of this letter is December 17th. It seems, however, possible that it
is the letter written immediately after his arrival at Trianon,
referred to by Meneval, who was, in fact, responsible for it.
Thiers, working from unpublished memoirs of Hortense and Cambaceres,
gives a most interesting account of the family council, held at 9
P.M. on Friday, December 15th, at the Tuileries. Constant also
describes the scene, but gives the Empress credit for showing the
most self-command of those chiefly interested. The next day, 11 A.M.,
Count Lacepede introduced the resolutions of the family council to the
Senatus-Consultus.[78] "It is to-day that, more than ever before,
the Emperor has proved that he wishes to reign only to serve his
subjects, and that the Empress has merited that posterity should
associate her name with that of Napoleon." He pointed out that
thirteen of Napoleon's predecessors had broken the bonds of matrimony
in order to fulfil better those of sovereign, and that among these
were the most admired and beloved of French monarchs--Charlemagne,
Philip Augustus, Louis XII. and Henry IV. This speech and the Decrees
(carried by 76 votes to 7) are found in the _Moniteur_ of December
17th, which Napoleon considers sufficiently authentic to send to his
brother Joseph as a full account of what occurred, and with no
further comment of his own but that it was the step which he thought
it his duty to take. The Decrees of the Committee of the Senate
were:--"(1) The marriage contracted between the Emperor Napoleon and
the Empress Josephine is dissolved. (2) The Empress Josephine will
retain the titles and rank of a crowned Empress-Queen.[79] (3) Her
jointure is fixed at an annual revenue of L80,000 from the public
treasury.[80] (4) Every provision which may be made by the Emperor
in favour of the Empress Josephine, out of the funds of the Civil
List, shall be obligatory on his successors." They added separate
addresses to the Emperor and Empress, and that to the latter seems
worthy of quotation:--"Your Imperial and Royal Majesty is about
to make for France the greatest of sacrifices; history will preserve
the memory of it for ever. The august spouse of the greatest of
monarchs cannot be united to his immortal glory by more heroic
devotion. For long, Madame, the French people has revered your
virtues; it holds dear that loving kindness which inspires your every
word, as it directs your every action; it will admire your sublime
devotion; it will award for ever to your Majesty, Empress and
Queen, the homage of gratitude, respect, and love."
From a letter of Eugene's to his wife, quoted by Aubenas, it
appears that he, with his mother, arrived at Malmaison on Saturday
evening,[81] December 16th, and that it never ceased raining all
the next day, which added to the general depression, in spite of, or
because of, Eugene's bad puns. On the evening of the 16th Napoleon
was at Trianon, writing letters, and we cannot think that if the
Emperor had been to Malmaison on the Sunday,[82] Eugene would have
included this without comment in the "some visits" they had
received. The Emperor, as we see from the next letter, paid
Josephine a visit on the Monday.
No. 2.
The date of this is Tuesday, December 19th, while No. 3 is Wednesday
the 20th.
_Savary_, always unpopular with the Court ladies, has now nothing but
kind words for Josephine. "She quitted the Court, but the Court did
not quit her; it had always loved her, for never had any one been so
kind.... She never injured any one in the time of her power; she
protected even her enemies"--such as Fouche at this juncture, and
Lucien earlier. "During her stay at Malmaison, the highroad from Paris
to this chateau was only one long procession, in spite of the bad
weather; every one considered it a duty to present themselves at least
once a week." Later, Marie Louise became jealous of this, and poor
Josephine had to go to the chateau of Navarre, and finally to leave
France.
_Queen of Naples._--For some reason Napoleon had not wanted this
sister at Paris this winter, and had written her to this effect from
Schoenbrunn on October 15th. "If you were not so far off, and the
season so advanced, I would have asked Murat to spend two months in
Paris. But you cannot be there before December, which is a horrible
season, especially for a Neapolitan."[83] But sister Caroline, "with
the head of a Cromwell on the shoulders of a pretty woman," was not
easy to lead; and her husband had in consequence to bear the full
weight of the Emperor's displeasure. Murat's finances were in
disorder, and Napoleon wrote Champagny on December 30th to tell Murat
plainly that if the borrowed money was not returned to France, it
would be taken by main force.[84]
_The hunt._--In pouring rain, in the forest of St. Germain.
