Memoirs of the Private Life, Return, and Reign of Napoleon in 1815 Part 20

Prince Lucien, however, notwithstanding his desire of revisiting that country, the cause of which he pleaded, did not venture to approach it. But the invasion of the King of Naples having rendered his services necessary to the Sovereign Pontiff, the grat.i.tude he owed to the Holy Father triumphed over his apprehensions. He departed under the t.i.tle of secretary to the Pope's nuncio, and crossed the Alps without any obstacle. Arrived in the French territory, he wrote to Napoleon, to inform him of his mission, and to ask if his coming to Paris would be agreeable to him. Napoleon's first feeling was that of hesitating to receive him: his second, that of opening to him his arms. The intention of the Prince was to return quickly to Home, whither he was called by the concerns entrusted to him: but the interruption of the communications did not allow this. Obliged to return to Paris, he laid aside his incognito. His return was then publicly announced, and made an advantageous and agreeable impression on every mind.

A few days before, the Emperor had made the acquisition of another personage; less ill.u.s.trious, it is true, but equally renowned for his patriotism and intelligence: I mean M. Benjamin Constant.

Napoleon, knowing the experience and reputation of this learned civilian, sent for him, to converse with him "on liberty and the const.i.tution." Their conversation continued more than two hours. The Emperor, willing to attach M. Constant to his party, employed all his means of seduction; and I leave it to those Frenchmen, and those foreigners, who have had access to him, to say, whether it were possible to resist him.

When he wished to fix any one in his train, he studied and penetrated with extreme sagacity his way of thinking, his principles, his character, his ruling pa.s.sions; and then with that familiar grace, that affability, that force and vivacity of expression, which gave so much value and such a charm to his conversations[105], he insinuated himself imperceptibly into your heart, made himself master of your pa.s.sions, gently excited them, and artfully flattered them: then, displaying at once the magic resources of his genius, he plunged you into intoxication, into admiration, and subdued you so rapidly, so completely, that it seemed the effect of enchantment.

Thus M. Benjamin Constant was subjugated: he arrived at the Tuileries with repugnance, he quitted the palace an enthusiast.

The next day he was named counsellor of state: and this favour he owed to no base submissions, as his enemies have pretended, but to his learning, and to the desire the Emperor had of giving to public opinion, and to M. B. Constant himself, a pledge of his having forgotten the past; a pledge so much the more meritorious, as the Emperor, independently of the Philippic launched against him by this writer on the 19th of March, had besides before his eyes a letter in his own hand to M. de Blacas, the subject and expressions of which were of a nature, to inspire Napoleon with something more than aversion for its author.

M. de Blacas had left in his boxes a great number of papers. The Emperor directed the Duke of Otranto to examine them. Of this he immediately repented, and sent for them again. Part fell to our share: the rest were delivered to the Duke of Vicenza. Their examination afforded nothing interesting. The Emperor, disappointed, accused M. Fouche of having removed the important papers. Those we inspected consisted only of private reports, and confidential and anonymous notes. The hatred of the revolution pervaded every line, every word. The writers did not dare to propose plainly the revocation of the Charter, and the abolition of the new inst.i.tutions; but they declared without any circ.u.mlocution, that the dynasty of the Bourbons would never be secure with the existing laws; and that it was necessary, to distrust and get rid of the men of the revolution. More effectually to know and persecute these, M. de Blacas had caused to be disinterred from the archives of the cabinet, and of the ministers, the doc.u.ments that might serve to make known their conduct ever since 1789, and he had directed biographical notices of each to be composed, which might easily have been taken for indictments drawn up by M. Bellart[106].

