two distinct elements in the Emperor's household: the military, +and the aristocratic. Some men owed their position entirely to their +merit; others entirely to their birth; these were both patriots of 1792 +and émigrés, but it must be confessed the Imperial Almanack shows that the +aristocratic element was the more prominent. Napoleon, though certain +writers persist in representing him as the crowned champion of democracy +and the emperor of the lower classes, had a more aristocratic court than +Louis XVIII. He was more impressed by great manners than were the old +kings. Even after he had been betrayed, abandoned, denied, insulted by the +aristocracy, he had a weakness for it. In 1816 he said: "The democracy may +become furious; it has a heart; it can be moved. The aristocracy always +remains cold and never pardons." Yet even after this, he blamed himself +for not having done enough for the French nobility. "I see clearly," he +went on, "that I did either too much or too little for the Faubourg Saint +Germain. I did enough to make the opposition dissatisfied, and not enough +to win it to my side. I ought to have secured the émigrés when they +returned. The aristocracy would have soon adored me; and I needed it; it +is the true, the only support of a monarchy, its moderator, its lever, its +resisting point; without it, the state is like a ship without a rudder, a +balloon in mid-air. Now, the strength, the charm of the aristocracy lies +in its antiquity, the only thing I could not create." It must be confessed +that from an old Republican general, for the man who had sent Augereau to +execute the coup d'état of the 18th Fructidor, and who the 13th +Vendémiaire, from the steps of the Church of Saint Roch had crushed the +Paris conservatives, this was a very aristocratic way of talking, +reminding one of the old régime. In 1816 Napoleon said again: "Old and +corrupt nations cannot be governed like the virtuous peoples of antiquity. +For one man nowadays who would sacrifice everything for the public +welfare, there are thousands who take no thought of anything except their +own interests, pleasures, and vanity. Now to pretend to regenerate a +people off-hand would be madness. The workman's genius is shown by his +knowing how to make use of the materials under his hand, and that is the +secret of the restoration of all the forms of the monarchy, of the return +of titles, crosses, and ribbons." + +The old Republicans of 1796, who used to denounce kings, "drunk with blood +and pride," would not have readily recognized their old general under the +golden canopies of the Tuileries, where he dined in state. His table stood +on a platform, beneath a canopy, and there were two chairs, one for +himself, the other for the Empress. As he entered the banquet-hall, he was +preceded by a swarm of pages, masters-of-ceremonies, and prefects of the +palace; he was followed by the colonel-general on duty, the Grand +Chamberlain, the Grand Equerry, and the Grand Almoner. The Grand Almoner +advanced to the table and blessed the dinner. A general of division, the +Grand Equerry Caulaincourt, offered a chair to Bonaparte. Another general +of division, Duroc, the Grand Marshal of the Palace, handed him his napkin +and poured out his wine. Not merely high dignitaries, but the Princes of +the Empire themselves, deemed it an honor to wait upon him as servants. If +a Prince of the Imperial family happened to be in the Emperor's room, any +article of dress that he asked for was given by the chamberlain-in-waiting +to the Prince, and by the Prince to the Emperor. The time of the Sun King +seemed to have returned. + +The Imperial apartment at the Tuileries consisted of two distinct parts, +the grand state apartments and the Emperor's private apartment. The state +apartment contained the following rooms: 1, a concert hall (the Hall of +the Marshals); 2, a first drawing-room (under Napoleon III. called the +Drawing-room of the First Consul); 3, a second drawing-room (that of +Apollo); 4, a throne room; 5, a drawing-room of the Emperor (afterwards +called that of Louis XIV.); 6, a gallery (of Diana). The private apartment +was itself composed of the apartment of honor, containing a hall of the +guards and a first and second drawing-room, and an interior apartment +containing a bedroom, a study, an office, and topographic bureau. The +ushers had charge of the apartment of honor; the valets de chambre of the +other. A rigid etiquette determined the right of entrance into the +different rooms composing the state apartment, according to a carefully +studied system. The pages were authorized to enter the Hall of the +Marshals; members of the household of the Emperor and Empress could enter +the first and second drawing-rooms; the Princes and Princesses of the +Imperial family, the high officers of the Crown, the presidents of the +great bodies of the state, had admission to the throne room. Men and women +had to bow to the throne whenever they passed it. The Emperor and the +Empress alone had the right of entering the Emperor's drawing-room. No one +else could go in except by the Emperor's summons. + +An absurd importance was attached to these trivialities, to these empty +nothings, to the right of entering this room or that, of walking before +this or that person, of handing the Emperor this or that article of dress. +"An honest, reasonable man," said Madame de Rémusat, "is often overcome +with shame at the pleasures and pains of a courtier's life, and yet it is +hard to escape from them. A ribbon, a slight difference of dress, the +right of way through a door, the entrance into such and such a drawing- +room, are the occasion, contemptible in appearance, of a host of ever new +emotions. Vain is the struggle to acquire indifference to them.... In +vain, do the mind and the reason revolt against such an employment of +human faculties; however dissatisfied one is with one's self, it is +necessary to humiliate one's self before every one and to desert the +court, or else to consent to take seriously all the nonsense that fills +the air and breathes there." + +Vanity of human events! What has become of these drawing-rooms of the +Tuileries, which it was such an honor to enter, which were trod with such +respectful awe? Look at the lamentable ruins of this ill-fated palace. +There may still be seen, blackened with petroleum and stained by the rain, +some of those drawing-rooms, once so brilliant, once thronged with an +eager and showy crowd. What an instructive spectacle! When is one more +urgently reminded of the emptiness of human glory and greatness? This +nothingness fills the soul with melancholy when one thinks that soon these +crumbling fragments will be razed and that soon one can say with the poet: +The ruins themselves have perished, _Etiam periere ruinae_! [Footnote: The +ruins have since been removed.--TR.] + + + + +IX. + +HOUSEHOLD OP THE EMPRESS. + + +We have just studied the civil and the military household of the Emperor +in 1805; let us now study the Empress's household at the same period. + +The Empress's First Almoner was a bishop, a great lord, Ferdinand de +Rohan. Her Maid of Honor was a relative of her first husband, the Duchess +de La Rochefoucauld, called in the Imperial Almanack of 1805 simply Madame +Chastulé de La Rochefoucauld. She was short and deformed, but +distinguished, for her intelligence, tact, and wit, void of ambition, with +no taste for intrigue, who only reluctantly accepted the position of Maid +of Honor, and often wanted to hand in her resignation. The Lady of the +Bedchamber was Madame de Lavalette, a Beauharnais, an able and +affectionate woman, who immortalized herself, in the early days of the +Restoration, by saving her husband's life by her heroism. + +To the four Ladies of the Palace at the beginning of the Empire, Madame de +Luçay, Madame de Rémusat, Madame de Talhouët, Madame de Lauriston, were +added thirteen other ladies: Madame Duchâtel, Madame de Séran, Madame de +Colbert, Madame Savary, Madame Octave de Ségur, Madame de Turenne, Madame +de Montalivet, Madame de Bouillé, Madame de Vaux, Madame de Marescot. + +The Maid of Honor was for the Empress what the Grand Chamberlain was for +the Emperor. The Lady of the Bedchamber's duties corresponded to those of +the Keeper of the Wardrobe. The Ladies of the Palace were, so to speak, +female chamberlains. + +"We were all," said the Duchess of Abrantès, "at that time radiant with a +sort of glory which women seek as eagerly as men do theirs, that of +elegance and beauty. Among the young women composing the court of the +Empress and that of the Princesses it would have been hard to find a +single ill-favored woman, and there were very many whose beauty made, with +no exaggeration, the greatest ornament of the festivities held every day +in that fairy-like time." + +All the Ladies of the Palace were young, and almost all were remarkable +for their beauty. Among the most conspicuous was Madame Ney, a niece of +Madame Campan; Madame Lannes, whose face recalled the most charming +pictures of Raphael, and above all, the wife of an already aged Councillor +of State, Madame Duchâtel (whose son was Minister of the Interior in the +reign of Louis Philippe, and whose grandson was Ambassador of the Republic +at Vienna). The Duchess of Abrantès thus describes this famous beauty: +"There is one woman in the Imperial court who made her appearance in +society shortly before the coronation, whose portrait is drawn in all the +contemporary memoirs, especially in those written by a woman, and that is +Madame Duchâtel. Madame Duchâtel would not serve as a model for a +sculptor, because her features lack the regularity which his art requires. +The indefinable charm of her face, a charm which words are unable to +convey, lay in dark blue eyes, with long, silken, lashes, in a delicate, +gracious, refined smile, which, disclosed teeth of ivory whiteness, and, +moreover, beautiful light hair, small hands and feet, a general elegance +which matched a really remarkable mind. All these things formed a +combination which first attracted and then attached every one to her." + +Josephine's First Chamberlain, in 1805, was the General of Division +Nansouty; the chamberlain who introduced the ambassadors was M. de +Beaumont; there were four ordinary chamberlains, MM. d'Aubusson- +Lafeuillade, de Galard-Béarn. de Coutomer; de Gavre; a First Equerry, +Senator de Harville; two equerries, Colonel Fowler and General Bonardy de +Saint Sulpice; a private secretary, M. Deschamps. The Council of the +Empress's household was composed of the Maid of Honor, the Lady of the +Bedchamber, the First Chamberlain, and the First Equerry. The private +secretary was also the secretary of the Council. The Chief Steward of the +household was also a member. + +The Lady of the Bedchamber had under her orders a first woman of the +bedchamber, Madame Aubert, who had whole charge of the wardrobe. Madame +Saint-Hilaire held this place under Josephine, as Madame Campan had done +under Marie Antoinette. Madame Saint-Hilaire's duties consisted in +supervising the chamberwork, in receiving the Empress's orders about the +hours of her rising, and of her morning and evening toilet. The first +woman of the Bedchamber had what were called the honors of the service +when the Maid of Honor and the Lady of the Bedchamber were absent. The +Empress had also ushers and women who discharged the same duties, six +ordinary chambermaids, a reader, the beautiful Madame Gazani; four +ordinary valets de chambre, and two footmen, trusted men always in the +ante-chamber. The ushers, who remained without the drawing-room where the +Empress was, never opened both the doors to their full width except for +the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial family; and they could not +leave their posts except to ask the Maid of Honor the names of those who +were waiting to be presented. There were two pages in the Empress's +service; the older carried the train of her dress when she left her +apartments, and got in or out of a carriage; the other walked before her. + +The Empress's apartment consisted of an apartment of honor and an inner +apartment. The first consisted of an ante-chamber, the first drawing-room, +the second drawing-room, the dining-room, the music-room, the other, of +the bedroom, the library, dressing-room, boudoir, bath-room. The entrance +to the Empress's apartment was controlled by etiquette like that to the +Emperor's. + +Josephine played her part as sovereign as easily as if she had been born +on the steps of the throne. "One of her charms," says the Duchess of +Abrantès, "was not merely her graceful figure, but the way she held her +head, and the gracious dignity with which she walked and turned. I have +had the honor of being presented to many real princesses, as they are +called, in the Faubourg Saint Germain, and I can truly say that I have +never seen one more imposing than Josephine. She combined elegance and +majesty. Never did any queen so grace a throne without having been trained +to it." + +Josephine had all the qualities that are attractive in a sovereign: +affability, gentleness, kindliness, generosity. She had a way of +convincing every one of her personal interest. She had an excellent +memory, and surprised those with whom she talked by the exactness with +which she recalled the past, even to details they had themselves nearly +forgotten. The sound of her gentle, penetrating, and sympathetic voice +added to the courtesy and charm of her words. Every one listened to her +with pleasure; she spoke with grace and listened courteously. She wanted +no one to go away from her annoyed. She always appeared to be doing a +kindness, and thus inspired affection and gratitude. Her courtiers and her +suite were her friends. Madame de Rémusat, who was never too favorable, +was forced to recognize the charm which Josephine exercised over the court +by her tact, intelligence, and dignity. "The Empress," she says, "is +enchanted to be surrounded by a large suite, and it gratifies her vanity. +Her success in attaching Madame de La Rochefoucauld to her person, her +pleasure in counting MM. d'Aubusson, de Lafeuillade among her +chamberlains, Madame d'Arbry, Madame de Ségur, and the wives of the +marshals among the ladies of the palace, turned her head a little, but +even this feminine joy did not lessen her usual graciousness; she always +succeeded in maintaining her rank, even when most deferential to those men +and women who lent it a new lustre by their brilliant names." She was very +kind, extremely soft-hearted, and always overwhelming her companions with +attentions and regards. Mademoiselle Avrillon, her reader, says: "I do not +believe that there ever lived a woman with a better character, or with a +less changeable disposition." She never dared to utter a word of blame or +reproach. "If one of her ladies," said Constant, the Emperor's valet de +chambre, "ever gave her cause for dissatisfaction, the only punishment she +inflicted was to maintain absolute silence for one, two, three days, a +week, more or less, according to the seriousness of the case. Well! this +punishment, apparently so slight, was for most of them very severe. The +Empress knew so well how to make herself beloved!" + +Her only fault was extravagance. She had an unbounded love of luxury and +dress. The jewel-case which had belonged to Marie Antoinette was too small +for Josephine. One day when she wanted to show some ladies all her jewels, +a great table had to be arranged to hold the cases, and, since that was +not enough, much more of the furniture was covered by them. Josephine had +the fault that accompanies this quality, for generous persons are commonly +lavish. Her extravagant expenditures came from her kindliness. She had not +the heart to dismiss a tradesman without buying something of him, and it +never entered her head to try to beat him down. Often she bought for vast +sums things she did not want, simply to oblige the dealers. There was no +limit to her liberality. She would have liked to own all the treasures of +the earth in order to give them all away. She sought for opportunities for +alms-giving. Many of the émigrés lived entirely on her bounty. She was +always in active correspondence with the sisters of charity. She was the +Providence of the poor, and did good with delicacy, tact, and discretion. +Giving is not all; the art lies in knowing how to give. She seemed to be +the debtor of those to whom she made gifts. Naturally, with this +disposition, she got into debt. But Napoleon was there to help her; and +since he was economical by nature, he grew angry and scolded his +extravagant wife, and ended by paying. + +In fact, Napoleon could refuse Josephine nothing, and she was really the +only woman who had any influence over him. If he opposed her, she had an +infallible resource in her tears. She knew thoroughly her husband's +character. She knew how to speak to that mind and heart. She busied +herself with seeking what could please, with divining his wishes, with +anticipating his slightest desires. If he was the least ailing or annoyed +she was literally at his feet, and then he could not live without her. He +felt that when misfortune came Josephine alone would be able to console +him. She had brought him happiness with her gentleness, her tenderness, +her devotion; she had well deserved to receive the crown from his hands. + + + + +X. + +NAPOLEON'S GALLANTRIES. + + +Josephine appeared to have every wish, satisfied; her good fortune +exceeded her wildest dreams; never had a more wonderful romance actually +happened, and yet the Empress of the French, the Queen of Italy, was not +happy. A cruel passion which brings no pleasures, but only cruel +sufferings, disturbed her happiness and tormented her heart. This passion, +jealousy, which had tortured Napoleon in the early days of his wedded +life, now Josephine in her turn had to endure with all its keen anguish. +She felt that for her, a woman of forty-one, to hold fast the affections +of a man of thirty-five, covered with glory and full of charm, was a +difficult task; but this reflection, far from consoling her, only +disturbed her the more, and she made desperate efforts to triumph in an +almost hopeless contest. As was said by Mademoiselle Avrillon, her reader, +she seemed not to understand that if the highest rank is a safeguard for a +woman, because few men are bold enough to pursue her, the same is not true +of a sovereign whose glory dazzles the inexperience of the young, and +whose slightest attention arouses coquetry and flatters vanity. + +Josephine had not a moment's peace. In the hope of pleasing her, many +women of the court, who were, so to speak, on the watch for the Emperor's +attentions, hastened to torture her with their interested revelations. For +several years now her beauty had been fading. Napoleon, on the other hand, +had never been better looking. His health, which formerly had been +delicate, had much improved. He had grown stouter, and this was very +becoming. His head was like that of a Caesar. Full of self-confidence, +fortunate, flattered on every side, at the height of power, he imagined +that in love, as in war, he had but to appear to say, _veni, vidi, vici_, +"I came, I saw, I conquered." Many of the beauties of the time did their +best to confirm him in this good opinion of himself, and as Madame de +Rémusat says of him, he in his court was not unlike the Grand Turk in his +harem. + +"The Emperor," we read in Constant's Memoirs, "used to say that a good man +was to be known by the way he treated his wife, his children, and his +servants. He added that immorality was the most dangerous vice a sovereign +could have, because it established a precedent for his subjects. What he +meant by immorality, was giving scandalous publicity to relations which +should have been kept secret; these relations he was by no means disposed +to refuse when they presented themselves before him." The faithful valet +de chambre goes on in an attempt to defend his master: "Others perhaps +would have succumbed oftener. Heaven forbid that I should undertake to +apologize for him; I will even acknowledge that he did not always practise +what he preached, but it was none the less a good deal for a sovereign to +hide his distractions from the public, to prevent scandal, and, what is +worse imitation; and from his wife, to save her pain." + +Napoleon was by no means so indifferent to women as he professed to be. He +was averse to being ruled by them, but he was far from being insensible to +their charms. Opposition exasperated him; all his caprices found many +obsequious allies ready to further his suit, and more than one woman made +a deep, if brief, impression upon him. His disdain of woman has, we are +sure, been much exaggerated. At Saint Helena he declaimed against women, +but his remarks were mere paradoxes, not meant to be taken seriously. + +Count Las Cases, in the _Memorial_, reports these remarks of the Emperor +to the ladies who shared, his captivity. "We Occidentals," he said, with a +smile full of malice, "have spoiled women by treating them too well. We +have made the mistake of raising them almost to an equality with +ourselves. The Orientals showed more intelligence and justice: they +declared they were men's property; and, in fact, nature has made them our +slaves, and it is only by our whimsicalness that they presume to be our +sovereigns; they abuse their advantages to mislead and control us. For one +who inspires us to our good there are a hundred who make us do stupid +things." Then he went on to praise polygamy in a very unchivalrous and +unsentimental way, saying ironically: "What cause of complaint do you +have, after all? Have we not acknowledged that you have a soul? You know +that there are philosophers who have weighed it. Do you claim equality? +But that is absurd; women are our property, we are not theirs; for she +gives us children, men give them none. So she is his property, as a fruit- +tree is a gardener's property. Nothing but a lack of judgment, of common +sense, and a defective education, can make a woman think that she is her +husband's equal. And there is nothing degrading in the difference; each +sex has its qualities and its duties: your qualities are beauty, grace, +charm; your duties are dependence and submission." + +Napoleon was often malicious with women; often he teased them; but at +heart he honored faithful wives and good mothers. His ideas were far more +moral than those of the men of the Directory, and his court was far purer +than that of the kings of France. We will add that Josephine was the only +woman he ever loved for a long time and seriously. The others appealed to +his senses, not to his heart. + +Fortunately for herself, Josephine had a shallow character; her +impressions were keen, but evanescent. The pleasures of sovereignty +outweighed the griefs. She felt that the crown was heavy at times, but it +adorned her and kept her young; and in spite of the jealousy it gave rise +to, the court satisfied her vanity and brought her sufficient consolation. +To the satisfaction of her pride she found another purer and more lasting +emotion, which she valued more, in the opportunity of doing good. She had, +besides, passed through so many vicissitudes in her life that nothing +could surprise her, and her soul, accustomed to suffering, was prepared +for the most violent emotions, the most terrible anguish. She wept +readily, but her tears were soon dried; the rainbow followed close upon +the storm, and Josephine would smile through her tears. + + + + +XI. + +THE POPE AT THE TUILERIES. + + +While Napoleon, proud in the possession of his new empire, was exhibiting +at the Tuileries his vast power and grandeur, the same palace was +inhabited by a holy old man, whose humility presented a marked contrast +with the conqueror's haughty spirit. Pius VII., who was quartered in the +Pavilion of Flora, led the life of an anchorite, with all the modesty and +piety of an old monk, fasting every day as in his convent, and edifying +even the impious by the nimbus that shone around his pale and mystic face. +It was impossible to approach this worthy Vicar of Christ without a filial +feeling of tenderness. The crimes of the French Revolution--the massacre +or the execution of the priests, the profanation of the altars, the +persecutions and blasphemies--had imprinted the stamp of melancholy on his +face. It was easy to see that he lamented the barbarities of the times, +and that his life had been full of anguish. He embodied all the sufferings +of the Church. With his ascetic air, his deep-set eye, his complexion as +pallid as ivory, his white robes tinged with red, the Sovereign Pontiff +had in his whole person something strange and imposing. He occupied the +apartment on the first floor of the Pavilion of Flora, where Madame +Elisabeth had lived from October, 1789, to August 10, 1792. The Abbé +Proyart, the author of the letter to the prisoner of the Temple, came to +offer the Pope a copy of this same life of Madame Louise of France, which +he had long since offered to the sister of Louis XVI. + +"I am living here," said Pius VII., "in the apartments of another saint." +What singular vicissitudes! The same place occupied in turn by Madame +Elisabeth, the members of the Committee of Public Safety, and by the Vicar +of Christ! + +The Pope had been very anxious before he started for Paris. His fears were +so great that just as he was leaving Rome, with a presentiment of the +captivity that awaited him, he had left his abdication in the hands of +Cardinal Consalvi, in case he should suffer any violence during his +journey. It was only with trembling and prayer that he had set foot on the +volcanic soil of France, which, from a distance, seemed alive with impiety +and terror. The unfailing respect with which he had been treated had +comforted him somewhat. Whenever he visited a church, the Parisians +followed him with mingled curiosity, sympathy, and veneration: they knelt +to him as he passed them, and received with all decorum his apostolic +benediction. Every day a large crowd gathered under his windows. He had +found his rooms arranged and furnished like those he occupied at the +Vatican, and he had been very grateful for this, which he called a really +filial attention. + +General de Ségur, at that time captain and aide of the Grand Marshal of +the Palace, was entrusted with guarding the Pope's person. He says in his +Memoirs: "The same attention and respect was shown to the Pope as to the +Emperor himself. His rooms had been so arranged and furnished as to recall +Rome so far as possible, and to suit his tastes. As for Napoleon, we all +noticed his ever gentle and grateful gaiety, and his filial and +affectionate deference to his guest. When the Holy Father gave his +blessing from his window, and more especially at his audiences in the +gallery of the Louvre, which were always crowded, precautions were taken +against any outbreak of the indiscretion or levity to which the French are +prone. We saw the atheist Lalande himself fall at the Pontiff's feet and +kiss his slipper. In the public buildings which the Pope honored with his +presence he was received as a sovereign. No one dared to betray more +curiosity than piety; and it often happened to me to see this real saint, +the successor of the Apostles, whose venerable face bore the stamp of the +serenest gentleness, so frugal, simple, and austere for himself alone, and +so kindly indulgent to others, deeply moved by the intense and holy +impression he made." + +Every day the long gallery of the Louvre was filled with two rows of men +and women who had come to ask his blessing. Preceded by the governor of +the Louvre, and followed by the Italian cardinals and nobles of his +household, Pius VII. advanced slowly between the two lines of the +faithful, often stopping to place his hand on some child's head, to say +some kind words to its mother, and to offer his ring to be kissed. One +day, when he was surrounded by a crowd of prostrate and respectful people, +he saw a man whose worn face bore traces of irreligious passion, who was +moving away as if to escape the apostolic benediction. The Holy Father +approached him, and said gently, "Do not run away; an old man's blessing +has never done any one any harm." This remark spread through Paris and +made a most favorable impression. Pius VII. was not only respected, but, +if we may use the worldly phrase, he became the fashion. Dealers in +rosaries and chaplets made much money all that winter. In January alone a +shopkeeper in the rue Saint Denis who sold those articles is said to have +cleared forty thousand francs. All who approached the Pope had chaplets +blessed for themselves, their relatives, and friends in Paris and the +provinces. "The prolonged stay of the Holy Father," says Bourrienne, "was +not without influence in the return to religious ideas, so great was the +respect inspired by the Pope's gentle appearance and kindly manners. When, +the time came for him to be persecuted, it would have been desirable that +Pius VII. had never come to Paris, for it was impossible to look upon him +otherwise than as a man whose holy gentleness was a matter of notoriety." + +At Saint Helena, Napoleon spoke thus of this venerable Pope: "He was +really a lamb, a thoroughly good and upright man, whom I greatly esteem +and love, and who, I am sure, does not wholly hate me." + +It has been asserted that the Pope made such an impression in Paris that +the Emperor felt for the august old man a sort of secret jealousy. But +even granting, what is by no means certain, that he suffered from this, he +had at least skill to conceal it. Always the Pope was overwhelmed with +flattering attentions. The President of the Legislative Body, M. de +Fontanes, said to him November 30, 1804: "Everything else has changed; +religion alone knows no change. It sees the families of kings, and those +of subjects, perish; but resting on the ruins of thrones, it ever admires +the successive manifestations of the eternal designs and obeys them with +confidence. Never has the universe beheld a more imposing sight, never +have its people received more important lessons. This is no longer the +time of rivalry between the priesthood and the Empire. They have joined +hands to repel the fatal doctrines which threatened Europe with total +overthrow. May they yield forever to the double influence of politics and +religion combined! Doubtless this wish will not be disappointed; never in +France has there been so great a genius to control its policy, and never +has the pontifical throne presented to the Christian world a more worthy +and more touching model." The _Moniteur_, in its report of the coronation, +spoke with the same official enthusiasm "of the most venerable apostolic +virtues and of the most astounding political genius crowned by the highest +destinies." David, the artist, once a member of the Convention and a +regicide, then an Imperialist, painted the portrait of Pius VII., and the +_Moniteur_ in the number of March 30, 1805, thus praised the picture and +the sitter. "A large crowd gathered in the gallery of the Senate, to see +the portrait of His Holiness by M. David, member of the Institute and +first painter to the Emperor. This portrait is in every way worthy of the +master's reputation. If the first essential in a portrait is an exact +likeness, this one possesses it to a very high degree. The head, which is +admirably painted, expresses the indulgent and wise character, the +gentleness and reasonableness, that are so conspicuous in the model; the +eyes an expression, affectionate and paternal; the expression of the mouth +is most striking; one feels that it can utter only words of peace, +consolation, and truth." + +Josephine had for Pius VII. a feeling of veneration full of gratitude. She +was most grateful to him for having persuaded Napoleon, to have the +religious marriage for which she had long yearned. She, who had preserved +her faith, in the midst of an irreligious society, was happy to inhabit +the same palace, to live under the same roof, with the Vicar of Christ, +and firmly hoped thereby to secure good fortune for herself and her +husband. For his part, Pius VII. appreciated Josephine's good qualities, +especially her charity: he treated her as an indulgent father treats his +child. + +The second son of Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais was baptized +by the Pope himself at Saint Cloud, March 27, 1805. The ceremony was most +impressive. Eight Imperial carriages conveyed thither Pius VII. and his +suite. The gallery of the palace had been turned into a chapel. In one of +the Empress's drawing-rooms had been placed, on a platform, beneath a +canopy, a bed without posts. On the foot of the bed had been spread a +large cloak lined with ermine, to cover the child. In the same room were +two tables on which were placed what were called the child's _honors_; +that is to say, the candle, the chrisom-cap, and the salt-cellar, and the +_honors_ of the godfather and godmother,--the basin, the ewer, and the +napkin. The towel was placed on a square of golden brocade, and all the +other things, except the candle, on a gold tray. Preceded by the Grand +Master of Ceremonies, and followed by a colonel-general of the Guard, by +the Grand Almoner, the Grand Chamberlain, and the Master of the Hounds, +the Emperor, who was godfather, and the godmother, Madame Bonaparte, his +mother, went to the room where the ceremony was to be performed. The child +was uncovered by Madame de Villeneuve, Maid of Honor to Princess Louis +Bonaparte, and by Madame de Boubers, who was serving as governess. The +first one lifted up the baby and handed him to the godfather, who gave him +to Madame de Boubers to carry to the font. The Grand Master of Ceremonies +handed the salt-cellar to Madame de Bouillé, the chrisom-cap to Madame de +Montalivet, the candle to Madame Lannes, the towel to Madame de Sérant, +the ewer to Madame Savary, the basin to Madame de Talhouët. Then, they +went to the gallery, which had been turned into a chapel. Mesdames +Bernadotte, Bessières, Davout, and Mortier held the corners of the +Empress's cloak. The godmother was at the Emperor's left. After the +baptism the child was carried back to his room with the same procession. + +That evening _Athalie_ was given, with choruses, at the court theatre. The +company on their way thither passed through the orange house, which was +aglow with colored lanterns. + +All day the park of Saint Cloud had been open to the public; the fountains +had been playing; shows of all sorts amused the crowd; the road to Paris +was crowded with carriages and foot-passengers. In the evening there were +fireworks: the palace and gardens were illuminated; there were bands +playing, and rustic balls. + +The Pope, who had reached Paris November 28, 1804, left April 4, 1805, +just when the Emperor was starting for Italy, there to be crowned at +Milan. Pius VII. had received some magnificent presents from the Emperor: +a gold altar with chandeliers, and the sacred vessels of rich workmanship, +a superb tiara, some gobelin tapestries, carpets from the Savonnerie, and +a statue of Napoleon in Sèvres ware. The Empress had given him a valuable +vase decorated by the best artists. The _Moniteur_ thus announced the +Pope's departure: "To-day, April 4, at half-past twelve, His Holiness left +Paris with the prelates and others of his suite. A crowd of both sexes and +all ages assembled on the way he was to pass through, and received the +Sovereign Pontiff's blessing; once more he was the object of expressions +of the deepest veneration, and plainly manifested the emotions which these +expressions called forth." + +Yet Pius VII. was not wholly satisfied with his journey. He had received +much homage, but he had not secured any real political concessions of any +importance. He had been unable to settle the important matter of the +organic statutes, and nothing had been done about the restoration of the +legation on which he was so warmly set. Besides, he was much annoyed that +he had not himself crowned Napoleon, as the Popes, his predecessors, had +crowned emperors and kings. He, who later was to be a prisoner at +Fontainebleau, went away distressed about the present, anxious for the +future, and wondering whether his host might not say, with Voltaire, "It +is all very well to kiss the Popes' feet, but it is better to have their +hands tied first." + + + + +XII. + +THE JOURNEY IN ITALY. + + +The Pope had left Paris to return to Rome April 4, 1805. At almost the +same time the Emperor and Empress had started from Fontainebleau to go to +Milan, where Napoleon was to be crowned King of Italy. The code of +etiquette that prevailed at the Tuileries was observed on journeys. The +house in which the Emperor lodged at any stopping-place was the place +where all who accompanied him were to meet. A great placard on which were +written all the names, and where they were to be quartered, was pasted on +the front door. In the villages where Napoleon spent but one night he +received the local authorities, either before or after dinner. In the +towns where he spent more than one day, after he had eaten his breakfast +and held his receptions, he rode out to visit the fortifications and +monuments. The evenings were generally taken up by the entertainments +offered him. + +The Emperor and Empress reached Troyes April 2. A letter dated the 3d was +printed in the _Moniteur_. It said: "Everywhere the presence of the +Emperor has evoked the liveliest applause; the people seem astonished to +see him wearing such a modest uniform, and conspicuous, in the midst of +his court, by the plainness of his dress. The people of this department +exhibit this joy all the more because it is here that was brought up the +man who was destined to raise France to the highest glory and prosperity. +It is at Brienne that the Emperor received his earliest instruction. His +Majesty, being anxious to revisit the places that recall these agreeable +memories, started at two o'clock to-day for Brienne." + +On the steps of the castle in this town Napoleon found Madame de Brienne +and Madame de Loménie, who had been the guardians of his childhood. He +treated them with the greatest respect, and took pleasure in recalling +happy and touching memories of the past. He recalled many anecdotes, and +told them in his usual vivid, picturesque way. He accepted their +invitation to dinner, played cards with them, and having found out their +usual time of going to bed, asked to be shown at that hour to the room +which had been prepared for him at his request. At dawn the next morning +he went alone, without escort, to see some of his old walks in the +neighborhood. He remembered a hut where he and his companions used to +lunch, and recognizing the wood in which it was, he rode through the shady +path that led to it. + +It belonged to a woman who in old times used to serve nuts, cheese, and +brown bread to the schoolboy of Brienne, the future Emperor. He was +delighted to see her once more, and asked her for the same repast which +had formerly been his delight. At first the poor woman did not recognize +the stranger; but gradually he refreshed her memory by recalling many +incidents of the past. Then she understood that she was in the presence of +the all-powerful Emperor, and flung herself at his feet. Napoleon lifted +her, and left her a purse of gold, promising as he left to provide for her +old age. + +The Emperor and Empress arrived at Lyons April 10. A quarter of a league +from the city, on the Boucle road, stood a triumphal arch, on the top of +which, as in the reign of Augustus, was perched an eagle supporting the +conqueror's bust. On the two side doors were two bas-reliefs, one +representing the union of the Empire and Liberty; the other, Wisdom, in +the figure of Minerva distributing crosses of honor to soldiers, artists, +and scholars. On these two bas-reliefs were statues of the Rhone and the +Seine. At the top of the arch was a flattering inscription in verse. + +April 12, the Empress held a reception. The _Bulletin of Lyons_ thus +described it: "The assembly was most brilliant. As our sovereign has +exhibited in his audiences profundity, affability, exact and varied +learning, and true greatness, so his august wife has shone with grace, +courtesy, and gentleness. Thus we witness a revival of that old French +urbanity and politeness of manners which have always distinguished our +court, and have made it an example and an object of admiration for all +foreign courts." + +The city offered Napoleon and Josephine an entertainment at the Grand +Theatre. The back-scene represented the Emperor, seated, clad in a long +triumphal robe. Two allegoric figures, representing, one, France, the +other, Italy, with their feet resting on clouds, held in their hands a +roll bearing this inscription: _Sublimi feriam sidera vertice_, "I shall +strike the stars with my lofty head"; with the other, they each offered a +crown to Napoleon. Thus did flattery renew the apotheoses of the Caesars +of ancient Rome. + +There was sung a cantata entitled _Ossian's Dream_. The young men of the +National Guard of Lyons and the leading ladies of the city waltzed before +the throne. Two young girls held each a basket into which the dancers +threw flowers as they passed by; out of these flowers the girls wove two +crowns which, after the dance, they presented to the Emperor and Empress. + +April 29, Napoleon and Josephine were present at a grand performance at +the Grand Theatre in Turin. They stayed at the castle of Stupinizi, just +outside of the city, where they bade farewell to Pius VII., who had +celebrated the Easter festival at Lyons, and was on his way to Rome. + +The Emperor and the Empress reached Alessandria May 2, at ten in the +morning, amid the roar of cannon and the ringing of church-bells. Napoleon +spent the day in revisiting the battle-field of Marengo, where he gave the +Empress a mimic representation of the battle he had won five years before. +From a throne he watched the manoeuvres executed under the command of +Murat, Lannes, and Bessières. He had had the coat and hat he wore on the +day of the battle brought from Paris. The coat was somewhat moth-eaten, +and the odd hat would have seemed very much out of date if it had not +recalled such precious memories. But Napoleon liked to recall that +eventful day when he had managed to grasp victory when apparently beaten. +After the manoeuvres he solemnly laid the corner-stone of a monument to +the memory of Desaix and the other brave men who fell at Marengo. + +At Alessandria, the next day, he had an interview with his brother Jerome, +which in fact was a reconciliation. In 1808, after the breaking of the +Peace of Amiens, Jerome Bonaparte, who then, a young man of twenty, was in +the naval service, happened to be forced by an English cruiser to land in +the United States. There he had fallen in love with the young and charming +daughter of a rich merchant of Baltimore, Miss Elisabeth Paterson, and he +married her. Napoleon was unwilling to recognize this marriage. No sooner +had he ascended the throne than he at once exhibited all the feeling and +prejudices of a monarch who belonged to a dynasty of the most venerable +antiquity. He really believed that his brothers could marry only +princesses, and that any other marriage was an unpardonable mésalliance. + +If, possibly, Napoleon was able to condemn Lucien's wife for her past +conduct, no such criticism could apply to the wife of Jerome, who was a +young woman of conspicuous morality, intelligence, and amiability. But she +was the daughter of a ship-owner, a merchant, and thus was not a proper +match, he thought, for the brother of the powerful monarch who was already +dreaming of restoring the vassal kingdoms and the whole vast imperial +edifice of Charlemagne. He, the Emperor of the French, the King of Italy, +did not like to remember that he had wedded a simple subject, and that he +had been very proud of his marriage. He could not pardon his brother +Jerome for making a love-match. He would not even listen to his defence of +his young wife, soon to be a mother, and who deserved only respect and +pity, and who, humiliated, abandoned, and brokenhearted, was about to be +treated as a concubine, and driven away forever. Ambition had destroyed +Napoleon's natural kindliness. Yet, if he had seen Jerome's wife, a +devoted and interesting woman, warmly attached to her husband, and alive +to her duties, probably he would have taken pity on her. Possibly he was +himself aware of this, for he forbade the unhappy young woman to enter any +part of the Empire, and compelled this innocent victim of political +considerations to take refuge in England, as if she were a criminal. + +February 22, 1805, Napoleon had compelled his mother, Madame Letitia, to +place in the hands of a notary, Raguideau, a protest against Jerome's +marriage, on the pretext that he, having been born November 15, 1784, was +not yet twenty at the date of his marriage, and according to the law of +September 20, 1792, a marriage contracted by any one under twenty without +the consent of his father and mother was null and void. The _Moniteur_ of +the 13th Ventôse, Year XIII. (March 4, 1805), had contained the following +lines: "11th Ventôse. By an act dated to-day, all the civil officers of +the Empire are forbidden to receive on their registers a copy of the +certificate of an alleged marriage contracted by M. Jerome Bonaparte in a +foreign country, when under age, and without his mother's consent, and +without previous publication in the place where he is domiciled." A few +days later this appeared in the _Moniteur_: "M. Jerome Bonaparte has +arrived at Lisbon in an American ship; in the passenger list were the +names of Mr. and Miss Paterson, M. Jerome at once took port for Madrid, +Mr. and Miss Paterson have re-embarked. They are supposed to be returning +to America." + +Jerome, in obedience to the Emperor's orders, started from Portugal for +Italy, posting day and night at full speed, through Badajoz, Madrid, +Perpignan, and Grenoble, He says in his Memoirs: "Amid the mountains of +Estremadura, his modest carriage encountered the almost royal train of the +French Ambassador to Portugal. It was Junot whom he had left a simple +aide-de-camp of the First Consul, and saw again one of the first +personages of the Empire. Madame Junot, an old friend from childhood of +Jerome, was with her husband. This interview was a most interesting one, +partly from the deserted spot where they met, and partly from the great +events that had occurred since their separation." + +Junot and his wife found Jerome much improved. He had become more serious; +a certain gravity had taken the place of his youthful bubbling high +spirits. He spoke with emotion, respect, and affection of his young wife +whose pathetic situation was made even more disturbing by the state of her +health. He proposed to throw himself at his brother's feet, and by prayers +and supplications to wring from him the consent he desired. "No one can +doubt," he says in his Memoirs, "that his heart was torn by the keenest +agitations, to say nothing of the anxiety about his wife; the +mortification at two years of inactivity, during which his comrades, +friends, and relatives had worked, fought, and become great; the regret +for the lofty position he had lost; the hope of regaining it; his fear of +his brother's wrath which he had ventured to arouse, and which made kings +tremble on their thrones." + +Napoleon was to be inflexible; he refused to admit that his brothers could +be anything but members of the dynasty, future sovereigns. It was then +that according to Miot de Mélito, he said: "What I have accomplished so +far is nothing. There will be no peace in Europe until it is under a +single head, an Emperor, who shall have his officers for kings and divide +the kingdoms among his lieutenants; who shall make one King of Italy, +another King of Bavaria, one Landemann of Switzerland, another Stadtholder +of Holland, and all with high positions in the Imperial household, with +titles as Grand Cupbearer, Grand Master of the Pantry, Grand Equerry, +Grand Master of the Hounds, etc. It will be said that this plan is only an +imitation of that on which the German Empire is established, and that +these ideas are not new; but nothing is absolutely new; political +institutions only revolve in a circle, and what has happened necessarily +recurs." A man with such aspirations and so near to realizing them, could +not endure the idea of being the brother-in-law of a simple ship-owner. + +Jerome arrived at Turin, April 24, 1805. Napoleon was then at Alessandria. +Eleven days passed before the brothers met. The Emperor had announced his +decision. He was absolutely determined not to meet Jerome until he had +made perfect submission. The unhappy youth still ventured to hope against +hope, but soon he had to recognize his mistake. Then his heart and soul +were torn by a hot conflict: on one side were his love for his wife, +family feeling, the thought of the child that was soon to be born, his +respect for marriage and for his vows; on the other, ambition, love of +power, the visions of the kingdoms that he might rule; on one side, the +smiles and tears of the woman he loved; on the other, the influence and +glory of the genius who filled the earth with his fame, and always +exercised a powerful fascination. Jerome, who was less sentimental and +less proud than Lucien, at last yielded to his terrible brother, and +condemned himself out of ambition never to see again the woman whom he +loved and cherished. May 6th he went to Alessandria, having first sent a +letter of submission to the Emperor. Napoleon before receiving him, +replied to it in these terms:-- + +"Alessandria, May 6, 1805. MY BROTHER: Your letter of this morning informs +me of your arrival at Alessandria. There is no fault which cannot be +effaced in my eyes by repentance. Your marriage with Miss Paterson is null +in the eyes of both religion and law. Write to Miss Paterson to return to +America. I will grant her a pension of sixty thousand francs for life, on +condition that she shall never bear my name, a right which does not belong +to her in the non-existence of the marriage. You must tell her that you +could not and cannot change the nature of things. When your marriage is +thus annulled by your own will, I will restore to you my friendship, and +resume the feelings I have had for you since your infancy, hoping that you +will show yourself worthy of them by the efforts you will make to win my +gratitude and to acquire distinction in the army." + +A few days later Napoleon wrote to the Minister of the Navy: "M. Décrès, +M. Jerome has arrived. He has confessed his errors and disavows this +person as his wife. He promises to do wonders. Meanwhile I have sent him +to Genoa for some time." + +After his reconciliation with Jerome, Napoleon went to Pavia, where the +magistrates presented to him the homage of his new capital, and he entered +that city, with the Empress, May 8, amid the roar of cannon and the +ringing of bells. + + + + +XIII. + +THE CORONATION AT MILAN. + + +By descent, by his physical, moral, and intellectual nature, by his +imagination and genius, Napoleon was much more an Italian than a +Frenchman. His father and mother were Italians, his ancestors were +Italian, and Italian was his mother-tongue. His family and Christian names +were Italian. His mother spoke French with the strongest Italian accent. +He had loved Corsica before he loved France. As a child, he had felt the +greatest enthusiasm for Paoli, the Corsican patriot, and had then looked +upon the French as foreigners and oppressors. His face not only resembled +that of an Italian, but that of an ancient Roman. By a singular +coincidence, he had the head of a Caesar. Italy was not only the home of +his family, it was there that he laid the foundations of his glory. That +unrivalled country, as one of our poets calls it, had brought him good +fortune. There he wrote the famous bulletins of his first victories; there +he began to impress the popular imagination; and it was through Italy that +he subjugated France. There he felt at home. The people of that peninsula +greeted him as a fellow-countryman. He liked to speak their language to +them, charmed by its harmony and sincerity. His Southern genius rejoiced +in its bright skies which lent everything such lustre, and well suited the +conqueror's thoughts. He perhaps preferred Milan to Paris as a place to +live in. + +His formal entrance into the capital of his kingdom of Italy had been +skilfully arranged. Cardinal Caprara, the Archbishop of that city, had +great influence there, and he was never tired of speaking to his flock +about the services Napoleon had rendered to the Catholic religion. The +Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Ségur, who reached Milan a few days +before the Emperor, charmed the best society of Lombardy by his pleasant +wit and delightful manners, and induced the most illustrious families to +solicit the honor of figuring among the ladies and officers in waiting at +the palace of the King and Queen of Italy, as Napoleon and Josephine were +called at Milan. + +The first visit which the King and Queen made in this capital was to the +famous Cathedral. There they fell on their knees, and the Milanese were +much touched by the spectacle. The _Italian Journal_, in its official +account of Napoleon's entrance into Milan, uttered these dithyrambics: "It +is impossible to imagine a more brilliant day than that which yesterday +adorned our capital, when Bonaparte, the hero of the age, our adored +monarch, entered within our walls. This day will be forever memorable in +the chronicles of our history. Milan saw entering its gates, bearing the +proud name of King, the same hero who had already been proclaimed +conqueror, liberator, peace-maker, and legislator, and who to-day, under +his august Empire, assures that greatness to which his victories and his +genius permit us to aspire. The Emperor entered by the gate named after +his most glorious triumph, the Marengo Gate." + +On reaching Milan, Napoleon exchanged the decorations of the Legion of +Honor for the oldest orders of chivalry in Europe. He received from the +Minister of Prussia the Black and the Red Eagle; from the Spanish +Ambassador, the Golden Fleece; from the Ministers of Bavaria and Portugal, +the Orders of Saint Hubert and Christ respectively; and he gave them the +broad ribbon of the Legion of Honor. When he had received besides foreign +decorations for the principal men of the Empire, he granted an equal +number of his own. May 12, wearing the broad ribbon of the Black Eagle, he +went with the Empress to the theatre of La Scala and saw the opera of +_Castor and Pollux_. The theatre, which was brilliantly lit, was crowded +with the fair ladies of Milan, resplendent in full dress and jewels. The +elegance and splendor of these deservedly famous beauties, the brilliant +diversity of the uniforms, the sumptuousness of the Imperial box, and on +the stage the magnificence of the dresses and the scenery, the skill of +the singers, all combined to make the performance most memorable. That +day, after mass, Napoleon had ridden out, and had inspected the troops who +paraded on the Place of the Cathedral. + +The Empress's grace and affability aroused general admiration. At the +reception of the upper clergy of Italy, May 25, she was thus complimented +by the Archbishop of Bergamo: "Madame, If charity were to descend from +heaven to relieve the woes of humanity, it would seek no other asylum than +the heart of a Queen, adored by her subjects. The feelings of love, +gratitude, and respect which animate all your subjects are the same that +lead to your feet all the bishops of the kingdom of Italy. Happy to find +in your august spouse sublimity, glory, and genius, and in you all the +charm of kindness, nothing is left for them but to pray for the happiness +of your reign, and to offer thanks to heaven for having united in the +souls of their sovereigns everything which can make supreme power loved +and respected." This speech will suffice to show to what pitch the +official flatteries were tuned. + +The coronation took place May 26, in the Milan. Cathedral, which is the +largest church in Italy, with the single exception of Saint Peter's in +Rome. The weather was magnificent. From early morning a numberless throng +crowded the Place of the Cathedral, the court-yards of the palace, and the +adjacent streets. Just as in Paris at the coronation, a wooden gallery had +been built, connecting the Archbishop's Palace with Notre Dame, so here at +Milan, a similar gallery led from the palace to the Cathedral. The +interior of the church was decorated with crimson silk stuffs. As at Notre +Dame, a large throne had been built at the entrance to the nave, +approached by twenty-five steps. Four gilded statues, representing +victories, upheld like caryatides the canopy above the throne. The four +figures held in one hand palms; in the other, the green velvet mantle +falling from the royal crown above the canopy. The Cathedral was +brilliantly lit by forty chandeliers hanging from the roof, and as many +candelabra fastened on the columns. + +Josephine, who had been crowned as Empress in Paris, was not to be crowned +at Milan, although she bore the title of Queen of Italy. She watched the +ceremony from a gallery. At half-past eleven she went to the Cathedral, +preceded by her sister-in-law, the Princess Bacciocchi, and was conducted +beneath a canopy to her gallery, amid loud applause. At noon the Emperor +and King left his palace, and reached the Cathedral through the wooden +gallery. On his arrival there incense was burned, and he was welcomed by +an address from Cardinal Caprara, Archbishop of Milan, at the head of all +his clergy. Preceded by the ushers, the heralds-at-arms, the pages, the +Grand Master and the masters of ceremonies, by the seven ladies carrying +offerings, and by the honors of Charlemagne, of the Empire, and of Italy, +he appeared in most impressive pomp. On his head he wore the crown; he +carried in his hands the sceptre, and the hand of justice of the kingdom; +on his back he wore the royal cloak, the skirts of which were carried by +the two First Equerries of France and Italy. As he entered the Cathedral a +march of triumph was played. He took his seat on the small throne in the +choir, having on his right the honors of Italy, on his left, those of +France. The Archbishop of Bologna, who held a place at the coronation of +the King very like that of the Pope at the crowning of the Emperor, +carried to the altar the iron crown of the old Lombard kings, and began +the mass. After the gradual, he blessed the royal ornaments in the +following order: the sword, the cloak, the ring, the crown. Napoleon +received from the Archbishop's hands the sword, the cloak, and the ring, +but he took himself the iron crown from the altar, and proudly placing it +on his head, exclaimed, in a voice that thrilled all present: "_Dio me la +diede, guai a chi la tocca!_"--"God has given it to me; woe to him who +touches it!" Then, having replaced the iron crown on the altar, he took +the crown of Italy and placed it on his head, amid unanimous applause. +Preceded by the same officials who had conducted him to the chair, he +walked down the nave and took his place on the great throne at the other +end by the entrance. The first herald-at-arms shouted, "Napoleon, Emperor +of the French and King of Italy, is crowned and enthroned. Long live the +Emperor and King." + +The same day, at half-past four in the afternoon, the King and the Queen +drove in a state carriage, with a brilliant escort, to the church of Saint +Ambrose, one of the most revered sanctuaries of Italy, and there they +heard a _Te Deum_ of thanksgiving. + +Mademoiselle Avrillon, Josephine's reader, tells us that Napoleon, when he +had returned to the palace, was full of the wildest gaiety. He rubbed his +hands, and in his good humor said to the reader: "Well! Did you see the +ceremony? Did you hear what I said when I placed the crown on my head?" +Then he repeated, almost in the same tone that he had used in the +Cathedral: "God has given it to me! Woe to him that touches it!" "I told +him," says Mademoiselle Avrillon, "that nothing that had happened had +escaped me. He was very kind to me, and I often noticed that when there +was nothing to annoy the Emperor, he talked cheerfully and freely with us, +as if we were his equals; but whenever he spoke to us he used to ask +questions, and in order to avoid displeasing him, it was necessary to +answer him without showing too much embarrassment. Sometimes he gave us a +pat on the cheek, or pinched our ears; these were favors not accorded +every one, and we could judge of his good humor by the way they hurt +us.... Often he treated the Empress in the same way, with little pats +preferably on the shoulders; it was no use her saying: 'Come, stop, +Bonaparte!' he went on as long as he pleased." + +The Emperor greatly enjoyed his stay in Milan, and breathed with rapture +the incense burned in abundance before him. The _Italian Journal_ in its +account of the coronation reached lyric heights: + +"The most brilliant day has lit up Milan; it has had no equal in the past, +and it offers the happiest auguries for the future.... Old men themselves, +accustomed as they are to praise the past, have exhibited the liveliest +enthusiasm. It was in vain that night struggled to draw its veil over our +city, it had to yield before the general and magnificent illumination +which brought out in lines of fire the shape and admirable form of the +Duomo. Most of the palaces and private houses were covered with devices +and inscriptions. The first one of the days consecrated to the liveliest +national rejoicing was ended by a vast exhibition of fireworks, which were +set off on the spot where so many have perished at the stake." + +The next day games were celebrated, in the manner of the ancients, in a +circus rivalling the Roman amphitheatres in size. This was the occasion of +a dithyrambic outburst inserted in the _Moniteur_: "The Italians have just +offered Napoleon the same spectacle that their ancestors offered Marcus +Aurelius and Trajan; but the presence of Napoleon has called forth more +joy and admiration, because it has aroused greater admiration and higher +hopes. They were but the preservers of Italian greatness; he is its +creator and its father. In the pomp of the games, amid the tumultuous +applause, the immense mass of people were to be seen turning their eyes +towards him alone, as if they were saying to him: 'These festivities are +but feeble expressions of the gratitude that all Italy vows to you for all +the good you have done her; and since you deign to accept it, since you +like to sit among us as our Prince and our father, these festivities +become an augury to us of still greater benefit. The day will perhaps come +when Italy, restored to this new life, may be able to adorn its circus +with the monuments of its own bravery which will also be the monuments of +your glory; and Italy, being never doomed to perish, whatever great deeds +may be wrought by Italians in the course of centuries will be due to the +hero who has recalled them to life.'" After the races there was a balloon +ascension. The courageous wife of the aeronaut Garnerin accompanied him +and threw down flowers to Napoleon and Josephine. "Thus," the _Moniteur_ +goes on, "in a single day, at one show, the Italians have combined the +proudest pomp of the ancients and the boldest invention of modern science, +together with the presence of a hero who excels both ancients and +moderns." + +The 29th of May was devoted to popular festivities. All the afternoon the +public gardens were crowded with musicians, singers, mountebanks, and +pedlars. In the evening the via della Riconoscenza, as far as the East +Gate, was lit by lampstands, and at the end of a long row there was an +eagle of fire holding on his breast an iron crown. + +Nothing was neglected to touch the national pride of Italy. An article in +the _Moniteur_, speaking of a poem of Vincenzo Monti's, said: "What +interest the poet has aroused, in recalling the glorious titles of ancient +Italy, the disasters and degradation which followed this period of glory, +in evoking the shades of those remote days, and after them, the shade of +Dante who, by the wisdom of his maxims, is superior to the poets of other +nations; of Dante, the most enthusiastic admirer of the former glory of +the Italians, the severest censor of the corruption into which Italy had +fallen in his time; of Dante, whose sole ambition was to prepare the new +birth of Italy! And how did he prepare it? By preaching union to the +inhabitants of the different countries of Italy, and to the public +authorities the consecration of power modified by the laws." + +June 3 Napoleon and Josephine went to visit an industrial and artistic +exhibition at the Brera. There they saw Canova's Hebe, and his colossal +statue of Clement XIII. "The desire of seeing and approaching the +sovereign," says the _Moniteur_, "had made the crowd larger. An +octogenarian who had in vain struggled to get to a staircase before him, +was hustled and knocked down on the steps by the eager multitude. The +Empress, who was following, ran to his aid. The Emperor turned back, +questioned the old man, who was more disturbed by his joy than by his +fall, asked him his name and a memorandum, and promised to look out for +him. This scene produced a deep impression, and Their Majesties were led +back amid universal applause and thanksgivings." + +At Milan, Josephine, who had become Queen of Italy, inhabited, with the +Emperor, the magnificent Monza Palace. But, perhaps, in all the splendor +of the highest point of her good fortune, she regretted the Serbelloni +Palace, where, nine years before, she exercised so beneficent an influence +on her husband's destiny, and had protected him with her affection, as +with a talisman. Doubtless the Empress and Queen would have returned +gladly to the time when she was called simply Citizeness Bonaparte. Then, +instead of the imperial and royal diadem, she possessed youth, which is +better than any crown, and her husband gave her something preferable to +any throne--his love! There the generals used to wear less showy uniforms, +more moderate salaries, but they were more enthusiastic, and unselfish. +Then Bonaparte's glory was less famous, but purer. When she saw Milan +again, after many years' absence, Josephine recalled all the happiness and +all the misery that had occurred meanwhile, all the grandeur and the +tragedy that had filled this period so brief, but so crowded with +marvellous events. + +There were many happy memories, but also many shadows! This look backward +was not without melancholy. When she saw the approach of the autumn of her +amazing career, Josephine could not think without secret sadness of the +splendor of its summer. While her husband proudly enjoyed his satisfied +ambition, she dreamed and pondered seriously. She desired once more to see +the places which recalled the pleasantest memories of her first journey: +the lake of Como, with the Villa Julia and Pliny's house; the Lago +Maggiore and Borromean Islands; the palaces of the Isola Bella and the +Isola Madre; all the enchanting spots which recalled the gracious memories +of youth and love. + +June 7 Napoleon appointed Eugene de Beauharnais Viceroy of the Kingdom of +Italy, and three days later left Milan with Josephine. In all the +principal cities of the Empire his coronation had been celebrated by +public rejoicings. Murat had given a ball at his castle of Neuilly, about +which the _Journal des Débats_ had said: "At the same moment when the arts +of ingenious Italy were displaying all their marvels under the eyes of +Their Majesties, French gallantry and gaiety were rendering similar homage +to the happy reign which had recalled them from a long exile." +Aix-la-Chapelle inaugurated the statue of the great Carlovingian Emperor +amid salvos of artillery and the applause of the Germanic populace, who +saluted at the same time the names of Charlemagne and of Napoleon. + + + + +XIV. + +THE FESTIVITIES AT GENOA. + + +The Italian journey closed as brilliantly as it began. After leaving +Milan, Napoleon approached the frontiers of Austria, against which he was +to fight before the end of the year, visiting the celebrated +quadrilateral, consisting of the four fortified towns: Mantua, Peschiera, +Verona, and Legnago. He was present at a mimic representation of the +battle of Castiglione, in which twenty-five thousand men took part on the +field upon which that battle had been fought; then he went to Bologna, +where the charms of his conversation were highly appreciated by the +learned professors of its university. While he was there a deputation from +Lucca visited him, asking him to take that little country under his +protection. He gave it for Prince and Princess, his brother-in-law, Felix +Bacciocchi, and his sister Elisa, to whom he had already entrusted the +Duchy of Piombino. Lucca was thus elevated to a hereditary principality, a +dependent of the French Empire, which should revert to the French crown in +case the male line of the Bacciocchi should become extinct. It was a sort +of revival of the old Germanic fiefs. Evidently the memory of Charlemagne +continually filled Napoleon's thoughts. Elisa thenceforth bore the title +of Princess of Lucca and of Piombino. She was a well educated and able +woman, of marked intelligence and strong will. M. de Talleyrand used to +call her "the Semiramis of Lucca." After Bologna, Napoleon visited Modena, +Parma, and Piacenza. The cities he passed through rivalled one another in +flattery. They voted him medals, statues, and even a temple, which, +however, the demi-god declined. + +June 30 Napoleon and Josephine arrived at Genoa, where they were to stay +till July 7, amid unprecedented festivities celebrating the incorporation +of the old Republic with the French Empire. It was a singular sight, this +enthusiastic reception of a Corsican by the Genoese. While at Milan, the +Emperor had received M. Durazzo, the last Doge of Genoa, who had come to +beg him to permit the illustrious Republic, famous for its historical +splendor, to exchange its independence for the honor of becoming a plain +French department. The offer was accepted. The home of Andrea Doria, the +city of marble palaces, that municipality once called "the superb" had +begged as a favor to be stricken from the list of independent states. It +contented itself with being the principal town in the twenty-seventh +military division, and its doge, dispossessed by his own desire, went to +swell the number of the Senators of the Empire. Napoleon took formal +possession of his peaceful conquest, and slept in the palace, and in the +bed of Charles V. + +The night festivity, given in the harbor, July 2, was, in the way of +picturesqueness, one of the most original and most beautiful ever seen. +The sky was clear, the sea calm, the crowd of spectators enormous. +Napoleon and Josephine, going down from the terrace in the garden of the +Palazzo Doria, entered a large round temple, magnificently decorated, +which was at once set in motion as if by magic, and transported by many +oars to the middle of the harbor. Four rafts, covered with shrubbery, +resembling floating islands, then drew up to the temple. The sovereigns +were thus, in open sea, enclosed in a vast garden with trees, flowers, +statues, and fountains. About this garden of Armida, thus radiant upon the +waves, were a multitude of boats, under sail or propelled by oars, moving +about, and their lights resembled the swarms of fireflies that in summer +flutter above the fields of Lombardy. The mild temperature favored this +joyous festival. The whole city, all the buildings, every vessel, were +ablaze with a thousand lights, and the glassy sea reflected numberless +flames. The darkness of night gave the signal for the illuminations. +Magnificent fireworks were set off from the mole, the jetty, and the ships +lining the entrance of the harbor. Music mingled with the joyous cries of +the multitude. The temple in which were Napoleon and Josephine was rowed +back to the terrace of the Palazzo Doria amid the applause of the crowd +lining the shore. + +The next day the Emperor and Empress were at a ball given in the old Ducal +Palace. "The presence of Their Majesties in this superb building," says +the _Moniteur_, "the kindness with which they deigned to speak to every +one, gave this festivity a touching character. All who saw and heard our +sovereigns, rejoiced in their new destinies. The concert was followed by a +ball, and Their Majesties stayed through the several dances, leaving about +midnight. Their path was lit by numberless candles. On their way they met +a multitude, delighted even at that hour, to be able to discern some of +our monarch's features." + +In spite of all these splendid ceremonies Josephine, though idolized, was +not happy. "In general," Mademoiselle Avrillon says with justice, "the +public has a very faint knowledge of the real feelings of those in the +highest station. Being often on show, they are obliged to assume a +fictitious character, just as they dress themselves for great ceremonies. +I have seen the Empress's sufferings, whom nothing could console for her +separation from her children, whom she loved above everything. Ambitions +were less to her than maternal love, her strongest feeling. The thought of +leaving her son in Italy, the fear of never seeing him again, or the +certainty of seeing him seldom, made her shed tears." One day when she was +in more distress than usual, Napoleon said to her: "You are crying, +Josephine; that's absurd; you are crying because you are going to be +separated from your son. If the absence of your children gives you so much +pain, judge what I must suffer. The affection you show them makes me feel +most acutely my unhappiness in having none." These words sounded in +Josephine's ears like a funeral knell. She saw the spectre of divorce +rising before her, and turned pale. From Genoa they went to Turin. +Napoleon heard there of the coalition preparing against him, and left +suddenly for France with Josephine. Non-commissioned officers of the +Grenadiers and the Chasseurs of the Guard served as escort, but they were +unable to keep up with the carriages, so the Emperor thanked them for +their zeal and pushed on without them. He did not stop once for twenty- +four hours. Josephine, who never tormented her husband by complaining, did +not say a word about the fatigues of this quick journey. After an absence +of a hundred days, they reached Fontainebleau, July 11. No one expected +them and no preparations had been made for their reception. Their +departure from Turin had been so recent, and it resembled a flight. The +Emperor did not wish to be recognized on the way, and burst into +Fontainebleau like a bombshell. The palace porter was an old servant, +named Guillot, who had been Napoleon's cook in Egypt. "Well," the Emperor +said to him, "you must go back to your old business and cook us some +supper." Fortunately the porter had in his sideboard some mutton-chops and +eggs. He set to work, and Napoleon ate this improvised meal with great +relish. Josephine borrowed some linen from one of her old chambermaids. +The Emperor asked for a full account of everything that had happened in +Paris during his absence, and began to draw up the plans which were to be +accomplished at Austerlitz before the end of the year. July 18, at one in +the afternoon, he arrived at Saint Cloud, accompanied by the Empress, amid +the roar of the cannon at the Invalides. That evening they went into the +city, called on Napoleon's mother, and went to the opera, where the +_Prétendus_ was given; the audience greeted them most warmly. After all +the splendor of the Italian festivities the time had come for military +preparations and warlike thoughts. + + + + +XV. + +DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ. + + +Austerlitz was to be for the Empire what Marengo had been for the +Consulate: a consolidation. In spite of the pomps of the double +coronation, Napoleon did not feel firmly established on his Imperial and +Royal throne. Opinions varied with regard to the stability of the new +regime. The Liberals missed the Republic, and the Royalists the Bourbons. +If the army and the people showed confidence in the Emperor's star, the +Parisian middle class was always cool, and business men observed with +anxiety the hostility of England, Austria, Russia, and possibly Prussia. +Paris was gloomy; business was dull; the absence of the court depressed +the shop-keepers; the theatres were empty; in short, the winter was +infinitely less gay than the one before. There was general uneasiness; +wives feared for their husbands; mothers for their sons. Every one had +become used to the peace which had lasted five years, and the renewal of +war inspired the greatest anxiety. + +As for Napoleon, he felt the need of some great stroke that should +astonish and fascinate the world. He understood that to maintain his fame +he was condemned to work miracles. September 23, 1805, he had exposed to +the Senate the hostile conduct of Austria, and had announced his speedy +departure to carry aid to the Elector of Bavaria, the ally of France, whom +the Austrians had just driven from Munich. Five days later he had started, +confident of success, and certain that he would find his people at his +feet on his return. The Empress accompanied him as far as Strassburg, and +established herself there to be near the scene of war and to receive +earlier news than was possible at Paris. + +Napoleon's letters to Josephine during the Austerlitz campaign have been +preserved; unfortunately, we have not hers to him. The Emperor writes very +differently from General Bonaparte. His letters are not the ardent, +passionate, romantic epistles recalling the fervid style and thought of +the _Nouvelle Héloïse_. They are substantial letters, concise and +interesting, such as a good husband might write after ten years of +marriage, but not at all a lover's letters. Josephine, who was quite +observant, must have noticed the difference, but she had enough tact and +prudence to avoid complaint. 1805 was not 1796; Napoleon still loved +Josephine, but from habit, gratitude, and a sense of duty, not with mad +passion. He paid her much attention, held her in high regard, felt +sympathy with her, deference, and friendship, but scarcely love. Beneath +the vaulted roof of Notre Dame Napoleon had given to Josephine the +Imperial diadem, but he had not given her the true crown,--love. + +October 1 the Emperor took command of his army, which had assembled with +wonderful promptness on the Rhine. The next day he wrote to the Empress +from Marenheims: "I am still very well, and leaving for Strassburg, where +I shall arrive this evening. The advance has begun. The armies of +Würtemberg and of Baden are joining mine. I have a good position and love +you." October 4 he wrote to her: "I am at Ludwigsberg, and leave to-night. +There is no news. All the Bavarians have joined me. I am well. I hope in a +few days to have something interesting to tell you. Keep well and believe +that I love you. There is a very fine court here, a pretty bride, and the +people are pleasant, even the Elector's wife, who seems very good, +although she is a daughter of the King of England." + +October 5 Napoleon sent another letter to Josephine from Ludwigsberg: "I +have at once to continue my march. You will be five or six days without +news of me; don't be anxious; it is on account of the operations we +undertake. Are you as well as I could hope? Yesterday I was at the wedding +of the son of the Elector of Würtemberg with a niece of the King of +Prussia. I want to give her a present of from thirty-six to forty thousand +francs. Have it made and send it by one of my chamberlains to the bride +when the chamberlains are coming to me. Do this at once. Good by; I love +and kiss you." + +These five or six days of silence were taken up by the opening of +hostilities on the road from Stuttgart to Ulm, the crossing of the Danube, +and the occupation of Augsburg. From this city Napoleon wrote to Josephine +October 10: "I spent last night with the former Elector of Trèves, who has +comfortable quarters. I have been on the move for a week. The campaign +opens with noteworthy successes. I am very well though it rains nearly +every day. Things have moved very quickly. I have sent to France four +thousand prisoners, eight flags, and have captured fourteen cannon. Good +by, my dear; I kiss you." Two days later the French army entered Munich in +triumph, the Austrians having been driven out of Bavaria. The Emperor +wrote to the Empress, October 12: "My army has entered Munich. The enemy +is partly on the other side of the Inn; the other army of sixty thousand +men I have blockaded on the Iller between Ulm and Memmingen. The enemy is +lost, has completely lost its head, and everything promises the luckiest, +shortest, and most brilliant campaign ever known. I leave in an hour for +Burgau on the Iller. I am well: the weather is frightful. It rains so that +I have to change my clothes twice a day. I love you." + +The first successes of the campaign caused great excitement in Paris, as +is shown by the letters of Madame de Rémusat, no great lover of military +glory, to her husband, who had accompanied the Empress to Strassburg; +every day this lady would jot down what had happened, and her interesting +correspondence brings the period vividly before us. October 12, she wrote, +the absence of the Empress leaving her time heavy on her hands: "How +gloomy and ill we are in this odious Paris! Please tell M. de Talleyrand +that it is really something pitiable. Not even a word of gossip! In short, +we are as bored as we are virtuous. I don't know which is the cause and +which the effect, but I do know that I am horribly bored. The solitude of +this great city is really remarkable; the theatres are empty; I hardly +ever go to them." + +In two days there was a complete change. Paris woke up as if to a joyous +trumpet-call, and Madame de Rémusat was full of happiness: "My dear, what +good news!" she wrote October 14, "... This morning the cannon announced +the victory to the city of Paris; it produced a great effect. Every one +was inquiring about it in the street, and congratulating himself; in +short, I send the Empress word, the Parisians were French. I have already +written twenty notes, and received all the visits of congratulation.... +But what a great victory! How proud I am of being a Frenchwoman! I +couldn't sleep for joy. Perhaps by this time you have heard of others, and +when we are rejoicing over the first victory, you have forgotten it with +another. May Heaven continue to protect this noble army and its glorious +leader!" This enthusiastic letter ends with these somewhat harsh +criticising of the Parisians: "This victory was necessary, for these sad +Parisians had begun to complain. The emptiness of Paris, its quiet, the +lack of money which continues to make itself felt, gave to the malevolent +a good opportunity to excite dissatisfaction, and they did their best to +spread it. I was wondering this very morning why in a nation so devoid of +national feeling there should be in the army such unity of action and +thought. It seems to me that honor has a good deal to do with this +difference, and that it takes the place of public spirit in many who in +ordinary times are too happy, too rich, and too careless to care for +anything beyond their own belongings." + +Napoleon went from one victory to another, October 18, just before the +capitulation of Ulm, he wrote to Josephine from Elchingen: "I have been +more tired than I should have been; for a week getting wet through every +day, and cold feet, have done me a little harm, but staying in to-day has +rested me. I have carried out my plan and have destroyed the Austrian army +by simple marches. I have taken sixty thousand prisoners, one hundred and +twenty cannon, more than ninety flags, and more than thirty generals. I am +going to attack the Russians; they are lost. I am satisfied with my army. +I have lost only fifteen hundred men, and two-thirds of these are but +slightly wounded. Good by. Remember me to every one. Prince Charles is +coming to cover Vienna. I think Masséna ought to be at Vienna at this +time. As soon as I am easy about Italy I shall make Eugene fight. My love +to Hortense." + +The capitulation of Ulm was arranged by Napoleon with Prince Lichtenstein, +Major-General of the Austrian army. A heavy rain fell without cessation, +and the prisoners were amazed to see the Emperor, who had not taken off +his boots for a week, wet through, covered with mud, and more tired than +the humblest drummer. When some one spoke of it, he said to Prince +Lichtenstein: "Your Emperor wanted to remind me that I was a soldier. I +hope he will acknowledge that the throne and the Imperial purple have not +made me forget my old trade." October 21, the day after the capitulation, +Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I am very well, my dear. I leave at once for +Augsburg. I have made an army of thirty-three thousand men surrender. I +have taken from sixty to seventy thousand prisoners, more than ninety +flags, and more than two hundred cannon. In the military annals there is +no such defeat. Keep well. I am a little worried. For three days the +weather has been pleasant. The first column of prisoners starts for France +to-day. Each column contains six thousand men." Never had war been fought +with such art. An army of eighty-five thousand men had been destroyed +almost without firing a gun; its adversaries had lost only three thousand +men. After this great victory Napoleon's soldiers said, "The Emperor beat +the enemy with our legs, not with our bayonets." + +These chronicles of war have a sad side even when they commemorate the +most brilliant victories. Even while he counts the trophies the historian +cannot avoid melancholy reflections. What capitulations awaited France +sixty-five years after this capitulation of Ulm! But in this intoxication +of victory, people have eyes only for their success. Were they reasonable, +they would then reflect on the calamities of war. Hortense, who was as +kind as her mother, Josephine, had this wisdom and pity. She said, "When I +read these accounts I am surprised to find myself ready to weep even when +I am happy at the victories." At the time Madame de Rémusat wrote to her +husband: "Poor creatures that we are, how restless we are on this +sandhill, and too often only to hasten our end! A good subject for the +philosopher is this glory, with which we adorn our eagerness in killing +one another." The triumphal music should not drown the sobs and cries of +the mothers; we should think of the dead and wounded. But nations are like +individuals: they never reflect. + +Napoleon pushed on the war with real delight. He felt about war as a good +workman feels about his work, as a great artist about his art. To war it +was that he owed his power and glory. Without it, he said, he would have +been nothing; by it, he was everything. Hence he felt for it not merely +love, but gratitude; loving it both by instinct and calculation. He +preferred the bivouac to the Tuileries. Just as the snipe-shooter prefers +a marsh to a drawing-room, he was more at home under a tent than in a +palace. To men who like the battle-field, war is the most intense of +pleasures. They love it as the gamester loves play, with a real frenzy. +They defeat the enemy, not merely without feeling, but with a fierce joy, +as if it were their prey. They feel the same emotions as the Romans in a +circus, or the Spaniards at a bull-fight. The rattle of drums, the blare +of trumpets, shouts of soldiers, are what they hear; their ears are deaf +to the cries of the wounded and dying. The varying chances of the combat, +the uncertainties of fear and hope produce in them emotions that they +prefer to all others, however poetic and charming. It is with a sort of +intoxication that they inhale the smell of gunpowder, perhaps even that of +blood. A hotly contested victory is more agreeable to them than one too +easily gained. Fortune is, in their eyes, a difficult mistress, whose +favors seem the dearer, the harder they are of attainment. What a +satisfaction for a proud man to be absolute commander of an army which, +before the fight, shouts like the ancient gladiators: _Ave, Caesar, +morituri te salutant!_ "Hail, Caesar, those about to die salute you!" an +army in which even dying men shout applause, with their last breath, to +their sovereign, their idol! And yet how petty is all this glory! Bossuet +was right when he said: "What could you find on earth strong and dignified +enough to bear the name of power? Open your eyes, pierce the dusk. All the +power in the world can but take a man's life: is it then such a great +thing to shorten by a few moments a life which is already hastening to its +end?" + +Josephine did not in the least share her husband's warlike tastes. Gentle, +kindly, affectionate, full of pity for human woes, she would have liked to +reconcile all parties, all nations,--to have universal peace. This woman, +who had all the graces and charms of her sex, never inspired Napoleon with +ambitious or haughty thoughts. While the war lasted, she was anxious, +unhappy; waiting anxiously with bated breath for news, scarcely living. + +Napoleon, wrote to her from Augsburg, October 28: "The last two nights +have rested me completely, and I leave for Munich to-morrow; I am +summoning to me M. de Talleyrand and M. Maret; I shall see them for a +short time, and then leave for the Inn, where I mean to attack Austria in +its hereditary states. I should have been glad to see you, but don't +expect me to summon you unless there should be an armistice, or we should +go into winter quarters. Good by, my dear; a thousand kisses. Remember me +to all the ladies." From Munich the Emperor wrote the following letter, +dated October 27; "I have received your letter from Lamarois. I am sorry +to see that you have been over-anxious. I have heard many details of your +affection for me, but you should have more strength, and confidence. +Besides, I had told you I should not write for six days. To-morrow I +expect the Elector. At noon I start to strengthen my movement on the Inn. +My health is very fair. You mustn't think of crossing the Rhine in less +than two or three weeks. You must be cheerful, and amuse yourself in the +hope of our meeting before the end of the month (Brumaire). I am advancing +on the Russian army. In a few days I shall have crossed the Inn. Good by, +my dear; much love to Hortense, to Eugene, and to the two Napoleons. Keep +the wedding present for some time yet. Yesterday I gave a concert to the +ladies of this court. The leader is a worthy man. I have shot pheasants +with the Elector; you see I am not worn out. M. de Talleyrand has come." +Again, from Haag, November 3, 1805: "I am advancing rapidly; the weather +is very cold; the snow is a foot deep. This is not pleasant. Fortunately, +we have an abundance of wood; we are continually in the forests. I am +fairly well. Everything goes on satisfactorily; the enemy has more cause +for anxiety than I. I am eager to hear from you, and to know that your +mind is easy. Good by, my dear; I am going to bed." + +Napoleon continued his operations with startling rapidity. He wrote to +Josephine November 5: "I am at Linz. The weather is fine. We are within +twenty-eight leagues of Vienna. The Russians are retreating without making +a stand. The house of Austria is much embarrassed; all the belongings of +the court have been removed from Vienna. You will probably have some news +in five or six days. I am very anxious to see you. My health is good." The +Emperor of Austria, compelled to leave Vienna, had sought refuge at Brunn, +where he joined the Czar and the second Russian army; and Napoleon entered +the capital whence the Emperor Francis had fled. He wrote to Josephine +November 15: "I have been for two days in Vienna, a little tired. I have +not yet seen the city by daylight, but have only passed through it by +night. To-morrow I receive the authorities. Almost all my troops are +beyond the Danube in pursuit of the Russians. Good by, dear Josephine; as +soon as possible I shall arrange for you to come. I send much love." The +next day he wrote again to the Empress from Vienna: "I am writing to M. de +Narville to arrange for you to go to Baden, thence to Stuttgart, and +thence to Munich. At Stuttgart you will give the present to the Princess +Paul. Fifteen or twenty thousand francs will be enough for it; the rest +will be enough for a present to the daughter of the Elector of Bavaria at +Munich. All that you heard from Madame de Sérent is definitely arranged. +Bring presents for the ladies and officers in waiting on you. Be pleasant, +but receive all their homages; they owe you everything, and you owe them +nothing, except in the way of politeness. The Electress of Würtemberg is a +daughter of the King of England; you should treat her well, and especially +without affectation. I shall be glad to see you as soon as business will +permit. I am leaving for the front. The weather is admirable; there is +much snow, but everything is in good condition. Good by, my dear one." On +the receipt of this letter, Josephine, who was most anxious to see her +husband, hastened away from Strassburg to go to Munich through Baden and +Würtemberg. At the same time Napoleon set off to meet the Austrian and +Russian armies, commanded by their respective Emperors, in Moravia. + +We have in the Memoirs of General de Ségur, an eye-witness, an interesting +account of the eve of Austerlitz. Late in the afternoon Napoleon entered a +hut, and took his place at table in the best of spirits, along with Murat, +Caulaincourt, Junot, Ségur, Rapp, and a few other guests. They thought +that he would talk about the next day's battle. Not at all: he discussed +literature with Junot, who was familiar with all the new tragedies; he had +a good deal to say about Raynouard's _Templars_, about Racine, Corneille, +and the fate of the ancient drama. Then, by a singular transition, he +began to talk about his Egyptian campaign. "If I had captured Acre," he +said, "I should have put my army into long trousers, and have made it my +sacred battalion, my Immortals, and have finished my war against the Turks +with Arabians, Greeks, and Armenians. Instead of fighting here in Moravia, +I should be winning a battle of Issus, and be making myself Emperor of the +West, returning to Paris through Constantinople." + +After dinner Napoleon wished to make a final reconnoissance of the enemy's +position by their bivouac fires; he mounted his horse and rode out between +the lines. One moment he came near paying dear for his imprudence; he went +too far forward and suddenly fell on a post of Cossacks, and had it not +been for the devotion of the chasseurs who escorted him, he would have +been killed or captured, and he was scarcely able to escape at full +gallop. After crossing the stream which covered the front of the French +army, he dismounted and returned to his bivouac, from one watch-fire to +another, on foot. On his way he stumbled over the stump of a tree and fell +to the ground. Then a grenadier took some straw, rolled it up to something +like a torch, and lit it; other soldiers did the same thing; the camp was +illuminated, and the face of the great conqueror was plainly to be seen. +The next day was December 2, the anniversary of his coronation. "Emperor," +shouted an old soldier, "I promise you in the name of the grenadiers of +the army that you will have to fight only with your eyes, and that to- +morrow we shall bring you the flags and artillery of the Russian army to +celebrate the anniversary of your coronation." Every one shouted applause. +Napoleon in vain tried to stop them. "Silence," he commanded, "until to- +morrow! think of nothing but sharpening your bayonets!" Shouts of "Long +live the Emperor!" were repeated. Along a line of two leagues blazed +thousands of fires and flames. The Russians wondered what was the cause of +this unusual brilliancy, and thought the French were retreating. Napoleon +was at first annoyed by this rapturous demonstration, but at last he was +touched by it, and passing through a number of bivouacs, all brightly lit, +he expressed his gratitude to his soldiers, saying it was the happiest +evening of his life. Then he went to his tent, snatched a little sleep, +and when he rose in the morning, said, "Now, gentlemen, we are beginning a +great day." + +A moment later, the commanders of the different army corps, Murat, Lannes, +Bernadotte, Soult, Davout, came galloping up the little mound which the +soldiers called the Emperor's hill, to receive his final orders. It was a +solemn, impressive moment. "If I were to live," says General de Ségur, "as +long as the world shall last, I shall never forget that scene.... Times +have changed quickly since then. Heavens! how great everything was then, +how brave the men, how glorious the time, how imposing the appearance of +fate!" Never was there a more brilliant triumph. "I have fought thirty +battles like that," said the conqueror, "but I have never seen so decisive +a victory, or one where the chances were so unevenly balanced." And then +full of admiration for his soldiers, he exclaimed; "I am satisfied with +you; you have covered your eagles with undying glory." + +From a military point of view Austerlitz was Napoleon's greatest triumph. +War, which he loved with all its risks and emotions, then showed him its +most tempting side. He was always tempting fate, and fate had always +favored him. The hour had not yet struck when he was to ask more of +fortune than it could give. As Sainte-Beuve truly says, it was not till in +the icy plain of Eylau, from the cemetery covered with blood-stained snow, +that receiving the first warning of Providence, he had a sort of terrible +vision of what the future held in store for him. Then he had before his +eyes a sort of rehearsal of the horrors awaiting him in Russia, and at the +sight of so many corpses, and the awful scene, he said with deep +melancholy, "This sight is one to fill kings with love of peace and horror +of war." But at Austerlitz it was very different. The shrieks of the +Russians sinking through the holes torn in the ice by cannon-balls were +drowned in the shouts of the victors. The bright sunlight of that day of +triumph dispelled, all traces of gloom in the conqueror's heart. + +December 3. Napoleon wrote thus to Josephine about his victory: "I +despatched Lebrun to you from the battle-field. I have beaten the Russian +and Austrian armies commanded by the two Emperors. I am a little tired. I +have bivouacked for a week in the open air, and the nights have been cool. +To-night I am going to sleep in the castle of Prince Kaunitz, where I +shall get two or three hours' rest. The Russian army is not merely +defeated, but destroyed. Much love." December 3, he had an interview in +his bivouac with the Emperor of Austria; and as if to apologize for the +wretched quarters in which he received him, he said, "This is the palace +which Your Majesty has compelled me to inhabit these three months." The +Emperor of Austria replied, "You make such good use of it, that you +certainly can't blame me on that account." And then the two Emperors +embraced. + +The day Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I have made a truce. The Russians +withdraw. The battle of Austerlitz is the greatest I have won: forty-five +flags, more than one hundred and fifty cannon, the standards of the +Russian guards, twenty generals, more than twenty thousand killed,--a +horrid sight! The Emperor Alexander is in despair, and is leaving for +Russia. Yesterday I saw the Emperor of Germany in my bivouac; we talked +for two hours, and agreed on a speedy peace. The weather is not yet very +bad. Now that the continent is at peace, we may hope for it everywhere; +the English will be unable to face us. I shall see with pleasure the time +that will restore me to you. For two days a little trouble with the eyes +has been prevalent in the army. I have not yet been attacked. Good by, my +dear. I am fairly well, and very anxious to see you." December 3, there +was another letter, also from Austerlitz: "I have concluded an armistice, +and peace will be made within a week. I am anxious to hear that you have +reached Munich in good health. The Russians are going back after suffering +immense losses: more than twenty thousand killed and thirty thousand +captured; they have lost three-quarters of their army. Buxhövden, their +commander-in-chief, is killed. I have three thousand wounded and seven or +eight hundred killed. I have a little trouble with my eyes: an epidemic; +it amounts to nothing. Good by; I am anxious to see you once more. To- +night I sleep in Vienna." + +Cambacérès said that the news of the victory of Austerlitz filled the +populace with the wildest joy, which expressed itself in the most +extravagant flattery. The Emperor was treated like a god, and naturally a +sovereign so flattered did not control his love of war. It was only on his +deathbed that Louis XIV. said, "I have been overfond of war!" He said +nothing of the sort when the gates of Saint Martin and of Saint Denis were +built in his honor, when his statue was put up in the Place des Victoires, +when Lebrun painted the proud frescoes in the gallery at Versailles. Like +Louis XIV., Napoleon reproached himself with excessive love of war; but it +was not after Austerlitz, but after Waterloo. No man is worthy of +adoration; it belongs to God alone. Woe to the princes who are fed on +flattery! Extravagant laudation brings its punishment; even in this world +pride has its fall. + +The enthusiasm was universal; the victorious French could not contain +themselves for joy, and wholly lost their heads. Thus even Madame de +Rémusat, who, after the defeat, had shown herself so severe, one might +almost say so cruel, towards Napoleon, wrote thus to her husband, December +18, 1805, after the news of Austerlitz: "You cannot imagine how excited +every one is. Praise of the Emperor is on every one's lips; the most +recalcitrant are obliged to lay down their arms, and to say with the +Emperor of Russia, 'He is the man of destiny!' Day before yesterday I went +to the theatre with Princess Louis to hear the different bulletins read. +The crowd was enormous because the cannon in the morning had announced the +arrival of news; every thing was listened to, and then applauded with +cries such as I had never imagined. I wept copiously all the time. I was +so moved that I believe if the Emperor had been present, I should have +flung my arms about his neck, to beg for pardon afterwards at his feet. +After this I supped out: every one plied me with questions. I knew the +whole bulletin by heart, and kept repeating it; and was glad to be able to +tell the news to so many people, to repeat those simple impressive words, +with a feeling of owning them, which you can understand better than I can +define. I missed you much in all my joy, which I should have gladly shared +with you; but in your absence I tried to communicate my admiration to our +son. Instead of making him finish the life of Alexander, which he has been +reading for two days, it occurred to me to have him read aloud the +_Moniteur_, and he was so much pleased that he said he thought it all much +greater than Alexander." + +Alas! thoughtful people should never forget how much greater is virtue +than success. In this low world no one takes a lofty enough view of +things. Not after defeat, but after victory, is the time to speak of war +seriously and sadly. If Napoleon in the hour of triumph had not been +flattered to excess, if at the proper moment the lessons of history, +philosophy, and religion had been enforced upon him, he would not have +rushed blindly into the gulf that finally swallowed him. Nothing is less +humane, less Christian, than the extravagant praise lavished on the +conquerors of the earth. Laymen and priests are equally to blame, for the +flatterers of conquerors bear perhaps a heavier responsibility than the +conquerors themselves. In the ancient triumphs, at least there was a slave +charged with reminding the hero that he was but a man; in modern times, +there is nothing of the sort; the hero can imagine himself more than +mortal. Why does not the clergy, instead of intoning a _Te Deum_, take the +part of that slave? Is it well to forget that those nations who are most +modest in success are bravest and most resigned in misfortune? Those whose +heads are turned by prosperity cannot endure reverses. For society, as for +individuals, nothing is more baneful than outbursts of joy and pride. The +vaster a monarch's power, the greater his need to meditate on the +fickleness of fate; but the lessons of wisdom are never recalled till they +are useless; they are whispered into his ears only when they can but add a +sting to defeat. + + + + +XVI. + +THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE EUGENE. + + +Both before and after the battle of Austerlitz a great part of Germany was +at Napoleon's feet. The Electors of Baden, Würtemberg, and Bavaria the +last two of whom were to become kings by the consent of the new +Charlemagne, testified an enthusiastic admiration for him, and were all to +profit by his victory. The petty princes who were about to enter the +Confederation of the Rhine were his humble vassals, and paid obsequious +court to his Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. de Talleyrand. The archives +of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have to be consulted for an exact +understanding of their servility and flattery. Moreover, the populace +itself shared the feelings of their princes. The Bavarians regarded +Napoleon as their liberator. French manners and ideas were more than ever +prevalent on the banks of the Rhine, and Germanic patriotism pardoned +France the possession of the left bank of this river. If Napoleon had not +abused fortune, what grand and pacific things might he not have +accomplished in concert with Germany, and what progress might not have +been made for the harmony of nations, for civilization and humanity! + +We quote a letter written before the battle of Austerlitz, November 26, +1805, by the Elector of Bavaria to M. de Talleyrand, then in Vienna: "You +are the most amiable of men, my dear Talleyrand. Your two letters which I +received last evening have given me the greatest pleasure. How grateful I +am that you should have thought of me and of Munich when you are in the +most beautiful city in Germany, and hearing every day the famous +Crescentini! I do as much for you, Your Excellency, but the merit is not +the same. Every evening I express my regret that you are not here. M. de +Canisy has announced the arrival of the Emperor in a week. Six days have +passed, and I am hoping to see him in three days at the outside, and the +Empress, Saturday next. My wife arrived day before yesterday, very +anxious, as is her chaste spouse, to pay our court to Their Imperial +Majesties, and to offer them all the honors of Munich. Lay me before the +feet of the hero to whom I owe my present and future existence, and speak +to him often of my respect, of my enthusiasm for his virtues, and of my +heartiest and incessant gratitude. I hope that the coalition will soon +grow tired of war; in any event, the lessons the Emperor has given it the +last two months are of a nature to inspire disgust with it." + +November 10, 1805, Napoleon had written to Josephine to leave Strassburg +for Munich, stopping at Carlsruhe and Stuttgart. In this letter he had +said: + +"Be pleasant, but receive all their homages; they owe you everything, and +you owe them nothing, except in the way of politeness." He was not +mistaken. This trip of the Empress's through Germany was to be one series +of festivities and ovations. Before she left Strassburg she received a +visit from the Elector of Baden, whose grandson, the hereditary prince, +was, the next year, to marry Mademoiselle Stéphanie de Beauharnais, in +spite of the opposition of his mother, the Margravine. M. Massias, chargé +d'affaires of France at Baden, wrote to M. de Talleyrand, November 13: "My +Lord, His Most Serene Highness the Elector, has returned with his family +from Strassburg, where he was most kindly received by Her Majesty the +Empress and Queen. He invited her to honor Carlsruhe with her presence, +and to accept quarters in his castle when she should go to join His +Majesty the Emperor and King. Her Majesty the Empress seemed pleased with +the invitation and promised to accept it if circumstances should permit. +Before his departure, the Elector sent the Prince Electoral to the +Margravine his mother, to beg her to come to Strassburg to pay her +respects to Her Majesty the Empress. She replied that when the Empress of +Austria was at Frankfort and the Queen of Prussia at Darmstadt, she had +not left Carlsruhe to visit them, and that if the Empress of the French +should pass through that town, she should gladly pay her all the respect +and honor due her rank and character." + +Charles Frederick, Elector of Baden, was then seventy-seven years old. He +had lost his son, and his heir was his grandson, Charles Frederick Louis, +Prince Electoral, then twenty years old. The mother of this young Prince, +the Margravine of Baden, entertained no friendly feelings towards France; +and he was the brother-in-law of the Emperor of Russia, who had married +his sister, and was at war with Napoleon. His other sister, Frederica +Caroline, had married the Elector of Bavaria, and he was betrothed to the +step-daughter of this Electress, the young Princess Augusta. They were +said to be much attached to each other, but their plans of happiness were +destined to be sacrificed to Napoleon's imperious will, for he proposed to +arrange the matches of the German Princes as he did those of his own +brothers. The Electoral Prince of Baden and the old Elector, his +grandfather, far from complaining, only showed to the Emperor most +unbounded devotion. + +We may judge of their attitude and their respect by this despatch of M. +Massias, chargé d'affaires at Carlsruhe, addressed to Talleyrand, under +date of November 23, 1805: "My Lord M. de Canisy reached here from +headquarters at four o'clock this morning, and asked me to inform His Most +Serene Highness the Elector that he had been sent by Her Majesty the +Empress, who meant to come to Carlsruhe within two or three days. I +promised to do this as soon as possible, and told him that great +preparations had been made to receive Her Majesty in a suitable manner. +The Elector, to whom I communicated this news at seven in the morning, +expressed the greatest satisfaction, and he has sent me word that in order +to carry out his desire to give Her Majesty a proper reception, he wishes +me to send a message to Strassburg to find out, 1, the exact day when she +will arrive; 2, the number of persons in her suite, and how many horses +she will need; 3, whether she desires to eat alone or with the principal +persons of her own and the Electoral court; 4, to ask to have at once sent +an official of the court to arrange the quarters and the ceremonies +according to the Empress's wishes. At Kehl, Her Majesty will find a +carriage and eight horses from the Elector's stables. Similar relays will +be placed as far as the frontiers of Würtemberg. Her Majesty will be +escorted by the Electoral cavalry. She herself will determine the +etiquette to be observed at the court of Carlsruhe during her entire stay. + +"His Most Serene Highness, the Prince Electoral, will go as far as Rastadt +to meet Her Majesty. The Margrave Louis will meet her outside of Carlsruhe +at the head of his body-guard. Bells will be rung wherever Her Majesty +passes. The city will be brilliantly illuminated." + +November 28, at six in the evening, the Empress formally entered +Carlsruhe, which was amid a general illumination. At the Mühburger gate +stood an arch of triumph under which she passed. In front of the arch was +this inscription: _Pro Imperatrice Josephina_; on the other, _Votiva +lumina ardent_. At the entrance of the castle gate stood a little temple +bearing this inscription: _Salve_. In the middle of the garden was a +larger temple, in which was to be seen on a pedestal the Emperor's bust, +crowned with laurels and surrounded with palms. The inscription ran: +_Maximis triumphis sacrum_,--"Consecrated to the greatest triumphs." On +two pyramids was to be read this motto: "Love leads to glory." November +29, there was a grand reception and concert in her honor at the court, At +nine o'clock in the morning of the 30th, she left Carlsruhe for Stuttgart, +after an affectionate farewell to the Electoral family. + +At seven that evening she made a similar formal entrance into the capital +of Würtemberg, passing under an arch of triumph bearing her name +surmounted by an Imperial crown. Soldiers lined the way from the gate to +the Elector's castle. The main street was decorated with Egyptian altars, +and was brilliantly illuminated, as was the castle also. The Elector, his +wife, a daughter of the King of England, and all the court received the +Empress at the castle door and escorted her to her rooms, where she +supped. The next day she sat on a platform at a state dinner in the white +hall. Afterwards the company went to the Opera House, where _Achilles_ was +given. After they had returned to the castle there were some fine +fireworks. These festivities continued until December 2, when _Romeo and +Juliet_ was given for the first time, and the 3d, at seven in the morning, +Josephine, after bidding the family farewell, pushed on towards Munich, +while the troops presented arms and cannon were fired. + +The Empress was not to stop between Stuttgart and Munich, but on her way +she saw many places that had just become famous in the war. As she drew +near them she looked at the plain where, a few days before, the enemy's +army had marched out before Napoleon and laid down its arms. From Augsburg +to Munich, everything made her journey most brilliant; arches of triumph, +bands of music so numerous that often their notes mingled with one +another, wreaths of leaves, successive guards of honor who joined her, +composed of the Royal Guard of Italy, at nearly every parting station. As +a letter in the _Moniteur_ says, "Enthusiasm succeeded to fear, the whirl +of festivities to the lamentation of battle; all that had been said of the +Empress's benevolence seemed still to make part of her suite, and it was +as if the Angel of Peace had come to visit these countries." + +The Empress reached Munich December 5, eight days after leaving +Strassburg. A salute of a hundred guns welcomed her. In almost every +street even houses were draped, windows adorned with transparent and +complimentary figures; the illuminations of private houses rivalled in +expense and splendor those of the public buildings. State carriages were +sent out to the city gates for the Empress and her suite, but Josephine +did not get into any of them; she kept on her travelling dress. This did +not mar the brilliancy of the entrance, which was conspicuous for +universal joy. December 7, she went to the theatre, where Mozart's _Don +Juan_ was given, and she was greeted with sound of trumpets and the +applause of the audience. + +The Empress had scarcely reached Munich before people began to talk about +an early marriage between her son, Eugene de Beauharnais, and the Princess +Augusta, the daughter of the Elector, but it was still merely a faint +rumor. The French minister, M. Otto, wrote December 16, 1805, the +following despatch on the subject to M. de Talleyrand: "My Lord,-- +Immediately after the arrival of Her Majesty the Empress, the rumor spread +that His Most Serene Highness Prince Eugene was likewise on his way to +Munich, there to conclude a marriage with Princess Augusta of Bavaria. The +rumor has taken such shape in the last few days that a foreign lady, who +has been most kindly received by the Electoral family, ventured to ask the +Elector if she might congratulate him on so desirable a marriage. This +Prince replied that he knew nothing about it; that his daughter was +promised to the Prince of Baden; that the two young people had the +strongest attachment for each other; and that only day before yesterday +the Electress had received from Baden a most affectionate letter on the +subject; and that he loved his daughter too much to wish to oppose her +inclinations. This is the first time that mention has been made at court +of a matter which the public supposed settled quite differently. The +Electress was present at this conversation, and corroborated everything +that was said concerning her brother's attachment to the Princess. This +anecdote, which comes to me straight from the castle, proves that the +Baden marriage is not broken, as has been said at Carlsruhe, unless the +Elector wished to conceal the truth from the lady who questioned him on +this subject. Inquisitive people have tried to make out the true state of +things by watching the conduct of Her Majesty the Empress and the persons +of her suite. The relations of the two courts are confined to politeness +on each side, to social attentions, in which Her Majesty exhibits all her +natural amiability, which wins every heart. Beyond that, there prevails +the greatest reserve." + +Maximilian Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, was born in 1756, and was then +fifty years old. He had lost his first wife, who had borne him one +daughter, the Princess Augusta Louisa, who was born in 1788. His second +wife, Caroline, a Princess of Baden, sister of the hereditary Prince of +Baden, to whom the Princess Augusta was betrothed, was then thirty years +old. Though not handsome, she was not devoid of charm, her figure was +good, her manners were amiable and dignified. The young Princess Augusta +was the ornament of the Munich court. She had all the freshness, +brilliancy, and charm of a young German girl of eighteen. As for the +Elector, he was an attractive, sympathetic man, who combined frank +joviality with tact, wit, and delicacy. He was tall; his face was noble +and regular. He liked the French, and they liked him; it was in France +that he had spent many years of his youth. As a younger prince of the +house of Deux Ponts he became Elector only by the extinction of the branch +of his family that reigned in Bavaria, In his early life he had no +fortune. In the reign of Louis XVI. he served in the French armies, +commanding the regiment of Alsace. At the court of Versailles, as in the +garrison at Strassburg, he had left behind him a reputation of good +manners and chivalrous gallantry. His soldiers, who adored him, called him +Prince Max. At that time he might have married a daughter of the Prince of +Condé, but his father and his uncle objected to this match, because, since +he was not rich, he would doubtless have been compelled to make some of +his daughters canonesses, and certain chapters would have been unwilling +to receive them on account of their illegitimate descent from Louis XIV. +and Madame de Montespan. He was fond of recalling the last years of the +old régime in France, and spoke most affectionately of that country, in +which he had been very happy. He was worshipped by his family, his +servants, and his subjects. There was never a kinder, more amiable prince. +Often he would stroll unaccompanied through the streets of Munich, going +to the markets, bargain over grain, enter the shops, talking to every one, +especially to the children, whom he urged to go to their schools. He was +at once familiar and full of dignity, and he was as much respected as +loved. There were many points of resemblance between his character and +that of the Empress Josephine, and they had a very strong sympathy for +each other. + +The Empress was ailing during a good part of her stay in Munich, and +whether for this reason or because Napoleon, who was always moving from +place to place, did not get his letters regularly, he was for some time +without news from his wife. He wrote to her from Brunn, December 10, 1805: +"It is a long time since I have heard from you. Have the grand festivities +of Baden, Stuttgart, and Munich made you forget the poor soldier who lives +covered with mud, rain, and blood? I am going to leave soon for Vienna. +They are trying to make peace. The Russians have left and are fleeing far +from here, going back to Russia badly beaten and sorely humiliated. I am +anxious to be with you once more. Good by, my dear; my eyes are well +again." + +Napoleon wrote again December 19, renewing his complaint: "Great Empress, +not a letter from you since I left Strassburg. You have passed through +Baden, Stuttgart, Munich, without writing us a word. That is not very kind +or very affectionate! I am still at Brunn. The Russians are gone; we have +a truce. In a few days I shall see what is to become of me. Deign from the +giddy height of your grandeur to interest yourself a little in your +slaves." + +From Schönbrunn he wrote to Josephine, December 20, 1805 (29th Frimaire, +Year XIV.): "I have your letter of the 25th [Frimaire]. I am sorry to hear +that you are not well; that is not a good preparation for a journey of a +hundred leagues at this time of year. I don't know what I shall do; that +depends on what happens. I have no will of my own; I am waiting to see how +matters settle themselves. Stay at Munich, amuse yourself; that is not +hard, amid so many pleasant people, in such a charming country. I am +tolerably busy. In a few days I shall have made up my mind. Good by, my +dear." + +December 26, peace was signed at Pressburg between France and Austria. The +treaty gave to the Kingdom of Italy, Istria, Dalmatia, and Friuli; to the +Elector of Würtemberg, the title of King and the Suabian territory; to the +Elector of Baden, the Breisgau, Ortenau, and the town of Constanz; to the +Elector of Bavaria, the title of King, the Vorarlburg, and the Tyrol. But +Napoleon had determined that these indemnifications should be paid for by +three marriages,--that of his step-son, Prince Eugene, with the daughter +of the King of Bavaria; that of a relative of his wife, Mademoiselle +Stéphanie de Beauharnais, with the hereditary Prince of Baden; that of his +brother Jerome with the daughter of the King of Würtemberg. + +Napoleon, accompanied by Murat, entered Munich beneath an arch of triumph, +December 31, 1805, at a quarter to two in the morning. This entrance in +the night, lit up by torches, was very impressive. The next day, January +1, 1806, a herald-at-arms, escorted by numerous horsemen, passed through +the different quarters of the city, and read the following proclamation, +after a flourish of drums and trumpets, while an immense crowd gathering +in every street and crossway loudly applauded: "By the grace of God, the +dignity of the sovereign of Bavaria having recovered its old-time +splendor, and this State having resumed the rank it formerly held for the +happiness of its subjects and the glory of the country, be it known that +His Most Serene Highness the powerful Prince and Lord Maximilian Joseph +is, by these presents, solemnly proclaimed King of Bavaria and of all the +countries on it dependent. Long live and happily Maximilian Joseph, our +very gracious King! Long live, and happily, Caroline, our very gracious +Queen!" That evening the whole city was full of joy, and the next day was +celebrated as a national festivity. + +Napoleon, having recaptured the twenty-nine cannon and the twenty-one +Bavarian flags that had fallen into the hands of the Austrians by the +chances of war and the occupation of the country, had decided to restore +to his faithful allies the trophies which they had valiantly defended and +whose loss they mourned. In the morning of January 2, all citizen soldiery +was under arms, lining the streets through which was to pass the +procession and their precious burden. The cannon were placed on carts +adorned with festoons and garlands, each cart was drawn by two horses +belonging to the citizens; the houses were also decorated with different +colored ribbons. All the young people in the city accompanied these carts. +The students of the Royal College of Cadets carried the flags. When the +procession reached the grand square, a large chorus, accompanied by a +large band, sang a song of thanksgiving and victory. The populace and the +soldiers mingled their cheers with this song. The procession then made its +way to the Church of Our Lady, where a _Te Deum_ was sung with great +solemnity. + +January 4, Napoleon wrote to Prince Eugene: "My Cousin,--Within twelve +hours at the most, after the receipt of this letter, you will start with +all speed for Munich. Try to get here as soon as possible, so that you may +be sure to see me. Leave your command in the hands of the general of +division whom you judge to be most capable and upright. You need not bring +a large suite. Start at once, and _incognito_, and so avoid both dangers +and delays. Send me a messenger to give me twenty-four hours' notice of +your arrival." The Emperor had decreed the marriage of his step-son with +Princess Augusta of Bavaria, but he had to go through certain formalities +to overcome the objections of the Queen of Bavaria, who wanted her +brother, the hereditary Prince of Baden, to marry the young Princess. Her +family pride and her inmost feelings revolted against the admission into +her family of a young man whom she looked on as an upstart. She sought for +pretexts and devices to delay, if not to prevent, this alliance. No one +would have dared to say at Munich that the Emperor's step-son was not +great enough to marry a king's daughter, but she found fictitious excuses: +it was said that the young Princess was ailing, and at another time that +she was suffering from a sprain. Napoleon, who sometimes played the +diplomatist, feigned to believe in these alleged ailments, and said that +he would send his own surgeon to heal her. He would gladly have returned +speedily to Paris, where he deemed that his presence was necessary, but +his Chamberlain, M. de Thiard, whom his previous negotiations had made +familiar with the secrets of the Bavarian court, advised him to stay in +Munich until the marriage was absolutely settled. "Very well," said the +Emperor; "but do you know that while I am here, your Faubourg Saint +Germain is making a run on my bank, and that my stay in Munich costs me +fifteen hundred thousand francs a day?" M. de Thiard insisted, and dared +to show Napoleon the Queen of Bavaria's ever-present recollection of the +Duke of Enghien, which was the secret cause of her aversion to the +projected alliance. But this opposition could hold out for only a few +hours; no one then dared to brave the Imperial wrath. The Queen, fearing +that Napoleon's surgeon would discover that the Princess's alleged +sufferings were only an excuse, yielded to the wishes of the hero of +Austerlitz. The marriage was announced even before the couple had met. +Everything was done in military fashion. Orders were issued that they +should love, and they loved. + +There is this to be said in behalf of Napoleon; that in the whole matter +he made no use of harsh words or rough manners. He appeared in an +attractive, not in a threatening light, and by dint of appearing smitten +with the Queen of Bavaria, even aroused Josephine's jealousy. + +Prince Eugene arrived, as commanded, January 10. He had the good fortune +to please; but even if he had not pleased it would have made no +difference. As soon as he reached Munich, after travelling day and night, +the Emperor took possession of him and never left him. The Empress was +still in bed when her son's arrival was announced. She was much moved, and +began to cry at the thought that his first visit was not to her. A moment +later, while she was still agitated, she saw the Emperor burst into her +room, holding the young Prince by the hand, and pushing him forward as he +exclaimed: "Here, Madame, is your great booby of a son whom I'm bringing +to you." Josephine burst into tears, and pressed her son to her heart. + +Eugene de Beauharnais, a French Prince, and Viceroy of Italy, was then +twenty-four years old. Mademoiselle Avrillon, reader to the Empress, thus +draws his portrait: "Prince Eugene's face, although in no way remarkable, +was rather well than ill favored; he was of medium height, well +proportioned, and stoutly made. He excelled in all sorts of corporeal +exercises, and was an accomplished dancer. Kind, frank, simple in his +manners, without haughtiness or reserve, he was courteous to every one; +and although he was not devoid of deep feelings, his most striking trait +was persistent good spirits. He was very fond of music, and sang very +well, especially Italian songs, which all his family preferred. As he was +young, he naturally paid many women attention, as I have often seen, but +he always treated them with great respect." Napoleon was very fond of him, +and looked upon him as his pupil, as his own child. He was delighted with +the way Eugene discharged his duties as Viceroy, and when he received his +despatches he exclaimed in the presence of several marshals, "I knew very +well to whom I had entrusted my sword in Italy." He often gratified +Josephine by saying, "Eugene may serve as a model to all the young men of +his age." + +The young Prince showed great tact and intelligence in his first meetings +with his future wife. He sought every means of pleasing her, paid her +assiduous court, as if their marriage was still undetermined. He was able +to overcome the Princess's prejudices, for she had given her consent only +at the last moment, as a victim sacrificed for reasons of state. Her +father, the King, dreading the excitement of an interview, had written to +her a letter, in which he set out all the advantages of the match desired +by the Emperor, vaunted the good qualities of the young and dashing +Viceroy of Italy, an to prove that it was a brilliant match, revealed to +her what was then unknown, that at Pressburg the Austrian Minister had +offered to Napoleon for his step-son the hand of one of their +Archduchesses. "Consider, dear Augusta, that a refusal would make the +Emperor as much the enemy as he has been hitherto the friend of our +house." And he ended his letter with a last appeal to his daughter's +patriotic devotion. The young Princess replied by writing: "I place my +fate in your hands; however cruel it may be, it will be softened by the +knowledge that I am sacrificed for my father, my family, and my country. +On her knees your daughter prays for your blessing; it will aid me to bear +my sad lot with resignation." The girl's unhappiness soon gave way to joy. +The Empress had spoken to her most warmly of Eugene's qualities, his +bravery, loyalty, and gallantry, and the Princess found out that Josephine +was right. She forgot her cousin, the Prince of Baden, fell +instantaneously in love with Eugene, and this marriage for reasons of +state turned out to be a love match. It was celebrated with great pomp in +the Royal Chapel, January 14, four days after the bridegroom's arrival at +Munich. The Emperor adopted Prince Eugene, and gave in the marriage +contract the name of Napoleon Eugene of France. This adoption wrought a +great change in their correspondence; previously the Emperor when he wrote +to the Viceroy addressed him as, "My Cousin"; henceforth he always wrote, +"My Son." Madame Murat, who was then at Munich, was pained to see that the +new Vice-Queen, as wife of the Emperor's adopted son, took precedence of +her at all ceremonies, and she feigned an illness to avoid what seemed to +her an affront. + +On her wedding day the Princess charmed every one by her grace. She was +tall, well shaped, with the figure of a nymph, and a face in which +sweetness was blended with dignity. Moreover, she was very well educated, +was pious and modest, and the possessor of all the family virtues. In +short, she was a model wife and mother. She wrote to the Emperor a letter +of thanks that touched him. He answered it, January 27: "My Daughter,-- +Your letter is as amiable as you are yourself. My feelings for you will +only grow from day to day; this I know from my pleasure in recalling your +fine qualities, and from the need I feel for your frequent assurance that +you are satisfied with every one and happy with your husband. Amid all I +have to do, nothing will be dearer to me than the chance to assure my +children's happiness. Be sure, Augusta, that I love you like a father, and +that I count on a daughter's affection for me. Travel slowly, and be +careful in the new climate when you get there, and take plenty of rest." + +January 21, Prince Eugene left Munich with his young wife for Milan. The +next day M. Otto, the French Minister, wrote to M. de Talleyrand: "His +Imperial Highness Prince Eugene left yesterday morning with his young +wife. The King escorted them to their carriage with every indication of +affection. It was noticed that in taking leave of the Prince he embraced +him several times. The separation cost the Princess some tears. Their +departure was announced by firing a hundred guns. The best wishes of all +good Bavarians accompanied the pair. The stay of the French court at +Munich has left the deepest and most lasting impression. The Emperor's +greatness and power were known, but the effect of his extreme kindness and +magnificence had to be seen at a closer view to be appreciated. I feel +able to assure His Majesty that the Bavarian nation will always be his +faithful and devoted allies. So many happy memories are attached to this +period of our history that His Majesty can flatter himself that he has +accomplished the most difficult of all conquests,--that of the love of the +people who have witnessed his successes." + +While the Viceroy and Vice-Queen of Italy were proceeding towards Milan, +the Emperor and the Empress were on their way to France, stopping at +Stuttgart and Carlsruhe, where they were warmly greeted. January 20, 1806, +they found an arch of triumph built on a Roman model at Entzberg, in +Baden. It bore this inscription: _Imperatori Napoleoni triumphatori +augusto_. The bas-relief represented the capture of Ulm and the delivery +of the keys of Vienna. Columns and obelisks had been erected at Carlsruhe +with these inscriptions: _Hostium victori.--Patriam servavit.--Pacem +restituit_. In front of the castle had been built a temple of Peace. At +the French frontier stood an arch of triumph with this inscription: _Heroi +reduci Galliae plaudunt_,--"Gaul applauds the returning hero." The bas- +reliefs represented the battle of Austerlitz and the interview between the +two Emperors. In the night of January 26, Napoleon and Josephine were back +at the Tuileries. Prince Eugene's marriage put a happy ending to the +campaign just finished. To create a king and to give to his step-son the +hand of this king's daughter was a stroke of imagination on Napoleon's +part that did honor to his omnipotence. The accounts of the triumphal +festivities in Munich, Stuttgart, and Carlsruhe followed close upon the +bulletins announcing the victories of the Grand Army, and produced a great +impression in both Germany and France. + + + + +XVII. + +PARIS IN THE BEGINNING OF 1806. + + +Napoleon arranged his return with the utmost skill. His prolonged stay at +Munich kept alive the impatience of the Parisians for his return, and +meanwhile there was a constant stream of flattery and enthusiasm. January +1, 1806, had just put an end to the Republican calendar, which had existed +for thirteen years, three months, and a few days. The Year XIV. found +itself suddenly interrupted by the return to the Gregorian calendar. Thus +vanished the last trace of the Republic. The same day the new year was +inaugurated with a patriotic ceremony. The Tribune carried with great +solemnity to the Senate the forty-four Russian and Austrian flags which +the hero of Austerlitz had entrusted to its care. All the houses in the +streets through which the procession was to pass were decorated. In front +of many of them were to be seen the Emperor's bust crowned with laurels. +The ever lyrical _Moniteur_ said: "At the sight of these noble spoils, +these startling proofs of the heroism of the French army, all hearts +seemed to meet in a common feeling of admiration and gratitude which was +but faintly expressed by the shouts issuing from the crowd and from every +window, of 'Long live the Emperor!' 'Hurrah for the Grand Army!' 'Victory, +victory!' 'Long live the Emperor!' It was in this way that the people of +Paris, of all classes, of both sexes, of all ages, manifested in the most +vivid and unanimous way their devotion and gratitude to His Majesty and +his victorious armies." + +One Tribune, M. Joubert, exclaimed: "Is not Napoleon the man of history, +the man of all ages? May we not say that there is something supernatural +in him, since it is true that God disposes of the fate of empires, and +that Napoleon the Great gladly submits everything to Providence and +ascribes everything to religion?" In their official enthusiasm the +Tribunes, as accomplished courtiers, made one motion after another. One +proposed that the Emperor on his return should receive triumphal honors, +like those of ancient Rome, and the city of Paris should go to meet him. +Another suggested that the sword which he wore at the battle of Austerlitz +should be solemnly consecrated and placed in some public monument. Another +expressed a desire that on one of the principal places in the city a +column should be set up, bearing the Emperor's statue, with this +inscription: "To Napoleon the Great, the grateful country." The Senate, +with similar zeal, hastened to carry out the plan by a decree. + +The Parisians, who always worship success of monarches, generals, or +artists, then felt the wildest admiration for the victorious Napoleon. The +_Moniteur_ was full of dithyrambic eulogies, in prose and verse. Flattery +appeared as it had never appeared before. Bishops became conspicuous for +their ardent praise; some phrases from their charges may be quoted. Thus +the Bishop of Versailles said: "God says: 'No one shall resist him, whom I +have clothed with a special mission to re-establish my worship, to lead my +chosen people; no one will resist him because I am with him, and he is +with me. _Dem cum eo_.'" + +The Bishop of Bayonne; "Behold our enemies ones more defeated. Let +incredulity be silent and the atheist confounded. Our annals will be the +story of the wonders of Providence... Widows, cease to bemoan the loss of +a loved husband; you are not left alone; you belong to the country. +Orphans, you have found another father; Napoleon has adopted you." + +The Bishop of Rennes: "Did not those kings know, or did they forget in +their delirium, that the French nation is now the first nation in the +world? Did they not know that the man who governs it is the most +astounding man in the world, and the greatest warrior history has ever +known?" + +The Bishop of Coutances: "The Almighty wishes Napoleon to attain this new +glory and hence impresses upon him a sort of divine character. He wishes +him to attain it on the day and at the same hour that the Sovereign +Pontiff, one year ago, poured on his brow the holy oil." + +The Bishop of Montpellier: "Let the earth be shaken, and the mountains +cast into the bosom of the seas; our God blesses the views, the wisdom, +the talents, and the courage of our august monarch." + +The Emperor, in dividing the flags which he had captured from Russia and +Austria, had given fifty-four to the Senate, eight to the Tribunes, eight +to the city of Paris, and fifty to the church of Notre Dame, which he +wished to adorn with his trophies as the Marshal of Luxembourg had done in +the reign of Louis XIV. The day when these fifty flags were given to the +Cathedral the Cardinal Archbishop of France said, "O Posterity, when you +read our history you will imagine that you are reading anew the fall of +the walls of Jericho, and listening to the miraculous deeds of Joshua, +David, and Judas Maccabaeus. _Benedictus Dominus qui facit mirabilia +solus_.... God of Marengo, you declare yourself the God of Austerlitz; and +the German eagle, the Russian eagle, abandoned by you, became the prey of +the French eagle, which you never cease to protect." A singular piece of +flattery this, to call the Creator of the universe--of which this earth is +not a millionth part--the God of a village, because near this village a +man has wrought the death of many other men! + +Paris seemed to have recovered its ardor of the first days of the +Revolution in order to salute the triumphant hero. The day of his arrival, +January 27, 1806, the managers of the bank, anxious that his presence +should be the signal for public prosperity, ordered the resumption of +specie payments. The Opera celebrated his return and that of the Empress +by a grand performance which took place February 4. The bills announced +the _Prétendus_ and a divertisement, The public knew that this +divertisement was to be a sort of apotheosis in honor of the Imperial +glories. The house was crowded, and the passages themselves were crammed +by the enthusiastic crowd. During the second act of the _Prétendus_ there +was great excitement over the arrival of Napoleon and Josephine. Applause +resounded from every side. Ladies distributed laurel branches, which all +the spectators waved, shouting, "Long live the Emperor!" Musicians played +the chorus of the _Caravan_. Meanwhile, the scenery of the _Prétendus_ +disappeared, and applause began over the magnificent decorations that took +its place. It was a semicircular enclosure with trophies forming a +colonnade showing the course of the Seine from the Pont Neuf to the +western limit of Paris, showing the Louvre, which Napoleon had promised to +complete, the Pont des Arts, the Palais de la Monnaie, the Tuileries, and +in the misty distance the Champs Elysées overlooking this fine view. The +interior of the enclosure was adorned with garlands and crowded with +people, awaiting the return of the Grand Army. This appeared with a +military march: the sappers in front with their axes and white aprons; the +grenadiers of the Guard with their high fur caps; the artillerymen with +their black caps; the dragoons with their double armor; the Mamelukes with +their scimetars. Then came the Bavarians, worthy comrades of Napoleon's +soldiers. The people applauded their defenders. Pupils of the military +schools sprang into the ranks to welcome their fathers, while old men +embraced their children. A general chorus was heard. Then a warrior came +to the front of the stage and celebrated in a hymn the marvels of the +campaign of Austerlitz. This was followed by a ballet of foreign nations, +in which joined French peasants and girls in the dress of their provinces, +from Caux and Alsace, Provence, Béarn, Auvergne, and the Alps. After the +dances came songs,--the words by Esménard, author of the _Navigation_, the +music by Stobelt. The marches, evolutions, and ballet were arranged by +Gardel. The principal stanzas were sung by the most distinguished artists, +Lainez, Laïs, Madame Armand, Madame Branchu. When it was all over, the +Emperor and the Empress withdrew amid applause, and there was sung the +_Vivat_ of Abbé Rose which had made such a success at Notre Dame on +Coronation Day, and was as warmly applauded at the Opera as it had been in +the Cathedral. + + + + +XVIII. + +THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF BADEN. + + +If anything is capable of proving the admiration, terror, and fascination +that the hero of Austerlitz exercised over Europe, and especially over +Germany, in 1806, it is certainly the marriage of the hereditary Prince of +Baden with Mademoiselle Stéphanie de Beauharnais. It was a curious sight! +A Prince belonging to one of the oldest and most illustrious families in +the world, whose three sisters had married, one, the Emperor of Russia; +another, the King of Sweden; the third, the King of Bavaria; a Prince who +might have allied himself with the oldest reigning houses had come to +regard as an honor a marriage with, the plain daughter of a French +senator,--a girl not united by any ties of blood with Napoleon, but only +by adoption; that is to say, by a whim. One might have supposed that the +Empire of the new Charlemagne was centuries old, and the German Princes +bowed before it like devoted vassals before their suzerain. What a vast +power he had attained, and how easily he could have kept it, if he had +limited his ambition, and put bounds to his power, and had not asked of +docile Germany more than it could give him! + +The marriage of Mademoiselle Stéphanie de Beauharnais with the hereditary +Prince of Baden was at first warmly opposed by the Margravine, this +Prince's mother. M. Massias, French chargé d'affaires at Baden, had +written on this matter to M. de Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, +January 6, 1806: "My Lord,--For some days there has been a rumor quietly +circulating among the principal persons of the court of Carlsruhe that the +object of M. de Thiard's last journey was to arrange the marriage of the +Electoral Prince of Baden with the daughter of Senator Beauharnais. Last +evening arrived a messenger from the Electress of Bavaria for the +Margravine, the mother of this Prince. I have learned by chance the +contents of this missive to his mother. She says substantially that she +has had a talk of more than an hour with the Emperor Napoleon; that His +Majesty promised that the marriage of the Electoral Prince of Baden with +Mademoiselle Beauharnais should never take place without the consent of +the Margravine; and in case of her refusal of this consent, he would only +reserve to himself the right of being consulted on the choice of the wife +to be given to this young Prince.... The Electoral Prince called on his +mother after she had received this despatch, and was with her alone for +two hours; he came away in great dejection. When he got to his +grandfather's, he exclaimed, involuntarily, 'That woman is lost; she wants +to ruin herself!'" + +The chargé d'affaires ended his letter with this sketch of the Margravine: +"I have known the Margravine for six years, and I think I can say that if +she judges the match in question opposed to the pride inspired by the +first ideas of her education, no persuasion can move her. She possesses to +a very marked degree the confident obstinacy of feeble and timid spirits. +She does not dare to dismiss an incompetent footman; and when she has once +made up her mind, which is only possible in matters about which her +opinions are rigidly formed, neither force nor persuasion can modify her. +That is my reading of her character, and I think it the true one." + +The more the Margravine opposed this match which the Emperor had +suggested, the more the young Prince of Baden and his grandfather, the +Elector, desired it. M. Massias wrote again to M. de Talleyrand, January +9, 1806: "His Most Serene Highness, the Prince Electoral of Baden, is to +leave tomorrow for Ulm and Augsburg, to invite, in his grandfather's name, +His Majesty the Emperor and King to honor Carlsruhe with his presence, and +to stay at the castle on his way back to France. But, he tells me himself, +the main object of his journey is to convince His Majesty that the +marriage of which I had the honor to speak to Your Excellency in my last +letter, is far from opposing his desires; and he hopes to dissipate +without difficulty the doubts which it has been sought to raise regarding +this in the mind of His Majesty, for whom he always manifested a profound +devotion and a sincere attachment." + +What was the origin of this young girl whose hand was thus sought by the +hereditary Prince of Baden? The Marquis of Beauharnais, the father of the +Viscount of Beauharnais, the first husband of the Empress Josephine, had a +brother, Count Claude de Beauharnais, who was a commodore, and married +Mademoiselle Fanny Mouchard. Countess Fanny, a friend of Dorat and +Cubières, took much interest in literature and wrote many novels. She was +a blue-stocking, and it was about her that Lebrun wrote the malicious +epigram:-- + + "Eglé, fair and a poetess, has then two slight faults: + She makes her face and does not make her verses." + +By her marriage with Count Claude de Beauharnais, the Countess Fanny (born +in 1738, died in 1813) had one son, named Claude after his father, who +married the daughter of the Count of Lezay-Marnésia. They had a daughter, +Stéphanie de Beauharnais, born August 28, 1789, who was adopted by +Napoleon, married the hereditary Prince of Baden, became the grandduchess +of this country, and died in 1860, much loved by her family and the people +of Baden. Her father, Claude de Beauharnais, was a senator in the Empire, +a peer of France at the Restoration, and died in 1819. + +During the childhood of Mademoiselle Stéphanie de Beauharnais no one would +have predicted the lofty destiny that awaited her. Her father, having lost +his wife, entrusted her to a pious old aunt, who lived at Montauban, and +there she remained in obscurity until it occurred to her uncle, M. de +Lezay-Marnésia, to take her to Paris, and present her to the wife of the +First Consul. Josephine, her cousin once removed, thought her pretty and +bright, became very fond of her, and sent her to finish her education at +Madame Campan's boarding-school at Saint Germain. Madame Campan wrote to +Madame Louis about her young pupil as follows: "I am certainly surprised +at the way Mademoiselle Stéphanie has turned out since she returned from +Saint Leu. She may become a very charming woman, but not if she stays at +Saint Cloud. Royal palaces have never been good schools; pleasures, the +taste for excitement and flattery, corrupt not merely those who are young, +but even those who go there already matured, unless they are protected by +the highest principles. If you have the power, do try to let me keep +Stéphanie until she marries; you will thereby render her a great service, +and to me, too; for the result will condemn me in the eyes of the Emperor, +who will say, with a sharp glance, 'That's very bad'; and will not have +time to ascertain the real reason. I can assure you that in a year she +will be very charming, if I can only keep my hand on her." + +In the letter Madame Campan thus describes her pupil's character: "It is a +curious compound of ease at learning, self-love, emulation, idleness, +amiability, clear-mindedness, levity, haughtiness, and piety. There are a +good many qualities to dispose of, and on this proper arrangement depends +her happiness or unhappiness, and my success or failure." In personal +appearance Mademoiselle de Beauharnais was very charming; she had a good +figure, an expressive countenance, a brilliant complexion, bright blue +eyes, light hair, and an agreeable voice. Moreover, her manners were good, +she had keen mother wit, much gaiety and enthusiasm, and was, in short, a +very attractive young person. + +The Emperor had a sort of infatuation for her, and treated her with +exceptional kindness that did not fail to excite comment. Although her +father was still living, he decided to adopt her, and this was thought a +singular thing to do. The young Stéphanie became an Imperial Highness and +took precedence of the Emperor's sisters, while her father was merely one +of the herd of senators. In the decree of March 3, 1806, it was said: "Our +intention being that our daughter the Princess Stéphanie Napoleon, shall +enjoy all the prerogatives due to her rank; at receptions, festivities, +and at table she shall sit at our side, and in our absence she shall take +her place at the right of Her Majesty the Empress." Josephine possibly +thought that her young relative was a little too well treated by the +Emperor, and that his feelings for her were not wholly paternal. Evil +tongues asserted that Napoleon was in love with his adopted daughter, but +in spite of those malicious insinuations, no serious charge can be brought +against her innocence. Her betrothed, the Prince of Baden, was madly in +love with her, and showed by his conduct that it was he who was making a +fine marriage. Mademoiselle de Beauharnais from the moment that she +assumed the name of Napoleon imagined that nothing was too good for her. +It was only by condescension that she married the son of an elector, for +she was never tired of saying, to her adopted father's great delight, that +an emperor's daughter could marry either a king or a king's son. + +The marriage was celebrated with great pomp in the chapel of the Palace of +the Tuileries, April 8, 1806, at eight in the evening. The witnesses for +the bridegroom were the Crown Prince of Bavaria, Baron de Gueusau, and M. +de Dalberg; those of the bride were M. de Talleyrand, M. de Champagny, and +M. de Ségur. The procession went from the grand apartments to the chapel +in the following order: the Empress, preceded by the officers of the +Princesses, accompanied by the Prince of Baden, the Princesses, and the +Crown Prince of Bavaria, and followed by the ladies of her household and +of those of the Princesses; the Emperor, conducting the bride, and +preceded by the officers of the Princes, his own officers, the Grand +Dignitaries of the Empire, the Ministers, the High Officers of the Crown, +and followed by the colonel-general of the guard on duty. At the chapel +door the clergy received Napoleon and Josephine beneath a canopy, and they +took their places on two small thrones in front of the altar, while the +Prince of Baden and the bride took their places on two stools at the foot +of its steps. The ceremony began with the blessing of thirteen pieces of +gold which the Cardinal Caprara, Legate _a latere_, gave to the Prince of +Baden, who presented them to his bride. The Cardinal gave them the nuptial +blessing. Meanwhile Monsignor Charier-Lavoche, Bishop of Versailles, the +Emperor's First Almoner, and Monsignor de Broglie, Bishop of Acqui, his +Almoner in Ordinary, were holding a canopy of silver brocade over the head +of the kneeling Prince and Princess. These two prelates wore a camail and +rochet. Cardinal Caprara and his assistant, Monsignor de Rohan, the +Empress's Almoner, wore the golden cape. + +During the ceremony, which lasted about an hour, the front of the +Tuileries and the garden were illuminated. At nine o'clock there were +fireworks on the Place de la Concorde, which the Emperor and Empress +watched from the balcony of the Hall of the Marshals. As they appeared on +the balcony with the young people, they were greeted with warm applause +from the dense crowd in the garden. The Empress, who was clad in a dress +embroidered with gold, wore on her head, besides the Imperial crown, a +million francs' worth of pearls. Princess Stéphanie was charming in her +white tulle dress, with silver stars, trimmed with orange flowers, and her +diamond frontlet. After the fireworks came a concert and ballet in the +Hall of the Marshals. But little attention was paid to the concert, +although silence prevailed; the ballet, which was rendered by the best +dancers from the Opera, was very successful. Then the company went to the +Gallery of Diana, where tables had been set for two hundred ladies, and a +magnificent supper was served. The grace and distinction of the bride +aroused general admiration. Her father, Senator Beauharnais, kept silence +and wept for joy. + +Never had the court been more dazzling with its glittering uniforms, +gorgeous dresses, and sumptuous pomp. The Emperor in his gala dress, the +Empress in her Imperial splendor, the Princesses vying in luxury, the new +Queen of Naples staggering under her load of precious stones, the Princess +Louis covered with turquoises set in diamonds. Princess Caroline Murat +decked with a thousand rubies, Princess Pauline with all the Borghese +diamonds besides her own, the ambassadors, grand dignitaries, marshals, +generals, with their coats covered with gold and decorations, the +chamberlains in red, the master of ceremonies in violet, the masters of +the hounds in green, the equerries in blue, all the ladies in dresses with +long trains; the two fashionable women, Madame Maret and Madame Savary, +who each spent fifty thousand francs a year in dress; Madame de Canisy, +tall, black-haired, bright-eyed, with her aquiline nose and her impressive +air; Madame Lannes, with her gentle face like one of Raphael's Madonnas; +Madame Duchâtel, fair, with blue eyes; and that proud duchess of the +Faubourg Saint Germain, a lady of the palace in spite of herself, the +Duchess of Chevreuse, who, if not the most beautiful woman there, had +perhaps the grandest air. It was a most animated festivity, with its +flowers, lights, and splendor. The Hall of the Marshals was radiant with +its military portraits, its chandeliers, and air of triumph.... Now +consider the ruins of this palace of Caesar, this Olympus of Jupiter, this +sanctuary of glory, majesty, and dominion. See and reflect! Nothing is +left of all that pomp and grandeur! The proudest buildings have vanished! +Such is the end of human splendor! + + + + +XIX. + +THE NEW QUEEN OF HOLLAND. + + +At the beginning of 1804, Napoleon regarded himself the absolute master of +fortune. His twofold title of Emperor of the French and King of Italy no +longer sufficed him; he yearned for that of Emperor of the West. He +created kings, grand dukes, sovereign princes. He made his brother Joseph +King of the Two Sicilies; his brother-in-law Murat Grand Duke of Berg and +Cleves; his sister Pauline Princess of Guastalla; he conferred the +principality of Massa upon his sister Elisa, who was already in possession +of the Duchy of Lucca; his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Talleyrand, became +Prince of Benevento; his Major-General, Berthier, Prince of Neufchâtel; +and his brother Joseph's brother-in-law, Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte +Corvo. He also elevated members of his wife's family as well as of his own +to high positions. Josephine's son was Viceroy and son-in-law of a king. +Josephine's daughter was about to become a queen. + +France, which, fourteen years before, had wanted to convert every monarchy +into a republic, was now endeavoring to turn the oldest republics into +monarchies. The illustrious republics of Genoa and Venice had become an +integral part, the one of the French Empire, the other of the Kingdom of +Italy. The Batavian Republic was about to be transformed into the Kingdom +of Holland. When it became known in Paris that this new kingdom was to be +created by the Emperor's will, people wondered who was to fill the throne; +some were betting on Louis Bonaparte; others on his brother Jerome; still +others on Murat. The Emperor, however, had settled the question, and +without even consulting him, had decided that Louis was to be King of +Holland. + +This new monarch, who was born September 2, 1778, was then twenty-seven +years old. Four years before he had married Josephine's daughter, Hortense +de Beauharnais, but the marriage had been an unhappy one. As he himself +wrote, his marriage was celebrated in sadness. The author of a very +remarkable study, _Holland and King Louis_, M. Albert Réville, says with +great truth: "Like Hortense, Louis had literary tastes; but there the +resemblance ceases. It was not that there was nothing romantic in +Hortense's character; she was among the first to become interested in the +Middle Ages, the Gothic revival, the imitation of the troubadours; but her +romanticism was wholly different from that of her husband. Her ideal was, +perhaps, a young and handsome soldier, pensive when away from the lady of +his thoughts, but not when in her company." M. Réville goes on: "Such a +character could not understand the sensitiveness, the shrinking, morbid +melancholy of the husband thrust upon her. Her gaiety, her devotion to +pleasure, the frivolity of her talk, could only pain more and more a man +of a gloomy temperament, who took the greatest care of his health, who +fretted himself over the most trivial details, and whose distrust amounted +to injustice." + +Hortense was expansive, merry, ardent, enthusiastic, young in heart and +mind, a thoroughly open nature. Her husband, on the other hand, was of a +morose, sombre, melancholy, reserved nature. In spite of her superior +intelligence Hortense had a sort of childlike air; but Louis, though young +in years, had the character and appearance of an old man. As much as +Hortense loved liberty, her suspicious husband wished to hold firmly the +reins of conjugal authority. He was prematurely afflicted with various +infirmities, almost always morbidly nervous and impressionable, disposed +to take a dark view of everything, and bore no resemblance to the type of +hero which Hortense had imagined. Moreover, the unhappy husband endured a +hidden anguish which he had to conceal from every one and which tortured +his heart; he imagined that his rival with his wife was his own brother, +Napoleon. Thiers says in discussing this delicate subject: "Louis, ill, +puffed-up with pride, assuming virtue and really upright, pretended that +he was sacrificed to the infamous necessity of covering, by his marriage, +the weakness of Hortense de Beauharnais for Napoleon,--an odious calumny, +invented by the émigrés, spread abroad in a thousand pamphlets, about +which Louis did wrong to betray such anxiety that he seemed to believe it +himself." + +In a word, there existed between husband and wife a real incompatibility +of temper, and the constraint of their position only added to the mutual +repulsion which they felt for each other in private, though they did not +dare confess it through fear of Napoleon's reproaches. They were married +January 4, 1802, and had a son born the next October, whom their enemies +asserted was the son of the Emperor, and the greater the interest and +affection the Emperor showed to this child, the more freely were calumnies +circulated. Louis Bonaparte imagined his honor tainted, and suffered +tortures. + +As for Hortense, she was unhappy, but she had consolations. Her mother's +love, the society of her old schoolmates, her interest in art, worldly +successes, the distractions of Paris life, made her forget some of her +domestic troubles. The thought of leaving that congenial spot to live +alone with her husband in the cold dampness of Holland filled her with +gloom. She did not care for a throne, for she felt that a royal palace +would be for her nothing but a prison. + +Louis, too, seemed devoid of ambition for the crown that was held before +him. Annoyed at not being consulted in the negotiations on which depended +his call to the throne, he maintained a passive attitude. But as he was +accustomed to comply with every wish of a brother who had taken charge of +his education, and thereby acquired special authority over him, he +invariably obeyed his orders. The Batavian deputation, of which the most +important member was Admiral Verhuel, had just arrived in Paris, and with +it the Emperor was settling the fate of Holland. Baron Ducasse, in an +interesting paper In the _Revue Historique_ for February, 1880, has +recounted all the unfortunate Louis Bonaparte's attempts to escape having +royalty forced upon him. He gave as a pretext, for his reluctance, the +rights of the old Stadtholder. The Batavian deputation in reply announced +to him the death of that official, "The hereditary Prince," they said, +"has received in compensation Fulda; hence you can have no reasonable +objection. We come, in accordance with the votes of nine-tenths of the +nation, to beg of you to ally your fate with ours, and to prevent our +falling into other hands." Napoleon used even plainer language. He +declared to his brother without beating the bush that he had accepted for +him, and that, even if he had not consulted him, a subject could not +refuse obedience. + +A few days later, Talleyrand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, went to +Saint Cloud and read to Louis and Hortense the treaty with Holland, and +the constitution of that country. It was of no use for the King to say +that he could not judge such important documents from a simple reading, he +was not granted a moment's reflection. In vain he pleaded his health, +which could not fail to suffer from the damp climate of Holland. Napoleon +was inflexible, and said, "It is better to die on a throne than to live a +French Prince." There was nothing for him to do but to give his consent. + +The new King's proclamation was delivered at the Palace of the Tuileries +in the Throne Room, June 5, 1806. Early in the same day, the Emperor had +formally received Mahib Effendi, Ambassador of the Sultan Selim. The +Oriental diplomatist had greeted him as "the first and greatest of +Christian monarchs, the bright star of glory of the western nations, the +one who held in a firm hand the sword of valor and the sceptre of +justice." Napoleon had replied: "Whatever good or bad fortune may befall +the Ottomans will be fortunate or unfortunate for France. Report, I beg of +you, my words to the Sultan Selim. Bid him never to forget that my +enemies, who are also his, would like to get at him. He has nothing to +fear from me; united with me, he need not fear the power of any of his +enemies." When the audience was over, the Ambassador made three deep bows +and withdrew, but stopped in the next room, where the presents of the +Grand Porte were set out on a table; they consisted of an aigret of +diamonds, and a costly box set with gems and adorned with the monogram of +the Sultan. Mahib Effendi, after offering the presents to the Emperor, +showed him those sent to the Empress. They were a pearl necklace, +perfumes, and Oriental stuffs. Napoleon examined them, and then went to +the window to see some superbly harnessed Arabian horses, presented to him +in the name of the Sultan. + +The proclamation of the King of Holland was read a few moments later. +Admiral Verhuel took the floor and began to speak of the happiness assured +to his country when it should have made fast the ties that bound it to the +"immense and immortal Empire." The Emperor said to the Dutch +representatives: "France has been so generous as to renounce all the +rights over you which were given it by the events of the war, but I cannot +confide the fortresses that guard my northern frontiers to any unfaithful +or even uncertain hands. Representatives of the Batavian people, I grant +the prayer you present to me, and proclaim Prince Louis King of Holland." +Then turning to his brother, he said: "You, Prince, reign over this +people; their fathers acquired their independence only by the constant aid +of France. Since then Holland was the ally of England; it was conquered; +and still owes its existence to us. She will owe to us the kings who +protect its laws, its liberties, its religion! But do not ever cease to be +a Frenchman. The dignity of Constable of the Empire will ever belong to +you and to your descendants; it will define for you your duties towards me +and the importance I attach to the guard of the fortresses protecting the +north of my states, which I confide to you. Prince, maintain among your +troops that spirit which I have seen in them on the field of battle. +Encourage in your new subjects the feelings of union and love which they +ought always to have for France. Be the terror of evil-doers and the +father of the upright; that is the character of a great king." + +The vassalage of the new monarch was thus definitely established; he +remained Constable of the Empire; he was ordered to be French and not +Dutch. His first duties were to the Emperor, his brother and suzerain. He +respectfully approached the throne, and said with evident emotion: "Sire, +I have made it my highest ambition to sacrifice my life to Your Majesty's +service. I have made my happiness consist in admiring all those qualities +which make you so dear to those who, like me, have so often witnessed the +power and the effects of your genius; I may then be permitted to express +my regrets in leaving, but my life and my wishes belong to you. I shall go +to reign over Holland, since that nation desires it and Your Majesty +commands it. I shall be proud to reign over it; but, however glorious may +be the career thus opened to me, the assurance of Your Majesty's constant +protection, the love and patriotism of my new subjects, can alone inspire +me with the hope of healing the wounds of the many wars and events that +have crowded into a few years." After the royal speech the usher threw +open the door, and as in the time of Louis XIV., at the acceptation of the +Spanish accession, the new King was announced to the assembled crowd. + +As M. Albert Réville says, no one in France regretted the Batavian +Republic when it was stricken from the roll of history by the will of a +despot; or, rather, the Parisians, in their occasionally exaggerated +infatuation, fancied that the Dutch would be overjoyed to have a French +court. + +The next day, after breakfast, the Emperor was playing with the new King's +oldest son, the little Napoleon, who was only three years and a half old, +but was very bright for his age, and already knew by heart La Fontaine's +fables. The Emperor made him recite the fable about the frogs who wanted a +king, and listened to it, laughing loudly. He pinched the Queen's ear, and +asked her, "What do you say to that, Hortense?" The allusions to the poor +king and to his poor people were only too clear. The melancholy monarch, +or rather, the crowned monarch, was to be, according to the Emperor's +plan, a mere tool in the hands of his powerful brother. He was condemned +to discharge the functions of receiver of dues and of recruiting officer +in the Emperor's service. He had a presentiment of this degraded position, +and took his departure with much anxiety. + +For Hortense, leaving was sadder. No exile ever turned towards foreign +parts with heavier sorrow. Her diadem was a crown of thorns. Her mother's +grief augmented her own. Without her children, Josephine, naturally +unambitious, found no consolation in the thought that her son was a +Viceroy, her daughter a Queen. Before she left Paris Hortense, in terror +before the thought that the Emperor would no longer be near to defend her, +told her all her domestic unhappiness, and said that if her husband +treated her too ill, she would abandon her throne for a convent. + +Nevertheless she had to obey. June 15, 1806, Louis started from Saint Leu +to go to his kingdom. He was accompanied by his wife and his two sons, the +elder, Charles Napoleon, who died in Holland the 5th of the next May, and +the other, Louis Napoleon, who died at Forte, in 1831, in the insurrection +of the States of the Church against the Pope. His third son, later +Napoleon III., was born in 1808. The new King entered The Hague June 23, +1806. He countermanded a body of French troops which the Emperor had +designed for his escort at his entrance into the capital, being unwilling +to appear before his subjects as a sovereign imposed upon them by actual +force. "You may be sure," he said to them, "that from the moment I set +foot on the soil of this kingdom, I became a Dutchman." The same day +General Dupont Chaumont, French Minister at The Hague, wrote to Prince +Talleyrand: "To-day, June 23, His Majesty made his formal entrance into +his capital. He went to the Assembly where he received the oath of the +representatives of the people and made a speech which was much applauded. +The French camp obtained permission from the Governor of the Palace to +surprise Their Majesties by fireworks and military music. These +festivities naturally put a stop to all business, except for His Majesty, +who finds time to examine and decide the most urgent matters, the ease +with which he works greatly surprising a nation unaccustomed to such +activity. Already the King and Queen are spoken of most enthusiastically +by those who have had the honor to be presented to Their Majesties. The +satisfaction will be general, when many shall have had the opportunity to +approach the throne." + +In spite of the optimisms of this despatch, the new King was to have an +unhappy reign. His loyal and upright intentions were to be shattered +against the inflexible will of his formidable brother. Louis was a just +man and sincerely devoted to his people. He was called, and is still +called, "the good King Louis": but the Emperor, who ironically reproached +him with trying to win the affection of shopkeepers, was to write to him +in 1807: "A monarch who is called a good king, is a king that's ruined." +As for Queen Hortense, more and more tormented by her husband's +suspicions, with her health impaired by the moist climate, and her ever- +growing melancholy, she was to feel like a condemned exile in her kingdom. +No woman ever gave a complete lie to the expression, "As happy as a +queen." + + + + +XX. + +THE EMPRESS AT MAYENCE. + + +In spite of all the honors that encompassed her, the Empress was ever more +and more unhappy. The departure of her daughter Hortense left a void in +her life that nothing could fill. She wrote to the new Queen from Saint +Cloud, July 15, 1806: "Since you left I have been ill, sad, and unhappy; I +have even been feverish and have had to keep my bed. I am now well again, +but my sorrow remains. How could it be otherwise when I am separated from +a daughter like you, loving, gentle, and amiable, who was the charm of my +life?... How is your husband? Are my grandchildren well? Heavens, how sad +it makes me not to see them! and how is your health, dear Hortense? If you +are ever ill, let me know, and I will hasten to you at once.... Good by, +my dear Hortense, think often of your mother, and be sure that never was a +daughter more loved than you are. Many kind messages to your husband; kiss +the children for me. It would be very kind of you to send me some of your +songs." + +Josephine was about to have another cause for grief. A new war was +imminent, but the Empress hid her uneasiness in order not to distance +Hortense. "All your letters," she wrote to her, "are charming, and you are +kind to write so often. I have heard from Eugene and his wife; they are +evidently very happy, and so am I, for I am going with the Emperor, and am +already packing. I assure you, that even if this war breaks out, I have no +fear; the nearer I am to the Emperor, the less I shall care, and I feel +that I should die if I stayed here. Another joy to me is our meeting at +Mayence. The Emperor has bidden me tell you that he has just given to the +King of Holland an army of eighty thousand men, and his command will +extend to Mayence. He thinks that you can come then and stay with me. Is +not that an agreeable bit of news for a mother who loves you so dearly? +Every day we shall have news of the Emperor and your husband; we will be +happy together. The Grand Duke of Berg spoke to me about you and the +children; kiss them for me till I can kiss them for myself, as well as my +daughter; this will be soon, I hope. My best regards to the King." + +Napoleon was about to begin a gigantic war against Prussia and Russia. In +spite of his confidence in his star, he was not without some +apprehensions, and he left reluctantly. A cloud seemed to hang over Saint +Cloud. "Why are you so gloomy?" the Emperor asked Madame de Rémusat, whose +husband, the First Chamberlain, had just been sent to Mayence to prepare +the Emperor's quarters. "I am gloomy," she replied, "because my husband +has left me." And as Napoleon sneered at her conjugal devotion, she added: +"Sire, I take no part in heroic joys, and for my part, I had placed my +glory in happiness." Then the Emperor burst out laughing and said: +"Happiness? Oh yes, happiness has a great deal to do with this century!" + +The Empress hoped to accompany her husband as far as Mayence, and remain +there during the war, with her daughter. At the last moment she came near +missing even this. Napoleon wanted to go off alone, but she wept so much, +besought him so earnestly, that he took pity on her and gave her leave to +enter his carriage; she had but a single chambermaid with her. Her +household was to join her some days later. + +Napoleon and Josephine left Saint Cloud in the night of September 24, +1806. After stopping for some hours at Metz, they reached Mayence the +28th. The Emperor started again, October 2, at nine in the evening, for +the head of the army. At this moment he had an access of affection and a +revival of his old tenderness for the woman who long since had inspired +him with much love. Seeing that she was weeping bitterly, he, too, shed +tears, and was even attacked by convulsions. They made him sit down and +gave him a few drops of orange-flower water. In a few moments he +controlled his emotion, gave Josephine a farewell kiss, and said: "The +carriages are ready, are they not? Tell those gentlemen and let us be +off." + +The Empress remained at Mayence. Napoleon wrote to her October 5, 1806: +"There is no reason why the Princess of Baden should not go to Mayence. I +don't know why you are so distressed; it is wrong of you to grieve so +much. Hortense is inclined to pedantry; she is liberal with advice. She +wrote to me, and I answered her. She should be happy and gay. Courage and +gaiety, that is the recipe." It is plain that the Emperor's gloom had been +of brief duration. When he was once more at war, in his element, he had +quickly resumed his customary eagerness. He wrote to his wife from +Bamberg, October 7: "I leave this evening for Kronach. The whole army is +in motion. All goes on well; my health is perfect. I have not yet received +any letters from you, but I have heard from Eugene and Hortense. Stephanie +ought to be with you. Her husband [the Prince of Baden] wishes to take +part in the war; he is with me. Good by. A thousand kisses and good +health!" Again, October 18: "Today I am at Gera. Everything goes on as +well as I could hope. With God's aid, the poor King of Prussia will be in +a lamentable state, I think. I am personally sorry for him, because he is +a good man. The Queen is at Erfurt with the King. If she wants to see a +battle, she will have that cruel pleasure. I am wonderfully well, and have +gained flesh since I left; and yet I go twenty or twenty-five leagues +every day, on horseback or in a carriage,--in every possible way. I go to +bed at eight and get up at midnight, sometimes, I think, before you have +gone to bed. Ever yours." + +In these campaigns Napoleon was not yet surrounded by the comforts which +later made war less fatiguing for him, perhaps too easy. He endured all +the toil and privation of a private soldier. In five minutes his table, +his coffee, his bed were prepared. Often in less time than that the bodies +of men and horses had to be removed to make room for his tent. His longest +meal lasted no more than eight or ten minutes. The Emperor would then call +for horses and leave in company with Berthier, one or two riders, and +Roustan, his faithful Mameluke. At night, when lying on his little iron +bed, he took but little rest. Hardly had he fallen asleep when he would +call his valet de chambre who slept in the same tent: "Constant!" "Sire." +"See what aide-de-camp is on duty." "Sire, it is so-and-so." "Tell him to +come and speak to me." The aide-de-camp would arrive: "You must go to such +a corps, commanded by Marshal so-and-so; you will tell him to place such a +regiment in such a position; you will ascertain the position of the enemy, +then you will report to me." The Emperor seemed to fall asleep again, but +in a few moments he was calling again: "Constant!" "Sire." "Summon the +Prince of Neufchâtel." The Major-General would appear in a great hurry, +and Napoleon would dictate some orders to him. That is the way his nights +were passed. + +The night before the battle of Jena was an exception, and the Emperor +slept soundly, "Yet," says General de Ségur, "our position was so perilous +that some of us said the enemy could have thrown a bullet across all our +lines with the hand. This was so true that the first cannon-ball fired the +next day passed over our heads and killed a cook at his canteen far behind +us." At about five o'clock Napoleon asked of Marshal Soult: "Shall we beat +them?" "Yes, if they are there." answered the Marshal; "I am only afraid +they have left." At that moment, the first musketry fire was heard, "There +they are!" said the Emperor, joyfully; "there they are! the business is +beginning." Then he went to address the infantry, encouraging them to +crush the famous Prussian cavalry. "This cavalry," he said, "must be +destroyed here, before our squares, as we crushed the Russian infantry at +Austerlitz." The victory was overwhelming. Napoleon thus recounted it in a +letter to the Empress, dated Jena, October 15, at three in the morning: +"My dear, I have done some good manoeuvring against the Prussians. +Yesterday I gained a great victory. They were one hundred and fifty +thousand men; I have made twenty thousand prisoners, captured one hundred +cannon and flags. I was facing the King of Prussia and very near him; I +just missed capturing him and the Queen. I have been bivouacking for two +days. I am wonderfully well. Good by, my dear, keep well and love me. If +Hortense is at Mayence, give her a kiss as well as Napoleon and the little +one." And again from Weimar, October 16: "M. Talleyrand will have shown +you the bulletin and you will have seen our success. Everything has turned +out as I planned, and never was an army more thoroughly beaten and +destroyed. I will only add that I am well; that fatigue, watching, and the +bivouac have made me stouter. Good by, my dear, much love to Hortense and +the great Napoleon." + +Hortense had joined her mother at Mayence with her two sons, meeting there +her relative, Princess Stéphanie of Baden, the Princess of Nassau and her +daughters, many generals' wives, who had desired to be near the scene of +war to get early news. With what impatience tidings were awaited! With +what curiosity and respect were read and discussed the two or three words +scrawled by the hand of the Emperor or of his lieutenants! A lookout had +been placed a league away on the high-road, who announced the coming of a +messenger by blowing on a horn. At the same time the files of prisoners +were seen passing on their way to France. Josephine, ever kind and +pitiful, tried to soften their lot and gave aid and comfort to officers +and soldiers. + +Meanwhile Napoleon continued his triumphal march. From Wittenberg he wrote +to his wife, October 23: "I have received a number of letters from you. I +write but a word: everything goes on well. To-morrow I shall be at +Potsdam, the 25th at Berlin. I am perfectly well; fatigue agrees with me. +I am glad to hear of you in company together with Hortense and Stéphanie. +The weather has so far been very pleasant. Much love to Stéphanie and to +every one, including M. Napoleon. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." + +At Potsdam the Emperor visited the celebrated palace of Sans Souci and +found the room of Frederick the Great as it had been in his lifetime, and +guarded by one of his old servants. He then went to the Protestant church +which contained the hero's tomb. "The door of the monument was open," says +General de Ségur. "Napoleon paused at the entrance, in a grave and +respectful attitude. He gazed into the shadow enclosing the hero's ashes, +and stood thus for nearly ten minutes, motionless, silent, as if buried in +deep thought. There were five or six of us with him: Duroc, Caulaincourt, +an aide-de-camp, and I. We gazed at this solemn and extraordinary scene, +imagining the two great men face to face, identifying ourselves with the +thoughts we ascribed to our Emperor before that other genius whose glory +survived the overthrow of his work, who was as great in extreme adversity +as in success." The eighteenth bulletin said of this tomb: "The great +man's remains are enclosed in a wooden coffin covered with copper, and are +placed in a vault, with no ornaments, trophies, or other distinction +recalling his great actions." The Emperor presented to the Invalides in +Paris Frederick's sword, his ribbon of the Black Eagle, his general's +sash, as well as the flags carried by his guard in the Seven Years' War. +The old veterans of the army of Hanover received with religious respect +everything which had belonged to one of the first captains whose memory is +recorded in history. When he saw that the Prussian court had not thought +of making those relics safe from invasion, the hero of Jena, who on this +occasion abused his victory, exclaimed as he pointed to the famous sword: +"I prefer that to twenty millions." In his letters to Josephine, Napoleon +made no mention of his impressions in the house of Frederick. He simply +wrote, October 24: "I have been at Potsdam since yesterday, and shall +spend to-day here. I continue to be satisfied with everything. My health +is good; the weather is fine. I find Sans Souci very agreeable. Good by, +my dear. Much love to Hortense and M. Napoleon." + +October 27, 1806, the Emperor made his formal entrance into Berlin, +surrounded by his guard and followed by the cuirassiers of the divisions +of Hautpoul and Nansouty. He proceeded in triumph from the +Charlottenburger gate to the King's Palace, of which he was to take +possession. The populace crowded the streets, but uttered no cries of hate +or flattery for the conqueror. "Prussia was happy," says Thiers, "at not +being divided, and at retaining its dignity in its disasters. The enemy's +entrance was not first the overthrow of one party and the triumph of +another; it contained no unworthy faction, indulging in odious joy and +applauding the presence of foreign soldiers! We Frenchmen, unhappier in +our defeats, have known this abominable joy; for we have seen everything +in this century: the extremes of victory and of defeat, of grandeur and of +abasement, of the purest devotion and of the blackest treachery!" Alas! +What Frenchman could have foretold in 1806 the disasters of 1814 and 1815? +The army deemed itself invincible and was wild with joyful pride. Davout, +whose men the Emperor had just congratulated, wrote to him in great +enthusiasm: "Sire, we are your tenth legion. Everywhere and at all times +the third corps will be for you what that legion was for Caesar." Never +did soldiers have greater enthusiasm or more confidence in their leader. + +One might have said that Josephine, amid all these triumphs, had a +presentiment of the future. Victories could not dispel her sadness. Her +husband wrote to her November 1: "Talleyrand has come, and tells me that +you do nothing but cry. But what do you want? You have your daughters, +your grandchildren, and good news; certainly you have the materials for +happiness and content. The weather here is superb; not a drop of rain has +fallen in the whole campaign, I am in good health, and everything is +progressing favorably. Good by. I have received a letter from M. Napoleon; +I don't think it is from him but from Hortense. Love to all." + +Napoleon was not modest in his triumph. He pursued with sarcasms the +nobility of Prussia and Queen Louise who had warmly counselled war. This +fair sovereign, the mother of the late Emperor William, was then thirty +years old; she was the daughter of a Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and of a +Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was a most thorough German, hated France, +and especially the French Revolution. She was a fearless horsewoman, and +had been seen facing great dangers at the battle of Jena. When she rode +before her troops in her helmet of polished steel, shaded by a plume, in +her glittering golden cuirass, her tunic of silver stuff, her red boots +with gold spurs, she resembled Tasso's heroines. The soldiers burst into +cries of enthusiasm, as they saw their warlike Queen; before her were +bowed the flags she had embroidered with her own hands, and the old, torn, +and battle-stained standards of Frederick the Great. After the battle she +was obliged to take flight, at full gallop, to avoid being captured by the +French hussars. + +In his bulletins the Emperor had made the serious blunder of speaking of +Queen Louise in a manner wanting in proper respect for a woman, and +especially for a woman in misfortune. Josephine, who was full of tact, was +much pained by this lack of generosity, and reproached her husband for it. +Napoleon sought to excuse himself, writing, November 6: "I have received +your letter in which you seem pained by the evil I say of women. It is +true that I hate, more than anything, intriguing women. I am used to +kindly, gentle, conciliating women; those are the ones I love. If they +have spoiled me, it is not my fault, but yours. Now I will show you that I +have been very good for one who has shown herself sensible and kind, +Madame Hatzfeld. When I showed her her husband's letter, bursting into +tears, she said to me with, great emotion, and simplicity: 'It is +certainly his hand-writing!' As she read it, her accent touched my heart +and gave me real distress, I said to her: 'Well, Madame, throw that letter +into the fire, I shall not be strong enough to punish your husband,' She +burned the letter and seemed to be very happy, Her husband has ever since +been very calm; two hours more, and he would have been a ruined man. You +see then that I love kind, simple, gentle women; but it's because they are +like you. Good by, my dear, I am well." + +The kingdom of Prussia was conquered, but the war was not over, After +fighting the Prussians he had to fight the Russians; the war in Poland was +beginning. Napoleon wrote to the King of Prussia: "Your Majesty has +announced to me that you have thrown yourself into the arms of the +Russians. The future will decide whether this is the best and wisest +choice. You have taken the dice-box and thrown the dice; the dice will +decide it." At Paris, in spite of the splendors of the Imperial glory, +there existed a vague uneasiness. Peace had been expected after Jena, and +some apprehension was felt about the renewal of the struggle in the +northern steppes. Madame de Rémusat wrote, November 9, to her husband, who +was at Mayence with the Empress, "There is something in the Emperor's +career which confounds ordinary calculations, and, so to speak, goes +beyond them. It is most impressive, and, I might say, alarming, and yet he +seems so far above customary conditions that there is no need of fear +about the points to which he exposes himself, and still less, draw the +line at which he shall stop. But I shudder to think how far he is from us +at this moment. May God be with him, I am ever praying, and preserve him! +While this great part of the French nation which is under his orders, is +marching to great victories, we are vegetating here in complete dulness. +There is very little society, and no houses are open." + +Josephine was very anxious to join her husband who held it before her as a +possibility, but never permitted it. He had written to her, November 16: +"I am glad to see that my views please you. You were wrong to think I was +flattering; I spoke of you as you seem to me. I am sorry to think that you +are bored at Mayence. If the journey was not so long you might come here, +for the enemy has left, and is beyond the Vistula; that is to say, one +hundred and twenty leagues from here. I will await your decision. I shall +be glad to see M. Napoleon. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." And November +22: "Be satisfied and happy in my friendship, in all I feel for you. In a +few days I shall decide to summon you or to send you to Paris. Good by. +You may go now, if you wish, to Darmstadt and Frankfort; that will amuse +you. Much love to Hortense." After signing the decree establishing the +continental blockade, Napoleon had left Berlin November 25. The next day +he again held before Josephine the prospect of a speedy meeting. "I am at +Custrin," he said in his letter, "to make some reconnoissances; I shall +see you in two days if you are to come. You can hold yourself in +readiness. I shall be glad to have the Queen of Holland come too. The +Grand Duchess of Baden must write to her husband about coming. It is two +o'clock in the morning; I have just got up. That is the way at war. Much +love to you and every one." A letter from Meseritz, March 27, was still +more explicit: "I am going to make a trip through Poland; this is the most +important city here. I shall be at Posen this evening, after which I +summon you to Berlin, that you may arrive there the same day. My health is +good, the weather rather bad; it has been raining for three days. Matters +are in a good condition. The Russians are in flight." Josephine, who had +trembled with joy at the thought of seeing her husband, fell into great +gloom when she saw that she had been deceived by a vain hope. The tortures +of, alas! too well-founded jealousy were to be added to her sufferings! + +Napoleon reached Posen November 28, and wrote the next day to his wife: "I +am at Posen, the capital of Great Poland, The cold is beginning; I am +well. I am going to make a trip in Poland. My troops are at the gates of +Warsaw. Good by, my dear, much love. I kiss you with all my heart. To-day +is the anniversary of Austerlitz. I have been at a ball given by the city. +It is raining. I am well. I love you and long for you. My troops are at +Warsaw. It has not yet been cold. All the Polish women are Frenchwomen, +but there is only one woman for me. Do you know her? I should draw her +portrait for you; but I should have to flatter it too much for you to +recognize it; nevertheless, to tell the truth, my heart would have only +good things to tell you. I find the nights long in my solitude. Ever +yours." Perhaps Napoleon would not have been so amiable to Josephine had +it not been that he was going to be very unfaithful to her in Poland, and +in a movement of pity wanted to console her in advance. From there he sent +her, December 3, two letters, one at noon, the other at six in the +evening. This is the first: "I have your letter of November 26. I notice +two things: you say, don't read your letters; that is unjust. I am sorry +for your bad opinion. You tell me you are not jealous. I have long +observed that people who are angry always say that they are not angry, +that people who are afraid say they are not afraid; so you are convicted +of jealousy; I am delighted! Besides, you are mistaken, and in the deserts +of fair Poland one thinks but little about pretty women. Yesterday I was +at a ball of the nobility of the province; rather pretty women, rather +rich, rather ill dressed, although in the Paris fashion." Perhaps Napoleon +said that to reassure the Empress; I imagine that the Polish women, with +all their elegance and grace, were scarcely so ill-dressed as he +pretended. + +This is the second letter, dated December 3, 6 P.M.: "I have your letter +of November 27, and I see that your little head is much excited. I +remember the line: 'A woman's wish is a devouring flame,' and I must calm +you. I wrote to you that I was in Poland, that when we should have got +into winter-quarters you might come; so you must wait a few days. The +greater one becomes, the less will one must have; one depends on events +and circumstances. You may go to Frankfort or Darmstadt, I hope to summon +you in a few days, but events must decide. The warmth of your letter +convinces me that you pretty women take no account of obstacles; what you +want must be; but I must say that I am the greatest slave that lives; my +master has no heart, and this master is the nature of things." Napoleon +should have said: Providence. Man proposes, but God disposes. + +Napoleon again spoke a little of having Josephine come. He wrote to her +December 10: "An officer has brought me a rug from you; it is a little +short and narrow, but I am no less grateful to you for it. I am fairly +well. The weather is very changeable. Everything is in good condition. I +love you and am very anxious to see you. Good by, my dear: I shall write +to you to come with more pleasure than you will come." + +December 12 he spoke once more of this projected journey which became ever +more and more remote, like a mirage in the desert: "My health is good, the +weather very mild; the bad season has not begun, but the roads are bad in +a country where there are no highways. So Hortense will come with +Napoleon; I am delighted. I am impatient to have things settle themselves +so that you can come. I have made peace with Saxony. The Elector is King +and belongs to the confederation. Good by, my dearest Josephine. Yours +ever. A kiss to Hortense, to Napoleon, and to Stéphanie. Paër, the famous +musician, his wife, whom you saw at Milan twelve years ago, and Brizzi, +are here; they give me some music every evening." Napoleon left Posen in +the middle of December. The evening before his departure he wrote a letter +to his wife which showed the unlikelihood of her joining him, as she hoped +to do; "I am leaving for Warsaw, and shall be back in a fortnight. I hope +then to have you here. Still, if that is too long I should be glad to have +you return to Paris where you are needed. You know that I have to depend +on events." The unhappy Josephine already had a foreboding of his devotion +to a great Polish lady. + +Napoleon reached Warsaw December 18, 1806. He was to stay there till the +23d, return there January 2, 1807, and not to go away till the 31st of +that month. He was greeted there with enthusiasm. He had said to his +soldiers in his proclamation on entering Poland: "The French eagle is +soaring above the Vistula. The brave and unfortunate Pole, when he sees +you, imagines that he sees the legions of Sobieski returning from their +memorable expedition." No one understood better than the Emperor how to +impress the imagination of a people. At sight of him the inhabitants of +Warsaw were thrilled with patriotic joy. It seemed to them that their +grand nation was rising from the tomb. The Polish women, with their +lively, poetic, ardent nature, regarded Napoleon as a sort of Messiah. In +the intoxication of their ecstatic admiration, the most beautiful of +them--and Poland is the country of beauty--turned towards him, like +sirens, their most seductive smiles. This coquetry they regarded as a +patriotic duty. Josephine had good grounds for jealousy. + +Napoleon was in the field during the last days of December. War at that +time was particularly fatiguing. The dampness, worse than any cold, +saddened the eyes and wearied the body. The temperature was forever +changing between frost and thaw. Fighting took place in the most +unfavorable conditions. But the Emperor, pitiless for himself and every +one else, uttered no complaint. He wrote from Golimin to the Empress, +December 29, at five in the morning: "I write but a word, from a wretched +barn. I have beaten the Russians, captured thirty cannon, their baggage, +and six thousand prisoners; but the weather is frightful; it pours, and we +are knee deep in mud." And from Pultusk, December 31: "I have laughed a +good deal over your last two letters. You have formed a very inaccurate +notion of the beautiful Polish women. Two or three days I have had great +pleasure in hearing Paër and two women who have given me some very good +music. I received your letter in a wretched barn, with mud, wind, and +straw for my only bed." In spite of what her husband said, Josephine was +right about the charm of the Polish ladies, and Napoleon, on his return to +Warsaw, January 2, 1807, was to become seriously interested in one of +them. + +Soon there was no question of sending for the Empress, who would only have +been in the way. Napoleon wrote to her, January 3: "I have received your +letter. Your regret touches me, but we must submit to events. It is too +long a journey from Mayence to Warsaw; we must wait till events permit my +going to Berlin before I can write for you to come. Meanwhile, the enemy +is withdrawing, defeated, but I have a good many things to settle here. I +should advise your returning to Paris, where you are needed. Send back +those ladies who have anything to do there; you will be better for getting +rid of people who tire you. I am well; the weather is bad. I love you +much." The Emperor, utterly taken up by his love for the Polish lady, was +anxious that Josephine, instead of coming to him, should at once return +promptly to France. "My dear," he wrote to her, January 7, "I am touched +by all you say, but the cold season, the bad, unsafe roads prevent my +giving my consent to your facing so many fatigues. Return to Paris for the +winter. Go to the Tuileries, hold your receptions, and live as you do when +I am there: that is my wish. Perhaps I shall join you there without delay; +but you must give up the plan of travelling three hundred leagues at this +season, through hostile countries, in the rear of the army. Be sure that +it is more painful to me than to you to postpone for a few weeks the +pleasure of seeing you; but this is commanded by events and the state of +affairs. Good by, my dear, be happy and brave." The next day he wrote +again on the same subject: "I have yours of the 27th, with those of +Hortense and M. Napoleon enclosed. I have asked you to go back to Paris; +the season is too bad, the roads too insecure and detestable, the distance +too great for me to allow you to come so far to me when my affairs detain +me. It would take you at least a month to get here. You. would be sick +when you got here, and then, perhaps, you would have to start back; it +would be madness. Your sojourn at Mayence is too dull. Paris calls for +you; go there; that is my desire. I am more disappointed than you; but we +must bow to circumstances." In a letter of January 11, he says; "I see +very few people here." But he saw the Polish lady, and that was enough. + +Josephine, who suspected a rival, was in despair. Her husband wrote to +console her, January 16: "I have received yours of January 5. All that you +say of your disappointment saddens me. Why these tears and lamentations? +Have you not more courage? I shall soon see you; do not doubt my feelings, +and if you wish to be still dearer to me, show character and strength of +soul. I am humiliated to think that my wife can doubt my destinies. Good +by, my dear, I love you and long to see you, and want to hear that you are +contented and happy." In another letter, January 18, Napoleon tried to +cheer up Josephine, who was even more anxious and uneasy: "I fear you are +unhappy about our separation which must last some weeks yet, and about +returning to Paris. I beg of you to have more courage. I hear that you are +always crying. Fie, that is very bad! Your letter of January 7 gives me +much pain. Be worthy of me and show more character. Make a proper +appearance at Paris, and above all, be contented. I am very well, and I +love you much; but if you are always in tears, I shall think you have no +courage and no character. I do not love cowards; an Empress ought to have +some spirit." + +Napoleon's will was not to be altered. Josephine was forced to leave her +daughter and to return to Paris. Her husband wrote to her from Warsaw: "I +have your letter of January 15. It is impossible for me to let women +undertake such a journey: bad roads, unsafe, and a slough of mud. Go back +to Paris; be happy and contented there; perhaps I shall be there soon. I +laugh at what you say, that you married to be with your husband. I had +thought in my ignorance that the wife was created for the husband, the +husband for the country, the family, and glory. Forgive my ignorance. Good +by, my dear, believe that I regret that I cannot have you come. Say to +yourself, 'It is a proof how dear I am to him.'" All these fine words +could not console Josephine, who knew from experience that Napoleon, like +many unfaithful husbands, had a smooth, tongue when he needed forgiveness. +In vain she had waited four months at Mayence for permission to rejoin her +husband. She at last, found herself obliged to leave this town where she +had no other pleasure than the sight of her daughter and her +grandchildren, from whom she parted with pain. January 27 she was at +Strassburg, and the 31st. at Paris. + + + + +XXI. + +THE RETURN OF THE EMPRESS TO PARIS. + + +The Empress Josephine was much loved in France, and especially in Paris, +where her gentleness, amiability, and great kindliness had won for her all +sympathies, even those of people who were hostile to the Emperor. Her +return to the capital was greeted with pleasure, and her presence awakened +it from its previous gloom. The _Moniteur_ thus describes her passage +through the chief town of the department of the Lower Rhine. "Strassburg, +January 23, 1807. Her Majesty the Empress and Queen arrived within our +walls yesterday, the 27th, on her way from Mayence to Paris. Her Majesty +having consented to notify the Counsellor of State, Prefect Shée, that she +would accept a modest entertainment, this news spread lively joy +throughout this city. This proof of the Empress's kindness, accompanied by +the gracious memory she wished to testify for the people of Strassburg, +made the preparations for this impromptu event easy, and in spite of the +brief time between the announcement and the arrival of Her Majesty, a +numerous and brilliant company was soon assembled at the Prefecture. The +hall was elegantly decorated; the emblems and mottoes recalled the object +of the festivity. After a square dance and a waltz. Her Majesty passed +through the company, addressing a kind word to every lady present." The +next day, January 28, at seven in the morning, the Empress started, amid +cries of "Long live Josephine!" She reached the Tuileries January 31, at +eight in the evening. The next day, at noon, guns were fired at the +Invalides, to announce her return. The great bodies of the state solicited +the honor of offering her their homages. She was a little tired by her +journey, and was unable to receive them till February 5. + +At this reception she was the object of almost as much flattery as was the +Emperor. We quote a few of the phrases:-- + +_M. Monge, President of the Senate_: "Madame, the Senate lays at the feet +of Your Imperial and Royal Majesty the tribute of its profound respect and +the homage of the administration with which it is animated for all your +virtues.... It congratulates itself on seeing again, in the capital, the +august spouse to whom our adored ruler has given all his confidence and +who deserves it in so many ways." + +_M. de Fontanes, President of the Legislative Body_: "Half of our wishes +are granted. The presence of Your Majesty will make us attend less +impatiently another return that the French desire with you. ... Paris +consoles itself for not seeing him who gives such glory to the throne, by +finding in you her who has always lent to Sovereignty so much charm, so +much gentleness and kindness." + +_M. Fabre, President of the Tribunal_: "Madame, your return has aroused +the keenest joy. The memory of that delicate kindness which knew how to +temper so many woes; of that active beneficence which repaired so many +misfortunes, is imprinted on every heart. Every one says: 'Providence in +giving to us the hero, whose vast designs are crowned with the most +constant and prompt success, desired to complete his kindness, by placing +near him her to whom every stricken heart turns, who is the most agreeable +object of gratitude, and who, moreover, throughout France is called the +friend of misfortune.'" + +_M. Lejean, First Vicar-General of the Chapter of Notre Dame_ (speaking in +the place of the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, who was ill): "Madame, His +Eminence the Archbishop, our worthy prelate, has commanded me to convey to +Your Imperial and Royal Majesty his regrets at not being able himself to +present to you the chapter and clergy of Paris. 