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.