We found also a number of minutes of laws and ordinances, written by the hand of this minister, and attesting by their laborious corrections, how dest.i.tute he was of readiness and of imagination. Frequently he made three or four foul copies, before he could give any consistency or connection to his ideas. His familiar style was dry and turgid: if the style exhibit the man, how I pity M. de Blacas! He took extreme pains to vary, himself, the form of his appointments (rendez-vous): and the trouble he gave himself, to say the same thing in several different ways, wonderfully reminded us of the billet-doux of the Bourgeois Gentilhomme: "Belle Marquise, vos beaux yeux me font mourir d'amour; d'amour mourir me font, belle Marquise, vos beaux yeux[107]."

In fine, we collected from the cabinet of this minister an ample collection of royal denunciations, pet.i.tions, justifications, and confessions, of those men, who, like Lockard, are always "the most humble servants of circ.u.mstances."

These humble servants, when the Emperor returned from the island of Elba, did not fail to prostrate themselves before him anew. They a.s.sured him, after the example of a certain Marquis well known, that they had denied, insulted, calumniated him, only that they might remain faithful to him, without being suspected by the royal government: they conjured him, to grant them the happiness and glory of serving him; but he disdained their supplications, as he had disdained their insults: they gained nothing but his contempt. Always as devoid of shame as of faith, they were eager, immediately after the fall of Napoleon, to turn round anew, and carry back to the King their faded homage. Some, as M. the Count de M***, whose hands are still reeking with the blood of his a.s.sistants (administres), contrived, with the help of their lying fidelity, to surprise his easy confidence. Others, as M. F***, became in their writings the virulent persecutors of men, whose lot they had envied, and whose support they had begged. All arrogated to themselves exclusively the t.i.tle of pure royalists: the t.i.tle of honest men.... I know them ... the mask, with which they cover themselves, the honours, the dignities, with which they are invested, cannot disguise them to my eyes.... Shall I name them? And the Emperor is accused of despising mankind! ah, where is the sovereign, that can esteem them?

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

Footnote 1: The misfortunes of that eventful day, and of the remainder of the campaign, were caused by the treachery of the Saxons and the defection of the Princes of the Confederation of the Rhine.(Back to main text)

Footnote 2: Napoleon, according to the common report, was frequently heard to repeat, after his abdication, "I have been ruined by liberal ideas." I do not think that he ever expressed himself in this manner. I do not intend to doubt the irresistible force which liberal ideas have now acquired; but I do not think, that they contributed to effect the first downfal of the imperial throne. n.o.body thought about liberal ideas at that period. France had been trained to the government of Napoleon, and his despotism gave rise to no complaints. She was not free in the manner according to which the nation now wishes to enjoy liberty. But the liberty which France then possessed was enough for the French. Napoleon would often exercise unlimited authority, but the country had only one master, and he was the master of all. If it is true that the French abandoned Napoleon in 1814, it was not because we were tired of Napoleon or discontented with his government, but because the nation was exhausted, discouraged, and demoralized by an uninterrupted succession of calamitous wars. The people would still have been delighted to obey him, but they had neither strength nor soul.

The real causes of the downfal of Napoleon are to be found in his hatred towards England, and in the continental system, which resulted from that hatred. This gigantic system, which oppressed all Europe, could not fail to raise the entire continent against Napoleon and France, and thus to bring on the ruin of both. "Rome," as it is said by Montesquieu, "extended her empire because her wars only followed in succession. Each nation, such was her inconceivable good fortune, waited till another had been conquered, before beginning the attack." Rome fell as soon as all the nations a.s.sailed and penetrated on every side.(Back to main text)

Footnote 3: He arrived at Paris before his august brother, and by these pleasing expressions he replied to the addresses of congratulation presented to him by the munic.i.p.ality of Paris.(Back to main text)

Footnote 4: Extracted from the Journal des Debats. The princ.i.p.al proprietor and editor of this paper was Monsieur Laborie, one of Talleyrand's creatures, and private secretary to the provisional government.(Back to main text)

Footnote 5: This expression was one of those of which the ministers made the worst use. If they were told that any magistrate, any officer, any functionary, whom they had turned out, had fulfilled his duties with honour and distinction, that he was loved and regretted by the people, they answered, "he is a dangerous character," and there was an end of the business.(Back to main text)

