Napoleon's Letters To Josephine Part 69

No. 4.

_The Sevres Manufactory._--After his visit, he wrote Duroc: "This morning I gave, in the form of gratuity, a week's wages to the workmen of the Sevres manufactory. Have the amount given to the director. It should not exceed a thousand ecus."

No. 5.

_Your lover, who is tired of being alone._--So much so that he got up at five o'clock in the morning to read his letters in a young bride's bed-chamber. The story is brightly told by the lady in question, Madame d'Abrantes (vol. ii. ch. 19). A few days before the Marly hunt, mentioned in No. 3, the young wife of seventeen, whom Bonaparte had known from infancy, and whose mother (Madame Permon) he had wished to marry, found the First Consul seated by her bedside with a thick packet of letters, which he was carefully opening and making marginal notes upon. At six he went off singing, pinching the lady's foot through the bed-clothes as he went. The next day the same thing happened, and the third day she locked herself in, and prevented her maid from finding the key. In vain--the unwelcome visitor fetched a master-key. As a last resource, she wheedled her husband, General Junot, into breaking orders and spending the night with her; and the next day (June 22) Bonaparte came in to proclaim the hunting morning, but by her side found his old comrade of Toulon, fast asleep. The latter dreamily but good-humouredly asked, "Why, General, what are you doing in a lady's chamber at this hour?" and the former replied, "I came to awake Madame Junot for the chase, but I find her provided with an alarum still earlier than myself. I might scold, for you are contraband here, M. Junot." He then withdrew, after offering Junot a horse for the hunt. The husband jumped up, exclaiming, "Faith! that is an amiable man! What goodness! Instead of scolding, instead of sending me sneaking back to my duty in Paris! Confess, my Laura, that he is not only an admirable being, but above the sphere of human nature."

Laura, however, was still dubious. Later in the day she was taken to task by the First Consul, who was astounded when she told him that his action might compromise her. "I shall never forget," she says, "Napoleon's expression of countenance at this moment; it displayed a rapid succession of emotions, none of them evil." Josephine heard of the affair, and was jealous for some little time to come.

_General Ney._--Bonaparte had instructed Josephine to find him a nice wife, and she had chosen Mlle. Aglae-Louise Auguie, the intimate friend and schoolfellow of Hortense, and daughter of a former Receveur-General des Finances. To the latter Ney goes fortified with a charming letter from Josephine, dated May 30--the month which the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ has erroneously given for that of the marriage, which seems to have taken place at the end of July (_Biographie Universelle, Michaud_, vol. x.x.x.). Napoleon (who stood G.o.dfather to all the children of his generals) and Hortense were sponsors for the firstborn of this union, Napoleon Joseph, born May 8, 1803. The d.u.c.h.ess d'Abrantes describes her first meeting with Madame Ney at the Boulogne fete of August 15, 1802. Her simplicity and timidity "were the more attractive inasmuch as they formed a contrast to most of the ladies by whom she was surrounded at the court of France.... The softness and benevolence of Madame Ney's smile, together with the intelligent expression of her large dark eyes, rendered her a very beautiful woman, and her lively manners and accomplishments enhanced her personal graces" (vol. iii. 31). The brave way in which she bore her husband's execution won the admiration of Napoleon, who at St. Helena coupled her with Mdme. de Lavalette and Mdme. Labedoyere.

FOOTNOTES

[51] She was, however, no mere amateur, and knew, says Mlle.

d'Avrillon, the names of all her plants, the family to which they belonged, their native soil, and special properties.

[52] _Rueil, le chateau de Richelieu et la Malmaison_, by Jacquin and Duesberg, p. 130; in Aubenas' _Josephine_, vol. i.

[53] Lucien declares that Napoleon said to his wife, in his presence and that of Joseph, "Imitate Livia, and you will find me Augustus."--(Jung, vol. ii. 206.) Lucien evidently suspects an occult sinister allusion here, but Napoleon is only alluding to the succession devolving on the first child of their joint families. Lucien refused Hortense, but Louis was more amenable to his brother's wishes. On her triumphal entry into Muhlberg (November 1805), the Empress reads on a column a hundred feet high--"Josephinae, Galliarum Augustae."

[54] Made Grand Huntsman in 1804.

[55] An anachronism; he was at this time First Consul.

[56] An euphuistic way of saying he could not learn longer ones. In war time Napoleon had to insist on Eugene keeping his letters with him and constantly re-reading them.

SERIES E

No. 1.

_Madame._--Napoleon became Emperor on May 18th, and this was the first letter to his wife since Imperial etiquette had become _de rigueur_, and the first letter to Josephine signed Napoleon. Meneval gives a somewhat amusing description of the fine gradations of instructions he received on this head from his master. This would seem to be a reason for this uncommon form of salutation; but, _per contra_, Las Cases (vol. i. 276) mentions some so-called letters beginning _Madame et chere epouse_, which Napoleon declares to be spurious.

