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.