No. 4.
Thursday, December 21st, is the date.
_The weather is very damp._--Making Malmaison as unhealthy as its
very name warranted, and rendering more difficult the task which
Madame de Remusat had set herself of resting Josephine mentally by
tiring her physically. This typical toady--Napoleon's Eavesdropper
Extraordinary--had arrived at Malmaison on December 18th. She
writes on the Friday (December 22nd), beseeching her husband to
advise the Emperor to moderate the tone of his letters, especially
this one (Thursday, December 21st), which had upset Josephine
frightfully. Surely a more harmless letter was never penned. But
it is the Remusat all over; she lives in a chronic atmosphere of
suspicion that all her letters are read by the Emperor, and
therefore, like Stevenson's nursery rhymes, they are always written
with "one eye on the grown-up person"[85]--on the grown-up person
_par excellence_ of France and the century. The opening of letters by
the government was doubtless a blemish, which, however, Napoleon
tried to neutralise by entrusting the Post Office to his wife's
relative, Lavalette, a man whose ever-kind heart prevented this
necessary espionage degenerating into unnecessary interference
with individual rights.
No. 5.
Date probably Sunday, December 24th.
_King of Bavaria._--Eugene had gone to Meaux to meet his father-in-law,
who had put off the "dog's humour" which he had shown since the 16th.
No. 6.
Josephine had gone by special invitation to dine at the little Trianon
with Napoleon on Christmas Day, and Madame d'Avrillon says she had a
very happy day there. "On her return she told me how kind the Emperor
had been to her, that he had kept her all the evening, saying the
kindest things to her." Aubenas says, "The repast was eaten in silence
and gloom," but does not give his authority. Eugene, moreover,
confirms Madame d'Avrillon in his letter to his wife of December 26th:
"My dear Auguste, the Emperor came on Sunday to see the Empress.
Yesterday she went to Trianon to see him, and stayed to dinner. The
Emperor was very kind and amiable to her, and she seemed to be much
better. Everything points to the Empress being more happy in her new
position, and we also." On this Christmas Day Napoleon had his last
meal with Josephine.
No. 7.
_Tuileries._--His return from Trianon to this, his official residence,
made the divorce more apparent to every one.
No. 8.
_A house vacant in Paris._--This seems a hint for Josephine. She
wishes to come to Paris, to the Elysee, and to try a little diplomacy
of her own in favour of the Austrian match, and she sends secretly to
Madame de Metternich--whose husband was absent. Eugene more officially
is approaching Prince Schwartzenberg, the ambassador. Josephine, like
Talleyrand, wished to heal the schism with Rome by an Austrian
alliance; while Cambaceres, foreseeing a war with the power not allied
by marriage, would have preferred the Russian match.
No. 9.
Thursday, January 4th.
_Hortense._--Louis had tried to obtain a divorce. Cambaceres was
ordered on December 22nd to summon a family council (_New Letters of
Napoleon I._, No. 234); but the wish of the King was refused
(verbally, says Louis in his _Historical Documents of Holland_),
whereupon he refused to agree to Josephine's divorce, but had to give
way, and was present at what he calls the farewell festival given by
the city of Paris to the Empress Josephine on January 1st. The
ecclesiastical divorce was pronounced on January 12th.
No. 10.
January 5th. He duly visits Josephine the next day.
No. 11.
January 7th is the date.
_What charms your society has._--Her repertoire of small talk and
scandal. He had also lost in her his Agenda, his Journal of Paris.
Still the visits are growing rarer. This long kind letter was
doubtless intended to be specially so, for two days later the clergy
of Paris pronounced the annulment of her marriage. This was far worse
than the pronouncement by the Senate in December, as it meant to her
that she and Napoleon had never been properly married at all. The
Emperor, who hated divorces, and especially _divorcees_, had found
great difficulty in breaking down the barriers he had helped to build,
for which purpose _he_ had to be subordinated to his own Senate, _the
Pope_ to his own bishops. Seven of them allowed the annulment of the
marriage of 1804 on account of (1) its secrecy, (2) the insufficiency
of consent of the contracting parties, and (3) the absence of the
local parish priest at the ceremony. The last reason was merely a
technical one; but with respect to the first two it is only fair to
admit that Napoleon had undoubtedly, and perhaps for the only time in
his life, been completely "rushed," _i.e._ by the Pope and Josephine.