Footnote 6: When Dupont capitulated to the Spaniards, the insurgents refused to acknowledge the Emperor. Dupont therefore only took the t.i.tle of general in the French service.(Back to main text)

Footnote 7: I speak only of acting and thinking beings. In all countries there is to be found a cla.s.s of cyphers, who are so careless, stupid, or selfish, that they belong to no party, and indeed to no nation.(Back to main text)

Footnote 8: The accusation that a spirit of mutiny prevailed amongst them cannot be refuted more effectually than by quoting the expressions used by M. de Montesquiou on the 14th of March. "In the last two months," said he, "not one of the soldiers or officers belonging to the corps of the old guard composing the garrison of Metz, has been once reprimanded."(Back to main text)

Footnote 9: The Chouans never allowed the opportunity of committing murder to escape them. They carried their muskets as they walked by the side of the plough, and the furrows which they trod were frequently sprinkled with blood. The priests who had taken the oaths, and the purchasers of national domains, were particularly the objects of the refinements of their cruelty. They seldom entered a town without plundering the inhabitants, and without slaughtering those who had been pointed out to their vengeance.-Lacretelle, Precis de la Revolution.(Back to main text)

Footnote 10: M.M. David and Falconnet. In order to appease the public indignation, a summons was issued against these writers, it being stated in the process that they had endeavoured to excite civil war. There was no difficulty in guessing that this proceeding was a farce, and that by overcharging the crime it was the intention of the government to favour the acquittal of the accused; and accordingly they were acquitted.(Back to main text)

Footnote 11: Before the revolution it was customary for "les grands seigneurs" to obtain what were called "lettres de surseance," by means of which they avoided the payment of their debts, and defeated their creditors.(Back to main text)

Footnote 12: This proposal was not carried into execution.(Back to main text)

Footnote 13: There are times when a government may attack general principles without danger. But men and their personal interests can never be a.s.sailed with impunity. Personal interest is the prime mover of public opinion and feeling; and however degrading the truth may appear, it is not to be disputed. After a great national catastrophe this baleful egotism is particularly evident. Dignified pa.s.sions become extinct for want of fuel; and the human mind, dest.i.tute of external occupation, works inward upon itself, and begets selfishness, the true pestilence of the soul. When this disease affects a nation, the government is lost if it attacks the interests of individuals.(Back to main text)

Footnote 14: By means of ordonnances the ministers legislated according to their pleasure in matters which ought only to have been regulated by the law, so that the greater part of the bills presented to the chambers "had been already enacted and executed in the shape of ordonnances; and the legislature had no other function except that of giving a legal sanction to the arbitrary decrees of the ministers."-Censeur.(Back to main text)

Footnote 15: Even in Paris several persons were ill treated and bayoneted, because they refused to pull off their hats and kneel, whilst the processions were pa.s.sing by.(Back to main text)

Footnote 16: Under the reign of Napoleon, if a priest had ventured to utter any opinion contrary to the system of government, he would have been immediately removed.(Back to main text)

Footnote 17: I cannot express their thoughts more forcibly than by copying the pa.s.sage, which I have quoted in my text, from the View of the Revolution by Lacretelle.(Back to main text)

Footnote 18: From his early youth, it may be even said from his days of boyhood, Napoleon felt an inward presentiment that he was not destined to live in mediocrity. This persuasion soon taught him to treat others with disdain, and to entertain the highest opinion of himself. Scarcely had he obtained a subaltern command in the artillery, when he considered himself as the superior of his equals, and the equal of his superiors. In his 20th year he was placed at the head of the army of Italy. Without appearing to be in the slightest degree surprised by his elevation, he pa.s.sed from a secondary station to the chief command. He immediately treated the old generals of the army-they who were so proud of the laurels-with an air of dignity and authority, which placed them in a situation which was probably new to them. But they did not feel humiliated, and their inferiority seemed to result as a matter of course, for the ascendancy exercised by Napoleon was irresistible; and he was thoroughly endued; with that instinct of authority, that talent of ensuring obedience, with those faculties which are usually confined to those who are kings by birth. Napoleon could probably have attained to supreme authority in any country in the world. Nature had formed him for command, and she never creates such men for the purpose of leaving them in obscurity. It seems, according to the remark of a writer whose name I have forgotten, that she is proud of her own work, and that she wishes to offer it to admiration, by placing it at the head of human society.(Back to main text)

