him, ventured to place over his mantel-piece some
insulting caricatures of the Bourbons: these he
disdainfully threw into the fire, and severely
enjoined the valet, never in future to be guilty of
such an impertinence.]
[Footnote 78:
"If we sometimes play the fool,
Reason should resume her rule."]
The Emperor entered his closet habitually before six in the morning,
and seldom quitted it till night.
Impatience and vivacity are almost always incompatible with order and
precision. Napoleon, destined to be like no other person, added to the
fire of genius the methodical habits of cold and little minds. For the
most part, he took care to arrange his numerous papers himself. Each
of them had its settled place. Here was found whatever related to the
war department: there, the budgets, the daily statements of the
treasury and finances: farther on, the reports of the police, his
secret correspondence with his private agents, &c. He carefully
returned every thing to its place, after having used it: compared with
him the most methodical clerk would have been but a bungler.
His first business was to read his correspondence, and the despatches
that had arrived in the night. He put aside the interesting letters,
and threw the rest on the floor: this he called his _answered_.
He afterwards examined the copies of letters opened at the post
office, and burnt them immediately. It seemed, as if he wished to
annihilate all traces of the abuse of power, of which he had been
guilty.
He finished by casting an eye over the newspapers. Sometimes he said,
"That's a good article; whose is it?" He must know every thing.
These several readings ended, he set to work; and it may be said
without exaggeration, that he was then as extraordinary, as
incomparable, as at the head of his armies.
As he would entrust to nobody the supreme care of the government, he
saw every thing himself; and it is easy to conceive, on what a
multiplicity of objects he had to fix his eyes. Independently of his
ministers, the Duke of Bassano, the commandant of the first division
of Paris, the prefect of the police, the inspector general of the
gendarmerie, the major-general of guards, the grand marshal of the
palace, the great officers of the crown, the aides-de-camp, and the
orderly officers (_officiers d'ordonnance_) on missions, daily sent
him circumstantial reports, which he examined, and answered
immediately: it being a maxim with him, to put nothing off till
to-morrow. And let it not be supposed, that he satisfied himself with
a superficial judgment of affairs: he read every report through, and
examined every voucher attentively. Frequently the super-human
sagacity, with which he was gifted, enabled him to perceive errors and
imperfections, that had escaped the scrutinizing eyes of his
ministers; and then he corrected their labours. But still more
frequently he fashioned them anew from beginning to end; and what was
a fortnight's work to a whole ministry, scarcely cost the genius of
Napoleon a few minutes.
The Emperor rarely sat down, but dictated as he walked about. He did
not like to repeat his words; and if you asked him a word not clearly
understood, he answered impatiently, "_I said_," and went on.
When he had to treat a subject worthy of himself, his style,
habitually nervous and concise, rose to the level of his grand
conceptions: it became majestic and sublime.
If the possibility of expressing his ideas was shackled by the want of
the proper word; or if the customary terms did not appear to him
sufficiently strong, sufficiently animated, he brought together words,
that were astonished to find themselves in each other's company, and
created a language of his own, a language rich and impressive, that
might sometimes infringe established rules, but compensated this happy
fault, by giving more loftiness and vigour to his thoughts[79].
[Footnote 79: I have been assured, that Napoleon in
his youth composed a history of Paoli, and of the
war of liberty: may he realize the design of
writing the history of his own reign, for the
instruction of future ages! This reign is so
fertile in extraordinary events, and unforeseen
catastrophes, and displays to our view such
numerous examples of human vicissitudes, that its
history may supply the place of all others, and
become itself alone a lesson for kings and people.]
Sometimes, hurried away by the impetuosity of his character, and
eager to arrive more quickly at his object, he did not take time to
weigh his words, his ideas, his desires. When his orders had been
dictated to us in such a fit of hastiness, we were careful, as far as
possible, not to present them for signing the same day. The next day,
they were almost always modified, softened, or torn. Napoleon was
never displeased with us, for endeavouring to guard him against the
dangers of precipitancy. They who think, that he never corrected a
false step, are mistaken: if under certain circumstances his
determinations were inflexible, in a number of others he yielded to
remonstrance, and relinquished his projects and resolves without
difficulty.