'Go,' that venerable old +man said to me, 'and assure the benevolent Empress from me that I +thoroughly share the joy which every one feels at her return. Tell her +that never a moment passes that I do not address to Heaven the most +fervent prayers for the happiness of France and of our invincible Emperor, +and for the success of his arms. The Lord has deigned to grant my prayers; +in a very short time astounding prodigies have been wrought by Napoleon, +and I offer my thanks.' The chapter and the clergy of Paris pray for Your +Majesty to be sure that their feelings for your sacred person and for that +of your august husband are like those of His Eminence." + +_The Prefect of the Seine_: "You are far from the Emperor, Madame, but +Paris, too, is far from him. Well, to mitigate this separation, equally +painful for Paris and for Your Majesty, Paris and Your Majesty will talk +to one another much about the Emperor. You will take pleasure in hearing +that his subjects of the good city of Paris are ever faithful to him; that +they are prepared for every act of devotion which may be demanded by his +glory, the honor of the Empire, and the resolution he has formed of not +laying down his arms until he has assured the peace of nations. You will +take pleasure in seeing us follow in thought, even to the most distant +climes, his ever victorious eagles. In short, Madame, at every exploit of +the Grand Army, you will be glad to hear the loud applause which we have +often wished could reach you, even in the camps of the founder of the +Empire, and then touched by the sincerity of our prayers, you will deign +to listen to them, and sometimes even to be their interpreter." + +In spite of these official flatteries, and more or less interested +compliments, the Empress was far from happy. Possibly she imagined that +soon, even in her lifetime, the same homage would be addressed by the same +persons, in the same palace, to another woman. Besides this, however, she +had many causes for distress. She suffered from the absence of her +children, from her daughter's domestic unhappiness, from the Emperor's +remoteness, his infidelities in Poland, from the dangers threatening him +in this relentless and distant war. She wrote to her daughter February 3: +"I got here, dear Hortense, the evening of the 31st, as I expected. My +journey was pleasant, if I can call it so when it separated me further +from the Emperor. I have received five letters from him since my +departure. I need to hear from you now that you are no longer with me to +console me. Tell me how you are; write to me about your husband and +children. Although I see more people here than at Mayence, I am quite as +lonely, and you will seem to be with me if you write. Good by, my dear, I +love you tenderly." Josephine yearned all the more eagerly for happiness +as a mother, because as wife she suffered cruelly, and the torments of +jealousy were added to her grief at the Emperor's absence. + +To one of the last letters his wife had written from Mayence Napoleon +answered in an undated letter which she received in Paris: "My dear, your +letter of January 20, has pained me much; it is too sad. That is the +result of excessive piety! You tell me that your happiness makes your +glory. That is ungenerous; you ought to say, the happiness of others makes +my glory. It is not like a mother; you ought to say, the happiness of my +children is my glory. It is not like a wife; you ought to say, my +husband's happiness makes my glory. Now, since the nation, your husband, +your children cannot be happy without a little glory, you should not +despise it. Josephine, you have a good heart, but a weak head; your +feelings are most admirable; you reason less well. But that is enough +squabbling; I want you to be merry, content with your lot, and to obey, +not grumbling and crying, but cheerfully and happily. Good by, my dear. +I'm off to-night, to inspect my outposts." It must be confessed that to be +as merry as the Emperor demanded, Josephine would have needed a very +exceptional character. Her husband was at the other end of Europe, never +interrupting the intense emotions and great risks of a colossal struggle +except for brief distractions, which, however, could not be agreeable, so +suspicious and jealous as she was. + +Constant, the Emperor's valet de chambre, has recounted in his Memoirs, +the passion with which a beautiful Polish lady inspired his master, early +in 1807. Napoleon spent the whole month of January at Warsaw in a great +palace. The Polish nobility gave him magnificent balls, and at one of them +he noticed a young woman of twenty-two, Madame V., who had recently +married an old nobleman, a most worthy man of stern principles and severe +nature. By the side of her aged husband, this young woman, whose sadness +and melancholy only added to her beauty, was like a victim in waiting for +a consoler. She was a charming person, with light hair, blue eyes, a +brilliant complexion, a graceful figure, and dignified carriage. The +Emperor went up to her, addressed her, and was soon delighted by her +conversation. He imagined that she was unhappily married and he at once +conceived a warm love for her, intenser and far more serious than any he +had ever felt for one of his favorites. The next day he was noticeably +restless. He would get up and walk about, then sit down only to get on his +feet again. "I thought," Constant goes on, "that I should never get him +dressed that day. Immediately after breakfast he despatched a great +personage, whose name I shall not give, to pay a visit to Madame V., and +carry his regards and entreaties. She proudly refused to listen to his +propositions, possibly on account of their suddenness, or, it may be, by +natural coquetry. The hero had pleased her; the thought of having a lover +resplendent with power and glory fascinated her, but she had no idea of +yielding without a struggle. The grand personage returned in great +surprise and compassion at the failure of his negotiation." + +Constant says that he found his master the next morning very busy. The +Emperor had written many letters the previous evening to the Polish lady, +who had made no reply. His pride was wounded by a resistance to which he +had not been accustomed since he had become great. At last, however, he +had written so many, and such ardent and touching letters, that she +consented to visit him one evening between ten and eleven. The grand +personage who had tried to make the negotiations, was ordered to go to a +remote spot and receive the lady in a carriage. Napoleon paced the room +while awaiting her, betraying emotion and impatience. "At last Madame V. +arrived," says Constant, whose master kept asking him what time it was. +"She was in a most pitiable condition, pale, silent, her eyes full of +tears. As soon as she appeared, I led her to the Emperor's room. She could +scarcely stand and she was trembling as she leaned on my arm. Then I +withdrew with the great personage who had brought her. During her +interview with the Emperor, Madame V. wept and sobbed so that I could +overhear her even at a great distance. At about two in the morning, the +Emperor called me. I went to him and saw Madame V. going away, with her +handkerchief at her eyes, weeping freely. The same personage carried her +away. I thought she would never come back." But, contrary to his +expectations, Madame V. came back two or three days later at about the +same hour; she seemed calmer, her eyes were less red, her face not so +pale, and she continued her visits during the Emperor's stay. Evidently +Josephine had good grounds for jealousy. + +Napoleon interrupted these distractions by going forth to fight the battle +of Eylau, one of the bloodiest and most obstinate combats known to +history. He described it in two letters to the Empress, written in the +same day. This is the first:-- + +"Eylau, February 9, 1803, 3 A.M. MY DEAR: We had a great battle yesterday. +I was victorious, but our loss was heavy; that of the enemy, which was +even greater, is no consolation for me. I write you these few lines +myself, though I am very tired, to tell you that I am well and love you. +Ever yours." + +This is the second:-- + +"Eylau, February 9, 6 P.M. I write a word lest you should be anxious. The +evening lost the battle; forty cannon, ten flags, twelve thousand +prisoners, suffering horribly. I lost sixteen hundred killed and three to +four thousand wounded. Your cousin, Tascher, is unhurt. I have placed him +on my staff as artillery officer. Corbineau was killed by a shell. I was +exceedingly attached to him; he was an excellent officer, and I am deeply +distressed. My Horse Guard covered itself with glory. D'Allemagne is +dangerously wounded. Good by, my dear." + +The Emperor did not tell everything to Josephine; he said nothing about +the terrible vicissitudes of the battle, a victory scarcely to be +distinguished from a defeat; he kept silence about the cruel sufferings of +his army which, without having eaten, had fought amid blinding snow +beneath a leaden sky; he said no word about the regiments destroyed, one +in particular, from colonel to drummers, all killed or wounded; he did not +mention his own danger in the cemetery on the hill, where he had stood +surrounded by his Guard, his last resource, anxiously watching the fight +from its beginning, slashing the snow with his whip, and exclaiming at the +approach of the Russian Grenadiers as they advanced towards him, "What +audacity!" He did not say that after the terrible and fruitless bloodshed, +which both armies claimed as a victory, he had been obliged to withdraw, +and that Bennigsen had taken possession of the hotly disputed battle- +field. He did not say what he was about to say in his bulletins: "Imagine, +on a space a league square, nine or ten thousand corpses; four or five +thousand dead horses; lines of Russian knapsacks; fragments of guns and +sabres: the earth covered with bullets, shells, supplies; twenty-four +cannon, surrounded by their artillery-men, slain just as they were trying +to take their guns away; and all that in plainest relief on the stretch of +snow." He did not quote the words he uttered in the biting frost, in face +of thousands of dead and dying, when the gloomy day was sinking into a +night of anguish: "This sight is one to fill rulers with a love of peace +and a horror of war." No; the Emperor did not tell her everything. + +In another letter, dated Eylau, February 11, 8 A.M., the Emperor tried to +reassure the Empress: "I send you a line: you must have been very anxious, +I fought the enemy on a memorable day which cost me many brave men. The +bad weather drove me into winter quarters. Do not distress yourself, I beg +of you; it will all be over soon, and my delight at seeing you once more +will soon make me forget my fatigue. Besides, I have never been better. +Little Tascher, of the fourth of the line, did well; and he had a hard +experience. I have given him a place near me, in the artillery; so his +troubles are over. The young man interests me. Good by, my dear; a +thousand kisses." + +From this moment the Emperor's letters to his wife became cold, short, +dull, and utterly insignificant; speaking of nothing but the rain, or the +good weather, and perpetually bidding her to be cheerful. A clear-witted +person ought to see readily that Napoleon, who was otherwise occupied, +wrote to the Empress only from a sense of duty. Here are four letters; the +first from Landsberg, the other three from Liebstadt. February 18: "I +write a line. I am well. I am busy putting the army into winter quarters. +It is raining and thawing like April. We have not yet had a cold day. Good +by, my dear. Yours ever." February 20: "I write a line that you may not be +anxious. My health is good, and everything is in good condition. I have +put the army into winter quarters. It is a curious season, freezing and +thawing, damp and changeable. Good by, my dear." February 21: "I have +yours of February 4, and am glad to hear that you are well. Paris will +give you cheerfulness and rest; the return to your usual habits will +restore your health. I am wonderfully well. The weather and the country +are wretched. Everything is in good condition; it freezes and thaws every +day; it is a most singular winter. Good by, my dear. I think of you, and +am anxious to hear that you are contented, cheerful, and happy. Ever +yours." February 22: "I have your letter of the 8th. I am glad to hear +that you have been to the Opera, and that you mean to receive every week. +Go to the theatre occasionally, and always sit in the grand box. I am +pleased with the festivities given to you. I am very well. The weather +continues unsettled, freezing and thawing. I have put the army into winter +quarters to rest it. Don't be sad, and believe that I love you." + +Towards the end of February Napoleon had established his headquarters at +Osterode, where he lived in a sort of barn, from which he governed his +Empire and controlled Europe. He wrote to his brother Joseph, March 1, +about the sufferings of this severe campaign in Poland. "The staff- +officers have not taken off their clothes for two months, and some not for +four, I have myself been a fortnight without taking off my boots.... We +are deep in the snow and mud, without wine, brandy, or bread, living on +meat and potatoes, making long marches and counter-marches, without any +comforts, and generally fighting with the bayonets under grape-shot; the +wounded have to be carried in open sleighs for fifty leagues.... We are +making war in all its excitement and horror." It is easy to see that +Josephine, who knew all this, had good grounds for anxiety. Paris was +empty and gloomy; every face was sad. France is easily tired of +everything, even of glory. The auditors of the Council of State, who were +sent to Osterode to carry to the Emperor the reports of the different +ministers, returned to Paris in deep distress at the sights they had seen, +and spread alarm in official circles. Napoleon consequently decided that +those reports should be brought to him by staff-officers, who were more +inured to scenes of distress. + +From headquarters at Osterode the Emperor sent eleven letters to the +Empress between February 23 and April 1, 1807, but he said nothing of +importance in them. Thus: "Try to pass your time agreeably; don't be +anxious. I am in a wretched village where I shall be some time; it's not +so pleasant as a large city. I tell you again, I have never been so well; +you will find me much stouter.... I have ordered what you want for +Malmaison; be happy and cheerful; that's what I desire. I am waiting for +good weather, which must come soon. I love you, and want to hear that you +are contented and cheerful. You will hear a good deal of nonsense about +the battle of Eylau; the bulletin tells everything; its report of the +losses is rather exaggerated than cut down." At the same time he somewhat +reproved his wife: "I am sorry to hear that there is a renewal of the +mischievous talk such as there was in your drawing-room at Mayence; put a +stop to it. I shall be much annoyed if you don't find some clue. You let +yourself be distressed by the talk of people who ought to cheer you up. I +recommend to you a little firmness, and to learn how to put everybody in +his place. My dear, you must not go to the small theatres in private +boxes; it does not suit your rank; you ought to go only to the four large +theatres and always sit in the Imperial box. If you want to please me, you +must live as you did when I was in Paris. Then you did not go to the small +theatres or such places. You ought always to go to the Imperial box. For +your life at home, you must have regular receptions; that is the only way +of winning my approval. Greatness has its inconveniences. An Empress can't +go about everywhere like a commoner." + +The greatness which the Emperor spoke about was no consolation to +Josephine. She was unhappier beneath the gilded ceilings of the Tuileries +than a peasant woman in a hovel. She besought her husband to let her join +him in Poland, and wrote to him despairing letters. + +Napoleon answered from Osterode, March 27: "My dear, I am much pained by +your letters. You must not die: you are well and have no real cause of +grief. I think you ought to go to Saint Cloud in May. but you ought to +spend April in Paris.... You must not think of travelling this summer; all +that is impossible. You couldn't be racing through inns and camps. I am as +anxious as you can be to see you and be quiet. I understand other things +than war; but duty is before everything. All my life I have sacrificed +everything--peace, interest, happiness--to my destiny." These phrases in +no way consoled Josephine who knew very well that her husband, in spite of +his assumption of Spartan austerity; occasionally indulged in +distractions. + +In the month of March something occurred which somewhat moderated the +Empress's sufferings. Her daughter-in-law, the Vice-Queen of Italy, gave +birth at Milan, on the 17th, to a daughter who was named Josephine +Maximilienne Augusta. She it was who was to marry, in 1827, Oscar, Crown +Prince and later King of Sweden. "You will hear with pleasure," the +Empress wrote Queen Hortense, "of the Princess Augusta's happy delivery. +Eugene is delighted with his daughter; his only complaint is that she +sleeps too much, so that he can't see her as much as he would like." +Josephine would gladly have gone to Milan to congratulate her son and to +kiss her granddaughter, but her grandeur kept her in Paris, where the +prolongation of her husband's absence and the torments of too well +justified jealousy plunged her into the deepest gloom. + +Napoleon became tired of the monotonous and excessively disagreeable stay +at Osterode, where he could not receive the Polish lady to whom he became +continually more and more attached. Early in April he installed himself at +Finkenstein, in a pretty castle belonging to a Prussian crown official, +and there he was very comfortably quartered with his staff and military +household. It was from thence that he wrote, April 2, the following short +letter to Josephine: "My dear, I send you a line. I have just moved my +headquarters to a very pretty castle, like that of Bessières, where I have +a number of open fireplaces, which is very pleasant for me, as I get up +often in the night; I like to see the fire. My health is perfect, the +weather is fine, but still cold. The thermometer is but a few degrees from +freezing. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." As soon as Napoleon was settled +in this castle his first thought was to send for the Polish lady, for whom +he had fitted up an apartment near his own. She left at Warsaw her old +husband, who never consented to see her again, and spent three weeks with +the Emperor. "They took all their meals together," says Constant. "I was +the only one in attendance, so I was able to overhear their talk which was +always amiable, lively, and eager on the part of the Emperor, always +tender, affectionate and melancholy on the part of Madame V. When His +Majesty was away Madame V. spent all her time in reading or looking +through the blinds of the Emperor's room at the parades and drills going +on in the courtyard of the castle, which he often directed in person." +Constant, who felt bound to admire his master's choice, adds with some +feeling: "The Emperor appeared, to appreciate perfectly the interesting +qualities of this angelic woman, whose gentle, unselfish character left on +me an impression that can never fade... Her life, like her nature, was +calm and uniform. Her character fascinated the Emperor and bound him down +to her." This loving idyl, a sort of interlude in the tragedy of war, may +have suited Constant's taste, but it was hardly of a nature to please +Josephine, who, like most jealous people, knew almost always what she +wanted to know, and from the Tuileries found means to watch what was going +on in this distant castle. + +Napoleon's letters to Josephine during the reign of Madame V. were shorter +and more stupid than usual. They were merely a few lines on the weather, +the Emperor's health, or his desire to hear that his wife was "cheerful +and happy." But, alas! cheerfulness and happiness were not for her! Too +astute to be hoodwinked, she understood that her husband still had a +friendly feeling for her but that his love was dead. In the eyes of a +jealous woman, friendship is a slight thing. What does she care for the +esteem and attentions of a friend who was once her lover? To all the good +services of friendship she would a thousand times prefer the anger, fury, +violence, of love. + + + + +XXII. + +THE DEATH OF THE YOUNG NAPOLEON. + + +Queen Hortense was no happier in her Holland palaces than was the Empress +in the Tuileries. She had to endure all the grief, deception, and misery +of an ill-assorted marriage. The incompatibility of disposition which +existed between her husband and herself from the first days of their +married life, made itself continually more felt. King Louis blamed his +wife not merely for her faults, but also for her good qualities. He was +sometimes annoyed because she was gracious, amiable, charming; and the +general sympathy she aroused in Holland, as in France, excited the fears +of this irritable and sullen husband. Hortense looked upon herself as a +victim. She had a lively imagination, and exaggerated her grief to +herself, suffering more keenly on account of her excitement, which was +often very great. One day she said to Madame de Rémusat, her intimate and +admiring friend, that her life was so painful and apparently so hopeless +that when she was at one of her villas near the sea, and looked out on the +ocean where were the English fleets blockading her ports, she wished that +chance might bring a ship to where she was, and she might be carried off a +prisoner. + +The conjugal infelicities of Louis and his wife attracted the attention of +the Emperor, who kept as strict a guard over his family as over his +Empire, and was as prompt to exercise control in private, as in political +matters. He wanted his brother to obey him, both as King and husband, and +in his discontent at seeing his orders disobeyed, he wrote to him, from +the depths of Poland, April 4, 1807, this reproachful letter, which is a +real reprimand: "Your quarrels with the Queen have become public. Show, +then, in private life some of that paternal and effeminate character which +you display in matters of government, and in business the same rigor you +exercise in your household. You treat a young woman as we treat a +regiment.... You have an excellent and most virtuous wife and you make her +unhappy. Let her dance as much as she pleases; she is young. My wife is +forty; I wrote to her from the battle-field to go to a ball. And you want +a young woman of twenty, who sees her life flitting, and has every +illusion, to live in a cloister, or to be always washing her baby like a +nurse. You are too much _you_ in your household, and not enough in your +administration. I should not say all this to you except for the interest I +have for you. Make the mother of your children happy; you have one way to +do this: that is, by showing her esteem and confidence. Unfortunately your +wife is too virtuous; if you had married a coquette she would lead you by +the end of your nose. But you have a proud wife who is afflicted and +distressed by the mere thought that you may have a bad opinion of her. You +ought to have married any one of a number of women whom I know in Paris; +she would have had no difficulty in getting ahead of you and would have +kept you at her feet. It is not my fault, I have often told your wife so." +Thus the Emperor, by taking part in behalf of his daughter-in-law and +against his brother, took a position as arbiter in their domestic +quarrels. This interference was all the more galling to Louis,--who would +have liked to be master in both his own kingdom and in his own house,-- +that calumny, as he well knew, persisted in representing the Emperor as +his rival in Hortense's love, and as the father of the Crown Prince. + +This child was named Napoleon Charles. He was born in Paris, October 10, +1802. His grandmother, Josephine, nourished the hope that some day he +might be heir to the Empire, and she regarded his birth as a pledge of +final reconciliation between the Bonapartes and the Beauharnaises. She +believed that his cradle saved her from divorce. The Emperor, who always +liked children, was especially fond of his nephew. He watched his growth +with the keenest interest, admiring his amiability, his precocity, his +excellent disposition, The boy was really remarkable for intelligence and +beauty. His large blue eyes reflected every mood of his mind. Good, +loving, frank, and merry, he needed only to appear and all sadness was +banished. His mother had brought him up to revere the Emperor. His father, +the King, gave him new toys every day, choosing those he thought most +attractive. The boy preferred those he received from his uncle, and when +his father said, "But just see, Napoleon, those are ugly; mine are +prettier." "No," said the young Prince, "those are very pretty, my uncle +gave them to me." One morning on his way to see the Emperor, he passed +through a drawing-room where happened to be among others, Murat, then +Grand Duke of Berg. The young Napoleon walked straight ahead without +paying attention to any one, and when Murat stopped him and said, "Don't +you mean to say good-morning to me?" the child replied, "No; not before my +uncle the Emperor." Who knows? if this little Prince had lived the Emperor +might have desired no other heir, and perhaps the divorce would never have +taken place. + +This boy was his mother's hope and pride, her joy and consolation. His +father, too, loved him much. He was a light in the darkness, a rainbow +after the storm. Sometimes when his parents were quarrelling he succeeded +in reconciling them. He used to take his father by the hand, who gladly +let himself be led by this little angel, and then he would say in a +caressing tone: "Kiss her, papa, I beg of you"; then he was perfectly +happy when his father and mother exchanged a kiss of peace. + +The little Prince had a sudden attack of croup in the night of May 4, +1807. He was thought to be lost, but in the evening he was a little +better, and the physicians had some hope of saving him. The improvement +lasted but a few minutes. In the course of the day he was given some +English powders, which lent him a feverish strength, so that at six in the +evening he asked for some cards and pictures to play with, but the fever +only gave way to his death agony. Towards ten in the evening the child +drew his last breath. + +No words can describe the unhappy Queen's despair; she became stony with +grief, and fears were felt for her reason. Josephine's grief was +boundless. She did not dare to leave the Empire without the Emperor's +authorization, and so did not go to The Hague, but went in all haste to +the Castle of Laeken, near Brussels, whence she wrote to Hortense in the +evening of May 14: "I have just readied the Castle of Laeken, my dear +daughter, and await you here. Come and give me life; your presence is +necessary for me, and you must have need of seeing me and of weeping with +your mother. I should have liked to go further, but I was too weak, and +besides I had not time to send word to the Emperor. I have summoned +courage to come thus far; I hope that you will have enough to come to your +mother. Good by, my dear daughter, I am worn out with fatigue and +especially with grief." In the evening of May 15, Hortense arrived at the +Castle of Laeken, accompanied by her husband and her sole surviving son. +She was motionless, apathetic, the figure of despair. M. de Rémusat, who +was with the Empress, wrote the next day to his wife: "The Queen has but +one thought, the loss she has suffered; she speaks of only one thing, of +_him_. Not a tear, but a cold calm, an almost absolute silence about +everything, and when she speaks she wrings every one's heart. If she sees +any one whom she has ever seen with her son, she looks at him with +kindliness and interest, and says, 'You know he is dead.' When she first +saw her mother, she said to her: 'It's not long since he was here with me. +I held him on my knees thus.' Seeing me a few minutes later, she made a +sign for me to come forward. 'Do you remember Mayence? He acted with us.' +She heard ten o'clock strike; she turned to one of the ladies and said, +'You know it was at ten that he died.' That is the only way she breaks her +almost continual silence. With all that, she is kind, sensible, perfectly +reasonable; she thoroughly understands her condition, and even speaks of +it. She says she is glad that she has fallen into this numb state, +otherwise her sufferings would have been too intense. Some one asked her +if she was much moved when she saw her mother: 'No,' she answered; 'but I +am very glad to have seen her.' Mention was made of Josephine's surprise +at her lack of emotion on seeing her; 'Oh, Heavens!' she said, 'she must +not mind it; that's the way I am.' To anything that is asked her on any +other subject, she says, 'It's all the same to me; do as you please.'" + +A messenger had been sent to carry the news to the Emperor, who was much +affected by hearing it. He wrote to Josephine, May 14: "I can well imagine +the grief which Napoleon's death, must cause. You can understand what I +suffer. I should like to be with you, that you might be moderate and +discreet in your grief. You were happy enough never to lose a child, but +that is one of the conditions and penalties attached to our human misery. +Let me hear that you are calm and well! Do you want to add to my regret? +Good by, my dear." + +May 17 an imposing ceremony took place in Paris--the carrying of the sword +of Frederick the Great to the Tuileries. A triumphal chariot, richly +decorated, carried the one hundred and eighty flags captured in the last +campaign. Marshal Moncey, on horseback, held the hero's sword. The chariot +proceeded to the iron gate of the Invalides, which it was too lofty to +pass under. Then the veterans came to take the flags and to carry them +into the church. The ceremony began with a song of triumph. Marshal +Sérurier, Governor of the Invalides, spoke: "We are here," he said, "to +the number of more than nine hundred of those who fought against the great +king whose warlike spoils our children have just won. At that time fortune +did not always smile upon our valor. The fathers were no less brave than +their sons, but they had not the same leader. Yet we can only recall with +pride the words of that great man: 'If I were at the head of the French +people, not a cannon would be fired in Europe without my permission'-- +honorable proof of his esteem for the soldiers who were fighting him. But +it was in the reign of a sovereign even greater by his genius, his feats, +his moderation, that the French people was to rise to such a height of +power and glory. We swear faithfully to guard the treasure which his +Imperial and Royal Majesty has entrusted to us." Then the old church +echoed with cries of "We swear it!" + +At this ceremony, the eloquent President of the Legislative Body, M. de +Fontanes, made a fine speech full of enthusiasm for Napoleon, but +respectful to the memory of the great Frederick and to the misfortunes of +his successor. He closed with a few words on the grief that the death of +the Crown Prince must have caused the Emperor: "Perhaps, at this moment," +he said, "the hero who has saved us is weeping in his tent at the head of +three hundred thousand victorious French, and of all the confederate kings +and princes who march under his banner. He weeps, and neither the trophies +heaped about him, nor the glory of the twenty sceptres he holds so firmly, +which even Charlemagne failed to grasp, can distract his thoughts from the +coffin of that boy, whose first steps he aided with his triumphant hands, +whose promising intelligence he hoped one day to guide. Let him not forget +that his domestic woes have been felt like a public calamity, and may a +tender expression of the national interest bring him some slight +consolation. All our alarm for the future is a more ardent expression of +our homage. May fortune be satisfied with this one victim, and while she +always favors the plans of the greatest of monarchs, may she not make him +pay for his glory by similar misfortunes!" + +Doubtless the death of this young child altered the face of things. If he +had lived, it would have been for him, and not his brother, to bear the +name of Napoleon III., or possibly even of Napoleon II., and apparently +the destiny of the world would have been very different. Kingdoms and +empires, on what does their fate depend! May 5 was to be a fatal date; the +young Prince died May 5, 1807, and fourteen years later to a day his uncle +was to die on the rock of Saint Helena. + + + + +XXIII. + +THE END OF THE WAR. + + +The Empress brought her daughter Hortense and her grandson Napoleon Louis, +a boy a little over two, back to Paris with her, but she had not long the +consolation of their presence; before the end of May Hortense was obliged +to leave for Cauterets to repair her shattered health. Her mother wrote to +her from Saint Cloud, May 27: "I have wept much since your departure; this +separation is very painful for me, and the only thing that could enable me +to bear it would be the certainty that you are getting some good from your +trip. I have heard of you from Madame de Broc. I beg of you to thank her +for this attention and to ask her to write to me when you are unable. I +heard news, too, of your son; he is at Laeken, very well, and awaits the +King's arrival. The Emperor has written to me again; he shares our sorrow. +I needed this consolation, the only one I have received since your +departure. I am always alone, every moment recalls our loss, my tears +never cease flowing. Good by, my dear daughter, take care of yourself for +your mother's sake, who loves you most tenderly." + +Napoleon, who forbade his wife and daughter-in-law to be gloomy,--an order +more easily given than obeyed,--thought their mourning excessive. His +expressions of sympathy were very singular. He wrote from Finkenstein to +Queen Hortense, May 20, 1807:-- + +"MY DAUGHTER: Everything I hear from The Hague tells me you are not +reasonable. However legitimate your grief, it should have some bounds. Do +not ruin your health; seek some distractions, and remember that life is so +full of dangers and evils that death is not the worst thing that can +befall one." In his letter of May 24 to the Empress, the Emperor spoke of +the unhappy Queen with a severity that amounted to brutality: "Hortense is +unreasonable and does not deserve to be loved since she does not love any +one but her children. Try to calm her and do not make trouble for me. For +every hopeless evil, consolation must be found." He wrote to her again, +May 26: "I have your letter of the 16th. I am glad Hortense has gone to +Laeken. I am sorry to hear what you say about the sort of stupor she is +in. She might show courage and self-control. I can't understand why she +should be sent to the baths; she could find more distractions in Paris. +Control yourself; be cheerful, and keep well. My health is excellent. Good +by. I stare your sufferings, and am sorry not to be with you." + +In her bitter grief Hortense lacked courage to write to the Emperor, who +was annoyed by her silence. "My dear," he wrote to Josephine, June 2, "I +hear that you have arrived at Malmaison. I have no letters from you. I am +vexed with Hortense; she has not written me a word. All you tell me about +her distresses me. Why could you not distract her a little? You are always +in tears! I hope you will show some self-control, that I may not find you +sad. I have been for two days at Dantzic; the weather is fine; I am well. +I think of you more than you think of an absent man. Good by; much love. +Forward to Hortense this letter." This is the severe epistle which +Josephine was bidden to send to Hortense:-- + +"June 2. MY DAUGHTER: You have not written me a word in your great and +natural grief. You have forgotten everything, as if you had not still +losses to endure. I hear that you love nothing, are indifferent to +everything; this is plain from your silence. That is not right, Hortense. +It is not what you promised us. Your son was everything for you? Are your +mother and I nothing? Had I been at Malmaison I should have shared your +sorrow, but I should have wanted you to listen to your best friends. Good +by, my daughter; be cheerful; you must be resigned. My wife is much +distressed at your condition; do not give her further pain. Your +affectionate father." + +It is easily seen that such letters were ill adapted to allay the anguish +of an inconsolable mother mourning for her child. + +Josephine's letters to her daughter showed very different feelings. The +kind Empress did her best to persuade her that the Emperor sympathized +with her grief. She wrote from Saint Cloud, June 4: "Your letter, my dear +Hortense, gives me much consolation, and what I hear from your ladies +about your health makes me easier. The Emperor was much distressed, in +every letter he tries to give me courage, but I know that this unhappy +event was a great blow to him. The King arrived at Saint Len last evening; +he has sent me word that he meant to call on me to-day, and he must leave +the boy here during his absence. You know how much I love the child, and +how careful I shall be of him. I want the King to take the same route as +you; it will be a consolation for you both to meet. All his letters since +you left are full of love for you. He has too tender a heart not to be +touched. Good by, my dear daughter; take care of your health; mine will +improve only when I don't have to suffer for those I love." This letter +shows all the kindness and gentleness of Josephine's character. She was +conciliating and benevolent, and did her best to smooth over Napoleon's +blame and to reconcile Hortense with her husband. She wrote again from +Saint Cloud, June 11: "Your boy is very well, and amuses me a great deal; +he is so gentle; I think he has all the ways of the poor boy we mourn." +Josephine understood consolation better than the Emperor. + +What could be more touching, more maternal, than this letter from the +Empress? "Your letter moved me deeply; I see your grief is ever fresh and +I perceive this better by my own sufferings. We have lost what was most +worthy to be loved; my tears flow as they did the first day. Those regrets +are too natural to be repressed by reason, although it should moderate +them. You are not alone in the world. You have left a husband, an +interesting child, and you are too tender for that to be strange and +indifferent to you. Think of us, my dear daughter, and let this calm your +natural sorrow. I rely on your love for me and on your reasonableness. I +hope that the trip and the waters will do you good. Your son is very well, +and is charming. My health is a little better, but you know it depends on +yours. Good by. Many kisses." + +The character of this loving mother and grandmother manifests itself in +every one of her letters. Her style was simple and affectionate, like +herself. Her letters, full of the gentlest, best, and most touching +feeling, might make one say, "The style is the woman." + +While Josephine and Hortense were weeping, Napoleon was bringing a +terrible campaign to a brilliant end. June 15 he thus announced to his +wife the great victory of Friedland: "My dear: I write but a word, for I +am very tired; I have been bivouacking for several days. My children have +been worthily celebrating the battle of Marengo. The battle of Friedland +will be quite as famous and glorious for my people. The whole Russian army +routed; eighty cannon; thirty thousand men captured or killed; twenty-five +Russian generals killed, wounded, or captured; the Russian Guard wiped +out; it is a worthy sister of Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena. The bulletin will +tell you the rest. My losses are not serious; I succeeded in +outmanoeuvring the enemy. Be calm and contented. Good by, my dear, my +horse is waiting." The next day he wrote another letter to Josephine: "My +dear, yesterday I sent Moustache to you with news of the battle of +Friedland. Since then, I have continued to pursue the enemy, Königsberg, a +city of eighty thousand inhabitants, Is in my power, I have found there +many cannon, stores, and finally sixty thousand muskets just come from +England. Good by, my dear, my health is perfect, although I have a cold +from the rain and cold of the bivouac. Be cheerful and contented. Ever +yours." From Tilsitt Napoleon wrote to his wife, June 19: "I have sent +Tascher to you to allay your anxiety. Everything goes on admirably here. +The battle of Friedland decided everything. The enemy is confounded, cast +down, and extremely enfeebled. My health is excellent, my army superb. +Good by; be cheerful and contented." Be cheerful and contented--he was +always saying it. + +June 25, at one in the afternoon, a great sight was to be seen in the +middle of the Niemen. A raft had been placed midstream in plain view from +both banks of the river. All the rich stuffs that could be found in the +little town of Tilsitt had been taken to make a pavilion on a part of this +raft for the reception of the Emperors of France and Russia. From one bank +Napoleon embarked with Murat, Berthier, Bessières, Duroc, and +Caulaincourt; and from the other, Alexander, with the Grand Duke +Constantine, Generals Bennigsen and Ouvaroff, the Prince of Labanoff, and +the Count of Lieven. The two armies were drawn up on the two banks, and +the country people of the neighborhood were present to watch one of the +most memorable interviews known to history. When they reached the raft, +the two sovereigns, who had just been fighting so bitterly, and had sent +so many thousand men to death, fell into each other's arms with emotion. +The same day Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I have just seen the Emperor +Alexander, and am much pleased with him; he is a very fine-looking, good +young Emperor; he has more intelligence than is generally supposed. He is +going to move into Tilsitt to-morrow. Good by; keep well and be contented. +My health is excellent." The two monarchs became very intimate. "My dear," +Napoleon wrote to his wife July 3, "M. de Turenne will give you all the +details about what is going on here; everything is moving smoothly. I +think I told you that the Emperor of Russia drank to your health with +great kindness. He and the King of Prussia dine with me every day. I want +you to be contented. Good by; much love." And July 6: "I have yours of +June 25. I am sorry you are so egoistic, and that my success gives you no +pleasure. The beautiful Queen of Prussia is to dine with me to-day. I am +well and anxious to see you again when fate permits. Still it will +probably be soon." + +The Queen of Prussia was one of the most beautiful and most brilliant +women of her time. An hour after her arrival at Tilsitt, Napoleon called +on her, and that evening, when she came to dine with him, he went to the +door of the house in which he lived to receive her with all respect. But +in spite of all her efforts to modify the conditions of the peace imposed +on Prussia, her gracious and obstinate endeavors were fruitless. Napoleon, +July 7, thus described to Josephine the dinner of the evening before to +the charming Queen: "My dear, the Queen of Prussia dined with me +yesterday. I was obliged to refuse her some concessions she wanted me to +make to her husband; but I was polite, and also kept to my plan. She is +very amiable. When I see you I will give you all the details which would +be too long to write now. When you read this letter, peace will have been +concluded with Russia and Prussia, and Jerome will have been recognized as +King of Westphalia with a population of three millions. This piece of news +is for you alone. Good by, my dear; I want to hear that you are contented +and cheerful." The story runs that the Queen of Prussia, who held a +beautiful rose in her hand, offered it to Napoleon, saying with a gracious +smile: "Take it, Sire, but in exchange for Magdeburg." The hero of Jena +made a mistake not to make the exchange. He did too much or too little for +the Prussian monarchy. Since he could not or would not wipe it out, he +ought to have let it live, and become a friendly power. Who can tell? +Perhaps his acceptance of the rose would have warded off many acts of +vengeance, many disasters. On such slight things does the world's destiny +depend! + +Josephine wrote to her daughter from Saint Cloud, July 10: "I often hear +from the Emperor, who speaks a great deal about the Emperor Alexander, +with whom he seems well satisfied. He sent M. de Monaco and M. de +Montesquiou to give me details of all they had seen. They say the first +view was a magnificent sight. The two armies were on the two banks of the +Niemen. The Emperor was the first to arrive at a raft built in the middle +of the river; the Emperor Alexander's boat found some difficulty in +approaching, which gave him a chance to speak of his eagerness thwarted by +the stream. They tell me that when the two Emperors kissed, wide-spread +applause arose from both banks. What most interests me in all this good +news is my hope of soon seeing the Emperor again. Why is this happiness +troubled by sad memories that can never be destroyed? Your boy is +perfectly-well; his complexion has entirely changed. I hope the waters +will do both you and the King good; remember me to him, and believe in my +constant love." + +Before leaving Tilsitt, where he had signed a glorious peace, Napoleon had +the bravest soldier of the Russian Guard presented to him, and he gave him +the eagle of the Legion of Honor. He gave his portrait to Platou, the +hetman of the Cossacks, and some Baschirs gave him a concert after the +custom of their country. July 9, at eleven in the morning, wearing the +grand cordon of Saint Andrew, he called on the Emperor Alexander, who wore +the broad ribbon of the Legion of Honor, The two sovereigns passed three +hours together, then mounted their horses, and rode towards the Niemen. +Then they got down and embraced for the last time. The Czar then embarked, +and Napoleon waited on the river-bank until his new friend had landed on +the other shore. He returned to Königsberg and from there to Dresden, +whence he wrote to Josephine, July, 18: "My dear, I reached here yesterday +afternoon at five, very well, though I had been posting one hundred hours +without stopping. I am staying with the King of Saxony, whom I like very +much. I have more than half my journey to you behind me. I warn you that I +may burst in on you at Saint Cloud one of these nights, like a jealous +husband. Good by, my dear; I shall be very glad to see you again. Ever +yours." Napoleon spoke of jealousy. The days of the first Italian campaign +were very distant. Everything had changed. It was no longer he who had to +be jealous of Josephine: it was Josephine who was jealous of him, and with +good reason. After an absence of nearly a year, the Emperor reached Saint +Cloud, July 27, 1807, at six o'clock in the morning. + + + + +XXIV. + +THE EMPEROR'S RETURN. + + +July 28, 1807, the Emperor, who had arrived at Saint Cloud the day before, +received the great bodies of the State. It would be hard to form an exact +idea of the flatteries addressed to him. Let us quote a few taken at +random. M. Séguier, First President of the Court of Appeal, said to the +hero of Friedland: "Napoleon is above admiration; only love can rise to +him." The Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, speaking in the name of his +clergy, was perhaps even more enthusiastic: "The God of armies," he said, +"has dictated and directed all your plans; nothing could resist the +swiftness of so many wonders.... Have confidence, Sire, in our zeal, and +instruct the people in the submission and obedience they owe to all of +Your Majesty's decrees and orders." But it was Councillor of State +Trochot, Prefect of the Seine, who deserves the prize in this competition +of adulation. Here is a fragment of his speech: "Sire, now that at last +Paris receives you once more after so long an absence and such prodigious +feats, it would gladly express to you all its intense admiration, and yet +it can only speak to you of its love. And, indeed, if it tried to +contemplate in you the conqueror of so many kings, the law-maker of so +many peoples, the controller of so many events, the arbiter of so many +destinies, how could it dare to approach Your Majesty, and in what +language could it address you? Should it speak to you of triumphs? But can +any one but a Caesar himself speak of what Caesar has done? Of glory? but +for ten years it has been impossible to speak of all you have won. Of +genius? but who can speak of all the marvels yours has wrought, before +which we are dumb and confounded. Sire, all these things are beyond us, +and since they command admiration, even silence, the silence of +astonishment which admiration imposes seems to be our sole manner of +expressing it." More had not been said, to Louis XIV., the Sun King. + +In allusion to the illuminations in Paris the evening before, the Prefect, +of the Seine added: "Why could not you, Sire, have been an eye-witness of +the joy which the announcement of Your Majesty's return spread yesterday +throughout the capital of your Empire! Why could not you have heard the +applause with which your faithful subjects rent the welkin daring the +festivity which they gave on this occasion until well into the night!" The +Prefect closed by a prophecy, alas! not too accurate: "The august Emperor +Napoleon will render war between nations impossible, and the world's +happiness will date from his reign." + +The hero of Austerlitz, of Jena, of Friedland, then thought nothing +impossible. His direct or indirect sway extended from the Straits of +Gibraltar to the Vistula, from the mountains of Bohemia to the North Sea. +Charlemagne was outstripped. Josephine saw her husband again with joy, but +also with anxiety and terror. He returned so infatuated by his wonderful +fortune, he was so flattered and deified by his courtiers, in his whole +Imperial and royal person there was something so formidable and majestic, +that his gentle and timid wife was, as it were, dazzled by the rays of a +sun, too brilliant for her to look at. + +Josephine had now become afraid to address him as thou, and to call him +simply Bonaparte as she had done before. When she spoke to him, she often +called him Sire. She did not dare to reproach him with his infidelities at +Warsaw or the Castle of Finkenstein, or to show that she noticed his +attentions to many ladies of the court, notably to a beautiful Italian +woman, a friend of Talleyrand's, who was one of her readers and a +prominent object of Napoleon's attentions. She saw rising before her the +vision of divorce, the phantom which had haunted her imagination since the +expedition to Egypt. Fearful of giving her husband the slightest pretext +for discontent or annoyance, she was humbler, more submissive, more +obedient than ever. + +So long as the oldest son of Louis and Hortense had lived, Josephine felt +comparatively secure, because she knew that this boy, a special favorite +of Napoleon's, was intended by his uncle to be the heir of his Empire. But +his surviving brother, the little Napoleon Louis, born October 11, 1804, +did not give the Empress the same confidence. The Emperor was less +intimate with this child; he had not played with him as he had done with +the other; he had not become attached to him. The little Napoleon Louis +was staying with Josephine when the Emperor returned. She did all she +could to make him love him. + +Moreover, it was not an easy thing to hold the affections of a man like +Napoleon. Six years younger than his wife, he was but thirty-eight, and in +all the flower and prime of his Caesar-like beauty. He liked to make a +conquest of beauties as well as of provinces. The thought of resistance +exasperated him. In everything he demanded success, triumph, dominion. The +celebration of his birthday, August 15, 1807, which was accompanied with +unusual pomp and splendor, was of the nature of a deification. He made +Josephine share his triumph, and held her by the hand when he appeared on +a balcony of the Tuileries, in the enclosure, amid the applause of the +multitude assembled in the gardens. + +King Jerome's marriage with the young Princess Catherine of Würtemberg +added to the animation of the already brilliant court. The annulment of +the young Prince's marriage with Miss Paterson had caused Napoleon much +difficulty. When this marriage had been contracted at Baltimore, December +8, 1803, he had been only First Consul, and Jerome, a simple naval +officer, was in no way under the control of the decree of the Senate, +which was later to determine the civil conditions of the new Imperial +family. But in his haste to marry the young and beautiful American girl, +Jerome, who was but nineteen years old, had neglected, in spite of the +advice of the French Consul, to demand the permission of his mother, +Madame Letitia Bonaparte. This omission had not prevented the Bishop of +Baltimore from celebrating the marriage. Napoleon, however, regarded it as +null and void. It was not till February 22, 1805, that he obtained his +mother's protest, and the 21st of the next March, by an Imperial decree, +he annulled the marriage which displeased him, by his own authority. Yet, +in the eyes of religion, this union still existed. The Emperor asked the +Pope to pronounce it null, but Pius VII. gave the request a formal +refusal, writing in June, 1805: "It is beyond our power in the present +state of things, to pronounce it null. If we should usurp an authority we +do not possess, we should render ourselves guilty of an abuse abominable +before the throne of God; and Your Majesty himself, in his justice, would +blame us for pronouncing a sentence contrary to the testimony of our +conscience, and to the invariable principles of the church.... That is why +we earnestly hope that Your Majesty will be convinced that the desire with +which we are always animated to second his designs, so far as depends on +us, particularly in a matter so closely concerning his august person, has +been rendered idle by the absolute absence of power, and we entreat him to +receive this sincere declaration as testimony of our really paternal +affection." This was the beginning of the quarrel between the Pope and the +Emperor. Pius VII. would not yield; but Napoleon found greater servility +in the metropolitan officialty of Paris; and October 6, 1806, he secured a +sentence pronouncing the nullity of his brother Jerome's marriage with +Miss Paterson. + +The King of Würtemberg, in the hope that a close alliance with the +Imperial family would strengthen his throne, and procure him accession of +land and power, had prepared to give to the Emperor's young brother the +hand of his daughter, Princess Catherine. As soon as the King had formed +this decision, he would not listen to a word of criticism from his family, +who were already accustomed never to discuss his ideas. The King of +Würtemberg was a real giant. He was so stout that a broad, deep hollow had +to be cut out of his dining-table; for otherwise he would not have been +able to reach his plate. He was fond of riding, but it was not easy to +find a horse strong enough to carry his enormous weight. The horse had to +be gradually accustomed to it, and to accomplish this, the equerry who had +to prepare the royal steed used to wear a band full of lead, to which he +would add new pieces every day, until he was as heavy as the King. This +monarch, who was highly respected, though greatly feared, by ids subjects, +had some eccentricities. Thus he demanded that his wife should be up and +fully dressed by seven in the morning; and insisted that at whatever hour +of the day or evening it should please him to enter her apartment, he +should find her ready to accompany him wherever he might want to go. The +Queen, who was his second wife,--Princess Catherine was a child by his +first marriage,--was a daughter of the King of England, and consequently +she was averse to seeing her step-daughter marry the brother of England's +greatest enemy; but she took good care not to make any objections. The +King of Würtemberg was severe to his family and to his subjects, but he +was well educated, intelligent, and energetic. Napoleon set great store by +him, and regarded him as a loyal and faithful ally. + +Jerome, who had been made King of Westphalia by the treaty of Tilsitt, was +the youngest of the Emperor's brothers. He was born at Ajaccio, November +15, 1784, and was not yet twenty-three when he married Princess Catherine +of Würtemberg, who was nearly two years older than he, having been born +February 2, 1783. This Princess had much charm; she was tall, handsome, +her expression was noble and kindly; she inspired every one with sympathy +and respect. She was a woman remarkable for intelligence, virtue, and +affection. She was to be a model wife and mother. She it was who, in 1814, +refused to get a divorce and to abandon an unfortunate husband, a +dethroned king. She it was who wrote to her father this admirable letter, +without fear of his anger: "Having been forced, by reasons of state to +marry the King, my husband, it has been granted me by fate to be the +happiest woman in the world. I feel for my husband love, tenderness, +esteem, combined; at this painful moment would the best of desire to +destroy my domestic happiness, the only sort left to me? I venture to tell +you, my clear father, you and, all the family, that you do not know the +King, my husband. A time will come, I hope, when you will be convinced +that you have misjudged him and then you will always find him and me the +most respectful and most loving children." She was the courageous woman, +the faithful wife, the devoted mother, of whom Napoleon said at Saint +Helena: "Princess Catherine of Würtemberg has with her own hands written +her name in history." + +Jerome's marriage was an event of great ceremony. It was first celebrated, +by proxy, at Stuttgart, the Princess's brother representing the +bridegroom. The Emperor sent presents to his future sister-in-law, among +other things a set of diamonds worth three hundred thousand francs. A +detachment from the Emperor's household and many of the Empress's ladies +of the bedchamber went to the frontiers to meet the Princess. She reached +the Castle of Raincy, August 20, 1807, and there saw her betrothed for the +first time, and the 21st, Napoleon received her at the Tuileries on the +first step of the great staircase. As she bowed before him, he folded her +in his arms, then he presented her to the Empress, before the whole court +and the deputies of the new kingdom of Westphalia, who had been summoned +to Paris to be present at the marriage of their young sovereign with a +Princess belonging to one of the oldest and most illustrious families of +Germany. + +Saturday, August 22, the signature of the marriage contract and the civil +wedding took place at the Tuileries, in the Gallery of Diana, in presence +of the Emperor, the Empress, the ladies and officers of their households +and the great personages of the Empire. M. Regnault de Saint-Jean +d'Angély, Secretary of State of the Imperial family, read the marriage- +contract, which was then signed by the Emperor, the Empress, the young +couple, the Princes and Princesses, the Prince Primate of the +Confederation of the Rhine, the Prince's high dignitaries of the Empire, +and the witnesses of the marriage. The witnesses were, for the court of +France: Prince Borghese, Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, and Marshal +Berthier, Prince of Neufchâtel; for the court of Würtemberg: the Prince of +Baden; the Prince of Nassau; and the Count of Winzingerode, the Minister +of Würtemberg. Prince Cambacérès, Arch-chancellor of the Empire, then +received the consent of the couple and pronounced the formula of the civil +marriage. + +The next day, Sunday, August 23, 1807, at eight in the evening, the +religious marriage was celebrated in the chapel of the Tuileries, the +galleries being filled with the diplomatic bodies, the foreign princes and +noblemen and invited guests. The procession was brilliant. On entering the +chapel, Napoleon gave his hand to the Princess Catherine, and Jerome his +to the Empress. The Prince Primate of the Confederation of the Rhines, +Archbishop of Regensburg, Sovereign Prince of that city, of Aschaftenburg, +of Frankfort, etc., surrounded by his clergy and his court, stood at the +chapel door. He gave holy water to the Emperor and the Empress, who at +once went to their praying-chairs; then he gave the nuptial blessing to +the young couple, while the canopy was held by the Bishop of Ghent and the +Abbé of Boulogne, the Emperor's Almoners. After the ceremony, they all +went back from the chapel to the grand apartments, where followed a +concert, a ballet, and a reception in the Hall of the Marshals. Twice +Napoleon appeared on the balcony, showing the newly married pair the vast +throng filling the garden of the Tuileries. Unfortunately, a sudden storm +prevented the display of fireworks. + +While the thunder was roaring and the rain pouring down, the Empress, at +her young brother-in-law's marriage, was the prey to sad reflections. She +thought of the deserted American wife, who, far away, was weeping, while +her husband, the father of her children was joyfully leading another wife +to the altar. Josephine doubtless thought that soon perhaps her lot would +he the same as that of the unhappy Miss Paterson; that she would he +sacrificed, abandoned, repudiated in the very same way. + +The Empress had another cause of grief. At the Pyrenees her daughter +Hortense had become reconciled with Louis, and was soon to be the mother +of the child afterwards known as Napoleon III. But in a few weeks the +incongeniality of their dispositions, for a moment forgotten in their +common grief, asserted itself anew. On their return to Paris, at the end +of August, the discord between the King and the Queen of Holland was as +violent as ever. The King, more uneasy and suspicious than ever before, +wanted to carry his wife to Holland, but the Queen had an aversion to the +country where she had suffered so much, and to its fatal climate. She +feared that if she should return there she might lose her second son like +the first. Her health was wretched; she feared that her lungs were +affected. In France she felt that the Emperor protected her from her +husband's anger. Holland seemed to her a gloomy, damp, melancholy prison, +of which the King, her husband, would be the jailor. Louis Bonaparte was +furious at his wife's resistance, all the more that he was obliged to hide +his feelings. Napoleon, who held his family, like his Empire, in absolute +control, gave Louis, as well as his other brothers, orders which they had +to obey without a word or a murmur. The King of Holland returned to his +kingdom alone, his wife stayed in France, but in the gloomiest spirits, +with mind and body disordered, disenchanted about all human things. "From +that time," she said later, "I understood that my misfortunes were beyond +cure; I looked upon my life as destroyed; I conceived a horror of +grandeur, of a throne; I often cursed what so many called my good fortune; +I felt lost to all enjoyment of life, shorn of all Illusions, nearly dead +to everything going on about me." Under other conditions, the Empress +would have been delighted to have her daughter with her, but she found her +so dejected, so morose, and so unhappy, that her presence was quite as +much a grief as a comfort for her. These were the feelings of the Empress +of the French and of the Queen, of Holland when they went to Fontainebleau +with the court at the end of September, 1807. There the Emperor lived more +splendidly than ever, surrounding himself with all the pomp and majesty of +monarchy. + + + + +XXV. + +THE COURT AT FONTAINEBLEAU. + + +The court arrived at the Palace of Fontainebleau September 21, 1807, and +stayed there until November 15. Napoleon felt the need of displaying +unprecedented luxury. He wanted to have the Diplomatic Corps send to +foreign powers the account of magnificent festivities. This splendid +palace, with its proud memories of the old French monarchy, was a +residence that pleased him. He liked to be surrounded by great persons, +whether foreigners or Frenchmen, who rivalled one another in flattery, +zeal, and homage towards him. In his opinion, festivities and battles +added to the glory of the throne. Desiring to be in everything first, he +was very anxious for his court to be esteemed the most brilliant in +Europe. + +There were various types among the guests at Fontainebleau. There was +Napoleon's mother, rather Italian than French by birth, and in face and +accent. She recalled the characters of antiquity, unspoiled by prosperity, +austere in her life, simple in her taste, rigidly economical, less from +avarice than a distrust of the continuance of her son's good fortune. +There was the beautiful Princess Borghese, Duchess of Guastalla, more +elegant, more fashionable, more attractive than ever; then Madame Murat, +rich in freshness and brilliancy, not satisfied with being a French +Princess and Grand Duchess of Berg, but yearning to be a Queen; the Queen +of Holland, on the other hand, in despair at having ascended the throne, +and plunged in a deep melancholy in marked contrast with the splendors +surrounding her in spite of herself. Then Joseph Bonaparte's wife, the +Queen of Naples, whose tastes were modest, and who preferred Paris to her +Italian kingdom. There were many Princes and great lords in the crowd of +courtiers, the satellites of the Imperial sun. In the Gallery of Henry II. +were to be distinguished a cluster of German Princes: the Grand Duke of +Würzburg,--who did not seem to sigh for his Grand Duchy of Tuscany, +finding ample consolation in singing Italian pieces, for music was his +passion; the Prince Primate of the Confederation of the Rhine, Archbishop +of Regensburg, Sovereign Prince of that city and of Frankfort, who, in +spite of his position in the church, joined the Emperor's hunt; Prince +William of Prussia, who hoped by his devotion to alleviate the troubles of +his country, and to modify the demands of the hero of Jena; the Prince of +Mecklenburg-Schwerin, conspicuous for his formal German politeness; the +young Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. brother of the Queen of Prussia, +less interested in the patriotic grievances of his sister, than in his +assiduous court to the Empress Josephine, whose respectful platonic lover +he was; the Prince of Baden, who, although the brother-in-law of the +Emperor of Russia, the King of Bavaria, and the King of Sweden, was proud +to have married a Mademoiselle de Beauharnais, daughter of a simple +Senator of the Empire, with but one regret--that his wife did not love him +enough; Jerome, the young and brilliant King of Westphalia, apparently +forgetful of Elisabeth Paterson, and full of mad love for his new wife, +Princess Catherine of Würtemberg. + +In the Gallery of Henry II. was also to be seen Murat, who, after his +triumphal entry into Warsaw, thought of nothing but crowns, anxiously +wondering whether he was to be King of Poland, or of Portugal, of Spain, +or of Naples. There were the high dignitaries of the Empire, the foreign +ambassadors, the marshals, the ministers; M. de Talleyrand with his +enormous salary, his high position as Grand Chamberlain and Vice-Elector, +his title of Prince of Benevento, always sparkling with the cold, +sceptical, politely contemptuous wit that distinguished those who belonged +to the old régime--Talleyrand, who, in the Emperor's closet possibly spoke +to him with a certain freedom, but in the Gallery of Henry II. resembled +the other courtiers and kept a profound silence as his master drew near. +Then the Count of Ségur, Grand Master of Ceremonies, as attractive in the +court of Napoleon as he had been in that of Catherine II. as ambassador of +Louis XVI.; Marshal Berthier, Grand Master of the Horse, Vice-Constable, +Sovereign Prince of Neufchâtel, as devoted to Madame Visconti as if he +were a youth of twenty; Count Tolstoi, the brilliant ambassador of the +Emperor Alexander; M. de Metternich, the fascinating and skilful Austrian +Ambassador, conspicuous by Ms admiration for Princess Murat. + +When the Emperor entered, all eyes were turned towards him alone; about +him centred all interest, all intrigues, all ambitions. He appeared as the +dispenser of fortune, the arbiter of destiny, the exceptional being on +whom depended individuals, kingdoms, empires. He filled it all with his +presence; every one seemed to live only for and by the Emperor. A smile, a +word, the slightest mark of attention on his part, seemed a precious +reward, a marked honor, As soon as he entered, a quiver of admiration and +of terror seemed to run through the air. Every one bowed like a horse who +sniffs the approach of his master; they almost prostrated themselves +before him. Any one to whom he spoke, stammered, feared to reply, turned +pale and red; and he, rejoicing in their embarrassment, gloried in the +wide gulf he had set between himself and all other human beings. Even +foreigners seemed to be his subjects. Whatever their position, whatever +their coat-of-arms, by his side they were vulgar supernumeraries. His +power appeared to be limitless, like his genius; and believing everything +possible, looking upon himself as a prodigy, a living miracle, he exulted +proudly and majestically in his glory. + +Under the second Empire, what were called the _series_ of Compiègne and of +Fontainebleau were much less ceremonious than under the first. All the +guests of Napoleon III. breakfasted and dined at his table,--in the +morning in frock-coat, in the evening in black coat and knee breeches; no +uniforms were to be seen. Women appeared at breakfast in morning dress; +they wore no especial dress at the hunt. Before dinner the Empress used to +receive a few specially invited guests to drink tea. All day the Emperor +left the company perfectly free. In the evening there was dancing to the +music of a piano like a hand-organ, of which a chamberlain turned the +handle. The Emperor was treated with great deference, but no one feared +him, because his words were always marked by great affability. Napoleon +I., on the other hand, was perhaps more feared than admired. Those who +were charged with organizing his entertainments were perfectly happy if he +was silent; for he almost never gave a word of praise and often +criticised. It was a conspicuous and rare honor, even for Princes, to dine +with him. There were besides at Fontainebleau, in 1807, several distinct +tables: those of the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial family, who +often gave grand dinners; that of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, with +twenty-five places; that of the Empress's Maid of Honor, with the same +number; and, finally, a last table for all those who had received no +special invitation. The Princesses paid the cost--of installing themselves +there out of their own purses, while under Napoleon III., at +Fontainebleau, or at Compiègne, all the expenses were defrayed by the +Emperor. Under the first Empire only those holding high official position +were invited to the Imperial, residences; under the second, many were +invited who were famous only for their elegance. Under Napoleon I., where +everything was formal, scarcely anything but tragedy was played at the +court; under Napoleon III., lighter plays were often given. The hunts were +very simple under the second Emperor and very magnificent under the first, +In 1807 Napoleon had ordered that women who went to the coursing should +wear a special costume; that of the Empress and of all the ladies of her +household was of amaranthine velvet, embroidered with gold, and a cap with +white feathers; that of the Princesses, blue for the Queen of Holland, +pink for the Princess Murat, lilac for the Princess Borghese, all adorned +with silver embroidery. The Emperor and all his guests wore the same +hunting-dress for coursing: a green coat with gold, buttons and lace, +breeches of white cassimere, Hessian boots without tops; for shooting, a +green coat, with no other ornament than white buttons, on which were +carved hunting emblems. Under the first Empire, etiquette was most rigid; +under the second, it hardly existed. At every moment of day and evening, +Napoleon I. wore a twofold air as commander-in-chief and sovereign; +Napoleon III. was like a man of the world receiving his friends in his own +castle. + +From September 21 to November 15, 1807, the great general had commanded +that there should be amusement in the Palace of Fontainebleau. Pleasure +was ordered, but it does not come at call. The Emperor, accustomed to have +his every wish obeyed, was surprised to see that not every face was +radiant. "Strange," he said, "I have gathered a good many people here at +Fontainebleau; I want them to amuse themselves, I have arranged their +pleasures, yet every one seems tired and sad." The Italian songs, even +when sung by the best singers, in costume and with all the scenery, +produced but a feeble impression. The tragedies seemed to induce slumber. +The little balls, or, more exactly, the little hops in the apartment of +the Maid of Honor, Madame de la Rochefoucauld, were very dull. Sometimes +little games were played there; they gave a flash of gaiety, but as soon +as the Emperor appeared, every one assumed a serious, composed air. Might +one not say once more what La Bruyère said when speaking of the court of +Louis XIV.: "Who would believe that this eagerness for shows, that meals, +hunts, ballets, tilting-matches, crowned so many anxieties, pains, and +diverse interests, so many fears and hopes, so many lively passions, and +serious affairs?" A palace is not built for ease. All its formalities hang +heavy on every guest; the whole of every day is spent in playing a part. + +Amid all these empty pleasures and hollow joys there was no lack of +sorrow. It was there that the wretched Queen Hortense, spitting blood, +mourning the past and dreading the future, said to Napoleon: "My +reputation is tainted, my health ruined, I expect no more happiness in +life; banish me from your court; if you wish, lock me up in a convent, I +desire neither throne nor fortune. Give peace to my mother, glory to +Eugene, who deserves it, but let me live a calm and solitary life." She +had been happier as an unknown schoolgirl at Madame Campan's, just as her +mother, the Empress of the French and the Queen of Italy, must have often +sighed for the island of Martinique, where she would have preferred the +splash of the waves to the courtiers' murmur of obsequious flattery. +Napoleon, himself, at the height of human glory, had lost the peace of +heart which he enjoyed in his boyhood, and never found again. + +The Empress Josephine naturally held the highest place in this brilliant +court of Fontainebleau, and was the object of untiring homage; few, +however, suspected the anxieties that tormented her, so calm happy did she +appear, with a kind word and a gracious smile for every one. + +M. de Metternich, the Austrian Ambassador who was then at Fontainebleau, +took pains to ascertain the causes of her secret sorrow, and sent the +details to his government. He wrote to von Stadion: "In many of my +previous reports I have had the honor of speaking to Your Excellency about +the long current rumors regarding the approaching divorce of the Emperor. +After circulating vaguely in the last two months, they have become the +subject of general and public discussion. It is true of these rumors, as +of all not stamped out at their birth, that they rest on some foundation +of truth, or they would be promptly silenced, if they were not directly +tolerated." Then the clear-sighted ambassador reported in the same +despatch what he had learned, thanks to his relations with persons to whom +the Empress had made revelations: "Since his return from the army, the +Emperor's bearing towards his wife has been cold and embarrassed. He no +longer lives in the same apartment with her, and many of his daily habits +have undergone a change. Rumors of the Empress's divorce began at that +moment to assume a more serious form; when they reached her ears she +simply waited for some direct information, without letting the Emperor see +the slightest anxiety." + +Josephine was sorely stricken, and her sufferings were all the more +intense because she had to hide them from every one, especially from her +husband, and they made a marked contrast, by the irony of fate, with the +pleasures and amusements that surrounded her. She was too clear-sighted +and intelligent to proceed to question the Emperor. She feared light and +dreaded the truth. She hesitated before the abyss that awaited her, and +shuddered before the Emperor's glance. She suffered on the throne, as if +it were an instrument of torture. It was then that Fouché took some steps +which doubled her anguish. The incident is thus recounted, by Prince +Metternich in the despatch already cited: "One day the Minister of Police +visited her at Fontainebleau. and after a short preamble, told her that +the public good, and, above all, the strengthening of the existing dynasty +requiring that the Emperor should have children, she ought to ask the +Senate to join with her in demanding of the Emperor a sacrifice most +painful to his heart. The Empress, who was prepared for the question, +asked Fouché, with great coolness, if he took this step by the Emperors +orders. 'No,' he replied: 'I speak to Your Majesty as a minister charged +with a general supervision, as a private citizen, as a subject devoted to +his country's glory,' 'In that case I have nothing to say to you,' +interrupted the Empress; 'I regard my union with the Emperor as written in +the book of Fate, I shall never discuss the matter with any one but him, +and never will do anything but what he orders,'" Josephine, when she +mentioned this conversation to her confidant, M. de Lavalette, who had +married a Mademoiselle de Beauharnais, said to him in great perplexity; +"Is it not clear that Fouché was sent by the Emperor and that my fate is +settled? Alas! To leave the throne is nothing to me. Who knows better than +I do how many tears I have shed there? But to lose at the same time the +man to whom I have given my best love, that sacrifice is beyond my +strength." + +But to return to Prince Metternich's despatch: "Many days passed without +incident, when suddenly the Emperor began to share again the Empress's +apartment and took a favorable moment to ask why she had been so sad for +some days. The Empress then told him of her interview with Fouché. The +Emperor confirmed his statement that he had never given him any such +orders. He added that she ought to know him well enough to be sure that he +had no need of any go-between to manage matters with her, and made her +promise to report to him anything further she might hear about the +matter." Josephine was not at all comforted. Napoleon's explanation was +very embarrassed, and who could think that so crafty and ambitious a man +as Fouché could assume the responsibility of such a negotiation if he +supposed that thereby he exposed himself to his master's wrath? + +The Minister of Police did not confine himself to mere spoken words. A few +days after his interview with the Empress, he wrote to her a long letter +on large paper, in which he set forth all the arguments he had already +brought forward, to urge upon her the spontaneous sacrifice which would be +the more meritorious, the more painful it was. Josephine, who received +this letter in the evening, summoned M. de Rémusat at midnight to show it +to him. "What shall I do," she asked, "to ward off this storm?" "Madame," +replied the First Chamberlain, "my advice is to go this very moment to the +Emperor, if he has not gone to bed, or else the very first thing to-morrow +morning. Remember, you must seem to have consulted no one. Make him read +this letter; watch him as closely as you can; but, whatever happens, show +that you hate these roundabout methods, and tell him again that you will +never listen to anything but a direct order from him." + +The Empress did as he said, Napoleon, to use a common expression, was +"cornered." He pretended to be much surprised, and very angry; promised +"to comb Fouché's head," and even added that if she desired he would take +away his portfolio; and to calm her he went so far as to write to the +Minister of Police this letter, dated Fontainebleau, November 5, 1807:-- + +"MONSIEUR FOUCHÉ: In the last fortnight I have heard of your foolish +actions; it is time for you to put an end to them, and to stop +interfering, directly or indirectly, in a matter which in no way concerns +you; that is my wish." + +Fouché was not at all disturbed by his master's reproach. He was at heart +convinced that he had not displeased him; he kept his portfolio, and was +sure that the divorce, though postponed, was irrevocably decided on by the +Emperor. Josephine had no more illusions. It was in vain that Napoleon +spoke to her kindly, and tried to console her with kisses and even tears, +--for Napoleon used to cry sometimes,--after Fouché had made his overtures +she had no more peace of mind. The end of the stay at Fontainebleau was +very gloomy. All became tired of this life of empty show, of the perpetual +constraint, of the pleasures which by dint of repetition became dull and +monotonous. Every one longed for home, to escape from this master's +glances; for his presence inspired an admiration tempered with dread. The +women had spent vast sums in their dress. The men had indulged in +ambitious plans almost always futile. The German princelings had suffered +in their lordly pride and German patriotism by having to bow their heads +before the formidable man whose humble vassals they were, and these men, +vain of their coat-of-arms, had not seen without a secret spite the +crushing superiority of a poor Corsican gentleman. This great conqueror +himself was not happy in all his splendor. Although he was no longer in +love with his wife, it was not without sadness that he had seen her +uneasiness and grief. Anxiety about the condition of Spain, which was so +fatal to him, cast a cloud on his brow. When hunting in the forest, he was +often seen to lose himself in thought and to let his horse wander as he +pleased. At the theatrical performances it was noticed that, absorbed and +distracted, he appeared to think less of the play than of his vast plans. + +Not long since I visited the palace and the forest of Fontainebleau, in +one of those cold but bright autumn days when the half bare trees have a +strange appearance, when some leaves are as red as blood, others as yellow +as gold, and nature wears all the countless hues which defy the artist's +brush. The forest is wonderfully beautiful with its marvellous combination +of trees and rocks. All the kings of France since Louis VII. have +inhabited this palace. The holy head of Louis IX. appears there with his +aureola on his head, In the gallery of Francis I., with its nymphs and +fauns, amid garlands, fruits, and emblems, one recalls that King and +Charles V. who entered the palace by the glided door, and who took part in +the great festival in the forest, when nymphs, fauns, and gods seemed to +issue from the trunks of oaks to the sound of tambourines, and a band of +maidens flung flowers before the feet of the Spanish court. One recalls, +too, Catharine de' Medici with her squadron, of young and brilliant +amazons--Catharine de' Medici who In this palace brought forth her two +sons, Francis II, and Henry III. At the end of the oval court is a dome of +rich and picturesque construction, called the baptistery of Louis XIII, +because that king was baptized there. Then there are the apartments of the +queen mothers; Catharine de' Medici, Maria de' Medici, Anne of Austria, +and those of Pius VII., a captive at Fontainebleau, In the bedroom of the +queen mothers an altar was raised where the Vicar of Christ said mass. The +hangings of embroidered satin in this room were a wedding-gift from the +city of Lyons to Marie Antoinette. The room is a model of luxury and +elegance, and is called the Chamber of the Five Maries because it has been +inhabited by five sovereigns bearing that name, Maria de' Medici, Maria +Theresa, Marie Antoinette, Marie Louise, and Marie Amélie. It was also the +Empress Eugénie's chamber. + +This marvellously picturesque palace of Fontainebleau is full of +interesting reminiscences, but of all the figures it recalls, no figure is +more impressive than that of Napoleon. There is much gorgeous furniture in +the palace of various sorts, in the style of the renaissance, of Louis +XIV., Louis XV., and Louis XVI.; but no piece attracts more attention than +the plain mahogany table on which Napoleon signed his abdication. Then how +impressive is the bedroom where he spent terrible nights, unable to sleep, +and at last seeking in suicide a cure for his despair! Consider the +contrast between 1807 and 1814! Meanwhile there had been changes of face, +many apostasies. "Ah! Caulaincourt, mankind, mankind!" exclaimed the +deserted Emperor. Every one left him, promising him a speedy return, but +no one thought of it. Fontainebleau became a desert. If the sound of +wheels was heard, it was never of carriages arriving, but only of +carriages going away. It was at Fontainebleau that Napoleon's pride +triumphed, and there that his pride suffered its cruelest humiliations. +What anguish he endured, this man of destiny, in that room where he wrote: +"To finish my career by signing a treaty in which I have not been able to +stipulate a single general interest, nor even one moral interest, such as +the preservation of our colonies, or the maintenance of the Legion of +Honor! To sign a treaty by which money is given to me!" What anguish tore +his mind and body when, having taken too small a dose of poison, he said +between his spasms: "How hard it is to die, and it is so easy on the +battle-field! Why didn't I die at Arcis-sur-Aube!" Did he then recall the +splendor of his return from Jena, from Friedland, from Tilsitt? Did he +remember the crowd of courtiers who resembled priests whose God he was? +The only courtiers left were those to whom he had given neither money nor +honors, the old soldiers of his guard, with, their gray mustaches, who +could not restrain their sobs and tears when, in the Court of the White +Horse, he bade them farewell, saying, "I should like to embrace you in my +arms, but let me embrace this flag which represents you." + + + + +XXVI. + +THE END OF THE YEAR, 1807. + + +While the court was still at Fontainebleau, the Empress received a piece +of news, which had been kept back from her for some days, and which added +materially to her sorrows. Her widowed mother, Madame Tascher de la +Pagerie, whom she had not seen since September, 1790, had died June 2, +1807, at the age of seventy, in her home at Martinique. Josephine, who was +much attached to her mother, had done her best to persuade her to come to +France, where she would have been sure of the warmest welcome. But that +venerable lady had perhaps chosen more wisely in preferring her modest and +quiet home to all the splendor and excitement of an Imperial palace. From +afar she thought of her daughter at the summit of human happiness; near +her, she would often have seen her sad and downcast. By not approaching +the throne which, at a distance, appears like a magic seat, but, to use +the Emperor's expression, is in fact only an armchair covered with velvet, +Napoleon's mother-in-law was spared the sight of much misery, and she +died, as she had lived, in peace. + +The Emperor left for Italy November 16. 1807, and this departure was for +Josephine, already so afflicted, another source of anxiety and sadness, +She would gladly have gone with him, and have seen once more Eugene and +her granddaughter, who was named after her; but Napoleon had decided +otherwise. He was no longer unable to live without his wife, and he no +longer thought with La Fontaine that absence was the greatest of evils. He +alleged as reason, the inclemency of the winter, said that he should be +back early in December--in fact, he did not return to the Tuileries till +January 1--and to the Empress's great despair set off without her, leaving +her the prey of the liveliest anxiety, the cruelest fears. + +In Italy Napoleon received the same ardent flattery as in France. He +reached Milan November 22, before Prince Eugene had had time to ride out +to meet him. After ovations, reviews, religious ceremonies at the +Cathedral, grand performances at the Scala, he went to Venice. Here he was +received with all the luxury that used to be displayed at the majestic +marriage of the doge and the Adriatic. When he reached Fusina, he entered +a gondola rowed by men in satin coats embroidered with gold. He entered +the grand canal beneath an arch of triumph between a double line of boats +adorned with festoons and garlands. At the Venice theatre he saw a grand +performance representing Olympus, and then was played, amid applause, the +popular air, _Napoleone it grande_. He had with him in Venice his brother +Joseph, King of Naples; his sister, Elisa Bacciochi, Princess of Lucca; +his step-son, Prince Eugene, Viceroy of Italy; the King and Queen of +Bavaria, the father-in-law and mother-in-law of this Prince; Murat, Grand +Duke of Berg, and Berthier, Prince of Neufchâtel. He left Venice December +8, dining at Treviso. The 11th he was at Udine, and the 14th at Mantua. + +It was in this city that he had a secret interview with his brother +Lucien, with whom he wished to be reconciled, but on one absolute +condition, _sine qua non_. It will be remembered that Lucien, against the +First Consul's wishes, had married Alexandrine de Bleschamps, widow of M. +Jouberthon; who, after being a broker in Paris, had died in Saint Domingo, +whither he had followed the French expedition. Napoleon, who was anxious +to marry Lucien with Queen Marie Louise, daughter of Charles IV. of Spain, +and widow of Louis I., King of Etruria, wished to annul this marriage. But +this brilliant offer had been peremptorily declined by the man who +preferred a woman's love to a crown. In the spring of 1804 Lucien had +voluntarily left France to seek in Rome an asylum from his brother's +incessant reproaches and demands. His mother, Madame Letitia, who +thoroughly approved of him, had followed him to Rome, and the Emperor had +met with some difficulty in persuading her to return to Paris, which she +only did after the coronation. M. de Méneval went by night to fetch Lucien +from the inn where he was staying, and led him mysteriously to the palace +which the Emperor occupied. Laden, instead of falling in his brother's +arms, greeted him coldly, with dignified reserve. + +Stanislas de Girardia, in his interesting "Journal," has recounted the +interview of the two brothers, as he heard it from Lucien himself. They +said very much what follows:-- + +"Well, sir, do you still told to Madame Jouberthon and her son?" + +"Madame Jouberthon is my wife, and her son is my son." + +"No, no, since it is a marriage which I do not recognize, and consequently +null." + +"I contracted it lawfully, as citizen and as Christian." + +"The civil act was illegal, and it is known that you gave a priest twenty- +five louis-d'or to persuade him to marry you." + +"Doubtless Your Majesty, when he invited me here, did not do so for the +purpose of paining me; if that is his intention, I withdraw," + +"I have conquered Europe, and certainly I should not flinch before you. +You owe your peaceful life in Rome to my kindness; but you are acquiring +there a consideration which displeases me, and in time you will annoy me; +I will order you to go away, and I will make you leave Europe." + +"And if I should not obey?" "I will have you arrested." + +"And then?" + +"I shall have you sent to Bicêtre and then if--" + +"I should defy you to commit a crime!" + +"Don't speak to me in that way; don't imagine you can impose on me, I +repeat, I have not conquered Europe to flinch before you. Leave the room." + +Lucien did not leave, and Napoleon, after a few violent words, became a +little calmer. Lucien then renewed the stormy discussion, trying to pacify +his brother. + +"I had no intention of displeasing Your Majesty by saying what should show +the high opinion I have of the greatness of his soul." + +"Never mind that; cast your eyes on the map of the world then. Join us, +Lucien, and take your share; it will be a fine one, I promise you. The +throne of Portugal is empty; I have declared that the King shall cease to +reign. I will give it to you; take command of the army destined to make an +easy conquest of it, and I will make you a French Prince and my +lieutenant. The daughters of your first wife shall be my nieces; I will +establish them in life. I will marry the eldest to the Prince of the +Asturias; the King of Spain asks it of me as a favor; I can prove it by +this letter." + +"My eldest daughter, Sire, is not yet thirteen; she is not old enough to +be married." + +"I thought she was older." + +"In a year or two, I will gladly let you dispose of her." + +"Then there are no difficulties about the children of your first wife. You +have daughters by your second wife, I will adopt them; you have a boy too; +I shall not recognize him; his mother will have an important duchy, and he +can be her heir. As for you, go to Lisbon, leave your wife and your son in +Rome; I will look after them. Your ties are broken. I will find a way." + +"That can only be by divorce." + +"And why not? That is a frank and positive way which perfectly suits me. I +want to be reconciled with you, and you know the price attached to the +Portuguese crown." + +"I see that to get it I should have to consent to make my wife a +concubine, my son a bastard. Your Majesty knows me ill if he has been able +to believe that the offer of a crown could tempt me to a dishonorable +action." + +"He who is not for me, is against me; if you don't enter into my system, +you are my enemy; and thereby I have the right of persecuting you and I +shall persecute you." + +"I do not want to be your enemy, Sire; I cannot become one by preserving +my honor and my virtue, by refusing to give up my reputation for a throne: +and that this disagreement may be unknown, let Your Majesty give me some +conspicuous proof of his kindness; give me the broad ribbon of the Legion +of Honor, I beg of you!" + +"No; by taking my colors you would ruin your reputation; it is a great +thing to be opposed to me, and it is a fine part to play; you can continue +it for two years without inconvenience, but then you will have to leave +Europe." + +"Much sooner, and I shall prepare to leave for America. Only the +entreaties of my mother and Josephine have kept me here so long." + +"I don't ask that of you; my propositions are not too unreasonable to be +thought over; ponder them, with your wife, and let me know your answer +within eighteen days." + +At the end of the interview the two brothers parted with emotion. Lucien +flung himself into his brother's arms, saying that doubtless he was +embracing him for the last time, and left for Rome with his head high. He +was obliged to yield only on one point, by sending to Paris his oldest +daughter, Charlotte Marie, the issue of his first marriage with Christine +Boyer. (She was born at Saint Maximini in February, 1795, and in 1815 +married Prince Marius Gabrielli.) But the young girl had all her father's +independent spirit. In Paris she was entrusted to the care of her +grandmother, Madame Letitia, and she spoke so severely about the Imperial +family in her letters, which were opened, that she was sent back to her +father in Rome almost as soon as she had arrived in France. As for the +idea of an annulment of the marriage or a divorce, Lucien absolutely +rejected it. He preferred his wife to all the wealth, all the honors, all +the kingdoms of the world. Jerome had yielded. Lucien did not yield. + +Napoleon left Mantua after his interview with his brother, and returned to +Milan, where, December 17, he witnessed some naval sports in the arena of +the circus, which was turned into a lake. There too, December 20, in the +grand, hall of the palace, he adopted Prince Eugene as his son and +declared him his heir to the crown of Italy. At the same time he issued +these two decrees: "Wishing to give especial proof of our satisfaction +with our good city of Venice, we have conferred, and by these letters- +patent here present do confer, upon our dearly loved son, Prince Eugene +Napoleon, our heir presumptive to the crown of Italy, the title of Prince +of Venice." "Wishing to give especial proof of our satisfaction with our +good city of Bologna, we have conferred, and by these letters-patent here +present do confer, the title of Princess of Bologna upon our dearly loved +granddaughter, the Princess Josephine." Napoleon left Milan, December 24, +to return to Paris by way of Turin. + +The letters which the Emperor wrote to his wife during this trip were very +empty and unimportant, wholly unlike those he had written in 1798. Only a +few need be quoted. "Milan, November, 25, 1807. I have been here, my dear, +two days. I am glad I did not bring you. You would have suffered terribly +crossing Mount Cenis where a storm detained me twenty-four hours. I found +Eugene very well; I am much pleased with him. The Princess is ill; I went +to see her at Monza: she has had a miscarriage, but is improving. Good by, +my dear." "Venice, November 30, 1807. I have your letter of the 22d. I +have been for two days in Venice. The weather is very bad, which has not +prevented my going through the lagoons to see the different forts. I am +glad to see that you are amusing yourself in Paris. The King of Bavaria +and his family and the Princess Elisa are also here. After December 2, +which I shall spend here, I shall be on my way back, and glad to see you. +Good by, my dear." "Udine, December 11, 1807. I have your letter of the +3d, and I see you are much pleased with the Jardin des Plantes. I am at +the furthest limit of my journey; it is possible that I shall be soon in +Paris where I shall be glad to see you again. The weather has not been +very cold here, but very wet. I have taken advantage of the last fine +weather of the season, for I suppose that at Christmas the winter will be +here. Good by, my dear. Ever Yours." + +During the Emperor's absence the triumphal return of the Guard brought a +slight diversion to the Empress's anxiety and distress of mind. Though +unhappy as a wife, she was at least happy as a Frenchwoman. She, alas! had +a presentiment of divorce, but not of the invasion and dismemberment of +France. At noon, November 25, the twelve thousand old soldiers of the +Guard, bronzed, covered with glorious wounds, some already gray, made +their solemn entry into Paris. An arch of triumph, broader and higher than +the Porte Saint Martin, had been built at the gate of La Villette. The +Prefect of the Seine and the municipal authorities there awaited the +veterans. + +The prefect welcomed the brave soldiers: "Heroes of Jena, of Eylan, of +Friediand," he said, "conquerors of peace, immortal thanks are due you, +for the country you have conquered! Your own country will ever remember +your triumphs; your names will be handed down to the remotest posterity on +bronze and marble, and the story of your exploits, firing the courage of +our latest descendants, will be recalled, and you, by the example you have +set, will still protect this vast Empire which, you have so gloriously +defended with your valor... Hail! war-like eagles, symbols of the power of +our magnanimous Emperor; carry over all the earth, with his great name, +the glory of the French name, and may the crowns with which the city of +Paris has been allowed to decorate you be everywhere a proof at once +august and formidable of the union of monarch, people, and army!" + +Marshal Bessières, who was in, command, replied: "The most perfect harmony +will always exist between the populace of this great city and the soldiers +of the Imperial guard, and if their eagles should march again, recalling +their oath to defend, them to the death, they would remember that the +wreaths adorning them redouble the obligation." After these two speeches +the standard bearer left the ranks and bent down the flags on which the +magistrates placed golden crowns bearing this inscription: "The city of +Paris to the Grand Army." Then the troops marched past in the following +order: the fusiliers, the riflemen, grenadiers, the light cavalry, the +Mamelukes, dragoons, the horse grenadiers, and the picked body of gens des +armes. While they passed beneath the arch of triumph, a large band and +chorus performed a cantata, with words by Arnault and music by Méhul. +Passing through the dense crowds that lined the way, the guard came to the +Tuileries, passing beneath the arch of the Carrousel, where the eagles +were set down. Then it entered the palace garden, leaving its arms there, +and proceeded to the Champs Elysées, where a banquet for twelve thousand +men was laid. The tables were arranged under tents on each side of the +Champs Elysées, along their whole extent, from the Place de la Concorde to +the gate de l'Etoile. The tent of the staff was in the middle, half-way +up. Marshal Bessières proposed a toast to the city of Paris, and the +Prefect of the Seine one to the Emperor and King, and another to the Grand +Army. + +The next day there were three performances in every theatre. The pit, the +orchestra, and principal rows of boxes and galleries were reserved for the +Imperial Guard. The opera gave _The Triumph of Trajan_. The Français gave +_Gaston and Bayard_. "That historical play," said the _Moniteur_, "which +presents so noble and true a picture of French honor, of warlike +victories, of chivalric enthusiasm,--never did this tragedy have +spectators better fitted to appreciate it." In the minor theatres various +plays on the events of the day were given. The performance at the opera +was magnificent; the _Moniteur_ described it with its usual lyrical +enthusiasm: "This picked band of braves, who, in their swift conquests, in +their distant marches, have seen such, diverse climates, visited so many +shores, and in so few months have seen the springs and the mouths of so +many rivers, know also the banks of the Tiber; hence in the scenery they +at ones recognized Rome; in the triumphal march, in the eager throng, in +the vast populace, bursting through the ranks of the Roman soldiers, and +flinging themselves beneath the hoofs of their horses, they saw the +touching picture of the reception they had met the day before. Their +emotion baffles description. The Imperial Guard gazing at Trajan's triumph +was itself an admirable spectacle." The opera was but a series of +ingenious allusions to Napoleon's glory. Trajan was represented as +burning, with his own hand, papers containing the secret of a conspiracy, +recalling Napoleon's throwing into the fire the letters by which, he could +have rained M. Hatzfeld; and when the Roman Emperor appeared in his +chariot, drawn by four white horses, it was not Trajan who was applauded, +but Napoleon. + +December 14, at the Military School, Marshal Bessières, to celebrate the +victories of the Grand Army, and to thank the city of Paris for its +reception of the Imperial Guard, gave a grand entertainment which the +Empress honored with her presence. The Invalides was brilliantly +illuminated and connected with the Military School by a long row of +lights. In the middle of the Champ de Mars was a vast hemisphere, on which +was a pedestal holding a colossal statue of the Emperor, surrounded by +allegoric figures. The trophies set aside for each one of the Grand Army +were marked with the corps number. The Imperial Guard was under arms, and +formed an interesting part of the spectators, and of the spectacle as +well. Bengal fires lit up the warlike scene. The heights across the Seine +were also ablaze with lights. The Empress arrived at the Military School +at about eight in the evening. The entertainment began with a ballet +performed by dancers from the opera. Then there were fireworks. The Champ +de Mars was one sea of flame, and the Imperial Guard fired blank +cartridges for half an hour. Then there was a grand ball with a fine +supper; after which the dances continued till morning. + +This worldly and military entertainment, at which the Empress queen +appeared in all her glory, may be regarded as the crowning point of her +splendors. And here, at the end of 1807, we close this study. We have left +to narrate in a final volume only the last seven years of Josephine's +life. We have already recounted nearly the whole career of this attractive +woman, of this justly famous sovereign. We have described her infancy in +Martinique, in her modest, patriarchal home, where she was born, June 23, +1763. We have admired her as a young girl, loving flowers, music, and +nature, beneath the clear sky of the Antilles, amid banana and orange +trees, tropical flowers, and birds of paradise, where the fortune-telling +negress said to her: "You will be a queen." We have seen her in France, +marrying, December 13, 1779, the young and brilliant Viscount Alexandre de +Beauharnais, by whom she had one son, the future Viceroy of Italy, and one +daughter, the future Queen of Holland. We have seen her going through that +period of illusions, so well called the Golden Age of the Revolution, +receiving in her drawing-room in the rue de l'Université the flower of the +liberal nobility and leaders of the Constituent Assembly, then suddenly +passing from the Golden to the Iron Age, shuddering at the dangers to +which war, and above all the Terror exposed her husband, the general in +chief of the Army of the Rhine, the leader of the democracy, rewarded for +his patriotism and his devotion to the Republic by the scaffold. She +herself, during her husband's captivity, was imprisoned in the Carmes +April, 1794; for one hundred and eight days of inexpressible anguish and +torment, she occupied in this dungeon the Room of the Swords as it was +called, because the walls still bore traces of the three swords which the +men of September had leaned against them after the massacre of the one +hundred and twenty priests who were in the prison. Beauharnais, the man of +the old régime, who had embraced the new ideas with so much ardor, this +grand lord who got himself treated like a _sans-culotte_ was guillotined +four days before Robespierre, whose death would have saved him. His young +widow left prison, reduced to extreme want, and took refuge with her +father-in-law, at Fontainebleau; then she made her appearance in the +motley society which, first showed itself in the drawing-room of Madame +Tallien, then at the Luxembourg under Barras. Rivalling Madame Tallien and +Madame Récamier in popularity, she smiled through her tears, like +Andromache in Homer. Her means becoming greater, thanks to the support of +men in authority, she bought in the rue Chantereine, afterwards rue de la +Victoire, a little house belonging to Talma, the tragedian. There she +received with her customary courtesy the few survivors of French +aristocracy who said behind well-closed doors: "Let us talk about the old +court; let us take a turn at Versailles." + +Bonaparte, commander of the Army of the Interior, after the 13th +Vendémiaire, when he saved the expiring Convention, had just ordered the +disarmament of the sections and the delivery of all arms found in private +houses, when a boy of fourteen called upon him to ask to have back the +sword of his father, who had commanded the armies of the Republic. This +boy was Eugene de Beauharnais, afterwards Viceroy of Italy. Bonaparte, +touched by this action, received him graciously. The next day Madame de +Beauharnais called upon him to thank him. He was much struck by her charms +and proposed to her; she accepted him and they were married March 9, 1796. +The Viscountess of Beauharnais became Citizeness Bonaparte. No sooner +married, than the young husband, who was only twenty-six, tore himself +from her arms and started for the army of Italy. Then Napoleon's love for +Josephine was much greater than hers for him. It was he who was jealous, +he who wrote burning letters; he it was who was all enthusiasm, ardor, and +ablaze with passion. It was only with reluctance that Josephine decided to +leave Paris, where she was happy, but in Italy she found a real royalty. +At Milan she took possession of the Serbelloni Palace, where she did the +honors most admirably and received the homage of the proud aristocracy of +Milan. She followed her husband to the war, for he could not bear to be +separated from her, and one day when, beset with dangers, she was crying, +he exclaimed: "Wurmser shall pay dearly for the tears he causes you." +After Arcole, Madame Bonaparte resembled a sovereign. She singularly aided +her husband to play the double part which was soon to carry him to the +highest rank. When it was a question of repelling royalism, the young +conqueror relied on men like Augereau; when it was necessary to attract +men of the old régime, Josephine was the bond of union between him and the +French or Italian aristocracy. On her return to Paris, June 2, 1798, she +shared her husband's glories. The little house in the rue Chantereine +became more famous than the grandest palaces. + +Bonaparte left for Egypt, embarking at Toulon, May 19, 1798, after taking +tender leave of Josephine. During her husband's absence, she bought the +estate of Malmaison, an unknown spot which soon became famous. She +skilfully defended Bonaparte's interests with the Directory, and in her +drawing-room met celebrities of every kind. But malicious persons soon +sent to Egypt hostile rumors, and her impetuous husband, wild with jealous +wrath, spoke of nothing but separation and divorce. He reached Paris +unexpectedly, October 16, 1799, and not finding his wife there, started +off to meet her on a different road from hers, wild with jealousy. His +brothers, Josephine's enemies, deceived him, and at first he refused to +see her again; but, softened by the supplications of Eugene and Hortense +de Beauharnais, he pardoned his wife and opened his door to her; she +defended herself, and he let himself be convinced, so that, instead of a +divorce, there was a complete reconciliation. Josephine was of use to her +husband in the preparations for the 18th Brumaire; she helped him to lull +the vigilance of the Republicans and to rise to the highest rank. + +Citizeness Bonaparte had become the wife of the First Consul. Like the +ladies of the old régime, she was addressed as Madame until she should be +called Empress, or Your Majesty. She was at the head of the Consular +Court, rich in youth, glory, and hope. At the Tuileries she took +possession of the apartments of Marie Antoinette. At Malmaison she enjoyed +the pleasures of the country. The hero of Marengo looked upon her as his +good angel, his good genius. Their happiness was interrupted by the +infernal machine, but this gloomy incident was soon forgotten. Under +Josephine's guidance Parisian society soon resumed its former brilliancy. +Monarchical customs reappeared. The Concordat effected a reconciliation of +the church with the government, and the wife of the First Consul, +surrounded by a real court, heard a _Te Deum_ in the rood-loft of Notre +Dame. At heart she was a Royalist by her memories and her feelings, +although she was made by fate an Empress. The crown, so far from tempting +her, filled her with fear. She yearned to descend as her husband yearned +to rise. The proclamation of the Consulate for life, the prelude of the +Empire, filled her with gloom and apprehension, Neither the pomp of Saint +Cloud, nor the triumphal trip in Belgium. robbed her of her wise and +modest ideas. She much preferred Malmaison to any splendid palace, and +looked back with regret at the time when she was simply Citizeness +Bonaparte. Grandeur, so far from turning her head, only made her less +ambitious, She gave her husband excellent advice, which, unfortunately, he +did not follow. Had he listened to her, he would not have had the Duke of +Enghien killed, he would have been modest in good fortune, and would have +remained the first citizen of a great Republic. + +Crowned at Notre Dame by the hands of Napoleon, Josephine played a +sovereign's part with as much ease as if she had been born on the steps of +the throne. The greatest names of the old régime figured in her house. She +adorned magnificent festivities by her presence. In Italy, whither she +accompanied her husband, she received as Queen the same homage she had +received as Empress. Yet, amid all this splendor, she was not happy. The +terrible wars in which Napoleon engaged filled her with anxiety. At +Strassburg, during the Austerlitz campaign, at Mayence during that of Jena +and that of Poland, she was a victim of the greatest distress of mind and +nervous terror. Then, too, her husband's infidelities filled her with +despair. Towards the end of 1807 the spectre of divorce arose before her. +The loss of a crown would be a trifling matter, but the sight of another +woman reigning as lawful wife over Napoleon's heart was a thought to which +she could not reconcile herself. From that moment she knew no peace or +happiness. She was like a convicted criminal awaiting sentence at any +moment, and she had to hide her terrible grief from every one. She always +imagined that in the homage paid her by force of habit, there was +something false and ironical. She thought of herself only as disgraced, +betrayed, repudiated. All that was left of her crown was its mark on her +brow. Few peasant women in their huts were ever as thoroughly unhappy as +was this sovereign in her palace. + +We have seen Josephine in her springtime, in her summer; it remains for us +to describe only the autumn of this wonderful and melancholy career. This +last study will be profoundly sad. "In the season which despoils nature," +said Madame Swetchine, "there is no breeze, no puff of air so light that +it fails to detach the leaf from the tree that bore it. In the autumn of +the heart there is no movement that does not carry away a happiness or a +hope." The great afflictions of Josephine's later years were the divorce, +the invasion, and the long agony. Driven from the Tuileries forever, she +took refuge at Malmaison one rainy, cold, December night, recalling, +doubtless, the starlit evenings when the conqueror of Italy sought calm +and happiness in that favorite spot. And after draining the cup of +bitterness, the deserted wife exclaimed: "It sometimes seems to me as if I +were dead and there was nothing left of me except a sort of vague power of +feeling that I no longer exist." She could truly say with Queen Margaret +of Navarre: "I have borne more than my share of the weariness which is the +common lot of man." A still harder trial awaited her. Napoleon was +unhappy, and she was forbidden to comfort him! He was exiled, and she was +forbidden to follow him! The Empire she had seen so magnificent she was to +see conquered, invaded, dismembered. No one was to mourn the woes of her +country more than she. She was to die of grief, and when, May 29, 1814, +she had breathed her last after uttering in her death agony these three +words which sum up the anguish of her soul: "Napoleon! Elba! Marie +Louise!" Mademoiselle Avrillon, the First Lady of her Bedchamber, was to +say, "I have seen the Empress Josephine's sleeplessness and her terrible +dreams. I have known her to pass whole days buried in the gloomiest +thought. I know what I have seen and heard, and I am sure that grief +killed her!" Was there ever a life of greater vicissitudes? It was a +career full of smiles and tears, presenting every contrast of light and +shade, of joy and grief, reproducing all the splendor and all the misery +that can be crowded into human existence! It was a career, as fascinating +as it was strange, which could only have been seen in those pathetic and +disturbed epochs, when one surprise follows another, and the actors are +perhaps even more astonished than the spectators at the shifting scenes +and the incidents of the drama, in which events always take an unexpected +turn, when men and things suffer shocks unknown to previous generations, +and when history reads like the wildest romance. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Court of the Empress Josephine, by +Imbert de Saint-Amand + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE *** + +***** This file should be named 9831-8.txt or 9831-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/8/3/9831/ + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, +Shawn Wheeler, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Court of the Empress Josephine + +Author: Imbert de Saint-Amand + +Posting Date: November 15, 2011 [EBook #9831] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: October 22, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE *** + + + + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, +Shawn Wheeler, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + + + + +THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE + +BY + +IMBERT DE SAINT-AMAND + +TRANSLATED BY THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY + +ILLUSTRATED + +1900 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE + + II. THE JOURNEY TO THE BANKS OF THE RHINE + + III. THE POPE'S ARRIVAL AT FONTAINEBLEAU + + IV. THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION + + V. THE CORONATION + + VI. THE DISTRIBUTION OF FLAGS + + VII. THE FESTIVITIES + + VIII. THE ETIQUETTE OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE + + IX. THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE EMPRESS + + X. NAPOLEON'S GALLANTRIES + + XI. THE POPE AT THE TUILERIES + + XII. THE JOURNEY IN ITALY + + XIII. THE CORONATION AT MILAN + + XIV. THE FESTIVITIES AT GENOA + + XV. DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ + + XVI. THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE EUGENE + + XVII. PARIS IN THE BEGINNING OF 1806 + +XVIII. THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF BADEN + + XIX. THE NEW QUEEN OF HOLLAND + + XX. THE EMPRESS AT MAYENCE + + XXI. THE RETURN OF THE EMPRESS TO PARIS + + XXII. THE DEATH OF THE YOUNG NAPOLEON + +XXIII. THE END OF THE WAR + + XXIV. THE EMPEROR'S RETURN + + XXV. THE COURT AT FONTAINEBLEAU + + XXVI. THE END OF THE YEAR 1807 + + + + + +I. + +THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE. + + +"Two-thirds of my life is passed, why should I so distress myself about +what remains? The most brilliant fortune does not deserve all the trouble +I take, the pettiness I detect in myself, or the humiliations and shame I +endure; thirty years will destroy those giants of power which can be seen +only by raising the head; we shall disappear, I who am so petty, and those +whom I regard so eagerly, from whom I expected all my greatness. The most +desirable of all blessings is repose, seclusion, a little spot we can call +our own." When La Bruyere expressed himself so bitterly, when he spoke of +the court "which satisfies no one," but "prevents one from being satisfied +anywhere else," of the court, "that country where the joys are visible but +false, and the sorrows hidden, but real," he had before him the brilliant +Palace of Versailles, the unrivalled glory of the Sun King, a monarchy +which thought itself immovable and eternal. What would he say in this +century when dynasties fail like autumn leaves, and it takes much less +than thirty years to destroy the giants of power; when the exile of to-day +repeats to the exile of the morrow the motto of the churchyard: _Hodie +mihi, eras tibi?_ What would this Christian philosopher say at a time when +royal and imperial palaces have been like caravansaries through which +sovereigns have passed like travellers, when their brief resting-places +have been consumed by the blaze of petroleum and are now but a heap of +ashes? + +The study of any court is sure to teach wisdom and indifference to human +glories. In our France of the nineteenth century, fickle as it has been, +inconstant, fertile in revolutions, recantations, and changes of every +sort, this lesson is more impressive than it has been at any period of our +history. Never has Providence shown more clearly the nothingness of this +world's grandeur and magnificence. Never has the saying of Ecclesiastes +been more exactly verified: "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!" We have +before us the task of describing one of the most sumptuous courts that has +ever existed, and of reviewing splendors all the more brilliant for their +brevity. To this court of Napoleon and Josephine, to this majestic court, +resplendent with glory, wealth, and fame, may well be applied Corneille's +lines:-- + + "All your happiness + Subject to instability + In a moment falls to the ground, + And as it has the brilliancy of glass + It also has its fragility." + +We shall evoke the memory of the dead to revive this vanished court, and +we shall consult, one after another, the persons who were eye-witnesses of +these short-lived wonders. A prefect of the palace, M. de Bausset, wrote: +"When I recall the memorable times of which I have just given a faint +idea, I feel, after so many years, as if I had been taking part in the +gorgeous scenes of the _Arabian Tales_ or of the _Thousand and One +Nights_. The magic picture of all those splendors and glories has +disappeared, and with it all the prestige of ambition and power." One of +the ladies of the palace of the Empress Josephine, Madame de Remusat, has +expressed the same thought: "I seem to be recalling a dream, but a dream +resembling an Oriental tale, when I describe the lavish luxury of that +period, the disputes for precedence, the claims of rank, the demands of +every one." Yes, in all that there was something dreamlike, and the actors +in that fairy spectacle which is called the Empire, that great show piece, +with its scenery, now brilliant, now terrible, but ever changing, must +have been even more astonished than the spectators. Aix-la-Chapelle and +the court of Charlemagne, the castle of Fontainebleau and the Pope, Notre +Dame and the coronation, the Champ de Mars and the distribution of eagles, +the Cathedral of Milan and the Iron Crown, Genoa the superb and its naval +festival, Austerlitz and the three emperors,--what a setting! what +accessories! what personages! The peal of organs, the intoning of priests, +the applause of the multitude and of the soldiers, the groans of the +dying, the trumpet call, the roll of the drum, ball music, military bands, +the cannon's roar, were the joyful and mournful harmonies heard while the +play went on. What we shall study amid this tumult and agitation is one +woman. We have already studied her as the Viscountess of Beauharnais, as +Citizeness Bonaparte, and as the wife of the First Consul. We shall now +study her in her new part, that of Empress. + +Let us go back to May 18, 1804, to the Palace of Saint Cloud. The Emperor +had just been proclaimed by the Senate before the _plebiscite_ which was +to ratify the new state of things. The curtain has risen, the play begins, +and no drama is fuller of contrasts, of incidents, of movement. The +leading actor, Napoleon, was already as familiar with his part as if he +had played it since his childhood. Josephine is also at home in hers. As a +woman of the world, she had learned, by practice in the drawing-room, to +win even greater victories. For a fashionable beauty there is no great +difference between an armchair and a throne. The minor actors are not so +accustomed to their new position. Nothing is more amusing than the +embarrassment of the courtiers when they have to answer the Emperor's +questions. They begin with a blunder; then, in correcting themselves, they +fall into still worse confusion; ten times a minute was repeated, Sire, +General, Your Majesty, Citizen, First Consul. Constant, the Emperor's +valet de chambre, has given us a description of this 18th of May, 1804, a +day devoted to receptions, presentations, interviews, and congratulations: +"Every one," he says, "was filled with joy in the Palace of Saint Cloud; +every one imagined that he had risen a step, like General Bonaparte, who, +from First Consul, had become a monarch. Men were embracing and +complimenting one another; confiding their share of hopes and plans for +the future; there was no official so humble that he was not fired with +ambition." In a word, the ante-chamber, barring the difference of persons, +presented an exact imitation of what was going on in the drawing-room. It +seemed like a first performance which had long been eagerly expected, +arousing the same eager excitement among the players and the public. The +day which had started bright grew dark; for a long time there were +threatenings of a thunder-storm; but none looked on this as an evil omen. +All were inclined to cheery views. The courtiers displayed their zeal with +all the ardor, the passion, the _furia francese_, which is a national +characteristic, and appears on the battle-field as well as in the ante- +chamber. The French fight and flatter with equal enthusiasm. + +Amid all these manifestations of devotion and delight, the members of the +Imperial family alone, who should have been the most satisfied, and +certainly the most astonished by their greatness, wore an anxious, almost +a grieved look. They alone appeared discontented with their master. Their +pride knew no bounds; their irritability was extreme. Nothing seemed good +enough, for them. In the way of honors privileges, and when we recall +their father's modest at Ajaccio, it is hard to keep from smiling at the +vanity of these new Princes of the blood. Of Napoleon's four brothers, two +were absent and on bad terms with him: Lucien, on account of his marriage +with Madame Jouberton; Jerome, on account of his marriage with Miss +Paterson. His mother, Madame Letitia Bonaparte, an able woman, who +combined great courage with uncommon good sense, had not lost her head +over the wonderful good fortune of the modern Caesar. Having a +presentiment that all this could not last, she economized from motives of +prudence, not of avarice. While the courtiers were celebrating the +Emperor's new triumphs, she lingered in Rome with her son Lucien, whom she +had followed in his voluntary exile, having pronounced in his favor in his +quarrel with Napoleon. As for Joseph and Louis, who, with their wives, had +been raised to the dignity of Grand Elector and Constable, respectively, +one might think that they were overburdened with wealth and honors, and +would be perfectly satisfied. But not at all! They were indignant that +they were not personally mentioned, in the _plebiscite_, by which their +posterity was appointed to succeed to the French crown. This _plebiscite_ +ran thus: "The French people desire the Inheritance of the Imperial +dignity in the direct, natural, or adoptive line of descent from Napoleon +Bonaparte, and in the direct, natural, legitimate line of descent from +Joseph Bonaparte and from Louis Bonaparte, as is determined by the organic +_senatus-consultum_ of the twenty-eighth Floreal, year XII." For the +Emperor's family, these stipulations were the cause of incessant squabbles +and recriminations. Lucien and Jerome regarded their exclusion as an act +of injustice. Joseph and Louis asked indignantly why their descendants +were mentioned when they themselves were excluded. They were very jealous +of Josephine, and of her son, Eugene de Beauharnais, and much annoyed by +the Emperor's reservation of the right of adoption, which threatened them +and held out hopes for Eugene. Louis Bonaparte, indignant with the +slanderous story, according to which his wife, Hortense, had been +Napoleon's mistress, treated her ill, and conceived a dislike for his own +son, who was reported to be that of the Emperor. As for Elisa Bacciochi, +Caroline Murat, and Pauline Borghese, they could not endure the +mortification of being placed below the Empress, their sister-in-law, and +the thought that they had not yet been given the title of Princesses of +the blood, which had been granted to the wife of Joseph and the wife of +Louis, filled them with actual despair. + +Madame de Remusat, who was present at the first Imperial dinner at St. +Cloud, May 18, 1804, describes this curious repast. General Duroc, Grand +Marshal of the Palace, told all the guests in succession of the titles of +Prince and Princess to be given to Joseph and Louis, and their wives, but +not to the Emperor's sisters, or to their husbands. This fatal news +prostrated Elisa, Caroline, and Pauline. When they sat down at table, +Napoleon was good-humored and merry, possibly at heart enjoying the slight +constraint that this novel formality enforced upon his guests. Madame +Murat, when she heard the Emperor saying frequently _Princess_ Louis, +could not hide her mortification or her tears. Every one was embarrassed, +while Napoleon smiled maliciously. + +The next day the Emperor went to Paris to hold a grand reception at the +Tuileries, for he was not a man to postpone the enjoyment of the splendor +which his satisfied ambition could draw from his new title. In this +palace, where had ruled the Committee of Public Safety, where the +Convention had sat, whence Robespierre had departed in triumph to preside +over the festival in honor of the Supreme Being, nothing was heard but the +titles of Emperor, Empress, My Lord, Prince, Princess, Imperial Highness, +Most Serene Highness. It was asserted that Bonaparte had cut up the red +caps to make the ribbons of the Legions of Honor. The most fanatical +Revolutionists had become conservative as soon as they had anything to +preserve. The Empire was but a few hours old, and already the new-born +court was alive with the same rivalries, jealousies, and vanities that +fill the courts of the oldest monarchies. It was like Versailles, in the +reign of Louis XIV., in the Gallery of Mirrors, or in the drawing-room of +the Oeil de Boeuf. It would have taken a Dangeau to record, hour by hour, +the minute points of etiquette. The Emperor walked, spoke, thought, acted, +like a monarch of an old line. To nothing does a man so readily adapt +himself as to power. One who has been invested with the highest rank is +sure to imagine himself eternal; to think that he has always held it and +will always keep it. Indeed, how is it possible to escape intoxication by +the fumes of perpetual incense? How can a man tell the truth to himself +when there is no one about him courageous enough to tell it to him? When +the press is muzzled, and public power rests only on general approval, +when there is no slave even to remind the triumphant hero, as in the +ancient ovations, that he is only a man, how is it possible to avoid being +infatuated by one's greatness and not to imagine one's self the absolute +master of one's destiny? The new Caesar met with no resistance. He was to +publish scornfully in the _Moniteur_ the protest of Louis XVIII. against +his accession. He was to be adored both by fierce Revolutionists and by +great lords, by regicides and by Royalists and ecclesiastics. It seemed as +if with him everything began, or rather started anew. "The old world was +submerged," says Chateaubriand; "when the flood of anarchy withdrew, +Napoleon appeared at the beginning of a new world, like those giants +described by profane and sacred history at the beginning of society, +appearing on earth after the Deluge." + +The former general of the Revolution enjoyed his situation as absolute +sovereign. He studied the laws of etiquette as closely as he studied the +condition of his troops. He saw that the men of the old regime were more +conversant in the art of flattery, more eager than the new men. As Madame +de Stael says: "Whenever a gentleman of the old court recalled the ancient +etiquette, suggested an additional bow, a certain way at knocking at the +door of an ante-chamber, a ceremonious method of presenting a despatch, of +folding a letter, of concluding it with this or that formula, he greeted +as if he had helped on the happiness of the human race." Napoleon +attached, or pretended to attach, great importance to the thousand +nothings which up the life of courts. He established in the palace the +same discipline as in the camps. Everything became a matter of rule. +Courtiers studied formalities as officers studied the art of war. +Regulations were as closely observed in the drawing-rooms as in the tents. +At the end of a few months Napoleon was to have the most brilliant, the +most rigid court of Europe. At times the whirl of vanities surrounded him +filled with impatience the great central sun, without whom his satellites +would have been nothing. At other times, however, his pride was gratified +by the thought that it was his will, his fancy, which evoked from nothing +all the grandees of the earth. He was not pained at seeing such eagerness +in behalf of trifles that he had invented. He liked to fill his courtiers +with raptures or with despair, by a smile or a frown. He thought his +sisters' ambition childish, but it amused him; and if they had to cry a +little at first, he finally granted them what they wanted. + +May 19, after the family dinner, Madame Murat was more and more distressed +at not being a Princess, when she was a Bonaparte by birth, while Madame +Joseph and Madame Louis, one of whom was a Clary, the other a Beauharnais, +bore that title, and burst out into complaints and reproaches. "Why," she +asked of her all-powerful brother, "why condemn me and my sisters to +obscurity, to contempt, while covering strangers with honors and +dignities?" At first these words annoyed Napoleon. "In fact," he +exclaimed, "judging from your pretensions, one would suppose that we +inherited the crown from the late King our father." At the end of the +interview, Madame Murat, not satisfied with crying, fainted away. Napoleon +softened at once, and a few days later there appeared a notification in +the _Moniteur_ that henceforth the Emperor's sisters should be called +Princesses and Imperial Highnesses. + +The Empress's Maid of Honor was Madame de La Rochefoucauld; her Lady of +the Bedchamber was Madame de Lavalette. Her Ladies of the Palace, whose +number was soon raised to twelve, and later still more augmented, were at +first only four: Madame de Talhouet, Madame de Lucay, Madame de Lauriston, +and Madame de Remusat. These ladies, too, aroused the hottest jealousies, +and soon they gave rise to a sort of parody of the questions of vanity +that agitated the Emperor's family. The women who were admitted to the +Empress's intimacy could never console themselves for the privileges +accorded to the Ladies of the Palace. + +In essentials all courts are alike. On a greater or smaller scale they are +rank with the same pettinesses, the same chattering gossip, the same +trivial squabbles as the porter's lodge, ante-chambers, and servants' +quarters. If we examine these things from the standpoint of a philosopher, +we shall find but little difference between a steward and a chamberlain, +between a chambermaid and a lady of the palace. We may go further and say +that as soon as they have places and money at their disposal, republicans +have courtesies, as much as monarchs, and everywhere and always there are +to be found people ready to bow low if there is anything on the ground +that they can pick up. Revolutions alter the forms of government, but not +the human heart; afterwards, as before, there exist the same pretensions, +the same prejudices, the same flatteries. The incense may be burned before +a tribune, a dictator, or a Caesar, there are always the same flattering +genuflections, the same cringing. + +The new Empire began most brilliantly, but there was no lack of morose +criticism. The Faubourg Saint Germain was for the most part hostile and +scornful. It looked upon the high dignitaries of the Empire and on the +Emperor himself as upstarts, and all the men of the old regime who went +over to him they branded as renegades. The title of "Citizen" was +suppressed and that of "Monsieur" restored, after having been abandoned in +conversation and writing for twelve years. Miot de Melito tells us in his +Memoirs that at first public opinion was opposed to this change; even +those who at the beginning had shown the greatest repugnance to being +addressed as Citizen, disliked conferring the title of Monsieur upon +Revolutionists and the rabble, and they pretended to address as Citizen +those whom they saw fit to include in this class. Many turned the new +state of affairs to ridicule. The Parisians, always of a malicious humor, +made perpetual puns and epigrams in abundance. + +The Faubourg Saint Germain, in spite of a few adhesions from personal +motives, preserved an ironical attitude. General de Segur, then a captain +under the orders of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, observed that in +1804, with the exception of several obscure nobles, either poor or ruined, +and others already attached to Napoleon's civil and military fortune, many +negotiations and various temptations were required to persuade well-known +persons to appear at the court as it was at first constituted. He goes on: +"As a spectator and confidant of the means employed, I witnessed in those +early days many refusals, and some I had to announce myself. I even heard +many bitter complaints on this subject. I remember that in reply I +mentioned to the Empress my own case, and told her what it had cost me to +enlist under the tricolor, and then to enter the First Consul's military +household. The Empress understood me so well that she made to me a similar +confidence, confessing her own struggles, her almost invincible +repugnance, at the end of 1795, in spite of her feeling for Bonaparte, +before she could make up her mind to marry the man whom at that time she +herself used to call General Vendemiaire." + +Although Josephine had become Empress, she remained a Legitimist, and saw +clearly the weak points in the Empire. At the Tuileries, in the chamber of +Marie Antoinette, she felt out of place; she was surprised to have for +Lady of Honor a duchess of an old family, and her sole ambition was to be +pardoned by the Royalists for her elevation, to the highest rank. +Napoleon, too, was much concerned about the Bourbons, in whom he foresaw +his successors, "One of his keenest regrets," wrote Prince Metternich, +"was his inability to invoke legitimacy as the foundation of his power. +Few men have felt more deeply than he the precariousness and fragility of +power when it lacks this foundation, its susceptibility to attack." + +After recalling the Emperor's attempt to induce Louis XVIII. to abandon +his claims to the throne, Prince Metternich goes on: "In speaking to me of +this matter, Napoleon said: 'His reply was noble, full of noble +traditions. In those Legitimists there is something outside of mere +intellectual force.'" The Emperor, who, at the beginning of his career, +displayed such intense Republican enthusiasm, was by nature essentially a +lover of authority and of the monarchy. He would have liked to be a +sovereign of the old stamp. His pleasure in surrounding himself with +members of the old aristocracy attests the aristocratic instincts of the +so-called crowned apostle of democracy. The few Republicans who remained +faithful to the principles were indignant with these tendencies; it was +with grief that they saw the reappearance of the throne; and thus, from +different motives the unreconciled Jacobins and the men of Coblentz who +had not joined the court, showed the same feeling of bitterness and of +hostility to the Empire. + +The trial of General Moreau made clear the germs of opposition which +existed in a latent condition. It is difficult to form an idea of the +enormous throng that blocked all the approaches to the Palace of Justice +the day the trial opened, and continued to crowd them during the twelve +days that the trial lasted, which was as interesting to Royalists as to +Republicans. The most fashionable people of Paris made a point of being +present. Sentence was pronounced June 10. Georges Cadoudal and nineteen of +the accused, among whom were M. Armand de Polignac, and M. de Riviere, +were condemned to death. + +To the Emperor's great surprise, Moreau was sentenced to only two years of +prison. This penalty was remitted, and he was allowed to betake himself to +the United States. To facilitate his establishing himself there, the +Emperor bought his house in the rue d'Anjou Saint Honore, paying for it +eight hundred thousand francs, much more than it was worth, and then he +gave it to Bernadotte, who did not scruple to accept it. The sum was paid +to Moreau out of the secret fund of the police before he left for Cadiz. +Josephine's urgent solicitations saved the life of the Duke Armand de +Polignac, whose death-sentence was commuted to four years' imprisonment +before being transported. Madame Murat secured a modification of the +sentence of the Marquis de Riviere; and these two acts of leniency, to +which great publicity was given, were of great service in diminishing the +irritation of the Royalists. After Moreau's trial, the opposition, having +become discouraged, and conscious of its weakness, laid down its arms, at +least for a time. Napoleon was everywhere master. + +The Republic was forgotten. Its name still appeared on the coins: "French +Republic, Napoleon, Emperor"; but it survived as a mere ghost. +Nevertheless, the Emperor was anxious to celebrate in 1804 the Republican +festival of July 14; but the object of this festival was so modified that +it would have been hard to see in it the anniversary of the taking of the +Bastille and of the first federation. In the celebration, not a single +word was said about these two events. The official eulogy of the +Revolution was replaced by a formal distribution of crosses of the Legion +of Honor. + +This was the first time that the Emperor and Empress appeared in public in +full pomp. It was also the first time that they availed themselves of the +privilege of driving through the broad road of the garden of the +Tuileries. Accompanied by a magnificent procession, they went in great +splendor to the Invalides, which the Revolution had turned into a Temple +of Mars, and the Empire had turned again to a Catholic Church. At the door +they were received by the Governor and M. de Segur, Grand Master of +Ceremonies, and at the entrance to the church by the Cardinal du Belloy at +the head of numerous priests. Napoleon and Josephine listened attentively +to the mass; then, after a speech was uttered by the Grand Chancellor of +the Legion of Honor, M. de Lacepede, the Emperor recited the form of the +oath; at the end of which all the members of the Legion shouted "I swear." +This sight aroused the enthusiasm of the crowd, and the applause was loud. +In the middle of the ceremony, Napoleon called up to him Cardinal Caprara, +who had taken a very important part in the negotiations concerning the +Concordat, and was soon to help to persuade the Pope to come to Paris for +the coronation. The Emperor took from his own neck the ribbon of the +Legion of Honor, and gave it to the worthy and aged prelate. Then the +knights of the new order passed in line before the Imperial throne, while +a man of the people, wearing a blouse, took his station on the steps of +the throne. This excited some surprise, and he was asked what he wanted; +he took out his appointment to the Legion. The Emperor at once called him +up, and gave him the cross with the usual kiss. + +The Empress's beauty made a great impression, as we learn from Madame de +Remusat, who generally prejudiced against her, but on this occasion was +forced to recognize that Josephine, by her tasteful and careful dressing, +succeeded in appearing young and charming amid the many young and pretty +women by whom she was for the first time surrounded. "She stood there," +Madame de Remusat goes on, "in the full light of the setting sun, wearing +a dress of pink tulle, adorned with silver stars, cut very low after the +fashion of the time, and crowned by a great many diamond clusters; and +this fresh and brilliant dress, her graceful bearing, her delightful +smile, her gentle expression produced such an effect that I heard a number +of persons who had been present at the ceremony say that she effaced all +her suite." Three days later the Emperor started for the camp at Boulogne. + +In spite of the enthusiasm of the people and the army, one thing became +clear to every thoughtful observer, and that was that the new regime, +lacking strength to resist misfortunes, must have perpetual success in +order to live. Napoleon was condemned, by the form of his government, not +merely to succeed, but to dazzle, to astonish, to subjugate. His Empire +required extraordinary magnificence, prodigious effects, Babylonian +festivities, gigantic adventures, colossal victories. His Imperial +escutcheon, to escape contempt, needed rich coats of gilding, and demanded +glory to make up for the lack of antiquity. In order to make himself +acceptable to the European, monarchs, his new brothers, and to remove the +memory of the venerable titles of the Bourbons, this former officer of the +armies of Louis XVI., the former second-lieutenant of artillery, who had +suddenly become a Caesar, a Charlemagne, could make this sudden and +strange transformation comprehensible only through unprecedented fame and +splendor. He desired to have a feudal, majestic court, surrounded by all +the pomp and ceremony of the Middle Ages. He saw how hard was the part he +had to play, and he knew very well how much a nation needs glory to make +it forget liberty. Hence a perpetual effort to make every day outshine the +one before, and first to equal, then to surpass, the splendors of the +oldest and most famous dynasties. This insatiable thirst for action and +for renown was to be the source of Napoleon's strength and also of his +weakness. But only a few clear-sighted men made these reflections when the +Empire began. The masses, with their easy optimism, looked upon the new +Emperor as an infallibly impeccable being, and thought that since he had +not yet been beaten, he was invincible. Josephine indulged in no such +illusions; she knew the defects in her husband's character, and dreaded +the future for him as well as for herself. Singularly enough for one so +surrounded by flatteries, in her whole life her head was never for a +moment turned by pride or infatuation. + + + + +II. + +JOURNEY TO THE BANKS OF THE RHINE + + +Before having himself crowned by the Pope, after the example of +Charlemagne, Napoleon was anxious to go to meditate at the tomb of the +great Carlovingian Emperor, of whom he regarded himself as the worthy +successor. A journey on the banks of the Rhine, a triumphal tour in the +famous German cities which the France of the Revolution had been so proud +to conquer, seemed to the new sovereign a fitting prologue to the pomp of +the coronation. Napoleon was desirous of impressing the imaginations of +people in his new Empire and in the old Empire of Germany. He wished the +trumpets of fame to sound in his honor on both banks of the famous and +disputed river. + +The Empress, who had gone to Aix-la-Chapelle to take the waters, arrived +there a few days before her husband. Napoleon wrote to her, August 6, +1804:-- + +"MY DEAR: I have been here at Calais since midnight; I am thinking of +leaving this evening for Dunkirk. I am satisfied with what I see, and I am +tolerably well. I hope that you will get as much good from the waters as I +get from going about and from seeing the camps and the sea. Eugene has +left for Blois. Hortense is well. Louis is at Plombieres. I am very +anxious to see you. You are always essential to my happiness. A thousand +kind messages." + +The Emperor wrote again from Ostend, August 14, 1804:-- + +"MY DEAR: I have not heard from you for several days, though I should have +been glad to hear that the waters have done you good and how you pass your +time. I have been here a week. Day after to-morrow I shall be at Boulogne +for a tolerably brilliant festival. Send me word by the messenger what you +mean to do, and when you shall have finished your baths. I am much +satisfied with the army and the fleet. Eugene is still at Blois. I hear no +more about Hortense than if she were at the Congo. I am writing to scold +her. Many kind wishes for all." + +Napoleon reached Aix-la-Chapelle September 3. The Emperor Francis had, on +the 10th of August, assumed the Imperial title accorded to his house, of +Emperor-elect of Germany, Hereditary Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia +and Hungary. He had then given orders to M. de Cobentzel to go to Aix-la- +Chapelle to present his credentials to Napoleon. Napoleon received the +Austrian diplomatist very kindly, and was soon surrounded by a multitude +of foreign ambassadors who came to pay their respects. He re-established +the annual honors long before paid to the memory of Charlemagne, went down +into the vault, and gave the priests of the Cathedral convincing proofs of +his munificence. The Empress was shown a piece of the true cross which the +Carlovingian Emperor had long worn on his breast as a talisman. She was +offered a holy relic, almost the whole arm of that hero, but she declined +it, saying that she did not wish to deprive Aix-la-Chapelle of so precious +a memorial, especially when she had the arm of a man as great as +Charlemagne to support her. + +From Aix-la-Chapelle, Napoleon and Josephine went to Cologne, then to +Coblentz, then to Mayence, travelling separately. The Emperor left Cologne +September 16 at four in the afternoon, and reached Bonn a little before +nightfall, to start again the next morning. The town pleased her very +much, and she was sorry she could not remain there longer. She stayed at a +fine house with a garden opening on a terrace that looked out over the +Rhine. After supper she walked on the terrace. The delight of the people +assembled below, the peacefulness of the night, and the beauty of the +river in the moonlight, made the evening most enjoyable. At four the next +morning the Empress started off again in her travelling carriage, and at +ten she entered Coblentz. The Emperor did not get there until six in the +evening, having left Cologne the same day. At Bonn he got on horseback to +examine for himself everything that demanded close inspection. From +Coblentz, where a ball was given them, Napoleon and Josephine went to +Mayence, each by a different route. The Emperor followed the highway on +the edge of the Rhine; the Empress ascended the river in a yacht which the +Prince of Nassau Weilburg had placed at her disposal. It was a picturesque +voyage. + +The morning mist soon cleared away. Josephine, who had breakfast served on +deck, admired the many charming scenes between Boppard and Bacharach, the +fertile fields, the towns perched on the steep banks; in the distance, the +mountains covered with forests; then the narrowing river, the bounded +view, the cliffs crowded together, where nothing can be seen but the +river, the sky, and the crags crowned by the mirrored towns of mediaeval +castles. The light boat, as it glided smoothly over the stream, with its +gilded Neptune at the bow, recalled Cleopatra's barge. At times the +silence was profound, then the church-bells would be heard, as well as the +cheers of the peasants on the river-banks. The pettiest villages had sent +guards of honor, had hoisted flags, and raised triumphal arches. Curiously +enough, the right bank, which did not belong to France, seemed to display +quite as much zeal and enthusiasm as the left bank, the French one; on +both sides were the same shouts of welcome, the same demonstrations, the +same salutes. When she reached Saint Goar, on the left bank, the Empress +saw the authorities of the town coming out to meet her, with military +music, in boats decorated with branches of trees; and on the other side of +the river, on the terrace of the castle of Hesse Rheinfels, the Hessian +garrison was presenting arms, and their salutes joined with those of the +inhabitants of Saint Goar, Further on, they shouted through a speaking- +trumpet to hear the famous echo of the Lorelei, with its wonderfully +distinct and frequent repetitions. Then they passed the fantastic castle +of the Palatinate, built in the middle of the stream, and in old times the +refuge of the Countesses Palatine, where their children were born and kept +in security during their babyhood. The Empress landed at Bingen, where she +spent the night, starting again the next morning. Towards three in the +afternoon she reached Mayence, where twelve young girls belonging to the +best families of the city were awaiting her. Almost simultaneously, the +cannon at the other gate announced the Emperor's arrival. + +On his way, Napoleon had noticed on an island in the Rhine, at the very +extremity of the French Empire, the convent of Rolandswerth. He was told +that the nuns who lived there had refused to leave it during the last war, +that very often the cannon-balls of the contending armies had often fallen +on the island without damaging the convent where those holy women were +praying. The Emperor became interested in their fate, and made over to +them the forty or fifty acres of which the little island consisted. + +On their arrival at Mayence, September 21, Napoleon Josephine were most +warmly greeted. In the evening all the streets and public buildings were +illuminated. The Prince Archchancellor of the Germanic Empire, who owed to +the French sovereign the preservation of his wealth and of his title, +desired to pay his respects. The Emperor was surrounded by a real court of +German Princes. The Princess of the House of Hesse, the Duke and Duchess +of Bavaria, the Elector of Baden, who was more than seventy-five years +old, and had come with his son and grandson, appeared as if vassals of the +new Charlemagne, the second Theatre Francais had been summoned from Paris, +and played before this public of Highnesses. Every one was struck by the +celerity with which this crowned soldier had acquired the appearance of a +sovereign belonging to an old line, while he still preserved the language +and appearance of a soldier. One day he asked the hereditary Prince of +Baden: "What did you do yesterday?" The young Prince replied with some +embarrassment that he had strolled about the streets. "You did very +wrong," said Napoleon. "What you ought to have done was to visit the +fortifications and inspect them carefully. How can you tell? Perhaps some +day you will have to besiege Mayence. Who would have told me when I was a +simple artillery officer walking about Toulon that I should be destined to +take that city?" It was at Mayence that the treasures unjustly extorted +from the German Princes were restored to them. It was at Mayence that +Gutenberg's name for the first time received formal homage. + +General de Segur, In his Memoirs, narrates an anecdote about Napoleon's +stay in this old German city. The Emperor had gone incognito and without +escort to an island in the Rhine, not far from the town. As he was walking +in this almost deserted island, he noticed a wretched hut in which a poor +woman was lamenting that her son had been drafted. "Console yourself," +said Napoleon, without letting her know who he was, and giving her an +assumed name: "Come to Mayence to-morrow and ask for me; I have some +influence with the ministers and I will try to help you." The poor woman +appeared punctually. With delight and surprise she saw that the stranger +was the Emperor of the French. Napoleon delighted to tell her that her +house which had been destroyed by the war should be rebuilt, that he would +give her a little herd and several acres of land, and that her son should +be restored to her. + +A letter in the _Moniteur_ thus described the departure of Napoleon and +Josephine: "Mayence, 11 Vendemiaire (October 3). The Empress left +yesterday for Paris, by way of Saverne and Nancy. The Emperor is just +leaving; he means to visit Frankenthal, Kaiserslanten, and Kreutznach; +then he will take the road to Treves. The stay of Their Majesties has been +for us a source of lasting pleasure and advantage. The most important +interests of our department have been favorably regulated. We have nothing +now to wish for except an opportunity to show our gratitude, our devotion, +and our fidelity, and the sincerity of the good wishes our citizens +expressed by their unanimous cheers. The Electors, the Princes, and the +many distinguished strangers who have given our city the appearance of a +great capital, are now taking their departure." + +This journey on the banks of the Rhine made a deep impression in France +and throughout Europe. It must be confessed that no one has ever equalled +the Emperor in the art of keeping himself picturesquely before the public. +Napoleon in the crypt at Aix-la-Chapelle, face to face with the shade of +Charlemagne is a subject to inspire a painter or a poet! At Brussels, in +the church of Saint Gudule, Napoleon evoked the memory of Charles V.; at +Aix-la-Chapelle in the Cathedral vault he questioned the shade of +Charlemagne. And as he meditated on the tomb of the Carlovingian hero, so +now do monarchs on their way through Paris meditate in their turn over his +tomb beneath the gilded dome of the Invalides. They go down into the +crypt, look at the porch upheld by twelve great statues of white marble, +each one commemorating a victory, at the mosaic pavement representing a +huge crown with fillets, the sarcophagus of red granite from Finland, +placed on a foundation of green granite from the Vosges. Then they enter +the subterranean chamber, the black marble sanctuary, which contains, +among numerous relics, the sword that Napoleon carried at Austerlitz, the +decorations he wore on his uniform, the gold crown voted him by the city +of Cherbourg, and finally sixty flags won in his victories. The church of +the Invalides Inspires the same thoughts as the Cathedral of +Aix-la-Chapelle. In the two temples kings and great men may make the same +reflection about glory, about death, about the handful of dust which is +all that is left of heroes. + + + + +III. + +THE POPE'S ARRIVAL AT FONTAINEBLEAU. + + +The time for the coronation was drawing near. Napoleon, who had already +received the official recognition of foreign powers, was anxious to have +his Imperial title consecrated by a great religious ceremony, the fame of +which should resound throughout the whole Catholic world. The first date +proposed for the solemnity was the 26th Messidor, Year XII. (July 14, +1804), then that of the 18th Brumaire, Year XIII. (Nov. 9, 1804). But the +choice in each case was unfortunate. It was hard to combine the memory of +the taking of the Bastille with the coronation of a sovereign, and the +18th Brumaire would have recalled the regrets of Republicans and the +services of Lucien Bonaparte, who, after being the main aid of his +brother's fortune, was living at Rome, in disgrace and exile. On the other +hand, the Pope's hesitation, for it was with the greatest difficulty that +he could make up his mind to go to Paris, had further postponed the date, +which was at last fixed for the beginning of December. + +Josephine awaited with impatience and fear an event on which, she felt, +her future fate depended. The Pope, that mysterious and holy person, had +started. Was he to prove her saviour? Was she to be a repudiated wife or a +crowned Empress? The clergy were untiring in their laudations of +Napoleon's glory. Bishops, in their charges, spoke of him as God's elect. +One prelate, speaking of the Empire, had said: "One God and one monarch! +As the God of the Christians is the only one deserving to be adored and +obeyed, you, Napoleon, are the only man worthy to rule the French!" +Another had said: "Napoleon, whom God called from the deserts of Egypt, +like another Moses, will bring peace between the wise Empire of France and +the divine Empire of Christ. The finger of God is here. Let us pray the +Most High to protect with his powerful hand the man he has chosen. May the +new Augustus live and rule forever! Submission is his due because he is +ordered by Providence!" Yet in spite of these extravagant outbursts which +came from every pulpit in the whole French Empire, this restorer of the +altars, this saviour of religion was married only by civil right! From the +ecclesiastic point of view, he was living in concubinage. He had had his +brother Louis's marriage with Hortense de Beauharnais, and his sister +Caroline's with Murat blessed by Cardinal Caprara, but in spite of +Josephine's entreaties, he had denied her this pious satisfaction. It was +on the Pope that the Empress put all her hope; she thought that he would +take pity on her, and by bringing her into conformity with the rules of +the church, would put an end to a condition of things humiliating to her +as a sovereign, and painful to her as a Catholic. + +At the same time Josephine was anxiously wondering whether she was to be +crowned. Her brothers-in-law became more venomous in their intrigues +against her, and desired not only that she be excluded from any part in +the coronation, but also that she should be condemned to divorce on the +pretext of barrenness. Joseph Bonaparte was never tired of saying that +Napoleon ought to marry some foreign Princess, or at least some daughter +of an old French family, and he skilfully laid stress on his own +unselfishness in urging a plan which would necessarily remove himself and +his descendants from the line of inheritance. The Emperor's sisters showed +the same hostility towards Josephine, whom they hated, although she well +deserved their love. Since Napoleon maintained an absolute silence about +his intentions concerning the coronation, the Bonapartes already imagined +that she was going to be divorced, and hence exhibited an untimely delight +which displeased the Emperor and brought him closer to his wife. At last, +tired with family bickerings, he suddenly put an end to them and filled +Josephine with joy by telling her that she was to be crowned at Notre +Dame. + +The reader should turn to the curious account in Miot de Melito's Memoirs +of the council held at Saint Cloud, November 17, 1804, to arrange the +formalities of the coronation. Of Napoleon's four brothers, two were in +disgrace, Lucien and Jerome, and they were not to be present at the +ceremony. As for Joseph and Louis, it was decided that they should appear, +not as Princes of the blood, but only as high dignitaries of the Empire. +Joseph, it will be remembered, was Grand Elector, and Louis was Constable. + +This decision once taken, Joseph said in the council of November 17: +"Since it has been recognized that, with the exception of the Head of the +State, no one else, whatever his rank, can be regarded as partaking the +honors of sovereignty, and that we especially are not treated as Princes, +but only as high dignitaries, it would not be right that our wives, who +henceforth are only wives of high dignitaries, should as Princesses carry +the train of the Empress's robe, which consequently must be carried by +Ladies of Honor or of the Palace." This remark displeased the Emperor, and +many members of the council cited many examples to refute it, notably that +of Maria de' Medici. Joseph, who had foreseen their arguments, displayed +unexpected erudition: "Maria de' Medici," he said, "was accompanied only +by Queen Margaret, the first wife of Henri IV., and by Madame (Catherine +of Bourbon), the King's sister. The train was carried by a very distant +relative. Queen Margaret had, indeed, offered a fine example of generosity +by being present at the coronation of the woman who took her place and +who, more fortunate than herself, had borne heirs to Henri IV. But she was +not asked to carry the train of Maria de' Medici, and yet Maria de' Medici +had a right to every honor, because she was a mother." This very +transparent allusion to Josephine's barrenness so exasperated Napoleon +that he arose suddenly from his chair and addressed his brother with the +intensest bitterness and violence. After the meeting Joseph proposed to +his brother retiring to Germany. Napoleon relented and, November 27, he +said to his brother: "I have given a great deal of thought to the +difference that has arisen between you and me, and I will confess that +during the six days that this quarrel has lasted, I have not had a +moment's peace. I have even lost my sleep over it, and you are the only +person who has this power over me; I know nothing that disturbs me to this +degree. This influence comes from my old affection for you and from my +recollection of what you did for me in my boyhood, and I am much more +dependent than you think on feelings of that sort.... Take your position +in an hereditary monarchy and be the first of my subjects. That is a fine +enough position, to be the second man in France, perhaps in Europe.... +Comply with my wishes; follow my ideas; do not flatter the patriots when I +drive them away; do not oppose the nobles when I summon them; form your +household according to the principles that have guided me. In a word, be a +Prince, and do not disturb yourself about the importance of the title." + +Joseph at last yielded, and promised that his wife should conform without +a murmur to the ceremonies established for the coronation. Only this +concession was made to their susceptibilities: that in the rules the +phrase, _bear the cloak_ was substituted for _carry the train_, "for," as +Miot de Melito says, "Vanity will clutch at a straw." + +As for Madame Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother, she persisted in remaining at +Rome with Lucien. In spite of frequent messages from Paris, she was not to +get there until some days after the coronation, a fact which did not +prevent her appearing in the great picture commemorating the event, +painted by David, who was successively Jacobin and Imperialist, and +beginning with the apotheosis of Marat, celebrated that of Napoleon. + +Pope Pius VII., then sixty-two years old, had left Rome November 2, after +praying for a long time at the altar of Saint Peter's, The populace had +followed his carriage for a long distance, weeping with terror at his +undertaking a journey to revolutionary France. At Florence he had been +received by the Queen of Etruria, then a widow and her son's Regent. At +Lyons he became less anxious; a number of the inhabitants crowded about +him, and fell on their knees, asking for the blessing of the Vicar of +Christ. Meanwhile, Napoleon was putting the last touches to the repairs be +had commenced at the Palace of Fontainebleau, to put it in a suitable +condition to receive the Sovereign Pontiff. In less than twenty days the +furnishing of the palace had been completed, and the castle had, as if by +magic, resumed its old-time splendor. + +Every one wondered how the first meeting between the Pope and the Emperor +would take place. Many points of etiquette arose which Napoleon managed to +elude. Pius VII. was to arrive through the forest of Fontainebleau, and +the Emperor was to go to meet him through the forest of Nemours. To +prevent all formality, Napoleon made an excuse of a hunting party. All the +huntsmen, with their carriages, met in the forest. Napoleon was on +horseback, in hunting dress. When he knew that the Pope and his suite were +due at the cross of Saint Herene--at noon, Sunday, November 25, 1804--he +turned his horse in that direction, and as soon as he reached the half- +moon at the top of the hill, he saw the Pope's carriage arriving. + +According to the account given in the Memoirs of the Duke of Rovigo, the +carriage of Pius VII. stopped, and the pontiff in his white robes got out +by the left-hand door. The road was muddy, and he was averse to stepping +into it with his white silk slippers; but there was nothing to be done. +Napoleon got off his horse to receive him, and sprang cordially into his +arms. These two famous men, who, although they were entire strangers, had +already thought so often of each other, and were to exercise such great +influence over each other's destiny, now met with deep emotion. As they +were embracing, one of the Emperor's carriages, which had been ordered to +drive up, pushed on a few steps as if by an oversight of the coachman; the +footmen held both doors open; the Emperor took that on the right; a court +official pointed to that on the left for the Pope, so that the two +sovereigns entered the same carriage simultaneously by the two doors. The +Emperor sat down naturally on the right-hand side, and this first step +established the etiquette for the whole time of the Pope's stay, without +discussion. + +At the entrance of the Palace of Fontainebleau, the Empress, the high +dignitaries of the Empire, the generals, were formed in a circle to +receive and salute Pius VII. He was welcomed with the utmost reverence. +His fine, noble face, his air of angelic kindness, his soft, yet sonorous +voice, produced a deep impression. Josephine was especially moved by the +presence of the Vicar of Christ. After resting a few moments in his +private apartment, to which he had been conducted by M. de Talleyrand, +High Chamberlain, by General Duroc, Grand Marshal of the Palace, and by M. +de Segur, Grand Master of Ceremonies, the Pope paid a visit to Napoleon, +who, after an interview of about half an hour, conducted him back to the +hall that was at that time called that of the High Officers. The two +sovereigns dined together, and the Pope went early to bed, to rest himself +after the fatigues of his long journey. The next evening some singers had +been summoned to the Empress's apartment, but Pius VII. withdrew just as +the concert was about to begin. + +In the course of the day Josephine had had a private interview with the +Pope, and had confided to him the secret which so distressed her. She who +was reigning over the greatest of Catholic nations, the consort of the +successor of the very Christian Kings, the wife of a ruler about to be +crowned by the Pope, was married only by civil rite! She entreated Pius +VII. to use all his influence with Napoleon to put an end to a situation +which was a continual torture and reproach to her as a wife and as a +Christian. The Pope appeared touched by the confidence of his dear +daughter, as he always called the Empress, and promised to demand, and, if +necessary, to insist, upon the celebration of the Emperor's religious +marriage, as a condition of the coronation, and this promise filled +Josephine with joy. + +The presence of the Pope and the Emperor, the throng of prelates, +generals, courtiers, and beautiful women, the combination of religious and +Imperial pomp gave to the Castle of the Valois, a few days before +dilapidated and abandoned, new splendor and magnificence. Never in the +most brilliant days of the reign of Francis I., or Henri II., or of Louis +XIV., had this sumptuous residence appeared in greater state. This +wonderful palace is renowned for its superb and picturesque architecture, +its majestic facades, its five courts: that of the White Horse, of the +Fountain, of the Dungeon, of the Princes, of Henri IV. The Festival Hall +is very beautiful, with its rich and abundant ornamentation, its walnut +floor, divided into octagonal panels richly outlined with inlaid gold and +silver, its monumental mantelpiece, with its figures, emblems, and +fantastic frescoes, the brilliant masterpieces of Primaticcio, and of +Nicolo d'Abati. + +Alas! this splendid Fontainebleau, the gorgeous palace where Pope and +Emperor were then living in triumph, was later to be to both an accursed +spot. The Pope was to return to it a prisoner, maltreated though old, +though a priest, though the Vicar of Christ, and there the Emperor was to +drink the cup of humiliation, of despair, to the dregs. It was there that, +conquered, broken, betrayed by fortune, he was to sign his abdication. It +was there that he was to utter those heart-rending words: "It is right; I +receive what I have deserved. I wanted no statues, for I knew that there +was no safety in receiving them at any other hands than those of +posterity. A man to keep them while he lives, needs constant good fortune. +I think of France, which it is terrible to leave in this state, without +frontiers when it had such wide ones!--that is the bitterest of the +humiliations that overwhelm me. To leave France so small when I wished to +make it so great!" It was there that, overcome by immeasurable grief, the +conqueror of so many battles wished to seek in suicide a refuge from the +tortures of thought, and that he was to fail to find death, he who on the +battle-field had squandered so many lives. O mortals, ignorant of your own +fates, how happy you are not to have foreknowledge of them! + + + + +IV. + +THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION. + + +The Empress left Fontainebleau, Thursday, November 29, 1804, in company +with Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, and Madame d'Arberg, Lady +of the Palace, and reached Paris the same day, a few hours before the +Emperor and the Pope, who left Fontainebleau in the same carriage and +entered the Tuileries at eight in the evening. A platoon of Mamelukes +escorted the Imperial carriage, and it was a singular sight to see the +Mussulman escorting the Vicar of Christ. The Pope was installed at the +Tuileries in the Pavilion of Flora. There were attached to his person M. +de Viry, the Emperor's Chamberlain; M. de Lucay, Prefect of the Palace, +and Colonel Durosnel, Equerry. + +All Paris was excited by the approach of the great event. The hotels were +crowded; the population of the capital was nearly doubled, so vast was the +throng of provincials and foreigners. Tradesmen were working night and day +to prepare the dresses and uniforms. In every workshop there was +unparalleled activity. Leroy, who previously had been only a milliner, had +decided for this occasion to undertake dressmaking, and had made Madame +Raimbault, a celebrated dressmaker of the time, his partner. From their +shop came the magnificent robes to be worn by the Empress on Coronation +Day. Her jewels, consisting of a crown, a diadem, and a girdle, were the +work of the jeweller Margueritte. The crown was formed of eight branches +meeting under a gold globe surmounted by a cross. The branches were set +with diamonds, four in the shape of a palm leaf, four in the shape of a +myrtle leaf. Around the curve was a ribbon, inlaid with eight enormous +emeralds. The frontlet was bright with amethysts. The diadem was formed of +four rows of pearls interlaced with diamond leaves, with many large +brilliants, one alone weighing one hundred and forty-nine grains. The +girdle was a gold band, enriched with thirty-nine pink gems. The Emperor's +sceptre had been made by Odiot; it was of solid silver, enlaced by a gold +serpent, and surmounted by a globe on which was a miniature figure of +Charlemagne seated. The hand of justice, the crown, and the sword came +from the workshops of Biennais. The dress of the courtiers was to be very +magnificent; it consisted of a French coat of different colors according +to the duties of the wearer under the Grand Marshal, the High Chamberlain, +and the Grand Equerry, with silver embroidery for all; a cloak worn over +one shoulder, of velvet, lined with satin: a scarf, a lace band, and the +hat caught up in front, and adorned with a feather. The women were to +appear in ball dress, with a train, with a collar of blond-lace, called a +_cherusque_, which was fastened on both shoulders and rose high behind the +head, recalling the fashions of the time of Catherine de' Medici. + +There were rehearsals of the coronation as if it were a spectacular play. +Every one, from the principal actors to the most insignificant assistants, +studied his part most conscientiously; the Masters of Ceremonies were to +act as prompters to those who might forget. The Imperial carriages and +those of the Princes and Princesses one morning were all driven empty to +the neighborhood of Notre Dame, that coachman, postilions, and grooms +might know the route they were to take, and when they were to draw up. The +carriages were superb, the horses magnificent, the liveries sumptuous. +Never in the most extravagant days of the monarchy had such luxury been +seen. + +M. de Bausset says that a week before the coronation the Emperor commanded +of the artist Isabey seven drawings representing the seven principal +ceremonies to take place at Notre Dame, which, however, could not be +rehearsed in the Cathedral on account of the number of workmen busy day +and night in decorating it. To ask at once for seven drawings each +containing more than a hundred persons in action, was asking for the +impossible. Isabey skilfully eluded the difficulty. He bought at the toy +shops all the little dolls he could find, dressed them up as Pope, +Emperor, Empress, Princes, high dignitaries, Chamberlains, Equerries, +Ladies of Honor, Ladies of the Palace, These dolls thus arrayed he +arranged on a plan in relief of the Interior of Notre Dame, and carrying +it to the Emperor, said: "Sire, I bring Your Majesty something better than +the drawings." Napoleon thought the idea ingenious, and used the dolls and +the plan to make every official understand his place and his duty. + +The _Moniteur_ of the 9th Brumaire, Year XIII, (November 30, 1804), +published in advance all the details of the ceremony, which the Emperor +had fixed with as much care as if it had been the plan of a battle. A +difficulty arose on this occasion. The Pope had wished Napoleon to receive +the holy communion in public on the day of the coronation, and Napoleon +had given the matter thought. The Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Segur, +brought up against the proposition the necessity of a preliminary +confession and the possibility that absolution might be denied him. +"That's not the difficulty," said the Emperor, "the Holy Father knows how +to distinguish between the sins of Caesar and those of the man," Then he +added: "I know that I ought to give an example of respect for religion and +its ministers; so you see that I treat the priests well, go regularly to +mass, and listen to it with all due seriousness and solemnity. But every +one knows me, and how would it be for me, and for others, if I should go +too far? Would not that be setting an example of hypocrisy, and committing +a sacrilege?" The Pope did not insist upon it. This dread of committing +sacrilege Napoleon referred to again at Saint Helena, in 1816: "Everything +was done," he said then, "to persuade me to go in great pomp to communion +at Notre Dame, after the fashion of our kings; I absolutely refused; I did +not believe enough, I said, to get any good from it, and yet I believed +too much to consent to be guilty of sacrilege." + +Another difficulty which gave the Pope much anxiety, and was not settled +in the formalities of the coronation, was whether the Emperor should +receive the crown from the hands of the Sovereign Pontiff. Pius VII. had +brought up the question before leaving Rome, and Cardinal Consalvi had +written on this matter, to which the Vatican attached great importance, as +follows: "All the French Emperors, all those of Germany, who have been +crowned by the Popes, have accepted the crown from them. The Holy Father, +before undertaking this journey, requires to receive from Paris the +assurance that there will be no innovation made in the present case, in +the way of a diminution of the honor and dignity of the Sovereign +Pontiff." At Rome only vague and dilatory answers had been received. In +Paris the Emperor, leaving the matter to be decided on the spur of the +moment, had only said: "I will arrange that myself." + +The preparations at Notre Dame had come to an end. They had been very +considerable. Several houses that hid the north facade had been destroyed. +Before the great entrance, still scarred by the ravages of the +Revolutionists, there had been set up a decoration of painted wood, +representing a vast Gothic porch with three arches upholding the statues +of the thirty-six good cities, the mayors of which were to be present at +the coronation. To the right and the left stood images of Clovis and +Charlemagne, sceptre in hand. Above, between two golden eagles, appeared +the Imperial coat-of-arms. This was intended for the sole entrance of the +Pope and the Emperor. It was connected with the Archbishop's palace by +large, covered, wooden galleries, adorned within by gobelin tapestry. This +palace, to which Pius VII. and Napoleon were to go before they entered the +Cathedral, no longer exists; it was destroyed, February 14, 1831, in an +insurrection. It used to stand just by the side of the church. It was +built in 1161 by Maurice de Sully, rebuilt in 1697 by the Cardinal of +Noailles, embellished in 1750 by the Archbishop de Beaumont, and was the +meeting-place of the Constituent Assembly from October 19 to November 9, +1789. There the Pope and the Emperor were to alight on their way from the +Tuileries and put on their grand coronation robes before entering the +Cathedral. + +The whole church of Notre Dame had been hung with crimson stuffs adorned +with gold fringe, with the arms of the Empire embroidered on the corners. +On each side of the nave and around the choir had been built three rows of +galleries, decorated alike with silk and velvet stuffs fringed with gold, +and flags had been arranged like a trophy about each pillar. Above the +trophies were winged and gilded victories, holding candelabra with a vast +number of candles. There were, besides, twenty-four chandeliers hanging +from the roof. The galleries kept out the light, especially at the season +when the days were short; consequently it had been decided that the +Cathedral should be artificially lit during the ceremony, thus augmenting +the pomp and beauty of the spectacle. The choir, shut off by a railing, +was reserved for the clergy. To the right of the high altar, on a platform +with eleven steps, had been raised the pontifical throne, above which was +a golden dome adorned with the arms of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman +Church. In front and on each side of the pontifical throne were benches +with backs for the cardinals and prelates. For the Emperor and the Empress +had been prepared what was called the great and the little throne. The +little throne was formed of two armchairs, one for Napoleon, the other for +Josephine. These two chairs stood on a platform with four steps, opposite +the high altar. The Emperor and Empress were to occupy them during the +first part of the ceremony. The grand throne was at the other end of the +church, with its back against the great door, which was thus closed. This +great throne stood on a large semicircular platform, and was reached by +twenty-four steps. It stood under a canopy in the shape of a triumphal +arch, upheld by eight columns, and it overlooked the whole church. The +Emperor and the Empress were not to ascend this throne till after the +coronation. + +For the coronation Napoleon had given to the Cathedral a number of holy +vessels in silver-gilt, enriched with diamonds, and very valuable lace +albs, a processional cross, chandeliers, and incense-burners. At the same +time he restored to the Cathedral a great number of relics with which the +piety of Saint Louis had endowed the Sainte Chapelle. In 1791 they had +been deposited in the treasury of Saint Denis, by order of Louis XVI., +thence in 1793 they had been transferred to the cabinet of curiosities in +the National Library, and had been exposed under the Directory, in the +Hall of Antiquities. The Emperor restored them to the worship of the +faithful. + +The preparations were completed, and the ceremony promised to be +magnificent. Madame Junot, afterwards the Duchess of Abrantes, breakfasted +with the Empress at the Tuileries, December 1, 1804, the day before the +coronation. Josephine was much excited and radiantly happy. At breakfast +she told how amiably the Emperor had talked with her that morning and how +he had tried on her head the crown which she was to put on the next day at +Notre Dame. As she said that she shed tears of gratitude. She spoke then +of her pain when Napoleon had refused her request for Lucien's return. "I +wanted to plead this great day," she said, "but Bonaparte spoke so harshly +that I had to keep silent. I wanted to show Lucien that I could return +good for evil; if you have a chance, let him know it." + +In the evening the Senate came to the Tuileries to announce to the Emperor +the result of the _plebiscite_ which approved of the Empire and the matter +of inheritance; 3,521,660 citizens having voted for, and 2,579 against. +Napoleon replied to the President of the Senate with the infatuation that +springs from success and the consciousness of strength: "I ascend the +throne to which I have been called by the unanimous voices of the Senate, +the people, and the army, with my heart full of feeling of the great +destinies of this people whom, from the midst of camps, I first saluted +with the name of great. Since my youth all my thoughts have been devoted +to it, and I must say here, my pleasures and my pains now are nothing but +the pleasures and the pains of my people. My descendants will long fill +this throne. They will never forget that contempt of laws and the +overthrow of the social order are only the results of the weakness and +indecision of rulers." + +The hour of disaster was approaching, but it had not yet struck; the +morrow was to be radiant. Salvos of artillery were fixed every hour from +six in the evening till midnight; at each salvo, the towers, spires, and +public buildings were illuminated for a few minutes by Bengal lights. +Imperial insignia, among others the sword of Charlemagne, were already in +the Church of Notre Dame. General de Segur, then a captain under the +command of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, was charged to watch that +precious relic during the night. He records one thing about it which +clearly shows the bellicose spirit of the men of the time. One of the +officers guarding the Imperial sword conceived the mad idea of using it +against one of his comrades, who defended himself with his own sabre, and +consoled himself for his defeat and for a slight wound with the thought +that he was beaten by so glorious a weapon. + +That same night, the one before the coronation, Josephine's wishes were +granted. Her union with Napoleon was blessed by the church. An altar was +mysteriously raised in the Tuileries, and there, in the presence of M. de +Talleyrand and the Marshal Berthier, who were the only witnesses, Cardinal +Fesch celebrated, in the profoundest secrecy, the religious marriage of +the Emperor and Empress. The scruples of Pius VII. were thus allayed. +Josephine could be crowned the next day. + + + + +V. + +THE CORONATION. + + +It was December 2, 1804. Since early morning all Paris had been alive. It +was very cold; the sky was covered, but no one thought of the unpleasant +weather. All the streets through which the procession was to pass had been +carefully swept and sprinkled with sand. The inhabitants had decorated the +fronts of their houses according to their tastes and means, with +draperies, tapestry, artificial flowers, and branches of evergreens. Two +lines of infantry were drawn up for a space of about half a league. Long +before the hour of the departure of the Pope and the Emperor from the +Tuileries, a vast throng had gathered in the streets, was crowding every +window, and assembling on every roof. Marshal Murat, Governor of Paris, +offered at an early hour a sumptuous breakfast to the Princes of Germany +who had come to Paris for the coronation--the Elector Archchancellor of +the German Empire, the Princes of Nassau, of Hesse, and of Baden. After +the breakfast they drove to Notre Dame in four superb carriages, drawn by +six horses each, with an escort under the command of one of his aides-de- +camp, and he himself mounted his horse to take his place at the head of +the twenty squadrons of cavalry which were to go in front of the Emperor's +carriage. + +At the Tuileries Napoleon put on what was called the undress attire; this +he was to wear on his way from the palace to the Archbishop's. He was not +to put on full dress, that is to say, the Imperial robes and cloak, until +he was to enter the church. The undress is thus described by Constant, the +Emperor's valet: silk stockings embroidered with gold; low boots of white +velvet, embroidered with gold on the seams; with diamond buttons and +buckles on his garters; a coat of crimson velvet faced with white velvet: +a short cloak of crimson lined with white satin, covering the left +shoulder and fastened on the right-hand side by a double clasp of +diamonds; a black velvet cap, surmounted by two aigrets, a diamond loop, +and for button, the most celebrated of the crown jewels, the Regent. + +The Empress's costume was no less magnificent. She wore a dress, with a +train, of silver brocade covered with gold bees; her shoulders were bare, +but on her arms were tight sleeves embroidered with gold, the upper part +adorned, with diamonds, and fastened to them was a lace ruff worked with +gold which rose behind half up her head. The tight-fitting dress had no +waist, after the fashion of the time, but she wore a gold ribbon as a +girdle, set with thirty-nine pink gems. Her bracelets, ear-rings, and +necklace were formed of precious stones and antique cameos. Her diadem +consisted of four rows of pearls interlaced with clusters of diamonds. The +Empress, whose hair was curled, after the fashion of the reign of Louis +XIV., although forty-one years old, looked, according to Madame de +Remusat, no more than twenty-five. The Emperor was much struck by +Josephine's beauty in this sumptuous attire; all this luxury impressed +him. He recalled the days of his childhood, and turning to his favorite +brother, he said: "Joseph, if father could see us!" + +Nine o'clock sounded, the hour set for the departure of the Pope, who was +to reach Notre Dame before the Emperor. The Sovereign Pontiff, clad in +white, went down the staircase of the Pavilion of Flora and entered his +carriage, which was drawn by eight horses; above it was a large tiara. At +Rome it was the custom that when the Pope went forth to officiate at one +of the great churches,--for instance, to Saint John Lateran,--for one of +his chamberlains to start a moment before him, mounted on a mule, and +carrying a great processional cross. Pius VII. asked that the same thing +might be done at Paris; consequently the pontifical procession was headed +by a chamberlain whose mule did not fail to amuse the vast crowd that +lined the quays; yet when the Pope passed, all knelt down and received his +blessing with due respect. With cavalry in front and behind, the Pope's +carriage and the eight carriages in which were the cardinals, Italian +prelates and officers who had come from Rome with him, drove slowly along +the quays to the Archbishop's Palace. There were awaiting him all the +French cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, and he was received by the +Cardinal du Belloy, the Archbishop of Paris, as he entered to put on his +pontifical robes. The pontifical procession entered Notre Dame in the +following order; a priest, carrying the apostolic cross; seven acolytes, +carrying the seven golden candlesticks; more than a hundred bishops, +archbishops or cardinals, in cope and mitre, marching two by two; and last +of all the Holy Father, his tiara on his head, under a canopy between two +cardinals who held up the ends of his golden cope. The clergy intoned the +hymn _Tu es Petrus_, which was very impressive, and the Sovereign Pontiff, +after kneeling for a few moments before the high altar, took his seat in +the middle of the choir on the pontifical throne, above which was a dome +adorned with the coat-of-arms of the church. + +The Emperor and the Empress, who were to leave the Tuileries at ten, did +not start till half past ten. They got into the magnificent coronation +carriage which excited the hearty admiration of the crowd, always fond of +show. It was drawn by eight superb horses, splendidly harnessed; upon it +was a golden crown upheld by four eagles with outstretched wings. The four +sides of the coach were of glass, set in slender carved uprights, so that +there was an unobstructed view of Napoleon and Josephine on the back seat, +with Joseph and Louis Bonaparte opposite them. Salvos of artillery +announced the Emperor's departure from the Tuileries. Twenty squadrons of +cavalry, with Marshal Murat at their head, led the procession. Eighteen +carriages, with six horses each, followed, conveying the high dignitaries +and the courtiers. Bands played triumphal marches, and all along the way a +vast crowd saluted this sovereign. The procession starting from the +Tuileries by the Carrousel went along the rue Saint Honore as far as the +rue de Lombards, crossed the Pont au Change, and then along the quay to +the rue du Parvis Notre Dame and the Archbishop's Palace. Just as the +Emperor and the Empress were entering the palace courtyard, the mist, +which had been thick all the morning, cleared away, and the sun came out +glistening on the gilded decorations of the Imperial coach. The +_Moniteur_, with its official enthusiasm, spoke of "the orb of day +escaping, against every expectation, from the rigid rule of a stormy +season to light up the festal day." + +At the Archbishop's Palace, Napoleon changed his dress, putting on his +coronation robes. This differed entirely from the costume he had worn from +the Tuileries to the palace, and consisted of a tight-fitting gown of +white satin, embroidered with gold on every seam, and of an Imperial +mantle of crimson velvet, all over which were golden bees; it was bordered +by worked branches of olive-tree, laurels, and oak, in circles enclosing +the letter N, with a crown above each one; the lining, the border, and the +cape were of ermine. This cloak, fastened on the right shoulder, while +leaving the arm free, reacted to just above the knee, and weighed no less +than eighty pounds, and though it was held by four persons, Prince Joseph, +Prince Louis, the Archchancellor Cambaceres, the Archtreasurer Lebrun, was +for the Emperor, who was a short man, a sumptuous, but heavy load. He +carried it, however, with fitting majesty. On his head he had put a crown +of golden laurel, the laurel of Caesar; around his neck he wore the +diamond necklace of the Legion of Honor; on his left side he carried a +sword with a large handle--the scabbard was of blue enamel adorned with +gold eagles and bees. At the same time Josephine completed her dressing, +putting on a long red velvet cloak, sprinkled with gold bees, and lined +with ermine; its skirts were upheld by Princesses Joseph, Louis, Elisa, +Pauline, and Charlotte. + +The Imperial procession proceeded from the Archbishop's Palace to Notre +Dame through the wooden gallery, and entered the church, not through the +middle entrance, which was blocked by the great throne, but through one of +the side-doors. They advanced in the following order, with an interval of +ten paces between each group: the ushers, four abreast, the heralds at +arms, two abreast; the Chief Herald at Arms; the pages, four abreast; the +aides of the masters of ceremonies; the masters of ceremonies; the Grand +Master of Ceremonies, M. de Segur; Marshal Serurier, carrying on a cushion +the Empress's ring; Marshal Moncey, carrying the basket which was to +receive her cloak; Marshal Murat, carrying her crown on a cushion; the +Empress, with her First Equerry on her right, and her First Chamberlain on +her left; she wore the Imperial cloak, which was supported by the five +Princesses, the cloak of each one of these being supported by an officer +of her household; Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, and Madame de +Lavalette, the Empress's Lady of the Bedchamber; Marshal Kellermann, +carrying the crown of Charlemagne, a diadem with six branches adorned with +valuable cameos; Marshal Perignon, carrying Charlemagne's sceptre, at the +end of which was a ball representing the world, with a small figure of the +great Carlovingian Emperor; Marshal Lefebvre, carrying Charlemagne's +sword; Marshal Bernadotte, carrying Napoleon's necklace; Colonel General +Eugene de Beauharnais, the Emperor's ring; Marshal Berthier, the Imperial +globe; M. de Talleyrand, the basket destined to receive the Emperor's +cloak. Then came the Emperor, the crown of golden laurel on his head, +holding in one hand his silver sceptre, topped by an eagle, and encircled +by a golden serpent, and in the other his hand of justice. His cloak was +supported by his two brothers, Joseph, Grand Elector, and Louis, +Constable, as well as by the Archchancellor Cambaceres and the +Archtreasurer Lebrun. Then followed the Grand Equerry, the Colonel General +of the Guard, and the Grand Marshal of the Palace, the three abreast, the +ministers, four abreast, and the high officers of the army. + +As Napoleon entered the church, the twenty thousand spectators shouted, +"Long live the Emperor!" A cardinal gave holy water to Josephine; the +Cardinal, the Archbishop of Paris, presented it to Napoleon; and the two +prelates, after complimenting the Emperor and the Empress, conducted them +in a procession, under a canopy held by canons, to the smaller throne in +the middle of the choir. There they were to sit during the first part of +the ceremony, near the high altar, on a platform with four steps. As the +Emperor and the Empress entered the choir, the Pope came down from the +pontifical chair, and intoned the _Veni Creator_. The Emperor handed to +the Archchancellor his hand of justice; to the Archtreasurer, his sceptre; +to Prince Joseph, his crown; to Prince Louis, his sword; to the Grand +Chamberlain, his Imperial cloak; to Colonel General Eugene de Beauharnais, +his ring. The six objects formed what were called "the Emperor's +ornaments." They were placed on the altar by the representative +dignitaries, and were to be handed again to the Emperor by the Pope in the +course of the ceremony. The same was true of the "Empress's ornaments," +her ring, cloak, and crown, which, were placed on the altar; the ring, by +Marshal Serurier; the cloak, by Marshal Moncey; the crown, by Marshal +Murat. Charlemagne's insignia, his crown, sceptre, and sword, remained +during the whole ceremony in the hands of Marshals Kellermann, Perignon, +and Lefebvre, who stood at the right of the small throne in the choir. + +As soon as the ornaments of the Emperor and Empress had been placed on the +altar, the Pope asked the Emperor in Latin if he promised to use every +effort to have law, justice, and peace rule in the church and among his +people; Napoleon touched the gospels with both hands, as it was held out +to him by the Grand Almoner, and answered _Profiteor_. Then the Pope, the +bishops, archbishops, and cardinals knelt before the altar and began the +litany. When they reached the three verses used only at coronations, the +Emperor and Empress also knelt. + +After the litany, the Grand Almoner, another cardinal, and two bishops +advanced towards the small throne, and bowed low before Napoleon and +Josephine, and conducted them to the foot of the altar to receive sacred +unction. The Emperor and Empress knelt on blue velvet cushions placed on +the first step of the altar. The Pope anointed Napoleon on the head and +his two hands, uttering the prayer of consecration: "Mighty and Eternal +God, who didst appoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu to be king +over Israel, making known thy wishes through the prophet Elijah; and who +didst pour holy oil of kings upon the head of Saul and of David, through +the prophet Samuel, send down through my hands, the treasures of thy grace +and of thy blessings upon thy servant Napoleon, whom, in spite of our +unworthiness, we consecrate to-day as Emperor, in thy name." + +Then the Pope anointed the Empress in the same way, reciting this prayer: +"May the Father of eternal glory be thy aid; and may the Omnipotent bless +thee; may he hear thy prayers, and give thee a long life, ever confirming +this blessing and maintaining it forever with all thy people; may he +confound thy enemies; may the sanctification of Christ and the anointing +of this oil ever aid thee, so that he who on earth has given thee his +blessing may give thee in heaven the happiness of the angels, and that +thou mayst be blessed and guarded for eternal life by Jesus Christ, our +Saviour, who lives and reigns forever and ever." + +The Emperor and Empress were then conducted to the small throne, that is +to say, to their two chairs; before each one was a praying-stand. Then +high mass began; it was said by the Pope; the music had been composed by +Paesiello, the Abbe Rose, and Lesueur. There were three hundred +performers, singers, and musicians; among the soloists were the great +singer Lais, and two famous violinists, Kreutzer and Baillot. At the +_Gradual_ the mass was interrupted for the blessing of the ornaments which +the Emperor and Empress then put on. + +Napoleon, followed by the Archchancellor, the Archtreasurer, the Grand +Chamberlain, the Grand Equerry, and two chamberlains, and Josephine, +accompanied by her Lady of Honor, her Lady of the Bedchamber, her First +Chamberlain, and her First Equerry, advanced towards the altar, and +ascended the steps at the same time; the Sovereign Pontiff, with his back +to the altar, was sitting on a sort of folding-chair. He blessed the +Imperial ornaments, reciting a special prayer for each one. His Holiness +then handed them to the Emperor in the following order: first the ring, +which Napoleon placed on his finger; then the sword, which he put in its +scabbard; the cloak, which his chamberlains fastened on his shoulders, +then the hand of justice and the sceptre which he handed to the +Archchancellor and the Archtreasurer. + +The only ornament left to be given to the Emperor was the crown. It will +be remembered that there had been a long negotiation at Rome to ascertain +whether the Emperor would be crowned by the Pope or would crown himself. +The question was left uncertain, and Napoleon had said that he would +settle it himself at Notre Dame when the time came. Still Pius VII. was +convinced that he was going to place the crown on the sovereign's head. He +had just handed him the ring, the sword, the cloak, the hand of justice, +and the sceptre, and was preparing to do the same thing with the crown. +But the Emperor, who had ascended the last step of the altar, and was +following every motion of the Pope, grasped from his hands the sign of +sovereign power and proudly placed it on his own head. Pius VII., +outwitted and surprised, made no attempt at resistance. + +After thus crowning himself, Napoleon proceeded to crown the Empress. This +was the most solemn moment in Josephine's life; the moment which dispelled +all her incessant dread of divorce, the brilliant verification of her +fondest hopes, the completion of her triumph. Napoleon advanced with +emotion to this companion of his happiest days, to the woman who had +brought him happiness; she was kneeling before him, shedding tears of joy +and gratitude, with her hands clasped and trembling. He recalled all that +he owed her: his happiness, for, thanks to her, he had been blessed with a +requited love; his glory, for it was she who, in 1796, had secured for him +the command of the Army of Italy, the origin of all his triumphs. He must +have been glad at this moment that he had not followed his brother's +malicious suggestions and had not separated from his dear Josephine! The +affection of the young General Bonaparte revived in the heart of the +sovereign. He thought Josephine more gracious, more touching, more lovable +than ever, and it was with an outburst of happiness that he placed the +Imperial diadem on her charming and cherished head. + +The Emperor and Empress, once crowned, proceeded to the great throne, at +the entrance of the church, by the great door, being solemnly led there by +the Pope and the Cardinals. The Imperial procession then formed again in +the order in which it had come to Notre Dame, the Empress going before the +Emperor. At this moment the Princesses seemed to hesitate about carrying +the skirt of the Empress's cloak; Napoleon noticed this, and said a few +severe, firm words to his sisters, and all was smoothed. The procession +reached the foot of the great throne; the Emperor ascended the twenty-four +steps and sat down in full majesty, wearing his crown and Imperial cloak, +holding the hand of justice and the sceptre. At his right, on a seat like +his, but one step lower, the Empress placed herself. Another step lower, +sat the Princesses on simple seats. At the Emperor's left, two steps below +him, were the Princes and high dignitaries. On each side of the platform +the marshals, high officers, and ladies of the court took their places. +The sight was most impressive. The Pope in his turn ascended the twenty- +four steps, and thus commanding the whole Cathedral, extended his hands +over the Emperor and the Empress, and uttered these Latin words, the +formula used for taking the throne: "_In hoc solio confirmare vos Deus, et +in regno aeterno secum regnare faciat Christus!_"--"May God establish you +on your throne, and may Christ cause you to reign with him in his eternal +kingdom!" Then he kissed the Emperor on the cheek, and turning towards the +assembled multitude, said: "_Vivat Imperator in aeternum!_"--"May the +Emperor live forever!" This was what had been said ten centuries before at +Saint Peter's in Rome when the ruler of the same people, Charlemagne, had +been proclaimed Emperor of the West. + +Applause broke forth and three hundred musicians intoned the _Vivat +Imperator_, a hymn composed by the Abbe Rose. The pontifical procession +and the Imperial procession returned to the choir; the Emperor and Empress +resumed their places on the chairs, and the Pope began, the _Te Deum_. +After this, which was sung by four choirs and two orchestras, the mass, +which had been interrupted by the ceremony with the ornaments and the +taking possession of the throne, went on. At the offertory, Napoleon and +Josephine, followed by the two Princes and the five Princesses, went to +lay their offerings before the Pope; these consisted of a silver-gilt +vase, a lump of gold, a lump of silver, and a candle about which were +inlaid thirteen pieces of money. At the elevation Prince Joseph removed +the Emperor's crown, and Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, that +of the Empress. Napoleon and Josephine knelt before the Host, and when +they rose, put their crowns on again. + +When mass was over, the Emperor took the political oath prescribed by the +constitution, which had aroused much opposition in Rome. The presidents of +the great bodies of the state brought him the formula, and with one hand +held over the gospels, the Emperor swore to maintain, the principles of +the Revolution, to preserve the integrity of the territory, and to rule +with an eye to the interest, happiness, and glory of the French people. +The First Herald-at-Arms then called forth in a loud voice: "The most +glorious and most august Emperor Napoleon, Emperor of the French, is +crowned and enthroned: Long live the Emperor!" That was the end of the +ceremony. Salvos of artillery mingled with the applause. + +The solemnity had been most successful, and Napoleon could say with truth +to his brother Joseph: "For me it is a battle won; by my art and the +measures I took, I have succeeded beyond my expectations." Had he not +prophesied accurately when he said to his secretary at the signing of the +Concordat: "Bourrienne, you will see what use I shall make of the +priests!" The golden chasubles had made a brilliant spectacle by the side +of the uniforms; the crosses and the tiara by the side of the swords and +the sceptre. Napoleon, always a master of theatrical effect, had known how +to lend antiquity to his newborn glory by borrowing from the past all its +majesty and pomp, and by skilfully decking himself with what was most +brilliant in the chronicles of remote centuries. From Charlemagne he took +his insignia; from Caesar his golden laurel. The head of a nation that had +grown great by the cross and the sword, he desired to make his coronation +the festival of the church and of the army. + +The Imperial and the pontifical processions returned to the Archbishop's +Palace, and half an hour later proceeded to the Tuileries, through the New +Market, the Place du Chatelet, the rue Saint Denis, the boulevards, the +rue and the Place de la Concorde, the Pont Tournant, and the grand roadway +of the castle. Night had fallen; the houses were illuminated. Five hundred +torches cast their light on the two processions, and by their imposing and +strange brilliancy, the crowd gazed with interest on the new Charlemagne +and the Vicar of Christ. + +Napoleon and Josephine re-entered the Tuileries at half past six; the Pope +at about seven. The Emperor, who was somewhat tired by all this ceremony, +gladly resumed his modest uniform of Colonel of the Chasseurs of the +Guard. He dined alone with Josephine, asking her to keep on her head the +becoming diadem which she wore so gracefully. That evening he chatted +pleasantly with the ladies-in-waiting, and praised the rich dresses they +had worn in such splendor at Notre Dame; he said to them, laughing: "It's +I who deserve the credit for your charming appearance." Then they looked +out of the windows on the illuminated garden, the large flower-garden +surrounded with porches covered with lights, the long alley adorned with +shining colonnades, on the terraces of orange-trees all aglow, with a +number of glasses of various colors on every tree, and finally on the +Place de la Concorde, one blazing star. It was like a sea of flame. + +It was the painter who had been a member of the Convention, the +_montagnard_, the regicide who had insulted Louis XVI., who had painted +the apotheosis of Marat, and with a malicious hand had drawn the features +of Marie Antoinette on her way to the scaffold; it was this artist, this +fierce demagogue, the ardent Revolutionist, who was commissioned with +painting the official representation of the coronation. He carried his +gallantry so far as to choose for his subject, not the moment when +Napoleon crowned himself, but that of the coronation of the Empress; and +when a critic accused him of making Josephine too young, he said: "Go and +say that to her!" When the picture was finished, the Emperor and the court +went to see it in the artist's studio. Napoleon walked up and down for +half an hour, bareheaded, before the canvas, which is about twenty feet +high, about thirty long, and contains one hundred portraits. (It is now at +Versailles in the Hall of the Guards, at the top of the marble staircase.) +The Emperor examined it with the closest attention, while David and all +who were present maintained a respectful silence. This long waiting made +the artist very anxious. At last Napoleon turned towards him and said: +"It's good, David, very good. You have divined all my thought; you have +made me a French knight. I thank you for transmitting to ages to come the +proof of affection I wanted to give to her who shares with me the pains of +government." Then taking two steps towards the artist, he raised his hat +and said, in a loud voice: "David, I salute you." + +Sometimes at Notre Dame in Holy Week, at evening service, when the +Cathedral is lit up as at the coronation, I recall the various ceremonies +of this church: the royal baptisms and marriages there celebrated; the +banners hung from its roof; the _Te Deums_ and _De Profundis_ so often +sung there; Bossuet uttering the funeral oration of the Prince of Conde; +the shameless goddess of Reason profaning the sanctuary. I close my eyes +in meditation, and seem to be present at the coronation, to see Pius VII. +on his pontifical throne, and, before the altar, Napoleon crowning +Josephine with his own hands, I hear the echo of distant litanies, of the +trumpets, of the organ, and of the applause. Then I think of the +nothingness of all human glory and grandeur. Of all the illustrious +persons who have knelt in this old basilica, what is left? Scarcely a few +handfuls of dust. I open my eyes. The days are silent; the crowd has +quietly withdrawn. The lights are out, and at the end of the church, in +the shadow, like a timid star in a cloudy day, burns a solitary lamp. + + + + +VI. + +THE DISTRIBUTION OF FLAGS. + + +The coronation was the signal for a succession of festivities. Napoleon +was anxious that all classes of society should take part in the +rejoicings; that commerce should be benefited; that luxury should do +wonders; and that Paris should take the position of the first city in the +world, the capital of capitals. The day after the coronation was to be the +popular holiday, and the day when the flags were distributed was to be the +festival of the army. Monday, December 3, booths were open on every side +for the entertainment of the crowd. Adulation assumed every guise, even +the humblest; and every form of language, even that of the markets, was +employed to flatter the new sovereign. There was sung, "The joyous round +on the lottery of thirteen thousand fowls, with an accompaniment of +fountains of wine." It was a description of the food distributed to the +poor people of Paris. This song was sung in every street and place, as the +_Ca ira_ was sung in '93. + +The compliment of the marketmen and of their ladies ran thus: "I have +reasoned it out with my wife that a house a thousand times as large as +Notre Dame would not be able to hold all those who have reason to bless +you." In the way of incense, nothing was too gross for the sovereign. One +district said of Napoleon:-- + + "He received for us when God formed him, + The arm of Romulus, the mind of Numa." + +The Empress too was praised:-- + + "Spouse of the hero whom the universe regards, + The Graces accompany you to the temple, + Every one sees in your face the bounty + Of which you distribute the gifts." + +In allusion to her love of flowers this quatrain was composed:-- + + "Josephiniana! this is the new flower + Whose beauty catches my eye. + To join the laurels of Caesar + Nothing less is needed than an immortal flower." + +The Emperor was sung, too, in mythological language, for his flatterers +tried to exhaust all sorts of adulation. On Coronation Day the Prefect of +Police had distributed a poem entitled _The Crown of Napoleon brought from +Olympus command of Jupiter_:-- + + "Mounting one of the coursers of the proud Bellona, + Mercury brings a crown from Olympus; + The king of the gods sends it to the hero of the French + As the reward of his success. + Ye whom he guided a hundred times in the fields of glory, + Phalanx of warriors, children of victory, + Braving the impotent fury of the English, + Sing Napoleon, sing your Emperor." + +December 3 the public rejoicings organized by the government extended from +the Place de la Concorde to the Arsenal. Heralds-at-arms walked through +the city, distributing medals struck to commemorate the coronation. These +medals bore on one side the head of the Emperor, his brow wearing the +crown of the Caesars; on the other, the image of a magistrate, and of an +ancient warrior, supporting on a buckler a crowned hero, wearing an +Imperial mantle. Beneath was the inscription: "The Senate and the People." + +As soon as the heralds-at-arms had passed by, the merry-making began, +continuing till late in the night. There was a distribution of food, as +well as sports of all kinds, reminding one of the times of the Roman +Emperors: _panem et circenses_. On the Place de la Concorde had been built +four large wooden halls for public balls. The cold was severe; there was a +hard frost, but this did not check the universal enjoyment. On the +boulevards there were at every step puppet shows, wandering singers, rope +dancers, greased poles, bands of music. From the Place de la Concorde to +the end of the boulevard Saint Antoine sparkled a double row of colored +lights arrayed like garlands. The Garde Meuble and the Palace of the +Legislative Body were ablaze with lights. The arches of Saint Denis and of +Saint Martin were all covered with lights; the crowd was enraptured with +the fireworks, which had never been so fine. + +The people of Paris had been invited to illuminate the fronts of their +houses, and moved either by enthusiasm or self-interest, they had spent +large sums for this purpose. Among the notable illuminations was that of +the engineer Chevalier, on the Pont Neuf. There was a transparency in +which, amid encircling laurels and myrtles, was to be seen an optician +turning his glass up to the sky towards a bright star, around which was +this inscription: "_In hoc signo salus_!"