_Pont de Bricques_, a little village about a mile from Boulogne. On his first visit to the latter he was met by a deputation of farmers, of whom one read out the following address: "General, here we are, twenty farmers, and we offer you a score of big, st.u.r.dy lads, who are, and always shall be, at your service. Take them along with you, General; they will help you to give England a good thras.h.i.+ng. As for ourselves, we have another duty to fulfil: with our arms we will till the ground, so that bread be not wanting to the brave fellows who are destined to destroy the English." Napoleon thanked the honest yeomen, and determined to make the only habitable dwelling there his headquarters. The place is called from the foundations of bricks found there--the remains of one of Caesar's camps.

_The wind having considerably freshened._--Constant tells a good story of the Emperor's obstinacy, but also of his bravery, a few days later.

Napoleon had ordered a review of his s.h.i.+ps, which Admiral Bruix had ignored, seeing a storm imminent. Napoleon sends off Bruix to Holland in disgrace, and orders the review to take place; but when, amid the wild storm, he sees "more than twenty gunboats run aground," and no succour vouchsafed to the drowning men, he springs into the nearest lifeboat, crying, "We must save them somehow." A wave breaks over the boat; he is drenched and nearly carried overboard, losing the hat he had worn at Marengo. Such pluck begets enthusiasm; but, in spite of all they could do, two hundred lives were lost. This is Constant's version; probably his loss is exaggerated. The Emperor, writing Talleyrand on August 1st, speaks only of three or four s.h.i.+ps lost, and "une quinzaine d'hommes."

No. 2.

_The waters._--Mlle. d'Avrillon describes them and their effect--the sulphur baths giving erysipelas to people in poor health. Corvisart had accompanied the Empress, to superintend their effect, which was as usual nil.

_All the vexations._--Constant (vol. i. 230, &c., 1896) is of use to explain what these were--having obtained possession of a diary of the tour by one of Josephine's ladies-in-waiting, which had fallen into Napoleon's hands. In the first place, the roads (where there were any[57]) were frightful, especially in the Ardennes forest, and the diary for August 1st concludes by stating "that some of the carriages were so battered that they had to be bound together with ropes. One ought not to expect women to travel about like a lot of dragoons." The writer of the diary, however, preferred to stay in the carriage, and let Josephine and the rest get wet feet, thinking the risk she ran the least. Another vexation to Josephine was the published report of her gift to the Mayoress of Rheims of a malachite medallion set in brilliants, and of her saying as she did so, "It is the colour of Hope." Although she had really used this expression, it was the last thing she would like to see in print, taking into consideration the reason for her yearly peregrinations to Plombieres, and now to Aix, and their invariable inefficiency. Under the date August 14th, the writer of the diary gives a severe criticism of Josephine. "She is exactly like a ten-year-old child--good-natured, frivolous, impressionable; in tears at one moment, and comforted the next.... She has just wit enough not to be an utter idiot. Ignorant--as are most Creoles--she has learned nothing, or next to nothing, except by conversation; but, having pa.s.sed her life in good society, she has got good manners, grace, and a mastery of that sort of jargon which, in society, sometimes pa.s.ses for wit. Social events const.i.tute the canvas which she embroiders, which she arranges, and which give her a subject for conversation. She is witty for quite a whole quarter of an hour every day.... Her diffidence is charming ... her temper very sweet and even; it is impossible not to be fond of her. I fear that ... this need of unbosoming, of communicating all her thoughts and impressions, of telling all that pa.s.ses between herself and the Emperor, keeps the latter from taking her into his confidence.... She told me this morning that, during all the years she had spent with him, never once had she seen him let himself go."

_Eugene has started for Blois_, where he became the head of the electoral college of Loir et Cher, having just been made Colonel-General of the Cha.s.seurs by Napoleon. The Beauharnais family were originally natives of Blois.

No. 3.

_Aix-la-Chapelle._--In this, the first Imperial pilgrimage to take the waters, great preparations had been made, forty-seven horses bought at an average cost of 60 apiece; and eight carriages, which are not dear at 1000 for the lot, with 400 additional for harness and fittings.

At Aix they had fox-hunting and hare-coursing so called, but probably the final tragedy was consummated with a gun. Lord Rosebery reminds us that at St. Helena the Emperor actually shot a cow! They explored coal mines, and examined all the local manufactories, including the relics of Charlemagne--of which great warrior and statesman Josephine refused an arm, as having a still more puissant one ever at hand for her protection.