The Emperor seldom wrote with his own hand. Words of many syllables
were tedious to him; and, not having patience to write them at length,
he mutilated them. This habit, added to the defective formation of
his letters, rendered his writing altogether illegible. Frequently,
too, from carelessness, or absence of mind, he infringed the laws of
orthography; and people have not failed thence to infer, that he was
completely ignorant.
Most assuredly the ignorance of Napoleon, were it proved, would
detract nothing from his glory and renown. Charlemagne could scarcely
sign his own name. Louis XIV., and I quote him by choice, though born
on a throne, was unacquainted with _the rules of grammar_. Yet
Charlemagne and Louis were nevertheless great kings. The imputation,
however, is as false as it is absurd. Napoleon, educated at the school
of Brienne, was distinguished there by that facility of comprehension,
that disdain of pleasure, that fondness for study, that enthusiastic
regard for models of greatness, which commonly indicate superior
minds. Destined for the profession of arms, he would not aspire to
become a man of letters, a man of reading, a learned man: his object,
for he had an object in his earliest years, was to become some day a
distinguished officer, perhaps even a great captain. It was to the
military sciences, therefore, he bent his genius ... the universe
knows the rest.
But do I say his genius? the detractors of Napoleon also assert, that
his mind was too subject to irregularities, for the possession of
genius to be granted him: do they not know, or do they pretend to be
ignorant, that such irregularities are on the contrary the proof, the
distinguishing characteristics, of this precious gift of nature.
"Genius," says one of our philosophers, "rises and stoops by turns; it
is often imperfect, because it does not take the trouble to improve
itself. It is great in great things, because they are adapted to
excite its sublime instinct, and call it into action. It is negligent
in ordinary things, because they are beneath it, and have nothing in
them to stir it up: if, however, it do turn its attention to them, it
fertilizes them, aggrandizes them, and gives them a new and unexpected
appearance, that had escaped vulgar eyes."
And with how vast a genius must he have been endowed! he, who,
occupied by the torments of ambition, military calculations, political
schemes, and the anxieties inspired by the enemies of his crown and of
his life, still found sufficient time, sufficient calmness, sufficient
power, to command his numerous armies; to govern twenty foreign
nations, and forty millions of subjects; to enter solicitously into
all the particulars of the administration of his states; to see every
thing; to sift every thing to the bottom; to regulate every thing; in
fine, to conceive, create, and realize those unexpected improvements,
those bold innovations, those noble institutions, and those immortal
codes, that raise the civil glory of France to a degree of
superiority, which alone can match its military glory. But I know not
why I attempt to combat such adversaries: they who are blind to the
genius of Napoleon, have never known genius itself, and I ought to
give them no answer, but that of Rousseau: "Silence, ye uninitiated!"
The Emperor, by his decrees issued at Lyons, had in some degree
repaired the wrongs imputed to the royal government. One grievance
still remained for him; the slavery of the press. The decree of the
24th of March[80], by suppressing the censors, the censorship, and
the superintendance of the bookselling trade, completed the imperial
restoration.
[Footnote 80: This decree, and all those previously
dated from the palace of the Tuileries, contained
no title but simply that of "Emperor of the
French." The "&c. &c.," noticed with anxiety in the
proclamations and decrees from Lyons, were
suppressed. They had been inserted without
reflection, without object, and merely from custom.
The Emperor, too, would not have his familiar
letters continue to be concluded in the usual form:
"On which I pray God, to have you in his holy
keeping, &c." "All those antiquated things," said
he, "must be laid aside; they are well enough for
kings by the grace of God."]