--"In this sign is safety!" + +December 3 was the first day of the coronation festivities. The third day +was devoted to what the _Moniteur_ called, "arms, valor, fidelity." This +was the day when Napoleon formally presented to the army and to the +National Guard of the Empire the eagles, "which they were always to find +on the field of honor." This ceremony took place on the Champ de Mars. To +quote once more from the _Moniteur_: "This vast field, crowded with +deputations representing France and the army, bore the aspect of a brave +family assembled under the eyes of its chief." The main front of the +Military School had been decorated with a huge gallery, with several tents +as high as the apartments on the first floor. The middle one, resting on +four columns which supported winged victories, covered the thrones of the +Emperor and the Empress. The Princes, the high dignitaries, the ministers, +the marshals of the Empire, the high officers of the crown, the civil +officers, the ladies of the court, were to take their places at the right +of the throne. The gallery, in the middle of which was the Imperial tent, +was in front of the Military School, and was divided into sixteen parts, +eight on each side, representing the sixteen cohorts of the Legion of +Honor. A broad staircase led from this gallery to the Champ de Mars; the +first step was for the presidents of cantons, the prefects, sub-prefects, +and the members of the municipal councils. On the other steps, there +stationed themselves colonels of regiments and presidents of the electoral +colleges of the departments, holding flags surmounted with eagles. On each +side of the staircase were colossal figures of France, one at war, the +other at peace. Twenty-five thousand soldiers, in faultless trim, had been +under arms since six in the morning. + +Unfortunately, the weather was terrible; a thaw had begun and it was +raining in torrents. The Champ de Mars was a sea of mud. The courtiers +who, on the 2d of December, had so belauded the sun, representing it as a +sharer in the festival, a docile slave of the Emperor, were obliged to +acknowledge that it was raining. Madame de Remusat made a very true remark +about this; she said with truth that one of the commonest, though one of +the absurdest, flatteries of every time, was that of pretending that a +sovereign's need of fine weather was sure to bring it. "At the Tuileries," +she said, "I noticed the opinion that the Emperor needed only to appoint a +review or a hunt for a certain day, and that day would be pleasant. +Whenever that happened, a great deal was said about it, while silence was +kept about rainy or foggy weather. This is exactly what used to happen +under Louis XIV. For the honor of sovereigns I should prefer that they +accepted this childish flattery with indifference or disgust, and that no +one would think of offering it. It was impossible to deny that it rained +during the distribution of the eagles at the Champ de Mars; but how many +people I met the next day, who assured me that the rain had not wet them!" + +In spite of the bad weather, an enormous crowd lined the road through +which the Imperial procession was to pass. The terraces of the Tuileries, +the Place de la Concorde, the _quais_ were thronged. Numberless spectators +covered the slopes of the Champ de Mars. The ever obsequious _Moniteur_, +in its official account of the ceremony, said; "If the spectators were +uncomfortable, there was not one who was not consoled by the feeling that +held him there, and by the expression of his wishes which the applause +made very clear." + +At noon the Emperor and the Empress, followed by their suite, left the +Tuileries in the order observed at the coronation, passed down the broad +road, over the Pont Tournant, through the Place de la Concorde, to the +Champ de Mars. Before their carriage rode the Chasseurs of the Guard and a +squadron of Mamelukes; behind it came the mounted grenadiers and the +chosen Legion. On reaching the Military School, Napoleon and Josephine +received the compliments of the Diplomatic Body; then they put on their +coronation robes, and took their place in the gallery in front of the +building. As soon as the Emperor had seated himself on the throne, cannon +were fired, drums beat, bands played. The deputations from the army, who +were assembled in the Champ de Mars, formed in close columns and came +forward. Then Napoleon arose and said in a loud voice: "Soldiers! These +are your flags; these eagles will always be your rallying point; they will +be wherever your Emperor may think necessary for the defence of his throne +and of his people. You will swear to offer your life in their defence, and +by your courage to keep them always on the path to victory. You swear it?" +Officers and men replied: "We swear it!" + +Alas! these flags were to be always on the path of honor, but not always +on the path of victory, for victory is a female goddess and a fickle one. +Against how many enemies these flags were to be defended, beneath +scorching suns, under avalanches of ice and snow! What heroism, what +miracles of bravery, were to be witnessed by these standards on many a +battle-field! What fatigue, what suffering, what sacrifices, dangers, +wounds, how many glorious deaths, what seas of blood, to come at last to +the most lamentable disasters I Had the future been seen, those drums +would have been draped in black. But the army imagined itself invincible. +The thought of defeat would have called forth a smile of pity. Proud of +itself, of its commander, it shouted with joy and pride as it passed +before the throne. + +A single incident disturbed this martial ceremony. Suddenly an unknown +young man approached the Imperial gallery, and shouted: "Down with the +Emperor! Liberty or death!" This ardent Republican was at once arrested. +His voice had been lost in the music and clatter of arms. + +The rain continued, and soon soaked through the canvas and stuffs +sheltering the throne, The Empress was obliged to leave, with her +daughter, who had recently given birth to a child. The other Princesses +followed this example, with the exception of Madame Murat, who, although +lightly clad, remained exposed to the showers. She said that she was +learning how to endure the inevitable discomforts of the highest rank. + +At five o'clock Napoleon and Josephine were once more at the Tuileries +where a state dinner was given in the Gallery of Diana. In the middle of +this gallery the table of the Emperor and the Empress was placed beneath a +magnificent canopy, on a platform. The Empress sat there with the Emperor +on the right and the Pope on her left. The high officers of the crown, as +well as a colonel-general of the Guard and a prefect of the palace, +remained standing near the Imperial table. + +Pages waited on the tables. The Archchancellor of the German Empire took +his place at that of the Emperor. In the same gallery were set other +tables for the French Princes and for the hereditary Prince of Baden, for +the ministers, for the ladies and officers of the Imperial household. +After the dinner was a concert, at which the Pope consented to be present. +When that was over Pius VII. withdrew, and the evening ended with a ballet +danced by the dancers of the opera in the great hall called since the +Empire the Hall of the Marshals. + + + + +VII. + +THE FESTIVITIES. + + +The winter of 1804-5 was very brilliant. Napoleon was anxious to give the +beginning of his reign an air of splendor. He allowed his officials +generous salaries, but he insisted on their spending all they received in +sumptuous living, in entertaining freely, and receiving distinguished +foreigners. Luxury became compulsory, and trade flourished beyond all +expectations. Paris had never, even in the grandest days of the old +monarchy, known greater social animation. This martial generation, +accustomed to desire a short but merry life, aware that the festivities of +day would be interrupted by the battles of the next, were as eager in the +ball-room as on the battlefield. They hastened to enjoy their present +prosperity as if they foresaw the disasters to come. French gallantry, +which had been forgotten during the Revolution, resumed its sway. The +women were like the fair mistresses of castles in the Middle Ages who gave +their hearts to the bravest knights. Love and glory both became the +fashion. The former Lady of the Bedchamber to Marie Antoinette, Madame +Campan, who taught most of the young women of the court in her school at +Saint Germain, had formed a group of beauties, trained in aristocratic +manners, at the head of whom was her ablest, most intelligent pupil, +Hortense de Beauharnais, who had been married to Prince Louis Bonaparte. +The Grand Chamberlain, M. de Talleyrand, a poor bishop but an excellent +specimen of a grand lord, and the Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Segur, +whose success as ambassador of Louis XVI. at the court of Catherine was +very great, set the tone in the households of the Emperor and the Empress. + +Napoleon set an example of luxury and elegance. Grand dinners, concerts, +official entertainments succeeded one another with startling rapidity. +Josephine, who was wildly fond of dress, was glad of an excuse to indulge +her extravagant tastes. The Emperor's three sisters lived like real +princesses, rivalling one another in magnificence. Princes Joseph and +Louis displayed the pomp of future kings. + +Almost all the women of the court were young and pretty. It would have +been hard to confer on any one, to the exclusion of the rest, the palm of +beauty. There were three who were especially distinguished: Madame Maret +(later the Duchess of Bassano); Madame Savary (later the Duchess of +Rovigo); and Madame de Canisy (later the Duchess of Vicenza). The last +named had married M. de Canisy, the Emperor's equerry. Later, she got a +divorce and married M. de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza and Grand Equerry. + +At Saint Helena Napoleon thus recounted the origin of this famous beauty: +"Madame de Lomene, the Cardinal's niece, before being put to death in the +Revolution, entrusted to Father Patrault her two young daughters. When the +terror was over, Madame de Brienne, their aunt, who had weathered the +storm and still possessed a large fortune, demanded them of Father +Patrault, who refused to give them up for a long time, on the ground that +their mother had urged him to bring them up as peasants." And Napoleon +went on: "I was then General of the Army of the Interior; and was able to +secure the return of the two children, though with some difficulty, for +Patrault resisted in every way in his power. They were the women whom you +afterwards knew as Madame de Marnesia, and as the beautiful Madame de +Canisy." + +The Duchess of Abrantes, in recalling the brilliant winter of 1804-5, +says, in her Memoirs: "One especially impressive beauty, particularly in +the ball-room, was Madame de Canisy, I have often compared her to a muse. +It would be impossible for a single face to present a fuller combination +of charms than hers: she possessed regular features, a delightful +expression, an attractive smile; her hair was silky and glossy. Seldom +have I seen anything more charming than Madames de Canisy, Maret, and +Savary in entering a ball-room together," + +There was no lack of entertainments at which these beauties shone. The one +given at the Hotel de Ville, December 16, 1804, to the Emperor and the +Empress, was so costly that it kept the city of Paris for many years in +debt. Napoleon, Josephine, Princes Joseph and Louis drove to it in the +coronation coach. Batteries of artillery, stationed on the Pont Neuf, +announced the moment of their arrival, while tables covered with poultry, +and fountains of wine, attracted an enormous crowd to the place; almost +every one had a share in this distribution of food, thanks to the +precautions taken by the authorities of delivering it only to those who +presented a ticket. The front of the Hotel de Ville was illuminated with +colored lanterns. When the Empress entered the apartments reserved for +her, she found there a complete and magnificent gold toilet-service: it +was a present from the City Council. The President of the Council thus +addressed her: "Madame: How could the Parisians, who are so capable of +distinguishing what is good, delicate, and noble, let slip this +opportunity of paying their homage to the profound tenderness, the +touching grace, the true dignity that characterize Your Majesty? The happy +influence of these rare qualities already makes itself felt in all classes +of society, and while your august spouse elevates France in glory, you +inspire it to resume the first rank among the races most renowned for +urbanity." The hall in which the Imperial banquet was to be given was +called the Hall of Victories. On the door was the inscription _Fasti +Napoleoni_, and at intervals, separated by military trophies and +standards, were Latin inscriptions in honor of Napoleon. Before dinner he +was presented with a table-service of silver-gilt by the city of Paris. +Then he took his seat, with the Empress, on a platform beneath a canopy, +and the meal began. During dinner, a band, hidden behind green foliage, +played a symphony of Haydn's, and then was sung a cantata full of flattery +for the Emperor and the Empress. + +After the dinner there were magnificent fireworks. As the first rockets +rose, a second cantata was sung. One of the pieces of fireworks +represented a man-of-war with eighty guns: its decks, masts, sails, and +rigging were represented by glowing lights. Another, which the Emperor +himself set off, represented Mount Saint Bernard sending forth a volcanic +eruption from snow-covered rocks. In the centre appeared the image of +Napoleon at the head of his army, riding up the steep slope of the +mountain. + +This entertainment, which closed with a ball at which seven hundred +persons were present, was a real apotheosis. Madame de Remusat, speaking +of the extravagant adulation devised for this occasion, says: "A great +deal has been said about the fulsome flatteries of Louis XIV. during his +reign; I am sure that altogether they would not amount to a tenth part of +those that Bonaparte received. I remember that at another festivity given +by the city to the Emperor a few years later, since all inscription had +been exhausted, there were placed above the throne on which he was to sit, +these words from Scripture, in gold letters: _Ego sum qui sum_,--and no +one was shocked." + +The Senate and the Legislative Body also gave grand entertainments in +honor of the coronation. That of the Legislative Body was particularly +brilliant. This assembly, which rivalled the Senate in obsequiousness, had +decided that a marble statue should be raised to the Emperor in the room +where it sat, in honor of the drawing up of the civil code. The day when +this statue was to be inaugurated was chosen for the festivity. The +Empress, followed by a magnificent suite, reached the Palace of the +Legislative Body at about seven in the evening. As she entered, musicians +intoned Glueck's famous chorus, which used to be sung on formal occasions +in the reign of Louis XVI., in honor of Marie Antoinette:-- + + "What charms! What majesty!" + +Unanimous applause emphasized the allusions. Then on the President's +invitation, Marshals Murat and Massena raised the veils that covered the +statue, and all eyes beheld the figure of Napoleon, wearing on his brow a +laurel wreath, in which were mingled oak and olive leaves. Later, at the +time of his abdication at Fontainebleau, Napoleon expressed a regret that +he had permitted his statue to be made during his lifetime. + +Then M. de Vaublanc ascended the tribune, and made a speech full of +extravagant praise; it ended thus: "You live, all of you, threatened by +the perils of the times; you live, and you owe your life to him whose +statue you behold. You return unfortunate exiles; you breathe once more +the delicious air of your own country; you embrace your fathers, your +children, your wives, your friends; all this you owe to him whose statue +you behold. There is no longer any question of his glory; I say nothing +about it; I invoke humanity on one side, gratitude on the other; I ask you +to whom you are indebted for this great, extraordinary, unexpected good +fortune. You all answer with me, It is to the great man whose statue you +behold." Throughout the whole speech, a perfect masterpiece of official +composition, adulation came in like a chorus. The President in his turn +uttered a similar eulogy: "Very few at the time," says Constant, who +describes this occasion, "found this praise extravagant; possibly their +opinions have changed since then." + +After the speeches, dinner was served to three hundred guests, followed by +a magnificent ball. Though, in the middle of the winter, there was a great +show of shrubs and flowers. The Halls of Lucretia and of the Reunion, in +which there was dancing, were like one large bed of roses, laurels, +lilacs, jonquils, lilies, and jasmine. + +Perhaps the finest of all the entertainments was that given to the Emperor +and Empress by the marshals of the Empire in the Opera House. It cost +each, marshal ten thousand francs. The Opera House at that time was in the +rue de Richelieu, where it had been since 1794. (It was the one torn down +during the Restoration, on account of the murder of the Duke of Berry, who +was killed on the threshold.) By means of a floor placed level with the +stage over the orchestra and the pit, there was made a magnificent ball- +room. Twenty-four chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and candelabra were +set on each side of every box. The decorations consisted of silver gauze, +and wreaths of flowers. The uniforms of the men and the dresses of the +women were almost equally magnificent. The eyes of the spectators were +dazzled by dresses trimmed with precious stones. Never had there been seen +such profusion of light, flowers, perfumes, and diamonds. In this magical +setting, fashionable beauties, with their dresses worked with silver and +gold foil, their turbans of Eastern stuffs, their jewels and ancient +cameos, appeared like sultanas. It was a most sumptuous and fairy-like +show. + +The marshals arrived at eight in the evening, the Empress at ten, the +Emperor at eleven; as he entered the ball-room, the applause was so +violent that it was feared that the candles would be put out. A military +march was played, and then there was a concert, closing with the Abbe +Rose's _Vivat Imperator_, which had made such an impression on the +Coronation Day. After the concert, Prince Louis Bonaparte, Marshal Murat, +Eugene de Beauharnais, and Marshal Berthier opened the ball with the +Princesses. The Emperor walked twice around the hall, as if he were +reviewing troops. Then he sat down by the side of the Empress on a raised +platform, and withdrew before the end of the ball. + +Besides all these entertainments there were the grand levees and concerts +at the Tuileries. The Hall of the Marshals was an impressive sight on +those evenings, filled, as it was, with young and pretty women, in +gorgeous dresses, and with men resplendent with stars, epaulettes, +feathered hats, and sword-belts set with diamonds. After the concert the +company would go to the Gallery of Diana, where the supper-tables were +set: that of the Empress, those of the Princesses, of the Lady of Honor, +of the Lady of the Bedchamber, of the Ladles of the Palace. "All these +tables," says the Duchess of Abrantes, "were occupied by women with roses +on their heads, and smiles on their lips, and often with tears in their +eyes; for vanity, everywhere triumphant, holds its court especially at +court. There, favor is everything, disgrace is everything. A chance word +or glance of the Emperor or Empress is a blow and a serious one. What, +then, must be the result of an invitation sent or withheld?" + +During the concert the Empress made up the supper-table; that is to say, +chose the women who were to sit at her table, commissioning her +chamberlain to notify those she had selected. The Princesses did the same, +and the officers of their households likewise informed the women whom they +had chosen. There were but twelve places at the Empress's table; eight or +ten at those of the Princesses. When the chamberlains came to bring these +most welcome invitations, there fluttered through the eight hundred or +thousand women present at the concerts and grand levees an anxious emotion +which amused observers. The aspect of the Gallery of Diana was most +impressive. On the Empress's table shone a golden service amid glass and +Sevres ware. During the supper the men strolled up and down the gallery, +but as soon as the Emperor appeared, awe and fear appeared on every face. +It seemed as if the times of Louis XIV. had returned, of which La Bruyere +said: "Nothing so disfigures certain courtiers as the presence of their +Prince; I can sometimes scarcely recognize them, so altered are their +features, so degraded their faces. The proud and haughty ones are the most +disturbed, for they change the most; and the upright and modest man comes +out best; he has nothing to change." The Duchess of Abrantes, recalling +the intimidation caused by Napoleon's approach, wrote: "Even those who +nowadays talk about the Corsican with a great show of scorn, those very +ones (I have seen them, and I am not the only one,) were the most timid +before the very shadow of his hat." The women trembled even more. They +dreaded the questions the Emperor might put to them, and, according to +Madame de Remusat, there was not one who would not gladly have been +anywhere else. During the First Empire, everything, even the festivities, +wore a military air. The sovereign always had the air of a commanding +general. Discipline prevailed, at a ball as well as in a camp, and the +young men took part in those pleasures only to return with renewed zeal +and courage to the battle-field. + + + + +VIII. + +THE ETIQUETTE OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE. + + +By the beginning of 1805 the court was definitely formed. After laborious +studies on the part of a special commission, and long discussions in which +Napoleon took as interested a part as he did in the preparation of the +civil code, all the wheels of etiquette had been arranged, and the +machinery worked with perfect regularity. The Emperor attached great +importance to the subject, from both a political and a social point of +view. In his eyes, etiquette had the great advantage of drawing between +him and those who had recently been his superiors, a distinct line of +separation. He looked upon it as a useful tool of government, as an +accompaniment of glory absolutely essential for a sovereign, especially +for one of recent origin. He was very proud of his court, of the wealth it +displayed, and of the vast results he obtained at a comparatively small +expense, and at Saint Helena he liked to recall its agreeable memory. + +"The Emperor's court," we read in the _Memorial_, "was in every respect +much more magnificent than anything that had been seen up to that time, +and cost infinitely less. The suppression of abuses, order and regularity +in the accounts, made the great difference. His hunting, with the +exception of a few useless or absurd particulars, such as the use of +falcons, was as splendid and as crowded as that of Louis XIV., and it cost +only four hundred thousand francs a year, while the King's cost seven +millions. It was the same way with the table; Duroc's order and severity +wrought wonders. Under the kings, the palaces were not permanently +furnished; the same furniture was transported from one palace to another; +there were no accommodations for the people of the court; every one had to +provide for himself. Under him, however, there was no one in attendance, +who, in the room allotted him, was not as comfortable as at home, or even +more comfortable, so far as what was essential and proper was concerned." + +The court moved as smoothly as a well-drilled regiment. Napoleon would +have shown no mercy to the slightest disregard of the rules he had himself +drawn up after long meditation. The courtiers were expected to be as +familiar with the code of etiquette as were the officers with the manual +of arms. The Emperor noticed the minutest details, busied himself with +everything, saw everything. There had been much more latitude at court +under the old monarchy, and those of the old regime who entered the +Emperor's court were soon wearied by the inflexible severity of its +discipline. The court, moreover, was very splendid. The Faubourg Saint +Germain brought to it its politeness and conversational charm. For his +part, Napoleon speedily assumed the manners of a European sovereign, while +preserving his martial character. He was at the same time Emperor and +commander-in-chief. Yet the military element did not control his court; +the civil element was more powerful there than in other European courts, +the Russian, for example. Napoleon would never have suffered in his +presence the faintest sign of the familiarity of the camp; every one who +crossed the threshold of the Tuileries was compelled to preserve the +manners, the bearing, the language of a courtier. + +The levees and couchees of the sovereign were restored as in the time of +the Bourbons; though under the monarchy they were real things, and a mere +imitation under the Empire. These moments were not devoted to the petty +details of toilette, but rather to receiving, morning and evening, those +members of the civil and military household who had to receive his direct +orders or enjoyed the right of "paying their court at these privileged +hours." At Saint Helena, Napoleon boasted that at the Tuileries he had +suppressed in the matter of etiquette "all that was real and commonplace, +and had substituted what was merely nominal and decorative." "A king," he +said, "is not a natural product; he is a result of civilization. He does +not exist nakedly, but only when dressed." + +Let us try to retrace the lines of etiquette as they existed in 1805, at +the same time indicating the principal members of the Emperor's household +and the nature of their duties. There were many separate duties, each +under the control of a high officer of the Crown, with their provinces +carefully defined and sedulously distinguished from one another. There +were six high officers of the Crown; the Grand Almoner (Cardinal Fesch); +the Grand Marshal of the Palace (General Duroc); the Grand Equerry +(General de Caulaincourt); the Grand Chamberlain (M. de Talleyrand); the +Grand Master of Ceremonies (M. de Segur). + +The colonels-general were: Marshal Davout, commanding the foot grenadiers; +Marshal Soult, commanding the chasseurs-a-pieds; Marshal Bessieres, +commanding the cavalry; Marshal Mortier, commanding the artillery and +sailors. These colonels-general of the Imperial Guard formed part of the +Emperor's household, and enjoyed the prerogatives as the high officers of +the Crown. + +The Grand Almoner was the bishop of the court, wherever that might be. He +gave the Emperor and his court a dispensation from fasting. He accompanied +him to church ceremonies and gave him his prayer-book. At grand dinners he +said grace. He set free the prisoners whom the Emperor pardoned on certain +holy days. + +The Grand Marshal of the palace had charge of the military command in the +Imperial residences; of their maintenance, decoration, and furnishing; of +the assignment of rooms, the supply of food, the heating, lights, silver, +and livery. He commanded the detachments of the Imperial Guard on duty in +the Imperial palaces. He gave orders to beat the reveille and the tattoo, +to open and shut the palace gates. When the Emperor was with the army, or +travelling, he had to find him quarters. In 1805 the Grand Marshal's +budget amounted to 2,338,167 francs. In 1806 it reached the sum of +2,770,841 francs. There were four tables in the palace,--that of the +officers and ladies-in-waiting, that of the officers of the guard and the +pages, that of the ladies who read to the Empress and introduced visitors. + +The Grand Marshal had under his orders the prefects of the palace: M. de +Lucay, M. de Bausset, and M. de Saint Didier. They had charge of the +provisions, lighting, heating, the silver, and the liveries. They +inspected the kitchens, pantries, cellars, and linen-closet to see that +everything was in order. There was always one prefect of the palace on +duty for a week at a time. He also carried word to the Emperor and the +Empress when a meal was ready, conducted them to the table, and back to +their rooms afterwards. + +The Grand Marshal had also under his orders the governor of the palaces +and the marshals; these last were charged with choosing apartments for the +Emperor and the Empress, and quarters for their suite in the Imperial +residences and on journeys. They had for assistants the quartermasters of +the palace. + +The Master of the Hounds had charge of all the coursing and hunting in the +woods and forests belonging to the Crown. + +The Grand Equerry looked after the stables, the pages, the couriers, and +the Emperor's arms; he also had the supervision of the horses at Saint +Cloud. He walked just before the Emperor when he came forth from his rooms +to ride, gave him his whip, held his reins and the left stirrup. He was +responsible for the good condition of the carriages, the intelligence and +skill of the huntsmen, coachman, and the postilions, the safety and the +training of the horses. In a procession, or on a journey, he was in the +carriage just before the Emperor's. He accompanied the Emperor to the +army, if the sovereign's horse was killed or disabled, it was his duty to +pick the Emperor up and to offer him his own horse. + +The Grand Equerry had four equerries under his orders: Colonels Durosnel, +Defrance, Lefebvre, Vatier, and two equerries in ordinary, M. de Canisy +and M. de Villoutrey. An equerry on duty always accompanied the Emperor, +whether he was driving or riding. If the Emperor drove, the equerry on +duty rode by the right-hand door of the carriage, unless the colonel- +general on duty happened to be on horseback, in which case the equerry +rode on the other side. The equerry on duty walked before the Emperor when +he left or returned to his apartment; he never left the waiting-room +during the day, and slept in the palace. + +The pages, whose governor was General Gardane, were also under the orders +of the Grand Equerry. They were appointed when between fourteen and +sixteen, and held the position until they were eighteen. At grand dinners +and in the apartments of honor, they waited on the Emperor and Empress, +and on the Princes and Princesses. When the Emperor rode out, one followed +on horseback; if he drove, the page got up behind the carriage. When the +sovereign went forth in his state-coach, as many pages as possible +clambered up behind it and upon the box by the side of the coachman. At +receptions, and on days when mass was said, there were eight pages on +duty. They stood in a row when the Emperor returned to his apartment, and +walked before him when he left it. If the Emperor had not returned to the +palace by nightfall, the pages would wait at the entrance-door to walk +before him, carrying lights. The pages, too, served as messengers, and +when they carried letters of the Emperor, the doors were thrown wide open +before them. + +The impression produced by the pages, when they were first on duty at the +Tuileries in 1804, is thus described by a contemporary: "They have been +much noticed, especially in the evening, by the ladies. The fact is, they +are all good-looking boys, particularly the oldest; they have good figures +and wear a new and becoming uniform, and since they are in the service of +a severe master, and of a most kind and indulgent mistress, they have to +be very attentive and considerate. Their full dress differs from livery +only by the lace of their coat which imitates embroidery, by the knot on +their left shoulder, and by the lace frill above their waistcoat, Besides, +in full dress they wear, like footmen, a green coat with all the seams +laced with gold, gold shoe-buckles, a hat with a white feather, but they +have no sword. Perhaps this is well, for they would be playing with it. +They have all been chosen among the sons of generals of divisions and of +high dignitaries of the Empire." + +At Saint Helena Napoleon said, speaking of the pages and the Imperial +stables: "The Emperor's stables cost him three million francs; the horses +cost three thousand francs apiece per year. A page, from six to eight +thousand francs; this last was perhaps the heaviest expense of the palace; +but there was every reason to be satisfied with the education they +received, and with the care taken with them. All the first families of the +Empire sought to get the places for their sons; and they were right." + +The Grand Chamberlain had charge of all the honors of the palace, the +regular audiences, the oaths taken in the Emperor's study, the admissions, +the levees and couchees, the festivities, receptions, theatrical +performances, the music, the boxes of the Emperor and Empress at the +different theatres, the Emperor's wardrobe, his library; he also looked +after the ushers and valets de chambre. + +The Grand Chamberlain had under his orders (this refers to 1805), a First +Chamberlain, M. de Remusat, and thirteen chamberlains: MM. d'Arberg, A. de +Talleyrand, de Laturbie, de Brigode, de Viry, de Thiard, Garnier de +Lariboisiere, d'Hedouville, de Croy, de Mercy-Argenteau, de Zuidwyck, de +Tournon, de Bondy. In the Imperial Almanack of 1805, these men are not +named with their titles, even the _de_ is in all cases omitted or joined +with the name, thus: M. Remusat, M. Darberg, A. Talleyrand, Laturbie, +Tournon, Dethiard, Deviry, Hedouville, etc., etc. + +The chamberlain on duty was called the chamberlain of the day. At the +palace there were always two chamberlains of the day, one for the grand +apartment, the other for the Emperor's apartment of honor. They were +relieved every week. The principal duties of the chamberlains were to have +charge of introductions to the Emperor, to give orders to the ushers and +valets de chambre, to see that the orders about the receptions were +carried out, and to attend upon the sovereign's levees and couchees. + +Either a chamberlain or one of the Emperor's aides-de-camp served as +Master of the Wardrobe. He had charge of the clothes, the linen, the lace, +the boots and shoes, and of the ribbons of the Legion of Honor. If he +assisted at the Emperor's toilet, he had to hand him his coat, fasten his +ribbon or collar, give him his sword, hat, and gloves, in the Grand +Chamberlain's absence. + +The Grand Master of Ceremonies determined questions of rank and +precedence, drew up and enforced the rules for public, formal ceremonies, +for the reception of sovereigns and hereditary princes, and, foreign +ambassadors and ministers. + +The colonels-general of the Imperial Guard and the Emperor's aides also +made part of the household. + +At ceremonies when the Emperor was in his state-coach, there were two +colonels-general of the Guard at the left door. When he rode, all four +followed close behind. The Grand Equerry, or his substitute, had a place +among them. + +The colonel-general on duty received directly the Emperor's orders +relative to the different requirements of the Imperial Guard, and +transmitted them directly to the other colonels-general. He was quartered +in the palace, in preference to any other officer of the Crown, and as +near as possible to the Emperor's apartment, whether at the residence or +when travelling. In the field he slept in the Emperor's tent. + +Napoleon had twelve aides-de-camp. The one on duty was called the aide-de- +camp of the day, He always had a horse saddled or a carriage harnessed +ready in the stable, to carry any messages the Emperor might give. As soon +as the Emperor had gone to bed, the aide-de-camp on duty was especially +entrusted with guarding him, and he slept in an adjoining room. In the +field the Emperor's aides served as chamberlains. + +There were two distinct elements in the Emperor's household: the military, +and the aristocratic. Some men owed their position entirely to their +merit; others entirely to their birth; these were both patriots of 1792 +and emigres, but it must be confessed the Imperial Almanack shows that the +aristocratic element was the more prominent. Napoleon, though certain +writers persist in representing him as the crowned champion of democracy +and the emperor of the lower classes, had a more aristocratic court than +Louis XVIII. He was more impressed by great manners than were the old +kings. Even after he had been betrayed, abandoned, denied, insulted by the +aristocracy, he had a weakness for it. In 1816 he said: "The democracy may +become furious; it has a heart; it can be moved. The aristocracy always +remains cold and never pardons." Yet even after this, he blamed himself +for not having done enough for the French nobility. "I see clearly," he +went on, "that I did either too much or too little for the Faubourg Saint +Germain. I did enough to make the opposition dissatisfied, and not enough +to win it to my side. I ought to have secured the emigres when they +returned. The aristocracy would have soon adored me; and I needed it; it +is the true, the only support of a monarchy, its moderator, its lever, its +resisting point; without it, the state is like a ship without a rudder, a +balloon in mid-air. Now, the strength, the charm of the aristocracy lies +in its antiquity, the only thing I could not create." It must be confessed +that from an old Republican general, for the man who had sent Augereau to +execute the coup d'etat of the 18th Fructidor, and who the 13th +Vendemiaire, from the steps of the Church of Saint Roch had crushed the +Paris conservatives, this was a very aristocratic way of talking, +reminding one of the old regime. In 1816 Napoleon said again: "Old and +corrupt nations cannot be governed like the virtuous peoples of antiquity. +For one man nowadays who would sacrifice everything for the public +welfare, there are thousands who take no thought of anything except their +own interests, pleasures, and vanity. Now to pretend to regenerate a +people off-hand would be madness. The workman's genius is shown by his +knowing how to make use of the materials under his hand, and that is the +secret of the restoration of all the forms of the monarchy, of the return +of titles, crosses, and ribbons." + +The old Republicans of 1796, who used to denounce kings, "drunk with blood +and pride," would not have readily recognized their old general under the +golden canopies of the Tuileries, where he dined in state. His table stood +on a platform, beneath a canopy, and there were two chairs, one for +himself, the other for the Empress. As he entered the banquet-hall, he was +preceded by a swarm of pages, masters-of-ceremonies, and prefects of the +palace; he was followed by the colonel-general on duty, the Grand +Chamberlain, the Grand Equerry, and the Grand Almoner. The Grand Almoner +advanced to the table and blessed the dinner. A general of division, the +Grand Equerry Caulaincourt, offered a chair to Bonaparte. Another general +of division, Duroc, the Grand Marshal of the Palace, handed him his napkin +and poured out his wine. Not merely high dignitaries, but the Princes of +the Empire themselves, deemed it an honor to wait upon him as servants. If +a Prince of the Imperial family happened to be in the Emperor's room, any +article of dress that he asked for was given by the chamberlain-in-waiting +to the Prince, and by the Prince to the Emperor. The time of the Sun King +seemed to have returned. + +The Imperial apartment at the Tuileries consisted of two distinct parts, +the grand state apartments and the Emperor's private apartment. The state +apartment contained the following rooms: 1, a concert hall (the Hall of +the Marshals); 2, a first drawing-room (under Napoleon III. called the +Drawing-room of the First Consul); 3, a second drawing-room (that of +Apollo); 4, a throne room; 5, a drawing-room of the Emperor (afterwards +called that of Louis XIV.); 6, a gallery (of Diana). The private apartment +was itself composed of the apartment of honor, containing a hall of the +guards and a first and second drawing-room, and an interior apartment +containing a bedroom, a study, an office, and topographic bureau. The +ushers had charge of the apartment of honor; the valets de chambre of the +other. A rigid etiquette determined the right of entrance into the +different rooms composing the state apartment, according to a carefully +studied system. The pages were authorized to enter the Hall of the +Marshals; members of the household of the Emperor and Empress could enter +the first and second drawing-rooms; the Princes and Princesses of the +Imperial family, the high officers of the Crown, the presidents of the +great bodies of the state, had admission to the throne room. Men and women +had to bow to the throne whenever they passed it. The Emperor and the +Empress alone had the right of entering the Emperor's drawing-room. No one +else could go in except by the Emperor's summons. + +An absurd importance was attached to these trivialities, to these empty +nothings, to the right of entering this room or that, of walking before +this or that person, of handing the Emperor this or that article of dress. +"An honest, reasonable man," said Madame de Remusat, "is often overcome +with shame at the pleasures and pains of a courtier's life, and yet it is +hard to escape from them. A ribbon, a slight difference of dress, the +right of way through a door, the entrance into such and such a drawing- +room, are the occasion, contemptible in appearance, of a host of ever new +emotions. Vain is the struggle to acquire indifference to them.... In +vain, do the mind and the reason revolt against such an employment of +human faculties; however dissatisfied one is with one's self, it is +necessary to humiliate one's self before every one and to desert the +court, or else to consent to take seriously all the nonsense that fills +the air and breathes there." + +Vanity of human events! What has become of these drawing-rooms of the +Tuileries, which it was such an honor to enter, which were trod with such +respectful awe? Look at the lamentable ruins of this ill-fated palace. +There may still be seen, blackened with petroleum and stained by the rain, +some of those drawing-rooms, once so brilliant, once thronged with an +eager and showy crowd. What an instructive spectacle! When is one more +urgently reminded of the emptiness of human glory and greatness? This +nothingness fills the soul with melancholy when one thinks that soon these +crumbling fragments will be razed and that soon one can say with the poet: +The ruins themselves have perished, _Etiam periere ruinae_! [Footnote: The +ruins have since been removed.--TR.] + + + + +IX. + +HOUSEHOLD OP THE EMPRESS. + + +We have just studied the civil and the military household of the Emperor +in 1805; let us now study the Empress's household at the same period. + +The Empress's First Almoner was a bishop, a great lord, Ferdinand de +Rohan. Her Maid of Honor was a relative of her first husband, the Duchess +de La Rochefoucauld, called in the Imperial Almanack of 1805 simply Madame +Chastule de La Rochefoucauld. She was short and deformed, but +distinguished, for her intelligence, tact, and wit, void of ambition, with +no taste for intrigue, who only reluctantly accepted the position of Maid +of Honor, and often wanted to hand in her resignation. The Lady of the +Bedchamber was Madame de Lavalette, a Beauharnais, an able and +affectionate woman, who immortalized herself, in the early days of the +Restoration, by saving her husband's life by her heroism. + +To the four Ladies of the Palace at the beginning of the Empire, Madame de +Lucay, Madame de Remusat, Madame de Talhouet, Madame de Lauriston, were +added thirteen other ladies: Madame Duchatel, Madame de Seran, Madame de +Colbert, Madame Savary, Madame Octave de Segur, Madame de Turenne, Madame +de Montalivet, Madame de Bouille, Madame de Vaux, Madame de Marescot. + +The Maid of Honor was for the Empress what the Grand Chamberlain was for +the Emperor. The Lady of the Bedchamber's duties corresponded to those of +the Keeper of the Wardrobe. The Ladies of the Palace were, so to speak, +female chamberlains. + +"We were all," said the Duchess of Abrantes, "at that time radiant with a +sort of glory which women seek as eagerly as men do theirs, that of +elegance and beauty. Among the young women composing the court of the +Empress and that of the Princesses it would have been hard to find a +single ill-favored woman, and there were very many whose beauty made, with +no exaggeration, the greatest ornament of the festivities held every day +in that fairy-like time." + +All the Ladies of the Palace were young, and almost all were remarkable +for their beauty. Among the most conspicuous was Madame Ney, a niece of +Madame Campan; Madame Lannes, whose face recalled the most charming +pictures of Raphael, and above all, the wife of an already aged Councillor +of State, Madame Duchatel (whose son was Minister of the Interior in the +reign of Louis Philippe, and whose grandson was Ambassador of the Republic +at Vienna). The Duchess of Abrantes thus describes this famous beauty: +"There is one woman in the Imperial court who made her appearance in +society shortly before the coronation, whose portrait is drawn in all the +contemporary memoirs, especially in those written by a woman, and that is +Madame Duchatel. Madame Duchatel would not serve as a model for a +sculptor, because her features lack the regularity which his art requires. +The indefinable charm of her face, a charm which words are unable to +convey, lay in dark blue eyes, with long, silken, lashes, in a delicate, +gracious, refined smile, which, disclosed teeth of ivory whiteness, and, +moreover, beautiful light hair, small hands and feet, a general elegance +which matched a really remarkable mind. All these things formed a +combination which first attracted and then attached every one to her." + +Josephine's First Chamberlain, in 1805, was the General of Division +Nansouty; the chamberlain who introduced the ambassadors was M. de +Beaumont; there were four ordinary chamberlains, MM. d'Aubusson- +Lafeuillade, de Galard-Bearn. de Coutomer; de Gavre; a First Equerry, +Senator de Harville; two equerries, Colonel Fowler and General Bonardy de +Saint Sulpice; a private secretary, M. Deschamps. The Council of the +Empress's household was composed of the Maid of Honor, the Lady of the +Bedchamber, the First Chamberlain, and the First Equerry. The private +secretary was also the secretary of the Council. The Chief Steward of the +household was also a member. + +The Lady of the Bedchamber had under her orders a first woman of the +bedchamber, Madame Aubert, who had whole charge of the wardrobe. Madame +Saint-Hilaire held this place under Josephine, as Madame Campan had done +under Marie Antoinette. Madame Saint-Hilaire's duties consisted in +supervising the chamberwork, in receiving the Empress's orders about the +hours of her rising, and of her morning and evening toilet. The first +woman of the Bedchamber had what were called the honors of the service +when the Maid of Honor and the Lady of the Bedchamber were absent. The +Empress had also ushers and women who discharged the same duties, six +ordinary chambermaids, a reader, the beautiful Madame Gazani; four +ordinary valets de chambre, and two footmen, trusted men always in the +ante-chamber. The ushers, who remained without the drawing-room where the +Empress was, never opened both the doors to their full width except for +the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial family; and they could not +leave their posts except to ask the Maid of Honor the names of those who +were waiting to be presented. There were two pages in the Empress's +service; the older carried the train of her dress when she left her +apartments, and got in or out of a carriage; the other walked before her. + +The Empress's apartment consisted of an apartment of honor and an inner +apartment. The first consisted of an ante-chamber, the first drawing-room, +the second drawing-room, the dining-room, the music-room, the other, of +the bedroom, the library, dressing-room, boudoir, bath-room. The entrance +to the Empress's apartment was controlled by etiquette like that to the +Emperor's. + +Josephine played her part as sovereign as easily as if she had been born +on the steps of the throne. "One of her charms," says the Duchess of +Abrantes, "was not merely her graceful figure, but the way she held her +head, and the gracious dignity with which she walked and turned. I have +had the honor of being presented to many real princesses, as they are +called, in the Faubourg Saint Germain, and I can truly say that I have +never seen one more imposing than Josephine. She combined elegance and +majesty. Never did any queen so grace a throne without having been trained +to it." + +Josephine had all the qualities that are attractive in a sovereign: +affability, gentleness, kindliness, generosity. She had a way of +convincing every one of her personal interest. She had an excellent +memory, and surprised those with whom she talked by the exactness with +which she recalled the past, even to details they had themselves nearly +forgotten. The sound of her gentle, penetrating, and sympathetic voice +added to the courtesy and charm of her words. Every one listened to her +with pleasure; she spoke with grace and listened courteously. She wanted +no one to go away from her annoyed. She always appeared to be doing a +kindness, and thus inspired affection and gratitude. Her courtiers and her +suite were her friends. Madame de Remusat, who was never too favorable, +was forced to recognize the charm which Josephine exercised over the court +by her tact, intelligence, and dignity. "The Empress," she says, "is +enchanted to be surrounded by a large suite, and it gratifies her vanity. +Her success in attaching Madame de La Rochefoucauld to her person, her +pleasure in counting MM. d'Aubusson, de Lafeuillade among her +chamberlains, Madame d'Arbry, Madame de Segur, and the wives of the +marshals among the ladies of the palace, turned her head a little, but +even this feminine joy did not lessen her usual graciousness; she always +succeeded in maintaining her rank, even when most deferential to those men +and women who lent it a new lustre by their brilliant names." She was very +kind, extremely soft-hearted, and always overwhelming her companions with +attentions and regards. Mademoiselle Avrillon, her reader, says: "I do not +believe that there ever lived a woman with a better character, or with a +less changeable disposition." She never dared to utter a word of blame or +reproach. "If one of her ladies," said Constant, the Emperor's valet de +chambre, "ever gave her cause for dissatisfaction, the only punishment she +inflicted was to maintain absolute silence for one, two, three days, a +week, more or less, according to the seriousness of the case. Well! this +punishment, apparently so slight, was for most of them very severe. The +Empress knew so well how to make herself beloved!" + +Her only fault was extravagance. She had an unbounded love of luxury and +dress. The jewel-case which had belonged to Marie Antoinette was too small +for Josephine. One day when she wanted to show some ladies all her jewels, +a great table had to be arranged to hold the cases, and, since that was +not enough, much more of the furniture was covered by them. Josephine had +the fault that accompanies this quality, for generous persons are commonly +lavish. Her extravagant expenditures came from her kindliness. She had not +the heart to dismiss a tradesman without buying something of him, and it +never entered her head to try to beat him down. Often she bought for vast +sums things she did not want, simply to oblige the dealers. There was no +limit to her liberality. She would have liked to own all the treasures of +the earth in order to give them all away. She sought for opportunities for +alms-giving. Many of the emigres lived entirely on her bounty. She was +always in active correspondence with the sisters of charity. She was the +Providence of the poor, and did good with delicacy, tact, and discretion. +Giving is not all; the art lies in knowing how to give. She seemed to be +the debtor of those to whom she made gifts. Naturally, with this +disposition, she got into debt. But Napoleon was there to help her; and +since he was economical by nature, he grew angry and scolded his +extravagant wife, and ended by paying. + +In fact, Napoleon could refuse Josephine nothing, and she was really the +only woman who had any influence over him. If he opposed her, she had an +infallible resource in her tears. She knew thoroughly her husband's +character. She knew how to speak to that mind and heart. She busied +herself with seeking what could please, with divining his wishes, with +anticipating his slightest desires. If he was the least ailing or annoyed +she was literally at his feet, and then he could not live without her. He +felt that when misfortune came Josephine alone would be able to console +him. She had brought him happiness with her gentleness, her tenderness, +her devotion; she had well deserved to receive the crown from his hands. + + + + +X. + +NAPOLEON'S GALLANTRIES. + + +Josephine appeared to have every wish, satisfied; her good fortune +exceeded her wildest dreams; never had a more wonderful romance actually +happened, and yet the Empress of the French, the Queen of Italy, was not +happy. A cruel passion which brings no pleasures, but only cruel +sufferings, disturbed her happiness and tormented her heart. This passion, +jealousy, which had tortured Napoleon in the early days of his wedded +life, now Josephine in her turn had to endure with all its keen anguish. +She felt that for her, a woman of forty-one, to hold fast the affections +of a man of thirty-five, covered with glory and full of charm, was a +difficult task; but this reflection, far from consoling her, only +disturbed her the more, and she made desperate efforts to triumph in an +almost hopeless contest. As was said by Mademoiselle Avrillon, her reader, +she seemed not to understand that if the highest rank is a safeguard for a +woman, because few men are bold enough to pursue her, the same is not true +of a sovereign whose glory dazzles the inexperience of the young, and +whose slightest attention arouses coquetry and flatters vanity. + +Josephine had not a moment's peace. In the hope of pleasing her, many +women of the court, who were, so to speak, on the watch for the Emperor's +attentions, hastened to torture her with their interested revelations. For +several years now her beauty had been fading. Napoleon, on the other hand, +had never been better looking. His health, which formerly had been +delicate, had much improved. He had grown stouter, and this was very +becoming. His head was like that of a Caesar. Full of self-confidence, +fortunate, flattered on every side, at the height of power, he imagined +that in love, as in war, he had but to appear to say, _veni, vidi, vici_, +"I came, I saw, I conquered." Many of the beauties of the time did their +best to confirm him in this good opinion of himself, and as Madame de +Remusat says of him, he in his court was not unlike the Grand Turk in his +harem. + +"The Emperor," we read in Constant's Memoirs, "used to say that a good man +was to be known by the way he treated his wife, his children, and his +servants. He added that immorality was the most dangerous vice a sovereign +could have, because it established a precedent for his subjects. What he +meant by immorality, was giving scandalous publicity to relations which +should have been kept secret; these relations he was by no means disposed +to refuse when they presented themselves before him." The faithful valet +de chambre goes on in an attempt to defend his master: "Others perhaps +would have succumbed oftener. Heaven forbid that I should undertake to +apologize for him; I will even acknowledge that he did not always practise +what he preached, but it was none the less a good deal for a sovereign to +hide his distractions from the public, to prevent scandal, and, what is +worse imitation; and from his wife, to save her pain." + +Napoleon was by no means so indifferent to women as he professed to be. He +was averse to being ruled by them, but he was far from being insensible to +their charms. Opposition exasperated him; all his caprices found many +obsequious allies ready to further his suit, and more than one woman made +a deep, if brief, impression upon him. His disdain of woman has, we are +sure, been much exaggerated. At Saint Helena he declaimed against women, +but his remarks were mere paradoxes, not meant to be taken seriously. + +Count Las Cases, in the _Memorial_, reports these remarks of the Emperor +to the ladies who shared, his captivity. "We Occidentals," he said, with a +smile full of malice, "have spoiled women by treating them too well. We +have made the mistake of raising them almost to an equality with +ourselves. The Orientals showed more intelligence and justice: they +declared they were men's property; and, in fact, nature has made them our +slaves, and it is only by our whimsicalness that they presume to be our +sovereigns; they abuse their advantages to mislead and control us. For one +who inspires us to our good there are a hundred who make us do stupid +things." Then he went on to praise polygamy in a very unchivalrous and +unsentimental way, saying ironically: "What cause of complaint do you +have, after all? Have we not acknowledged that you have a soul? You know +that there are philosophers who have weighed it. Do you claim equality? +But that is absurd; women are our property, we are not theirs; for she +gives us children, men give them none. So she is his property, as a fruit- +tree is a gardener's property. Nothing but a lack of judgment, of common +sense, and a defective education, can make a woman think that she is her +husband's equal. And there is nothing degrading in the difference; each +sex has its qualities and its duties: your qualities are beauty, grace, +charm; your duties are dependence and submission." + +Napoleon was often malicious with women; often he teased them; but at +heart he honored faithful wives and good mothers. His ideas were far more +moral than those of the men of the Directory, and his court was far purer +than that of the kings of France. We will add that Josephine was the only +woman he ever loved for a long time and seriously. The others appealed to +his senses, not to his heart. + +Fortunately for herself, Josephine had a shallow character; her +impressions were keen, but evanescent. The pleasures of sovereignty +outweighed the griefs. She felt that the crown was heavy at times, but it +adorned her and kept her young; and in spite of the jealousy it gave rise +to, the court satisfied her vanity and brought her sufficient consolation. +To the satisfaction of her pride she found another purer and more lasting +emotion, which she valued more, in the opportunity of doing good. She had, +besides, passed through so many vicissitudes in her life that nothing +could surprise her, and her soul, accustomed to suffering, was prepared +for the most violent emotions, the most terrible anguish. She wept +readily, but her tears were soon dried; the rainbow followed close upon +the storm, and Josephine would smile through her tears. + + + + +XI. + +THE POPE AT THE TUILERIES. + + +While Napoleon, proud in the possession of his new empire, was exhibiting +at the Tuileries his vast power and grandeur, the same palace was +inhabited by a holy old man, whose humility presented a marked contrast +with the conqueror's haughty spirit. Pius VII., who was quartered in the +Pavilion of Flora, led the life of an anchorite, with all the modesty and +piety of an old monk, fasting every day as in his convent, and edifying +even the impious by the nimbus that shone around his pale and mystic face. +It was impossible to approach this worthy Vicar of Christ without a filial +feeling of tenderness. The crimes of the French Revolution--the massacre +or the execution of the priests, the profanation of the altars, the +persecutions and blasphemies--had imprinted the stamp of melancholy on his +face. It was easy to see that he lamented the barbarities of the times, +and that his life had been full of anguish. He embodied all the sufferings +of the Church. With his ascetic air, his deep-set eye, his complexion as +pallid as ivory, his white robes tinged with red, the Sovereign Pontiff +had in his whole person something strange and imposing. He occupied the +apartment on the first floor of the Pavilion of Flora, where Madame +Elisabeth had lived from October, 1789, to August 10, 1792. The Abbe +Proyart, the author of the letter to the prisoner of the Temple, came to +offer the Pope a copy of this same life of Madame Louise of France, which +he had long since offered to the sister of Louis XVI. + +"I am living here," said Pius VII., "in the apartments of another saint." +What singular vicissitudes! The same place occupied in turn by Madame +Elisabeth, the members of the Committee of Public Safety, and by the Vicar +of Christ! + +The Pope had been very anxious before he started for Paris. His fears were +so great that just as he was leaving Rome, with a presentiment of the +captivity that awaited him, he had left his abdication in the hands of +Cardinal Consalvi, in case he should suffer any violence during his +journey. It was only with trembling and prayer that he had set foot on the +volcanic soil of France, which, from a distance, seemed alive with impiety +and terror. The unfailing respect with which he had been treated had +comforted him somewhat. Whenever he visited a church, the Parisians +followed him with mingled curiosity, sympathy, and veneration: they knelt +to him as he passed them, and received with all decorum his apostolic +benediction. Every day a large crowd gathered under his windows. He had +found his rooms arranged and furnished like those he occupied at the +Vatican, and he had been very grateful for this, which he called a really +filial attention. + +General de Segur, at that time captain and aide of the Grand Marshal of +the Palace, was entrusted with guarding the Pope's person. He says in his +Memoirs: "The same attention and respect was shown to the Pope as to the +Emperor himself. His rooms had been so arranged and furnished as to recall +Rome so far as possible, and to suit his tastes. As for Napoleon, we all +noticed his ever gentle and grateful gaiety, and his filial and +affectionate deference to his guest. When the Holy Father gave his +blessing from his window, and more especially at his audiences in the +gallery of the Louvre, which were always crowded, precautions were taken +against any outbreak of the indiscretion or levity to which the French are +prone. We saw the atheist Lalande himself fall at the Pontiff's feet and +kiss his slipper. In the public buildings which the Pope honored with his +presence he was received as a sovereign. No one dared to betray more +curiosity than piety; and it often happened to me to see this real saint, +the successor of the Apostles, whose venerable face bore the stamp of the +serenest gentleness, so frugal, simple, and austere for himself alone, and +so kindly indulgent to others, deeply moved by the intense and holy +impression he made." + +Every day the long gallery of the Louvre was filled with two rows of men +and women who had come to ask his blessing. Preceded by the governor of +the Louvre, and followed by the Italian cardinals and nobles of his +household, Pius VII. advanced slowly between the two lines of the +faithful, often stopping to place his hand on some child's head, to say +some kind words to its mother, and to offer his ring to be kissed. One +day, when he was surrounded by a crowd of prostrate and respectful people, +he saw a man whose worn face bore traces of irreligious passion, who was +moving away as if to escape the apostolic benediction. The Holy Father +approached him, and said gently, "Do not run away; an old man's blessing +has never done any one any harm." This remark spread through Paris and +made a most favorable impression. Pius VII. was not only respected, but, +if we may use the worldly phrase, he became the fashion. Dealers in +rosaries and chaplets made much money all that winter. In January alone a +shopkeeper in the rue Saint Denis who sold those articles is said to have +cleared forty thousand francs. All who approached the Pope had chaplets +blessed for themselves, their relatives, and friends in Paris and the +provinces. "The prolonged stay of the Holy Father," says Bourrienne, "was +not without influence in the return to religious ideas, so great was the +respect inspired by the Pope's gentle appearance and kindly manners. When, +the time came for him to be persecuted, it would have been desirable that +Pius VII. had never come to Paris, for it was impossible to look upon him +otherwise than as a man whose holy gentleness was a matter of notoriety." + +At Saint Helena, Napoleon spoke thus of this venerable Pope: "He was +really a lamb, a thoroughly good and upright man, whom I greatly esteem +and love, and who, I am sure, does not wholly hate me." + +It has been asserted that the Pope made such an impression in Paris that +the Emperor felt for the august old man a sort of secret jealousy. But +even granting, what is by no means certain, that he suffered from this, he +had at least skill to conceal it. Always the Pope was overwhelmed with +flattering attentions. The President of the Legislative Body, M. de +Fontanes, said to him November 30, 1804: "Everything else has changed; +religion alone knows no change. It sees the families of kings, and those +of subjects, perish; but resting on the ruins of thrones, it ever admires +the successive manifestations of the eternal designs and obeys them with +confidence. Never has the universe beheld a more imposing sight, never +have its people received more important lessons. This is no longer the +time of rivalry between the priesthood and the Empire. They have joined +hands to repel the fatal doctrines which threatened Europe with total +overthrow. May they yield forever to the double influence of politics and +religion combined! Doubtless this wish will not be disappointed; never in +France has there been so great a genius to control its policy, and never +has the pontifical throne presented to the Christian world a more worthy +and more touching model." The _Moniteur_, in its report of the coronation, +spoke with the same official enthusiasm "of the most venerable apostolic +virtues and of the most astounding political genius crowned by the highest +destinies." David, the artist, once a member of the Convention and a +regicide, then an Imperialist, painted the portrait of Pius VII., and the +_Moniteur_ in the number of March 30, 1805, thus praised the picture and +the sitter. "A large crowd gathered in the gallery of the Senate, to see +the portrait of His Holiness by M. David, member of the Institute and +first painter to the Emperor. This portrait is in every way worthy of the +master's reputation. If the first essential in a portrait is an exact +likeness, this one possesses it to a very high degree. The head, which is +admirably painted, expresses the indulgent and wise character, the +gentleness and reasonableness, that are so conspicuous in the model; the +eyes an expression, affectionate and paternal; the expression of the mouth +is most striking; one feels that it can utter only words of peace, +consolation, and truth." + +Josephine had for Pius VII. a feeling of veneration full of gratitude. She +was most grateful to him for having persuaded Napoleon, to have the +religious marriage for which she had long yearned. She, who had preserved +her faith, in the midst of an irreligious society, was happy to inhabit +the same palace, to live under the same roof, with the Vicar of Christ, +and firmly hoped thereby to secure good fortune for herself and her +husband. For his part, Pius VII. appreciated Josephine's good qualities, +especially her charity: he treated her as an indulgent father treats his +child. + +The second son of Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais was baptized +by the Pope himself at Saint Cloud, March 27, 1805. The ceremony was most +impressive. Eight Imperial carriages conveyed thither Pius VII. and his +suite. The gallery of the palace had been turned into a chapel. In one of +the Empress's drawing-rooms had been placed, on a platform, beneath a +canopy, a bed without posts. On the foot of the bed had been spread a +large cloak lined with ermine, to cover the child. In the same room were +two tables on which were placed what were called the child's _honors_; +that is to say, the candle, the chrisom-cap, and the salt-cellar, and the +_honors_ of the godfather and godmother,--the basin, the ewer, and the +napkin. The towel was placed on a square of golden brocade, and all the +other things, except the candle, on a gold tray. Preceded by the Grand +Master of Ceremonies, and followed by a colonel-general of the Guard, by +the Grand Almoner, the Grand Chamberlain, and the Master of the Hounds, +the Emperor, who was godfather, and the godmother, Madame Bonaparte, his +mother, went to the room where the ceremony was to be performed. The child +was uncovered by Madame de Villeneuve, Maid of Honor to Princess Louis +Bonaparte, and by Madame de Boubers, who was serving as governess. The +first one lifted up the baby and handed him to the godfather, who gave him +to Madame de Boubers to carry to the font. The Grand Master of Ceremonies +handed the salt-cellar to Madame de Bouille, the chrisom-cap to Madame de +Montalivet, the candle to Madame Lannes, the towel to Madame de Serant, +the ewer to Madame Savary, the basin to Madame de Talhouet. Then, they +went to the gallery, which had been turned into a chapel. Mesdames +Bernadotte, Bessieres, Davout, and Mortier held the corners of the +Empress's cloak. The godmother was at the Emperor's left. After the +baptism the child was carried back to his room with the same procession. + +That evening _Athalie_ was given, with choruses, at the court theatre. The +company on their way thither passed through the orange house, which was +aglow with colored lanterns. + +All day the park of Saint Cloud had been open to the public; the fountains +had been playing; shows of all sorts amused the crowd; the road to Paris +was crowded with carriages and foot-passengers. In the evening there were +fireworks: the palace and gardens were illuminated; there were bands +playing, and rustic balls. + +The Pope, who had reached Paris November 28, 1804, left April 4, 1805, +just when the Emperor was starting for Italy, there to be crowned at +Milan. Pius VII. had received some magnificent presents from the Emperor: +a gold altar with chandeliers, and the sacred vessels of rich workmanship, +a superb tiara, some gobelin tapestries, carpets from the Savonnerie, and +a statue of Napoleon in Sevres ware. The Empress had given him a valuable +vase decorated by the best artists. The _Moniteur_ thus announced the +Pope's departure: "To-day, April 4, at half-past twelve, His Holiness left +Paris with the prelates and others of his suite. A crowd of both sexes and +all ages assembled on the way he was to pass through, and received the +Sovereign Pontiff's blessing; once more he was the object of expressions +of the deepest veneration, and plainly manifested the emotions which these +expressions called forth." + +Yet Pius VII. was not wholly satisfied with his journey. He had received +much homage, but he had not secured any real political concessions of any +importance. He had been unable to settle the important matter of the +organic statutes, and nothing had been done about the restoration of the +legation on which he was so warmly set. Besides, he was much annoyed that +he had not himself crowned Napoleon, as the Popes, his predecessors, had +crowned emperors and kings. He, who later was to be a prisoner at +Fontainebleau, went away distressed about the present, anxious for the +future, and wondering whether his host might not say, with Voltaire, "It +is all very well to kiss the Popes' feet, but it is better to have their +hands tied first." + + + + +XII. + +THE JOURNEY IN ITALY. + + +The Pope had left Paris to return to Rome April 4, 1805. At almost the +same time the Emperor and Empress had started from Fontainebleau to go to +Milan, where Napoleon was to be crowned King of Italy. The code of +etiquette that prevailed at the Tuileries was observed on journeys. The +house in which the Emperor lodged at any stopping-place was the place +where all who accompanied him were to meet. A great placard on which were +written all the names, and where they were to be quartered, was pasted on +the front door. In the villages where Napoleon spent but one night he +received the local authorities, either before or after dinner. In the +towns where he spent more than one day, after he had eaten his breakfast +and held his receptions, he rode out to visit the fortifications and +monuments. The evenings were generally taken up by the entertainments +offered him. + +The Emperor and Empress reached Troyes April 2. A letter dated the 3d was +printed in the _Moniteur_. It said: "Everywhere the presence of the +Emperor has evoked the liveliest applause; the people seem astonished to +see him wearing such a modest uniform, and conspicuous, in the midst of +his court, by the plainness of his dress. The people of this department +exhibit this joy all the more because it is here that was brought up the +man who was destined to raise France to the highest glory and prosperity. +It is at Brienne that the Emperor received his earliest instruction. His +Majesty, being anxious to revisit the places that recall these agreeable +memories, started at two o'clock to-day for Brienne." + +On the steps of the castle in this town Napoleon found Madame de Brienne +and Madame de Lomenie, who had been the guardians of his childhood. He +treated them with the greatest respect, and took pleasure in recalling +happy and touching memories of the past. He recalled many anecdotes, and +told them in his usual vivid, picturesque way. He accepted their +invitation to dinner, played cards with them, and having found out their +usual time of going to bed, asked to be shown at that hour to the room +which had been prepared for him at his request. At dawn the next morning +he went alone, without escort, to see some of his old walks in the +neighborhood. He remembered a hut where he and his companions used to +lunch, and recognizing the wood in which it was, he rode through the shady +path that led to it. + +It belonged to a woman who in old times used to serve nuts, cheese, and +brown bread to the schoolboy of Brienne, the future Emperor. He was +delighted to see her once more, and asked her for the same repast which +had formerly been his delight. At first the poor woman did not recognize +the stranger; but gradually he refreshed her memory by recalling many +incidents of the past. Then she understood that she was in the presence of +the all-powerful Emperor, and flung herself at his feet. Napoleon lifted +her, and left her a purse of gold, promising as he left to provide for her +old age. + +The Emperor and Empress arrived at Lyons April 10. A quarter of a league +from the city, on the Boucle road, stood a triumphal arch, on the top of +which, as in the reign of Augustus, was perched an eagle supporting the +conqueror's bust. On the two side doors were two bas-reliefs, one +representing the union of the Empire and Liberty; the other, Wisdom, in +the figure of Minerva distributing crosses of honor to soldiers, artists, +and scholars. On these two bas-reliefs were statues of the Rhone and the +Seine. At the top of the arch was a flattering inscription in verse. + +April 12, the Empress held a reception. The _Bulletin of Lyons_ thus +described it: "The assembly was most brilliant. As our sovereign has +exhibited in his audiences profundity, affability, exact and varied +learning, and true greatness, so his august wife has shone with grace, +courtesy, and gentleness. Thus we witness a revival of that old French +urbanity and politeness of manners which have always distinguished our +court, and have made it an example and an object of admiration for all +foreign courts." + +The city offered Napoleon and Josephine an entertainment at the Grand +Theatre. The back-scene represented the Emperor, seated, clad in a long +triumphal robe. Two allegoric figures, representing, one, France, the +other, Italy, with their feet resting on clouds, held in their hands a +roll bearing this inscription: _Sublimi feriam sidera vertice_, "I shall +strike the stars with my lofty head"; with the other, they each offered a +crown to Napoleon. Thus did flattery renew the apotheoses of the Caesars +of ancient Rome. + +There was sung a cantata entitled _Ossian's Dream_. The young men of the +National Guard of Lyons and the leading ladies of the city waltzed before +the throne. Two young girls held each a basket into which the dancers +threw flowers as they passed by; out of these flowers the girls wove two +crowns which, after the dance, they presented to the Emperor and Empress. + +April 29, Napoleon and Josephine were present at a grand performance at +the Grand Theatre in Turin. They stayed at the castle of Stupinizi, just +outside of the city, where they bade farewell to Pius VII., who had +celebrated the Easter festival at Lyons, and was on his way to Rome. + +The Emperor and the Empress reached Alessandria May 2, at ten in the +morning, amid the roar of cannon and the ringing of church-bells. Napoleon +spent the day in revisiting the battle-field of Marengo, where he gave the +Empress a mimic representation of the battle he had won five years before. +From a throne he watched the manoeuvres executed under the command of +Murat, Lannes, and Bessieres. He had had the coat and hat he wore on the +day of the battle brought from Paris. The coat was somewhat moth-eaten, +and the odd hat would have seemed very much out of date if it had not +recalled such precious memories. But Napoleon liked to recall that +eventful day when he had managed to grasp victory when apparently beaten. +After the manoeuvres he solemnly laid the corner-stone of a monument to +the memory of Desaix and the other brave men who fell at Marengo. + +At Alessandria, the next day, he had an interview with his brother Jerome, +which in fact was a reconciliation. In 1808, after the breaking of the +Peace of Amiens, Jerome Bonaparte, who then, a young man of twenty, was in +the naval service, happened to be forced by an English cruiser to land in +the United States. There he had fallen in love with the young and charming +daughter of a rich merchant of Baltimore, Miss Elisabeth Paterson, and he +married her. Napoleon was unwilling to recognize this marriage. No sooner +had he ascended the throne than he at once exhibited all the feeling and +prejudices of a monarch who belonged to a dynasty of the most venerable +antiquity. He really believed that his brothers could marry only +princesses, and that any other marriage was an unpardonable mesalliance. + +If, possibly, Napoleon was able to condemn Lucien's wife for her past +conduct, no such criticism could apply to the wife of Jerome, who was a +young woman of conspicuous morality, intelligence, and amiability. But she +was the daughter of a ship-owner, a merchant, and thus was not a proper +match, he thought, for the brother of the powerful monarch who was already +dreaming of restoring the vassal kingdoms and the whole vast imperial +edifice of Charlemagne. He, the Emperor of the French, the King of Italy, +did not like to remember that he had wedded a simple subject, and that he +had been very proud of his marriage. He could not pardon his brother +Jerome for making a love-match. He would not even listen to his defence of +his young wife, soon to be a mother, and who deserved only respect and +pity, and who, humiliated, abandoned, and brokenhearted, was about to be +treated as a concubine, and driven away forever. Ambition had destroyed +Napoleon's natural kindliness. Yet, if he had seen Jerome's wife, a +devoted and interesting woman, warmly attached to her husband, and alive +to her duties, probably he would have taken pity on her. Possibly he was +himself aware of this, for he forbade the unhappy young woman to enter any +part of the Empire, and compelled this innocent victim of political +considerations to take refuge in England, as if she were a criminal. + +February 22, 1805, Napoleon had compelled his mother, Madame Letitia, to +place in the hands of a notary, Raguideau, a protest against Jerome's +marriage, on the pretext that he, having been born November 15, 1784, was +not yet twenty at the date of his marriage, and according to the law of +September 20, 1792, a marriage contracted by any one under twenty without +the consent of his father and mother was null and void. The _Moniteur_ of +the 13th Ventose, Year XIII. (March 4, 1805), had contained the following +lines: "11th Ventose. By an act dated to-day, all the civil officers of +the Empire are forbidden to receive on their registers a copy of the +certificate of an alleged marriage contracted by M. Jerome Bonaparte in a +foreign country, when under age, and without his mother's consent, and +without previous publication in the place where he is domiciled." A few +days later this appeared in the _Moniteur_: "M. Jerome Bonaparte has +arrived at Lisbon in an American ship; in the passenger list were the +names of Mr. and Miss Paterson, M. Jerome at once took port for Madrid, +Mr. and Miss Paterson have re-embarked. They are supposed to be returning +to America." + +Jerome, in obedience to the Emperor's orders, started from Portugal for +Italy, posting day and night at full speed, through Badajoz, Madrid, +Perpignan, and Grenoble, He says in his Memoirs: "Amid the mountains of +Estremadura, his modest carriage encountered the almost royal train of the +French Ambassador to Portugal. It was Junot whom he had left a simple +aide-de-camp of the First Consul, and saw again one of the first +personages of the Empire. Madame Junot, an old friend from childhood of +Jerome, was with her husband. This interview was a most interesting one, +partly from the deserted spot where they met, and partly from the great +events that had occurred since their separation." + +Junot and his wife found Jerome much improved. He had become more serious; +a certain gravity had taken the place of his youthful bubbling high +spirits. He spoke with emotion, respect, and affection of his young wife +whose pathetic situation was made even more disturbing by the state of her +health. He proposed to throw himself at his brother's feet, and by prayers +and supplications to wring from him the consent he desired. "No one can +doubt," he says in his Memoirs, "that his heart was torn by the keenest +agitations, to say nothing of the anxiety about his wife; the +mortification at two years of inactivity, during which his comrades, +friends, and relatives had worked, fought, and become great; the regret +for the lofty position he had lost; the hope of regaining it; his fear of +his brother's wrath which he had ventured to arouse, and which made kings +tremble on their thrones." + +Napoleon was to be inflexible; he refused to admit that his brothers could +be anything but members of the dynasty, future sovereigns. It was then +that according to Miot de Melito, he said: "What I have accomplished so +far is nothing. There will be no peace in Europe until it is under a +single head, an Emperor, who shall have his officers for kings and divide +the kingdoms among his lieutenants; who shall make one King of Italy, +another King of Bavaria, one Landemann of Switzerland, another Stadtholder +of Holland, and all with high positions in the Imperial household, with +titles as Grand Cupbearer, Grand Master of the Pantry, Grand Equerry, +Grand Master of the Hounds, etc. It will be said that this plan is only an +imitation of that on which the German Empire is established, and that +these ideas are not new; but nothing is absolutely new; political +institutions only revolve in a circle, and what has happened necessarily +recurs." A man with such aspirations and so near to realizing them, could +not endure the idea of being the brother-in-law of a simple ship-owner. + +Jerome arrived at Turin, April 24, 1805. Napoleon was then at Alessandria. +Eleven days passed before the brothers met. The Emperor had announced his +decision. He was absolutely determined not to meet Jerome until he had +made perfect submission. The unhappy youth still ventured to hope against +hope, but soon he had to recognize his mistake. Then his heart and soul +were torn by a hot conflict: on one side were his love for his wife, +family feeling, the thought of the child that was soon to be born, his +respect for marriage and for his vows; on the other, ambition, love of +power, the visions of the kingdoms that he might rule; on one side, the +smiles and tears of the woman he loved; on the other, the influence and +glory of the genius who filled the earth with his fame, and always +exercised a powerful fascination. Jerome, who was less sentimental and +less proud than Lucien, at last yielded to his terrible brother, and +condemned himself out of ambition never to see again the woman whom he +loved and cherished. May 6th he went to Alessandria, having first sent a +letter of submission to the Emperor. Napoleon before receiving him, +replied to it in these terms:-- + +"Alessandria, May 6, 1805. MY BROTHER: Your letter of this morning informs +me of your arrival at Alessandria. There is no fault which cannot be +effaced in my eyes by repentance. Your marriage with Miss Paterson is null +in the eyes of both religion and law. Write to Miss Paterson to return to +America. I will grant her a pension of sixty thousand francs for life, on +condition that she shall never bear my name, a right which does not belong +to her in the non-existence of the marriage. You must tell her that you +could not and cannot change the nature of things. When your marriage is +thus annulled by your own will, I will restore to you my friendship, and +resume the feelings I have had for you since your infancy, hoping that you +will show yourself worthy of them by the efforts you will make to win my +gratitude and to acquire distinction in the army." + +A few days later Napoleon wrote to the Minister of the Navy: "M. Decres, +M. Jerome has arrived. He has confessed his errors and disavows this +person as his wife. He promises to do wonders. Meanwhile I have sent him +to Genoa for some time." + +After his reconciliation with Jerome, Napoleon went to Pavia, where the +magistrates presented to him the homage of his new capital, and he entered +that city, with the Empress, May 8, amid the roar of cannon and the +ringing of bells. + + + + +XIII. + +THE CORONATION AT MILAN. + + +By descent, by his physical, moral, and intellectual nature, by his +imagination and genius, Napoleon was much more an Italian than a +Frenchman. His father and mother were Italians, his ancestors were +Italian, and Italian was his mother-tongue. His family and Christian names +were Italian. His mother spoke French with the strongest Italian accent. +He had loved Corsica before he loved France. As a child, he had felt the +greatest enthusiasm for Paoli, the Corsican patriot, and had then looked +upon the French as foreigners and oppressors. His face not only resembled +that of an Italian, but that of an ancient Roman. By a singular +coincidence, he had the head of a Caesar. Italy was not only the home of +his family, it was there that he laid the foundations of his glory. That +unrivalled country, as one of our poets calls it, had brought him good +fortune. There he wrote the famous bulletins of his first victories; there +he began to impress the popular imagination; and it was through Italy that +he subjugated France. There he felt at home. The people of that peninsula +greeted him as a fellow-countryman. He liked to speak their language to +them, charmed by its harmony and sincerity. His Southern genius rejoiced +in its bright skies which lent everything such lustre, and well suited the +conqueror's thoughts. He perhaps preferred Milan to Paris as a place to +live in. + +His formal entrance into the capital of his kingdom of Italy had been +skilfully arranged. Cardinal Caprara, the Archbishop of that city, had +great influence there, and he was never tired of speaking to his flock +about the services Napoleon had rendered to the Catholic religion. The +Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Segur, who reached Milan a few days +before the Emperor, charmed the best society of Lombardy by his pleasant +wit and delightful manners, and induced the most illustrious families to +solicit the honor of figuring among the ladies and officers in waiting at +the palace of the King and Queen of Italy, as Napoleon and Josephine were +called at Milan. + +The first visit which the King and Queen made in this capital was to the +famous Cathedral. There they fell on their knees, and the Milanese were +much touched by the spectacle. The _Italian Journal_, in its official +account of Napoleon's entrance into Milan, uttered these dithyrambics: "It +is impossible to imagine a more brilliant day than that which yesterday +adorned our capital, when Bonaparte, the hero of the age, our adored +monarch, entered within our walls. This day will be forever memorable in +the chronicles of our history. Milan saw entering its gates, bearing the +proud name of King, the same hero who had already been proclaimed +conqueror, liberator, peace-maker, and legislator, and who to-day, under +his august Empire, assures that greatness to which his victories and his +genius permit us to aspire. The Emperor entered by the gate named after +his most glorious triumph, the Marengo Gate." + +On reaching Milan, Napoleon exchanged the decorations of the Legion of +Honor for the oldest orders of chivalry in Europe. He received from the +Minister of Prussia the Black and the Red Eagle; from the Spanish +Ambassador, the Golden Fleece; from the Ministers of Bavaria and Portugal, +the Orders of Saint Hubert and Christ respectively; and he gave them the +broad ribbon of the Legion of Honor. When he had received besides foreign +decorations for the principal men of the Empire, he granted an equal +number of his own. May 12, wearing the broad ribbon of the Black Eagle, he +went with the Empress to the theatre of La Scala and saw the opera of +_Castor and Pollux_. The theatre, which was brilliantly lit, was crowded +with the fair ladies of Milan, resplendent in full dress and jewels. The +elegance and splendor of these deservedly famous beauties, the brilliant +diversity of the uniforms, the sumptuousness of the Imperial box, and on +the stage the magnificence of the dresses and the scenery, the skill of +the singers, all combined to make the performance most memorable. That +day, after mass, Napoleon had ridden out, and had inspected the troops who +paraded on the Place of the Cathedral. + +The Empress's grace and affability aroused general admiration. At the +reception of the upper clergy of Italy, May 25, she was thus complimented +by the Archbishop of Bergamo: "Madame, If charity were to descend from +heaven to relieve the woes of humanity, it would seek no other asylum than +the heart of a Queen, adored by her subjects. The feelings of love, +gratitude, and respect which animate all your subjects are the same that +lead to your feet all the bishops of the kingdom of Italy. Happy to find +in your august spouse sublimity, glory, and genius, and in you all the +charm of kindness, nothing is left for them but to pray for the happiness +of your reign, and to offer thanks to heaven for having united in the +souls of their sovereigns everything which can make supreme power loved +and respected." This speech will suffice to show to what pitch the +official flatteries were tuned. + +The coronation took place May 26, in the Milan. Cathedral, which is the +largest church in Italy, with the single exception of Saint Peter's in +Rome. The weather was magnificent. From early morning a numberless throng +crowded the Place of the Cathedral, the court-yards of the palace, and the +adjacent streets. Just as in Paris at the coronation, a wooden gallery had +been built, connecting the Archbishop's Palace with Notre Dame, so here at +Milan, a similar gallery led from the palace to the Cathedral. The +interior of the church was decorated with crimson silk stuffs. As at Notre +Dame, a large throne had been built at the entrance to the nave, +approached by twenty-five steps. Four gilded statues, representing +victories, upheld like caryatides the canopy above the throne. The four +figures held in one hand palms; in the other, the green velvet mantle +falling from the royal crown above the canopy. The Cathedral was +brilliantly lit by forty chandeliers hanging from the roof, and as many +candelabra fastened on the columns. + +Josephine, who had been crowned as Empress in Paris, was not to be crowned +at Milan, although she bore the title of Queen of Italy. She watched the +ceremony from a gallery. At half-past eleven she went to the Cathedral, +preceded by her sister-in-law, the Princess Bacciocchi, and was conducted +beneath a canopy to her gallery, amid loud applause. At noon the Emperor +and King left his palace, and reached the Cathedral through the wooden +gallery. On his arrival there incense was burned, and he was welcomed by +an address from Cardinal Caprara, Archbishop of Milan, at the head of all +his clergy. Preceded by the ushers, the heralds-at-arms, the pages, the +Grand Master and the masters of ceremonies, by the seven ladies carrying +offerings, and by the honors of Charlemagne, of the Empire, and of Italy, +he appeared in most impressive pomp. On his head he wore the crown; he +carried in his hands the sceptre, and the hand of justice of the kingdom; +on his back he wore the royal cloak, the skirts of which were carried by +the two First Equerries of France and Italy. As he entered the Cathedral a +march of triumph was played. He took his seat on the small throne in the +choir, having on his right the honors of Italy, on his left, those of +France. The Archbishop of Bologna, who held a place at the coronation of +the King very like that of the Pope at the crowning of the Emperor, +carried to the altar the iron crown of the old Lombard kings, and began +the mass. After the gradual, he blessed the royal ornaments in the +following order: the sword, the cloak, the ring, the crown. Napoleon +received from the Archbishop's hands the sword, the cloak, and the ring, +but he took himself the iron crown from the altar, and proudly placing it +on his head, exclaimed, in a voice that thrilled all present: "_Dio me la +diede, guai a chi la tocca!_"--"God has given it to me; woe to him who +touches it!" Then, having replaced the iron crown on the altar, he took +the crown of Italy and placed it on his head, amid unanimous applause. +Preceded by the same officials who had conducted him to the chair, he +walked down the nave and took his place on the great throne at the other +end by the entrance. The first herald-at-arms shouted, "Napoleon, Emperor +of the French and King of Italy, is crowned and enthroned. Long live the +Emperor and King." + +The same day, at half-past four in the afternoon, the King and the Queen +drove in a state carriage, with a brilliant escort, to the church of Saint +Ambrose, one of the most revered sanctuaries of Italy, and there they +heard a _Te Deum_ of thanksgiving. + +Mademoiselle Avrillon, Josephine's reader, tells us that Napoleon, when he +had returned to the palace, was full of the wildest gaiety. He rubbed his +hands, and in his good humor said to the reader: "Well! Did you see the +ceremony? Did you hear what I said when I placed the crown on my head?" +Then he repeated, almost in the same tone that he had used in the +Cathedral: "God has given it to me! Woe to him that touches it!" "I told +him," says Mademoiselle Avrillon, "that nothing that had happened had +escaped me. He was very kind to me, and I often noticed that when there +was nothing to annoy the Emperor, he talked cheerfully and freely with us, +as if we were his equals; but whenever he spoke to us he used to ask +questions, and in order to avoid displeasing him, it was necessary to +answer him without showing too much embarrassment. Sometimes he gave us a +pat on the cheek, or pinched our ears; these were favors not accorded +every one, and we could judge of his good humor by the way they hurt +us.... Often he treated the Empress in the same way, with little pats +preferably on the shoulders; it was no use her saying: 'Come, stop, +Bonaparte!' he went on as long as he pleased." + +The Emperor greatly enjoyed his stay in Milan, and breathed with rapture +the incense burned in abundance before him. The _Italian Journal_ in its +account of the coronation reached lyric heights: + +"The most brilliant day has lit up Milan; it has had no equal in the past, +and it offers the happiest auguries for the future.... Old men themselves, +accustomed as they are to praise the past, have exhibited the liveliest +enthusiasm. It was in vain that night struggled to draw its veil over our +city, it had to yield before the general and magnificent illumination +which brought out in lines of fire the shape and admirable form of the +Duomo. Most of the palaces and private houses were covered with devices +and inscriptions. The first one of the days consecrated to the liveliest +national rejoicing was ended by a vast exhibition of fireworks, which were +set off on the spot where so many have perished at the stake." + +The next day games were celebrated, in the manner of the ancients, in a +circus rivalling the Roman amphitheatres in size. This was the occasion of +a dithyrambic outburst inserted in the _Moniteur_: "The Italians have just +offered Napoleon the same spectacle that their ancestors offered Marcus +Aurelius and Trajan; but the presence of Napoleon has called forth more +joy and admiration, because it has aroused greater admiration and higher +hopes. They were but the preservers of Italian greatness; he is its +creator and its father. In the pomp of the games, amid the tumultuous +applause, the immense mass of people were to be seen turning their eyes +towards him alone, as if they were saying to him: 'These festivities are +but feeble expressions of the gratitude that all Italy vows to you for all +the good you have done her; and since you deign to accept it, since you +like to sit among us as our Prince and our father, these festivities +become an augury to us of still greater benefit. The day will perhaps come +when Italy, restored to this new life, may be able to adorn its circus +with the monuments of its own bravery which will also be the monuments of +your glory; and Italy, being never doomed to perish, whatever great deeds +may be wrought by Italians in the course of centuries will be due to the +hero who has recalled them to life.'" After the races there was a balloon +ascension. The courageous wife of the aeronaut Garnerin accompanied him +and threw down flowers to Napoleon and Josephine. "Thus," the _Moniteur_ +goes on, "in a single day, at one show, the Italians have combined the +proudest pomp of the ancients and the boldest invention of modern science, +together with the presence of a hero who excels both ancients and +moderns." + +The 29th of May was devoted to popular festivities. All the afternoon the +public gardens were crowded with musicians, singers, mountebanks, and +pedlars. In the evening the via della Riconoscenza, as far as the East +Gate, was lit by lampstands, and at the end of a long row there was an +eagle of fire holding on his breast an iron crown. + +Nothing was neglected to touch the national pride of Italy. An article in +the _Moniteur_, speaking of a poem of Vincenzo Monti's, said: "What +interest the poet has aroused, in recalling the glorious titles of ancient +Italy, the disasters and degradation which followed this period of glory, +in evoking the shades of those remote days, and after them, the shade of +Dante who, by the wisdom of his maxims, is superior to the poets of other +nations; of Dante, the most enthusiastic admirer of the former glory of +the Italians, the severest censor of the corruption into which Italy had +fallen in his time; of Dante, whose sole ambition was to prepare the new +birth of Italy! And how did he prepare it? By preaching union to the +inhabitants of the different countries of Italy, and to the public +authorities the consecration of power modified by the laws." + +June 3 Napoleon and Josephine went to visit an industrial and artistic +exhibition at the Brera. There they saw Canova's Hebe, and his colossal +statue of Clement XIII. "The desire of seeing and approaching the +sovereign," says the _Moniteur_, "had made the crowd larger. An +octogenarian who had in vain struggled to get to a staircase before him, +was hustled and knocked down on the steps by the eager multitude. The +Empress, who was following, ran to his aid. The Emperor turned back, +questioned the old man, who was more disturbed by his joy than by his +fall, asked him his name and a memorandum, and promised to look out for +him. This scene produced a deep impression, and Their Majesties were led +back amid universal applause and thanksgivings." + +At Milan, Josephine, who had become Queen of Italy, inhabited, with the +Emperor, the magnificent Monza Palace. But, perhaps, in all the splendor +of the highest point of her good fortune, she regretted the Serbelloni +Palace, where, nine years before, she exercised so beneficent an influence +on her husband's destiny, and had protected him with her affection, as +with a talisman. Doubtless the Empress and Queen would have returned +gladly to the time when she was called simply Citizeness Bonaparte. Then, +instead of the imperial and royal diadem, she possessed youth, which is +better than any crown, and her husband gave her something preferable to +any throne--his love! There the generals used to wear less showy uniforms, +more moderate salaries, but they were more enthusiastic, and unselfish. +Then Bonaparte's glory was less famous, but purer. When she saw Milan +again, after many years' absence, Josephine recalled all the happiness and +all the misery that had occurred meanwhile, all the grandeur and the +tragedy that had filled this period so brief, but so crowded with +marvellous events. + +There were many happy memories, but also many shadows! This look backward +was not without melancholy. When she saw the approach of the autumn of her +amazing career, Josephine could not think without secret sadness of the +splendor of its summer. While her husband proudly enjoyed his satisfied +ambition, she dreamed and pondered seriously. She desired once more to see +the places which recalled the pleasantest memories of her first journey: +the lake of Como, with the Villa Julia and Pliny's house; the Lago +Maggiore and Borromean Islands; the palaces of the Isola Bella and the +Isola Madre; all the enchanting spots which recalled the gracious memories +of youth and love. + +June 7 Napoleon appointed Eugene de Beauharnais Viceroy of the Kingdom of +Italy, and three days later left Milan with Josephine. In all the +principal cities of the Empire his coronation had been celebrated by +public rejoicings. Murat had given a ball at his castle of Neuilly, about +which the _Journal des Debats_ had said: "At the same moment when the arts +of ingenious Italy were displaying all their marvels under the eyes of +Their Majesties, French gallantry and gaiety were rendering similar homage +to the happy reign which had recalled them from a long exile." +Aix-la-Chapelle inaugurated the statue of the great Carlovingian Emperor +amid salvos of artillery and the applause of the Germanic populace, who +saluted at the same time the names of Charlemagne and of Napoleon. + + + + +XIV. + +THE FESTIVITIES AT GENOA. + + +The Italian journey closed as brilliantly as it began. After leaving +Milan, Napoleon approached the frontiers of Austria, against which he was +to fight before the end of the year, visiting the celebrated +quadrilateral, consisting of the four fortified towns: Mantua, Peschiera, +Verona, and Legnago. He was present at a mimic representation of the +battle of Castiglione, in which twenty-five thousand men took part on the +field upon which that battle had been fought; then he went to Bologna, +where the charms of his conversation were highly appreciated by the +learned professors of its university. While he was there a deputation from +Lucca visited him, asking him to take that little country under his +protection. He gave it for Prince and Princess, his brother-in-law, Felix +Bacciocchi, and his sister Elisa, to whom he had already entrusted the +Duchy of Piombino. Lucca was thus elevated to a hereditary principality, a +dependent of the French Empire, which should revert to the French crown in +case the male line of the Bacciocchi should become extinct. It was a sort +of revival of the old Germanic fiefs. Evidently the memory of Charlemagne +continually filled Napoleon's thoughts. Elisa thenceforth bore the title +of Princess of Lucca and of Piombino. She was a well educated and able +woman, of marked intelligence and strong will. M. de Talleyrand used to +call her "the Semiramis of Lucca." After Bologna, Napoleon visited Modena, +Parma, and Piacenza. The cities he passed through rivalled one another in +flattery. They voted him medals, statues, and even a temple, which, +however, the demi-god declined. + +June 30 Napoleon and Josephine arrived at Genoa, where they were to stay +till July 7, amid unprecedented festivities celebrating the incorporation +of the old Republic with the French Empire. It was a singular sight, this +enthusiastic reception of a Corsican by the Genoese. While at Milan, the +Emperor had received M. Durazzo, the last Doge of Genoa, who had come to +beg him to permit the illustrious Republic, famous for its historical +splendor, to exchange its independence for the honor of becoming a plain +French department. The offer was accepted. The home of Andrea Doria, the +city of marble palaces, that municipality once called "the superb" had +begged as a favor to be stricken from the list of independent states. It +contented itself with being the principal town in the twenty-seventh +military division, and its doge, dispossessed by his own desire, went to +swell the number of the Senators of the Empire. Napoleon took formal +possession of his peaceful conquest, and slept in the palace, and in the +bed of Charles V. + +The night festivity, given in the harbor, July 2, was, in the way of +picturesqueness, one of the most original and most beautiful ever seen. +The sky was clear, the sea calm, the crowd of spectators enormous. +Napoleon and Josephine, going down from the terrace in the garden of the +Palazzo Doria, entered a large round temple, magnificently decorated, +which was at once set in motion as if by magic, and transported by many +oars to the middle of the harbor. Four rafts, covered with shrubbery, +resembling floating islands, then drew up to the temple. The sovereigns +were thus, in open sea, enclosed in a vast garden with trees, flowers, +statues, and fountains. About this garden of Armida, thus radiant upon the +waves, were a multitude of boats, under sail or propelled by oars, moving +about, and their lights resembled the swarms of fireflies that in summer +flutter above the fields of Lombardy. The mild temperature favored this +joyous festival. The whole city, all the buildings, every vessel, were +ablaze with a thousand lights, and the glassy sea reflected numberless +flames. The darkness of night gave the signal for the illuminations. +Magnificent fireworks were set off from the mole, the jetty, and the ships +lining the entrance of the harbor. Music mingled with the joyous cries of +the multitude. The temple in which were Napoleon and Josephine was rowed +back to the terrace of the Palazzo Doria amid the applause of the crowd +lining the shore. + +The next day the Emperor and Empress were at a ball given in the old Ducal +Palace. "The presence of Their Majesties in this superb building," says +the _Moniteur_, "the kindness with which they deigned to speak to every +one, gave this festivity a touching character. All who saw and heard our +sovereigns, rejoiced in their new destinies. The concert was followed by a +ball, and Their Majesties stayed through the several dances, leaving about +midnight. Their path was lit by numberless candles. On their way they met +a multitude, delighted even at that hour, to be able to discern some of +our monarch's features." + +In spite of all these splendid ceremonies Josephine, though idolized, was +not happy. "In general," Mademoiselle Avrillon says with justice, "the +public has a very faint knowledge of the real feelings of those in the +highest station. Being often on show, they are obliged to assume a +fictitious character, just as they dress themselves for great ceremonies. +I have seen the Empress's sufferings, whom nothing could console for her +separation from her children, whom she loved above everything. Ambitions +were less to her than maternal love, her strongest feeling. The thought of +leaving her son in Italy, the fear of never seeing him again, or the +certainty of seeing him seldom, made her shed tears." One day when she was +in more distress than usual, Napoleon said to her: "You are crying, +Josephine; that's absurd; you are crying because you are going to be +separated from your son. If the absence of your children gives you so much +pain, judge what I must suffer. The affection you show them makes me feel +most acutely my unhappiness in having none." These words sounded in +Josephine's ears like a funeral knell. She saw the spectre of divorce +rising before her, and turned pale. From Genoa they went to Turin. +Napoleon heard there of the coalition preparing against him, and left +suddenly for France with Josephine. Non-commissioned officers of the +Grenadiers and the Chasseurs of the Guard served as escort, but they were +unable to keep up with the carriages, so the Emperor thanked them for +their zeal and pushed on without them. He did not stop once for twenty- +four hours. Josephine, who never tormented her husband by complaining, did +not say a word about the fatigues of this quick journey. After an absence +of a hundred days, they reached Fontainebleau, July 11. No one expected +them and no preparations had been made for their reception. Their +departure from Turin had been so recent, and it resembled a flight. The +Emperor did not wish to be recognized on the way, and burst into +Fontainebleau like a bombshell. The palace porter was an old servant, +named Guillot, who had been Napoleon's cook in Egypt. "Well," the Emperor +said to him, "you must go back to your old business and cook us some +supper." Fortunately the porter had in his sideboard some mutton-chops and +eggs. He set to work, and Napoleon ate this improvised meal with great +relish. Josephine borrowed some linen from one of her old chambermaids. +The Emperor asked for a full account of everything that had happened in +Paris during his absence, and began to draw up the plans which were to be +accomplished at Austerlitz before the end of the year. July 18, at one in +the afternoon, he arrived at Saint Cloud, accompanied by the Empress, amid +the roar of the cannon at the Invalides. That evening they went into the +city, called on Napoleon's mother, and went to the opera, where the +_Pretendus_ was given; the audience greeted them most warmly. After all +the splendor of the Italian festivities the time had come for military +preparations and warlike thoughts. + + + + +XV. + +DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ. + + +Austerlitz was to be for the Empire what Marengo had been for the +Consulate: a consolidation. In spite of the pomps of the double +coronation, Napoleon did not feel firmly established on his Imperial and +Royal throne. Opinions varied with regard to the stability of the new +regime. The Liberals missed the Republic, and the Royalists the Bourbons. +If the army and the people showed confidence in the Emperor's star, the +Parisian middle class was always cool, and business men observed with +anxiety the hostility of England, Austria, Russia, and possibly Prussia. +Paris was gloomy; business was dull; the absence of the court depressed +the shop-keepers; the theatres were empty; in short, the winter was +infinitely less gay than the one before. There was general uneasiness; +wives feared for their husbands; mothers for their sons. Every one had +become used to the peace which had lasted five years, and the renewal of +war inspired the greatest anxiety. + +As for Napoleon, he felt the need of some great stroke that should +astonish and fascinate the world. He understood that to maintain his fame +he was condemned to work miracles. September 23, 1805, he had exposed to +the Senate the hostile conduct of Austria, and had announced his speedy +departure to carry aid to the Elector of Bavaria, the ally of France, whom +the Austrians had just driven from Munich. Five days later he had started, +confident of success, and certain that he would find his people at his +feet on his return. The Empress accompanied him as far as Strassburg, and +established herself there to be near the scene of war and to receive +earlier news than was possible at Paris. + +Napoleon's letters to Josephine during the Austerlitz campaign have been +preserved; unfortunately, we have not hers to him. The Emperor writes very +differently from General Bonaparte. His letters are not the ardent, +passionate, romantic epistles recalling the fervid style and thought of +the _Nouvelle Heloise_. They are substantial letters, concise and +interesting, such as a good husband might write after ten years of +marriage, but not at all a lover's letters. Josephine, who was quite +observant, must have noticed the difference, but she had enough tact and +prudence to avoid complaint. 1805 was not 1796; Napoleon still loved +Josephine, but from habit, gratitude, and a sense of duty, not with mad +passion. He paid her much attention, held her in high regard, felt +sympathy with her, deference, and friendship, but scarcely love. Beneath +the vaulted roof of Notre Dame Napoleon had given to Josephine the +Imperial diadem, but he had not given her the true crown,--love. + +October 1 the Emperor took command of his army, which had assembled with +wonderful promptness on the Rhine. The next day he wrote to the Empress +from Marenheims: "I am still very well, and leaving for Strassburg, where +I shall arrive this evening. The advance has begun. The armies of +Wuertemberg and of Baden are joining mine. I have a good position and love +you." October 4 he wrote to her: "I am at Ludwigsberg, and leave to-night. +There is no news. All the Bavarians have joined me. I am well. I hope in a +few days to have something interesting to tell you. Keep well and believe +that I love you. There is a very fine court here, a pretty bride, and the +people are pleasant, even the Elector's wife, who seems very good, +although she is a daughter of the King of England." + +October 5 Napoleon sent another letter to Josephine from Ludwigsberg: "I +have at once to continue my march. You will be five or six days without +news of me; don't be anxious; it is on account of the operations we +undertake. Are you as well as I could hope? Yesterday I was at the wedding +of the son of the Elector of Wuertemberg with a niece of the King of +Prussia. I want to give her a present of from thirty-six to forty thousand +francs. Have it made and send it by one of my chamberlains to the bride +when the chamberlains are coming to me. Do this at once. Good by; I love +and kiss you." + +These five or six days of silence were taken up by the opening of +hostilities on the road from Stuttgart to Ulm, the crossing of the Danube, +and the occupation of Augsburg. From this city Napoleon wrote to Josephine +October 10: "I spent last night with the former Elector of Treves, who has +comfortable quarters. I have been on the move for a week. The campaign +opens with noteworthy successes. I am very well though it rains nearly +every day. Things have moved very quickly. I have sent to France four +thousand prisoners, eight flags, and have captured fourteen cannon. Good +by, my dear; I kiss you." Two days later the French army entered Munich in +triumph, the Austrians having been driven out of Bavaria. The Emperor +wrote to the Empress, October 12: "My army has entered Munich. The enemy +is partly on the other side of the Inn; the other army of sixty thousand +men I have blockaded on the Iller between Ulm and Memmingen. The enemy is +lost, has completely lost its head, and everything promises the luckiest, +shortest, and most brilliant campaign ever known. I leave in an hour for +Burgau on the Iller. I am well: the weather is frightful. It rains so that +I have to change my clothes twice a day. I love you." + +The first successes of the campaign caused great excitement in Paris, as +is shown by the letters of Madame de Remusat, no great lover of military +glory, to her husband, who had accompanied the Empress to Strassburg; +every day this lady would jot down what had happened, and her interesting +correspondence brings the period vividly before us. October 12, she wrote, +the absence of the Empress leaving her time heavy on her hands: "How +gloomy and ill we are in this odious Paris! Please tell M. de Talleyrand +that it is really something pitiable. Not even a word of gossip! In short, +we are as bored as we are virtuous. I don't know which is the cause and +which the effect, but I do know that I am horribly bored. The solitude of +this great city is really remarkable; the theatres are empty; I hardly +ever go to them." + +In two days there was a complete change. Paris woke up as if to a joyous +trumpet-call, and Madame de Remusat was full of happiness: "My dear, what +good news!" she wrote October 14, "... This morning the cannon announced +the victory to the city of Paris; it produced a great effect. Every one +was inquiring about it in the street, and congratulating himself; in +short, I send the Empress word, the Parisians were French. I have already +written twenty notes, and received all the visits of congratulation.... +But what a great victory! How proud I am of being a Frenchwoman! I +couldn't sleep for joy. Perhaps by this time you have heard of others, and +when we are rejoicing over the first victory, you have forgotten it with +another. May Heaven continue to protect this noble army and its glorious +leader!" This enthusiastic letter ends with these somewhat harsh +criticising of the Parisians: "This victory was necessary, for these sad +Parisians had begun to complain. The emptiness of Paris, its quiet, the +lack of money which continues to make itself felt, gave to the malevolent +a good opportunity to excite dissatisfaction, and they did their best to +spread it. I was wondering this very morning why in a nation so devoid of +national feeling there should be in the army such unity of action and +thought. It seems to me that honor has a good deal to do with this +difference, and that it takes the place of public spirit in many who in +ordinary times are too happy, too rich, and too careless to care for +anything beyond their own belongings." + +Napoleon went from one victory to another, October 18, just before the +capitulation of Ulm, he wrote to Josephine from Elchingen: "I have been +more tired than I should have been; for a week getting wet through every +day, and cold feet, have done me a little harm, but staying in to-day has +rested me. I have carried out my plan and have destroyed the Austrian army +by simple marches. I have taken sixty thousand prisoners, one hundred and +twenty cannon, more than ninety flags, and more than thirty generals. I am +going to attack the Russians; they are lost. I am satisfied with my army. +I have lost only fifteen hundred men, and two-thirds of these are but +slightly wounded. Good by. Remember me to every one. Prince Charles is +coming to cover Vienna. I think Massena ought to be at Vienna at this +time. As soon as I am easy about Italy I shall make Eugene fight. My love +to Hortense." + +The capitulation of Ulm was arranged by Napoleon with Prince Lichtenstein, +Major-General of the Austrian army. A heavy rain fell without cessation, +and the prisoners were amazed to see the Emperor, who had not taken off +his boots for a week, wet through, covered with mud, and more tired than +the humblest drummer. When some one spoke of it, he said to Prince +Lichtenstein: "Your Emperor wanted to remind me that I was a soldier. I +hope he will acknowledge that the throne and the Imperial purple have not +made me forget my old trade." October 21, the day after the capitulation, +Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I am very well, my dear. I leave at once for +Augsburg. I have made an army of thirty-three thousand men surrender. I +have taken from sixty to seventy thousand prisoners, more than ninety +flags, and more than two hundred cannon. In the military annals there is +no such defeat. Keep well. I am a little worried. For three days the +weather has been pleasant. The first column of prisoners starts for France +to-day. Each column contains six thousand men." Never had war been fought +with such art. An army of eighty-five thousand men had been destroyed +almost without firing a gun; its adversaries had lost only three thousand +men. After this great victory Napoleon's soldiers said, "The Emperor beat +the enemy with our legs, not with our bayonets." + +These chronicles of war have a sad side even when they commemorate the +most brilliant victories. Even while he counts the trophies the historian +cannot avoid melancholy reflections. What capitulations awaited France +sixty-five years after this capitulation of Ulm! But in this intoxication +of victory, people have eyes only for their success. Were they reasonable, +they would then reflect on the calamities of war. Hortense, who was as +kind as her mother, Josephine, had this wisdom and pity. She said, "When I +read these accounts I am surprised to find myself ready to weep even when +I am happy at the victories." At the time Madame de Remusat wrote to her +husband: "Poor creatures that we are, how restless we are on this +sandhill, and too often only to hasten our end! A good subject for the +philosopher is this glory, with which we adorn our eagerness in killing +one another." The triumphal music should not drown the sobs and cries of +the mothers; we should think of the dead and wounded. But nations are like +individuals: they never reflect. + +Napoleon pushed on the war with real delight. He felt about war as a good +workman feels about his work, as a great artist about his art. To war it +was that he owed his power and glory. Without it, he said, he would have +been nothing; by it, he was everything. Hence he felt for it not merely +love, but gratitude; loving it both by instinct and calculation. He +preferred the bivouac to the Tuileries. Just as the snipe-shooter prefers +a marsh to a drawing-room, he was more at home under a tent than in a +palace. To men who like the battle-field, war is the most intense of +pleasures. They love it as the gamester loves play, with a real frenzy. +They defeat the enemy, not merely without feeling, but with a fierce joy, +as if it were their prey. They feel the same emotions as the Romans in a +circus, or the Spaniards at a bull-fight. The rattle of drums, the blare +of trumpets, shouts of soldiers, are what they hear; their ears are deaf +to the cries of the wounded and dying. The varying chances of the combat, +the uncertainties of fear and hope produce in them emotions that they +prefer to all others, however poetic and charming. It is with a sort of +intoxication that they inhale the smell of gunpowder, perhaps even that of +blood. A hotly contested victory is more agreeable to them than one too +easily gained. Fortune is, in their eyes, a difficult mistress, whose +favors seem the dearer, the harder they are of attainment. What a +satisfaction for a proud man to be absolute commander of an army which, +before the fight, shouts like the ancient gladiators: _Ave, Caesar, +morituri te salutant!_ "Hail, Caesar, those about to die salute you!" an +army in which even dying men shout applause, with their last breath, to +their sovereign, their idol! And yet how petty is all this glory! Bossuet +was right when he said: "What could you find on earth strong and dignified +enough to bear the name of power? Open your eyes, pierce the dusk. All the +power in the world can but take a man's life: is it then such a great +thing to shorten by a few moments a life which is already hastening to its +end?" + +Josephine did not in the least share her husband's warlike tastes. Gentle, +kindly, affectionate, full of pity for human woes, she would have liked to +reconcile all parties, all nations,--to have universal peace. This woman, +who had all the graces and charms of her sex, never inspired Napoleon with +ambitious or haughty thoughts. While the war lasted, she was anxious, +unhappy; waiting anxiously with bated breath for news, scarcely living. + +Napoleon, wrote to her from Augsburg, October 28: "The last two nights +have rested me completely, and I leave for Munich to-morrow; I am +summoning to me M. de Talleyrand and M. Maret; I shall see them for a +short time, and then leave for the Inn, where I mean to attack Austria in +its hereditary states. I should have been glad to see you, but don't +expect me to summon you unless there should be an armistice, or we should +go into winter quarters. Good by, my dear; a thousand kisses. Remember me +to all the ladies." From Munich the Emperor wrote the following letter, +dated October 27; "I have received your letter from Lamarois. I am sorry +to see that you have been over-anxious. I have heard many details of your +affection for me, but you should have more strength, and confidence. +Besides, I had told you I should not write for six days. To-morrow I +expect the Elector. At noon I start to strengthen my movement on the Inn. +My health is very fair. You mustn't think of crossing the Rhine in less +than two or three weeks. You must be cheerful, and amuse yourself in the +hope of our meeting before the end of the month (Brumaire). I am advancing +on the Russian army. In a few days I shall have crossed the Inn. Good by, +my dear; much love to Hortense, to Eugene, and to the two Napoleons. Keep +the wedding present for some time yet. Yesterday I gave a concert to the +ladies of this court. The leader is a worthy man. I have shot pheasants +with the Elector; you see I am not worn out. M. de Talleyrand has come." +Again, from Haag, November 3, 1805: "I am advancing rapidly; the weather +is very cold; the snow is a foot deep. This is not pleasant. Fortunately, +we have an abundance of wood; we are continually in the forests. I am +fairly well. Everything goes on satisfactorily; the enemy has more cause +for anxiety than I. I am eager to hear from you, and to know that your +mind is easy. Good by, my dear; I am going to bed." + +Napoleon continued his operations with startling rapidity. He wrote to +Josephine November 5: "I am at Linz. The weather is fine. We are within +twenty-eight leagues of Vienna. The Russians are retreating without making +a stand. The house of Austria is much embarrassed; all the belongings of +the court have been removed from Vienna. You will probably have some news +in five or six days. I am very anxious to see you. My health is good." The +Emperor of Austria, compelled to leave Vienna, had sought refuge at Brunn, +where he joined the Czar and the second Russian army; and Napoleon entered +the capital whence the Emperor Francis had fled. He wrote to Josephine +November 15: "I have been for two days in Vienna, a little tired. I have +not yet seen the city by daylight, but have only passed through it by +night. To-morrow I receive the authorities. Almost all my troops are +beyond the Danube in pursuit of the Russians. Good by, dear Josephine; as +soon as possible I shall arrange for you to come. I send much love." The +next day he wrote again to the Empress from Vienna: "I am writing to M. de +Narville to arrange for you to go to Baden, thence to Stuttgart, and +thence to Munich. At Stuttgart you will give the present to the Princess +Paul. Fifteen or twenty thousand francs will be enough for it; the rest +will be enough for a present to the daughter of the Elector of Bavaria at +Munich. All that you heard from Madame de Serent is definitely arranged. +Bring presents for the ladies and officers in waiting on you. Be pleasant, +but receive all their homages; they owe you everything, and you owe them +nothing, except in the way of politeness. The Electress of Wuertemberg is a +daughter of the King of England; you should treat her well, and especially +without affectation. I shall be glad to see you as soon as business will +permit. I am leaving for the front. The weather is admirable; there is +much snow, but everything is in good condition. Good by, my dear one." On +the receipt of this letter, Josephine, who was most anxious to see her +husband, hastened away from Strassburg to go to Munich through Baden and +Wuertemberg. At the same time Napoleon set off to meet the Austrian and +Russian armies, commanded by their respective Emperors, in Moravia. + +We have in the Memoirs of General de Segur, an eye-witness, an interesting +account of the eve of Austerlitz. Late in the afternoon Napoleon entered a +hut, and took his place at table in the best of spirits, along with Murat, +Caulaincourt, Junot, Segur, Rapp, and a few other guests. They thought +that he would talk about the next day's battle. Not at all: he discussed +literature with Junot, who was familiar with all the new tragedies; he had +a good deal to say about Raynouard's _Templars_, about Racine, Corneille, +and the fate of the ancient drama. Then, by a singular transition, he +began to talk about his Egyptian campaign. "If I had captured Acre," he +said, "I should have put my army into long trousers, and have made it my +sacred battalion, my Immortals, and have finished my war against the Turks +with Arabians, Greeks, and Armenians. Instead of fighting here in Moravia, +I should be winning a battle of Issus, and be making myself Emperor of the +West, returning to Paris through Constantinople." + +After dinner Napoleon wished to make a final reconnoissance of the enemy's +position by their bivouac fires; he mounted his horse and rode out between +the lines. One moment he came near paying dear for his imprudence; he went +too far forward and suddenly fell on a post of Cossacks, and had it not +been for the devotion of the chasseurs who escorted him, he would have +been killed or captured, and he was scarcely able to escape at full +gallop. After crossing the stream which covered the front of the French +army, he dismounted and returned to his bivouac, from one watch-fire to +another, on foot. On his way he stumbled over the stump of a tree and fell +to the ground. Then a grenadier took some straw, rolled it up to something +like a torch, and lit it; other soldiers did the same thing; the camp was +illuminated, and the face of the great conqueror was plainly to be seen. +The next day was December 2, the anniversary of his coronation. "Emperor," +shouted an old soldier, "I promise you in the name of the grenadiers of +the army that you will have to fight only with your eyes, and that to- +morrow we shall bring you the flags and artillery of the Russian army to +celebrate the anniversary of your coronation." Every one shouted applause. +Napoleon in vain tried to stop them. "Silence," he commanded, "until to- +morrow! think of nothing but sharpening your bayonets!" Shouts of "Long +live the Emperor!" were repeated. Along a line of two leagues blazed +thousands of fires and flames. The Russians wondered what was the cause of +this unusual brilliancy, and thought the French were retreating. Napoleon +was at first annoyed by this rapturous demonstration, but at last he was +touched by it, and passing through a number of bivouacs, all brightly lit, +he expressed his gratitude to his soldiers, saying it was the happiest +evening of his life. Then he went to his tent, snatched a little sleep, +and when he rose in the morning, said, "Now, gentlemen, we are beginning a +great day." + +A moment later, the commanders of the different army corps, Murat, Lannes, +Bernadotte, Soult, Davout, came galloping up the little mound which the +soldiers called the Emperor's hill, to receive his final orders. It was a +solemn, impressive moment. "If I were to live," says General de Segur, "as +long as the world shall last, I shall never forget that scene.... Times +have changed quickly since then. Heavens! how great everything was then, +how brave the men, how glorious the time, how imposing the appearance of +fate!" Never was there a more brilliant triumph. "I have fought thirty +battles like that," said the conqueror, "but I have never seen so decisive +a victory, or one where the chances were so unevenly balanced." And then +full of admiration for his soldiers, he exclaimed; "I am satisfied with +you; you have covered your eagles with undying glory." + +From a military point of view Austerlitz was Napoleon's greatest triumph. +War, which he loved with all its risks and emotions, then showed him its +most tempting side. He was always tempting fate, and fate had always +favored him. The hour had not yet struck when he was to ask more of +fortune than it could give. As Sainte-Beuve truly says, it was not till in +the icy plain of Eylau, from the cemetery covered with blood-stained snow, +that receiving the first warning of Providence, he had a sort of terrible +vision of what the future held in store for him. Then he had before his +eyes a sort of rehearsal of the horrors awaiting him in Russia, and at the +sight of so many corpses, and the awful scene, he said with deep +melancholy, "This sight is one to fill kings with love of peace and horror +of war." But at Austerlitz it was very different. The shrieks of the +Russians sinking through the holes torn in the ice by cannon-balls were +drowned in the shouts of the victors. The bright sunlight of that day of +triumph dispelled, all traces of gloom in the conqueror's heart. + +December 3. Napoleon wrote thus to Josephine about his victory: "I +despatched Lebrun to you from the battle-field. I have beaten the Russian +and Austrian armies commanded by the two Emperors. I am a little tired. I +have bivouacked for a week in the open air, and the nights have been cool. +To-night I am going to sleep in the castle of Prince Kaunitz, where I +shall get two or three hours' rest. The Russian army is not merely +defeated, but destroyed. Much love." December 3, he had an interview in +his bivouac with the Emperor of Austria; and as if to apologize for the +wretched quarters in which he received him, he said, "This is the palace +which Your Majesty has compelled me to inhabit these three months." The +Emperor of Austria replied, "You make such good use of it, that you +certainly can't blame me on that account." And then the two Emperors +embraced. + +The day Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I have made a truce. The Russians +withdraw. The battle of Austerlitz is the greatest I have won: forty-five +flags, more than one hundred and fifty cannon, the standards of the +Russian guards, twenty generals, more than twenty thousand killed,--a +horrid sight! The Emperor Alexander is in despair, and is leaving for +Russia. Yesterday I saw the Emperor of Germany in my bivouac; we talked +for two hours, and agreed on a speedy peace. The weather is not yet very +bad. Now that the continent is at peace, we may hope for it everywhere; +the English will be unable to face us. I shall see with pleasure the time +that will restore me to you. For two days a little trouble with the eyes +has been prevalent in the army. I have not yet been attacked. Good by, my +dear. I am fairly well, and very anxious to see you." December 3, there +was another letter, also from Austerlitz: "I have concluded an armistice, +and peace will be made within a week. I am anxious to hear that you have +reached Munich in good health. The Russians are going back after suffering +immense losses: more than twenty thousand killed and thirty thousand +captured; they have lost three-quarters of their army. Buxhoevden, their +commander-in-chief, is killed. I have three thousand wounded and seven or +eight hundred killed. I have a little trouble with my eyes: an epidemic; +it amounts to nothing. Good by; I am anxious to see you once more. To- +night I sleep in Vienna." + +Cambaceres said that the news of the victory of Austerlitz filled the +populace with the wildest joy, which expressed itself in the most +extravagant flattery. The Emperor was treated like a god, and naturally a +sovereign so flattered did not control his love of war. It was only on his +deathbed that Louis XIV. said, "I have been overfond of war!" He said +nothing of the sort when the gates of Saint Martin and of Saint Denis were +built in his honor, when his statue was put up in the Place des Victoires, +when Lebrun painted the proud frescoes in the gallery at Versailles. Like +Louis XIV., Napoleon reproached himself with excessive love of war; but it +was not after Austerlitz, but after Waterloo. No man is worthy of +adoration; it belongs to God alone. Woe to the princes who are fed on +flattery! Extravagant laudation brings its punishment; even in this world +pride has its fall. + +The enthusiasm was universal; the victorious French could not contain +themselves for joy, and wholly lost their heads. Thus even Madame de +Remusat, who, after the defeat, had shown herself so severe, one might +almost say so cruel, towards Napoleon, wrote thus to her husband, December +18, 1805, after the news of Austerlitz: "You cannot imagine how excited +every one is. Praise of the Emperor is on every one's lips; the most +recalcitrant are obliged to lay down their arms, and to say with the +Emperor of Russia, 'He is the man of destiny!' Day before yesterday I went +to the theatre with Princess Louis to hear the different bulletins read. +The crowd was enormous because the cannon in the morning had announced the +arrival of news; every thing was listened to, and then applauded with +cries such as I had never imagined. I wept copiously all the time. I was +so moved that I believe if the Emperor had been present, I should have +flung my arms about his neck, to beg for pardon afterwards at his feet. +After this I supped out: every one plied me with questions. I knew the +whole bulletin by heart, and kept repeating it; and was glad to be able to +tell the news to so many people, to repeat those simple impressive words, +with a feeling of owning them, which you can understand better than I can +define. I missed you much in all my joy, which I should have gladly shared +with you; but in your absence I tried to communicate my admiration to our +son. Instead of making him finish the life of Alexander, which he has been +reading for two days, it occurred to me to have him read aloud the +_Moniteur_, and he was so much pleased that he said he thought it all much +greater than Alexander." + +Alas! thoughtful people should never forget how much greater is virtue +than success. In this low world no one takes a lofty enough view of +things. Not after defeat, but after victory, is the time to speak of war +seriously and sadly. If Napoleon in the hour of triumph had not been +flattered to excess, if at the proper moment the lessons of history, +philosophy, and religion had been enforced upon him, he would not have +rushed blindly into the gulf that finally swallowed him. Nothing is less +humane, less Christian, than the extravagant praise lavished on the +conquerors of the earth. Laymen and priests are equally to blame, for the +flatterers of conquerors bear perhaps a heavier responsibility than the +conquerors themselves. In the ancient triumphs, at least there was a slave +charged with reminding the hero that he was but a man; in modern times, +there is nothing of the sort; the hero can imagine himself more than +mortal. Why does not the clergy, instead of intoning a _Te Deum_, take the +part of that slave? Is it well to forget that those nations who are most +modest in success are bravest and most resigned in misfortune? Those whose +heads are turned by prosperity cannot endure reverses. For society, as for +individuals, nothing is more baneful than outbursts of joy and pride. The +vaster a monarch's power, the greater his need to meditate on the +fickleness of fate; but the lessons of wisdom are never recalled till they +are useless; they are whispered into his ears only when they can but add a +sting to defeat. + + + + +XVI. + +THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE EUGENE. + + +Both before and after the battle of Austerlitz a great part of Germany was +at Napoleon's feet. The Electors of Baden, Wuertemberg, and Bavaria the +last two of whom were to become kings by the consent of the new +Charlemagne, testified an enthusiastic admiration for him, and were all to +profit by his victory. The petty princes who were about to enter the +Confederation of the Rhine were his humble vassals, and paid obsequious +court to his Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. de Talleyrand. The archives +of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have to be consulted for an exact +understanding of their servility and flattery. Moreover, the populace +itself shared the feelings of their princes. The Bavarians regarded +Napoleon as their liberator. French manners and ideas were more than ever +prevalent on the banks of the Rhine, and Germanic patriotism pardoned +France the possession of the left bank of this river. If Napoleon had not +abused fortune, what grand and pacific things might he not have +accomplished in concert with Germany, and what progress might not have +been made for the harmony of nations, for civilization and humanity! + +We quote a letter written before the battle of Austerlitz, November 26, +1805, by the Elector of Bavaria to M. de Talleyrand, then in Vienna: "You +are the most amiable of men, my dear Talleyrand. Your two letters which I +received last evening have given me the greatest pleasure. How grateful I +am that you should have thought of me and of Munich when you are in the +most beautiful city in Germany, and hearing every day the famous +Crescentini! I do as much for you, Your Excellency, but the merit is not +the same. Every evening I express my regret that you are not here. M. de +Canisy has announced the arrival of the Emperor in a week. Six days have +passed, and I am hoping to see him in three days at the outside, and the +Empress, Saturday next. My wife arrived day before yesterday, very +anxious, as is her chaste spouse, to pay our court to Their Imperial +Majesties, and to offer them all the honors of Munich. Lay me before the +feet of the hero to whom I owe my present and future existence, and speak +to him often of my respect, of my enthusiasm for his virtues, and of my +heartiest and incessant gratitude. I hope that the coalition will soon +grow tired of war; in any event, the lessons the Emperor has given it the +last two months are of a nature to inspire disgust with it." + +November 10, 1805, Napoleon had written to Josephine to leave Strassburg +for Munich, stopping at Carlsruhe and Stuttgart. In this letter he had +said: + +"Be pleasant, but receive all their homages; they owe you everything, and +you owe them nothing, except in the way of politeness." He was not +mistaken. This trip of the Empress's through Germany was to be one series +of festivities and ovations. Before she left Strassburg she received a +visit from the Elector of Baden, whose grandson, the hereditary prince, +was, the next year, to marry Mademoiselle Stephanie de Beauharnais, in +spite of the opposition of his mother, the Margravine. M. Massias, charge +d'affaires of France at Baden, wrote to M. de Talleyrand, November 13: "My +Lord, His Most Serene Highness the Elector, has returned with his family +from Strassburg, where he was most kindly received by Her Majesty the +Empress and Queen. He invited her to honor Carlsruhe with her presence, +and to accept quarters in his castle when she should go to join His +Majesty the Emperor and King. Her Majesty the Empress seemed pleased with +the invitation and promised to accept it if circumstances should permit. +Before his departure, the Elector sent the Prince Electoral to the +Margravine his mother, to beg her to come to Strassburg to pay her +respects to Her Majesty the Empress. She replied that when the Empress of +Austria was at Frankfort and the Queen of Prussia at Darmstadt, she had +not left Carlsruhe to visit them, and that if the Empress of the French +should pass through that town, she should gladly pay her all the respect +and honor due her rank and character." + +Charles Frederick, Elector of Baden, was then seventy-seven years old. He +had lost his son, and his heir was his grandson, Charles Frederick Louis, +Prince Electoral, then twenty years old. The mother of this young Prince, +the Margravine of Baden, entertained no friendly feelings towards France; +and he was the brother-in-law of the Emperor of Russia, who had married +his sister, and was at war with Napoleon. His other sister, Frederica +Caroline, had married the Elector of Bavaria, and he was betrothed to the +step-daughter of this Electress, the young Princess Augusta. They were +said to be much attached to each other, but their plans of happiness were +destined to be sacrificed to Napoleon's imperious will, for he proposed to +arrange the matches of the German Princes as he did those of his own +brothers. The Electoral Prince of Baden and the old Elector, his +grandfather, far from complaining, only showed to the Emperor most +unbounded devotion. + +We may judge of their attitude and their respect by this despatch of M. +Massias, charge d'affaires at Carlsruhe, addressed to Talleyrand, under +date of November 23, 1805: "My Lord M. de Canisy reached here from +headquarters at four o'clock this morning, and asked me to inform His Most +Serene Highness the Elector that he had been sent by Her Majesty the +Empress, who meant to come to Carlsruhe within two or three days. I +promised to do this as soon as possible, and told him that great +preparations had been made to receive Her Majesty in a suitable manner. +The Elector, to whom I communicated this news at seven in the morning, +expressed the greatest satisfaction, and he has sent me word that in order +to carry out his desire to give Her Majesty a proper reception, he wishes +me to send a message to Strassburg to find out, 1, the exact day when she +will arrive; 2, the number of persons in her suite, and how many horses +she will need; 3, whether she desires to eat alone or with the principal +persons of her own and the Electoral court; 4, to ask to have at once sent +an official of the court to arrange the quarters and the ceremonies +according to the Empress's wishes. At Kehl, Her Majesty will find a +carriage and eight horses from the Elector's stables. Similar relays will +be placed as far as the frontiers of Wuertemberg. Her Majesty will be +escorted by the Electoral cavalry. She herself will determine the +etiquette to be observed at the court of Carlsruhe during her entire stay. + +"His Most Serene Highness, the Prince Electoral, will go as far as Rastadt +to meet Her Majesty. The Margrave Louis will meet her outside of Carlsruhe +at the head of his body-guard. Bells will be rung wherever Her Majesty +passes. The city will be brilliantly illuminated." + +November 28, at six in the evening, the Empress formally entered +Carlsruhe, which was amid a general illumination. At the Muehburger gate +stood an arch of triumph under which she passed. In front of the arch was +this inscription: _Pro Imperatrice Josephina_; on the other, _Votiva +lumina ardent_. At the entrance of the castle gate stood a little temple +bearing this inscription: _Salve_. In the middle of the garden was a +larger temple, in which was to be seen on a pedestal the Emperor's bust, +crowned with laurels and surrounded with palms. The inscription ran: +_Maximis triumphis sacrum_,--"Consecrated to the greatest triumphs." On +two pyramids was to be read this motto: "Love leads to glory." November +29, there was a grand reception and concert in her honor at the court, At +nine o'clock in the morning of the 30th, she left Carlsruhe for Stuttgart, +after an affectionate farewell to the Electoral family. + +At seven that evening she made a similar formal entrance into the capital +of Wuertemberg, passing under an arch of triumph bearing her name +surmounted by an Imperial crown. Soldiers lined the way from the gate to +the Elector's castle. The main street was decorated with Egyptian altars, +and was brilliantly illuminated, as was the castle also. The Elector, his +wife, a daughter of the King of England, and all the court received the +Empress at the castle door and escorted her to her rooms, where she +supped. The next day she sat on a platform at a state dinner in the white +hall. Afterwards the company went to the Opera House, where _Achilles_ was +given. After they had returned to the castle there were some fine +fireworks. These festivities continued until December 2, when _Romeo and +Juliet_ was given for the first time, and the 3d, at seven in the morning, +Josephine, after bidding the family farewell, pushed on towards Munich, +while the troops presented arms and cannon were fired. + +The Empress was not to stop between Stuttgart and Munich, but on her way +she saw many places that had just become famous in the war. As she drew +near them she looked at the plain where, a few days before, the enemy's +army had marched out before Napoleon and laid down its arms. From Augsburg +to Munich, everything made her journey most brilliant; arches of triumph, +bands of music so numerous that often their notes mingled with one +another, wreaths of leaves, successive guards of honor who joined her, +composed of the Royal Guard of Italy, at nearly every parting station. As +a letter in the _Moniteur_ says, "Enthusiasm succeeded to fear, the whirl +of festivities to the lamentation of battle; all that had been said of the +Empress's benevolence seemed still to make part of her suite, and it was +as if the Angel of Peace had come to visit these countries." + +The Empress reached Munich December 5, eight days after leaving +Strassburg. A salute of a hundred guns welcomed her. In almost every +street even houses were draped, windows adorned with transparent and +complimentary figures; the illuminations of private houses rivalled in +expense and splendor those of the public buildings. State carriages were +sent out to the city gates for the Empress and her suite, but Josephine +did not get into any of them; she kept on her travelling dress. This did +not mar the brilliancy of the entrance, which was conspicuous for +universal joy. December 7, she went to the theatre, where Mozart's _Don +Juan_ was given, and she was greeted with sound of trumpets and the +applause of the audience. + +The Empress had scarcely reached Munich before people began to talk about +an early marriage between her son, Eugene de Beauharnais, and the Princess +Augusta, the daughter of the Elector, but it was still merely a faint +rumor. The French minister, M. Otto, wrote December 16, 1805, the +following despatch on the subject to M. de Talleyrand: "My Lord,-- +Immediately after the arrival of Her Majesty the Empress, the rumor spread +that His Most Serene Highness Prince Eugene was likewise on his way to +Munich, there to conclude a marriage with Princess Augusta of Bavaria. The +rumor has taken such shape in the last few days that a foreign lady, who +has been most kindly received by the Electoral family, ventured to ask the +Elector if she might congratulate him on so desirable a marriage. This +Prince replied that he knew nothing about it; that his daughter was +promised to the Prince of Baden; that the two young people had the +strongest attachment for each other; and that only day before yesterday +the Electress had received from Baden a most affectionate letter on the +subject; and that he loved his daughter too much to wish to oppose her +inclinations. This is the first time that mention has been made at court +of a matter which the public supposed settled quite differently. The +Electress was present at this conversation, and corroborated everything +that was said concerning her brother's attachment to the Princess. This +anecdote, which comes to me straight from the castle, proves that the +Baden marriage is not broken, as has been said at Carlsruhe, unless the +Elector wished to conceal the truth from the lady who questioned him on +this subject. Inquisitive people have tried to make out the true state of +things by watching the conduct of Her Majesty the Empress and the persons +of her suite. The relations of the two courts are confined to politeness +on each side, to social attentions, in which Her Majesty exhibits all her +natural amiability, which wins every heart. Beyond that, there prevails +the greatest reserve." + +Maximilian Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, was born in 1756, and was then +fifty years old. He had lost his first wife, who had borne him one +daughter, the Princess Augusta Louisa, who was born in 1788. His second +wife, Caroline, a Princess of Baden, sister of the hereditary Prince of +Baden, to whom the Princess Augusta was betrothed, was then thirty years +old. Though not handsome, she was not devoid of charm, her figure was +good, her manners were amiable and dignified. The young Princess Augusta +was the ornament of the Munich court. She had all the freshness, +brilliancy, and charm of a young German girl of eighteen. As for the +Elector, he was an attractive, sympathetic man, who combined frank +joviality with tact, wit, and delicacy. He was tall; his face was noble +and regular. He liked the French, and they liked him; it was in France +that he had spent many years of his youth. As a younger prince of the +house of Deux Ponts he became Elector only by the extinction of the branch +of his family that reigned in Bavaria, In his early life he had no +fortune. In the reign of Louis XVI. he served in the French armies, +commanding the regiment of Alsace. At the court of Versailles, as in the +garrison at Strassburg, he had left behind him a reputation of good +manners and chivalrous gallantry. His soldiers, who adored him, called him +Prince Max. At that time he might have married a daughter of the Prince of +Conde, but his father and his uncle objected to this match, because, since +he was not rich, he would doubtless have been compelled to make some of +his daughters canonesses, and certain chapters would have been unwilling +to receive them on account of their illegitimate descent from Louis XIV. +and Madame de Montespan. He was fond of recalling the last years of the +old regime in France, and spoke most affectionately of that country, in +which he had been very happy. He was worshipped by his family, his +servants, and his subjects. There was never a kinder, more amiable prince. +Often he would stroll unaccompanied through the streets of Munich, going +to the markets, bargain over grain, enter the shops, talking to every one, +especially to the children, whom he urged to go to their schools. He was +at once familiar and full of dignity, and he was as much respected as +loved. There were many points of resemblance between his character and +that of the Empress Josephine, and they had a very strong sympathy for +each other. + +The Empress was ailing during a good part of her stay in Munich, and +whether for this reason or because Napoleon, who was always moving from +place to place, did not get his letters regularly, he was for some time +without news from his wife. He wrote to her from Brunn, December 10, 1805: +"It is a long time since I have heard from you. Have the grand festivities +of Baden, Stuttgart, and Munich made you forget the poor soldier who lives +covered with mud, rain, and blood? I am going to leave soon for Vienna. +They are trying to make peace. The Russians have left and are fleeing far +from here, going back to Russia badly beaten and sorely humiliated. I am +anxious to be with you once more. Good by, my dear; my eyes are well +again." + +Napoleon wrote again December 19, renewing his complaint: "Great Empress, +not a letter from you since I left Strassburg. You have passed through +Baden, Stuttgart, Munich, without writing us a word. That is not very kind +or very affectionate! I am still at Brunn. The Russians are gone; we have +a truce. In a few days I shall see what is to become of me. Deign from the +giddy height of your grandeur to interest yourself a little in your +slaves." + +From Schoenbrunn he wrote to Josephine, December 20, 1805 (29th Frimaire, +Year XIV.): "I have your letter of the 25th [Frimaire]. I am sorry to hear +that you are not well; that is not a good preparation for a journey of a +hundred leagues at this time of year. I don't know what I shall do; that +depends on what happens. I have no will of my own; I am waiting to see how +matters settle themselves. Stay at Munich, amuse yourself; that is not +hard, amid so many pleasant people, in such a charming country. I am +tolerably busy. In a few days I shall have made up my mind. Good by, my +dear." + +December 26, peace was signed at Pressburg between France and Austria. The +treaty gave to the Kingdom of Italy, Istria, Dalmatia, and Friuli; to the +Elector of Wuertemberg, the title of King and the Suabian territory; to the +Elector of Baden, the Breisgau, Ortenau, and the town of Constanz; to the +Elector of Bavaria, the title of King, the Vorarlburg, and the Tyrol. But +Napoleon had determined that these indemnifications should be paid for by +three marriages,--that of his step-son, Prince Eugene, with the daughter +of the King of Bavaria; that of a relative of his wife, Mademoiselle +Stephanie de Beauharnais, with the hereditary Prince of Baden; that of his +brother Jerome with the daughter of the King of Wuertemberg. + +Napoleon, accompanied by Murat, entered Munich beneath an arch of triumph, +December 31, 1805, at a quarter to two in the morning. This entrance in +the night, lit up by torches, was very impressive. The next day, January +1, 1806, a herald-at-arms, escorted by numerous horsemen, passed through +the different quarters of the city, and read the following proclamation, +after a flourish of drums and trumpets, while an immense crowd gathering +in every street and crossway loudly applauded: "By the grace of God, the +dignity of the sovereign of Bavaria having recovered its old-time +splendor, and this State having resumed the rank it formerly held for the +happiness of its subjects and the glory of the country, be it known that +His Most Serene Highness the powerful Prince and Lord Maximilian Joseph +is, by these presents, solemnly proclaimed King of Bavaria and of all the +countries on it dependent. Long live and happily Maximilian Joseph, our +very gracious King! Long live, and happily, Caroline, our very gracious +Queen!" That evening the whole city was full of joy, and the next day was +celebrated as a national festivity. + +Napoleon, having recaptured the twenty-nine cannon and the twenty-one +Bavarian flags that had fallen into the hands of the Austrians by the +chances of war and the occupation of the country, had decided to restore +to his faithful allies the trophies which they had valiantly defended and +whose loss they mourned. In the morning of January 2, all citizen soldiery +was under arms, lining the streets through which was to pass the +procession and their precious burden. The cannon were placed on carts +adorned with festoons and garlands, each cart was drawn by two horses +belonging to the citizens; the houses were also decorated with different +colored ribbons. All the young people in the city accompanied these carts. +The students of the Royal College of Cadets carried the flags. When the +procession reached the grand square, a large chorus, accompanied by a +large band, sang a song of thanksgiving and victory. The populace and the +soldiers mingled their cheers with this song. The procession then made its +way to the Church of Our Lady, where a _Te Deum_ was sung with great +solemnity. + +January 4, Napoleon wrote to Prince Eugene: "My Cousin,--Within twelve +hours at the most, after the receipt of this letter, you will start with +all speed for Munich. Try to get here as soon as possible, so that you may +be sure to see me. Leave your command in the hands of the general of +division whom you judge to be most capable and upright. You need not bring +a large suite. Start at once, and _incognito_, and so avoid both dangers +and delays. Send me a messenger to give me twenty-four hours' notice of +your arrival." The Emperor had decreed the marriage of his step-son with +Princess Augusta of Bavaria, but he had to go through certain formalities +to overcome the objections of the Queen of Bavaria, who wanted her +brother, the hereditary Prince of Baden, to marry the young Princess. Her +family pride and her inmost feelings revolted against the admission into +her family of a young man whom she looked on as an upstart. She sought for +pretexts and devices to delay, if not to prevent, this alliance. No one +would have dared to say at Munich that the Emperor's step-son was not +great enough to marry a king's daughter, but she found fictitious excuses: +it was said that the young Princess was ailing, and at another time that +she was suffering from a sprain. Napoleon, who sometimes played the +diplomatist, feigned to believe in these alleged ailments, and said that +he would send his own surgeon to heal her. He would gladly have returned +speedily to Paris, where he deemed that his presence was necessary, but +his Chamberlain, M. de Thiard, whom his previous negotiations had made +familiar with the secrets of the Bavarian court, advised him to stay in +Munich until the marriage was absolutely settled. "Very well," said the +Emperor; "but do you know that while I am here, your Faubourg Saint +Germain is making a run on my bank, and that my stay in Munich costs me +fifteen hundred thousand francs a day?" M. de Thiard insisted, and dared +to show Napoleon the Queen of Bavaria's ever-present recollection of the +Duke of Enghien, which was the secret cause of her aversion to the +projected alliance. But this opposition could hold out for only a few +hours; no one then dared to brave the Imperial wrath. The Queen, fearing +that Napoleon's surgeon would discover that the Princess's alleged +sufferings were only an excuse, yielded to the wishes of the hero of +Austerlitz. The marriage was announced even before the couple had met. +Everything was done in military fashion. Orders were issued that they +should love, and they loved. + +There is this to be said in behalf of Napoleon; that in the whole matter +he made no use of harsh words or rough manners. He appeared in an +attractive, not in a threatening light, and by dint of appearing smitten +with the Queen of Bavaria, even aroused Josephine's jealousy. + +Prince Eugene arrived, as commanded, January 10. He had the good fortune +to please; but even if he had not pleased it would have made no +difference. As soon as he reached Munich, after travelling day and night, +the Emperor took possession of him and never left him. The Empress was +still in bed when her son's arrival was announced. She was much moved, and +began to cry at the thought that his first visit was not to her. A moment +later, while she was still agitated, she saw the Emperor burst into her +room, holding the young Prince by the hand, and pushing him forward as he +exclaimed: "Here, Madame, is your great booby of a son whom I'm bringing +to you." Josephine burst into tears, and pressed her son to her heart. + +Eugene de Beauharnais, a French Prince, and Viceroy of Italy, was then +twenty-four years old. Mademoiselle Avrillon, reader to the Empress, thus +draws his portrait: "Prince Eugene's face, although in no way remarkable, +was rather well than ill favored; he was of medium height, well +proportioned, and stoutly made. He excelled in all sorts of corporeal +exercises, and was an accomplished dancer. Kind, frank, simple in his +manners, without haughtiness or reserve, he was courteous to every one; +and although he was not devoid of deep feelings, his most striking trait +was persistent good spirits. He was very fond of music, and sang very +well, especially Italian songs, which all his family preferred. As he was +young, he naturally paid many women attention, as I have often seen, but +he always treated them with great respect." Napoleon was very fond of him, +and looked upon him as his pupil, as his own child. He was delighted with +the way Eugene discharged his duties as Viceroy, and when he received his +despatches he exclaimed in the presence of several marshals, "I knew very +well to whom I had entrusted my sword in Italy." He often gratified +Josephine by saying, "Eugene may serve as a model to all the young men of +his age." + +The young Prince showed great tact and intelligence in his first meetings +with his future wife. He sought every means of pleasing her, paid her +assiduous court, as if their marriage was still undetermined. He was able +to overcome the Princess's prejudices, for she had given her consent only +at the last moment, as a victim sacrificed for reasons of state. Her +father, the King, dreading the excitement of an interview, had written to +her a letter, in which he set out all the advantages of the match desired +by the Emperor, vaunted the good qualities of the young and dashing +Viceroy of Italy, an to prove that it was a brilliant match, revealed to +her what was then unknown, that at Pressburg the Austrian Minister had +offered to Napoleon for his step-son the hand of one of their +Archduchesses. "Consider, dear Augusta, that a refusal would make the +Emperor as much the enemy as he has been hitherto the friend of our +house." And he ended his letter with a last appeal to his daughter's +patriotic devotion. The young Princess replied by writing: "I place my +fate in your hands; however cruel it may be, it will be softened by the +knowledge that I am sacrificed for my father, my family, and my country. +On her knees your daughter prays for your blessing; it will aid me to bear +my sad lot with resignation." The girl's unhappiness soon gave way to joy. +The Empress had spoken to her most warmly of Eugene's qualities, his +bravery, loyalty, and gallantry, and the Princess found out that Josephine +was right. She forgot her cousin, the Prince of Baden, fell +instantaneously in love with Eugene, and this marriage for reasons of +state turned out to be a love match. It was celebrated with great pomp in +the Royal Chapel, January 14, four days after the bridegroom's arrival at +Munich. The Emperor adopted Prince Eugene, and gave in the marriage +contract the name of Napoleon Eugene of France. This adoption wrought a +great change in their correspondence; previously the Emperor when he wrote +to the Viceroy addressed him as, "My Cousin"; henceforth he always wrote, +"My Son." Madame Murat, who was then at Munich, was pained to see that the +new Vice-Queen, as wife of the Emperor's adopted son, took precedence of +her at all ceremonies, and she feigned an illness to avoid what seemed to +her an affront. + +On her wedding day the Princess charmed every one by her grace. She was +tall, well shaped, with the figure of a nymph, and a face in which +sweetness was blended with dignity. Moreover, she was very well educated, +was pious and modest, and the possessor of all the family virtues. In +short, she was a model wife and mother. She wrote to the Emperor a letter +of thanks that touched him. He answered it, January 27: "My Daughter,-- +Your letter is as amiable as you are yourself. My feelings for you will +only grow from day to day; this I know from my pleasure in recalling your +fine qualities, and from the need I feel for your frequent assurance that +you are satisfied with every one and happy with your husband. Amid all I +have to do, nothing will be dearer to me than the chance to assure my +children's happiness. Be sure, Augusta, that I love you like a father, and +that I count on a daughter's affection for me. Travel slowly, and be +careful in the new climate when you get there, and take plenty of rest." + +January 21, Prince Eugene left Munich with his young wife for Milan. The +next day M. Otto, the French Minister, wrote to M. de Talleyrand: "His +Imperial Highness Prince Eugene left yesterday morning with his young +wife. The King escorted them to their carriage with every indication of +affection. It was noticed that in taking leave of the Prince he embraced +him several times. The separation cost the Princess some tears. Their +departure was announced by firing a hundred guns. The best wishes of all +good Bavarians accompanied the pair. The stay of the French court at +Munich has left the deepest and most lasting impression. The Emperor's +greatness and power were known, but the effect of his extreme kindness and +magnificence had to be seen at a closer view to be appreciated. I feel +able to assure His Majesty that the Bavarian nation will always be his +faithful and devoted allies. So many happy memories are attached to this +period of our history that His Majesty can flatter himself that he has +accomplished the most difficult of all conquests,--that of the love of the +people who have witnessed his successes." + +While the Viceroy and Vice-Queen of Italy were proceeding towards Milan, +the Emperor and the Empress were on their way to France, stopping at +Stuttgart and Carlsruhe, where they were warmly greeted. January 20, 1806, +they found an arch of triumph built on a Roman model at Entzberg, in +Baden. It bore this inscription: _Imperatori Napoleoni triumphatori +augusto_. The bas-relief represented the capture of Ulm and the delivery +of the keys of Vienna. Columns and obelisks had been erected at Carlsruhe +with these inscriptions: _Hostium victori.--Patriam servavit.--Pacem +restituit_. In front of the castle had been built a temple of Peace. At +the French frontier stood an arch of triumph with this inscription: _Heroi +reduci Galliae plaudunt_,--"Gaul applauds the returning hero." The bas- +reliefs represented the battle of Austerlitz and the interview between the +two Emperors. In the night of January 26, Napoleon and Josephine were back +at the Tuileries. Prince Eugene's marriage put a happy ending to the +campaign just finished. To create a king and to give to his step-son the +hand of this king's daughter was a stroke of imagination on Napoleon's +part that did honor to his omnipotence. The accounts of the triumphal +festivities in Munich, Stuttgart, and Carlsruhe followed close upon the +bulletins announcing the victories of the Grand Army, and produced a great +impression in both Germany and France. + + + + +XVII. + +PARIS IN THE BEGINNING OF 1806. + + +Napoleon arranged his return with the utmost skill. His prolonged stay at +Munich kept alive the impatience of the Parisians for his return, and +meanwhile there was a constant stream of flattery and enthusiasm. January +1, 1806, had just put an end to the Republican calendar, which had existed +for thirteen years, three months, and a few days. The Year XIV. found +itself suddenly interrupted by the return to the Gregorian calendar. Thus +vanished the last trace of the Republic. The same day the new year was +inaugurated with a patriotic ceremony. The Tribune carried with great +solemnity to the Senate the forty-four Russian and Austrian flags which +the hero of Austerlitz had entrusted to its care. All the houses in the +streets through which the procession was to pass were decorated. In front +of many of them were to be seen the Emperor's bust crowned with laurels. +The ever lyrical _Moniteur_ said: "At the sight of these noble spoils, +these startling proofs of the heroism of the French army, all hearts +seemed to meet in a common feeling of admiration and gratitude which was +but faintly expressed by the shouts issuing from the crowd and from every +window, of 'Long live the Emperor!' 'Hurrah for the Grand Army!' 'Victory, +victory!' 'Long live the Emperor!' It was in this way that the people of +Paris, of all classes, of both sexes, of all ages, manifested in the most +vivid and unanimous way their devotion and gratitude to His Majesty and +his victorious armies." + +One Tribune, M. Joubert, exclaimed: "Is not Napoleon the man of history, +the man of all ages? May we not say that there is something supernatural +in him, since it is true that God disposes of the fate of empires, and +that Napoleon the Great gladly submits everything to Providence and +ascribes everything to religion?" In their official enthusiasm the +Tribunes, as accomplished courtiers, made one motion after another. One +proposed that the Emperor on his return should receive triumphal honors, +like those of ancient Rome, and the city of Paris should go to meet him. +Another suggested that the sword which he wore at the battle of Austerlitz +should be solemnly consecrated and placed in some public monument. Another +expressed a desire that on one of the principal places in the city a +column should be set up, bearing the Emperor's statue, with this +inscription: "To Napoleon the Great, the grateful country." The Senate, +with similar zeal, hastened to carry out the plan by a decree. + +The Parisians, who always worship success of monarches, generals, or +artists, then felt the wildest admiration for the victorious Napoleon. The +_Moniteur_ was full of dithyrambic eulogies, in prose and verse. Flattery +appeared as it had never appeared before. Bishops became conspicuous for +their ardent praise; some phrases from their charges may be quoted. Thus +the Bishop of Versailles said: "God says: 'No one shall resist him, whom I +have clothed with a special mission to re-establish my worship, to lead my +chosen people; no one will resist him because I am with him, and he is +with me. _Dem cum eo_.'" + +The Bishop of Bayonne; "Behold our enemies ones more defeated. Let +incredulity be silent and the atheist confounded. Our annals will be the +story of the wonders of Providence... Widows, cease to bemoan the loss of +a loved husband; you are not left alone; you belong to the country. +Orphans, you have found another father; Napoleon has adopted you." + +The Bishop of Rennes: "Did not those kings know, or did they forget in +their delirium, that the French nation is now the first nation in the +world? Did they not know that the man who governs it is the most +astounding man in the world, and the greatest warrior history has ever +known?" + +The Bishop of Coutances: "The Almighty wishes Napoleon to attain this new +glory and hence impresses upon him a sort of divine character. He wishes +him to attain it on the day and at the same hour that the Sovereign +Pontiff, one year ago, poured on his brow the holy oil." + +The Bishop of Montpellier: "Let the earth be shaken, and the mountains +cast into the bosom of the seas; our God blesses the views, the wisdom, +the talents, and the courage of our august monarch." + +The Emperor, in dividing the flags which he had captured from Russia and +Austria, had given fifty-four to the Senate, eight to the Tribunes, eight +to the city of Paris, and fifty to the church of Notre Dame, which he +wished to adorn with his trophies as the Marshal of Luxembourg had done in +the reign of Louis XIV. The day when these fifty flags were given to the +Cathedral the Cardinal Archbishop of France said, "O Posterity, when you +read our history you will imagine that you are reading anew the fall of +the walls of Jericho, and listening to the miraculous deeds of Joshua, +David, and Judas Maccabaeus. _Benedictus Dominus qui facit mirabilia +solus_.... God of Marengo, you declare yourself the God of Austerlitz; and +the German eagle, the Russian eagle, abandoned by you, became the prey of +the French eagle, which you never cease to protect." A singular piece of +flattery this, to call the Creator of the universe--of which this earth is +not a millionth part--the God of a village, because near this village a +man has wrought the death of many other men! + +Paris seemed to have recovered its ardor of the first days of the +Revolution in order to salute the triumphant hero. The day of his arrival, +January 27, 1806, the managers of the bank, anxious that his presence +should be the signal for public prosperity, ordered the resumption of +specie payments. The Opera celebrated his return and that of the Empress +by a grand performance which took place February 4. The bills announced +the _Pretendus_ and a divertisement, The public knew that this +divertisement was to be a sort of apotheosis in honor of the Imperial +glories. The house was crowded, and the passages themselves were crammed +by the enthusiastic crowd. During the second act of the _Pretendus_ there +was great excitement over the arrival of Napoleon and Josephine. Applause +resounded from every side. Ladies distributed laurel branches, which all +the spectators waved, shouting, "Long live the Emperor!" Musicians played +the chorus of the _Caravan_. Meanwhile, the scenery of the _Pretendus_ +disappeared, and applause began over the magnificent decorations that took +its place. It was a semicircular enclosure with trophies forming a +colonnade showing the course of the Seine from the Pont Neuf to the +western limit of Paris, showing the Louvre, which Napoleon had promised to +complete, the Pont des Arts, the Palais de la Monnaie, the Tuileries, and +in the misty distance the Champs Elysees overlooking this fine view. The +interior of the enclosure was adorned with garlands and crowded with +people, awaiting the return of the Grand Army. This appeared with a +military march: the sappers in front with their axes and white aprons; the +grenadiers of the Guard with their high fur caps; the artillerymen with +their black caps; the dragoons with their double armor; the Mamelukes with +their scimetars. Then came the Bavarians, worthy comrades of Napoleon's +soldiers. The people applauded their defenders. Pupils of the military +schools sprang into the ranks to welcome their fathers, while old men +embraced their children. A general chorus was heard. Then a warrior came +to the front of the stage and celebrated in a hymn the marvels of the +campaign of Austerlitz. This was followed by a ballet of foreign nations, +in which joined French peasants and girls in the dress of their provinces, +from Caux and Alsace, Provence, Bearn, Auvergne, and the Alps. After the +dances came songs,--the words by Esmenard, author of the _Navigation_, the +music by Stobelt. The marches, evolutions, and ballet were arranged by +Gardel. The principal stanzas were sung by the most distinguished artists, +Lainez, Lais, Madame Armand, Madame Branchu. When it was all over, the +Emperor and the Empress withdrew amid applause, and there was sung the +_Vivat_ of Abbe Rose which had made such a success at Notre Dame on +Coronation Day, and was as warmly applauded at the Opera as it had been in +the Cathedral. + + + + +XVIII. + +THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF BADEN. + + +If anything is capable of proving the admiration, terror, and fascination +that the hero of Austerlitz exercised over Europe, and especially over +Germany, in 1806, it is certainly the marriage of the hereditary Prince of +Baden with Mademoiselle Stephanie de Beauharnais. It was a curious sight! +A Prince belonging to one of the oldest and most illustrious families in +the world, whose three sisters had married, one, the Emperor of Russia; +another, the King of Sweden; the third, the King of Bavaria; a Prince who +might have allied himself with the oldest reigning houses had come to +regard as an honor a marriage with, the plain daughter of a French +senator,--a girl not united by any ties of blood with Napoleon, but only +by adoption; that is to say, by a whim. One might have supposed that the +Empire of the new Charlemagne was centuries old, and the German Princes +bowed before it like devoted vassals before their suzerain. What a vast +power he had attained, and how easily he could have kept it, if he had +limited his ambition, and put bounds to his power, and had not asked of +docile Germany more than it could give him! + +The marriage of Mademoiselle Stephanie de Beauharnais with the hereditary +Prince of Baden was at first warmly opposed by the Margravine, this +Prince's mother. M. Massias, French charge d'affaires at Baden, had +written on this matter to M. de Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, +January 6, 1806: "My Lord,--For some days there has been a rumor quietly +circulating among the principal persons of the court of Carlsruhe that the +object of M. de Thiard's last journey was to arrange the marriage of the +Electoral Prince of Baden with the daughter of Senator Beauharnais. Last +evening arrived a messenger from the Electress of Bavaria for the +Margravine, the mother of this Prince. I have learned by chance the +contents of this missive to his mother. She says substantially that she +has had a talk of more than an hour with the Emperor Napoleon; that His +Majesty promised that the marriage of the Electoral Prince of Baden with +Mademoiselle Beauharnais should never take place without the consent of +the Margravine; and in case of her refusal of this consent, he would only +reserve to himself the right of being consulted on the choice of the wife +to be given to this young Prince.... The Electoral Prince called on his +mother after she had received this despatch, and was with her alone for +two hours; he came away in great dejection. When he got to his +grandfather's, he exclaimed, involuntarily, 'That woman is lost; she wants +to ruin herself!'" + +The charge d'affaires ended his letter with this sketch of the Margravine: +"I have known the Margravine for six years, and I think I can say that if +she judges the match in question opposed to the pride inspired by the +first ideas of her education, no persuasion can move her. She possesses to +a very marked degree the confident obstinacy of feeble and timid spirits. +She does not dare to dismiss an incompetent footman; and when she has once +made up her mind, which is only possible in matters about which her +opinions are rigidly formed, neither force nor persuasion can modify her. +That is my reading of her character, and I think it the true one." + +The more the Margravine opposed this match which the Emperor had +suggested, the more the young Prince of Baden and his grandfather, the +Elector, desired it. M. Massias wrote again to M. de Talleyrand, January +9, 1806: "His Most Serene Highness, the Prince Electoral of Baden, is to +leave tomorrow for Ulm and Augsburg, to invite, in his grandfather's name, +His Majesty the Emperor and King to honor Carlsruhe with his presence, and +to stay at the castle on his way back to France. But, he tells me himself, +the main object of his journey is to convince His Majesty that the +marriage of which I had the honor to speak to Your Excellency in my last +letter, is far from opposing his desires; and he hopes to dissipate +without difficulty the doubts which it has been sought to raise regarding +this in the mind of His Majesty, for whom he always manifested a profound +devotion and a sincere attachment." + +What was the origin of this young girl whose hand was thus sought by the +hereditary Prince of Baden? The Marquis of Beauharnais, the father of the +Viscount of Beauharnais, the first husband of the Empress Josephine, had a +brother, Count Claude de Beauharnais, who was a commodore, and married +Mademoiselle Fanny Mouchard. Countess Fanny, a friend of Dorat and +Cubieres, took much interest in literature and wrote many novels. She was +a blue-stocking, and it was about her that Lebrun wrote the malicious +epigram:-- + + "Egle, fair and a poetess, has then two slight faults: + She makes her face and does not make her verses." + +By her marriage with Count Claude de Beauharnais, the Countess Fanny (born +in 1738, died in 1813) had one son, named Claude after his father, who +married the daughter of the Count of Lezay-Marnesia. They had a daughter, +Stephanie de Beauharnais, born August 28, 1789, who was adopted by +Napoleon, married the hereditary Prince of Baden, became the grandduchess +of this country, and died in 1860, much loved by her family and the people +of Baden. Her father, Claude de Beauharnais, was a senator in the Empire, +a peer of France at the Restoration, and died in 1819. + +During the childhood of Mademoiselle Stephanie de Beauharnais no one would +have predicted the lofty destiny that awaited her. Her father, having lost +his wife, entrusted her to a pious old aunt, who lived at Montauban, and +there she remained in obscurity until it occurred to her uncle, M. de +Lezay-Marnesia, to take her to Paris, and present her to the wife of the +First Consul. Josephine, her cousin once removed, thought her pretty and +bright, became very fond of her, and sent her to finish her education at +Madame Campan's boarding-school at Saint Germain. Madame Campan wrote to +Madame Louis about her young pupil as follows: "I am certainly surprised +at the way Mademoiselle Stephanie has turned out since she returned from +Saint Leu. She may become a very charming woman, but not if she stays at +Saint Cloud. Royal palaces have never been good schools; pleasures, the +taste for excitement and flattery, corrupt not merely those who are young, +but even those who go there already matured, unless they are protected by +the highest principles. If you have the power, do try to let me keep +Stephanie until she marries; you will thereby render her a great service, +and to me, too; for the result will condemn me in the eyes of the Emperor, +who will say, with a sharp glance, 'That's very bad'; and will not have +time to ascertain the real reason. I can assure you that in a year she +will be very charming, if I can only keep my hand on her." + +In the letter Madame Campan thus describes her pupil's character: "It is a +curious compound of ease at learning, self-love, emulation, idleness, +amiability, clear-mindedness, levity, haughtiness, and piety. There are a +good many qualities to dispose of, and on this proper arrangement depends +her happiness or unhappiness, and my success or failure." In personal +appearance Mademoiselle de Beauharnais was very charming; she had a good +figure, an expressive countenance, a brilliant complexion, bright blue +eyes, light hair, and an agreeable voice. Moreover, her manners were good, +she had keen mother wit, much gaiety and enthusiasm, and was, in short, a +very attractive young person. + +The Emperor had a sort of infatuation for her, and treated her with +exceptional kindness that did not fail to excite comment. Although her +father was still living, he decided to adopt her, and this was thought a +singular thing to do. The young Stephanie became an Imperial Highness and +took precedence of the Emperor's sisters, while her father was merely one +of the herd of senators. In the decree of March 3, 1806, it was said: "Our +intention being that our daughter the Princess Stephanie Napoleon, shall +enjoy all the prerogatives due to her rank; at receptions, festivities, +and at table she shall sit at our side, and in our absence she shall take +her place at the right of Her Majesty the Empress." Josephine possibly +thought that her young relative was a little too well treated by the +Emperor, and that his feelings for her were not wholly paternal. Evil +tongues asserted that Napoleon was in love with his adopted daughter, but +in spite of those malicious insinuations, no serious charge can be brought +against her innocence. Her betrothed, the Prince of Baden, was madly in +love with her, and showed by his conduct that it was he who was making a +fine marriage. Mademoiselle de Beauharnais from the moment that she +assumed the name of Napoleon imagined that nothing was too good for her. +It was only by condescension that she married the son of an elector, for +she was never tired of saying, to her adopted father's great delight, that +an emperor's daughter could marry either a king or a king's son. + +The marriage was celebrated with great pomp in the chapel of the Palace of +the Tuileries, April 8, 1806, at eight in the evening. The witnesses for +the bridegroom were the Crown Prince of Bavaria, Baron de Gueusau, and M. +de Dalberg; those of the bride were M. de Talleyrand, M. de Champagny, and +M. de Segur. The procession went from the grand apartments to the chapel +in the following order: the Empress, preceded by the officers of the +Princesses, accompanied by the Prince of Baden, the Princesses, and the +Crown Prince of Bavaria, and followed by the ladies of her household and +of those of the Princesses; the Emperor, conducting the bride, and +preceded by the officers of the Princes, his own officers, the Grand +Dignitaries of the Empire, the Ministers, the High Officers of the Crown, +and followed by the colonel-general of the guard on duty. At the chapel +door the clergy received Napoleon and Josephine beneath a canopy, and they +took their places on two small thrones in front of the altar, while the +Prince of Baden and the bride took their places on two stools at the foot +of its steps. The ceremony began with the blessing of thirteen pieces of +gold which the Cardinal Caprara, Legate _a latere_, gave to the Prince of +Baden, who presented them to his bride. The Cardinal gave them the nuptial +blessing. Meanwhile Monsignor Charier-Lavoche, Bishop of Versailles, the +Emperor's First Almoner, and Monsignor de Broglie, Bishop of Acqui, his +Almoner in Ordinary, were holding a canopy of silver brocade over the head +of the kneeling Prince and Princess. These two prelates wore a camail and +rochet. Cardinal Caprara and his assistant, Monsignor de Rohan, the +Empress's Almoner, wore the golden cape. + +During the ceremony, which lasted about an hour, the front of the +Tuileries and the garden were illuminated. At nine o'clock there were +fireworks on the Place de la Concorde, which the Emperor and Empress +watched from the balcony of the Hall of the Marshals. As they appeared on +the balcony with the young people, they were greeted with warm applause +from the dense crowd in the garden. The Empress, who was clad in a dress +embroidered with gold, wore on her head, besides the Imperial crown, a +million francs' worth of pearls. Princess Stephanie was charming in her +white tulle dress, with silver stars, trimmed with orange flowers, and her +diamond frontlet. After the fireworks came a concert and ballet in the +Hall of the Marshals. But little attention was paid to the concert, +although silence prevailed; the ballet, which was rendered by the best +dancers from the Opera, was very successful. Then the company went to the +Gallery of Diana, where tables had been set for two hundred ladies, and a +magnificent supper was served. The grace and distinction of the bride +aroused general admiration. Her father, Senator Beauharnais, kept silence +and wept for joy. + +Never had the court been more dazzling with its glittering uniforms, +gorgeous dresses, and sumptuous pomp. The Emperor in his gala dress, the +Empress in her Imperial splendor, the Princesses vying in luxury, the new +Queen of Naples staggering under her load of precious stones, the Princess +Louis covered with turquoises set in diamonds. Princess Caroline Murat +decked with a thousand rubies, Princess Pauline with all the Borghese +diamonds besides her own, the ambassadors, grand dignitaries, marshals, +generals, with their coats covered with gold and decorations, the +chamberlains in red, the master of ceremonies in violet, the masters of +the hounds in green, the equerries in blue, all the ladies in dresses with +long trains; the two fashionable women, Madame Maret and Madame Savary, +who each spent fifty thousand francs a year in dress; Madame de Canisy, +tall, black-haired, bright-eyed, with her aquiline nose and her impressive +air; Madame Lannes, with her gentle face like one of Raphael's Madonnas; +Madame Duchatel, fair, with blue eyes; and that proud duchess of the +Faubourg Saint Germain, a lady of the palace in spite of herself, the +Duchess of Chevreuse, who, if not the most beautiful woman there, had +perhaps the grandest air. It was a most animated festivity, with its +flowers, lights, and splendor. The Hall of the Marshals was radiant with +its military portraits, its chandeliers, and air of triumph.... Now +consider the ruins of this palace of Caesar, this Olympus of Jupiter, this +sanctuary of glory, majesty, and dominion. See and reflect! Nothing is +left of all that pomp and grandeur! The proudest buildings have vanished! +Such is the end of human splendor! + + + + +XIX. + +THE NEW QUEEN OF HOLLAND. + + +At the beginning of 1804, Napoleon regarded himself the absolute master of +fortune. His twofold title of Emperor of the French and King of Italy no +longer sufficed him; he yearned for that of Emperor of the West. He +created kings, grand dukes, sovereign princes. He made his brother Joseph +King of the Two Sicilies; his brother-in-law Murat Grand Duke of Berg and +Cleves; his sister Pauline Princess of Guastalla; he conferred the +principality of Massa upon his sister Elisa, who was already in possession +of the Duchy of Lucca; his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Talleyrand, became +Prince of Benevento; his Major-General, Berthier, Prince of Neufchatel; +and his brother Joseph's brother-in-law, Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte +Corvo. He also elevated members of his wife's family as well as of his own +to high positions. Josephine's son was Viceroy and son-in-law of a king. +Josephine's daughter was about to become a queen. + +France, which, fourteen years before, had wanted to convert every monarchy +into a republic, was now endeavoring to turn the oldest republics into +monarchies. The illustrious republics of Genoa and Venice had become an +integral part, the one of the French Empire, the other of the Kingdom of +Italy. The Batavian Republic was about to be transformed into the Kingdom +of Holland. When it became known in Paris that this new kingdom was to be +created by the Emperor's will, people wondered who was to fill the throne; +some were betting on Louis Bonaparte; others on his brother Jerome; still +others on Murat. The Emperor, however, had settled the question, and +without even consulting him, had decided that Louis was to be King of +Holland. + +This new monarch, who was born September 2, 1778, was then twenty-seven +years old. Four years before he had married Josephine's daughter, Hortense +de Beauharnais, but the marriage had been an unhappy one. As he himself +wrote, his marriage was celebrated in sadness. The author of a very +remarkable study, _Holland and King Louis_, M. Albert Reville, says with +great truth: "Like Hortense, Louis had literary tastes; but there the +resemblance ceases. It was not that there was nothing romantic in +Hortense's character; she was among the first to become interested in the +Middle Ages, the Gothic revival, the imitation of the troubadours; but her +romanticism was wholly different from that of her husband. Her ideal was, +perhaps, a young and handsome soldier, pensive when away from the lady of +his thoughts, but not when in her company." M. Reville goes on: "Such a +character could not understand the sensitiveness, the shrinking, morbid +melancholy of the husband thrust upon her. Her gaiety, her devotion to +pleasure, the frivolity of her talk, could only pain more and more a man +of a gloomy temperament, who took the greatest care of his health, who +fretted himself over the most trivial details, and whose distrust amounted +to injustice." + +Hortense was expansive, merry, ardent, enthusiastic, young in heart and +mind, a thoroughly open nature. Her husband, on the other hand, was of a +morose, sombre, melancholy, reserved nature. In spite of her superior +intelligence Hortense had a sort of childlike air; but Louis, though young +in years, had the character and appearance of an old man. As much as +Hortense loved liberty, her suspicious husband wished to hold firmly the +reins of conjugal authority. He was prematurely afflicted with various +infirmities, almost always morbidly nervous and impressionable, disposed +to take a dark view of everything, and bore no resemblance to the type of +hero which Hortense had imagined. Moreover, the unhappy husband endured a +hidden anguish which he had to conceal from every one and which tortured +his heart; he imagined that his rival with his wife was his own brother, +Napoleon. Thiers says in discussing this delicate subject: "Louis, ill, +puffed-up with pride, assuming virtue and really upright, pretended that +he was sacrificed to the infamous necessity of covering, by his marriage, +the weakness of Hortense de Beauharnais for Napoleon,--an odious calumny, +invented by the emigres, spread abroad in a thousand pamphlets, about +which Louis did wrong to betray such anxiety that he seemed to believe it +himself." + +In a word, there existed between husband and wife a real incompatibility +of temper, and the constraint of their position only added to the mutual +repulsion which they felt for each other in private, though they did not +dare confess it through fear of Napoleon's reproaches. They were married +January 4, 1802, and had a son born the next October, whom their enemies +asserted was the son of the Emperor, and the greater the interest and +affection the Emperor showed to this child, the more freely were calumnies +circulated. Louis Bonaparte imagined his honor tainted, and suffered +tortures. + +As for Hortense, she was unhappy, but she had consolations. Her mother's +love, the society of her old schoolmates, her interest in art, worldly +successes, the distractions of Paris life, made her forget some of her +domestic troubles. The thought of leaving that congenial spot to live +alone with her husband in the cold dampness of Holland filled her with +gloom. She did not care for a throne, for she felt that a royal palace +would be for her nothing but a prison. + +Louis, too, seemed devoid of ambition for the crown that was held before +him. Annoyed at not being consulted in the negotiations on which depended +his call to the throne, he maintained a passive attitude. But as he was +accustomed to comply with every wish of a brother who had taken charge of +his education, and thereby acquired special authority over him, he +invariably obeyed his orders. The Batavian deputation, of which the most +important member was Admiral Verhuel, had just arrived in Paris, and with +it the Emperor was settling the fate of Holland. Baron Ducasse, in an +interesting paper In the _Revue Historique_ for February, 1880, has +recounted all the unfortunate Louis Bonaparte's attempts to escape having +royalty forced upon him. He gave as a pretext, for his reluctance, the +rights of the old Stadtholder. The Batavian deputation in reply announced +to him the death of that official, "The hereditary Prince," they said, +"has received in compensation Fulda; hence you can have no reasonable +objection. We come, in accordance with the votes of nine-tenths of the +nation, to beg of you to ally your fate with ours, and to prevent our +falling into other hands." Napoleon used even plainer language. He +declared to his brother without beating the bush that he had accepted for +him, and that, even if he had not consulted him, a subject could not +refuse obedience. + +A few days later, Talleyrand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, went to +Saint Cloud and read to Louis and Hortense the treaty with Holland, and +the constitution of that country. It was of no use for the King to say +that he could not judge such important documents from a simple reading, he +was not granted a moment's reflection. In vain he pleaded his health, +which could not fail to suffer from the damp climate of Holland. Napoleon +was inflexible, and said, "It is better to die on a throne than to live a +French Prince." There was nothing for him to do but to give his consent. + +The new King's proclamation was delivered at the Palace of the Tuileries +in the Throne Room, June 5, 1806. Early in the same day, the Emperor had +formally received Mahib Effendi, Ambassador of the Sultan Selim. The +Oriental diplomatist had greeted him as "the first and greatest of +Christian monarchs, the bright star of glory of the western nations, the +one who held in a firm hand the sword of valor and the sceptre of +justice." Napoleon had replied: "Whatever good or bad fortune may befall +the Ottomans will be fortunate or unfortunate for France. Report, I beg of +you, my words to the Sultan Selim. Bid him never to forget that my +enemies, who are also his, would like to get at him. He has nothing to +fear from me; united with me, he need not fear the power of any of his +enemies." When the audience was over, the Ambassador made three deep bows +and withdrew, but stopped in the next room, where the presents of the +Grand Porte were set out on a table; they consisted of an aigret of +diamonds, and a costly box set with gems and adorned with the monogram of +the Sultan. Mahib Effendi, after offering the presents to the Emperor, +showed him those sent to the Empress. They were a pearl necklace, +perfumes, and Oriental stuffs. Napoleon examined them, and then went to +the window to see some superbly harnessed Arabian horses, presented to him +in the name of the Sultan. + +The proclamation of the King of Holland was read a few moments later. +Admiral Verhuel took the floor and began to speak of the happiness assured +to his country when it should have made fast the ties that bound it to the +"immense and immortal Empire." The Emperor said to the Dutch +representatives: "France has been so generous as to renounce all the +rights over you which were given it by the events of the war, but I cannot +confide the fortresses that guard my northern frontiers to any unfaithful +or even uncertain hands. Representatives of the Batavian people, I grant +the prayer you present to me, and proclaim Prince Louis King of Holland." +Then turning to his brother, he said: "You, Prince, reign over this +people; their fathers acquired their independence only by the constant aid +of France. Since then Holland was the ally of England; it was conquered; +and still owes its existence to us. She will owe to us the kings who +protect its laws, its liberties, its religion! But do not ever cease to be +a Frenchman. The dignity of Constable of the Empire will ever belong to +you and to your descendants; it will define for you your duties towards me +and the importance I attach to the guard of the fortresses protecting the +north of my states, which I confide to you. Prince, maintain among your +troops that spirit which I have seen in them on the field of battle. +Encourage in your new subjects the feelings of union and love which they +ought always to have for France. Be the terror of evil-doers and the +father of the upright; that is the character of a great king." + +The vassalage of the new monarch was thus definitely established; he +remained Constable of the Empire; he was ordered to be French and not +Dutch. His first duties were to the Emperor, his brother and suzerain. He +respectfully approached the throne, and said with evident emotion: "Sire, +I have made it my highest ambition to sacrifice my life to Your Majesty's +service. I have made my happiness consist in admiring all those qualities +which make you so dear to those who, like me, have so often witnessed the +power and the effects of your genius; I may then be permitted to express +my regrets in leaving, but my life and my wishes belong to you. I shall go +to reign over Holland, since that nation desires it and Your Majesty +commands it. I shall be proud to reign over it; but, however glorious may +be the career thus opened to me, the assurance of Your Majesty's constant +protection, the love and patriotism of my new subjects, can alone inspire +me with the hope of healing the wounds of the many wars and events that +have crowded into a few years." After the royal speech the usher threw +open the door, and as in the time of Louis XIV., at the acceptation of the +Spanish accession, the new King was announced to the assembled crowd. + +As M. Albert Reville says, no one in France regretted the Batavian +Republic when it was stricken from the roll of history by the will of a +despot; or, rather, the Parisians, in their occasionally exaggerated +infatuation, fancied that the Dutch would be overjoyed to have a French +court. + +The next day, after breakfast, the Emperor was playing with the new King's +oldest son, the little Napoleon, who was only three years and a half old, +but was very bright for his age, and already knew by heart La Fontaine's +fables. The Emperor made him recite the fable about the frogs who wanted a +king, and listened to it, laughing loudly. He pinched the Queen's ear, and +asked her, "What do you say to that, Hortense?" The allusions to the poor +king and to his poor people were only too clear. The melancholy monarch, +or rather, the crowned monarch, was to be, according to the Emperor's +plan, a mere tool in the hands of his powerful brother. He was condemned +to discharge the functions of receiver of dues and of recruiting officer +in the Emperor's service. He had a presentiment of this degraded position, +and took his departure with much anxiety. + +For Hortense, leaving was sadder. No exile ever turned towards foreign +parts with heavier sorrow. Her diadem was a crown of thorns. Her mother's +grief augmented her own. Without her children, Josephine, naturally +unambitious, found no consolation in the thought that her son was a +Viceroy, her daughter a Queen. Before she left Paris Hortense, in terror +before the thought that the Emperor would no longer be near to defend her, +told her all her domestic unhappiness, and said that if her husband +treated her too ill, she would abandon her throne for a convent. + +Nevertheless she had to obey. June 15, 1806, Louis started from Saint Leu +to go to his kingdom. He was accompanied by his wife and his two sons, the +elder, Charles Napoleon, who died in Holland the 5th of the next May, and +the other, Louis Napoleon, who died at Forte, in 1831, in the insurrection +of the States of the Church against the Pope. His third son, later +Napoleon III., was born in 1808. The new King entered The Hague June 23, +1806. He countermanded a body of French troops which the Emperor had +designed for his escort at his entrance into the capital, being unwilling +to appear before his subjects as a sovereign imposed upon them by actual +force. "You may be sure," he said to them, "that from the moment I set +foot on the soil of this kingdom, I became a Dutchman." The same day +General Dupont Chaumont, French Minister at The Hague, wrote to Prince +Talleyrand: "To-day, June 23, His Majesty made his formal entrance into +his capital. He went to the Assembly where he received the oath of the +representatives of the people and made a speech which was much applauded. +The French camp obtained permission from the Governor of the Palace to +surprise Their Majesties by fireworks and military music. These +festivities naturally put a stop to all business, except for His Majesty, +who finds time to examine and decide the most urgent matters, the ease +with which he works greatly surprising a nation unaccustomed to such +activity. Already the King and Queen are spoken of most enthusiastically +by those who have had the honor to be presented to Their Majesties. The +satisfaction will be general, when many shall have had the opportunity to +approach the throne." + +In spite of the optimisms of this despatch, the new King was to have an +unhappy reign. His loyal and upright intentions were to be shattered +against the inflexible will of his formidable brother. Louis was a just +man and sincerely devoted to his people. He was called, and is still +called, "the good King Louis": but the Emperor, who ironically reproached +him with trying to win the affection of shopkeepers, was to write to him +in 1807: "A monarch who is called a good king, is a king that's ruined." +As for Queen Hortense, more and more tormented by her husband's +suspicions, with her health impaired by the moist climate, and her ever- +growing melancholy, she was to feel like a condemned exile in her kingdom. +No woman ever gave a complete lie to the expression, "As happy as a +queen." + + + + +XX. + +THE EMPRESS AT MAYENCE. + + +In spite of all the honors that encompassed her, the Empress was ever more +and more unhappy. The departure of her daughter Hortense left a void in +her life that nothing could fill. She wrote to the new Queen from Saint +Cloud, July 15, 1806: "Since you left I have been ill, sad, and unhappy; I +have even been feverish and have had to keep my bed. I am now well again, +but my sorrow remains. How could it be otherwise when I am separated from +a daughter like you, loving, gentle, and amiable, who was the charm of my +life?... How is your husband? Are my grandchildren well? Heavens, how sad +it makes me not to see them! and how is your health, dear Hortense? If you +are ever ill, let me know, and I will hasten to you at once.... Good by, +my dear Hortense, think often of your mother, and be sure that never was a +daughter more loved than you are. Many kind messages to your husband; kiss +the children for me. It would be very kind of you to send me some of your +songs." + +Josephine was about to have another cause for grief. A new war was +imminent, but the Empress hid her uneasiness in order not to distance +Hortense. "All your letters," she wrote to her, "are charming, and you are +kind to write so often. I have heard from Eugene and his wife; they are +evidently very happy, and so am I, for I am going with the Emperor, and am +already packing. I assure you, that even if this war breaks out, I have no +fear; the nearer I am to the Emperor, the less I shall care, and I feel +that I should die if I stayed here. Another joy to me is our meeting at +Mayence. The Emperor has bidden me tell you that he has just given to the +King of Holland an army of eighty thousand men, and his command will +extend to Mayence. He thinks that you can come then and stay with me. Is +not that an agreeable bit of news for a mother who loves you so dearly? +Every day we shall have news of the Emperor and your husband; we will be +happy together. The Grand Duke of Berg spoke to me about you and the +children; kiss them for me till I can kiss them for myself, as well as my +daughter; this will be soon, I hope. My best regards to the King." + +Napoleon was about to begin a gigantic war against Prussia and Russia. In +spite of his confidence in his star, he was not without some +apprehensions, and he left reluctantly. A cloud seemed to hang over Saint +Cloud. "Why are you so gloomy?" the Emperor asked Madame de Remusat, whose +husband, the First Chamberlain, had just been sent to Mayence to prepare +the Emperor's quarters. "I am gloomy," she replied, "because my husband +has left me." And as Napoleon sneered at her conjugal devotion, she added: +"Sire, I take no part in heroic joys, and for my part, I had placed my +glory in happiness." Then the Emperor burst out laughing and said: +"Happiness? Oh yes, happiness has a great deal to do with this century!" + +The Empress hoped to accompany her husband as far as Mayence, and remain +there during the war, with her daughter. At the last moment she came near +missing even this. Napoleon wanted to go off alone, but she wept so much, +besought him so earnestly, that he took pity on her and gave her leave to +enter his carriage; she had but a single chambermaid with her. Her +household was to join her some days later. + +Napoleon and Josephine left Saint Cloud in the night of September 24, +1806. After stopping for some hours at Metz, they reached Mayence the +28th. The Emperor started again, October 2, at nine in the evening, for +the head of the army. At this moment he had an access of affection and a +revival of his old tenderness for the woman who long since had inspired +him with much love. Seeing that she was weeping bitterly, he, too, shed +tears, and was even attacked by convulsions. They made him sit down and +gave him a few drops of orange-flower water. In a few moments he +controlled his emotion, gave Josephine a farewell kiss, and said: "The +carriages are ready, are they not? Tell those gentlemen and let us be +off." + +The Empress remained at Mayence. Napoleon wrote to her October 5, 1806: +"There is no reason why the Princess of Baden should not go to Mayence. I +don't know why you are so distressed; it is wrong of you to grieve so +much. Hortense is inclined to pedantry; she is liberal with advice. She +wrote to me, and I answered her. She should be happy and gay. Courage and +gaiety, that is the recipe." It is plain that the Emperor's gloom had been +of brief duration. When he was once more at war, in his element, he had +quickly resumed his customary eagerness. He wrote to his wife from +Bamberg, October 7: "I leave this evening for Kronach. The whole army is +in motion. All goes on well; my health is perfect. I have not yet received +any letters from you, but I have heard from Eugene and Hortense. Stephanie +ought to be with you. Her husband [the Prince of Baden] wishes to take +part in the war; he is with me. Good by. A thousand kisses and good +health!" Again, October 18: "Today I am at Gera. Everything goes on as +well as I could hope. With God's aid, the poor King of Prussia will be in +a lamentable state, I think. I am personally sorry for him, because he is +a good man. The Queen is at Erfurt with the King. If she wants to see a +battle, she will have that cruel pleasure. I am wonderfully well, and have +gained flesh since I left; and yet I go twenty or twenty-five leagues +every day, on horseback or in a carriage,--in every possible way. I go to +bed at eight and get up at midnight, sometimes, I think, before you have +gone to bed. Ever yours." + +In these campaigns Napoleon was not yet surrounded by the comforts which +later made war less fatiguing for him, perhaps too easy. He endured all +the toil and privation of a private soldier. In five minutes his table, +his coffee, his bed were prepared. Often in less time than that the bodies +of men and horses had to be removed to make room for his tent. His longest +meal lasted no more than eight or ten minutes. The Emperor would then call +for horses and leave in company with Berthier, one or two riders, and +Roustan, his faithful Mameluke. At night, when lying on his little iron +bed, he took but little rest. Hardly had he fallen asleep when he would +call his valet de chambre who slept in the same tent: "Constant!" "Sire." +"See what aide-de-camp is on duty." "Sire, it is so-and-so." "Tell him to +come and speak to me." The aide-de-camp would arrive: "You must go to such +a corps, commanded by Marshal so-and-so; you will tell him to place such a +regiment in such a position; you will ascertain the position of the enemy, +then you will report to me." The Emperor seemed to fall asleep again, but +in a few moments he was calling again: "Constant!" "Sire." "Summon the +Prince of Neufchatel." The Major-General would appear in a great hurry, +and Napoleon would dictate some orders to him. That is the way his nights +were passed. + +The night before the battle of Jena was an exception, and the Emperor +slept soundly, "Yet," says General de Segur, "our position was so perilous +that some of us said the enemy could have thrown a bullet across all our +lines with the hand. This was so true that the first cannon-ball fired the +next day passed over our heads and killed a cook at his canteen far behind +us." At about five o'clock Napoleon asked of Marshal Soult: "Shall we beat +them?" "Yes, if they are there." answered the Marshal; "I am only afraid +they have left." At that moment, the first musketry fire was heard, "There +they are!" said the Emperor, joyfully; "there they are! the business is +beginning." Then he went to address the infantry, encouraging them to +crush the famous Prussian cavalry. "This cavalry," he said, "must be +destroyed here, before our squares, as we crushed the Russian infantry at +Austerlitz." The victory was overwhelming. Napoleon thus recounted it in a +letter to the Empress, dated Jena, October 15, at three in the morning: +"My dear, I have done some good manoeuvring against the Prussians. +Yesterday I gained a great victory. They were one hundred and fifty +thousand men; I have made twenty thousand prisoners, captured one hundred +cannon and flags. I was facing the King of Prussia and very near him; I +just missed capturing him and the Queen. I have been bivouacking for two +days. I am wonderfully well. Good by, my dear, keep well and love me. If +Hortense is at Mayence, give her a kiss as well as Napoleon and the little +one." And again from Weimar, October 16: "M. Talleyrand will have shown +you the bulletin and you will have seen our success. Everything has turned +out as I planned, and never was an army more thoroughly beaten and +destroyed. I will only add that I am well; that fatigue, watching, and the +bivouac have made me stouter. Good by, my dear, much love to Hortense and +the great Napoleon." + +Hortense had joined her mother at Mayence with her two sons, meeting there +her relative, Princess Stephanie of Baden, the Princess of Nassau and her +daughters, many generals' wives, who had desired to be near the scene of +war to get early news. With what impatience tidings were awaited! With +what curiosity and respect were read and discussed the two or three words +scrawled by the hand of the Emperor or of his lieutenants! A lookout had +been placed a league away on the high-road, who announced the coming of a +messenger by blowing on a horn. At the same time the files of prisoners +were seen passing on their way to France. Josephine, ever kind and +pitiful, tried to soften their lot and gave aid and comfort to officers +and soldiers. + +Meanwhile Napoleon continued his triumphal march. From Wittenberg he wrote +to his wife, October 23: "I have received a number of letters from you. I +write but a word: everything goes on well. To-morrow I shall be at +Potsdam, the 25th at Berlin. I am perfectly well; fatigue agrees with me. +I am glad to hear of you in company together with Hortense and Stephanie. +The weather has so far been very pleasant. Much love to Stephanie and to +every one, including M. Napoleon. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." + +At Potsdam the Emperor visited the celebrated palace of Sans Souci and +found the room of Frederick the Great as it had been in his lifetime, and +guarded by one of his old servants. He then went to the Protestant church +which contained the hero's tomb. "The door of the monument was open," says +General de Segur. "Napoleon paused at the entrance, in a grave and +respectful attitude. He gazed into the shadow enclosing the hero's ashes, +and stood thus for nearly ten minutes, motionless, silent, as if buried in +deep thought. There were five or six of us with him: Duroc, Caulaincourt, +an aide-de-camp, and I. We gazed at this solemn and extraordinary scene, +imagining the two great men face to face, identifying ourselves with the +thoughts we ascribed to our Emperor before that other genius whose glory +survived the overthrow of his work, who was as great in extreme adversity +as in success." The eighteenth bulletin said of this tomb: "The great +man's remains are enclosed in a wooden coffin covered with copper, and are +placed in a vault, with no ornaments, trophies, or other distinction +recalling his great actions." The Emperor presented to the Invalides in +Paris Frederick's sword, his ribbon of the Black Eagle, his general's +sash, as well as the flags carried by his guard in the Seven Years' War. +The old veterans of the army of Hanover received with religious respect +everything which had belonged to one of the first captains whose memory is +recorded in history. When he saw that the Prussian court had not thought +of making those relics safe from invasion, the hero of Jena, who on this +occasion abused his victory, exclaimed as he pointed to the famous sword: +"I prefer that to twenty millions." In his letters to Josephine, Napoleon +made no mention of his impressions in the house of Frederick. He simply +wrote, October 24: "I have been at Potsdam since yesterday, and shall +spend to-day here. I continue to be satisfied with everything. My health +is good; the weather is fine. I find Sans Souci very agreeable. Good by, +my dear. Much love to Hortense and M. Napoleon." + +October 27, 1806, the Emperor made his formal entrance into Berlin, +surrounded by his guard and followed by the cuirassiers of the divisions +of Hautpoul and Nansouty. He proceeded in triumph from the +Charlottenburger gate to the King's Palace, of which he was to take +possession. The populace crowded the streets, but uttered no cries of hate +or flattery for the conqueror. "Prussia was happy," says Thiers, "at not +being divided, and at retaining its dignity in its disasters. The enemy's +entrance was not first the overthrow of one party and the triumph of +another; it contained no unworthy faction, indulging in odious joy and +applauding the presence of foreign soldiers! We Frenchmen, unhappier in +our defeats, have known this abominable joy; for we have seen everything +in this century: the extremes of victory and of defeat, of grandeur and of +abasement, of the purest devotion and of the blackest treachery!" Alas! +What Frenchman could have foretold in 1806 the disasters of 1814 and 1815? +The army deemed itself invincible and was wild with joyful pride. Davout, +whose men the Emperor had just congratulated, wrote to him in great +enthusiasm: "Sire, we are your tenth legion. Everywhere and at all times +the third corps will be for you what that legion was for Caesar." Never +did soldiers have greater enthusiasm or more confidence in their leader. + +One might have said that Josephine, amid all these triumphs, had a +presentiment of the future. Victories could not dispel her sadness. Her +husband wrote to her November 1: "Talleyrand has come, and tells me that +you do nothing but cry. But what do you want? You have your daughters, +your grandchildren, and good news; certainly you have the materials for +happiness and content. The weather here is superb; not a drop of rain has +fallen in the whole campaign, I am in good health, and everything is +progressing favorably. Good by. I have received a letter from M. Napoleon; +I don't think it is from him but from Hortense. Love to all." + +Napoleon was not modest in his triumph. He pursued with sarcasms the +nobility of Prussia and Queen Louise who had warmly counselled war. This +fair sovereign, the mother of the late Emperor William, was then thirty +years old; she was the daughter of a Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and of a +Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was a most thorough German, hated France, +and especially the French Revolution. She was a fearless horsewoman, and +had been seen facing great dangers at the battle of Jena. When she rode +before her troops in her helmet of polished steel, shaded by a plume, in +her glittering golden cuirass, her tunic of silver stuff, her red boots +with gold spurs, she resembled Tasso's heroines. The soldiers burst into +cries of enthusiasm, as they saw their warlike Queen; before her were +bowed the flags she had embroidered with her own hands, and the old, torn, +and battle-stained standards of Frederick the Great. After the battle she +was obliged to take flight, at full gallop, to avoid being captured by the +French hussars. + +In his bulletins the Emperor had made the serious blunder of speaking of +Queen Louise in a manner wanting in proper respect for a woman, and +especially for a woman in misfortune. Josephine, who was full of tact, was +much pained by this lack of generosity, and reproached her husband for it. +Napoleon sought to excuse himself, writing, November 6: "I have received +your letter in which you seem pained by the evil I say of women. It is +true that I hate, more than anything, intriguing women. I am used to +kindly, gentle, conciliating women; those are the ones I love. If they +have spoiled me, it is not my fault, but yours. Now I will show you that I +have been very good for one who has shown herself sensible and kind, +Madame Hatzfeld. When I showed her her husband's letter, bursting into +tears, she said to me with, great emotion, and simplicity: 'It is +certainly his hand-writing!' As she read it, her accent touched my heart +and gave me real distress, I said to her: 'Well, Madame, throw that letter +into the fire, I shall not be strong enough to punish your husband,' She +burned the letter and seemed to be very happy, Her husband has ever since +been very calm; two hours more, and he would have been a ruined man. You +see then that I love kind, simple, gentle women; but it's because they are +like you. Good by, my dear, I am well." + +The kingdom of Prussia was conquered, but the war was not over, After +fighting the Prussians he had to fight the Russians; the war in Poland was +beginning. Napoleon wrote to the King of Prussia: "Your Majesty has +announced to me that you have thrown yourself into the arms of the +Russians. The future will decide whether this is the best and wisest +choice. You have taken the dice-box and thrown the dice; the dice will +decide it." At Paris, in spite of the splendors of the Imperial glory, +there existed a vague uneasiness. Peace had been expected after Jena, and +some apprehension was felt about the renewal of the struggle in the +northern steppes. Madame de Remusat wrote, November 9, to her husband, who +was at Mayence with the Empress, "There is something in the Emperor's +career which confounds ordinary calculations, and, so to speak, goes +beyond them. It is most impressive, and, I might say, alarming, and yet he +seems so far above customary conditions that there is no need of fear +about the points to which he exposes himself, and still less, draw the +line at which he shall stop. But I shudder to think how far he is from us +at this moment. May God be with him, I am ever praying, and preserve him! +While this great part of the French nation which is under his orders, is +marching to great victories, we are vegetating here in complete dulness. +There is very little society, and no houses are open." + +Josephine was very anxious to join her husband who held it before her as a +possibility, but never permitted it. He had written to her, November 16: +"I am glad to see that my views please you. You were wrong to think I was +flattering; I spoke of you as you seem to me. I am sorry to think that you +are bored at Mayence. If the journey was not so long you might come here, +for the enemy has left, and is beyond the Vistula; that is to say, one +hundred and twenty leagues from here. I will await your decision. I shall +be glad to see M. Napoleon. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." And November +22: "Be satisfied and happy in my friendship, in all I feel for you. In a +few days I shall decide to summon you or to send you to Paris. Good by. +You may go now, if you wish, to Darmstadt and Frankfort; that will amuse +you. Much love to Hortense." After signing the decree establishing the +continental blockade, Napoleon had left Berlin November 25. The next day +he again held before Josephine the prospect of a speedy meeting. "I am at +Custrin," he said in his letter, "to make some reconnoissances; I shall +see you in two days if you are to come. You can hold yourself in +readiness. I shall be glad to have the Queen of Holland come too. The +Grand Duchess of Baden must write to her husband about coming. It is two +o'clock in the morning; I have just got up. That is the way at war. Much +love to you and every one." A letter from Meseritz, March 27, was still +more explicit: "I am going to make a trip through Poland; this is the most +important city here. I shall be at Posen this evening, after which I +summon you to Berlin, that you may arrive there the same day. My health is +good, the weather rather bad; it has been raining for three days. Matters +are in a good condition. The Russians are in flight." Josephine, who had +trembled with joy at the thought of seeing her husband, fell into great +gloom when she saw that she had been deceived by a vain hope. The tortures +of, alas! too well-founded jealousy were to be added to her sufferings! + +Napoleon reached Posen November 28, and wrote the next day to his wife: "I +am at Posen, the capital of Great Poland, The cold is beginning; I am +well. I am going to make a trip in Poland. My troops are at the gates of +Warsaw. Good by, my dear, much love. I kiss you with all my heart. To-day +is the anniversary of Austerlitz. I have been at a ball given by the city. +It is raining. I am well. I love you and long for you. My troops are at +Warsaw. It has not yet been cold. All the Polish women are Frenchwomen, +but there is only one woman for me. Do you know her? I should draw her +portrait for you; but I should have to flatter it too much for you to +recognize it; nevertheless, to tell the truth, my heart would have only +good things to tell you. I find the nights long in my solitude. Ever +yours." Perhaps Napoleon would not have been so amiable to Josephine had +it not been that he was going to be very unfaithful to her in Poland, and +in a movement of pity wanted to console her in advance. From there he sent +her, December 3, two letters, one at noon, the other at six in the +evening. This is the first: "I have your letter of November 26. I notice +two things: you say, don't read your letters; that is unjust. I am sorry +for your bad opinion. You tell me you are not jealous. I have long +observed that people who are angry always say that they are not angry, +that people who are afraid say they are not afraid; so you are convicted +of jealousy; I am delighted! Besides, you are mistaken, and in the deserts +of fair Poland one thinks but little about pretty women. Yesterday I was +at a ball of the nobility of the province; rather pretty women, rather +rich, rather ill dressed, although in the Paris fashion." Perhaps Napoleon +said that to reassure the Empress; I imagine that the Polish women, with +all their elegance and grace, were scarcely so ill-dressed as he +pretended. + +This is the second letter, dated December 3, 6 P.M.: "I have your letter +of November 27, and I see that your little head is much excited. I +remember the line: 'A woman's wish is a devouring flame,' and I must calm +you. I wrote to you that I was in Poland, that when we should have got +into winter-quarters you might come; so you must wait a few days. The +greater one becomes, the less will one must have; one depends on events +and circumstances. You may go to Frankfort or Darmstadt, I hope to summon +you in a few days, but events must decide. The warmth of your letter +convinces me that you pretty women take no account of obstacles; what you +want must be; but I must say that I am the greatest slave that lives; my +master has no heart, and this master is the nature of things." Napoleon +should have said: Providence. Man proposes, but God disposes. + +Napoleon again spoke a little of having Josephine come. He wrote to her +December 10: "An officer has brought me a rug from you; it is a little +short and narrow, but I am no less grateful to you for it. I am fairly +well. The weather is very changeable. Everything is in good condition. I +love you and am very anxious to see you. Good by, my dear: I shall write +to you to come with more pleasure than you will come." + +December 12 he spoke once more of this projected journey which became ever +more and more remote, like a mirage in the desert: "My health is good, the +weather very mild; the bad season has not begun, but the roads are bad in +a country where there are no highways. So Hortense will come with +Napoleon; I am delighted. I am impatient to have things settle themselves +so that you can come. I have made peace with Saxony. The Elector is King +and belongs to the confederation. Good by, my dearest Josephine. Yours +ever. A kiss to Hortense, to Napoleon, and to Stephanie. Paer, the famous +musician, his wife, whom you saw at Milan twelve years ago, and Brizzi, +are here; they give me some music every evening." Napoleon left Posen in +the middle of December. The evening before his departure he wrote a letter +to his wife which showed the unlikelihood of her joining him, as she hoped +to do; "I am leaving for Warsaw, and shall be back in a fortnight. I hope +then to have you here. Still, if that is too long I should be glad to have +you return to Paris where you are needed. You know that I have to depend +on events." The unhappy Josephine already had a foreboding of his devotion +to a great Polish lady. + +Napoleon reached Warsaw December 18, 1806. He was to stay there till the +23d, return there January 2, 1807, and not to go away till the 31st of +that month. He was greeted there with enthusiasm. He had said to his +soldiers in his proclamation on entering Poland: "The French eagle is +soaring above the Vistula. The brave and unfortunate Pole, when he sees +you, imagines that he sees the legions of Sobieski returning from their +memorable expedition." No one understood better than the Emperor how to +impress the imagination of a people. At sight of him the inhabitants of +Warsaw were thrilled with patriotic joy. It seemed to them that their +grand nation was rising from the tomb. The Polish women, with their +lively, poetic, ardent nature, regarded Napoleon as a sort of Messiah. In +the intoxication of their ecstatic admiration, the most beautiful of +them--and Poland is the country of beauty--turned towards him, like +sirens, their most seductive smiles. This coquetry they regarded as a +patriotic duty. Josephine had good grounds for jealousy. + +Napoleon was in the field during the last days of December. War at that +time was particularly fatiguing. The dampness, worse than any cold, +saddened the eyes and wearied the body. The temperature was forever +changing between frost and thaw. Fighting took place in the most +unfavorable conditions. But the Emperor, pitiless for himself and every +one else, uttered no complaint. He wrote from Golimin to the Empress, +December 29, at five in the morning: "I write but a word, from a wretched +barn. I have beaten the Russians, captured thirty cannon, their baggage, +and six thousand prisoners; but the weather is frightful; it pours, and we +are knee deep in mud." And from Pultusk, December 31: "I have laughed a +good deal over your last two letters. You have formed a very inaccurate +notion of the beautiful Polish women. Two or three days I have had great +pleasure in hearing Paer and two women who have given me some very good +music. I received your letter in a wretched barn, with mud, wind, and +straw for my only bed." In spite of what her husband said, Josephine was +right about the charm of the Polish ladies, and Napoleon, on his return to +Warsaw, January 2, 1807, was to become seriously interested in one of +them. + +Soon there was no question of sending for the Empress, who would only have +been in the way. Napoleon wrote to her, January 3: "I have received your +letter. Your regret touches me, but we must submit to events. It is too +long a journey from Mayence to Warsaw; we must wait till events permit my +going to Berlin before I can write for you to come. Meanwhile, the enemy +is withdrawing, defeated, but I have a good many things to settle here. I +should advise your returning to Paris, where you are needed. Send back +those ladies who have anything to do there; you will be better for getting +rid of people who tire you. I am well; the weather is bad. I love you +much." The Emperor, utterly taken up by his love for the Polish lady, was +anxious that Josephine, instead of coming to him, should at once return +promptly to France. "My dear," he wrote to her, January 7, "I am touched +by all you say, but the cold season, the bad, unsafe roads prevent my +giving my consent to your facing so many fatigues. Return to Paris for the +winter. Go to the Tuileries, hold your receptions, and live as you do when +I am there: that is my wish. Perhaps I shall join you there without delay; +but you must give up the plan of travelling three hundred leagues at this +season, through hostile countries, in the rear of the army. Be sure that +it is more painful to me than to you to postpone for a few weeks the +pleasure of seeing you; but this is commanded by events and the state of +affairs. Good by, my dear, be happy and brave." The next day he wrote +again on the same subject: "I have yours of the 27th, with those of +Hortense and M. Napoleon enclosed. I have asked you to go back to Paris; +the season is too bad, the roads too insecure and detestable, the distance +too great for me to allow you to come so far to me when my affairs detain +me. It would take you at least a month to get here. You. would be sick +when you got here, and then, perhaps, you would have to start back; it +would be madness. Your sojourn at Mayence is too dull. Paris calls for +you; go there; that is my desire. I am more disappointed than you; but we +must bow to circumstances." In a letter of January 11, he says; "I see +very few people here." But he saw the Polish lady, and that was enough. + +Josephine, who suspected a rival, was in despair. Her husband wrote to +console her, January 16: "I have received yours of January 5. All that you +say of your disappointment saddens me. Why these tears and lamentations? +Have you not more courage? I shall soon see you; do not doubt my feelings, +and if you wish to be still dearer to me, show character and strength of +soul. I am humiliated to think that my wife can doubt my destinies. Good +by, my dear, I love you and long to see you, and want to hear that you are +contented and happy." In another letter, January 18, Napoleon tried to +cheer up Josephine, who was even more anxious and uneasy: "I fear you are +unhappy about our separation which must last some weeks yet, and about +returning to Paris. I beg of you to have more courage. I hear that you are +always crying. Fie, that is very bad! Your letter of January 7 gives me +much pain. Be worthy of me and show more character. Make a proper +appearance at Paris, and above all, be contented. I am very well, and I +love you much; but if you are always in tears, I shall think you have no +courage and no character. I do not love cowards; an Empress ought to have +some spirit." + +Napoleon's will was not to be altered. Josephine was forced to leave her +daughter and to return to Paris. Her husband wrote to her from Warsaw: "I +have your letter of January 15. It is impossible for me to let women +undertake such a journey: bad roads, unsafe, and a slough of mud. Go back +to Paris; be happy and contented there; perhaps I shall be there soon. I +laugh at what you say, that you married to be with your husband. I had +thought in my ignorance that the wife was created for the husband, the +husband for the country, the family, and glory. Forgive my ignorance. Good +by, my dear, believe that I regret that I cannot have you come. Say to +yourself, 'It is a proof how dear I am to him.'" All these fine words +could not console Josephine, who knew from experience that Napoleon, like +many unfaithful husbands, had a smooth, tongue when he needed forgiveness. +In vain she had waited four months at Mayence for permission to rejoin her +husband. She at last, found herself obliged to leave this town where she +had no other pleasure than the sight of her daughter and her +grandchildren, from whom she parted with pain. January 27 she was at +Strassburg, and the 31st. at Paris. + + + + +XXI. + +THE RETURN OF THE EMPRESS TO PARIS. + + +The Empress Josephine was much loved in France, and especially in Paris, +where her gentleness, amiability, and great kindliness had won for her all +sympathies, even those of people who were hostile to the Emperor. Her +return to the capital was greeted with pleasure, and her presence awakened +it from its previous gloom. The _Moniteur_ thus describes her passage +through the chief town of the department of the Lower Rhine. "Strassburg, +January 23, 1807. Her Majesty the Empress and Queen arrived within our +walls yesterday, the 27th, on her way from Mayence to Paris. Her Majesty +having consented to notify the Counsellor of State, Prefect Shee, that she +would accept a modest entertainment, this news spread lively joy +throughout this city. This proof of the Empress's kindness, accompanied by +the gracious memory she wished to testify for the people of Strassburg, +made the preparations for this impromptu event easy, and in spite of the +brief time between the announcement and the arrival of Her Majesty, a +numerous and brilliant company was soon assembled at the Prefecture. The +hall was elegantly decorated; the emblems and mottoes recalled the object +of the festivity. After a square dance and a waltz. Her Majesty passed +through the company, addressing a kind word to every lady present." The +next day, January 28, at seven in the morning, the Empress started, amid +cries of "Long live Josephine!" She reached the Tuileries January 31, at +eight in the evening. The next day, at noon, guns were fired at the +Invalides, to announce her return. The great bodies of the state solicited +the honor of offering her their homages. She was a little tired by her +journey, and was unable to receive them till February 5. + +At this reception she was the object of almost as much flattery as was the +Emperor. We quote a few of the phrases:-- + +_M. Monge, President of the Senate_: "Madame, the Senate lays at the feet +of Your Imperial and Royal Majesty the tribute of its profound respect and +the homage of the administration with which it is animated for all your +virtues.... It congratulates itself on seeing again, in the capital, the +august spouse to whom our adored ruler has given all his confidence and +who deserves it in so many ways." + +_M. de Fontanes, President of the Legislative Body_: "Half of our wishes +are granted. The presence of Your Majesty will make us attend less +impatiently another return that the French desire with you. ... Paris +consoles itself for not seeing him who gives such glory to the throne, by +finding in you her who has always lent to Sovereignty so much charm, so +much gentleness and kindness." + +_M. Fabre, President of the Tribunal_: "Madame, your return has aroused +the keenest joy. The memory of that delicate kindness which knew how to +temper so many woes; of that active beneficence which repaired so many +misfortunes, is imprinted on every heart. Every one says: 'Providence in +giving to us the hero, whose vast designs are crowned with the most +constant and prompt success, desired to complete his kindness, by placing +near him her to whom every stricken heart turns, who is the most agreeable +object of gratitude, and who, moreover, throughout France is called the +friend of misfortune.'" + +_M. Lejean, First Vicar-General of the Chapter of Notre Dame_ (speaking in +the place of the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, who was ill): "Madame, His +Eminence the Archbishop, our worthy prelate, has commanded me to convey to +Your Imperial and Royal Majesty his regrets at not being able himself to +present to you the chapter and clergy of Paris. 'Go,' that venerable old +man said to me, 'and assure the benevolent Empress from me that I +thoroughly share the joy which every one feels at her return. Tell her +that never a moment passes that I do not address to Heaven the most +fervent prayers for the happiness of France and of our invincible Emperor, +and for the success of his arms. The Lord has deigned to grant my prayers; +in a very short time astounding prodigies have been wrought by Napoleon, +and I offer my thanks.' The chapter and the clergy of Paris pray for Your +Majesty to be sure that their feelings for your sacred person and for that +of your august husband are like those of His Eminence." + +_The Prefect of the Seine_: "You are far from the Emperor, Madame, but +Paris, too, is far from him. Well, to mitigate this separation, equally +painful for Paris and for Your Majesty, Paris and Your Majesty will talk +to one another much about the Emperor. You will take pleasure in hearing +that his subjects of the good city of Paris are ever faithful to him; that +they are prepared for every act of devotion which may be demanded by his +glory, the honor of the Empire, and the resolution he has formed of not +laying down his arms until he has assured the peace of nations. You will +take pleasure in seeing us follow in thought, even to the most distant +climes, his ever victorious eagles. In short, Madame, at every exploit of +the Grand Army, you will be glad to hear the loud applause which we have +often wished could reach you, even in the camps of the founder of the +Empire, and then touched by the sincerity of our prayers, you will deign +to listen to them, and sometimes even to be their interpreter." + +In spite of these official flatteries, and more or less interested +compliments, the Empress was far from happy. Possibly she imagined that +soon, even in her lifetime, the same homage would be addressed by the same +persons, in the same palace, to another woman. Besides this, however, she +had many causes for distress. She suffered from the absence of her +children, from her daughter's domestic unhappiness, from the Emperor's +remoteness, his infidelities in Poland, from the dangers threatening him +in this relentless and distant war. She wrote to her daughter February 3: +"I got here, dear Hortense, the evening of the 31st, as I expected. My +journey was pleasant, if I can call it so when it separated me further +from the Emperor. I have received five letters from him since my +departure. I need to hear from you now that you are no longer with me to +console me. Tell me how you are; write to me about your husband and +children. Although I see more people here than at Mayence, I am quite as +lonely, and you will seem to be with me if you write. Good by, my dear, I +love you tenderly." Josephine yearned all the more eagerly for happiness +as a mother, because as wife she suffered cruelly, and the torments of +jealousy were added to her grief at the Emperor's absence. + +To one of the last letters his wife had written from Mayence Napoleon +answered in an undated letter which she received in Paris: "My dear, your +letter of January 20, has pained me much; it is too sad. That is the +result of excessive piety! You tell me that your happiness makes your +glory. That is ungenerous; you ought to say, the happiness of others makes +my glory. It is not like a mother; you ought to say, the happiness of my +children is my glory. It is not like a wife; you ought to say, my +husband's happiness makes my glory. Now, since the nation, your husband, +your children cannot be happy without a little glory, you should not +despise it. Josephine, you have a good heart, but a weak head; your +feelings are most admirable; you reason less well. But that is enough +squabbling; I want you to be merry, content with your lot, and to obey, +not grumbling and crying, but cheerfully and happily. Good by, my dear. +I'm off to-night, to inspect my outposts." It must be confessed that to be +as merry as the Emperor demanded, Josephine would have needed a very +exceptional character. Her husband was at the other end of Europe, never +interrupting the intense emotions and great risks of a colossal struggle +except for brief distractions, which, however, could not be agreeable, so +suspicious and jealous as she was. + +Constant, the Emperor's valet de chambre, has recounted in his Memoirs, +the passion with which a beautiful Polish lady inspired his master, early +in 1807. Napoleon spent the whole month of January at Warsaw in a great +palace. The Polish nobility gave him magnificent balls, and at one of them +he noticed a young woman of twenty-two, Madame V., who had recently +married an old nobleman, a most worthy man of stern principles and severe +nature. By the side of her aged husband, this young woman, whose sadness +and melancholy only added to her beauty, was like a victim in waiting for +a consoler. She was a charming person, with light hair, blue eyes, a +brilliant complexion, a graceful figure, and dignified carriage. The +Emperor went up to her, addressed her, and was soon delighted by her +conversation. He imagined that she was unhappily married and he at once +conceived a warm love for her, intenser and far more serious than any he +had ever felt for one of his favorites. The next day he was noticeably +restless. He would get up and walk about, then sit down only to get on his +feet again. "I thought," Constant goes on, "that I should never get him +dressed that day. Immediately after breakfast he despatched a great +personage, whose name I shall not give, to pay a visit to Madame V., and +carry his regards and entreaties. She proudly refused to listen to his +propositions, possibly on account of their suddenness, or, it may be, by +natural coquetry. The hero had pleased her; the thought of having a lover +resplendent with power and glory fascinated her, but she had no idea of +yielding without a struggle. The grand personage returned in great +surprise and compassion at the failure of his negotiation." + +Constant says that he found his master the next morning very busy. The +Emperor had written many letters the previous evening to the Polish lady, +who had made no reply. His pride was wounded by a resistance to which he +had not been accustomed since he had become great. At last, however, he +had written so many, and such ardent and touching letters, that she +consented to visit him one evening between ten and eleven. The grand +personage who had tried to make the negotiations, was ordered to go to a +remote spot and receive the lady in a carriage. Napoleon paced the room +while awaiting her, betraying emotion and impatience. "At last Madame V. +arrived," says Constant, whose master kept asking him what time it was. +"She was in a most pitiable condition, pale, silent, her eyes full of +tears. As soon as she appeared, I led her to the Emperor's room. She could +scarcely stand and she was trembling as she leaned on my arm. Then I +withdrew with the great personage who had brought her. During her +interview with the Emperor, Madame V. wept and sobbed so that I could +overhear her even at a great distance. At about two in the morning, the +Emperor called me. I went to him and saw Madame V. going away, with her +handkerchief at her eyes, weeping freely. The same personage carried her +away. I thought she would never come back." But, contrary to his +expectations, Madame V. came back two or three days later at about the +same hour; she seemed calmer, her eyes were less red, her face not so +pale, and she continued her visits during the Emperor's stay. Evidently +Josephine had good grounds for jealousy. + +Napoleon interrupted these distractions by going forth to fight the battle +of Eylau, one of the bloodiest and most obstinate combats known to +history. He described it in two letters to the Empress, written in the +same day. This is the first:-- + +"Eylau, February 9, 1803, 3 A.M. MY DEAR: We had a great battle yesterday. +I was victorious, but our loss was heavy; that of the enemy, which was +even greater, is no consolation for me. I write you these few lines +myself, though I am very tired, to tell you that I am well and love you. +Ever yours." + +This is the second:-- + +"Eylau, February 9, 6 P.M. I write a word lest you should be anxious. The +evening lost the battle; forty cannon, ten flags, twelve thousand +prisoners, suffering horribly. I lost sixteen hundred killed and three to +four thousand wounded. Your cousin, Tascher, is unhurt. I have placed him +on my staff as artillery officer. Corbineau was killed by a shell. I was +exceedingly attached to him; he was an excellent officer, and I am deeply +distressed. My Horse Guard covered itself with glory. D'Allemagne is +dangerously wounded. Good by, my dear." + +The Emperor did not tell everything to Josephine; he said nothing about +the terrible vicissitudes of the battle, a victory scarcely to be +distinguished from a defeat; he kept silence about the cruel sufferings of +his army which, without having eaten, had fought amid blinding snow +beneath a leaden sky; he said no word about the regiments destroyed, one +in particular, from colonel to drummers, all killed or wounded; he did not +mention his own danger in the cemetery on the hill, where he had stood +surrounded by his Guard, his last resource, anxiously watching the fight +from its beginning, slashing the snow with his whip, and exclaiming at the +approach of the Russian Grenadiers as they advanced towards him, "What +audacity!" He did not say that after the terrible and fruitless bloodshed, +which both armies claimed as a victory, he had been obliged to withdraw, +and that Bennigsen had taken possession of the hotly disputed battle- +field. He did not say what he was about to say in his bulletins: "Imagine, +on a space a league square, nine or ten thousand corpses; four or five +thousand dead horses; lines of Russian knapsacks; fragments of guns and +sabres: the earth covered with bullets, shells, supplies; twenty-four +cannon, surrounded by their artillery-men, slain just as they were trying +to take their guns away; and all that in plainest relief on the stretch of +snow." He did not quote the words he uttered in the biting frost, in face +of thousands of dead and dying, when the gloomy day was sinking into a +night of anguish: "This sight is one to fill rulers with a love of peace +and a horror of war." No; the Emperor did not tell her everything. + +In another letter, dated Eylau, February 11, 8 A.M., the Emperor tried to +reassure the Empress: "I send you a line: you must have been very anxious, +I fought the enemy on a memorable day which cost me many brave men. The +bad weather drove me into winter quarters. Do not distress yourself, I beg +of you; it will all be over soon, and my delight at seeing you once more +will soon make me forget my fatigue. Besides, I have never been better. +Little Tascher, of the fourth of the line, did well; and he had a hard +experience. I have given him a place near me, in the artillery; so his +troubles are over. The young man interests me. Good by, my dear; a +thousand kisses." + +From this moment the Emperor's letters to his wife became cold, short, +dull, and utterly insignificant; speaking of nothing but the rain, or the +good weather, and perpetually bidding her to be cheerful. A clear-witted +person ought to see readily that Napoleon, who was otherwise occupied, +wrote to the Empress only from a sense of duty. Here are four letters; the +first from Landsberg, the other three from Liebstadt. February 18: "I +write a line. I am well. I am busy putting the army into winter quarters. +It is raining and thawing like April. We have not yet had a cold day. Good +by, my dear. Yours ever." February 20: "I write a line that you may not be +anxious. My health is good, and everything is in good condition. I have +put the army into winter quarters. It is a curious season, freezing and +thawing, damp and changeable. Good by, my dear." February 21: "I have +yours of February 4, and am glad to hear that you are well. Paris will +give you cheerfulness and rest; the return to your usual habits will +restore your health. I am wonderfully well. The weather and the country +are wretched. Everything is in good condition; it freezes and thaws every +day; it is a most singular winter. Good by, my dear. I think of you, and +am anxious to hear that you are contented, cheerful, and happy. Ever +yours." February 22: "I have your letter of the 8th. I am glad to hear +that you have been to the Opera, and that you mean to receive every week. +Go to the theatre occasionally, and always sit in the grand box. I am +pleased with the festivities given to you. I am very well. The weather +continues unsettled, freezing and thawing. I have put the army into winter +quarters to rest it. Don't be sad, and believe that I love you." + +Towards the end of February Napoleon had established his headquarters at +Osterode, where he lived in a sort of barn, from which he governed his +Empire and controlled Europe. He wrote to his brother Joseph, March 1, +about the sufferings of this severe campaign in Poland. "The staff- +officers have not taken off their clothes for two months, and some not for +four, I have myself been a fortnight without taking off my boots.... We +are deep in the snow and mud, without wine, brandy, or bread, living on +meat and potatoes, making long marches and counter-marches, without any +comforts, and generally fighting with the bayonets under grape-shot; the +wounded have to be carried in open sleighs for fifty leagues.... We are +making war in all its excitement and horror." It is easy to see that +Josephine, who knew all this, had good grounds for anxiety. Paris was +empty and gloomy; every face was sad. France is easily tired of +everything, even of glory. The auditors of the Council of State, who were +sent to Osterode to carry to the Emperor the reports of the different +ministers, returned to Paris in deep distress at the sights they had seen, +and spread alarm in official circles. Napoleon consequently decided that +those reports should be brought to him by staff-officers, who were more +inured to scenes of distress. + +From headquarters at Osterode the Emperor sent eleven letters to the +Empress between February 23 and April 1, 1807, but he said nothing of +importance in them. Thus: "Try to pass your time agreeably; don't be +anxious. I am in a wretched village where I shall be some time; it's not +so pleasant as a large city. I tell you again, I have never been so well; +you will find me much stouter.... I have ordered what you want for +Malmaison; be happy and cheerful; that's what I desire. I am waiting for +good weather, which must come soon. I love you, and want to hear that you +are contented and cheerful. You will hear a good deal of nonsense about +the battle of Eylau; the bulletin tells everything; its report of the +losses is rather exaggerated than cut down." At the same time he somewhat +reproved his wife: "I am sorry to hear that there is a renewal of the +mischievous talk such as there was in your drawing-room at Mayence; put a +stop to it. I shall be much annoyed if you don't find some clue. You let +yourself be distressed by the talk of people who ought to cheer you up. I +recommend to you a little firmness, and to learn how to put everybody in +his place. My dear, you must not go to the small theatres in private +boxes; it does not suit your rank; you ought to go only to the four large +theatres and always sit in the Imperial box. If you want to please me, you +must live as you did when I was in Paris. Then you did not go to the small +theatres or such places. You ought always to go to the Imperial box. For +your life at home, you must have regular receptions; that is the only way +of winning my approval. Greatness has its inconveniences. An Empress can't +go about everywhere like a commoner." + +The greatness which the Emperor spoke about was no consolation to +Josephine. She was unhappier beneath the gilded ceilings of the Tuileries +than a peasant woman in a hovel. She besought her husband to let her join +him in Poland, and wrote to him despairing letters. + +Napoleon answered from Osterode, March 27: "My dear, I am much pained by +your letters. You must not die: you are well and have no real cause of +grief. I think you ought to go to Saint Cloud in May. but you ought to +spend April in Paris.... You must not think of travelling this summer; all +that is impossible. You couldn't be racing through inns and camps. I am as +anxious as you can be to see you and be quiet. I understand other things +than war; but duty is before everything. All my life I have sacrificed +everything--peace, interest, happiness--to my destiny." These phrases in +no way consoled Josephine who knew very well that her husband, in spite of +his assumption of Spartan austerity; occasionally indulged in +distractions. + +In the month of March something occurred which somewhat moderated the +Empress's sufferings. Her daughter-in-law, the Vice-Queen of Italy, gave +birth at Milan, on the 17th, to a daughter who was named Josephine +Maximilienne Augusta. She it was who was to marry, in 1827, Oscar, Crown +Prince and later King of Sweden. "You will hear with pleasure," the +Empress wrote Queen Hortense, "of the Princess Augusta's happy delivery. +Eugene is delighted with his daughter; his only complaint is that she +sleeps too much, so that he can't see her as much as he would like." +Josephine would gladly have gone to Milan to congratulate her son and to +kiss her granddaughter, but her grandeur kept her in Paris, where the +prolongation of her husband's absence and the torments of too well +justified jealousy plunged her into the deepest gloom. + +Napoleon became tired of the monotonous and excessively disagreeable stay +at Osterode, where he could not receive the Polish lady to whom he became +continually more and more attached. Early in April he installed himself at +Finkenstein, in a pretty castle belonging to a Prussian crown official, +and there he was very comfortably quartered with his staff and military +household. It was from thence that he wrote, April 2, the following short +letter to Josephine: "My dear, I send you a line. I have just moved my +headquarters to a very pretty castle, like that of Bessieres, where I have +a number of open fireplaces, which is very pleasant for me, as I get up +often in the night; I like to see the fire. My health is perfect, the +weather is fine, but still cold. The thermometer is but a few degrees from +freezing. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." As soon as Napoleon was settled +in this castle his first thought was to send for the Polish lady, for whom +he had fitted up an apartment near his own. She left at Warsaw her old +husband, who never consented to see her again, and spent three weeks with +the Emperor. "They took all their meals together," says Constant. "I was +the only one in attendance, so I was able to overhear their talk which was +always amiable, lively, and eager on the part of the Emperor, always +tender, affectionate and melancholy on the part of Madame V. When His +Majesty was away Madame V. spent all her time in reading or looking +through the blinds of the Emperor's room at the parades and drills going +on in the courtyard of the castle, which he often directed in person." +Constant, who felt bound to admire his master's choice, adds with some +feeling: "The Emperor appeared, to appreciate perfectly the interesting +qualities of this angelic woman, whose gentle, unselfish character left on +me an impression that can never fade... Her life, like her nature, was +calm and uniform. Her character fascinated the Emperor and bound him down +to her." This loving idyl, a sort of interlude in the tragedy of war, may +have suited Constant's taste, but it was hardly of a nature to please +Josephine, who, like most jealous people, knew almost always what she +wanted to know, and from the Tuileries found means to watch what was going +on in this distant castle. + +Napoleon's letters to Josephine during the reign of Madame V. were shorter +and more stupid than usual. They were merely a few lines on the weather, +the Emperor's health, or his desire to hear that his wife was "cheerful +and happy." But, alas! cheerfulness and happiness were not for her! Too +astute to be hoodwinked, she understood that her husband still had a +friendly feeling for her but that his love was dead. In the eyes of a +jealous woman, friendship is a slight thing. What does she care for the +esteem and attentions of a friend who was once her lover? To all the good +services of friendship she would a thousand times prefer the anger, fury, +violence, of love. + + + + +XXII. + +THE DEATH OF THE YOUNG NAPOLEON. + + +Queen Hortense was no happier in her Holland palaces than was the Empress +in the Tuileries. She had to endure all the grief, deception, and misery +of an ill-assorted marriage. The incompatibility of disposition which +existed between her husband and herself from the first days of their +married life, made itself continually more felt. King Louis blamed his +wife not merely for her faults, but also for her good qualities. He was +sometimes annoyed because she was gracious, amiable, charming; and the +general sympathy she aroused in Holland, as in France, excited the fears +of this irritable and sullen husband. Hortense looked upon herself as a +victim. She had a lively imagination, and exaggerated her grief to +herself, suffering more keenly on account of her excitement, which was +often very great. One day she said to Madame de Remusat, her intimate and +admiring friend, that her life was so painful and apparently so hopeless +that when she was at one of her villas near the sea, and looked out on the +ocean where were the English fleets blockading her ports, she wished that +chance might bring a ship to where she was, and she might be carried off a +prisoner. + +The conjugal infelicities of Louis and his wife attracted the attention of +the Emperor, who kept as strict a guard over his family as over his +Empire, and was as prompt to exercise control in private, as in political +matters. He wanted his brother to obey him, both as King and husband, and +in his discontent at seeing his orders disobeyed, he wrote to him, from +the depths of Poland, April 4, 1807, this reproachful letter, which is a +real reprimand: "Your quarrels with the Queen have become public. Show, +then, in private life some of that paternal and effeminate character which +you display in matters of government, and in business the same rigor you +exercise in your household. You treat a young woman as we treat a +regiment.... You have an excellent and most virtuous wife and you make her +unhappy. Let her dance as much as she pleases; she is young. My wife is +forty; I wrote to her from the battle-field to go to a ball. And you want +a young woman of twenty, who sees her life flitting, and has every +illusion, to live in a cloister, or to be always washing her baby like a +nurse. You are too much _you_ in your household, and not enough in your +administration. I should not say all this to you except for the interest I +have for you. Make the mother of your children happy; you have one way to +do this: that is, by showing her esteem and confidence. Unfortunately your +wife is too virtuous; if you had married a coquette she would lead you by +the end of your nose. But you have a proud wife who is afflicted and +distressed by the mere thought that you may have a bad opinion of her. You +ought to have married any one of a number of women whom I know in Paris; +she would have had no difficulty in getting ahead of you and would have +kept you at her feet. It is not my fault, I have often told your wife so." +Thus the Emperor, by taking part in behalf of his daughter-in-law and +against his brother, took a position as arbiter in their domestic +quarrels. This interference was all the more galling to Louis,--who would +have liked to be master in both his own kingdom and in his own house,-- +that calumny, as he well knew, persisted in representing the Emperor as +his rival in Hortense's love, and as the father of the Crown Prince. + +This child was named Napoleon Charles. He was born in Paris, October 10, +1802. His grandmother, Josephine, nourished the hope that some day he +might be heir to the Empire, and she regarded his birth as a pledge of +final reconciliation between the Bonapartes and the Beauharnaises. She +believed that his cradle saved her from divorce. The Emperor, who always +liked children, was especially fond of his nephew. He watched his growth +with the keenest interest, admiring his amiability, his precocity, his +excellent disposition, The boy was really remarkable for intelligence and +beauty. His large blue eyes reflected every mood of his mind. Good, +loving, frank, and merry, he needed only to appear and all sadness was +banished. His mother had brought him up to revere the Emperor. His father, +the King, gave him new toys every day, choosing those he thought most +attractive. The boy preferred those he received from his uncle, and when +his father said, "But just see, Napoleon, those are ugly; mine are +prettier." "No," said the young Prince, "those are very pretty, my uncle +gave them to me." One morning on his way to see the Emperor, he passed +through a drawing-room where happened to be among others, Murat, then +Grand Duke of Berg. The young Napoleon walked straight ahead without +paying attention to any one, and when Murat stopped him and said, "Don't +you mean to say good-morning to me?" the child replied, "No; not before my +uncle the Emperor." Who knows? if this little Prince had lived the Emperor +might have desired no other heir, and perhaps the divorce would never have +taken place. + +This boy was his mother's hope and pride, her joy and consolation. His +father, too, loved him much. He was a light in the darkness, a rainbow +after the storm. Sometimes when his parents were quarrelling he succeeded +in reconciling them. He used to take his father by the hand, who gladly +let himself be led by this little angel, and then he would say in a +caressing tone: "Kiss her, papa, I beg of you"; then he was perfectly +happy when his father and mother exchanged a kiss of peace. + +The little Prince had a sudden attack of croup in the night of May 4, +1807. He was thought to be lost, but in the evening he was a little +better, and the physicians had some hope of saving him. The improvement +lasted but a few minutes. In the course of the day he was given some +English powders, which lent him a feverish strength, so that at six in the +evening he asked for some cards and pictures to play with, but the fever +only gave way to his death agony. Towards ten in the evening the child +drew his last breath. + +No words can describe the unhappy Queen's despair; she became stony with +grief, and fears were felt for her reason. Josephine's grief was +boundless. She did not dare to leave the Empire without the Emperor's +authorization, and so did not go to The Hague, but went in all haste to +the Castle of Laeken, near Brussels, whence she wrote to Hortense in the +evening of May 14: "I have just readied the Castle of Laeken, my dear +daughter, and await you here. Come and give me life; your presence is +necessary for me, and you must have need of seeing me and of weeping with +your mother. I should have liked to go further, but I was too weak, and +besides I had not time to send word to the Emperor. I have summoned +courage to come thus far; I hope that you will have enough to come to your +mother. Good by, my dear daughter, I am worn out with fatigue and +especially with grief." In the evening of May 15, Hortense arrived at the +Castle of Laeken, accompanied by her husband and her sole surviving son. +She was motionless, apathetic, the figure of despair. M. de Remusat, who +was with the Empress, wrote the next day to his wife: "The Queen has but +one thought, the loss she has suffered; she speaks of only one thing, of +_him_. Not a tear, but a cold calm, an almost absolute silence about +everything, and when she speaks she wrings every one's heart. If she sees +any one whom she has ever seen with her son, she looks at him with +kindliness and interest, and says, 'You know he is dead.' When she first +saw her mother, she said to her: 'It's not long since he was here with me. +I held him on my knees thus.' Seeing me a few minutes later, she made a +sign for me to come forward. 'Do you remember Mayence? He acted with us.' +She heard ten o'clock strike; she turned to one of the ladies and said, +'You know it was at ten that he died.' That is the only way she breaks her +almost continual silence. With all that, she is kind, sensible, perfectly +reasonable; she thoroughly understands her condition, and even speaks of +it. She says she is glad that she has fallen into this numb state, +otherwise her sufferings would have been too intense. Some one asked her +if she was much moved when she saw her mother: 'No,' she answered; 'but I +am very glad to have seen her.' Mention was made of Josephine's surprise +at her lack of emotion on seeing her; 'Oh, Heavens!' she said, 'she must +not mind it; that's the way I am.' To anything that is asked her on any +other subject, she says, 'It's all the same to me; do as you please.'" + +A messenger had been sent to carry the news to the Emperor, who was much +affected by hearing it. He wrote to Josephine, May 14: "I can well imagine +the grief which Napoleon's death, must cause. You can understand what I +suffer. I should like to be with you, that you might be moderate and +discreet in your grief. You were happy enough never to lose a child, but +that is one of the conditions and penalties attached to our human misery. +Let me hear that you are calm and well! Do you want to add to my regret? +Good by, my dear." + +May 17 an imposing ceremony took place in Paris--the carrying of the sword +of Frederick the Great to the Tuileries. A triumphal chariot, richly +decorated, carried the one hundred and eighty flags captured in the last +campaign. Marshal Moncey, on horseback, held the hero's sword. The chariot +proceeded to the iron gate of the Invalides, which it was too lofty to +pass under. Then the veterans came to take the flags and to carry them +into the church. The ceremony began with a song of triumph. Marshal +Serurier, Governor of the Invalides, spoke: "We are here," he said, "to +the number of more than nine hundred of those who fought against the great +king whose warlike spoils our children have just won. At that time fortune +did not always smile upon our valor. The fathers were no less brave than +their sons, but they had not the same leader. Yet we can only recall with +pride the words of that great man: 'If I were at the head of the French +people, not a cannon would be fired in Europe without my permission'-- +honorable proof of his esteem for the soldiers who were fighting him. But +it was in the reign of a sovereign even greater by his genius, his feats, +his moderation, that the French people was to rise to such a height of +power and glory. We swear faithfully to guard the treasure which his +Imperial and Royal Majesty has entrusted to us." Then the old church +echoed with cries of "We swear it!" + +At this ceremony, the eloquent President of the Legislative Body, M. de +Fontanes, made a fine speech full of enthusiasm for Napoleon, but +respectful to the memory of the great Frederick and to the misfortunes of +his successor. He closed with a few words on the grief that the death of +the Crown Prince must have caused the Emperor: "Perhaps, at this moment," +he said, "the hero who has saved us is weeping in his tent at the head of +three hundred thousand victorious French, and of all the confederate kings +and princes who march under his banner. He weeps, and neither the trophies +heaped about him, nor the glory of the twenty sceptres he holds so firmly, +which even Charlemagne failed to grasp, can distract his thoughts from the +coffin of that boy, whose first steps he aided with his triumphant hands, +whose promising intelligence he hoped one day to guide. Let him not forget +that his domestic woes have been felt like a public calamity, and may a +tender expression of the national interest bring him some slight +consolation. All our alarm for the future is a more ardent expression of +our homage. May fortune be satisfied with this one victim, and while she +always favors the plans of the greatest of monarchs, may she not make him +pay for his glory by similar misfortunes!" + +Doubtless the death of this young child altered the face of things. If he +had lived, it would have been for him, and not his brother, to bear the +name of Napoleon III., or possibly even of Napoleon II., and apparently +the destiny of the world would have been very different. Kingdoms and +empires, on what does their fate depend! May 5 was to be a fatal date; the +young Prince died May 5, 1807, and fourteen years later to a day his uncle +was to die on the rock of Saint Helena. + + + + +XXIII. + +THE END OF THE WAR. + + +The Empress brought her daughter Hortense and her grandson Napoleon Louis, +a boy a little over two, back to Paris with her, but she had not long the +consolation of their presence; before the end of May Hortense was obliged +to leave for Cauterets to repair her shattered health. Her mother wrote to +her from Saint Cloud, May 27: "I have wept much since your departure; this +separation is very painful for me, and the only thing that could enable me +to bear it would be the certainty that you are getting some good from your +trip. I have heard of you from Madame de Broc. I beg of you to thank her +for this attention and to ask her to write to me when you are unable. I +heard news, too, of your son; he is at Laeken, very well, and awaits the +King's arrival. The Emperor has written to me again; he shares our sorrow. +I needed this consolation, the only one I have received since your +departure. I am always alone, every moment recalls our loss, my tears +never cease flowing. Good by, my dear daughter, take care of yourself for +your mother's sake, who loves you most tenderly." + +Napoleon, who forbade his wife and daughter-in-law to be gloomy,--an order +more easily given than obeyed,--thought their mourning excessive. His +expressions of sympathy were very singular. He wrote from Finkenstein to +Queen Hortense, May 20, 1807:-- + +"MY DAUGHTER: Everything I hear from The Hague tells me you are not +reasonable. However legitimate your grief, it should have some bounds. Do +not ruin your health; seek some distractions, and remember that life is so +full of dangers and evils that death is not the worst thing that can +befall one." In his letter of May 24 to the Empress, the Emperor spoke of +the unhappy Queen with a severity that amounted to brutality: "Hortense is +unreasonable and does not deserve to be loved since she does not love any +one but her children. Try to calm her and do not make trouble for me. For +every hopeless evil, consolation must be found." He wrote to her again, +May 26: "I have your letter of the 16th. I am glad Hortense has gone to +Laeken. I am sorry to hear what you say about the sort of stupor she is +in. She might show courage and self-control. I can't understand why she +should be sent to the baths; she could find more distractions in Paris. +Control yourself; be cheerful, and keep well. My health is excellent. Good +by. I stare your sufferings, and am sorry not to be with you." + +In her bitter grief Hortense lacked courage to write to the Emperor, who +was annoyed by her silence. "My dear," he wrote to Josephine, June 2, "I +hear that you have arrived at Malmaison. I have no letters from you. I am +vexed with Hortense; she has not written me a word. All you tell me about +her distresses me. Why could you not distract her a little? You are always +in tears! I hope you will show some self-control, that I may not find you +sad. I have been for two days at Dantzic; the weather is fine; I am well. +I think of you more than you think of an absent man. Good by; much love. +Forward to Hortense this letter." This is the severe epistle which +Josephine was bidden to send to Hortense:-- + +"June 2. MY DAUGHTER: You have not written me a word in your great and +natural grief. You have forgotten everything, as if you had not still +losses to endure. I hear that you love nothing, are indifferent to +everything; this is plain from your silence. That is not right, Hortense. +It is not what you promised us. Your son was everything for you? Are your +mother and I nothing? Had I been at Malmaison I should have shared your +sorrow, but I should have wanted you to listen to your best friends. Good +by, my daughter; be cheerful; you must be resigned. My wife is much +distressed at your condition; do not give her further pain. Your +affectionate father." + +It is easily seen that such letters were ill adapted to allay the anguish +of an inconsolable mother mourning for her child. + +Josephine's letters to her daughter showed very different feelings. The +kind Empress did her best to persuade her that the Emperor sympathized +with her grief. She wrote from Saint Cloud, June 4: "Your letter, my dear +Hortense, gives me much consolation, and what I hear from your ladies +about your health makes me easier. The Emperor was much distressed, in +every letter he tries to give me courage, but I know that this unhappy +event was a great blow to him. The King arrived at Saint Len last evening; +he has sent me word that he meant to call on me to-day, and he must leave +the boy here during his absence. You know how much I love the child, and +how careful I shall be of him. I want the King to take the same route as +you; it will be a consolation for you both to meet. All his letters since +you left are full of love for you. He has too tender a heart not to be +touched. Good by, my dear daughter; take care of your health; mine will +improve only when I don't have to suffer for those I love." This letter +shows all the kindness and gentleness of Josephine's character. She was +conciliating and benevolent, and did her best to smooth over Napoleon's +blame and to reconcile Hortense with her husband. She wrote again from +Saint Cloud, June 11: "Your boy is very well, and amuses me a great deal; +he is so gentle; I think he has all the ways of the poor boy we mourn." +Josephine understood consolation better than the Emperor. + +What could be more touching, more maternal, than this letter from the +Empress? "Your letter moved me deeply; I see your grief is ever fresh and +I perceive this better by my own sufferings. We have lost what was most +worthy to be loved; my tears flow as they did the first day. Those regrets +are too natural to be repressed by reason, although it should moderate +them. You are not alone in the world. You have left a husband, an +interesting child, and you are too tender for that to be strange and +indifferent to you. Think of us, my dear daughter, and let this calm your +natural sorrow. I rely on your love for me and on your reasonableness. I +hope that the trip and the waters will do you good. Your son is very well, +and is charming. My health is a little better, but you know it depends on +yours. Good by. Many kisses." + +The character of this loving mother and grandmother manifests itself in +every one of her letters. Her style was simple and affectionate, like +herself. Her letters, full of the gentlest, best, and most touching +feeling, might make one say, "The style is the woman." + +While Josephine and Hortense were weeping, Napoleon was bringing a +terrible campaign to a brilliant end. June 15 he thus announced to his +wife the great victory of Friedland: "My dear: I write but a word, for I +am very tired; I have been bivouacking for several days. My children have +been worthily celebrating the battle of Marengo. The battle of Friedland +will be quite as famous and glorious for my people. The whole Russian army +routed; eighty cannon; thirty thousand men captured or killed; twenty-five +Russian generals killed, wounded, or captured; the Russian Guard wiped +out; it is a worthy sister of Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena. The bulletin will +tell you the rest. My losses are not serious; I succeeded in +outmanoeuvring the enemy. Be calm and contented. Good by, my dear, my +horse is waiting." The next day he wrote another letter to Josephine: "My +dear, yesterday I sent Moustache to you with news of the battle of +Friedland. Since then, I have continued to pursue the enemy, Koenigsberg, a +city of eighty thousand inhabitants, Is in my power, I have found there +many cannon, stores, and finally sixty thousand muskets just come from +England. Good by, my dear, my health is perfect, although I have a cold +from the rain and cold of the bivouac. Be cheerful and contented. Ever +yours." From Tilsitt Napoleon wrote to his wife, June 19: "I have sent +Tascher to you to allay your anxiety. Everything goes on admirably here. +The battle of Friedland decided everything. The enemy is confounded, cast +down, and extremely enfeebled. My health is excellent, my army superb. +Good by; be cheerful and contented." Be cheerful and contented--he was +always saying it. + +June 25, at one in the afternoon, a great sight was to be seen in the +middle of the Niemen. A raft had been placed midstream in plain view from +both banks of the river. All the rich stuffs that could be found in the +little town of Tilsitt had been taken to make a pavilion on a part of this +raft for the reception of the Emperors of France and Russia. From one bank +Napoleon embarked with Murat, Berthier, Bessieres, Duroc, and +Caulaincourt; and from the other, Alexander, with the Grand Duke +Constantine, Generals Bennigsen and Ouvaroff, the Prince of Labanoff, and +the Count of Lieven. The two armies were drawn up on the two banks, and +the country people of the neighborhood were present to watch one of the +most memorable interviews known to history. When they reached the raft, +the two sovereigns, who had just been fighting so bitterly, and had sent +so many thousand men to death, fell into each other's arms with emotion. +The same day Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I have just seen the Emperor +Alexander, and am much pleased with him; he is a very fine-looking, good +young Emperor; he has more intelligence than is generally supposed. He is +going to move into Tilsitt to-morrow. Good by; keep well and be contented. +My health is excellent." The two monarchs became very intimate. "My dear," +Napoleon wrote to his wife July 3, "M. de Turenne will give you all the +details about what is going on here; everything is moving smoothly. I +think I told you that the Emperor of Russia drank to your health with +great kindness. He and the King of Prussia dine with me every day. I want +you to be contented. Good by; much love." And July 6: "I have yours of +June 25. I am sorry you are so egoistic, and that my success gives you no +pleasure. The beautiful Queen of Prussia is to dine with me to-day. I am +well and anxious to see you again when fate permits. Still it will +probably be soon." + +The Queen of Prussia was one of the most beautiful and most brilliant +women of her time. An hour after her arrival at Tilsitt, Napoleon called +on her, and that evening, when she came to dine with him, he went to the +door of the house in which he lived to receive her with all respect. But +in spite of all her efforts to modify the conditions of the peace imposed +on Prussia, her gracious and obstinate endeavors were fruitless. Napoleon, +July 7, thus described to Josephine the dinner of the evening before to +the charming Queen: "My dear, the Queen of Prussia dined with me +yesterday. I was obliged to refuse her some concessions she wanted me to +make to her husband; but I was polite, and also kept to my plan. She is +very amiable. When I see you I will give you all the details which would +be too long to write now. When you read this letter, peace will have been +concluded with Russia and Prussia, and Jerome will have been recognized as +King of Westphalia with a population of three millions. This piece of news +is for you alone. Good by, my dear; I want to hear that you are contented +and cheerful." The story runs that the Queen of Prussia, who held a +beautiful rose in her hand, offered it to Napoleon, saying with a gracious +smile: "Take it, Sire, but in exchange for Magdeburg." The hero of Jena +made a mistake not to make the exchange. He did too much or too little for +the Prussian monarchy. Since he could not or would not wipe it out, he +ought to have let it live, and become a friendly power. Who can tell? +Perhaps his acceptance of the rose would have warded off many acts of +vengeance, many disasters. On such slight things does the world's destiny +depend! + +Josephine wrote to her daughter from Saint Cloud, July 10: "I often hear +from the Emperor, who speaks a great deal about the Emperor Alexander, +with whom he seems well satisfied. He sent M. de Monaco and M. de +Montesquiou to give me details of all they had seen. They say the first +view was a magnificent sight. The two armies were on the two banks of the +Niemen. The Emperor was the first to arrive at a raft built in the middle +of the river; the Emperor Alexander's boat found some difficulty in +approaching, which gave him a chance to speak of his eagerness thwarted by +the stream. They tell me that when the two Emperors kissed, wide-spread +applause arose from both banks. What most interests me in all this good +news is my hope of soon seeing the Emperor again. Why is this happiness +troubled by sad memories that can never be destroyed? Your boy is +perfectly-well; his complexion has entirely changed. I hope the waters +will do both you and the King good; remember me to him, and believe in my +constant love." + +Before leaving Tilsitt, where he had signed a glorious peace, Napoleon had +the bravest soldier of the Russian Guard presented to him, and he gave him +the eagle of the Legion of Honor. He gave his portrait to Platou, the +hetman of the Cossacks, and some Baschirs gave him a concert after the +custom of their country. July 9, at eleven in the morning, wearing the +grand cordon of Saint Andrew, he called on the Emperor Alexander, who wore +the broad ribbon of the Legion of Honor, The two sovereigns passed three +hours together, then mounted their horses, and rode towards the Niemen. +Then they got down and embraced for the last time. The Czar then embarked, +and Napoleon waited on the river-bank until his new friend had landed on +the other shore. He returned to Koenigsberg and from there to Dresden, +whence he wrote to Josephine, July, 18: "My dear, I reached here yesterday +afternoon at five, very well, though I had been posting one hundred hours +without stopping. I am staying with the King of Saxony, whom I like very +much. I have more than half my journey to you behind me. I warn you that I +may burst in on you at Saint Cloud one of these nights, like a jealous +husband. Good by, my dear; I shall be very glad to see you again. Ever +yours." Napoleon spoke of jealousy. The days of the first Italian campaign +were very distant. Everything had changed. It was no longer he who had to +be jealous of Josephine: it was Josephine who was jealous of him, and with +good reason. After an absence of nearly a year, the Emperor reached Saint +Cloud, July 27, 1807, at six o'clock in the morning. + + + + +XXIV. + +THE EMPEROR'S RETURN. + + +July 28, 1807, the Emperor, who had arrived at Saint Cloud the day before, +received the great bodies of the State. It would be hard to form an exact +idea of the flatteries addressed to him. Let us quote a few taken at +random. M. Seguier, First President of the Court of Appeal, said to the +hero of Friedland: "Napoleon is above admiration; only love can rise to +him." The Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, speaking in the name of his +clergy, was perhaps even more enthusiastic: "The God of armies," he said, +"has dictated and directed all your plans; nothing could resist the +swiftness of so many wonders.... Have confidence, Sire, in our zeal, and +instruct the people in the submission and obedience they owe to all of +Your Majesty's decrees and orders." But it was Councillor of State +Trochot, Prefect of the Seine, who deserves the prize in this competition +of adulation. Here is a fragment of his speech: "Sire, now that at last +Paris receives you once more after so long an absence and such prodigious +feats, it would gladly express to you all its intense admiration, and yet +it can only speak to you of its love. And, indeed, if it tried to +contemplate in you the conqueror of so many kings, the law-maker of so +many peoples, the controller of so many events, the arbiter of so many +destinies, how could it dare to approach Your Majesty, and in what +language could it address you? Should it speak to you of triumphs? But can +any one but a Caesar himself speak of what Caesar has done? Of glory? but +for ten years it has been impossible to speak of all you have won. Of +genius? but who can speak of all the marvels yours has wrought, before +which we are dumb and confounded. Sire, all these things are beyond us, +and since they command admiration, even silence, the silence of +astonishment which admiration imposes seems to be our sole manner of +expressing it." More had not been said, to Louis XIV., the Sun King. + +In allusion to the illuminations in Paris the evening before, the Prefect, +of the Seine added: "Why could not you, Sire, have been an eye-witness of +the joy which the announcement of Your Majesty's return spread yesterday +throughout the capital of your Empire! Why could not you have heard the +applause with which your faithful subjects rent the welkin daring the +festivity which they gave on this occasion until well into the night!" The +Prefect closed by a prophecy, alas! not too accurate: "The august Emperor +Napoleon will render war between nations impossible, and the world's +happiness will date from his reign." + +The hero of Austerlitz, of Jena, of Friedland, then thought nothing +impossible. His direct or indirect sway extended from the Straits of +Gibraltar to the Vistula, from the mountains of Bohemia to the North Sea. +Charlemagne was outstripped. Josephine saw her husband again with joy, but +also with anxiety and terror. He returned so infatuated by his wonderful +fortune, he was so flattered and deified by his courtiers, in his whole +Imperial and royal person there was something so formidable and majestic, +that his gentle and timid wife was, as it were, dazzled by the rays of a +sun, too brilliant for her to look at. + +Josephine had now become afraid to address him as thou, and to call him +simply Bonaparte as she had done before. When she spoke to him, she often +called him Sire. She did not dare to reproach him with his infidelities at +Warsaw or the Castle of Finkenstein, or to show that she noticed his +attentions to many ladies of the court, notably to a beautiful Italian +woman, a friend of Talleyrand's, who was one of her readers and a +prominent object of Napoleon's attentions. She saw rising before her the +vision of divorce, the phantom which had haunted her imagination since the +expedition to Egypt. Fearful of giving her husband the slightest pretext +for discontent or annoyance, she was humbler, more submissive, more +obedient than ever. + +So long as the oldest son of Louis and Hortense had lived, Josephine felt +comparatively secure, because she knew that this boy, a special favorite +of Napoleon's, was intended by his uncle to be the heir of his Empire. But +his surviving brother, the little Napoleon Louis, born October 11, 1804, +did not give the Empress the same confidence. The Emperor was less +intimate with this child; he had not played with him as he had done with +the other; he had not become attached to him. The little Napoleon Louis +was staying with Josephine when the Emperor returned. She did all she +could to make him love him. + +Moreover, it was not an easy thing to hold the affections of a man like +Napoleon. Six years younger than his wife, he was but thirty-eight, and in +all the flower and prime of his Caesar-like beauty. He liked to make a +conquest of beauties as well as of provinces. The thought of resistance +exasperated him. In everything he demanded success, triumph, dominion. The +celebration of his birthday, August 15, 1807, which was accompanied with +unusual pomp and splendor, was of the nature of a deification. He made +Josephine share his triumph, and held her by the hand when he appeared on +a balcony of the Tuileries, in the enclosure, amid the applause of the +multitude assembled in the gardens. + +King Jerome's marriage with the young Princess Catherine of Wuertemberg +added to the animation of the already brilliant court. The annulment of +the young Prince's marriage with Miss Paterson had caused Napoleon much +difficulty. When this marriage had been contracted at Baltimore, December +8, 1803, he had been only First Consul, and Jerome, a simple naval +officer, was in no way under the control of the decree of the Senate, +which was later to determine the civil conditions of the new Imperial +family. But in his haste to marry the young and beautiful American girl, +Jerome, who was but nineteen years old, had neglected, in spite of the +advice of the French Consul, to demand the permission of his mother, +Madame Letitia Bonaparte. This omission had not prevented the Bishop of +Baltimore from celebrating the marriage. Napoleon, however, regarded it as +null and void. It was not till February 22, 1805, that he obtained his +mother's protest, and the 21st of the next March, by an Imperial decree, +he annulled the marriage which displeased him, by his own authority. Yet, +in the eyes of religion, this union still existed. The Emperor asked the +Pope to pronounce it null, but Pius VII. gave the request a formal +refusal, writing in June, 1805: "It is beyond our power in the present +state of things, to pronounce it null. If we should usurp an authority we +do not possess, we should render ourselves guilty of an abuse abominable +before the throne of God; and Your Majesty himself, in his justice, would +blame us for pronouncing a sentence contrary to the testimony of our +conscience, and to the invariable principles of the church.... That is why +we earnestly hope that Your Majesty will be convinced that the desire with +which we are always animated to second his designs, so far as depends on +us, particularly in a matter so closely concerning his august person, has +been rendered idle by the absolute absence of power, and we entreat him to +receive this sincere declaration as testimony of our really paternal +affection." This was the beginning of the quarrel between the Pope and the +Emperor. Pius VII. would not yield; but Napoleon found greater servility +in the metropolitan officialty of Paris; and October 6, 1806, he secured a +sentence pronouncing the nullity of his brother Jerome's marriage with +Miss Paterson. + +The King of Wuertemberg, in the hope that a close alliance with the +Imperial family would strengthen his throne, and procure him accession of +land and power, had prepared to give to the Emperor's young brother the +hand of his daughter, Princess Catherine. As soon as the King had formed +this decision, he would not listen to a word of criticism from his family, +who were already accustomed never to discuss his ideas. The King of +Wuertemberg was a real giant. He was so stout that a broad, deep hollow had +to be cut out of his dining-table; for otherwise he would not have been +able to reach his plate. He was fond of riding, but it was not easy to +find a horse strong enough to carry his enormous weight. The horse had to +be gradually accustomed to it, and to accomplish this, the equerry who had +to prepare the royal steed used to wear a band full of lead, to which he +would add new pieces every day, until he was as heavy as the King. This +monarch, who was highly respected, though greatly feared, by ids subjects, +had some eccentricities. Thus he demanded that his wife should be up and +fully dressed by seven in the morning; and insisted that at whatever hour +of the day or evening it should please him to enter her apartment, he +should find her ready to accompany him wherever he might want to go. The +Queen, who was his second wife,--Princess Catherine was a child by his +first marriage,--was a daughter of the King of England, and consequently +she was averse to seeing her step-daughter marry the brother of England's +greatest enemy; but she took good care not to make any objections. The +King of Wuertemberg was severe to his family and to his subjects, but he +was well educated, intelligent, and energetic. Napoleon set great store by +him, and regarded him as a loyal and faithful ally. + +Jerome, who had been made King of Westphalia by the treaty of Tilsitt, was +the youngest of the Emperor's brothers. He was born at Ajaccio, November +15, 1784, and was not yet twenty-three when he married Princess Catherine +of Wuertemberg, who was nearly two years older than he, having been born +February 2, 1783. This Princess had much charm; she was tall, handsome, +her expression was noble and kindly; she inspired every one with sympathy +and respect. She was a woman remarkable for intelligence, virtue, and +affection. She was to be a model wife and mother. She it was who, in 1814, +refused to get a divorce and to abandon an unfortunate husband, a +dethroned king. She it was who wrote to her father this admirable letter, +without fear of his anger: "Having been forced, by reasons of state to +marry the King, my husband, it has been granted me by fate to be the +happiest woman in the world. I feel for my husband love, tenderness, +esteem, combined; at this painful moment would the best of desire to +destroy my domestic happiness, the only sort left to me? I venture to tell +you, my clear father, you and, all the family, that you do not know the +King, my husband. A time will come, I hope, when you will be convinced +that you have misjudged him and then you will always find him and me the +most respectful and most loving children." She was the courageous woman, +the faithful wife, the devoted mother, of whom Napoleon said at Saint +Helena: "Princess Catherine of Wuertemberg has with her own hands written +her name in history." + +Jerome's marriage was an event of great ceremony. It was first celebrated, +by proxy, at Stuttgart, the Princess's brother representing the +bridegroom. The Emperor sent presents to his future sister-in-law, among +other things a set of diamonds worth three hundred thousand francs. A +detachment from the Emperor's household and many of the Empress's ladies +of the bedchamber went to the frontiers to meet the Princess. She reached +the Castle of Raincy, August 20, 1807, and there saw her betrothed for the +first time, and the 21st, Napoleon received her at the Tuileries on the +first step of the great staircase. As she bowed before him, he folded her +in his arms, then he presented her to the Empress, before the whole court +and the deputies of the new kingdom of Westphalia, who had been summoned +to Paris to be present at the marriage of their young sovereign with a +Princess belonging to one of the oldest and most illustrious families of +Germany. + +Saturday, August 22, the signature of the marriage contract and the civil +wedding took place at the Tuileries, in the Gallery of Diana, in presence +of the Emperor, the Empress, the ladies and officers of their households +and the great personages of the Empire. M. Regnault de Saint-Jean +d'Angely, Secretary of State of the Imperial family, read the marriage- +contract, which was then signed by the Emperor, the Empress, the young +couple, the Princes and Princesses, the Prince Primate of the +Confederation of the Rhine, the Prince's high dignitaries of the Empire, +and the witnesses of the marriage. The witnesses were, for the court of +France: Prince Borghese, Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, and Marshal +Berthier, Prince of Neufchatel; for the court of Wuertemberg: the Prince of +Baden; the Prince of Nassau; and the Count of Winzingerode, the Minister +of Wuertemberg. Prince Cambaceres, Arch-chancellor of the Empire, then +received the consent of the couple and pronounced the formula of the civil +marriage. + +The next day, Sunday, August 23, 1807, at eight in the evening, the +religious marriage was celebrated in the chapel of the Tuileries, the +galleries being filled with the diplomatic bodies, the foreign princes and +noblemen and invited guests. The procession was brilliant. On entering the +chapel, Napoleon gave his hand to the Princess Catherine, and Jerome his +to the Empress. The Prince Primate of the Confederation of the Rhines, +Archbishop of Regensburg, Sovereign Prince of that city, of Aschaftenburg, +of Frankfort, etc., surrounded by his clergy and his court, stood at the +chapel door. He gave holy water to the Emperor and the Empress, who at +once went to their praying-chairs; then he gave the nuptial blessing to +the young couple, while the canopy was held by the Bishop of Ghent and the +Abbe of Boulogne, the Emperor's Almoners. After the ceremony, they all +went back from the chapel to the grand apartments, where followed a +concert, a ballet, and a reception in the Hall of the Marshals. Twice +Napoleon appeared on the balcony, showing the newly married pair the vast +throng filling the garden of the Tuileries. Unfortunately, a sudden storm +prevented the display of fireworks. + +While the thunder was roaring and the rain pouring down, the Empress, at +her young brother-in-law's marriage, was the prey to sad reflections. She +thought of the deserted American wife, who, far away, was weeping, while +her husband, the father of her children was joyfully leading another wife +to the altar. Josephine doubtless thought that soon perhaps her lot would +he the same as that of the unhappy Miss Paterson; that she would he +sacrificed, abandoned, repudiated in the very same way. + +The Empress had another cause of grief. At the Pyrenees her daughter +Hortense had become reconciled with Louis, and was soon to be the mother +of the child afterwards known as Napoleon III. But in a few weeks the +incongeniality of their dispositions, for a moment forgotten in their +common grief, asserted itself anew. On their return to Paris, at the end +of August, the discord between the King and the Queen of Holland was as +violent as ever. The King, more uneasy and suspicious than ever before, +wanted to carry his wife to Holland, but the Queen had an aversion to the +country where she had suffered so much, and to its fatal climate. She +feared that if she should return there she might lose her second son like +the first. Her health was wretched; she feared that her lungs were +affected. In France she felt that the Emperor protected her from her +husband's anger. Holland seemed to her a gloomy, damp, melancholy prison, +of which the King, her husband, would be the jailor. Louis Bonaparte was +furious at his wife's resistance, all the more that he was obliged to hide +his feelings. Napoleon, who held his family, like his Empire, in absolute +control, gave Louis, as well as his other brothers, orders which they had +to obey without a word or a murmur. The King of Holland returned to his +kingdom alone, his wife stayed in France, but in the gloomiest spirits, +with mind and body disordered, disenchanted about all human things. "From +that time," she said later, "I understood that my misfortunes were beyond +cure; I looked upon my life as destroyed; I conceived a horror of +grandeur, of a throne; I often cursed what so many called my good fortune; +I felt lost to all enjoyment of life, shorn of all Illusions, nearly dead +to everything going on about me." Under other conditions, the Empress +would have been delighted to have her daughter with her, but she found her +so dejected, so morose, and so unhappy, that her presence was quite as +much a grief as a comfort for her. These were the feelings of the Empress +of the French and of the Queen, of Holland when they went to Fontainebleau +with the court at the end of September, 1807. There the Emperor lived more +splendidly than ever, surrounding himself with all the pomp and majesty of +monarchy. + + + + +XXV. + +THE COURT AT FONTAINEBLEAU. + + +The court arrived at the Palace of Fontainebleau September 21, 1807, and +stayed there until November 15. Napoleon felt the need of displaying +unprecedented luxury. He wanted to have the Diplomatic Corps send to +foreign powers the account of magnificent festivities. This splendid +palace, with its proud memories of the old French monarchy, was a +residence that pleased him. He liked to be surrounded by great persons, +whether foreigners or Frenchmen, who rivalled one another in flattery, +zeal, and homage towards him. In his opinion, festivities and battles +added to the glory of the throne. Desiring to be in everything first, he +was very anxious for his court to be esteemed the most brilliant in +Europe. + +There were various types among the guests at Fontainebleau. There was +Napoleon's mother, rather Italian than French by birth, and in face and +accent. She recalled the characters of antiquity, unspoiled by prosperity, +austere in her life, simple in her taste, rigidly economical, less from +avarice than a distrust of the continuance of her son's good fortune. +There was the beautiful Princess Borghese, Duchess of Guastalla, more +elegant, more fashionable, more attractive than ever; then Madame Murat, +rich in freshness and brilliancy, not satisfied with being a French +Princess and Grand Duchess of Berg, but yearning to be a Queen; the Queen +of Holland, on the other hand, in despair at having ascended the throne, +and plunged in a deep melancholy in marked contrast with the splendors +surrounding her in spite of herself. Then Joseph Bonaparte's wife, the +Queen of Naples, whose tastes were modest, and who preferred Paris to her +Italian kingdom. There were many Princes and great lords in the crowd of +courtiers, the satellites of the Imperial sun. In the Gallery of Henry II. +were to be distinguished a cluster of German Princes: the Grand Duke of +Wuerzburg,--who did not seem to sigh for his Grand Duchy of Tuscany, +finding ample consolation in singing Italian pieces, for music was his +passion; the Prince Primate of the Confederation of the Rhine, Archbishop +of Regensburg, Sovereign Prince of that city and of Frankfort, who, in +spite of his position in the church, joined the Emperor's hunt; Prince +William of Prussia, who hoped by his devotion to alleviate the troubles of +his country, and to modify the demands of the hero of Jena; the Prince of +Mecklenburg-Schwerin, conspicuous for his formal German politeness; the +young Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. brother of the Queen of Prussia, +less interested in the patriotic grievances of his sister, than in his +assiduous court to the Empress Josephine, whose respectful platonic lover +he was; the Prince of Baden, who, although the brother-in-law of the +Emperor of Russia, the King of Bavaria, and the King of Sweden, was proud +to have married a Mademoiselle de Beauharnais, daughter of a simple +Senator of the Empire, with but one regret--that his wife did not love him +enough; Jerome, the young and brilliant King of Westphalia, apparently +forgetful of Elisabeth Paterson, and full of mad love for his new wife, +Princess Catherine of Wuertemberg. + +In the Gallery of Henry II. was also to be seen Murat, who, after his +triumphal entry into Warsaw, thought of nothing but crowns, anxiously +wondering whether he was to be King of Poland, or of Portugal, of Spain, +or of Naples. There were the high dignitaries of the Empire, the foreign +ambassadors, the marshals, the ministers; M. de Talleyrand with his +enormous salary, his high position as Grand Chamberlain and Vice-Elector, +his title of Prince of Benevento, always sparkling with the cold, +sceptical, politely contemptuous wit that distinguished those who belonged +to the old regime--Talleyrand, who, in the Emperor's closet possibly spoke +to him with a certain freedom, but in the Gallery of Henry II. resembled +the other courtiers and kept a profound silence as his master drew near. +Then the Count of Segur, Grand Master of Ceremonies, as attractive in the +court of Napoleon as he had been in that of Catherine II. as ambassador of +Louis XVI.; Marshal Berthier, Grand Master of the Horse, Vice-Constable, +Sovereign Prince of Neufchatel, as devoted to Madame Visconti as if he +were a youth of twenty; Count Tolstoi, the brilliant ambassador of the +Emperor Alexander; M. de Metternich, the fascinating and skilful Austrian +Ambassador, conspicuous by Ms admiration for Princess Murat. + +When the Emperor entered, all eyes were turned towards him alone; about +him centred all interest, all intrigues, all ambitions. He appeared as the +dispenser of fortune, the arbiter of destiny, the exceptional being on +whom depended individuals, kingdoms, empires. He filled it all with his +presence; every one seemed to live only for and by the Emperor. A smile, a +word, the slightest mark of attention on his part, seemed a precious +reward, a marked honor, As soon as he entered, a quiver of admiration and +of terror seemed to run through the air. Every one bowed like a horse who +sniffs the approach of his master; they almost prostrated themselves +before him. Any one to whom he spoke, stammered, feared to reply, turned +pale and red; and he, rejoicing in their embarrassment, gloried in the +wide gulf he had set between himself and all other human beings. Even +foreigners seemed to be his subjects. Whatever their position, whatever +their coat-of-arms, by his side they were vulgar supernumeraries. His +power appeared to be limitless, like his genius; and believing everything +possible, looking upon himself as a prodigy, a living miracle, he exulted +proudly and majestically in his glory. + +Under the second Empire, what were called the _series_ of Compiegne and of +Fontainebleau were much less ceremonious than under the first. All the +guests of Napoleon III. breakfasted and dined at his table,--in the +morning in frock-coat, in the evening in black coat and knee breeches; no +uniforms were to be seen. Women appeared at breakfast in morning dress; +they wore no especial dress at the hunt. Before dinner the Empress used to +receive a few specially invited guests to drink tea. All day the Emperor +left the company perfectly free. In the evening there was dancing to the +music of a piano like a hand-organ, of which a chamberlain turned the +handle. The Emperor was treated with great deference, but no one feared +him, because his words were always marked by great affability. Napoleon +I., on the other hand, was perhaps more feared than admired. Those who +were charged with organizing his entertainments were perfectly happy if he +was silent; for he almost never gave a word of praise and often +criticised. It was a conspicuous and rare honor, even for Princes, to dine +with him. There were besides at Fontainebleau, in 1807, several distinct +tables: those of the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial family, who +often gave grand dinners; that of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, with +twenty-five places; that of the Empress's Maid of Honor, with the same +number; and, finally, a last table for all those who had received no +special invitation. The Princesses paid the cost--of installing themselves +there out of their own purses, while under Napoleon III., at +Fontainebleau, or at Compiegne, all the expenses were defrayed by the +Emperor. Under the first Empire only those holding high official position +were invited to the Imperial, residences; under the second, many were +invited who were famous only for their elegance. Under Napoleon I., where +everything was formal, scarcely anything but tragedy was played at the +court; under Napoleon III., lighter plays were often given. The hunts were +very simple under the second Emperor and very magnificent under the first, +In 1807 Napoleon had ordered that women who went to the coursing should +wear a special costume; that of the Empress and of all the ladies of her +household was of amaranthine velvet, embroidered with gold, and a cap with +white feathers; that of the Princesses, blue for the Queen of Holland, +pink for the Princess Murat, lilac for the Princess Borghese, all adorned +with silver embroidery. The Emperor and all his guests wore the same +hunting-dress for coursing: a green coat with gold, buttons and lace, +breeches of white cassimere, Hessian boots without tops; for shooting, a +green coat, with no other ornament than white buttons, on which were +carved hunting emblems. Under the first Empire, etiquette was most rigid; +under the second, it hardly existed. At every moment of day and evening, +Napoleon I. wore a twofold air as commander-in-chief and sovereign; +Napoleon III. was like a man of the world receiving his friends in his own +castle. + +From September 21 to November 15, 1807, the great general had commanded +that there should be amusement in the Palace of Fontainebleau. Pleasure +was ordered, but it does not come at call. The Emperor, accustomed to have +his every wish obeyed, was surprised to see that not every face was +radiant. "Strange," he said, "I have gathered a good many people here at +Fontainebleau; I want them to amuse themselves, I have arranged their +pleasures, yet every one seems tired and sad." The Italian songs, even +when sung by the best singers, in costume and with all the scenery, +produced but a feeble impression. The tragedies seemed to induce slumber. +The little balls, or, more exactly, the little hops in the apartment of +the Maid of Honor, Madame de la Rochefoucauld, were very dull. Sometimes +little games were played there; they gave a flash of gaiety, but as soon +as the Emperor appeared, every one assumed a serious, composed air. Might +one not say once more what La Bruyere said when speaking of the court of +Louis XIV.: "Who would believe that this eagerness for shows, that meals, +hunts, ballets, tilting-matches, crowned so many anxieties, pains, and +diverse interests, so many fears and hopes, so many lively passions, and +serious affairs?" A palace is not built for ease. All its formalities hang +heavy on every guest; the whole of every day is spent in playing a part. + +Amid all these empty pleasures and hollow joys there was no lack of +sorrow. It was there that the wretched Queen Hortense, spitting blood, +mourning the past and dreading the future, said to Napoleon: "My +reputation is tainted, my health ruined, I expect no more happiness in +life; banish me from your court; if you wish, lock me up in a convent, I +desire neither throne nor fortune. Give peace to my mother, glory to +Eugene, who deserves it, but let me live a calm and solitary life." She +had been happier as an unknown schoolgirl at Madame Campan's, just as her +mother, the Empress of the French and the Queen of Italy, must have often +sighed for the island of Martinique, where she would have preferred the +splash of the waves to the courtiers' murmur of obsequious flattery. +Napoleon, himself, at the height of human glory, had lost the peace of +heart which he enjoyed in his boyhood, and never found again. + +The Empress Josephine naturally held the highest place in this brilliant +court of Fontainebleau, and was the object of untiring homage; few, +however, suspected the anxieties that tormented her, so calm happy did she +appear, with a kind word and a gracious smile for every one. + +M. de Metternich, the Austrian Ambassador who was then at Fontainebleau, +took pains to ascertain the causes of her secret sorrow, and sent the +details to his government. He wrote to von Stadion: "In many of my +previous reports I have had the honor of speaking to Your Excellency about +the long current rumors regarding the approaching divorce of the Emperor. +After circulating vaguely in the last two months, they have become the +subject of general and public discussion. It is true of these rumors, as +of all not stamped out at their birth, that they rest on some foundation +of truth, or they would be promptly silenced, if they were not directly +tolerated." Then the clear-sighted ambassador reported in the same +despatch what he had learned, thanks to his relations with persons to whom +the Empress had made revelations: "Since his return from the army, the +Emperor's bearing towards his wife has been cold and embarrassed. He no +longer lives in the same apartment with her, and many of his daily habits +have undergone a change. Rumors of the Empress's divorce began at that +moment to assume a more serious form; when they reached her ears she +simply waited for some direct information, without letting the Emperor see +the slightest anxiety." + +Josephine was sorely stricken, and her sufferings were all the more +intense because she had to hide them from every one, especially from her +husband, and they made a marked contrast, by the irony of fate, with the +pleasures and amusements that surrounded her. She was too clear-sighted +and intelligent to proceed to question the Emperor. She feared light and +dreaded the truth. She hesitated before the abyss that awaited her, and +shuddered before the Emperor's glance. She suffered on the throne, as if +it were an instrument of torture. It was then that Fouche took some steps +which doubled her anguish. The incident is thus recounted, by Prince +Metternich in the despatch already cited: "One day the Minister of Police +visited her at Fontainebleau. and after a short preamble, told her that +the public good, and, above all, the strengthening of the existing dynasty +requiring that the Emperor should have children, she ought to ask the +Senate to join with her in demanding of the Emperor a sacrifice most +painful to his heart. The Empress, who was prepared for the question, +asked Fouche, with great coolness, if he took this step by the Emperors +orders. 'No,' he replied: 'I speak to Your Majesty as a minister charged +with a general supervision, as a private citizen, as a subject devoted to +his country's glory,' 'In that case I have nothing to say to you,' +interrupted the Empress; 'I regard my union with the Emperor as written in +the book of Fate, I shall never discuss the matter with any one but him, +and never will do anything but what he orders,'" Josephine, when she +mentioned this conversation to her confidant, M. de Lavalette, who had +married a Mademoiselle de Beauharnais, said to him in great perplexity; +"Is it not clear that Fouche was sent by the Emperor and that my fate is +settled? Alas! To leave the throne is nothing to me. Who knows better than +I do how many tears I have shed there? But to lose at the same time the +man to whom I have given my best love, that sacrifice is beyond my +strength." + +But to return to Prince Metternich's despatch: "Many days passed without +incident, when suddenly the Emperor began to share again the Empress's +apartment and took a favorable moment to ask why she had been so sad for +some days. The Empress then told him of her interview with Fouche. The +Emperor confirmed his statement that he had never given him any such +orders. He added that she ought to know him well enough to be sure that he +had no need of any go-between to manage matters with her, and made her +promise to report to him anything further she might hear about the +matter." Josephine was not at all comforted. Napoleon's explanation was +very embarrassed, and who could think that so crafty and ambitious a man +as Fouche could assume the responsibility of such a negotiation if he +supposed that thereby he exposed himself to his master's wrath? + +The Minister of Police did not confine himself to mere spoken words. A few +days after his interview with the Empress, he wrote to her a long letter +on large paper, in which he set forth all the arguments he had already +brought forward, to urge upon her the spontaneous sacrifice which would be +the more meritorious, the more painful it was. Josephine, who received +this letter in the evening, summoned M. de Remusat at midnight to show it +to him. "What shall I do," she asked, "to ward off this storm?" "Madame," +replied the First Chamberlain, "my advice is to go this very moment to the +Emperor, if he has not gone to bed, or else the very first thing to-morrow +morning. Remember, you must seem to have consulted no one. Make him read +this letter; watch him as closely as you can; but, whatever happens, show +that you hate these roundabout methods, and tell him again that you will +never listen to anything but a direct order from him." + +The Empress did as he said, Napoleon, to use a common expression, was +"cornered." He pretended to be much surprised, and very angry; promised +"to comb Fouche's head," and even added that if she desired he would take +away his portfolio; and to calm her he went so far as to write to the +Minister of Police this letter, dated Fontainebleau, November 5, 1807:-- + +"MONSIEUR FOUCHE: In the last fortnight I have heard of your foolish +actions; it is time for you to put an end to them, and to stop +interfering, directly or indirectly, in a matter which in no way concerns +you; that is my wish." + +Fouche was not at all disturbed by his master's reproach. He was at heart +convinced that he had not displeased him; he kept his portfolio, and was +sure that the divorce, though postponed, was irrevocably decided on by the +Emperor. Josephine had no more illusions. It was in vain that Napoleon +spoke to her kindly, and tried to console her with kisses and even tears, +--for Napoleon used to cry sometimes,--after Fouche had made his overtures +she had no more peace of mind. The end of the stay at Fontainebleau was +very gloomy. All became tired of this life of empty show, of the perpetual +constraint, of the pleasures which by dint of repetition became dull and +monotonous. Every one longed for home, to escape from this master's +glances; for his presence inspired an admiration tempered with dread. The +women had spent vast sums in their dress. The men had indulged in +ambitious plans almost always futile. The German princelings had suffered +in their lordly pride and German patriotism by having to bow their heads +before the formidable man whose humble vassals they were, and these men, +vain of their coat-of-arms, had not seen without a secret spite the +crushing superiority of a poor Corsican gentleman. This great conqueror +himself was not happy in all his splendor. Although he was no longer in +love with his wife, it was not without sadness that he had seen her +uneasiness and grief. Anxiety about the condition of Spain, which was so +fatal to him, cast a cloud on his brow. When hunting in the forest, he was +often seen to lose himself in thought and to let his horse wander as he +pleased. At the theatrical performances it was noticed that, absorbed and +distracted, he appeared to think less of the play than of his vast plans. + +Not long since I visited the palace and the forest of Fontainebleau, in +one of those cold but bright autumn days when the half bare trees have a +strange appearance, when some leaves are as red as blood, others as yellow +as gold, and nature wears all the countless hues which defy the artist's +brush. The forest is wonderfully beautiful with its marvellous combination +of trees and rocks. All the kings of France since Louis VII. have +inhabited this palace. The holy head of Louis IX. appears there with his +aureola on his head, In the gallery of Francis I., with its nymphs and +fauns, amid garlands, fruits, and emblems, one recalls that King and +Charles V. who entered the palace by the glided door, and who took part in +the great festival in the forest, when nymphs, fauns, and gods seemed to +issue from the trunks of oaks to the sound of tambourines, and a band of +maidens flung flowers before the feet of the Spanish court. One recalls, +too, Catharine de' Medici with her squadron, of young and brilliant +amazons--Catharine de' Medici who In this palace brought forth her two +sons, Francis II, and Henry III. At the end of the oval court is a dome of +rich and picturesque construction, called the baptistery of Louis XIII, +because that king was baptized there. Then there are the apartments of the +queen mothers; Catharine de' Medici, Maria de' Medici, Anne of Austria, +and those of Pius VII., a captive at Fontainebleau, In the bedroom of the +queen mothers an altar was raised where the Vicar of Christ said mass. The +hangings of embroidered satin in this room were a wedding-gift from the +city of Lyons to Marie Antoinette. The room is a model of luxury and +elegance, and is called the Chamber of the Five Maries because it has been +inhabited by five sovereigns bearing that name, Maria de' Medici, Maria +Theresa, Marie Antoinette, Marie Louise, and Marie Amelie. It was also the +Empress Eugenie's chamber. + +This marvellously picturesque palace of Fontainebleau is full of +interesting reminiscences, but of all the figures it recalls, no figure is +more impressive than that of Napoleon. There is much gorgeous furniture in +the palace of various sorts, in the style of the renaissance, of Louis +XIV., Louis XV., and Louis XVI.; but no piece attracts more attention than +the plain mahogany table on which Napoleon signed his abdication. Then how +impressive is the bedroom where he spent terrible nights, unable to sleep, +and at last seeking in suicide a cure for his despair! Consider the +contrast between 1807 and 1814! Meanwhile there had been changes of face, +many apostasies. "Ah! Caulaincourt, mankind, mankind!" exclaimed the +deserted Emperor. Every one left him, promising him a speedy return, but +no one thought of it. Fontainebleau became a desert. If the sound of +wheels was heard, it was never of carriages arriving, but only of +carriages going away. It was at Fontainebleau that Napoleon's pride +triumphed, and there that his pride suffered its cruelest humiliations. +What anguish he endured, this man of destiny, in that room where he wrote: +"To finish my career by signing a treaty in which I have not been able to +stipulate a single general interest, nor even one moral interest, such as +the preservation of our colonies, or the maintenance of the Legion of +Honor! To sign a treaty by which money is given to me!" What anguish tore +his mind and body when, having taken too small a dose of poison, he said +between his spasms: "How hard it is to die, and it is so easy on the +battle-field! Why didn't I die at Arcis-sur-Aube!" Did he then recall the +splendor of his return from Jena, from Friedland, from Tilsitt? Did he +remember the crowd of courtiers who resembled priests whose God he was? +The only courtiers left were those to whom he had given neither money nor +honors, the old soldiers of his guard, with, their gray mustaches, who +could not restrain their sobs and tears when, in the Court of the White +Horse, he bade them farewell, saying, "I should like to embrace you in my +arms, but let me embrace this flag which represents you." + + + + +XXVI. + +THE END OF THE YEAR, 1807. + + +While the court was still at Fontainebleau, the Empress received a piece +of news, which had been kept back from her for some days, and which added +materially to her sorrows. Her widowed mother, Madame Tascher de la +Pagerie, whom she had not seen since September, 1790, had died June 2, +1807, at the age of seventy, in her home at Martinique. Josephine, who was +much attached to her mother, had done her best to persuade her to come to +France, where she would have been sure of the warmest welcome. But that +venerable lady had perhaps chosen more wisely in preferring her modest and +quiet home to all the splendor and excitement of an Imperial palace. From +afar she thought of her daughter at the summit of human happiness; near +her, she would often have seen her sad and downcast. By not approaching +the throne which, at a distance, appears like a magic seat, but, to use +the Emperor's expression, is in fact only an armchair covered with velvet, +Napoleon's mother-in-law was spared the sight of much misery, and she +died, as she had lived, in peace. + +The Emperor left for Italy November 16. 1807, and this departure was for +Josephine, already so afflicted, another source of anxiety and sadness, +She would gladly have gone with him, and have seen once more Eugene and +her granddaughter, who was named after her; but Napoleon had decided +otherwise. He was no longer unable to live without his wife, and he no +longer thought with La Fontaine that absence was the greatest of evils. He +alleged as reason, the inclemency of the winter, said that he should be +back early in December--in fact, he did not return to the Tuileries till +January 1--and to the Empress's great despair set off without her, leaving +her the prey of the liveliest anxiety, the cruelest fears. + +In Italy Napoleon received the same ardent flattery as in France. He +reached Milan November 22, before Prince Eugene had had time to ride out +to meet him. After ovations, reviews, religious ceremonies at the +Cathedral, grand performances at the Scala, he went to Venice. Here he was +received with all the luxury that used to be displayed at the majestic +marriage of the doge and the Adriatic. When he reached Fusina, he entered +a gondola rowed by men in satin coats embroidered with gold. He entered +the grand canal beneath an arch of triumph between a double line of boats +adorned with festoons and garlands. At the Venice theatre he saw a grand +performance representing Olympus, and then was played, amid applause, the +popular air, _Napoleone it grande_. He had with him in Venice his brother +Joseph, King of Naples; his sister, Elisa Bacciochi, Princess of Lucca; +his step-son, Prince Eugene, Viceroy of Italy; the King and Queen of +Bavaria, the father-in-law and mother-in-law of this Prince; Murat, Grand +Duke of Berg, and Berthier, Prince of Neufchatel. He left Venice December +8, dining at Treviso. The 11th he was at Udine, and the 14th at Mantua. + +It was in this city that he had a secret interview with his brother +Lucien, with whom he wished to be reconciled, but on one absolute +condition, _sine qua non_. It will be remembered that Lucien, against the +First Consul's wishes, had married Alexandrine de Bleschamps, widow of M. +Jouberthon; who, after being a broker in Paris, had died in Saint Domingo, +whither he had followed the French expedition. Napoleon, who was anxious +to marry Lucien with Queen Marie Louise, daughter of Charles IV. of Spain, +and widow of Louis I., King of Etruria, wished to annul this marriage. But +this brilliant offer had been peremptorily declined by the man who +preferred a woman's love to a crown. In the spring of 1804 Lucien had +voluntarily left France to seek in Rome an asylum from his brother's +incessant reproaches and demands. His mother, Madame Letitia, who +thoroughly approved of him, had followed him to Rome, and the Emperor had +met with some difficulty in persuading her to return to Paris, which she +only did after the coronation. M. de Meneval went by night to fetch Lucien +from the inn where he was staying, and led him mysteriously to the palace +which the Emperor occupied. Laden, instead of falling in his brother's +arms, greeted him coldly, with dignified reserve. + +Stanislas de Girardia, in his interesting "Journal," has recounted the +interview of the two brothers, as he heard it from Lucien himself. They +said very much what follows:-- + +"Well, sir, do you still told to Madame Jouberthon and her son?" + +"Madame Jouberthon is my wife, and her son is my son." + +"No, no, since it is a marriage which I do not recognize, and consequently +null." + +"I contracted it lawfully, as citizen and as Christian." + +"The civil act was illegal, and it is known that you gave a priest twenty- +five louis-d'or to persuade him to marry you." + +"Doubtless Your Majesty, when he invited me here, did not do so for the +purpose of paining me; if that is his intention, I withdraw," + +"I have conquered Europe, and certainly I should not flinch before you. +You owe your peaceful life in Rome to my kindness; but you are acquiring +there a consideration which displeases me, and in time you will annoy me; +I will order you to go away, and I will make you leave Europe." + +"And if I should not obey?" "I will have you arrested." + +"And then?" + +"I shall have you sent to Bicetre and then if--" + +"I should defy you to commit a crime!" + +"Don't speak to me in that way; don't imagine you can impose on me, I +repeat, I have not conquered Europe to flinch before you. Leave the room." + +Lucien did not leave, and Napoleon, after a few violent words, became a +little calmer. Lucien then renewed the stormy discussion, trying to pacify +his brother. + +"I had no intention of displeasing Your Majesty by saying what should show +the high opinion I have of the greatness of his soul." + +"Never mind that; cast your eyes on the map of the world then. Join us, +Lucien, and take your share; it will be a fine one, I promise you. The +throne of Portugal is empty; I have declared that the King shall cease to +reign. I will give it to you; take command of the army destined to make an +easy conquest of it, and I will make you a French Prince and my +lieutenant. The daughters of your first wife shall be my nieces; I will +establish them in life. I will marry the eldest to the Prince of the +Asturias; the King of Spain asks it of me as a favor; I can prove it by +this letter." + +"My eldest daughter, Sire, is not yet thirteen; she is not old enough to +be married." + +"I thought she was older." + +"In a year or two, I will gladly let you dispose of her." + +"Then there are no difficulties about the children of your first wife. You +have daughters by your second wife, I will adopt them; you have a boy too; +I shall not recognize him; his mother will have an important duchy, and he +can be her heir. As for you, go to Lisbon, leave your wife and your son in +Rome; I will look after them. Your ties are broken. I will find a way." + +"That can only be by divorce." + +"And why not? That is a frank and positive way which perfectly suits me. I +want to be reconciled with you, and you know the price attached to the +Portuguese crown." + +"I see that to get it I should have to consent to make my wife a +concubine, my son a bastard. Your Majesty knows me ill if he has been able +to believe that the offer of a crown could tempt me to a dishonorable +action." + +"He who is not for me, is against me; if you don't enter into my system, +you are my enemy; and thereby I have the right of persecuting you and I +shall persecute you." + +"I do not want to be your enemy, Sire; I cannot become one by preserving +my honor and my virtue, by refusing to give up my reputation for a throne: +and that this disagreement may be unknown, let Your Majesty give me some +conspicuous proof of his kindness; give me the broad ribbon of the Legion +of Honor, I beg of you!" + +"No; by taking my colors you would ruin your reputation; it is a great +thing to be opposed to me, and it is a fine part to play; you can continue +it for two years without inconvenience, but then you will have to leave +Europe." + +"Much sooner, and I shall prepare to leave for America. Only the +entreaties of my mother and Josephine have kept me here so long." + +"I don't ask that of you; my propositions are not too unreasonable to be +thought over; ponder them, with your wife, and let me know your answer +within eighteen days." + +At the end of the interview the two brothers parted with emotion. Lucien +flung himself into his brother's arms, saying that doubtless he was +embracing him for the last time, and left for Rome with his head high. He +was obliged to yield only on one point, by sending to Paris his oldest +daughter, Charlotte Marie, the issue of his first marriage with Christine +Boyer. (She was born at Saint Maximini in February, 1795, and in 1815 +married Prince Marius Gabrielli.) But the young girl had all her father's +independent spirit. In Paris she was entrusted to the care of her +grandmother, Madame Letitia, and she spoke so severely about the Imperial +family in her letters, which were opened, that she was sent back to her +father in Rome almost as soon as she had arrived in France. As for the +idea of an annulment of the marriage or a divorce, Lucien absolutely +rejected it. He preferred his wife to all the wealth, all the honors, all +the kingdoms of the world. Jerome had yielded. Lucien did not yield. + +Napoleon left Mantua after his interview with his brother, and returned to +Milan, where, December 17, he witnessed some naval sports in the arena of +the circus, which was turned into a lake. There too, December 20, in the +grand, hall of the palace, he adopted Prince Eugene as his son and +declared him his heir to the crown of Italy. At the same time he issued +these two decrees: "Wishing to give especial proof of our satisfaction +with our good city of Venice, we have conferred, and by these letters- +patent here present do confer, upon our dearly loved son, Prince Eugene +Napoleon, our heir presumptive to the crown of Italy, the title of Prince +of Venice." "Wishing to give especial proof of our satisfaction with our +good city of Bologna, we have conferred, and by these letters-patent here +present do confer, the title of Princess of Bologna upon our dearly loved +granddaughter, the Princess Josephine." Napoleon left Milan, December 24, +to return to Paris by way of Turin. + +The letters which the Emperor wrote to his wife during this trip were very +empty and unimportant, wholly unlike those he had written in 1798. Only a +few need be quoted. "Milan, November, 25, 1807. I have been here, my dear, +two days. I am glad I did not bring you. You would have suffered terribly +crossing Mount Cenis where a storm detained me twenty-four hours. I found +Eugene very well; I am much pleased with him. The Princess is ill; I went +to see her at Monza: she has had a miscarriage, but is improving. Good by, +my dear." "Venice, November 30, 1807. I have your letter of the 22d. I +have been for two days in Venice. The weather is very bad, which has not +prevented my going through the lagoons to see the different forts. I am +glad to see that you are amusing yourself in Paris. The King of Bavaria +and his family and the Princess Elisa are also here. After December 2, +which I shall spend here, I shall be on my way back, and glad to see you. +Good by, my dear." "Udine, December 11, 1807. I have your letter of the +3d, and I see you are much pleased with the Jardin des Plantes. I am at +the furthest limit of my journey; it is possible that I shall be soon in +Paris where I shall be glad to see you again. The weather has not been +very cold here, but very wet. I have taken advantage of the last fine +weather of the season, for I suppose that at Christmas the winter will be +here. Good by, my dear. Ever Yours." + +During the Emperor's absence the triumphal return of the Guard brought a +slight diversion to the Empress's anxiety and distress of mind. Though +unhappy as a wife, she was at least happy as a Frenchwoman. She, alas! had +a presentiment of divorce, but not of the invasion and dismemberment of +France. At noon, November 25, the twelve thousand old soldiers of the +Guard, bronzed, covered with glorious wounds, some already gray, made +their solemn entry into Paris. An arch of triumph, broader and higher than +the Porte Saint Martin, had been built at the gate of La Villette. The +Prefect of the Seine and the municipal authorities there awaited the +veterans. + +The prefect welcomed the brave soldiers: "Heroes of Jena, of Eylan, of +Friediand," he said, "conquerors of peace, immortal thanks are due you, +for the country you have conquered! Your own country will ever remember +your triumphs; your names will be handed down to the remotest posterity on +bronze and marble, and the story of your exploits, firing the courage of +our latest descendants, will be recalled, and you, by the example you have +set, will still protect this vast Empire which, you have so gloriously +defended with your valor... Hail! war-like eagles, symbols of the power of +our magnanimous Emperor; carry over all the earth, with his great name, +the glory of the French name, and may the crowns with which the city of +Paris has been allowed to decorate you be everywhere a proof at once +august and formidable of the union of monarch, people, and army!" + +Marshal Bessieres, who was in, command, replied: "The most perfect harmony +will always exist between the populace of this great city and the soldiers +of the Imperial guard, and if their eagles should march again, recalling +their oath to defend, them to the death, they would remember that the +wreaths adorning them redouble the obligation." After these two speeches +the standard bearer left the ranks and bent down the flags on which the +magistrates placed golden crowns bearing this inscription: "The city of +Paris to the Grand Army." Then the troops marched past in the following +order: the fusiliers, the riflemen, grenadiers, the light cavalry, the +Mamelukes, dragoons, the horse grenadiers, and the picked body of gens des +armes. While they passed beneath the arch of triumph, a large band and +chorus performed a cantata, with words by Arnault and music by Mehul. +Passing through the dense crowds that lined the way, the guard came to the +Tuileries, passing beneath the arch of the Carrousel, where the eagles +were set down. Then it entered the palace garden, leaving its arms there, +and proceeded to the Champs Elysees, where a banquet for twelve thousand +men was laid. The tables were arranged under tents on each side of the +Champs Elysees, along their whole extent, from the Place de la Concorde to +the gate de l'Etoile. The tent of the staff was in the middle, half-way +up. Marshal Bessieres proposed a toast to the city of Paris, and the +Prefect of the Seine one to the Emperor and King, and another to the Grand +Army. + +The next day there were three performances in every theatre. The pit, the +orchestra, and principal rows of boxes and galleries were reserved for the +Imperial Guard. The opera gave _The Triumph of Trajan_. The Francais gave +_Gaston and Bayard_. "That historical play," said the _Moniteur_, "which +presents so noble and true a picture of French honor, of warlike +victories, of chivalric enthusiasm,--never did this tragedy have +spectators better fitted to appreciate it." In the minor theatres various +plays on the events of the day were given. The performance at the opera +was magnificent; the _Moniteur_ described it with its usual lyrical +enthusiasm: "This picked band of braves, who, in their swift conquests, in +their distant marches, have seen such, diverse climates, visited so many +shores, and in so few months have seen the springs and the mouths of so +many rivers, know also the banks of the Tiber; hence in the scenery they +at ones recognized Rome; in the triumphal march, in the eager throng, in +the vast populace, bursting through the ranks of the Roman soldiers, and +flinging themselves beneath the hoofs of their horses, they saw the +touching picture of the reception they had met the day before. Their +emotion baffles description. The Imperial Guard gazing at Trajan's triumph +was itself an admirable spectacle." The opera was but a series of +ingenious allusions to Napoleon's glory. Trajan was represented as +burning, with his own hand, papers containing the secret of a conspiracy, +recalling Napoleon's throwing into the fire the letters by which, he could +have rained M. Hatzfeld; and when the Roman Emperor appeared in his +chariot, drawn by four white horses, it was not Trajan who was applauded, +but Napoleon. + +December 14, at the Military School, Marshal Bessieres, to celebrate the +victories of the Grand Army, and to thank the city of Paris for its +reception of the Imperial Guard, gave a grand entertainment which the +Empress honored with her presence. The Invalides was brilliantly +illuminated and connected with the Military School by a long row of +lights. In the middle of the Champ de Mars was a vast hemisphere, on which +was a pedestal holding a colossal statue of the Emperor, surrounded by +allegoric figures. The trophies set aside for each one of the Grand Army +were marked with the corps number. The Imperial Guard was under arms, and +formed an interesting part of the spectators, and of the spectacle as +well. Bengal fires lit up the warlike scene. The heights across the Seine +were also ablaze with lights. The Empress arrived at the Military School +at about eight in the evening. The entertainment began with a ballet +performed by dancers from the opera. Then there were fireworks. The Champ +de Mars was one sea of flame, and the Imperial Guard fired blank +cartridges for half an hour. Then there was a grand ball with a fine +supper; after which the dances continued till morning. + +This worldly and military entertainment, at which the Empress queen +appeared in all her glory, may be regarded as the crowning point of her +splendors. And here, at the end of 1807, we close this study. We have left +to narrate in a final volume only the last seven years of Josephine's +life. We have already recounted nearly the whole career of this attractive +woman, of this justly famous sovereign. We have described her infancy in +Martinique, in her modest, patriarchal home, where she was born, June 23, +1763. We have admired her as a young girl, loving flowers, music, and +nature, beneath the clear sky of the Antilles, amid banana and orange +trees, tropical flowers, and birds of paradise, where the fortune-telling +negress said to her: "You will be a queen." We have seen her in France, +marrying, December 13, 1779, the young and brilliant Viscount Alexandre de +Beauharnais, by whom she had one son, the future Viceroy of Italy, and one +daughter, the future Queen of Holland. We have seen her going through that +period of illusions, so well called the Golden Age of the Revolution, +receiving in her drawing-room in the rue de l'Universite the flower of the +liberal nobility and leaders of the Constituent Assembly, then suddenly +passing from the Golden to the Iron Age, shuddering at the dangers to +which war, and above all the Terror exposed her husband, the general in +chief of the Army of the Rhine, the leader of the democracy, rewarded for +his patriotism and his devotion to the Republic by the scaffold. She +herself, during her husband's captivity, was imprisoned in the Carmes +April, 1794; for one hundred and eight days of inexpressible anguish and +torment, she occupied in this dungeon the Room of the Swords as it was +called, because the walls still bore traces of the three swords which the +men of September had leaned against them after the massacre of the one +hundred and twenty priests who were in the prison. Beauharnais, the man of +the old regime, who had embraced the new ideas with so much ardor, this +grand lord who got himself treated like a _sans-culotte_ was guillotined +four days before Robespierre, whose death would have saved him. His young +widow left prison, reduced to extreme want, and took refuge with her +father-in-law, at Fontainebleau; then she made her appearance in the +motley society which, first showed itself in the drawing-room of Madame +Tallien, then at the Luxembourg under Barras. Rivalling Madame Tallien and +Madame Recamier in popularity, she smiled through her tears, like +Andromache in Homer. Her means becoming greater, thanks to the support of +men in authority, she bought in the rue Chantereine, afterwards rue de la +Victoire, a little house belonging to Talma, the tragedian. There she +received with her customary courtesy the few survivors of French +aristocracy who said behind well-closed doors: "Let us talk about the old +court; let us take a turn at Versailles." + +Bonaparte, commander of the Army of the Interior, after the 13th +Vendemiaire, when he saved the expiring Convention, had just ordered the +disarmament of the sections and the delivery of all arms found in private +houses, when a boy of fourteen called upon him to ask to have back the +sword of his father, who had commanded the armies of the Republic. This +boy was Eugene de Beauharnais, afterwards Viceroy of Italy. Bonaparte, +touched by this action, received him graciously. The next day Madame de +Beauharnais called upon him to thank him. He was much struck by her charms +and proposed to her; she accepted him and they were married March 9, 1796. +The Viscountess of Beauharnais became Citizeness Bonaparte. No sooner +married, than the young husband, who was only twenty-six, tore himself +from her arms and started for the army of Italy. Then Napoleon's love for +Josephine was much greater than hers for him. It was he who was jealous, +he who wrote burning letters; he it was who was all enthusiasm, ardor, and +ablaze with passion. It was only with reluctance that Josephine decided to +leave Paris, where she was happy, but in Italy she found a real royalty. +At Milan she took possession of the Serbelloni Palace, where she did the +honors most admirably and received the homage of the proud aristocracy of +Milan. She followed her husband to the war, for he could not bear to be +separated from her, and one day when, beset with dangers, she was crying, +he exclaimed: "Wurmser shall pay dearly for the tears he causes you." +After Arcole, Madame Bonaparte resembled a sovereign. She singularly aided +her husband to play the double part which was soon to carry him to the +highest rank. When it was a question of repelling royalism, the young +conqueror relied on men like Augereau; when it was necessary to attract +men of the old regime, Josephine was the bond of union between him and the +French or Italian aristocracy. On her return to Paris, June 2, 1798, she +shared her husband's glories. The little house in the rue Chantereine +became more famous than the grandest palaces. + +Bonaparte left for Egypt, embarking at Toulon, May 19, 1798, after taking +tender leave of Josephine. During her husband's absence, she bought the +estate of Malmaison, an unknown spot which soon became famous. She +skilfully defended Bonaparte's interests with the Directory, and in her +drawing-room met celebrities of every kind. But malicious persons soon +sent to Egypt hostile rumors, and her impetuous husband, wild with jealous +wrath, spoke of nothing but separation and divorce. He reached Paris +unexpectedly, October 16, 1799, and not finding his wife there, started +off to meet her on a different road from hers, wild with jealousy. His +brothers, Josephine's enemies, deceived him, and at first he refused to +see her again; but, softened by the supplications of Eugene and Hortense +de Beauharnais, he pardoned his wife and opened his door to her; she +defended herself, and he let himself be convinced, so that, instead of a +divorce, there was a complete reconciliation. Josephine was of use to her +husband in the preparations for the 18th Brumaire; she helped him to lull +the vigilance of the Republicans and to rise to the highest rank. + +Citizeness Bonaparte had become the wife of the First Consul. Like the +ladies of the old regime, she was addressed as Madame until she should be +called Empress, or Your Majesty. She was at the head of the Consular +Court, rich in youth, glory, and hope. At the Tuileries she took +possession of the apartments of Marie Antoinette. At Malmaison she enjoyed +the pleasures of the country. The hero of Marengo looked upon her as his +good angel, his good genius. Their happiness was interrupted by the +infernal machine, but this gloomy incident was soon forgotten. Under +Josephine's guidance Parisian society soon resumed its former brilliancy. +Monarchical customs reappeared. The Concordat effected a reconciliation of +the church with the government, and the wife of the First Consul, +surrounded by a real court, heard a _Te Deum_ in the rood-loft of Notre +Dame. At heart she was a Royalist by her memories and her feelings, +although she was made by fate an Empress. The crown, so far from tempting +her, filled her with fear. She yearned to descend as her husband yearned +to rise. The proclamation of the Consulate for life, the prelude of the +Empire, filled her with gloom and apprehension, Neither the pomp of Saint +Cloud, nor the triumphal trip in Belgium. robbed her of her wise and +modest ideas. She much preferred Malmaison to any splendid palace, and +looked back with regret at the time when she was simply Citizeness +Bonaparte. Grandeur, so far from turning her head, only made her less +ambitious, She gave her husband excellent advice, which, unfortunately, he +did not follow. Had he listened to her, he would not have had the Duke of +Enghien killed, he would have been modest in good fortune, and would have +remained the first citizen of a great Republic. + +Crowned at Notre Dame by the hands of Napoleon, Josephine played a +sovereign's part with as much ease as if she had been born on the steps of +the throne. The greatest names of the old regime figured in her house. She +adorned magnificent festivities by her presence. In Italy, whither she +accompanied her husband, she received as Queen the same homage she had +received as Empress. Yet, amid all this splendor, she was not happy. The +terrible wars in which Napoleon engaged filled her with anxiety. At +Strassburg, during the Austerlitz campaign, at Mayence during that of Jena +and that of Poland, she was a victim of the greatest distress of mind and +nervous terror. Then, too, her husband's infidelities filled her with +despair. Towards the end of 1807 the spectre of divorce arose before her. +The loss of a crown would be a trifling matter, but the sight of another +woman reigning as lawful wife over Napoleon's heart was a thought to which +she could not reconcile herself. From that moment she knew no peace or +happiness. She was like a convicted criminal awaiting sentence at any +moment, and she had to hide her terrible grief from every one. She always +imagined that in the homage paid her by force of habit, there was +something false and ironical. She thought of herself only as disgraced, +betrayed, repudiated. All that was left of her crown was its mark on her +brow. Few peasant women in their huts were ever as thoroughly unhappy as +was this sovereign in her palace. + +We have seen Josephine in her springtime, in her summer; it remains for us +to describe only the autumn of this wonderful and melancholy career. This +last study will be profoundly sad. "In the season which despoils nature," +said Madame Swetchine, "there is no breeze, no puff of air so light that +it fails to detach the leaf from the tree that bore it. In the autumn of +the heart there is no movement that does not carry away a happiness or a +hope." The great afflictions of Josephine's later years were the divorce, +the invasion, and the long agony. Driven from the Tuileries forever, she +took refuge at Malmaison one rainy, cold, December night, recalling, +doubtless, the starlit evenings when the conqueror of Italy sought calm +and happiness in that favorite spot. And after draining the cup of +bitterness, the deserted wife exclaimed: "It sometimes seems to me as if I +were dead and there was nothing left of me except a sort of vague power of +feeling that I no longer exist." She could truly say with Queen Margaret +of Navarre: "I have borne more than my share of the weariness which is the +common lot of man." A still harder trial awaited her. Napoleon was +unhappy, and she was forbidden to comfort him! He was exiled, and she was +forbidden to follow him! The Empire she had seen so magnificent she was to +see conquered, invaded, dismembered. No one was to mourn the woes of her +country more than she. She was to die of grief, and when, May 29, 1814, +she had breathed her last after uttering in her death agony these three +words which sum up the anguish of her soul: "Napoleon! Elba! Marie +Louise!" Mademoiselle Avrillon, the First Lady of her Bedchamber, was to +say, "I have seen the Empress Josephine's sleeplessness and her terrible +dreams. I have known her to pass whole days buried in the gloomiest +thought. I know what I have seen and heard, and I am sure that grief +killed her!" Was there ever a life of greater vicissitudes? It was a +career full of smiles and tears, presenting every contrast of light and +shade, of joy and grief, reproducing all the splendor and all the misery +that can be crowded into human existence! It was a career, as fascinating +as it was strange, which could only have been seen in those pathetic and +disturbed epochs, when one surprise follows another, and the actors are +perhaps even more astonished than the spectators at the shifting scenes +and the incidents of the drama, in which events always take an unexpected +turn, when men and things suffer shocks unknown to previous generations, +and when history reads like the wildest romance. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Court of the Empress Josephine, by +Imbert de Saint-Amand + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE *** + +***** This file should be named 9831.txt or 9831.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/8/3/9831/ + +Produced by Anne Soulard, Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, +Shawn Wheeler, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Court of the Empress Josephine + +Author: Imbert de Saint-Amand + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9831] +[This file was first posted on October 22, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Anne Soulard, Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, Shawn +Wheeler, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + +THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE + +BY + +IMBERT DE SAINT-AMAND + +TRANSLATED BY THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY + +ILLUSTRATED + +1900 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE + + II. THE JOURNEY TO THE BANKS OF THE RHINE + + III. THE POPE'S ARRIVAL AT FONTAINEBLEAU + + IV. THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION + + V. THE CORONATION + + VI. THE DISTRIBUTION OF FLAGS + + VII. THE FESTIVITIES + + VIII. THE ETIQUETTE OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE + + IX. THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE EMPRESS + + X. NAPOLEON'S GALLANTRIES + + XI. THE POPE AT THE TUILERIES + + XII. THE JOURNEY IN ITALY + + XIII. THE CORONATION AT MILAN + + XIV. THE FESTIVITIES AT GENOA + + XV. DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ + + XVI. THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE EUGENE + + XVII. PARIS IN THE BEGINNING OF 1806 + +XVIII. THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF BADEN + + XIX. THE NEW QUEEN OF HOLLAND + + XX. THE EMPRESS AT MAYENCE + + XXI. THE RETURN OF THE EMPRESS TO PARIS + + XXII. THE DEATH OF THE YOUNG NAPOLEON + +XXIII. THE END OF THE WAR + + XXIV. THE EMPEROR'S RETURN + + XXV. THE COURT AT FONTAINEBLEAU + + XXVI. THE END OF THE YEAR 1807 + + + + + +I. + +THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE. + + +"Two-thirds of my life is passed, why should I so distress myself about +what remains? The most brilliant fortune does not deserve all the trouble +I take, the pettiness I detect in myself, or the humiliations and shame I +endure; thirty years will destroy those giants of power which can be seen +only by raising the head; we shall disappear, I who am so petty, and those +whom I regard so eagerly, from whom I expected all my greatness. The most +desirable of all blessings is repose, seclusion, a little spot we can call +our own." When La Bruyere expressed himself so bitterly, when he spoke of +the court "which satisfies no one," but "prevents one from being satisfied +anywhere else," of the court, "that country where the joys are visible but +false, and the sorrows hidden, but real," he had before him the brilliant +Palace of Versailles, the unrivalled glory of the Sun King, a monarchy +which thought itself immovable and eternal. What would he say in this +century when dynasties fail like autumn leaves, and it takes much less +than thirty years to destroy the giants of power; when the exile of to-day +repeats to the exile of the morrow the motto of the churchyard: _Hodie +mihi, eras tibi?_ What would this Christian philosopher say at a time when +royal and imperial palaces have been like caravansaries through which +sovereigns have passed like travellers, when their brief resting-places +have been consumed by the blaze of petroleum and are now but a heap of +ashes? + +The study of any court is sure to teach wisdom and indifference to human +glories. In our France of the nineteenth century, fickle as it has been, +inconstant, fertile in revolutions, recantations, and changes of every +sort, this lesson is more impressive than it has been at any period of our +history. Never has Providence shown more clearly the nothingness of this +world's grandeur and magnificence. Never has the saying of Ecclesiastes +been more exactly verified: "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!" We have +before us the task of describing one of the most sumptuous courts that has +ever existed, and of reviewing splendors all the more brilliant for their +brevity. To this court of Napoleon and Josephine, to this majestic court, +resplendent with glory, wealth, and fame, may well be applied Corneille's +lines:-- + + "All your happiness + Subject to instability + In a moment falls to the ground, + And as it has the brilliancy of glass + It also has its fragility." + +We shall evoke the memory of the dead to revive this vanished court, and +we shall consult, one after another, the persons who were eye-witnesses of +these short-lived wonders. A prefect of the palace, M. de Bausset, wrote: +"When I recall the memorable times of which I have just given a faint +idea, I feel, after so many years, as if I had been taking part in the +gorgeous scenes of the _Arabian Tales_ or of the _Thousand and One +Nights_. The magic picture of all those splendors and glories has +disappeared, and with it all the prestige of ambition and power." One of +the ladies of the palace of the Empress Josephine, Madame de Remusat, has +expressed the same thought: "I seem to be recalling a dream, but a dream +resembling an Oriental tale, when I describe the lavish luxury of that +period, the disputes for precedence, the claims of rank, the demands of +every one." Yes, in all that there was something dreamlike, and the actors +in that fairy spectacle which is called the Empire, that great show piece, +with its scenery, now brilliant, now terrible, but ever changing, must +have been even more astonished than the spectators. Aix-la-Chapelle and +the court of Charlemagne, the castle of Fontainebleau and the Pope, Notre +Dame and the coronation, the Champ de Mars and the distribution of eagles, +the Cathedral of Milan and the Iron Crown, Genoa the superb and its naval +festival, Austerlitz and the three emperors,--what a setting! what +accessories! what personages! The peal of organs, the intoning of priests, +the applause of the multitude and of the soldiers, the groans of the +dying, the trumpet call, the roll of the drum, ball music, military bands, +the cannon's roar, were the joyful and mournful harmonies heard while the +play went on. What we shall study amid this tumult and agitation is one +woman. We have already studied her as the Viscountess of Beauharnais, as +Citizeness Bonaparte, and as the wife of the First Consul. We shall now +study her in her new part, that of Empress. + +Let us go back to May 18, 1804, to the Palace of Saint Cloud. The Emperor +had just been proclaimed by the Senate before the _plebiscite_ which was +to ratify the new state of things. The curtain has risen, the play begins, +and no drama is fuller of contrasts, of incidents, of movement. The +leading actor, Napoleon, was already as familiar with his part as if he +had played it since his childhood. Josephine is also at home in hers. As a +woman of the world, she had learned, by practice in the drawing-room, to +win even greater victories. For a fashionable beauty there is no great +difference between an armchair and a throne. The minor actors are not so +accustomed to their new position. Nothing is more amusing than the +embarrassment of the courtiers when they have to answer the Emperor's +questions. They begin with a blunder; then, in correcting themselves, they +fall into still worse confusion; ten times a minute was repeated, Sire, +General, Your Majesty, Citizen, First Consul. Constant, the Emperor's +valet de chambre, has given us a description of this 18th of May, 1804, a +day devoted to receptions, presentations, interviews, and congratulations: +"Every one," he says, "was filled with joy in the Palace of Saint Cloud; +every one imagined that he had risen a step, like General Bonaparte, who, +from First Consul, had become a monarch. Men were embracing and +complimenting one another; confiding their share of hopes and plans for +the future; there was no official so humble that he was not fired with +ambition." In a word, the ante-chamber, barring the difference of persons, +presented an exact imitation of what was going on in the drawing-room. It +seemed like a first performance which had long been eagerly expected, +arousing the same eager excitement among the players and the public. The +day which had started bright grew dark; for a long time there were +threatenings of a thunder-storm; but none looked on this as an evil omen. +All were inclined to cheery views. The courtiers displayed their zeal with +all the ardor, the passion, the _furia francese_, which is a national +characteristic, and appears on the battle-field as well as in the ante- +chamber. The French fight and flatter with equal enthusiasm. + +Amid all these manifestations of devotion and delight, the members of the +Imperial family alone, who should have been the most satisfied, and +certainly the most astonished by their greatness, wore an anxious, almost +a grieved look. They alone appeared discontented with their master. Their +pride knew no bounds; their irritability was extreme. Nothing seemed good +enough, for them. In the way of honors privileges, and when we recall +their father's modest at Ajaccio, it is hard to keep from smiling at the +vanity of these new Princes of the blood. Of Napoleon's four brothers, two +were absent and on bad terms with him: Lucien, on account of his marriage +with Madame Jouberton; Jerome, on account of his marriage with Miss +Paterson. His mother, Madame Letitia Bonaparte, an able woman, who +combined great courage with uncommon good sense, had not lost her head +over the wonderful good fortune of the modern Caesar. Having a +presentiment that all this could not last, she economized from motives of +prudence, not of avarice. While the courtiers were celebrating the +Emperor's new triumphs, she lingered in Rome with her son Lucien, whom she +had followed in his voluntary exile, having pronounced in his favor in his +quarrel with Napoleon. As for Joseph and Louis, who, with their wives, had +been raised to the dignity of Grand Elector and Constable, respectively, +one might think that they were overburdened with wealth and honors, and +would be perfectly satisfied. But not at all! They were indignant that +they were not personally mentioned, in the _plebiscite_, by which their +posterity was appointed to succeed to the French crown. This _plebiscite_ +ran thus: "The French people desire the Inheritance of the Imperial +dignity in the direct, natural, or adoptive line of descent from Napoleon +Bonaparte, and in the direct, natural, legitimate line of descent from +Joseph Bonaparte and from Louis Bonaparte, as is determined by the organic +_senatus-consultum_ of the twenty-eighth Floreal, year XII." For the +Emperor's family, these stipulations were the cause of incessant squabbles +and recriminations. Lucien and Jerome regarded their exclusion as an act +of injustice. Joseph and Louis asked indignantly why their descendants +were mentioned when they themselves were excluded. They were very jealous +of Josephine, and of her son, Eugene de Beauharnais, and much annoyed by +the Emperor's reservation of the right of adoption, which threatened them +and held out hopes for Eugene. Louis Bonaparte, indignant with the +slanderous story, according to which his wife, Hortense, had been +Napoleon's mistress, treated her ill, and conceived a dislike for his own +son, who was reported to be that of the Emperor. As for Elisa Bacciochi, +Caroline Murat, and Pauline Borghese, they could not endure the +mortification of being placed below the Empress, their sister-in-law, and +the thought that they had not yet been given the title of Princesses of +the blood, which had been granted to the wife of Joseph and the wife of +Louis, filled them with actual despair. + +Madame de Remusat, who was present at the first Imperial dinner at St. +Cloud, May 18, 1804, describes this curious repast. General Duroc, Grand +Marshal of the Palace, told all the guests in succession of the titles of +Prince and Princess to be given to Joseph and Louis, and their wives, but +not to the Emperor's sisters, or to their husbands. This fatal news +prostrated Elisa, Caroline, and Pauline. When they sat down at table, +Napoleon was good-humored and merry, possibly at heart enjoying the slight +constraint that this novel formality enforced upon his guests. Madame +Murat, when she heard the Emperor saying frequently _Princess_ Louis, +could not hide her mortification or her tears. Every one was embarrassed, +while Napoleon smiled maliciously. + +The next day the Emperor went to Paris to hold a grand reception at the +Tuileries, for he was not a man to postpone the enjoyment of the splendor +which his satisfied ambition could draw from his new title. In this +palace, where had ruled the Committee of Public Safety, where the +Convention had sat, whence Robespierre had departed in triumph to preside +over the festival in honor of the Supreme Being, nothing was heard but the +titles of Emperor, Empress, My Lord, Prince, Princess, Imperial Highness, +Most Serene Highness. It was asserted that Bonaparte had cut up the red +caps to make the ribbons of the Legions of Honor. The most fanatical +Revolutionists had become conservative as soon as they had anything to +preserve. The Empire was but a few hours old, and already the new-born +court was alive with the same rivalries, jealousies, and vanities that +fill the courts of the oldest monarchies. It was like Versailles, in the +reign of Louis XIV., in the Gallery of Mirrors, or in the drawing-room of +the Oeil de Boeuf. It would have taken a Dangeau to record, hour by hour, +the minute points of etiquette. The Emperor walked, spoke, thought, acted, +like a monarch of an old line. To nothing does a man so readily adapt +himself as to power. One who has been invested with the highest rank is +sure to imagine himself eternal; to think that he has always held it and +will always keep it. Indeed, how is it possible to escape intoxication by +the fumes of perpetual incense? How can a man tell the truth to himself +when there is no one about him courageous enough to tell it to him? When +the press is muzzled, and public power rests only on general approval, +when there is no slave even to remind the triumphant hero, as in the +ancient ovations, that he is only a man, how is it possible to avoid being +infatuated by one's greatness and not to imagine one's self the absolute +master of one's destiny? The new Caesar met with no resistance. He was to +publish scornfully in the _Moniteur_ the protest of Louis XVIII. against +his accession. He was to be adored both by fierce Revolutionists and by +great lords, by regicides and by Royalists and ecclesiastics. It seemed as +if with him everything began, or rather started anew. "The old world was +submerged," says Chateaubriand; "when the flood of anarchy withdrew, +Napoleon appeared at the beginning of a new world, like those giants +described by profane and sacred history at the beginning of society, +appearing on earth after the Deluge." + +The former general of the Revolution enjoyed his situation as absolute +sovereign. He studied the laws of etiquette as closely as he studied the +condition of his troops. He saw that the men of the old regime were more +conversant in the art of flattery, more eager than the new men. As Madame +de Stael says: "Whenever a gentleman of the old court recalled the ancient +etiquette, suggested an additional bow, a certain way at knocking at the +door of an ante-chamber, a ceremonious method of presenting a despatch, of +folding a letter, of concluding it with this or that formula, he greeted +as if he had helped on the happiness of the human race." Napoleon +attached, or pretended to attach, great importance to the thousand +nothings which up the life of courts. He established in the palace the +same discipline as in the camps. Everything became a matter of rule. +Courtiers studied formalities as officers studied the art of war. +Regulations were as closely observed in the drawing-rooms as in the tents. +At the end of a few months Napoleon was to have the most brilliant, the +most rigid court of Europe. At times the whirl of vanities surrounded him +filled with impatience the great central sun, without whom his satellites +would have been nothing. At other times, however, his pride was gratified +by the thought that it was his will, his fancy, which evoked from nothing +all the grandees of the earth. He was not pained at seeing such eagerness +in behalf of trifles that he had invented. He liked to fill his courtiers +with raptures or with despair, by a smile or a frown. He thought his +sisters' ambition childish, but it amused him; and if they had to cry a +little at first, he finally granted them what they wanted. + +May 19, after the family dinner, Madame Murat was more and more distressed +at not being a Princess, when she was a Bonaparte by birth, while Madame +Joseph and Madame Louis, one of whom was a Clary, the other a Beauharnais, +bore that title, and burst out into complaints and reproaches. "Why," she +asked of her all-powerful brother, "why condemn me and my sisters to +obscurity, to contempt, while covering strangers with honors and +dignities?" At first these words annoyed Napoleon. "In fact," he +exclaimed, "judging from your pretensions, one would suppose that we +inherited the crown from the late King our father." At the end of the +interview, Madame Murat, not satisfied with crying, fainted away. Napoleon +softened at once, and a few days later there appeared a notification in +the _Moniteur_ that henceforth the Emperor's sisters should be called +Princesses and Imperial Highnesses. + +The Empress's Maid of Honor was Madame de La Rochefoucauld; her Lady of +the Bedchamber was Madame de Lavalette. Her Ladies of the Palace, whose +number was soon raised to twelve, and later still more augmented, were at +first only four: Madame de Talhouet, Madame de Lucay, Madame de Lauriston, +and Madame de Remusat. These ladies, too, aroused the hottest jealousies, +and soon they gave rise to a sort of parody of the questions of vanity +that agitated the Emperor's family. The women who were admitted to the +Empress's intimacy could never console themselves for the privileges +accorded to the Ladies of the Palace. + +In essentials all courts are alike. On a greater or smaller scale they are +rank with the same pettinesses, the same chattering gossip, the same +trivial squabbles as the porter's lodge, ante-chambers, and servants' +quarters. If we examine these things from the standpoint of a philosopher, +we shall find but little difference between a steward and a chamberlain, +between a chambermaid and a lady of the palace. We may go further and say +that as soon as they have places and money at their disposal, republicans +have courtesies, as much as monarchs, and everywhere and always there are +to be found people ready to bow low if there is anything on the ground +that they can pick up. Revolutions alter the forms of government, but not +the human heart; afterwards, as before, there exist the same pretensions, +the same prejudices, the same flatteries. The incense may be burned before +a tribune, a dictator, or a Caesar, there are always the same flattering +genuflections, the same cringing. + +The new Empire began most brilliantly, but there was no lack of morose +criticism. The Faubourg Saint Germain was for the most part hostile and +scornful. It looked upon the high dignitaries of the Empire and on the +Emperor himself as upstarts, and all the men of the old regime who went +over to him they branded as renegades. The title of "Citizen" was +suppressed and that of "Monsieur" restored, after having been abandoned in +conversation and writing for twelve years. Miot de Melito tells us in his +Memoirs that at first public opinion was opposed to this change; even +those who at the beginning had shown the greatest repugnance to being +addressed as Citizen, disliked conferring the title of Monsieur upon +Revolutionists and the rabble, and they pretended to address as Citizen +those whom they saw fit to include in this class. Many turned the new +state of affairs to ridicule. The Parisians, always of a malicious humor, +made perpetual puns and epigrams in abundance. + +The Faubourg Saint Germain, in spite of a few adhesions from personal +motives, preserved an ironical attitude. General de Segur, then a captain +under the orders of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, observed that in +1804, with the exception of several obscure nobles, either poor or ruined, +and others already attached to Napoleon's civil and military fortune, many +negotiations and various temptations were required to persuade well-known +persons to appear at the court as it was at first constituted. He goes on: +"As a spectator and confidant of the means employed, I witnessed in those +early days many refusals, and some I had to announce myself. I even heard +many bitter complaints on this subject. I remember that in reply I +mentioned to the Empress my own case, and told her what it had cost me to +enlist under the tricolor, and then to enter the First Consul's military +household. The Empress understood me so well that she made to me a similar +confidence, confessing her own struggles, her almost invincible +repugnance, at the end of 1795, in spite of her feeling for Bonaparte, +before she could make up her mind to marry the man whom at that time she +herself used to call General Vendemiaire." + +Although Josephine had become Empress, she remained a Legitimist, and saw +clearly the weak points in the Empire. At the Tuileries, in the chamber of +Marie Antoinette, she felt out of place; she was surprised to have for +Lady of Honor a duchess of an old family, and her sole ambition was to be +pardoned by the Royalists for her elevation, to the highest rank. +Napoleon, too, was much concerned about the Bourbons, in whom he foresaw +his successors, "One of his keenest regrets," wrote Prince Metternich, +"was his inability to invoke legitimacy as the foundation of his power. +Few men have felt more deeply than he the precariousness and fragility of +power when it lacks this foundation, its susceptibility to attack." + +After recalling the Emperor's attempt to induce Louis XVIII. to abandon +his claims to the throne, Prince Metternich goes on: "In speaking to me of +this matter, Napoleon said: 'His reply was noble, full of noble +traditions. In those Legitimists there is something outside of mere +intellectual force.'" The Emperor, who, at the beginning of his career, +displayed such intense Republican enthusiasm, was by nature essentially a +lover of authority and of the monarchy. He would have liked to be a +sovereign of the old stamp. His pleasure in surrounding himself with +members of the old aristocracy attests the aristocratic instincts of the +so-called crowned apostle of democracy. The few Republicans who remained +faithful to the principles were indignant with these tendencies; it was +with grief that they saw the reappearance of the throne; and thus, from +different motives the unreconciled Jacobins and the men of Coblentz who +had not joined the court, showed the same feeling of bitterness and of +hostility to the Empire. + +The trial of General Moreau made clear the germs of opposition which +existed in a latent condition. It is difficult to form an idea of the +enormous throng that blocked all the approaches to the Palace of Justice +the day the trial opened, and continued to crowd them during the twelve +days that the trial lasted, which was as interesting to Royalists as to +Republicans. The most fashionable people of Paris made a point of being +present. Sentence was pronounced June 10. Georges Cadoudal and nineteen of +the accused, among whom were M. Armand de Polignac, and M. de Riviere, +were condemned to death. + +To the Emperor's great surprise, Moreau was sentenced to only two years of +prison. This penalty was remitted, and he was allowed to betake himself to +the United States. To facilitate his establishing himself there, the +Emperor bought his house in the rue d'Anjou Saint Honore, paying for it +eight hundred thousand francs, much more than it was worth, and then he +gave it to Bernadotte, who did not scruple to accept it. The sum was paid +to Moreau out of the secret fund of the police before he left for Cadiz. +Josephine's urgent solicitations saved the life of the Duke Armand de +Polignac, whose death-sentence was commuted to four years' imprisonment +before being transported. Madame Murat secured a modification of the +sentence of the Marquis de Riviere; and these two acts of leniency, to +which great publicity was given, were of great service in diminishing the +irritation of the Royalists. After Moreau's trial, the opposition, having +become discouraged, and conscious of its weakness, laid down its arms, at +least for a time. Napoleon was everywhere master. + +The Republic was forgotten. Its name still appeared on the coins: "French +Republic, Napoleon, Emperor"; but it survived as a mere ghost. +Nevertheless, the Emperor was anxious to celebrate in 1804 the Republican +festival of July 14; but the object of this festival was so modified that +it would have been hard to see in it the anniversary of the taking of the +Bastille and of the first federation. In the celebration, not a single +word was said about these two events. The official eulogy of the +Revolution was replaced by a formal distribution of crosses of the Legion +of Honor. + +This was the first time that the Emperor and Empress appeared in public in +full pomp. It was also the first time that they availed themselves of the +privilege of driving through the broad road of the garden of the +Tuileries. Accompanied by a magnificent procession, they went in great +splendor to the Invalides, which the Revolution had turned into a Temple +of Mars, and the Empire had turned again to a Catholic Church. At the door +they were received by the Governor and M. de Segur, Grand Master of +Ceremonies, and at the entrance to the church by the Cardinal du Belloy at +the head of numerous priests. Napoleon and Josephine listened attentively +to the mass; then, after a speech was uttered by the Grand Chancellor of +the Legion of Honor, M. de Lacepede, the Emperor recited the form of the +oath; at the end of which all the members of the Legion shouted "I swear." +This sight aroused the enthusiasm of the crowd, and the applause was loud. +In the middle of the ceremony, Napoleon called up to him Cardinal Caprara, +who had taken a very important part in the negotiations concerning the +Concordat, and was soon to help to persuade the Pope to come to Paris for +the coronation. The Emperor took from his own neck the ribbon of the +Legion of Honor, and gave it to the worthy and aged prelate. Then the +knights of the new order passed in line before the Imperial throne, while +a man of the people, wearing a blouse, took his station on the steps of +the throne. This excited some surprise, and he was asked what he wanted; +he took out his appointment to the Legion. The Emperor at once called him +up, and gave him the cross with the usual kiss. + +The Empress's beauty made a great impression, as we learn from Madame de +Remusat, who generally prejudiced against her, but on this occasion was +forced to recognize that Josephine, by her tasteful and careful dressing, +succeeded in appearing young and charming amid the many young and pretty +women by whom she was for the first time surrounded. "She stood there," +Madame de Remusat goes on, "in the full light of the setting sun, wearing +a dress of pink tulle, adorned with silver stars, cut very low after the +fashion of the time, and crowned by a great many diamond clusters; and +this fresh and brilliant dress, her graceful bearing, her delightful +smile, her gentle expression produced such an effect that I heard a number +of persons who had been present at the ceremony say that she effaced all +her suite." Three days later the Emperor started for the camp at Boulogne. + +In spite of the enthusiasm of the people and the army, one thing became +clear to every thoughtful observer, and that was that the new regime, +lacking strength to resist misfortunes, must have perpetual success in +order to live. Napoleon was condemned, by the form of his government, not +merely to succeed, but to dazzle, to astonish, to subjugate. His Empire +required extraordinary magnificence, prodigious effects, Babylonian +festivities, gigantic adventures, colossal victories. His Imperial +escutcheon, to escape contempt, needed rich coats of gilding, and demanded +glory to make up for the lack of antiquity. In order to make himself +acceptable to the European, monarchs, his new brothers, and to remove the +memory of the venerable titles of the Bourbons, this former officer of the +armies of Louis XVI., the former second-lieutenant of artillery, who had +suddenly become a Caesar, a Charlemagne, could make this sudden and +strange transformation comprehensible only through unprecedented fame and +splendor. He desired to have a feudal, majestic court, surrounded by all +the pomp and ceremony of the Middle Ages. He saw how hard was the part he +had to play, and he knew very well how much a nation needs glory to make +it forget liberty. Hence a perpetual effort to make every day outshine the +one before, and first to equal, then to surpass, the splendors of the +oldest and most famous dynasties. This insatiable thirst for action and +for renown was to be the source of Napoleon's strength and also of his +weakness. But only a few clear-sighted men made these reflections when the +Empire began. The masses, with their easy optimism, looked upon the new +Emperor as an infallibly impeccable being, and thought that since he had +not yet been beaten, he was invincible. Josephine indulged in no such +illusions; she knew the defects in her husband's character, and dreaded +the future for him as well as for herself. Singularly enough for one so +surrounded by flatteries, in her whole life her head was never for a +moment turned by pride or infatuation. + + + + +II. + +JOURNEY TO THE BANKS OF THE RHINE + + +Before having himself crowned by the Pope, after the example of +Charlemagne, Napoleon was anxious to go to meditate at the tomb of the +great Carlovingian Emperor, of whom he regarded himself as the worthy +successor. A journey on the banks of the Rhine, a triumphal tour in the +famous German cities which the France of the Revolution had been so proud +to conquer, seemed to the new sovereign a fitting prologue to the pomp of +the coronation. Napoleon was desirous of impressing the imaginations of +people in his new Empire and in the old Empire of Germany. He wished the +trumpets of fame to sound in his honor on both banks of the famous and +disputed river. + +The Empress, who had gone to Aix-la-Chapelle to take the waters, arrived +there a few days before her husband. Napoleon wrote to her, August 6, +1804:-- + +"MY DEAR: I have been here at Calais since midnight; I am thinking of +leaving this evening for Dunkirk. I am satisfied with what I see, and I am +tolerably well. I hope that you will get as much good from the waters as I +get from going about and from seeing the camps and the sea. Eugene has +left for Blois. Hortense is well. Louis is at Plombieres. I am very +anxious to see you. You are always essential to my happiness. A thousand +kind messages." + +The Emperor wrote again from Ostend, August 14, 1804:-- + +"MY DEAR: I have not heard from you for several days, though I should have +been glad to hear that the waters have done you good and how you pass your +time. I have been here a week. Day after to-morrow I shall be at Boulogne +for a tolerably brilliant festival. Send me word by the messenger what you +mean to do, and when you shall have finished your baths. I am much +satisfied with the army and the fleet. Eugene is still at Blois. I hear no +more about Hortense than if she were at the Congo. I am writing to scold +her. Many kind wishes for all." + +Napoleon reached Aix-la-Chapelle September 3. The Emperor Francis had, on +the 10th of August, assumed the Imperial title accorded to his house, of +Emperor-elect of Germany, Hereditary Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia +and Hungary. He had then given orders to M. de Cobentzel to go to Aix-la- +Chapelle to present his credentials to Napoleon. Napoleon received the +Austrian diplomatist very kindly, and was soon surrounded by a multitude +of foreign ambassadors who came to pay their respects. He re-established +the annual honors long before paid to the memory of Charlemagne, went down +into the vault, and gave the priests of the Cathedral convincing proofs of +his munificence. The Empress was shown a piece of the true cross which the +Carlovingian Emperor had long worn on his breast as a talisman. She was +offered a holy relic, almost the whole arm of that hero, but she declined +it, saying that she did not wish to deprive Aix-la-Chapelle of so precious +a memorial, especially when she had the arm of a man as great as +Charlemagne to support her. + +From Aix-la-Chapelle, Napoleon and Josephine went to Cologne, then to +Coblentz, then to Mayence, travelling separately. The Emperor left Cologne +September 16 at four in the afternoon, and reached Bonn a little before +nightfall, to start again the next morning. The town pleased her very +much, and she was sorry she could not remain there longer. She stayed at a +fine house with a garden opening on a terrace that looked out over the +Rhine. After supper she walked on the terrace. The delight of the people +assembled below, the peacefulness of the night, and the beauty of the +river in the moonlight, made the evening most enjoyable. At four the next +morning the Empress started off again in her travelling carriage, and at +ten she entered Coblentz. The Emperor did not get there until six in the +evening, having left Cologne the same day. At Bonn he got on horseback to +examine for himself everything that demanded close inspection. From +Coblentz, where a ball was given them, Napoleon and Josephine went to +Mayence, each by a different route. The Emperor followed the highway on +the edge of the Rhine; the Empress ascended the river in a yacht which the +Prince of Nassau Weilburg had placed at her disposal. It was a picturesque +voyage. + +The morning mist soon cleared away. Josephine, who had breakfast served on +deck, admired the many charming scenes between Boppard and Bacharach, the +fertile fields, the towns perched on the steep banks; in the distance, the +mountains covered with forests; then the narrowing river, the bounded +view, the cliffs crowded together, where nothing can be seen but the +river, the sky, and the crags crowned by the mirrored towns of mediaeval +castles. The light boat, as it glided smoothly over the stream, with its +gilded Neptune at the bow, recalled Cleopatra's barge. At times the +silence was profound, then the church-bells would be heard, as well as the +cheers of the peasants on the river-banks. The pettiest villages had sent +guards of honor, had hoisted flags, and raised triumphal arches. Curiously +enough, the right bank, which did not belong to France, seemed to display +quite as much zeal and enthusiasm as the left bank, the French one; on +both sides were the same shouts of welcome, the same demonstrations, the +same salutes. When she reached Saint Goar, on the left bank, the Empress +saw the authorities of the town coming out to meet her, with military +music, in boats decorated with branches of trees; and on the other side of +the river, on the terrace of the castle of Hesse Rheinfels, the Hessian +garrison was presenting arms, and their salutes joined with those of the +inhabitants of Saint Goar, Further on, they shouted through a speaking- +trumpet to hear the famous echo of the Lorelei, with its wonderfully +distinct and frequent repetitions. Then they passed the fantastic castle +of the Palatinate, built in the middle of the stream, and in old times the +refuge of the Countesses Palatine, where their children were born and kept +in security during their babyhood. The Empress landed at Bingen, where she +spent the night, starting again the next morning. Towards three in the +afternoon she reached Mayence, where twelve young girls belonging to the +best families of the city were awaiting her. Almost simultaneously, the +cannon at the other gate announced the Emperor's arrival. + +On his way, Napoleon had noticed on an island in the Rhine, at the very +extremity of the French Empire, the convent of Rolandswerth. He was told +that the nuns who lived there had refused to leave it during the last war, +that very often the cannon-balls of the contending armies had often fallen +on the island without damaging the convent where those holy women were +praying. The Emperor became interested in their fate, and made over to +them the forty or fifty acres of which the little island consisted. + +On their arrival at Mayence, September 21, Napoleon Josephine were most +warmly greeted. In the evening all the streets and public buildings were +illuminated. The Prince Archchancellor of the Germanic Empire, who owed to +the French sovereign the preservation of his wealth and of his title, +desired to pay his respects. The Emperor was surrounded by a real court of +German Princes. The Princess of the House of Hesse, the Duke and Duchess +of Bavaria, the Elector of Baden, who was more than seventy-five years +old, and had come with his son and grandson, appeared as if vassals of the +new Charlemagne, the second Theatre Francais had been summoned from Paris, +and played before this public of Highnesses. Every one was struck by the +celerity with which this crowned soldier had acquired the appearance of a +sovereign belonging to an old line, while he still preserved the language +and appearance of a soldier. One day he asked the hereditary Prince of +Baden: "What did you do yesterday?" The young Prince replied with some +embarrassment that he had strolled about the streets. "You did very +wrong," said Napoleon. "What you ought to have done was to visit the +fortifications and inspect them carefully. How can you tell? Perhaps some +day you will have to besiege Mayence. Who would have told me when I was a +simple artillery officer walking about Toulon that I should be destined to +take that city?" It was at Mayence that the treasures unjustly extorted +from the German Princes were restored to them. It was at Mayence that +Gutenberg's name for the first time received formal homage. + +General de Segur, In his Memoirs, narrates an anecdote about Napoleon's +stay in this old German city. The Emperor had gone incognito and without +escort to an island in the Rhine, not far from the town. As he was walking +in this almost deserted island, he noticed a wretched hut in which a poor +woman was lamenting that her son had been drafted. "Console yourself," +said Napoleon, without letting her know who he was, and giving her an +assumed name: "Come to Mayence to-morrow and ask for me; I have some +influence with the ministers and I will try to help you." The poor woman +appeared punctually. With delight and surprise she saw that the stranger +was the Emperor of the French. Napoleon delighted to tell her that her +house which had been destroyed by the war should be rebuilt, that he would +give her a little herd and several acres of land, and that her son should +be restored to her. + +A letter in the _Moniteur_ thus described the departure of Napoleon and +Josephine: "Mayence, 11 Vendemiaire (October 3). The Empress left +yesterday for Paris, by way of Saverne and Nancy. The Emperor is just +leaving; he means to visit Frankenthal, Kaiserslanten, and Kreutznach; +then he will take the road to Treves. The stay of Their Majesties has been +for us a source of lasting pleasure and advantage. The most important +interests of our department have been favorably regulated. We have nothing +now to wish for except an opportunity to show our gratitude, our devotion, +and our fidelity, and the sincerity of the good wishes our citizens +expressed by their unanimous cheers. The Electors, the Princes, and the +many distinguished strangers who have given our city the appearance of a +great capital, are now taking their departure." + +This journey on the banks of the Rhine made a deep impression in France +and throughout Europe. It must be confessed that no one has ever equalled +the Emperor in the art of keeping himself picturesquely before the public. +Napoleon in the crypt at Aix-la-Chapelle, face to face with the shade of +Charlemagne is a subject to inspire a painter or a poet! At Brussels, in +the church of Saint Gudule, Napoleon evoked the memory of Charles V.; at +Aix-la-Chapelle in the Cathedral vault he questioned the shade of +Charlemagne. And as he meditated on the tomb of the Carlovingian hero, so +now do monarchs on their way through Paris meditate in their turn over his +tomb beneath the gilded dome of the Invalides. They go down into the +crypt, look at the porch upheld by twelve great statues of white marble, +each one commemorating a victory, at the mosaic pavement representing a +huge crown with fillets, the sarcophagus of red granite from Finland, +placed on a foundation of green granite from the Vosges. Then they enter +the subterranean chamber, the black marble sanctuary, which contains, +among numerous relics, the sword that Napoleon carried at Austerlitz, the +decorations he wore on his uniform, the gold crown voted him by the city +of Cherbourg, and finally sixty flags won in his victories. The church of +the Invalides Inspires the same thoughts as the Cathedral of +Aix-la-Chapelle. In the two temples kings and great men may make the same +reflection about glory, about death, about the handful of dust which is +all that is left of heroes. + + + + +III. + +THE POPE'S ARRIVAL AT FONTAINEBLEAU. + + +The time for the coronation was drawing near. Napoleon, who had already +received the official recognition of foreign powers, was anxious to have +his Imperial title consecrated by a great religious ceremony, the fame of +which should resound throughout the whole Catholic world. The first date +proposed for the solemnity was the 26th Messidor, Year XII. (July 14, +1804), then that of the 18th Brumaire, Year XIII. (Nov. 9, 1804). But the +choice in each case was unfortunate. It was hard to combine the memory of +the taking of the Bastille with the coronation of a sovereign, and the +18th Brumaire would have recalled the regrets of Republicans and the +services of Lucien Bonaparte, who, after being the main aid of his +brother's fortune, was living at Rome, in disgrace and exile. On the other +hand, the Pope's hesitation, for it was with the greatest difficulty that +he could make up his mind to go to Paris, had further postponed the date, +which was at last fixed for the beginning of December. + +Josephine awaited with impatience and fear an event on which, she felt, +her future fate depended. The Pope, that mysterious and holy person, had +started. Was he to prove her saviour? Was she to be a repudiated wife or a +crowned Empress? The clergy were untiring in their laudations of +Napoleon's glory. Bishops, in their charges, spoke of him as God's elect. +One prelate, speaking of the Empire, had said: "One God and one monarch! +As the God of the Christians is the only one deserving to be adored and +obeyed, you, Napoleon, are the only man worthy to rule the French!" +Another had said: "Napoleon, whom God called from the deserts of Egypt, +like another Moses, will bring peace between the wise Empire of France and +the divine Empire of Christ. The finger of God is here. Let us pray the +Most High to protect with his powerful hand the man he has chosen. May the +new Augustus live and rule forever! Submission is his due because he is +ordered by Providence!" Yet in spite of these extravagant outbursts which +came from every pulpit in the whole French Empire, this restorer of the +altars, this saviour of religion was married only by civil right! From the +ecclesiastic point of view, he was living in concubinage. He had had his +brother Louis's marriage with Hortense de Beauharnais, and his sister +Caroline's with Murat blessed by Cardinal Caprara, but in spite of +Josephine's entreaties, he had denied her this pious satisfaction. It was +on the Pope that the Empress put all her hope; she thought that he would +take pity on her, and by bringing her into conformity with the rules of +the church, would put an end to a condition of things humiliating to her +as a sovereign, and painful to her as a Catholic. + +At the same time Josephine was anxiously wondering whether she was to be +crowned. Her brothers-in-law became more venomous in their intrigues +against her, and desired not only that she be excluded from any part in +the coronation, but also that she should be condemned to divorce on the +pretext of barrenness. Joseph Bonaparte was never tired of saying that +Napoleon ought to marry some foreign Princess, or at least some daughter +of an old French family, and he skilfully laid stress on his own +unselfishness in urging a plan which would necessarily remove himself and +his descendants from the line of inheritance. The Emperor's sisters showed +the same hostility towards Josephine, whom they hated, although she well +deserved their love. Since Napoleon maintained an absolute silence about +his intentions concerning the coronation, the Bonapartes already imagined +that she was going to be divorced, and hence exhibited an untimely delight +which displeased the Emperor and brought him closer to his wife. At last, +tired with family bickerings, he suddenly put an end to them and filled +Josephine with joy by telling her that she was to be crowned at Notre +Dame. + +The reader should turn to the curious account in Miot de Melito's Memoirs +of the council held at Saint Cloud, November 17, 1804, to arrange the +formalities of the coronation. Of Napoleon's four brothers, two were in +disgrace, Lucien and Jerome, and they were not to be present at the +ceremony. As for Joseph and Louis, it was decided that they should appear, +not as Princes of the blood, but only as high dignitaries of the Empire. +Joseph, it will be remembered, was Grand Elector, and Louis was Constable. + +This decision once taken, Joseph said in the council of November 17: +"Since it has been recognized that, with the exception of the Head of the +State, no one else, whatever his rank, can be regarded as partaking the +honors of sovereignty, and that we especially are not treated as Princes, +but only as high dignitaries, it would not be right that our wives, who +henceforth are only wives of high dignitaries, should as Princesses carry +the train of the Empress's robe, which consequently must be carried by +Ladies of Honor or of the Palace." This remark displeased the Emperor, and +many members of the council cited many examples to refute it, notably that +of Maria de' Medici. Joseph, who had foreseen their arguments, displayed +unexpected erudition: "Maria de' Medici," he said, "was accompanied only +by Queen Margaret, the first wife of Henri IV., and by Madame (Catherine +of Bourbon), the King's sister. The train was carried by a very distant +relative. Queen Margaret had, indeed, offered a fine example of generosity +by being present at the coronation of the woman who took her place and +who, more fortunate than herself, had borne heirs to Henri IV. But she was +not asked to carry the train of Maria de' Medici, and yet Maria de' Medici +had a right to every honor, because she was a mother." This very +transparent allusion to Josephine's barrenness so exasperated Napoleon +that he arose suddenly from his chair and addressed his brother with the +intensest bitterness and violence. After the meeting Joseph proposed to +his brother retiring to Germany. Napoleon relented and, November 27, he +said to his brother: "I have given a great deal of thought to the +difference that has arisen between you and me, and I will confess that +during the six days that this quarrel has lasted, I have not had a +moment's peace. I have even lost my sleep over it, and you are the only +person who has this power over me; I know nothing that disturbs me to this +degree. This influence comes from my old affection for you and from my +recollection of what you did for me in my boyhood, and I am much more +dependent than you think on feelings of that sort.... Take your position +in an hereditary monarchy and be the first of my subjects. That is a fine +enough position, to be the second man in France, perhaps in Europe.... +Comply with my wishes; follow my ideas; do not flatter the patriots when I +drive them away; do not oppose the nobles when I summon them; form your +household according to the principles that have guided me. In a word, be a +Prince, and do not disturb yourself about the importance of the title." + +Joseph at last yielded, and promised that his wife should conform without +a murmur to the ceremonies established for the coronation. Only this +concession was made to their susceptibilities: that in the rules the +phrase, _bear the cloak_ was substituted for _carry the train_, "for," as +Miot de Melito says, "Vanity will clutch at a straw." + +As for Madame Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother, she persisted in remaining at +Rome with Lucien. In spite of frequent messages from Paris, she was not to +get there until some days after the coronation, a fact which did not +prevent her appearing in the great picture commemorating the event, +painted by David, who was successively Jacobin and Imperialist, and +beginning with the apotheosis of Marat, celebrated that of Napoleon. + +Pope Pius VII., then sixty-two years old, had left Rome November 2, after +praying for a long time at the altar of Saint Peter's, The populace had +followed his carriage for a long distance, weeping with terror at his +undertaking a journey to revolutionary France. At Florence he had been +received by the Queen of Etruria, then a widow and her son's Regent. At +Lyons he became less anxious; a number of the inhabitants crowded about +him, and fell on their knees, asking for the blessing of the Vicar of +Christ. Meanwhile, Napoleon was putting the last touches to the repairs be +had commenced at the Palace of Fontainebleau, to put it in a suitable +condition to receive the Sovereign Pontiff. In less than twenty days the +furnishing of the palace had been completed, and the castle had, as if by +magic, resumed its old-time splendor. + +Every one wondered how the first meeting between the Pope and the Emperor +would take place. Many points of etiquette arose which Napoleon managed to +elude. Pius VII. was to arrive through the forest of Fontainebleau, and +the Emperor was to go to meet him through the forest of Nemours. To +prevent all formality, Napoleon made an excuse of a hunting party. All the +huntsmen, with their carriages, met in the forest. Napoleon was on +horseback, in hunting dress. When he knew that the Pope and his suite were +due at the cross of Saint Herene--at noon, Sunday, November 25, 1804--he +turned his horse in that direction, and as soon as he reached the half- +moon at the top of the hill, he saw the Pope's carriage arriving. + +According to the account given in the Memoirs of the Duke of Rovigo, the +carriage of Pius VII. stopped, and the pontiff in his white robes got out +by the left-hand door. The road was muddy, and he was averse to stepping +into it with his white silk slippers; but there was nothing to be done. +Napoleon got off his horse to receive him, and sprang cordially into his +arms. These two famous men, who, although they were entire strangers, had +already thought so often of each other, and were to exercise such great +influence over each other's destiny, now met with deep emotion. As they +were embracing, one of the Emperor's carriages, which had been ordered to +drive up, pushed on a few steps as if by an oversight of the coachman; the +footmen held both doors open; the Emperor took that on the right; a court +official pointed to that on the left for the Pope, so that the two +sovereigns entered the same carriage simultaneously by the two doors. The +Emperor sat down naturally on the right-hand side, and this first step +established the etiquette for the whole time of the Pope's stay, without +discussion. + +At the entrance of the Palace of Fontainebleau, the Empress, the high +dignitaries of the Empire, the generals, were formed in a circle to +receive and salute Pius VII. He was welcomed with the utmost reverence. +His fine, noble face, his air of angelic kindness, his soft, yet sonorous +voice, produced a deep impression. Josephine was especially moved by the +presence of the Vicar of Christ. After resting a few moments in his +private apartment, to which he had been conducted by M. de Talleyrand, +High Chamberlain, by General Duroc, Grand Marshal of the Palace, and by M. +de Segur, Grand Master of Ceremonies, the Pope paid a visit to Napoleon, +who, after an interview of about half an hour, conducted him back to the +hall that was at that time called that of the High Officers. The two +sovereigns dined together, and the Pope went early to bed, to rest himself +after the fatigues of his long journey. The next evening some singers had +been summoned to the Empress's apartment, but Pius VII. withdrew just as +the concert was about to begin. + +In the course of the day Josephine had had a private interview with the +Pope, and had confided to him the secret which so distressed her. She who +was reigning over the greatest of Catholic nations, the consort of the +successor of the very Christian Kings, the wife of a ruler about to be +crowned by the Pope, was married only by civil rite! She entreated Pius +VII. to use all his influence with Napoleon to put an end to a situation +which was a continual torture and reproach to her as a wife and as a +Christian. The Pope appeared touched by the confidence of his dear +daughter, as he always called the Empress, and promised to demand, and, if +necessary, to insist, upon the celebration of the Emperor's religious +marriage, as a condition of the coronation, and this promise filled +Josephine with joy. + +The presence of the Pope and the Emperor, the throng of prelates, +generals, courtiers, and beautiful women, the combination of religious and +Imperial pomp gave to the Castle of the Valois, a few days before +dilapidated and abandoned, new splendor and magnificence. Never in the +most brilliant days of the reign of Francis I., or Henri II., or of Louis +XIV., had this sumptuous residence appeared in greater state. This +wonderful palace is renowned for its superb and picturesque architecture, +its majestic facades, its five courts: that of the White Horse, of the +Fountain, of the Dungeon, of the Princes, of Henri IV. The Festival Hall +is very beautiful, with its rich and abundant ornamentation, its walnut +floor, divided into octagonal panels richly outlined with inlaid gold and +silver, its monumental mantelpiece, with its figures, emblems, and +fantastic frescoes, the brilliant masterpieces of Primaticcio, and of +Nicolo d'Abati. + +Alas! this splendid Fontainebleau, the gorgeous palace where Pope and +Emperor were then living in triumph, was later to be to both an accursed +spot. The Pope was to return to it a prisoner, maltreated though old, +though a priest, though the Vicar of Christ, and there the Emperor was to +drink the cup of humiliation, of despair, to the dregs. It was there that, +conquered, broken, betrayed by fortune, he was to sign his abdication. It +was there that he was to utter those heart-rending words: "It is right; I +receive what I have deserved. I wanted no statues, for I knew that there +was no safety in receiving them at any other hands than those of +posterity. A man to keep them while he lives, needs constant good fortune. +I think of France, which it is terrible to leave in this state, without +frontiers when it had such wide ones!