Footnote 19: The continental system induced Napoleon to exercise a real tyranny over Europe. We do not pretend to deny the fact; but we only wish to add, that this exterior despotism always induced a belief amongst foreigners, that Napoleon, who tyrannized so violently over nations which did not belong to him, must necessarily be the tyrant of his own subjects.(Back to main text)

Footnote 20: The Emperor thus addressed the Spanish Cortes; when a.s.sembled at Bayonne.(Back to main text)

Footnote 21: Napoleon was accused of having aspired to universal monarchy. In all ages, this desire has been imputed to powerful and ambitious sovereigns. Let us confess that no monarch was ever better justified in yielding to the seductions of this brilliant phantom than Napoleon. From the summit of his throne he held the reins which guided the greater part of Europe, whose docile monarchs instantly obeyed any direction which he chose to give them. At the first word, at the slightest signal, their subjects were arrayed beneath the imperial eagle. Their continual intercourse with us, the obligation of obeying Napoleon, an obligation imposed upon them by their own princes, had accustomed them to consider the Emperor as their chieftain. But whatever ambition may have been attributed to Napoleon, his good sense restrained him from aspiring to universal monarchy. He had another plan; he intended to re-establish the eastern and western empires. It would now be useless to reveal the lofty and powerful considerations by which this grand and n.o.ble idea was suggested to Napoleon. Then, France might have been allowed to grasp again the sceptre of Charlemagne: but now, we must forget that we have been the masters of the world.(Back to main text)

Footnote 22: Neither the nature nor the extent of these aids has been well understood out of France. Napoleon revived our industry by the loans, which he never hesitated to grant to any enterprising manufacturer who needed capital; and this a.s.sistance was always liberal and well-timed.(Back to main text)

Footnote 23: Louis XIV., who has been so much praised for his liberality, only distributed 52,300 francs per annum to the literati and artists of France, and 14,000 francs to foreigners.(Back to main text)

Footnote 24: The soldiers identified the name of Napoleon with their country and their honour. When the accession of Louis XVIII. put an end to the sufferings and captivity of those who were imprisoned in England, they returned to France, cursing the cause of their liberty, and exclaiming, "Vive l'Empereur!" Even in the deserts of Russia, neither threats of ill treatment, nor promises of a.s.sistance offered to the French prisoners at the moment when they were starving, could extort a single complaint against Napoleon.(Back to main text)

Footnote 25: Marshal Soult had just succeeded General Dupont.(Back to main text)

Footnote 26: M. Comte, one of the acute and courageous editors of the Censor, was chosen by the general as his "counsel." General Fressinet was his advocate. (According to the forms of the French courts of judicature, the counsel a.s.sists by his advice, the advocate pleads.) This officer, equally distinguished by his firmness, his talents, and his bravery, was afterwards punished and exiled on account of the generous a.s.sistance which he gave on this important occasion to General Excelmans, his fellow soldier and friend.(Back to main text)

Footnote 27: It has been alleged, but without foundation, that he retained his taste for military exercises. Not one review took place during his residence at Porto Ferrajo; arms seemed to have no attractions for him.(Back to main text)

Footnote 28: It is well known that there was not a single individual of note in the service, either of his allies or of his enemies, whose strong and weak points were not perfectly understood by Napoleon.(Back to main text)