This last concession was unquestionably the greatest, that Napoleon
could make to public opinion. A press in the general interest of the
people is the surest protection of their rights. It is the most noble
conquest liberty can gain over despotism: to honest men it gives
dignity; it inspires them with the love of their country, and of the
laws; in fine, according to the English definition, it is the mother
of all liberty: but in times of trouble and of revolution, it is a
dangerous weapon in the hands of the wicked; and the Emperor foresaw,
that the royalists would employ it in the cause of the Bourbons; and
the Jacobins, to calumniate his sentiments, and render his designs
suspected. But, a declared enemy of half-measures, he resolved, since
he had set thought at liberty, that it should circulate
unshackled[81].
[Footnote 81: Never, in fact, at any period of the
revolution, did writers enjoy such complete liberty
and impunity. The seizure of the _Censeur
Europeen_, which made such noise, was the work of
M. Fouche. The Emperor knew nothing of this
infringement of the law, till it had been carried
into effect; and he immediately ordered, that the
copies seized should be returned to the editors of
the _Censeur_, and that they should be at liberty
to circulate them freely.]
This decree, and those that preceded it, were undoubtedly sufficient
to testify to the nation the liberal disposition of Napoleon: but no
speech from the throne had yet declared with solemnity the positive
intentions of the Emperor.
At length he fixed on Sunday, the 26th of March, as the day, on which
he would make his new profession of faith in the face of the
nation[82].
[Footnote 82: The audience was to take place at
noon; and at nine o'clock his Majesty had not
prepared his answers. They were dictated in haste,
and we had scarcely time to copy them out fairly.]
The ministers, the council of state, the court of cassation, the court
of accounts, the imperial court, the prefect, and the municipal
council of Paris, were admitted to the foot of the throne.
The prince arch-chancellor, speaking in the name of the ministers,
said:
"Sire, Providence, that watches over our destiny, has re-opened to
your Majesty the road to that throne, to which you had been raised by
the free choice of the people, and the national gratitude. Our country
raises its majestic brow, and for the second time salutes with the
name of deliverer the prince, who destroyed anarchy, and whose
existence alone is at present capable of consolidating our liberal
institutions.
"The most just of revolutions, that which will restore to men their
dignity, and all their political rights, has hurled from the throne
the dynasty of the Bourbons. After five and twenty years of war and
troubles, all the efforts of foreigners have proved unable, to awaken
affections that are extinct, or wholly unknown to the present
generation. The struggle of the interests and prejudices of a few
against the enlightened state of the age, and the interests of a great
nation, is at length terminated.
"Our destinies are accomplished: the only legitimate cause, the cause
of the people, has triumphed. Your Majesty has yielded to the wishes
of the French; you have seized anew the reins of the state, amid the
benedictions of the people and of the army.
"France, Sire, has as a guarantee of it her will, and her dearest
interests; she has as a guarantee of it all that your Majesty has said
to the population of the different parts of the country, which
assembled in crowds on your passage. Your Majesty will keep your word,
you will remember only the services rendered your country; you will
prove, that in your eyes, and in your heart, whatever the different
opinions and exasperations of parties may have been, all citizens are
equal, as they are in the eye of the law.
"Your Majesty will also forget, that we have been the masters of the
nations around us. Generous idea! that adds another glory to the glory
already acquired.
"Already has Your Majesty traced out to your ministers the path they
have to pursue: already have you made known to all the people by your
proclamations the maxims, by which you would have your empire governed
for the future. No war without, unless to repel unjust aggression; no
re-action within, no arbitrary proceedings; security of person,
security of property, and the free circulation of opinions, are the
principles you have sanctioned.
"Happy those, Sire, who are called to cooperate in so many sublime
acts! Such benefits will ensure to you from posterity, when the days
of adulation are at an end, the name of Father of your country: they
will be guarantied to our children by the august heir, whom your
Majesty is preparing to crown in the Champ de Mai."
The Emperor answered:
"The sentiments you have expressed to me are mine. 'Every thing
agreeably to the sense of the nation, and every thing for France:'
such is my motto.