--that is the bitterest of the +humiliations that overwhelm me. To leave France so small when I wished to +make it so great!" It was there that, overcome by immeasurable grief, the +conqueror of so many battles wished to seek in suicide a refuge from the +tortures of thought, and that he was to fail to find death, he who on the +battle-field had squandered so many lives. O mortals, ignorant of your own +fates, how happy you are not to have foreknowledge of them! + + + + +IV. + +THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION. + + +The Empress left Fontainebleau, Thursday, November 29, 1804, in company +with Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, and Madame d'Arberg, Lady +of the Palace, and reached Paris the same day, a few hours before the +Emperor and the Pope, who left Fontainebleau in the same carriage and +entered the Tuileries at eight in the evening. A platoon of Mamelukes +escorted the Imperial carriage, and it was a singular sight to see the +Mussulman escorting the Vicar of Christ. The Pope was installed at the +Tuileries in the Pavilion of Flora. There were attached to his person M. +de Viry, the Emperor's Chamberlain; M. de Lucay, Prefect of the Palace, +and Colonel Durosnel, Equerry. + +All Paris was excited by the approach of the great event. The hotels were +crowded; the population of the capital was nearly doubled, so vast was the +throng of provincials and foreigners. Tradesmen were working night and day +to prepare the dresses and uniforms. In every workshop there was +unparalleled activity. Leroy, who previously had been only a milliner, had +decided for this occasion to undertake dressmaking, and had made Madame +Raimbault, a celebrated dressmaker of the time, his partner. From their +shop came the magnificent robes to be worn by the Empress on Coronation +Day. Her jewels, consisting of a crown, a diadem, and a girdle, were the +work of the jeweller Margueritte. The crown was formed of eight branches +meeting under a gold globe surmounted by a cross. The branches were set +with diamonds, four in the shape of a palm leaf, four in the shape of a +myrtle leaf. Around the curve was a ribbon, inlaid with eight enormous +emeralds. The frontlet was bright with amethysts. The diadem was formed of +four rows of pearls interlaced with diamond leaves, with many large +brilliants, one alone weighing one hundred and forty-nine grains. The +girdle was a gold band, enriched with thirty-nine pink gems. The Emperor's +sceptre had been made by Odiot; it was of solid silver, enlaced by a gold +serpent, and surmounted by a globe on which was a miniature figure of +Charlemagne seated. The hand of justice, the crown, and the sword came +from the workshops of Biennais. The dress of the courtiers was to be very +magnificent; it consisted of a French coat of different colors according +to the duties of the wearer under the Grand Marshal, the High Chamberlain, +and the Grand Equerry, with silver embroidery for all; a cloak worn over +one shoulder, of velvet, lined with satin: a scarf, a lace band, and the +hat caught up in front, and adorned with a feather. The women were to +appear in ball dress, with a train, with a collar of blond-lace, called a +_cherusque_, which was fastened on both shoulders and rose high behind the +head, recalling the fashions of the time of Catherine de' Medici. + +There were rehearsals of the coronation as if it were a spectacular play. +Every one, from the principal actors to the most insignificant assistants, +studied his part most conscientiously; the Masters of Ceremonies were to +act as prompters to those who might forget. The Imperial carriages and +those of the Princes and Princesses one morning were all driven empty to +the neighborhood of Notre Dame, that coachman, postilions, and grooms +might know the route they were to take, and when they were to draw up. The +carriages were superb, the horses magnificent, the liveries sumptuous. +Never in the most extravagant days of the monarchy had such luxury been +seen. + +M. de Bausset says that a week before the coronation the Emperor commanded +of the artist Isabey seven drawings representing the seven principal +ceremonies to take place at Notre Dame, which, however, could not be +rehearsed in the Cathedral on account of the number of workmen busy day +and night in decorating it. To ask at once for seven drawings each +containing more than a hundred persons in action, was asking for the +impossible. Isabey skilfully eluded the difficulty. He bought at the toy +shops all the little dolls he could find, dressed them up as Pope, +Emperor, Empress, Princes, high dignitaries, Chamberlains, Equerries, +Ladies of Honor, Ladies of the Palace, These dolls thus arrayed he +arranged on a plan in relief of the Interior of Notre Dame, and carrying +it to the Emperor, said: "Sire, I bring Your Majesty something better than +the drawings." Napoleon thought the idea ingenious, and used the dolls and +the plan to make every official understand his place and his duty. + +The _Moniteur_ of the 9th Brumaire, Year XIII, (November 30, 1804), +published in advance all the details of the ceremony, which the Emperor +had fixed with as much care as if it had been the plan of a battle. A +difficulty arose on this occasion. The Pope had wished Napoleon to receive +the holy communion in public on the day of the coronation, and Napoleon +had given the matter thought. The Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Segur, +brought up against the proposition the necessity of a preliminary +confession and the possibility that absolution might be denied him. +"That's not the difficulty," said the Emperor, "the Holy Father knows how +to distinguish between the sins of Caesar and those of the man," Then he +added: "I know that I ought to give an example of respect for religion and +its ministers; so you see that I treat the priests well, go regularly to +mass, and listen to it with all due seriousness and solemnity. But every +one knows me, and how would it be for me, and for others, if I should go +too far? Would not that be setting an example of hypocrisy, and committing +a sacrilege?" The Pope did not insist upon it. This dread of committing +sacrilege Napoleon referred to again at Saint Helena, in 1816: "Everything +was done," he said then, "to persuade me to go in great pomp to communion +at Notre Dame, after the fashion of our kings; I absolutely refused; I did +not believe enough, I said, to get any good from it, and yet I believed +too much to consent to be guilty of sacrilege." + +Another difficulty which gave the Pope much anxiety, and was not settled +in the formalities of the coronation, was whether the Emperor should +receive the crown from the hands of the Sovereign Pontiff. Pius VII. had +brought up the question before leaving Rome, and Cardinal Consalvi had +written on this matter, to which the Vatican attached great importance, as +follows: "All the French Emperors, all those of Germany, who have been +crowned by the Popes, have accepted the crown from them. The Holy Father, +before undertaking this journey, requires to receive from Paris the +assurance that there will be no innovation made in the present case, in +the way of a diminution of the honor and dignity of the Sovereign +Pontiff." At Rome only vague and dilatory answers had been received. In +Paris the Emperor, leaving the matter to be decided on the spur of the +moment, had only said: "I will arrange that myself." + +The preparations at Notre Dame had come to an end. They had been very +considerable. Several houses that hid the north facade had been destroyed. +Before the great entrance, still scarred by the ravages of the +Revolutionists, there had been set up a decoration of painted wood, +representing a vast Gothic porch with three arches upholding the statues +of the thirty-six good cities, the mayors of which were to be present at +the coronation. To the right and the left stood images of Clovis and +Charlemagne, sceptre in hand. Above, between two golden eagles, appeared +the Imperial coat-of-arms. This was intended for the sole entrance of the +Pope and the Emperor. It was connected with the Archbishop's palace by +large, covered, wooden galleries, adorned within by gobelin tapestry. This +palace, to which Pius VII. and Napoleon were to go before they entered the +Cathedral, no longer exists; it was destroyed, February 14, 1831, in an +insurrection. It used to stand just by the side of the church. It was +built in 1161 by Maurice de Sully, rebuilt in 1697 by the Cardinal of +Noailles, embellished in 1750 by the Archbishop de Beaumont, and was the +meeting-place of the Constituent Assembly from October 19 to November 9, +1789. There the Pope and the Emperor were to alight on their way from the +Tuileries and put on their grand coronation robes before entering the +Cathedral. + +The whole church of Notre Dame had been hung with crimson stuffs adorned +with gold fringe, with the arms of the Empire embroidered on the corners. +On each side of the nave and around the choir had been built three rows of +galleries, decorated alike with silk and velvet stuffs fringed with gold, +and flags had been arranged like a trophy about each pillar. Above the +trophies were winged and gilded victories, holding candelabra with a vast +number of candles. There were, besides, twenty-four chandeliers hanging +from the roof. The galleries kept out the light, especially at the season +when the days were short; consequently it had been decided that the +Cathedral should be artificially lit during the ceremony, thus augmenting +the pomp and beauty of the spectacle. The choir, shut off by a railing, +was reserved for the clergy. To the right of the high altar, on a platform +with eleven steps, had been raised the pontifical throne, above which was +a golden dome adorned with the arms of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman +Church. In front and on each side of the pontifical throne were benches +with backs for the cardinals and prelates. For the Emperor and the Empress +had been prepared what was called the great and the little throne. The +little throne was formed of two armchairs, one for Napoleon, the other for +Josephine. These two chairs stood on a platform with four steps, opposite +the high altar. The Emperor and Empress were to occupy them during the +first part of the ceremony. The grand throne was at the other end of the +church, with its back against the great door, which was thus closed. This +great throne stood on a large semicircular platform, and was reached by +twenty-four steps. It stood under a canopy in the shape of a triumphal +arch, upheld by eight columns, and it overlooked the whole church. The +Emperor and the Empress were not to ascend this throne till after the +coronation. + +For the coronation Napoleon had given to the Cathedral a number of holy +vessels in silver-gilt, enriched with diamonds, and very valuable lace +albs, a processional cross, chandeliers, and incense-burners. At the same +time he restored to the Cathedral a great number of relics with which the +piety of Saint Louis had endowed the Sainte Chapelle. In 1791 they had +been deposited in the treasury of Saint Denis, by order of Louis XVI., +thence in 1793 they had been transferred to the cabinet of curiosities in +the National Library, and had been exposed under the Directory, in the +Hall of Antiquities. The Emperor restored them to the worship of the +faithful. + +The preparations were completed, and the ceremony promised to be +magnificent. Madame Junot, afterwards the Duchess of Abrantes, breakfasted +with the Empress at the Tuileries, December 1, 1804, the day before the +coronation. Josephine was much excited and radiantly happy. At breakfast +she told how amiably the Emperor had talked with her that morning and how +he had tried on her head the crown which she was to put on the next day at +Notre Dame. As she said that she shed tears of gratitude. She spoke then +of her pain when Napoleon had refused her request for Lucien's return. "I +wanted to plead this great day," she said, "but Bonaparte spoke so harshly +that I had to keep silent. I wanted to show Lucien that I could return +good for evil; if you have a chance, let him know it." + +In the evening the Senate came to the Tuileries to announce to the Emperor +the result of the _plebiscite_ which approved of the Empire and the matter +of inheritance; 3,521,660 citizens having voted for, and 2,579 against. +Napoleon replied to the President of the Senate with the infatuation that +springs from success and the consciousness of strength: "I ascend the +throne to which I have been called by the unanimous voices of the Senate, +the people, and the army, with my heart full of feeling of the great +destinies of this people whom, from the midst of camps, I first saluted +with the name of great. Since my youth all my thoughts have been devoted +to it, and I must say here, my pleasures and my pains now are nothing but +the pleasures and the pains of my people. My descendants will long fill +this throne. They will never forget that contempt of laws and the +overthrow of the social order are only the results of the weakness and +indecision of rulers." + +The hour of disaster was approaching, but it had not yet struck; the +morrow was to be radiant. Salvos of artillery were fixed every hour from +six in the evening till midnight; at each salvo, the towers, spires, and +public buildings were illuminated for a few minutes by Bengal lights. +Imperial insignia, among others the sword of Charlemagne, were already in +the Church of Notre Dame. General de Segur, then a captain under the +command of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, was charged to watch that +precious relic during the night. He records one thing about it which +clearly shows the bellicose spirit of the men of the time. One of the +officers guarding the Imperial sword conceived the mad idea of using it +against one of his comrades, who defended himself with his own sabre, and +consoled himself for his defeat and for a slight wound with the thought +that he was beaten by so glorious a weapon. + +That same night, the one before the coronation, Josephine's wishes were +granted. Her union with Napoleon was blessed by the church. An altar was +mysteriously raised in the Tuileries, and there, in the presence of M. de +Talleyrand and the Marshal Berthier, who were the only witnesses, Cardinal +Fesch celebrated, in the profoundest secrecy, the religious marriage of +the Emperor and Empress. The scruples of Pius VII. were thus allayed. +Josephine could be crowned the next day. + + + + +V. + +THE CORONATION. + + +It was December 2, 1804. Since early morning all Paris had been alive. It +was very cold; the sky was covered, but no one thought of the unpleasant +weather. All the streets through which the procession was to pass had been +carefully swept and sprinkled with sand. The inhabitants had decorated the +fronts of their houses according to their tastes and means, with +draperies, tapestry, artificial flowers, and branches of evergreens. Two +lines of infantry were drawn up for a space of about half a league. Long +before the hour of the departure of the Pope and the Emperor from the +Tuileries, a vast throng had gathered in the streets, was crowding every +window, and assembling on every roof. Marshal Murat, Governor of Paris, +offered at an early hour a sumptuous breakfast to the Princes of Germany +who had come to Paris for the coronation--the Elector Archchancellor of +the German Empire, the Princes of Nassau, of Hesse, and of Baden. After +the breakfast they drove to Notre Dame in four superb carriages, drawn by +six horses each, with an escort under the command of one of his aides-de- +camp, and he himself mounted his horse to take his place at the head of +the twenty squadrons of cavalry which were to go in front of the Emperor's +carriage. + +At the Tuileries Napoleon put on what was called the undress attire; this +he was to wear on his way from the palace to the Archbishop's. He was not +to put on full dress, that is to say, the Imperial robes and cloak, until +he was to enter the church. The undress is thus described by Constant, the +Emperor's valet: silk stockings embroidered with gold; low boots of white +velvet, embroidered with gold on the seams; with diamond buttons and +buckles on his garters; a coat of crimson velvet faced with white velvet: +a short cloak of crimson lined with white satin, covering the left +shoulder and fastened on the right-hand side by a double clasp of +diamonds; a black velvet cap, surmounted by two aigrets, a diamond loop, +and for button, the most celebrated of the crown jewels, the Regent. + +The Empress's costume was no less magnificent. She wore a dress, with a +train, of silver brocade covered with gold bees; her shoulders were bare, +but on her arms were tight sleeves embroidered with gold, the upper part +adorned, with diamonds, and fastened to them was a lace ruff worked with +gold which rose behind half up her head. The tight-fitting dress had no +waist, after the fashion of the time, but she wore a gold ribbon as a +girdle, set with thirty-nine pink gems. Her bracelets, ear-rings, and +necklace were formed of precious stones and antique cameos. Her diadem +consisted of four rows of pearls interlaced with clusters of diamonds. The +Empress, whose hair was curled, after the fashion of the reign of Louis +XIV., although forty-one years old, looked, according to Madame de +Remusat, no more than twenty-five. The Emperor was much struck by +Josephine's beauty in this sumptuous attire; all this luxury impressed +him. He recalled the days of his childhood, and turning to his favorite +brother, he said: "Joseph, if father could see us!" + +Nine o'clock sounded, the hour set for the departure of the Pope, who was +to reach Notre Dame before the Emperor. The Sovereign Pontiff, clad in +white, went down the staircase of the Pavilion of Flora and entered his +carriage, which was drawn by eight horses; above it was a large tiara. At +Rome it was the custom that when the Pope went forth to officiate at one +of the great churches,--for instance, to Saint John Lateran,--for one of +his chamberlains to start a moment before him, mounted on a mule, and +carrying a great processional cross. Pius VII. asked that the same thing +might be done at Paris; consequently the pontifical procession was headed +by a chamberlain whose mule did not fail to amuse the vast crowd that +lined the quays; yet when the Pope passed, all knelt down and received his +blessing with due respect. With cavalry in front and behind, the Pope's +carriage and the eight carriages in which were the cardinals, Italian +prelates and officers who had come from Rome with him, drove slowly along +the quays to the Archbishop's Palace. There were awaiting him all the +French cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, and he was received by the +Cardinal du Belloy, the Archbishop of Paris, as he entered to put on his +pontifical robes. The pontifical procession entered Notre Dame in the +following order; a priest, carrying the apostolic cross; seven acolytes, +carrying the seven golden candlesticks; more than a hundred bishops, +archbishops or cardinals, in cope and mitre, marching two by two; and last +of all the Holy Father, his tiara on his head, under a canopy between two +cardinals who held up the ends of his golden cope. The clergy intoned the +hymn _Tu es Petrus_, which was very impressive, and the Sovereign Pontiff, +after kneeling for a few moments before the high altar, took his seat in +the middle of the choir on the pontifical throne, above which was a dome +adorned with the coat-of-arms of the church. + +The Emperor and the Empress, who were to leave the Tuileries at ten, did +not start till half past ten. They got into the magnificent coronation +carriage which excited the hearty admiration of the crowd, always fond of +show. It was drawn by eight superb horses, splendidly harnessed; upon it +was a golden crown upheld by four eagles with outstretched wings. The four +sides of the coach were of glass, set in slender carved uprights, so that +there was an unobstructed view of Napoleon and Josephine on the back seat, +with Joseph and Louis Bonaparte opposite them. Salvos of artillery +announced the Emperor's departure from the Tuileries. Twenty squadrons of +cavalry, with Marshal Murat at their head, led the procession. Eighteen +carriages, with six horses each, followed, conveying the high dignitaries +and the courtiers. Bands played triumphal marches, and all along the way a +vast crowd saluted this sovereign. The procession starting from the +Tuileries by the Carrousel went along the rue Saint Honore as far as the +rue de Lombards, crossed the Pont au Change, and then along the quay to +the rue du Parvis Notre Dame and the Archbishop's Palace. Just as the +Emperor and the Empress were entering the palace courtyard, the mist, +which had been thick all the morning, cleared away, and the sun came out +glistening on the gilded decorations of the Imperial coach. The +_Moniteur_, with its official enthusiasm, spoke of "the orb of day +escaping, against every expectation, from the rigid rule of a stormy +season to light up the festal day." + +At the Archbishop's Palace, Napoleon changed his dress, putting on his +coronation robes. This differed entirely from the costume he had worn from +the Tuileries to the palace, and consisted of a tight-fitting gown of +white satin, embroidered with gold on every seam, and of an Imperial +mantle of crimson velvet, all over which were golden bees; it was bordered +by worked branches of olive-tree, laurels, and oak, in circles enclosing +the letter N, with a crown above each one; the lining, the border, and the +cape were of ermine. This cloak, fastened on the right shoulder, while +leaving the arm free, reacted to just above the knee, and weighed no less +than eighty pounds, and though it was held by four persons, Prince Joseph, +Prince Louis, the Archchancellor Cambaceres, the Archtreasurer Lebrun, was +for the Emperor, who was a short man, a sumptuous, but heavy load. He +carried it, however, with fitting majesty. On his head he had put a crown +of golden laurel, the laurel of Caesar; around his neck he wore the +diamond necklace of the Legion of Honor; on his left side he carried a +sword with a large handle--the scabbard was of blue enamel adorned with +gold eagles and bees. At the same time Josephine completed her dressing, +putting on a long red velvet cloak, sprinkled with gold bees, and lined +with ermine; its skirts were upheld by Princesses Joseph, Louis, Elisa, +Pauline, and Charlotte. + +The Imperial procession proceeded from the Archbishop's Palace to Notre +Dame through the wooden gallery, and entered the church, not through the +middle entrance, which was blocked by the great throne, but through one of +the side-doors. They advanced in the following order, with an interval of +ten paces between each group: the ushers, four abreast, the heralds at +arms, two abreast; the Chief Herald at Arms; the pages, four abreast; the +aides of the masters of ceremonies; the masters of ceremonies; the Grand +Master of Ceremonies, M. de Segur; Marshal Serurier, carrying on a cushion +the Empress's ring; Marshal Moncey, carrying the basket which was to +receive her cloak; Marshal Murat, carrying her crown on a cushion; the +Empress, with her First Equerry on her right, and her First Chamberlain on +her left; she wore the Imperial cloak, which was supported by the five +Princesses, the cloak of each one of these being supported by an officer +of her household; Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, and Madame de +Lavalette, the Empress's Lady of the Bedchamber; Marshal Kellermann, +carrying the crown of Charlemagne, a diadem with six branches adorned with +valuable cameos; Marshal Perignon, carrying Charlemagne's sceptre, at the +end of which was a ball representing the world, with a small figure of the +great Carlovingian Emperor; Marshal Lefebvre, carrying Charlemagne's +sword; Marshal Bernadotte, carrying Napoleon's necklace; Colonel General +Eugene de Beauharnais, the Emperor's ring; Marshal Berthier, the Imperial +globe; M. de Talleyrand, the basket destined to receive the Emperor's +cloak. Then came the Emperor, the crown of golden laurel on his head, +holding in one hand his silver sceptre, topped by an eagle, and encircled +by a golden serpent, and in the other his hand of justice. His cloak was +supported by his two brothers, Joseph, Grand Elector, and Louis, +Constable, as well as by the Archchancellor Cambaceres and the +Archtreasurer Lebrun. Then followed the Grand Equerry, the Colonel General +of the Guard, and the Grand Marshal of the Palace, the three abreast, the +ministers, four abreast, and the high officers of the army. + +As Napoleon entered the church, the twenty thousand spectators shouted, +"Long live the Emperor!" A cardinal gave holy water to Josephine; the +Cardinal, the Archbishop of Paris, presented it to Napoleon; and the two +prelates, after complimenting the Emperor and the Empress, conducted them +in a procession, under a canopy held by canons, to the smaller throne in +the middle of the choir. There they were to sit during the first part of +the ceremony, near the high altar, on a platform with four steps. As the +Emperor and the Empress entered the choir, the Pope came down from the +pontifical chair, and intoned the _Veni Creator_. The Emperor handed to +the Archchancellor his hand of justice; to the Archtreasurer, his sceptre; +to Prince Joseph, his crown; to Prince Louis, his sword; to the Grand +Chamberlain, his Imperial cloak; to Colonel General Eugene de Beauharnais, +his ring. The six objects formed what were called "the Emperor's +ornaments." They were placed on the altar by the representative +dignitaries, and were to be handed again to the Emperor by the Pope in the +course of the ceremony. The same was true of the "Empress's ornaments," +her ring, cloak, and crown, which, were placed on the altar; the ring, by +Marshal Serurier; the cloak, by Marshal Moncey; the crown, by Marshal +Murat. Charlemagne's insignia, his crown, sceptre, and sword, remained +during the whole ceremony in the hands of Marshals Kellermann, Perignon, +and Lefebvre, who stood at the right of the small throne in the choir. + +As soon as the ornaments of the Emperor and Empress had been placed on the +altar, the Pope asked the Emperor in Latin if he promised to use every +effort to have law, justice, and peace rule in the church and among his +people; Napoleon touched the gospels with both hands, as it was held out +to him by the Grand Almoner, and answered _Profiteor_. Then the Pope, the +bishops, archbishops, and cardinals knelt before the altar and began the +litany. When they reached the three verses used only at coronations, the +Emperor and Empress also knelt. + +After the litany, the Grand Almoner, another cardinal, and two bishops +advanced towards the small throne, and bowed low before Napoleon and +Josephine, and conducted them to the foot of the altar to receive sacred +unction. The Emperor and Empress knelt on blue velvet cushions placed on +the first step of the altar. The Pope anointed Napoleon on the head and +his two hands, uttering the prayer of consecration: "Mighty and Eternal +God, who didst appoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu to be king +over Israel, making known thy wishes through the prophet Elijah; and who +didst pour holy oil of kings upon the head of Saul and of David, through +the prophet Samuel, send down through my hands, the treasures of thy grace +and of thy blessings upon thy servant Napoleon, whom, in spite of our +unworthiness, we consecrate to-day as Emperor, in thy name." + +Then the Pope anointed the Empress in the same way, reciting this prayer: +"May the Father of eternal glory be thy aid; and may the Omnipotent bless +thee; may he hear thy prayers, and give thee a long life, ever confirming +this blessing and maintaining it forever with all thy people; may he +confound thy enemies; may the sanctification of Christ and the anointing +of this oil ever aid thee, so that he who on earth has given thee his +blessing may give thee in heaven the happiness of the angels, and that +thou mayst be blessed and guarded for eternal life by Jesus Christ, our +Saviour, who lives and reigns forever and ever." + +The Emperor and Empress were then conducted to the small throne, that is +to say, to their two chairs; before each one was a praying-stand. Then +high mass began; it was said by the Pope; the music had been composed by +Paesiello, the Abbe Rose, and Lesueur. There were three hundred +performers, singers, and musicians; among the soloists were the great +singer Lais, and two famous violinists, Kreutzer and Baillot. At the +_Gradual_ the mass was interrupted for the blessing of the ornaments which +the Emperor and Empress then put on. + +Napoleon, followed by the Archchancellor, the Archtreasurer, the Grand +Chamberlain, the Grand Equerry, and two chamberlains, and Josephine, +accompanied by her Lady of Honor, her Lady of the Bedchamber, her First +Chamberlain, and her First Equerry, advanced towards the altar, and +ascended the steps at the same time; the Sovereign Pontiff, with his back +to the altar, was sitting on a sort of folding-chair. He blessed the +Imperial ornaments, reciting a special prayer for each one. His Holiness +then handed them to the Emperor in the following order: first the ring, +which Napoleon placed on his finger; then the sword, which he put in its +scabbard; the cloak, which his chamberlains fastened on his shoulders, +then the hand of justice and the sceptre which he handed to the +Archchancellor and the Archtreasurer. + +The only ornament left to be given to the Emperor was the crown. It will +be remembered that there had been a long negotiation at Rome to ascertain +whether the Emperor would be crowned by the Pope or would crown himself. +The question was left uncertain, and Napoleon had said that he would +settle it himself at Notre Dame when the time came. Still Pius VII. was +convinced that he was going to place the crown on the sovereign's head. He +had just handed him the ring, the sword, the cloak, the hand of justice, +and the sceptre, and was preparing to do the same thing with the crown. +But the Emperor, who had ascended the last step of the altar, and was +following every motion of the Pope, grasped from his hands the sign of +sovereign power and proudly placed it on his own head. Pius VII., +outwitted and surprised, made no attempt at resistance. + +After thus crowning himself, Napoleon proceeded to crown the Empress. This +was the most solemn moment in Josephine's life; the moment which dispelled +all her incessant dread of divorce, the brilliant verification of her +fondest hopes, the completion of her triumph. Napoleon advanced with +emotion to this companion of his happiest days, to the woman who had +brought him happiness; she was kneeling before him, shedding tears of joy +and gratitude, with her hands clasped and trembling. He recalled all that +he owed her: his happiness, for, thanks to her, he had been blessed with a +requited love; his glory, for it was she who, in 1796, had secured for him +the command of the Army of Italy, the origin of all his triumphs. He must +have been glad at this moment that he had not followed his brother's +malicious suggestions and had not separated from his dear Josephine! The +affection of the young General Bonaparte revived in the heart of the +sovereign. He thought Josephine more gracious, more touching, more lovable +than ever, and it was with an outburst of happiness that he placed the +Imperial diadem on her charming and cherished head. + +The Emperor and Empress, once crowned, proceeded to the great throne, at +the entrance of the church, by the great door, being solemnly led there by +the Pope and the Cardinals. The Imperial procession then formed again in +the order in which it had come to Notre Dame, the Empress going before the +Emperor. At this moment the Princesses seemed to hesitate about carrying +the skirt of the Empress's cloak; Napoleon noticed this, and said a few +severe, firm words to his sisters, and all was smoothed. The procession +reached the foot of the great throne; the Emperor ascended the twenty-four +steps and sat down in full majesty, wearing his crown and Imperial cloak, +holding the hand of justice and the sceptre. At his right, on a seat like +his, but one step lower, the Empress placed herself. Another step lower, +sat the Princesses on simple seats. At the Emperor's left, two steps below +him, were the Princes and high dignitaries. On each side of the platform +the marshals, high officers, and ladies of the court took their places. +The sight was most impressive. The Pope in his turn ascended the twenty- +four steps, and thus commanding the whole Cathedral, extended his hands +over the Emperor and the Empress, and uttered these Latin words, the +formula used for taking the throne: "_In hoc solio confirmare vos Deus, et +in regno aeterno secum regnare faciat Christus!_"--"May God establish you +on your throne, and may Christ cause you to reign with him in his eternal +kingdom!" Then he kissed the Emperor on the cheek, and turning towards the +assembled multitude, said: "_Vivat Imperator in aeternum!_"--"May the +Emperor live forever!" This was what had been said ten centuries before at +Saint Peter's in Rome when the ruler of the same people, Charlemagne, had +been proclaimed Emperor of the West. + +Applause broke forth and three hundred musicians intoned the _Vivat +Imperator_, a hymn composed by the Abbe Rose. The pontifical procession +and the Imperial procession returned to the choir; the Emperor and Empress +resumed their places on the chairs, and the Pope began, the _Te Deum_. +After this, which was sung by four choirs and two orchestras, the mass, +which had been interrupted by the ceremony with the ornaments and the +taking possession of the throne, went on. At the offertory, Napoleon and +Josephine, followed by the two Princes and the five Princesses, went to +lay their offerings before the Pope; these consisted of a silver-gilt +vase, a lump of gold, a lump of silver, and a candle about which were +inlaid thirteen pieces of money. At the elevation Prince Joseph removed +the Emperor's crown, and Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, that +of the Empress. Napoleon and Josephine knelt before the Host, and when +they rose, put their crowns on again. + +When mass was over, the Emperor took the political oath prescribed by the +constitution, which had aroused much opposition in Rome. The presidents of +the great bodies of the state brought him the formula, and with one hand +held over the gospels, the Emperor swore to maintain, the principles of +the Revolution, to preserve the integrity of the territory, and to rule +with an eye to the interest, happiness, and glory of the French people. +The First Herald-at-Arms then called forth in a loud voice: "The most +glorious and most august Emperor Napoleon, Emperor of the French, is +crowned and enthroned: Long live the Emperor!" That was the end of the +ceremony. Salvos of artillery mingled with the applause. + +The solemnity had been most successful, and Napoleon could say with truth +to his brother Joseph: "For me it is a battle won; by my art and the +measures I took, I have succeeded beyond my expectations." Had he not +prophesied accurately when he said to his secretary at the signing of the +Concordat: "Bourrienne, you will see what use I shall make of the +priests!" The golden chasubles had made a brilliant spectacle by the side +of the uniforms; the crosses and the tiara by the side of the swords and +the sceptre. Napoleon, always a master of theatrical effect, had known how +to lend antiquity to his newborn glory by borrowing from the past all its +majesty and pomp, and by skilfully decking himself with what was most +brilliant in the chronicles of remote centuries. From Charlemagne he took +his insignia; from Caesar his golden laurel. The head of a nation that had +grown great by the cross and the sword, he desired to make his coronation +the festival of the church and of the army. + +The Imperial and the pontifical processions returned to the Archbishop's +Palace, and half an hour later proceeded to the Tuileries, through the New +Market, the Place du Chatelet, the rue Saint Denis, the boulevards, the +rue and the Place de la Concorde, the Pont Tournant, and the grand roadway +of the castle. Night had fallen; the houses were illuminated. Five hundred +torches cast their light on the two processions, and by their imposing and +strange brilliancy, the crowd gazed with interest on the new Charlemagne +and the Vicar of Christ. + +Napoleon and Josephine re-entered the Tuileries at half past six; the Pope +at about seven. The Emperor, who was somewhat tired by all this ceremony, +gladly resumed his modest uniform of Colonel of the Chasseurs of the +Guard. He dined alone with Josephine, asking her to keep on her head the +becoming diadem which she wore so gracefully. That evening he chatted +pleasantly with the ladies-in-waiting, and praised the rich dresses they +had worn in such splendor at Notre Dame; he said to them, laughing: "It's +I who deserve the credit for your charming appearance." Then they looked +out of the windows on the illuminated garden, the large flower-garden +surrounded with porches covered with lights, the long alley adorned with +shining colonnades, on the terraces of orange-trees all aglow, with a +number of glasses of various colors on every tree, and finally on the +Place de la Concorde, one blazing star. It was like a sea of flame. + +It was the painter who had been a member of the Convention, the +_montagnard_, the regicide who had insulted Louis XVI., who had painted +the apotheosis of Marat, and with a malicious hand had drawn the features +of Marie Antoinette on her way to the scaffold; it was this artist, this +fierce demagogue, the ardent Revolutionist, who was commissioned with +painting the official representation of the coronation. He carried his +gallantry so far as to choose for his subject, not the moment when +Napoleon crowned himself, but that of the coronation of the Empress; and +when a critic accused him of making Josephine too young, he said: "Go and +say that to her!" When the picture was finished, the Emperor and the court +went to see it in the artist's studio. Napoleon walked up and down for +half an hour, bareheaded, before the canvas, which is about twenty feet +high, about thirty long, and contains one hundred portraits. (It is now at +Versailles in the Hall of the Guards, at the top of the marble staircase.) +The Emperor examined it with the closest attention, while David and all +who were present maintained a respectful silence. This long waiting made +the artist very anxious. At last Napoleon turned towards him and said: +"It's good, David, very good. You have divined all my thought; you have +made me a French knight. I thank you for transmitting to ages to come the +proof of affection I wanted to give to her who shares with me the pains of +government." Then taking two steps towards the artist, he raised his hat +and said, in a loud voice: "David, I salute you." + +Sometimes at Notre Dame in Holy Week, at evening service, when the +Cathedral is lit up as at the coronation, I recall the various ceremonies +of this church: the royal baptisms and marriages there celebrated; the +banners hung from its roof; the _Te Deums_ and _De Profundis_ so often +sung there; Bossuet uttering the funeral oration of the Prince of Conde; +the shameless goddess of Reason profaning the sanctuary. I close my eyes +in meditation, and seem to be present at the coronation, to see Pius VII. +on his pontifical throne, and, before the altar, Napoleon crowning +Josephine with his own hands, I hear the echo of distant litanies, of the +trumpets, of the organ, and of the applause. Then I think of the +nothingness of all human glory and grandeur. Of all the illustrious +persons who have knelt in this old basilica, what is left? Scarcely a few +handfuls of dust. I open my eyes. The days are silent; the crowd has +quietly withdrawn. The lights are out, and at the end of the church, in +the shadow, like a timid star in a cloudy day, burns a solitary lamp. + + + + +VI. + +THE DISTRIBUTION OF FLAGS. + + +The coronation was the signal for a succession of festivities. Napoleon +was anxious that all classes of society should take part in the +rejoicings; that commerce should be benefited; that luxury should do +wonders; and that Paris should take the position of the first city in the +world, the capital of capitals. The day after the coronation was to be the +popular holiday, and the day when the flags were distributed was to be the +festival of the army. Monday, December 3, booths were open on every side +for the entertainment of the crowd. Adulation assumed every guise, even +the humblest; and every form of language, even that of the markets, was +employed to flatter the new sovereign. There was sung, "The joyous round +on the lottery of thirteen thousand fowls, with an accompaniment of +fountains of wine." It was a description of the food distributed to the +poor people of Paris. This song was sung in every street and place, as the +_Ca ira_ was sung in '93. + +The compliment of the marketmen and of their ladies ran thus: "I have +reasoned it out with my wife that a house a thousand times as large as +Notre Dame would not be able to hold all those who have reason to bless +you." In the way of incense, nothing was too gross for the sovereign. One +district said of Napoleon:-- + + "He received for us when God formed him, + The arm of Romulus, the mind of Numa." + +The Empress too was praised:-- + + "Spouse of the hero whom the universe regards, + The Graces accompany you to the temple, + Every one sees in your face the bounty + Of which you distribute the gifts." + +In allusion to her love of flowers this quatrain was composed:-- + + "Josephiniana! this is the new flower + Whose beauty catches my eye. + To join the laurels of Caesar + Nothing less is needed than an immortal flower." + +The Emperor was sung, too, in mythological language, for his flatterers +tried to exhaust all sorts of adulation. On Coronation Day the Prefect of +Police had distributed a poem entitled _The Crown of Napoleon brought from +Olympus command of Jupiter_:-- + + "Mounting one of the coursers of the proud Bellona, + Mercury brings a crown from Olympus; + The king of the gods sends it to the hero of the French + As the reward of his success. + Ye whom he guided a hundred times in the fields of glory, + Phalanx of warriors, children of victory, + Braving the impotent fury of the English, + Sing Napoleon, sing your Emperor." + +December 3 the public rejoicings organized by the government extended from +the Place de la Concorde to the Arsenal. Heralds-at-arms walked through +the city, distributing medals struck to commemorate the coronation. These +medals bore on one side the head of the Emperor, his brow wearing the +crown of the Caesars; on the other, the image of a magistrate, and of an +ancient warrior, supporting on a buckler a crowned hero, wearing an +Imperial mantle. Beneath was the inscription: "The Senate and the People." + +As soon as the heralds-at-arms had passed by, the merry-making began, +continuing till late in the night. There was a distribution of food, as +well as sports of all kinds, reminding one of the times of the Roman +Emperors: _panem et circenses_. On the Place de la Concorde had been built +four large wooden halls for public balls. The cold was severe; there was a +hard frost, but this did not check the universal enjoyment. On the +boulevards there were at every step puppet shows, wandering singers, rope +dancers, greased poles, bands of music. From the Place de la Concorde to +the end of the boulevard Saint Antoine sparkled a double row of colored +lights arrayed like garlands. The Garde Meuble and the Palace of the +Legislative Body were ablaze with lights. The arches of Saint Denis and of +Saint Martin were all covered with lights; the crowd was enraptured with +the fireworks, which had never been so fine. + +The people of Paris had been invited to illuminate the fronts of their +houses, and moved either by enthusiasm or self-interest, they had spent +large sums for this purpose. Among the notable illuminations was that of +the engineer Chevalier, on the Pont Neuf. There was a transparency in +which, amid encircling laurels and myrtles, was to be seen an optician +turning his glass up to the sky towards a bright star, around which was +this inscription: "_In hoc signo salus_!"--"In this sign is safety!" + +December 3 was the first day of the coronation festivities. The third day +was devoted to what the _Moniteur_ called, "arms, valor, fidelity." This +was the day when Napoleon formally presented to the army and to the +National Guard of the Empire the eagles, "which they were always to find +on the field of honor." This ceremony took place on the Champ de Mars. To +quote once more from the _Moniteur_: "This vast field, crowded with +deputations representing France and the army, bore the aspect of a brave +family assembled under the eyes of its chief." The main front of the +Military School had been decorated with a huge gallery, with several tents +as high as the apartments on the first floor. The middle one, resting on +four columns which supported winged victories, covered the thrones of the +Emperor and the Empress. The Princes, the high dignitaries, the ministers, +the marshals of the Empire, the high officers of the crown, the civil +officers, the ladies of the court, were to take their places at the right +of the throne. The gallery, in the middle of which was the Imperial tent, +was in front of the Military School, and was divided into sixteen parts, +eight on each side, representing the sixteen cohorts of the Legion of +Honor. A broad staircase led from this gallery to the Champ de Mars; the +first step was for the presidents of cantons, the prefects, sub-prefects, +and the members of the municipal councils. On the other steps, there +stationed themselves colonels of regiments and presidents of the electoral +colleges of the departments, holding flags surmounted with eagles. On each +side of the staircase were colossal figures of France, one at war, the +other at peace. Twenty-five thousand soldiers, in faultless trim, had been +under arms since six in the morning. + +Unfortunately, the weather was terrible; a thaw had begun and it was +raining in torrents. The Champ de Mars was a sea of mud. The courtiers +who, on the 2d of December, had so belauded the sun, representing it as a +sharer in the festival, a docile slave of the Emperor, were obliged to +acknowledge that it was raining. Madame de Remusat made a very true remark +about this; she said with truth that one of the commonest, though one of +the absurdest, flatteries of every time, was that of pretending that a +sovereign's need of fine weather was sure to bring it. "At the Tuileries," +she said, "I noticed the opinion that the Emperor needed only to appoint a +review or a hunt for a certain day, and that day would be pleasant. +Whenever that happened, a great deal was said about it, while silence was +kept about rainy or foggy weather. This is exactly what used to happen +under Louis XIV. For the honor of sovereigns I should prefer that they +accepted this childish flattery with indifference or disgust, and that no +one would think of offering it. It was impossible to deny that it rained +during the distribution of the eagles at the Champ de Mars; but how many +people I met the next day, who assured me that the rain had not wet them!" + +In spite of the bad weather, an enormous crowd lined the road through +which the Imperial procession was to pass. The terraces of the Tuileries, +the Place de la Concorde, the _quais_ were thronged. Numberless spectators +covered the slopes of the Champ de Mars. The ever obsequious _Moniteur_, +in its official account of the ceremony, said; "If the spectators were +uncomfortable, there was not one who was not consoled by the feeling that +held him there, and by the expression of his wishes which the applause +made very clear." + +At noon the Emperor and the Empress, followed by their suite, left the +Tuileries in the order observed at the coronation, passed down the broad +road, over the Pont Tournant, through the Place de la Concorde, to the +Champ de Mars. Before their carriage rode the Chasseurs of the Guard and a +squadron of Mamelukes; behind it came the mounted grenadiers and the +chosen Legion. On reaching the Military School, Napoleon and Josephine +received the compliments of the Diplomatic Body; then they put on their +coronation robes, and took their place in the gallery in front of the +building. As soon as the Emperor had seated himself on the throne, cannon +were fired, drums beat, bands played. The deputations from the army, who +were assembled in the Champ de Mars, formed in close columns and came +forward. Then Napoleon arose and said in a loud voice: "Soldiers! These +are your flags; these eagles will always be your rallying point; they will +be wherever your Emperor may think necessary for the defence of his throne +and of his people. You will swear to offer your life in their defence, and +by your courage to keep them always on the path to victory. You swear it?" +Officers and men replied: "We swear it!" + +Alas! these flags were to be always on the path of honor, but not always +on the path of victory, for victory is a female goddess and a fickle one. +Against how many enemies these flags were to be defended, beneath +scorching suns, under avalanches of ice and snow! What heroism, what +miracles of bravery, were to be witnessed by these standards on many a +battle-field! What fatigue, what suffering, what sacrifices, dangers, +wounds, how many glorious deaths, what seas of blood, to come at last to +the most lamentable disasters I Had the future been seen, those drums +would have been draped in black. But the army imagined itself invincible. +The thought of defeat would have called forth a smile of pity. Proud of +itself, of its commander, it shouted with joy and pride as it passed +before the throne. + +A single incident disturbed this martial ceremony. Suddenly an unknown +young man approached the Imperial gallery, and shouted: "Down with the +Emperor! Liberty or death!" This ardent Republican was at once arrested. +His voice had been lost in the music and clatter of arms. + +The rain continued, and soon soaked through the canvas and stuffs +sheltering the throne, The Empress was obliged to leave, with her +daughter, who had recently given birth to a child. The other Princesses +followed this example, with the exception of Madame Murat, who, although +lightly clad, remained exposed to the showers. She said that she was +learning how to endure the inevitable discomforts of the highest rank. + +At five o'clock Napoleon and Josephine were once more at the Tuileries +where a state dinner was given in the Gallery of Diana. In the middle of +this gallery the table of the Emperor and the Empress was placed beneath a +magnificent canopy, on a platform. The Empress sat there with the Emperor +on the right and the Pope on her left. The high officers of the crown, as +well as a colonel-general of the Guard and a prefect of the palace, +remained standing near the Imperial table. + +Pages waited on the tables. The Archchancellor of the German Empire took +his place at that of the Emperor. In the same gallery were set other +tables for the French Princes and for the hereditary Prince of Baden, for +the ministers, for the ladies and officers of the Imperial household. +After the dinner was a concert, at which the Pope consented to be present. +When that was over Pius VII. withdrew, and the evening ended with a ballet +danced by the dancers of the opera in the great hall called since the +Empire the Hall of the Marshals. + + + + +VII. + +THE FESTIVITIES. + + +The winter of 1804-5 was very brilliant. Napoleon was anxious to give the +beginning of his reign an air of splendor. He allowed his officials +generous salaries, but he insisted on their spending all they received in +sumptuous living, in entertaining freely, and receiving distinguished +foreigners. Luxury became compulsory, and trade flourished beyond all +expectations. Paris had never, even in the grandest days of the old +monarchy, known greater social animation. This martial generation, +accustomed to desire a short but merry life, aware that the festivities of +day would be interrupted by the battles of the next, were as eager in the +ball-room as on the battlefield. They hastened to enjoy their present +prosperity as if they foresaw the disasters to come. French gallantry, +which had been forgotten during the Revolution, resumed its sway. The +women were like the fair mistresses of castles in the Middle Ages who gave +their hearts to the bravest knights. Love and glory both became the +fashion. The former Lady of the Bedchamber to Marie Antoinette, Madame +Campan, who taught most of the young women of the court in her school at +Saint Germain, had formed a group of beauties, trained in aristocratic +manners, at the head of whom was her ablest, most intelligent pupil, +Hortense de Beauharnais, who had been married to Prince Louis Bonaparte. +The Grand Chamberlain, M. de Talleyrand, a poor bishop but an excellent +specimen of a grand lord, and the Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Segur, +whose success as ambassador of Louis XVI. at the court of Catherine was +very great, set the tone in the households of the Emperor and the Empress. + +Napoleon set an example of luxury and elegance. Grand dinners, concerts, +official entertainments succeeded one another with startling rapidity. +Josephine, who was wildly fond of dress, was glad of an excuse to indulge +her extravagant tastes. The Emperor's three sisters lived like real +princesses, rivalling one another in magnificence. Princes Joseph and +Louis displayed the pomp of future kings. + +Almost all the women of the court were young and pretty. It would have +been hard to confer on any one, to the exclusion of the rest, the palm of +beauty. There were three who were especially distinguished: Madame Maret +(later the Duchess of Bassano); Madame Savary (later the Duchess of +Rovigo); and Madame de Canisy (later the Duchess of Vicenza). The last +named had married M. de Canisy, the Emperor's equerry. Later, she got a +divorce and married M. de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza and Grand Equerry. + +At Saint Helena Napoleon thus recounted the origin of this famous beauty: +"Madame de Lomene, the Cardinal's niece, before being put to death in the +Revolution, entrusted to Father Patrault her two young daughters. When the +terror was over, Madame de Brienne, their aunt, who had weathered the +storm and still possessed a large fortune, demanded them of Father +Patrault, who refused to give them up for a long time, on the ground that +their mother had urged him to bring them up as peasants." And Napoleon +went on: "I was then General of the Army of the Interior; and was able to +secure the return of the two children, though with some difficulty, for +Patrault resisted in every way in his power. They were the women whom you +afterwards knew as Madame de Marnesia, and as the beautiful Madame de +Canisy." + +The Duchess of Abrantes, in recalling the brilliant winter of 1804-5, +says, in her Memoirs: "One especially impressive beauty, particularly in +the ball-room, was Madame de Canisy, I have often compared her to a muse. +It would be impossible for a single face to present a fuller combination +of charms than hers: she possessed regular features, a delightful +expression, an attractive smile; her hair was silky and glossy. Seldom +have I seen anything more charming than Madames de Canisy, Maret, and +Savary in entering a ball-room together," + +There was no lack of entertainments at which these beauties shone. The one +given at the Hotel de Ville, December 16, 1804, to the Emperor and the +Empress, was so costly that it kept the city of Paris for many years in +debt. Napoleon, Josephine, Princes Joseph and Louis drove to it in the +coronation coach. Batteries of artillery, stationed on the Pont Neuf, +announced the moment of their arrival, while tables covered with poultry, +and fountains of wine, attracted an enormous crowd to the place; almost +every one had a share in this distribution of food, thanks to the +precautions taken by the authorities of delivering it only to those who +presented a ticket. The front of the Hotel de Ville was illuminated with +colored lanterns. When the Empress entered the apartments reserved for +her, she found there a complete and magnificent gold toilet-service: it +was a present from the City Council. The President of the Council thus +addressed her: "Madame: How could the Parisians, who are so capable of +distinguishing what is good, delicate, and noble, let slip this +opportunity of paying their homage to the profound tenderness, the +touching grace, the true dignity that characterize Your Majesty? The happy +influence of these rare qualities already makes itself felt in all classes +of society, and while your august spouse elevates France in glory, you +inspire it to resume the first rank among the races most renowned for +urbanity." The hall in which the Imperial banquet was to be given was +called the Hall of Victories. On the door was the inscription _Fasti +Napoleoni_, and at intervals, separated by military trophies and +standards, were Latin inscriptions in honor of Napoleon. Before dinner he +was presented with a table-service of silver-gilt by the city of Paris. +Then he took his seat, with the Empress, on a platform beneath a canopy, +and the meal began. During dinner, a band, hidden behind green foliage, +played a symphony of Haydn's, and then was sung a cantata full of flattery +for the Emperor and the Empress. + +After the dinner there were magnificent fireworks. As the first rockets +rose, a second cantata was sung. One of the pieces of fireworks +represented a man-of-war with eighty guns: its decks, masts, sails, and +rigging were represented by glowing lights. Another, which the Emperor +himself set off, represented Mount Saint Bernard sending forth a volcanic +eruption from snow-covered rocks. In the centre appeared the image of +Napoleon at the head of his army, riding up the steep slope of the +mountain. + +This entertainment, which closed with a ball at which seven hundred +persons were present, was a real apotheosis. Madame de Remusat, speaking +of the extravagant adulation devised for this occasion, says: "A great +deal has been said about the fulsome flatteries of Louis XIV. during his +reign; I am sure that altogether they would not amount to a tenth part of +those that Bonaparte received. I remember that at another festivity given +by the city to the Emperor a few years later, since all inscription had +been exhausted, there were placed above the throne on which he was to sit, +these words from Scripture, in gold letters: _Ego sum qui sum_,--and no +one was shocked." + +The Senate and the Legislative Body also gave grand entertainments in +honor of the coronation. That of the Legislative Body was particularly +brilliant. This assembly, which rivalled the Senate in obsequiousness, had +decided that a marble statue should be raised to the Emperor in the room +where it sat, in honor of the drawing up of the civil code. The day when +this statue was to be inaugurated was chosen for the festivity. The +Empress, followed by a magnificent suite, reached the Palace of the +Legislative Body at about seven in the evening. As she entered, musicians +intoned Glueck's famous chorus, which used to be sung on formal occasions +in the reign of Louis XVI., in honor of Marie Antoinette:-- + + "What charms! What majesty!" + +Unanimous applause emphasized the allusions. Then on the President's +invitation, Marshals Murat and Massena raised the veils that covered the +statue, and all eyes beheld the figure of Napoleon, wearing on his brow a +laurel wreath, in which were mingled oak and olive leaves. Later, at the +time of his abdication at Fontainebleau, Napoleon expressed a regret that +he had permitted his statue to be made during his lifetime. + +Then M. de Vaublanc ascended the tribune, and made a speech full of +extravagant praise; it ended thus: "You live, all of you, threatened by +the perils of the times; you live, and you owe your life to him whose +statue you behold. You return unfortunate exiles; you breathe once more +the delicious air of your own country; you embrace your fathers, your +children, your wives, your friends; all this you owe to him whose statue +you behold. There is no longer any question of his glory; I say nothing +about it; I invoke humanity on one side, gratitude on the other; I ask you +to whom you are indebted for this great, extraordinary, unexpected good +fortune. You all answer with me, It is to the great man whose statue you +behold." Throughout the whole speech, a perfect masterpiece of official +composition, adulation came in like a chorus. The President in his turn +uttered a similar eulogy: "Very few at the time," says Constant, who +describes this occasion, "found this praise extravagant; possibly their +opinions have changed since then." + +After the speeches, dinner was served to three hundred guests, followed by +a magnificent ball. Though, in the middle of the winter, there was a great +show of shrubs and flowers. The Halls of Lucretia and of the Reunion, in +which there was dancing, were like one large bed of roses, laurels, +lilacs, jonquils, lilies, and jasmine. + +Perhaps the finest of all the entertainments was that given to the Emperor +and Empress by the marshals of the Empire in the Opera House. It cost +each, marshal ten thousand francs. The Opera House at that time was in the +rue de Richelieu, where it had been since 1794. (It was the one torn down +during the Restoration, on account of the murder of the Duke of Berry, who +was killed on the threshold.) By means of a floor placed level with the +stage over the orchestra and the pit, there was made a magnificent ball- +room. Twenty-four chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and candelabra were +set on each side of every box. The decorations consisted of silver gauze, +and wreaths of flowers. The uniforms of the men and the dresses of the +women were almost equally magnificent. The eyes of the spectators were +dazzled by dresses trimmed with precious stones. Never had there been seen +such profusion of light, flowers, perfumes, and diamonds. In this magical +setting, fashionable beauties, with their dresses worked with silver and +gold foil, their turbans of Eastern stuffs, their jewels and ancient +cameos, appeared like sultanas. It was a most sumptuous and fairy-like +show. + +The marshals arrived at eight in the evening, the Empress at ten, the +Emperor at eleven; as he entered the ball-room, the applause was so +violent that it was feared that the candles would be put out. A military +march was played, and then there was a concert, closing with the Abbe +Rose's _Vivat Imperator_, which had made such an impression on the +Coronation Day. After the concert, Prince Louis Bonaparte, Marshal Murat, +Eugene de Beauharnais, and Marshal Berthier opened the ball with the +Princesses. The Emperor walked twice around the hall, as if he were +reviewing troops. Then he sat down by the side of the Empress on a raised +platform, and withdrew before the end of the ball. + +Besides all these entertainments there were the grand levees and concerts +at the Tuileries. The Hall of the Marshals was an impressive sight on +those evenings, filled, as it was, with young and pretty women, in +gorgeous dresses, and with men resplendent with stars, epaulettes, +feathered hats, and sword-belts set with diamonds. After the concert the +company would go to the Gallery of Diana, where the supper-tables were +set: that of the Empress, those of the Princesses, of the Lady of Honor, +of the Lady of the Bedchamber, of the Ladles of the Palace. "All these +tables," says the Duchess of Abrantes, "were occupied by women with roses +on their heads, and smiles on their lips, and often with tears in their +eyes; for vanity, everywhere triumphant, holds its court especially at +court. There, favor is everything, disgrace is everything. A chance word +or glance of the Emperor or Empress is a blow and a serious one. What, +then, must be the result of an invitation sent or withheld?" + +During the concert the Empress made up the supper-table; that is to say, +chose the women who were to sit at her table, commissioning her +chamberlain to notify those she had selected. The Princesses did the same, +and the officers of their households likewise informed the women whom they +had chosen. There were but twelve places at the Empress's table; eight or +ten at those of the Princesses. When the chamberlains came to bring these +most welcome invitations, there fluttered through the eight hundred or +thousand women present at the concerts and grand levees an anxious emotion +which amused observers. The aspect of the Gallery of Diana was most +impressive. On the Empress's table shone a golden service amid glass and +Sevres ware. During the supper the men strolled up and down the gallery, +but as soon as the Emperor appeared, awe and fear appeared on every face. +It seemed as if the times of Louis XIV. had returned, of which La Bruyere +said: "Nothing so disfigures certain courtiers as the presence of their +Prince; I can sometimes scarcely recognize them, so altered are their +features, so degraded their faces. The proud and haughty ones are the most +disturbed, for they change the most; and the upright and modest man comes +out best; he has nothing to change." The Duchess of Abrantes, recalling +the intimidation caused by Napoleon's approach, wrote: "Even those who +nowadays talk about the Corsican with a great show of scorn, those very +ones (I have seen them, and I am not the only one,) were the most timid +before the very shadow of his hat." The women trembled even more. They +dreaded the questions the Emperor might put to them, and, according to +Madame de Remusat, there was not one who would not gladly have been +anywhere else. During the First Empire, everything, even the festivities, +wore a military air. The sovereign always had the air of a commanding +general. Discipline prevailed, at a ball as well as in a camp, and the +young men took part in those pleasures only to return with renewed zeal +and courage to the battle-field. + + + + +VIII. + +THE ETIQUETTE OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE. + + +By the beginning of 1805 the court was definitely formed. After laborious +studies on the part of a special commission, and long discussions in which +Napoleon took as interested a part as he did in the preparation of the +civil code, all the wheels of etiquette had been arranged, and the +machinery worked with perfect regularity. The Emperor attached great +importance to the subject, from both a political and a social point of +view. In his eyes, etiquette had the great advantage of drawing between +him and those who had recently been his superiors, a distinct line of +separation. He looked upon it as a useful tool of government, as an +accompaniment of glory absolutely essential for a sovereign, especially +for one of recent origin. He was very proud of his court, of the wealth it +displayed, and of the vast results he obtained at a comparatively small +expense, and at Saint Helena he liked to recall its agreeable memory. + +"The Emperor's court," we read in the _Memorial_, "was in every respect +much more magnificent than anything that had been seen up to that time, +and cost infinitely less. The suppression of abuses, order and regularity +in the accounts, made the great difference. His hunting, with the +exception of a few useless or absurd particulars, such as the use of +falcons, was as splendid and as crowded as that of Louis XIV., and it cost +only four hundred thousand francs a year, while the King's cost seven +millions. It was the same way with the table; Duroc's order and severity +wrought wonders. Under the kings, the palaces were not permanently +furnished; the same furniture was transported from one palace to another; +there were no accommodations for the people of the court; every one had to +provide for himself. Under him, however, there was no one in attendance, +who, in the room allotted him, was not as comfortable as at home, or even +more comfortable, so far as what was essential and proper was concerned." + +The court moved as smoothly as a well-drilled regiment. Napoleon would +have shown no mercy to the slightest disregard of the rules he had himself +drawn up after long meditation. The courtiers were expected to be as +familiar with the code of etiquette as were the officers with the manual +of arms. The Emperor noticed the minutest details, busied himself with +everything, saw everything. There had been much more latitude at court +under the old monarchy, and those of the old regime who entered the +Emperor's court were soon wearied by the inflexible severity of its +discipline. The court, moreover, was very splendid. The Faubourg Saint +Germain brought to it its politeness and conversational charm. For his +part, Napoleon speedily assumed the manners of a European sovereign, while +preserving his martial character. He was at the same time Emperor and +commander-in-chief. Yet the military element did not control his court; +the civil element was more powerful there than in other European courts, +the Russian, for example. Napoleon would never have suffered in his +presence the faintest sign of the familiarity of the camp; every one who +crossed the threshold of the Tuileries was compelled to preserve the +manners, the bearing, the language of a courtier. + +The levees and couchees of the sovereign were restored as in the time of +the Bourbons; though under the monarchy they were real things, and a mere +imitation under the Empire. These moments were not devoted to the petty +details of toilette, but rather to receiving, morning and evening, those +members of the civil and military household who had to receive his direct +orders or enjoyed the right of "paying their court at these privileged +hours." At Saint Helena, Napoleon boasted that at the Tuileries he had +suppressed in the matter of etiquette "all that was real and commonplace, +and had substituted what was merely nominal and decorative." "A king," he +said, "is not a natural product; he is a result of civilization. He does +not exist nakedly, but only when dressed." + +Let us try to retrace the lines of etiquette as they existed in 1805, at +the same time indicating the principal members of the Emperor's household +and the nature of their duties. There were many separate duties, each +under the control of a high officer of the Crown, with their provinces +carefully defined and sedulously distinguished from one another. There +were six high officers of the Crown; the Grand Almoner (Cardinal Fesch); +the Grand Marshal of the Palace (General Duroc); the Grand Equerry +(General de Caulaincourt); the Grand Chamberlain (M. de Talleyrand); the +Grand Master of Ceremonies (M. de Segur). + +The colonels-general were: Marshal Davout, commanding the foot grenadiers; +Marshal Soult, commanding the chasseurs-a-pieds; Marshal Bessieres, +commanding the cavalry; Marshal Mortier, commanding the artillery and +sailors. These colonels-general of the Imperial Guard formed part of the +Emperor's household, and enjoyed the prerogatives as the high officers of +the Crown. + +The Grand Almoner was the bishop of the court, wherever that might be. He +gave the Emperor and his court a dispensation from fasting. He accompanied +him to church ceremonies and gave him his prayer-book. At grand dinners he +said grace. He set free the prisoners whom the Emperor pardoned on certain +holy days. + +The Grand Marshal of the palace had charge of the military command in the +Imperial residences; of their maintenance, decoration, and furnishing; of +the assignment of rooms, the supply of food, the heating, lights, silver, +and livery. He commanded the detachments of the Imperial Guard on duty in +the Imperial palaces. He gave orders to beat the reveille and the tattoo, +to open and shut the palace gates. When the Emperor was with the army, or +travelling, he had to find him quarters. In 1805 the Grand Marshal's +budget amounted to 2,338,167 francs. In 1806 it reached the sum of +2,770,841 francs. There were four tables in the palace,--that of the +officers and ladies-in-waiting, that of the officers of the guard and the +pages, that of the ladies who read to the Empress and introduced visitors. + +The Grand Marshal had under his orders the prefects of the palace: M. de +Lucay, M. de Bausset, and M. de Saint Didier. They had charge of the +provisions, lighting, heating, the silver, and the liveries. They +inspected the kitchens, pantries, cellars, and linen-closet to see that +everything was in order. There was always one prefect of the palace on +duty for a week at a time. He also carried word to the Emperor and the +Empress when a meal was ready, conducted them to the table, and back to +their rooms afterwards. + +The Grand Marshal had also under his orders the governor of the palaces +and the marshals; these last were charged with choosing apartments for the +Emperor and the Empress, and quarters for their suite in the Imperial +residences and on journeys. They had for assistants the quartermasters of +the palace. + +The Master of the Hounds had charge of all the coursing and hunting in the +woods and forests belonging to the Crown. + +The Grand Equerry looked after the stables, the pages, the couriers, and +the Emperor's arms; he also had the supervision of the horses at Saint +Cloud. He walked just before the Emperor when he came forth from his rooms +to ride, gave him his whip, held his reins and the left stirrup. He was +responsible for the good condition of the carriages, the intelligence and +skill of the huntsmen, coachman, and the postilions, the safety and the +training of the horses. In a procession, or on a journey, he was in the +carriage just before the Emperor's. He accompanied the Emperor to the +army, if the sovereign's horse was killed or disabled, it was his duty to +pick the Emperor up and to offer him his own horse. + +The Grand Equerry had four equerries under his orders: Colonels Durosnel, +Defrance, Lefebvre, Vatier, and two equerries in ordinary, M. de Canisy +and M. de Villoutrey. An equerry on duty always accompanied the Emperor, +whether he was driving or riding. If the Emperor drove, the equerry on +duty rode by the right-hand door of the carriage, unless the colonel- +general on duty happened to be on horseback, in which case the equerry +rode on the other side. The equerry on duty walked before the Emperor when +he left or returned to his apartment; he never left the waiting-room +during the day, and slept in the palace. + +The pages, whose governor was General Gardane, were also under the orders +of the Grand Equerry. They were appointed when between fourteen and +sixteen, and held the position until they were eighteen. At grand dinners +and in the apartments of honor, they waited on the Emperor and Empress, +and on the Princes and Princesses. When the Emperor rode out, one followed +on horseback; if he drove, the page got up behind the carriage. When the +sovereign went forth in his state-coach, as many pages as possible +clambered up behind it and upon the box by the side of the coachman. At +receptions, and on days when mass was said, there were eight pages on +duty. They stood in a row when the Emperor returned to his apartment, and +walked before him when he left it. If the Emperor had not returned to the +palace by nightfall, the pages would wait at the entrance-door to walk +before him, carrying lights. The pages, too, served as messengers, and +when they carried letters of the Emperor, the doors were thrown wide open +before them. + +The impression produced by the pages, when they were first on duty at the +Tuileries in 1804, is thus described by a contemporary: "They have been +much noticed, especially in the evening, by the ladies. The fact is, they +are all good-looking boys, particularly the oldest; they have good figures +and wear a new and becoming uniform, and since they are in the service of +a severe master, and of a most kind and indulgent mistress, they have to +be very attentive and considerate. Their full dress differs from livery +only by the lace of their coat which imitates embroidery, by the knot on +their left shoulder, and by the lace frill above their waistcoat, Besides, +in full dress they wear, like footmen, a green coat with all the seams +laced with gold, gold shoe-buckles, a hat with a white feather, but they +have no sword. Perhaps this is well, for they would be playing with it. +They have all been chosen among the sons of generals of divisions and of +high dignitaries of the Empire." + +At Saint Helena Napoleon said, speaking of the pages and the Imperial +stables: "The Emperor's stables cost him three million francs; the horses +cost three thousand francs apiece per year. A page, from six to eight +thousand francs; this last was perhaps the heaviest expense of the palace; +but there was every reason to be satisfied with the education they +received, and with the care taken with them. All the first families of the +Empire sought to get the places for their sons; and they were right." + +The Grand Chamberlain had charge of all the honors of the palace, the +regular audiences, the oaths taken in the Emperor's study, the admissions, +the levees and couchees, the festivities, receptions, theatrical +performances, the music, the boxes of the Emperor and Empress at the +different theatres, the Emperor's wardrobe, his library; he also looked +after the ushers and valets de chambre. + +The Grand Chamberlain had under his orders (this refers to 1805), a First +Chamberlain, M. de Remusat, and thirteen chamberlains: MM. d'Arberg, A. de +Talleyrand, de Laturbie, de Brigode, de Viry, de Thiard, Garnier de +Lariboisiere, d'Hedouville, de Croy, de Mercy-Argenteau, de Zuidwyck, de +Tournon, de Bondy. In the Imperial Almanack of 1805, these men are not +named with their titles, even the _de_ is in all cases omitted or joined +with the name, thus: M. Remusat, M. Darberg, A. Talleyrand, Laturbie, +Tournon, Dethiard, Deviry, Hedouville, etc., etc. + +The chamberlain on duty was called the chamberlain of the day. At the +palace there were always two chamberlains of the day, one for the grand +apartment, the other for the Emperor's apartment of honor. They were +relieved every week. The principal duties of the chamberlains were to have +charge of introductions to the Emperor, to give orders to the ushers and +valets de chambre, to see that the orders about the receptions were +carried out, and to attend upon the sovereign's levees and couchees. + +Either a chamberlain or one of the Emperor's aides-de-camp served as +Master of the Wardrobe. He had charge of the clothes, the linen, the lace, +the boots and shoes, and of the ribbons of the Legion of Honor. If he +assisted at the Emperor's toilet, he had to hand him his coat, fasten his +ribbon or collar, give him his sword, hat, and gloves, in the Grand +Chamberlain's absence. + +The Grand Master of Ceremonies determined questions of rank and +precedence, drew up and enforced the rules for public, formal ceremonies, +for the reception of sovereigns and hereditary princes, and, foreign +ambassadors and ministers. + +The colonels-general of the Imperial Guard and the Emperor's aides also +made part of the household. + +At ceremonies when the Emperor was in his state-coach, there were two +colonels-general of the Guard at the left door. When he rode, all four +followed close behind. The Grand Equerry, or his substitute, had a place +among them. + +The colonel-general on duty received directly the Emperor's orders +relative to the different requirements of the Imperial Guard, and +transmitted them directly to the other colonels-general. He was quartered +in the palace, in preference to any other officer of the Crown, and as +near as possible to the Emperor's apartment, whether at the residence or +when travelling. In the field he slept in the Emperor's tent. + +Napoleon had twelve aides-de-camp. The one on duty was called the aide-de- +camp of the day, He always had a horse saddled or a carriage harnessed +ready in the stable, to carry any messages the Emperor might give. As soon +as the Emperor had gone to bed, the aide-de-camp on duty was especially +entrusted with guarding him, and he slept in an adjoining room. In the +field the Emperor's aides served as chamberlains. + +There were two distinct elements in the Emperor's household: the military, +and the aristocratic. Some men owed their position entirely to their +merit; others entirely to their birth; these were both patriots of 1792 +and emigres, but it must be confessed the Imperial Almanack shows that the +aristocratic element was the more prominent. Napoleon, though certain +writers persist in representing him as the crowned champion of democracy +and the emperor of the lower classes, had a more aristocratic court than +Louis XVIII. He was more impressed by great manners than were the old +kings. Even after he had been betrayed, abandoned, denied, insulted by the +aristocracy, he had a weakness for it. In 1816 he said: "The democracy may +become furious; it has a heart; it can be moved. The aristocracy always +remains cold and never pardons." Yet even after this, he blamed himself +for not having done enough for the French nobility. "I see clearly," he +went on, "that I did either too much or too little for the Faubourg Saint +Germain. I did enough to make the opposition dissatisfied, and not enough +to win it to my side. I ought to have secured the emigres when they +returned. The aristocracy would have soon adored me; and I needed it; it +is the true, the only support of a monarchy, its moderator, its lever, its +resisting point; without it, the state is like a ship without a rudder, a +balloon in mid-air. Now, the strength, the charm of the aristocracy lies +in its antiquity, the only thing I could not create." It must be confessed +that from an old Republican general, for the man who had sent Augereau to +execute the coup d'etat of the 18th Fructidor, and who the 13th +Vendemiaire, from the steps of the Church of Saint Roch had crushed the +Paris conservatives, this was a very aristocratic way of talking, +reminding one of the old regime. In 1816 Napoleon said again: "Old and +corrupt nations cannot be governed like the virtuous peoples of antiquity. +For one man nowadays who would sacrifice everything for the public +welfare, there are thousands who take no thought of anything except their +own interests, pleasures, and vanity. Now to pretend to regenerate a +people off-hand would be madness. The workman's genius is shown by his +knowing how to make use of the materials under his hand, and that is the +secret of the restoration of all the forms of the monarchy, of the return +of titles, crosses, and ribbons." + +The old Republicans of 1796, who used to denounce kings, "drunk with blood +and pride," would not have readily recognized their old general under the +golden canopies of the Tuileries, where he dined in state. His table stood +on a platform, beneath a canopy, and there were two chairs, one for +himself, the other for the Empress. As he entered the banquet-hall, he was +preceded by a swarm of pages, masters-of-ceremonies, and prefects of the +palace; he was followed by the colonel-general on duty, the Grand +Chamberlain, the Grand Equerry, and the Grand Almoner. The Grand Almoner +advanced to the table and blessed the dinner. A general of division, the +Grand Equerry Caulaincourt, offered a chair to Bonaparte. Another general +of division, Duroc, the Grand Marshal of the Palace, handed him his napkin +and poured out his wine. Not merely high dignitaries, but the Princes of +the Empire themselves, deemed it an honor to wait upon him as servants. If +a Prince of the Imperial family happened to be in the Emperor's room, any +article of dress that he asked for was given by the chamberlain-in-waiting +to the Prince, and by the Prince to the Emperor. The time of the Sun King +seemed to have returned. + +The Imperial apartment at the Tuileries consisted of two distinct parts, +the grand state apartments and the Emperor's private apartment. The state +apartment contained the following rooms: 1, a concert hall (the Hall of +the Marshals); 2, a first drawing-room (under Napoleon III. called the +Drawing-room of the First Consul); 3, a second drawing-room (that of +Apollo); 4, a throne room; 5, a drawing-room of the Emperor (afterwards +called that of Louis XIV.); 6, a gallery (of Diana). The private apartment +was itself composed of the apartment of honor, containing a hall of the +guards and a first and second drawing-room, and an interior apartment +containing a bedroom, a study, an office, and topographic bureau. The +ushers had charge of the apartment of honor; the valets de chambre of the +other. A rigid etiquette determined the right of entrance into the +different rooms composing the state apartment, according to a carefully +studied system. The pages were authorized to enter the Hall of the +Marshals; members of the household of the Emperor and Empress could enter +the first and second drawing-rooms; the Princes and Princesses of the +Imperial family, the high officers of the Crown, the presidents of the +great bodies of the state, had admission to the throne room. Men and women +had to bow to the throne whenever they passed it. The Emperor and the +Empress alone had the right of entering the Emperor's drawing-room. No one +else could go in except by the Emperor's summons. + +An absurd importance was attached to these trivialities, to these empty +nothings, to the right of entering this room or that, of walking before +this or that person, of handing the Emperor this or that article of dress. +"An honest, reasonable man," said Madame de Remusat, "is often overcome +with shame at the pleasures and pains of a courtier's life, and yet it is +hard to escape from them. A ribbon, a slight difference of dress, the +right of way through a door, the entrance into such and such a drawing- +room, are the occasion, contemptible in appearance, of a host of ever new +emotions. Vain is the struggle to acquire indifference to them.... In +vain, do the mind and the reason revolt against such an employment of +human faculties; however dissatisfied one is with one's self, it is +necessary to humiliate one's self before every one and to desert the +court, or else to consent to take seriously all the nonsense that fills +the air and breathes there." + +Vanity of human events! What has become of these drawing-rooms of the +Tuileries, which it was such an honor to enter, which were trod with such +respectful awe? Look at the lamentable ruins of this ill-fated palace. +There may still be seen, blackened with petroleum and stained by the rain, +some of those drawing-rooms, once so brilliant, once thronged with an +eager and showy crowd. What an instructive spectacle! When is one more +urgently reminded of the emptiness of human glory and greatness? This +nothingness fills the soul with melancholy when one thinks that soon these +crumbling fragments will be razed and that soon one can say with the poet: +The ruins themselves have perished, _Etiam periere ruinae_! [Footnote: The +ruins have since been removed.--TR.] + + + + +IX. + +HOUSEHOLD OP THE EMPRESS. + + +We have just studied the civil and the military household of the Emperor +in 1805; let us now study the Empress's household at the same period. + +The Empress's First Almoner was a bishop, a great lord, Ferdinand de +Rohan. Her Maid of Honor was a relative of her first husband, the Duchess +de La Rochefoucauld, called in the Imperial Almanack of 1805 simply Madame +Chastule de La Rochefoucauld. She was short and deformed, but +distinguished, for her intelligence, tact, and wit, void of ambition, with +no taste for intrigue, who only reluctantly accepted the position of Maid +of Honor, and often wanted to hand in her resignation. The Lady of the +Bedchamber was Madame de Lavalette, a Beauharnais, an able and +affectionate woman, who immortalized herself, in the early days of the +Restoration, by saving her husband's life by her heroism. + +To the four Ladies of the Palace at the beginning of the Empire, Madame de +Lucay, Madame de Remusat, Madame de Talhouet, Madame de Lauriston, were +added thirteen other ladies: Madame Duchatel, Madame de Seran, Madame de +Colbert, Madame Savary, Madame Octave de Segur, Madame de Turenne, Madame +de Montalivet, Madame de Bouille, Madame de Vaux, Madame de Marescot. + +The Maid of Honor was for the Empress what the Grand Chamberlain was for +the Emperor. The Lady of the Bedchamber's duties corresponded to those of +the Keeper of the Wardrobe. The Ladies of the Palace were, so to speak, +female chamberlains. + +"We were all," said the Duchess of Abrantes, "at that time radiant with a +sort of glory which women seek as eagerly as men do theirs, that of +elegance and beauty. Among the young women composing the court of the +Empress and that of the Princesses it would have been hard to find a +single ill-favored woman, and there were very many whose beauty made, with +no exaggeration, the greatest ornament of the festivities held every day +in that fairy-like time." + +All the Ladies of the Palace were young, and almost all were remarkable +for their beauty. Among the most conspicuous was Madame Ney, a niece of +Madame Campan; Madame Lannes, whose face recalled the most charming +pictures of Raphael, and above all, the wife of an already aged Councillor +of State, Madame Duchatel (whose son was Minister of the Interior in the +reign of Louis Philippe, and whose grandson was Ambassador of the Republic +at Vienna). The Duchess of Abrantes thus describes this famous beauty: +"There is one woman in the Imperial court who made her appearance in +society shortly before the coronation, whose portrait is drawn in all the +contemporary memoirs, especially in those written by a woman, and that is +Madame Duchatel. Madame Duchatel would not serve as a model for a +sculptor, because her features lack the regularity which his art requires. +The indefinable charm of her face, a charm which words are unable to +convey, lay in dark blue eyes, with long, silken, lashes, in a delicate, +gracious, refined smile, which, disclosed teeth of ivory whiteness, and, +moreover, beautiful light hair, small hands and feet, a general elegance +which matched a really remarkable mind. All these things formed a +combination which first attracted and then attached every one to her." + +Josephine's First Chamberlain, in 1805, was the General of Division +Nansouty; the chamberlain who introduced the ambassadors was M. de +Beaumont; there were four ordinary chamberlains, MM. d'Aubusson- +Lafeuillade, de Galard-Bearn. de Coutomer; de Gavre; a First Equerry, +Senator de Harville; two equerries, Colonel Fowler and General Bonardy de +Saint Sulpice; a private secretary, M. Deschamps. The Council of the +Empress's household was composed of the Maid of Honor, the Lady of the +Bedchamber, the First Chamberlain, and the First Equerry. The private +secretary was also the secretary of the Council. The Chief Steward of the +household was also a member. + +The Lady of the Bedchamber had under her orders a first woman of the +bedchamber, Madame Aubert, who had whole charge of the wardrobe. Madame +Saint-Hilaire held this place under Josephine, as Madame Campan had done +under Marie Antoinette. Madame Saint-Hilaire's duties consisted in +supervising the chamberwork, in receiving the Empress's orders about the +hours of her rising, and of her morning and evening toilet. The first +woman of the Bedchamber had what were called the honors of the service +when the Maid of Honor and the Lady of the Bedchamber were absent. The +Empress had also ushers and women who discharged the same duties, six +ordinary chambermaids, a reader, the beautiful Madame Gazani; four +ordinary valets de chambre, and two footmen, trusted men always in the +ante-chamber. The ushers, who remained without the drawing-room where the +Empress was, never opened both the doors to their full width except for +the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial family; and they could not +leave their posts except to ask the Maid of Honor the names of those who +were waiting to be presented. There were two pages in the Empress's +service; the older carried the train of her dress when she left her +apartments, and got in or out of a carriage; the other walked before her. + +The Empress's apartment consisted of an apartment of honor and an inner +apartment. The first consisted of an ante-chamber, the first drawing-room, +the second drawing-room, the dining-room, the music-room, the other, of +the bedroom, the library, dressing-room, boudoir, bath-room. The entrance +to the Empress's apartment was controlled by etiquette like that to the +Emperor's. + +Josephine played her part as sovereign as easily as if she had been born +on the steps of the throne. "One of her charms," says the Duchess of +Abrantes, "was not merely her graceful figure, but the way she held her +head, and the gracious dignity with which she walked and turned. I have +had the honor of being presented to many real princesses, as they are +called, in the Faubourg Saint Germain, and I can truly say that I have +never seen one more imposing than Josephine. She combined elegance and +majesty. Never did any queen so grace a throne without having been trained +to it." + +Josephine had all the qualities that are attractive in a sovereign: +affability, gentleness, kindliness, generosity. She had a way of +convincing every one of her personal interest. She had an excellent +memory, and surprised those with whom she talked by the exactness with +which she recalled the past, even to details they had themselves nearly +forgotten. The sound of her gentle, penetrating, and sympathetic voice +added to the courtesy and charm of her words. Every one listened to her +with pleasure; she spoke with grace and listened courteously. She wanted +no one to go away from her annoyed. She always appeared to be doing a +kindness, and thus inspired affection and gratitude. Her courtiers and her +suite were her friends. Madame de Remusat, who was never too favorable, +was forced to recognize the charm which Josephine exercised over the court +by her tact, intelligence, and dignity. "The Empress," she says, "is +enchanted to be surrounded by a large suite, and it gratifies her vanity. +Her success in attaching Madame de La Rochefoucauld to her person, her +pleasure in counting MM. d'Aubusson, de Lafeuillade among her +chamberlains, Madame d'Arbry, Madame de Segur, and the wives of the +marshals among the ladies of the palace, turned her head a little, but +even this feminine joy did not lessen her usual graciousness; she always +succeeded in maintaining her rank, even when most deferential to those men +and women who lent it a new lustre by their brilliant names." She was very +kind, extremely soft-hearted, and always overwhelming her companions with +attentions and regards. Mademoiselle Avrillon, her reader, says: "I do not +believe that there ever lived a woman with a better character, or with a +less changeable disposition." She never dared to utter a word of blame or +reproach. "If one of her ladies," said Constant, the Emperor's valet de +chambre, "ever gave her cause for dissatisfaction, the only punishment she +inflicted was to maintain absolute silence for one, two, three days, a +week, more or less, according to the seriousness of the case. Well! this +punishment, apparently so slight, was for most of them very severe. The +Empress knew so well how to make herself beloved!" + +Her only fault was extravagance. She had an unbounded love of luxury and +dress. The jewel-case which had belonged to Marie Antoinette was too small +for Josephine. One day when she wanted to show some ladies all her jewels, +a great table had to be arranged to hold the cases, and, since that was +not enough, much more of the furniture was covered by them. Josephine had +the fault that accompanies this quality, for generous persons are commonly +lavish. Her extravagant expenditures came from her kindliness. She had not +the heart to dismiss a tradesman without buying something of him, and it +never entered her head to try to beat him down. Often she bought for vast +sums things she did not want, simply to oblige the dealers. There was no +limit to her liberality. She would have liked to own all the treasures of +the earth in order to give them all away. She sought for opportunities for +alms-giving. Many of the emigres lived entirely on her bounty. She was +always in active correspondence with the sisters of charity. She was the +Providence of the poor, and did good with delicacy, tact, and discretion. +Giving is not all; the art lies in knowing how to give. She seemed to be +the debtor of those to whom she made gifts. Naturally, with this +disposition, she got into debt. But Napoleon was there to help her; and +since he was economical by nature, he grew angry and scolded his +extravagant wife, and ended by paying. + +In fact, Napoleon could refuse Josephine nothing, and she was really the +only woman who had any influence over him. If he opposed her, she had an +infallible resource in her tears. She knew thoroughly her husband's +character. She knew how to speak to that mind and heart. She busied +herself with seeking what could please, with divining his wishes, with +anticipating his slightest desires. If he was the least ailing or annoyed +she was literally at his feet, and then he could not live without her. He +felt that when misfortune came Josephine alone would be able to console +him. She had brought him happiness with her gentleness, her tenderness, +her devotion; she had well deserved to receive the crown from his hands. + + + + +X. + +NAPOLEON'S GALLANTRIES. + + +Josephine appeared to have every wish, satisfied; her good fortune +exceeded her wildest dreams; never had a more wonderful romance actually +happened, and yet the Empress of the French, the Queen of Italy, was not +happy. A cruel passion which brings no pleasures, but only cruel +sufferings, disturbed her happiness and tormented her heart. This passion, +jealousy, which had tortured Napoleon in the early days of his wedded +life, now Josephine in her turn had to endure with all its keen anguish. +She felt that for her, a woman of forty-one, to hold fast the affections +of a man of thirty-five, covered with glory and full of charm, was a +difficult task; but this reflection, far from consoling her, only +disturbed her the more, and she made desperate efforts to triumph in an +almost hopeless contest. As was said by Mademoiselle Avrillon, her reader, +she seemed not to understand that if the highest rank is a safeguard for a +woman, because few men are bold enough to pursue her, the same is not true +of a sovereign whose glory dazzles the inexperience of the young, and +whose slightest attention arouses coquetry and flatters vanity. + +Josephine had not a moment's peace. In the hope of pleasing her, many +women of the court, who were, so to speak, on the watch for the Emperor's +attentions, hastened to torture her with their interested revelations. For +several years now her beauty had been fading. Napoleon, on the other hand, +had never been better looking. His health, which formerly had been +delicate, had much improved. He had grown stouter, and this was very +becoming. His head was like that of a Caesar. Full of self-confidence, +fortunate, flattered on every side, at the height of power, he imagined +that in love, as in war, he had but to appear to say, _veni, vidi, vici_, +"I came, I saw, I conquered." Many of the beauties of the time did their +best to confirm him in this good opinion of himself, and as Madame de +Remusat says of him, he in his court was not unlike the Grand Turk in his +harem. + +"The Emperor," we read in Constant's Memoirs, "used to say that a good man +was to be known by the way he treated his wife, his children, and his +servants. He added that immorality was the most dangerous vice a sovereign +could have, because it established a precedent for his subjects. What he +meant by immorality, was giving scandalous publicity to relations which +should have been kept secret; these relations he was by no means disposed +to refuse when they presented themselves before him." The faithful valet +de chambre goes on in an attempt to defend his master: "Others perhaps +would have succumbed oftener. Heaven forbid that I should undertake to +apologize for him; I will even acknowledge that he did not always practise +what he preached, but it was none the less a good deal for a sovereign to +hide his distractions from the public, to prevent scandal, and, what is +worse imitation; and from his wife, to save her pain." + +Napoleon was by no means so indifferent to women as he professed to be. He +was averse to being ruled by them, but he was far from being insensible to +their charms. Opposition exasperated him; all his caprices found many +obsequious allies ready to further his suit, and more than one woman made +a deep, if brief, impression upon him. His disdain of woman has, we are +sure, been much exaggerated. At Saint Helena he declaimed against women, +but his remarks were mere paradoxes, not meant to be taken seriously. + +Count Las Cases, in the _Memorial_, reports these remarks of the Emperor +to the ladies who shared, his captivity. "We Occidentals," he said, with a +smile full of malice, "have spoiled women by treating them too well. We +have made the mistake of raising them almost to an equality with +ourselves. The Orientals showed more intelligence and justice: they +declared they were men's property; and, in fact, nature has made them our +slaves, and it is only by our whimsicalness that they presume to be our +sovereigns; they abuse their advantages to mislead and control us. For one +who inspires us to our good there are a hundred who make us do stupid +things." Then he went on to praise polygamy in a very unchivalrous and +unsentimental way, saying ironically: "What cause of complaint do you +have, after all? Have we not acknowledged that you have a soul? You know +that there are philosophers who have weighed it. Do you claim equality? +But that is absurd; women are our property, we are not theirs; for she +gives us children, men give them none. So she is his property, as a fruit- +tree is a gardener's property. Nothing but a lack of judgment, of common +sense, and a defective education, can make a woman think that she is her +husband's equal. And there is nothing degrading in the difference; each +sex has its qualities and its duties: your qualities are beauty, grace, +charm; your duties are dependence and submission." + +Napoleon was often malicious with women; often he teased them; but at +heart he honored faithful wives and good mothers. His ideas were far more +moral than those of the men of the Directory, and his court was far purer +than that of the kings of France. We will add that Josephine was the only +woman he ever loved for a long time and seriously. The others appealed to +his senses, not to his heart. + +Fortunately for herself, Josephine had a shallow character; her +impressions were keen, but evanescent. The pleasures of sovereignty +outweighed the griefs. She felt that the crown was heavy at times, but it +adorned her and kept her young; and in spite of the jealousy it gave rise +to, the court satisfied her vanity and brought her sufficient consolation. +To the satisfaction of her pride she found another purer and more lasting +emotion, which she valued more, in the opportunity of doing good. She had, +besides, passed through so many vicissitudes in her life that nothing +could surprise her, and her soul, accustomed to suffering, was prepared +for the most violent emotions, the most terrible anguish. She wept +readily, but her tears were soon dried; the rainbow followed close upon +the storm, and Josephine would smile through her tears. + + + + +XI. + +THE POPE AT THE TUILERIES. + + +While Napoleon, proud in the possession of his new empire, was exhibiting +at the Tuileries his vast power and grandeur, the same palace was +inhabited by a holy old man, whose humility presented a marked contrast +with the conqueror's haughty spirit. Pius VII., who was quartered in the +Pavilion of Flora, led the life of an anchorite, with all the modesty and +piety of an old monk, fasting every day as in his convent, and edifying +even the impious by the nimbus that shone around his pale and mystic face. +It was impossible to approach this worthy Vicar of Christ without a filial +feeling of tenderness. The crimes of the French Revolution--the massacre +or the execution of the priests, the profanation of the altars, the +persecutions and blasphemies--had imprinted the stamp of melancholy on his +face. It was easy to see that he lamented the barbarities of the times, +and that his life had been full of anguish. He embodied all the sufferings +of the Church. With his ascetic air, his deep-set eye, his complexion as +pallid as ivory, his white robes tinged with red, the Sovereign Pontiff +had in his whole person something strange and imposing. He occupied the +apartment on the first floor of the Pavilion of Flora, where Madame +Elisabeth had lived from October, 1789, to August 10, 1792. The Abbe +Proyart, the author of the letter to the prisoner of the Temple, came to +offer the Pope a copy of this same life of Madame Louise of France, which +he had long since offered to the sister of Louis XVI. + +"I am living here," said Pius VII., "in the apartments of another saint." +What singular vicissitudes! The same place occupied in turn by Madame +Elisabeth, the members of the Committee of Public Safety, and by the Vicar +of Christ! + +The Pope had been very anxious before he started for Paris. His fears were +so great that just as he was leaving Rome, with a presentiment of the +captivity that awaited him, he had left his abdication in the hands of +Cardinal Consalvi, in case he should suffer any violence during his +journey. It was only with trembling and prayer that he had set foot on the +volcanic soil of France, which, from a distance, seemed alive with impiety +and terror. The unfailing respect with which he had been treated had +comforted him somewhat. Whenever he visited a church, the Parisians +followed him with mingled curiosity, sympathy, and veneration: they knelt +to him as he passed them, and received with all decorum his apostolic +benediction. Every day a large crowd gathered under his windows. He had +found his rooms arranged and furnished like those he occupied at the +Vatican, and he had been very grateful for this, which he called a really +filial attention. + +General de Segur, at that time captain and aide of the Grand Marshal of +the Palace, was entrusted with guarding the Pope's person. He says in his +Memoirs: "The same attention and respect was shown to the Pope as to the +Emperor himself. His rooms had been so arranged and furnished as to recall +Rome so far as possible, and to suit his tastes. As for Napoleon, we all +noticed his ever gentle and grateful gaiety, and his filial and +affectionate deference to his guest. When the Holy Father gave his +blessing from his window, and more especially at his audiences in the +gallery of the Louvre, which were always crowded, precautions were taken +against any outbreak of the indiscretion or levity to which the French are +prone. We saw the atheist Lalande himself fall at the Pontiff's feet and +kiss his slipper. In the public buildings which the Pope honored with his +presence he was received as a sovereign. No one dared to betray more +curiosity than piety; and it often happened to me to see this real saint, +the successor of the Apostles, whose venerable face bore the stamp of the +serenest gentleness, so frugal, simple, and austere for himself alone, and +so kindly indulgent to others, deeply moved by the intense and holy +impression he made." + +Every day the long gallery of the Louvre was filled with two rows of men +and women who had come to ask his blessing. Preceded by the governor of +the Louvre, and followed by the Italian cardinals and nobles of his +household, Pius VII. advanced slowly between the two lines of the +faithful, often stopping to place his hand on some child's head, to say +some kind words to its mother, and to offer his ring to be kissed. One +day, when he was surrounded by a crowd of prostrate and respectful people, +he saw a man whose worn face bore traces of irreligious passion, who was +moving away as if to escape the apostolic benediction. The Holy Father +approached him, and said gently, "Do not run away; an old man's blessing +has never done any one any harm." This remark spread through Paris and +made a most favorable impression. Pius VII. was not only respected, but, +if we may use the worldly phrase, he became the fashion. Dealers in +rosaries and chaplets made much money all that winter. In January alone a +shopkeeper in the rue Saint Denis who sold those articles is said to have +cleared forty thousand francs. All who approached the Pope had chaplets +blessed for themselves, their relatives, and friends in Paris and the +provinces. "The prolonged stay of the Holy Father," says Bourrienne, "was +not without influence in the return to religious ideas, so great was the +respect inspired by the Pope's gentle appearance and kindly manners. When, +the time came for him to be persecuted, it would have been desirable that +Pius VII. had never come to Paris, for it was impossible to look upon him +otherwise than as a man whose holy gentleness was a matter of notoriety." + +At Saint Helena, Napoleon spoke thus of this venerable Pope: "He was +really a lamb, a thoroughly good and upright man, whom I greatly esteem +and love, and who, I am sure, does not wholly hate me." + +It has been asserted that the Pope made such an impression in Paris that +the Emperor felt for the august old man a sort of secret jealousy. But +even granting, what is by no means certain, that he suffered from this, he +had at least skill to conceal it. Always the Pope was overwhelmed with +flattering attentions. The President of the Legislative Body, M. de +Fontanes, said to him November 30, 1804: "Everything else has changed; +religion alone knows no change. It sees the families of kings, and those +of subjects, perish; but resting on the ruins of thrones, it ever admires +the successive manifestations of the eternal designs and obeys them with +confidence. Never has the universe beheld a more imposing sight, never +have its people received more important lessons. This is no longer the +time of rivalry between the priesthood and the Empire. They have joined +hands to repel the fatal doctrines which threatened Europe with total +overthrow. May they yield forever to the double influence of politics and +religion combined! Doubtless this wish will not be disappointed; never in +France has there been so great a genius to control its policy, and never +has the pontifical throne presented to the Christian world a more worthy +and more touching model." The _Moniteur_, in its report of the coronation, +spoke with the same official enthusiasm "of the most venerable apostolic +virtues and of the most astounding political genius crowned by the highest +destinies." David, the artist, once a member of the Convention and a +regicide, then an Imperialist, painted the portrait of Pius VII., and the +_Moniteur_ in the number of March 30, 1805, thus praised the picture and +the sitter. "A large crowd gathered in the gallery of the Senate, to see +the portrait of His Holiness by M. David, member of the Institute and +first painter to the Emperor. This portrait is in every way worthy of the +master's reputation. If the first essential in a portrait is an exact +likeness, this one possesses it to a very high degree. The head, which is +admirably painted, expresses the indulgent and wise character, the +gentleness and reasonableness, that are so conspicuous in the model; the +eyes an expression, affectionate and paternal; the expression of the mouth +is most striking; one feels that it can utter only words of peace, +consolation, and truth." + +Josephine had for Pius VII. a feeling of veneration full of gratitude. She +was most grateful to him for having persuaded Napoleon, to have the +religious marriage for which she had long yearned. She, who had preserved +her faith, in the midst of an irreligious society, was happy to inhabit +the same palace, to live under the same roof, with the Vicar of Christ, +and firmly hoped thereby to secure good fortune for herself and her +husband. For his part, Pius VII. appreciated Josephine's good qualities, +especially her charity: he treated her as an indulgent father treats his +child. + +The second son of Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais was baptized +by the Pope himself at Saint Cloud, March 27, 1805. The ceremony was most +impressive. Eight Imperial carriages conveyed thither Pius VII. and his +suite. The gallery of the palace had been turned into a chapel. In one of +the Empress's drawing-rooms had been placed, on a platform, beneath a +canopy, a bed without posts. On the foot of the bed had been spread a +large cloak lined with ermine, to cover the child. In the same room were +two tables on which were placed what were called the child's _honors_; +that is to say, the candle, the chrisom-cap, and the salt-cellar, and the +_honors_ of the godfather and godmother,--the basin, the ewer, and the +napkin. The towel was placed on a square of golden brocade, and all the +other things, except the candle, on a gold tray. Preceded by the Grand +Master of Ceremonies, and followed by a colonel-general of the Guard, by +the Grand Almoner, the Grand Chamberlain, and the Master of the Hounds, +the Emperor, who was godfather, and the godmother, Madame Bonaparte, his +mother, went to the room where the ceremony was to be performed. The child +was uncovered by Madame de Villeneuve, Maid of Honor to Princess Louis +Bonaparte, and by Madame de Boubers, who was serving as governess. The +first one lifted up the baby and handed him to the godfather, who gave him +to Madame de Boubers to carry to the font. The Grand Master of Ceremonies +handed the salt-cellar to Madame de Bouille, the chrisom-cap to Madame de +Montalivet, the candle to Madame Lannes, the towel to Madame de Serant, +the ewer to Madame Savary, the basin to Madame de Talhouet. Then, they +went to the gallery, which had been turned into a chapel. Mesdames +Bernadotte, Bessieres, Davout, and Mortier held the corners of the +Empress's cloak. The godmother was at the Emperor's left. After the +baptism the child was carried back to his room with the same procession. + +That evening _Athalie_ was given, with choruses, at the court theatre. The +company on their way thither passed through the orange house, which was +aglow with colored lanterns. + +All day the park of Saint Cloud had been open to the public; the fountains +had been playing; shows of all sorts amused the crowd; the road to Paris +was crowded with carriages and foot-passengers. In the evening there were +fireworks: the palace and gardens were illuminated; there were bands +playing, and rustic balls. + +The Pope, who had reached Paris November 28, 1804, left April 4, 1805, +just when the Emperor was starting for Italy, there to be crowned at +Milan. Pius VII. had received some magnificent presents from the Emperor: +a gold altar with chandeliers, and the sacred vessels of rich workmanship, +a superb tiara, some gobelin tapestries, carpets from the Savonnerie, and +a statue of Napoleon in Sevres ware. The Empress had given him a valuable +vase decorated by the best artists. The _Moniteur_ thus announced the +Pope's departure: "To-day, April 4, at half-past twelve, His Holiness left +Paris with the prelates and others of his suite. A crowd of both sexes and +all ages assembled on the way he was to pass through, and received the +Sovereign Pontiff's blessing; once more he was the object of expressions +of the deepest veneration, and plainly manifested the emotions which these +expressions called forth." + +Yet Pius VII. was not wholly satisfied with his journey. He had received +much homage, but he had not secured any real political concessions of any +importance. He had been unable to settle the important matter of the +organic statutes, and nothing had been done about the restoration of the +legation on which he was so warmly set. Besides, he was much annoyed that +he had not himself crowned Napoleon, as the Popes, his predecessors, had +crowned emperors and kings. He, who later was to be a prisoner at +Fontainebleau, went away distressed about the present, anxious for the +future, and wondering whether his host might not say, with Voltaire, "It +is all very well to kiss the Popes' feet, but it is better to have their +hands tied first." + + + + +XII. + +THE JOURNEY IN ITALY. + + +The Pope had left Paris to return to Rome April 4, 1805. At almost the +same time the Emperor and Empress had started from Fontainebleau to go to +Milan, where Napoleon was to be crowned King of Italy. The code of +etiquette that prevailed at the Tuileries was observed on journeys. The +house in which the Emperor lodged at any stopping-place was the place +where all who accompanied him were to meet. A great placard on which were +written all the names, and where they were to be quartered, was pasted on +the front door. In the villages where Napoleon spent but one night he +received the local authorities, either before or after dinner. In the +towns where he spent more than one day, after he had eaten his breakfast +and held his receptions, he rode out to visit the fortifications and +monuments. The evenings were generally taken up by the entertainments +offered him. + +The Emperor and Empress reached Troyes April 2. A letter dated the 3d was +printed in the _Moniteur_. It said: "Everywhere the presence of the +Emperor has evoked the liveliest applause; the people seem astonished to +see him wearing such a modest uniform, and conspicuous, in the midst of +his court, by the plainness of his dress. The people of this department +exhibit this joy all the more because it is here that was brought up the +man who was destined to raise France to the highest glory and prosperity. +It is at Brienne that the Emperor received his earliest instruction. His +Majesty, being anxious to revisit the places that recall these agreeable +memories, started at two o'clock to-day for Brienne." + +On the steps of the castle in this town Napoleon found Madame de Brienne +and Madame de Lomenie, who had been the guardians of his childhood. He +treated them with the greatest respect, and took pleasure in recalling +happy and touching memories of the past. He recalled many anecdotes, and +told them in his usual vivid, picturesque way. He accepted their +invitation to dinner, played cards with them, and having found out their +usual time of going to bed, asked to be shown at that hour to the room +which had been prepared for him at his request. At dawn the next morning +he went alone, without escort, to see some of his old walks in the +neighborhood. He remembered a hut where he and his companions used to +lunch, and recognizing the wood in which it was, he rode through the shady +path that led to it. + +It belonged to a woman who in old times used to serve nuts, cheese, and +brown bread to the schoolboy of Brienne, the future Emperor. He was +delighted to see her once more, and asked her for the same repast which +had formerly been his delight. At first the poor woman did not recognize +the stranger; but gradually he refreshed her memory by recalling many +incidents of the past. Then she understood that she was in the presence of +the all-powerful Emperor, and flung herself at his feet. Napoleon lifted +her, and left her a purse of gold, promising as he left to provide for her +old age. + +The Emperor and Empress arrived at Lyons April 10. A quarter of a league +from the city, on the Boucle road, stood a triumphal arch, on the top of +which, as in the reign of Augustus, was perched an eagle supporting the +conqueror's bust. On the two side doors were two bas-reliefs, one +representing the union of the Empire and Liberty; the other, Wisdom, in +the figure of Minerva distributing crosses of honor to soldiers, artists, +and scholars. On these two bas-reliefs were statues of the Rhone and the +Seine. At the top of the arch was a flattering inscription in verse. + +April 12, the Empress held a reception. The _Bulletin of Lyons_ thus +described it: "The assembly was most brilliant. As our sovereign has +exhibited in his audiences profundity, affability, exact and varied +learning, and true greatness, so his august wife has shone with grace, +courtesy, and gentleness. Thus we witness a revival of that old French +urbanity and politeness of manners which have always distinguished our +court, and have made it an example and an object of admiration for all +foreign courts." + +The city offered Napoleon and Josephine an entertainment at the Grand +Theatre. The back-scene represented the Emperor, seated, clad in a long +triumphal robe. Two allegoric figures, representing, one, France, the +other, Italy, with their feet resting on clouds, held in their hands a +roll bearing this inscription: _Sublimi feriam sidera vertice_, "I shall +strike the stars with my lofty head"; with the other, they each offered a +crown to Napoleon. Thus did flattery renew the apotheoses of the Caesars +of ancient Rome. + +There was sung a cantata entitled _Ossian's Dream_. The young men of the +National Guard of Lyons and the leading ladies of the city waltzed before +the throne. Two young girls held each a basket into which the dancers +threw flowers as they passed by; out of these flowers the girls wove two +crowns which, after the dance, they presented to the Emperor and Empress. + +April 29, Napoleon and Josephine were present at a grand performance at +the Grand Theatre in Turin. They stayed at the castle of Stupinizi, just +outside of the city, where they bade farewell to Pius VII., who had +celebrated the Easter festival at Lyons, and was on his way to Rome. + +The Emperor and the Empress reached Alessandria May 2, at ten in the +morning, amid the roar of cannon and the ringing of church-bells. Napoleon +spent the day in revisiting the battle-field of Marengo, where he gave the +Empress a mimic representation of the battle he had won five years before. +From a throne he watched the manoeuvres executed under the command of +Murat, Lannes, and Bessieres. He had had the coat and hat he wore on the +day of the battle brought from Paris. The coat was somewhat moth-eaten, +and the odd hat would have seemed very much out of date if it had not +recalled such precious memories. But Napoleon liked to recall that +eventful day when he had managed to grasp victory when apparently beaten. +After the manoeuvres he solemnly laid the corner-stone of a monument to +the memory of Desaix and the other brave men who fell at Marengo. + +At Alessandria, the next day, he had an interview with his brother Jerome, +which in fact was a reconciliation. In 1808, after the breaking of the +Peace of Amiens, Jerome Bonaparte, who then, a young man of twenty, was in +the naval service, happened to be forced by an English cruiser to land in +the United States. There he had fallen in love with the young and charming +daughter of a rich merchant of Baltimore, Miss Elisabeth Paterson, and he +married her. Napoleon was unwilling to recognize this marriage. No sooner +had he ascended the throne than he at once exhibited all the feeling and +prejudices of a monarch who belonged to a dynasty of the most venerable +antiquity. He really believed that his brothers could marry only +princesses, and that any other marriage was an unpardonable mesalliance. + +If, possibly, Napoleon was able to condemn Lucien's wife for her past +conduct, no such criticism could apply to the wife of Jerome, who was a +young woman of conspicuous morality, intelligence, and amiability. But she +was the daughter of a ship-owner, a merchant, and thus was not a proper +match, he thought, for the brother of the powerful monarch who was already +dreaming of restoring the vassal kingdoms and the whole vast imperial +edifice of Charlemagne. He, the Emperor of the French, the King of Italy, +did not like to remember that he had wedded a simple subject, and that he +had been very proud of his marriage. He could not pardon his brother +Jerome for making a love-match. He would not even listen to his defence of +his young wife, soon to be a mother, and who deserved only respect and +pity, and who, humiliated, abandoned, and brokenhearted, was about to be +treated as a concubine, and driven away forever. Ambition had destroyed +Napoleon's natural kindliness. Yet, if he had seen Jerome's wife, a +devoted and interesting woman, warmly attached to her husband, and alive +to her duties, probably he would have taken pity on her. Possibly he was +himself aware of this, for he forbade the unhappy young woman to enter any +part of the Empire, and compelled this innocent victim of political +considerations to take refuge in England, as if she were a criminal. + +February 22, 1805, Napoleon had compelled his mother, Madame Letitia, to +place in the hands of a notary, Raguideau, a protest against Jerome's +marriage, on the pretext that he, having been born November 15, 1784, was +not yet twenty at the date of his marriage, and according to the law of +September 20, 1792, a marriage contracted by any one under twenty without +the consent of his father and mother was null and void. The _Moniteur_ of +the 13th Ventose, Year XIII. (March 4, 1805), had contained the following +lines: "11th Ventose. By an act dated to-day, all the civil officers of +the Empire are forbidden to receive on their registers a copy of the +certificate of an alleged marriage contracted by M. Jerome Bonaparte in a +foreign country, when under age, and without his mother's consent, and +without previous publication in the place where he is domiciled." A few +days later this appeared in the _Moniteur_: "M. Jerome Bonaparte has +arrived at Lisbon in an American ship; in the passenger list were the +names of Mr. and Miss Paterson, M. Jerome at once took port for Madrid, +Mr. and Miss Paterson have re-embarked. They are supposed to be returning +to America." + +Jerome, in obedience to the Emperor's orders, started from Portugal for +Italy, posting day and night at full speed, through Badajoz, Madrid, +Perpignan, and Grenoble, He says in his Memoirs: "Amid the mountains of +Estremadura, his modest carriage encountered the almost royal train of the +French Ambassador to Portugal. It was Junot whom he had left a simple +aide-de-camp of the First Consul, and saw again one of the first +personages of the Empire. Madame Junot, an old friend from childhood of +Jerome, was with her husband. This interview was a most interesting one, +partly from the deserted spot where they met, and partly from the great +events that had occurred since their separation." + +Junot and his wife found Jerome much improved. He had become more serious; +a certain gravity had taken the place of his youthful bubbling high +spirits. He spoke with emotion, respect, and affection of his young wife +whose pathetic situation was made even more disturbing by the state of her +health. He proposed to throw himself at his brother's feet, and by prayers +and supplications to wring from him the consent he desired. "No one can +doubt," he says in his Memoirs, "that his heart was torn by the keenest +agitations, to say nothing of the anxiety about his wife; the +mortification at two years of inactivity, during which his comrades, +friends, and relatives had worked, fought, and become great; the regret +for the lofty position he had lost; the hope of regaining it; his fear of +his brother's wrath which he had ventured to arouse, and which made kings +tremble on their thrones." + +Napoleon was to be inflexible; he refused to admit that his brothers could +be anything but members of the dynasty, future sovereigns. It was then +that according to Miot de Melito, he said: "What I have accomplished so +far is nothing. There will be no peace in Europe until it is under a +single head, an Emperor, who shall have his officers for kings and divide +the kingdoms among his lieutenants; who shall make one King of Italy, +another King of Bavaria, one Landemann of Switzerland, another Stadtholder +of Holland, and all with high positions in the Imperial household, with +titles as Grand Cupbearer, Grand Master of the Pantry, Grand Equerry, +Grand Master of the Hounds, etc. It will be said that this plan is only an +imitation of that on which the German Empire is established, and that +these ideas are not new; but nothing is absolutely new; political +institutions only revolve in a circle, and what has happened necessarily +recurs." A man with such aspirations and so near to realizing them, could +not endure the idea of being the brother-in-law of a simple ship-owner. + +Jerome arrived at Turin, April 24, 1805. Napoleon was then at Alessandria. +Eleven days passed before the brothers met. The Emperor had announced his +decision. He was absolutely determined not to meet Jerome until he had +made perfect submission. The unhappy youth still ventured to hope against +hope, but soon he had to recognize his mistake. Then his heart and soul +were torn by a hot conflict: on one side were his love for his wife, +family feeling, the thought of the child that was soon to be born, his +respect for marriage and for his vows; on the other, ambition, love of +power, the visions of the kingdoms that he might rule; on one side, the +smiles and tears of the woman he loved; on the other, the influence and +glory of the genius who filled the earth with his fame, and always +exercised a powerful fascination. Jerome, who was less sentimental and +less proud than Lucien, at last yielded to his terrible brother, and +condemned himself out of ambition never to see again the woman whom he +loved and cherished. May 6th he went to Alessandria, having first sent a +letter of submission to the Emperor. Napoleon before receiving him, +replied to it in these terms:-- + +"Alessandria, May 6, 1805. MY BROTHER: Your letter of this morning informs +me of your arrival at Alessandria. There is no fault which cannot be +effaced in my eyes by repentance. Your marriage with Miss Paterson is null +in the eyes of both religion and law. Write to Miss Paterson to return to +America. I will grant her a pension of sixty thousand francs for life, on +condition that she shall never bear my name, a right which does not belong +to her in the non-existence of the marriage. You must tell her that you +could not and cannot change the nature of things. When your marriage is +thus annulled by your own will, I will restore to you my friendship, and +resume the feelings I have had for you since your infancy, hoping that you +will show yourself worthy of them by the efforts you will make to win my +gratitude and to acquire distinction in the army." + +A few days later Napoleon wrote to the Minister of the Navy: "M. Decres, +M. Jerome has arrived. He has confessed his errors and disavows this +person as his wife. He promises to do wonders. Meanwhile I have sent him +to Genoa for some time." + +After his reconciliation with Jerome, Napoleon went to Pavia, where the +magistrates presented to him the homage of his new capital, and he entered +that city, with the Empress, May 8, amid the roar of cannon and the +ringing of bells. + + + + +XIII. + +THE CORONATION AT MILAN. + + +By descent, by his physical, moral, and intellectual nature, by his +imagination and genius, Napoleon was much more an Italian than a +Frenchman. His father and mother were Italians, his ancestors were +Italian, and Italian was his mother-tongue. His family and Christian names +were Italian. His mother spoke French with the strongest Italian accent. +He had loved Corsica before he loved France. As a child, he had felt the +greatest enthusiasm for Paoli, the Corsican patriot, and had then looked +upon the French as foreigners and oppressors. His face not only resembled +that of an Italian, but that of an ancient Roman. By a singular +coincidence, he had the head of a Caesar. Italy was not only the home of +his family, it was there that he laid the foundations of his glory. That +unrivalled country, as one of our poets calls it, had brought him good +fortune. There he wrote the famous bulletins of his first victories; there +he began to impress the popular imagination; and it was through Italy that +he subjugated France. There he felt at home. The people of that peninsula +greeted him as a fellow-countryman. He liked to speak their language to +them, charmed by its harmony and sincerity. His Southern genius rejoiced +in its bright skies which lent everything such lustre, and well suited the +conqueror's thoughts. He perhaps preferred Milan to Paris as a place to +live in. + +His formal entrance into the capital of his kingdom of Italy had been +skilfully arranged. Cardinal Caprara, the Archbishop of that city, had +great influence there, and he was never tired of speaking to his flock +about the services Napoleon had rendered to the Catholic religion. The +Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Segur, who reached Milan a few days +before the Emperor, charmed the best society of Lombardy by his pleasant +wit and delightful manners, and induced the most illustrious families to +solicit the honor of figuring among the ladies and officers in waiting at +the palace of the King and Queen of Italy, as Napoleon and Josephine were +called at Milan. + +The first visit which the King and Queen made in this capital was to the +famous Cathedral. There they fell on their knees, and the Milanese were +much touched by the spectacle. The _Italian Journal_, in its official +account of Napoleon's entrance into Milan, uttered these dithyrambics: "It +is impossible to imagine a more brilliant day than that which yesterday +adorned our capital, when Bonaparte, the hero of the age, our adored +monarch, entered within our walls. This day will be forever memorable in +the chronicles of our history. Milan saw entering its gates, bearing the +proud name of King, the same hero who had already been proclaimed +conqueror, liberator, peace-maker, and legislator, and who to-day, under +his august Empire, assures that greatness to which his victories and his +genius permit us to aspire. The Emperor entered by the gate named after +his most glorious triumph, the Marengo Gate." + +On reaching Milan, Napoleon exchanged the decorations of the Legion of +Honor for the oldest orders of chivalry in Europe. He received from the +Minister of Prussia the Black and the Red Eagle; from the Spanish +Ambassador, the Golden Fleece; from the Ministers of Bavaria and Portugal, +the Orders of Saint Hubert and Christ respectively; and he gave them the +broad ribbon of the Legion of Honor. When he had received besides foreign +decorations for the principal men of the Empire, he granted an equal +number of his own. May 12, wearing the broad ribbon of the Black Eagle, he +went with the Empress to the theatre of La Scala and saw the opera of +_Castor and Pollux_. The theatre, which was brilliantly lit, was crowded +with the fair ladies of Milan, resplendent in full dress and jewels. The +elegance and splendor of these deservedly famous beauties, the brilliant +diversity of the uniforms, the sumptuousness of the Imperial box, and on +the stage the magnificence of the dresses and the scenery, the skill of +the singers, all combined to make the performance most memorable. That +day, after mass, Napoleon had ridden out, and had inspected the troops who +paraded on the Place of the Cathedral. + +The Empress's grace and affability aroused general admiration. At the +reception of the upper clergy of Italy, May 25, she was thus complimented +by the Archbishop of Bergamo: "Madame, If charity were to descend from +heaven to relieve the woes of humanity, it would seek no other asylum than +the heart of a Queen, adored by her subjects. The feelings of love, +gratitude, and respect which animate all your subjects are the same that +lead to your feet all the bishops of the kingdom of Italy. Happy to find +in your august spouse sublimity, glory, and genius, and in you all the +charm of kindness, nothing is left for them but to pray for the happiness +of your reign, and to offer thanks to heaven for having united in the +souls of their sovereigns everything which can make supreme power loved +and respected." This speech will suffice to show to what pitch the +official flatteries were tuned. + +The coronation took place May 26, in the Milan. Cathedral, which is the +largest church in Italy, with the single exception of Saint Peter's in +Rome. The weather was magnificent. From early morning a numberless throng +crowded the Place of the Cathedral, the court-yards of the palace, and the +adjacent streets. Just as in Paris at the coronation, a wooden gallery had +been built, connecting the Archbishop's Palace with Notre Dame, so here at +Milan, a similar gallery led from the palace to the Cathedral. The +interior of the church was decorated with crimson silk stuffs. As at Notre +Dame, a large throne had been built at the entrance to the nave, +approached by twenty-five steps. Four gilded statues, representing +victories, upheld like caryatides the canopy above the throne. The four +figures held in one hand palms; in the other, the green velvet mantle +falling from the royal crown above the canopy. The Cathedral was +brilliantly lit by forty chandeliers hanging from the roof, and as many +candelabra fastened on the columns. + +Josephine, who had been crowned as Empress in Paris, was not to be crowned +at Milan, although she bore the title of Queen of Italy. She watched the +ceremony from a gallery. At half-past eleven she went to the Cathedral, +preceded by her sister-in-law, the Princess Bacciocchi, and was conducted +beneath a canopy to her gallery, amid loud applause. At noon the Emperor +and King left his palace, and reached the Cathedral through the wooden +gallery. On his arrival there incense was burned, and he was welcomed by +an address from Cardinal Caprara, Archbishop of Milan, at the head of all +his clergy. Preceded by the ushers, the heralds-at-arms, the pages, the +Grand Master and the masters of ceremonies, by the seven ladies carrying +offerings, and by the honors of Charlemagne, of the Empire, and of Italy, +he appeared in most impressive pomp. On his head he wore the crown; he +carried in his hands the sceptre, and the hand of justice of the kingdom; +on his back he wore the royal cloak, the skirts of which were carried by +the two First Equerries of France and Italy. As he entered the Cathedral a +march of triumph was played. He took his seat on the small throne in the +choir, having on his right the honors of Italy, on his left, those of +France. The Archbishop of Bologna, who held a place at the coronation of +the King very like that of the Pope at the crowning of the Emperor, +carried to the altar the iron crown of the old Lombard kings, and began +the mass. After the gradual, he blessed the royal ornaments in the +following order: the sword, the cloak, the ring, the crown. Napoleon +received from the Archbishop's hands the sword, the cloak, and the ring, +but he took himself the iron crown from the altar, and proudly placing it +on his head, exclaimed, in a voice that thrilled all present: "_Dio me la +diede, guai a chi la tocca!_"--"God has given it to me; woe to him who +touches it!" Then, having replaced the iron crown on the altar, he took +the crown of Italy and placed it on his head, amid unanimous applause. +Preceded by the same officials who had conducted him to the chair, he +walked down the nave and took his place on the great throne at the other +end by the entrance. The first herald-at-arms shouted, "Napoleon, Emperor +of the French and King of Italy, is crowned and enthroned. Long live the +Emperor and King." + +The same day, at half-past four in the afternoon, the King and the Queen +drove in a state carriage, with a brilliant escort, to the church of Saint +Ambrose, one of the most revered sanctuaries of Italy, and there they +heard a _Te Deum_ of thanksgiving. + +Mademoiselle Avrillon, Josephine's reader, tells us that Napoleon, when he +had returned to the palace, was full of the wildest gaiety. He rubbed his +hands, and in his good humor said to the reader: "Well! Did you see the +ceremony? Did you hear what I said when I placed the crown on my head?" +Then he repeated, almost in the same tone that he had used in the +Cathedral: "God has given it to me! Woe to him that touches it!" "I told +him," says Mademoiselle Avrillon, "that nothing that had happened had +escaped me. He was very kind to me, and I often noticed that when there +was nothing to annoy the Emperor, he talked cheerfully and freely with us, +as if we were his equals; but whenever he spoke to us he used to ask +questions, and in order to avoid displeasing him, it was necessary to +answer him without showing too much embarrassment. Sometimes he gave us a +pat on the cheek, or pinched our ears; these were favors not accorded +every one, and we could judge of his good humor by the way they hurt +us.... Often he treated the Empress in the same way, with little pats +preferably on the shoulders; it was no use her saying: 'Come, stop, +Bonaparte!' he went on as long as he pleased." + +The Emperor greatly enjoyed his stay in Milan, and breathed with rapture +the incense burned in abundance before him. The _Italian Journal_ in its +account of the coronation reached lyric heights: + +"The most brilliant day has lit up Milan; it has had no equal in the past, +and it offers the happiest auguries for the future.... Old men themselves, +accustomed as they are to praise the past, have exhibited the liveliest +enthusiasm. It was in vain that night struggled to draw its veil over our +city, it had to yield before the general and magnificent illumination +which brought out in lines of fire the shape and admirable form of the +Duomo. Most of the palaces and private houses were covered with devices +and inscriptions. The first one of the days consecrated to the liveliest +national rejoicing was ended by a vast exhibition of fireworks, which were +set off on the spot where so many have perished at the stake." + +The next day games were celebrated, in the manner of the ancients, in a +circus rivalling the Roman amphitheatres in size. This was the occasion of +a dithyrambic outburst inserted in the _Moniteur_: "The Italians have just +offered Napoleon the same spectacle that their ancestors offered Marcus +Aurelius and Trajan; but the presence of Napoleon has called forth more +joy and admiration, because it has aroused greater admiration and higher +hopes. They were but the preservers of Italian greatness; he is its +creator and its father. In the pomp of the games, amid the tumultuous +applause, the immense mass of people were to be seen turning their eyes +towards him alone, as if they were saying to him: 'These festivities are +but feeble expressions of the gratitude that all Italy vows to you for all +the good you have done her; and since you deign to accept it, since you +like to sit among us as our Prince and our father, these festivities +become an augury to us of still greater benefit. The day will perhaps come +when Italy, restored to this new life, may be able to adorn its circus +with the monuments of its own bravery which will also be the monuments of +your glory; and Italy, being never doomed to perish, whatever great deeds +may be wrought by Italians in the course of centuries will be due to the +hero who has recalled them to life.'" After the races there was a balloon +ascension. The courageous wife of the aeronaut Garnerin accompanied him +and threw down flowers to Napoleon and Josephine. "Thus," the _Moniteur_ +goes on, "in a single day, at one show, the Italians have combined the +proudest pomp of the ancients and the boldest invention of modern science, +together with the presence of a hero who excels both ancients and +moderns." + +The 29th of May was devoted to popular festivities. All the afternoon the +public gardens were crowded with musicians, singers, mountebanks, and +pedlars. In the evening the via della Riconoscenza, as far as the East +Gate, was lit by lampstands, and at the end of a long row there was an +eagle of fire holding on his breast an iron crown. + +Nothing was neglected to touch the national pride of Italy. An article in +the _Moniteur_, speaking of a poem of Vincenzo Monti's, said: "What +interest the poet has aroused, in recalling the glorious titles of ancient +Italy, the disasters and degradation which followed this period of glory, +in evoking the shades of those remote days, and after them, the shade of +Dante who, by the wisdom of his maxims, is superior to the poets of other +nations; of Dante, the most enthusiastic admirer of the former glory of +the Italians, the severest censor of the corruption into which Italy had +fallen in his time; of Dante, whose sole ambition was to prepare the new +birth of Italy! And how did he prepare it? By preaching union to the +inhabitants of the different countries of Italy, and to the public +authorities the consecration of power modified by the laws." + +June 3 Napoleon and Josephine went to visit an industrial and artistic +exhibition at the Brera. There they saw Canova's Hebe, and his colossal +statue of Clement XIII. "The desire of seeing and approaching the +sovereign," says the _Moniteur_, "had made the crowd larger. An +octogenarian who had in vain struggled to get to a staircase before him, +was hustled and knocked down on the steps by the eager multitude. The +Empress, who was following, ran to his aid. The Emperor turned back, +questioned the old man, who was more disturbed by his joy than by his +fall, asked him his name and a memorandum, and promised to look out for +him. This scene produced a deep impression, and Their Majesties were led +back amid universal applause and thanksgivings." + +At Milan, Josephine, who had become Queen of Italy, inhabited, with the +Emperor, the magnificent Monza Palace. But, perhaps, in all the splendor +of the highest point of her good fortune, she regretted the Serbelloni +Palace, where, nine years before, she exercised so beneficent an influence +on her husband's destiny, and had protected him with her affection, as +with a talisman. Doubtless the Empress and Queen would have returned +gladly to the time when she was called simply Citizeness Bonaparte. Then, +instead of the imperial and royal diadem, she possessed youth, which is +better than any crown, and her husband gave her something preferable to +any throne--his love! There the generals used to wear less showy uniforms, +more moderate salaries, but they were more enthusiastic, and unselfish. +Then Bonaparte's glory was less famous, but purer. When she saw Milan +again, after many years' absence, Josephine recalled all the happiness and +all the misery that had occurred meanwhile, all the grandeur and the +tragedy that had filled this period so brief, but so crowded with +marvellous events. + +There were many happy memories, but also many shadows! This look backward +was not without melancholy. When she saw the approach of the autumn of her +amazing career, Josephine could not think without secret sadness of the +splendor of its summer. While her husband proudly enjoyed his satisfied +ambition, she dreamed and pondered seriously. She desired once more to see +the places which recalled the pleasantest memories of her first journey: +the lake of Como, with the Villa Julia and Pliny's house; the Lago +Maggiore and Borromean Islands; the palaces of the Isola Bella and the +Isola Madre; all the enchanting spots which recalled the gracious memories +of youth and love. + +June 7 Napoleon appointed Eugene de Beauharnais Viceroy of the Kingdom of +Italy, and three days later left Milan with Josephine. In all the +principal cities of the Empire his coronation had been celebrated by +public rejoicings. Murat had given a ball at his castle of Neuilly, about +which the _Journal des Debats_ had said: "At the same moment when the arts +of ingenious Italy were displaying all their marvels under the eyes of +Their Majesties, French gallantry and gaiety were rendering similar homage +to the happy reign which had recalled them from a long exile." +Aix-la-Chapelle inaugurated the statue of the great Carlovingian Emperor +amid salvos of artillery and the applause of the Germanic populace, who +saluted at the same time the names of Charlemagne and of Napoleon. + + + + +XIV. + +THE FESTIVITIES AT GENOA. + + +The Italian journey closed as brilliantly as it began. After leaving +Milan, Napoleon approached the frontiers of Austria, against which he was +to fight before the end of the year, visiting the celebrated +quadrilateral, consisting of the four fortified towns: Mantua, Peschiera, +Verona, and Legnago. He was present at a mimic representation of the +battle of Castiglione, in which twenty-five thousand men took part on the +field upon which that battle had been fought; then he went to Bologna, +where the charms of his conversation were highly appreciated by the +learned professors of its university. While he was there a deputation from +Lucca visited him, asking him to take that little country under his +protection. He gave it for Prince and Princess, his brother-in-law, Felix +Bacciocchi, and his sister Elisa, to whom he had already entrusted the +Duchy of Piombino. Lucca was thus elevated to a hereditary principality, a +dependent of the French Empire, which should revert to the French crown in +case the male line of the Bacciocchi should become extinct. It was a sort +of revival of the old Germanic fiefs. Evidently the memory of Charlemagne +continually filled Napoleon's thoughts. Elisa thenceforth bore the title +of Princess of Lucca and of Piombino. She was a well educated and able +woman, of marked intelligence and strong will. M. de Talleyrand used to +call her "the Semiramis of Lucca." After Bologna, Napoleon visited Modena, +Parma, and Piacenza. The cities he passed through rivalled one another in +flattery. They voted him medals, statues, and even a temple, which, +however, the demi-god declined. + +June 30 Napoleon and Josephine arrived at Genoa, where they were to stay +till July 7, amid unprecedented festivities celebrating the incorporation +of the old Republic with the French Empire. It was a singular sight, this +enthusiastic reception of a Corsican by the Genoese. While at Milan, the +Emperor had received M. Durazzo, the last Doge of Genoa, who had come to +beg him to permit the illustrious Republic, famous for its historical +splendor, to exchange its independence for the honor of becoming a plain +French department. The offer was accepted. The home of Andrea Doria, the +city of marble palaces, that municipality once called "the superb" had +begged as a favor to be stricken from the list of independent states. It +contented itself with being the principal town in the twenty-seventh +military division, and its doge, dispossessed by his own desire, went to +swell the number of the Senators of the Empire. Napoleon took formal +possession of his peaceful conquest, and slept in the palace, and in the +bed of Charles V. + +The night festivity, given in the harbor, July 2, was, in the way of +picturesqueness, one of the most original and most beautiful ever seen. +The sky was clear, the sea calm, the crowd of spectators enormous. +Napoleon and Josephine, going down from the terrace in the garden of the +Palazzo Doria, entered a large round temple, magnificently decorated, +which was at once set in motion as if by magic, and transported by many +oars to the middle of the harbor. Four rafts, covered with shrubbery, +resembling floating islands, then drew up to the temple. The sovereigns +were thus, in open sea, enclosed in a vast garden with trees, flowers, +statues, and fountains. About this garden of Armida, thus radiant upon the +waves, were a multitude of boats, under sail or propelled by oars, moving +about, and their lights resembled the swarms of fireflies that in summer +flutter above the fields of Lombardy. The mild temperature favored this +joyous festival. The whole city, all the buildings, every vessel, were +ablaze with a thousand lights, and the glassy sea reflected numberless +flames. The darkness of night gave the signal for the illuminations. +Magnificent fireworks were set off from the mole, the jetty, and the ships +lining the entrance of the harbor. Music mingled with the joyous cries of +the multitude. The temple in which were Napoleon and Josephine was rowed +back to the terrace of the Palazzo Doria amid the applause of the crowd +lining the shore. + +The next day the Emperor and Empress were at a ball given in the old Ducal +Palace. "The presence of Their Majesties in this superb building," says +the _Moniteur_, "the kindness with which they deigned to speak to every +one, gave this festivity a touching character. All who saw and heard our +sovereigns, rejoiced in their new destinies. The concert was followed by a +ball, and Their Majesties stayed through the several dances, leaving about +midnight. Their path was lit by numberless candles. On their way they met +a multitude, delighted even at that hour, to be able to discern some of +our monarch's features." + +In spite of all these splendid ceremonies Josephine, though idolized, was +not happy. "In general," Mademoiselle Avrillon says with justice, "the +public has a very faint knowledge of the real feelings of those in the +highest station. Being often on show, they are obliged to assume a +fictitious character, just as they dress themselves for great ceremonies. +I have seen the Empress's sufferings, whom nothing could console for her +separation from her children, whom she loved above everything. Ambitions +were less to her than maternal love, her strongest feeling. The thought of +leaving her son in Italy, the fear of never seeing him again, or the +certainty of seeing him seldom, made her shed tears." One day when she was +in more distress than usual, Napoleon said to her: "You are crying, +Josephine; that's absurd; you are crying because you are going to be +separated from your son. If the absence of your children gives you so much +pain, judge what I must suffer. The affection you show them makes me feel +most acutely my unhappiness in having none." These words sounded in +Josephine's ears like a funeral knell. She saw the spectre of divorce +rising before her, and turned pale. From Genoa they went to Turin. +Napoleon heard there of the coalition preparing against him, and left +suddenly for France with Josephine. Non-commissioned officers of the +Grenadiers and the Chasseurs of the Guard served as escort, but they were +unable to keep up with the carriages, so the Emperor thanked them for +their zeal and pushed on without them. He did not stop once for twenty- +four hours. Josephine, who never tormented her husband by complaining, did +not say a word about the fatigues of this quick journey. After an absence +of a hundred days, they reached Fontainebleau, July 11. No one expected +them and no preparations had been made for their reception. Their +departure from Turin had been so recent, and it resembled a flight. The +Emperor did not wish to be recognized on the way, and burst into +Fontainebleau like a bombshell. The palace porter was an old servant, +named Guillot, who had been Napoleon's cook in Egypt. "Well," the Emperor +said to him, "you must go back to your old business and cook us some +supper." Fortunately the porter had in his sideboard some mutton-chops and +eggs. He set to work, and Napoleon ate this improvised meal with great +relish. Josephine borrowed some linen from one of her old chambermaids. +The Emperor asked for a full account of everything that had happened in +Paris during his absence, and began to draw up the plans which were to be +accomplished at Austerlitz before the end of the year. July 18, at one in +the afternoon, he arrived at Saint Cloud, accompanied by the Empress, amid +the roar of the cannon at the Invalides. That evening they went into the +city, called on Napoleon's mother, and went to the opera, where the +_Pretendus_ was given; the audience greeted them most warmly. After all +the splendor of the Italian festivities the time had come for military +preparations and warlike thoughts. + + + + +XV. + +DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ. + + +Austerlitz was to be for the Empire what Marengo had been for the +Consulate: a consolidation. In spite of the pomps of the double +coronation, Napoleon did not feel firmly established on his Imperial and +Royal throne. Opinions varied with regard to the stability of the new +regime. The Liberals missed the Republic, and the Royalists the Bourbons. +If the army and the people showed confidence in the Emperor's star, the +Parisian middle class was always cool, and business men observed with +anxiety the hostility of England, Austria, Russia, and possibly Prussia. +Paris was gloomy; business was dull; the absence of the court depressed +the shop-keepers; the theatres were empty; in short, the winter was +infinitely less gay than the one before. There was general uneasiness; +wives feared for their husbands; mothers for their sons. Every one had +become used to the peace which had lasted five years, and the renewal of +war inspired the greatest anxiety. + +As for Napoleon, he felt the need of some great stroke that should +astonish and fascinate the world. He understood that to maintain his fame +he was condemned to work miracles. September 23, 1805, he had exposed to +the Senate the hostile conduct of Austria, and had announced his speedy +departure to carry aid to the Elector of Bavaria, the ally of France, whom +the Austrians had just driven from Munich. Five days later he had started, +confident of success, and certain that he would find his people at his +feet on his return. The Empress accompanied him as far as Strassburg, and +established herself there to be near the scene of war and to receive +earlier news than was possible at Paris. + +Napoleon's letters to Josephine during the Austerlitz campaign have been +preserved; unfortunately, we have not hers to him. The Emperor writes very +differently from General Bonaparte. His letters are not the ardent, +passionate, romantic epistles recalling the fervid style and thought of +the _Nouvelle Heloise_. They are substantial letters, concise and +interesting, such as a good husband might write after ten years of +marriage, but not at all a lover's letters. Josephine, who was quite +observant, must have noticed the difference, but she had enough tact and +prudence to avoid complaint. 1805 was not 1796; Napoleon still loved +Josephine, but from habit, gratitude, and a sense of duty, not with mad +passion. He paid her much attention, held her in high regard, felt +sympathy with her, deference, and friendship, but scarcely love. Beneath +the vaulted roof of Notre Dame Napoleon had given to Josephine the +Imperial diadem, but he had not given her the true crown,--love. + +October 1 the Emperor took command of his army, which had assembled with +wonderful promptness on the Rhine. The next day he wrote to the Empress +from Marenheims: "I am still very well, and leaving for Strassburg, where +I shall arrive this evening. The advance has begun. The armies of +Wuertemberg and of Baden are joining mine. I have a good position and love +you." October 4 he wrote to her: "I am at Ludwigsberg, and leave to-night. +There is no news. All the Bavarians have joined me. I am well. I hope in a +few days to have something interesting to tell you. Keep well and believe +that I love you. There is a very fine court here, a pretty bride, and the +people are pleasant, even the Elector's wife, who seems very good, +although she is a daughter of the King of England." + +October 5 Napoleon sent another letter to Josephine from Ludwigsberg: "I +have at once to continue my march. You will be five or six days without +news of me; don't be anxious; it is on account of the operations we +undertake. Are you as well as I could hope? Yesterday I was at the wedding +of the son of the Elector of Wuertemberg with a niece of the King of +Prussia. I want to give her a present of from thirty-six to forty thousand +francs. Have it made and send it by one of my chamberlains to the bride +when the chamberlains are coming to me. Do this at once. Good by; I love +and kiss you." + +These five or six days of silence were taken up by the opening of +hostilities on the road from Stuttgart to Ulm, the crossing of the Danube, +and the occupation of Augsburg. From this city Napoleon wrote to Josephine +October 10: "I spent last night with the former Elector of Treves, who has +comfortable quarters. I have been on the move for a week. The campaign +opens with noteworthy successes. I am very well though it rains nearly +every day. Things have moved very quickly. I have sent to France four +thousand prisoners, eight flags, and have captured fourteen cannon. Good +by, my dear; I kiss you." Two days later the French army entered Munich in +triumph, the Austrians having been driven out of Bavaria. The Emperor +wrote to the Empress, October 12: "My army has entered Munich. The enemy +is partly on the other side of the Inn; the other army of sixty thousand +men I have blockaded on the Iller between Ulm and Memmingen. The enemy is +lost, has completely lost its head, and everything promises the luckiest, +shortest, and most brilliant campaign ever known. I leave in an hour for +Burgau on the Iller. I am well: the weather is frightful. It rains so that +I have to change my clothes twice a day. I love you." + +The first successes of the campaign caused great excitement in Paris, as +is shown by the letters of Madame de Remusat, no great lover of military +glory, to her husband, who had accompanied the Empress to Strassburg; +every day this lady would jot down what had happened, and her interesting +correspondence brings the period vividly before us. October 12, she wrote, +the absence of the Empress leaving her time heavy on her hands: "How +gloomy and ill we are in this odious Paris! Please tell M. de Talleyrand +that it is really something pitiable. Not even a word of gossip! In short, +we are as bored as we are virtuous. I don't know which is the cause and +which the effect, but I do know that I am horribly bored. The solitude of +this great city is really remarkable; the theatres are empty; I hardly +ever go to them." + +In two days there was a complete change. Paris woke up as if to a joyous +trumpet-call, and Madame de Remusat was full of happiness: "My dear, what +good news!" she wrote October 14, "... This morning the cannon announced +the victory to the city of Paris; it produced a great effect. Every one +was inquiring about it in the street, and congratulating himself; in +short, I send the Empress word, the Parisians were French. I have already +written twenty notes, and received all the visits of congratulation.... +But what a great victory! How proud I am of being a Frenchwoman! I +couldn't sleep for joy. Perhaps by this time you have heard of others, and +when we are rejoicing over the first victory, you have forgotten it with +another. May Heaven continue to protect this noble army and its glorious +leader!" This enthusiastic letter ends with these somewhat harsh +criticising of the Parisians: "This victory was necessary, for these sad +Parisians had begun to complain. The emptiness of Paris, its quiet, the +lack of money which continues to make itself felt, gave to the malevolent +a good opportunity to excite dissatisfaction, and they did their best to +spread it. I was wondering this very morning why in a nation so devoid of +national feeling there should be in the army such unity of action and +thought. It seems to me that honor has a good deal to do with this +difference, and that it takes the place of public spirit in many who in +ordinary times are too happy, too rich, and too careless to care for +anything beyond their own belongings." + +Napoleon went from one victory to another, October 18, just before the +capitulation of Ulm, he wrote to Josephine from Elchingen: "I have been +more tired than I should have been; for a week getting wet through every +day, and cold feet, have done me a little harm, but staying in to-day has +rested me. I have carried out my plan and have destroyed the Austrian army +by simple marches. I have taken sixty thousand prisoners, one hundred and +twenty cannon, more than ninety flags, and more than thirty generals. I am +going to attack the Russians; they are lost. I am satisfied with my army. +I have lost only fifteen hundred men, and two-thirds of these are but +slightly wounded. Good by. Remember me to every one. Prince Charles is +coming to cover Vienna. I think Massena ought to be at Vienna at this +time. As soon as I am easy about Italy I shall make Eugene fight. My love +to Hortense." + +The capitulation of Ulm was arranged by Napoleon with Prince Lichtenstein, +Major-General of the Austrian army. A heavy rain fell without cessation, +and the prisoners were amazed to see the Emperor, who had not taken off +his boots for a week, wet through, covered with mud, and more tired than +the humblest drummer. When some one spoke of it, he said to Prince +Lichtenstein: "Your Emperor wanted to remind me that I was a soldier. I +hope he will acknowledge that the throne and the Imperial purple have not +made me forget my old trade." October 21, the day after the capitulation, +Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I am very well, my dear. I leave at once for +Augsburg. I have made an army of thirty-three thousand men surrender. I +have taken from sixty to seventy thousand prisoners, more than ninety +flags, and more than two hundred cannon. In the military annals there is +no such defeat. Keep well. I am a little worried. For three days the +weather has been pleasant. The first column of prisoners starts for France +to-day. Each column contains six thousand men." Never had war been fought +with such art. An army of eighty-five thousand men had been destroyed +almost without firing a gun; its adversaries had lost only three thousand +men. After this great victory Napoleon's soldiers said, "The Emperor beat +the enemy with our legs, not with our bayonets." + +These chronicles of war have a sad side even when they commemorate the +most brilliant victories. Even while he counts the trophies the historian +cannot avoid melancholy reflections. What capitulations awaited France +sixty-five years after this capitulation of Ulm! But in this intoxication +of victory, people have eyes only for their success. Were they reasonable, +they would then reflect on the calamities of war. Hortense, who was as +kind as her mother, Josephine, had this wisdom and pity. She said, "When I +read these accounts I am surprised to find myself ready to weep even when +I am happy at the victories." At the time Madame de Remusat wrote to her +husband: "Poor creatures that we are, how restless we are on this +sandhill, and too often only to hasten our end! A good subject for the +philosopher is this glory, with which we adorn our eagerness in killing +one another." The triumphal music should not drown the sobs and cries of +the mothers; we should think of the dead and wounded. But nations are like +individuals: they never reflect. + +Napoleon pushed on the war with real delight. He felt about war as a good +workman feels about his work, as a great artist about his art. To war it +was that he owed his power and glory. Without it, he said, he would have +been nothing; by it, he was everything. Hence he felt for it not merely +love, but gratitude; loving it both by instinct and calculation. He +preferred the bivouac to the Tuileries. Just as the snipe-shooter prefers +a marsh to a drawing-room, he was more at home under a tent than in a +palace. To men who like the battle-field, war is the most intense of +pleasures. They love it as the gamester loves play, with a real frenzy. +They defeat the enemy, not merely without feeling, but with a fierce joy, +as if it were their prey. They feel the same emotions as the Romans in a +circus, or the Spaniards at a bull-fight. The rattle of drums, the blare +of trumpets, shouts of soldiers, are what they hear; their ears are deaf +to the cries of the wounded and dying. The varying chances of the combat, +the uncertainties of fear and hope produce in them emotions that they +prefer to all others, however poetic and charming. It is with a sort of +intoxication that they inhale the smell of gunpowder, perhaps even that of +blood. A hotly contested victory is more agreeable to them than one too +easily gained. Fortune is, in their eyes, a difficult mistress, whose +favors seem the dearer, the harder they are of attainment. What a +satisfaction for a proud man to be absolute commander of an army which, +before the fight, shouts like the ancient gladiators: _Ave, Caesar, +morituri te salutant!_ "Hail, Caesar, those about to die salute you!" an +army in which even dying men shout applause, with their last breath, to +their sovereign, their idol! And yet how petty is all this glory! Bossuet +was right when he said: "What could you find on earth strong and dignified +enough to bear the name of power? Open your eyes, pierce the dusk. All the +power in the world can but take a man's life: is it then such a great +thing to shorten by a few moments a life which is already hastening to its +end?" + +Josephine did not in the least share her husband's warlike tastes. Gentle, +kindly, affectionate, full of pity for human woes, she would have liked to +reconcile all parties, all nations,--to have universal peace. This woman, +who had all the graces and charms of her sex, never inspired Napoleon with +ambitious or haughty thoughts. While the war lasted, she was anxious, +unhappy; waiting anxiously with bated breath for news, scarcely living. + +Napoleon, wrote to her from Augsburg, October 28: "The last two nights +have rested me completely, and I leave for Munich to-morrow; I am +summoning to me M. de Talleyrand and M. Maret; I shall see them for a +short time, and then leave for the Inn, where I mean to attack Austria in +its hereditary states. I should have been glad to see you, but don't +expect me to summon you unless there should be an armistice, or we should +go into winter quarters. Good by, my dear; a thousand kisses. Remember me +to all the ladies." From Munich the Emperor wrote the following letter, +dated October 27; "I have received your letter from Lamarois. I am sorry +to see that you have been over-anxious. I have heard many details of your +affection for me, but you should have more strength, and confidence. +Besides, I had told you I should not write for six days. To-morrow I +expect the Elector. At noon I start to strengthen my movement on the Inn. +My health is very fair. You mustn't think of crossing the Rhine in less +than two or three weeks. You must be cheerful, and amuse yourself in the +hope of our meeting before the end of the month (Brumaire). I am advancing +on the Russian army. In a few days I shall have crossed the Inn. Good by, +my dear; much love to Hortense, to Eugene, and to the two Napoleons. Keep +the wedding present for some time yet. Yesterday I gave a concert to the +ladies of this court. The leader is a worthy man. I have shot pheasants +with the Elector; you see I am not worn out. M. de Talleyrand has come." +Again, from Haag, November 3, 1805: "I am advancing rapidly; the weather +is very cold; the snow is a foot deep. This is not pleasant. Fortunately, +we have an abundance of wood; we are continually in the forests. I am +fairly well. Everything goes on satisfactorily; the enemy has more cause +for anxiety than I. I am eager to hear from you, and to know that your +mind is easy. Good by, my dear; I am going to bed." + +Napoleon continued his operations with startling rapidity. He wrote to +Josephine November 5: "I am at Linz. The weather is fine. We are within +twenty-eight leagues of Vienna. The Russians are retreating without making +a stand. The house of Austria is much embarrassed; all the belongings of +the court have been removed from Vienna. You will probably have some news +in five or six days. I am very anxious to see you. My health is good." The +Emperor of Austria, compelled to leave Vienna, had sought refuge at Brunn, +where he joined the Czar and the second Russian army; and Napoleon entered +the capital whence the Emperor Francis had fled. He wrote to Josephine +November 15: "I have been for two days in Vienna, a little tired. I have +not yet seen the city by daylight, but have only passed through it by +night. To-morrow I receive the authorities. Almost all my troops are +beyond the Danube in pursuit of the Russians. Good by, dear Josephine; as +soon as possible I shall arrange for you to come. I send much love." The +next day he wrote again to the Empress from Vienna: "I am writing to M. de +Narville to arrange for you to go to Baden, thence to Stuttgart, and +thence to Munich. At Stuttgart you will give the present to the Princess +Paul. Fifteen or twenty thousand francs will be enough for it; the rest +will be enough for a present to the daughter of the Elector of Bavaria at +Munich. All that you heard from Madame de Serent is definitely arranged. +Bring presents for the ladies and officers in waiting on you. Be pleasant, +but receive all their homages; they owe you everything, and you owe them +nothing, except in the way of politeness. The Electress of Wuertemberg is a +daughter of the King of England; you should treat her well, and especially +without affectation. I shall be glad to see you as soon as business will +permit. I am leaving for the front. The weather is admirable; there is +much snow, but everything is in good condition. Good by, my dear one." On +the receipt of this letter, Josephine, who was most anxious to see her +husband, hastened away from Strassburg to go to Munich through Baden and +Wuertemberg. At the same time Napoleon set off to meet the Austrian and +Russian armies, commanded by their respective Emperors, in Moravia. + +We have in the Memoirs of General de Segur, an eye-witness, an interesting +account of the eve of Austerlitz. Late in the afternoon Napoleon entered a +hut, and took his place at table in the best of spirits, along with Murat, +Caulaincourt, Junot, Segur, Rapp, and a few other guests. They thought +that he would talk about the next day's battle. Not at all: he discussed +literature with Junot, who was familiar with all the new tragedies; he had +a good deal to say about Raynouard's _Templars_, about Racine, Corneille, +and the fate of the ancient drama. Then, by a singular transition, he +began to talk about his Egyptian campaign. "If I had captured Acre," he +said, "I should have put my army into long trousers, and have made it my +sacred battalion, my Immortals, and have finished my war against the Turks +with Arabians, Greeks, and Armenians. Instead of fighting here in Moravia, +I should be winning a battle of Issus, and be making myself Emperor of the +West, returning to Paris through Constantinople." + +After dinner Napoleon wished to make a final reconnoissance of the enemy's +position by their bivouac fires; he mounted his horse and rode out between +the lines. One moment he came near paying dear for his imprudence; he went +too far forward and suddenly fell on a post of Cossacks, and had it not +been for the devotion of the chasseurs who escorted him, he would have +been killed or captured, and he was scarcely able to escape at full +gallop. After crossing the stream which covered the front of the French +army, he dismounted and returned to his bivouac, from one watch-fire to +another, on foot. On his way he stumbled over the stump of a tree and fell +to the ground. Then a grenadier took some straw, rolled it up to something +like a torch, and lit it; other soldiers did the same thing; the camp was +illuminated, and the face of the great conqueror was plainly to be seen. +The next day was December 2, the anniversary of his coronation. "Emperor," +shouted an old soldier, "I promise you in the name of the grenadiers of +the army that you will have to fight only with your eyes, and that to- +morrow we shall bring you the flags and artillery of the Russian army to +celebrate the anniversary of your coronation." Every one shouted applause. +Napoleon in vain tried to stop them. "Silence," he commanded, "until to- +morrow! think of nothing but sharpening your bayonets!" Shouts of "Long +live the Emperor!" were repeated. Along a line of two leagues blazed +thousands of fires and flames. The Russians wondered what was the cause of +this unusual brilliancy, and thought the French were retreating. Napoleon +was at first annoyed by this rapturous demonstration, but at last he was +touched by it, and passing through a number of bivouacs, all brightly lit, +he expressed his gratitude to his soldiers, saying it was the happiest +evening of his life. Then he went to his tent, snatched a little sleep, +and when he rose in the morning, said, "Now, gentlemen, we are beginning a +great day." + +A moment later, the commanders of the different army corps, Murat, Lannes, +Bernadotte, Soult, Davout, came galloping up the little mound which the +soldiers called the Emperor's hill, to receive his final orders. It was a +solemn, impressive moment. "If I were to live," says General de Segur, "as +long as the world shall last, I shall never forget that scene.... Times +have changed quickly since then. Heavens! how great everything was then, +how brave the men, how glorious the time, how imposing the appearance of +fate!" Never was there a more brilliant triumph. "I have fought thirty +battles like that," said the conqueror, "but I have never seen so decisive +a victory, or one where the chances were so unevenly balanced." And then +full of admiration for his soldiers, he exclaimed; "I am satisfied with +you; you have covered your eagles with undying glory." + +From a military point of view Austerlitz was Napoleon's greatest triumph. +War, which he loved with all its risks and emotions, then showed him its +most tempting side. He was always tempting fate, and fate had always +favored him. The hour had not yet struck when he was to ask more of +fortune than it could give. As Sainte-Beuve truly says, it was not till in +the icy plain of Eylau, from the cemetery covered with blood-stained snow, +that receiving the first warning of Providence, he had a sort of terrible +vision of what the future held in store for him. Then he had before his +eyes a sort of rehearsal of the horrors awaiting him in Russia, and at the +sight of so many corpses, and the awful scene, he said with deep +melancholy, "This sight is one to fill kings with love of peace and horror +of war." But at Austerlitz it was very different. The shrieks of the +Russians sinking through the holes torn in the ice by cannon-balls were +drowned in the shouts of the victors. The bright sunlight of that day of +triumph dispelled, all traces of gloom in the conqueror's heart. + +December 3. Napoleon wrote thus to Josephine about his victory: "I +despatched Lebrun to you from the battle-field. I have beaten the Russian +and Austrian armies commanded by the two Emperors. I am a little tired. I +have bivouacked for a week in the open air, and the nights have been cool. +To-night I am going to sleep in the castle of Prince Kaunitz, where I +shall get two or three hours' rest. The Russian army is not merely +defeated, but destroyed. Much love." December 3, he had an interview in +his bivouac with the Emperor of Austria; and as if to apologize for the +wretched quarters in which he received him, he said, "This is the palace +which Your Majesty has compelled me to inhabit these three months." The +Emperor of Austria replied, "You make such good use of it, that you +certainly can't blame me on that account." And then the two Emperors +embraced. + +The day Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I have made a truce. The Russians +withdraw. The battle of Austerlitz is the greatest I have won: forty-five +flags, more than one hundred and fifty cannon, the standards of the +Russian guards, twenty generals, more than twenty thousand killed,--a +horrid sight! The Emperor Alexander is in despair, and is leaving for +Russia. Yesterday I saw the Emperor of Germany in my bivouac; we talked +for two hours, and agreed on a speedy peace. The weather is not yet very +bad. Now that the continent is at peace, we may hope for it everywhere; +the English will be unable to face us. I shall see with pleasure the time +that will restore me to you. For two days a little trouble with the eyes +has been prevalent in the army. I have not yet been attacked. Good by, my +dear. I am fairly well, and very anxious to see you." December 3, there +was another letter, also from Austerlitz: "I have concluded an armistice, +and peace will be made within a week. I am anxious to hear that you have +reached Munich in good health. The Russians are going back after suffering +immense losses: more than twenty thousand killed and thirty thousand +captured; they have lost three-quarters of their army. Buxhoevden, their +commander-in-chief, is killed. I have three thousand wounded and seven or +eight hundred killed. I have a little trouble with my eyes: an epidemic; +it amounts to nothing. Good by; I am anxious to see you once more. To- +night I sleep in Vienna." + +Cambaceres said that the news of the victory of Austerlitz filled the +populace with the wildest joy, which expressed itself in the most +extravagant flattery. The Emperor was treated like a god, and naturally a +sovereign so flattered did not control his love of war. It was only on his +deathbed that Louis XIV. said, "I have been overfond of war!" He said +nothing of the sort when the gates of Saint Martin and of Saint Denis were +built in his honor, when his statue was put up in the Place des Victoires, +when Lebrun painted the proud frescoes in the gallery at Versailles. Like +Louis XIV., Napoleon reproached himself with excessive love of war; but it +was not after Austerlitz, but after Waterloo. No man is worthy of +adoration; it belongs to God alone. Woe to the princes who are fed on +flattery! Extravagant laudation brings its punishment; even in this world +pride has its fall. + +The enthusiasm was universal; the victorious French could not contain +themselves for joy, and wholly lost their heads. Thus even Madame de +Remusat, who, after the defeat, had shown herself so severe, one might +almost say so cruel, towards Napoleon, wrote thus to her husband, December +18, 1805, after the news of Austerlitz: "You cannot imagine how excited +every one is. Praise of the Emperor is on every one's lips; the most +recalcitrant are obliged to lay down their arms, and to say with the +Emperor of Russia, 'He is the man of destiny!' Day before yesterday I went +to the theatre with Princess Louis to hear the different bulletins read. +The crowd was enormous because the cannon in the morning had announced the +arrival of news; every thing was listened to, and then applauded with +cries such as I had never imagined. I wept copiously all the time. I was +so moved that I believe if the Emperor had been present, I should have +flung my arms about his neck, to beg for pardon afterwards at his feet. +After this I supped out: every one plied me with questions. I knew the +whole bulletin by heart, and kept repeating it; and was glad to be able to +tell the news to so many people, to repeat those simple impressive words, +with a feeling of owning them, which you can understand better than I can +define. I missed you much in all my joy, which I should have gladly shared +with you; but in your absence I tried to communicate my admiration to our +son. Instead of making him finish the life of Alexander, which he has been +reading for two days, it occurred to me to have him read aloud the +_Moniteur_, and he was so much pleased that he said he thought it all much +greater than Alexander." + +Alas! thoughtful people should never forget how much greater is virtue +than success. In this low world no one takes a lofty enough view of +things. Not after defeat, but after victory, is the time to speak of war +seriously and sadly. If Napoleon in the hour of triumph had not been +flattered to excess, if at the proper moment the lessons of history, +philosophy, and religion had been enforced upon him, he would not have +rushed blindly into the gulf that finally swallowed him. Nothing is less +humane, less Christian, than the extravagant praise lavished on the +conquerors of the earth. Laymen and priests are equally to blame, for the +flatterers of conquerors bear perhaps a heavier responsibility than the +conquerors themselves. In the ancient triumphs, at least there was a slave +charged with reminding the hero that he was but a man; in modern times, +there is nothing of the sort; the hero can imagine himself more than +mortal. Why does not the clergy, instead of intoning a _Te Deum_, take the +part of that slave? Is it well to forget that those nations who are most +modest in success are bravest and most resigned in misfortune? Those whose +heads are turned by prosperity cannot endure reverses. For society, as for +individuals, nothing is more baneful than outbursts of joy and pride. The +vaster a monarch's power, the greater his need to meditate on the +fickleness of fate; but the lessons of wisdom are never recalled till they +are useless; they are whispered into his ears only when they can but add a +sting to defeat. + + + + +XVI. + +THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE EUGENE. + + +Both before and after the battle of Austerlitz a great part of Germany was +at Napoleon's feet. The Electors of Baden, Wuertemberg, and Bavaria the +last two of whom were to become kings by the consent of the new +Charlemagne, testified an enthusiastic admiration for him, and were all to +profit by his victory. The petty princes who were about to enter the +Confederation of the Rhine were his humble vassals, and paid obsequious +court to his Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. de Talleyrand. The archives +of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have to be consulted for an exact +understanding of their servility and flattery. Moreover, the populace +itself shared the feelings of their princes. The Bavarians regarded +Napoleon as their liberator. French manners and ideas were more than ever +prevalent on the banks of the Rhine, and Germanic patriotism pardoned +France the possession of the left bank of this river. If Napoleon had not +abused fortune, what grand and pacific things might he not have +accomplished in concert with Germany, and what progress might not have +been made for the harmony of nations, for civilization and humanity! + +We quote a letter written before the battle of Austerlitz, November 26, +1805, by the Elector of Bavaria to M. de Talleyrand, then in Vienna: "You +are the most amiable of men, my dear Talleyrand. Your two letters which I +received last evening have given me the greatest pleasure. How grateful I +am that you should have thought of me and of Munich when you are in the +most beautiful city in Germany, and hearing every day the famous +Crescentini! I do as much for you, Your Excellency, but the merit is not +the same. Every evening I express my regret that you are not here. M. de +Canisy has announced the arrival of the Emperor in a week. Six days have +passed, and I am hoping to see him in three days at the outside, and the +Empress, Saturday next. My wife arrived day before yesterday, very +anxious, as is her chaste spouse, to pay our court to Their Imperial +Majesties, and to offer them all the honors of Munich. Lay me before the +feet of the hero to whom I owe my present and future existence, and speak +to him often of my respect, of my enthusiasm for his virtues, and of my +heartiest and incessant gratitude. I hope that the coalition will soon +grow tired of war; in any event, the lessons the Emperor has given it the +last two months are of a nature to inspire disgust with it." + +November 10, 1805, Napoleon had written to Josephine to leave Strassburg +for Munich, stopping at Carlsruhe and Stuttgart. In this letter he had +said: + +"Be pleasant, but receive all their homages; they owe you everything, and +you owe them nothing, except in the way of politeness." He was not +mistaken. This trip of the Empress's through Germany was to be one series +of festivities and ovations. Before she left Strassburg she received a +visit from the Elector of Baden, whose grandson, the hereditary prince, +was, the next year, to marry Mademoiselle Stephanie de Beauharnais, in +spite of the opposition of his mother, the Margravine. M. Massias, charge +d'affaires of France at Baden, wrote to M. de Talleyrand, November 13: "My +Lord, His Most Serene Highness the Elector, has returned with his family +from Strassburg, where he was most kindly received by Her Majesty the +Empress and Queen. He invited her to honor Carlsruhe with her presence, +and to accept quarters in his castle when she should go to join His +Majesty the Emperor and King. Her Majesty the Empress seemed pleased with +the invitation and promised to accept it if circumstances should permit. +Before his departure, the Elector sent the Prince Electoral to the +Margravine his mother, to beg her to come to Strassburg to pay her +respects to Her Majesty the Empress. She replied that when the Empress of +Austria was at Frankfort and the Queen of Prussia at Darmstadt, she had +not left Carlsruhe to visit them, and that if the Empress of the French +should pass through that town, she should gladly pay her all the respect +and honor due her rank and character." + +Charles Frederick, Elector of Baden, was then seventy-seven years old. He +had lost his son, and his heir was his grandson, Charles Frederick Louis, +Prince Electoral, then twenty years old. The mother of this young Prince, +the Margravine of Baden, entertained no friendly feelings towards France; +and he was the brother-in-law of the Emperor of Russia, who had married +his sister, and was at war with Napoleon. His other sister, Frederica +Caroline, had married the Elector of Bavaria, and he was betrothed to the +step-daughter of this Electress, the young Princess Augusta. They were +said to be much attached to each other, but their plans of happiness were +destined to be sacrificed to Napoleon's imperious will, for he proposed to +arrange the matches of the German Princes as he did those of his own +brothers. The Electoral Prince of Baden and the old Elector, his +grandfather, far from complaining, only showed to the Emperor most +unbounded devotion. + +We may judge of their attitude and their respect by this despatch of M. +Massias, charge d'affaires at Carlsruhe, addressed to Talleyrand, under +date of November 23, 1805: "My Lord M. de Canisy reached here from +headquarters at four o'clock this morning, and asked me to inform His Most +Serene Highness the Elector that he had been sent by Her Majesty the +Empress, who meant to come to Carlsruhe within two or three days. I +promised to do this as soon as possible, and told him that great +preparations had been made to receive Her Majesty in a suitable manner. +The Elector, to whom I communicated this news at seven in the morning, +expressed the greatest satisfaction, and he has sent me word that in order +to carry out his desire to give Her Majesty a proper reception, he wishes +me to send a message to Strassburg to find out, 1, the exact day when she +will arrive; 2, the number of persons in her suite, and how many horses +she will need; 3, whether she desires to eat alone or with the principal +persons of her own and the Electoral court; 4, to ask to have at once sent +an official of the court to arrange the quarters and the ceremonies +according to the Empress's wishes. At Kehl, Her Majesty will find a +carriage and eight horses from the Elector's stables. Similar relays will +be placed as far as the frontiers of Wuertemberg. Her Majesty will be +escorted by the Electoral cavalry. She herself will determine the +etiquette to be observed at the court of Carlsruhe during her entire stay. + +"His Most Serene Highness, the Prince Electoral, will go as far as Rastadt +to meet Her Majesty. The Margrave Louis will meet her outside of Carlsruhe +at the head of his body-guard. Bells will be rung wherever Her Majesty +passes. The city will be brilliantly illuminated." + +November 28, at six in the evening, the Empress formally entered +Carlsruhe, which was amid a general illumination. At the Muehburger gate +stood an arch of triumph under which she passed. In front of the arch was +this inscription: _Pro Imperatrice Josephina_; on the other, _Votiva +lumina ardent_. At the entrance of the castle gate stood a little temple +bearing this inscription: _Salve_. In the middle of the garden was a +larger temple, in which was to be seen on a pedestal the Emperor's bust, +crowned with laurels and surrounded with palms. The inscription ran: +_Maximis triumphis sacrum_,--"Consecrated to the greatest triumphs." On +two pyramids was to be read this motto: "Love leads to glory." November +29, there was a grand reception and concert in her honor at the court, At +nine o'clock in the morning of the 30th, she left Carlsruhe for Stuttgart, +after an affectionate farewell to the Electoral family. + +At seven that evening she made a similar formal entrance into the capital +of Wuertemberg, passing under an arch of triumph bearing her name +surmounted by an Imperial crown. Soldiers lined the way from the gate to +the Elector's castle. The main street was decorated with Egyptian altars, +and was brilliantly illuminated, as was the castle also. The Elector, his +wife, a daughter of the King of England, and all the court received the +Empress at the castle door and escorted her to her rooms, where she +supped. The next day she sat on a platform at a state dinner in the white +hall. Afterwards the company went to the Opera House, where _Achilles_ was +given. After they had returned to the castle there were some fine +fireworks. These festivities continued until December 2, when _Romeo and +Juliet_ was given for the first time, and the 3d, at seven in the morning, +Josephine, after bidding the family farewell, pushed on towards Munich, +while the troops presented arms and cannon were fired. + +The Empress was not to stop between Stuttgart and Munich, but on her way +she saw many places that had just become famous in the war. As she drew +near them she looked at the plain where, a few days before, the enemy's +army had marched out before Napoleon and laid down its arms. From Augsburg +to Munich, everything made her journey most brilliant; arches of triumph, +bands of music so numerous that often their notes mingled with one +another, wreaths of leaves, successive guards of honor who joined her, +composed of the Royal Guard of Italy, at nearly every parting station. As +a letter in the _Moniteur_ says, "Enthusiasm succeeded to fear, the whirl +of festivities to the lamentation of battle; all that had been said of the +Empress's benevolence seemed still to make part of her suite, and it was +as if the Angel of Peace had come to visit these countries." + +The Empress reached Munich December 5, eight days after leaving +Strassburg. A salute of a hundred guns welcomed her. In almost every +street even houses were draped, windows adorned with transparent and +complimentary figures; the illuminations of private houses rivalled in +expense and splendor those of the public buildings. State carriages were +sent out to the city gates for the Empress and her suite, but Josephine +did not get into any of them; she kept on her travelling dress. This did +not mar the brilliancy of the entrance, which was conspicuous for +universal joy. December 7, she went to the theatre, where Mozart's _Don +Juan_ was given, and she was greeted with sound of trumpets and the +applause of the audience. + +The Empress had scarcely reached Munich before people began to talk about +an early marriage between her son, Eugene de Beauharnais, and the Princess +Augusta, the daughter of the Elector, but it was still merely a faint +rumor. The French minister, M. Otto, wrote December 16, 1805, the +following despatch on the subject to M. de Talleyrand: "My Lord,-- +Immediately after the arrival of Her Majesty the Empress, the rumor spread +that His Most Serene Highness Prince Eugene was likewise on his way to +Munich, there to conclude a marriage with Princess Augusta of Bavaria. The +rumor has taken such shape in the last few days that a foreign lady, who +has been most kindly received by the Electoral family, ventured to ask the +Elector if she might congratulate him on so desirable a marriage. This +Prince replied that he knew nothing about it; that his daughter was +promised to the Prince of Baden; that the two young people had the +strongest attachment for each other; and that only day before yesterday +the Electress had received from Baden a most affectionate letter on the +subject; and that he loved his daughter too much to wish to oppose her +inclinations. This is the first time that mention has been made at court +of a matter which the public supposed settled quite differently. The +Electress was present at this conversation, and corroborated everything +that was said concerning her brother's attachment to the Princess. This +anecdote, which comes to me straight from the castle, proves that the +Baden marriage is not broken, as has been said at Carlsruhe, unless the +Elector wished to conceal the truth from the lady who questioned him on +this subject. Inquisitive people have tried to make out the true state of +things by watching the conduct of Her Majesty the Empress and the persons +of her suite. The relations of the two courts are confined to politeness +on each side, to social attentions, in which Her Majesty exhibits all her +natural amiability, which wins every heart. Beyond that, there prevails +the greatest reserve." + +Maximilian Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, was born in 1756, and was then +fifty years old. He had lost his first wife, who had borne him one +daughter, the Princess Augusta Louisa, who was born in 1788. His second +wife, Caroline, a Princess of Baden, sister of the hereditary Prince of +Baden, to whom the Princess Augusta was betrothed, was then thirty years +old. Though not handsome, she was not devoid of charm, her figure was +good, her manners were amiable and dignified. The young Princess Augusta +was the ornament of the Munich court. She had all the freshness, +brilliancy, and charm of a young German girl of eighteen. As for the +Elector, he was an attractive, sympathetic man, who combined frank +joviality with tact, wit, and delicacy. He was tall; his face was noble +and regular. He liked the French, and they liked him; it was in France +that he had spent many years of his youth. As a younger prince of the +house of Deux Ponts he became Elector only by the extinction of the branch +of his family that reigned in Bavaria, In his early life he had no +fortune. In the reign of Louis XVI. he served in the French armies, +commanding the regiment of Alsace. At the court of Versailles, as in the +garrison at Strassburg, he had left behind him a reputation of good +manners and chivalrous gallantry. His soldiers, who adored him, called him +Prince Max. At that time he might have married a daughter of the Prince of +Conde, but his father and his uncle objected to this match, because, since +he was not rich, he would doubtless have been compelled to make some of +his daughters canonesses, and certain chapters would have been unwilling +to receive them on account of their illegitimate descent from Louis XIV. +and Madame de Montespan. He was fond of recalling the last years of the +old regime in France, and spoke most affectionately of that country, in +which he had been very happy. He was worshipped by his family, his +servants, and his subjects. There was never a kinder, more amiable prince. +Often he would stroll unaccompanied through the streets of Munich, going +to the markets, bargain over grain, enter the shops, talking to every one, +especially to the children, whom he urged to go to their schools. He was +at once familiar and full of dignity, and he was as much respected as +loved. There were many points of resemblance between his character and +that of the Empress Josephine, and they had a very strong sympathy for +each other. + +The Empress was ailing during a good part of her stay in Munich, and +whether for this reason or because Napoleon, who was always moving from +place to place, did not get his letters regularly, he was for some time +without news from his wife. He wrote to her from Brunn, December 10, 1805: +"It is a long time since I have heard from you. Have the grand festivities +of Baden, Stuttgart, and Munich made you forget the poor soldier who lives +covered with mud, rain, and blood? I am going to leave soon for Vienna. +They are trying to make peace. The Russians have left and are fleeing far +from here, going back to Russia badly beaten and sorely humiliated. I am +anxious to be with you once more. Good by, my dear; my eyes are well +again." + +Napoleon wrote again December 19, renewing his complaint: "Great Empress, +not a letter from you since I left Strassburg. You have passed through +Baden, Stuttgart, Munich, without writing us a word. That is not very kind +or very affectionate! I am still at Brunn. The Russians are gone; we have +a truce. In a few days I shall see what is to become of me. Deign from the +giddy height of your grandeur to interest yourself a little in your +slaves." + +From Schoenbrunn he wrote to Josephine, December 20, 1805 (29th Frimaire, +Year XIV.): "I have your letter of the 25th [Frimaire]. I am sorry to hear +that you are not well; that is not a good preparation for a journey of a +hundred leagues at this time of year. I don't know what I shall do; that +depends on what happens. I have no will of my own; I am waiting to see how +matters settle themselves. Stay at Munich, amuse yourself; that is not +hard, amid so many pleasant people, in such a charming country. I am +tolerably busy. In a few days I shall have made up my mind. Good by, my +dear." + +December 26, peace was signed at Pressburg between France and Austria. The +treaty gave to the Kingdom of Italy, Istria, Dalmatia, and Friuli; to the +Elector of Wuertemberg, the title of King and the Suabian territory; to the +Elector of Baden, the Breisgau, Ortenau, and the town of Constanz; to the +Elector of Bavaria, the title of King, the Vorarlburg, and the Tyrol. But +Napoleon had determined that these indemnifications should be paid for by +three marriages,--that of his step-son, Prince Eugene, with the daughter +of the King of Bavaria; that of a relative of his wife, Mademoiselle +Stephanie de Beauharnais, with the hereditary Prince of Baden; that of his +brother Jerome with the daughter of the King of Wuertemberg. + +Napoleon, accompanied by Murat, entered Munich beneath an arch of triumph, +December 31, 1805, at a quarter to two in the morning. This entrance in +the night, lit up by torches, was very impressive. The next day, January +1, 1806, a herald-at-arms, escorted by numerous horsemen, passed through +the different quarters of the city, and read the following proclamation, +after a flourish of drums and trumpets, while an immense crowd gathering +in every street and crossway loudly applauded: "By the grace of God, the +dignity of the sovereign of Bavaria having recovered its old-time +splendor, and this State having resumed the rank it formerly held for the +happiness of its subjects and the glory of the country, be it known that +His Most Serene Highness the powerful Prince and Lord Maximilian Joseph +is, by these presents, solemnly proclaimed King of Bavaria and of all the +countries on it dependent. Long live and happily Maximilian Joseph, our +very gracious King! Long live, and happily, Caroline, our very gracious +Queen!" That evening the whole city was full of joy, and the next day was +celebrated as a national festivity. + +Napoleon, having recaptured the twenty-nine cannon and the twenty-one +Bavarian flags that had fallen into the hands of the Austrians by the +chances of war and the occupation of the country, had decided to restore +to his faithful allies the trophies which they had valiantly defended and +whose loss they mourned. In the morning of January 2, all citizen soldiery +was under arms, lining the streets through which was to pass the +procession and their precious burden. The cannon were placed on carts +adorned with festoons and garlands, each cart was drawn by two horses +belonging to the citizens; the houses were also decorated with different +colored ribbons. All the young people in the city accompanied these carts. +The students of the Royal College of Cadets carried the flags. When the +procession reached the grand square, a large chorus, accompanied by a +large band, sang a song of thanksgiving and victory. The populace and the +soldiers mingled their cheers with this song. The procession then made its +way to the Church of Our Lady, where a _Te Deum_ was sung with great +solemnity. + +January 4, Napoleon wrote to Prince Eugene: "My Cousin,--Within twelve +hours at the most, after the receipt of this letter, you will start with +all speed for Munich. Try to get here as soon as possible, so that you may +be sure to see me. Leave your command in the hands of the general of +division whom you judge to be most capable and upright. You need not bring +a large suite. Start at once, and _incognito_, and so avoid both dangers +and delays. Send me a messenger to give me twenty-four hours' notice of +your arrival." The Emperor had decreed the marriage of his step-son with +Princess Augusta of Bavaria, but he had to go through certain formalities +to overcome the objections of the Queen of Bavaria, who wanted her +brother, the hereditary Prince of Baden, to marry the young Princess. Her +family pride and her inmost feelings revolted against the admission into +her family of a young man whom she looked on as an upstart. She sought for +pretexts and devices to delay, if not to prevent, this alliance. No one +would have dared to say at Munich that the Emperor's step-son was not +great enough to marry a king's daughter, but she found fictitious excuses: +it was said that the young Princess was ailing, and at another time that +she was suffering from a sprain. Napoleon, who sometimes played the +diplomatist, feigned to believe in these alleged ailments, and said that +he would send his own surgeon to heal her. He would gladly have returned +speedily to Paris, where he deemed that his presence was necessary, but +his Chamberlain, M. de Thiard, whom his previous negotiations had made +familiar with the secrets of the Bavarian court, advised him to stay in +Munich until the marriage was absolutely settled. "Very well," said the +Emperor; "but do you know that while I am here, your Faubourg Saint +Germain is making a run on my bank, and that my stay in Munich costs me +fifteen hundred thousand francs a day?" M. de Thiard insisted, and dared +to show Napoleon the Queen of Bavaria's ever-present recollection of the +Duke of Enghien, which was the secret cause of her aversion to the +projected alliance. But this opposition could hold out for only a few +hours; no one then dared to brave the Imperial wrath. The Queen, fearing +that Napoleon's surgeon would discover that the Princess's alleged +sufferings were only an excuse, yielded to the wishes of the hero of +Austerlitz. The marriage was announced even before the couple had met. +Everything was done in military fashion. Orders were issued that they +should love, and they loved. + +There is this to be said in behalf of Napoleon; that in the whole matter +he made no use of harsh words or rough manners. He appeared in an +attractive, not in a threatening light, and by dint of appearing smitten +with the Queen of Bavaria, even aroused Josephine's jealousy. + +Prince Eugene arrived, as commanded, January 10. He had the good fortune +to please; but even if he had not pleased it would have made no +difference. As soon as he reached Munich, after travelling day and night, +the Emperor took possession of him and never left him. The Empress was +still in bed when her son's arrival was announced. She was much moved, and +began to cry at the thought that his first visit was not to her. A moment +later, while she was still agitated, she saw the Emperor burst into her +room, holding the young Prince by the hand, and pushing him forward as he +exclaimed: "Here, Madame, is your great booby of a son whom I'm bringing +to you." Josephine burst into tears, and pressed her son to her heart. + +Eugene de Beauharnais, a French Prince, and Viceroy of Italy, was then +twenty-four years old. Mademoiselle Avrillon, reader to the Empress, thus +draws his portrait: "Prince Eugene's face, although in no way remarkable, +was rather well than ill favored; he was of medium height, well +proportioned, and stoutly made. He excelled in all sorts of corporeal +exercises, and was an accomplished dancer. Kind, frank, simple in his +manners, without haughtiness or reserve, he was courteous to every one; +and although he was not devoid of deep feelings, his most striking trait +was persistent good spirits. He was very fond of music, and sang very +well, especially Italian songs, which all his family preferred. As he was +young, he naturally paid many women attention, as I have often seen, but +he always treated them with great respect." Napoleon was very fond of him, +and looked upon him as his pupil, as his own child. He was delighted with +the way Eugene discharged his duties as Viceroy, and when he received his +despatches he exclaimed in the presence of several marshals, "I knew very +well to whom I had entrusted my sword in Italy." He often gratified +Josephine by saying, "Eugene may serve as a model to all the young men of +his age." + +The young Prince showed great tact and intelligence in his first meetings +with his future wife. He sought every means of pleasing her, paid her +assiduous court, as if their marriage was still undetermined. He was able +to overcome the Princess's prejudices, for she had given her consent only +at the last moment, as a victim sacrificed for reasons of state. Her +father, the King, dreading the excitement of an interview, had written to +her a letter, in which he set out all the advantages of the match desired +by the Emperor, vaunted the good qualities of the young and dashing +Viceroy of Italy, an to prove that it was a brilliant match, revealed to +her what was then unknown, that at Pressburg the Austrian Minister had +offered to Napoleon for his step-son the hand of one of their +Archduchesses. "Consider, dear Augusta, that a refusal would make the +Emperor as much the enemy as he has been hitherto the friend of our +house." And he ended his letter with a last appeal to his daughter's +patriotic devotion. The young Princess replied by writing: "I place my +fate in your hands; however cruel it may be, it will be softened by the +knowledge that I am sacrificed for my father, my family, and my country. +On her knees your daughter prays for your blessing; it will aid me to bear +my sad lot with resignation." The girl's unhappiness soon gave way to joy. +The Empress had spoken to her most warmly of Eugene's qualities, his +bravery, loyalty, and gallantry, and the Princess found out that Josephine +was right. She forgot her cousin, the Prince of Baden, fell +instantaneously in love with Eugene, and this marriage for reasons of +state turned out to be a love match. It was celebrated with great pomp in +the Royal Chapel, January 14, four days after the bridegroom's arrival at +Munich. The Emperor adopted Prince Eugene, and gave in the marriage +contract the name of Napoleon Eugene of France. This adoption wrought a +great change in their correspondence; previously the Emperor when he wrote +to the Viceroy addressed him as, "My Cousin"; henceforth he always wrote, +"My Son." Madame Murat, who was then at Munich, was pained to see that the +new Vice-Queen, as wife of the Emperor's adopted son, took precedence of +her at all ceremonies, and she feigned an illness to avoid what seemed to +her an affront. + +On her wedding day the Princess charmed every one by her grace. She was +tall, well shaped, with the figure of a nymph, and a face in which +sweetness was blended with dignity. Moreover, she was very well educated, +was pious and modest, and the possessor of all the family virtues. In +short, she was a model wife and mother. She wrote to the Emperor a letter +of thanks that touched him. He answered it, January 27: "My Daughter,-- +Your letter is as amiable as you are yourself. My feelings for you will +only grow from day to day; this I know from my pleasure in recalling your +fine qualities, and from the need I feel for your frequent assurance that +you are satisfied with every one and happy with your husband. Amid all I +have to do, nothing will be dearer to me than the chance to assure my +children's happiness. Be sure, Augusta, that I love you like a father, and +that I count on a daughter's affection for me. Travel slowly, and be +careful in the new climate when you get there, and take plenty of rest." + +January 21, Prince Eugene left Munich with his young wife for Milan. The +next day M. Otto, the French Minister, wrote to M. de Talleyrand: "His +Imperial Highness Prince Eugene left yesterday morning with his young +wife. The King escorted them to their carriage with every indication of +affection. It was noticed that in taking leave of the Prince he embraced +him several times. The separation cost the Princess some tears. Their +departure was announced by firing a hundred guns. The best wishes of all +good Bavarians accompanied the pair. The stay of the French court at +Munich has left the deepest and most lasting impression. The Emperor's +greatness and power were known, but the effect of his extreme kindness and +magnificence had to be seen at a closer view to be appreciated. I feel +able to assure His Majesty that the Bavarian nation will always be his +faithful and devoted allies. So many happy memories are attached to this +period of our history that His Majesty can flatter himself that he has +accomplished the most difficult of all conquests,--that of the love of the +people who have witnessed his successes." + +While the Viceroy and Vice-Queen of Italy were proceeding towards Milan, +the Emperor and the Empress were on their way to France, stopping at +Stuttgart and Carlsruhe, where they were warmly greeted. January 20, 1806, +they found an arch of triumph built on a Roman model at Entzberg, in +Baden. It bore this inscription: _Imperatori Napoleoni triumphatori +augusto_. The bas-relief represented the capture of Ulm and the delivery +of the keys of Vienna. Columns and obelisks had been erected at Carlsruhe +with these inscriptions: _Hostium victori.--Patriam servavit.--Pacem +restituit_. In front of the castle had been built a temple of Peace. At +the French frontier stood an arch of triumph with this inscription: _Heroi +reduci Galliae plaudunt_,--"Gaul applauds the returning hero." The bas- +reliefs represented the battle of Austerlitz and the interview between the +two Emperors. In the night of January 26, Napoleon and Josephine were back +at the Tuileries. Prince Eugene's marriage put a happy ending to the +campaign just finished. To create a king and to give to his step-son the +hand of this king's daughter was a stroke of imagination on Napoleon's +part that did honor to his omnipotence. The accounts of the triumphal +festivities in Munich, Stuttgart, and Carlsruhe followed close upon the +bulletins announcing the victories of the Grand Army, and produced a great +impression in both Germany and France. + + + + +XVII. + +PARIS IN THE BEGINNING OF 1806. + + +Napoleon arranged his return with the utmost skill. His prolonged stay at +Munich kept alive the impatience of the Parisians for his return, and +meanwhile there was a constant stream of flattery and enthusiasm. January +1, 1806, had just put an end to the Republican calendar, which had existed +for thirteen years, three months, and a few days. The Year XIV. found +itself suddenly interrupted by the return to the Gregorian calendar. Thus +vanished the last trace of the Republic. The same day the new year was +inaugurated with a patriotic ceremony. The Tribune carried with great +solemnity to the Senate the forty-four Russian and Austrian flags which +the hero of Austerlitz had entrusted to its care. All the houses in the +streets through which the procession was to pass were decorated. In front +of many of them were to be seen the Emperor's bust crowned with laurels. +The ever lyrical _Moniteur_ said: "At the sight of these noble spoils, +these startling proofs of the heroism of the French army, all hearts +seemed to meet in a common feeling of admiration and gratitude which was +but faintly expressed by the shouts issuing from the crowd and from every +window, of 'Long live the Emperor!' 'Hurrah for the Grand Army!' 'Victory, +victory!' 