The coronation ceremony was waiting, and the Pope, secretly solicited
by Josephine, insisted on a religious marriage first and foremost. The
Pope suffered forthwith, but the other bill of costs was not exacted
till five years after date.
No. 12.
Wednesday, January 12th.
_King of Westphalia._--Madame Durand (_Napoleon and Marie Louise_)
says that, forced to abandon his wife (the beautiful and energetic
Miss Paterson) and child, Jerome "had vowed he would never have any
relations with a wife who had been thus forced upon him." For three
years he lavished his attentions upon almost all the beauties of the
Westphalian court. The queen, an eye-witness of this conduct, bore it
with mild and forbearing dignity; she seemed to see and hear nothing;
in short, her demeanour was perfect. The king, touched by her
goodness, weary of his conquests, and repentant of his behaviour, was
only anxious for an opportunity of altering the state of things.
Happily the propitious moment presented itself. The right wing of the
palace of Cassel, in which the queen's apartments were situated, took
fire; alarmed by the screams of her women the queen awoke and sprang
out of her bed, to be caught in the arms of the king and carried to a
place of safety. From that time forth the royal couple were united and
happy.
No. 13.
Saturday, January 13th.
_Sensible._--This was now possible after a month's mourning. In the
early days, according to Madame Remusat, her mind often wandered, But
Napoleon himself encouraged the Court to visit her, and the road to
Malmaison was soon a crowded one. As the days passed, however, life
became sadly monotonous. Reading palled on Josephine, as did whist and
the daily feeding of her golden pheasants and guinea-fowls. Remained
"Patience"! Was it the "General" she played or the "Emperor," or did
she find distraction in the "Demon"?
No. 14.
_D'Audenarde._--Napoleon's handsome equerry, whom Mlle. d'Avrillon
calls "un homme superbe." His mother was Josephine's favourite _dame
du palais_. Madame Lalaing, Viscountess d'Audenarde, _nee_ Peyrac, was
one of the old regime who had been ruined by the Revolution.
No. 16.
Tuesday, January 23rd.
On January 21st a Privy Council was summoned to approve of Marie
Louise as their "choice of a consort, who may give an heir to the
throne" (Thiers). Cambaceres, Fouche, and Murat wished for the Russian
princess; Lebrun, Cardinal Fesch, and King Louis for a Saxon one; but
Talleyrand, Champagny, Maret, Berthier, Fontanes were for Austria.
No. 17.
Sunday, January 28th.
No. 18.
Josephine had heard she was to be banished from Paris, and so had
asked to come to the Elysee to prove the truth or otherwise of the
rumour.
_L'Elysee._--St. Amand gives the following interesting _precis_:
"Built by the Count d'Evreux in 1718, it had belonged in succession to
the Marchioness de Pompadour, to the financier Beaujon, a Croesus of
the eighteenth century, and to the Duchesse de Bourbon. Having, under
the Revolution, become national property, it had been hired by the
caterers of public entertainments, who gave it the name of L'Elysee.
In 1803 it became the property of Murat, who, becoming King of Naples,
ceded it to Napoleon in 1808. Here Napoleon signed his second
abdication, here resided Alexander I. in 1815, and here Josephine's
grandson effected the _Coup d'Etat_ (1851). When the Senatus-Consultus
fixed the revenue of Josephine, Napoleon not only gave her whatever
rights he had in Malmaison, viz., at least 90 per cent. of the total
cost, but the palace of the Elysee, its gardens and dependencies, with
the furniture then in use." The latter residence was, however, for her
life only.
No. 19.
February 3rd is the date.
_L'Elysee._--After the first receptions the place is far worse than
Malmaison. Schwartzenberg, Talleyrand, the Princess Pauline, Berthier,
even her old friend Cambaceres are giving balls,[86] while the Emperor
goes nearly every night to a theatre. The carriages pass by the
Elysee, but do not stop. "It is as if the palace were in quarantine,
with the yellow flag floating."