"I and my family, whom this great people has raised to the French
throne, and maintained on it in spite of vicissitudes and political
tempests, will not, ought not, cannot, ever claim any other title to
it."
The Count Defermon, father of the presidents of the council of state,
delivered to the Emperor the following declaration, tending to prove
the nullity of the abdication of Fontainbleau:
"The council of state, in resuming its functions, thinks it necessary
to make known the principles, by which its conduct and opinions are
guided.
"The sovereignty resides in the people, who are the only legitimate
source of power.
"In 1789 the nation recovered its rights, which had long been usurped,
or misunderstood.
"The National Assembly abolished the feudal monarchy, and established
a constitutional monarchy, and a representative government.
"The resistance of the Bourbons to the wishes of the people occasioned
their downfal, and their banishment from the French territories.
"Twice the people sanctioned by its votes the new form of government
established by its representatives.
"In the year 8th, Bonaparte, already crowned by victory, found himself
raised to the government by the assent of the nation. A constitution
created the consular magistracy.
"The senatus consultum of the 16th of Thermidor, year 10, named
Bonaparte consul for life.
"The senatus consultum of the 28th of Floreal, year 12, conferred on
Napoleon the imperial dignity, and made it hereditary in his family.
"These three solemn acts were laid for acceptance before the people,
who sanctioned them by nearly four millions of votes.
"Accordingly, the Bourbons had ceased to reign in France for two and
twenty years; they were forgotten there by their contemporaries;
strangers to our laws, our institutions, our manners, our glory; and
the present generation knew nothing of them.
"In 1814 France was invaded by the armies of the enemy, and the
capital occupied. The foreigners created a pretended provisional
government. They assembled a minority of the senators, and compelled
them, in opposition to their delegated powers and to their will, to
destroy the existing establishments, to overturn the imperial throne,
and to recall the family of the Bourbons.
"The senate, which had been instituted solely to maintain the
constitution of the empire, acknowledged itself, that it had no power
to alter it. It decreed, that the scheme of a constitution, which it
had prepared, should be submitted to the people for their acceptance,
and that Louis Stanislas Xavier should be proclaimed King of the
French, as soon as he had accepted the constitution, and sworn to
observe it, and cause it to be observed.
"The abdication of the Emperor Napoleon was solely the result of the
unfortunate situation, to which France and the Emperor had been
reduced by the events of the war, by treason, and by the occupation of
the capital. The only object of the abdication was, to avoid a civil
war, and the shedding of French blood. Unsanctioned by the will of the
people, this act could not annul the solemn contract, that was
established between them and the Emperor. And if Napoleon possessed
the power of abdicating the throne in his own person, he had none to
sacrifice the rights of his son, appointed to reign after him.
"The Emperor, therefore, by re-ascending the throne, to which the
people had elevated him, restored the people to their most sacred
rights: he only called into execution the decrees of the
Representative Assemblies, sanctioned by the nation: he returns to
reign on the only legitimate principle, that France acknowledges and
has acknowledged for five and twenty years, and to which all the
authorities bound themselves by oaths, that they can be released from
by the will of the people alone.
"The Emperor is called upon, to guaranty anew, by institutions, as he
has engaged to do in his proclamations to the nation and the army, all
the principles of liberty: personal freedom, and equality of rights;
the freedom of the press, and abolition of the censorship; freedom of
religious worship; the voting of laws and contributions by the
representatives of the nation lawfully chosen; national property, from
whatever source arising; the independence and stability of our
tribunals; the responsibility of ministers, and of all the agents of
authority.
"The more perfectly to sanction the rights and obligations of the
people and the monarch, the national institutions should be revised in
a grand assembly of the representatives already announced by the
Emperor.
"Previous to the meeting of this grand representative assembly, the
Emperor ought to exercise, and cause to be exercised, conformably to
the existing laws and constitution, the authority they have delegated
to him, which could not be taken from him, which he could not abdicate
without the consent of the nation, and which the wishes and general
interest of the French people render it his duty to resume."