When tidings come that the Emperor will arrive on September 2, and prolong their stay from Paris, there is general lamentation among Josephine's womenkind, especially on the part of that perennial wet blanket and busybody, Madame de Larochefoucauld, who will make herself a still greater nuisance at Mayence two years later.

No. 4.

_During the past week._--As a matter of fact he only reached Ostend on April 12th from Boulogne, having left Dunkirk on the 11th.

_The day after to-morrow._--This fete was the distribution of the Legion of Honour at Boulogne and a review of 80,000 men. The decorations were enshrined in the helmet of Bertrand du Guesclin, which in its turn was supported on the s.h.i.+eld of the Chevalier Bayard.

_Hortense_ arrived at Boulogne, with her son, and the Prince and Princess Murat, a few days later, and saw the Emperor. Josephine received a letter from Hortense soon after Napoleon joined her (September 2nd), to which she replied on September 8th. "The Emperor has read your letter; he has been rather vexed not to hear from you occasionally. He would not doubt your kind heart if he knew it as well as I, but appearances are against you. Since he can think you are neglecting him, lose no time in repairing the wrongs which are not real," for "Bonaparte loves you like his own child, which adds much to my affection for him."

_I am very well satisfied ... with the flotillas._--The descent upon England was to have taken place in September, when the death of Admiral Latouche-Treville at Toulon, August 19th, altered all Napoleon's plans. Just about this time also _Fulton_ submitted his steams.h.i.+p invention to Bonaparte. The latter, however, had recently been heavily mulcted in other valueless discoveries, and refers Fulton to the savants of the Inst.i.tute, who report it chimerical and impracticable. The fate of England probably lay in the balance at this moment, more than in 1588 or 1798.

Napoleon and Josephine leave Aix for Cologne on September 12, and it is now the ladies' turn to inst.i.tute a hunt--the "real chamois hunt"; for each country inn swarms with this pestilence that walketh in darkness, and which, alas! is no respecter of persons.

No. 5.

Two points are noteworthy in this letter--(1) that like No. 1 of this series (see note thereto) it commences _Madame and dear Wife_; and (2) it is signed Bonaparte and not Napoleon, which somewhat militates against its authenticity.

_Arras, August 29th._--Early on this day he had been at St. Cloud. On the 30th he writes Cambaceres from Arras that he is "satisfied with the spirit of this department." On the same day he writes thence to the King of Prussia and Fouche. To his Minister of Police he writes: "That detestable journal, _Le Citoyen francais_, seems only to wish to wallow in blood. For eight days running we have been entertained with nothing but the Saint Bartholomew. Who on earth is the editor (_redacteur_) of this paper? With what gusto this wretch relishes the crimes and misfortunes of our fathers! My intention is that you should put a stop to it. Have the editor (_directeur_) of this paper changed, or suppress it." On Friday he is at Mons (writing interesting letters respecting the removal of church ruins), and reaches his wife on the Sunday (September 2nd) as his letter foreshadowed.

_I am rather impatient to see you._--The past few months had been an anxious time for Josephine. Talleyrand (who, having insulted her in 1799, thought her his enemy) was scheming for her divorce, and wished Napoleon to marry the Princess Wilhelmina of Baden, and thus cement an alliance with Bavaria and Russia (Constant, vol. i. 240). The Bonaparte family were very anxious that Josephine should not be crowned. Napoleon had too great a contempt for the weaknesses of average human nature to expect much honesty from Talleyrand. But he was not as yet case-hardened to ingrat.i.tude, and was always highly sensitive to caricature and hostile criticism. Talleyrand had been the main cause of the death of the Duc d'Enghien, and was now trying to show that he had wished to prevent it; but possibly the crowning offence was contained in a lady's diary, that fell into the emperor's hands, where Talleyrand is said to have called his master "a regular little Nero" in his system of espionage. The diary in question is in Constant's "Memoirs," vol. i., and this letter helps to fix the error in the dates, probably caused by confusion between the Revolutionary and Gregorian Calendars.

No. 6.

_T._--This may be Talleyrand, whom Mdme. de Remusat in a letter to her husband (September 21st) at Aix, hinted to be on bad terms with the Emperor--a fact confirmed and explained by Meneval. It may also have been Tallien, who returned to France in 1802, where he had been divorced from his unfaithful wife.

_B._--Doubtlessly Bourrienne, who was in disgrace with Napoleon, and who was always trying to impose on Josephine's good nature. No sooner had Napoleon left for Boulogne on July 14th than his former secretary inflicts himself on the wife at Malmaison.

Napoleon joins Josephine at St. Cloud on or before October 13th, where preparations are already being made for the Coronation by the Pope--the first ceremony of the kind for eight centuries.

FOOTNOTES

[57] The Emperor had himself planned the Itinerary, and had mistaken a projected road for a completed one, between Rethel and Marche.