Footnote 29: This officer is the person who is named in the declaration made on the 15th of March to the prince of Essling, then governor of the 8th military division, by Monsieur P*****, who landed with Napoleon from the Isle of Elba, and was arrested at Toulon by order of the prefect of the department of the Var.(Back to main text)

Footnote 30: At Malmaison the Emperor asked me what had become of M. Z***. I answered that he had been killed on Mount St. Jean: "Well," answered the Emperor, "he is happy. But pray did he tell you that he had been at Elba?"-"Yes, Sire; he even entrusted me with the narrative of his voyage, and of the conversations which he had with your Majesty."-"You must give me this narrative: I will take it with me: it will help me in the composition of my memoirs."-"Sire, it is no longer in my possession."-"What have you done with it? you must get it back, and let me have it to-morrow."-"I have deposited it with a friend, who happens to be absent from Paris."-"So the narrative will be handed about at the mercy of the world."-"No, Sire. It is inclosed in an envelope, and deposited in a box of which I keep the key; but if I should not be able to deliver it to your Majesty, before your Majesty's departure, it will yet come to your knowledge, for I intend to publish it according to the last wishes of M. Z***, unless your Majesty forbids me."-"No; I allow you to print it, only leave out whatever may tend to compromise those who have displayed their attachment towards me. If Z*** has made a faithful report of all that pa.s.sed, the people will know that I sacrificed myself for their good; and that it was not the love of power which brought me again into France, but that I yielded to the desire of restoring to the French those gifts which are dearest to great nations-independence and glory. Take care lest they should get hold of your ma.n.u.script-they will falsify it. Send it to England to *****; he will print it; he is devoted to me, and he may be very useful to you. M. *** will give you a letter for him: do you understand me?"-"Yes, Sire."-"But do your utmost to recover your ma.n.u.script before my departure. I see that you are anxious to keep it, and I will leave it with you. I only wish to read it." The Emperor read the ma.n.u.script, and he returned it to me, saying, "Z*** has told the truth, and nothing but the truth; keep his ma.n.u.script for future generations."(Back to main text)

Footnote 31: On cherche a plaire meme a des matelots quand on a besoin d'eux.(Back to main text)

Footnote 32: As only six were noted in the "feuille de bord" they took an extra sailor, in order that there might be six on board after my landing, otherwise, on landing, they would have been obliged to account for the sailor whom I represented.(Back to main text)

Footnote 33: The time required for sailing from one port to another is pretty well ascertained; if this period is exceeded, and no sufficient reason can be a.s.signed for the delay, it is a.s.sumed that the vessel may have touched at some infected port; and, by excess of caution, they compel you to undergo the lesser quarantine. The lesser quarantine is also ordered as a punishment when the master of a vessel does not behave with due respect and submission to the health officers.(Back to main text)

Footnote 34: I had believed, according to the statements in the ministerial journals, that the sea was covered by French and English s.h.i.+ps, by which all vessels and pa.s.sengers, proceeding to the island, were intercepted. I did not meet with a single s.h.i.+p of this description. The ports were placed under a "surveillance," equally brutal and tyrannical, but the sea was free. All vessels went in and out of Porto Ferrajo without experiencing the slightest obstacle.(Back to main text)

Footnote 35: The corvette commanded by Captain Campbell.(Back to main text)

Footnote 36: Napoleon usually liked to intimidate and disconcert those who approached him. Sometimes he feigned that he could not hear you, and then he would make you repeat in a very loud tone what he had heard perfectly well before. However, he was really deaf in a slight degree. At other times he would overwhelm you with such rapid and abrupt interrogatories, that you had not time to understand him, and were compelled to give your answers in confusion. He used then to laugh at your embarra.s.sment; and when he had driven you out of your presence of mind and confidence, he amused himself at your expense.-Note of the author of the work.(Back to main text)

Footnote 37: "Ma gloire est faite a moi. Mon nom vivra autant que celui de Dieu!!!"(Back to main text)

Footnote 38: I obtained this information in the course of my voyage.(Back to main text)