'Long live the Emperor!' It was in this way that the people of +Paris, of all classes, of both sexes, of all ages, manifested in the most +vivid and unanimous way their devotion and gratitude to His Majesty and +his victorious armies." + +One Tribune, M. Joubert, exclaimed: "Is not Napoleon the man of history, +the man of all ages? May we not say that there is something supernatural +in him, since it is true that God disposes of the fate of empires, and +that Napoleon the Great gladly submits everything to Providence and +ascribes everything to religion?" In their official enthusiasm the +Tribunes, as accomplished courtiers, made one motion after another. One +proposed that the Emperor on his return should receive triumphal honors, +like those of ancient Rome, and the city of Paris should go to meet him. +Another suggested that the sword which he wore at the battle of Austerlitz +should be solemnly consecrated and placed in some public monument. Another +expressed a desire that on one of the principal places in the city a +column should be set up, bearing the Emperor's statue, with this +inscription: "To Napoleon the Great, the grateful country." The Senate, +with similar zeal, hastened to carry out the plan by a decree. + +The Parisians, who always worship success of monarches, generals, or +artists, then felt the wildest admiration for the victorious Napoleon. The +_Moniteur_ was full of dithyrambic eulogies, in prose and verse. Flattery +appeared as it had never appeared before. Bishops became conspicuous for +their ardent praise; some phrases from their charges may be quoted. Thus +the Bishop of Versailles said: "God says: 'No one shall resist him, whom I +have clothed with a special mission to re-establish my worship, to lead my +chosen people; no one will resist him because I am with him, and he is +with me. _Dem cum eo_.'" + +The Bishop of Bayonne; "Behold our enemies ones more defeated. Let +incredulity be silent and the atheist confounded. Our annals will be the +story of the wonders of Providence... Widows, cease to bemoan the loss of +a loved husband; you are not left alone; you belong to the country. +Orphans, you have found another father; Napoleon has adopted you." + +The Bishop of Rennes: "Did not those kings know, or did they forget in +their delirium, that the French nation is now the first nation in the +world? Did they not know that the man who governs it is the most +astounding man in the world, and the greatest warrior history has ever +known?" + +The Bishop of Coutances: "The Almighty wishes Napoleon to attain this new +glory and hence impresses upon him a sort of divine character. He wishes +him to attain it on the day and at the same hour that the Sovereign +Pontiff, one year ago, poured on his brow the holy oil." + +The Bishop of Montpellier: "Let the earth be shaken, and the mountains +cast into the bosom of the seas; our God blesses the views, the wisdom, +the talents, and the courage of our august monarch." + +The Emperor, in dividing the flags which he had captured from Russia and +Austria, had given fifty-four to the Senate, eight to the Tribunes, eight +to the city of Paris, and fifty to the church of Notre Dame, which he +wished to adorn with his trophies as the Marshal of Luxembourg had done in +the reign of Louis XIV. The day when these fifty flags were given to the +Cathedral the Cardinal Archbishop of France said, "O Posterity, when you +read our history you will imagine that you are reading anew the fall of +the walls of Jericho, and listening to the miraculous deeds of Joshua, +David, and Judas Maccabaeus. _Benedictus Dominus qui facit mirabilia +solus_.... God of Marengo, you declare yourself the God of Austerlitz; and +the German eagle, the Russian eagle, abandoned by you, became the prey of +the French eagle, which you never cease to protect." A singular piece of +flattery this, to call the Creator of the universe--of which this earth is +not a millionth part--the God of a village, because near this village a +man has wrought the death of many other men! + +Paris seemed to have recovered its ardor of the first days of the +Revolution in order to salute the triumphant hero. The day of his arrival, +January 27, 1806, the managers of the bank, anxious that his presence +should be the signal for public prosperity, ordered the resumption of +specie payments. The Opera celebrated his return and that of the Empress +by a grand performance which took place February 4. The bills announced +the _Pretendus_ and a divertisement, The public knew that this +divertisement was to be a sort of apotheosis in honor of the Imperial +glories. The house was crowded, and the passages themselves were crammed +by the enthusiastic crowd. During the second act of the _Pretendus_ there +was great excitement over the arrival of Napoleon and Josephine. Applause +resounded from every side. Ladies distributed laurel branches, which all +the spectators waved, shouting, "Long live the Emperor!" Musicians played +the chorus of the _Caravan_. Meanwhile, the scenery of the _Pretendus_ +disappeared, and applause began over the magnificent decorations that took +its place. It was a semicircular enclosure with trophies forming a +colonnade showing the course of the Seine from the Pont Neuf to the +western limit of Paris, showing the Louvre, which Napoleon had promised to +complete, the Pont des Arts, the Palais de la Monnaie, the Tuileries, and +in the misty distance the Champs Elysees overlooking this fine view. The +interior of the enclosure was adorned with garlands and crowded with +people, awaiting the return of the Grand Army. This appeared with a +military march: the sappers in front with their axes and white aprons; the +grenadiers of the Guard with their high fur caps; the artillerymen with +their black caps; the dragoons with their double armor; the Mamelukes with +their scimetars. Then came the Bavarians, worthy comrades of Napoleon's +soldiers. The people applauded their defenders. Pupils of the military +schools sprang into the ranks to welcome their fathers, while old men +embraced their children. A general chorus was heard. Then a warrior came +to the front of the stage and celebrated in a hymn the marvels of the +campaign of Austerlitz. This was followed by a ballet of foreign nations, +in which joined French peasants and girls in the dress of their provinces, +from Caux and Alsace, Provence, Bearn, Auvergne, and the Alps. After the +dances came songs,--the words by Esmenard, author of the _Navigation_, the +music by Stobelt. The marches, evolutions, and ballet were arranged by +Gardel. The principal stanzas were sung by the most distinguished artists, +Lainez, Lais, Madame Armand, Madame Branchu. When it was all over, the +Emperor and the Empress withdrew amid applause, and there was sung the +_Vivat_ of Abbe Rose which had made such a success at Notre Dame on +Coronation Day, and was as warmly applauded at the Opera as it had been in +the Cathedral. + + + + +XVIII. + +THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF BADEN. + + +If anything is capable of proving the admiration, terror, and fascination +that the hero of Austerlitz exercised over Europe, and especially over +Germany, in 1806, it is certainly the marriage of the hereditary Prince of +Baden with Mademoiselle Stephanie de Beauharnais. It was a curious sight! +A Prince belonging to one of the oldest and most illustrious families in +the world, whose three sisters had married, one, the Emperor of Russia; +another, the King of Sweden; the third, the King of Bavaria; a Prince who +might have allied himself with the oldest reigning houses had come to +regard as an honor a marriage with, the plain daughter of a French +senator,--a girl not united by any ties of blood with Napoleon, but only +by adoption; that is to say, by a whim. One might have supposed that the +Empire of the new Charlemagne was centuries old, and the German Princes +bowed before it like devoted vassals before their suzerain. What a vast +power he had attained, and how easily he could have kept it, if he had +limited his ambition, and put bounds to his power, and had not asked of +docile Germany more than it could give him! + +The marriage of Mademoiselle Stephanie de Beauharnais with the hereditary +Prince of Baden was at first warmly opposed by the Margravine, this +Prince's mother. M. Massias, French charge d'affaires at Baden, had +written on this matter to M. de Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, +January 6, 1806: "My Lord,--For some days there has been a rumor quietly +circulating among the principal persons of the court of Carlsruhe that the +object of M. de Thiard's last journey was to arrange the marriage of the +Electoral Prince of Baden with the daughter of Senator Beauharnais. Last +evening arrived a messenger from the Electress of Bavaria for the +Margravine, the mother of this Prince. I have learned by chance the +contents of this missive to his mother. She says substantially that she +has had a talk of more than an hour with the Emperor Napoleon; that His +Majesty promised that the marriage of the Electoral Prince of Baden with +Mademoiselle Beauharnais should never take place without the consent of +the Margravine; and in case of her refusal of this consent, he would only +reserve to himself the right of being consulted on the choice of the wife +to be given to this young Prince.... The Electoral Prince called on his +mother after she had received this despatch, and was with her alone for +two hours; he came away in great dejection. When he got to his +grandfather's, he exclaimed, involuntarily, 'That woman is lost; she wants +to ruin herself!'" + +The charge d'affaires ended his letter with this sketch of the Margravine: +"I have known the Margravine for six years, and I think I can say that if +she judges the match in question opposed to the pride inspired by the +first ideas of her education, no persuasion can move her. She possesses to +a very marked degree the confident obstinacy of feeble and timid spirits. +She does not dare to dismiss an incompetent footman; and when she has once +made up her mind, which is only possible in matters about which her +opinions are rigidly formed, neither force nor persuasion can modify her. +That is my reading of her character, and I think it the true one." + +The more the Margravine opposed this match which the Emperor had +suggested, the more the young Prince of Baden and his grandfather, the +Elector, desired it. M. Massias wrote again to M. de Talleyrand, January +9, 1806: "His Most Serene Highness, the Prince Electoral of Baden, is to +leave tomorrow for Ulm and Augsburg, to invite, in his grandfather's name, +His Majesty the Emperor and King to honor Carlsruhe with his presence, and +to stay at the castle on his way back to France. But, he tells me himself, +the main object of his journey is to convince His Majesty that the +marriage of which I had the honor to speak to Your Excellency in my last +letter, is far from opposing his desires; and he hopes to dissipate +without difficulty the doubts which it has been sought to raise regarding +this in the mind of His Majesty, for whom he always manifested a profound +devotion and a sincere attachment." + +What was the origin of this young girl whose hand was thus sought by the +hereditary Prince of Baden? The Marquis of Beauharnais, the father of the +Viscount of Beauharnais, the first husband of the Empress Josephine, had a +brother, Count Claude de Beauharnais, who was a commodore, and married +Mademoiselle Fanny Mouchard. Countess Fanny, a friend of Dorat and +Cubieres, took much interest in literature and wrote many novels. She was +a blue-stocking, and it was about her that Lebrun wrote the malicious +epigram:-- + + "Egle, fair and a poetess, has then two slight faults: + She makes her face and does not make her verses." + +By her marriage with Count Claude de Beauharnais, the Countess Fanny (born +in 1738, died in 1813) had one son, named Claude after his father, who +married the daughter of the Count of Lezay-Marnesia. They had a daughter, +Stephanie de Beauharnais, born August 28, 1789, who was adopted by +Napoleon, married the hereditary Prince of Baden, became the grandduchess +of this country, and died in 1860, much loved by her family and the people +of Baden. Her father, Claude de Beauharnais, was a senator in the Empire, +a peer of France at the Restoration, and died in 1819. + +During the childhood of Mademoiselle Stephanie de Beauharnais no one would +have predicted the lofty destiny that awaited her. Her father, having lost +his wife, entrusted her to a pious old aunt, who lived at Montauban, and +there she remained in obscurity until it occurred to her uncle, M. de +Lezay-Marnesia, to take her to Paris, and present her to the wife of the +First Consul. Josephine, her cousin once removed, thought her pretty and +bright, became very fond of her, and sent her to finish her education at +Madame Campan's boarding-school at Saint Germain. Madame Campan wrote to +Madame Louis about her young pupil as follows: "I am certainly surprised +at the way Mademoiselle Stephanie has turned out since she returned from +Saint Leu. She may become a very charming woman, but not if she stays at +Saint Cloud. Royal palaces have never been good schools; pleasures, the +taste for excitement and flattery, corrupt not merely those who are young, +but even those who go there already matured, unless they are protected by +the highest principles. If you have the power, do try to let me keep +Stephanie until she marries; you will thereby render her a great service, +and to me, too; for the result will condemn me in the eyes of the Emperor, +who will say, with a sharp glance, 'That's very bad'; and will not have +time to ascertain the real reason. I can assure you that in a year she +will be very charming, if I can only keep my hand on her." + +In the letter Madame Campan thus describes her pupil's character: "It is a +curious compound of ease at learning, self-love, emulation, idleness, +amiability, clear-mindedness, levity, haughtiness, and piety. There are a +good many qualities to dispose of, and on this proper arrangement depends +her happiness or unhappiness, and my success or failure." In personal +appearance Mademoiselle de Beauharnais was very charming; she had a good +figure, an expressive countenance, a brilliant complexion, bright blue +eyes, light hair, and an agreeable voice. Moreover, her manners were good, +she had keen mother wit, much gaiety and enthusiasm, and was, in short, a +very attractive young person. + +The Emperor had a sort of infatuation for her, and treated her with +exceptional kindness that did not fail to excite comment. Although her +father was still living, he decided to adopt her, and this was thought a +singular thing to do. The young Stephanie became an Imperial Highness and +took precedence of the Emperor's sisters, while her father was merely one +of the herd of senators. In the decree of March 3, 1806, it was said: "Our +intention being that our daughter the Princess Stephanie Napoleon, shall +enjoy all the prerogatives due to her rank; at receptions, festivities, +and at table she shall sit at our side, and in our absence she shall take +her place at the right of Her Majesty the Empress." Josephine possibly +thought that her young relative was a little too well treated by the +Emperor, and that his feelings for her were not wholly paternal. Evil +tongues asserted that Napoleon was in love with his adopted daughter, but +in spite of those malicious insinuations, no serious charge can be brought +against her innocence. Her betrothed, the Prince of Baden, was madly in +love with her, and showed by his conduct that it was he who was making a +fine marriage. Mademoiselle de Beauharnais from the moment that she +assumed the name of Napoleon imagined that nothing was too good for her. +It was only by condescension that she married the son of an elector, for +she was never tired of saying, to her adopted father's great delight, that +an emperor's daughter could marry either a king or a king's son. + +The marriage was celebrated with great pomp in the chapel of the Palace of +the Tuileries, April 8, 1806, at eight in the evening. The witnesses for +the bridegroom were the Crown Prince of Bavaria, Baron de Gueusau, and M. +de Dalberg; those of the bride were M. de Talleyrand, M. de Champagny, and +M. de Segur. The procession went from the grand apartments to the chapel +in the following order: the Empress, preceded by the officers of the +Princesses, accompanied by the Prince of Baden, the Princesses, and the +Crown Prince of Bavaria, and followed by the ladies of her household and +of those of the Princesses; the Emperor, conducting the bride, and +preceded by the officers of the Princes, his own officers, the Grand +Dignitaries of the Empire, the Ministers, the High Officers of the Crown, +and followed by the colonel-general of the guard on duty. At the chapel +door the clergy received Napoleon and Josephine beneath a canopy, and they +took their places on two small thrones in front of the altar, while the +Prince of Baden and the bride took their places on two stools at the foot +of its steps. The ceremony began with the blessing of thirteen pieces of +gold which the Cardinal Caprara, Legate _a latere_, gave to the Prince of +Baden, who presented them to his bride. The Cardinal gave them the nuptial +blessing. Meanwhile Monsignor Charier-Lavoche, Bishop of Versailles, the +Emperor's First Almoner, and Monsignor de Broglie, Bishop of Acqui, his +Almoner in Ordinary, were holding a canopy of silver brocade over the head +of the kneeling Prince and Princess. These two prelates wore a camail and +rochet. Cardinal Caprara and his assistant, Monsignor de Rohan, the +Empress's Almoner, wore the golden cape. + +During the ceremony, which lasted about an hour, the front of the +Tuileries and the garden were illuminated. At nine o'clock there were +fireworks on the Place de la Concorde, which the Emperor and Empress +watched from the balcony of the Hall of the Marshals. As they appeared on +the balcony with the young people, they were greeted with warm applause +from the dense crowd in the garden. The Empress, who was clad in a dress +embroidered with gold, wore on her head, besides the Imperial crown, a +million francs' worth of pearls. Princess Stephanie was charming in her +white tulle dress, with silver stars, trimmed with orange flowers, and her +diamond frontlet. After the fireworks came a concert and ballet in the +Hall of the Marshals. But little attention was paid to the concert, +although silence prevailed; the ballet, which was rendered by the best +dancers from the Opera, was very successful. Then the company went to the +Gallery of Diana, where tables had been set for two hundred ladies, and a +magnificent supper was served. The grace and distinction of the bride +aroused general admiration. Her father, Senator Beauharnais, kept silence +and wept for joy. + +Never had the court been more dazzling with its glittering uniforms, +gorgeous dresses, and sumptuous pomp. The Emperor in his gala dress, the +Empress in her Imperial splendor, the Princesses vying in luxury, the new +Queen of Naples staggering under her load of precious stones, the Princess +Louis covered with turquoises set in diamonds. Princess Caroline Murat +decked with a thousand rubies, Princess Pauline with all the Borghese +diamonds besides her own, the ambassadors, grand dignitaries, marshals, +generals, with their coats covered with gold and decorations, the +chamberlains in red, the master of ceremonies in violet, the masters of +the hounds in green, the equerries in blue, all the ladies in dresses with +long trains; the two fashionable women, Madame Maret and Madame Savary, +who each spent fifty thousand francs a year in dress; Madame de Canisy, +tall, black-haired, bright-eyed, with her aquiline nose and her impressive +air; Madame Lannes, with her gentle face like one of Raphael's Madonnas; +Madame Duchatel, fair, with blue eyes; and that proud duchess of the +Faubourg Saint Germain, a lady of the palace in spite of herself, the +Duchess of Chevreuse, who, if not the most beautiful woman there, had +perhaps the grandest air. It was a most animated festivity, with its +flowers, lights, and splendor. The Hall of the Marshals was radiant with +its military portraits, its chandeliers, and air of triumph.... Now +consider the ruins of this palace of Caesar, this Olympus of Jupiter, this +sanctuary of glory, majesty, and dominion. See and reflect! Nothing is +left of all that pomp and grandeur! The proudest buildings have vanished! +Such is the end of human splendor! + + + + +XIX. + +THE NEW QUEEN OF HOLLAND. + + +At the beginning of 1804, Napoleon regarded himself the absolute master of +fortune. His twofold title of Emperor of the French and King of Italy no +longer sufficed him; he yearned for that of Emperor of the West. He +created kings, grand dukes, sovereign princes. He made his brother Joseph +King of the Two Sicilies; his brother-in-law Murat Grand Duke of Berg and +Cleves; his sister Pauline Princess of Guastalla; he conferred the +principality of Massa upon his sister Elisa, who was already in possession +of the Duchy of Lucca; his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Talleyrand, became +Prince of Benevento; his Major-General, Berthier, Prince of Neufchatel; +and his brother Joseph's brother-in-law, Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte +Corvo. He also elevated members of his wife's family as well as of his own +to high positions. Josephine's son was Viceroy and son-in-law of a king. +Josephine's daughter was about to become a queen. + +France, which, fourteen years before, had wanted to convert every monarchy +into a republic, was now endeavoring to turn the oldest republics into +monarchies. The illustrious republics of Genoa and Venice had become an +integral part, the one of the French Empire, the other of the Kingdom of +Italy. The Batavian Republic was about to be transformed into the Kingdom +of Holland. When it became known in Paris that this new kingdom was to be +created by the Emperor's will, people wondered who was to fill the throne; +some were betting on Louis Bonaparte; others on his brother Jerome; still +others on Murat. The Emperor, however, had settled the question, and +without even consulting him, had decided that Louis was to be King of +Holland. + +This new monarch, who was born September 2, 1778, was then twenty-seven +years old. Four years before he had married Josephine's daughter, Hortense +de Beauharnais, but the marriage had been an unhappy one. As he himself +wrote, his marriage was celebrated in sadness. The author of a very +remarkable study, _Holland and King Louis_, M. Albert Reville, says with +great truth: "Like Hortense, Louis had literary tastes; but there the +resemblance ceases. It was not that there was nothing romantic in +Hortense's character; she was among the first to become interested in the +Middle Ages, the Gothic revival, the imitation of the troubadours; but her +romanticism was wholly different from that of her husband. Her ideal was, +perhaps, a young and handsome soldier, pensive when away from the lady of +his thoughts, but not when in her company." M. Reville goes on: "Such a +character could not understand the sensitiveness, the shrinking, morbid +melancholy of the husband thrust upon her. Her gaiety, her devotion to +pleasure, the frivolity of her talk, could only pain more and more a man +of a gloomy temperament, who took the greatest care of his health, who +fretted himself over the most trivial details, and whose distrust amounted +to injustice." + +Hortense was expansive, merry, ardent, enthusiastic, young in heart and +mind, a thoroughly open nature. Her husband, on the other hand, was of a +morose, sombre, melancholy, reserved nature. In spite of her superior +intelligence Hortense had a sort of childlike air; but Louis, though young +in years, had the character and appearance of an old man. As much as +Hortense loved liberty, her suspicious husband wished to hold firmly the +reins of conjugal authority. He was prematurely afflicted with various +infirmities, almost always morbidly nervous and impressionable, disposed +to take a dark view of everything, and bore no resemblance to the type of +hero which Hortense had imagined. Moreover, the unhappy husband endured a +hidden anguish which he had to conceal from every one and which tortured +his heart; he imagined that his rival with his wife was his own brother, +Napoleon. Thiers says in discussing this delicate subject: "Louis, ill, +puffed-up with pride, assuming virtue and really upright, pretended that +he was sacrificed to the infamous necessity of covering, by his marriage, +the weakness of Hortense de Beauharnais for Napoleon,--an odious calumny, +invented by the emigres, spread abroad in a thousand pamphlets, about +which Louis did wrong to betray such anxiety that he seemed to believe it +himself." + +In a word, there existed between husband and wife a real incompatibility +of temper, and the constraint of their position only added to the mutual +repulsion which they felt for each other in private, though they did not +dare confess it through fear of Napoleon's reproaches. They were married +January 4, 1802, and had a son born the next October, whom their enemies +asserted was the son of the Emperor, and the greater the interest and +affection the Emperor showed to this child, the more freely were calumnies +circulated. Louis Bonaparte imagined his honor tainted, and suffered +tortures. + +As for Hortense, she was unhappy, but she had consolations. Her mother's +love, the society of her old schoolmates, her interest in art, worldly +successes, the distractions of Paris life, made her forget some of her +domestic troubles. The thought of leaving that congenial spot to live +alone with her husband in the cold dampness of Holland filled her with +gloom. She did not care for a throne, for she felt that a royal palace +would be for her nothing but a prison. + +Louis, too, seemed devoid of ambition for the crown that was held before +him. Annoyed at not being consulted in the negotiations on which depended +his call to the throne, he maintained a passive attitude. But as he was +accustomed to comply with every wish of a brother who had taken charge of +his education, and thereby acquired special authority over him, he +invariably obeyed his orders. The Batavian deputation, of which the most +important member was Admiral Verhuel, had just arrived in Paris, and with +it the Emperor was settling the fate of Holland. Baron Ducasse, in an +interesting paper In the _Revue Historique_ for February, 1880, has +recounted all the unfortunate Louis Bonaparte's attempts to escape having +royalty forced upon him. He gave as a pretext, for his reluctance, the +rights of the old Stadtholder. The Batavian deputation in reply announced +to him the death of that official, "The hereditary Prince," they said, +"has received in compensation Fulda; hence you can have no reasonable +objection. We come, in accordance with the votes of nine-tenths of the +nation, to beg of you to ally your fate with ours, and to prevent our +falling into other hands." Napoleon used even plainer language. He +declared to his brother without beating the bush that he had accepted for +him, and that, even if he had not consulted him, a subject could not +refuse obedience. + +A few days later, Talleyrand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, went to +Saint Cloud and read to Louis and Hortense the treaty with Holland, and +the constitution of that country. It was of no use for the King to say +that he could not judge such important documents from a simple reading, he +was not granted a moment's reflection. In vain he pleaded his health, +which could not fail to suffer from the damp climate of Holland. Napoleon +was inflexible, and said, "It is better to die on a throne than to live a +French Prince." There was nothing for him to do but to give his consent. + +The new King's proclamation was delivered at the Palace of the Tuileries +in the Throne Room, June 5, 1806. Early in the same day, the Emperor had +formally received Mahib Effendi, Ambassador of the Sultan Selim. The +Oriental diplomatist had greeted him as "the first and greatest of +Christian monarchs, the bright star of glory of the western nations, the +one who held in a firm hand the sword of valor and the sceptre of +justice." Napoleon had replied: "Whatever good or bad fortune may befall +the Ottomans will be fortunate or unfortunate for France. Report, I beg of +you, my words to the Sultan Selim. Bid him never to forget that my +enemies, who are also his, would like to get at him. He has nothing to +fear from me; united with me, he need not fear the power of any of his +enemies." When the audience was over, the Ambassador made three deep bows +and withdrew, but stopped in the next room, where the presents of the +Grand Porte were set out on a table; they consisted of an aigret of +diamonds, and a costly box set with gems and adorned with the monogram of +the Sultan. Mahib Effendi, after offering the presents to the Emperor, +showed him those sent to the Empress. They were a pearl necklace, +perfumes, and Oriental stuffs. Napoleon examined them, and then went to +the window to see some superbly harnessed Arabian horses, presented to him +in the name of the Sultan. + +The proclamation of the King of Holland was read a few moments later. +Admiral Verhuel took the floor and began to speak of the happiness assured +to his country when it should have made fast the ties that bound it to the +"immense and immortal Empire." The Emperor said to the Dutch +representatives: "France has been so generous as to renounce all the +rights over you which were given it by the events of the war, but I cannot +confide the fortresses that guard my northern frontiers to any unfaithful +or even uncertain hands. Representatives of the Batavian people, I grant +the prayer you present to me, and proclaim Prince Louis King of Holland." +Then turning to his brother, he said: "You, Prince, reign over this +people; their fathers acquired their independence only by the constant aid +of France. Since then Holland was the ally of England; it was conquered; +and still owes its existence to us. She will owe to us the kings who +protect its laws, its liberties, its religion! But do not ever cease to be +a Frenchman. The dignity of Constable of the Empire will ever belong to +you and to your descendants; it will define for you your duties towards me +and the importance I attach to the guard of the fortresses protecting the +north of my states, which I confide to you. Prince, maintain among your +troops that spirit which I have seen in them on the field of battle. +Encourage in your new subjects the feelings of union and love which they +ought always to have for France. Be the terror of evil-doers and the +father of the upright; that is the character of a great king." + +The vassalage of the new monarch was thus definitely established; he +remained Constable of the Empire; he was ordered to be French and not +Dutch. His first duties were to the Emperor, his brother and suzerain. He +respectfully approached the throne, and said with evident emotion: "Sire, +I have made it my highest ambition to sacrifice my life to Your Majesty's +service. I have made my happiness consist in admiring all those qualities +which make you so dear to those who, like me, have so often witnessed the +power and the effects of your genius; I may then be permitted to express +my regrets in leaving, but my life and my wishes belong to you. I shall go +to reign over Holland, since that nation desires it and Your Majesty +commands it. I shall be proud to reign over it; but, however glorious may +be the career thus opened to me, the assurance of Your Majesty's constant +protection, the love and patriotism of my new subjects, can alone inspire +me with the hope of healing the wounds of the many wars and events that +have crowded into a few years." After the royal speech the usher threw +open the door, and as in the time of Louis XIV., at the acceptation of the +Spanish accession, the new King was announced to the assembled crowd. + +As M. Albert Reville says, no one in France regretted the Batavian +Republic when it was stricken from the roll of history by the will of a +despot; or, rather, the Parisians, in their occasionally exaggerated +infatuation, fancied that the Dutch would be overjoyed to have a French +court. + +The next day, after breakfast, the Emperor was playing with the new King's +oldest son, the little Napoleon, who was only three years and a half old, +but was very bright for his age, and already knew by heart La Fontaine's +fables. The Emperor made him recite the fable about the frogs who wanted a +king, and listened to it, laughing loudly. He pinched the Queen's ear, and +asked her, "What do you say to that, Hortense?" The allusions to the poor +king and to his poor people were only too clear. The melancholy monarch, +or rather, the crowned monarch, was to be, according to the Emperor's +plan, a mere tool in the hands of his powerful brother. He was condemned +to discharge the functions of receiver of dues and of recruiting officer +in the Emperor's service. He had a presentiment of this degraded position, +and took his departure with much anxiety. + +For Hortense, leaving was sadder. No exile ever turned towards foreign +parts with heavier sorrow. Her diadem was a crown of thorns. Her mother's +grief augmented her own. Without her children, Josephine, naturally +unambitious, found no consolation in the thought that her son was a +Viceroy, her daughter a Queen. Before she left Paris Hortense, in terror +before the thought that the Emperor would no longer be near to defend her, +told her all her domestic unhappiness, and said that if her husband +treated her too ill, she would abandon her throne for a convent. + +Nevertheless she had to obey. June 15, 1806, Louis started from Saint Leu +to go to his kingdom. He was accompanied by his wife and his two sons, the +elder, Charles Napoleon, who died in Holland the 5th of the next May, and +the other, Louis Napoleon, who died at Forte, in 1831, in the insurrection +of the States of the Church against the Pope. His third son, later +Napoleon III., was born in 1808. The new King entered The Hague June 23, +1806. He countermanded a body of French troops which the Emperor had +designed for his escort at his entrance into the capital, being unwilling +to appear before his subjects as a sovereign imposed upon them by actual +force. "You may be sure," he said to them, "that from the moment I set +foot on the soil of this kingdom, I became a Dutchman." The same day +General Dupont Chaumont, French Minister at The Hague, wrote to Prince +Talleyrand: "To-day, June 23, His Majesty made his formal entrance into +his capital. He went to the Assembly where he received the oath of the +representatives of the people and made a speech which was much applauded. +The French camp obtained permission from the Governor of the Palace to +surprise Their Majesties by fireworks and military music. These +festivities naturally put a stop to all business, except for His Majesty, +who finds time to examine and decide the most urgent matters, the ease +with which he works greatly surprising a nation unaccustomed to such +activity. Already the King and Queen are spoken of most enthusiastically +by those who have had the honor to be presented to Their Majesties. The +satisfaction will be general, when many shall have had the opportunity to +approach the throne." + +In spite of the optimisms of this despatch, the new King was to have an +unhappy reign. His loyal and upright intentions were to be shattered +against the inflexible will of his formidable brother. Louis was a just +man and sincerely devoted to his people. He was called, and is still +called, "the good King Louis": but the Emperor, who ironically reproached +him with trying to win the affection of shopkeepers, was to write to him +in 1807: "A monarch who is called a good king, is a king that's ruined." +As for Queen Hortense, more and more tormented by her husband's +suspicions, with her health impaired by the moist climate, and her ever- +growing melancholy, she was to feel like a condemned exile in her kingdom. +No woman ever gave a complete lie to the expression, "As happy as a +queen." + + + + +XX. + +THE EMPRESS AT MAYENCE. + + +In spite of all the honors that encompassed her, the Empress was ever more +and more unhappy. The departure of her daughter Hortense left a void in +her life that nothing could fill. She wrote to the new Queen from Saint +Cloud, July 15, 1806: "Since you left I have been ill, sad, and unhappy; I +have even been feverish and have had to keep my bed. I am now well again, +but my sorrow remains. How could it be otherwise when I am separated from +a daughter like you, loving, gentle, and amiable, who was the charm of my +life?... How is your husband? Are my grandchildren well? Heavens, how sad +it makes me not to see them! and how is your health, dear Hortense? If you +are ever ill, let me know, and I will hasten to you at once.... Good by, +my dear Hortense, think often of your mother, and be sure that never was a +daughter more loved than you are. Many kind messages to your husband; kiss +the children for me. It would be very kind of you to send me some of your +songs." + +Josephine was about to have another cause for grief. A new war was +imminent, but the Empress hid her uneasiness in order not to distance +Hortense. "All your letters," she wrote to her, "are charming, and you are +kind to write so often. I have heard from Eugene and his wife; they are +evidently very happy, and so am I, for I am going with the Emperor, and am +already packing. I assure you, that even if this war breaks out, I have no +fear; the nearer I am to the Emperor, the less I shall care, and I feel +that I should die if I stayed here. Another joy to me is our meeting at +Mayence. The Emperor has bidden me tell you that he has just given to the +King of Holland an army of eighty thousand men, and his command will +extend to Mayence. He thinks that you can come then and stay with me. Is +not that an agreeable bit of news for a mother who loves you so dearly? +Every day we shall have news of the Emperor and your husband; we will be +happy together. The Grand Duke of Berg spoke to me about you and the +children; kiss them for me till I can kiss them for myself, as well as my +daughter; this will be soon, I hope. My best regards to the King." + +Napoleon was about to begin a gigantic war against Prussia and Russia. In +spite of his confidence in his star, he was not without some +apprehensions, and he left reluctantly. A cloud seemed to hang over Saint +Cloud. "Why are you so gloomy?" the Emperor asked Madame de Remusat, whose +husband, the First Chamberlain, had just been sent to Mayence to prepare +the Emperor's quarters. "I am gloomy," she replied, "because my husband +has left me." And as Napoleon sneered at her conjugal devotion, she added: +"Sire, I take no part in heroic joys, and for my part, I had placed my +glory in happiness." Then the Emperor burst out laughing and said: +"Happiness? Oh yes, happiness has a great deal to do with this century!" + +The Empress hoped to accompany her husband as far as Mayence, and remain +there during the war, with her daughter. At the last moment she came near +missing even this. Napoleon wanted to go off alone, but she wept so much, +besought him so earnestly, that he took pity on her and gave her leave to +enter his carriage; she had but a single chambermaid with her. Her +household was to join her some days later. + +Napoleon and Josephine left Saint Cloud in the night of September 24, +1806. After stopping for some hours at Metz, they reached Mayence the +28th. The Emperor started again, October 2, at nine in the evening, for +the head of the army. At this moment he had an access of affection and a +revival of his old tenderness for the woman who long since had inspired +him with much love. Seeing that she was weeping bitterly, he, too, shed +tears, and was even attacked by convulsions. They made him sit down and +gave him a few drops of orange-flower water. In a few moments he +controlled his emotion, gave Josephine a farewell kiss, and said: "The +carriages are ready, are they not? Tell those gentlemen and let us be +off." + +The Empress remained at Mayence. Napoleon wrote to her October 5, 1806: +"There is no reason why the Princess of Baden should not go to Mayence. I +don't know why you are so distressed; it is wrong of you to grieve so +much. Hortense is inclined to pedantry; she is liberal with advice. She +wrote to me, and I answered her. She should be happy and gay. Courage and +gaiety, that is the recipe." It is plain that the Emperor's gloom had been +of brief duration. When he was once more at war, in his element, he had +quickly resumed his customary eagerness. He wrote to his wife from +Bamberg, October 7: "I leave this evening for Kronach. The whole army is +in motion. All goes on well; my health is perfect. I have not yet received +any letters from you, but I have heard from Eugene and Hortense. Stephanie +ought to be with you. Her husband [the Prince of Baden] wishes to take +part in the war; he is with me. Good by. A thousand kisses and good +health!" Again, October 18: "Today I am at Gera. Everything goes on as +well as I could hope. With God's aid, the poor King of Prussia will be in +a lamentable state, I think. I am personally sorry for him, because he is +a good man. The Queen is at Erfurt with the King. If she wants to see a +battle, she will have that cruel pleasure. I am wonderfully well, and have +gained flesh since I left; and yet I go twenty or twenty-five leagues +every day, on horseback or in a carriage,--in every possible way. I go to +bed at eight and get up at midnight, sometimes, I think, before you have +gone to bed. Ever yours." + +In these campaigns Napoleon was not yet surrounded by the comforts which +later made war less fatiguing for him, perhaps too easy. He endured all +the toil and privation of a private soldier. In five minutes his table, +his coffee, his bed were prepared. Often in less time than that the bodies +of men and horses had to be removed to make room for his tent. His longest +meal lasted no more than eight or ten minutes. The Emperor would then call +for horses and leave in company with Berthier, one or two riders, and +Roustan, his faithful Mameluke. At night, when lying on his little iron +bed, he took but little rest. Hardly had he fallen asleep when he would +call his valet de chambre who slept in the same tent: "Constant!" "Sire." +"See what aide-de-camp is on duty." "Sire, it is so-and-so." "Tell him to +come and speak to me." The aide-de-camp would arrive: "You must go to such +a corps, commanded by Marshal so-and-so; you will tell him to place such a +regiment in such a position; you will ascertain the position of the enemy, +then you will report to me." The Emperor seemed to fall asleep again, but +in a few moments he was calling again: "Constant!" "Sire." "Summon the +Prince of Neufchatel." The Major-General would appear in a great hurry, +and Napoleon would dictate some orders to him. That is the way his nights +were passed. + +The night before the battle of Jena was an exception, and the Emperor +slept soundly, "Yet," says General de Segur, "our position was so perilous +that some of us said the enemy could have thrown a bullet across all our +lines with the hand. This was so true that the first cannon-ball fired the +next day passed over our heads and killed a cook at his canteen far behind +us." At about five o'clock Napoleon asked of Marshal Soult: "Shall we beat +them?" "Yes, if they are there." answered the Marshal; "I am only afraid +they have left." At that moment, the first musketry fire was heard, "There +they are!" said the Emperor, joyfully; "there they are! the business is +beginning." Then he went to address the infantry, encouraging them to +crush the famous Prussian cavalry. "This cavalry," he said, "must be +destroyed here, before our squares, as we crushed the Russian infantry at +Austerlitz." The victory was overwhelming. Napoleon thus recounted it in a +letter to the Empress, dated Jena, October 15, at three in the morning: +"My dear, I have done some good manoeuvring against the Prussians. +Yesterday I gained a great victory. They were one hundred and fifty +thousand men; I have made twenty thousand prisoners, captured one hundred +cannon and flags. I was facing the King of Prussia and very near him; I +just missed capturing him and the Queen. I have been bivouacking for two +days. I am wonderfully well. Good by, my dear, keep well and love me. If +Hortense is at Mayence, give her a kiss as well as Napoleon and the little +one." And again from Weimar, October 16: "M. Talleyrand will have shown +you the bulletin and you will have seen our success. Everything has turned +out as I planned, and never was an army more thoroughly beaten and +destroyed. I will only add that I am well; that fatigue, watching, and the +bivouac have made me stouter. Good by, my dear, much love to Hortense and +the great Napoleon." + +Hortense had joined her mother at Mayence with her two sons, meeting there +her relative, Princess Stephanie of Baden, the Princess of Nassau and her +daughters, many generals' wives, who had desired to be near the scene of +war to get early news. With what impatience tidings were awaited! With +what curiosity and respect were read and discussed the two or three words +scrawled by the hand of the Emperor or of his lieutenants! A lookout had +been placed a league away on the high-road, who announced the coming of a +messenger by blowing on a horn. At the same time the files of prisoners +were seen passing on their way to France. Josephine, ever kind and +pitiful, tried to soften their lot and gave aid and comfort to officers +and soldiers. + +Meanwhile Napoleon continued his triumphal march. From Wittenberg he wrote +to his wife, October 23: "I have received a number of letters from you. I +write but a word: everything goes on well. To-morrow I shall be at +Potsdam, the 25th at Berlin. I am perfectly well; fatigue agrees with me. +I am glad to hear of you in company together with Hortense and Stephanie. +The weather has so far been very pleasant. Much love to Stephanie and to +every one, including M. Napoleon. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." + +At Potsdam the Emperor visited the celebrated palace of Sans Souci and +found the room of Frederick the Great as it had been in his lifetime, and +guarded by one of his old servants. He then went to the Protestant church +which contained the hero's tomb. "The door of the monument was open," says +General de Segur. "Napoleon paused at the entrance, in a grave and +respectful attitude. He gazed into the shadow enclosing the hero's ashes, +and stood thus for nearly ten minutes, motionless, silent, as if buried in +deep thought. There were five or six of us with him: Duroc, Caulaincourt, +an aide-de-camp, and I. We gazed at this solemn and extraordinary scene, +imagining the two great men face to face, identifying ourselves with the +thoughts we ascribed to our Emperor before that other genius whose glory +survived the overthrow of his work, who was as great in extreme adversity +as in success." The eighteenth bulletin said of this tomb: "The great +man's remains are enclosed in a wooden coffin covered with copper, and are +placed in a vault, with no ornaments, trophies, or other distinction +recalling his great actions." The Emperor presented to the Invalides in +Paris Frederick's sword, his ribbon of the Black Eagle, his general's +sash, as well as the flags carried by his guard in the Seven Years' War. +The old veterans of the army of Hanover received with religious respect +everything which had belonged to one of the first captains whose memory is +recorded in history. When he saw that the Prussian court had not thought +of making those relics safe from invasion, the hero of Jena, who on this +occasion abused his victory, exclaimed as he pointed to the famous sword: +"I prefer that to twenty millions." In his letters to Josephine, Napoleon +made no mention of his impressions in the house of Frederick. He simply +wrote, October 24: "I have been at Potsdam since yesterday, and shall +spend to-day here. I continue to be satisfied with everything. My health +is good; the weather is fine. I find Sans Souci very agreeable. Good by, +my dear. Much love to Hortense and M. Napoleon." + +October 27, 1806, the Emperor made his formal entrance into Berlin, +surrounded by his guard and followed by the cuirassiers of the divisions +of Hautpoul and Nansouty. He proceeded in triumph from the +Charlottenburger gate to the King's Palace, of which he was to take +possession. The populace crowded the streets, but uttered no cries of hate +or flattery for the conqueror. "Prussia was happy," says Thiers, "at not +being divided, and at retaining its dignity in its disasters. The enemy's +entrance was not first the overthrow of one party and the triumph of +another; it contained no unworthy faction, indulging in odious joy and +applauding the presence of foreign soldiers! We Frenchmen, unhappier in +our defeats, have known this abominable joy; for we have seen everything +in this century: the extremes of victory and of defeat, of grandeur and of +abasement, of the purest devotion and of the blackest treachery!" Alas! +What Frenchman could have foretold in 1806 the disasters of 1814 and 1815? +The army deemed itself invincible and was wild with joyful pride. Davout, +whose men the Emperor had just congratulated, wrote to him in great +enthusiasm: "Sire, we are your tenth legion. Everywhere and at all times +the third corps will be for you what that legion was for Caesar." Never +did soldiers have greater enthusiasm or more confidence in their leader. + +One might have said that Josephine, amid all these triumphs, had a +presentiment of the future. Victories could not dispel her sadness. Her +husband wrote to her November 1: "Talleyrand has come, and tells me that +you do nothing but cry. But what do you want? You have your daughters, +your grandchildren, and good news; certainly you have the materials for +happiness and content. The weather here is superb; not a drop of rain has +fallen in the whole campaign, I am in good health, and everything is +progressing favorably. Good by. I have received a letter from M. Napoleon; +I don't think it is from him but from Hortense. Love to all." + +Napoleon was not modest in his triumph. He pursued with sarcasms the +nobility of Prussia and Queen Louise who had warmly counselled war. This +fair sovereign, the mother of the late Emperor William, was then thirty +years old; she was the daughter of a Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and of a +Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was a most thorough German, hated France, +and especially the French Revolution. She was a fearless horsewoman, and +had been seen facing great dangers at the battle of Jena. When she rode +before her troops in her helmet of polished steel, shaded by a plume, in +her glittering golden cuirass, her tunic of silver stuff, her red boots +with gold spurs, she resembled Tasso's heroines. The soldiers burst into +cries of enthusiasm, as they saw their warlike Queen; before her were +bowed the flags she had embroidered with her own hands, and the old, torn, +and battle-stained standards of Frederick the Great. After the battle she +was obliged to take flight, at full gallop, to avoid being captured by the +French hussars. + +In his bulletins the Emperor had made the serious blunder of speaking of +Queen Louise in a manner wanting in proper respect for a woman, and +especially for a woman in misfortune. Josephine, who was full of tact, was +much pained by this lack of generosity, and reproached her husband for it. +Napoleon sought to excuse himself, writing, November 6: "I have received +your letter in which you seem pained by the evil I say of women. It is +true that I hate, more than anything, intriguing women. I am used to +kindly, gentle, conciliating women; those are the ones I love. If they +have spoiled me, it is not my fault, but yours. Now I will show you that I +have been very good for one who has shown herself sensible and kind, +Madame Hatzfeld. When I showed her her husband's letter, bursting into +tears, she said to me with, great emotion, and simplicity: 'It is +certainly his hand-writing!' As she read it, her accent touched my heart +and gave me real distress, I said to her: 'Well, Madame, throw that letter +into the fire, I shall not be strong enough to punish your husband,' She +burned the letter and seemed to be very happy, Her husband has ever since +been very calm; two hours more, and he would have been a ruined man. You +see then that I love kind, simple, gentle women; but it's because they are +like you. Good by, my dear, I am well." + +The kingdom of Prussia was conquered, but the war was not over, After +fighting the Prussians he had to fight the Russians; the war in Poland was +beginning. Napoleon wrote to the King of Prussia: "Your Majesty has +announced to me that you have thrown yourself into the arms of the +Russians. The future will decide whether this is the best and wisest +choice. You have taken the dice-box and thrown the dice; the dice will +decide it." At Paris, in spite of the splendors of the Imperial glory, +there existed a vague uneasiness. Peace had been expected after Jena, and +some apprehension was felt about the renewal of the struggle in the +northern steppes. Madame de Remusat wrote, November 9, to her husband, who +was at Mayence with the Empress, "There is something in the Emperor's +career which confounds ordinary calculations, and, so to speak, goes +beyond them. It is most impressive, and, I might say, alarming, and yet he +seems so far above customary conditions that there is no need of fear +about the points to which he exposes himself, and still less, draw the +line at which he shall stop. But I shudder to think how far he is from us +at this moment. May God be with him, I am ever praying, and preserve him! +While this great part of the French nation which is under his orders, is +marching to great victories, we are vegetating here in complete dulness. +There is very little society, and no houses are open." + +Josephine was very anxious to join her husband who held it before her as a +possibility, but never permitted it. He had written to her, November 16: +"I am glad to see that my views please you. You were wrong to think I was +flattering; I spoke of you as you seem to me. I am sorry to think that you +are bored at Mayence. If the journey was not so long you might come here, +for the enemy has left, and is beyond the Vistula; that is to say, one +hundred and twenty leagues from here. I will await your decision. I shall +be glad to see M. Napoleon. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." And November +22: "Be satisfied and happy in my friendship, in all I feel for you. In a +few days I shall decide to summon you or to send you to Paris. Good by. +You may go now, if you wish, to Darmstadt and Frankfort; that will amuse +you. Much love to Hortense." After signing the decree establishing the +continental blockade, Napoleon had left Berlin November 25. The next day +he again held before Josephine the prospect of a speedy meeting. "I am at +Custrin," he said in his letter, "to make some reconnoissances; I shall +see you in two days if you are to come. You can hold yourself in +readiness. I shall be glad to have the Queen of Holland come too. The +Grand Duchess of Baden must write to her husband about coming. It is two +o'clock in the morning; I have just got up. That is the way at war. Much +love to you and every one." A letter from Meseritz, March 27, was still +more explicit: "I am going to make a trip through Poland; this is the most +important city here. I shall be at Posen this evening, after which I +summon you to Berlin, that you may arrive there the same day. My health is +good, the weather rather bad; it has been raining for three days. Matters +are in a good condition. The Russians are in flight." Josephine, who had +trembled with joy at the thought of seeing her husband, fell into great +gloom when she saw that she had been deceived by a vain hope. The tortures +of, alas! too well-founded jealousy were to be added to her sufferings! + +Napoleon reached Posen November 28, and wrote the next day to his wife: "I +am at Posen, the capital of Great Poland, The cold is beginning; I am +well. I am going to make a trip in Poland. My troops are at the gates of +Warsaw. Good by, my dear, much love. I kiss you with all my heart. To-day +is the anniversary of Austerlitz. I have been at a ball given by the city. +It is raining. I am well. I love you and long for you. My troops are at +Warsaw. It has not yet been cold. All the Polish women are Frenchwomen, +but there is only one woman for me. Do you know her? I should draw her +portrait for you; but I should have to flatter it too much for you to +recognize it; nevertheless, to tell the truth, my heart would have only +good things to tell you. I find the nights long in my solitude. Ever +yours." Perhaps Napoleon would not have been so amiable to Josephine had +it not been that he was going to be very unfaithful to her in Poland, and +in a movement of pity wanted to console her in advance. From there he sent +her, December 3, two letters, one at noon, the other at six in the +evening. This is the first: "I have your letter of November 26. I notice +two things: you say, don't read your letters; that is unjust. I am sorry +for your bad opinion. You tell me you are not jealous. I have long +observed that people who are angry always say that they are not angry, +that people who are afraid say they are not afraid; so you are convicted +of jealousy; I am delighted! Besides, you are mistaken, and in the deserts +of fair Poland one thinks but little about pretty women. Yesterday I was +at a ball of the nobility of the province; rather pretty women, rather +rich, rather ill dressed, although in the Paris fashion." Perhaps Napoleon +said that to reassure the Empress; I imagine that the Polish women, with +all their elegance and grace, were scarcely so ill-dressed as he +pretended. + +This is the second letter, dated December 3, 6 P.M.: "I have your letter +of November 27, and I see that your little head is much excited. I +remember the line: 'A woman's wish is a devouring flame,' and I must calm +you. I wrote to you that I was in Poland, that when we should have got +into winter-quarters you might come; so you must wait a few days. The +greater one becomes, the less will one must have; one depends on events +and circumstances. You may go to Frankfort or Darmstadt, I hope to summon +you in a few days, but events must decide. The warmth of your letter +convinces me that you pretty women take no account of obstacles; what you +want must be; but I must say that I am the greatest slave that lives; my +master has no heart, and this master is the nature of things." Napoleon +should have said: Providence. Man proposes, but God disposes. + +Napoleon again spoke a little of having Josephine come. He wrote to her +December 10: "An officer has brought me a rug from you; it is a little +short and narrow, but I am no less grateful to you for it. I am fairly +well. The weather is very changeable. Everything is in good condition. I +love you and am very anxious to see you. Good by, my dear: I shall write +to you to come with more pleasure than you will come." + +December 12 he spoke once more of this projected journey which became ever +more and more remote, like a mirage in the desert: "My health is good, the +weather very mild; the bad season has not begun, but the roads are bad in +a country where there are no highways. So Hortense will come with +Napoleon; I am delighted. I am impatient to have things settle themselves +so that you can come. I have made peace with Saxony. The Elector is King +and belongs to the confederation. Good by, my dearest Josephine. Yours +ever. A kiss to Hortense, to Napoleon, and to Stephanie. Paer, the famous +musician, his wife, whom you saw at Milan twelve years ago, and Brizzi, +are here; they give me some music every evening." Napoleon left Posen in +the middle of December. The evening before his departure he wrote a letter +to his wife which showed the unlikelihood of her joining him, as she hoped +to do; "I am leaving for Warsaw, and shall be back in a fortnight. I hope +then to have you here. Still, if that is too long I should be glad to have +you return to Paris where you are needed. You know that I have to depend +on events." The unhappy Josephine already had a foreboding of his devotion +to a great Polish lady. + +Napoleon reached Warsaw December 18, 1806. He was to stay there till the +23d, return there January 2, 1807, and not to go away till the 31st of +that month. He was greeted there with enthusiasm. He had said to his +soldiers in his proclamation on entering Poland: "The French eagle is +soaring above the Vistula. The brave and unfortunate Pole, when he sees +you, imagines that he sees the legions of Sobieski returning from their +memorable expedition." No one understood better than the Emperor how to +impress the imagination of a people. At sight of him the inhabitants of +Warsaw were thrilled with patriotic joy. It seemed to them that their +grand nation was rising from the tomb. The Polish women, with their +lively, poetic, ardent nature, regarded Napoleon as a sort of Messiah. In +the intoxication of their ecstatic admiration, the most beautiful of +them--and Poland is the country of beauty--turned towards him, like +sirens, their most seductive smiles. This coquetry they regarded as a +patriotic duty. Josephine had good grounds for jealousy. + +Napoleon was in the field during the last days of December. War at that +time was particularly fatiguing. The dampness, worse than any cold, +saddened the eyes and wearied the body. The temperature was forever +changing between frost and thaw. Fighting took place in the most +unfavorable conditions. But the Emperor, pitiless for himself and every +one else, uttered no complaint. He wrote from Golimin to the Empress, +December 29, at five in the morning: "I write but a word, from a wretched +barn. I have beaten the Russians, captured thirty cannon, their baggage, +and six thousand prisoners; but the weather is frightful; it pours, and we +are knee deep in mud." And from Pultusk, December 31: "I have laughed a +good deal over your last two letters. You have formed a very inaccurate +notion of the beautiful Polish women. Two or three days I have had great +pleasure in hearing Paer and two women who have given me some very good +music. I received your letter in a wretched barn, with mud, wind, and +straw for my only bed." In spite of what her husband said, Josephine was +right about the charm of the Polish ladies, and Napoleon, on his return to +Warsaw, January 2, 1807, was to become seriously interested in one of +them. + +Soon there was no question of sending for the Empress, who would only have +been in the way. Napoleon wrote to her, January 3: "I have received your +letter. Your regret touches me, but we must submit to events. It is too +long a journey from Mayence to Warsaw; we must wait till events permit my +going to Berlin before I can write for you to come. Meanwhile, the enemy +is withdrawing, defeated, but I have a good many things to settle here. I +should advise your returning to Paris, where you are needed. Send back +those ladies who have anything to do there; you will be better for getting +rid of people who tire you. I am well; the weather is bad. I love you +much." The Emperor, utterly taken up by his love for the Polish lady, was +anxious that Josephine, instead of coming to him, should at once return +promptly to France. "My dear," he wrote to her, January 7, "I am touched +by all you say, but the cold season, the bad, unsafe roads prevent my +giving my consent to your facing so many fatigues. Return to Paris for the +winter. Go to the Tuileries, hold your receptions, and live as you do when +I am there: that is my wish. Perhaps I shall join you there without delay; +but you must give up the plan of travelling three hundred leagues at this +season, through hostile countries, in the rear of the army. Be sure that +it is more painful to me than to you to postpone for a few weeks the +pleasure of seeing you; but this is commanded by events and the state of +affairs. Good by, my dear, be happy and brave." The next day he wrote +again on the same subject: "I have yours of the 27th, with those of +Hortense and M. Napoleon enclosed. I have asked you to go back to Paris; +the season is too bad, the roads too insecure and detestable, the distance +too great for me to allow you to come so far to me when my affairs detain +me. It would take you at least a month to get here. You. would be sick +when you got here, and then, perhaps, you would have to start back; it +would be madness. Your sojourn at Mayence is too dull. Paris calls for +you; go there; that is my desire. I am more disappointed than you; but we +must bow to circumstances." In a letter of January 11, he says; "I see +very few people here." But he saw the Polish lady, and that was enough. + +Josephine, who suspected a rival, was in despair. Her husband wrote to +console her, January 16: "I have received yours of January 5. All that you +say of your disappointment saddens me. Why these tears and lamentations? +Have you not more courage? I shall soon see you; do not doubt my feelings, +and if you wish to be still dearer to me, show character and strength of +soul. I am humiliated to think that my wife can doubt my destinies. Good +by, my dear, I love you and long to see you, and want to hear that you are +contented and happy." In another letter, January 18, Napoleon tried to +cheer up Josephine, who was even more anxious and uneasy: "I fear you are +unhappy about our separation which must last some weeks yet, and about +returning to Paris. I beg of you to have more courage. I hear that you are +always crying. Fie, that is very bad! Your letter of January 7 gives me +much pain. Be worthy of me and show more character. Make a proper +appearance at Paris, and above all, be contented. I am very well, and I +love you much; but if you are always in tears, I shall think you have no +courage and no character. I do not love cowards; an Empress ought to have +some spirit." + +Napoleon's will was not to be altered. Josephine was forced to leave her +daughter and to return to Paris. Her husband wrote to her from Warsaw: "I +have your letter of January 15. It is impossible for me to let women +undertake such a journey: bad roads, unsafe, and a slough of mud. Go back +to Paris; be happy and contented there; perhaps I shall be there soon. I +laugh at what you say, that you married to be with your husband. I had +thought in my ignorance that the wife was created for the husband, the +husband for the country, the family, and glory. Forgive my ignorance. Good +by, my dear, believe that I regret that I cannot have you come. Say to +yourself, 'It is a proof how dear I am to him.'" All these fine words +could not console Josephine, who knew from experience that Napoleon, like +many unfaithful husbands, had a smooth, tongue when he needed forgiveness. +In vain she had waited four months at Mayence for permission to rejoin her +husband. She at last, found herself obliged to leave this town where she +had no other pleasure than the sight of her daughter and her +grandchildren, from whom she parted with pain. January 27 she was at +Strassburg, and the 31st. at Paris. + + + + +XXI. + +THE RETURN OF THE EMPRESS TO PARIS. + + +The Empress Josephine was much loved in France, and especially in Paris, +where her gentleness, amiability, and great kindliness had won for her all +sympathies, even those of people who were hostile to the Emperor. Her +return to the capital was greeted with pleasure, and her presence awakened +it from its previous gloom. The _Moniteur_ thus describes her passage +through the chief town of the department of the Lower Rhine. "Strassburg, +January 23, 1807. Her Majesty the Empress and Queen arrived within our +walls yesterday, the 27th, on her way from Mayence to Paris. Her Majesty +having consented to notify the Counsellor of State, Prefect Shee, that she +would accept a modest entertainment, this news spread lively joy +throughout this city. This proof of the Empress's kindness, accompanied by +the gracious memory she wished to testify for the people of Strassburg, +made the preparations for this impromptu event easy, and in spite of the +brief time between the announcement and the arrival of Her Majesty, a +numerous and brilliant company was soon assembled at the Prefecture. The +hall was elegantly decorated; the emblems and mottoes recalled the object +of the festivity. After a square dance and a waltz. Her Majesty passed +through the company, addressing a kind word to every lady present." The +next day, January 28, at seven in the morning, the Empress started, amid +cries of "Long live Josephine!" She reached the Tuileries January 31, at +eight in the evening. The next day, at noon, guns were fired at the +Invalides, to announce her return. The great bodies of the state solicited +the honor of offering her their homages. She was a little tired by her +journey, and was unable to receive them till February 5. + +At this reception she was the object of almost as much flattery as was the +Emperor. We quote a few of the phrases:-- + +_M. Monge, President of the Senate_: "Madame, the Senate lays at the feet +of Your Imperial and Royal Majesty the tribute of its profound respect and +the homage of the administration with which it is animated for all your +virtues.... It congratulates itself on seeing again, in the capital, the +august spouse to whom our adored ruler has given all his confidence and +who deserves it in so many ways." + +_M. de Fontanes, President of the Legislative Body_: "Half of our wishes +are granted. The presence of Your Majesty will make us attend less +impatiently another return that the French desire with you. ... Paris +consoles itself for not seeing him who gives such glory to the throne, by +finding in you her who has always lent to Sovereignty so much charm, so +much gentleness and kindness." + +_M. Fabre, President of the Tribunal_: "Madame, your return has aroused +the keenest joy. The memory of that delicate kindness which knew how to +temper so many woes; of that active beneficence which repaired so many +misfortunes, is imprinted on every heart. Every one says: 'Providence in +giving to us the hero, whose vast designs are crowned with the most +constant and prompt success, desired to complete his kindness, by placing +near him her to whom every stricken heart turns, who is the most agreeable +object of gratitude, and who, moreover, throughout France is called the +friend of misfortune.'" + +_M. Lejean, First Vicar-General of the Chapter of Notre Dame_ (speaking in +the place of the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, who was ill): "Madame, His +Eminence the Archbishop, our worthy prelate, has commanded me to convey to +Your Imperial and Royal Majesty his regrets at not being able himself to +present to you the chapter and clergy of Paris. 'Go,' that venerable old +man said to me, 'and assure the benevolent Empress from me that I +thoroughly share the joy which every one feels at her return. Tell her +that never a moment passes that I do not address to Heaven the most +fervent prayers for the happiness of France and of our invincible Emperor, +and for the success of his arms. The Lord has deigned to grant my prayers; +in a very short time astounding prodigies have been wrought by Napoleon, +and I offer my thanks.' The chapter and the clergy of Paris pray for Your +Majesty to be sure that their feelings for your sacred person and for that +of your august husband are like those of His Eminence." + +_The Prefect of the Seine_: "You are far from the Emperor, Madame, but +Paris, too, is far from him. Well, to mitigate this separation, equally +painful for Paris and for Your Majesty, Paris and Your Majesty will talk +to one another much about the Emperor. You will take pleasure in hearing +that his subjects of the good city of Paris are ever faithful to him; that +they are prepared for every act of devotion which may be demanded by his +glory, the honor of the Empire, and the resolution he has formed of not +laying down his arms until he has assured the peace of nations. You will +take pleasure in seeing us follow in thought, even to the most distant +climes, his ever victorious eagles. In short, Madame, at every exploit of +the Grand Army, you will be glad to hear the loud applause which we have +often wished could reach you, even in the camps of the founder of the +Empire, and then touched by the sincerity of our prayers, you will deign +to listen to them, and sometimes even to be their interpreter." + +In spite of these official flatteries, and more or less interested +compliments, the Empress was far from happy. Possibly she imagined that +soon, even in her lifetime, the same homage would be addressed by the same +persons, in the same palace, to another woman. Besides this, however, she +had many causes for distress. She suffered from the absence of her +children, from her daughter's domestic unhappiness, from the Emperor's +remoteness, his infidelities in Poland, from the dangers threatening him +in this relentless and distant war. She wrote to her daughter February 3: +"I got here, dear Hortense, the evening of the 31st, as I expected. My +journey was pleasant, if I can call it so when it separated me further +from the Emperor. I have received five letters from him since my +departure. I need to hear from you now that you are no longer with me to +console me. Tell me how you are; write to me about your husband and +children. Although I see more people here than at Mayence, I am quite as +lonely, and you will seem to be with me if you write. Good by, my dear, I +love you tenderly." Josephine yearned all the more eagerly for happiness +as a mother, because as wife she suffered cruelly, and the torments of +jealousy were added to her grief at the Emperor's absence. + +To one of the last letters his wife had written from Mayence Napoleon +answered in an undated letter which she received in Paris: "My dear, your +letter of January 20, has pained me much; it is too sad. That is the +result of excessive piety! You tell me that your happiness makes your +glory. That is ungenerous; you ought to say, the happiness of others makes +my glory. It is not like a mother; you ought to say, the happiness of my +children is my glory. It is not like a wife; you ought to say, my +husband's happiness makes my glory. Now, since the nation, your husband, +your children cannot be happy without a little glory, you should not +despise it. Josephine, you have a good heart, but a weak head; your +feelings are most admirable; you reason less well. But that is enough +squabbling; I want you to be merry, content with your lot, and to obey, +not grumbling and crying, but cheerfully and happily. Good by, my dear. +I'm off to-night, to inspect my outposts." It must be confessed that to be +as merry as the Emperor demanded, Josephine would have needed a very +exceptional character. Her husband was at the other end of Europe, never +interrupting the intense emotions and great risks of a colossal struggle +except for brief distractions, which, however, could not be agreeable, so +suspicious and jealous as she was. + +Constant, the Emperor's valet de chambre, has recounted in his Memoirs, +the passion with which a beautiful Polish lady inspired his master, early +in 1807. Napoleon spent the whole month of January at Warsaw in a great +palace. The Polish nobility gave him magnificent balls, and at one of them +he noticed a young woman of twenty-two, Madame V., who had recently +married an old nobleman, a most worthy man of stern principles and severe +nature. By the side of her aged husband, this young woman, whose sadness +and melancholy only added to her beauty, was like a victim in waiting for +a consoler. She was a charming person, with light hair, blue eyes, a +brilliant complexion, a graceful figure, and dignified carriage. The +Emperor went up to her, addressed her, and was soon delighted by her +conversation. He imagined that she was unhappily married and he at once +conceived a warm love for her, intenser and far more serious than any he +had ever felt for one of his favorites. The next day he was noticeably +restless. He would get up and walk about, then sit down only to get on his +feet again. "I thought," Constant goes on, "that I should never get him +dressed that day. Immediately after breakfast he despatched a great +personage, whose name I shall not give, to pay a visit to Madame V., and +carry his regards and entreaties. She proudly refused to listen to his +propositions, possibly on account of their suddenness, or, it may be, by +natural coquetry. The hero had pleased her; the thought of having a lover +resplendent with power and glory fascinated her, but she had no idea of +yielding without a struggle. The grand personage returned in great +surprise and compassion at the failure of his negotiation." + +Constant says that he found his master the next morning very busy. The +Emperor had written many letters the previous evening to the Polish lady, +who had made no reply. His pride was wounded by a resistance to which he +had not been accustomed since he had become great. At last, however, he +had written so many, and such ardent and touching letters, that she +consented to visit him one evening between ten and eleven. The grand +personage who had tried to make the negotiations, was ordered to go to a +remote spot and receive the lady in a carriage. Napoleon paced the room +while awaiting her, betraying emotion and impatience. "At last Madame V. +arrived," says Constant, whose master kept asking him what time it was. +"She was in a most pitiable condition, pale, silent, her eyes full of +tears. As soon as she appeared, I led her to the Emperor's room. She could +scarcely stand and she was trembling as she leaned on my arm. Then I +withdrew with the great personage who had brought her. During her +interview with the Emperor, Madame V. wept and sobbed so that I could +overhear her even at a great distance. At about two in the morning, the +Emperor called me. I went to him and saw Madame V. going away, with her +handkerchief at her eyes, weeping freely. The same personage carried her +away. I thought she would never come back." But, contrary to his +expectations, Madame V. came back two or three days later at about the +same hour; she seemed calmer, her eyes were less red, her face not so +pale, and she continued her visits during the Emperor's stay. Evidently +Josephine had good grounds for jealousy. + +Napoleon interrupted these distractions by going forth to fight the battle +of Eylau, one of the bloodiest and most obstinate combats known to +history. He described it in two letters to the Empress, written in the +same day. This is the first:-- + +"Eylau, February 9, 1803, 3 A.M. MY DEAR: We had a great battle yesterday. +I was victorious, but our loss was heavy; that of the enemy, which was +even greater, is no consolation for me. I write you these few lines +myself, though I am very tired, to tell you that I am well and love you. +Ever yours." + +This is the second:-- + +"Eylau, February 9, 6 P.M. I write a word lest you should be anxious. The +evening lost the battle; forty cannon, ten flags, twelve thousand +prisoners, suffering horribly. I lost sixteen hundred killed and three to +four thousand wounded. Your cousin, Tascher, is unhurt. I have placed him +on my staff as artillery officer. Corbineau was killed by a shell. I was +exceedingly attached to him; he was an excellent officer, and I am deeply +distressed. My Horse Guard covered itself with glory. D'Allemagne is +dangerously wounded. Good by, my dear." + +The Emperor did not tell everything to Josephine; he said nothing about +the terrible vicissitudes of the battle, a victory scarcely to be +distinguished from a defeat; he kept silence about the cruel sufferings of +his army which, without having eaten, had fought amid blinding snow +beneath a leaden sky; he said no word about the regiments destroyed, one +in particular, from colonel to drummers, all killed or wounded; he did not +mention his own danger in the cemetery on the hill, where he had stood +surrounded by his Guard, his last resource, anxiously watching the fight +from its beginning, slashing the snow with his whip, and exclaiming at the +approach of the Russian Grenadiers as they advanced towards him, "What +audacity!" He did not say that after the terrible and fruitless bloodshed, +which both armies claimed as a victory, he had been obliged to withdraw, +and that Bennigsen had taken possession of the hotly disputed battle- +field. He did not say what he was about to say in his bulletins: "Imagine, +on a space a league square, nine or ten thousand corpses; four or five +thousand dead horses; lines of Russian knapsacks; fragments of guns and +sabres: the earth covered with bullets, shells, supplies; twenty-four +cannon, surrounded by their artillery-men, slain just as they were trying +to take their guns away; and all that in plainest relief on the stretch of +snow." He did not quote the words he uttered in the biting frost, in face +of thousands of dead and dying, when the gloomy day was sinking into a +night of anguish: "This sight is one to fill rulers with a love of peace +and a horror of war." No; the Emperor did not tell her everything. + +In another letter, dated Eylau, February 11, 8 A.M., the Emperor tried to +reassure the Empress: "I send you a line: you must have been very anxious, +I fought the enemy on a memorable day which cost me many brave men. The +bad weather drove me into winter quarters. Do not distress yourself, I beg +of you; it will all be over soon, and my delight at seeing you once more +will soon make me forget my fatigue. Besides, I have never been better. +Little Tascher, of the fourth of the line, did well; and he had a hard +experience. I have given him a place near me, in the artillery; so his +troubles are over. The young man interests me. Good by, my dear; a +thousand kisses." + +From this moment the Emperor's letters to his wife became cold, short, +dull, and utterly insignificant; speaking of nothing but the rain, or the +good weather, and perpetually bidding her to be cheerful. A clear-witted +person ought to see readily that Napoleon, who was otherwise occupied, +wrote to the Empress only from a sense of duty. Here are four letters; the +first from Landsberg, the other three from Liebstadt. February 18: "I +write a line. I am well. I am busy putting the army into winter quarters. +It is raining and thawing like April. We have not yet had a cold day. Good +by, my dear. Yours ever." February 20: "I write a line that you may not be +anxious. My health is good, and everything is in good condition. I have +put the army into winter quarters. It is a curious season, freezing and +thawing, damp and changeable. Good by, my dear." February 21: "I have +yours of February 4, and am glad to hear that you are well. Paris will +give you cheerfulness and rest; the return to your usual habits will +restore your health. I am wonderfully well. The weather and the country +are wretched. Everything is in good condition; it freezes and thaws every +day; it is a most singular winter. Good by, my dear. I think of you, and +am anxious to hear that you are contented, cheerful, and happy. Ever +yours." February 22: "I have your letter of the 8th. I am glad to hear +that you have been to the Opera, and that you mean to receive every week. +Go to the theatre occasionally, and always sit in the grand box. I am +pleased with the festivities given to you. I am very well. The weather +continues unsettled, freezing and thawing. I have put the army into winter +quarters to rest it. Don't be sad, and believe that I love you." + +Towards the end of February Napoleon had established his headquarters at +Osterode, where he lived in a sort of barn, from which he governed his +Empire and controlled Europe. He wrote to his brother Joseph, March 1, +about the sufferings of this severe campaign in Poland. "The staff- +officers have not taken off their clothes for two months, and some not for +four, I have myself been a fortnight without taking off my boots.... We +are deep in the snow and mud, without wine, brandy, or bread, living on +meat and potatoes, making long marches and counter-marches, without any +comforts, and generally fighting with the bayonets under grape-shot; the +wounded have to be carried in open sleighs for fifty leagues.... We are +making war in all its excitement and horror." It is easy to see that +Josephine, who knew all this, had good grounds for anxiety. Paris was +empty and gloomy; every face was sad. France is easily tired of +everything, even of glory. The auditors of the Council of State, who were +sent to Osterode to carry to the Emperor the reports of the different +ministers, returned to Paris in deep distress at the sights they had seen, +and spread alarm in official circles. Napoleon consequently decided that +those reports should be brought to him by staff-officers, who were more +inured to scenes of distress. + +From headquarters at Osterode the Emperor sent eleven letters to the +Empress between February 23 and April 1, 1807, but he said nothing of +importance in them. Thus: "Try to pass your time agreeably; don't be +anxious. I am in a wretched village where I shall be some time; it's not +so pleasant as a large city. I tell you again, I have never been so well; +you will find me much stouter.... I have ordered what you want for +Malmaison; be happy and cheerful; that's what I desire. I am waiting for +good weather, which must come soon. I love you, and want to hear that you +are contented and cheerful. You will hear a good deal of nonsense about +the battle of Eylau; the bulletin tells everything; its report of the +losses is rather exaggerated than cut down." At the same time he somewhat +reproved his wife: "I am sorry to hear that there is a renewal of the +mischievous talk such as there was in your drawing-room at Mayence; put a +stop to it. I shall be much annoyed if you don't find some clue. You let +yourself be distressed by the talk of people who ought to cheer you up. I +recommend to you a little firmness, and to learn how to put everybody in +his place. My dear, you must not go to the small theatres in private +boxes; it does not suit your rank; you ought to go only to the four large +theatres and always sit in the Imperial box. If you want to please me, you +must live as you did when I was in Paris. Then you did not go to the small +theatres or such places. You ought always to go to the Imperial box. For +your life at home, you must have regular receptions; that is the only way +of winning my approval. Greatness has its inconveniences. An Empress can't +go about everywhere like a commoner." + +The greatness which the Emperor spoke about was no consolation to +Josephine. She was unhappier beneath the gilded ceilings of the Tuileries +than a peasant woman in a hovel. She besought her husband to let her join +him in Poland, and wrote to him despairing letters. + +Napoleon answered from Osterode, March 27: "My dear, I am much pained by +your letters. You must not die: you are well and have no real cause of +grief. I think you ought to go to Saint Cloud in May. but you ought to +spend April in Paris.... You must not think of travelling this summer; all +that is impossible. You couldn't be racing through inns and camps. I am as +anxious as you can be to see you and be quiet. I understand other things +than war; but duty is before everything. All my life I have sacrificed +everything--peace, interest, happiness--to my destiny." These phrases in +no way consoled Josephine who knew very well that her husband, in spite of +his assumption of Spartan austerity; occasionally indulged in +distractions. + +In the month of March something occurred which somewhat moderated the +Empress's sufferings. Her daughter-in-law, the Vice-Queen of Italy, gave +birth at Milan, on the 17th, to a daughter who was named Josephine +Maximilienne Augusta. She it was who was to marry, in 1827, Oscar, Crown +Prince and later King of Sweden. "You will hear with pleasure," the +Empress wrote Queen Hortense, "of the Princess Augusta's happy delivery. +Eugene is delighted with his daughter; his only complaint is that she +sleeps too much, so that he can't see her as much as he would like." +Josephine would gladly have gone to Milan to congratulate her son and to +kiss her granddaughter, but her grandeur kept her in Paris, where the +prolongation of her husband's absence and the torments of too well +justified jealousy plunged her into the deepest gloom. + +Napoleon became tired of the monotonous and excessively disagreeable stay +at Osterode, where he could not receive the Polish lady to whom he became +continually more and more attached. Early in April he installed himself at +Finkenstein, in a pretty castle belonging to a Prussian crown official, +and there he was very comfortably quartered with his staff and military +household. It was from thence that he wrote, April 2, the following short +letter to Josephine: "My dear, I send you a line. I have just moved my +headquarters to a very pretty castle, like that of Bessieres, where I have +a number of open fireplaces, which is very pleasant for me, as I get up +often in the night; I like to see the fire. My health is perfect, the +weather is fine, but still cold. The thermometer is but a few degrees from +freezing. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." As soon as Napoleon was settled +in this castle his first thought was to send for the Polish lady, for whom +he had fitted up an apartment near his own. She left at Warsaw her old +husband, who never consented to see her again, and spent three weeks with +the Emperor. "They took all their meals together," says Constant. "I was +the only one in attendance, so I was able to overhear their talk which was +always amiable, lively, and eager on the part of the Emperor, always +tender, affectionate and melancholy on the part of Madame V. When His +Majesty was away Madame V. spent all her time in reading or looking +through the blinds of the Emperor's room at the parades and drills going +on in the courtyard of the castle, which he often directed in person." +Constant, who felt bound to admire his master's choice, adds with some +feeling: "The Emperor appeared, to appreciate perfectly the interesting +qualities of this angelic woman, whose gentle, unselfish character left on +me an impression that can never fade... Her life, like her nature, was +calm and uniform. Her character fascinated the Emperor and bound him down +to her." This loving idyl, a sort of interlude in the tragedy of war, may +have suited Constant's taste, but it was hardly of a nature to please +Josephine, who, like most jealous people, knew almost always what she +wanted to know, and from the Tuileries found means to watch what was going +on in this distant castle. + +Napoleon's letters to Josephine during the reign of Madame V. were shorter +and more stupid than usual. They were merely a few lines on the weather, +the Emperor's health, or his desire to hear that his wife was "cheerful +and happy." But, alas! cheerfulness and happiness were not for her! Too +astute to be hoodwinked, she understood that her husband still had a +friendly feeling for her but that his love was dead. In the eyes of a +jealous woman, friendship is a slight thing. What does she care for the +esteem and attentions of a friend who was once her lover? To all the good +services of friendship she would a thousand times prefer the anger, fury, +violence, of love. + + + + +XXII. + +THE DEATH OF THE YOUNG NAPOLEON. + + +Queen Hortense was no happier in her Holland palaces than was the Empress +in the Tuileries. She had to endure all the grief, deception, and misery +of an ill-assorted marriage. The incompatibility of disposition which +existed between her husband and herself from the first days of their +married life, made itself continually more felt. King Louis blamed his +wife not merely for her faults, but also for her good qualities. He was +sometimes annoyed because she was gracious, amiable, charming; and the +general sympathy she aroused in Holland, as in France, excited the fears +of this irritable and sullen husband. Hortense looked upon herself as a +victim. She had a lively imagination, and exaggerated her grief to +herself, suffering more keenly on account of her excitement, which was +often very great. One day she said to Madame de Remusat, her intimate and +admiring friend, that her life was so painful and apparently so hopeless +that when she was at one of her villas near the sea, and looked out on the +ocean where were the English fleets blockading her ports, she wished that +chance might bring a ship to where she was, and she might be carried off a +prisoner. + +The conjugal infelicities of Louis and his wife attracted the attention of +the Emperor, who kept as strict a guard over his family as over his +Empire, and was as prompt to exercise control in private, as in political +matters. He wanted his brother to obey him, both as King and husband, and +in his discontent at seeing his orders disobeyed, he wrote to him, from +the depths of Poland, April 4, 1807, this reproachful letter, which is a +real reprimand: "Your quarrels with the Queen have become public. Show, +then, in private life some of that paternal and effeminate character which +you display in matters of government, and in business the same rigor you +exercise in your household. You treat a young woman as we treat a +regiment.... You have an excellent and most virtuous wife and you make her +unhappy. Let her dance as much as she pleases; she is young. My wife is +forty; I wrote to her from the battle-field to go to a ball. And you want +a young woman of twenty, who sees her life flitting, and has every +illusion, to live in a cloister, or to be always washing her baby like a +nurse. You are too much _you_ in your household, and not enough in your +administration. I should not say all this to you except for the interest I +have for you. Make the mother of your children happy; you have one way to +do this: that is, by showing her esteem and confidence. Unfortunately your +wife is too virtuous; if you had married a coquette she would lead you by +the end of your nose. But you have a proud wife who is afflicted and +distressed by the mere thought that you may have a bad opinion of her. You +ought to have married any one of a number of women whom I know in Paris; +she would have had no difficulty in getting ahead of you and would have +kept you at her feet. It is not my fault, I have often told your wife so." +Thus the Emperor, by taking part in behalf of his daughter-in-law and +against his brother, took a position as arbiter in their domestic +quarrels. This interference was all the more galling to Louis,--who would +have liked to be master in both his own kingdom and in his own house,-- +that calumny, as he well knew, persisted in representing the Emperor as +his rival in Hortense's love, and as the father of the Crown Prince. + +This child was named Napoleon Charles. He was born in Paris, October 10, +1802. His grandmother, Josephine, nourished the hope that some day he +might be heir to the Empire, and she regarded his birth as a pledge of +final reconciliation between the Bonapartes and the Beauharnaises. She +believed that his cradle saved her from divorce. The Emperor, who always +liked children, was especially fond of his nephew. He watched his growth +with the keenest interest, admiring his amiability, his precocity, his +excellent disposition, The boy was really remarkable for intelligence and +beauty. His large blue eyes reflected every mood of his mind. Good, +loving, frank, and merry, he needed only to appear and all sadness was +banished. His mother had brought him up to revere the Emperor. His father, +the King, gave him new toys every day, choosing those he thought most +attractive. The boy preferred those he received from his uncle, and when +his father said, "But just see, Napoleon, those are ugly; mine are +prettier." "No," said the young Prince, "those are very pretty, my uncle +gave them to me." One morning on his way to see the Emperor, he passed +through a drawing-room where happened to be among others, Murat, then +Grand Duke of Berg. The young Napoleon walked straight ahead without +paying attention to any one, and when Murat stopped him and said, "Don't +you mean to say good-morning to me?" the child replied, "No; not before my +uncle the Emperor." Who knows? if this little Prince had lived the Emperor +might have desired no other heir, and perhaps the divorce would never have +taken place. + +This boy was his mother's hope and pride, her joy and consolation. His +father, too, loved him much. He was a light in the darkness, a rainbow +after the storm. Sometimes when his parents were quarrelling he succeeded +in reconciling them. He used to take his father by the hand, who gladly +let himself be led by this little angel, and then he would say in a +caressing tone: "Kiss her, papa, I beg of you"; then he was perfectly +happy when his father and mother exchanged a kiss of peace. + +The little Prince had a sudden attack of croup in the night of May 4, +1807. He was thought to be lost, but in the evening he was a little +better, and the physicians had some hope of saving him. The improvement +lasted but a few minutes. In the course of the day he was given some +English powders, which lent him a feverish strength, so that at six in the +evening he asked for some cards and pictures to play with, but the fever +only gave way to his death agony. Towards ten in the evening the child +drew his last breath. + +No words can describe the unhappy Queen's despair; she became stony with +grief, and fears were felt for her reason. Josephine's grief was +boundless. She did not dare to leave the Empire without the Emperor's +authorization, and so did not go to The Hague, but went in all haste to +the Castle of Laeken, near Brussels, whence she wrote to Hortense in the +evening of May 14: "I have just readied the Castle of Laeken, my dear +daughter, and await you here. Come and give me life; your presence is +necessary for me, and you must have need of seeing me and of weeping with +your mother. I should have liked to go further, but I was too weak, and +besides I had not time to send word to the Emperor. I have summoned +courage to come thus far; I hope that you will have enough to come to your +mother. Good by, my dear daughter, I am worn out with fatigue and +especially with grief." In the evening of May 15, Hortense arrived at the +Castle of Laeken, accompanied by her husband and her sole surviving son. +She was motionless, apathetic, the figure of despair. M. de Remusat, who +was with the Empress, wrote the next day to his wife: "The Queen has but +one thought, the loss she has suffered; she speaks of only one thing, of +_him_. Not a tear, but a cold calm, an almost absolute silence about +everything, and when she speaks she wrings every one's heart. If she sees +any one whom she has ever seen with her son, she looks at him with +kindliness and interest, and says, 'You know he is dead.' When she first +saw her mother, she said to her: 'It's not long since he was here with me. +I held him on my knees thus.' Seeing me a few minutes later, she made a +sign for me to come forward. 'Do you remember Mayence? He acted with us.' +She heard ten o'clock strike; she turned to one of the ladies and said, +'You know it was at ten that he died.' That is the only way she breaks her +almost continual silence. With all that, she is kind, sensible, perfectly +reasonable; she thoroughly understands her condition, and even speaks of +it. She says she is glad that she has fallen into this numb state, +otherwise her sufferings would have been too intense. Some one asked her +if she was much moved when she saw her mother: 'No,' she answered; 'but I +am very glad to have seen her.' Mention was made of Josephine's surprise +at her lack of emotion on seeing her; 'Oh, Heavens!' she said, 'she must +not mind it; that's the way I am.' To anything that is asked her on any +other subject, she says, 'It's all the same to me; do as you please.'" + +A messenger had been sent to carry the news to the Emperor, who was much +affected by hearing it. He wrote to Josephine, May 14: "I can well imagine +the grief which Napoleon's death, must cause. You can understand what I +suffer. I should like to be with you, that you might be moderate and +discreet in your grief. You were happy enough never to lose a child, but +that is one of the conditions and penalties attached to our human misery. +Let me hear that you are calm and well! Do you want to add to my regret? +Good by, my dear." + +May 17 an imposing ceremony took place in Paris--the carrying of the sword +of Frederick the Great to the Tuileries. A triumphal chariot, richly +decorated, carried the one hundred and eighty flags captured in the last +campaign. Marshal Moncey, on horseback, held the hero's sword. The chariot +proceeded to the iron gate of the Invalides, which it was too lofty to +pass under. Then the veterans came to take the flags and to carry them +into the church. The ceremony began with a song of triumph. Marshal +Serurier, Governor of the Invalides, spoke: "We are here," he said, "to +the number of more than nine hundred of those who fought against the great +king whose warlike spoils our children have just won. At that time fortune +did not always smile upon our valor. The fathers were no less brave than +their sons, but they had not the same leader. Yet we can only recall with +pride the words of that great man: 'If I were at the head of the French +people, not a cannon would be fired in Europe without my permission'-- +honorable proof of his esteem for the soldiers who were fighting him. But +it was in the reign of a sovereign even greater by his genius, his feats, +his moderation, that the French people was to rise to such a height of +power and glory. We swear faithfully to guard the treasure which his +Imperial and Royal Majesty has entrusted to us." Then the old church +echoed with cries of "We swear it!" + +At this ceremony, the eloquent President of the Legislative Body, M. de +Fontanes, made a fine speech full of enthusiasm for Napoleon, but +respectful to the memory of the great Frederick and to the misfortunes of +his successor. He closed with a few words on the grief that the death of +the Crown Prince must have caused the Emperor: "Perhaps, at this moment," +he said, "the hero who has saved us is weeping in his tent at the head of +three hundred thousand victorious French, and of all the confederate kings +and princes who march under his banner. He weeps, and neither the trophies +heaped about him, nor the glory of the twenty sceptres he holds so firmly, +which even Charlemagne failed to grasp, can distract his thoughts from the +coffin of that boy, whose first steps he aided with his triumphant hands, +whose promising intelligence he hoped one day to guide. Let him not forget +that his domestic woes have been felt like a public calamity, and may a +tender expression of the national interest bring him some slight +consolation. All our alarm for the future is a more ardent expression of +our homage. May fortune be satisfied with this one victim, and while she +always favors the plans of the greatest of monarchs, may she not make him +pay for his glory by similar misfortunes!" + +Doubtless the death of this young child altered the face of things. If he +had lived, it would have been for him, and not his brother, to bear the +name of Napoleon III., or possibly even of Napoleon II., and apparently +the destiny of the world would have been very different. Kingdoms and +empires, on what does their fate depend! May 5 was to be a fatal date; the +young Prince died May 5, 1807, and fourteen years later to a day his uncle +was to die on the rock of Saint Helena. + + + + +XXIII. + +THE END OF THE WAR. + + +The Empress brought her daughter Hortense and her grandson Napoleon Louis, +a boy a little over two, back to Paris with her, but she had not long the +consolation of their presence; before the end of May Hortense was obliged +to leave for Cauterets to repair her shattered health. Her mother wrote to +her from Saint Cloud, May 27: "I have wept much since your departure; this +separation is very painful for me, and the only thing that could enable me +to bear it would be the certainty that you are getting some good from your +trip. I have heard of you from Madame de Broc. I beg of you to thank her +for this attention and to ask her to write to me when you are unable. I +heard news, too, of your son; he is at Laeken, very well, and awaits the +King's arrival. The Emperor has written to me again; he shares our sorrow. +I needed this consolation, the only one I have received since your +departure. I am always alone, every moment recalls our loss, my tears +never cease flowing. Good by, my dear daughter, take care of yourself for +your mother's sake, who loves you most tenderly." + +Napoleon, who forbade his wife and daughter-in-law to be gloomy,--an order +more easily given than obeyed,--thought their mourning excessive. His +expressions of sympathy were very singular. He wrote from Finkenstein to +Queen Hortense, May 20, 1807:-- + +"MY DAUGHTER: Everything I hear from The Hague tells me you are not +reasonable. However legitimate your grief, it should have some bounds. Do +not ruin your health; seek some distractions, and remember that life is so +full of dangers and evils that death is not the worst thing that can +befall one." In his letter of May 24 to the Empress, the Emperor spoke of +the unhappy Queen with a severity that amounted to brutality: "Hortense is +unreasonable and does not deserve to be loved since she does not love any +one but her children. Try to calm her and do not make trouble for me. For +every hopeless evil, consolation must be found." He wrote to her again, +May 26: "I have your letter of the 16th. I am glad Hortense has gone to +Laeken. I am sorry to hear what you say about the sort of stupor she is +in. She might show courage and self-control. I can't understand why she +should be sent to the baths; she could find more distractions in Paris. +Control yourself; be cheerful, and keep well. My health is excellent. Good +by. I stare your sufferings, and am sorry not to be with you." + +In her bitter grief Hortense lacked courage to write to the Emperor, who +was annoyed by her silence. "My dear," he wrote to Josephine, June 2, "I +hear that you have arrived at Malmaison. I have no letters from you. I am +vexed with Hortense; she has not written me a word. All you tell me about +her distresses me. Why could you not distract her a little? You are always +in tears! I hope you will show some self-control, that I may not find you +sad. I have been for two days at Dantzic; the weather is fine; I am well. +I think of you more than you think of an absent man. Good by; much love. +Forward to Hortense this letter." This is the severe epistle which +Josephine was bidden to send to Hortense:-- + +"June 2. MY DAUGHTER: You have not written me a word in your great and +natural grief. You have forgotten everything, as if you had not still +losses to endure. I hear that you love nothing, are indifferent to +everything; this is plain from your silence. That is not right, Hortense. +It is not what you promised us. Your son was everything for you? Are your +mother and I nothing? Had I been at Malmaison I should have shared your +sorrow, but I should have wanted you to listen to your best friends. Good +by, my daughter; be cheerful; you must be resigned. My wife is much +distressed at your condition; do not give her further pain. Your +affectionate father." + +It is easily seen that such letters were ill adapted to allay the anguish +of an inconsolable mother mourning for her child. + +Josephine's letters to her daughter showed very different feelings. The +kind Empress did her best to persuade her that the Emperor sympathized +with her grief. She wrote from Saint Cloud, June 4: "Your letter, my dear +Hortense, gives me much consolation, and what I hear from your ladies +about your health makes me easier. The Emperor was much distressed, in +every letter he tries to give me courage, but I know that this unhappy +event was a great blow to him. The King arrived at Saint Len last evening; +he has sent me word that he meant to call on me to-day, and he must leave +the boy here during his absence. You know how much I love the child, and +how careful I shall be of him. I want the King to take the same route as +you; it will be a consolation for you both to meet. All his letters since +you left are full of love for you. He has too tender a heart not to be +touched. Good by, my dear daughter; take care of your health; mine will +improve only when I don't have to suffer for those I love." This letter +shows all the kindness and gentleness of Josephine's character. She was +conciliating and benevolent, and did her best to smooth over Napoleon's +blame and to reconcile Hortense with her husband. She wrote again from +Saint Cloud, June 11: "Your boy is very well, and amuses me a great deal; +he is so gentle; I think he has all the ways of the poor boy we mourn." +Josephine understood consolation better than the Emperor. + +What could be more touching, more maternal, than this letter from the +Empress? "Your letter moved me deeply; I see your grief is ever fresh and +I perceive this better by my own sufferings. We have lost what was most +worthy to be loved; my tears flow as they did the first day. Those regrets +are too natural to be repressed by reason, although it should moderate +them. You are not alone in the world. You have left a husband, an +interesting child, and you are too tender for that to be strange and +indifferent to you. Think of us, my dear daughter, and let this calm your +natural sorrow. I rely on your love for me and on your reasonableness. I +hope that the trip and the waters will do you good. Your son is very well, +and is charming. My health is a little better, but you know it depends on +yours. Good by. Many kisses." + +The character of this loving mother and grandmother manifests itself in +every one of her letters. Her style was simple and affectionate, like +herself. Her letters, full of the gentlest, best, and most touching +feeling, might make one say, "The style is the woman." + +While Josephine and Hortense were weeping, Napoleon was bringing a +terrible campaign to a brilliant end. June 15 he thus announced to his +wife the great victory of Friedland: "My dear: I write but a word, for I +am very tired; I have been bivouacking for several days. My children have +been worthily celebrating the battle of Marengo. The battle of Friedland +will be quite as famous and glorious for my people. The whole Russian army +routed; eighty cannon; thirty thousand men captured or killed; twenty-five +Russian generals killed, wounded, or captured; the Russian Guard wiped +out; it is a worthy sister of Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena. The bulletin will +tell you the rest. My losses are not serious; I succeeded in +outmanoeuvring the enemy. Be calm and contented. Good by, my dear, my +horse is waiting." The next day he wrote another letter to Josephine: "My +dear, yesterday I sent Moustache to you with news of the battle of +Friedland. Since then, I have continued to pursue the enemy, Koenigsberg, a +city of eighty thousand inhabitants, Is in my power, I have found there +many cannon, stores, and finally sixty thousand muskets just come from +England. Good by, my dear, my health is perfect, although I have a cold +from the rain and cold of the bivouac. Be cheerful and contented. Ever +yours." From Tilsitt Napoleon wrote to his wife, June 19: "I have sent +Tascher to you to allay your anxiety. Everything goes on admirably here. +The battle of Friedland decided everything. The enemy is confounded, cast +down, and extremely enfeebled. My health is excellent, my army superb. +Good by; be cheerful and contented." Be cheerful and contented--he was +always saying it. + +June 25, at one in the afternoon, a great sight was to be seen in the +middle of the Niemen. A raft had been placed midstream in plain view from +both banks of the river. All the rich stuffs that could be found in the +little town of Tilsitt had been taken to make a pavilion on a part of this +raft for the reception of the Emperors of France and Russia. From one bank +Napoleon embarked with Murat, Berthier, Bessieres, Duroc, and +Caulaincourt; and from the other, Alexander, with the Grand Duke +Constantine, Generals Bennigsen and Ouvaroff, the Prince of Labanoff, and +the Count of Lieven. The two armies were drawn up on the two banks, and +the country people of the neighborhood were present to watch one of the +most memorable interviews known to history. When they reached the raft, +the two sovereigns, who had just been fighting so bitterly, and had sent +so many thousand men to death, fell into each other's arms with emotion. +The same day Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I have just seen the Emperor +Alexander, and am much pleased with him; he is a very fine-looking, good +young Emperor; he has more intelligence than is generally supposed. He is +going to move into Tilsitt to-morrow. Good by; keep well and be contented. +My health is excellent." The two monarchs became very intimate. "My dear," +Napoleon wrote to his wife July 3, "M. de Turenne will give you all the +details about what is going on here; everything is moving smoothly. I +think I told you that the Emperor of Russia drank to your health with +great kindness. He and the King of Prussia dine with me every day. I want +you to be contented. Good by; much love." And July 6: "I have yours of +June 25. I am sorry you are so egoistic, and that my success gives you no +pleasure. The beautiful Queen of Prussia is to dine with me to-day. I am +well and anxious to see you again when fate permits. Still it will +probably be soon." + +The Queen of Prussia was one of the most beautiful and most brilliant +women of her time. An hour after her arrival at Tilsitt, Napoleon called +on her, and that evening, when she came to dine with him, he went to the +door of the house in which he lived to receive her with all respect. But +in spite of all her efforts to modify the conditions of the peace imposed +on Prussia, her gracious and obstinate endeavors were fruitless. Napoleon, +July 7, thus described to Josephine the dinner of the evening before to +the charming Queen: "My dear, the Queen of Prussia dined with me +yesterday. I was obliged to refuse her some concessions she wanted me to +make to her husband; but I was polite, and also kept to my plan. She is +very amiable. When I see you I will give you all the details which would +be too long to write now. When you read this letter, peace will have been +concluded with Russia and Prussia, and Jerome will have been recognized as +King of Westphalia with a population of three millions. This piece of news +is for you alone. Good by, my dear; I want to hear that you are contented +and cheerful." The story runs that the Queen of Prussia, who held a +beautiful rose in her hand, offered it to Napoleon, saying with a gracious +smile: "Take it, Sire, but in exchange for Magdeburg." The hero of Jena +made a mistake not to make the exchange. He did too much or too little for +the Prussian monarchy. Since he could not or would not wipe it out, he +ought to have let it live, and become a friendly power. Who can tell? +Perhaps his acceptance of the rose would have warded off many acts of +vengeance, many disasters. On such slight things does the world's destiny +depend! + +Josephine wrote to her daughter from Saint Cloud, July 10: "I often hear +from the Emperor, who speaks a great deal about the Emperor Alexander, +with whom he seems well satisfied. He sent M. de Monaco and M. de +Montesquiou to give me details of all they had seen. They say the first +view was a magnificent sight. The two armies were on the two banks of the +Niemen. The Emperor was the first to arrive at a raft built in the middle +of the river; the Emperor Alexander's boat found some difficulty in +approaching, which gave him a chance to speak of his eagerness thwarted by +the stream. They tell me that when the two Emperors kissed, wide-spread +applause arose from both banks. What most interests me in all this good +news is my hope of soon seeing the Emperor again. Why is this happiness +troubled by sad memories that can never be destroyed? Your boy is +perfectly-well; his complexion has entirely changed. I hope the waters +will do both you and the King good; remember me to him, and believe in my +constant love." + +Before leaving Tilsitt, where he had signed a glorious peace, Napoleon had +the bravest soldier of the Russian Guard presented to him, and he gave him +the eagle of the Legion of Honor. He gave his portrait to Platou, the +hetman of the Cossacks, and some Baschirs gave him a concert after the +custom of their country. July 9, at eleven in the morning, wearing the +grand cordon of Saint Andrew, he called on the Emperor Alexander, who wore +the broad ribbon of the Legion of Honor, The two sovereigns passed three +hours together, then mounted their horses, and rode towards the Niemen. +Then they got down and embraced for the last time. The Czar then embarked, +and Napoleon waited on the river-bank until his new friend had landed on +the other shore. He returned to Koenigsberg and from there to Dresden, +whence he wrote to Josephine, July, 18: "My dear, I reached here yesterday +afternoon at five, very well, though I had been posting one hundred hours +without stopping. I am staying with the King of Saxony, whom I like very +much. I have more than half my journey to you behind me. I warn you that I +may burst in on you at Saint Cloud one of these nights, like a jealous +husband. Good by, my dear; I shall be very glad to see you again. Ever +yours." Napoleon spoke of jealousy. The days of the first Italian campaign +were very distant. Everything had changed. It was no longer he who had to +be jealous of Josephine: it was Josephine who was jealous of him, and with +good reason. After an absence of nearly a year, the Emperor reached Saint +Cloud, July 27, 1807, at six o'clock in the morning. + + + + +XXIV. + +THE EMPEROR'S RETURN. + + +July 28, 1807, the Emperor, who had arrived at Saint Cloud the day before, +received the great bodies of the State. It would be hard to form an exact +idea of the flatteries addressed to him. Let us quote a few taken at +random. M. Seguier, First President of the Court of Appeal, said to the +hero of Friedland: "Napoleon is above admiration; only love can rise to +him." The Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, speaking in the name of his +clergy, was perhaps even more enthusiastic: "The God of armies," he said, +"has dictated and directed all your plans; nothing could resist the +swiftness of so many wonders.... Have confidence, Sire, in our zeal, and +instruct the people in the submission and obedience they owe to all of +Your Majesty's decrees and orders." But it was Councillor of State +Trochot, Prefect of the Seine, who deserves the prize in this competition +of adulation. Here is a fragment of his speech: "Sire, now that at last +Paris receives you once more after so long an absence and such prodigious +feats, it would gladly express to you all its intense admiration, and yet +it can only speak to you of its love. And, indeed, if it tried to +contemplate in you the conqueror of so many kings, the law-maker of so +many peoples, the controller of so many events, the arbiter of so many +destinies, how could it dare to approach Your Majesty, and in what +language could it address you? Should it speak to you of triumphs? But can +any one but a Caesar himself speak of what Caesar has done? Of glory? but +for ten years it has been impossible to speak of all you have won. Of +genius? but who can speak of all the marvels yours has wrought, before +which we are dumb and confounded. Sire, all these things are beyond us, +and since they command admiration, even silence, the silence of +astonishment which admiration imposes seems to be our sole manner of +expressing it." More had not been said, to Louis XIV., the Sun King. + +In allusion to the illuminations in Paris the evening before, the Prefect, +of the Seine added: "Why could not you, Sire, have been an eye-witness of +the joy which the announcement of Your Majesty's return spread yesterday +throughout the capital of your Empire! Why could not you have heard the +applause with which your faithful subjects rent the welkin daring the +festivity which they gave on this occasion until well into the night!" The +Prefect closed by a prophecy, alas! not too accurate: "The august Emperor +Napoleon will render war between nations impossible, and the world's +happiness will date from his reign." + +The hero of Austerlitz, of Jena, of Friedland, then thought nothing +impossible. His direct or indirect sway extended from the Straits of +Gibraltar to the Vistula, from the mountains of Bohemia to the North Sea. +Charlemagne was outstripped. Josephine saw her husband again with joy, but +also with anxiety and terror. He returned so infatuated by his wonderful +fortune, he was so flattered and deified by his courtiers, in his whole +Imperial and royal person there was something so formidable and majestic, +that his gentle and timid wife was, as it were, dazzled by the rays of a +sun, too brilliant for her to look at. + +Josephine had now become afraid to address him as thou, and to call him +simply Bonaparte as she had done before. When she spoke to him, she often +called him Sire. She did not dare to reproach him with his infidelities at +Warsaw or the Castle of Finkenstein, or to show that she noticed his +attentions to many ladies of the court, notably to a beautiful Italian +woman, a friend of Talleyrand's, who was one of her readers and a +prominent object of Napoleon's attentions. She saw rising before her the +vision of divorce, the phantom which had haunted her imagination since the +expedition to Egypt. Fearful of giving her husband the slightest pretext +for discontent or annoyance, she was humbler, more submissive, more +obedient than ever. + +So long as the oldest son of Louis and Hortense had lived, Josephine felt +comparatively secure, because she knew that this boy, a special favorite +of Napoleon's, was intended by his uncle to be the heir of his Empire. But +his surviving brother, the little Napoleon Louis, born October 11, 1804, +did not give the Empress the same confidence. The Emperor was less +intimate with this child; he had not played with him as he had done with +the other; he had not become attached to him. The little Napoleon Louis +was staying with Josephine when the Emperor returned. She did all she +could to make him love him. + +Moreover, it was not an easy thing to hold the affections of a man like +Napoleon. Six years younger than his wife, he was but thirty-eight, and in +all the flower and prime of his Caesar-like beauty. He liked to make a +conquest of beauties as well as of provinces. The thought of resistance +exasperated him. In everything he demanded success, triumph, dominion. The +celebration of his birthday, August 15, 1807, which was accompanied with +unusual pomp and splendor, was of the nature of a deification. He made +Josephine share his triumph, and held her by the hand when he appeared on +a balcony of the Tuileries, in the enclosure, amid the applause of the +multitude assembled in the gardens. + +King Jerome's marriage with the young Princess Catherine of Wuertemberg +added to the animation of the already brilliant court. The annulment of +the young Prince's marriage with Miss Paterson had caused Napoleon much +difficulty. When this marriage had been contracted at Baltimore, December +8, 1803, he had been only First Consul, and Jerome, a simple naval +officer, was in no way under the control of the decree of the Senate, +which was later to determine the civil conditions of the new Imperial +family. But in his haste to marry the young and beautiful American girl, +Jerome, who was but nineteen years old, had neglected, in spite of the +advice of the French Consul, to demand the permission of his mother, +Madame Letitia Bonaparte. This omission had not prevented the Bishop of +Baltimore from celebrating the marriage. Napoleon, however, regarded it as +null and void. It was not till February 22, 1805, that he obtained his +mother's protest, and the 21st of the next March, by an Imperial decree, +he annulled the marriage which displeased him, by his own authority. Yet, +in the eyes of religion, this union still existed. The Emperor asked the +Pope to pronounce it null, but Pius VII. gave the request a formal +refusal, writing in June, 1805: "It is beyond our power in the present +state of things, to pronounce it null. If we should usurp an authority we +do not possess, we should render ourselves guilty of an abuse abominable +before the throne of God; and Your Majesty himself, in his justice, would +blame us for pronouncing a sentence contrary to the testimony of our +conscience, and to the invariable principles of the church.... That is why +we earnestly hope that Your Majesty will be convinced that the desire with +which we are always animated to second his designs, so far as depends on +us, particularly in a matter so closely concerning his august person, has +been rendered idle by the absolute absence of power, and we entreat him to +receive this sincere declaration as testimony of our really paternal +affection." This was the beginning of the quarrel between the Pope and the +Emperor. Pius VII. would not yield; but Napoleon found greater servility +in the metropolitan officialty of Paris; and October 6, 1806, he secured a +sentence pronouncing the nullity of his brother Jerome's marriage with +Miss Paterson. + +The King of Wuertemberg, in the hope that a close alliance with the +Imperial family would strengthen his throne, and procure him accession of +land and power, had prepared to give to the Emperor's young brother the +hand of his daughter, Princess Catherine. As soon as the King had formed +this decision, he would not listen to a word of criticism from his family, +who were already accustomed never to discuss his ideas. The King of +Wuertemberg was a real giant. He was so stout that a broad, deep hollow had +to be cut out of his dining-table; for otherwise he would not have been +able to reach his plate. He was fond of riding, but it was not easy to +find a horse strong enough to carry his enormous weight. The horse had to +be gradually accustomed to it, and to accomplish this, the equerry who had +to prepare the royal steed used to wear a band full of lead, to which he +would add new pieces every day, until he was as heavy as the King. This +monarch, who was highly respected, though greatly feared, by ids subjects, +had some eccentricities. Thus he demanded that his wife should be up and +fully dressed by seven in the morning; and insisted that at whatever hour +of the day or evening it should please him to enter her apartment, he +should find her ready to accompany him wherever he might want to go. The +Queen, who was his second wife,--Princess Catherine was a child by his +first marriage,--was a daughter of the King of England, and consequently +she was averse to seeing her step-daughter marry the brother of England's +greatest enemy; but she took good care not to make any objections. The +King of Wuertemberg was severe to his family and to his subjects, but he +was well educated, intelligent, and energetic. Napoleon set great store by +him, and regarded him as a loyal and faithful ally. + +Jerome, who had been made King of Westphalia by the treaty of Tilsitt, was +the youngest of the Emperor's brothers. He was born at Ajaccio, November +15, 1784, and was not yet twenty-three when he married Princess Catherine +of Wuertemberg, who was nearly two years older than he, having been born +February 2, 1783. This Princess had much charm; she was tall, handsome, +her expression was noble and kindly; she inspired every one with sympathy +and respect. She was a woman remarkable for intelligence, virtue, and +affection. She was to be a model wife and mother. She it was who, in 1814, +refused to get a divorce and to abandon an unfortunate husband, a +dethroned king. She it was who wrote to her father this admirable letter, +without fear of his anger: "Having been forced, by reasons of state to +marry the King, my husband, it has been granted me by fate to be the +happiest woman in the world. I feel for my husband love, tenderness, +esteem, combined; at this painful moment would the best of desire to +destroy my domestic happiness, the only sort left to me? I venture to tell +you, my clear father, you and, all the family, that you do not know the +King, my husband. A time will come, I hope, when you will be convinced +that you have misjudged him and then you will always find him and me the +most respectful and most loving children." She was the courageous woman, +the faithful wife, the devoted mother, of whom Napoleon said at Saint +Helena: "Princess Catherine of Wuertemberg has with her own hands written +her name in history." + +Jerome's marriage was an event of great ceremony. It was first celebrated, +by proxy, at Stuttgart, the Princess's brother representing the +bridegroom. The Emperor sent presents to his future sister-in-law, among +other things a set of diamonds worth three hundred thousand francs. A +detachment from the Emperor's household and many of the Empress's ladies +of the bedchamber went to the frontiers to meet the Princess. She reached +the Castle of Raincy, August 20, 1807, and there saw her betrothed for the +first time, and the 21st, Napoleon received her at the Tuileries on the +first step of the great staircase. As she bowed before him, he folded her +in his arms, then he presented her to the Empress, before the whole court +and the deputies of the new kingdom of Westphalia, who had been summoned +to Paris to be present at the marriage of their young sovereign with a +Princess belonging to one of the oldest and most illustrious families of +Germany. + +Saturday, August 22, the signature of the marriage contract and the civil +wedding took place at the Tuileries, in the Gallery of Diana, in presence +of the Emperor, the Empress, the ladies and officers of their households +and the great personages of the Empire. M. Regnault de Saint-Jean +d'Angely, Secretary of State of the Imperial family, read the marriage- +contract, which was then signed by the Emperor, the Empress, the young +couple, the Princes and Princesses, the Prince Primate of the +Confederation of the Rhine, the Prince's high dignitaries of the Empire, +and the witnesses of the marriage. The witnesses were, for the court of +France: Prince Borghese, Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, and Marshal +Berthier, Prince of Neufchatel; for the court of Wuertemberg: the Prince of +Baden; the Prince of Nassau; and the Count of Winzingerode, the Minister +of Wuertemberg. Prince Cambaceres, Arch-chancellor of the Empire, then +received the consent of the couple and pronounced the formula of the civil +marriage. + +The next day, Sunday, August 23, 1807, at eight in the evening, the +religious marriage was celebrated in the chapel of the Tuileries, the +galleries being filled with the diplomatic bodies, the foreign princes and +noblemen and invited guests. The procession was brilliant. On entering the +chapel, Napoleon gave his hand to the Princess Catherine, and Jerome his +to the Empress. The Prince Primate of the Confederation of the Rhines, +Archbishop of Regensburg, Sovereign Prince of that city, of Aschaftenburg, +of Frankfort, etc., surrounded by his clergy and his court, stood at the +chapel door. He gave holy water to the Emperor and the Empress, who at +once went to their praying-chairs; then he gave the nuptial blessing to +the young couple, while the canopy was held by the Bishop of Ghent and the +Abbe of Boulogne, the Emperor's Almoners. After the ceremony, they all +went back from the chapel to the grand apartments, where followed a +concert, a ballet, and a reception in the Hall of the Marshals. Twice +Napoleon appeared on the balcony, showing the newly married pair the vast +throng filling the garden of the Tuileries. Unfortunately, a sudden storm +prevented the display of fireworks. + +While the thunder was roaring and the rain pouring down, the Empress, at +her young brother-in-law's marriage, was the prey to sad reflections. She +thought of the deserted American wife, who, far away, was weeping, while +her husband, the father of her children was joyfully leading another wife +to the altar. Josephine doubtless thought that soon perhaps her lot would +he the same as that of the unhappy Miss Paterson; that she would he +sacrificed, abandoned, repudiated in the very same way. + +The Empress had another cause of grief. At the Pyrenees her daughter +Hortense had become reconciled with Louis, and was soon to be the mother +of the child afterwards known as Napoleon III. But in a few weeks the +incongeniality of their dispositions, for a moment forgotten in their +common grief, asserted itself anew. On their return to Paris, at the end +of August, the discord between the King and the Queen of Holland was as +violent as ever. The King, more uneasy and suspicious than ever before, +wanted to carry his wife to Holland, but the Queen had an aversion to the +country where she had suffered so much, and to its fatal climate. She +feared that if she should return there she might lose her second son like +the first. Her health was wretched; she feared that her lungs were +affected. In France she felt that the Emperor protected her from her +husband's anger. Holland seemed to her a gloomy, damp, melancholy prison, +of which the King, her husband, would be the jailor. Louis Bonaparte was +furious at his wife's resistance, all the more that he was obliged to hide +his feelings. Napoleon, who held his family, like his Empire, in absolute +control, gave Louis, as well as his other brothers, orders which they had +to obey without a word or a murmur. The King of Holland returned to his +kingdom alone, his wife stayed in France, but in the gloomiest spirits, +with mind and body disordered, disenchanted about all human things. "From +that time," she said later, "I understood that my misfortunes were beyond +cure; I looked upon my life as destroyed; I conceived a horror of +grandeur, of a throne; I often cursed what so many called my good fortune; +I felt lost to all enjoyment of life, shorn of all Illusions, nearly dead +to everything going on about me." Under other conditions, the Empress +would have been delighted to have her daughter with her, but she found her +so dejected, so morose, and so unhappy, that her presence was quite as +much a grief as a comfort for her. These were the feelings of the Empress +of the French and of the Queen, of Holland when they went to Fontainebleau +with the court at the end of September, 1807. There the Emperor lived more +splendidly than ever, surrounding himself with all the pomp and majesty of +monarchy. + + + + +XXV. + +THE COURT AT FONTAINEBLEAU. + + +The court arrived at the Palace of Fontainebleau September 21, 1807, and +stayed there until November 15. Napoleon felt the need of displaying +unprecedented luxury. He wanted to have the Diplomatic Corps send to +foreign powers the account of magnificent festivities. This splendid +palace, with its proud memories of the old French monarchy, was a +residence that pleased him. He liked to be surrounded by great persons, +whether foreigners or Frenchmen, who rivalled one another in flattery, +zeal, and homage towards him. In his opinion, festivities and battles +added to the glory of the throne. Desiring to be in everything first, he +was very anxious for his court to be esteemed the most brilliant in +Europe. + +There were various types among the guests at Fontainebleau. There was +Napoleon's mother, rather Italian than French by birth, and in face and +accent. She recalled the characters of antiquity, unspoiled by prosperity, +austere in her life, simple in her taste, rigidly economical, less from +avarice than a distrust of the continuance of her son's good fortune. +There was the beautiful Princess Borghese, Duchess of Guastalla, more +elegant, more fashionable, more attractive than ever; then Madame Murat, +rich in freshness and brilliancy, not satisfied with being a French +Princess and Grand Duchess of Berg, but yearning to be a Queen; the Queen +of Holland, on the other hand, in despair at having ascended the throne, +and plunged in a deep melancholy in marked contrast with the splendors +surrounding her in spite of herself. Then Joseph Bonaparte's wife, the +Queen of Naples, whose tastes were modest, and who preferred Paris to her +Italian kingdom. There were many Princes and great lords in the crowd of +courtiers, the satellites of the Imperial sun. In the Gallery of Henry II. +were to be distinguished a cluster of German Princes: the Grand Duke of +Wuerzburg,--who did not seem to sigh for his Grand Duchy of Tuscany, +finding ample consolation in singing Italian pieces, for music was his +passion; the Prince Primate of the Confederation of the Rhine, Archbishop +of Regensburg, Sovereign Prince of that city and of Frankfort, who, in +spite of his position in the church, joined the Emperor's hunt; Prince +William of Prussia, who hoped by his devotion to alleviate the troubles of +his country, and to modify the demands of the hero of Jena; the Prince of +Mecklenburg-Schwerin, conspicuous for his formal German politeness; the +young Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. brother of the Queen of Prussia, +less interested in the patriotic grievances of his sister, than in his +assiduous court to the Empress Josephine, whose respectful platonic lover +he was; the Prince of Baden, who, although the brother-in-law of the +Emperor of Russia, the King of Bavaria, and the King of Sweden, was proud +to have married a Mademoiselle de Beauharnais, daughter of a simple +Senator of the Empire, with but one regret--that his wife did not love him +enough; Jerome, the young and brilliant King of Westphalia, apparently +forgetful of Elisabeth Paterson, and full of mad love for his new wife, +Princess Catherine of Wuertemberg. + +In the Gallery of Henry II. was also to be seen Murat, who, after his +triumphal entry into Warsaw, thought of nothing but crowns, anxiously +wondering whether he was to be King of Poland, or of Portugal, of Spain, +or of Naples. There were the high dignitaries of the Empire, the foreign +ambassadors, the marshals, the ministers; M. de Talleyrand with his +enormous salary, his high position as Grand Chamberlain and Vice-Elector, +his title of Prince of Benevento, always sparkling with the cold, +sceptical, politely contemptuous wit that distinguished those who belonged +to the old regime--Talleyrand, who, in the Emperor's closet possibly spoke +to him with a certain freedom, but in the Gallery of Henry II. resembled +the other courtiers and kept a profound silence as his master drew near. +Then the Count of Segur, Grand Master of Ceremonies, as attractive in the +court of Napoleon as he had been in that of Catherine II. as ambassador of +Louis XVI.; Marshal Berthier, Grand Master of the Horse, Vice-Constable, +Sovereign Prince of Neufchatel, as devoted to Madame Visconti as if he +were a youth of twenty; Count Tolstoi, the brilliant ambassador of the +Emperor Alexander; M. de Metternich, the fascinating and skilful Austrian +Ambassador, conspicuous by Ms admiration for Princess Murat. + +When the Emperor entered, all eyes were turned towards him alone; about +him centred all interest, all intrigues, all ambitions. He appeared as the +dispenser of fortune, the arbiter of destiny, the exceptional being on +whom depended individuals, kingdoms, empires. He filled it all with his +presence; every one seemed to live only for and by the Emperor. A smile, a +word, the slightest mark of attention on his part, seemed a precious +reward, a marked honor, As soon as he entered, a quiver of admiration and +of terror seemed to run through the air. Every one bowed like a horse who +sniffs the approach of his master; they almost prostrated themselves +before him. Any one to whom he spoke, stammered, feared to reply, turned +pale and red; and he, rejoicing in their embarrassment, gloried in the +wide gulf he had set between himself and all other human beings. Even +foreigners seemed to be his subjects. Whatever their position, whatever +their coat-of-arms, by his side they were vulgar supernumeraries. His +power appeared to be limitless, like his genius; and believing everything +possible, looking upon himself as a prodigy, a living miracle, he exulted +proudly and majestically in his glory. + +Under the second Empire, what were called the _series_ of Compiegne and of +Fontainebleau were much less ceremonious than under the first. All the +guests of Napoleon III. breakfasted and dined at his table,--in the +morning in frock-coat, in the evening in black coat and knee breeches; no +uniforms were to be seen. Women appeared at breakfast in morning dress; +they wore no especial dress at the hunt. Before dinner the Empress used to +receive a few specially invited guests to drink tea. All day the Emperor +left the company perfectly free. In the evening there was dancing to the +music of a piano like a hand-organ, of which a chamberlain turned the +handle. The Emperor was treated with great deference, but no one feared +him, because his words were always marked by great affability. Napoleon +I., on the other hand, was perhaps more feared than admired. Those who +were charged with organizing his entertainments were perfectly happy if he +was silent; for he almost never gave a word of praise and often +criticised. It was a conspicuous and rare honor, even for Princes, to dine +with him. There were besides at Fontainebleau, in 1807, several distinct +tables: those of the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial family, who +often gave grand dinners; that of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, with +twenty-five places; that of the Empress's Maid of Honor, with the same +number; and, finally, a last table for all those who had received no +special invitation. The Princesses paid the cost--of installing themselves +there out of their own purses, while under Napoleon III., at +Fontainebleau, or at Compiegne, all the expenses were defrayed by the +Emperor. Under the first Empire only those holding high official position +were invited to the Imperial, residences; under the second, many were +invited who were famous only for their elegance. Under Napoleon I., where +everything was formal, scarcely anything but tragedy was played at the +court; under Napoleon III., lighter plays were often given. The hunts were +very simple under the second Emperor and very magnificent under the first, +In 1807 Napoleon had ordered that women who went to the coursing should +wear a special costume; that of the Empress and of all the ladies of her +household was of amaranthine velvet, embroidered with gold, and a cap with +white feathers; that of the Princesses, blue for the Queen of Holland, +pink for the Princess Murat, lilac for the Princess Borghese, all adorned +with silver embroidery. The Emperor and all his guests wore the same +hunting-dress for coursing: a green coat with gold, buttons and lace, +breeches of white cassimere, Hessian boots without tops; for shooting, a +green coat, with no other ornament than white buttons, on which were +carved hunting emblems. Under the first Empire, etiquette was most rigid; +under the second, it hardly existed. At every moment of day and evening, +Napoleon I. wore a twofold air as commander-in-chief and sovereign; +Napoleon III. was like a man of the world receiving his friends in his own +castle. + +From September 21 to November 15, 1807, the great general had commanded +that there should be amusement in the Palace of Fontainebleau. Pleasure +was ordered, but it does not come at call. The Emperor, accustomed to have +his every wish obeyed, was surprised to see that not every face was +radiant. "Strange," he said, "I have gathered a good many people here at +Fontainebleau; I want them to amuse themselves, I have arranged their +pleasures, yet every one seems tired and sad." The Italian songs, even +when sung by the best singers, in costume and with all the scenery, +produced but a feeble impression. The tragedies seemed to induce slumber. +The little balls, or, more exactly, the little hops in the apartment of +the Maid of Honor, Madame de la Rochefoucauld, were very dull. Sometimes +little games were played there; they gave a flash of gaiety, but as soon +as the Emperor appeared, every one assumed a serious, composed air. Might +one not say once more what La Bruyere said when speaking of the court of +Louis XIV.: "Who would believe that this eagerness for shows, that meals, +hunts, ballets, tilting-matches, crowned so many anxieties, pains, and +diverse interests, so many fears and hopes, so many lively passions, and +serious affairs?" A palace is not built for ease. All its formalities hang +heavy on every guest; the whole of every day is spent in playing a part. + +Amid all these empty pleasures and hollow joys there was no lack of +sorrow. It was there that the wretched Queen Hortense, spitting blood, +mourning the past and dreading the future, said to Napoleon: "My +reputation is tainted, my health ruined, I expect no more happiness in +life; banish me from your court; if you wish, lock me up in a convent, I +desire neither throne nor fortune. Give peace to my mother, glory to +Eugene, who deserves it, but let me live a calm and solitary life." She +had been happier as an unknown schoolgirl at Madame Campan's, just as her +mother, the Empress of the French and the Queen of Italy, must have often +sighed for the island of Martinique, where she would have preferred the +splash of the waves to the courtiers' murmur of obsequious flattery. +Napoleon, himself, at the height of human glory, had lost the peace of +heart which he enjoyed in his boyhood, and never found again. + +The Empress Josephine naturally held the highest place in this brilliant +court of Fontainebleau, and was the object of untiring homage; few, +however, suspected the anxieties that tormented her, so calm happy did she +appear, with a kind word and a gracious smile for every one. + +M. de Metternich, the Austrian Ambassador who was then at Fontainebleau, +took pains to ascertain the causes of her secret sorrow, and sent the +details to his government. He wrote to von Stadion: "In many of my +previous reports I have had the honor of speaking to Your Excellency about +the long current rumors regarding the approaching divorce of the Emperor. +After circulating vaguely in the last two months, they have become the +subject of general and public discussion. It is true of these rumors, as +of all not stamped out at their birth, that they rest on some foundation +of truth, or they would be promptly silenced, if they were not directly +tolerated." Then the clear-sighted ambassador reported in the same +despatch what he had learned, thanks to his relations with persons to whom +the Empress had made revelations: "Since his return from the army, the +Emperor's bearing towards his wife has been cold and embarrassed. He no +longer lives in the same apartment with her, and many of his daily habits +have undergone a change. Rumors of the Empress's divorce began at that +moment to assume a more serious form; when they reached her ears she +simply waited for some direct information, without letting the Emperor see +the slightest anxiety." + +Josephine was sorely stricken, and her sufferings were all the more +intense because she had to hide them from every one, especially from her +husband, and they made a marked contrast, by the irony of fate, with the +pleasures and amusements that surrounded her. She was too clear-sighted +and intelligent to proceed to question the Emperor. She feared light and +dreaded the truth. She hesitated before the abyss that awaited her, and +shuddered before the Emperor's glance. She suffered on the throne, as if +it were an instrument of torture. It was then that Fouche took some steps +which doubled her anguish. The incident is thus recounted, by Prince +Metternich in the despatch already cited: "One day the Minister of Police +visited her at Fontainebleau. and after a short preamble, told her that +the public good, and, above all, the strengthening of the existing dynasty +requiring that the Emperor should have children, she ought to ask the +Senate to join with her in demanding of the Emperor a sacrifice most +painful to his heart. The Empress, who was prepared for the question, +asked Fouche, with great coolness, if he took this step by the Emperors +orders. 'No,' he replied: 'I speak to Your Majesty as a minister charged +with a general supervision, as a private citizen, as a subject devoted to +his country's glory,' 'In that case I have nothing to say to you,' +interrupted the Empress; 'I regard my union with the Emperor as written in +the book of Fate, I shall never discuss the matter with any one but him, +and never will do anything but what he orders,'" Josephine, when she +mentioned this conversation to her confidant, M. de Lavalette, who had +married a Mademoiselle de Beauharnais, said to him in great perplexity; +"Is it not clear that Fouche was sent by the Emperor and that my fate is +settled? Alas! To leave the throne is nothing to me. Who knows better than +I do how many tears I have shed there? But to lose at the same time the +man to whom I have given my best love, that sacrifice is beyond my +strength." + +But to return to Prince Metternich's despatch: "Many days passed without +incident, when suddenly the Emperor began to share again the Empress's +apartment and took a favorable moment to ask why she had been so sad for +some days. The Empress then told him of her interview with Fouche. The +Emperor confirmed his statement that he had never given him any such +orders. He added that she ought to know him well enough to be sure that he +had no need of any go-between to manage matters with her, and made her +promise to report to him anything further she might hear about the +matter." Josephine was not at all comforted. Napoleon's explanation was +very embarrassed, and who could think that so crafty and ambitious a man +as Fouche could assume the responsibility of such a negotiation if he +supposed that thereby he exposed himself to his master's wrath? + +The Minister of Police did not confine himself to mere spoken words. A few +days after his interview with the Empress, he wrote to her a long letter +on large paper, in which he set forth all the arguments he had already +brought forward, to urge upon her the spontaneous sacrifice which would be +the more meritorious, the more painful it was. Josephine, who received +this letter in the evening, summoned M. de Remusat at midnight to show it +to him. "What shall I do," she asked, "to ward off this storm?" "Madame," +replied the First Chamberlain, "my advice is to go this very moment to the +Emperor, if he has not gone to bed, or else the very first thing to-morrow +morning. Remember, you must seem to have consulted no one. Make him read +this letter; watch him as closely as you can; but, whatever happens, show +that you hate these roundabout methods, and tell him again that you will +never listen to anything but a direct order from him." + +The Empress did as he said, Napoleon, to use a common expression, was +"cornered." He pretended to be much surprised, and very angry; promised +"to comb Fouche's head," and even added that if she desired he would take +away his portfolio; and to calm her he went so far as to write to the +Minister of Police this letter, dated Fontainebleau, November 5, 1807:-- + +"MONSIEUR FOUCHE: In the last fortnight I have heard of your foolish +actions; it is time for you to put an end to them, and to stop +interfering, directly or indirectly, in a matter which in no way concerns +you; that is my wish." + +Fouche was not at all disturbed by his master's reproach. He was at heart +convinced that he had not displeased him; he kept his portfolio, and was +sure that the divorce, though postponed, was irrevocably decided on by the +Emperor. Josephine had no more illusions. It was in vain that Napoleon +spoke to her kindly, and tried to console her with kisses and even tears, +--for Napoleon used to cry sometimes,--after Fouche had made his overtures +she had no more peace of mind. The end of the stay at Fontainebleau was +very gloomy. All became tired of this life of empty show, of the perpetual +constraint, of the pleasures which by dint of repetition became dull and +monotonous. Every one longed for home, to escape from this master's +glances; for his presence inspired an admiration tempered with dread. The +women had spent vast sums in their dress. The men had indulged in +ambitious plans almost always futile. The German princelings had suffered +in their lordly pride and German patriotism by having to bow their heads +before the formidable man whose humble vassals they were, and these men, +vain of their coat-of-arms, had not seen without a secret spite the +crushing superiority of a poor Corsican gentleman. This great conqueror +himself was not happy in all his splendor. Although he was no longer in +love with his wife, it was not without sadness that he had seen her +uneasiness and grief. Anxiety about the condition of Spain, which was so +fatal to him, cast a cloud on his brow. When hunting in the forest, he was +often seen to lose himself in thought and to let his horse wander as he +pleased. At the theatrical performances it was noticed that, absorbed and +distracted, he appeared to think less of the play than of his vast plans. + +Not long since I visited the palace and the forest of Fontainebleau, in +one of those cold but bright autumn days when the half bare trees have a +strange appearance, when some leaves are as red as blood, others as yellow +as gold, and nature wears all the countless hues which defy the artist's +brush. The forest is wonderfully beautiful with its marvellous combination +of trees and rocks. All the kings of France since Louis VII. have +inhabited this palace. The holy head of Louis IX. appears there with his +aureola on his head, In the gallery of Francis I., with its nymphs and +fauns, amid garlands, fruits, and emblems, one recalls that King and +Charles V. who entered the palace by the glided door, and who took part in +the great festival in the forest, when nymphs, fauns, and gods seemed to +issue from the trunks of oaks to the sound of tambourines, and a band of +maidens flung flowers before the feet of the Spanish court. One recalls, +too, Catharine de' Medici with her squadron, of young and brilliant +amazons--Catharine de' Medici who In this palace brought forth her two +sons, Francis II, and Henry III. At the end of the oval court is a dome of +rich and picturesque construction, called the baptistery of Louis XIII, +because that king was baptized there. Then there are the apartments of the +queen mothers; Catharine de' Medici, Maria de' Medici, Anne of Austria, +and those of Pius VII., a captive at Fontainebleau, In the bedroom of the +queen mothers an altar was raised where the Vicar of Christ said mass. The +hangings of embroidered satin in this room were a wedding-gift from the +city of Lyons to Marie Antoinette. The room is a model of luxury and +elegance, and is called the Chamber of the Five Maries because it has been +inhabited by five sovereigns bearing that name, Maria de' Medici, Maria +Theresa, Marie Antoinette, Marie Louise, and Marie Amelie. It was also the +Empress Eugenie's chamber. + +This marvellously picturesque palace of Fontainebleau is full of +interesting reminiscences, but of all the figures it recalls, no figure is +more impressive than that of Napoleon. There is much gorgeous furniture in +the palace of various sorts, in the style of the renaissance, of Louis +XIV., Louis XV., and Louis XVI.; but no piece attracts more attention than +the plain mahogany table on which Napoleon signed his abdication. Then how +impressive is the bedroom where he spent terrible nights, unable to sleep, +and at last seeking in suicide a cure for his despair! Consider the +contrast between 1807 and 1814! Meanwhile there had been changes of face, +many apostasies. "Ah! Caulaincourt, mankind, mankind!" exclaimed the +deserted Emperor. Every one left him, promising him a speedy return, but +no one thought of it. Fontainebleau became a desert. If the sound of +wheels was heard, it was never of carriages arriving, but only of +carriages going away. It was at Fontainebleau that Napoleon's pride +triumphed, and there that his pride suffered its cruelest humiliations. +What anguish he endured, this man of destiny, in that room where he wrote: +"To finish my career by signing a treaty in which I have not been able to +stipulate a single general interest, nor even one moral interest, such as +the preservation of our colonies, or the maintenance of the Legion of +Honor! To sign a treaty by which money is given to me!" What anguish tore +his mind and body when, having taken too small a dose of poison, he said +between his spasms: "How hard it is to die, and it is so easy on the +battle-field! Why didn't I die at Arcis-sur-Aube!" Did he then recall the +splendor of his return from Jena, from Friedland, from Tilsitt? Did he +remember the crowd of courtiers who resembled priests whose God he was? +The only courtiers left were those to whom he had given neither money nor +honors, the old soldiers of his guard, with, their gray mustaches, who +could not restrain their sobs and tears when, in the Court of the White +Horse, he bade them farewell, saying, "I should like to embrace you in my +arms, but let me embrace this flag which represents you." + + + + +XXVI. + +THE END OF THE YEAR, 1807. + + +While the court was still at Fontainebleau, the Empress received a piece +of news, which had been kept back from her for some days, and which added +materially to her sorrows. Her widowed mother, Madame Tascher de la +Pagerie, whom she had not seen since September, 1790, had died June 2, +1807, at the age of seventy, in her home at Martinique. Josephine, who was +much attached to her mother, had done her best to persuade her to come to +France, where she would have been sure of the warmest welcome. But that +venerable lady had perhaps chosen more wisely in preferring her modest and +quiet home to all the splendor and excitement of an Imperial palace. From +afar she thought of her daughter at the summit of human happiness; near +her, she would often have seen her sad and downcast. By not approaching +the throne which, at a distance, appears like a magic seat, but, to use +the Emperor's expression, is in fact only an armchair covered with velvet, +Napoleon's mother-in-law was spared the sight of much misery, and she +died, as she had lived, in peace. + +The Emperor left for Italy November 16. 1807, and this departure was for +Josephine, already so afflicted, another source of anxiety and sadness, +She would gladly have gone with him, and have seen once more Eugene and +her granddaughter, who was named after her; but Napoleon had decided +otherwise. He was no longer unable to live without his wife, and he no +longer thought with La Fontaine that absence was the greatest of evils. He +alleged as reason, the inclemency of the winter, said that he should be +back early in December--in fact, he did not return to the Tuileries till +January 1--and to the Empress's great despair set off without her, leaving +her the prey of the liveliest anxiety, the cruelest fears. + +In Italy Napoleon received the same ardent flattery as in France. He +reached Milan November 22, before Prince Eugene had had time to ride out +to meet him. After ovations, reviews, religious ceremonies at the +Cathedral, grand performances at the Scala, he went to Venice. Here he was +received with all the luxury that used to be displayed at the majestic +marriage of the doge and the Adriatic. When he reached Fusina, he entered +a gondola rowed by men in satin coats embroidered with gold. He entered +the grand canal beneath an arch of triumph between a double line of boats +adorned with festoons and garlands. At the Venice theatre he saw a grand +performance representing Olympus, and then was played, amid applause, the +popular air, _Napoleone it grande_. He had with him in Venice his brother +Joseph, King of Naples; his sister, Elisa Bacciochi, Princess of Lucca; +his step-son, Prince Eugene, Viceroy of Italy; the King and Queen of +Bavaria, the father-in-law and mother-in-law of this Prince; Murat, Grand +Duke of Berg, and Berthier, Prince of Neufchatel. He left Venice December +8, dining at Treviso. The 11th he was at Udine, and the 14th at Mantua. + +It was in this city that he had a secret interview with his brother +Lucien, with whom he wished to be reconciled, but on one absolute +condition, _sine qua non_. It will be remembered that Lucien, against the +First Consul's wishes, had married Alexandrine de Bleschamps, widow of M. +Jouberthon; who, after being a broker in Paris, had died in Saint Domingo, +whither he had followed the French expedition. Napoleon, who was anxious +to marry Lucien with Queen Marie Louise, daughter of Charles IV. of Spain, +and widow of Louis I., King of Etruria, wished to annul this marriage. But +this brilliant offer had been peremptorily declined by the man who +preferred a woman's love to a crown. In the spring of 1804 Lucien had +voluntarily left France to seek in Rome an asylum from his brother's +incessant reproaches and demands. His mother, Madame Letitia, who +thoroughly approved of him, had followed him to Rome, and the Emperor had +met with some difficulty in persuading her to return to Paris, which she +only did after the coronation. M. de Meneval went by night to fetch Lucien +from the inn where he was staying, and led him mysteriously to the palace +which the Emperor occupied. Laden, instead of falling in his brother's +arms, greeted him coldly, with dignified reserve. + +Stanislas de Girardia, in his interesting "Journal," has recounted the +interview of the two brothers, as he heard it from Lucien himself. They +said very much what follows:-- + +"Well, sir, do you still told to Madame Jouberthon and her son?" + +"Madame Jouberthon is my wife, and her son is my son." + +"No, no, since it is a marriage which I do not recognize, and consequently +null." + +"I contracted it lawfully, as citizen and as Christian." + +"The civil act was illegal, and it is known that you gave a priest twenty- +five louis-d'or to persuade him to marry you." + +"Doubtless Your Majesty, when he invited me here, did not do so for the +purpose of paining me; if that is his intention, I withdraw," + +"I have conquered Europe, and certainly I should not flinch before you. +You owe your peaceful life in Rome to my kindness; but you are acquiring +there a consideration which displeases me, and in time you will annoy me; +I will order you to go away, and I will make you leave Europe." + +"And if I should not obey?" "I will have you arrested." + +"And then?" + +"I shall have you sent to Bicetre and then if--" + +"I should defy you to commit a crime!" + +"Don't speak to me in that way; don't imagine you can impose on me, I +repeat, I have not conquered Europe to flinch before you. Leave the room." + +Lucien did not leave, and Napoleon, after a few violent words, became a +little calmer. Lucien then renewed the stormy discussion, trying to pacify +his brother. + +"I had no intention of displeasing Your Majesty by saying what should show +the high opinion I have of the greatness of his soul." + +"Never mind that; cast your eyes on the map of the world then. Join us, +Lucien, and take your share; it will be a fine one, I promise you. The +throne of Portugal is empty; I have declared that the King shall cease to +reign. I will give it to you; take command of the army destined to make an +easy conquest of it, and I will make you a French Prince and my +lieutenant. The daughters of your first wife shall be my nieces; I will +establish them in life. I will marry the eldest to the Prince of the +Asturias; the King of Spain asks it of me as a favor; I can prove it by +this letter." + +"My eldest daughter, Sire, is not yet thirteen; she is not old enough to +be married." + +"I thought she was older." + +"In a year or two, I will gladly let you dispose of her." + +"Then there are no difficulties about the children of your first wife. You +have daughters by your second wife, I will adopt them; you have a boy too; +I shall not recognize him; his mother will have an important duchy, and he +can be her heir. As for you, go to Lisbon, leave your wife and your son in +Rome; I will look after them. Your ties are broken. I will find a way." + +"That can only be by divorce." + +"And why not? That is a frank and positive way which perfectly suits me. I +want to be reconciled with you, and you know the price attached to the +Portuguese crown." + +"I see that to get it I should have to consent to make my wife a +concubine, my son a bastard. Your Majesty knows me ill if he has been able +to believe that the offer of a crown could tempt me to a dishonorable +action." + +"He who is not for me, is against me; if you don't enter into my system, +you are my enemy; and thereby I have the right of persecuting you and I +shall persecute you." + +"I do not want to be your enemy, Sire; I cannot become one by preserving +my honor and my virtue, by refusing to give up my reputation for a throne: +and that this disagreement may be unknown, let Your Majesty give me some +conspicuous proof of his kindness; give me the broad ribbon of the Legion +of Honor, I beg of you!" + +"No; by taking my colors you would ruin your reputation; it is a great +thing to be opposed to me, and it is a fine part to play; you can continue +it for two years without inconvenience, but then you will have to leave +Europe." + +"Much sooner, and I shall prepare to leave for America. Only the +entreaties of my mother and Josephine have kept me here so long." + +"I don't ask that of you; my propositions are not too unreasonable to be +thought over; ponder them, with your wife, and let me know your answer +within eighteen days." + +At the end of the interview the two brothers parted with emotion. Lucien +flung himself into his brother's arms, saying that doubtless he was +embracing him for the last time, and left for Rome with his head high. He +was obliged to yield only on one point, by sending to Paris his oldest +daughter, Charlotte Marie, the issue of his first marriage with Christine +Boyer. (She was born at Saint Maximini in February, 1795, and in 1815 +married Prince Marius Gabrielli.) But the young girl had all her father's +independent spirit. In Paris she was entrusted to the care of her +grandmother, Madame Letitia, and she spoke so severely about the Imperial +family in her letters, which were opened, that she was sent back to her +father in Rome almost as soon as she had arrived in France. As for the +idea of an annulment of the marriage or a divorce, Lucien absolutely +rejected it. He preferred his wife to all the wealth, all the honors, all +the kingdoms of the world. Jerome had yielded. Lucien did not yield. + +Napoleon left Mantua after his interview with his brother, and returned to +Milan, where, December 17, he witnessed some naval sports in the arena of +the circus, which was turned into a lake. There too, December 20, in the +grand, hall of the palace, he adopted Prince Eugene as his son and +declared him his heir to the crown of Italy. At the same time he issued +these two decrees: "Wishing to give especial proof of our satisfaction +with our good city of Venice, we have conferred, and by these letters- +patent here present do confer, upon our dearly loved son, Prince Eugene +Napoleon, our heir presumptive to the crown of Italy, the title of Prince +of Venice." "Wishing to give especial proof of our satisfaction with our +good city of Bologna, we have conferred, and by these letters-patent here +present do confer, the title of Princess of Bologna upon our dearly loved +granddaughter, the Princess Josephine." Napoleon left Milan, December 24, +to return to Paris by way of Turin. + +The letters which the Emperor wrote to his wife during this trip were very +empty and unimportant, wholly unlike those he had written in 1798. Only a +few need be quoted. "Milan, November, 25, 1807. I have been here, my dear, +two days. I am glad I did not bring you. You would have suffered terribly +crossing Mount Cenis where a storm detained me twenty-four hours. I found +Eugene very well; I am much pleased with him. The Princess is ill; I went +to see her at Monza: she has had a miscarriage, but is improving. Good by, +my dear." "Venice, November 30, 1807. I have your letter of the 22d. I +have been for two days in Venice. The weather is very bad, which has not +prevented my going through the lagoons to see the different forts. I am +glad to see that you are amusing yourself in Paris. The King of Bavaria +and his family and the Princess Elisa are also here. After December 2, +which I shall spend here, I shall be on my way back, and glad to see you. +Good by, my dear." "Udine, December 11, 1807. I have your letter of the +3d, and I see you are much pleased with the Jardin des Plantes. I am at +the furthest limit of my journey; it is possible that I shall be soon in +Paris where I shall be glad to see you again. The weather has not been +very cold here, but very wet. I have taken advantage of the last fine +weather of the season, for I suppose that at Christmas the winter will be +here. Good by, my dear. Ever Yours." + +During the Emperor's absence the triumphal return of the Guard brought a +slight diversion to the Empress's anxiety and distress of mind. Though +unhappy as a wife, she was at least happy as a Frenchwoman. She, alas! had +a presentiment of divorce, but not of the invasion and dismemberment of +France. At noon, November 25, the twelve thousand old soldiers of the +Guard, bronzed, covered with glorious wounds, some already gray, made +their solemn entry into Paris. An arch of triumph, broader and higher than +the Porte Saint Martin, had been built at the gate of La Villette. The +Prefect of the Seine and the municipal authorities there awaited the +veterans. + +The prefect welcomed the brave soldiers: "Heroes of Jena, of Eylan, of +Friediand," he said, "conquerors of peace, immortal thanks are due you, +for the country you have conquered! Your own country will ever remember +your triumphs; your names will be handed down to the remotest posterity on +bronze and marble, and the story of your exploits, firing the courage of +our latest descendants, will be recalled, and you, by the example you have +set, will still protect this vast Empire which, you have so gloriously +defended with your valor... Hail! war-like eagles, symbols of the power of +our magnanimous Emperor; carry over all the earth, with his great name, +the glory of the French name, and may the crowns with which the city of +Paris has been allowed to decorate you be everywhere a proof at once +august and formidable of the union of monarch, people, and army!" + +Marshal Bessieres, who was in, command, replied: "The most perfect harmony +will always exist between the populace of this great city and the soldiers +of the Imperial guard, and if their eagles should march again, recalling +their oath to defend, them to the death, they would remember that the +wreaths adorning them redouble the obligation." After these two speeches +the standard bearer left the ranks and bent down the flags on which the +magistrates placed golden crowns bearing this inscription: "The city of +Paris to the Grand Army." Then the troops marched past in the following +order: the fusiliers, the riflemen, grenadiers, the light cavalry, the +Mamelukes, dragoons, the horse grenadiers, and the picked body of gens des +armes. While they passed beneath the arch of triumph, a large band and +chorus performed a cantata, with words by Arnault and music by Mehul. +Passing through the dense crowds that lined the way, the guard came to the +Tuileries, passing beneath the arch of the Carrousel, where the eagles +were set down. Then it entered the palace garden, leaving its arms there, +and proceeded to the Champs Elysees, where a banquet for twelve thousand +men was laid. The tables were arranged under tents on each side of the +Champs Elysees, along their whole extent, from the Place de la Concorde to +the gate de l'Etoile. The tent of the staff was in the middle, half-way +up. Marshal Bessieres proposed a toast to the city of Paris, and the +Prefect of the Seine one to the Emperor and King, and another to the Grand +Army. + +The next day there were three performances in every theatre. The pit, the +orchestra, and principal rows of boxes and galleries were reserved for the +Imperial Guard. The opera gave _The Triumph of Trajan_. The Francais gave +_Gaston and Bayard_. "That historical play," said the _Moniteur_, "which +presents so noble and true a picture of French honor, of warlike +victories, of chivalric enthusiasm,--never did this tragedy have +spectators better fitted to appreciate it." In the minor theatres various +plays on the events of the day were given. The performance at the opera +was magnificent; the _Moniteur_ described it with its usual lyrical +enthusiasm: "This picked band of braves, who, in their swift conquests, in +their distant marches, have seen such, diverse climates, visited so many +shores, and in so few months have seen the springs and the mouths of so +many rivers, know also the banks of the Tiber; hence in the scenery they +at ones recognized Rome; in the triumphal march, in the eager throng, in +the vast populace, bursting through the ranks of the Roman soldiers, and +flinging themselves beneath the hoofs of their horses, they saw the +touching picture of the reception they had met the day before. Their +emotion baffles description. The Imperial Guard gazing at Trajan's triumph +was itself an admirable spectacle." The opera was but a series of +ingenious allusions to Napoleon's glory. Trajan was represented as +burning, with his own hand, papers containing the secret of a conspiracy, +recalling Napoleon's throwing into the fire the letters by which, he could +have rained M. Hatzfeld; and when the Roman Emperor appeared in his +chariot, drawn by four white horses, it was not Trajan who was applauded, +but Napoleon. + +December 14, at the Military School, Marshal Bessieres, to celebrate the +victories of the Grand Army, and to thank the city of Paris for its +reception of the Imperial Guard, gave a grand entertainment which the +Empress honored with her presence. The Invalides was brilliantly +illuminated and connected with the Military School by a long row of +lights. In the middle of the Champ de Mars was a vast hemisphere, on which +was a pedestal holding a colossal statue of the Emperor, surrounded by +allegoric figures. The trophies set aside for each one of the Grand Army +were marked with the corps number. The Imperial Guard was under arms, and +formed an interesting part of the spectators, and of the spectacle as +well. Bengal fires lit up the warlike scene. The heights across the Seine +were also ablaze with lights. The Empress arrived at the Military School +at about eight in the evening. The entertainment began with a ballet +performed by dancers from the opera. Then there were fireworks. The Champ +de Mars was one sea of flame, and the Imperial Guard fired blank +cartridges for half an hour. Then there was a grand ball with a fine +supper; after which the dances continued till morning. + +This worldly and military entertainment, at which the Empress queen +appeared in all her glory, may be regarded as the crowning point of her +splendors. And here, at the end of 1807, we close this study. We have left +to narrate in a final volume only the last seven years of Josephine's +life. We have already recounted nearly the whole career of this attractive +woman, of this justly famous sovereign. We have described her infancy in +Martinique, in her modest, patriarchal home, where she was born, June 23, +1763. We have admired her as a young girl, loving flowers, music, and +nature, beneath the clear sky of the Antilles, amid banana and orange +trees, tropical flowers, and birds of paradise, where the fortune-telling +negress said to her: "You will be a queen." We have seen her in France, +marrying, December 13, 1779, the young and brilliant Viscount Alexandre de +Beauharnais, by whom she had one son, the future Viceroy of Italy, and one +daughter, the future Queen of Holland. We have seen her going through that +period of illusions, so well called the Golden Age of the Revolution, +receiving in her drawing-room in the rue de l'Universite the flower of the +liberal nobility and leaders of the Constituent Assembly, then suddenly +passing from the Golden to the Iron Age, shuddering at the dangers to +which war, and above all the Terror exposed her husband, the general in +chief of the Army of the Rhine, the leader of the democracy, rewarded for +his patriotism and his devotion to the Republic by the scaffold. She +herself, during her husband's captivity, was imprisoned in the Carmes +April, 1794; for one hundred and eight days of inexpressible anguish and +torment, she occupied in this dungeon the Room of the Swords as it was +called, because the walls still bore traces of the three swords which the +men of September had leaned against them after the massacre of the one +hundred and twenty priests who were in the prison. Beauharnais, the man of +the old regime, who had embraced the new ideas with so much ardor, this +grand lord who got himself treated like a _sans-culotte_ was guillotined +four days before Robespierre, whose death would have saved him. His young +widow left prison, reduced to extreme want, and took refuge with her +father-in-law, at Fontainebleau; then she made her appearance in the +motley society which, first showed itself in the drawing-room of Madame +Tallien, then at the Luxembourg under Barras. Rivalling Madame Tallien and +Madame Recamier in popularity, she smiled through her tears, like +Andromache in Homer. Her means becoming greater, thanks to the support of +men in authority, she bought in the rue Chantereine, afterwards rue de la +Victoire, a little house belonging to Talma, the tragedian. There she +received with her customary courtesy the few survivors of French +aristocracy who said behind well-closed doors: "Let us talk about the old +court; let us take a turn at Versailles." + +Bonaparte, commander of the Army of the Interior, after the 13th +Vendemiaire, when he saved the expiring Convention, had just ordered the +disarmament of the sections and the delivery of all arms found in private +houses, when a boy of fourteen called upon him to ask to have back the +sword of his father, who had commanded the armies of the Republic. This +boy was Eugene de Beauharnais, afterwards Viceroy of Italy. Bonaparte, +touched by this action, received him graciously. The next day Madame de +Beauharnais called upon him to thank him. He was much struck by her charms +and proposed to her; she accepted him and they were married March 9, 1796. +The Viscountess of Beauharnais became Citizeness Bonaparte. No sooner +married, than the young husband, who was only twenty-six, tore himself +from her arms and started for the army of Italy. Then Napoleon's love for +Josephine was much greater than hers for him. It was he who was jealous, +he who wrote burning letters; he it was who was all enthusiasm, ardor, and +ablaze with passion. It was only with reluctance that Josephine decided to +leave Paris, where she was happy, but in Italy she found a real royalty. +At Milan she took possession of the Serbelloni Palace, where she did the +honors most admirably and received the homage of the proud aristocracy of +Milan. She followed her husband to the war, for he could not bear to be +separated from her, and one day when, beset with dangers, she was crying, +he exclaimed: "Wurmser shall pay dearly for the tears he causes you." +After Arcole, Madame Bonaparte resembled a sovereign. She singularly aided +her husband to play the double part which was soon to carry him to the +highest rank. When it was a question of repelling royalism, the young +conqueror relied on men like Augereau; when it was necessary to attract +men of the old regime, Josephine was the bond of union between him and the +French or Italian aristocracy. On her return to Paris, June 2, 1798, she +shared her husband's glories. The little house in the rue Chantereine +became more famous than the grandest palaces. + +Bonaparte left for Egypt, embarking at Toulon, May 19, 1798, after taking +tender leave of Josephine. During her husband's absence, she bought the +estate of Malmaison, an unknown spot which soon became famous. She +skilfully defended Bonaparte's interests with the Directory, and in her +drawing-room met celebrities of every kind. But malicious persons soon +sent to Egypt hostile rumors, and her impetuous husband, wild with jealous +wrath, spoke of nothing but separation and divorce. He reached Paris +unexpectedly, October 16, 1799, and not finding his wife there, started +off to meet her on a different road from hers, wild with jealousy. His +brothers, Josephine's enemies, deceived him, and at first he refused to +see her again; but, softened by the supplications of Eugene and Hortense +de Beauharnais, he pardoned his wife and opened his door to her; she +defended herself, and he let himself be convinced, so that, instead of a +divorce, there was a complete reconciliation. Josephine was of use to her +husband in the preparations for the 18th Brumaire; she helped him to lull +the vigilance of the Republicans and to rise to the highest rank. + +Citizeness Bonaparte had become the wife of the First Consul. Like the +ladies of the old regime, she was addressed as Madame until she should be +called Empress, or Your Majesty. She was at the head of the Consular +Court, rich in youth, glory, and hope. At the Tuileries she took +possession of the apartments of Marie Antoinette. At Malmaison she enjoyed +the pleasures of the country. The hero of Marengo looked upon her as his +good angel, his good genius. Their happiness was interrupted by the +infernal machine, but this gloomy incident was soon forgotten. Under +Josephine's guidance Parisian society soon resumed its former brilliancy. +Monarchical customs reappeared. The Concordat effected a reconciliation of +the church with the government, and the wife of the First Consul, +surrounded by a real court, heard a _Te Deum_ in the rood-loft of Notre +Dame. At heart she was a Royalist by her memories and her feelings, +although she was made by fate an Empress. The crown, so far from tempting +her, filled her with fear. She yearned to descend as her husband yearned +to rise. The proclamation of the Consulate for life, the prelude of the +Empire, filled her with gloom and apprehension, Neither the pomp of Saint +Cloud, nor the triumphal trip in Belgium. robbed her of her wise and +modest ideas. She much preferred Malmaison to any splendid palace, and +looked back with regret at the time when she was simply Citizeness +Bonaparte. Grandeur, so far from turning her head, only made her less +ambitious, She gave her husband excellent advice, which, unfortunately, he +did not follow. Had he listened to her, he would not have had the Duke of +Enghien killed, he would have been modest in good fortune, and would have +remained the first citizen of a great Republic. + +Crowned at Notre Dame by the hands of Napoleon, Josephine played a +sovereign's part with as much ease as if she had been born on the steps of +the throne. The greatest names of the old regime figured in her house. She +adorned magnificent festivities by her presence. In Italy, whither she +accompanied her husband, she received as Queen the same homage she had +received as Empress. Yet, amid all this splendor, she was not happy. The +terrible wars in which Napoleon engaged filled her with anxiety. At +Strassburg, during the Austerlitz campaign, at Mayence during that of Jena +and that of Poland, she was a victim of the greatest distress of mind and +nervous terror. Then, too, her husband's infidelities filled her with +despair. Towards the end of 1807 the spectre of divorce arose before her. +The loss of a crown would be a trifling matter, but the sight of another +woman reigning as lawful wife over Napoleon's heart was a thought to which +she could not reconcile herself. From that moment she knew no peace or +happiness. She was like a convicted criminal awaiting sentence at any +moment, and she had to hide her terrible grief from every one. She always +imagined that in the homage paid her by force of habit, there was +something false and ironical. She thought of herself only as disgraced, +betrayed, repudiated. All that was left of her crown was its mark on her +brow. Few peasant women in their huts were ever as thoroughly unhappy as +was this sovereign in her palace. + +We have seen Josephine in her springtime, in her summer; it remains for us +to describe only the autumn of this wonderful and melancholy career. This +last study will be profoundly sad. "In the season which despoils nature," +said Madame Swetchine, "there is no breeze, no puff of air so light that +it fails to detach the leaf from the tree that bore it. In the autumn of +the heart there is no movement that does not carry away a happiness or a +hope." The great afflictions of Josephine's later years were the divorce, +the invasion, and the long agony. Driven from the Tuileries forever, she +took refuge at Malmaison one rainy, cold, December night, recalling, +doubtless, the starlit evenings when the conqueror of Italy sought calm +and happiness in that favorite spot. And after draining the cup of +bitterness, the deserted wife exclaimed: "It sometimes seems to me as if I +were dead and there was nothing left of me except a sort of vague power of +feeling that I no longer exist." She could truly say with Queen Margaret +of Navarre: "I have borne more than my share of the weariness which is the +common lot of man." A still harder trial awaited her. Napoleon was +unhappy, and she was forbidden to comfort him! He was exiled, and she was +forbidden to follow him! The Empire she had seen so magnificent she was to +see conquered, invaded, dismembered. No one was to mourn the woes of her +country more than she. She was to die of grief, and when, May 29, 1814, +she had breathed her last after uttering in her death agony these three +words which sum up the anguish of her soul: "Napoleon! Elba! Marie +Louise!" Mademoiselle Avrillon, the First Lady of her Bedchamber, was to +say, "I have seen the Empress Josephine's sleeplessness and her terrible +dreams. I have known her to pass whole days buried in the gloomiest +thought. I know what I have seen and heard, and I am sure that grief +killed her!" Was there ever a life of greater vicissitudes? It was a +career full of smiles and tears, presenting every contrast of light and +shade, of joy and grief, reproducing all the splendor and all the misery +that can be crowded into human existence! It was a career, as fascinating +as it was strange, which could only have been seen in those pathetic and +disturbed epochs, when one surprise follows another, and the actors are +perhaps even more astonished than the spectators at the shifting scenes +and the incidents of the drama, in which events always take an unexpected +turn, when men and things suffer shocks unknown to previous generations, +and when history reads like the wildest romance. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE *** + +This file should be named 7cmpj10.txt or 7cmpj10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7cmpj11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7cmpj10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Court of the Empress Josephine + +Author: Imbert de Saint-Amand + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9831] +[This file was first posted on October 22, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Anne Soulard, Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, Shawn +Wheeler, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + +THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE + +BY + +IMBERT DE SAINT-AMAND + +TRANSLATED BY THOMAS SERGEANT PERRY + +ILLUSTRATED + +1900 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE + + II. THE JOURNEY TO THE BANKS OF THE RHINE + + III. THE POPE'S ARRIVAL AT FONTAINEBLEAU + + IV. THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION + + V. THE CORONATION + + VI. THE DISTRIBUTION OF FLAGS + + VII. THE FESTIVITIES + + VIII. THE ETIQUETTE OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE + + IX. THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE EMPRESS + + X. NAPOLEON'S GALLANTRIES + + XI. THE POPE AT THE TUILERIES + + XII. THE JOURNEY IN ITALY + + XIII. THE CORONATION AT MILAN + + XIV. THE FESTIVITIES AT GENOA + + XV. DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ + + XVI. THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE EUGENE + + XVII. PARIS IN THE BEGINNING OF 1806 + +XVIII. THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF BADEN + + XIX. THE NEW QUEEN OF HOLLAND + + XX. THE EMPRESS AT MAYENCE + + XXI. THE RETURN OF THE EMPRESS TO PARIS + + XXII. THE DEATH OF THE YOUNG NAPOLEON + +XXIII. THE END OF THE WAR + + XXIV. THE EMPEROR'S RETURN + + XXV. THE COURT AT FONTAINEBLEAU + + XXVI. THE END OF THE YEAR 1807 + + + + + +I. + +THE BEGINNING OF THE EMPIRE. + + +"Two-thirds of my life is passed, why should I so distress myself about +what remains? The most brilliant fortune does not deserve all the trouble +I take, the pettiness I detect in myself, or the humiliations and shame I +endure; thirty years will destroy those giants of power which can be seen +only by raising the head; we shall disappear, I who am so petty, and those +whom I regard so eagerly, from whom I expected all my greatness. The most +desirable of all blessings is repose, seclusion, a little spot we can call +our own." When La Bruyère expressed himself so bitterly, when he spoke of +the court "which satisfies no one," but "prevents one from being satisfied +anywhere else," of the court, "that country where the joys are visible but +false, and the sorrows hidden, but real," he had before him the brilliant +Palace of Versailles, the unrivalled glory of the Sun King, a monarchy +which thought itself immovable and eternal. What would he say in this +century when dynasties fail like autumn leaves, and it takes much less +than thirty years to destroy the giants of power; when the exile of to-day +repeats to the exile of the morrow the motto of the churchyard: _Hodie +mihi, eras tibi?_ What would this Christian philosopher say at a time when +royal and imperial palaces have been like caravansaries through which +sovereigns have passed like travellers, when their brief resting-places +have been consumed by the blaze of petroleum and are now but a heap of +ashes? + +The study of any court is sure to teach wisdom and indifference to human +glories. In our France of the nineteenth century, fickle as it has been, +inconstant, fertile in revolutions, recantations, and changes of every +sort, this lesson is more impressive than it has been at any period of our +history. Never has Providence shown more clearly the nothingness of this +world's grandeur and magnificence. Never has the saying of Ecclesiastes +been more exactly verified: "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity!" We have +before us the task of describing one of the most sumptuous courts that has +ever existed, and of reviewing splendors all the more brilliant for their +brevity. To this court of Napoleon and Josephine, to this majestic court, +resplendent with glory, wealth, and fame, may well be applied Corneille's +lines:-- + + "All your happiness + Subject to instability + In a moment falls to the ground, + And as it has the brilliancy of glass + It also has its fragility." + +We shall evoke the memory of the dead to revive this vanished court, and +we shall consult, one after another, the persons who were eye-witnesses of +these short-lived wonders. A prefect of the palace, M. de Bausset, wrote: +"When I recall the memorable times of which I have just given a faint +idea, I feel, after so many years, as if I had been taking part in the +gorgeous scenes of the _Arabian Tales_ or of the _Thousand and One +Nights_. The magic picture of all those splendors and glories has +disappeared, and with it all the prestige of ambition and power." One of +the ladies of the palace of the Empress Josephine, Madame de Rémusat, has +expressed the same thought: "I seem to be recalling a dream, but a dream +resembling an Oriental tale, when I describe the lavish luxury of that +period, the disputes for precedence, the claims of rank, the demands of +every one." Yes, in all that there was something dreamlike, and the actors +in that fairy spectacle which is called the Empire, that great show piece, +with its scenery, now brilliant, now terrible, but ever changing, must +have been even more astonished than the spectators. Aix-la-Chapelle and +the court of Charlemagne, the castle of Fontainebleau and the Pope, Notre +Dame and the coronation, the Champ de Mars and the distribution of eagles, +the Cathedral of Milan and the Iron Crown, Genoa the superb and its naval +festival, Austerlitz and the three emperors,--what a setting! what +accessories! what personages! The peal of organs, the intoning of priests, +the applause of the multitude and of the soldiers, the groans of the +dying, the trumpet call, the roll of the drum, ball music, military bands, +the cannon's roar, were the joyful and mournful harmonies heard while the +play went on. What we shall study amid this tumult and agitation is one +woman. We have already studied her as the Viscountess of Beauharnais, as +Citizeness Bonaparte, and as the wife of the First Consul. We shall now +study her in her new part, that of Empress. + +Let us go back to May 18, 1804, to the Palace of Saint Cloud. The Emperor +had just been proclaimed by the Senate before the _plébiscite_ which was +to ratify the new state of things. The curtain has risen, the play begins, +and no drama is fuller of contrasts, of incidents, of movement. The +leading actor, Napoleon, was already as familiar with his part as if he +had played it since his childhood. Josephine is also at home in hers. As a +woman of the world, she had learned, by practice in the drawing-room, to +win even greater victories. For a fashionable beauty there is no great +difference between an armchair and a throne. The minor actors are not so +accustomed to their new position. Nothing is more amusing than the +embarrassment of the courtiers when they have to answer the Emperor's +questions. They begin with a blunder; then, in correcting themselves, they +fall into still worse confusion; ten times a minute was repeated, Sire, +General, Your Majesty, Citizen, First Consul. Constant, the Emperor's +valet de chambre, has given us a description of this 18th of May, 1804, a +day devoted to receptions, presentations, interviews, and congratulations: +"Every one," he says, "was filled with joy in the Palace of Saint Cloud; +every one imagined that he had risen a step, like General Bonaparte, who, +from First Consul, had become a monarch. Men were embracing and +complimenting one another; confiding their share of hopes and plans for +the future; there was no official so humble that he was not fired with +ambition." In a word, the ante-chamber, barring the difference of persons, +presented an exact imitation of what was going on in the drawing-room. It +seemed like a first performance which had long been eagerly expected, +arousing the same eager excitement among the players and the public. The +day which had started bright grew dark; for a long time there were +threatenings of a thunder-storm; but none looked on this as an evil omen. +All were inclined to cheery views. The courtiers displayed their zeal with +all the ardor, the passion, the _furia francese_, which is a national +characteristic, and appears on the battle-field as well as in the ante- +chamber. The French fight and flatter with equal enthusiasm. + +Amid all these manifestations of devotion and delight, the members of the +Imperial family alone, who should have been the most satisfied, and +certainly the most astonished by their greatness, wore an anxious, almost +a grieved look. They alone appeared discontented with their master. Their +pride knew no bounds; their irritability was extreme. Nothing seemed good +enough, for them. In the way of honors privileges, and when we recall +their father's modest at Ajaccio, it is hard to keep from smiling at the +vanity of these new Princes of the blood. Of Napoleon's four brothers, two +were absent and on bad terms with him: Lucien, on account of his marriage +with Madame Jouberton; Jerome, on account of his marriage with Miss +Paterson. His mother, Madame Letitia Bonaparte, an able woman, who +combined great courage with uncommon good sense, had not lost her head +over the wonderful good fortune of the modern Caesar. Having a +presentiment that all this could not last, she economized from motives of +prudence, not of avarice. While the courtiers were celebrating the +Emperor's new triumphs, she lingered in Rome with her son Lucien, whom she +had followed in his voluntary exile, having pronounced in his favor in his +quarrel with Napoleon. As for Joseph and Louis, who, with their wives, had +been raised to the dignity of Grand Elector and Constable, respectively, +one might think that they were overburdened with wealth and honors, and +would be perfectly satisfied. But not at all! They were indignant that +they were not personally mentioned, in the _plébiscite_, by which their +posterity was appointed to succeed to the French crown. This _plébiscite_ +ran thus: "The French people desire the Inheritance of the Imperial +dignity in the direct, natural, or adoptive line of descent from Napoleon +Bonaparte, and in the direct, natural, legitimate line of descent from +Joseph Bonaparte and from Louis Bonaparte, as is determined by the organic +_senatus-consultum_ of the twenty-eighth Floréal, year XII." For the +Emperor's family, these stipulations were the cause of incessant squabbles +and recriminations. Lucien and Jerome regarded their exclusion as an act +of injustice. Joseph and Louis asked indignantly why their descendants +were mentioned when they themselves were excluded. They were very jealous +of Josephine, and of her son, Eugene de Beauharnais, and much annoyed by +the Emperor's reservation of the right of adoption, which threatened them +and held out hopes for Eugene. Louis Bonaparte, indignant with the +slanderous story, according to which his wife, Hortense, had been +Napoleon's mistress, treated her ill, and conceived a dislike for his own +son, who was reported to be that of the Emperor. As for Elisa Bacciochi, +Caroline Murat, and Pauline Borghese, they could not endure the +mortification of being placed below the Empress, their sister-in-law, and +the thought that they had not yet been given the title of Princesses of +the blood, which had been granted to the wife of Joseph and the wife of +Louis, filled them with actual despair. + +Madame de Rémusat, who was present at the first Imperial dinner at St. +Cloud, May 18, 1804, describes this curious repast. General Duroc, Grand +Marshal of the Palace, told all the guests in succession of the titles of +Prince and Princess to be given to Joseph and Louis, and their wives, but +not to the Emperor's sisters, or to their husbands. This fatal news +prostrated Elisa, Caroline, and Pauline. When they sat down at table, +Napoleon was good-humored and merry, possibly at heart enjoying the slight +constraint that this novel formality enforced upon his guests. Madame +Murat, when she heard the Emperor saying frequently _Princess_ Louis, +could not hide her mortification or her tears. Every one was embarrassed, +while Napoleon smiled maliciously. + +The next day the Emperor went to Paris to hold a grand reception at the +Tuileries, for he was not a man to postpone the enjoyment of the splendor +which his satisfied ambition could draw from his new title. In this +palace, where had ruled the Committee of Public Safety, where the +Convention had sat, whence Robespierre had departed in triumph to preside +over the festival in honor of the Supreme Being, nothing was heard but the +titles of Emperor, Empress, My Lord, Prince, Princess, Imperial Highness, +Most Serene Highness. It was asserted that Bonaparte had cut up the red +caps to make the ribbons of the Legions of Honor. The most fanatical +Revolutionists had become conservative as soon as they had anything to +preserve. The Empire was but a few hours old, and already the new-born +court was alive with the same rivalries, jealousies, and vanities that +fill the courts of the oldest monarchies. It was like Versailles, in the +reign of Louis XIV., in the Gallery of Mirrors, or in the drawing-room of +the Oeil de Boeuf. It would have taken a Dangeau to record, hour by hour, +the minute points of etiquette. The Emperor walked, spoke, thought, acted, +like a monarch of an old line. To nothing does a man so readily adapt +himself as to power. One who has been invested with the highest rank is +sure to imagine himself eternal; to think that he has always held it and +will always keep it. Indeed, how is it possible to escape intoxication by +the fumes of perpetual incense? How can a man tell the truth to himself +when there is no one about him courageous enough to tell it to him? When +the press is muzzled, and public power rests only on general approval, +when there is no slave even to remind the triumphant hero, as in the +ancient ovations, that he is only a man, how is it possible to avoid being +infatuated by one's greatness and not to imagine one's self the absolute +master of one's destiny? The new Caesar met with no resistance. He was to +publish scornfully in the _Moniteur_ the protest of Louis XVIII. against +his accession. He was to be adored both by fierce Revolutionists and by +great lords, by regicides and by Royalists and ecclesiastics. It seemed as +if with him everything began, or rather started anew. "The old world was +submerged," says Chateaubriand; "when the flood of anarchy withdrew, +Napoleon appeared at the beginning of a new world, like those giants +described by profane and sacred history at the beginning of society, +appearing on earth after the Deluge." + +The former general of the Revolution enjoyed his situation as absolute +sovereign. He studied the laws of etiquette as closely as he studied the +condition of his troops. He saw that the men of the old régime were more +conversant in the art of flattery, more eager than the new men. As Madame +de Staël says: "Whenever a gentleman of the old court recalled the ancient +etiquette, suggested an additional bow, a certain way at knocking at the +door of an ante-chamber, a ceremonious method of presenting a despatch, of +folding a letter, of concluding it with this or that formula, he greeted +as if he had helped on the happiness of the human race." Napoleon +attached, or pretended to attach, great importance to the thousand +nothings which up the life of courts. He established in the palace the +same discipline as in the camps. Everything became a matter of rule. +Courtiers studied formalities as officers studied the art of war. +Regulations were as closely observed in the drawing-rooms as in the tents. +At the end of a few months Napoleon was to have the most brilliant, the +most rigid court of Europe. At times the whirl of vanities surrounded him +filled with impatience the great central sun, without whom his satellites +would have been nothing. At other times, however, his pride was gratified +by the thought that it was his will, his fancy, which evoked from nothing +all the grandees of the earth. He was not pained at seeing such eagerness +in behalf of trifles that he had invented. He liked to fill his courtiers +with raptures or with despair, by a smile or a frown. He thought his +sisters' ambition childish, but it amused him; and if they had to cry a +little at first, he finally granted them what they wanted. + +May 19, after the family dinner, Madame Murat was more and more distressed +at not being a Princess, when she was a Bonaparte by birth, while Madame +Joseph and Madame Louis, one of whom was a Clary, the other a Beauharnais, +bore that title, and burst out into complaints and reproaches. "Why," she +asked of her all-powerful brother, "why condemn me and my sisters to +obscurity, to contempt, while covering strangers with honors and +dignities?" At first these words annoyed Napoleon. "In fact," he +exclaimed, "judging from your pretensions, one would suppose that we +inherited the crown from the late King our father." At the end of the +interview, Madame Murat, not satisfied with crying, fainted away. Napoleon +softened at once, and a few days later there appeared a notification in +the _Moniteur_ that henceforth the Emperor's sisters should be called +Princesses and Imperial Highnesses. + +The Empress's Maid of Honor was Madame de La Rochefoucauld; her Lady of +the Bedchamber was Madame de Lavalette. Her Ladies of the Palace, whose +number was soon raised to twelve, and later still more augmented, were at +first only four: Madame de Talhouët, Madame de Luçay, Madame de Lauriston, +and Madame de Rémusat. These ladies, too, aroused the hottest jealousies, +and soon they gave rise to a sort of parody of the questions of vanity +that agitated the Emperor's family. The women who were admitted to the +Empress's intimacy could never console themselves for the privileges +accorded to the Ladies of the Palace. + +In essentials all courts are alike. On a greater or smaller scale they are +rank with the same pettinesses, the same chattering gossip, the same +trivial squabbles as the porter's lodge, ante-chambers, and servants' +quarters. If we examine these things from the standpoint of a philosopher, +we shall find but little difference between a steward and a chamberlain, +between a chambermaid and a lady of the palace. We may go further and say +that as soon as they have places and money at their disposal, republicans +have courtesies, as much as monarchs, and everywhere and always there are +to be found people ready to bow low if there is anything on the ground +that they can pick up. Revolutions alter the forms of government, but not +the human heart; afterwards, as before, there exist the same pretensions, +the same prejudices, the same flatteries. The incense may be burned before +a tribune, a dictator, or a Caesar, there are always the same flattering +genuflections, the same cringing. + +The new Empire began most brilliantly, but there was no lack of morose +criticism. The Faubourg Saint Germain was for the most part hostile and +scornful. It looked upon the high dignitaries of the Empire and on the +Emperor himself as upstarts, and all the men of the old régime who went +over to him they branded as renegades. The title of "Citizen" was +suppressed and that of "Monsieur" restored, after having been abandoned in +conversation and writing for twelve years. Miot de Mélito tells us in his +Memoirs that at first public opinion was opposed to this change; even +those who at the beginning had shown the greatest repugnance to being +addressed as Citizen, disliked conferring the title of Monsieur upon +Revolutionists and the rabble, and they pretended to address as Citizen +those whom they saw fit to include in this class. Many turned the new +state of affairs to ridicule. The Parisians, always of a malicious humor, +made perpetual puns and epigrams in abundance. + +The Faubourg Saint Germain, in spite of a few adhesions from personal +motives, preserved an ironical attitude. General de Ségur, then a captain +under the orders of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, observed that in +1804, with the exception of several obscure nobles, either poor or ruined, +and others already attached to Napoleon's civil and military fortune, many +negotiations and various temptations were required to persuade well-known +persons to appear at the court as it was at first constituted. He goes on: +"As a spectator and confidant of the means employed, I witnessed in those +early days many refusals, and some I had to announce myself. I even heard +many bitter complaints on this subject. I remember that in reply I +mentioned to the Empress my own case, and told her what it had cost me to +enlist under the tricolor, and then to enter the First Consul's military +household. The Empress understood me so well that she made to me a similar +confidence, confessing her own struggles, her almost invincible +repugnance, at the end of 1795, in spite of her feeling for Bonaparte, +before she could make up her mind to marry the man whom at that time she +herself used to call General Vendémiaire." + +Although Josephine had become Empress, she remained a Legitimist, and saw +clearly the weak points in the Empire. At the Tuileries, in the chamber of +Marie Antoinette, she felt out of place; she was surprised to have for +Lady of Honor a duchess of an old family, and her sole ambition was to be +pardoned by the Royalists for her elevation, to the highest rank. +Napoleon, too, was much concerned about the Bourbons, in whom he foresaw +his successors, "One of his keenest regrets," wrote Prince Metternich, +"was his inability to invoke legitimacy as the foundation of his power. +Few men have felt more deeply than he the precariousness and fragility of +power when it lacks this foundation, its susceptibility to attack." + +After recalling the Emperor's attempt to induce Louis XVIII. to abandon +his claims to the throne, Prince Metternich goes on: "In speaking to me of +this matter, Napoleon said: 'His reply was noble, full of noble +traditions. In those Legitimists there is something outside of mere +intellectual force.'" The Emperor, who, at the beginning of his career, +displayed such intense Republican enthusiasm, was by nature essentially a +lover of authority and of the monarchy. He would have liked to be a +sovereign of the old stamp. His pleasure in surrounding himself with +members of the old aristocracy attests the aristocratic instincts of the +so-called crowned apostle of democracy. The few Republicans who remained +faithful to the principles were indignant with these tendencies; it was +with grief that they saw the reappearance of the throne; and thus, from +different motives the unreconciled Jacobins and the men of Coblentz who +had not joined the court, showed the same feeling of bitterness and of +hostility to the Empire. + +The trial of General Moreau made clear the germs of opposition which +existed in a latent condition. It is difficult to form an idea of the +enormous throng that blocked all the approaches to the Palace of Justice +the day the trial opened, and continued to crowd them during the twelve +days that the trial lasted, which was as interesting to Royalists as to +Republicans. The most fashionable people of Paris made a point of being +present. Sentence was pronounced June 10. Georges Cadoudal and nineteen of +the accused, among whom were M. Armand de Polignac, and M. de Rivière, +were condemned to death. + +To the Emperor's great surprise, Moreau was sentenced to only two years of +prison. This penalty was remitted, and he was allowed to betake himself to +the United States. To facilitate his establishing himself there, the +Emperor bought his house in the rue d'Anjou Saint Honoré, paying for it +eight hundred thousand francs, much more than it was worth, and then he +gave it to Bernadotte, who did not scruple to accept it. The sum was paid +to Moreau out of the secret fund of the police before he left for Cadiz. +Josephine's urgent solicitations saved the life of the Duke Armand de +Polignac, whose death-sentence was commuted to four years' imprisonment +before being transported. Madame Murat secured a modification of the +sentence of the Marquis de Rivière; and these two acts of leniency, to +which great publicity was given, were of great service in diminishing the +irritation of the Royalists. After Moreau's trial, the opposition, having +become discouraged, and conscious of its weakness, laid down its arms, at +least for a time. Napoleon was everywhere master. + +The Republic was forgotten. Its name still appeared on the coins: "French +Republic, Napoleon, Emperor"; but it survived as a mere ghost. +Nevertheless, the Emperor was anxious to celebrate in 1804 the Republican +festival of July 14; but the object of this festival was so modified that +it would have been hard to see in it the anniversary of the taking of the +Bastille and of the first federation. In the celebration, not a single +word was said about these two events. The official eulogy of the +Revolution was replaced by a formal distribution of crosses of the Legion +of Honor. + +This was the first time that the Emperor and Empress appeared in public in +full pomp. It was also the first time that they availed themselves of the +privilege of driving through the broad road of the garden of the +Tuileries. Accompanied by a magnificent procession, they went in great +splendor to the Invalides, which the Revolution had turned into a Temple +of Mars, and the Empire had turned again to a Catholic Church. At the door +they were received by the Governor and M. de Ségur, Grand Master of +Ceremonies, and at the entrance to the church by the Cardinal du Belloy at +the head of numerous priests. Napoleon and Josephine listened attentively +to the mass; then, after a speech was uttered by the Grand Chancellor of +the Legion of Honor, M. de Lacépède, the Emperor recited the form of the +oath; at the end of which all the members of the Legion shouted "I swear." +This sight aroused the enthusiasm of the crowd, and the applause was loud. +In the middle of the ceremony, Napoleon called up to him Cardinal Caprara, +who had taken a very important part in the negotiations concerning the +Concordat, and was soon to help to persuade the Pope to come to Paris for +the coronation. The Emperor took from his own neck the ribbon of the +Legion of Honor, and gave it to the worthy and aged prelate. Then the +knights of the new order passed in line before the Imperial throne, while +a man of the people, wearing a blouse, took his station on the steps of +the throne. This excited some surprise, and he was asked what he wanted; +he took out his appointment to the Legion. The Emperor at once called him +up, and gave him the cross with the usual kiss. + +The Empress's beauty made a great impression, as we learn from Madame de +Rémusat, who generally prejudiced against her, but on this occasion was +forced to recognize that Josephine, by her tasteful and careful dressing, +succeeded in appearing young and charming amid the many young and pretty +women by whom she was for the first time surrounded. "She stood there," +Madame de Rémusat goes on, "in the full light of the setting sun, wearing +a dress of pink tulle, adorned with silver stars, cut very low after the +fashion of the time, and crowned by a great many diamond clusters; and +this fresh and brilliant dress, her graceful bearing, her delightful +smile, her gentle expression produced such an effect that I heard a number +of persons who had been present at the ceremony say that she effaced all +her suite." Three days later the Emperor started for the camp at Boulogne. + +In spite of the enthusiasm of the people and the army, one thing became +clear to every thoughtful observer, and that was that the new régime, +lacking strength to resist misfortunes, must have perpetual success in +order to live. Napoleon was condemned, by the form of his government, not +merely to succeed, but to dazzle, to astonish, to subjugate. His Empire +required extraordinary magnificence, prodigious effects, Babylonian +festivities, gigantic adventures, colossal victories. His Imperial +escutcheon, to escape contempt, needed rich coats of gilding, and demanded +glory to make up for the lack of antiquity. In order to make himself +acceptable to the European, monarchs, his new brothers, and to remove the +memory of the venerable titles of the Bourbons, this former officer of the +armies of Louis XVI., the former second-lieutenant of artillery, who had +suddenly become a Caesar, a Charlemagne, could make this sudden and +strange transformation comprehensible only through unprecedented fame and +splendor. He desired to have a feudal, majestic court, surrounded by all +the pomp and ceremony of the Middle Ages. He saw how hard was the part he +had to play, and he knew very well how much a nation needs glory to make +it forget liberty. Hence a perpetual effort to make every day outshine the +one before, and first to equal, then to surpass, the splendors of the +oldest and most famous dynasties. This insatiable thirst for action and +for renown was to be the source of Napoleon's strength and also of his +weakness. But only a few clear-sighted men made these reflections when the +Empire began. The masses, with their easy optimism, looked upon the new +Emperor as an infallibly impeccable being, and thought that since he had +not yet been beaten, he was invincible. Josephine indulged in no such +illusions; she knew the defects in her husband's character, and dreaded +the future for him as well as for herself. Singularly enough for one so +surrounded by flatteries, in her whole life her head was never for a +moment turned by pride or infatuation. + + + + +II. + +JOURNEY TO THE BANKS OF THE RHINE + + +Before having himself crowned by the Pope, after the example of +Charlemagne, Napoleon was anxious to go to meditate at the tomb of the +great Carlovingian Emperor, of whom he regarded himself as the worthy +successor. A journey on the banks of the Rhine, a triumphal tour in the +famous German cities which the France of the Revolution had been so proud +to conquer, seemed to the new sovereign a fitting prologue to the pomp of +the coronation. Napoleon was desirous of impressing the imaginations of +people in his new Empire and in the old Empire of Germany. He wished the +trumpets of fame to sound in his honor on both banks of the famous and +disputed river. + +The Empress, who had gone to Aix-la-Chapelle to take the waters, arrived +there a few days before her husband. Napoleon wrote to her, August 6, +1804:-- + +"MY DEAR: I have been here at Calais since midnight; I am thinking of +leaving this evening for Dunkirk. I am satisfied with what I see, and I am +tolerably well. I hope that you will get as much good from the waters as I +get from going about and from seeing the camps and the sea. Eugene has +left for Blois. Hortense is well. Louis is at Plombières. I am very +anxious to see you. You are always essential to my happiness. A thousand +kind messages." + +The Emperor wrote again from Ostend, August 14, 1804:-- + +"MY DEAR: I have not heard from you for several days, though I should have +been glad to hear that the waters have done you good and how you pass your +time. I have been here a week. Day after to-morrow I shall be at Boulogne +for a tolerably brilliant festival. Send me word by the messenger what you +mean to do, and when you shall have finished your baths. I am much +satisfied with the army and the fleet. Eugene is still at Blois. I hear no +more about Hortense than if she were at the Congo. I am writing to scold +her. Many kind wishes for all." + +Napoleon reached Aix-la-Chapelle September 3. The Emperor Francis had, on +the 10th of August, assumed the Imperial title accorded to his house, of +Emperor-elect of Germany, Hereditary Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia +and Hungary. He had then given orders to M. de Cobentzel to go to Aix-la- +Chapelle to present his credentials to Napoleon. Napoleon received the +Austrian diplomatist very kindly, and was soon surrounded by a multitude +of foreign ambassadors who came to pay their respects. He re-established +the annual honors long before paid to the memory of Charlemagne, went down +into the vault, and gave the priests of the Cathedral convincing proofs of +his munificence. The Empress was shown a piece of the true cross which the +Carlovingian Emperor had long worn on his breast as a talisman. She was +offered a holy relic, almost the whole arm of that hero, but she declined +it, saying that she did not wish to deprive Aix-la-Chapelle of so precious +a memorial, especially when she had the arm of a man as great as +Charlemagne to support her. + +From Aix-la-Chapelle, Napoleon and Josephine went to Cologne, then to +Coblentz, then to Mayence, travelling separately. The Emperor left Cologne +September 16 at four in the afternoon, and reached Bonn a little before +nightfall, to start again the next morning. The town pleased her very +much, and she was sorry she could not remain there longer. She stayed at a +fine house with a garden opening on a terrace that looked out over the +Rhine. After supper she walked on the terrace. The delight of the people +assembled below, the peacefulness of the night, and the beauty of the +river in the moonlight, made the evening most enjoyable. At four the next +morning the Empress started off again in her travelling carriage, and at +ten she entered Coblentz. The Emperor did not get there until six in the +evening, having left Cologne the same day. At Bonn he got on horseback to +examine for himself everything that demanded close inspection. From +Coblentz, where a ball was given them, Napoleon and Josephine went to +Mayence, each by a different route. The Emperor followed the highway on +the edge of the Rhine; the Empress ascended the river in a yacht which the +Prince of Nassau Weilburg had placed at her disposal. It was a picturesque +voyage. + +The morning mist soon cleared away. Josephine, who had breakfast served on +deck, admired the many charming scenes between Boppard and Bacharach, the +fertile fields, the towns perched on the steep banks; in the distance, the +mountains covered with forests; then the narrowing river, the bounded +view, the cliffs crowded together, where nothing can be seen but the +river, the sky, and the crags crowned by the mirrored towns of mediaeval +castles. The light boat, as it glided smoothly over the stream, with its +gilded Neptune at the bow, recalled Cleopatra's barge. At times the +silence was profound, then the church-bells would be heard, as well as the +cheers of the peasants on the river-banks. The pettiest villages had sent +guards of honor, had hoisted flags, and raised triumphal arches. Curiously +enough, the right bank, which did not belong to France, seemed to display +quite as much zeal and enthusiasm as the left bank, the French one; on +both sides were the same shouts of welcome, the same demonstrations, the +same salutes. When she reached Saint Goar, on the left bank, the Empress +saw the authorities of the town coming out to meet her, with military +music, in boats decorated with branches of trees; and on the other side of +the river, on the terrace of the castle of Hesse Rheinfels, the Hessian +garrison was presenting arms, and their salutes joined with those of the +inhabitants of Saint Goar, Further on, they shouted through a speaking- +trumpet to hear the famous echo of the Lorelei, with its wonderfully +distinct and frequent repetitions. Then they passed the fantastic castle +of the Palatinate, built in the middle of the stream, and in old times the +refuge of the Countesses Palatine, where their children were born and kept +in security during their babyhood. The Empress landed at Bingen, where she +spent the night, starting again the next morning. Towards three in the +afternoon she reached Mayence, where twelve young girls belonging to the +best families of the city were awaiting her. Almost simultaneously, the +cannon at the other gate announced the Emperor's arrival. + +On his way, Napoleon had noticed on an island in the Rhine, at the very +extremity of the French Empire, the convent of Rolandswerth. He was told +that the nuns who lived there had refused to leave it during the last war, +that very often the cannon-balls of the contending armies had often fallen +on the island without damaging the convent where those holy women were +praying. The Emperor became interested in their fate, and made over to +them the forty or fifty acres of which the little island consisted. + +On their arrival at Mayence, September 21, Napoleon Josephine were most +warmly greeted. In the evening all the streets and public buildings were +illuminated. The Prince Archchancellor of the Germanic Empire, who owed to +the French sovereign the preservation of his wealth and of his title, +desired to pay his respects. The Emperor was surrounded by a real court of +German Princes. The Princess of the House of Hesse, the Duke and Duchess +of Bavaria, the Elector of Baden, who was more than seventy-five years +old, and had come with his son and grandson, appeared as if vassals of the +new Charlemagne, the second Théâtre Français had been summoned from Paris, +and played before this public of Highnesses. Every one was struck by the +celerity with which this crowned soldier had acquired the appearance of a +sovereign belonging to an old line, while he still preserved the language +and appearance of a soldier. One day he asked the hereditary Prince of +Baden: "What did you do yesterday?" The young Prince replied with some +embarrassment that he had strolled about the streets. "You did very +wrong," said Napoleon. "What you ought to have done was to visit the +fortifications and inspect them carefully. How can you tell? Perhaps some +day you will have to besiege Mayence. Who would have told me when I was a +simple artillery officer walking about Toulon that I should be destined to +take that city?" It was at Mayence that the treasures unjustly extorted +from the German Princes were restored to them. It was at Mayence that +Gutenberg's name for the first time received formal homage. + +General de Ségur, In his Memoirs, narrates an anecdote about Napoleon's +stay in this old German city. The Emperor had gone incognito and without +escort to an island in the Rhine, not far from the town. As he was walking +in this almost deserted island, he noticed a wretched hut in which a poor +woman was lamenting that her son had been drafted. "Console yourself," +said Napoleon, without letting her know who he was, and giving her an +assumed name: "Come to Mayence to-morrow and ask for me; I have some +influence with the ministers and I will try to help you." The poor woman +appeared punctually. With delight and surprise she saw that the stranger +was the Emperor of the French. Napoleon delighted to tell her that her +house which had been destroyed by the war should be rebuilt, that he would +give her a little herd and several acres of land, and that her son should +be restored to her. + +A letter in the _Moniteur_ thus described the departure of Napoleon and +Josephine: "Mayence, 11 Vendémiaire (October 3). The Empress left +yesterday for Paris, by way of Saverne and Nancy. The Emperor is just +leaving; he means to visit Frankenthal, Kaiserslanten, and Kreutznach; +then he will take the road to Trèves. The stay of Their Majesties has been +for us a source of lasting pleasure and advantage. The most important +interests of our department have been favorably regulated. We have nothing +now to wish for except an opportunity to show our gratitude, our devotion, +and our fidelity, and the sincerity of the good wishes our citizens +expressed by their unanimous cheers. The Electors, the Princes, and the +many distinguished strangers who have given our city the appearance of a +great capital, are now taking their departure." + +This journey on the banks of the Rhine made a deep impression in France +and throughout Europe. It must be confessed that no one has ever equalled +the Emperor in the art of keeping himself picturesquely before the public. +Napoleon in the crypt at Aix-la-Chapelle, face to face with the shade of +Charlemagne is a subject to inspire a painter or a poet! At Brussels, in +the church of Saint Gudule, Napoleon evoked the memory of Charles V.; at +Aix-la-Chapelle in the Cathedral vault he questioned the shade of +Charlemagne. And as he meditated on the tomb of the Carlovingian hero, so +now do monarchs on their way through Paris meditate in their turn over his +tomb beneath the gilded dome of the Invalides. They go down into the +crypt, look at the porch upheld by twelve great statues of white marble, +each one commemorating a victory, at the mosaic pavement representing a +huge crown with fillets, the sarcophagus of red granite from Finland, +placed on a foundation of green granite from the Vosges. Then they enter +the subterranean chamber, the black marble sanctuary, which contains, +among numerous relics, the sword that Napoleon carried at Austerlitz, the +decorations he wore on his uniform, the gold crown voted him by the city +of Cherbourg, and finally sixty flags won in his victories. The church of +the Invalides Inspires the same thoughts as the Cathedral of +Aix-la-Chapelle. In the two temples kings and great men may make the same +reflection about glory, about death, about the handful of dust which is +all that is left of heroes. + + + + +III. + +THE POPE'S ARRIVAL AT FONTAINEBLEAU. + + +The time for the coronation was drawing near. Napoleon, who had already +received the official recognition of foreign powers, was anxious to have +his Imperial title consecrated by a great religious ceremony, the fame of +which should resound throughout the whole Catholic world. The first date +proposed for the solemnity was the 26th Messidor, Year XII. (July 14, +1804), then that of the 18th Brumaire, Year XIII. (Nov. 9, 1804). But the +choice in each case was unfortunate. It was hard to combine the memory of +the taking of the Bastille with the coronation of a sovereign, and the +18th Brumaire would have recalled the regrets of Republicans and the +services of Lucien Bonaparte, who, after being the main aid of his +brother's fortune, was living at Rome, in disgrace and exile. On the other +hand, the Pope's hesitation, for it was with the greatest difficulty that +he could make up his mind to go to Paris, had further postponed the date, +which was at last fixed for the beginning of December. + +Josephine awaited with impatience and fear an event on which, she felt, +her future fate depended. The Pope, that mysterious and holy person, had +started. Was he to prove her saviour? Was she to be a repudiated wife or a +crowned Empress? The clergy were untiring in their laudations of +Napoleon's glory. Bishops, in their charges, spoke of him as God's elect. +One prelate, speaking of the Empire, had said: "One God and one monarch! +As the God of the Christians is the only one deserving to be adored and +obeyed, you, Napoleon, are the only man worthy to rule the French!" +Another had said: "Napoleon, whom God called from the deserts of Egypt, +like another Moses, will bring peace between the wise Empire of France and +the divine Empire of Christ. The finger of God is here. Let us pray the +Most High to protect with his powerful hand the man he has chosen. May the +new Augustus live and rule forever! Submission is his due because he is +ordered by Providence!" Yet in spite of these extravagant outbursts which +came from every pulpit in the whole French Empire, this restorer of the +altars, this saviour of religion was married only by civil right! From the +ecclesiastic point of view, he was living in concubinage. He had had his +brother Louis's marriage with Hortense de Beauharnais, and his sister +Caroline's with Murat blessed by Cardinal Caprara, but in spite of +Josephine's entreaties, he had denied her this pious satisfaction. It was +on the Pope that the Empress put all her hope; she thought that he would +take pity on her, and by bringing her into conformity with the rules of +the church, would put an end to a condition of things humiliating to her +as a sovereign, and painful to her as a Catholic. + +At the same time Josephine was anxiously wondering whether she was to be +crowned. Her brothers-in-law became more venomous in their intrigues +against her, and desired not only that she be excluded from any part in +the coronation, but also that she should be condemned to divorce on the +pretext of barrenness. Joseph Bonaparte was never tired of saying that +Napoleon ought to marry some foreign Princess, or at least some daughter +of an old French family, and he skilfully laid stress on his own +unselfishness in urging a plan which would necessarily remove himself and +his descendants from the line of inheritance. The Emperor's sisters showed +the same hostility towards Josephine, whom they hated, although she well +deserved their love. Since Napoleon maintained an absolute silence about +his intentions concerning the coronation, the Bonapartes already imagined +that she was going to be divorced, and hence exhibited an untimely delight +which displeased the Emperor and brought him closer to his wife. At last, +tired with family bickerings, he suddenly put an end to them and filled +Josephine with joy by telling her that she was to be crowned at Notre +Dame. + +The reader should turn to the curious account in Miot de Mélito's Memoirs +of the council held at Saint Cloud, November 17, 1804, to arrange the +formalities of the coronation. Of Napoleon's four brothers, two were in +disgrace, Lucien and Jerome, and they were not to be present at the +ceremony. As for Joseph and Louis, it was decided that they should appear, +not as Princes of the blood, but only as high dignitaries of the Empire. +Joseph, it will be remembered, was Grand Elector, and Louis was Constable. + +This decision once taken, Joseph said in the council of November 17: +"Since it has been recognized that, with the exception of the Head of the +State, no one else, whatever his rank, can be regarded as partaking the +honors of sovereignty, and that we especially are not treated as Princes, +but only as high dignitaries, it would not be right that our wives, who +henceforth are only wives of high dignitaries, should as Princesses carry +the train of the Empress's robe, which consequently must be carried by +Ladies of Honor or of the Palace." This remark displeased the Emperor, and +many members of the council cited many examples to refute it, notably that +of Maria de' Medici. Joseph, who had foreseen their arguments, displayed +unexpected erudition: "Maria de' Medici," he said, "was accompanied only +by Queen Margaret, the first wife of Henri IV., and by Madame (Catherine +of Bourbon), the King's sister. The train was carried by a very distant +relative. Queen Margaret had, indeed, offered a fine example of generosity +by being present at the coronation of the woman who took her place and +who, more fortunate than herself, had borne heirs to Henri IV. But she was +not asked to carry the train of Maria de' Medici, and yet Maria de' Medici +had a right to every honor, because she was a mother." This very +transparent allusion to Josephine's barrenness so exasperated Napoleon +that he arose suddenly from his chair and addressed his brother with the +intensest bitterness and violence. After the meeting Joseph proposed to +his brother retiring to Germany. Napoleon relented and, November 27, he +said to his brother: "I have given a great deal of thought to the +difference that has arisen between you and me, and I will confess that +during the six days that this quarrel has lasted, I have not had a +moment's peace. I have even lost my sleep over it, and you are the only +person who has this power over me; I know nothing that disturbs me to this +degree. This influence comes from my old affection for you and from my +recollection of what you did for me in my boyhood, and I am much more +dependent than you think on feelings of that sort.... Take your position +in an hereditary monarchy and be the first of my subjects. That is a fine +enough position, to be the second man in France, perhaps in Europe.... +Comply with my wishes; follow my ideas; do not flatter the patriots when I +drive them away; do not oppose the nobles when I summon them; form your +household according to the principles that have guided me. In a word, be a +Prince, and do not disturb yourself about the importance of the title." + +Joseph at last yielded, and promised that his wife should conform without +a murmur to the ceremonies established for the coronation. Only this +concession was made to their susceptibilities: that in the rules the +phrase, _bear the cloak_ was substituted for _carry the train_, "for," as +Miot de Mélito says, "Vanity will clutch at a straw." + +As for Madame Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother, she persisted in remaining at +Rome with Lucien. In spite of frequent messages from Paris, she was not to +get there until some days after the coronation, a fact which did not +prevent her appearing in the great picture commemorating the event, +painted by David, who was successively Jacobin and Imperialist, and +beginning with the apotheosis of Marat, celebrated that of Napoleon. + +Pope Pius VII., then sixty-two years old, had left Rome November 2, after +praying for a long time at the altar of Saint Peter's, The populace had +followed his carriage for a long distance, weeping with terror at his +undertaking a journey to revolutionary France. At Florence he had been +received by the Queen of Etruria, then a widow and her son's Regent. At +Lyons he became less anxious; a number of the inhabitants crowded about +him, and fell on their knees, asking for the blessing of the Vicar of +Christ. Meanwhile, Napoleon was putting the last touches to the repairs be +had commenced at the Palace of Fontainebleau, to put it in a suitable +condition to receive the Sovereign Pontiff. In less than twenty days the +furnishing of the palace had been completed, and the castle had, as if by +magic, resumed its old-time splendor. + +Every one wondered how the first meeting between the Pope and the Emperor +would take place. Many points of etiquette arose which Napoleon managed to +elude. Pius VII. was to arrive through the forest of Fontainebleau, and +the Emperor was to go to meet him through the forest of Nemours. To +prevent all formality, Napoleon made an excuse of a hunting party. All the +huntsmen, with their carriages, met in the forest. Napoleon was on +horseback, in hunting dress. When he knew that the Pope and his suite were +due at the cross of Saint Hérene--at noon, Sunday, November 25, 1804--he +turned his horse in that direction, and as soon as he reached the half- +moon at the top of the hill, he saw the Pope's carriage arriving. + +According to the account given in the Memoirs of the Duke of Rovigo, the +carriage of Pius VII. stopped, and the pontiff in his white robes got out +by the left-hand door. The road was muddy, and he was averse to stepping +into it with his white silk slippers; but there was nothing to be done. +Napoleon got off his horse to receive him, and sprang cordially into his +arms. These two famous men, who, although they were entire strangers, had +already thought so often of each other, and were to exercise such great +influence over each other's destiny, now met with deep emotion. As they +were embracing, one of the Emperor's carriages, which had been ordered to +drive up, pushed on a few steps as if by an oversight of the coachman; the +footmen held both doors open; the Emperor took that on the right; a court +official pointed to that on the left for the Pope, so that the two +sovereigns entered the same carriage simultaneously by the two doors. The +Emperor sat down naturally on the right-hand side, and this first step +established the etiquette for the whole time of the Pope's stay, without +discussion. + +At the entrance of the Palace of Fontainebleau, the Empress, the high +dignitaries of the Empire, the generals, were formed in a circle to +receive and salute Pius VII. He was welcomed with the utmost reverence. +His fine, noble face, his air of angelic kindness, his soft, yet sonorous +voice, produced a deep impression. Josephine was especially moved by the +presence of the Vicar of Christ. After resting a few moments in his +private apartment, to which he had been conducted by M. de Talleyrand, +High Chamberlain, by General Duroc, Grand Marshal of the Palace, and by M. +de Ségur, Grand Master of Ceremonies, the Pope paid a visit to Napoleon, +who, after an interview of about half an hour, conducted him back to the +hall that was at that time called that of the High Officers. The two +sovereigns dined together, and the Pope went early to bed, to rest himself +after the fatigues of his long journey. The next evening some singers had +been summoned to the Empress's apartment, but Pius VII. withdrew just as +the concert was about to begin. + +In the course of the day Josephine had had a private interview with the +Pope, and had confided to him the secret which so distressed her. She who +was reigning over the greatest of Catholic nations, the consort of the +successor of the very Christian Kings, the wife of a ruler about to be +crowned by the Pope, was married only by civil rite! She entreated Pius +VII. to use all his influence with Napoleon to put an end to a situation +which was a continual torture and reproach to her as a wife and as a +Christian. The Pope appeared touched by the confidence of his dear +daughter, as he always called the Empress, and promised to demand, and, if +necessary, to insist, upon the celebration of the Emperor's religious +marriage, as a condition of the coronation, and this promise filled +Josephine with joy. + +The presence of the Pope and the Emperor, the throng of prelates, +generals, courtiers, and beautiful women, the combination of religious and +Imperial pomp gave to the Castle of the Valois, a few days before +dilapidated and abandoned, new splendor and magnificence. Never in the +most brilliant days of the reign of Francis I., or Henri II., or of Louis +XIV., had this sumptuous residence appeared in greater state. This +wonderful palace is renowned for its superb and picturesque architecture, +its majestic façades, its five courts: that of the White Horse, of the +Fountain, of the Dungeon, of the Princes, of Henri IV. The Festival Hall +is very beautiful, with its rich and abundant ornamentation, its walnut +floor, divided into octagonal panels richly outlined with inlaid gold and +silver, its monumental mantelpiece, with its figures, emblems, and +fantastic frescoes, the brilliant masterpieces of Primaticcio, and of +Nicolo d'Abati. + +Alas! this splendid Fontainebleau, the gorgeous palace where Pope and +Emperor were then living in triumph, was later to be to both an accursed +spot. The Pope was to return to it a prisoner, maltreated though old, +though a priest, though the Vicar of Christ, and there the Emperor was to +drink the cup of humiliation, of despair, to the dregs. It was there that, +conquered, broken, betrayed by fortune, he was to sign his abdication. It +was there that he was to utter those heart-rending words: "It is right; I +receive what I have deserved. I wanted no statues, for I knew that there +was no safety in receiving them at any other hands than those of +posterity. A man to keep them while he lives, needs constant good fortune. +I think of France, which it is terrible to leave in this state, without +frontiers when it had such wide ones!