The Emperor answered:
"Princes are the first citizens of the state: their authority is more
or less extensive according to the interests of the nations they
govern: the sovereignty itself is hereditary only because the interest
of the people requires it. I know nothing of a legitimacy extraneous
to these principles.
"I have renounced the idea of that grand empire, of which in the
course of fifteen years I had merely laid the foundations:
henceforward the happiness and consolidation of the French empire will
be the object of all my thoughts."
The court of cassation expressed the same principles and the same
sentiments as the council of state.
To this the Emperor answered:
"In the earliest ages of the French monarchy, rude tribes made
themselves masters of Gaul. The sovereignty, of course, was not
framed for the benefit of the Gauls, who were slaves, or destitute of
political rights; but for the benefit of the conquering tribe. It can
never have been said with truth, therefore, in any period of history,
in any nation, even in the east, that the people exist for kings.
Every where it has been established, that kings exist only for the
people. A dynasty created under circumstances, that have created so
many new interests, being itself interested in the maintenance of the
rights and properties of all, can alone be natural and legitimate, and
in possession of strength and confidence, the two leading characters
in all government."
The court of accounts, and the imperial court, held the same language
as the preceding authorities.
To these the Emperor answered:
"What particularly distinguishes the imperial throne is, that it has
been raised by the nation, that it is consequently natural, and that
it guaranties the interests of all. This is the true character of
legitimacy. It is the interest of this throne, to consolidate all that
at present exists, and all that has been done in France during the
twenty-five years of revolution. It comprises all interests, and
particularly that of the national glory, which is not the least among
them.
"Whatever has returned with the foreign armies, whatever has been done
without consulting the nation, is null. The courts of Grenoble and
Lyons, and all the tribunals of the judicial order, which I met with
while the success of events was yet uncertain, have shown me, that
these principles are engraved on the heart of every Frenchman."
The reception of these public bodies being over, there was a grand
audience in the apartments of the palace. The answers of the Emperor,
repeated with embellishments, had produced the most profound
sensation. The words national glory, liberty, country, so long unknown
and proscribed within these walls, resounded on every side. When the
emigrants re-appeared, and the most illustrious servants of the state
were expelled, to make room for men, who had become strangers to our
manners, our institutions, and our triumphs; you would have said, that
France existed no longer, that it had passed under the dominion of
foreigners. When Napoleon returned, our country appeared to have
returned with him: he seemed to have brought it back from exile, and
he might then exclaim with just pride: "I am the nation."
The example set by the magistrates of Paris soon found numerous
imitators in the departments. The public functionaries, the judicial
and administrative authorities, which but a few days before had
offered up prayers to Heaven and to the King for the extermination of
the Corsican, the tyrant, and the usurper, were eager to congratulate
_the Emperor_ on his miraculous return; and to confer on him the
titles of hero, deliverer, and more especially of legitimate
sovereign.
Napoleon's progress had been so rapid, that many addresses to the King
did not reach Paris before the King was gone; and all these were
delivered at the same time with the new addresses voted to his
successor[83]! I remarked this to the Emperor; who answered me with a
smile of pity: "_See what men are_!"
[Footnote 83: I am speaking here only of the
addresses of bodies corporate, and of certain
generals and prefects.]
The favourites of Apollo did not fail to offer up their obsequious
incense to the god of the day. We received from the Countess de G***
some very pretty verses in honour of the violet. Another woman, still
more celebrated, the Baroness de S***, took occasion from some
flattering words said for her to M. B. C., to write an epistle to the
Emperor, which would make a curious figure at the head of her last
work.
The most rigid writers and lecturers on the common law, who the
evening before, with Cujas and Bartholi in their hands, had formally
impleaded Napoleon, were eager to testify their admiration of him, and
proclaim him the sovereign of sovereigns.