--that is the bitterest of the +humiliations that overwhelm me. To leave France so small when I wished to +make it so great!" It was there that, overcome by immeasurable grief, the +conqueror of so many battles wished to seek in suicide a refuge from the +tortures of thought, and that he was to fail to find death, he who on the +battle-field had squandered so many lives. O mortals, ignorant of your own +fates, how happy you are not to have foreknowledge of them! + + + + +IV. + +THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION. + + +The Empress left Fontainebleau, Thursday, November 29, 1804, in company +with Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, and Madame d'Arberg, Lady +of the Palace, and reached Paris the same day, a few hours before the +Emperor and the Pope, who left Fontainebleau in the same carriage and +entered the Tuileries at eight in the evening. A platoon of Mamelukes +escorted the Imperial carriage, and it was a singular sight to see the +Mussulman escorting the Vicar of Christ. The Pope was installed at the +Tuileries in the Pavilion of Flora. There were attached to his person M. +de Viry, the Emperor's Chamberlain; M. de Luçay, Prefect of the Palace, +and Colonel Durosnel, Equerry. + +All Paris was excited by the approach of the great event. The hotels were +crowded; the population of the capital was nearly doubled, so vast was the +throng of provincials and foreigners. Tradesmen were working night and day +to prepare the dresses and uniforms. In every workshop there was +unparalleled activity. Leroy, who previously had been only a milliner, had +decided for this occasion to undertake dressmaking, and had made Madame +Raimbault, a celebrated dressmaker of the time, his partner. From their +shop came the magnificent robes to be worn by the Empress on Coronation +Day. Her jewels, consisting of a crown, a diadem, and a girdle, were the +work of the jeweller Margueritte. The crown was formed of eight branches +meeting under a gold globe surmounted by a cross. The branches were set +with diamonds, four in the shape of a palm leaf, four in the shape of a +myrtle leaf. Around the curve was a ribbon, inlaid with eight enormous +emeralds. The frontlet was bright with amethysts. The diadem was formed of +four rows of pearls interlaced with diamond leaves, with many large +brilliants, one alone weighing one hundred and forty-nine grains. The +girdle was a gold band, enriched with thirty-nine pink gems. The Emperor's +sceptre had been made by Odiot; it was of solid silver, enlaced by a gold +serpent, and surmounted by a globe on which was a miniature figure of +Charlemagne seated. The hand of justice, the crown, and the sword came +from the workshops of Biennais. The dress of the courtiers was to be very +magnificent; it consisted of a French coat of different colors according +to the duties of the wearer under the Grand Marshal, the High Chamberlain, +and the Grand Equerry, with silver embroidery for all; a cloak worn over +one shoulder, of velvet, lined with satin: a scarf, a lace band, and the +hat caught up in front, and adorned with a feather. The women were to +appear in ball dress, with a train, with a collar of blond-lace, called a +_chérusque_, which was fastened on both shoulders and rose high behind the +head, recalling the fashions of the time of Catherine de' Medici. + +There were rehearsals of the coronation as if it were a spectacular play. +Every one, from the principal actors to the most insignificant assistants, +studied his part most conscientiously; the Masters of Ceremonies were to +act as prompters to those who might forget. The Imperial carriages and +those of the Princes and Princesses one morning were all driven empty to +the neighborhood of Notre Dame, that coachman, postilions, and grooms +might know the route they were to take, and when they were to draw up. The +carriages were superb, the horses magnificent, the liveries sumptuous. +Never in the most extravagant days of the monarchy had such luxury been +seen. + +M. de Bausset says that a week before the coronation the Emperor commanded +of the artist Isabey seven drawings representing the seven principal +ceremonies to take place at Notre Dame, which, however, could not be +rehearsed in the Cathedral on account of the number of workmen busy day +and night in decorating it. To ask at once for seven drawings each +containing more than a hundred persons in action, was asking for the +impossible. Isabey skilfully eluded the difficulty. He bought at the toy +shops all the little dolls he could find, dressed them up as Pope, +Emperor, Empress, Princes, high dignitaries, Chamberlains, Equerries, +Ladies of Honor, Ladies of the Palace, These dolls thus arrayed he +arranged on a plan in relief of the Interior of Notre Dame, and carrying +it to the Emperor, said: "Sire, I bring Your Majesty something better than +the drawings." Napoleon thought the idea ingenious, and used the dolls and +the plan to make every official understand his place and his duty. + +The _Moniteur_ of the 9th Brumaire, Year XIII, (November 30, 1804), +published in advance all the details of the ceremony, which the Emperor +had fixed with as much care as if it had been the plan of a battle. A +difficulty arose on this occasion. The Pope had wished Napoleon to receive +the holy communion in public on the day of the coronation, and Napoleon +had given the matter thought. The Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Ségur, +brought up against the proposition the necessity of a preliminary +confession and the possibility that absolution might be denied him. +"That's not the difficulty," said the Emperor, "the Holy Father knows how +to distinguish between the sins of Caesar and those of the man," Then he +added: "I know that I ought to give an example of respect for religion and +its ministers; so you see that I treat the priests well, go regularly to +mass, and listen to it with all due seriousness and solemnity. But every +one knows me, and how would it be for me, and for others, if I should go +too far? Would not that be setting an example of hypocrisy, and committing +a sacrilege?" The Pope did not insist upon it. This dread of committing +sacrilege Napoleon referred to again at Saint Helena, in 1816: "Everything +was done," he said then, "to persuade me to go in great pomp to communion +at Notre Dame, after the fashion of our kings; I absolutely refused; I did +not believe enough, I said, to get any good from it, and yet I believed +too much to consent to be guilty of sacrilege." + +Another difficulty which gave the Pope much anxiety, and was not settled +in the formalities of the coronation, was whether the Emperor should +receive the crown from the hands of the Sovereign Pontiff. Pius VII. had +brought up the question before leaving Rome, and Cardinal Consalvi had +written on this matter, to which the Vatican attached great importance, as +follows: "All the French Emperors, all those of Germany, who have been +crowned by the Popes, have accepted the crown from them. The Holy Father, +before undertaking this journey, requires to receive from Paris the +assurance that there will be no innovation made in the present case, in +the way of a diminution of the honor and dignity of the Sovereign +Pontiff." At Rome only vague and dilatory answers had been received. In +Paris the Emperor, leaving the matter to be decided on the spur of the +moment, had only said: "I will arrange that myself." + +The preparations at Notre Dame had come to an end. They had been very +considerable. Several houses that hid the north façade had been destroyed. +Before the great entrance, still scarred by the ravages of the +Revolutionists, there had been set up a decoration of painted wood, +representing a vast Gothic porch with three arches upholding the statues +of the thirty-six good cities, the mayors of which were to be present at +the coronation. To the right and the left stood images of Clovis and +Charlemagne, sceptre in hand. Above, between two golden eagles, appeared +the Imperial coat-of-arms. This was intended for the sole entrance of the +Pope and the Emperor. It was connected with the Archbishop's palace by +large, covered, wooden galleries, adorned within by gobelin tapestry. This +palace, to which Pius VII. and Napoleon were to go before they entered the +Cathedral, no longer exists; it was destroyed, February 14, 1831, in an +insurrection. It used to stand just by the side of the church. It was +built in 1161 by Maurice de Sully, rebuilt in 1697 by the Cardinal of +Noailles, embellished in 1750 by the Archbishop de Beaumont, and was the +meeting-place of the Constituent Assembly from October 19 to November 9, +1789. There the Pope and the Emperor were to alight on their way from the +Tuileries and put on their grand coronation robes before entering the +Cathedral. + +The whole church of Notre Dame had been hung with crimson stuffs adorned +with gold fringe, with the arms of the Empire embroidered on the corners. +On each side of the nave and around the choir had been built three rows of +galleries, decorated alike with silk and velvet stuffs fringed with gold, +and flags had been arranged like a trophy about each pillar. Above the +trophies were winged and gilded victories, holding candelabra with a vast +number of candles. There were, besides, twenty-four chandeliers hanging +from the roof. The galleries kept out the light, especially at the season +when the days were short; consequently it had been decided that the +Cathedral should be artificially lit during the ceremony, thus augmenting +the pomp and beauty of the spectacle. The choir, shut off by a railing, +was reserved for the clergy. To the right of the high altar, on a platform +with eleven steps, had been raised the pontifical throne, above which was +a golden dome adorned with the arms of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman +Church. In front and on each side of the pontifical throne were benches +with backs for the cardinals and prelates. For the Emperor and the Empress +had been prepared what was called the great and the little throne. The +little throne was formed of two armchairs, one for Napoleon, the other for +Josephine. These two chairs stood on a platform with four steps, opposite +the high altar. The Emperor and Empress were to occupy them during the +first part of the ceremony. The grand throne was at the other end of the +church, with its back against the great door, which was thus closed. This +great throne stood on a large semicircular platform, and was reached by +twenty-four steps. It stood under a canopy in the shape of a triumphal +arch, upheld by eight columns, and it overlooked the whole church. The +Emperor and the Empress were not to ascend this throne till after the +coronation. + +For the coronation Napoleon had given to the Cathedral a number of holy +vessels in silver-gilt, enriched with diamonds, and very valuable lace +albs, a processional cross, chandeliers, and incense-burners. At the same +time he restored to the Cathedral a great number of relics with which the +piety of Saint Louis had endowed the Sainte Chapelle. In 1791 they had +been deposited in the treasury of Saint Denis, by order of Louis XVI., +thence in 1793 they had been transferred to the cabinet of curiosities in +the National Library, and had been exposed under the Directory, in the +Hall of Antiquities. The Emperor restored them to the worship of the +faithful. + +The preparations were completed, and the ceremony promised to be +magnificent. Madame Junot, afterwards the Duchess of Abrantès, breakfasted +with the Empress at the Tuileries, December 1, 1804, the day before the +coronation. Josephine was much excited and radiantly happy. At breakfast +she told how amiably the Emperor had talked with her that morning and how +he had tried on her head the crown which she was to put on the next day at +Notre Dame. As she said that she shed tears of gratitude. She spoke then +of her pain when Napoleon had refused her request for Lucien's return. "I +wanted to plead this great day," she said, "but Bonaparte spoke so harshly +that I had to keep silent. I wanted to show Lucien that I could return +good for evil; if you have a chance, let him know it." + +In the evening the Senate came to the Tuileries to announce to the Emperor +the result of the _plébiscite_ which approved of the Empire and the matter +of inheritance; 3,521,660 citizens having voted for, and 2,579 against. +Napoleon replied to the President of the Senate with the infatuation that +springs from success and the consciousness of strength: "I ascend the +throne to which I have been called by the unanimous voices of the Senate, +the people, and the army, with my heart full of feeling of the great +destinies of this people whom, from the midst of camps, I first saluted +with the name of great. Since my youth all my thoughts have been devoted +to it, and I must say here, my pleasures and my pains now are nothing but +the pleasures and the pains of my people. My descendants will long fill +this throne. They will never forget that contempt of laws and the +overthrow of the social order are only the results of the weakness and +indecision of rulers." + +The hour of disaster was approaching, but it had not yet struck; the +morrow was to be radiant. Salvos of artillery were fixed every hour from +six in the evening till midnight; at each salvo, the towers, spires, and +public buildings were illuminated for a few minutes by Bengal lights. +Imperial insignia, among others the sword of Charlemagne, were already in +the Church of Notre Dame. General de Ségur, then a captain under the +command of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, was charged to watch that +precious relic during the night. He records one thing about it which +clearly shows the bellicose spirit of the men of the time. One of the +officers guarding the Imperial sword conceived the mad idea of using it +against one of his comrades, who defended himself with his own sabre, and +consoled himself for his defeat and for a slight wound with the thought +that he was beaten by so glorious a weapon. + +That same night, the one before the coronation, Josephine's wishes were +granted. Her union with Napoleon was blessed by the church. An altar was +mysteriously raised in the Tuileries, and there, in the presence of M. de +Talleyrand and the Marshal Berthier, who were the only witnesses, Cardinal +Fesch celebrated, in the profoundest secrecy, the religious marriage of +the Emperor and Empress. The scruples of Pius VII. were thus allayed. +Josephine could be crowned the next day. + + + + +V. + +THE CORONATION. + + +It was December 2, 1804. Since early morning all Paris had been alive. It +was very cold; the sky was covered, but no one thought of the unpleasant +weather. All the streets through which the procession was to pass had been +carefully swept and sprinkled with sand. The inhabitants had decorated the +fronts of their houses according to their tastes and means, with +draperies, tapestry, artificial flowers, and branches of evergreens. Two +lines of infantry were drawn up for a space of about half a league. Long +before the hour of the departure of the Pope and the Emperor from the +Tuileries, a vast throng had gathered in the streets, was crowding every +window, and assembling on every roof. Marshal Murat, Governor of Paris, +offered at an early hour a sumptuous breakfast to the Princes of Germany +who had come to Paris for the coronation--the Elector Archchancellor of +the German Empire, the Princes of Nassau, of Hesse, and of Baden. After +the breakfast they drove to Notre Dame in four superb carriages, drawn by +six horses each, with an escort under the command of one of his aides-de- +camp, and he himself mounted his horse to take his place at the head of +the twenty squadrons of cavalry which were to go in front of the Emperor's +carriage. + +At the Tuileries Napoleon put on what was called the undress attire; this +he was to wear on his way from the palace to the Archbishop's. He was not +to put on full dress, that is to say, the Imperial robes and cloak, until +he was to enter the church. The undress is thus described by Constant, the +Emperor's valet: silk stockings embroidered with gold; low boots of white +velvet, embroidered with gold on the seams; with diamond buttons and +buckles on his garters; a coat of crimson velvet faced with white velvet: +a short cloak of crimson lined with white satin, covering the left +shoulder and fastened on the right-hand side by a double clasp of +diamonds; a black velvet cap, surmounted by two aigrets, a diamond loop, +and for button, the most celebrated of the crown jewels, the Regent. + +The Empress's costume was no less magnificent. She wore a dress, with a +train, of silver brocade covered with gold bees; her shoulders were bare, +but on her arms were tight sleeves embroidered with gold, the upper part +adorned, with diamonds, and fastened to them was a lace ruff worked with +gold which rose behind half up her head. The tight-fitting dress had no +waist, after the fashion of the time, but she wore a gold ribbon as a +girdle, set with thirty-nine pink gems. Her bracelets, ear-rings, and +necklace were formed of precious stones and antique cameos. Her diadem +consisted of four rows of pearls interlaced with clusters of diamonds. The +Empress, whose hair was curled, after the fashion of the reign of Louis +XIV., although forty-one years old, looked, according to Madame de +Rémusat, no more than twenty-five. The Emperor was much struck by +Josephine's beauty in this sumptuous attire; all this luxury impressed +him. He recalled the days of his childhood, and turning to his favorite +brother, he said: "Joseph, if father could see us!" + +Nine o'clock sounded, the hour set for the departure of the Pope, who was +to reach Notre Dame before the Emperor. The Sovereign Pontiff, clad in +white, went down the staircase of the Pavilion of Flora and entered his +carriage, which was drawn by eight horses; above it was a large tiara. At +Rome it was the custom that when the Pope went forth to officiate at one +of the great churches,--for instance, to Saint John Lateran,--for one of +his chamberlains to start a moment before him, mounted on a mule, and +carrying a great processional cross. Pius VII. asked that the same thing +might be done at Paris; consequently the pontifical procession was headed +by a chamberlain whose mule did not fail to amuse the vast crowd that +lined the quays; yet when the Pope passed, all knelt down and received his +blessing with due respect. With cavalry in front and behind, the Pope's +carriage and the eight carriages in which were the cardinals, Italian +prelates and officers who had come from Rome with him, drove slowly along +the quays to the Archbishop's Palace. There were awaiting him all the +French cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, and he was received by the +Cardinal du Belloy, the Archbishop of Paris, as he entered to put on his +pontifical robes. The pontifical procession entered Notre Dame in the +following order; a priest, carrying the apostolic cross; seven acolytes, +carrying the seven golden candlesticks; more than a hundred bishops, +archbishops or cardinals, in cope and mitre, marching two by two; and last +of all the Holy Father, his tiara on his head, under a canopy between two +cardinals who held up the ends of his golden cope. The clergy intoned the +hymn _Tu es Petrus_, which was very impressive, and the Sovereign Pontiff, +after kneeling for a few moments before the high altar, took his seat in +the middle of the choir on the pontifical throne, above which was a dome +adorned with the coat-of-arms of the church. + +The Emperor and the Empress, who were to leave the Tuileries at ten, did +not start till half past ten. They got into the magnificent coronation +carriage which excited the hearty admiration of the crowd, always fond of +show. It was drawn by eight superb horses, splendidly harnessed; upon it +was a golden crown upheld by four eagles with outstretched wings. The four +sides of the coach were of glass, set in slender carved uprights, so that +there was an unobstructed view of Napoleon and Josephine on the back seat, +with Joseph and Louis Bonaparte opposite them. Salvos of artillery +announced the Emperor's departure from the Tuileries. Twenty squadrons of +cavalry, with Marshal Murat at their head, led the procession. Eighteen +carriages, with six horses each, followed, conveying the high dignitaries +and the courtiers. Bands played triumphal marches, and all along the way a +vast crowd saluted this sovereign. The procession starting from the +Tuileries by the Carrousel went along the rue Saint Honoré as far as the +rue de Lombards, crossed the Pont au Change, and then along the quay to +the rue du Parvis Notre Dame and the Archbishop's Palace. Just as the +Emperor and the Empress were entering the palace courtyard, the mist, +which had been thick all the morning, cleared away, and the sun came out +glistening on the gilded decorations of the Imperial coach. The +_Moniteur_, with its official enthusiasm, spoke of "the orb of day +escaping, against every expectation, from the rigid rule of a stormy +season to light up the festal day." + +At the Archbishop's Palace, Napoleon changed his dress, putting on his +coronation robes. This differed entirely from the costume he had worn from +the Tuileries to the palace, and consisted of a tight-fitting gown of +white satin, embroidered with gold on every seam, and of an Imperial +mantle of crimson velvet, all over which were golden bees; it was bordered +by worked branches of olive-tree, laurels, and oak, in circles enclosing +the letter N, with a crown above each one; the lining, the border, and the +cape were of ermine. This cloak, fastened on the right shoulder, while +leaving the arm free, reacted to just above the knee, and weighed no less +than eighty pounds, and though it was held by four persons, Prince Joseph, +Prince Louis, the Archchancellor Cambacérès, the Archtreasurer Lebrun, was +for the Emperor, who was a short man, a sumptuous, but heavy load. He +carried it, however, with fitting majesty. On his head he had put a crown +of golden laurel, the laurel of Caesar; around his neck he wore the +diamond necklace of the Legion of Honor; on his left side he carried a +sword with a large handle--the scabbard was of blue enamel adorned with +gold eagles and bees. At the same time Josephine completed her dressing, +putting on a long red velvet cloak, sprinkled with gold bees, and lined +with ermine; its skirts were upheld by Princesses Joseph, Louis, Elisa, +Pauline, and Charlotte. + +The Imperial procession proceeded from the Archbishop's Palace to Notre +Dame through the wooden gallery, and entered the church, not through the +middle entrance, which was blocked by the great throne, but through one of +the side-doors. They advanced in the following order, with an interval of +ten paces between each group: the ushers, four abreast, the heralds at +arms, two abreast; the Chief Herald at Arms; the pages, four abreast; the +aides of the masters of ceremonies; the masters of ceremonies; the Grand +Master of Ceremonies, M. de Ségur; Marshal Sérurier, carrying on a cushion +the Empress's ring; Marshal Moncey, carrying the basket which was to +receive her cloak; Marshal Murat, carrying her crown on a cushion; the +Empress, with her First Equerry on her right, and her First Chamberlain on +her left; she wore the Imperial cloak, which was supported by the five +Princesses, the cloak of each one of these being supported by an officer +of her household; Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, and Madame de +Lavalette, the Empress's Lady of the Bedchamber; Marshal Kellermann, +carrying the crown of Charlemagne, a diadem with six branches adorned with +valuable cameos; Marshal Perignon, carrying Charlemagne's sceptre, at the +end of which was a ball representing the world, with a small figure of the +great Carlovingian Emperor; Marshal Lefebvre, carrying Charlemagne's +sword; Marshal Bernadotte, carrying Napoleon's necklace; Colonel General +Eugene de Beauharnais, the Emperor's ring; Marshal Berthier, the Imperial +globe; M. de Talleyrand, the basket destined to receive the Emperor's +cloak. Then came the Emperor, the crown of golden laurel on his head, +holding in one hand his silver sceptre, topped by an eagle, and encircled +by a golden serpent, and in the other his hand of justice. His cloak was +supported by his two brothers, Joseph, Grand Elector, and Louis, +Constable, as well as by the Archchancellor Cambacérès and the +Archtreasurer Lebrun. Then followed the Grand Equerry, the Colonel General +of the Guard, and the Grand Marshal of the Palace, the three abreast, the +ministers, four abreast, and the high officers of the army. + +As Napoleon entered the church, the twenty thousand spectators shouted, +"Long live the Emperor!" A cardinal gave holy water to Josephine; the +Cardinal, the Archbishop of Paris, presented it to Napoleon; and the two +prelates, after complimenting the Emperor and the Empress, conducted them +in a procession, under a canopy held by canons, to the smaller throne in +the middle of the choir. There they were to sit during the first part of +the ceremony, near the high altar, on a platform with four steps. As the +Emperor and the Empress entered the choir, the Pope came down from the +pontifical chair, and intoned the _Veni Creator_. The Emperor handed to +the Archchancellor his hand of justice; to the Archtreasurer, his sceptre; +to Prince Joseph, his crown; to Prince Louis, his sword; to the Grand +Chamberlain, his Imperial cloak; to Colonel General Eugene de Beauharnais, +his ring. The six objects formed what were called "the Emperor's +ornaments." They were placed on the altar by the representative +dignitaries, and were to be handed again to the Emperor by the Pope in the +course of the ceremony. The same was true of the "Empress's ornaments," +her ring, cloak, and crown, which, were placed on the altar; the ring, by +Marshal Sérurier; the cloak, by Marshal Moncey; the crown, by Marshal +Murat. Charlemagne's insignia, his crown, sceptre, and sword, remained +during the whole ceremony in the hands of Marshals Kellermann, Perignon, +and Lefebvre, who stood at the right of the small throne in the choir. + +As soon as the ornaments of the Emperor and Empress had been placed on the +altar, the Pope asked the Emperor in Latin if he promised to use every +effort to have law, justice, and peace rule in the church and among his +people; Napoleon touched the gospels with both hands, as it was held out +to him by the Grand Almoner, and answered _Profiteor_. Then the Pope, the +bishops, archbishops, and cardinals knelt before the altar and began the +litany. When they reached the three verses used only at coronations, the +Emperor and Empress also knelt. + +After the litany, the Grand Almoner, another cardinal, and two bishops +advanced towards the small throne, and bowed low before Napoleon and +Josephine, and conducted them to the foot of the altar to receive sacred +unction. The Emperor and Empress knelt on blue velvet cushions placed on +the first step of the altar. The Pope anointed Napoleon on the head and +his two hands, uttering the prayer of consecration: "Mighty and Eternal +God, who didst appoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu to be king +over Israel, making known thy wishes through the prophet Elijah; and who +didst pour holy oil of kings upon the head of Saul and of David, through +the prophet Samuel, send down through my hands, the treasures of thy grace +and of thy blessings upon thy servant Napoleon, whom, in spite of our +unworthiness, we consecrate to-day as Emperor, in thy name." + +Then the Pope anointed the Empress in the same way, reciting this prayer: +"May the Father of eternal glory be thy aid; and may the Omnipotent bless +thee; may he hear thy prayers, and give thee a long life, ever confirming +this blessing and maintaining it forever with all thy people; may he +confound thy enemies; may the sanctification of Christ and the anointing +of this oil ever aid thee, so that he who on earth has given thee his +blessing may give thee in heaven the happiness of the angels, and that +thou mayst be blessed and guarded for eternal life by Jesus Christ, our +Saviour, who lives and reigns forever and ever." + +The Emperor and Empress were then conducted to the small throne, that is +to say, to their two chairs; before each one was a praying-stand. Then +high mass began; it was said by the Pope; the music had been composed by +Paesiello, the Abbé Rose, and Lesueur. There were three hundred +performers, singers, and musicians; among the soloists were the great +singer Laïs, and two famous violinists, Kreutzer and Baillot. At the +_Gradual_ the mass was interrupted for the blessing of the ornaments which +the Emperor and Empress then put on. + +Napoleon, followed by the Archchancellor, the Archtreasurer, the Grand +Chamberlain, the Grand Equerry, and two chamberlains, and Josephine, +accompanied by her Lady of Honor, her Lady of the Bedchamber, her First +Chamberlain, and her First Equerry, advanced towards the altar, and +ascended the steps at the same time; the Sovereign Pontiff, with his back +to the altar, was sitting on a sort of folding-chair. He blessed the +Imperial ornaments, reciting a special prayer for each one. His Holiness +then handed them to the Emperor in the following order: first the ring, +which Napoleon placed on his finger; then the sword, which he put in its +scabbard; the cloak, which his chamberlains fastened on his shoulders, +then the hand of justice and the sceptre which he handed to the +Archchancellor and the Archtreasurer. + +The only ornament left to be given to the Emperor was the crown. It will +be remembered that there had been a long negotiation at Rome to ascertain +whether the Emperor would be crowned by the Pope or would crown himself. +The question was left uncertain, and Napoleon had said that he would +settle it himself at Notre Dame when the time came. Still Pius VII. was +convinced that he was going to place the crown on the sovereign's head. He +had just handed him the ring, the sword, the cloak, the hand of justice, +and the sceptre, and was preparing to do the same thing with the crown. +But the Emperor, who had ascended the last step of the altar, and was +following every motion of the Pope, grasped from his hands the sign of +sovereign power and proudly placed it on his own head. Pius VII., +outwitted and surprised, made no attempt at resistance. + +After thus crowning himself, Napoleon proceeded to crown the Empress. This +was the most solemn moment in Josephine's life; the moment which dispelled +all her incessant dread of divorce, the brilliant verification of her +fondest hopes, the completion of her triumph. Napoleon advanced with +emotion to this companion of his happiest days, to the woman who had +brought him happiness; she was kneeling before him, shedding tears of joy +and gratitude, with her hands clasped and trembling. He recalled all that +he owed her: his happiness, for, thanks to her, he had been blessed with a +requited love; his glory, for it was she who, in 1796, had secured for him +the command of the Army of Italy, the origin of all his triumphs. He must +have been glad at this moment that he had not followed his brother's +malicious suggestions and had not separated from his dear Josephine! The +affection of the young General Bonaparte revived in the heart of the +sovereign. He thought Josephine more gracious, more touching, more lovable +than ever, and it was with an outburst of happiness that he placed the +Imperial diadem on her charming and cherished head. + +The Emperor and Empress, once crowned, proceeded to the great throne, at +the entrance of the church, by the great door, being solemnly led there by +the Pope and the Cardinals. The Imperial procession then formed again in +the order in which it had come to Notre Dame, the Empress going before the +Emperor. At this moment the Princesses seemed to hesitate about carrying +the skirt of the Empress's cloak; Napoleon noticed this, and said a few +severe, firm words to his sisters, and all was smoothed. The procession +reached the foot of the great throne; the Emperor ascended the twenty-four +steps and sat down in full majesty, wearing his crown and Imperial cloak, +holding the hand of justice and the sceptre. At his right, on a seat like +his, but one step lower, the Empress placed herself. Another step lower, +sat the Princesses on simple seats. At the Emperor's left, two steps below +him, were the Princes and high dignitaries. On each side of the platform +the marshals, high officers, and ladies of the court took their places. +The sight was most impressive. The Pope in his turn ascended the twenty- +four steps, and thus commanding the whole Cathedral, extended his hands +over the Emperor and the Empress, and uttered these Latin words, the +formula used for taking the throne: "_In hoc solio confirmare vos Deus, et +in regno aeterno secum regnare faciat Christus!_"--"May God establish you +on your throne, and may Christ cause you to reign with him in his eternal +kingdom!" Then he kissed the Emperor on the cheek, and turning towards the +assembled multitude, said: "_Vivat Imperator in aeternum!_"--"May the +Emperor live forever!" This was what had been said ten centuries before at +Saint Peter's in Rome when the ruler of the same people, Charlemagne, had +been proclaimed Emperor of the West. + +Applause broke forth and three hundred musicians intoned the _Vivat +Imperator_, a hymn composed by the Abbé Rose. The pontifical procession +and the Imperial procession returned to the choir; the Emperor and Empress +resumed their places on the chairs, and the Pope began, the _Te Deum_. +After this, which was sung by four choirs and two orchestras, the mass, +which had been interrupted by the ceremony with the ornaments and the +taking possession of the throne, went on. At the offertory, Napoleon and +Josephine, followed by the two Princes and the five Princesses, went to +lay their offerings before the Pope; these consisted of a silver-gilt +vase, a lump of gold, a lump of silver, and a candle about which were +inlaid thirteen pieces of money. At the elevation Prince Joseph removed +the Emperor's crown, and Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Maid of Honor, that +of the Empress. Napoleon and Josephine knelt before the Host, and when +they rose, put their crowns on again. + +When mass was over, the Emperor took the political oath prescribed by the +constitution, which had aroused much opposition in Rome. The presidents of +the great bodies of the state brought him the formula, and with one hand +held over the gospels, the Emperor swore to maintain, the principles of +the Revolution, to preserve the integrity of the territory, and to rule +with an eye to the interest, happiness, and glory of the French people. +The First Herald-at-Arms then called forth in a loud voice: "The most +glorious and most august Emperor Napoleon, Emperor of the French, is +crowned and enthroned: Long live the Emperor!" That was the end of the +ceremony. Salvos of artillery mingled with the applause. + +The solemnity had been most successful, and Napoleon could say with truth +to his brother Joseph: "For me it is a battle won; by my art and the +measures I took, I have succeeded beyond my expectations." Had he not +prophesied accurately when he said to his secretary at the signing of the +Concordat: "Bourrienne, you will see what use I shall make of the +priests!" The golden chasubles had made a brilliant spectacle by the side +of the uniforms; the crosses and the tiara by the side of the swords and +the sceptre. Napoleon, always a master of theatrical effect, had known how +to lend antiquity to his newborn glory by borrowing from the past all its +majesty and pomp, and by skilfully decking himself with what was most +brilliant in the chronicles of remote centuries. From Charlemagne he took +his insignia; from Caesar his golden laurel. The head of a nation that had +grown great by the cross and the sword, he desired to make his coronation +the festival of the church and of the army. + +The Imperial and the pontifical processions returned to the Archbishop's +Palace, and half an hour later proceeded to the Tuileries, through the New +Market, the Place du Châtelet, the rue Saint Denis, the boulevards, the +rue and the Place de la Concorde, the Pont Tournant, and the grand roadway +of the castle. Night had fallen; the houses were illuminated. Five hundred +torches cast their light on the two processions, and by their imposing and +strange brilliancy, the crowd gazed with interest on the new Charlemagne +and the Vicar of Christ. + +Napoleon and Josephine re-entered the Tuileries at half past six; the Pope +at about seven. The Emperor, who was somewhat tired by all this ceremony, +gladly resumed his modest uniform of Colonel of the Chasseurs of the +Guard. He dined alone with Josephine, asking her to keep on her head the +becoming diadem which she wore so gracefully. That evening he chatted +pleasantly with the ladies-in-waiting, and praised the rich dresses they +had worn in such splendor at Notre Dame; he said to them, laughing: "It's +I who deserve the credit for your charming appearance." Then they looked +out of the windows on the illuminated garden, the large flower-garden +surrounded with porches covered with lights, the long alley adorned with +shining colonnades, on the terraces of orange-trees all aglow, with a +number of glasses of various colors on every tree, and finally on the +Place de la Concorde, one blazing star. It was like a sea of flame. + +It was the painter who had been a member of the Convention, the +_montagnard_, the regicide who had insulted Louis XVI., who had painted +the apotheosis of Marat, and with a malicious hand had drawn the features +of Marie Antoinette on her way to the scaffold; it was this artist, this +fierce demagogue, the ardent Revolutionist, who was commissioned with +painting the official representation of the coronation. He carried his +gallantry so far as to choose for his subject, not the moment when +Napoleon crowned himself, but that of the coronation of the Empress; and +when a critic accused him of making Josephine too young, he said: "Go and +say that to her!" When the picture was finished, the Emperor and the court +went to see it in the artist's studio. Napoleon walked up and down for +half an hour, bareheaded, before the canvas, which is about twenty feet +high, about thirty long, and contains one hundred portraits. (It is now at +Versailles in the Hall of the Guards, at the top of the marble staircase.) +The Emperor examined it with the closest attention, while David and all +who were present maintained a respectful silence. This long waiting made +the artist very anxious. At last Napoleon turned towards him and said: +"It's good, David, very good. You have divined all my thought; you have +made me a French knight. I thank you for transmitting to ages to come the +proof of affection I wanted to give to her who shares with me the pains of +government." Then taking two steps towards the artist, he raised his hat +and said, in a loud voice: "David, I salute you." + +Sometimes at Notre Dame in Holy Week, at evening service, when the +Cathedral is lit up as at the coronation, I recall the various ceremonies +of this church: the royal baptisms and marriages there celebrated; the +banners hung from its roof; the _Te Deums_ and _De Profundis_ so often +sung there; Bossuet uttering the funeral oration of the Prince of Condé; +the shameless goddess of Reason profaning the sanctuary. I close my eyes +in meditation, and seem to be present at the coronation, to see Pius VII. +on his pontifical throne, and, before the altar, Napoleon crowning +Josephine with his own hands, I hear the echo of distant litanies, of the +trumpets, of the organ, and of the applause. Then I think of the +nothingness of all human glory and grandeur. Of all the illustrious +persons who have knelt in this old basilica, what is left? Scarcely a few +handfuls of dust. I open my eyes. The days are silent; the crowd has +quietly withdrawn. The lights are out, and at the end of the church, in +the shadow, like a timid star in a cloudy day, burns a solitary lamp. + + + + +VI. + +THE DISTRIBUTION OF FLAGS. + + +The coronation was the signal for a succession of festivities. Napoleon +was anxious that all classes of society should take part in the +rejoicings; that commerce should be benefited; that luxury should do +wonders; and that Paris should take the position of the first city in the +world, the capital of capitals. The day after the coronation was to be the +popular holiday, and the day when the flags were distributed was to be the +festival of the army. Monday, December 3, booths were open on every side +for the entertainment of the crowd. Adulation assumed every guise, even +the humblest; and every form of language, even that of the markets, was +employed to flatter the new sovereign. There was sung, "The joyous round +on the lottery of thirteen thousand fowls, with an accompaniment of +fountains of wine." It was a description of the food distributed to the +poor people of Paris. This song was sung in every street and place, as the +_Ça ira_ was sung in '93. + +The compliment of the marketmen and of their ladies ran thus: "I have +reasoned it out with my wife that a house a thousand times as large as +Notre Dame would not be able to hold all those who have reason to bless +you." In the way of incense, nothing was too gross for the sovereign. One +district said of Napoleon:-- + + "He received for us when God formed him, + The arm of Romulus, the mind of Numa." + +The Empress too was praised:-- + + "Spouse of the hero whom the universe regards, + The Graces accompany you to the temple, + Every one sees in your face the bounty + Of which you distribute the gifts." + +In allusion to her love of flowers this quatrain was composed:-- + + "Josephiniana! this is the new flower + Whose beauty catches my eye. + To join the laurels of Caesar + Nothing less is needed than an immortal flower." + +The Emperor was sung, too, in mythological language, for his flatterers +tried to exhaust all sorts of adulation. On Coronation Day the Prefect of +Police had distributed a poem entitled _The Crown of Napoleon brought from +Olympus command of Jupiter_:-- + + "Mounting one of the coursers of the proud Bellona, + Mercury brings a crown from Olympus; + The king of the gods sends it to the hero of the French + As the reward of his success. + Ye whom he guided a hundred times in the fields of glory, + Phalanx of warriors, children of victory, + Braving the impotent fury of the English, + Sing Napoleon, sing your Emperor." + +December 3 the public rejoicings organized by the government extended from +the Place de la Concorde to the Arsenal. Heralds-at-arms walked through +the city, distributing medals struck to commemorate the coronation. These +medals bore on one side the head of the Emperor, his brow wearing the +crown of the Caesars; on the other, the image of a magistrate, and of an +ancient warrior, supporting on a buckler a crowned hero, wearing an +Imperial mantle. Beneath was the inscription: "The Senate and the People." + +As soon as the heralds-at-arms had passed by, the merry-making began, +continuing till late in the night. There was a distribution of food, as +well as sports of all kinds, reminding one of the times of the Roman +Emperors: _panem et circenses_. On the Place de la Concorde had been built +four large wooden halls for public balls. The cold was severe; there was a +hard frost, but this did not check the universal enjoyment. On the +boulevards there were at every step puppet shows, wandering singers, rope +dancers, greased poles, bands of music. From the Place de la Concorde to +the end of the boulevard Saint Antoine sparkled a double row of colored +lights arrayed like garlands. The Garde Meuble and the Palace of the +Legislative Body were ablaze with lights. The arches of Saint Denis and of +Saint Martin were all covered with lights; the crowd was enraptured with +the fireworks, which had never been so fine. + +The people of Paris had been invited to illuminate the fronts of their +houses, and moved either by enthusiasm or self-interest, they had spent +large sums for this purpose. Among the notable illuminations was that of +the engineer Chevalier, on the Pont Neuf. There was a transparency in +which, amid encircling laurels and myrtles, was to be seen an optician +turning his glass up to the sky towards a bright star, around which was +this inscription: "_In hoc signo salus_!"--"In this sign is safety!" + +December 3 was the first day of the coronation festivities. The third day +was devoted to what the _Moniteur_ called, "arms, valor, fidelity." This +was the day when Napoleon formally presented to the army and to the +National Guard of the Empire the eagles, "which they were always to find +on the field of honor." This ceremony took place on the Champ de Mars. To +quote once more from the _Moniteur_: "This vast field, crowded with +deputations representing France and the army, bore the aspect of a brave +family assembled under the eyes of its chief." The main front of the +Military School had been decorated with a huge gallery, with several tents +as high as the apartments on the first floor. The middle one, resting on +four columns which supported winged victories, covered the thrones of the +Emperor and the Empress. The Princes, the high dignitaries, the ministers, +the marshals of the Empire, the high officers of the crown, the civil +officers, the ladies of the court, were to take their places at the right +of the throne. The gallery, in the middle of which was the Imperial tent, +was in front of the Military School, and was divided into sixteen parts, +eight on each side, representing the sixteen cohorts of the Legion of +Honor. A broad staircase led from this gallery to the Champ de Mars; the +first step was for the presidents of cantons, the prefects, sub-prefects, +and the members of the municipal councils. On the other steps, there +stationed themselves colonels of regiments and presidents of the electoral +colleges of the departments, holding flags surmounted with eagles. On each +side of the staircase were colossal figures of France, one at war, the +other at peace. Twenty-five thousand soldiers, in faultless trim, had been +under arms since six in the morning. + +Unfortunately, the weather was terrible; a thaw had begun and it was +raining in torrents. The Champ de Mars was a sea of mud. The courtiers +who, on the 2d of December, had so belauded the sun, representing it as a +sharer in the festival, a docile slave of the Emperor, were obliged to +acknowledge that it was raining. Madame de Rémusat made a very true remark +about this; she said with truth that one of the commonest, though one of +the absurdest, flatteries of every time, was that of pretending that a +sovereign's need of fine weather was sure to bring it. "At the Tuileries," +she said, "I noticed the opinion that the Emperor needed only to appoint a +review or a hunt for a certain day, and that day would be pleasant. +Whenever that happened, a great deal was said about it, while silence was +kept about rainy or foggy weather. This is exactly what used to happen +under Louis XIV. For the honor of sovereigns I should prefer that they +accepted this childish flattery with indifference or disgust, and that no +one would think of offering it. It was impossible to deny that it rained +during the distribution of the eagles at the Champ de Mars; but how many +people I met the next day, who assured me that the rain had not wet them!" + +In spite of the bad weather, an enormous crowd lined the road through +which the Imperial procession was to pass. The terraces of the Tuileries, +the Place de la Concorde, the _quais_ were thronged. Numberless spectators +covered the slopes of the Champ de Mars. The ever obsequious _Moniteur_, +in its official account of the ceremony, said; "If the spectators were +uncomfortable, there was not one who was not consoled by the feeling that +held him there, and by the expression of his wishes which the applause +made very clear." + +At noon the Emperor and the Empress, followed by their suite, left the +Tuileries in the order observed at the coronation, passed down the broad +road, over the Pont Tournant, through the Place de la Concorde, to the +Champ de Mars. Before their carriage rode the Chasseurs of the Guard and a +squadron of Mamelukes; behind it came the mounted grenadiers and the +chosen Legion. On reaching the Military School, Napoleon and Josephine +received the compliments of the Diplomatic Body; then they put on their +coronation robes, and took their place in the gallery in front of the +building. As soon as the Emperor had seated himself on the throne, cannon +were fired, drums beat, bands played. The deputations from the army, who +were assembled in the Champ de Mars, formed in close columns and came +forward. Then Napoleon arose and said in a loud voice: "Soldiers! These +are your flags; these eagles will always be your rallying point; they will +be wherever your Emperor may think necessary for the defence of his throne +and of his people. You will swear to offer your life in their defence, and +by your courage to keep them always on the path to victory. You swear it?" +Officers and men replied: "We swear it!" + +Alas! these flags were to be always on the path of honor, but not always +on the path of victory, for victory is a female goddess and a fickle one. +Against how many enemies these flags were to be defended, beneath +scorching suns, under avalanches of ice and snow! What heroism, what +miracles of bravery, were to be witnessed by these standards on many a +battle-field! What fatigue, what suffering, what sacrifices, dangers, +wounds, how many glorious deaths, what seas of blood, to come at last to +the most lamentable disasters I Had the future been seen, those drums +would have been draped in black. But the army imagined itself invincible. +The thought of defeat would have called forth a smile of pity. Proud of +itself, of its commander, it shouted with joy and pride as it passed +before the throne. + +A single incident disturbed this martial ceremony. Suddenly an unknown +young man approached the Imperial gallery, and shouted: "Down with the +Emperor! Liberty or death!" This ardent Republican was at once arrested. +His voice had been lost in the music and clatter of arms. + +The rain continued, and soon soaked through the canvas and stuffs +sheltering the throne, The Empress was obliged to leave, with her +daughter, who had recently given birth to a child. The other Princesses +followed this example, with the exception of Madame Murat, who, although +lightly clad, remained exposed to the showers. She said that she was +learning how to endure the inevitable discomforts of the highest rank. + +At five o'clock Napoleon and Josephine were once more at the Tuileries +where a state dinner was given in the Gallery of Diana. In the middle of +this gallery the table of the Emperor and the Empress was placed beneath a +magnificent canopy, on a platform. The Empress sat there with the Emperor +on the right and the Pope on her left. The high officers of the crown, as +well as a colonel-general of the Guard and a prefect of the palace, +remained standing near the Imperial table. + +Pages waited on the tables. The Archchancellor of the German Empire took +his place at that of the Emperor. In the same gallery were set other +tables for the French Princes and for the hereditary Prince of Baden, for +the ministers, for the ladies and officers of the Imperial household. +After the dinner was a concert, at which the Pope consented to be present. +When that was over Pius VII. withdrew, and the evening ended with a ballet +danced by the dancers of the opera in the great hall called since the +Empire the Hall of the Marshals. + + + + +VII. + +THE FESTIVITIES. + + +The winter of 1804-5 was very brilliant. Napoleon was anxious to give the +beginning of his reign an air of splendor. He allowed his officials +generous salaries, but he insisted on their spending all they received in +sumptuous living, in entertaining freely, and receiving distinguished +foreigners. Luxury became compulsory, and trade flourished beyond all +expectations. Paris had never, even in the grandest days of the old +monarchy, known greater social animation. This martial generation, +accustomed to desire a short but merry life, aware that the festivities of +day would be interrupted by the battles of the next, were as eager in the +ball-room as on the battlefield. They hastened to enjoy their present +prosperity as if they foresaw the disasters to come. French gallantry, +which had been forgotten during the Revolution, resumed its sway. The +women were like the fair mistresses of castles in the Middle Ages who gave +their hearts to the bravest knights. Love and glory both became the +fashion. The former Lady of the Bedchamber to Marie Antoinette, Madame +Campan, who taught most of the young women of the court in her school at +Saint Germain, had formed a group of beauties, trained in aristocratic +manners, at the head of whom was her ablest, most intelligent pupil, +Hortense de Beauharnais, who had been married to Prince Louis Bonaparte. +The Grand Chamberlain, M. de Talleyrand, a poor bishop but an excellent +specimen of a grand lord, and the Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Ségur, +whose success as ambassador of Louis XVI. at the court of Catherine was +very great, set the tone in the households of the Emperor and the Empress. + +Napoleon set an example of luxury and elegance. Grand dinners, concerts, +official entertainments succeeded one another with startling rapidity. +Josephine, who was wildly fond of dress, was glad of an excuse to indulge +her extravagant tastes. The Emperor's three sisters lived like real +princesses, rivalling one another in magnificence. Princes Joseph and +Louis displayed the pomp of future kings. + +Almost all the women of the court were young and pretty. It would have +been hard to confer on any one, to the exclusion of the rest, the palm of +beauty. There were three who were especially distinguished: Madame Maret +(later the Duchess of Bassano); Madame Savary (later the Duchess of +Rovigo); and Madame de Canisy (later the Duchess of Vicenza). The last +named had married M. de Canisy, the Emperor's equerry. Later, she got a +divorce and married M. de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza and Grand Equerry. + +At Saint Helena Napoleon thus recounted the origin of this famous beauty: +"Madame de Loméne, the Cardinal's niece, before being put to death in the +Revolution, entrusted to Father Patrault her two young daughters. When the +terror was over, Madame de Brienne, their aunt, who had weathered the +storm and still possessed a large fortune, demanded them of Father +Patrault, who refused to give them up for a long time, on the ground that +their mother had urged him to bring them up as peasants." And Napoleon +went on: "I was then General of the Army of the Interior; and was able to +secure the return of the two children, though with some difficulty, for +Patrault resisted in every way in his power. They were the women whom you +afterwards knew as Madame de Marnésia, and as the beautiful Madame de +Canisy." + +The Duchess of Abrantès, in recalling the brilliant winter of 1804-5, +says, in her Memoirs: "One especially impressive beauty, particularly in +the ball-room, was Madame de Canisy, I have often compared her to a muse. +It would be impossible for a single face to present a fuller combination +of charms than hers: she possessed regular features, a delightful +expression, an attractive smile; her hair was silky and glossy. Seldom +have I seen anything more charming than Madames de Canisy, Maret, and +Savary in entering a ball-room together," + +There was no lack of entertainments at which these beauties shone. The one +given at the Hotel de Ville, December 16, 1804, to the Emperor and the +Empress, was so costly that it kept the city of Paris for many years in +debt. Napoleon, Josephine, Princes Joseph and Louis drove to it in the +coronation coach. Batteries of artillery, stationed on the Pont Neuf, +announced the moment of their arrival, while tables covered with poultry, +and fountains of wine, attracted an enormous crowd to the place; almost +every one had a share in this distribution of food, thanks to the +precautions taken by the authorities of delivering it only to those who +presented a ticket. The front of the Hotel de Ville was illuminated with +colored lanterns. When the Empress entered the apartments reserved for +her, she found there a complete and magnificent gold toilet-service: it +was a present from the City Council. The President of the Council thus +addressed her: "Madame: How could the Parisians, who are so capable of +distinguishing what is good, delicate, and noble, let slip this +opportunity of paying their homage to the profound tenderness, the +touching grace, the true dignity that characterize Your Majesty? The happy +influence of these rare qualities already makes itself felt in all classes +of society, and while your august spouse elevates France in glory, you +inspire it to resume the first rank among the races most renowned for +urbanity." The hall in which the Imperial banquet was to be given was +called the Hall of Victories. On the door was the inscription _Fasti +Napoleoni_, and at intervals, separated by military trophies and +standards, were Latin inscriptions in honor of Napoleon. Before dinner he +was presented with a table-service of silver-gilt by the city of Paris. +Then he took his seat, with the Empress, on a platform beneath a canopy, +and the meal began. During dinner, a band, hidden behind green foliage, +played a symphony of Haydn's, and then was sung a cantata full of flattery +for the Emperor and the Empress. + +After the dinner there were magnificent fireworks. As the first rockets +rose, a second cantata was sung. One of the pieces of fireworks +represented a man-of-war with eighty guns: its decks, masts, sails, and +rigging were represented by glowing lights. Another, which the Emperor +himself set off, represented Mount Saint Bernard sending forth a volcanic +eruption from snow-covered rocks. In the centre appeared the image of +Napoleon at the head of his army, riding up the steep slope of the +mountain. + +This entertainment, which closed with a ball at which seven hundred +persons were present, was a real apotheosis. Madame de Rémusat, speaking +of the extravagant adulation devised for this occasion, says: "A great +deal has been said about the fulsome flatteries of Louis XIV. during his +reign; I am sure that altogether they would not amount to a tenth part of +those that Bonaparte received. I remember that at another festivity given +by the city to the Emperor a few years later, since all inscription had +been exhausted, there were placed above the throne on which he was to sit, +these words from Scripture, in gold letters: _Ego sum qui sum_,--and no +one was shocked." + +The Senate and the Legislative Body also gave grand entertainments in +honor of the coronation. That of the Legislative Body was particularly +brilliant. This assembly, which rivalled the Senate in obsequiousness, had +decided that a marble statue should be raised to the Emperor in the room +where it sat, in honor of the drawing up of the civil code. The day when +this statue was to be inaugurated was chosen for the festivity. The +Empress, followed by a magnificent suite, reached the Palace of the +Legislative Body at about seven in the evening. As she entered, musicians +intoned Glück's famous chorus, which used to be sung on formal occasions +in the reign of Louis XVI., in honor of Marie Antoinette:-- + + "What charms! What majesty!" + +Unanimous applause emphasized the allusions. Then on the President's +invitation, Marshals Murat and Masséna raised the veils that covered the +statue, and all eyes beheld the figure of Napoleon, wearing on his brow a +laurel wreath, in which were mingled oak and olive leaves. Later, at the +time of his abdication at Fontainebleau, Napoleon expressed a regret that +he had permitted his statue to be made during his lifetime. + +Then M. de Vaublanc ascended the tribune, and made a speech full of +extravagant praise; it ended thus: "You live, all of you, threatened by +the perils of the times; you live, and you owe your life to him whose +statue you behold. You return unfortunate exiles; you breathe once more +the delicious air of your own country; you embrace your fathers, your +children, your wives, your friends; all this you owe to him whose statue +you behold. There is no longer any question of his glory; I say nothing +about it; I invoke humanity on one side, gratitude on the other; I ask you +to whom you are indebted for this great, extraordinary, unexpected good +fortune. You all answer with me, It is to the great man whose statue you +behold." Throughout the whole speech, a perfect masterpiece of official +composition, adulation came in like a chorus. The President in his turn +uttered a similar eulogy: "Very few at the time," says Constant, who +describes this occasion, "found this praise extravagant; possibly their +opinions have changed since then." + +After the speeches, dinner was served to three hundred guests, followed by +a magnificent ball. Though, in the middle of the winter, there was a great +show of shrubs and flowers. The Halls of Lucretia and of the Reunion, in +which there was dancing, were like one large bed of roses, laurels, +lilacs, jonquils, lilies, and jasmine. + +Perhaps the finest of all the entertainments was that given to the Emperor +and Empress by the marshals of the Empire in the Opera House. It cost +each, marshal ten thousand francs. The Opera House at that time was in the +rue de Richelieu, where it had been since 1794. (It was the one torn down +during the Restoration, on account of the murder of the Duke of Berry, who +was killed on the threshold.) By means of a floor placed level with the +stage over the orchestra and the pit, there was made a magnificent ball- +room. Twenty-four chandeliers hung from the ceiling, and candelabra were +set on each side of every box. The decorations consisted of silver gauze, +and wreaths of flowers. The uniforms of the men and the dresses of the +women were almost equally magnificent. The eyes of the spectators were +dazzled by dresses trimmed with precious stones. Never had there been seen +such profusion of light, flowers, perfumes, and diamonds. In this magical +setting, fashionable beauties, with their dresses worked with silver and +gold foil, their turbans of Eastern stuffs, their jewels and ancient +cameos, appeared like sultanas. It was a most sumptuous and fairy-like +show. + +The marshals arrived at eight in the evening, the Empress at ten, the +Emperor at eleven; as he entered the ball-room, the applause was so +violent that it was feared that the candles would be put out. A military +march was played, and then there was a concert, closing with the Abbé +Rose's _Vivat Imperator_, which had made such an impression on the +Coronation Day. After the concert, Prince Louis Bonaparte, Marshal Murat, +Eugene de Beauharnais, and Marshal Berthier opened the ball with the +Princesses. The Emperor walked twice around the hall, as if he were +reviewing troops. Then he sat down by the side of the Empress on a raised +platform, and withdrew before the end of the ball. + +Besides all these entertainments there were the grand levees and concerts +at the Tuileries. The Hall of the Marshals was an impressive sight on +those evenings, filled, as it was, with young and pretty women, in +gorgeous dresses, and with men resplendent with stars, epaulettes, +feathered hats, and sword-belts set with diamonds. After the concert the +company would go to the Gallery of Diana, where the supper-tables were +set: that of the Empress, those of the Princesses, of the Lady of Honor, +of the Lady of the Bedchamber, of the Ladles of the Palace. "All these +tables," says the Duchess of Abrantès, "were occupied by women with roses +on their heads, and smiles on their lips, and often with tears in their +eyes; for vanity, everywhere triumphant, holds its court especially at +court. There, favor is everything, disgrace is everything. A chance word +or glance of the Emperor or Empress is a blow and a serious one. What, +then, must be the result of an invitation sent or withheld?" + +During the concert the Empress made up the supper-table; that is to say, +chose the women who were to sit at her table, commissioning her +chamberlain to notify those she had selected. The Princesses did the same, +and the officers of their households likewise informed the women whom they +had chosen. There were but twelve places at the Empress's table; eight or +ten at those of the Princesses. When the chamberlains came to bring these +most welcome invitations, there fluttered through the eight hundred or +thousand women present at the concerts and grand levees an anxious emotion +which amused observers. The aspect of the Gallery of Diana was most +impressive. On the Empress's table shone a golden service amid glass and +Sèvres ware. During the supper the men strolled up and down the gallery, +but as soon as the Emperor appeared, awe and fear appeared on every face. +It seemed as if the times of Louis XIV. had returned, of which La Bruyère +said: "Nothing so disfigures certain courtiers as the presence of their +Prince; I can sometimes scarcely recognize them, so altered are their +features, so degraded their faces. The proud and haughty ones are the most +disturbed, for they change the most; and the upright and modest man comes +out best; he has nothing to change." The Duchess of Abrantès, recalling +the intimidation caused by Napoleon's approach, wrote: "Even those who +nowadays talk about the Corsican with a great show of scorn, those very +ones (I have seen them, and I am not the only one,) were the most timid +before the very shadow of his hat." The women trembled even more. They +dreaded the questions the Emperor might put to them, and, according to +Madame de Rémusat, there was not one who would not gladly have been +anywhere else. During the First Empire, everything, even the festivities, +wore a military air. The sovereign always had the air of a commanding +general. Discipline prevailed, at a ball as well as in a camp, and the +young men took part in those pleasures only to return with renewed zeal +and courage to the battle-field. + + + + +VIII. + +THE ETIQUETTE OF THE IMPERIAL PALACE. + + +By the beginning of 1805 the court was definitely formed. After laborious +studies on the part of a special commission, and long discussions in which +Napoleon took as interested a part as he did in the preparation of the +civil code, all the wheels of etiquette had been arranged, and the +machinery worked with perfect regularity. The Emperor attached great +importance to the subject, from both a political and a social point of +view. In his eyes, etiquette had the great advantage of drawing between +him and those who had recently been his superiors, a distinct line of +separation. He looked upon it as a useful tool of government, as an +accompaniment of glory absolutely essential for a sovereign, especially +for one of recent origin. He was very proud of his court, of the wealth it +displayed, and of the vast results he obtained at a comparatively small +expense, and at Saint Helena he liked to recall its agreeable memory. + +"The Emperor's court," we read in the _Memorial_, "was in every respect +much more magnificent than anything that had been seen up to that time, +and cost infinitely less. The suppression of abuses, order and regularity +in the accounts, made the great difference. His hunting, with the +exception of a few useless or absurd particulars, such as the use of +falcons, was as splendid and as crowded as that of Louis XIV., and it cost +only four hundred thousand francs a year, while the King's cost seven +millions. It was the same way with the table; Duroc's order and severity +wrought wonders. Under the kings, the palaces were not permanently +furnished; the same furniture was transported from one palace to another; +there were no accommodations for the people of the court; every one had to +provide for himself. Under him, however, there was no one in attendance, +who, in the room allotted him, was not as comfortable as at home, or even +more comfortable, so far as what was essential and proper was concerned." + +The court moved as smoothly as a well-drilled regiment. Napoleon would +have shown no mercy to the slightest disregard of the rules he had himself +drawn up after long meditation. The courtiers were expected to be as +familiar with the code of etiquette as were the officers with the manual +of arms. The Emperor noticed the minutest details, busied himself with +everything, saw everything. There had been much more latitude at court +under the old monarchy, and those of the old régime who entered the +Emperor's court were soon wearied by the inflexible severity of its +discipline. The court, moreover, was very splendid. The Faubourg Saint +Germain brought to it its politeness and conversational charm. For his +part, Napoleon speedily assumed the manners of a European sovereign, while +preserving his martial character. He was at the same time Emperor and +commander-in-chief. Yet the military element did not control his court; +the civil element was more powerful there than in other European courts, +the Russian, for example. Napoleon would never have suffered in his +presence the faintest sign of the familiarity of the camp; every one who +crossed the threshold of the Tuileries was compelled to preserve the +manners, the bearing, the language of a courtier. + +The levees and couchees of the sovereign were restored as in the time of +the Bourbons; though under the monarchy they were real things, and a mere +imitation under the Empire. These moments were not devoted to the petty +details of toilette, but rather to receiving, morning and evening, those +members of the civil and military household who had to receive his direct +orders or enjoyed the right of "paying their court at these privileged +hours." At Saint Helena, Napoleon boasted that at the Tuileries he had +suppressed in the matter of etiquette "all that was real and commonplace, +and had substituted what was merely nominal and decorative." "A king," he +said, "is not a natural product; he is a result of civilization. He does +not exist nakedly, but only when dressed." + +Let us try to retrace the lines of etiquette as they existed in 1805, at +the same time indicating the principal members of the Emperor's household +and the nature of their duties. There were many separate duties, each +under the control of a high officer of the Crown, with their provinces +carefully defined and sedulously distinguished from one another. There +were six high officers of the Crown; the Grand Almoner (Cardinal Fesch); +the Grand Marshal of the Palace (General Duroc); the Grand Equerry +(General de Caulaincourt); the Grand Chamberlain (M. de Talleyrand); the +Grand Master of Ceremonies (M. de Ségur). + +The colonels-general were: Marshal Davout, commanding the foot grenadiers; +Marshal Soult, commanding the chasseurs-à-pieds; Marshal Bessières, +commanding the cavalry; Marshal Mortier, commanding the artillery and +sailors. These colonels-general of the Imperial Guard formed part of the +Emperor's household, and enjoyed the prerogatives as the high officers of +the Crown. + +The Grand Almoner was the bishop of the court, wherever that might be. He +gave the Emperor and his court a dispensation from fasting. He accompanied +him to church ceremonies and gave him his prayer-book. At grand dinners he +said grace. He set free the prisoners whom the Emperor pardoned on certain +holy days. + +The Grand Marshal of the palace had charge of the military command in the +Imperial residences; of their maintenance, decoration, and furnishing; of +the assignment of rooms, the supply of food, the heating, lights, silver, +and livery. He commanded the detachments of the Imperial Guard on duty in +the Imperial palaces. He gave orders to beat the reveillé and the tattoo, +to open and shut the palace gates. When the Emperor was with the army, or +travelling, he had to find him quarters. In 1805 the Grand Marshal's +budget amounted to 2,338,167 francs. In 1806 it reached the sum of +2,770,841 francs. There were four tables in the palace,--that of the +officers and ladies-in-waiting, that of the officers of the guard and the +pages, that of the ladies who read to the Empress and introduced visitors. + +The Grand Marshal had under his orders the prefects of the palace: M. de +Luçay, M. de Bausset, and M. de Saint Didier. They had charge of the +provisions, lighting, heating, the silver, and the liveries. They +inspected the kitchens, pantries, cellars, and linen-closet to see that +everything was in order. There was always one prefect of the palace on +duty for a week at a time. He also carried word to the Emperor and the +Empress when a meal was ready, conducted them to the table, and back to +their rooms afterwards. + +The Grand Marshal had also under his orders the governor of the palaces +and the marshals; these last were charged with choosing apartments for the +Emperor and the Empress, and quarters for their suite in the Imperial +residences and on journeys. They had for assistants the quartermasters of +the palace. + +The Master of the Hounds had charge of all the coursing and hunting in the +woods and forests belonging to the Crown. + +The Grand Equerry looked after the stables, the pages, the couriers, and +the Emperor's arms; he also had the supervision of the horses at Saint +Cloud. He walked just before the Emperor when he came forth from his rooms +to ride, gave him his whip, held his reins and the left stirrup. He was +responsible for the good condition of the carriages, the intelligence and +skill of the huntsmen, coachman, and the postilions, the safety and the +training of the horses. In a procession, or on a journey, he was in the +carriage just before the Emperor's. He accompanied the Emperor to the +army, if the sovereign's horse was killed or disabled, it was his duty to +pick the Emperor up and to offer him his own horse. + +The Grand Equerry had four equerries under his orders: Colonels Durosnel, +Defrance, Lefebvre, Vatier, and two equerries in ordinary, M. de Canisy +and M. de Villoutrey. An equerry on duty always accompanied the Emperor, +whether he was driving or riding. If the Emperor drove, the equerry on +duty rode by the right-hand door of the carriage, unless the colonel- +general on duty happened to be on horseback, in which case the equerry +rode on the other side. The equerry on duty walked before the Emperor when +he left or returned to his apartment; he never left the waiting-room +during the day, and slept in the palace. + +The pages, whose governor was General Gardane, were also under the orders +of the Grand Equerry. They were appointed when between fourteen and +sixteen, and held the position until they were eighteen. At grand dinners +and in the apartments of honor, they waited on the Emperor and Empress, +and on the Princes and Princesses. When the Emperor rode out, one followed +on horseback; if he drove, the page got up behind the carriage. When the +sovereign went forth in his state-coach, as many pages as possible +clambered up behind it and upon the box by the side of the coachman. At +receptions, and on days when mass was said, there were eight pages on +duty. They stood in a row when the Emperor returned to his apartment, and +walked before him when he left it. If the Emperor had not returned to the +palace by nightfall, the pages would wait at the entrance-door to walk +before him, carrying lights. The pages, too, served as messengers, and +when they carried letters of the Emperor, the doors were thrown wide open +before them. + +The impression produced by the pages, when they were first on duty at the +Tuileries in 1804, is thus described by a contemporary: "They have been +much noticed, especially in the evening, by the ladies. The fact is, they +are all good-looking boys, particularly the oldest; they have good figures +and wear a new and becoming uniform, and since they are in the service of +a severe master, and of a most kind and indulgent mistress, they have to +be very attentive and considerate. Their full dress differs from livery +only by the lace of their coat which imitates embroidery, by the knot on +their left shoulder, and by the lace frill above their waistcoat, Besides, +in full dress they wear, like footmen, a green coat with all the seams +laced with gold, gold shoe-buckles, a hat with a white feather, but they +have no sword. Perhaps this is well, for they would be playing with it. +They have all been chosen among the sons of generals of divisions and of +high dignitaries of the Empire." + +At Saint Helena Napoleon said, speaking of the pages and the Imperial +stables: "The Emperor's stables cost him three million francs; the horses +cost three thousand francs apiece per year. A page, from six to eight +thousand francs; this last was perhaps the heaviest expense of the palace; +but there was every reason to be satisfied with the education they +received, and with the care taken with them. All the first families of the +Empire sought to get the places for their sons; and they were right." + +The Grand Chamberlain had charge of all the honors of the palace, the +regular audiences, the oaths taken in the Emperor's study, the admissions, +the levees and couchees, the festivities, receptions, theatrical +performances, the music, the boxes of the Emperor and Empress at the +different theatres, the Emperor's wardrobe, his library; he also looked +after the ushers and valets de chambre. + +The Grand Chamberlain had under his orders (this refers to 1805), a First +Chamberlain, M. de Rémusat, and thirteen chamberlains: MM. d'Arberg, A. de +Talleyrand, de Laturbie, de Brigode, de Viry, de Thiard, Garnier de +Lariboisière, d'Hédouville, de Croy, de Mercy-Argenteau, de Zuidwyck, de +Tournon, de Bondy. In the Imperial Almanack of 1805, these men are not +named with their titles, even the _de_ is in all cases omitted or joined +with the name, thus: M. Rémusat, M. Darberg, A. Talleyrand, Laturbie, +Tournon, Dethiard, Deviry, Hédouville, etc., etc. + +The chamberlain on duty was called the chamberlain of the day. At the +palace there were always two chamberlains of the day, one for the grand +apartment, the other for the Emperor's apartment of honor. They were +relieved every week. The principal duties of the chamberlains were to have +charge of introductions to the Emperor, to give orders to the ushers and +valets de chambre, to see that the orders about the receptions were +carried out, and to attend upon the sovereign's levees and couchees. + +Either a chamberlain or one of the Emperor's aides-de-camp served as +Master of the Wardrobe. He had charge of the clothes, the linen, the lace, +the boots and shoes, and of the ribbons of the Legion of Honor. If he +assisted at the Emperor's toilet, he had to hand him his coat, fasten his +ribbon or collar, give him his sword, hat, and gloves, in the Grand +Chamberlain's absence. + +The Grand Master of Ceremonies determined questions of rank and +precedence, drew up and enforced the rules for public, formal ceremonies, +for the reception of sovereigns and hereditary princes, and, foreign +ambassadors and ministers. + +The colonels-general of the Imperial Guard and the Emperor's aides also +made part of the household. + +At ceremonies when the Emperor was in his state-coach, there were two +colonels-general of the Guard at the left door. When he rode, all four +followed close behind. The Grand Equerry, or his substitute, had a place +among them. + +The colonel-general on duty received directly the Emperor's orders +relative to the different requirements of the Imperial Guard, and +transmitted them directly to the other colonels-general. He was quartered +in the palace, in preference to any other officer of the Crown, and as +near as possible to the Emperor's apartment, whether at the residence or +when travelling. In the field he slept in the Emperor's tent. + +Napoleon had twelve aides-de-camp. The one on duty was called the aide-de- +camp of the day, He always had a horse saddled or a carriage harnessed +ready in the stable, to carry any messages the Emperor might give. As soon +as the Emperor had gone to bed, the aide-de-camp on duty was especially +entrusted with guarding him, and he slept in an adjoining room. In the +field the Emperor's aides served as chamberlains. + +There were two distinct elements in the Emperor's household: the military, +and the aristocratic. Some men owed their position entirely to their +merit; others entirely to their birth; these were both patriots of 1792 +and émigrés, but it must be confessed the Imperial Almanack shows that the +aristocratic element was the more prominent. Napoleon, though certain +writers persist in representing him as the crowned champion of democracy +and the emperor of the lower classes, had a more aristocratic court than +Louis XVIII. He was more impressed by great manners than were the old +kings. Even after he had been betrayed, abandoned, denied, insulted by the +aristocracy, he had a weakness for it. In 1816 he said: "The democracy may +become furious; it has a heart; it can be moved. The aristocracy always +remains cold and never pardons." Yet even after this, he blamed himself +for not having done enough for the French nobility. "I see clearly," he +went on, "that I did either too much or too little for the Faubourg Saint +Germain. I did enough to make the opposition dissatisfied, and not enough +to win it to my side. I ought to have secured the émigrés when they +returned. The aristocracy would have soon adored me; and I needed it; it +is the true, the only support of a monarchy, its moderator, its lever, its +resisting point; without it, the state is like a ship without a rudder, a +balloon in mid-air. Now, the strength, the charm of the aristocracy lies +in its antiquity, the only thing I could not create." It must be confessed +that from an old Republican general, for the man who had sent Augereau to +execute the coup d'état of the 18th Fructidor, and who the 13th +Vendémiaire, from the steps of the Church of Saint Roch had crushed the +Paris conservatives, this was a very aristocratic way of talking, +reminding one of the old régime. In 1816 Napoleon said again: "Old and +corrupt nations cannot be governed like the virtuous peoples of antiquity. +For one man nowadays who would sacrifice everything for the public +welfare, there are thousands who take no thought of anything except their +own interests, pleasures, and vanity. Now to pretend to regenerate a +people off-hand would be madness. The workman's genius is shown by his +knowing how to make use of the materials under his hand, and that is the +secret of the restoration of all the forms of the monarchy, of the return +of titles, crosses, and ribbons." + +The old Republicans of 1796, who used to denounce kings, "drunk with blood +and pride," would not have readily recognized their old general under the +golden canopies of the Tuileries, where he dined in state. His table stood +on a platform, beneath a canopy, and there were two chairs, one for +himself, the other for the Empress. As he entered the banquet-hall, he was +preceded by a swarm of pages, masters-of-ceremonies, and prefects of the +palace; he was followed by the colonel-general on duty, the Grand +Chamberlain, the Grand Equerry, and the Grand Almoner. The Grand Almoner +advanced to the table and blessed the dinner. A general of division, the +Grand Equerry Caulaincourt, offered a chair to Bonaparte. Another general +of division, Duroc, the Grand Marshal of the Palace, handed him his napkin +and poured out his wine. Not merely high dignitaries, but the Princes of +the Empire themselves, deemed it an honor to wait upon him as servants. If +a Prince of the Imperial family happened to be in the Emperor's room, any +article of dress that he asked for was given by the chamberlain-in-waiting +to the Prince, and by the Prince to the Emperor. The time of the Sun King +seemed to have returned. + +The Imperial apartment at the Tuileries consisted of two distinct parts, +the grand state apartments and the Emperor's private apartment. The state +apartment contained the following rooms: 1, a concert hall (the Hall of +the Marshals); 2, a first drawing-room (under Napoleon III. called the +Drawing-room of the First Consul); 3, a second drawing-room (that of +Apollo); 4, a throne room; 5, a drawing-room of the Emperor (afterwards +called that of Louis XIV.); 6, a gallery (of Diana). The private apartment +was itself composed of the apartment of honor, containing a hall of the +guards and a first and second drawing-room, and an interior apartment +containing a bedroom, a study, an office, and topographic bureau. The +ushers had charge of the apartment of honor; the valets de chambre of the +other. A rigid etiquette determined the right of entrance into the +different rooms composing the state apartment, according to a carefully +studied system. The pages were authorized to enter the Hall of the +Marshals; members of the household of the Emperor and Empress could enter +the first and second drawing-rooms; the Princes and Princesses of the +Imperial family, the high officers of the Crown, the presidents of the +great bodies of the state, had admission to the throne room. Men and women +had to bow to the throne whenever they passed it. The Emperor and the +Empress alone had the right of entering the Emperor's drawing-room. No one +else could go in except by the Emperor's summons. + +An absurd importance was attached to these trivialities, to these empty +nothings, to the right of entering this room or that, of walking before +this or that person, of handing the Emperor this or that article of dress. +"An honest, reasonable man," said Madame de Rémusat, "is often overcome +with shame at the pleasures and pains of a courtier's life, and yet it is +hard to escape from them. A ribbon, a slight difference of dress, the +right of way through a door, the entrance into such and such a drawing- +room, are the occasion, contemptible in appearance, of a host of ever new +emotions. Vain is the struggle to acquire indifference to them.... In +vain, do the mind and the reason revolt against such an employment of +human faculties; however dissatisfied one is with one's self, it is +necessary to humiliate one's self before every one and to desert the +court, or else to consent to take seriously all the nonsense that fills +the air and breathes there." + +Vanity of human events! What has become of these drawing-rooms of the +Tuileries, which it was such an honor to enter, which were trod with such +respectful awe? Look at the lamentable ruins of this ill-fated palace. +There may still be seen, blackened with petroleum and stained by the rain, +some of those drawing-rooms, once so brilliant, once thronged with an +eager and showy crowd. What an instructive spectacle! When is one more +urgently reminded of the emptiness of human glory and greatness? This +nothingness fills the soul with melancholy when one thinks that soon these +crumbling fragments will be razed and that soon one can say with the poet: +The ruins themselves have perished, _Etiam periere ruinae_! [Footnote: The +ruins have since been removed.--TR.] + + + + +IX. + +HOUSEHOLD OP THE EMPRESS. + + +We have just studied the civil and the military household of the Emperor +in 1805; let us now study the Empress's household at the same period. + +The Empress's First Almoner was a bishop, a great lord, Ferdinand de +Rohan. Her Maid of Honor was a relative of her first husband, the Duchess +de La Rochefoucauld, called in the Imperial Almanack of 1805 simply Madame +Chastulé de La Rochefoucauld. She was short and deformed, but +distinguished, for her intelligence, tact, and wit, void of ambition, with +no taste for intrigue, who only reluctantly accepted the position of Maid +of Honor, and often wanted to hand in her resignation. The Lady of the +Bedchamber was Madame de Lavalette, a Beauharnais, an able and +affectionate woman, who immortalized herself, in the early days of the +Restoration, by saving her husband's life by her heroism. + +To the four Ladies of the Palace at the beginning of the Empire, Madame de +Luçay, Madame de Rémusat, Madame de Talhouët, Madame de Lauriston, were +added thirteen other ladies: Madame Duchâtel, Madame de Séran, Madame de +Colbert, Madame Savary, Madame Octave de Ségur, Madame de Turenne, Madame +de Montalivet, Madame de Bouillé, Madame de Vaux, Madame de Marescot. + +The Maid of Honor was for the Empress what the Grand Chamberlain was for +the Emperor. The Lady of the Bedchamber's duties corresponded to those of +the Keeper of the Wardrobe. The Ladies of the Palace were, so to speak, +female chamberlains. + +"We were all," said the Duchess of Abrantès, "at that time radiant with a +sort of glory which women seek as eagerly as men do theirs, that of +elegance and beauty. Among the young women composing the court of the +Empress and that of the Princesses it would have been hard to find a +single ill-favored woman, and there were very many whose beauty made, with +no exaggeration, the greatest ornament of the festivities held every day +in that fairy-like time." + +All the Ladies of the Palace were young, and almost all were remarkable +for their beauty. Among the most conspicuous was Madame Ney, a niece of +Madame Campan; Madame Lannes, whose face recalled the most charming +pictures of Raphael, and above all, the wife of an already aged Councillor +of State, Madame Duchâtel (whose son was Minister of the Interior in the +reign of Louis Philippe, and whose grandson was Ambassador of the Republic +at Vienna). The Duchess of Abrantès thus describes this famous beauty: +"There is one woman in the Imperial court who made her appearance in +society shortly before the coronation, whose portrait is drawn in all the +contemporary memoirs, especially in those written by a woman, and that is +Madame Duchâtel. Madame Duchâtel would not serve as a model for a +sculptor, because her features lack the regularity which his art requires. +The indefinable charm of her face, a charm which words are unable to +convey, lay in dark blue eyes, with long, silken, lashes, in a delicate, +gracious, refined smile, which, disclosed teeth of ivory whiteness, and, +moreover, beautiful light hair, small hands and feet, a general elegance +which matched a really remarkable mind. All these things formed a +combination which first attracted and then attached every one to her." + +Josephine's First Chamberlain, in 1805, was the General of Division +Nansouty; the chamberlain who introduced the ambassadors was M. de +Beaumont; there were four ordinary chamberlains, MM. d'Aubusson- +Lafeuillade, de Galard-Béarn. de Coutomer; de Gavre; a First Equerry, +Senator de Harville; two equerries, Colonel Fowler and General Bonardy de +Saint Sulpice; a private secretary, M. Deschamps. The Council of the +Empress's household was composed of the Maid of Honor, the Lady of the +Bedchamber, the First Chamberlain, and the First Equerry. The private +secretary was also the secretary of the Council. The Chief Steward of the +household was also a member. + +The Lady of the Bedchamber had under her orders a first woman of the +bedchamber, Madame Aubert, who had whole charge of the wardrobe. Madame +Saint-Hilaire held this place under Josephine, as Madame Campan had done +under Marie Antoinette. Madame Saint-Hilaire's duties consisted in +supervising the chamberwork, in receiving the Empress's orders about the +hours of her rising, and of her morning and evening toilet. The first +woman of the Bedchamber had what were called the honors of the service +when the Maid of Honor and the Lady of the Bedchamber were absent. The +Empress had also ushers and women who discharged the same duties, six +ordinary chambermaids, a reader, the beautiful Madame Gazani; four +ordinary valets de chambre, and two footmen, trusted men always in the +ante-chamber. The ushers, who remained without the drawing-room where the +Empress was, never opened both the doors to their full width except for +the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial family; and they could not +leave their posts except to ask the Maid of Honor the names of those who +were waiting to be presented. There were two pages in the Empress's +service; the older carried the train of her dress when she left her +apartments, and got in or out of a carriage; the other walked before her. + +The Empress's apartment consisted of an apartment of honor and an inner +apartment. The first consisted of an ante-chamber, the first drawing-room, +the second drawing-room, the dining-room, the music-room, the other, of +the bedroom, the library, dressing-room, boudoir, bath-room. The entrance +to the Empress's apartment was controlled by etiquette like that to the +Emperor's. + +Josephine played her part as sovereign as easily as if she had been born +on the steps of the throne. "One of her charms," says the Duchess of +Abrantès, "was not merely her graceful figure, but the way she held her +head, and the gracious dignity with which she walked and turned. I have +had the honor of being presented to many real princesses, as they are +called, in the Faubourg Saint Germain, and I can truly say that I have +never seen one more imposing than Josephine. She combined elegance and +majesty. Never did any queen so grace a throne without having been trained +to it." + +Josephine had all the qualities that are attractive in a sovereign: +affability, gentleness, kindliness, generosity. She had a way of +convincing every one of her personal interest. She had an excellent +memory, and surprised those with whom she talked by the exactness with +which she recalled the past, even to details they had themselves nearly +forgotten. The sound of her gentle, penetrating, and sympathetic voice +added to the courtesy and charm of her words. Every one listened to her +with pleasure; she spoke with grace and listened courteously. She wanted +no one to go away from her annoyed. She always appeared to be doing a +kindness, and thus inspired affection and gratitude. Her courtiers and her +suite were her friends. Madame de Rémusat, who was never too favorable, +was forced to recognize the charm which Josephine exercised over the court +by her tact, intelligence, and dignity. "The Empress," she says, "is +enchanted to be surrounded by a large suite, and it gratifies her vanity. +Her success in attaching Madame de La Rochefoucauld to her person, her +pleasure in counting MM. d'Aubusson, de Lafeuillade among her +chamberlains, Madame d'Arbry, Madame de Ségur, and the wives of the +marshals among the ladies of the palace, turned her head a little, but +even this feminine joy did not lessen her usual graciousness; she always +succeeded in maintaining her rank, even when most deferential to those men +and women who lent it a new lustre by their brilliant names." She was very +kind, extremely soft-hearted, and always overwhelming her companions with +attentions and regards. Mademoiselle Avrillon, her reader, says: "I do not +believe that there ever lived a woman with a better character, or with a +less changeable disposition." She never dared to utter a word of blame or +reproach. "If one of her ladies," said Constant, the Emperor's valet de +chambre, "ever gave her cause for dissatisfaction, the only punishment she +inflicted was to maintain absolute silence for one, two, three days, a +week, more or less, according to the seriousness of the case. Well! this +punishment, apparently so slight, was for most of them very severe. The +Empress knew so well how to make herself beloved!" + +Her only fault was extravagance. She had an unbounded love of luxury and +dress. The jewel-case which had belonged to Marie Antoinette was too small +for Josephine. One day when she wanted to show some ladies all her jewels, +a great table had to be arranged to hold the cases, and, since that was +not enough, much more of the furniture was covered by them. Josephine had +the fault that accompanies this quality, for generous persons are commonly +lavish. Her extravagant expenditures came from her kindliness. She had not +the heart to dismiss a tradesman without buying something of him, and it +never entered her head to try to beat him down. Often she bought for vast +sums things she did not want, simply to oblige the dealers. There was no +limit to her liberality. She would have liked to own all the treasures of +the earth in order to give them all away. She sought for opportunities for +alms-giving. Many of the émigrés lived entirely on her bounty. She was +always in active correspondence with the sisters of charity. She was the +Providence of the poor, and did good with delicacy, tact, and discretion. +Giving is not all; the art lies in knowing how to give. She seemed to be +the debtor of those to whom she made gifts. Naturally, with this +disposition, she got into debt. But Napoleon was there to help her; and +since he was economical by nature, he grew angry and scolded his +extravagant wife, and ended by paying. + +In fact, Napoleon could refuse Josephine nothing, and she was really the +only woman who had any influence over him. If he opposed her, she had an +infallible resource in her tears. She knew thoroughly her husband's +character. She knew how to speak to that mind and heart. She busied +herself with seeking what could please, with divining his wishes, with +anticipating his slightest desires. If he was the least ailing or annoyed +she was literally at his feet, and then he could not live without her. He +felt that when misfortune came Josephine alone would be able to console +him. She had brought him happiness with her gentleness, her tenderness, +her devotion; she had well deserved to receive the crown from his hands. + + + + +X. + +NAPOLEON'S GALLANTRIES. + + +Josephine appeared to have every wish, satisfied; her good fortune +exceeded her wildest dreams; never had a more wonderful romance actually +happened, and yet the Empress of the French, the Queen of Italy, was not +happy. A cruel passion which brings no pleasures, but only cruel +sufferings, disturbed her happiness and tormented her heart. This passion, +jealousy, which had tortured Napoleon in the early days of his wedded +life, now Josephine in her turn had to endure with all its keen anguish. +She felt that for her, a woman of forty-one, to hold fast the affections +of a man of thirty-five, covered with glory and full of charm, was a +difficult task; but this reflection, far from consoling her, only +disturbed her the more, and she made desperate efforts to triumph in an +almost hopeless contest. As was said by Mademoiselle Avrillon, her reader, +she seemed not to understand that if the highest rank is a safeguard for a +woman, because few men are bold enough to pursue her, the same is not true +of a sovereign whose glory dazzles the inexperience of the young, and +whose slightest attention arouses coquetry and flatters vanity. + +Josephine had not a moment's peace. In the hope of pleasing her, many +women of the court, who were, so to speak, on the watch for the Emperor's +attentions, hastened to torture her with their interested revelations. For +several years now her beauty had been fading. Napoleon, on the other hand, +had never been better looking. His health, which formerly had been +delicate, had much improved. He had grown stouter, and this was very +becoming. His head was like that of a Caesar. Full of self-confidence, +fortunate, flattered on every side, at the height of power, he imagined +that in love, as in war, he had but to appear to say, _veni, vidi, vici_, +"I came, I saw, I conquered." Many of the beauties of the time did their +best to confirm him in this good opinion of himself, and as Madame de +Rémusat says of him, he in his court was not unlike the Grand Turk in his +harem. + +"The Emperor," we read in Constant's Memoirs, "used to say that a good man +was to be known by the way he treated his wife, his children, and his +servants. He added that immorality was the most dangerous vice a sovereign +could have, because it established a precedent for his subjects. What he +meant by immorality, was giving scandalous publicity to relations which +should have been kept secret; these relations he was by no means disposed +to refuse when they presented themselves before him." The faithful valet +de chambre goes on in an attempt to defend his master: "Others perhaps +would have succumbed oftener. Heaven forbid that I should undertake to +apologize for him; I will even acknowledge that he did not always practise +what he preached, but it was none the less a good deal for a sovereign to +hide his distractions from the public, to prevent scandal, and, what is +worse imitation; and from his wife, to save her pain." + +Napoleon was by no means so indifferent to women as he professed to be. He +was averse to being ruled by them, but he was far from being insensible to +their charms. Opposition exasperated him; all his caprices found many +obsequious allies ready to further his suit, and more than one woman made +a deep, if brief, impression upon him. His disdain of woman has, we are +sure, been much exaggerated. At Saint Helena he declaimed against women, +but his remarks were mere paradoxes, not meant to be taken seriously. + +Count Las Cases, in the _Memorial_, reports these remarks of the Emperor +to the ladies who shared, his captivity. "We Occidentals," he said, with a +smile full of malice, "have spoiled women by treating them too well. We +have made the mistake of raising them almost to an equality with +ourselves. The Orientals showed more intelligence and justice: they +declared they were men's property; and, in fact, nature has made them our +slaves, and it is only by our whimsicalness that they presume to be our +sovereigns; they abuse their advantages to mislead and control us. For one +who inspires us to our good there are a hundred who make us do stupid +things." Then he went on to praise polygamy in a very unchivalrous and +unsentimental way, saying ironically: "What cause of complaint do you +have, after all? Have we not acknowledged that you have a soul? You know +that there are philosophers who have weighed it. Do you claim equality? +But that is absurd; women are our property, we are not theirs; for she +gives us children, men give them none. So she is his property, as a fruit- +tree is a gardener's property. Nothing but a lack of judgment, of common +sense, and a defective education, can make a woman think that she is her +husband's equal. And there is nothing degrading in the difference; each +sex has its qualities and its duties: your qualities are beauty, grace, +charm; your duties are dependence and submission." + +Napoleon was often malicious with women; often he teased them; but at +heart he honored faithful wives and good mothers. His ideas were far more +moral than those of the men of the Directory, and his court was far purer +than that of the kings of France. We will add that Josephine was the only +woman he ever loved for a long time and seriously. The others appealed to +his senses, not to his heart. + +Fortunately for herself, Josephine had a shallow character; her +impressions were keen, but evanescent. The pleasures of sovereignty +outweighed the griefs. She felt that the crown was heavy at times, but it +adorned her and kept her young; and in spite of the jealousy it gave rise +to, the court satisfied her vanity and brought her sufficient consolation. +To the satisfaction of her pride she found another purer and more lasting +emotion, which she valued more, in the opportunity of doing good. She had, +besides, passed through so many vicissitudes in her life that nothing +could surprise her, and her soul, accustomed to suffering, was prepared +for the most violent emotions, the most terrible anguish. She wept +readily, but her tears were soon dried; the rainbow followed close upon +the storm, and Josephine would smile through her tears. + + + + +XI. + +THE POPE AT THE TUILERIES. + + +While Napoleon, proud in the possession of his new empire, was exhibiting +at the Tuileries his vast power and grandeur, the same palace was +inhabited by a holy old man, whose humility presented a marked contrast +with the conqueror's haughty spirit. Pius VII., who was quartered in the +Pavilion of Flora, led the life of an anchorite, with all the modesty and +piety of an old monk, fasting every day as in his convent, and edifying +even the impious by the nimbus that shone around his pale and mystic face. +It was impossible to approach this worthy Vicar of Christ without a filial +feeling of tenderness. The crimes of the French Revolution--the massacre +or the execution of the priests, the profanation of the altars, the +persecutions and blasphemies--had imprinted the stamp of melancholy on his +face. It was easy to see that he lamented the barbarities of the times, +and that his life had been full of anguish. He embodied all the sufferings +of the Church. With his ascetic air, his deep-set eye, his complexion as +pallid as ivory, his white robes tinged with red, the Sovereign Pontiff +had in his whole person something strange and imposing. He occupied the +apartment on the first floor of the Pavilion of Flora, where Madame +Elisabeth had lived from October, 1789, to August 10, 1792. The Abbé +Proyart, the author of the letter to the prisoner of the Temple, came to +offer the Pope a copy of this same life of Madame Louise of France, which +he had long since offered to the sister of Louis XVI. + +"I am living here," said Pius VII., "in the apartments of another saint." +What singular vicissitudes! The same place occupied in turn by Madame +Elisabeth, the members of the Committee of Public Safety, and by the Vicar +of Christ! + +The Pope had been very anxious before he started for Paris. His fears were +so great that just as he was leaving Rome, with a presentiment of the +captivity that awaited him, he had left his abdication in the hands of +Cardinal Consalvi, in case he should suffer any violence during his +journey. It was only with trembling and prayer that he had set foot on the +volcanic soil of France, which, from a distance, seemed alive with impiety +and terror. The unfailing respect with which he had been treated had +comforted him somewhat. Whenever he visited a church, the Parisians +followed him with mingled curiosity, sympathy, and veneration: they knelt +to him as he passed them, and received with all decorum his apostolic +benediction. Every day a large crowd gathered under his windows. He had +found his rooms arranged and furnished like those he occupied at the +Vatican, and he had been very grateful for this, which he called a really +filial attention. + +General de Ségur, at that time captain and aide of the Grand Marshal of +the Palace, was entrusted with guarding the Pope's person. He says in his +Memoirs: "The same attention and respect was shown to the Pope as to the +Emperor himself. His rooms had been so arranged and furnished as to recall +Rome so far as possible, and to suit his tastes. As for Napoleon, we all +noticed his ever gentle and grateful gaiety, and his filial and +affectionate deference to his guest. When the Holy Father gave his +blessing from his window, and more especially at his audiences in the +gallery of the Louvre, which were always crowded, precautions were taken +against any outbreak of the indiscretion or levity to which the French are +prone. We saw the atheist Lalande himself fall at the Pontiff's feet and +kiss his slipper. In the public buildings which the Pope honored with his +presence he was received as a sovereign. No one dared to betray more +curiosity than piety; and it often happened to me to see this real saint, +the successor of the Apostles, whose venerable face bore the stamp of the +serenest gentleness, so frugal, simple, and austere for himself alone, and +so kindly indulgent to others, deeply moved by the intense and holy +impression he made." + +Every day the long gallery of the Louvre was filled with two rows of men +and women who had come to ask his blessing. Preceded by the governor of +the Louvre, and followed by the Italian cardinals and nobles of his +household, Pius VII. advanced slowly between the two lines of the +faithful, often stopping to place his hand on some child's head, to say +some kind words to its mother, and to offer his ring to be kissed. One +day, when he was surrounded by a crowd of prostrate and respectful people, +he saw a man whose worn face bore traces of irreligious passion, who was +moving away as if to escape the apostolic benediction. The Holy Father +approached him, and said gently, "Do not run away; an old man's blessing +has never done any one any harm." This remark spread through Paris and +made a most favorable impression. Pius VII. was not only respected, but, +if we may use the worldly phrase, he became the fashion. Dealers in +rosaries and chaplets made much money all that winter. In January alone a +shopkeeper in the rue Saint Denis who sold those articles is said to have +cleared forty thousand francs. All who approached the Pope had chaplets +blessed for themselves, their relatives, and friends in Paris and the +provinces. "The prolonged stay of the Holy Father," says Bourrienne, "was +not without influence in the return to religious ideas, so great was the +respect inspired by the Pope's gentle appearance and kindly manners. When, +the time came for him to be persecuted, it would have been desirable that +Pius VII. had never come to Paris, for it was impossible to look upon him +otherwise than as a man whose holy gentleness was a matter of notoriety." + +At Saint Helena, Napoleon spoke thus of this venerable Pope: "He was +really a lamb, a thoroughly good and upright man, whom I greatly esteem +and love, and who, I am sure, does not wholly hate me." + +It has been asserted that the Pope made such an impression in Paris that +the Emperor felt for the august old man a sort of secret jealousy. But +even granting, what is by no means certain, that he suffered from this, he +had at least skill to conceal it. Always the Pope was overwhelmed with +flattering attentions. The President of the Legislative Body, M. de +Fontanes, said to him November 30, 1804: "Everything else has changed; +religion alone knows no change. It sees the families of kings, and those +of subjects, perish; but resting on the ruins of thrones, it ever admires +the successive manifestations of the eternal designs and obeys them with +confidence. Never has the universe beheld a more imposing sight, never +have its people received more important lessons. This is no longer the +time of rivalry between the priesthood and the Empire. They have joined +hands to repel the fatal doctrines which threatened Europe with total +overthrow. May they yield forever to the double influence of politics and +religion combined! Doubtless this wish will not be disappointed; never in +France has there been so great a genius to control its policy, and never +has the pontifical throne presented to the Christian world a more worthy +and more touching model." The _Moniteur_, in its report of the coronation, +spoke with the same official enthusiasm "of the most venerable apostolic +virtues and of the most astounding political genius crowned by the highest +destinies." David, the artist, once a member of the Convention and a +regicide, then an Imperialist, painted the portrait of Pius VII., and the +_Moniteur_ in the number of March 30, 1805, thus praised the picture and +the sitter. "A large crowd gathered in the gallery of the Senate, to see +the portrait of His Holiness by M. David, member of the Institute and +first painter to the Emperor. This portrait is in every way worthy of the +master's reputation. If the first essential in a portrait is an exact +likeness, this one possesses it to a very high degree. The head, which is +admirably painted, expresses the indulgent and wise character, the +gentleness and reasonableness, that are so conspicuous in the model; the +eyes an expression, affectionate and paternal; the expression of the mouth +is most striking; one feels that it can utter only words of peace, +consolation, and truth." + +Josephine had for Pius VII. a feeling of veneration full of gratitude. She +was most grateful to him for having persuaded Napoleon, to have the +religious marriage for which she had long yearned. She, who had preserved +her faith, in the midst of an irreligious society, was happy to inhabit +the same palace, to live under the same roof, with the Vicar of Christ, +and firmly hoped thereby to secure good fortune for herself and her +husband. For his part, Pius VII. appreciated Josephine's good qualities, +especially her charity: he treated her as an indulgent father treats his +child. + +The second son of Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais was baptized +by the Pope himself at Saint Cloud, March 27, 1805. The ceremony was most +impressive. Eight Imperial carriages conveyed thither Pius VII. and his +suite. The gallery of the palace had been turned into a chapel. In one of +the Empress's drawing-rooms had been placed, on a platform, beneath a +canopy, a bed without posts. On the foot of the bed had been spread a +large cloak lined with ermine, to cover the child. In the same room were +two tables on which were placed what were called the child's _honors_; +that is to say, the candle, the chrisom-cap, and the salt-cellar, and the +_honors_ of the godfather and godmother,--the basin, the ewer, and the +napkin. The towel was placed on a square of golden brocade, and all the +other things, except the candle, on a gold tray. Preceded by the Grand +Master of Ceremonies, and followed by a colonel-general of the Guard, by +the Grand Almoner, the Grand Chamberlain, and the Master of the Hounds, +the Emperor, who was godfather, and the godmother, Madame Bonaparte, his +mother, went to the room where the ceremony was to be performed. The child +was uncovered by Madame de Villeneuve, Maid of Honor to Princess Louis +Bonaparte, and by Madame de Boubers, who was serving as governess. The +first one lifted up the baby and handed him to the godfather, who gave him +to Madame de Boubers to carry to the font. The Grand Master of Ceremonies +handed the salt-cellar to Madame de Bouillé, the chrisom-cap to Madame de +Montalivet, the candle to Madame Lannes, the towel to Madame de Sérant, +the ewer to Madame Savary, the basin to Madame de Talhouët. Then, they +went to the gallery, which had been turned into a chapel. Mesdames +Bernadotte, Bessières, Davout, and Mortier held the corners of the +Empress's cloak. The godmother was at the Emperor's left. After the +baptism the child was carried back to his room with the same procession. + +That evening _Athalie_ was given, with choruses, at the court theatre. The +company on their way thither passed through the orange house, which was +aglow with colored lanterns. + +All day the park of Saint Cloud had been open to the public; the fountains +had been playing; shows of all sorts amused the crowd; the road to Paris +was crowded with carriages and foot-passengers. In the evening there were +fireworks: the palace and gardens were illuminated; there were bands +playing, and rustic balls. + +The Pope, who had reached Paris November 28, 1804, left April 4, 1805, +just when the Emperor was starting for Italy, there to be crowned at +Milan. Pius VII. had received some magnificent presents from the Emperor: +a gold altar with chandeliers, and the sacred vessels of rich workmanship, +a superb tiara, some gobelin tapestries, carpets from the Savonnerie, and +a statue of Napoleon in Sèvres ware. The Empress had given him a valuable +vase decorated by the best artists. The _Moniteur_ thus announced the +Pope's departure: "To-day, April 4, at half-past twelve, His Holiness left +Paris with the prelates and others of his suite. A crowd of both sexes and +all ages assembled on the way he was to pass through, and received the +Sovereign Pontiff's blessing; once more he was the object of expressions +of the deepest veneration, and plainly manifested the emotions which these +expressions called forth." + +Yet Pius VII. was not wholly satisfied with his journey. He had received +much homage, but he had not secured any real political concessions of any +importance. He had been unable to settle the important matter of the +organic statutes, and nothing had been done about the restoration of the +legation on which he was so warmly set. Besides, he was much annoyed that +he had not himself crowned Napoleon, as the Popes, his predecessors, had +crowned emperors and kings. He, who later was to be a prisoner at +Fontainebleau, went away distressed about the present, anxious for the +future, and wondering whether his host might not say, with Voltaire, "It +is all very well to kiss the Popes' feet, but it is better to have their +hands tied first." + + + + +XII. + +THE JOURNEY IN ITALY. + + +The Pope had left Paris to return to Rome April 4, 1805. At almost the +same time the Emperor and Empress had started from Fontainebleau to go to +Milan, where Napoleon was to be crowned King of Italy. The code of +etiquette that prevailed at the Tuileries was observed on journeys. The +house in which the Emperor lodged at any stopping-place was the place +where all who accompanied him were to meet. A great placard on which were +written all the names, and where they were to be quartered, was pasted on +the front door. In the villages where Napoleon spent but one night he +received the local authorities, either before or after dinner. In the +towns where he spent more than one day, after he had eaten his breakfast +and held his receptions, he rode out to visit the fortifications and +monuments. The evenings were generally taken up by the entertainments +offered him. + +The Emperor and Empress reached Troyes April 2. A letter dated the 3d was +printed in the _Moniteur_. It said: "Everywhere the presence of the +Emperor has evoked the liveliest applause; the people seem astonished to +see him wearing such a modest uniform, and conspicuous, in the midst of +his court, by the plainness of his dress. The people of this department +exhibit this joy all the more because it is here that was brought up the +man who was destined to raise France to the highest glory and prosperity. +It is at Brienne that the Emperor received his earliest instruction. His +Majesty, being anxious to revisit the places that recall these agreeable +memories, started at two o'clock to-day for Brienne." + +On the steps of the castle in this town Napoleon found Madame de Brienne +and Madame de Loménie, who had been the guardians of his childhood. He +treated them with the greatest respect, and took pleasure in recalling +happy and touching memories of the past. He recalled many anecdotes, and +told them in his usual vivid, picturesque way. He accepted their +invitation to dinner, played cards with them, and having found out their +usual time of going to bed, asked to be shown at that hour to the room +which had been prepared for him at his request. At dawn the next morning +he went alone, without escort, to see some of his old walks in the +neighborhood. He remembered a hut where he and his companions used to +lunch, and recognizing the wood in which it was, he rode through the shady +path that led to it. + +It belonged to a woman who in old times used to serve nuts, cheese, and +brown bread to the schoolboy of Brienne, the future Emperor. He was +delighted to see her once more, and asked her for the same repast which +had formerly been his delight. At first the poor woman did not recognize +the stranger; but gradually he refreshed her memory by recalling many +incidents of the past. Then she understood that she was in the presence of +the all-powerful Emperor, and flung herself at his feet. Napoleon lifted +her, and left her a purse of gold, promising as he left to provide for her +old age. + +The Emperor and Empress arrived at Lyons April 10. A quarter of a league +from the city, on the Boucle road, stood a triumphal arch, on the top of +which, as in the reign of Augustus, was perched an eagle supporting the +conqueror's bust. On the two side doors were two bas-reliefs, one +representing the union of the Empire and Liberty; the other, Wisdom, in +the figure of Minerva distributing crosses of honor to soldiers, artists, +and scholars. On these two bas-reliefs were statues of the Rhone and the +Seine. At the top of the arch was a flattering inscription in verse. + +April 12, the Empress held a reception. The _Bulletin of Lyons_ thus +described it: "The assembly was most brilliant. As our sovereign has +exhibited in his audiences profundity, affability, exact and varied +learning, and true greatness, so his august wife has shone with grace, +courtesy, and gentleness. Thus we witness a revival of that old French +urbanity and politeness of manners which have always distinguished our +court, and have made it an example and an object of admiration for all +foreign courts." + +The city offered Napoleon and Josephine an entertainment at the Grand +Theatre. The back-scene represented the Emperor, seated, clad in a long +triumphal robe. Two allegoric figures, representing, one, France, the +other, Italy, with their feet resting on clouds, held in their hands a +roll bearing this inscription: _Sublimi feriam sidera vertice_, "I shall +strike the stars with my lofty head"; with the other, they each offered a +crown to Napoleon. Thus did flattery renew the apotheoses of the Caesars +of ancient Rome. + +There was sung a cantata entitled _Ossian's Dream_. The young men of the +National Guard of Lyons and the leading ladies of the city waltzed before +the throne. Two young girls held each a basket into which the dancers +threw flowers as they passed by; out of these flowers the girls wove two +crowns which, after the dance, they presented to the Emperor and Empress. + +April 29, Napoleon and Josephine were present at a grand performance at +the Grand Theatre in Turin. They stayed at the castle of Stupinizi, just +outside of the city, where they bade farewell to Pius VII., who had +celebrated the Easter festival at Lyons, and was on his way to Rome. + +The Emperor and the Empress reached Alessandria May 2, at ten in the +morning, amid the roar of cannon and the ringing of church-bells. Napoleon +spent the day in revisiting the battle-field of Marengo, where he gave the +Empress a mimic representation of the battle he had won five years before. +From a throne he watched the manoeuvres executed under the command of +Murat, Lannes, and Bessières. He had had the coat and hat he wore on the +day of the battle brought from Paris. The coat was somewhat moth-eaten, +and the odd hat would have seemed very much out of date if it had not +recalled such precious memories. But Napoleon liked to recall that +eventful day when he had managed to grasp victory when apparently beaten. +After the manoeuvres he solemnly laid the corner-stone of a monument to +the memory of Desaix and the other brave men who fell at Marengo. + +At Alessandria, the next day, he had an interview with his brother Jerome, +which in fact was a reconciliation. In 1808, after the breaking of the +Peace of Amiens, Jerome Bonaparte, who then, a young man of twenty, was in +the naval service, happened to be forced by an English cruiser to land in +the United States. There he had fallen in love with the young and charming +daughter of a rich merchant of Baltimore, Miss Elisabeth Paterson, and he +married her. Napoleon was unwilling to recognize this marriage. No sooner +had he ascended the throne than he at once exhibited all the feeling and +prejudices of a monarch who belonged to a dynasty of the most venerable +antiquity. He really believed that his brothers could marry only +princesses, and that any other marriage was an unpardonable mésalliance. + +If, possibly, Napoleon was able to condemn Lucien's wife for her past +conduct, no such criticism could apply to the wife of Jerome, who was a +young woman of conspicuous morality, intelligence, and amiability. But she +was the daughter of a ship-owner, a merchant, and thus was not a proper +match, he thought, for the brother of the powerful monarch who was already +dreaming of restoring the vassal kingdoms and the whole vast imperial +edifice of Charlemagne. He, the Emperor of the French, the King of Italy, +did not like to remember that he had wedded a simple subject, and that he +had been very proud of his marriage. He could not pardon his brother +Jerome for making a love-match. He would not even listen to his defence of +his young wife, soon to be a mother, and who deserved only respect and +pity, and who, humiliated, abandoned, and brokenhearted, was about to be +treated as a concubine, and driven away forever. Ambition had destroyed +Napoleon's natural kindliness. Yet, if he had seen Jerome's wife, a +devoted and interesting woman, warmly attached to her husband, and alive +to her duties, probably he would have taken pity on her. Possibly he was +himself aware of this, for he forbade the unhappy young woman to enter any +part of the Empire, and compelled this innocent victim of political +considerations to take refuge in England, as if she were a criminal. + +February 22, 1805, Napoleon had compelled his mother, Madame Letitia, to +place in the hands of a notary, Raguideau, a protest against Jerome's +marriage, on the pretext that he, having been born November 15, 1784, was +not yet twenty at the date of his marriage, and according to the law of +September 20, 1792, a marriage contracted by any one under twenty without +the consent of his father and mother was null and void. The _Moniteur_ of +the 13th Ventôse, Year XIII. (March 4, 1805), had contained the following +lines: "11th Ventôse. By an act dated to-day, all the civil officers of +the Empire are forbidden to receive on their registers a copy of the +certificate of an alleged marriage contracted by M. Jerome Bonaparte in a +foreign country, when under age, and without his mother's consent, and +without previous publication in the place where he is domiciled." A few +days later this appeared in the _Moniteur_: "M. Jerome Bonaparte has +arrived at Lisbon in an American ship; in the passenger list were the +names of Mr. and Miss Paterson, M. Jerome at once took port for Madrid, +Mr. and Miss Paterson have re-embarked. They are supposed to be returning +to America." + +Jerome, in obedience to the Emperor's orders, started from Portugal for +Italy, posting day and night at full speed, through Badajoz, Madrid, +Perpignan, and Grenoble, He says in his Memoirs: "Amid the mountains of +Estremadura, his modest carriage encountered the almost royal train of the +French Ambassador to Portugal. It was Junot whom he had left a simple +aide-de-camp of the First Consul, and saw again one of the first +personages of the Empire. Madame Junot, an old friend from childhood of +Jerome, was with her husband. This interview was a most interesting one, +partly from the deserted spot where they met, and partly from the great +events that had occurred since their separation." + +Junot and his wife found Jerome much improved. He had become more serious; +a certain gravity had taken the place of his youthful bubbling high +spirits. He spoke with emotion, respect, and affection of his young wife +whose pathetic situation was made even more disturbing by the state of her +health. He proposed to throw himself at his brother's feet, and by prayers +and supplications to wring from him the consent he desired. "No one can +doubt," he says in his Memoirs, "that his heart was torn by the keenest +agitations, to say nothing of the anxiety about his wife; the +mortification at two years of inactivity, during which his comrades, +friends, and relatives had worked, fought, and become great; the regret +for the lofty position he had lost; the hope of regaining it; his fear of +his brother's wrath which he had ventured to arouse, and which made kings +tremble on their thrones." + +Napoleon was to be inflexible; he refused to admit that his brothers could +be anything but members of the dynasty, future sovereigns. It was then +that according to Miot de Mélito, he said: "What I have accomplished so +far is nothing. There will be no peace in Europe until it is under a +single head, an Emperor, who shall have his officers for kings and divide +the kingdoms among his lieutenants; who shall make one King of Italy, +another King of Bavaria, one Landemann of Switzerland, another Stadtholder +of Holland, and all with high positions in the Imperial household, with +titles as Grand Cupbearer, Grand Master of the Pantry, Grand Equerry, +Grand Master of the Hounds, etc. It will be said that this plan is only an +imitation of that on which the German Empire is established, and that +these ideas are not new; but nothing is absolutely new; political +institutions only revolve in a circle, and what has happened necessarily +recurs." A man with such aspirations and so near to realizing them, could +not endure the idea of being the brother-in-law of a simple ship-owner. + +Jerome arrived at Turin, April 24, 1805. Napoleon was then at Alessandria. +Eleven days passed before the brothers met. The Emperor had announced his +decision. He was absolutely determined not to meet Jerome until he had +made perfect submission. The unhappy youth still ventured to hope against +hope, but soon he had to recognize his mistake. Then his heart and soul +were torn by a hot conflict: on one side were his love for his wife, +family feeling, the thought of the child that was soon to be born, his +respect for marriage and for his vows; on the other, ambition, love of +power, the visions of the kingdoms that he might rule; on one side, the +smiles and tears of the woman he loved; on the other, the influence and +glory of the genius who filled the earth with his fame, and always +exercised a powerful fascination. Jerome, who was less sentimental and +less proud than Lucien, at last yielded to his terrible brother, and +condemned himself out of ambition never to see again the woman whom he +loved and cherished. May 6th he went to Alessandria, having first sent a +letter of submission to the Emperor. Napoleon before receiving him, +replied to it in these terms:-- + +"Alessandria, May 6, 1805. MY BROTHER: Your letter of this morning informs +me of your arrival at Alessandria. There is no fault which cannot be +effaced in my eyes by repentance. Your marriage with Miss Paterson is null +in the eyes of both religion and law. Write to Miss Paterson to return to +America. I will grant her a pension of sixty thousand francs for life, on +condition that she shall never bear my name, a right which does not belong +to her in the non-existence of the marriage. You must tell her that you +could not and cannot change the nature of things. When your marriage is +thus annulled by your own will, I will restore to you my friendship, and +resume the feelings I have had for you since your infancy, hoping that you +will show yourself worthy of them by the efforts you will make to win my +gratitude and to acquire distinction in the army." + +A few days later Napoleon wrote to the Minister of the Navy: "M. Décrès, +M. Jerome has arrived. He has confessed his errors and disavows this +person as his wife. He promises to do wonders. Meanwhile I have sent him +to Genoa for some time." + +After his reconciliation with Jerome, Napoleon went to Pavia, where the +magistrates presented to him the homage of his new capital, and he entered +that city, with the Empress, May 8, amid the roar of cannon and the +ringing of bells. + + + + +XIII. + +THE CORONATION AT MILAN. + + +By descent, by his physical, moral, and intellectual nature, by his +imagination and genius, Napoleon was much more an Italian than a +Frenchman. His father and mother were Italians, his ancestors were +Italian, and Italian was his mother-tongue. His family and Christian names +were Italian. His mother spoke French with the strongest Italian accent. +He had loved Corsica before he loved France. As a child, he had felt the +greatest enthusiasm for Paoli, the Corsican patriot, and had then looked +upon the French as foreigners and oppressors. His face not only resembled +that of an Italian, but that of an ancient Roman. By a singular +coincidence, he had the head of a Caesar. Italy was not only the home of +his family, it was there that he laid the foundations of his glory. That +unrivalled country, as one of our poets calls it, had brought him good +fortune. There he wrote the famous bulletins of his first victories; there +he began to impress the popular imagination; and it was through Italy that +he subjugated France. There he felt at home. The people of that peninsula +greeted him as a fellow-countryman. He liked to speak their language to +them, charmed by its harmony and sincerity. His Southern genius rejoiced +in its bright skies which lent everything such lustre, and well suited the +conqueror's thoughts. He perhaps preferred Milan to Paris as a place to +live in. + +His formal entrance into the capital of his kingdom of Italy had been +skilfully arranged. Cardinal Caprara, the Archbishop of that city, had +great influence there, and he was never tired of speaking to his flock +about the services Napoleon had rendered to the Catholic religion. The +Grand Master of Ceremonies, M. de Ségur, who reached Milan a few days +before the Emperor, charmed the best society of Lombardy by his pleasant +wit and delightful manners, and induced the most illustrious families to +solicit the honor of figuring among the ladies and officers in waiting at +the palace of the King and Queen of Italy, as Napoleon and Josephine were +called at Milan. + +The first visit which the King and Queen made in this capital was to the +famous Cathedral. There they fell on their knees, and the Milanese were +much touched by the spectacle. The _Italian Journal_, in its official +account of Napoleon's entrance into Milan, uttered these dithyrambics: "It +is impossible to imagine a more brilliant day than that which yesterday +adorned our capital, when Bonaparte, the hero of the age, our adored +monarch, entered within our walls. This day will be forever memorable in +the chronicles of our history. Milan saw entering its gates, bearing the +proud name of King, the same hero who had already been proclaimed +conqueror, liberator, peace-maker, and legislator, and who to-day, under +his august Empire, assures that greatness to which his victories and his +genius permit us to aspire. The Emperor entered by the gate named after +his most glorious triumph, the Marengo Gate." + +On reaching Milan, Napoleon exchanged the decorations of the Legion of +Honor for the oldest orders of chivalry in Europe. He received from the +Minister of Prussia the Black and the Red Eagle; from the Spanish +Ambassador, the Golden Fleece; from the Ministers of Bavaria and Portugal, +the Orders of Saint Hubert and Christ respectively; and he gave them the +broad ribbon of the Legion of Honor. When he had received besides foreign +decorations for the principal men of the Empire, he granted an equal +number of his own. May 12, wearing the broad ribbon of the Black Eagle, he +went with the Empress to the theatre of La Scala and saw the opera of +_Castor and Pollux_. The theatre, which was brilliantly lit, was crowded +with the fair ladies of Milan, resplendent in full dress and jewels. The +elegance and splendor of these deservedly famous beauties, the brilliant +diversity of the uniforms, the sumptuousness of the Imperial box, and on +the stage the magnificence of the dresses and the scenery, the skill of +the singers, all combined to make the performance most memorable. That +day, after mass, Napoleon had ridden out, and had inspected the troops who +paraded on the Place of the Cathedral. + +The Empress's grace and affability aroused general admiration. At the +reception of the upper clergy of Italy, May 25, she was thus complimented +by the Archbishop of Bergamo: "Madame, If charity were to descend from +heaven to relieve the woes of humanity, it would seek no other asylum than +the heart of a Queen, adored by her subjects. The feelings of love, +gratitude, and respect which animate all your subjects are the same that +lead to your feet all the bishops of the kingdom of Italy. Happy to find +in your august spouse sublimity, glory, and genius, and in you all the +charm of kindness, nothing is left for them but to pray for the happiness +of your reign, and to offer thanks to heaven for having united in the +souls of their sovereigns everything which can make supreme power loved +and respected." This speech will suffice to show to what pitch the +official flatteries were tuned. + +The coronation took place May 26, in the Milan. Cathedral, which is the +largest church in Italy, with the single exception of Saint Peter's in +Rome. The weather was magnificent. From early morning a numberless throng +crowded the Place of the Cathedral, the court-yards of the palace, and the +adjacent streets. Just as in Paris at the coronation, a wooden gallery had +been built, connecting the Archbishop's Palace with Notre Dame, so here at +Milan, a similar gallery led from the palace to the Cathedral. The +interior of the church was decorated with crimson silk stuffs. As at Notre +Dame, a large throne had been built at the entrance to the nave, +approached by twenty-five steps. Four gilded statues, representing +victories, upheld like caryatides the canopy above the throne. The four +figures held in one hand palms; in the other, the green velvet mantle +falling from the royal crown above the canopy. The Cathedral was +brilliantly lit by forty chandeliers hanging from the roof, and as many +candelabra fastened on the columns. + +Josephine, who had been crowned as Empress in Paris, was not to be crowned +at Milan, although she bore the title of Queen of Italy. She watched the +ceremony from a gallery. At half-past eleven she went to the Cathedral, +preceded by her sister-in-law, the Princess Bacciocchi, and was conducted +beneath a canopy to her gallery, amid loud applause. At noon the Emperor +and King left his palace, and reached the Cathedral through the wooden +gallery. On his arrival there incense was burned, and he was welcomed by +an address from Cardinal Caprara, Archbishop of Milan, at the head of all +his clergy. Preceded by the ushers, the heralds-at-arms, the pages, the +Grand Master and the masters of ceremonies, by the seven ladies carrying +offerings, and by the honors of Charlemagne, of the Empire, and of Italy, +he appeared in most impressive pomp. On his head he wore the crown; he +carried in his hands the sceptre, and the hand of justice of the kingdom; +on his back he wore the royal cloak, the skirts of which were carried by +the two First Equerries of France and Italy. As he entered the Cathedral a +march of triumph was played. He took his seat on the small throne in the +choir, having on his right the honors of Italy, on his left, those of +France. The Archbishop of Bologna, who held a place at the coronation of +the King very like that of the Pope at the crowning of the Emperor, +carried to the altar the iron crown of the old Lombard kings, and began +the mass. After the gradual, he blessed the royal ornaments in the +following order: the sword, the cloak, the ring, the crown. Napoleon +received from the Archbishop's hands the sword, the cloak, and the ring, +but he took himself the iron crown from the altar, and proudly placing it +on his head, exclaimed, in a voice that thrilled all present: "_Dio me la +diede, guai a chi la tocca!_"--"God has given it to me; woe to him who +touches it!" Then, having replaced the iron crown on the altar, he took +the crown of Italy and placed it on his head, amid unanimous applause. +Preceded by the same officials who had conducted him to the chair, he +walked down the nave and took his place on the great throne at the other +end by the entrance. The first herald-at-arms shouted, "Napoleon, Emperor +of the French and King of Italy, is crowned and enthroned. Long live the +Emperor and King." + +The same day, at half-past four in the afternoon, the King and the Queen +drove in a state carriage, with a brilliant escort, to the church of Saint +Ambrose, one of the most revered sanctuaries of Italy, and there they +heard a _Te Deum_ of thanksgiving. + +Mademoiselle Avrillon, Josephine's reader, tells us that Napoleon, when he +had returned to the palace, was full of the wildest gaiety. He rubbed his +hands, and in his good humor said to the reader: "Well! Did you see the +ceremony? Did you hear what I said when I placed the crown on my head?" +Then he repeated, almost in the same tone that he had used in the +Cathedral: "God has given it to me! Woe to him that touches it!" "I told +him," says Mademoiselle Avrillon, "that nothing that had happened had +escaped me. He was very kind to me, and I often noticed that when there +was nothing to annoy the Emperor, he talked cheerfully and freely with us, +as if we were his equals; but whenever he spoke to us he used to ask +questions, and in order to avoid displeasing him, it was necessary to +answer him without showing too much embarrassment. Sometimes he gave us a +pat on the cheek, or pinched our ears; these were favors not accorded +every one, and we could judge of his good humor by the way they hurt +us.... Often he treated the Empress in the same way, with little pats +preferably on the shoulders; it was no use her saying: 'Come, stop, +Bonaparte!' he went on as long as he pleased." + +The Emperor greatly enjoyed his stay in Milan, and breathed with rapture +the incense burned in abundance before him. The _Italian Journal_ in its +account of the coronation reached lyric heights: + +"The most brilliant day has lit up Milan; it has had no equal in the past, +and it offers the happiest auguries for the future.... Old men themselves, +accustomed as they are to praise the past, have exhibited the liveliest +enthusiasm. It was in vain that night struggled to draw its veil over our +city, it had to yield before the general and magnificent illumination +which brought out in lines of fire the shape and admirable form of the +Duomo. Most of the palaces and private houses were covered with devices +and inscriptions. The first one of the days consecrated to the liveliest +national rejoicing was ended by a vast exhibition of fireworks, which were +set off on the spot where so many have perished at the stake." + +The next day games were celebrated, in the manner of the ancients, in a +circus rivalling the Roman amphitheatres in size. This was the occasion of +a dithyrambic outburst inserted in the _Moniteur_: "The Italians have just +offered Napoleon the same spectacle that their ancestors offered Marcus +Aurelius and Trajan; but the presence of Napoleon has called forth more +joy and admiration, because it has aroused greater admiration and higher +hopes. They were but the preservers of Italian greatness; he is its +creator and its father. In the pomp of the games, amid the tumultuous +applause, the immense mass of people were to be seen turning their eyes +towards him alone, as if they were saying to him: 'These festivities are +but feeble expressions of the gratitude that all Italy vows to you for all +the good you have done her; and since you deign to accept it, since you +like to sit among us as our Prince and our father, these festivities +become an augury to us of still greater benefit. The day will perhaps come +when Italy, restored to this new life, may be able to adorn its circus +with the monuments of its own bravery which will also be the monuments of +your glory; and Italy, being never doomed to perish, whatever great deeds +may be wrought by Italians in the course of centuries will be due to the +hero who has recalled them to life.'" After the races there was a balloon +ascension. The courageous wife of the aeronaut Garnerin accompanied him +and threw down flowers to Napoleon and Josephine. "Thus," the _Moniteur_ +goes on, "in a single day, at one show, the Italians have combined the +proudest pomp of the ancients and the boldest invention of modern science, +together with the presence of a hero who excels both ancients and +moderns." + +The 29th of May was devoted to popular festivities. All the afternoon the +public gardens were crowded with musicians, singers, mountebanks, and +pedlars. In the evening the via della Riconoscenza, as far as the East +Gate, was lit by lampstands, and at the end of a long row there was an +eagle of fire holding on his breast an iron crown. + +Nothing was neglected to touch the national pride of Italy. An article in +the _Moniteur_, speaking of a poem of Vincenzo Monti's, said: "What +interest the poet has aroused, in recalling the glorious titles of ancient +Italy, the disasters and degradation which followed this period of glory, +in evoking the shades of those remote days, and after them, the shade of +Dante who, by the wisdom of his maxims, is superior to the poets of other +nations; of Dante, the most enthusiastic admirer of the former glory of +the Italians, the severest censor of the corruption into which Italy had +fallen in his time; of Dante, whose sole ambition was to prepare the new +birth of Italy! And how did he prepare it? By preaching union to the +inhabitants of the different countries of Italy, and to the public +authorities the consecration of power modified by the laws." + +June 3 Napoleon and Josephine went to visit an industrial and artistic +exhibition at the Brera. There they saw Canova's Hebe, and his colossal +statue of Clement XIII. "The desire of seeing and approaching the +sovereign," says the _Moniteur_, "had made the crowd larger. An +octogenarian who had in vain struggled to get to a staircase before him, +was hustled and knocked down on the steps by the eager multitude. The +Empress, who was following, ran to his aid. The Emperor turned back, +questioned the old man, who was more disturbed by his joy than by his +fall, asked him his name and a memorandum, and promised to look out for +him. This scene produced a deep impression, and Their Majesties were led +back amid universal applause and thanksgivings." + +At Milan, Josephine, who had become Queen of Italy, inhabited, with the +Emperor, the magnificent Monza Palace. But, perhaps, in all the splendor +of the highest point of her good fortune, she regretted the Serbelloni +Palace, where, nine years before, she exercised so beneficent an influence +on her husband's destiny, and had protected him with her affection, as +with a talisman. Doubtless the Empress and Queen would have returned +gladly to the time when she was called simply Citizeness Bonaparte. Then, +instead of the imperial and royal diadem, she possessed youth, which is +better than any crown, and her husband gave her something preferable to +any throne--his love! There the generals used to wear less showy uniforms, +more moderate salaries, but they were more enthusiastic, and unselfish. +Then Bonaparte's glory was less famous, but purer. When she saw Milan +again, after many years' absence, Josephine recalled all the happiness and +all the misery that had occurred meanwhile, all the grandeur and the +tragedy that had filled this period so brief, but so crowded with +marvellous events. + +There were many happy memories, but also many shadows! This look backward +was not without melancholy. When she saw the approach of the autumn of her +amazing career, Josephine could not think without secret sadness of the +splendor of its summer. While her husband proudly enjoyed his satisfied +ambition, she dreamed and pondered seriously. She desired once more to see +the places which recalled the pleasantest memories of her first journey: +the lake of Como, with the Villa Julia and Pliny's house; the Lago +Maggiore and Borromean Islands; the palaces of the Isola Bella and the +Isola Madre; all the enchanting spots which recalled the gracious memories +of youth and love. + +June 7 Napoleon appointed Eugene de Beauharnais Viceroy of the Kingdom of +Italy, and three days later left Milan with Josephine. In all the +principal cities of the Empire his coronation had been celebrated by +public rejoicings. Murat had given a ball at his castle of Neuilly, about +which the _Journal des Débats_ had said: "At the same moment when the arts +of ingenious Italy were displaying all their marvels under the eyes of +Their Majesties, French gallantry and gaiety were rendering similar homage +to the happy reign which had recalled them from a long exile." +Aix-la-Chapelle inaugurated the statue of the great Carlovingian Emperor +amid salvos of artillery and the applause of the Germanic populace, who +saluted at the same time the names of Charlemagne and of Napoleon. + + + + +XIV. + +THE FESTIVITIES AT GENOA. + + +The Italian journey closed as brilliantly as it began. After leaving +Milan, Napoleon approached the frontiers of Austria, against which he was +to fight before the end of the year, visiting the celebrated +quadrilateral, consisting of the four fortified towns: Mantua, Peschiera, +Verona, and Legnago. He was present at a mimic representation of the +battle of Castiglione, in which twenty-five thousand men took part on the +field upon which that battle had been fought; then he went to Bologna, +where the charms of his conversation were highly appreciated by the +learned professors of its university. While he was there a deputation from +Lucca visited him, asking him to take that little country under his +protection. He gave it for Prince and Princess, his brother-in-law, Felix +Bacciocchi, and his sister Elisa, to whom he had already entrusted the +Duchy of Piombino. Lucca was thus elevated to a hereditary principality, a +dependent of the French Empire, which should revert to the French crown in +case the male line of the Bacciocchi should become extinct. It was a sort +of revival of the old Germanic fiefs. Evidently the memory of Charlemagne +continually filled Napoleon's thoughts. Elisa thenceforth bore the title +of Princess of Lucca and of Piombino. She was a well educated and able +woman, of marked intelligence and strong will. M. de Talleyrand used to +call her "the Semiramis of Lucca." After Bologna, Napoleon visited Modena, +Parma, and Piacenza. The cities he passed through rivalled one another in +flattery. They voted him medals, statues, and even a temple, which, +however, the demi-god declined. + +June 30 Napoleon and Josephine arrived at Genoa, where they were to stay +till July 7, amid unprecedented festivities celebrating the incorporation +of the old Republic with the French Empire. It was a singular sight, this +enthusiastic reception of a Corsican by the Genoese. While at Milan, the +Emperor had received M. Durazzo, the last Doge of Genoa, who had come to +beg him to permit the illustrious Republic, famous for its historical +splendor, to exchange its independence for the honor of becoming a plain +French department. The offer was accepted. The home of Andrea Doria, the +city of marble palaces, that municipality once called "the superb" had +begged as a favor to be stricken from the list of independent states. It +contented itself with being the principal town in the twenty-seventh +military division, and its doge, dispossessed by his own desire, went to +swell the number of the Senators of the Empire. Napoleon took formal +possession of his peaceful conquest, and slept in the palace, and in the +bed of Charles V. + +The night festivity, given in the harbor, July 2, was, in the way of +picturesqueness, one of the most original and most beautiful ever seen. +The sky was clear, the sea calm, the crowd of spectators enormous. +Napoleon and Josephine, going down from the terrace in the garden of the +Palazzo Doria, entered a large round temple, magnificently decorated, +which was at once set in motion as if by magic, and transported by many +oars to the middle of the harbor. Four rafts, covered with shrubbery, +resembling floating islands, then drew up to the temple. The sovereigns +were thus, in open sea, enclosed in a vast garden with trees, flowers, +statues, and fountains. About this garden of Armida, thus radiant upon the +waves, were a multitude of boats, under sail or propelled by oars, moving +about, and their lights resembled the swarms of fireflies that in summer +flutter above the fields of Lombardy. The mild temperature favored this +joyous festival. The whole city, all the buildings, every vessel, were +ablaze with a thousand lights, and the glassy sea reflected numberless +flames. The darkness of night gave the signal for the illuminations. +Magnificent fireworks were set off from the mole, the jetty, and the ships +lining the entrance of the harbor. Music mingled with the joyous cries of +the multitude. The temple in which were Napoleon and Josephine was rowed +back to the terrace of the Palazzo Doria amid the applause of the crowd +lining the shore. + +The next day the Emperor and Empress were at a ball given in the old Ducal +Palace. "The presence of Their Majesties in this superb building," says +the _Moniteur_, "the kindness with which they deigned to speak to every +one, gave this festivity a touching character. All who saw and heard our +sovereigns, rejoiced in their new destinies. The concert was followed by a +ball, and Their Majesties stayed through the several dances, leaving about +midnight. Their path was lit by numberless candles. On their way they met +a multitude, delighted even at that hour, to be able to discern some of +our monarch's features." + +In spite of all these splendid ceremonies Josephine, though idolized, was +not happy. "In general," Mademoiselle Avrillon says with justice, "the +public has a very faint knowledge of the real feelings of those in the +highest station. Being often on show, they are obliged to assume a +fictitious character, just as they dress themselves for great ceremonies. +I have seen the Empress's sufferings, whom nothing could console for her +separation from her children, whom she loved above everything. Ambitions +were less to her than maternal love, her strongest feeling. The thought of +leaving her son in Italy, the fear of never seeing him again, or the +certainty of seeing him seldom, made her shed tears." One day when she was +in more distress than usual, Napoleon said to her: "You are crying, +Josephine; that's absurd; you are crying because you are going to be +separated from your son. If the absence of your children gives you so much +pain, judge what I must suffer. The affection you show them makes me feel +most acutely my unhappiness in having none." These words sounded in +Josephine's ears like a funeral knell. She saw the spectre of divorce +rising before her, and turned pale. From Genoa they went to Turin. +Napoleon heard there of the coalition preparing against him, and left +suddenly for France with Josephine. Non-commissioned officers of the +Grenadiers and the Chasseurs of the Guard served as escort, but they were +unable to keep up with the carriages, so the Emperor thanked them for +their zeal and pushed on without them. He did not stop once for twenty- +four hours. Josephine, who never tormented her husband by complaining, did +not say a word about the fatigues of this quick journey. After an absence +of a hundred days, they reached Fontainebleau, July 11. No one expected +them and no preparations had been made for their reception. Their +departure from Turin had been so recent, and it resembled a flight. The +Emperor did not wish to be recognized on the way, and burst into +Fontainebleau like a bombshell. The palace porter was an old servant, +named Guillot, who had been Napoleon's cook in Egypt. "Well," the Emperor +said to him, "you must go back to your old business and cook us some +supper." Fortunately the porter had in his sideboard some mutton-chops and +eggs. He set to work, and Napoleon ate this improvised meal with great +relish. Josephine borrowed some linen from one of her old chambermaids. +The Emperor asked for a full account of everything that had happened in +Paris during his absence, and began to draw up the plans which were to be +accomplished at Austerlitz before the end of the year. July 18, at one in +the afternoon, he arrived at Saint Cloud, accompanied by the Empress, amid +the roar of the cannon at the Invalides. That evening they went into the +city, called on Napoleon's mother, and went to the opera, where the +_Prétendus_ was given; the audience greeted them most warmly. After all +the splendor of the Italian festivities the time had come for military +preparations and warlike thoughts. + + + + +XV. + +DURING THE CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ. + + +Austerlitz was to be for the Empire what Marengo had been for the +Consulate: a consolidation. In spite of the pomps of the double +coronation, Napoleon did not feel firmly established on his Imperial and +Royal throne. Opinions varied with regard to the stability of the new +regime. The Liberals missed the Republic, and the Royalists the Bourbons. +If the army and the people showed confidence in the Emperor's star, the +Parisian middle class was always cool, and business men observed with +anxiety the hostility of England, Austria, Russia, and possibly Prussia. +Paris was gloomy; business was dull; the absence of the court depressed +the shop-keepers; the theatres were empty; in short, the winter was +infinitely less gay than the one before. There was general uneasiness; +wives feared for their husbands; mothers for their sons. Every one had +become used to the peace which had lasted five years, and the renewal of +war inspired the greatest anxiety. + +As for Napoleon, he felt the need of some great stroke that should +astonish and fascinate the world. He understood that to maintain his fame +he was condemned to work miracles. September 23, 1805, he had exposed to +the Senate the hostile conduct of Austria, and had announced his speedy +departure to carry aid to the Elector of Bavaria, the ally of France, whom +the Austrians had just driven from Munich. Five days later he had started, +confident of success, and certain that he would find his people at his +feet on his return. The Empress accompanied him as far as Strassburg, and +established herself there to be near the scene of war and to receive +earlier news than was possible at Paris. + +Napoleon's letters to Josephine during the Austerlitz campaign have been +preserved; unfortunately, we have not hers to him. The Emperor writes very +differently from General Bonaparte. His letters are not the ardent, +passionate, romantic epistles recalling the fervid style and thought of +the _Nouvelle Héloïse_. They are substantial letters, concise and +interesting, such as a good husband might write after ten years of +marriage, but not at all a lover's letters. Josephine, who was quite +observant, must have noticed the difference, but she had enough tact and +prudence to avoid complaint. 1805 was not 1796; Napoleon still loved +Josephine, but from habit, gratitude, and a sense of duty, not with mad +passion. He paid her much attention, held her in high regard, felt +sympathy with her, deference, and friendship, but scarcely love. Beneath +the vaulted roof of Notre Dame Napoleon had given to Josephine the +Imperial diadem, but he had not given her the true crown,--love. + +October 1 the Emperor took command of his army, which had assembled with +wonderful promptness on the Rhine. The next day he wrote to the Empress +from Marenheims: "I am still very well, and leaving for Strassburg, where +I shall arrive this evening. The advance has begun. The armies of +Würtemberg and of Baden are joining mine. I have a good position and love +you." October 4 he wrote to her: "I am at Ludwigsberg, and leave to-night. +There is no news. All the Bavarians have joined me. I am well. I hope in a +few days to have something interesting to tell you. Keep well and believe +that I love you. There is a very fine court here, a pretty bride, and the +people are pleasant, even the Elector's wife, who seems very good, +although she is a daughter of the King of England." + +October 5 Napoleon sent another letter to Josephine from Ludwigsberg: "I +have at once to continue my march. You will be five or six days without +news of me; don't be anxious; it is on account of the operations we +undertake. Are you as well as I could hope? Yesterday I was at the wedding +of the son of the Elector of Würtemberg with a niece of the King of +Prussia. I want to give her a present of from thirty-six to forty thousand +francs. Have it made and send it by one of my chamberlains to the bride +when the chamberlains are coming to me. Do this at once. Good by; I love +and kiss you." + +These five or six days of silence were taken up by the opening of +hostilities on the road from Stuttgart to Ulm, the crossing of the Danube, +and the occupation of Augsburg. From this city Napoleon wrote to Josephine +October 10: "I spent last night with the former Elector of Trèves, who has +comfortable quarters. I have been on the move for a week. The campaign +opens with noteworthy successes. I am very well though it rains nearly +every day. Things have moved very quickly. I have sent to France four +thousand prisoners, eight flags, and have captured fourteen cannon. Good +by, my dear; I kiss you." Two days later the French army entered Munich in +triumph, the Austrians having been driven out of Bavaria. The Emperor +wrote to the Empress, October 12: "My army has entered Munich. The enemy +is partly on the other side of the Inn; the other army of sixty thousand +men I have blockaded on the Iller between Ulm and Memmingen. The enemy is +lost, has completely lost its head, and everything promises the luckiest, +shortest, and most brilliant campaign ever known. I leave in an hour for +Burgau on the Iller. I am well: the weather is frightful. It rains so that +I have to change my clothes twice a day. I love you." + +The first successes of the campaign caused great excitement in Paris, as +is shown by the letters of Madame de Rémusat, no great lover of military +glory, to her husband, who had accompanied the Empress to Strassburg; +every day this lady would jot down what had happened, and her interesting +correspondence brings the period vividly before us. October 12, she wrote, +the absence of the Empress leaving her time heavy on her hands: "How +gloomy and ill we are in this odious Paris! Please tell M. de Talleyrand +that it is really something pitiable. Not even a word of gossip! In short, +we are as bored as we are virtuous. I don't know which is the cause and +which the effect, but I do know that I am horribly bored. The solitude of +this great city is really remarkable; the theatres are empty; I hardly +ever go to them." + +In two days there was a complete change. Paris woke up as if to a joyous +trumpet-call, and Madame de Rémusat was full of happiness: "My dear, what +good news!" she wrote October 14, "... This morning the cannon announced +the victory to the city of Paris; it produced a great effect. Every one +was inquiring about it in the street, and congratulating himself; in +short, I send the Empress word, the Parisians were French. I have already +written twenty notes, and received all the visits of congratulation.... +But what a great victory! How proud I am of being a Frenchwoman! I +couldn't sleep for joy. Perhaps by this time you have heard of others, and +when we are rejoicing over the first victory, you have forgotten it with +another. May Heaven continue to protect this noble army and its glorious +leader!" This enthusiastic letter ends with these somewhat harsh +criticising of the Parisians: "This victory was necessary, for these sad +Parisians had begun to complain. The emptiness of Paris, its quiet, the +lack of money which continues to make itself felt, gave to the malevolent +a good opportunity to excite dissatisfaction, and they did their best to +spread it. I was wondering this very morning why in a nation so devoid of +national feeling there should be in the army such unity of action and +thought. It seems to me that honor has a good deal to do with this +difference, and that it takes the place of public spirit in many who in +ordinary times are too happy, too rich, and too careless to care for +anything beyond their own belongings." + +Napoleon went from one victory to another, October 18, just before the +capitulation of Ulm, he wrote to Josephine from Elchingen: "I have been +more tired than I should have been; for a week getting wet through every +day, and cold feet, have done me a little harm, but staying in to-day has +rested me. I have carried out my plan and have destroyed the Austrian army +by simple marches. I have taken sixty thousand prisoners, one hundred and +twenty cannon, more than ninety flags, and more than thirty generals. I am +going to attack the Russians; they are lost. I am satisfied with my army. +I have lost only fifteen hundred men, and two-thirds of these are but +slightly wounded. Good by. Remember me to every one. Prince Charles is +coming to cover Vienna. I think Masséna ought to be at Vienna at this +time. As soon as I am easy about Italy I shall make Eugene fight. My love +to Hortense." + +The capitulation of Ulm was arranged by Napoleon with Prince Lichtenstein, +Major-General of the Austrian army. A heavy rain fell without cessation, +and the prisoners were amazed to see the Emperor, who had not taken off +his boots for a week, wet through, covered with mud, and more tired than +the humblest drummer. When some one spoke of it, he said to Prince +Lichtenstein: "Your Emperor wanted to remind me that I was a soldier. I +hope he will acknowledge that the throne and the Imperial purple have not +made me forget my old trade." October 21, the day after the capitulation, +Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I am very well, my dear. I leave at once for +Augsburg. I have made an army of thirty-three thousand men surrender. I +have taken from sixty to seventy thousand prisoners, more than ninety +flags, and more than two hundred cannon. In the military annals there is +no such defeat. Keep well. I am a little worried. For three days the +weather has been pleasant. The first column of prisoners starts for France +to-day. Each column contains six thousand men." Never had war been fought +with such art. An army of eighty-five thousand men had been destroyed +almost without firing a gun; its adversaries had lost only three thousand +men. After this great victory Napoleon's soldiers said, "The Emperor beat +the enemy with our legs, not with our bayonets." + +These chronicles of war have a sad side even when they commemorate the +most brilliant victories. Even while he counts the trophies the historian +cannot avoid melancholy reflections. What capitulations awaited France +sixty-five years after this capitulation of Ulm! But in this intoxication +of victory, people have eyes only for their success. Were they reasonable, +they would then reflect on the calamities of war. Hortense, who was as +kind as her mother, Josephine, had this wisdom and pity. She said, "When I +read these accounts I am surprised to find myself ready to weep even when +I am happy at the victories." At the time Madame de Rémusat wrote to her +husband: "Poor creatures that we are, how restless we are on this +sandhill, and too often only to hasten our end! A good subject for the +philosopher is this glory, with which we adorn our eagerness in killing +one another." The triumphal music should not drown the sobs and cries of +the mothers; we should think of the dead and wounded. But nations are like +individuals: they never reflect. + +Napoleon pushed on the war with real delight. He felt about war as a good +workman feels about his work, as a great artist about his art. To war it +was that he owed his power and glory. Without it, he said, he would have +been nothing; by it, he was everything. Hence he felt for it not merely +love, but gratitude; loving it both by instinct and calculation. He +preferred the bivouac to the Tuileries. Just as the snipe-shooter prefers +a marsh to a drawing-room, he was more at home under a tent than in a +palace. To men who like the battle-field, war is the most intense of +pleasures. They love it as the gamester loves play, with a real frenzy. +They defeat the enemy, not merely without feeling, but with a fierce joy, +as if it were their prey. They feel the same emotions as the Romans in a +circus, or the Spaniards at a bull-fight. The rattle of drums, the blare +of trumpets, shouts of soldiers, are what they hear; their ears are deaf +to the cries of the wounded and dying. The varying chances of the combat, +the uncertainties of fear and hope produce in them emotions that they +prefer to all others, however poetic and charming. It is with a sort of +intoxication that they inhale the smell of gunpowder, perhaps even that of +blood. A hotly contested victory is more agreeable to them than one too +easily gained. Fortune is, in their eyes, a difficult mistress, whose +favors seem the dearer, the harder they are of attainment. What a +satisfaction for a proud man to be absolute commander of an army which, +before the fight, shouts like the ancient gladiators: _Ave, Caesar, +morituri te salutant!_ "Hail, Caesar, those about to die salute you!" an +army in which even dying men shout applause, with their last breath, to +their sovereign, their idol! And yet how petty is all this glory! Bossuet +was right when he said: "What could you find on earth strong and dignified +enough to bear the name of power? Open your eyes, pierce the dusk. All the +power in the world can but take a man's life: is it then such a great +thing to shorten by a few moments a life which is already hastening to its +end?" + +Josephine did not in the least share her husband's warlike tastes. Gentle, +kindly, affectionate, full of pity for human woes, she would have liked to +reconcile all parties, all nations,--to have universal peace. This woman, +who had all the graces and charms of her sex, never inspired Napoleon with +ambitious or haughty thoughts. While the war lasted, she was anxious, +unhappy; waiting anxiously with bated breath for news, scarcely living. + +Napoleon, wrote to her from Augsburg, October 28: "The last two nights +have rested me completely, and I leave for Munich to-morrow; I am +summoning to me M. de Talleyrand and M. Maret; I shall see them for a +short time, and then leave for the Inn, where I mean to attack Austria in +its hereditary states. I should have been glad to see you, but don't +expect me to summon you unless there should be an armistice, or we should +go into winter quarters. Good by, my dear; a thousand kisses. Remember me +to all the ladies." From Munich the Emperor wrote the following letter, +dated October 27; "I have received your letter from Lamarois. I am sorry +to see that you have been over-anxious. I have heard many details of your +affection for me, but you should have more strength, and confidence. +Besides, I had told you I should not write for six days. To-morrow I +expect the Elector. At noon I start to strengthen my movement on the Inn. +My health is very fair. You mustn't think of crossing the Rhine in less +than two or three weeks. You must be cheerful, and amuse yourself in the +hope of our meeting before the end of the month (Brumaire). I am advancing +on the Russian army. In a few days I shall have crossed the Inn. Good by, +my dear; much love to Hortense, to Eugene, and to the two Napoleons. Keep +the wedding present for some time yet. Yesterday I gave a concert to the +ladies of this court. The leader is a worthy man. I have shot pheasants +with the Elector; you see I am not worn out. M. de Talleyrand has come." +Again, from Haag, November 3, 1805: "I am advancing rapidly; the weather +is very cold; the snow is a foot deep. This is not pleasant. Fortunately, +we have an abundance of wood; we are continually in the forests. I am +fairly well. Everything goes on satisfactorily; the enemy has more cause +for anxiety than I. I am eager to hear from you, and to know that your +mind is easy. Good by, my dear; I am going to bed." + +Napoleon continued his operations with startling rapidity. He wrote to +Josephine November 5: "I am at Linz. The weather is fine. We are within +twenty-eight leagues of Vienna. The Russians are retreating without making +a stand. The house of Austria is much embarrassed; all the belongings of +the court have been removed from Vienna. You will probably have some news +in five or six days. I am very anxious to see you. My health is good." The +Emperor of Austria, compelled to leave Vienna, had sought refuge at Brunn, +where he joined the Czar and the second Russian army; and Napoleon entered +the capital whence the Emperor Francis had fled. He wrote to Josephine +November 15: "I have been for two days in Vienna, a little tired. I have +not yet seen the city by daylight, but have only passed through it by +night. To-morrow I receive the authorities. Almost all my troops are +beyond the Danube in pursuit of the Russians. Good by, dear Josephine; as +soon as possible I shall arrange for you to come. I send much love." The +next day he wrote again to the Empress from Vienna: "I am writing to M. de +Narville to arrange for you to go to Baden, thence to Stuttgart, and +thence to Munich. At Stuttgart you will give the present to the Princess +Paul. Fifteen or twenty thousand francs will be enough for it; the rest +will be enough for a present to the daughter of the Elector of Bavaria at +Munich. All that you heard from Madame de Sérent is definitely arranged. +Bring presents for the ladies and officers in waiting on you. Be pleasant, +but receive all their homages; they owe you everything, and you owe them +nothing, except in the way of politeness. The Electress of Würtemberg is a +daughter of the King of England; you should treat her well, and especially +without affectation. I shall be glad to see you as soon as business will +permit. I am leaving for the front. The weather is admirable; there is +much snow, but everything is in good condition. Good by, my dear one." On +the receipt of this letter, Josephine, who was most anxious to see her +husband, hastened away from Strassburg to go to Munich through Baden and +Würtemberg. At the same time Napoleon set off to meet the Austrian and +Russian armies, commanded by their respective Emperors, in Moravia. + +We have in the Memoirs of General de Ségur, an eye-witness, an interesting +account of the eve of Austerlitz. Late in the afternoon Napoleon entered a +hut, and took his place at table in the best of spirits, along with Murat, +Caulaincourt, Junot, Ségur, Rapp, and a few other guests. They thought +that he would talk about the next day's battle. Not at all: he discussed +literature with Junot, who was familiar with all the new tragedies; he had +a good deal to say about Raynouard's _Templars_, about Racine, Corneille, +and the fate of the ancient drama. Then, by a singular transition, he +began to talk about his Egyptian campaign. "If I had captured Acre," he +said, "I should have put my army into long trousers, and have made it my +sacred battalion, my Immortals, and have finished my war against the Turks +with Arabians, Greeks, and Armenians. Instead of fighting here in Moravia, +I should be winning a battle of Issus, and be making myself Emperor of the +West, returning to Paris through Constantinople." + +After dinner Napoleon wished to make a final reconnoissance of the enemy's +position by their bivouac fires; he mounted his horse and rode out between +the lines. One moment he came near paying dear for his imprudence; he went +too far forward and suddenly fell on a post of Cossacks, and had it not +been for the devotion of the chasseurs who escorted him, he would have +been killed or captured, and he was scarcely able to escape at full +gallop. After crossing the stream which covered the front of the French +army, he dismounted and returned to his bivouac, from one watch-fire to +another, on foot. On his way he stumbled over the stump of a tree and fell +to the ground. Then a grenadier took some straw, rolled it up to something +like a torch, and lit it; other soldiers did the same thing; the camp was +illuminated, and the face of the great conqueror was plainly to be seen. +The next day was December 2, the anniversary of his coronation. "Emperor," +shouted an old soldier, "I promise you in the name of the grenadiers of +the army that you will have to fight only with your eyes, and that to- +morrow we shall bring you the flags and artillery of the Russian army to +celebrate the anniversary of your coronation." Every one shouted applause. +Napoleon in vain tried to stop them. "Silence," he commanded, "until to- +morrow! think of nothing but sharpening your bayonets!" Shouts of "Long +live the Emperor!" were repeated. Along a line of two leagues blazed +thousands of fires and flames. The Russians wondered what was the cause of +this unusual brilliancy, and thought the French were retreating. Napoleon +was at first annoyed by this rapturous demonstration, but at last he was +touched by it, and passing through a number of bivouacs, all brightly lit, +he expressed his gratitude to his soldiers, saying it was the happiest +evening of his life. Then he went to his tent, snatched a little sleep, +and when he rose in the morning, said, "Now, gentlemen, we are beginning a +great day." + +A moment later, the commanders of the different army corps, Murat, Lannes, +Bernadotte, Soult, Davout, came galloping up the little mound which the +soldiers called the Emperor's hill, to receive his final orders. It was a +solemn, impressive moment. "If I were to live," says General de Ségur, "as +long as the world shall last, I shall never forget that scene.... Times +have changed quickly since then. Heavens! how great everything was then, +how brave the men, how glorious the time, how imposing the appearance of +fate!" Never was there a more brilliant triumph. "I have fought thirty +battles like that," said the conqueror, "but I have never seen so decisive +a victory, or one where the chances were so unevenly balanced." And then +full of admiration for his soldiers, he exclaimed; "I am satisfied with +you; you have covered your eagles with undying glory." + +From a military point of view Austerlitz was Napoleon's greatest triumph. +War, which he loved with all its risks and emotions, then showed him its +most tempting side. He was always tempting fate, and fate had always +favored him. The hour had not yet struck when he was to ask more of +fortune than it could give. As Sainte-Beuve truly says, it was not till in +the icy plain of Eylau, from the cemetery covered with blood-stained snow, +that receiving the first warning of Providence, he had a sort of terrible +vision of what the future held in store for him. Then he had before his +eyes a sort of rehearsal of the horrors awaiting him in Russia, and at the +sight of so many corpses, and the awful scene, he said with deep +melancholy, "This sight is one to fill kings with love of peace and horror +of war." But at Austerlitz it was very different. The shrieks of the +Russians sinking through the holes torn in the ice by cannon-balls were +drowned in the shouts of the victors. The bright sunlight of that day of +triumph dispelled, all traces of gloom in the conqueror's heart. + +December 3. Napoleon wrote thus to Josephine about his victory: "I +despatched Lebrun to you from the battle-field. I have beaten the Russian +and Austrian armies commanded by the two Emperors. I am a little tired. I +have bivouacked for a week in the open air, and the nights have been cool. +To-night I am going to sleep in the castle of Prince Kaunitz, where I +shall get two or three hours' rest. The Russian army is not merely +defeated, but destroyed. Much love." December 3, he had an interview in +his bivouac with the Emperor of Austria; and as if to apologize for the +wretched quarters in which he received him, he said, "This is the palace +which Your Majesty has compelled me to inhabit these three months." The +Emperor of Austria replied, "You make such good use of it, that you +certainly can't blame me on that account." And then the two Emperors +embraced. + +The day Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I have made a truce. The Russians +withdraw. The battle of Austerlitz is the greatest I have won: forty-five +flags, more than one hundred and fifty cannon, the standards of the +Russian guards, twenty generals, more than twenty thousand killed,--a +horrid sight! The Emperor Alexander is in despair, and is leaving for +Russia. Yesterday I saw the Emperor of Germany in my bivouac; we talked +for two hours, and agreed on a speedy peace. The weather is not yet very +bad. Now that the continent is at peace, we may hope for it everywhere; +the English will be unable to face us. I shall see with pleasure the time +that will restore me to you. For two days a little trouble with the eyes +has been prevalent in the army. I have not yet been attacked. Good by, my +dear. I am fairly well, and very anxious to see you." December 3, there +was another letter, also from Austerlitz: "I have concluded an armistice, +and peace will be made within a week. I am anxious to hear that you have +reached Munich in good health. The Russians are going back after suffering +immense losses: more than twenty thousand killed and thirty thousand +captured; they have lost three-quarters of their army. Buxhövden, their +commander-in-chief, is killed. I have three thousand wounded and seven or +eight hundred killed. I have a little trouble with my eyes: an epidemic; +it amounts to nothing. Good by; I am anxious to see you once more. To- +night I sleep in Vienna." + +Cambacérès said that the news of the victory of Austerlitz filled the +populace with the wildest joy, which expressed itself in the most +extravagant flattery. The Emperor was treated like a god, and naturally a +sovereign so flattered did not control his love of war. It was only on his +deathbed that Louis XIV. said, "I have been overfond of war!" He said +nothing of the sort when the gates of Saint Martin and of Saint Denis were +built in his honor, when his statue was put up in the Place des Victoires, +when Lebrun painted the proud frescoes in the gallery at Versailles. Like +Louis XIV., Napoleon reproached himself with excessive love of war; but it +was not after Austerlitz, but after Waterloo. No man is worthy of +adoration; it belongs to God alone. Woe to the princes who are fed on +flattery! Extravagant laudation brings its punishment; even in this world +pride has its fall. + +The enthusiasm was universal; the victorious French could not contain +themselves for joy, and wholly lost their heads. Thus even Madame de +Rémusat, who, after the defeat, had shown herself so severe, one might +almost say so cruel, towards Napoleon, wrote thus to her husband, December +18, 1805, after the news of Austerlitz: "You cannot imagine how excited +every one is. Praise of the Emperor is on every one's lips; the most +recalcitrant are obliged to lay down their arms, and to say with the +Emperor of Russia, 'He is the man of destiny!' Day before yesterday I went +to the theatre with Princess Louis to hear the different bulletins read. +The crowd was enormous because the cannon in the morning had announced the +arrival of news; every thing was listened to, and then applauded with +cries such as I had never imagined. I wept copiously all the time. I was +so moved that I believe if the Emperor had been present, I should have +flung my arms about his neck, to beg for pardon afterwards at his feet. +After this I supped out: every one plied me with questions. I knew the +whole bulletin by heart, and kept repeating it; and was glad to be able to +tell the news to so many people, to repeat those simple impressive words, +with a feeling of owning them, which you can understand better than I can +define. I missed you much in all my joy, which I should have gladly shared +with you; but in your absence I tried to communicate my admiration to our +son. Instead of making him finish the life of Alexander, which he has been +reading for two days, it occurred to me to have him read aloud the +_Moniteur_, and he was so much pleased that he said he thought it all much +greater than Alexander." + +Alas! thoughtful people should never forget how much greater is virtue +than success. In this low world no one takes a lofty enough view of +things. Not after defeat, but after victory, is the time to speak of war +seriously and sadly. If Napoleon in the hour of triumph had not been +flattered to excess, if at the proper moment the lessons of history, +philosophy, and religion had been enforced upon him, he would not have +rushed blindly into the gulf that finally swallowed him. Nothing is less +humane, less Christian, than the extravagant praise lavished on the +conquerors of the earth. Laymen and priests are equally to blame, for the +flatterers of conquerors bear perhaps a heavier responsibility than the +conquerors themselves. In the ancient triumphs, at least there was a slave +charged with reminding the hero that he was but a man; in modern times, +there is nothing of the sort; the hero can imagine himself more than +mortal. Why does not the clergy, instead of intoning a _Te Deum_, take the +part of that slave? Is it well to forget that those nations who are most +modest in success are bravest and most resigned in misfortune? Those whose +heads are turned by prosperity cannot endure reverses. For society, as for +individuals, nothing is more baneful than outbursts of joy and pride. The +vaster a monarch's power, the greater his need to meditate on the +fickleness of fate; but the lessons of wisdom are never recalled till they +are useless; they are whispered into his ears only when they can but add a +sting to defeat. + + + + +XVI. + +THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCE EUGENE. + + +Both before and after the battle of Austerlitz a great part of Germany was +at Napoleon's feet. The Electors of Baden, Würtemberg, and Bavaria the +last two of whom were to become kings by the consent of the new +Charlemagne, testified an enthusiastic admiration for him, and were all to +profit by his victory. The petty princes who were about to enter the +Confederation of the Rhine were his humble vassals, and paid obsequious +court to his Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. de Talleyrand. The archives +of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have to be consulted for an exact +understanding of their servility and flattery. Moreover, the populace +itself shared the feelings of their princes. The Bavarians regarded +Napoleon as their liberator. French manners and ideas were more than ever +prevalent on the banks of the Rhine, and Germanic patriotism pardoned +France the possession of the left bank of this river. If Napoleon had not +abused fortune, what grand and pacific things might he not have +accomplished in concert with Germany, and what progress might not have +been made for the harmony of nations, for civilization and humanity! + +We quote a letter written before the battle of Austerlitz, November 26, +1805, by the Elector of Bavaria to M. de Talleyrand, then in Vienna: "You +are the most amiable of men, my dear Talleyrand. Your two letters which I +received last evening have given me the greatest pleasure. How grateful I +am that you should have thought of me and of Munich when you are in the +most beautiful city in Germany, and hearing every day the famous +Crescentini! I do as much for you, Your Excellency, but the merit is not +the same. Every evening I express my regret that you are not here. M. de +Canisy has announced the arrival of the Emperor in a week. Six days have +passed, and I am hoping to see him in three days at the outside, and the +Empress, Saturday next. My wife arrived day before yesterday, very +anxious, as is her chaste spouse, to pay our court to Their Imperial +Majesties, and to offer them all the honors of Munich. Lay me before the +feet of the hero to whom I owe my present and future existence, and speak +to him often of my respect, of my enthusiasm for his virtues, and of my +heartiest and incessant gratitude. I hope that the coalition will soon +grow tired of war; in any event, the lessons the Emperor has given it the +last two months are of a nature to inspire disgust with it." + +November 10, 1805, Napoleon had written to Josephine to leave Strassburg +for Munich, stopping at Carlsruhe and Stuttgart. In this letter he had +said: + +"Be pleasant, but receive all their homages; they owe you everything, and +you owe them nothing, except in the way of politeness." He was not +mistaken. This trip of the Empress's through Germany was to be one series +of festivities and ovations. Before she left Strassburg she received a +visit from the Elector of Baden, whose grandson, the hereditary prince, +was, the next year, to marry Mademoiselle Stéphanie de Beauharnais, in +spite of the opposition of his mother, the Margravine. M. Massias, chargé +d'affaires of France at Baden, wrote to M. de Talleyrand, November 13: "My +Lord, His Most Serene Highness the Elector, has returned with his family +from Strassburg, where he was most kindly received by Her Majesty the +Empress and Queen. He invited her to honor Carlsruhe with her presence, +and to accept quarters in his castle when she should go to join His +Majesty the Emperor and King. Her Majesty the Empress seemed pleased with +the invitation and promised to accept it if circumstances should permit. +Before his departure, the Elector sent the Prince Electoral to the +Margravine his mother, to beg her to come to Strassburg to pay her +respects to Her Majesty the Empress. She replied that when the Empress of +Austria was at Frankfort and the Queen of Prussia at Darmstadt, she had +not left Carlsruhe to visit them, and that if the Empress of the French +should pass through that town, she should gladly pay her all the respect +and honor due her rank and character." + +Charles Frederick, Elector of Baden, was then seventy-seven years old. He +had lost his son, and his heir was his grandson, Charles Frederick Louis, +Prince Electoral, then twenty years old. The mother of this young Prince, +the Margravine of Baden, entertained no friendly feelings towards France; +and he was the brother-in-law of the Emperor of Russia, who had married +his sister, and was at war with Napoleon. His other sister, Frederica +Caroline, had married the Elector of Bavaria, and he was betrothed to the +step-daughter of this Electress, the young Princess Augusta. They were +said to be much attached to each other, but their plans of happiness were +destined to be sacrificed to Napoleon's imperious will, for he proposed to +arrange the matches of the German Princes as he did those of his own +brothers. The Electoral Prince of Baden and the old Elector, his +grandfather, far from complaining, only showed to the Emperor most +unbounded devotion. + +We may judge of their attitude and their respect by this despatch of M. +Massias, chargé d'affaires at Carlsruhe, addressed to Talleyrand, under +date of November 23, 1805: "My Lord M. de Canisy reached here from +headquarters at four o'clock this morning, and asked me to inform His Most +Serene Highness the Elector that he had been sent by Her Majesty the +Empress, who meant to come to Carlsruhe within two or three days. I +promised to do this as soon as possible, and told him that great +preparations had been made to receive Her Majesty in a suitable manner. +The Elector, to whom I communicated this news at seven in the morning, +expressed the greatest satisfaction, and he has sent me word that in order +to carry out his desire to give Her Majesty a proper reception, he wishes +me to send a message to Strassburg to find out, 1, the exact day when she +will arrive; 2, the number of persons in her suite, and how many horses +she will need; 3, whether she desires to eat alone or with the principal +persons of her own and the Electoral court; 4, to ask to have at once sent +an official of the court to arrange the quarters and the ceremonies +according to the Empress's wishes. At Kehl, Her Majesty will find a +carriage and eight horses from the Elector's stables. Similar relays will +be placed as far as the frontiers of Würtemberg. Her Majesty will be +escorted by the Electoral cavalry. She herself will determine the +etiquette to be observed at the court of Carlsruhe during her entire stay. + +"His Most Serene Highness, the Prince Electoral, will go as far as Rastadt +to meet Her Majesty. The Margrave Louis will meet her outside of Carlsruhe +at the head of his body-guard. Bells will be rung wherever Her Majesty +passes. The city will be brilliantly illuminated." + +November 28, at six in the evening, the Empress formally entered +Carlsruhe, which was amid a general illumination. At the Mühburger gate +stood an arch of triumph under which she passed. In front of the arch was +this inscription: _Pro Imperatrice Josephina_; on the other, _Votiva +lumina ardent_. At the entrance of the castle gate stood a little temple +bearing this inscription: _Salve_. In the middle of the garden was a +larger temple, in which was to be seen on a pedestal the Emperor's bust, +crowned with laurels and surrounded with palms. The inscription ran: +_Maximis triumphis sacrum_,--"Consecrated to the greatest triumphs." On +two pyramids was to be read this motto: "Love leads to glory." November +29, there was a grand reception and concert in her honor at the court, At +nine o'clock in the morning of the 30th, she left Carlsruhe for Stuttgart, +after an affectionate farewell to the Electoral family. + +At seven that evening she made a similar formal entrance into the capital +of Würtemberg, passing under an arch of triumph bearing her name +surmounted by an Imperial crown. Soldiers lined the way from the gate to +the Elector's castle. The main street was decorated with Egyptian altars, +and was brilliantly illuminated, as was the castle also. The Elector, his +wife, a daughter of the King of England, and all the court received the +Empress at the castle door and escorted her to her rooms, where she +supped. The next day she sat on a platform at a state dinner in the white +hall. Afterwards the company went to the Opera House, where _Achilles_ was +given. After they had returned to the castle there were some fine +fireworks. These festivities continued until December 2, when _Romeo and +Juliet_ was given for the first time, and the 3d, at seven in the morning, +Josephine, after bidding the family farewell, pushed on towards Munich, +while the troops presented arms and cannon were fired. + +The Empress was not to stop between Stuttgart and Munich, but on her way +she saw many places that had just become famous in the war. As she drew +near them she looked at the plain where, a few days before, the enemy's +army had marched out before Napoleon and laid down its arms. From Augsburg +to Munich, everything made her journey most brilliant; arches of triumph, +bands of music so numerous that often their notes mingled with one +another, wreaths of leaves, successive guards of honor who joined her, +composed of the Royal Guard of Italy, at nearly every parting station. As +a letter in the _Moniteur_ says, "Enthusiasm succeeded to fear, the whirl +of festivities to the lamentation of battle; all that had been said of the +Empress's benevolence seemed still to make part of her suite, and it was +as if the Angel of Peace had come to visit these countries." + +The Empress reached Munich December 5, eight days after leaving +Strassburg. A salute of a hundred guns welcomed her. In almost every +street even houses were draped, windows adorned with transparent and +complimentary figures; the illuminations of private houses rivalled in +expense and splendor those of the public buildings. State carriages were +sent out to the city gates for the Empress and her suite, but Josephine +did not get into any of them; she kept on her travelling dress. This did +not mar the brilliancy of the entrance, which was conspicuous for +universal joy. December 7, she went to the theatre, where Mozart's _Don +Juan_ was given, and she was greeted with sound of trumpets and the +applause of the audience. + +The Empress had scarcely reached Munich before people began to talk about +an early marriage between her son, Eugene de Beauharnais, and the Princess +Augusta, the daughter of the Elector, but it was still merely a faint +rumor. The French minister, M. Otto, wrote December 16, 1805, the +following despatch on the subject to M. de Talleyrand: "My Lord,-- +Immediately after the arrival of Her Majesty the Empress, the rumor spread +that His Most Serene Highness Prince Eugene was likewise on his way to +Munich, there to conclude a marriage with Princess Augusta of Bavaria. The +rumor has taken such shape in the last few days that a foreign lady, who +has been most kindly received by the Electoral family, ventured to ask the +Elector if she might congratulate him on so desirable a marriage. This +Prince replied that he knew nothing about it; that his daughter was +promised to the Prince of Baden; that the two young people had the +strongest attachment for each other; and that only day before yesterday +the Electress had received from Baden a most affectionate letter on the +subject; and that he loved his daughter too much to wish to oppose her +inclinations. This is the first time that mention has been made at court +of a matter which the public supposed settled quite differently. The +Electress was present at this conversation, and corroborated everything +that was said concerning her brother's attachment to the Princess. This +anecdote, which comes to me straight from the castle, proves that the +Baden marriage is not broken, as has been said at Carlsruhe, unless the +Elector wished to conceal the truth from the lady who questioned him on +this subject. Inquisitive people have tried to make out the true state of +things by watching the conduct of Her Majesty the Empress and the persons +of her suite. The relations of the two courts are confined to politeness +on each side, to social attentions, in which Her Majesty exhibits all her +natural amiability, which wins every heart. Beyond that, there prevails +the greatest reserve." + +Maximilian Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, was born in 1756, and was then +fifty years old. He had lost his first wife, who had borne him one +daughter, the Princess Augusta Louisa, who was born in 1788. His second +wife, Caroline, a Princess of Baden, sister of the hereditary Prince of +Baden, to whom the Princess Augusta was betrothed, was then thirty years +old. Though not handsome, she was not devoid of charm, her figure was +good, her manners were amiable and dignified. The young Princess Augusta +was the ornament of the Munich court. She had all the freshness, +brilliancy, and charm of a young German girl of eighteen. As for the +Elector, he was an attractive, sympathetic man, who combined frank +joviality with tact, wit, and delicacy. He was tall; his face was noble +and regular. He liked the French, and they liked him; it was in France +that he had spent many years of his youth. As a younger prince of the +house of Deux Ponts he became Elector only by the extinction of the branch +of his family that reigned in Bavaria, In his early life he had no +fortune. In the reign of Louis XVI. he served in the French armies, +commanding the regiment of Alsace. At the court of Versailles, as in the +garrison at Strassburg, he had left behind him a reputation of good +manners and chivalrous gallantry. His soldiers, who adored him, called him +Prince Max. At that time he might have married a daughter of the Prince of +Condé, but his father and his uncle objected to this match, because, since +he was not rich, he would doubtless have been compelled to make some of +his daughters canonesses, and certain chapters would have been unwilling +to receive them on account of their illegitimate descent from Louis XIV. +and Madame de Montespan. He was fond of recalling the last years of the +old régime in France, and spoke most affectionately of that country, in +which he had been very happy. He was worshipped by his family, his +servants, and his subjects. There was never a kinder, more amiable prince. +Often he would stroll unaccompanied through the streets of Munich, going +to the markets, bargain over grain, enter the shops, talking to every one, +especially to the children, whom he urged to go to their schools. He was +at once familiar and full of dignity, and he was as much respected as +loved. There were many points of resemblance between his character and +that of the Empress Josephine, and they had a very strong sympathy for +each other. + +The Empress was ailing during a good part of her stay in Munich, and +whether for this reason or because Napoleon, who was always moving from +place to place, did not get his letters regularly, he was for some time +without news from his wife. He wrote to her from Brunn, December 10, 1805: +"It is a long time since I have heard from you. Have the grand festivities +of Baden, Stuttgart, and Munich made you forget the poor soldier who lives +covered with mud, rain, and blood? I am going to leave soon for Vienna. +They are trying to make peace. The Russians have left and are fleeing far +from here, going back to Russia badly beaten and sorely humiliated. I am +anxious to be with you once more. Good by, my dear; my eyes are well +again." + +Napoleon wrote again December 19, renewing his complaint: "Great Empress, +not a letter from you since I left Strassburg. You have passed through +Baden, Stuttgart, Munich, without writing us a word. That is not very kind +or very affectionate! I am still at Brunn. The Russians are gone; we have +a truce. In a few days I shall see what is to become of me. Deign from the +giddy height of your grandeur to interest yourself a little in your +slaves." + +From Schönbrunn he wrote to Josephine, December 20, 1805 (29th Frimaire, +Year XIV.): "I have your letter of the 25th [Frimaire]. I am sorry to hear +that you are not well; that is not a good preparation for a journey of a +hundred leagues at this time of year. I don't know what I shall do; that +depends on what happens. I have no will of my own; I am waiting to see how +matters settle themselves. Stay at Munich, amuse yourself; that is not +hard, amid so many pleasant people, in such a charming country. I am +tolerably busy. In a few days I shall have made up my mind. Good by, my +dear." + +December 26, peace was signed at Pressburg between France and Austria. The +treaty gave to the Kingdom of Italy, Istria, Dalmatia, and Friuli; to the +Elector of Würtemberg, the title of King and the Suabian territory; to the +Elector of Baden, the Breisgau, Ortenau, and the town of Constanz; to the +Elector of Bavaria, the title of King, the Vorarlburg, and the Tyrol. But +Napoleon had determined that these indemnifications should be paid for by +three marriages,--that of his step-son, Prince Eugene, with the daughter +of the King of Bavaria; that of a relative of his wife, Mademoiselle +Stéphanie de Beauharnais, with the hereditary Prince of Baden; that of his +brother Jerome with the daughter of the King of Würtemberg. + +Napoleon, accompanied by Murat, entered Munich beneath an arch of triumph, +December 31, 1805, at a quarter to two in the morning. This entrance in +the night, lit up by torches, was very impressive. The next day, January +1, 1806, a herald-at-arms, escorted by numerous horsemen, passed through +the different quarters of the city, and read the following proclamation, +after a flourish of drums and trumpets, while an immense crowd gathering +in every street and crossway loudly applauded: "By the grace of God, the +dignity of the sovereign of Bavaria having recovered its old-time +splendor, and this State having resumed the rank it formerly held for the +happiness of its subjects and the glory of the country, be it known that +His Most Serene Highness the powerful Prince and Lord Maximilian Joseph +is, by these presents, solemnly proclaimed King of Bavaria and of all the +countries on it dependent. Long live and happily Maximilian Joseph, our +very gracious King! Long live, and happily, Caroline, our very gracious +Queen!" That evening the whole city was full of joy, and the next day was +celebrated as a national festivity. + +Napoleon, having recaptured the twenty-nine cannon and the twenty-one +Bavarian flags that had fallen into the hands of the Austrians by the +chances of war and the occupation of the country, had decided to restore +to his faithful allies the trophies which they had valiantly defended and +whose loss they mourned. In the morning of January 2, all citizen soldiery +was under arms, lining the streets through which was to pass the +procession and their precious burden. The cannon were placed on carts +adorned with festoons and garlands, each cart was drawn by two horses +belonging to the citizens; the houses were also decorated with different +colored ribbons. All the young people in the city accompanied these carts. +The students of the Royal College of Cadets carried the flags. When the +procession reached the grand square, a large chorus, accompanied by a +large band, sang a song of thanksgiving and victory. The populace and the +soldiers mingled their cheers with this song. The procession then made its +way to the Church of Our Lady, where a _Te Deum_ was sung with great +solemnity. + +January 4, Napoleon wrote to Prince Eugene: "My Cousin,--Within twelve +hours at the most, after the receipt of this letter, you will start with +all speed for Munich. Try to get here as soon as possible, so that you may +be sure to see me. Leave your command in the hands of the general of +division whom you judge to be most capable and upright. You need not bring +a large suite. Start at once, and _incognito_, and so avoid both dangers +and delays. Send me a messenger to give me twenty-four hours' notice of +your arrival." The Emperor had decreed the marriage of his step-son with +Princess Augusta of Bavaria, but he had to go through certain formalities +to overcome the objections of the Queen of Bavaria, who wanted her +brother, the hereditary Prince of Baden, to marry the young Princess. Her +family pride and her inmost feelings revolted against the admission into +her family of a young man whom she looked on as an upstart. She sought for +pretexts and devices to delay, if not to prevent, this alliance. No one +would have dared to say at Munich that the Emperor's step-son was not +great enough to marry a king's daughter, but she found fictitious excuses: +it was said that the young Princess was ailing, and at another time that +she was suffering from a sprain. Napoleon, who sometimes played the +diplomatist, feigned to believe in these alleged ailments, and said that +he would send his own surgeon to heal her. He would gladly have returned +speedily to Paris, where he deemed that his presence was necessary, but +his Chamberlain, M. de Thiard, whom his previous negotiations had made +familiar with the secrets of the Bavarian court, advised him to stay in +Munich until the marriage was absolutely settled. "Very well," said the +Emperor; "but do you know that while I am here, your Faubourg Saint +Germain is making a run on my bank, and that my stay in Munich costs me +fifteen hundred thousand francs a day?" M. de Thiard insisted, and dared +to show Napoleon the Queen of Bavaria's ever-present recollection of the +Duke of Enghien, which was the secret cause of her aversion to the +projected alliance. But this opposition could hold out for only a few +hours; no one then dared to brave the Imperial wrath. The Queen, fearing +that Napoleon's surgeon would discover that the Princess's alleged +sufferings were only an excuse, yielded to the wishes of the hero of +Austerlitz. The marriage was announced even before the couple had met. +Everything was done in military fashion. Orders were issued that they +should love, and they loved. + +There is this to be said in behalf of Napoleon; that in the whole matter +he made no use of harsh words or rough manners. He appeared in an +attractive, not in a threatening light, and by dint of appearing smitten +with the Queen of Bavaria, even aroused Josephine's jealousy. + +Prince Eugene arrived, as commanded, January 10. He had the good fortune +to please; but even if he had not pleased it would have made no +difference. As soon as he reached Munich, after travelling day and night, +the Emperor took possession of him and never left him. The Empress was +still in bed when her son's arrival was announced. She was much moved, and +began to cry at the thought that his first visit was not to her. A moment +later, while she was still agitated, she saw the Emperor burst into her +room, holding the young Prince by the hand, and pushing him forward as he +exclaimed: "Here, Madame, is your great booby of a son whom I'm bringing +to you." Josephine burst into tears, and pressed her son to her heart. + +Eugene de Beauharnais, a French Prince, and Viceroy of Italy, was then +twenty-four years old. Mademoiselle Avrillon, reader to the Empress, thus +draws his portrait: "Prince Eugene's face, although in no way remarkable, +was rather well than ill favored; he was of medium height, well +proportioned, and stoutly made. He excelled in all sorts of corporeal +exercises, and was an accomplished dancer. Kind, frank, simple in his +manners, without haughtiness or reserve, he was courteous to every one; +and although he was not devoid of deep feelings, his most striking trait +was persistent good spirits. He was very fond of music, and sang very +well, especially Italian songs, which all his family preferred. As he was +young, he naturally paid many women attention, as I have often seen, but +he always treated them with great respect." Napoleon was very fond of him, +and looked upon him as his pupil, as his own child. He was delighted with +the way Eugene discharged his duties as Viceroy, and when he received his +despatches he exclaimed in the presence of several marshals, "I knew very +well to whom I had entrusted my sword in Italy." He often gratified +Josephine by saying, "Eugene may serve as a model to all the young men of +his age." + +The young Prince showed great tact and intelligence in his first meetings +with his future wife. He sought every means of pleasing her, paid her +assiduous court, as if their marriage was still undetermined. He was able +to overcome the Princess's prejudices, for she had given her consent only +at the last moment, as a victim sacrificed for reasons of state. Her +father, the King, dreading the excitement of an interview, had written to +her a letter, in which he set out all the advantages of the match desired +by the Emperor, vaunted the good qualities of the young and dashing +Viceroy of Italy, an to prove that it was a brilliant match, revealed to +her what was then unknown, that at Pressburg the Austrian Minister had +offered to Napoleon for his step-son the hand of one of their +Archduchesses. "Consider, dear Augusta, that a refusal would make the +Emperor as much the enemy as he has been hitherto the friend of our +house." And he ended his letter with a last appeal to his daughter's +patriotic devotion. The young Princess replied by writing: "I place my +fate in your hands; however cruel it may be, it will be softened by the +knowledge that I am sacrificed for my father, my family, and my country. +On her knees your daughter prays for your blessing; it will aid me to bear +my sad lot with resignation." The girl's unhappiness soon gave way to joy. +The Empress had spoken to her most warmly of Eugene's qualities, his +bravery, loyalty, and gallantry, and the Princess found out that Josephine +was right. She forgot her cousin, the Prince of Baden, fell +instantaneously in love with Eugene, and this marriage for reasons of +state turned out to be a love match. It was celebrated with great pomp in +the Royal Chapel, January 14, four days after the bridegroom's arrival at +Munich. The Emperor adopted Prince Eugene, and gave in the marriage +contract the name of Napoleon Eugene of France. This adoption wrought a +great change in their correspondence; previously the Emperor when he wrote +to the Viceroy addressed him as, "My Cousin"; henceforth he always wrote, +"My Son." Madame Murat, who was then at Munich, was pained to see that the +new Vice-Queen, as wife of the Emperor's adopted son, took precedence of +her at all ceremonies, and she feigned an illness to avoid what seemed to +her an affront. + +On her wedding day the Princess charmed every one by her grace. She was +tall, well shaped, with the figure of a nymph, and a face in which +sweetness was blended with dignity. Moreover, she was very well educated, +was pious and modest, and the possessor of all the family virtues. In +short, she was a model wife and mother. She wrote to the Emperor a letter +of thanks that touched him. He answered it, January 27: "My Daughter,-- +Your letter is as amiable as you are yourself. My feelings for you will +only grow from day to day; this I know from my pleasure in recalling your +fine qualities, and from the need I feel for your frequent assurance that +you are satisfied with every one and happy with your husband. Amid all I +have to do, nothing will be dearer to me than the chance to assure my +children's happiness. Be sure, Augusta, that I love you like a father, and +that I count on a daughter's affection for me. Travel slowly, and be +careful in the new climate when you get there, and take plenty of rest." + +January 21, Prince Eugene left Munich with his young wife for Milan. The +next day M. Otto, the French Minister, wrote to M. de Talleyrand: "His +Imperial Highness Prince Eugene left yesterday morning with his young +wife. The King escorted them to their carriage with every indication of +affection. It was noticed that in taking leave of the Prince he embraced +him several times. The separation cost the Princess some tears. Their +departure was announced by firing a hundred guns. The best wishes of all +good Bavarians accompanied the pair. The stay of the French court at +Munich has left the deepest and most lasting impression. The Emperor's +greatness and power were known, but the effect of his extreme kindness and +magnificence had to be seen at a closer view to be appreciated. I feel +able to assure His Majesty that the Bavarian nation will always be his +faithful and devoted allies. So many happy memories are attached to this +period of our history that His Majesty can flatter himself that he has +accomplished the most difficult of all conquests,--that of the love of the +people who have witnessed his successes." + +While the Viceroy and Vice-Queen of Italy were proceeding towards Milan, +the Emperor and the Empress were on their way to France, stopping at +Stuttgart and Carlsruhe, where they were warmly greeted. January 20, 1806, +they found an arch of triumph built on a Roman model at Entzberg, in +Baden. It bore this inscription: _Imperatori Napoleoni triumphatori +augusto_. The bas-relief represented the capture of Ulm and the delivery +of the keys of Vienna. Columns and obelisks had been erected at Carlsruhe +with these inscriptions: _Hostium victori.--Patriam servavit.--Pacem +restituit_. In front of the castle had been built a temple of Peace. At +the French frontier stood an arch of triumph with this inscription: _Heroi +reduci Galliae plaudunt_,--"Gaul applauds the returning hero." The bas- +reliefs represented the battle of Austerlitz and the interview between the +two Emperors. In the night of January 26, Napoleon and Josephine were back +at the Tuileries. Prince Eugene's marriage put a happy ending to the +campaign just finished. To create a king and to give to his step-son the +hand of this king's daughter was a stroke of imagination on Napoleon's +part that did honor to his omnipotence. The accounts of the triumphal +festivities in Munich, Stuttgart, and Carlsruhe followed close upon the +bulletins announcing the victories of the Grand Army, and produced a great +impression in both Germany and France. + + + + +XVII. + +PARIS IN THE BEGINNING OF 1806. + + +Napoleon arranged his return with the utmost skill. His prolonged stay at +Munich kept alive the impatience of the Parisians for his return, and +meanwhile there was a constant stream of flattery and enthusiasm. January +1, 1806, had just put an end to the Republican calendar, which had existed +for thirteen years, three months, and a few days. The Year XIV. found +itself suddenly interrupted by the return to the Gregorian calendar. Thus +vanished the last trace of the Republic. The same day the new year was +inaugurated with a patriotic ceremony. The Tribune carried with great +solemnity to the Senate the forty-four Russian and Austrian flags which +the hero of Austerlitz had entrusted to its care. All the houses in the +streets through which the procession was to pass were decorated. In front +of many of them were to be seen the Emperor's bust crowned with laurels. +The ever lyrical _Moniteur_ said: "At the sight of these noble spoils, +these startling proofs of the heroism of the French army, all hearts +seemed to meet in a common feeling of admiration and gratitude which was +but faintly expressed by the shouts issuing from the crowd and from every +window, of 'Long live the Emperor!' 'Hurrah for the Grand Army!' 'Victory, +victory!' 'Long live the Emperor!' It was in this way that the people of +Paris, of all classes, of both sexes, of all ages, manifested in the most +vivid and unanimous way their devotion and gratitude to His Majesty and +his victorious armies." + +One Tribune, M. Joubert, exclaimed: "Is not Napoleon the man of history, +the man of all ages? May we not say that there is something supernatural +in him, since it is true that God disposes of the fate of empires, and +that Napoleon the Great gladly submits everything to Providence and +ascribes everything to religion?" In their official enthusiasm the +Tribunes, as accomplished courtiers, made one motion after another. One +proposed that the Emperor on his return should receive triumphal honors, +like those of ancient Rome, and the city of Paris should go to meet him. +Another suggested that the sword which he wore at the battle of Austerlitz +should be solemnly consecrated and placed in some public monument. Another +expressed a desire that on one of the principal places in the city a +column should be set up, bearing the Emperor's statue, with this +inscription: "To Napoleon the Great, the grateful country." The Senate, +with similar zeal, hastened to carry out the plan by a decree. + +The Parisians, who always worship success of monarches, generals, or +artists, then felt the wildest admiration for the victorious Napoleon. The +_Moniteur_ was full of dithyrambic eulogies, in prose and verse. Flattery +appeared as it had never appeared before. Bishops became conspicuous for +their ardent praise; some phrases from their charges may be quoted. Thus +the Bishop of Versailles said: "God says: 'No one shall resist him, whom I +have clothed with a special mission to re-establish my worship, to lead my +chosen people; no one will resist him because I am with him, and he is +with me. _Dem cum eo_.'" + +The Bishop of Bayonne; "Behold our enemies ones more defeated. Let +incredulity be silent and the atheist confounded. Our annals will be the +story of the wonders of Providence... Widows, cease to bemoan the loss of +a loved husband; you are not left alone; you belong to the country. +Orphans, you have found another father; Napoleon has adopted you." + +The Bishop of Rennes: "Did not those kings know, or did they forget in +their delirium, that the French nation is now the first nation in the +world? Did they not know that the man who governs it is the most +astounding man in the world, and the greatest warrior history has ever +known?" + +The Bishop of Coutances: "The Almighty wishes Napoleon to attain this new +glory and hence impresses upon him a sort of divine character. He wishes +him to attain it on the day and at the same hour that the Sovereign +Pontiff, one year ago, poured on his brow the holy oil." + +The Bishop of Montpellier: "Let the earth be shaken, and the mountains +cast into the bosom of the seas; our God blesses the views, the wisdom, +the talents, and the courage of our august monarch." + +The Emperor, in dividing the flags which he had captured from Russia and +Austria, had given fifty-four to the Senate, eight to the Tribunes, eight +to the city of Paris, and fifty to the church of Notre Dame, which he +wished to adorn with his trophies as the Marshal of Luxembourg had done in +the reign of Louis XIV. The day when these fifty flags were given to the +Cathedral the Cardinal Archbishop of France said, "O Posterity, when you +read our history you will imagine that you are reading anew the fall of +the walls of Jericho, and listening to the miraculous deeds of Joshua, +David, and Judas Maccabaeus. _Benedictus Dominus qui facit mirabilia +solus_.... God of Marengo, you declare yourself the God of Austerlitz; and +the German eagle, the Russian eagle, abandoned by you, became the prey of +the French eagle, which you never cease to protect." A singular piece of +flattery this, to call the Creator of the universe--of which this earth is +not a millionth part--the God of a village, because near this village a +man has wrought the death of many other men! + +Paris seemed to have recovered its ardor of the first days of the +Revolution in order to salute the triumphant hero. The day of his arrival, +January 27, 1806, the managers of the bank, anxious that his presence +should be the signal for public prosperity, ordered the resumption of +specie payments. The Opera celebrated his return and that of the Empress +by a grand performance which took place February 4. The bills announced +the _Prétendus_ and a divertisement, The public knew that this +divertisement was to be a sort of apotheosis in honor of the Imperial +glories. The house was crowded, and the passages themselves were crammed +by the enthusiastic crowd. During the second act of the _Prétendus_ there +was great excitement over the arrival of Napoleon and Josephine. Applause +resounded from every side. Ladies distributed laurel branches, which all +the spectators waved, shouting, "Long live the Emperor!" Musicians played +the chorus of the _Caravan_. Meanwhile, the scenery of the _Prétendus_ +disappeared, and applause began over the magnificent decorations that took +its place. It was a semicircular enclosure with trophies forming a +colonnade showing the course of the Seine from the Pont Neuf to the +western limit of Paris, showing the Louvre, which Napoleon had promised to +complete, the Pont des Arts, the Palais de la Monnaie, the Tuileries, and +in the misty distance the Champs Elysées overlooking this fine view. The +interior of the enclosure was adorned with garlands and crowded with +people, awaiting the return of the Grand Army. This appeared with a +military march: the sappers in front with their axes and white aprons; the +grenadiers of the Guard with their high fur caps; the artillerymen with +their black caps; the dragoons with their double armor; the Mamelukes with +their scimetars. Then came the Bavarians, worthy comrades of Napoleon's +soldiers. The people applauded their defenders. Pupils of the military +schools sprang into the ranks to welcome their fathers, while old men +embraced their children. A general chorus was heard. Then a warrior came +to the front of the stage and celebrated in a hymn the marvels of the +campaign of Austerlitz. This was followed by a ballet of foreign nations, +in which joined French peasants and girls in the dress of their provinces, +from Caux and Alsace, Provence, Béarn, Auvergne, and the Alps. After the +dances came songs,--the words by Esménard, author of the _Navigation_, the +music by Stobelt. The marches, evolutions, and ballet were arranged by +Gardel. The principal stanzas were sung by the most distinguished artists, +Lainez, Laïs, Madame Armand, Madame Branchu. When it was all over, the +Emperor and the Empress withdrew amid applause, and there was sung the +_Vivat_ of Abbé Rose which had made such a success at Notre Dame on +Coronation Day, and was as warmly applauded at the Opera as it had been in +the Cathedral. + + + + +XVIII. + +THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF BADEN. + + +If anything is capable of proving the admiration, terror, and fascination +that the hero of Austerlitz exercised over Europe, and especially over +Germany, in 1806, it is certainly the marriage of the hereditary Prince of +Baden with Mademoiselle Stéphanie de Beauharnais. It was a curious sight! +A Prince belonging to one of the oldest and most illustrious families in +the world, whose three sisters had married, one, the Emperor of Russia; +another, the King of Sweden; the third, the King of Bavaria; a Prince who +might have allied himself with the oldest reigning houses had come to +regard as an honor a marriage with, the plain daughter of a French +senator,--a girl not united by any ties of blood with Napoleon, but only +by adoption; that is to say, by a whim. One might have supposed that the +Empire of the new Charlemagne was centuries old, and the German Princes +bowed before it like devoted vassals before their suzerain. What a vast +power he had attained, and how easily he could have kept it, if he had +limited his ambition, and put bounds to his power, and had not asked of +docile Germany more than it could give him! + +The marriage of Mademoiselle Stéphanie de Beauharnais with the hereditary +Prince of Baden was at first warmly opposed by the Margravine, this +Prince's mother. M. Massias, French chargé d'affaires at Baden, had +written on this matter to M. de Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, +January 6, 1806: "My Lord,--For some days there has been a rumor quietly +circulating among the principal persons of the court of Carlsruhe that the +object of M. de Thiard's last journey was to arrange the marriage of the +Electoral Prince of Baden with the daughter of Senator Beauharnais. Last +evening arrived a messenger from the Electress of Bavaria for the +Margravine, the mother of this Prince. I have learned by chance the +contents of this missive to his mother. She says substantially that she +has had a talk of more than an hour with the Emperor Napoleon; that His +Majesty promised that the marriage of the Electoral Prince of Baden with +Mademoiselle Beauharnais should never take place without the consent of +the Margravine; and in case of her refusal of this consent, he would only +reserve to himself the right of being consulted on the choice of the wife +to be given to this young Prince.... The Electoral Prince called on his +mother after she had received this despatch, and was with her alone for +two hours; he came away in great dejection. When he got to his +grandfather's, he exclaimed, involuntarily, 'That woman is lost; she wants +to ruin herself!'" + +The chargé d'affaires ended his letter with this sketch of the Margravine: +"I have known the Margravine for six years, and I think I can say that if +she judges the match in question opposed to the pride inspired by the +first ideas of her education, no persuasion can move her. She possesses to +a very marked degree the confident obstinacy of feeble and timid spirits. +She does not dare to dismiss an incompetent footman; and when she has once +made up her mind, which is only possible in matters about which her +opinions are rigidly formed, neither force nor persuasion can modify her. +That is my reading of her character, and I think it the true one." + +The more the Margravine opposed this match which the Emperor had +suggested, the more the young Prince of Baden and his grandfather, the +Elector, desired it. M. Massias wrote again to M. de Talleyrand, January +9, 1806: "His Most Serene Highness, the Prince Electoral of Baden, is to +leave tomorrow for Ulm and Augsburg, to invite, in his grandfather's name, +His Majesty the Emperor and King to honor Carlsruhe with his presence, and +to stay at the castle on his way back to France. But, he tells me himself, +the main object of his journey is to convince His Majesty that the +marriage of which I had the honor to speak to Your Excellency in my last +letter, is far from opposing his desires; and he hopes to dissipate +without difficulty the doubts which it has been sought to raise regarding +this in the mind of His Majesty, for whom he always manifested a profound +devotion and a sincere attachment." + +What was the origin of this young girl whose hand was thus sought by the +hereditary Prince of Baden? The Marquis of Beauharnais, the father of the +Viscount of Beauharnais, the first husband of the Empress Josephine, had a +brother, Count Claude de Beauharnais, who was a commodore, and married +Mademoiselle Fanny Mouchard. Countess Fanny, a friend of Dorat and +Cubières, took much interest in literature and wrote many novels. She was +a blue-stocking, and it was about her that Lebrun wrote the malicious +epigram:-- + + "Eglé, fair and a poetess, has then two slight faults: + She makes her face and does not make her verses." + +By her marriage with Count Claude de Beauharnais, the Countess Fanny (born +in 1738, died in 1813) had one son, named Claude after his father, who +married the daughter of the Count of Lezay-Marnésia. They had a daughter, +Stéphanie de Beauharnais, born August 28, 1789, who was adopted by +Napoleon, married the hereditary Prince of Baden, became the grandduchess +of this country, and died in 1860, much loved by her family and the people +of Baden. Her father, Claude de Beauharnais, was a senator in the Empire, +a peer of France at the Restoration, and died in 1819. + +During the childhood of Mademoiselle Stéphanie de Beauharnais no one would +have predicted the lofty destiny that awaited her. Her father, having lost +his wife, entrusted her to a pious old aunt, who lived at Montauban, and +there she remained in obscurity until it occurred to her uncle, M. de +Lezay-Marnésia, to take her to Paris, and present her to the wife of the +First Consul. Josephine, her cousin once removed, thought her pretty and +bright, became very fond of her, and sent her to finish her education at +Madame Campan's boarding-school at Saint Germain. Madame Campan wrote to +Madame Louis about her young pupil as follows: "I am certainly surprised +at the way Mademoiselle Stéphanie has turned out since she returned from +Saint Leu. She may become a very charming woman, but not if she stays at +Saint Cloud. Royal palaces have never been good schools; pleasures, the +taste for excitement and flattery, corrupt not merely those who are young, +but even those who go there already matured, unless they are protected by +the highest principles. If you have the power, do try to let me keep +Stéphanie until she marries; you will thereby render her a great service, +and to me, too; for the result will condemn me in the eyes of the Emperor, +who will say, with a sharp glance, 'That's very bad'; and will not have +time to ascertain the real reason. I can assure you that in a year she +will be very charming, if I can only keep my hand on her." + +In the letter Madame Campan thus describes her pupil's character: "It is a +curious compound of ease at learning, self-love, emulation, idleness, +amiability, clear-mindedness, levity, haughtiness, and piety. There are a +good many qualities to dispose of, and on this proper arrangement depends +her happiness or unhappiness, and my success or failure." In personal +appearance Mademoiselle de Beauharnais was very charming; she had a good +figure, an expressive countenance, a brilliant complexion, bright blue +eyes, light hair, and an agreeable voice. Moreover, her manners were good, +she had keen mother wit, much gaiety and enthusiasm, and was, in short, a +very attractive young person. + +The Emperor had a sort of infatuation for her, and treated her with +exceptional kindness that did not fail to excite comment. Although her +father was still living, he decided to adopt her, and this was thought a +singular thing to do. The young Stéphanie became an Imperial Highness and +took precedence of the Emperor's sisters, while her father was merely one +of the herd of senators. In the decree of March 3, 1806, it was said: "Our +intention being that our daughter the Princess Stéphanie Napoleon, shall +enjoy all the prerogatives due to her rank; at receptions, festivities, +and at table she shall sit at our side, and in our absence she shall take +her place at the right of Her Majesty the Empress." Josephine possibly +thought that her young relative was a little too well treated by the +Emperor, and that his feelings for her were not wholly paternal. Evil +tongues asserted that Napoleon was in love with his adopted daughter, but +in spite of those malicious insinuations, no serious charge can be brought +against her innocence. Her betrothed, the Prince of Baden, was madly in +love with her, and showed by his conduct that it was he who was making a +fine marriage. Mademoiselle de Beauharnais from the moment that she +assumed the name of Napoleon imagined that nothing was too good for her. +It was only by condescension that she married the son of an elector, for +she was never tired of saying, to her adopted father's great delight, that +an emperor's daughter could marry either a king or a king's son. + +The marriage was celebrated with great pomp in the chapel of the Palace of +the Tuileries, April 8, 1806, at eight in the evening. The witnesses for +the bridegroom were the Crown Prince of Bavaria, Baron de Gueusau, and M. +de Dalberg; those of the bride were M. de Talleyrand, M. de Champagny, and +M. de Ségur. The procession went from the grand apartments to the chapel +in the following order: the Empress, preceded by the officers of the +Princesses, accompanied by the Prince of Baden, the Princesses, and the +Crown Prince of Bavaria, and followed by the ladies of her household and +of those of the Princesses; the Emperor, conducting the bride, and +preceded by the officers of the Princes, his own officers, the Grand +Dignitaries of the Empire, the Ministers, the High Officers of the Crown, +and followed by the colonel-general of the guard on duty. At the chapel +door the clergy received Napoleon and Josephine beneath a canopy, and they +took their places on two small thrones in front of the altar, while the +Prince of Baden and the bride took their places on two stools at the foot +of its steps. The ceremony began with the blessing of thirteen pieces of +gold which the Cardinal Caprara, Legate _a latere_, gave to the Prince of +Baden, who presented them to his bride. The Cardinal gave them the nuptial +blessing. Meanwhile Monsignor Charier-Lavoche, Bishop of Versailles, the +Emperor's First Almoner, and Monsignor de Broglie, Bishop of Acqui, his +Almoner in Ordinary, were holding a canopy of silver brocade over the head +of the kneeling Prince and Princess. These two prelates wore a camail and +rochet. Cardinal Caprara and his assistant, Monsignor de Rohan, the +Empress's Almoner, wore the golden cape. + +During the ceremony, which lasted about an hour, the front of the +Tuileries and the garden were illuminated. At nine o'clock there were +fireworks on the Place de la Concorde, which the Emperor and Empress +watched from the balcony of the Hall of the Marshals. As they appeared on +the balcony with the young people, they were greeted with warm applause +from the dense crowd in the garden. The Empress, who was clad in a dress +embroidered with gold, wore on her head, besides the Imperial crown, a +million francs' worth of pearls. Princess Stéphanie was charming in her +white tulle dress, with silver stars, trimmed with orange flowers, and her +diamond frontlet. After the fireworks came a concert and ballet in the +Hall of the Marshals. But little attention was paid to the concert, +although silence prevailed; the ballet, which was rendered by the best +dancers from the Opera, was very successful. Then the company went to the +Gallery of Diana, where tables had been set for two hundred ladies, and a +magnificent supper was served. The grace and distinction of the bride +aroused general admiration. Her father, Senator Beauharnais, kept silence +and wept for joy. + +Never had the court been more dazzling with its glittering uniforms, +gorgeous dresses, and sumptuous pomp. The Emperor in his gala dress, the +Empress in her Imperial splendor, the Princesses vying in luxury, the new +Queen of Naples staggering under her load of precious stones, the Princess +Louis covered with turquoises set in diamonds. Princess Caroline Murat +decked with a thousand rubies, Princess Pauline with all the Borghese +diamonds besides her own, the ambassadors, grand dignitaries, marshals, +generals, with their coats covered with gold and decorations, the +chamberlains in red, the master of ceremonies in violet, the masters of +the hounds in green, the equerries in blue, all the ladies in dresses with +long trains; the two fashionable women, Madame Maret and Madame Savary, +who each spent fifty thousand francs a year in dress; Madame de Canisy, +tall, black-haired, bright-eyed, with her aquiline nose and her impressive +air; Madame Lannes, with her gentle face like one of Raphael's Madonnas; +Madame Duchâtel, fair, with blue eyes; and that proud duchess of the +Faubourg Saint Germain, a lady of the palace in spite of herself, the +Duchess of Chevreuse, who, if not the most beautiful woman there, had +perhaps the grandest air. It was a most animated festivity, with its +flowers, lights, and splendor. The Hall of the Marshals was radiant with +its military portraits, its chandeliers, and air of triumph.... Now +consider the ruins of this palace of Caesar, this Olympus of Jupiter, this +sanctuary of glory, majesty, and dominion. See and reflect! Nothing is +left of all that pomp and grandeur! The proudest buildings have vanished! +Such is the end of human splendor! + + + + +XIX. + +THE NEW QUEEN OF HOLLAND. + + +At the beginning of 1804, Napoleon regarded himself the absolute master of +fortune. His twofold title of Emperor of the French and King of Italy no +longer sufficed him; he yearned for that of Emperor of the West. He +created kings, grand dukes, sovereign princes. He made his brother Joseph +King of the Two Sicilies; his brother-in-law Murat Grand Duke of Berg and +Cleves; his sister Pauline Princess of Guastalla; he conferred the +principality of Massa upon his sister Elisa, who was already in possession +of the Duchy of Lucca; his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Talleyrand, became +Prince of Benevento; his Major-General, Berthier, Prince of Neufchâtel; +and his brother Joseph's brother-in-law, Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte +Corvo. He also elevated members of his wife's family as well as of his own +to high positions. Josephine's son was Viceroy and son-in-law of a king. +Josephine's daughter was about to become a queen. + +France, which, fourteen years before, had wanted to convert every monarchy +into a republic, was now endeavoring to turn the oldest republics into +monarchies. The illustrious republics of Genoa and Venice had become an +integral part, the one of the French Empire, the other of the Kingdom of +Italy. The Batavian Republic was about to be transformed into the Kingdom +of Holland. When it became known in Paris that this new kingdom was to be +created by the Emperor's will, people wondered who was to fill the throne; +some were betting on Louis Bonaparte; others on his brother Jerome; still +others on Murat. The Emperor, however, had settled the question, and +without even consulting him, had decided that Louis was to be King of +Holland. + +This new monarch, who was born September 2, 1778, was then twenty-seven +years old. Four years before he had married Josephine's daughter, Hortense +de Beauharnais, but the marriage had been an unhappy one. As he himself +wrote, his marriage was celebrated in sadness. The author of a very +remarkable study, _Holland and King Louis_, M. Albert Réville, says with +great truth: "Like Hortense, Louis had literary tastes; but there the +resemblance ceases. It was not that there was nothing romantic in +Hortense's character; she was among the first to become interested in the +Middle Ages, the Gothic revival, the imitation of the troubadours; but her +romanticism was wholly different from that of her husband. Her ideal was, +perhaps, a young and handsome soldier, pensive when away from the lady of +his thoughts, but not when in her company." M. Réville goes on: "Such a +character could not understand the sensitiveness, the shrinking, morbid +melancholy of the husband thrust upon her. Her gaiety, her devotion to +pleasure, the frivolity of her talk, could only pain more and more a man +of a gloomy temperament, who took the greatest care of his health, who +fretted himself over the most trivial details, and whose distrust amounted +to injustice." + +Hortense was expansive, merry, ardent, enthusiastic, young in heart and +mind, a thoroughly open nature. Her husband, on the other hand, was of a +morose, sombre, melancholy, reserved nature. In spite of her superior +intelligence Hortense had a sort of childlike air; but Louis, though young +in years, had the character and appearance of an old man. As much as +Hortense loved liberty, her suspicious husband wished to hold firmly the +reins of conjugal authority. He was prematurely afflicted with various +infirmities, almost always morbidly nervous and impressionable, disposed +to take a dark view of everything, and bore no resemblance to the type of +hero which Hortense had imagined. Moreover, the unhappy husband endured a +hidden anguish which he had to conceal from every one and which tortured +his heart; he imagined that his rival with his wife was his own brother, +Napoleon. Thiers says in discussing this delicate subject: "Louis, ill, +puffed-up with pride, assuming virtue and really upright, pretended that +he was sacrificed to the infamous necessity of covering, by his marriage, +the weakness of Hortense de Beauharnais for Napoleon,--an odious calumny, +invented by the émigrés, spread abroad in a thousand pamphlets, about +which Louis did wrong to betray such anxiety that he seemed to believe it +himself." + +In a word, there existed between husband and wife a real incompatibility +of temper, and the constraint of their position only added to the mutual +repulsion which they felt for each other in private, though they did not +dare confess it through fear of Napoleon's reproaches. They were married +January 4, 1802, and had a son born the next October, whom their enemies +asserted was the son of the Emperor, and the greater the interest and +affection the Emperor showed to this child, the more freely were calumnies +circulated. Louis Bonaparte imagined his honor tainted, and suffered +tortures. + +As for Hortense, she was unhappy, but she had consolations. Her mother's +love, the society of her old schoolmates, her interest in art, worldly +successes, the distractions of Paris life, made her forget some of her +domestic troubles. The thought of leaving that congenial spot to live +alone with her husband in the cold dampness of Holland filled her with +gloom. She did not care for a throne, for she felt that a royal palace +would be for her nothing but a prison. + +Louis, too, seemed devoid of ambition for the crown that was held before +him. Annoyed at not being consulted in the negotiations on which depended +his call to the throne, he maintained a passive attitude. But as he was +accustomed to comply with every wish of a brother who had taken charge of +his education, and thereby acquired special authority over him, he +invariably obeyed his orders. The Batavian deputation, of which the most +important member was Admiral Verhuel, had just arrived in Paris, and with +it the Emperor was settling the fate of Holland. Baron Ducasse, in an +interesting paper In the _Revue Historique_ for February, 1880, has +recounted all the unfortunate Louis Bonaparte's attempts to escape having +royalty forced upon him. He gave as a pretext, for his reluctance, the +rights of the old Stadtholder. The Batavian deputation in reply announced +to him the death of that official, "The hereditary Prince," they said, +"has received in compensation Fulda; hence you can have no reasonable +objection. We come, in accordance with the votes of nine-tenths of the +nation, to beg of you to ally your fate with ours, and to prevent our +falling into other hands." Napoleon used even plainer language. He +declared to his brother without beating the bush that he had accepted for +him, and that, even if he had not consulted him, a subject could not +refuse obedience. + +A few days later, Talleyrand, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, went to +Saint Cloud and read to Louis and Hortense the treaty with Holland, and +the constitution of that country. It was of no use for the King to say +that he could not judge such important documents from a simple reading, he +was not granted a moment's reflection. In vain he pleaded his health, +which could not fail to suffer from the damp climate of Holland. Napoleon +was inflexible, and said, "It is better to die on a throne than to live a +French Prince." There was nothing for him to do but to give his consent. + +The new King's proclamation was delivered at the Palace of the Tuileries +in the Throne Room, June 5, 1806. Early in the same day, the Emperor had +formally received Mahib Effendi, Ambassador of the Sultan Selim. The +Oriental diplomatist had greeted him as "the first and greatest of +Christian monarchs, the bright star of glory of the western nations, the +one who held in a firm hand the sword of valor and the sceptre of +justice." Napoleon had replied: "Whatever good or bad fortune may befall +the Ottomans will be fortunate or unfortunate for France. Report, I beg of +you, my words to the Sultan Selim. Bid him never to forget that my +enemies, who are also his, would like to get at him. He has nothing to +fear from me; united with me, he need not fear the power of any of his +enemies." When the audience was over, the Ambassador made three deep bows +and withdrew, but stopped in the next room, where the presents of the +Grand Porte were set out on a table; they consisted of an aigret of +diamonds, and a costly box set with gems and adorned with the monogram of +the Sultan. Mahib Effendi, after offering the presents to the Emperor, +showed him those sent to the Empress. They were a pearl necklace, +perfumes, and Oriental stuffs. Napoleon examined them, and then went to +the window to see some superbly harnessed Arabian horses, presented to him +in the name of the Sultan. + +The proclamation of the King of Holland was read a few moments later. +Admiral Verhuel took the floor and began to speak of the happiness assured +to his country when it should have made fast the ties that bound it to the +"immense and immortal Empire." The Emperor said to the Dutch +representatives: "France has been so generous as to renounce all the +rights over you which were given it by the events of the war, but I cannot +confide the fortresses that guard my northern frontiers to any unfaithful +or even uncertain hands. Representatives of the Batavian people, I grant +the prayer you present to me, and proclaim Prince Louis King of Holland." +Then turning to his brother, he said: "You, Prince, reign over this +people; their fathers acquired their independence only by the constant aid +of France. Since then Holland was the ally of England; it was conquered; +and still owes its existence to us. She will owe to us the kings who +protect its laws, its liberties, its religion! But do not ever cease to be +a Frenchman. The dignity of Constable of the Empire will ever belong to +you and to your descendants; it will define for you your duties towards me +and the importance I attach to the guard of the fortresses protecting the +north of my states, which I confide to you. Prince, maintain among your +troops that spirit which I have seen in them on the field of battle. +Encourage in your new subjects the feelings of union and love which they +ought always to have for France. Be the terror of evil-doers and the +father of the upright; that is the character of a great king." + +The vassalage of the new monarch was thus definitely established; he +remained Constable of the Empire; he was ordered to be French and not +Dutch. His first duties were to the Emperor, his brother and suzerain. He +respectfully approached the throne, and said with evident emotion: "Sire, +I have made it my highest ambition to sacrifice my life to Your Majesty's +service. I have made my happiness consist in admiring all those qualities +which make you so dear to those who, like me, have so often witnessed the +power and the effects of your genius; I may then be permitted to express +my regrets in leaving, but my life and my wishes belong to you. I shall go +to reign over Holland, since that nation desires it and Your Majesty +commands it. I shall be proud to reign over it; but, however glorious may +be the career thus opened to me, the assurance of Your Majesty's constant +protection, the love and patriotism of my new subjects, can alone inspire +me with the hope of healing the wounds of the many wars and events that +have crowded into a few years." After the royal speech the usher threw +open the door, and as in the time of Louis XIV., at the acceptation of the +Spanish accession, the new King was announced to the assembled crowd. + +As M. Albert Réville says, no one in France regretted the Batavian +Republic when it was stricken from the roll of history by the will of a +despot; or, rather, the Parisians, in their occasionally exaggerated +infatuation, fancied that the Dutch would be overjoyed to have a French +court. + +The next day, after breakfast, the Emperor was playing with the new King's +oldest son, the little Napoleon, who was only three years and a half old, +but was very bright for his age, and already knew by heart La Fontaine's +fables. The Emperor made him recite the fable about the frogs who wanted a +king, and listened to it, laughing loudly. He pinched the Queen's ear, and +asked her, "What do you say to that, Hortense?" The allusions to the poor +king and to his poor people were only too clear. The melancholy monarch, +or rather, the crowned monarch, was to be, according to the Emperor's +plan, a mere tool in the hands of his powerful brother. He was condemned +to discharge the functions of receiver of dues and of recruiting officer +in the Emperor's service. He had a presentiment of this degraded position, +and took his departure with much anxiety. + +For Hortense, leaving was sadder. No exile ever turned towards foreign +parts with heavier sorrow. Her diadem was a crown of thorns. Her mother's +grief augmented her own. Without her children, Josephine, naturally +unambitious, found no consolation in the thought that her son was a +Viceroy, her daughter a Queen. Before she left Paris Hortense, in terror +before the thought that the Emperor would no longer be near to defend her, +told her all her domestic unhappiness, and said that if her husband +treated her too ill, she would abandon her throne for a convent. + +Nevertheless she had to obey. June 15, 1806, Louis started from Saint Leu +to go to his kingdom. He was accompanied by his wife and his two sons, the +elder, Charles Napoleon, who died in Holland the 5th of the next May, and +the other, Louis Napoleon, who died at Forte, in 1831, in the insurrection +of the States of the Church against the Pope. His third son, later +Napoleon III., was born in 1808. The new King entered The Hague June 23, +1806. He countermanded a body of French troops which the Emperor had +designed for his escort at his entrance into the capital, being unwilling +to appear before his subjects as a sovereign imposed upon them by actual +force. "You may be sure," he said to them, "that from the moment I set +foot on the soil of this kingdom, I became a Dutchman." The same day +General Dupont Chaumont, French Minister at The Hague, wrote to Prince +Talleyrand: "To-day, June 23, His Majesty made his formal entrance into +his capital. He went to the Assembly where he received the oath of the +representatives of the people and made a speech which was much applauded. +The French camp obtained permission from the Governor of the Palace to +surprise Their Majesties by fireworks and military music. These +festivities naturally put a stop to all business, except for His Majesty, +who finds time to examine and decide the most urgent matters, the ease +with which he works greatly surprising a nation unaccustomed to such +activity. Already the King and Queen are spoken of most enthusiastically +by those who have had the honor to be presented to Their Majesties. The +satisfaction will be general, when many shall have had the opportunity to +approach the throne." + +In spite of the optimisms of this despatch, the new King was to have an +unhappy reign. His loyal and upright intentions were to be shattered +against the inflexible will of his formidable brother. Louis was a just +man and sincerely devoted to his people. He was called, and is still +called, "the good King Louis": but the Emperor, who ironically reproached +him with trying to win the affection of shopkeepers, was to write to him +in 1807: "A monarch who is called a good king, is a king that's ruined." +As for Queen Hortense, more and more tormented by her husband's +suspicions, with her health impaired by the moist climate, and her ever- +growing melancholy, she was to feel like a condemned exile in her kingdom. +No woman ever gave a complete lie to the expression, "As happy as a +queen." + + + + +XX. + +THE EMPRESS AT MAYENCE. + + +In spite of all the honors that encompassed her, the Empress was ever more +and more unhappy. The departure of her daughter Hortense left a void in +her life that nothing could fill. She wrote to the new Queen from Saint +Cloud, July 15, 1806: "Since you left I have been ill, sad, and unhappy; I +have even been feverish and have had to keep my bed. I am now well again, +but my sorrow remains. How could it be otherwise when I am separated from +a daughter like you, loving, gentle, and amiable, who was the charm of my +life?... How is your husband? Are my grandchildren well? Heavens, how sad +it makes me not to see them! and how is your health, dear Hortense? If you +are ever ill, let me know, and I will hasten to you at once.... Good by, +my dear Hortense, think often of your mother, and be sure that never was a +daughter more loved than you are. Many kind messages to your husband; kiss +the children for me. It would be very kind of you to send me some of your +songs." + +Josephine was about to have another cause for grief. A new war was +imminent, but the Empress hid her uneasiness in order not to distance +Hortense. "All your letters," she wrote to her, "are charming, and you are +kind to write so often. I have heard from Eugene and his wife; they are +evidently very happy, and so am I, for I am going with the Emperor, and am +already packing. I assure you, that even if this war breaks out, I have no +fear; the nearer I am to the Emperor, the less I shall care, and I feel +that I should die if I stayed here. Another joy to me is our meeting at +Mayence. The Emperor has bidden me tell you that he has just given to the +King of Holland an army of eighty thousand men, and his command will +extend to Mayence. He thinks that you can come then and stay with me. Is +not that an agreeable bit of news for a mother who loves you so dearly? +Every day we shall have news of the Emperor and your husband; we will be +happy together. The Grand Duke of Berg spoke to me about you and the +children; kiss them for me till I can kiss them for myself, as well as my +daughter; this will be soon, I hope. My best regards to the King." + +Napoleon was about to begin a gigantic war against Prussia and Russia. In +spite of his confidence in his star, he was not without some +apprehensions, and he left reluctantly. A cloud seemed to hang over Saint +Cloud. "Why are you so gloomy?" the Emperor asked Madame de Rémusat, whose +husband, the First Chamberlain, had just been sent to Mayence to prepare +the Emperor's quarters. "I am gloomy," she replied, "because my husband +has left me." And as Napoleon sneered at her conjugal devotion, she added: +"Sire, I take no part in heroic joys, and for my part, I had placed my +glory in happiness." Then the Emperor burst out laughing and said: +"Happiness? Oh yes, happiness has a great deal to do with this century!" + +The Empress hoped to accompany her husband as far as Mayence, and remain +there during the war, with her daughter. At the last moment she came near +missing even this. Napoleon wanted to go off alone, but she wept so much, +besought him so earnestly, that he took pity on her and gave her leave to +enter his carriage; she had but a single chambermaid with her. Her +household was to join her some days later. + +Napoleon and Josephine left Saint Cloud in the night of September 24, +1806. After stopping for some hours at Metz, they reached Mayence the +28th. The Emperor started again, October 2, at nine in the evening, for +the head of the army. At this moment he had an access of affection and a +revival of his old tenderness for the woman who long since had inspired +him with much love. Seeing that she was weeping bitterly, he, too, shed +tears, and was even attacked by convulsions. They made him sit down and +gave him a few drops of orange-flower water. In a few moments he +controlled his emotion, gave Josephine a farewell kiss, and said: "The +carriages are ready, are they not? Tell those gentlemen and let us be +off." + +The Empress remained at Mayence. Napoleon wrote to her October 5, 1806: +"There is no reason why the Princess of Baden should not go to Mayence. I +don't know why you are so distressed; it is wrong of you to grieve so +much. Hortense is inclined to pedantry; she is liberal with advice. She +wrote to me, and I answered her. She should be happy and gay. Courage and +gaiety, that is the recipe." It is plain that the Emperor's gloom had been +of brief duration. When he was once more at war, in his element, he had +quickly resumed his customary eagerness. He wrote to his wife from +Bamberg, October 7: "I leave this evening for Kronach. The whole army is +in motion. All goes on well; my health is perfect. I have not yet received +any letters from you, but I have heard from Eugene and Hortense. Stephanie +ought to be with you. Her husband [the Prince of Baden] wishes to take +part in the war; he is with me. Good by. A thousand kisses and good +health!" Again, October 18: "Today I am at Gera. Everything goes on as +well as I could hope. With God's aid, the poor King of Prussia will be in +a lamentable state, I think. I am personally sorry for him, because he is +a good man. The Queen is at Erfurt with the King. If she wants to see a +battle, she will have that cruel pleasure. I am wonderfully well, and have +gained flesh since I left; and yet I go twenty or twenty-five leagues +every day, on horseback or in a carriage,--in every possible way. I go to +bed at eight and get up at midnight, sometimes, I think, before you have +gone to bed. Ever yours." + +In these campaigns Napoleon was not yet surrounded by the comforts which +later made war less fatiguing for him, perhaps too easy. He endured all +the toil and privation of a private soldier. In five minutes his table, +his coffee, his bed were prepared. Often in less time than that the bodies +of men and horses had to be removed to make room for his tent. His longest +meal lasted no more than eight or ten minutes. The Emperor would then call +for horses and leave in company with Berthier, one or two riders, and +Roustan, his faithful Mameluke. At night, when lying on his little iron +bed, he took but little rest. Hardly had he fallen asleep when he would +call his valet de chambre who slept in the same tent: "Constant!" "Sire." +"See what aide-de-camp is on duty." "Sire, it is so-and-so." "Tell him to +come and speak to me." The aide-de-camp would arrive: "You must go to such +a corps, commanded by Marshal so-and-so; you will tell him to place such a +regiment in such a position; you will ascertain the position of the enemy, +then you will report to me." The Emperor seemed to fall asleep again, but +in a few moments he was calling again: "Constant!" "Sire." "Summon the +Prince of Neufchâtel." The Major-General would appear in a great hurry, +and Napoleon would dictate some orders to him. That is the way his nights +were passed. + +The night before the battle of Jena was an exception, and the Emperor +slept soundly, "Yet," says General de Ségur, "our position was so perilous +that some of us said the enemy could have thrown a bullet across all our +lines with the hand. This was so true that the first cannon-ball fired the +next day passed over our heads and killed a cook at his canteen far behind +us." At about five o'clock Napoleon asked of Marshal Soult: "Shall we beat +them?" "Yes, if they are there." answered the Marshal; "I am only afraid +they have left." At that moment, the first musketry fire was heard, "There +they are!" said the Emperor, joyfully; "there they are! the business is +beginning." Then he went to address the infantry, encouraging them to +crush the famous Prussian cavalry. "This cavalry," he said, "must be +destroyed here, before our squares, as we crushed the Russian infantry at +Austerlitz." The victory was overwhelming. Napoleon thus recounted it in a +letter to the Empress, dated Jena, October 15, at three in the morning: +"My dear, I have done some good manoeuvring against the Prussians. +Yesterday I gained a great victory. They were one hundred and fifty +thousand men; I have made twenty thousand prisoners, captured one hundred +cannon and flags. I was facing the King of Prussia and very near him; I +just missed capturing him and the Queen. I have been bivouacking for two +days. I am wonderfully well. Good by, my dear, keep well and love me. If +Hortense is at Mayence, give her a kiss as well as Napoleon and the little +one." And again from Weimar, October 16: "M. Talleyrand will have shown +you the bulletin and you will have seen our success. Everything has turned +out as I planned, and never was an army more thoroughly beaten and +destroyed. I will only add that I am well; that fatigue, watching, and the +bivouac have made me stouter. Good by, my dear, much love to Hortense and +the great Napoleon." + +Hortense had joined her mother at Mayence with her two sons, meeting there +her relative, Princess Stéphanie of Baden, the Princess of Nassau and her +daughters, many generals' wives, who had desired to be near the scene of +war to get early news. With what impatience tidings were awaited! With +what curiosity and respect were read and discussed the two or three words +scrawled by the hand of the Emperor or of his lieutenants! A lookout had +been placed a league away on the high-road, who announced the coming of a +messenger by blowing on a horn. At the same time the files of prisoners +were seen passing on their way to France. Josephine, ever kind and +pitiful, tried to soften their lot and gave aid and comfort to officers +and soldiers. + +Meanwhile Napoleon continued his triumphal march. From Wittenberg he wrote +to his wife, October 23: "I have received a number of letters from you. I +write but a word: everything goes on well. To-morrow I shall be at +Potsdam, the 25th at Berlin. I am perfectly well; fatigue agrees with me. +I am glad to hear of you in company together with Hortense and Stéphanie. +The weather has so far been very pleasant. Much love to Stéphanie and to +every one, including M. Napoleon. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." + +At Potsdam the Emperor visited the celebrated palace of Sans Souci and +found the room of Frederick the Great as it had been in his lifetime, and +guarded by one of his old servants. He then went to the Protestant church +which contained the hero's tomb. "The door of the monument was open," says +General de Ségur. "Napoleon paused at the entrance, in a grave and +respectful attitude. He gazed into the shadow enclosing the hero's ashes, +and stood thus for nearly ten minutes, motionless, silent, as if buried in +deep thought. There were five or six of us with him: Duroc, Caulaincourt, +an aide-de-camp, and I. We gazed at this solemn and extraordinary scene, +imagining the two great men face to face, identifying ourselves with the +thoughts we ascribed to our Emperor before that other genius whose glory +survived the overthrow of his work, who was as great in extreme adversity +as in success." The eighteenth bulletin said of this tomb: "The great +man's remains are enclosed in a wooden coffin covered with copper, and are +placed in a vault, with no ornaments, trophies, or other distinction +recalling his great actions." The Emperor presented to the Invalides in +Paris Frederick's sword, his ribbon of the Black Eagle, his general's +sash, as well as the flags carried by his guard in the Seven Years' War. +The old veterans of the army of Hanover received with religious respect +everything which had belonged to one of the first captains whose memory is +recorded in history. When he saw that the Prussian court had not thought +of making those relics safe from invasion, the hero of Jena, who on this +occasion abused his victory, exclaimed as he pointed to the famous sword: +"I prefer that to twenty millions." In his letters to Josephine, Napoleon +made no mention of his impressions in the house of Frederick. He simply +wrote, October 24: "I have been at Potsdam since yesterday, and shall +spend to-day here. I continue to be satisfied with everything. My health +is good; the weather is fine. I find Sans Souci very agreeable. Good by, +my dear. Much love to Hortense and M. Napoleon." + +October 27, 1806, the Emperor made his formal entrance into Berlin, +surrounded by his guard and followed by the cuirassiers of the divisions +of Hautpoul and Nansouty. He proceeded in triumph from the +Charlottenburger gate to the King's Palace, of which he was to take +possession. The populace crowded the streets, but uttered no cries of hate +or flattery for the conqueror. "Prussia was happy," says Thiers, "at not +being divided, and at retaining its dignity in its disasters. The enemy's +entrance was not first the overthrow of one party and the triumph of +another; it contained no unworthy faction, indulging in odious joy and +applauding the presence of foreign soldiers! We Frenchmen, unhappier in +our defeats, have known this abominable joy; for we have seen everything +in this century: the extremes of victory and of defeat, of grandeur and of +abasement, of the purest devotion and of the blackest treachery!" Alas! +What Frenchman could have foretold in 1806 the disasters of 1814 and 1815? +The army deemed itself invincible and was wild with joyful pride. Davout, +whose men the Emperor had just congratulated, wrote to him in great +enthusiasm: "Sire, we are your tenth legion. Everywhere and at all times +the third corps will be for you what that legion was for Caesar." Never +did soldiers have greater enthusiasm or more confidence in their leader. + +One might have said that Josephine, amid all these triumphs, had a +presentiment of the future. Victories could not dispel her sadness. Her +husband wrote to her November 1: "Talleyrand has come, and tells me that +you do nothing but cry. But what do you want? You have your daughters, +your grandchildren, and good news; certainly you have the materials for +happiness and content. The weather here is superb; not a drop of rain has +fallen in the whole campaign, I am in good health, and everything is +progressing favorably. Good by. I have received a letter from M. Napoleon; +I don't think it is from him but from Hortense. Love to all." + +Napoleon was not modest in his triumph. He pursued with sarcasms the +nobility of Prussia and Queen Louise who had warmly counselled war. This +fair sovereign, the mother of the late Emperor William, was then thirty +years old; she was the daughter of a Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and of a +Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was a most thorough German, hated France, +and especially the French Revolution. She was a fearless horsewoman, and +had been seen facing great dangers at the battle of Jena. When she rode +before her troops in her helmet of polished steel, shaded by a plume, in +her glittering golden cuirass, her tunic of silver stuff, her red boots +with gold spurs, she resembled Tasso's heroines. The soldiers burst into +cries of enthusiasm, as they saw their warlike Queen; before her were +bowed the flags she had embroidered with her own hands, and the old, torn, +and battle-stained standards of Frederick the Great. After the battle she +was obliged to take flight, at full gallop, to avoid being captured by the +French hussars. + +In his bulletins the Emperor had made the serious blunder of speaking of +Queen Louise in a manner wanting in proper respect for a woman, and +especially for a woman in misfortune. Josephine, who was full of tact, was +much pained by this lack of generosity, and reproached her husband for it. +Napoleon sought to excuse himself, writing, November 6: "I have received +your letter in which you seem pained by the evil I say of women. It is +true that I hate, more than anything, intriguing women. I am used to +kindly, gentle, conciliating women; those are the ones I love. If they +have spoiled me, it is not my fault, but yours. Now I will show you that I +have been very good for one who has shown herself sensible and kind, +Madame Hatzfeld. When I showed her her husband's letter, bursting into +tears, she said to me with, great emotion, and simplicity: 'It is +certainly his hand-writing!' As she read it, her accent touched my heart +and gave me real distress, I said to her: 'Well, Madame, throw that letter +into the fire, I shall not be strong enough to punish your husband,' She +burned the letter and seemed to be very happy, Her husband has ever since +been very calm; two hours more, and he would have been a ruined man. You +see then that I love kind, simple, gentle women; but it's because they are +like you. Good by, my dear, I am well." + +The kingdom of Prussia was conquered, but the war was not over, After +fighting the Prussians he had to fight the Russians; the war in Poland was +beginning. Napoleon wrote to the King of Prussia: "Your Majesty has +announced to me that you have thrown yourself into the arms of the +Russians. The future will decide whether this is the best and wisest +choice. You have taken the dice-box and thrown the dice; the dice will +decide it." At Paris, in spite of the splendors of the Imperial glory, +there existed a vague uneasiness. Peace had been expected after Jena, and +some apprehension was felt about the renewal of the struggle in the +northern steppes. Madame de Rémusat wrote, November 9, to her husband, who +was at Mayence with the Empress, "There is something in the Emperor's +career which confounds ordinary calculations, and, so to speak, goes +beyond them. It is most impressive, and, I might say, alarming, and yet he +seems so far above customary conditions that there is no need of fear +about the points to which he exposes himself, and still less, draw the +line at which he shall stop. But I shudder to think how far he is from us +at this moment. May God be with him, I am ever praying, and preserve him! +While this great part of the French nation which is under his orders, is +marching to great victories, we are vegetating here in complete dulness. +There is very little society, and no houses are open." + +Josephine was very anxious to join her husband who held it before her as a +possibility, but never permitted it. He had written to her, November 16: +"I am glad to see that my views please you. You were wrong to think I was +flattering; I spoke of you as you seem to me. I am sorry to think that you +are bored at Mayence. If the journey was not so long you might come here, +for the enemy has left, and is beyond the Vistula; that is to say, one +hundred and twenty leagues from here. I will await your decision. I shall +be glad to see M. Napoleon. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." And November +22: "Be satisfied and happy in my friendship, in all I feel for you. In a +few days I shall decide to summon you or to send you to Paris. Good by. +You may go now, if you wish, to Darmstadt and Frankfort; that will amuse +you. Much love to Hortense." After signing the decree establishing the +continental blockade, Napoleon had left Berlin November 25. The next day +he again held before Josephine the prospect of a speedy meeting. "I am at +Custrin," he said in his letter, "to make some reconnoissances; I shall +see you in two days if you are to come. You can hold yourself in +readiness. I shall be glad to have the Queen of Holland come too. The +Grand Duchess of Baden must write to her husband about coming. It is two +o'clock in the morning; I have just got up. That is the way at war. Much +love to you and every one." A letter from Meseritz, March 27, was still +more explicit: "I am going to make a trip through Poland; this is the most +important city here. I shall be at Posen this evening, after which I +summon you to Berlin, that you may arrive there the same day. My health is +good, the weather rather bad; it has been raining for three days. Matters +are in a good condition. The Russians are in flight." Josephine, who had +trembled with joy at the thought of seeing her husband, fell into great +gloom when she saw that she had been deceived by a vain hope. The tortures +of, alas! too well-founded jealousy were to be added to her sufferings! + +Napoleon reached Posen November 28, and wrote the next day to his wife: "I +am at Posen, the capital of Great Poland, The cold is beginning; I am +well. I am going to make a trip in Poland. My troops are at the gates of +Warsaw. Good by, my dear, much love. I kiss you with all my heart. To-day +is the anniversary of Austerlitz. I have been at a ball given by the city. +It is raining. I am well. I love you and long for you. My troops are at +Warsaw. It has not yet been cold. All the Polish women are Frenchwomen, +but there is only one woman for me. Do you know her? I should draw her +portrait for you; but I should have to flatter it too much for you to +recognize it; nevertheless, to tell the truth, my heart would have only +good things to tell you. I find the nights long in my solitude. Ever +yours." Perhaps Napoleon would not have been so amiable to Josephine had +it not been that he was going to be very unfaithful to her in Poland, and +in a movement of pity wanted to console her in advance. From there he sent +her, December 3, two letters, one at noon, the other at six in the +evening. This is the first: "I have your letter of November 26. I notice +two things: you say, don't read your letters; that is unjust. I am sorry +for your bad opinion. You tell me you are not jealous. I have long +observed that people who are angry always say that they are not angry, +that people who are afraid say they are not afraid; so you are convicted +of jealousy; I am delighted! Besides, you are mistaken, and in the deserts +of fair Poland one thinks but little about pretty women. Yesterday I was +at a ball of the nobility of the province; rather pretty women, rather +rich, rather ill dressed, although in the Paris fashion." Perhaps Napoleon +said that to reassure the Empress; I imagine that the Polish women, with +all their elegance and grace, were scarcely so ill-dressed as he +pretended. + +This is the second letter, dated December 3, 6 P.M.: "I have your letter +of November 27, and I see that your little head is much excited. I +remember the line: 'A woman's wish is a devouring flame,' and I must calm +you. I wrote to you that I was in Poland, that when we should have got +into winter-quarters you might come; so you must wait a few days. The +greater one becomes, the less will one must have; one depends on events +and circumstances. You may go to Frankfort or Darmstadt, I hope to summon +you in a few days, but events must decide. The warmth of your letter +convinces me that you pretty women take no account of obstacles; what you +want must be; but I must say that I am the greatest slave that lives; my +master has no heart, and this master is the nature of things." Napoleon +should have said: Providence. Man proposes, but God disposes. + +Napoleon again spoke a little of having Josephine come. He wrote to her +December 10: "An officer has brought me a rug from you; it is a little +short and narrow, but I am no less grateful to you for it. I am fairly +well. The weather is very changeable. Everything is in good condition. I +love you and am very anxious to see you. Good by, my dear: I shall write +to you to come with more pleasure than you will come." + +December 12 he spoke once more of this projected journey which became ever +more and more remote, like a mirage in the desert: "My health is good, the +weather very mild; the bad season has not begun, but the roads are bad in +a country where there are no highways. So Hortense will come with +Napoleon; I am delighted. I am impatient to have things settle themselves +so that you can come. I have made peace with Saxony. The Elector is King +and belongs to the confederation. Good by, my dearest Josephine. Yours +ever. A kiss to Hortense, to Napoleon, and to Stéphanie. Paër, the famous +musician, his wife, whom you saw at Milan twelve years ago, and Brizzi, +are here; they give me some music every evening." Napoleon left Posen in +the middle of December. The evening before his departure he wrote a letter +to his wife which showed the unlikelihood of her joining him, as she hoped +to do; "I am leaving for Warsaw, and shall be back in a fortnight. I hope +then to have you here. Still, if that is too long I should be glad to have +you return to Paris where you are needed. You know that I have to depend +on events." The unhappy Josephine already had a foreboding of his devotion +to a great Polish lady. + +Napoleon reached Warsaw December 18, 1806. He was to stay there till the +23d, return there January 2, 1807, and not to go away till the 31st of +that month. He was greeted there with enthusiasm. He had said to his +soldiers in his proclamation on entering Poland: "The French eagle is +soaring above the Vistula. The brave and unfortunate Pole, when he sees +you, imagines that he sees the legions of Sobieski returning from their +memorable expedition." No one understood better than the Emperor how to +impress the imagination of a people. At sight of him the inhabitants of +Warsaw were thrilled with patriotic joy. It seemed to them that their +grand nation was rising from the tomb. The Polish women, with their +lively, poetic, ardent nature, regarded Napoleon as a sort of Messiah. In +the intoxication of their ecstatic admiration, the most beautiful of +them--and Poland is the country of beauty--turned towards him, like +sirens, their most seductive smiles. This coquetry they regarded as a +patriotic duty. Josephine had good grounds for jealousy. + +Napoleon was in the field during the last days of December. War at that +time was particularly fatiguing. The dampness, worse than any cold, +saddened the eyes and wearied the body. The temperature was forever +changing between frost and thaw. Fighting took place in the most +unfavorable conditions. But the Emperor, pitiless for himself and every +one else, uttered no complaint. He wrote from Golimin to the Empress, +December 29, at five in the morning: "I write but a word, from a wretched +barn. I have beaten the Russians, captured thirty cannon, their baggage, +and six thousand prisoners; but the weather is frightful; it pours, and we +are knee deep in mud." And from Pultusk, December 31: "I have laughed a +good deal over your last two letters. You have formed a very inaccurate +notion of the beautiful Polish women. Two or three days I have had great +pleasure in hearing Paër and two women who have given me some very good +music. I received your letter in a wretched barn, with mud, wind, and +straw for my only bed." In spite of what her husband said, Josephine was +right about the charm of the Polish ladies, and Napoleon, on his return to +Warsaw, January 2, 1807, was to become seriously interested in one of +them. + +Soon there was no question of sending for the Empress, who would only have +been in the way. Napoleon wrote to her, January 3: "I have received your +letter. Your regret touches me, but we must submit to events. It is too +long a journey from Mayence to Warsaw; we must wait till events permit my +going to Berlin before I can write for you to come. Meanwhile, the enemy +is withdrawing, defeated, but I have a good many things to settle here. I +should advise your returning to Paris, where you are needed. Send back +those ladies who have anything to do there; you will be better for getting +rid of people who tire you. I am well; the weather is bad. I love you +much." The Emperor, utterly taken up by his love for the Polish lady, was +anxious that Josephine, instead of coming to him, should at once return +promptly to France. "My dear," he wrote to her, January 7, "I am touched +by all you say, but the cold season, the bad, unsafe roads prevent my +giving my consent to your facing so many fatigues. Return to Paris for the +winter. Go to the Tuileries, hold your receptions, and live as you do when +I am there: that is my wish. Perhaps I shall join you there without delay; +but you must give up the plan of travelling three hundred leagues at this +season, through hostile countries, in the rear of the army. Be sure that +it is more painful to me than to you to postpone for a few weeks the +pleasure of seeing you; but this is commanded by events and the state of +affairs. Good by, my dear, be happy and brave." The next day he wrote +again on the same subject: "I have yours of the 27th, with those of +Hortense and M. Napoleon enclosed. I have asked you to go back to Paris; +the season is too bad, the roads too insecure and detestable, the distance +too great for me to allow you to come so far to me when my affairs detain +me. It would take you at least a month to get here. You. would be sick +when you got here, and then, perhaps, you would have to start back; it +would be madness. Your sojourn at Mayence is too dull. Paris calls for +you; go there; that is my desire. I am more disappointed than you; but we +must bow to circumstances." In a letter of January 11, he says; "I see +very few people here." But he saw the Polish lady, and that was enough. + +Josephine, who suspected a rival, was in despair. Her husband wrote to +console her, January 16: "I have received yours of January 5. All that you +say of your disappointment saddens me. Why these tears and lamentations? +Have you not more courage? I shall soon see you; do not doubt my feelings, +and if you wish to be still dearer to me, show character and strength of +soul. I am humiliated to think that my wife can doubt my destinies. Good +by, my dear, I love you and long to see you, and want to hear that you are +contented and happy." In another letter, January 18, Napoleon tried to +cheer up Josephine, who was even more anxious and uneasy: "I fear you are +unhappy about our separation which must last some weeks yet, and about +returning to Paris. I beg of you to have more courage. I hear that you are +always crying. Fie, that is very bad! Your letter of January 7 gives me +much pain. Be worthy of me and show more character. Make a proper +appearance at Paris, and above all, be contented. I am very well, and I +love you much; but if you are always in tears, I shall think you have no +courage and no character. I do not love cowards; an Empress ought to have +some spirit." + +Napoleon's will was not to be altered. Josephine was forced to leave her +daughter and to return to Paris. Her husband wrote to her from Warsaw: "I +have your letter of January 15. It is impossible for me to let women +undertake such a journey: bad roads, unsafe, and a slough of mud. Go back +to Paris; be happy and contented there; perhaps I shall be there soon. I +laugh at what you say, that you married to be with your husband. I had +thought in my ignorance that the wife was created for the husband, the +husband for the country, the family, and glory. Forgive my ignorance. Good +by, my dear, believe that I regret that I cannot have you come. Say to +yourself, 'It is a proof how dear I am to him.'" All these fine words +could not console Josephine, who knew from experience that Napoleon, like +many unfaithful husbands, had a smooth, tongue when he needed forgiveness. +In vain she had waited four months at Mayence for permission to rejoin her +husband. She at last, found herself obliged to leave this town where she +had no other pleasure than the sight of her daughter and her +grandchildren, from whom she parted with pain. January 27 she was at +Strassburg, and the 31st. at Paris. + + + + +XXI. + +THE RETURN OF THE EMPRESS TO PARIS. + + +The Empress Josephine was much loved in France, and especially in Paris, +where her gentleness, amiability, and great kindliness had won for her all +sympathies, even those of people who were hostile to the Emperor. Her +return to the capital was greeted with pleasure, and her presence awakened +it from its previous gloom. The _Moniteur_ thus describes her passage +through the chief town of the department of the Lower Rhine. "Strassburg, +January 23, 1807. Her Majesty the Empress and Queen arrived within our +walls yesterday, the 27th, on her way from Mayence to Paris. Her Majesty +having consented to notify the Counsellor of State, Prefect Shée, that she +would accept a modest entertainment, this news spread lively joy +throughout this city. This proof of the Empress's kindness, accompanied by +the gracious memory she wished to testify for the people of Strassburg, +made the preparations for this impromptu event easy, and in spite of the +brief time between the announcement and the arrival of Her Majesty, a +numerous and brilliant company was soon assembled at the Prefecture. The +hall was elegantly decorated; the emblems and mottoes recalled the object +of the festivity. After a square dance and a waltz. Her Majesty passed +through the company, addressing a kind word to every lady present." The +next day, January 28, at seven in the morning, the Empress started, amid +cries of "Long live Josephine!" She reached the Tuileries January 31, at +eight in the evening. The next day, at noon, guns were fired at the +Invalides, to announce her return. The great bodies of the state solicited +the honor of offering her their homages. She was a little tired by her +journey, and was unable to receive them till February 5. + +At this reception she was the object of almost as much flattery as was the +Emperor. We quote a few of the phrases:-- + +_M. Monge, President of the Senate_: "Madame, the Senate lays at the feet +of Your Imperial and Royal Majesty the tribute of its profound respect and +the homage of the administration with which it is animated for all your +virtues.... It congratulates itself on seeing again, in the capital, the +august spouse to whom our adored ruler has given all his confidence and +who deserves it in so many ways." + +_M. de Fontanes, President of the Legislative Body_: "Half of our wishes +are granted. The presence of Your Majesty will make us attend less +impatiently another return that the French desire with you. ... Paris +consoles itself for not seeing him who gives such glory to the throne, by +finding in you her who has always lent to Sovereignty so much charm, so +much gentleness and kindness." + +_M. Fabre, President of the Tribunal_: "Madame, your return has aroused +the keenest joy. The memory of that delicate kindness which knew how to +temper so many woes; of that active beneficence which repaired so many +misfortunes, is imprinted on every heart. Every one says: 'Providence in +giving to us the hero, whose vast designs are crowned with the most +constant and prompt success, desired to complete his kindness, by placing +near him her to whom every stricken heart turns, who is the most agreeable +object of gratitude, and who, moreover, throughout France is called the +friend of misfortune.'" + +_M. Lejean, First Vicar-General of the Chapter of Notre Dame_ (speaking in +the place of the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, who was ill): "Madame, His +Eminence the Archbishop, our worthy prelate, has commanded me to convey to +Your Imperial and Royal Majesty his regrets at not being able himself to +present to you the chapter and clergy of Paris. 'Go,' that venerable old +man said to me, 'and assure the benevolent Empress from me that I +thoroughly share the joy which every one feels at her return. Tell her +that never a moment passes that I do not address to Heaven the most +fervent prayers for the happiness of France and of our invincible Emperor, +and for the success of his arms. The Lord has deigned to grant my prayers; +in a very short time astounding prodigies have been wrought by Napoleon, +and I offer my thanks.' The chapter and the clergy of Paris pray for Your +Majesty to be sure that their feelings for your sacred person and for that +of your august husband are like those of His Eminence." + +_The Prefect of the Seine_: "You are far from the Emperor, Madame, but +Paris, too, is far from him. Well, to mitigate this separation, equally +painful for Paris and for Your Majesty, Paris and Your Majesty will talk +to one another much about the Emperor. You will take pleasure in hearing +that his subjects of the good city of Paris are ever faithful to him; that +they are prepared for every act of devotion which may be demanded by his +glory, the honor of the Empire, and the resolution he has formed of not +laying down his arms until he has assured the peace of nations. You will +take pleasure in seeing us follow in thought, even to the most distant +climes, his ever victorious eagles. In short, Madame, at every exploit of +the Grand Army, you will be glad to hear the loud applause which we have +often wished could reach you, even in the camps of the founder of the +Empire, and then touched by the sincerity of our prayers, you will deign +to listen to them, and sometimes even to be their interpreter." + +In spite of these official flatteries, and more or less interested +compliments, the Empress was far from happy. Possibly she imagined that +soon, even in her lifetime, the same homage would be addressed by the same +persons, in the same palace, to another woman. Besides this, however, she +had many causes for distress. She suffered from the absence of her +children, from her daughter's domestic unhappiness, from the Emperor's +remoteness, his infidelities in Poland, from the dangers threatening him +in this relentless and distant war. She wrote to her daughter February 3: +"I got here, dear Hortense, the evening of the 31st, as I expected. My +journey was pleasant, if I can call it so when it separated me further +from the Emperor. I have received five letters from him since my +departure. I need to hear from you now that you are no longer with me to +console me. Tell me how you are; write to me about your husband and +children. Although I see more people here than at Mayence, I am quite as +lonely, and you will seem to be with me if you write. Good by, my dear, I +love you tenderly." Josephine yearned all the more eagerly for happiness +as a mother, because as wife she suffered cruelly, and the torments of +jealousy were added to her grief at the Emperor's absence. + +To one of the last letters his wife had written from Mayence Napoleon +answered in an undated letter which she received in Paris: "My dear, your +letter of January 20, has pained me much; it is too sad. That is the +result of excessive piety! You tell me that your happiness makes your +glory. That is ungenerous; you ought to say, the happiness of others makes +my glory. It is not like a mother; you ought to say, the happiness of my +children is my glory. It is not like a wife; you ought to say, my +husband's happiness makes my glory. Now, since the nation, your husband, +your children cannot be happy without a little glory, you should not +despise it. Josephine, you have a good heart, but a weak head; your +feelings are most admirable; you reason less well. But that is enough +squabbling; I want you to be merry, content with your lot, and to obey, +not grumbling and crying, but cheerfully and happily. Good by, my dear. +I'm off to-night, to inspect my outposts." It must be confessed that to be +as merry as the Emperor demanded, Josephine would have needed a very +exceptional character. Her husband was at the other end of Europe, never +interrupting the intense emotions and great risks of a colossal struggle +except for brief distractions, which, however, could not be agreeable, so +suspicious and jealous as she was. + +Constant, the Emperor's valet de chambre, has recounted in his Memoirs, +the passion with which a beautiful Polish lady inspired his master, early +in 1807. Napoleon spent the whole month of January at Warsaw in a great +palace. The Polish nobility gave him magnificent balls, and at one of them +he noticed a young woman of twenty-two, Madame V., who had recently +married an old nobleman, a most worthy man of stern principles and severe +nature. By the side of her aged husband, this young woman, whose sadness +and melancholy only added to her beauty, was like a victim in waiting for +a consoler. She was a charming person, with light hair, blue eyes, a +brilliant complexion, a graceful figure, and dignified carriage. The +Emperor went up to her, addressed her, and was soon delighted by her +conversation. He imagined that she was unhappily married and he at once +conceived a warm love for her, intenser and far more serious than any he +had ever felt for one of his favorites. The next day he was noticeably +restless. He would get up and walk about, then sit down only to get on his +feet again. "I thought," Constant goes on, "that I should never get him +dressed that day. Immediately after breakfast he despatched a great +personage, whose name I shall not give, to pay a visit to Madame V., and +carry his regards and entreaties. She proudly refused to listen to his +propositions, possibly on account of their suddenness, or, it may be, by +natural coquetry. The hero had pleased her; the thought of having a lover +resplendent with power and glory fascinated her, but she had no idea of +yielding without a struggle. The grand personage returned in great +surprise and compassion at the failure of his negotiation." + +Constant says that he found his master the next morning very busy. The +Emperor had written many letters the previous evening to the Polish lady, +who had made no reply. His pride was wounded by a resistance to which he +had not been accustomed since he had become great. At last, however, he +had written so many, and such ardent and touching letters, that she +consented to visit him one evening between ten and eleven. The grand +personage who had tried to make the negotiations, was ordered to go to a +remote spot and receive the lady in a carriage. Napoleon paced the room +while awaiting her, betraying emotion and impatience. "At last Madame V. +arrived," says Constant, whose master kept asking him what time it was. +"She was in a most pitiable condition, pale, silent, her eyes full of +tears. As soon as she appeared, I led her to the Emperor's room. She could +scarcely stand and she was trembling as she leaned on my arm. Then I +withdrew with the great personage who had brought her. During her +interview with the Emperor, Madame V. wept and sobbed so that I could +overhear her even at a great distance. At about two in the morning, the +Emperor called me. I went to him and saw Madame V. going away, with her +handkerchief at her eyes, weeping freely. The same personage carried her +away. I thought she would never come back." But, contrary to his +expectations, Madame V. came back two or three days later at about the +same hour; she seemed calmer, her eyes were less red, her face not so +pale, and she continued her visits during the Emperor's stay. Evidently +Josephine had good grounds for jealousy. + +Napoleon interrupted these distractions by going forth to fight the battle +of Eylau, one of the bloodiest and most obstinate combats known to +history. He described it in two letters to the Empress, written in the +same day. This is the first:-- + +"Eylau, February 9, 1803, 3 A.M. MY DEAR: We had a great battle yesterday. +I was victorious, but our loss was heavy; that of the enemy, which was +even greater, is no consolation for me. I write you these few lines +myself, though I am very tired, to tell you that I am well and love you. +Ever yours." + +This is the second:-- + +"Eylau, February 9, 6 P.M. I write a word lest you should be anxious. The +evening lost the battle; forty cannon, ten flags, twelve thousand +prisoners, suffering horribly. I lost sixteen hundred killed and three to +four thousand wounded. Your cousin, Tascher, is unhurt. I have placed him +on my staff as artillery officer. Corbineau was killed by a shell. I was +exceedingly attached to him; he was an excellent officer, and I am deeply +distressed. My Horse Guard covered itself with glory. D'Allemagne is +dangerously wounded. Good by, my dear." + +The Emperor did not tell everything to Josephine; he said nothing about +the terrible vicissitudes of the battle, a victory scarcely to be +distinguished from a defeat; he kept silence about the cruel sufferings of +his army which, without having eaten, had fought amid blinding snow +beneath a leaden sky; he said no word about the regiments destroyed, one +in particular, from colonel to drummers, all killed or wounded; he did not +mention his own danger in the cemetery on the hill, where he had stood +surrounded by his Guard, his last resource, anxiously watching the fight +from its beginning, slashing the snow with his whip, and exclaiming at the +approach of the Russian Grenadiers as they advanced towards him, "What +audacity!" He did not say that after the terrible and fruitless bloodshed, +which both armies claimed as a victory, he had been obliged to withdraw, +and that Bennigsen had taken possession of the hotly disputed battle- +field. He did not say what he was about to say in his bulletins: "Imagine, +on a space a league square, nine or ten thousand corpses; four or five +thousand dead horses; lines of Russian knapsacks; fragments of guns and +sabres: the earth covered with bullets, shells, supplies; twenty-four +cannon, surrounded by their artillery-men, slain just as they were trying +to take their guns away; and all that in plainest relief on the stretch of +snow." He did not quote the words he uttered in the biting frost, in face +of thousands of dead and dying, when the gloomy day was sinking into a +night of anguish: "This sight is one to fill rulers with a love of peace +and a horror of war." No; the Emperor did not tell her everything. + +In another letter, dated Eylau, February 11, 8 A.M., the Emperor tried to +reassure the Empress: "I send you a line: you must have been very anxious, +I fought the enemy on a memorable day which cost me many brave men. The +bad weather drove me into winter quarters. Do not distress yourself, I beg +of you; it will all be over soon, and my delight at seeing you once more +will soon make me forget my fatigue. Besides, I have never been better. +Little Tascher, of the fourth of the line, did well; and he had a hard +experience. I have given him a place near me, in the artillery; so his +troubles are over. The young man interests me. Good by, my dear; a +thousand kisses." + +From this moment the Emperor's letters to his wife became cold, short, +dull, and utterly insignificant; speaking of nothing but the rain, or the +good weather, and perpetually bidding her to be cheerful. A clear-witted +person ought to see readily that Napoleon, who was otherwise occupied, +wrote to the Empress only from a sense of duty. Here are four letters; the +first from Landsberg, the other three from Liebstadt. February 18: "I +write a line. I am well. I am busy putting the army into winter quarters. +It is raining and thawing like April. We have not yet had a cold day. Good +by, my dear. Yours ever." February 20: "I write a line that you may not be +anxious. My health is good, and everything is in good condition. I have +put the army into winter quarters. It is a curious season, freezing and +thawing, damp and changeable. Good by, my dear." February 21: "I have +yours of February 4, and am glad to hear that you are well. Paris will +give you cheerfulness and rest; the return to your usual habits will +restore your health. I am wonderfully well. The weather and the country +are wretched. Everything is in good condition; it freezes and thaws every +day; it is a most singular winter. Good by, my dear. I think of you, and +am anxious to hear that you are contented, cheerful, and happy. Ever +yours." February 22: "I have your letter of the 8th. I am glad to hear +that you have been to the Opera, and that you mean to receive every week. +Go to the theatre occasionally, and always sit in the grand box. I am +pleased with the festivities given to you. I am very well. The weather +continues unsettled, freezing and thawing. I have put the army into winter +quarters to rest it. Don't be sad, and believe that I love you." + +Towards the end of February Napoleon had established his headquarters at +Osterode, where he lived in a sort of barn, from which he governed his +Empire and controlled Europe. He wrote to his brother Joseph, March 1, +about the sufferings of this severe campaign in Poland. "The staff- +officers have not taken off their clothes for two months, and some not for +four, I have myself been a fortnight without taking off my boots.... We +are deep in the snow and mud, without wine, brandy, or bread, living on +meat and potatoes, making long marches and counter-marches, without any +comforts, and generally fighting with the bayonets under grape-shot; the +wounded have to be carried in open sleighs for fifty leagues.... We are +making war in all its excitement and horror." It is easy to see that +Josephine, who knew all this, had good grounds for anxiety. Paris was +empty and gloomy; every face was sad. France is easily tired of +everything, even of glory. The auditors of the Council of State, who were +sent to Osterode to carry to the Emperor the reports of the different +ministers, returned to Paris in deep distress at the sights they had seen, +and spread alarm in official circles. Napoleon consequently decided that +those reports should be brought to him by staff-officers, who were more +inured to scenes of distress. + +From headquarters at Osterode the Emperor sent eleven letters to the +Empress between February 23 and April 1, 1807, but he said nothing of +importance in them. Thus: "Try to pass your time agreeably; don't be +anxious. I am in a wretched village where I shall be some time; it's not +so pleasant as a large city. I tell you again, I have never been so well; +you will find me much stouter.... I have ordered what you want for +Malmaison; be happy and cheerful; that's what I desire. I am waiting for +good weather, which must come soon. I love you, and want to hear that you +are contented and cheerful. You will hear a good deal of nonsense about +the battle of Eylau; the bulletin tells everything; its report of the +losses is rather exaggerated than cut down." At the same time he somewhat +reproved his wife: "I am sorry to hear that there is a renewal of the +mischievous talk such as there was in your drawing-room at Mayence; put a +stop to it. I shall be much annoyed if you don't find some clue. You let +yourself be distressed by the talk of people who ought to cheer you up. I +recommend to you a little firmness, and to learn how to put everybody in +his place. My dear, you must not go to the small theatres in private +boxes; it does not suit your rank; you ought to go only to the four large +theatres and always sit in the Imperial box. If you want to please me, you +must live as you did when I was in Paris. Then you did not go to the small +theatres or such places. You ought always to go to the Imperial box. For +your life at home, you must have regular receptions; that is the only way +of winning my approval. Greatness has its inconveniences. An Empress can't +go about everywhere like a commoner." + +The greatness which the Emperor spoke about was no consolation to +Josephine. She was unhappier beneath the gilded ceilings of the Tuileries +than a peasant woman in a hovel. She besought her husband to let her join +him in Poland, and wrote to him despairing letters. + +Napoleon answered from Osterode, March 27: "My dear, I am much pained by +your letters. You must not die: you are well and have no real cause of +grief. I think you ought to go to Saint Cloud in May. but you ought to +spend April in Paris.... You must not think of travelling this summer; all +that is impossible. You couldn't be racing through inns and camps. I am as +anxious as you can be to see you and be quiet. I understand other things +than war; but duty is before everything. All my life I have sacrificed +everything--peace, interest, happiness--to my destiny." These phrases in +no way consoled Josephine who knew very well that her husband, in spite of +his assumption of Spartan austerity; occasionally indulged in +distractions. + +In the month of March something occurred which somewhat moderated the +Empress's sufferings. Her daughter-in-law, the Vice-Queen of Italy, gave +birth at Milan, on the 17th, to a daughter who was named Josephine +Maximilienne Augusta. She it was who was to marry, in 1827, Oscar, Crown +Prince and later King of Sweden. "You will hear with pleasure," the +Empress wrote Queen Hortense, "of the Princess Augusta's happy delivery. +Eugene is delighted with his daughter; his only complaint is that she +sleeps too much, so that he can't see her as much as he would like." +Josephine would gladly have gone to Milan to congratulate her son and to +kiss her granddaughter, but her grandeur kept her in Paris, where the +prolongation of her husband's absence and the torments of too well +justified jealousy plunged her into the deepest gloom. + +Napoleon became tired of the monotonous and excessively disagreeable stay +at Osterode, where he could not receive the Polish lady to whom he became +continually more and more attached. Early in April he installed himself at +Finkenstein, in a pretty castle belonging to a Prussian crown official, +and there he was very comfortably quartered with his staff and military +household. It was from thence that he wrote, April 2, the following short +letter to Josephine: "My dear, I send you a line. I have just moved my +headquarters to a very pretty castle, like that of Bessières, where I have +a number of open fireplaces, which is very pleasant for me, as I get up +often in the night; I like to see the fire. My health is perfect, the +weather is fine, but still cold. The thermometer is but a few degrees from +freezing. Good by, my dear. Ever yours." As soon as Napoleon was settled +in this castle his first thought was to send for the Polish lady, for whom +he had fitted up an apartment near his own. She left at Warsaw her old +husband, who never consented to see her again, and spent three weeks with +the Emperor. "They took all their meals together," says Constant. "I was +the only one in attendance, so I was able to overhear their talk which was +always amiable, lively, and eager on the part of the Emperor, always +tender, affectionate and melancholy on the part of Madame V. When His +Majesty was away Madame V. spent all her time in reading or looking +through the blinds of the Emperor's room at the parades and drills going +on in the courtyard of the castle, which he often directed in person." +Constant, who felt bound to admire his master's choice, adds with some +feeling: "The Emperor appeared, to appreciate perfectly the interesting +qualities of this angelic woman, whose gentle, unselfish character left on +me an impression that can never fade... Her life, like her nature, was +calm and uniform. Her character fascinated the Emperor and bound him down +to her." This loving idyl, a sort of interlude in the tragedy of war, may +have suited Constant's taste, but it was hardly of a nature to please +Josephine, who, like most jealous people, knew almost always what she +wanted to know, and from the Tuileries found means to watch what was going +on in this distant castle. + +Napoleon's letters to Josephine during the reign of Madame V. were shorter +and more stupid than usual. They were merely a few lines on the weather, +the Emperor's health, or his desire to hear that his wife was "cheerful +and happy." But, alas! cheerfulness and happiness were not for her! Too +astute to be hoodwinked, she understood that her husband still had a +friendly feeling for her but that his love was dead. In the eyes of a +jealous woman, friendship is a slight thing. What does she care for the +esteem and attentions of a friend who was once her lover? To all the good +services of friendship she would a thousand times prefer the anger, fury, +violence, of love. + + + + +XXII. + +THE DEATH OF THE YOUNG NAPOLEON. + + +Queen Hortense was no happier in her Holland palaces than was the Empress +in the Tuileries. She had to endure all the grief, deception, and misery +of an ill-assorted marriage. The incompatibility of disposition which +existed between her husband and herself from the first days of their +married life, made itself continually more felt. King Louis blamed his +wife not merely for her faults, but also for her good qualities. He was +sometimes annoyed because she was gracious, amiable, charming; and the +general sympathy she aroused in Holland, as in France, excited the fears +of this irritable and sullen husband. Hortense looked upon herself as a +victim. She had a lively imagination, and exaggerated her grief to +herself, suffering more keenly on account of her excitement, which was +often very great. One day she said to Madame de Rémusat, her intimate and +admiring friend, that her life was so painful and apparently so hopeless +that when she was at one of her villas near the sea, and looked out on the +ocean where were the English fleets blockading her ports, she wished that +chance might bring a ship to where she was, and she might be carried off a +prisoner. + +The conjugal infelicities of Louis and his wife attracted the attention of +the Emperor, who kept as strict a guard over his family as over his +Empire, and was as prompt to exercise control in private, as in political +matters. He wanted his brother to obey him, both as King and husband, and +in his discontent at seeing his orders disobeyed, he wrote to him, from +the depths of Poland, April 4, 1807, this reproachful letter, which is a +real reprimand: "Your quarrels with the Queen have become public. Show, +then, in private life some of that paternal and effeminate character which +you display in matters of government, and in business the same rigor you +exercise in your household. You treat a young woman as we treat a +regiment.... You have an excellent and most virtuous wife and you make her +unhappy. Let her dance as much as she pleases; she is young. My wife is +forty; I wrote to her from the battle-field to go to a ball. And you want +a young woman of twenty, who sees her life flitting, and has every +illusion, to live in a cloister, or to be always washing her baby like a +nurse. You are too much _you_ in your household, and not enough in your +administration. I should not say all this to you except for the interest I +have for you. Make the mother of your children happy; you have one way to +do this: that is, by showing her esteem and confidence. Unfortunately your +wife is too virtuous; if you had married a coquette she would lead you by +the end of your nose. But you have a proud wife who is afflicted and +distressed by the mere thought that you may have a bad opinion of her. You +ought to have married any one of a number of women whom I know in Paris; +she would have had no difficulty in getting ahead of you and would have +kept you at her feet. It is not my fault, I have often told your wife so." +Thus the Emperor, by taking part in behalf of his daughter-in-law and +against his brother, took a position as arbiter in their domestic +quarrels. This interference was all the more galling to Louis,--who would +have liked to be master in both his own kingdom and in his own house,-- +that calumny, as he well knew, persisted in representing the Emperor as +his rival in Hortense's love, and as the father of the Crown Prince. + +This child was named Napoleon Charles. He was born in Paris, October 10, +1802. His grandmother, Josephine, nourished the hope that some day he +might be heir to the Empire, and she regarded his birth as a pledge of +final reconciliation between the Bonapartes and the Beauharnaises. She +believed that his cradle saved her from divorce. The Emperor, who always +liked children, was especially fond of his nephew. He watched his growth +with the keenest interest, admiring his amiability, his precocity, his +excellent disposition, The boy was really remarkable for intelligence and +beauty. His large blue eyes reflected every mood of his mind. Good, +loving, frank, and merry, he needed only to appear and all sadness was +banished. His mother had brought him up to revere the Emperor. His father, +the King, gave him new toys every day, choosing those he thought most +attractive. The boy preferred those he received from his uncle, and when +his father said, "But just see, Napoleon, those are ugly; mine are +prettier." "No," said the young Prince, "those are very pretty, my uncle +gave them to me." One morning on his way to see the Emperor, he passed +through a drawing-room where happened to be among others, Murat, then +Grand Duke of Berg. The young Napoleon walked straight ahead without +paying attention to any one, and when Murat stopped him and said, "Don't +you mean to say good-morning to me?" the child replied, "No; not before my +uncle the Emperor." Who knows? if this little Prince had lived the Emperor +might have desired no other heir, and perhaps the divorce would never have +taken place. + +This boy was his mother's hope and pride, her joy and consolation. His +father, too, loved him much. He was a light in the darkness, a rainbow +after the storm. Sometimes when his parents were quarrelling he succeeded +in reconciling them. He used to take his father by the hand, who gladly +let himself be led by this little angel, and then he would say in a +caressing tone: "Kiss her, papa, I beg of you"; then he was perfectly +happy when his father and mother exchanged a kiss of peace. + +The little Prince had a sudden attack of croup in the night of May 4, +1807. He was thought to be lost, but in the evening he was a little +better, and the physicians had some hope of saving him. The improvement +lasted but a few minutes. In the course of the day he was given some +English powders, which lent him a feverish strength, so that at six in the +evening he asked for some cards and pictures to play with, but the fever +only gave way to his death agony. Towards ten in the evening the child +drew his last breath. + +No words can describe the unhappy Queen's despair; she became stony with +grief, and fears were felt for her reason. Josephine's grief was +boundless. She did not dare to leave the Empire without the Emperor's +authorization, and so did not go to The Hague, but went in all haste to +the Castle of Laeken, near Brussels, whence she wrote to Hortense in the +evening of May 14: "I have just readied the Castle of Laeken, my dear +daughter, and await you here. Come and give me life; your presence is +necessary for me, and you must have need of seeing me and of weeping with +your mother. I should have liked to go further, but I was too weak, and +besides I had not time to send word to the Emperor. I have summoned +courage to come thus far; I hope that you will have enough to come to your +mother. Good by, my dear daughter, I am worn out with fatigue and +especially with grief." In the evening of May 15, Hortense arrived at the +Castle of Laeken, accompanied by her husband and her sole surviving son. +She was motionless, apathetic, the figure of despair. M. de Rémusat, who +was with the Empress, wrote the next day to his wife: "The Queen has but +one thought, the loss she has suffered; she speaks of only one thing, of +_him_. Not a tear, but a cold calm, an almost absolute silence about +everything, and when she speaks she wrings every one's heart. If she sees +any one whom she has ever seen with her son, she looks at him with +kindliness and interest, and says, 'You know he is dead.' When she first +saw her mother, she said to her: 'It's not long since he was here with me. +I held him on my knees thus.' Seeing me a few minutes later, she made a +sign for me to come forward. 'Do you remember Mayence? He acted with us.' +She heard ten o'clock strike; she turned to one of the ladies and said, +'You know it was at ten that he died.' That is the only way she breaks her +almost continual silence. With all that, she is kind, sensible, perfectly +reasonable; she thoroughly understands her condition, and even speaks of +it. She says she is glad that she has fallen into this numb state, +otherwise her sufferings would have been too intense. Some one asked her +if she was much moved when she saw her mother: 'No,' she answered; 'but I +am very glad to have seen her.' Mention was made of Josephine's surprise +at her lack of emotion on seeing her; 'Oh, Heavens!' she said, 'she must +not mind it; that's the way I am.' To anything that is asked her on any +other subject, she says, 'It's all the same to me; do as you please.'" + +A messenger had been sent to carry the news to the Emperor, who was much +affected by hearing it. He wrote to Josephine, May 14: "I can well imagine +the grief which Napoleon's death, must cause. You can understand what I +suffer. I should like to be with you, that you might be moderate and +discreet in your grief. You were happy enough never to lose a child, but +that is one of the conditions and penalties attached to our human misery. +Let me hear that you are calm and well! Do you want to add to my regret? +Good by, my dear." + +May 17 an imposing ceremony took place in Paris--the carrying of the sword +of Frederick the Great to the Tuileries. A triumphal chariot, richly +decorated, carried the one hundred and eighty flags captured in the last +campaign. Marshal Moncey, on horseback, held the hero's sword. The chariot +proceeded to the iron gate of the Invalides, which it was too lofty to +pass under. Then the veterans came to take the flags and to carry them +into the church. The ceremony began with a song of triumph. Marshal +Sérurier, Governor of the Invalides, spoke: "We are here," he said, "to +the number of more than nine hundred of those who fought against the great +king whose warlike spoils our children have just won. At that time fortune +did not always smile upon our valor. The fathers were no less brave than +their sons, but they had not the same leader. Yet we can only recall with +pride the words of that great man: 'If I were at the head of the French +people, not a cannon would be fired in Europe without my permission'-- +honorable proof of his esteem for the soldiers who were fighting him. But +it was in the reign of a sovereign even greater by his genius, his feats, +his moderation, that the French people was to rise to such a height of +power and glory. We swear faithfully to guard the treasure which his +Imperial and Royal Majesty has entrusted to us." Then the old church +echoed with cries of "We swear it!" + +At this ceremony, the eloquent President of the Legislative Body, M. de +Fontanes, made a fine speech full of enthusiasm for Napoleon, but +respectful to the memory of the great Frederick and to the misfortunes of +his successor. He closed with a few words on the grief that the death of +the Crown Prince must have caused the Emperor: "Perhaps, at this moment," +he said, "the hero who has saved us is weeping in his tent at the head of +three hundred thousand victorious French, and of all the confederate kings +and princes who march under his banner. He weeps, and neither the trophies +heaped about him, nor the glory of the twenty sceptres he holds so firmly, +which even Charlemagne failed to grasp, can distract his thoughts from the +coffin of that boy, whose first steps he aided with his triumphant hands, +whose promising intelligence he hoped one day to guide. Let him not forget +that his domestic woes have been felt like a public calamity, and may a +tender expression of the national interest bring him some slight +consolation. All our alarm for the future is a more ardent expression of +our homage. May fortune be satisfied with this one victim, and while she +always favors the plans of the greatest of monarchs, may she not make him +pay for his glory by similar misfortunes!" + +Doubtless the death of this young child altered the face of things. If he +had lived, it would have been for him, and not his brother, to bear the +name of Napoleon III., or possibly even of Napoleon II., and apparently +the destiny of the world would have been very different. Kingdoms and +empires, on what does their fate depend! May 5 was to be a fatal date; the +young Prince died May 5, 1807, and fourteen years later to a day his uncle +was to die on the rock of Saint Helena. + + + + +XXIII. + +THE END OF THE WAR. + + +The Empress brought her daughter Hortense and her grandson Napoleon Louis, +a boy a little over two, back to Paris with her, but she had not long the +consolation of their presence; before the end of May Hortense was obliged +to leave for Cauterets to repair her shattered health. Her mother wrote to +her from Saint Cloud, May 27: "I have wept much since your departure; this +separation is very painful for me, and the only thing that could enable me +to bear it would be the certainty that you are getting some good from your +trip. I have heard of you from Madame de Broc. I beg of you to thank her +for this attention and to ask her to write to me when you are unable. I +heard news, too, of your son; he is at Laeken, very well, and awaits the +King's arrival. The Emperor has written to me again; he shares our sorrow. +I needed this consolation, the only one I have received since your +departure. I am always alone, every moment recalls our loss, my tears +never cease flowing. Good by, my dear daughter, take care of yourself for +your mother's sake, who loves you most tenderly." + +Napoleon, who forbade his wife and daughter-in-law to be gloomy,--an order +more easily given than obeyed,--thought their mourning excessive. His +expressions of sympathy were very singular. He wrote from Finkenstein to +Queen Hortense, May 20, 1807:-- + +"MY DAUGHTER: Everything I hear from The Hague tells me you are not +reasonable. However legitimate your grief, it should have some bounds. Do +not ruin your health; seek some distractions, and remember that life is so +full of dangers and evils that death is not the worst thing that can +befall one." In his letter of May 24 to the Empress, the Emperor spoke of +the unhappy Queen with a severity that amounted to brutality: "Hortense is +unreasonable and does not deserve to be loved since she does not love any +one but her children. Try to calm her and do not make trouble for me. For +every hopeless evil, consolation must be found." He wrote to her again, +May 26: "I have your letter of the 16th. I am glad Hortense has gone to +Laeken. I am sorry to hear what you say about the sort of stupor she is +in. She might show courage and self-control. I can't understand why she +should be sent to the baths; she could find more distractions in Paris. +Control yourself; be cheerful, and keep well. My health is excellent. Good +by. I stare your sufferings, and am sorry not to be with you." + +In her bitter grief Hortense lacked courage to write to the Emperor, who +was annoyed by her silence. "My dear," he wrote to Josephine, June 2, "I +hear that you have arrived at Malmaison. I have no letters from you. I am +vexed with Hortense; she has not written me a word. All you tell me about +her distresses me. Why could you not distract her a little? You are always +in tears! I hope you will show some self-control, that I may not find you +sad. I have been for two days at Dantzic; the weather is fine; I am well. +I think of you more than you think of an absent man. Good by; much love. +Forward to Hortense this letter." This is the severe epistle which +Josephine was bidden to send to Hortense:-- + +"June 2. MY DAUGHTER: You have not written me a word in your great and +natural grief. You have forgotten everything, as if you had not still +losses to endure. I hear that you love nothing, are indifferent to +everything; this is plain from your silence. That is not right, Hortense. +It is not what you promised us. Your son was everything for you? Are your +mother and I nothing? Had I been at Malmaison I should have shared your +sorrow, but I should have wanted you to listen to your best friends. Good +by, my daughter; be cheerful; you must be resigned. My wife is much +distressed at your condition; do not give her further pain. Your +affectionate father." + +It is easily seen that such letters were ill adapted to allay the anguish +of an inconsolable mother mourning for her child. + +Josephine's letters to her daughter showed very different feelings. The +kind Empress did her best to persuade her that the Emperor sympathized +with her grief. She wrote from Saint Cloud, June 4: "Your letter, my dear +Hortense, gives me much consolation, and what I hear from your ladies +about your health makes me easier. The Emperor was much distressed, in +every letter he tries to give me courage, but I know that this unhappy +event was a great blow to him. The King arrived at Saint Len last evening; +he has sent me word that he meant to call on me to-day, and he must leave +the boy here during his absence. You know how much I love the child, and +how careful I shall be of him. I want the King to take the same route as +you; it will be a consolation for you both to meet. All his letters since +you left are full of love for you. He has too tender a heart not to be +touched. Good by, my dear daughter; take care of your health; mine will +improve only when I don't have to suffer for those I love." This letter +shows all the kindness and gentleness of Josephine's character. She was +conciliating and benevolent, and did her best to smooth over Napoleon's +blame and to reconcile Hortense with her husband. She wrote again from +Saint Cloud, June 11: "Your boy is very well, and amuses me a great deal; +he is so gentle; I think he has all the ways of the poor boy we mourn." +Josephine understood consolation better than the Emperor. + +What could be more touching, more maternal, than this letter from the +Empress? "Your letter moved me deeply; I see your grief is ever fresh and +I perceive this better by my own sufferings. We have lost what was most +worthy to be loved; my tears flow as they did the first day. Those regrets +are too natural to be repressed by reason, although it should moderate +them. You are not alone in the world. You have left a husband, an +interesting child, and you are too tender for that to be strange and +indifferent to you. Think of us, my dear daughter, and let this calm your +natural sorrow. I rely on your love for me and on your reasonableness. I +hope that the trip and the waters will do you good. Your son is very well, +and is charming. My health is a little better, but you know it depends on +yours. Good by. Many kisses." + +The character of this loving mother and grandmother manifests itself in +every one of her letters. Her style was simple and affectionate, like +herself. Her letters, full of the gentlest, best, and most touching +feeling, might make one say, "The style is the woman." + +While Josephine and Hortense were weeping, Napoleon was bringing a +terrible campaign to a brilliant end. June 15 he thus announced to his +wife the great victory of Friedland: "My dear: I write but a word, for I +am very tired; I have been bivouacking for several days. My children have +been worthily celebrating the battle of Marengo. The battle of Friedland +will be quite as famous and glorious for my people. The whole Russian army +routed; eighty cannon; thirty thousand men captured or killed; twenty-five +Russian generals killed, wounded, or captured; the Russian Guard wiped +out; it is a worthy sister of Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena. The bulletin will +tell you the rest. My losses are not serious; I succeeded in +outmanoeuvring the enemy. Be calm and contented. Good by, my dear, my +horse is waiting." The next day he wrote another letter to Josephine: "My +dear, yesterday I sent Moustache to you with news of the battle of +Friedland. Since then, I have continued to pursue the enemy, Königsberg, a +city of eighty thousand inhabitants, Is in my power, I have found there +many cannon, stores, and finally sixty thousand muskets just come from +England. Good by, my dear, my health is perfect, although I have a cold +from the rain and cold of the bivouac. Be cheerful and contented. Ever +yours." From Tilsitt Napoleon wrote to his wife, June 19: "I have sent +Tascher to you to allay your anxiety. Everything goes on admirably here. +The battle of Friedland decided everything. The enemy is confounded, cast +down, and extremely enfeebled. My health is excellent, my army superb. +Good by; be cheerful and contented." Be cheerful and contented--he was +always saying it. + +June 25, at one in the afternoon, a great sight was to be seen in the +middle of the Niemen. A raft had been placed midstream in plain view from +both banks of the river. All the rich stuffs that could be found in the +little town of Tilsitt had been taken to make a pavilion on a part of this +raft for the reception of the Emperors of France and Russia. From one bank +Napoleon embarked with Murat, Berthier, Bessières, Duroc, and +Caulaincourt; and from the other, Alexander, with the Grand Duke +Constantine, Generals Bennigsen and Ouvaroff, the Prince of Labanoff, and +the Count of Lieven. The two armies were drawn up on the two banks, and +the country people of the neighborhood were present to watch one of the +most memorable interviews known to history. When they reached the raft, +the two sovereigns, who had just been fighting so bitterly, and had sent +so many thousand men to death, fell into each other's arms with emotion. +The same day Napoleon wrote to Josephine: "I have just seen the Emperor +Alexander, and am much pleased with him; he is a very fine-looking, good +young Emperor; he has more intelligence than is generally supposed. He is +going to move into Tilsitt to-morrow. Good by; keep well and be contented. +My health is excellent." The two monarchs became very intimate. "My dear," +Napoleon wrote to his wife July 3, "M. de Turenne will give you all the +details about what is going on here; everything is moving smoothly. I +think I told you that the Emperor of Russia drank to your health with +great kindness. He and the King of Prussia dine with me every day. I want +you to be contented. Good by; much love." And July 6: "I have yours of +June 25. I am sorry you are so egoistic, and that my success gives you no +pleasure. The beautiful Queen of Prussia is to dine with me to-day. I am +well and anxious to see you again when fate permits. Still it will +probably be soon." + +The Queen of Prussia was one of the most beautiful and most brilliant +women of her time. An hour after her arrival at Tilsitt, Napoleon called +on her, and that evening, when she came to dine with him, he went to the +door of the house in which he lived to receive her with all respect. But +in spite of all her efforts to modify the conditions of the peace imposed +on Prussia, her gracious and obstinate endeavors were fruitless. Napoleon, +July 7, thus described to Josephine the dinner of the evening before to +the charming Queen: "My dear, the Queen of Prussia dined with me +yesterday. I was obliged to refuse her some concessions she wanted me to +make to her husband; but I was polite, and also kept to my plan. She is +very amiable. When I see you I will give you all the details which would +be too long to write now. When you read this letter, peace will have been +concluded with Russia and Prussia, and Jerome will have been recognized as +King of Westphalia with a population of three millions. This piece of news +is for you alone. Good by, my dear; I want to hear that you are contented +and cheerful." The story runs that the Queen of Prussia, who held a +beautiful rose in her hand, offered it to Napoleon, saying with a gracious +smile: "Take it, Sire, but in exchange for Magdeburg." The hero of Jena +made a mistake not to make the exchange. He did too much or too little for +the Prussian monarchy. Since he could not or would not wipe it out, he +ought to have let it live, and become a friendly power. Who can tell? +Perhaps his acceptance of the rose would have warded off many acts of +vengeance, many disasters. On such slight things does the world's destiny +depend! + +Josephine wrote to her daughter from Saint Cloud, July 10: "I often hear +from the Emperor, who speaks a great deal about the Emperor Alexander, +with whom he seems well satisfied. He sent M. de Monaco and M. de +Montesquiou to give me details of all they had seen. They say the first +view was a magnificent sight. The two armies were on the two banks of the +Niemen. The Emperor was the first to arrive at a raft built in the middle +of the river; the Emperor Alexander's boat found some difficulty in +approaching, which gave him a chance to speak of his eagerness thwarted by +the stream. They tell me that when the two Emperors kissed, wide-spread +applause arose from both banks. What most interests me in all this good +news is my hope of soon seeing the Emperor again. Why is this happiness +troubled by sad memories that can never be destroyed? Your boy is +perfectly-well; his complexion has entirely changed. I hope the waters +will do both you and the King good; remember me to him, and believe in my +constant love." + +Before leaving Tilsitt, where he had signed a glorious peace, Napoleon had +the bravest soldier of the Russian Guard presented to him, and he gave him +the eagle of the Legion of Honor. He gave his portrait to Platou, the +hetman of the Cossacks, and some Baschirs gave him a concert after the +custom of their country. July 9, at eleven in the morning, wearing the +grand cordon of Saint Andrew, he called on the Emperor Alexander, who wore +the broad ribbon of the Legion of Honor, The two sovereigns passed three +hours together, then mounted their horses, and rode towards the Niemen. +Then they got down and embraced for the last time. The Czar then embarked, +and Napoleon waited on the river-bank until his new friend had landed on +the other shore. He returned to Königsberg and from there to Dresden, +whence he wrote to Josephine, July, 18: "My dear, I reached here yesterday +afternoon at five, very well, though I had been posting one hundred hours +without stopping. I am staying with the King of Saxony, whom I like very +much. I have more than half my journey to you behind me. I warn you that I +may burst in on you at Saint Cloud one of these nights, like a jealous +husband. Good by, my dear; I shall be very glad to see you again. Ever +yours." Napoleon spoke of jealousy. The days of the first Italian campaign +were very distant. Everything had changed. It was no longer he who had to +be jealous of Josephine: it was Josephine who was jealous of him, and with +good reason. After an absence of nearly a year, the Emperor reached Saint +Cloud, July 27, 1807, at six o'clock in the morning. + + + + +XXIV. + +THE EMPEROR'S RETURN. + + +July 28, 1807, the Emperor, who had arrived at Saint Cloud the day before, +received the great bodies of the State. It would be hard to form an exact +idea of the flatteries addressed to him. Let us quote a few taken at +random. M. Séguier, First President of the Court of Appeal, said to the +hero of Friedland: "Napoleon is above admiration; only love can rise to +him." The Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, speaking in the name of his +clergy, was perhaps even more enthusiastic: "The God of armies," he said, +"has dictated and directed all your plans; nothing could resist the +swiftness of so many wonders.... Have confidence, Sire, in our zeal, and +instruct the people in the submission and obedience they owe to all of +Your Majesty's decrees and orders." But it was Councillor of State +Trochot, Prefect of the Seine, who deserves the prize in this competition +of adulation. Here is a fragment of his speech: "Sire, now that at last +Paris receives you once more after so long an absence and such prodigious +feats, it would gladly express to you all its intense admiration, and yet +it can only speak to you of its love. And, indeed, if it tried to +contemplate in you the conqueror of so many kings, the law-maker of so +many peoples, the controller of so many events, the arbiter of so many +destinies, how could it dare to approach Your Majesty, and in what +language could it address you? Should it speak to you of triumphs? But can +any one but a Caesar himself speak of what Caesar has done? Of glory? but +for ten years it has been impossible to speak of all you have won. Of +genius? but who can speak of all the marvels yours has wrought, before +which we are dumb and confounded. Sire, all these things are beyond us, +and since they command admiration, even silence, the silence of +astonishment which admiration imposes seems to be our sole manner of +expressing it." More had not been said, to Louis XIV., the Sun King. + +In allusion to the illuminations in Paris the evening before, the Prefect, +of the Seine added: "Why could not you, Sire, have been an eye-witness of +the joy which the announcement of Your Majesty's return spread yesterday +throughout the capital of your Empire! Why could not you have heard the +applause with which your faithful subjects rent the welkin daring the +festivity which they gave on this occasion until well into the night!" The +Prefect closed by a prophecy, alas! not too accurate: "The august Emperor +Napoleon will render war between nations impossible, and the world's +happiness will date from his reign." + +The hero of Austerlitz, of Jena, of Friedland, then thought nothing +impossible. His direct or indirect sway extended from the Straits of +Gibraltar to the Vistula, from the mountains of Bohemia to the North Sea. +Charlemagne was outstripped. Josephine saw her husband again with joy, but +also with anxiety and terror. He returned so infatuated by his wonderful +fortune, he was so flattered and deified by his courtiers, in his whole +Imperial and royal person there was something so formidable and majestic, +that his gentle and timid wife was, as it were, dazzled by the rays of a +sun, too brilliant for her to look at. + +Josephine had now become afraid to address him as thou, and to call him +simply Bonaparte as she had done before. When she spoke to him, she often +called him Sire. She did not dare to reproach him with his infidelities at +Warsaw or the Castle of Finkenstein, or to show that she noticed his +attentions to many ladies of the court, notably to a beautiful Italian +woman, a friend of Talleyrand's, who was one of her readers and a +prominent object of Napoleon's attentions. She saw rising before her the +vision of divorce, the phantom which had haunted her imagination since the +expedition to Egypt. Fearful of giving her husband the slightest pretext +for discontent or annoyance, she was humbler, more submissive, more +obedient than ever. + +So long as the oldest son of Louis and Hortense had lived, Josephine felt +comparatively secure, because she knew that this boy, a special favorite +of Napoleon's, was intended by his uncle to be the heir of his Empire. But +his surviving brother, the little Napoleon Louis, born October 11, 1804, +did not give the Empress the same confidence. The Emperor was less +intimate with this child; he had not played with him as he had done with +the other; he had not become attached to him. The little Napoleon Louis +was staying with Josephine when the Emperor returned. She did all she +could to make him love him. + +Moreover, it was not an easy thing to hold the affections of a man like +Napoleon. Six years younger than his wife, he was but thirty-eight, and in +all the flower and prime of his Caesar-like beauty. He liked to make a +conquest of beauties as well as of provinces. The thought of resistance +exasperated him. In everything he demanded success, triumph, dominion. The +celebration of his birthday, August 15, 1807, which was accompanied with +unusual pomp and splendor, was of the nature of a deification. He made +Josephine share his triumph, and held her by the hand when he appeared on +a balcony of the Tuileries, in the enclosure, amid the applause of the +multitude assembled in the gardens. + +King Jerome's marriage with the young Princess Catherine of Würtemberg +added to the animation of the already brilliant court. The annulment of +the young Prince's marriage with Miss Paterson had caused Napoleon much +difficulty. When this marriage had been contracted at Baltimore, December +8, 1803, he had been only First Consul, and Jerome, a simple naval +officer, was in no way under the control of the decree of the Senate, +which was later to determine the civil conditions of the new Imperial +family. But in his haste to marry the young and beautiful American girl, +Jerome, who was but nineteen years old, had neglected, in spite of the +advice of the French Consul, to demand the permission of his mother, +Madame Letitia Bonaparte. This omission had not prevented the Bishop of +Baltimore from celebrating the marriage. Napoleon, however, regarded it as +null and void. It was not till February 22, 1805, that he obtained his +mother's protest, and the 21st of the next March, by an Imperial decree, +he annulled the marriage which displeased him, by his own authority. Yet, +in the eyes of religion, this union still existed. The Emperor asked the +Pope to pronounce it null, but Pius VII. gave the request a formal +refusal, writing in June, 1805: "It is beyond our power in the present +state of things, to pronounce it null. If we should usurp an authority we +do not possess, we should render ourselves guilty of an abuse abominable +before the throne of God; and Your Majesty himself, in his justice, would +blame us for pronouncing a sentence contrary to the testimony of our +conscience, and to the invariable principles of the church.... That is why +we earnestly hope that Your Majesty will be convinced that the desire with +which we are always animated to second his designs, so far as depends on +us, particularly in a matter so closely concerning his august person, has +been rendered idle by the absolute absence of power, and we entreat him to +receive this sincere declaration as testimony of our really paternal +affection." This was the beginning of the quarrel between the Pope and the +Emperor. Pius VII. would not yield; but Napoleon found greater servility +in the metropolitan officialty of Paris; and October 6, 1806, he secured a +sentence pronouncing the nullity of his brother Jerome's marriage with +Miss Paterson. + +The King of Würtemberg, in the hope that a close alliance with the +Imperial family would strengthen his throne, and procure him accession of +land and power, had prepared to give to the Emperor's young brother the +hand of his daughter, Princess Catherine. As soon as the King had formed +this decision, he would not listen to a word of criticism from his family, +who were already accustomed never to discuss his ideas. The King of +Würtemberg was a real giant. He was so stout that a broad, deep hollow had +to be cut out of his dining-table; for otherwise he would not have been +able to reach his plate. He was fond of riding, but it was not easy to +find a horse strong enough to carry his enormous weight. The horse had to +be gradually accustomed to it, and to accomplish this, the equerry who had +to prepare the royal steed used to wear a band full of lead, to which he +would add new pieces every day, until he was as heavy as the King. This +monarch, who was highly respected, though greatly feared, by ids subjects, +had some eccentricities. Thus he demanded that his wife should be up and +fully dressed by seven in the morning; and insisted that at whatever hour +of the day or evening it should please him to enter her apartment, he +should find her ready to accompany him wherever he might want to go. The +Queen, who was his second wife,--Princess Catherine was a child by his +first marriage,--was a daughter of the King of England, and consequently +she was averse to seeing her step-daughter marry the brother of England's +greatest enemy; but she took good care not to make any objections. The +King of Würtemberg was severe to his family and to his subjects, but he +was well educated, intelligent, and energetic. Napoleon set great store by +him, and regarded him as a loyal and faithful ally. + +Jerome, who had been made King of Westphalia by the treaty of Tilsitt, was +the youngest of the Emperor's brothers. He was born at Ajaccio, November +15, 1784, and was not yet twenty-three when he married Princess Catherine +of Würtemberg, who was nearly two years older than he, having been born +February 2, 1783. This Princess had much charm; she was tall, handsome, +her expression was noble and kindly; she inspired every one with sympathy +and respect. She was a woman remarkable for intelligence, virtue, and +affection. She was to be a model wife and mother. She it was who, in 1814, +refused to get a divorce and to abandon an unfortunate husband, a +dethroned king. She it was who wrote to her father this admirable letter, +without fear of his anger: "Having been forced, by reasons of state to +marry the King, my husband, it has been granted me by fate to be the +happiest woman in the world. I feel for my husband love, tenderness, +esteem, combined; at this painful moment would the best of desire to +destroy my domestic happiness, the only sort left to me? I venture to tell +you, my clear father, you and, all the family, that you do not know the +King, my husband. A time will come, I hope, when you will be convinced +that you have misjudged him and then you will always find him and me the +most respectful and most loving children." She was the courageous woman, +the faithful wife, the devoted mother, of whom Napoleon said at Saint +Helena: "Princess Catherine of Würtemberg has with her own hands written +her name in history." + +Jerome's marriage was an event of great ceremony. It was first celebrated, +by proxy, at Stuttgart, the Princess's brother representing the +bridegroom. The Emperor sent presents to his future sister-in-law, among +other things a set of diamonds worth three hundred thousand francs. A +detachment from the Emperor's household and many of the Empress's ladies +of the bedchamber went to the frontiers to meet the Princess. She reached +the Castle of Raincy, August 20, 1807, and there saw her betrothed for the +first time, and the 21st, Napoleon received her at the Tuileries on the +first step of the great staircase. As she bowed before him, he folded her +in his arms, then he presented her to the Empress, before the whole court +and the deputies of the new kingdom of Westphalia, who had been summoned +to Paris to be present at the marriage of their young sovereign with a +Princess belonging to one of the oldest and most illustrious families of +Germany. + +Saturday, August 22, the signature of the marriage contract and the civil +wedding took place at the Tuileries, in the Gallery of Diana, in presence +of the Emperor, the Empress, the ladies and officers of their households +and the great personages of the Empire. M. Regnault de Saint-Jean +d'Angély, Secretary of State of the Imperial family, read the marriage- +contract, which was then signed by the Emperor, the Empress, the young +couple, the Princes and Princesses, the Prince Primate of the +Confederation of the Rhine, the Prince's high dignitaries of the Empire, +and the witnesses of the marriage. The witnesses were, for the court of +France: Prince Borghese, Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, and Marshal +Berthier, Prince of Neufchâtel; for the court of Würtemberg: the Prince of +Baden; the Prince of Nassau; and the Count of Winzingerode, the Minister +of Würtemberg. Prince Cambacérès, Arch-chancellor of the Empire, then +received the consent of the couple and pronounced the formula of the civil +marriage. + +The next day, Sunday, August 23, 1807, at eight in the evening, the +religious marriage was celebrated in the chapel of the Tuileries, the +galleries being filled with the diplomatic bodies, the foreign princes and +noblemen and invited guests. The procession was brilliant. On entering the +chapel, Napoleon gave his hand to the Princess Catherine, and Jerome his +to the Empress. The Prince Primate of the Confederation of the Rhines, +Archbishop of Regensburg, Sovereign Prince of that city, of Aschaftenburg, +of Frankfort, etc., surrounded by his clergy and his court, stood at the +chapel door. He gave holy water to the Emperor and the Empress, who at +once went to their praying-chairs; then he gave the nuptial blessing to +the young couple, while the canopy was held by the Bishop of Ghent and the +Abbé of Boulogne, the Emperor's Almoners. After the ceremony, they all +went back from the chapel to the grand apartments, where followed a +concert, a ballet, and a reception in the Hall of the Marshals. Twice +Napoleon appeared on the balcony, showing the newly married pair the vast +throng filling the garden of the Tuileries. Unfortunately, a sudden storm +prevented the display of fireworks. + +While the thunder was roaring and the rain pouring down, the Empress, at +her young brother-in-law's marriage, was the prey to sad reflections. She +thought of the deserted American wife, who, far away, was weeping, while +her husband, the father of her children was joyfully leading another wife +to the altar. Josephine doubtless thought that soon perhaps her lot would +he the same as that of the unhappy Miss Paterson; that she would he +sacrificed, abandoned, repudiated in the very same way. + +The Empress had another cause of grief. At the Pyrenees her daughter +Hortense had become reconciled with Louis, and was soon to be the mother +of the child afterwards known as Napoleon III. But in a few weeks the +incongeniality of their dispositions, for a moment forgotten in their +common grief, asserted itself anew. On their return to Paris, at the end +of August, the discord between the King and the Queen of Holland was as +violent as ever. The King, more uneasy and suspicious than ever before, +wanted to carry his wife to Holland, but the Queen had an aversion to the +country where she had suffered so much, and to its fatal climate. She +feared that if she should return there she might lose her second son like +the first. Her health was wretched; she feared that her lungs were +affected. In France she felt that the Emperor protected her from her +husband's anger. Holland seemed to her a gloomy, damp, melancholy prison, +of which the King, her husband, would be the jailor. Louis Bonaparte was +furious at his wife's resistance, all the more that he was obliged to hide +his feelings. Napoleon, who held his family, like his Empire, in absolute +control, gave Louis, as well as his other brothers, orders which they had +to obey without a word or a murmur. The King of Holland returned to his +kingdom alone, his wife stayed in France, but in the gloomiest spirits, +with mind and body disordered, disenchanted about all human things. "From +that time," she said later, "I understood that my misfortunes were beyond +cure; I looked upon my life as destroyed; I conceived a horror of +grandeur, of a throne; I often cursed what so many called my good fortune; +I felt lost to all enjoyment of life, shorn of all Illusions, nearly dead +to everything going on about me." Under other conditions, the Empress +would have been delighted to have her daughter with her, but she found her +so dejected, so morose, and so unhappy, that her presence was quite as +much a grief as a comfort for her. These were the feelings of the Empress +of the French and of the Queen, of Holland when they went to Fontainebleau +with the court at the end of September, 1807. There the Emperor lived more +splendidly than ever, surrounding himself with all the pomp and majesty of +monarchy. + + + + +XXV. + +THE COURT AT FONTAINEBLEAU. + + +The court arrived at the Palace of Fontainebleau September 21, 1807, and +stayed there until November 15. Napoleon felt the need of displaying +unprecedented luxury. He wanted to have the Diplomatic Corps send to +foreign powers the account of magnificent festivities. This splendid +palace, with its proud memories of the old French monarchy, was a +residence that pleased him. He liked to be surrounded by great persons, +whether foreigners or Frenchmen, who rivalled one another in flattery, +zeal, and homage towards him. In his opinion, festivities and battles +added to the glory of the throne. Desiring to be in everything first, he +was very anxious for his court to be esteemed the most brilliant in +Europe. + +There were various types among the guests at Fontainebleau. There was +Napoleon's mother, rather Italian than French by birth, and in face and +accent. She recalled the characters of antiquity, unspoiled by prosperity, +austere in her life, simple in her taste, rigidly economical, less from +avarice than a distrust of the continuance of her son's good fortune. +There was the beautiful Princess Borghese, Duchess of Guastalla, more +elegant, more fashionable, more attractive than ever; then Madame Murat, +rich in freshness and brilliancy, not satisfied with being a French +Princess and Grand Duchess of Berg, but yearning to be a Queen; the Queen +of Holland, on the other hand, in despair at having ascended the throne, +and plunged in a deep melancholy in marked contrast with the splendors +surrounding her in spite of herself. Then Joseph Bonaparte's wife, the +Queen of Naples, whose tastes were modest, and who preferred Paris to her +Italian kingdom. There were many Princes and great lords in the crowd of +courtiers, the satellites of the Imperial sun. In the Gallery of Henry II. +were to be distinguished a cluster of German Princes: the Grand Duke of +Würzburg,--who did not seem to sigh for his Grand Duchy of Tuscany, +finding ample consolation in singing Italian pieces, for music was his +passion; the Prince Primate of the Confederation of the Rhine, Archbishop +of Regensburg, Sovereign Prince of that city and of Frankfort, who, in +spite of his position in the church, joined the Emperor's hunt; Prince +William of Prussia, who hoped by his devotion to alleviate the troubles of +his country, and to modify the demands of the hero of Jena; the Prince of +Mecklenburg-Schwerin, conspicuous for his formal German politeness; the +young Prince of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. brother of the Queen of Prussia, +less interested in the patriotic grievances of his sister, than in his +assiduous court to the Empress Josephine, whose respectful platonic lover +he was; the Prince of Baden, who, although the brother-in-law of the +Emperor of Russia, the King of Bavaria, and the King of Sweden, was proud +to have married a Mademoiselle de Beauharnais, daughter of a simple +Senator of the Empire, with but one regret--that his wife did not love him +enough; Jerome, the young and brilliant King of Westphalia, apparently +forgetful of Elisabeth Paterson, and full of mad love for his new wife, +Princess Catherine of Würtemberg. + +In the Gallery of Henry II. was also to be seen Murat, who, after his +triumphal entry into Warsaw, thought of nothing but crowns, anxiously +wondering whether he was to be King of Poland, or of Portugal, of Spain, +or of Naples. There were the high dignitaries of the Empire, the foreign +ambassadors, the marshals, the ministers; M. de Talleyrand with his +enormous salary, his high position as Grand Chamberlain and Vice-Elector, +his title of Prince of Benevento, always sparkling with the cold, +sceptical, politely contemptuous wit that distinguished those who belonged +to the old régime--Talleyrand, who, in the Emperor's closet possibly spoke +to him with a certain freedom, but in the Gallery of Henry II. resembled +the other courtiers and kept a profound silence as his master drew near. +Then the Count of Ségur, Grand Master of Ceremonies, as attractive in the +court of Napoleon as he had been in that of Catherine II. as ambassador of +Louis XVI.; Marshal Berthier, Grand Master of the Horse, Vice-Constable, +Sovereign Prince of Neufchâtel, as devoted to Madame Visconti as if he +were a youth of twenty; Count Tolstoi, the brilliant ambassador of the +Emperor Alexander; M. de Metternich, the fascinating and skilful Austrian +Ambassador, conspicuous by Ms admiration for Princess Murat. + +When the Emperor entered, all eyes were turned towards him alone; about +him centred all interest, all intrigues, all ambitions. He appeared as the +dispenser of fortune, the arbiter of destiny, the exceptional being on +whom depended individuals, kingdoms, empires. He filled it all with his +presence; every one seemed to live only for and by the Emperor. A smile, a +word, the slightest mark of attention on his part, seemed a precious +reward, a marked honor, As soon as he entered, a quiver of admiration and +of terror seemed to run through the air. Every one bowed like a horse who +sniffs the approach of his master; they almost prostrated themselves +before him. Any one to whom he spoke, stammered, feared to reply, turned +pale and red; and he, rejoicing in their embarrassment, gloried in the +wide gulf he had set between himself and all other human beings. Even +foreigners seemed to be his subjects. Whatever their position, whatever +their coat-of-arms, by his side they were vulgar supernumeraries. His +power appeared to be limitless, like his genius; and believing everything +possible, looking upon himself as a prodigy, a living miracle, he exulted +proudly and majestically in his glory. + +Under the second Empire, what were called the _series_ of Compiègne and of +Fontainebleau were much less ceremonious than under the first. All the +guests of Napoleon III. breakfasted and dined at his table,--in the +morning in frock-coat, in the evening in black coat and knee breeches; no +uniforms were to be seen. Women appeared at breakfast in morning dress; +they wore no especial dress at the hunt. Before dinner the Empress used to +receive a few specially invited guests to drink tea. All day the Emperor +left the company perfectly free. In the evening there was dancing to the +music of a piano like a hand-organ, of which a chamberlain turned the +handle. The Emperor was treated with great deference, but no one feared +him, because his words were always marked by great affability. Napoleon +I., on the other hand, was perhaps more feared than admired. Those who +were charged with organizing his entertainments were perfectly happy if he +was silent; for he almost never gave a word of praise and often +criticised. It was a conspicuous and rare honor, even for Princes, to dine +with him. There were besides at Fontainebleau, in 1807, several distinct +tables: those of the Princes and Princesses of the Imperial family, who +often gave grand dinners; that of the Grand Marshal of the Palace, with +twenty-five places; that of the Empress's Maid of Honor, with the same +number; and, finally, a last table for all those who had received no +special invitation. The Princesses paid the cost--of installing themselves +there out of their own purses, while under Napoleon III., at +Fontainebleau, or at Compiègne, all the expenses were defrayed by the +Emperor. Under the first Empire only those holding high official position +were invited to the Imperial, residences; under the second, many were +invited who were famous only for their elegance. Under Napoleon I., where +everything was formal, scarcely anything but tragedy was played at the +court; under Napoleon III., lighter plays were often given. The hunts were +very simple under the second Emperor and very magnificent under the first, +In 1807 Napoleon had ordered that women who went to the coursing should +wear a special costume; that of the Empress and of all the ladies of her +household was of amaranthine velvet, embroidered with gold, and a cap with +white feathers; that of the Princesses, blue for the Queen of Holland, +pink for the Princess Murat, lilac for the Princess Borghese, all adorned +with silver embroidery. The Emperor and all his guests wore the same +hunting-dress for coursing: a green coat with gold, buttons and lace, +breeches of white cassimere, Hessian boots without tops; for shooting, a +green coat, with no other ornament than white buttons, on which were +carved hunting emblems. Under the first Empire, etiquette was most rigid; +under the second, it hardly existed. At every moment of day and evening, +Napoleon I. wore a twofold air as commander-in-chief and sovereign; +Napoleon III. was like a man of the world receiving his friends in his own +castle. + +From September 21 to November 15, 1807, the great general had commanded +that there should be amusement in the Palace of Fontainebleau. Pleasure +was ordered, but it does not come at call. The Emperor, accustomed to have +his every wish obeyed, was surprised to see that not every face was +radiant. "Strange," he said, "I have gathered a good many people here at +Fontainebleau; I want them to amuse themselves, I have arranged their +pleasures, yet every one seems tired and sad." The Italian songs, even +when sung by the best singers, in costume and with all the scenery, +produced but a feeble impression. The tragedies seemed to induce slumber. +The little balls, or, more exactly, the little hops in the apartment of +the Maid of Honor, Madame de la Rochefoucauld, were very dull. Sometimes +little games were played there; they gave a flash of gaiety, but as soon +as the Emperor appeared, every one assumed a serious, composed air. Might +one not say once more what La Bruyère said when speaking of the court of +Louis XIV.: "Who would believe that this eagerness for shows, that meals, +hunts, ballets, tilting-matches, crowned so many anxieties, pains, and +diverse interests, so many fears and hopes, so many lively passions, and +serious affairs?" A palace is not built for ease. All its formalities hang +heavy on every guest; the whole of every day is spent in playing a part. + +Amid all these empty pleasures and hollow joys there was no lack of +sorrow. It was there that the wretched Queen Hortense, spitting blood, +mourning the past and dreading the future, said to Napoleon: "My +reputation is tainted, my health ruined, I expect no more happiness in +life; banish me from your court; if you wish, lock me up in a convent, I +desire neither throne nor fortune. Give peace to my mother, glory to +Eugene, who deserves it, but let me live a calm and solitary life." She +had been happier as an unknown schoolgirl at Madame Campan's, just as her +mother, the Empress of the French and the Queen of Italy, must have often +sighed for the island of Martinique, where she would have preferred the +splash of the waves to the courtiers' murmur of obsequious flattery. +Napoleon, himself, at the height of human glory, had lost the peace of +heart which he enjoyed in his boyhood, and never found again. + +The Empress Josephine naturally held the highest place in this brilliant +court of Fontainebleau, and was the object of untiring homage; few, +however, suspected the anxieties that tormented her, so calm happy did she +appear, with a kind word and a gracious smile for every one. + +M. de Metternich, the Austrian Ambassador who was then at Fontainebleau, +took pains to ascertain the causes of her secret sorrow, and sent the +details to his government. He wrote to von Stadion: "In many of my +previous reports I have had the honor of speaking to Your Excellency about +the long current rumors regarding the approaching divorce of the Emperor. +After circulating vaguely in the last two months, they have become the +subject of general and public discussion. It is true of these rumors, as +of all not stamped out at their birth, that they rest on some foundation +of truth, or they would be promptly silenced, if they were not directly +tolerated." Then the clear-sighted ambassador reported in the same +despatch what he had learned, thanks to his relations with persons to whom +the Empress had made revelations: "Since his return from the army, the +Emperor's bearing towards his wife has been cold and embarrassed. He no +longer lives in the same apartment with her, and many of his daily habits +have undergone a change. Rumors of the Empress's divorce began at that +moment to assume a more serious form; when they reached her ears she +simply waited for some direct information, without letting the Emperor see +the slightest anxiety." + +Josephine was sorely stricken, and her sufferings were all the more +intense because she had to hide them from every one, especially from her +husband, and they made a marked contrast, by the irony of fate, with the +pleasures and amusements that surrounded her. She was too clear-sighted +and intelligent to proceed to question the Emperor. She feared light and +dreaded the truth. She hesitated before the abyss that awaited her, and +shuddered before the Emperor's glance. She suffered on the throne, as if +it were an instrument of torture. It was then that Fouché took some steps +which doubled her anguish. The incident is thus recounted, by Prince +Metternich in the despatch already cited: "One day the Minister of Police +visited her at Fontainebleau. and after a short preamble, told her that +the public good, and, above all, the strengthening of the existing dynasty +requiring that the Emperor should have children, she ought to ask the +Senate to join with her in demanding of the Emperor a sacrifice most +painful to his heart. The Empress, who was prepared for the question, +asked Fouché, with great coolness, if he took this step by the Emperors +orders. 'No,' he replied: 'I speak to Your Majesty as a minister charged +with a general supervision, as a private citizen, as a subject devoted to +his country's glory,' 'In that case I have nothing to say to you,' +interrupted the Empress; 'I regard my union with the Emperor as written in +the book of Fate, I shall never discuss the matter with any one but him, +and never will do anything but what he orders,'" Josephine, when she +mentioned this conversation to her confidant, M. de Lavalette, who had +married a Mademoiselle de Beauharnais, said to him in great perplexity; +"Is it not clear that Fouché was sent by the Emperor and that my fate is +settled? Alas! To leave the throne is nothing to me. Who knows better than +I do how many tears I have shed there? But to lose at the same time the +man to whom I have given my best love, that sacrifice is beyond my +strength." + +But to return to Prince Metternich's despatch: "Many days passed without +incident, when suddenly the Emperor began to share again the Empress's +apartment and took a favorable moment to ask why she had been so sad for +some days. The Empress then told him of her interview with Fouché. The +Emperor confirmed his statement that he had never given him any such +orders. He added that she ought to know him well enough to be sure that he +had no need of any go-between to manage matters with her, and made her +promise to report to him anything further she might hear about the +matter." Josephine was not at all comforted. Napoleon's explanation was +very embarrassed, and who could think that so crafty and ambitious a man +as Fouché could assume the responsibility of such a negotiation if he +supposed that thereby he exposed himself to his master's wrath? + +The Minister of Police did not confine himself to mere spoken words. A few +days after his interview with the Empress, he wrote to her a long letter +on large paper, in which he set forth all the arguments he had already +brought forward, to urge upon her the spontaneous sacrifice which would be +the more meritorious, the more painful it was. Josephine, who received +this letter in the evening, summoned M. de Rémusat at midnight to show it +to him. "What shall I do," she asked, "to ward off this storm?" "Madame," +replied the First Chamberlain, "my advice is to go this very moment to the +Emperor, if he has not gone to bed, or else the very first thing to-morrow +morning. Remember, you must seem to have consulted no one. Make him read +this letter; watch him as closely as you can; but, whatever happens, show +that you hate these roundabout methods, and tell him again that you will +never listen to anything but a direct order from him." + +The Empress did as he said, Napoleon, to use a common expression, was +"cornered." He pretended to be much surprised, and very angry; promised +"to comb Fouché's head," and even added that if she desired he would take +away his portfolio; and to calm her he went so far as to write to the +Minister of Police this letter, dated Fontainebleau, November 5, 1807:-- + +"MONSIEUR FOUCHÉ: In the last fortnight I have heard of your foolish +actions; it is time for you to put an end to them, and to stop +interfering, directly or indirectly, in a matter which in no way concerns +you; that is my wish." + +Fouché was not at all disturbed by his master's reproach. He was at heart +convinced that he had not displeased him; he kept his portfolio, and was +sure that the divorce, though postponed, was irrevocably decided on by the +Emperor. Josephine had no more illusions. It was in vain that Napoleon +spoke to her kindly, and tried to console her with kisses and even tears, +--for Napoleon used to cry sometimes,--after Fouché had made his overtures +she had no more peace of mind. The end of the stay at Fontainebleau was +very gloomy. All became tired of this life of empty show, of the perpetual +constraint, of the pleasures which by dint of repetition became dull and +monotonous. Every one longed for home, to escape from this master's +glances; for his presence inspired an admiration tempered with dread. The +women had spent vast sums in their dress. The men had indulged in +ambitious plans almost always futile. The German princelings had suffered +in their lordly pride and German patriotism by having to bow their heads +before the formidable man whose humble vassals they were, and these men, +vain of their coat-of-arms, had not seen without a secret spite the +crushing superiority of a poor Corsican gentleman. This great conqueror +himself was not happy in all his splendor. Although he was no longer in +love with his wife, it was not without sadness that he had seen her +uneasiness and grief. Anxiety about the condition of Spain, which was so +fatal to him, cast a cloud on his brow. When hunting in the forest, he was +often seen to lose himself in thought and to let his horse wander as he +pleased. At the theatrical performances it was noticed that, absorbed and +distracted, he appeared to think less of the play than of his vast plans. + +Not long since I visited the palace and the forest of Fontainebleau, in +one of those cold but bright autumn days when the half bare trees have a +strange appearance, when some leaves are as red as blood, others as yellow +as gold, and nature wears all the countless hues which defy the artist's +brush. The forest is wonderfully beautiful with its marvellous combination +of trees and rocks. All the kings of France since Louis VII. have +inhabited this palace. The holy head of Louis IX. appears there with his +aureola on his head, In the gallery of Francis I., with its nymphs and +fauns, amid garlands, fruits, and emblems, one recalls that King and +Charles V. who entered the palace by the glided door, and who took part in +the great festival in the forest, when nymphs, fauns, and gods seemed to +issue from the trunks of oaks to the sound of tambourines, and a band of +maidens flung flowers before the feet of the Spanish court. One recalls, +too, Catharine de' Medici with her squadron, of young and brilliant +amazons--Catharine de' Medici who In this palace brought forth her two +sons, Francis II, and Henry III. At the end of the oval court is a dome of +rich and picturesque construction, called the baptistery of Louis XIII, +because that king was baptized there. Then there are the apartments of the +queen mothers; Catharine de' Medici, Maria de' Medici, Anne of Austria, +and those of Pius VII., a captive at Fontainebleau, In the bedroom of the +queen mothers an altar was raised where the Vicar of Christ said mass. The +hangings of embroidered satin in this room were a wedding-gift from the +city of Lyons to Marie Antoinette. The room is a model of luxury and +elegance, and is called the Chamber of the Five Maries because it has been +inhabited by five sovereigns bearing that name, Maria de' Medici, Maria +Theresa, Marie Antoinette, Marie Louise, and Marie Amélie. It was also the +Empress Eugénie's chamber. + +This marvellously picturesque palace of Fontainebleau is full of +interesting reminiscences, but of all the figures it recalls, no figure is +more impressive than that of Napoleon. There is much gorgeous furniture in +the palace of various sorts, in the style of the renaissance, of Louis +XIV., Louis XV., and Louis XVI.; but no piece attracts more attention than +the plain mahogany table on which Napoleon signed his abdication. Then how +impressive is the bedroom where he spent terrible nights, unable to sleep, +and at last seeking in suicide a cure for his despair! Consider the +contrast between 1807 and 1814! Meanwhile there had been changes of face, +many apostasies. "Ah! Caulaincourt, mankind, mankind!" exclaimed the +deserted Emperor. Every one left him, promising him a speedy return, but +no one thought of it. Fontainebleau became a desert. If the sound of +wheels was heard, it was never of carriages arriving, but only of +carriages going away. It was at Fontainebleau that Napoleon's pride +triumphed, and there that his pride suffered its cruelest humiliations. +What anguish he endured, this man of destiny, in that room where he wrote: +"To finish my career by signing a treaty in which I have not been able to +stipulate a single general interest, nor even one moral interest, such as +the preservation of our colonies, or the maintenance of the Legion of +Honor! To sign a treaty by which money is given to me!" What anguish tore +his mind and body when, having taken too small a dose of poison, he said +between his spasms: "How hard it is to die, and it is so easy on the +battle-field! Why didn't I die at Arcis-sur-Aube!" Did he then recall the +splendor of his return from Jena, from Friedland, from Tilsitt? Did he +remember the crowd of courtiers who resembled priests whose God he was? +The only courtiers left were those to whom he had given neither money nor +honors, the old soldiers of his guard, with, their gray mustaches, who +could not restrain their sobs and tears when, in the Court of the White +Horse, he bade them farewell, saying, "I should like to embrace you in my +arms, but let me embrace this flag which represents you." + + + + +XXVI. + +THE END OF THE YEAR, 1807. + + +While the court was still at Fontainebleau, the Empress received a piece +of news, which had been kept back from her for some days, and which added +materially to her sorrows. Her widowed mother, Madame Tascher de la +Pagerie, whom she had not seen since September, 1790, had died June 2, +1807, at the age of seventy, in her home at Martinique. Josephine, who was +much attached to her mother, had done her best to persuade her to come to +France, where she would have been sure of the warmest welcome. But that +venerable lady had perhaps chosen more wisely in preferring her modest and +quiet home to all the splendor and excitement of an Imperial palace. From +afar she thought of her daughter at the summit of human happiness; near +her, she would often have seen her sad and downcast. By not approaching +the throne which, at a distance, appears like a magic seat, but, to use +the Emperor's expression, is in fact only an armchair covered with velvet, +Napoleon's mother-in-law was spared the sight of much misery, and she +died, as she had lived, in peace. + +The Emperor left for Italy November 16. 1807, and this departure was for +Josephine, already so afflicted, another source of anxiety and sadness, +She would gladly have gone with him, and have seen once more Eugene and +her granddaughter, who was named after her; but Napoleon had decided +otherwise. He was no longer unable to live without his wife, and he no +longer thought with La Fontaine that absence was the greatest of evils. He +alleged as reason, the inclemency of the winter, said that he should be +back early in December--in fact, he did not return to the Tuileries till +January 1--and to the Empress's great despair set off without her, leaving +her the prey of the liveliest anxiety, the cruelest fears. + +In Italy Napoleon received the same ardent flattery as in France. He +reached Milan November 22, before Prince Eugene had had time to ride out +to meet him. After ovations, reviews, religious ceremonies at the +Cathedral, grand performances at the Scala, he went to Venice. Here he was +received with all the luxury that used to be displayed at the majestic +marriage of the doge and the Adriatic. When he reached Fusina, he entered +a gondola rowed by men in satin coats embroidered with gold. He entered +the grand canal beneath an arch of triumph between a double line of boats +adorned with festoons and garlands. At the Venice theatre he saw a grand +performance representing Olympus, and then was played, amid applause, the +popular air, _Napoleone it grande_. He had with him in Venice his brother +Joseph, King of Naples; his sister, Elisa Bacciochi, Princess of Lucca; +his step-son, Prince Eugene, Viceroy of Italy; the King and Queen of +Bavaria, the father-in-law and mother-in-law of this Prince; Murat, Grand +Duke of Berg, and Berthier, Prince of Neufchâtel. He left Venice December +8, dining at Treviso. The 11th he was at Udine, and the 14th at Mantua. + +It was in this city that he had a secret interview with his brother +Lucien, with whom he wished to be reconciled, but on one absolute +condition, _sine qua non_. It will be remembered that Lucien, against the +First Consul's wishes, had married Alexandrine de Bleschamps, widow of M. +Jouberthon; who, after being a broker in Paris, had died in Saint Domingo, +whither he had followed the French expedition. Napoleon, who was anxious +to marry Lucien with Queen Marie Louise, daughter of Charles IV. of Spain, +and widow of Louis I., King of Etruria, wished to annul this marriage. But +this brilliant offer had been peremptorily declined by the man who +preferred a woman's love to a crown. In the spring of 1804 Lucien had +voluntarily left France to seek in Rome an asylum from his brother's +incessant reproaches and demands. His mother, Madame Letitia, who +thoroughly approved of him, had followed him to Rome, and the Emperor had +met with some difficulty in persuading her to return to Paris, which she +only did after the coronation. M. de Méneval went by night to fetch Lucien +from the inn where he was staying, and led him mysteriously to the palace +which the Emperor occupied. Laden, instead of falling in his brother's +arms, greeted him coldly, with dignified reserve. + +Stanislas de Girardia, in his interesting "Journal," has recounted the +interview of the two brothers, as he heard it from Lucien himself. They +said very much what follows:-- + +"Well, sir, do you still told to Madame Jouberthon and her son?" + +"Madame Jouberthon is my wife, and her son is my son." + +"No, no, since it is a marriage which I do not recognize, and consequently +null." + +"I contracted it lawfully, as citizen and as Christian." + +"The civil act was illegal, and it is known that you gave a priest twenty- +five louis-d'or to persuade him to marry you." + +"Doubtless Your Majesty, when he invited me here, did not do so for the +purpose of paining me; if that is his intention, I withdraw," + +"I have conquered Europe, and certainly I should not flinch before you. +You owe your peaceful life in Rome to my kindness; but you are acquiring +there a consideration which displeases me, and in time you will annoy me; +I will order you to go away, and I will make you leave Europe." + +"And if I should not obey?" "I will have you arrested." + +"And then?" + +"I shall have you sent to Bicêtre and then if--" + +"I should defy you to commit a crime!" + +"Don't speak to me in that way; don't imagine you can impose on me, I +repeat, I have not conquered Europe to flinch before you. Leave the room." + +Lucien did not leave, and Napoleon, after a few violent words, became a +little calmer. Lucien then renewed the stormy discussion, trying to pacify +his brother. + +"I had no intention of displeasing Your Majesty by saying what should show +the high opinion I have of the greatness of his soul." + +"Never mind that; cast your eyes on the map of the world then. Join us, +Lucien, and take your share; it will be a fine one, I promise you. The +throne of Portugal is empty; I have declared that the King shall cease to +reign. I will give it to you; take command of the army destined to make an +easy conquest of it, and I will make you a French Prince and my +lieutenant. The daughters of your first wife shall be my nieces; I will +establish them in life. I will marry the eldest to the Prince of the +Asturias; the King of Spain asks it of me as a favor; I can prove it by +this letter." + +"My eldest daughter, Sire, is not yet thirteen; she is not old enough to +be married." + +"I thought she was older." + +"In a year or two, I will gladly let you dispose of her." + +"Then there are no difficulties about the children of your first wife. You +have daughters by your second wife, I will adopt them; you have a boy too; +I shall not recognize him; his mother will have an important duchy, and he +can be her heir. As for you, go to Lisbon, leave your wife and your son in +Rome; I will look after them. Your ties are broken. I will find a way." + +"That can only be by divorce." + +"And why not? That is a frank and positive way which perfectly suits me. I +want to be reconciled with you, and you know the price attached to the +Portuguese crown." + +"I see that to get it I should have to consent to make my wife a +concubine, my son a bastard. Your Majesty knows me ill if he has been able +to believe that the offer of a crown could tempt me to a dishonorable +action." + +"He who is not for me, is against me; if you don't enter into my system, +you are my enemy; and thereby I have the right of persecuting you and I +shall persecute you." + +"I do not want to be your enemy, Sire; I cannot become one by preserving +my honor and my virtue, by refusing to give up my reputation for a throne: +and that this disagreement may be unknown, let Your Majesty give me some +conspicuous proof of his kindness; give me the broad ribbon of the Legion +of Honor, I beg of you!" + +"No; by taking my colors you would ruin your reputation; it is a great +thing to be opposed to me, and it is a fine part to play; you can continue +it for two years without inconvenience, but then you will have to leave +Europe." + +"Much sooner, and I shall prepare to leave for America. Only the +entreaties of my mother and Josephine have kept me here so long." + +"I don't ask that of you; my propositions are not too unreasonable to be +thought over; ponder them, with your wife, and let me know your answer +within eighteen days." + +At the end of the interview the two brothers parted with emotion. Lucien +flung himself into his brother's arms, saying that doubtless he was +embracing him for the last time, and left for Rome with his head high. He +was obliged to yield only on one point, by sending to Paris his oldest +daughter, Charlotte Marie, the issue of his first marriage with Christine +Boyer. (She was born at Saint Maximini in February, 1795, and in 1815 +married Prince Marius Gabrielli.) But the young girl had all her father's +independent spirit. In Paris she was entrusted to the care of her +grandmother, Madame Letitia, and she spoke so severely about the Imperial +family in her letters, which were opened, that she was sent back to her +father in Rome almost as soon as she had arrived in France. As for the +idea of an annulment of the marriage or a divorce, Lucien absolutely +rejected it. He preferred his wife to all the wealth, all the honors, all +the kingdoms of the world. Jerome had yielded. Lucien did not yield. + +Napoleon left Mantua after his interview with his brother, and returned to +Milan, where, December 17, he witnessed some naval sports in the arena of +the circus, which was turned into a lake. There too, December 20, in the +grand, hall of the palace, he adopted Prince Eugene as his son and +declared him his heir to the crown of Italy. At the same time he issued +these two decrees: "Wishing to give especial proof of our satisfaction +with our good city of Venice, we have conferred, and by these letters- +patent here present do confer, upon our dearly loved son, Prince Eugene +Napoleon, our heir presumptive to the crown of Italy, the title of Prince +of Venice." "Wishing to give especial proof of our satisfaction with our +good city of Bologna, we have conferred, and by these letters-patent here +present do confer, the title of Princess of Bologna upon our dearly loved +granddaughter, the Princess Josephine." Napoleon left Milan, December 24, +to return to Paris by way of Turin. + +The letters which the Emperor wrote to his wife during this trip were very +empty and unimportant, wholly unlike those he had written in 1798. Only a +few need be quoted. "Milan, November, 25, 1807. I have been here, my dear, +two days. I am glad I did not bring you. You would have suffered terribly +crossing Mount Cenis where a storm detained me twenty-four hours. I found +Eugene very well; I am much pleased with him. The Princess is ill; I went +to see her at Monza: she has had a miscarriage, but is improving. Good by, +my dear." "Venice, November 30, 1807. I have your letter of the 22d. I +have been for two days in Venice. The weather is very bad, which has not +prevented my going through the lagoons to see the different forts. I am +glad to see that you are amusing yourself in Paris. The King of Bavaria +and his family and the Princess Elisa are also here. After December 2, +which I shall spend here, I shall be on my way back, and glad to see you. +Good by, my dear." "Udine, December 11, 1807. I have your letter of the +3d, and I see you are much pleased with the Jardin des Plantes. I am at +the furthest limit of my journey; it is possible that I shall be soon in +Paris where I shall be glad to see you again. The weather has not been +very cold here, but very wet. I have taken advantage of the last fine +weather of the season, for I suppose that at Christmas the winter will be +here. Good by, my dear. Ever Yours." + +During the Emperor's absence the triumphal return of the Guard brought a +slight diversion to the Empress's anxiety and distress of mind. Though +unhappy as a wife, she was at least happy as a Frenchwoman. She, alas! had +a presentiment of divorce, but not of the invasion and dismemberment of +France. At noon, November 25, the twelve thousand old soldiers of the +Guard, bronzed, covered with glorious wounds, some already gray, made +their solemn entry into Paris. An arch of triumph, broader and higher than +the Porte Saint Martin, had been built at the gate of La Villette. The +Prefect of the Seine and the municipal authorities there awaited the +veterans. + +The prefect welcomed the brave soldiers: "Heroes of Jena, of Eylan, of +Friediand," he said, "conquerors of peace, immortal thanks are due you, +for the country you have conquered! Your own country will ever remember +your triumphs; your names will be handed down to the remotest posterity on +bronze and marble, and the story of your exploits, firing the courage of +our latest descendants, will be recalled, and you, by the example you have +set, will still protect this vast Empire which, you have so gloriously +defended with your valor... Hail! war-like eagles, symbols of the power of +our magnanimous Emperor; carry over all the earth, with his great name, +the glory of the French name, and may the crowns with which the city of +Paris has been allowed to decorate you be everywhere a proof at once +august and formidable of the union of monarch, people, and army!" + +Marshal Bessières, who was in, command, replied: "The most perfect harmony +will always exist between the populace of this great city and the soldiers +of the Imperial guard, and if their eagles should march again, recalling +their oath to defend, them to the death, they would remember that the +wreaths adorning them redouble the obligation." After these two speeches +the standard bearer left the ranks and bent down the flags on which the +magistrates placed golden crowns bearing this inscription: "The city of +Paris to the Grand Army." Then the troops marched past in the following +order: the fusiliers, the riflemen, grenadiers, the light cavalry, the +Mamelukes, dragoons, the horse grenadiers, and the picked body of gens des +armes. While they passed beneath the arch of triumph, a large band and +chorus performed a cantata, with words by Arnault and music by Méhul. +Passing through the dense crowds that lined the way, the guard came to the +Tuileries, passing beneath the arch of the Carrousel, where the eagles +were set down. Then it entered the palace garden, leaving its arms there, +and proceeded to the Champs Elysées, where a banquet for twelve thousand +men was laid. The tables were arranged under tents on each side of the +Champs Elysées, along their whole extent, from the Place de la Concorde to +the gate de l'Etoile. The tent of the staff was in the middle, half-way +up. Marshal Bessières proposed a toast to the city of Paris, and the +Prefect of the Seine one to the Emperor and King, and another to the Grand +Army. + +The next day there were three performances in every theatre. The pit, the +orchestra, and principal rows of boxes and galleries were reserved for the +Imperial Guard. The opera gave _The Triumph of Trajan_. The Français gave +_Gaston and Bayard_. "That historical play," said the _Moniteur_, "which +presents so noble and true a picture of French honor, of warlike +victories, of chivalric enthusiasm,--never did this tragedy have +spectators better fitted to appreciate it." In the minor theatres various +plays on the events of the day were given. The performance at the opera +was magnificent; the _Moniteur_ described it with its usual lyrical +enthusiasm: "This picked band of braves, who, in their swift conquests, in +their distant marches, have seen such, diverse climates, visited so many +shores, and in so few months have seen the springs and the mouths of so +many rivers, know also the banks of the Tiber; hence in the scenery they +at ones recognized Rome; in the triumphal march, in the eager throng, in +the vast populace, bursting through the ranks of the Roman soldiers, and +flinging themselves beneath the hoofs of their horses, they saw the +touching picture of the reception they had met the day before. Their +emotion baffles description. The Imperial Guard gazing at Trajan's triumph +was itself an admirable spectacle." The opera was but a series of +ingenious allusions to Napoleon's glory. Trajan was represented as +burning, with his own hand, papers containing the secret of a conspiracy, +recalling Napoleon's throwing into the fire the letters by which, he could +have rained M. Hatzfeld; and when the Roman Emperor appeared in his +chariot, drawn by four white horses, it was not Trajan who was applauded, +but Napoleon. + +December 14, at the Military School, Marshal Bessières, to celebrate the +victories of the Grand Army, and to thank the city of Paris for its +reception of the Imperial Guard, gave a grand entertainment which the +Empress honored with her presence. The Invalides was brilliantly +illuminated and connected with the Military School by a long row of +lights. In the middle of the Champ de Mars was a vast hemisphere, on which +was a pedestal holding a colossal statue of the Emperor, surrounded by +allegoric figures. The trophies set aside for each one of the Grand Army +were marked with the corps number. The Imperial Guard was under arms, and +formed an interesting part of the spectators, and of the spectacle as +well. Bengal fires lit up the warlike scene. The heights across the Seine +were also ablaze with lights. The Empress arrived at the Military School +at about eight in the evening. The entertainment began with a ballet +performed by dancers from the opera. Then there were fireworks. The Champ +de Mars was one sea of flame, and the Imperial Guard fired blank +cartridges for half an hour. Then there was a grand ball with a fine +supper; after which the dances continued till morning. + +This worldly and military entertainment, at which the Empress queen +appeared in all her glory, may be regarded as the crowning point of her +splendors. And here, at the end of 1807, we close this study. We have left +to narrate in a final volume only the last seven years of Josephine's +life. We have already recounted nearly the whole career of this attractive +woman, of this justly famous sovereign. We have described her infancy in +Martinique, in her modest, patriarchal home, where she was born, June 23, +1763. We have admired her as a young girl, loving flowers, music, and +nature, beneath the clear sky of the Antilles, amid banana and orange +trees, tropical flowers, and birds of paradise, where the fortune-telling +negress said to her: "You will be a queen." We have seen her in France, +marrying, December 13, 1779, the young and brilliant Viscount Alexandre de +Beauharnais, by whom she had one son, the future Viceroy of Italy, and one +daughter, the future Queen of Holland. We have seen her going through that +period of illusions, so well called the Golden Age of the Revolution, +receiving in her drawing-room in the rue de l'Université the flower of the +liberal nobility and leaders of the Constituent Assembly, then suddenly +passing from the Golden to the Iron Age, shuddering at the dangers to +which war, and above all the Terror exposed her husband, the general in +chief of the Army of the Rhine, the leader of the democracy, rewarded for +his patriotism and his devotion to the Republic by the scaffold. She +herself, during her husband's captivity, was imprisoned in the Carmes +April, 1794; for one hundred and eight days of inexpressible anguish and +torment, she occupied in this dungeon the Room of the Swords as it was +called, because the walls still bore traces of the three swords which the +men of September had leaned against them after the massacre of the one +hundred and twenty priests who were in the prison. Beauharnais, the man of +the old régime, who had embraced the new ideas with so much ardor, this +grand lord who got himself treated like a _sans-culotte_ was guillotined +four days before Robespierre, whose death would have saved him. His young +widow left prison, reduced to extreme want, and took refuge with her +father-in-law, at Fontainebleau; then she made her appearance in the +motley society which, first showed itself in the drawing-room of Madame +Tallien, then at the Luxembourg under Barras. Rivalling Madame Tallien and +Madame Récamier in popularity, she smiled through her tears, like +Andromache in Homer. Her means becoming greater, thanks to the support of +men in authority, she bought in the rue Chantereine, afterwards rue de la +Victoire, a little house belonging to Talma, the tragedian. There she +received with her customary courtesy the few survivors of French +aristocracy who said behind well-closed doors: "Let us talk about the old +court; let us take a turn at Versailles." + +Bonaparte, commander of the Army of the Interior, after the 13th +Vendémiaire, when he saved the expiring Convention, had just ordered the +disarmament of the sections and the delivery of all arms found in private +houses, when a boy of fourteen called upon him to ask to have back the +sword of his father, who had commanded the armies of the Republic. This +boy was Eugene de Beauharnais, afterwards Viceroy of Italy. Bonaparte, +touched by this action, received him graciously. The next day Madame de +Beauharnais called upon him to thank him. He was much struck by her charms +and proposed to her; she accepted him and they were married March 9, 1796. +The Viscountess of Beauharnais became Citizeness Bonaparte. No sooner +married, than the young husband, who was only twenty-six, tore himself +from her arms and started for the army of Italy. Then Napoleon's love for +Josephine was much greater than hers for him. It was he who was jealous, +he who wrote burning letters; he it was who was all enthusiasm, ardor, and +ablaze with passion. It was only with reluctance that Josephine decided to +leave Paris, where she was happy, but in Italy she found a real royalty. +At Milan she took possession of the Serbelloni Palace, where she did the +honors most admirably and received the homage of the proud aristocracy of +Milan. She followed her husband to the war, for he could not bear to be +separated from her, and one day when, beset with dangers, she was crying, +he exclaimed: "Wurmser shall pay dearly for the tears he causes you." +After Arcole, Madame Bonaparte resembled a sovereign. She singularly aided +her husband to play the double part which was soon to carry him to the +highest rank. When it was a question of repelling royalism, the young +conqueror relied on men like Augereau; when it was necessary to attract +men of the old régime, Josephine was the bond of union between him and the +French or Italian aristocracy. On her return to Paris, June 2, 1798, she +shared her husband's glories. The little house in the rue Chantereine +became more famous than the grandest palaces. + +Bonaparte left for Egypt, embarking at Toulon, May 19, 1798, after taking +tender leave of Josephine. During her husband's absence, she bought the +estate of Malmaison, an unknown spot which soon became famous. She +skilfully defended Bonaparte's interests with the Directory, and in her +drawing-room met celebrities of every kind. But malicious persons soon +sent to Egypt hostile rumors, and her impetuous husband, wild with jealous +wrath, spoke of nothing but separation and divorce. He reached Paris +unexpectedly, October 16, 1799, and not finding his wife there, started +off to meet her on a different road from hers, wild with jealousy. His +brothers, Josephine's enemies, deceived him, and at first he refused to +see her again; but, softened by the supplications of Eugene and Hortense +de Beauharnais, he pardoned his wife and opened his door to her; she +defended herself, and he let himself be convinced, so that, instead of a +divorce, there was a complete reconciliation. Josephine was of use to her +husband in the preparations for the 18th Brumaire; she helped him to lull +the vigilance of the Republicans and to rise to the highest rank. + +Citizeness Bonaparte had become the wife of the First Consul. Like the +ladies of the old régime, she was addressed as Madame until she should be +called Empress, or Your Majesty. She was at the head of the Consular +Court, rich in youth, glory, and hope. At the Tuileries she took +possession of the apartments of Marie Antoinette. At Malmaison she enjoyed +the pleasures of the country. The hero of Marengo looked upon her as his +good angel, his good genius. Their happiness was interrupted by the +infernal machine, but this gloomy incident was soon forgotten. Under +Josephine's guidance Parisian society soon resumed its former brilliancy. +Monarchical customs reappeared. The Concordat effected a reconciliation of +the church with the government, and the wife of the First Consul, +surrounded by a real court, heard a _Te Deum_ in the rood-loft of Notre +Dame. At heart she was a Royalist by her memories and her feelings, +although she was made by fate an Empress. The crown, so far from tempting +her, filled her with fear. She yearned to descend as her husband yearned +to rise. The proclamation of the Consulate for life, the prelude of the +Empire, filled her with gloom and apprehension, Neither the pomp of Saint +Cloud, nor the triumphal trip in Belgium. robbed her of her wise and +modest ideas. She much preferred Malmaison to any splendid palace, and +looked back with regret at the time when she was simply Citizeness +Bonaparte. Grandeur, so far from turning her head, only made her less +ambitious, She gave her husband excellent advice, which, unfortunately, he +did not follow. Had he listened to her, he would not have had the Duke of +Enghien killed, he would have been modest in good fortune, and would have +remained the first citizen of a great Republic. + +Crowned at Notre Dame by the hands of Napoleon, Josephine played a +sovereign's part with as much ease as if she had been born on the steps of +the throne. The greatest names of the old régime figured in her house. She +adorned magnificent festivities by her presence. In Italy, whither she +accompanied her husband, she received as Queen the same homage she had +received as Empress. Yet, amid all this splendor, she was not happy. The +terrible wars in which Napoleon engaged filled her with anxiety. At +Strassburg, during the Austerlitz campaign, at Mayence during that of Jena +and that of Poland, she was a victim of the greatest distress of mind and +nervous terror. Then, too, her husband's infidelities filled her with +despair. Towards the end of 1807 the spectre of divorce arose before her. +The loss of a crown would be a trifling matter, but the sight of another +woman reigning as lawful wife over Napoleon's heart was a thought to which +she could not reconcile herself. From that moment she knew no peace or +happiness. She was like a convicted criminal awaiting sentence at any +moment, and she had to hide her terrible grief from every one. She always +imagined that in the homage paid her by force of habit, there was +something false and ironical. She thought of herself only as disgraced, +betrayed, repudiated. All that was left of her crown was its mark on her +brow. Few peasant women in their huts were ever as thoroughly unhappy as +was this sovereign in her palace. + +We have seen Josephine in her springtime, in her summer; it remains for us +to describe only the autumn of this wonderful and melancholy career. This +last study will be profoundly sad. "In the season which despoils nature," +said Madame Swetchine, "there is no breeze, no puff of air so light that +it fails to detach the leaf from the tree that bore it. In the autumn of +the heart there is no movement that does not carry away a happiness or a +hope." The great afflictions of Josephine's later years were the divorce, +the invasion, and the long agony. Driven from the Tuileries forever, she +took refuge at Malmaison one rainy, cold, December night, recalling, +doubtless, the starlit evenings when the conqueror of Italy sought calm +and happiness in that favorite spot. And after draining the cup of +bitterness, the deserted wife exclaimed: "It sometimes seems to me as if I +were dead and there was nothing left of me except a sort of vague power of +feeling that I no longer exist." She could truly say with Queen Margaret +of Navarre: "I have borne more than my share of the weariness which is the +common lot of man." A still harder trial awaited her. Napoleon was +unhappy, and she was forbidden to comfort him! He was exiled, and she was +forbidden to follow him! The Empire she had seen so magnificent she was to +see conquered, invaded, dismembered. No one was to mourn the woes of her +country more than she. She was to die of grief, and when, May 29, 1814, +she had breathed her last after uttering in her death agony these three +words which sum up the anguish of her soul: "Napoleon! Elba! Marie +Louise!" Mademoiselle Avrillon, the First Lady of her Bedchamber, was to +say, "I have seen the Empress Josephine's sleeplessness and her terrible +dreams. I have known her to pass whole days buried in the gloomiest +thought. I know what I have seen and heard, and I am sure that grief +killed her!" Was there ever a life of greater vicissitudes? It was a +career full of smiles and tears, presenting every contrast of light and +shade, of joy and grief, reproducing all the splendor and all the misery +that can be crowded into human existence! It was a career, as fascinating +as it was strange, which could only have been seen in those pathetic and +disturbed epochs, when one surprise follows another, and the actors are +perhaps even more astonished than the spectators at the shifting scenes +and the incidents of the drama, in which events always take an unexpected +turn, when men and things suffer shocks unknown to previous generations, +and when history reads like the wildest romance. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE *** + +This file should be named 8cmpj10.txt or 8cmpj10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8cmpj11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8cmpj10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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