No. 20.
_Bessieres' country-house._--M. Masson says Grignon, but unless this
house is called after the chateau of that name in Provence, he must be
mistaken.
No. 21.
_Rambouillet._--He had taken the Court with him, and was there from
February 19th to the 23rd, the date of this letter. While there he had
been in the best of humours. On his return he finds it necessary to
write his future wife and to her father--and to pen a legible letter
to the latter gives him far more trouble than winning a battle against
the Austrians, if not assisted by General Danube.
_Adieu._--Sick and weary, Josephine returns to Malmaison, Friday,
March 9th, and even this is not long to be hers, for the new Empress
is almost already on her way. The marriage at Vienna took place on
March 11th, with her uncle Charles,[87] the hero of Essling, for
Napoleon's proxy; on the 13th she leaves Vienna, and on the 23rd
reaches Strasbourg. On the 27th she meets Napoleon at Compiegne,
spends three days with him in the chateau there, and arrives at St.
Cloud on April 1st, where the civil marriage is renewed, followed by
the triumphal entry into Paris, and the religious ceremony on April
2nd. This day Josephine reaches the chateau of Navarre.
FOOTNOTES
[78] By here subordinating himself to the Senate, the Emperor was
preparing a rod for his own back hereafter.
[79] This clause gives considerable trouble to Lacepede and Regnauld.
They cannot even find a precedent whether, if they met,
Josephine or Marie Louise would take precedence of the other.
[80] In addition to this, Napoleon gives her L40,000 a year from his
privy purse, but keeps most of it back for the first two years
to pay her 120 creditors. (For interesting details see Masson,
_Josephine Repudiee_.)
[81] Which agrees with Madame d'Avrillon, who says they left the
Tuileries at 2.30. Meneval says Napoleon left for Trianon a few
hours later. Savary writes erroneously that they left the
following morning.
[82] M. Masson seems to indicate a visit on December 16th, but does
not give his authority (_Josephine Repudiee_, 114).
[83] _Correspondence of Napoleon I._, No. 15,952.
[84] _New Letters of Napoleon_, 1898.
[85] Canon Ainger's comparison.
[86] See Baron Lejeune for an interesting account of a chess quadrille
at a dance given by the Italian Minister, Marescalchi.
SERIES N
_Navarre_, on the site of an old dwelling of Rollo the Sea-King, was
built by Jeanne of France, Queen of Navarre, Countess of Evreux. At
the time of the Revolution it belonged to the Dukes of Bouillon, and
was confiscated. In February 1810, Napoleon determined to purchase it,
and on March 10th instructed his secretary of state, Maret, to confer
the Duchy of Navarre, purchased by letters patent, on Josephine and
her heirs male. The old square building was, however, utterly unfit to
be inhabited: not a window would shut, there was neither paper nor
tapestry, all the wainscoting was rotten, draughts and damp
everywhere, and no heating apparatus.[88] What solace to know its
beautiful situation, its capabilities? No wonder if her household,
banished to such a place, sixty-five miles from the "capital of
capitals," should rebel, and secessions headed by Madame Ney become
for a time general. Whist and piquet soon grow stale in such a house
and with such surroundings, and even _trictrac_ with the old bishop of
Evreux becomes tedious. Eugene as usual brings sunshine in his path,
and helps to dispel the gloom caused by the idle gossip imported from
Paris--that Josephine is not to return to Malmaison, and the like.
No. 1.
This was Josephine's second letter, says D'Avrillon, the first being
answered _viva voce_ by Eugene.
_To Malmaison._--Napoleon had promised Josephine permission to return
to Malmaison, and would not recant: his new wife was, however, very
jealous of Josephine, and very much hurt at her presence at Malmaison.
Napoleon managed to be away from Paris for six weeks after Josephine's
arrival at Malmaison.
No. 1A.
_It is written in a bad style._--M. Masson, however, is loud in
its praises, and adds, "Voila donc le protocol du tutoiement"
re-established between them in spite of the second marriage, and
their correspondence re-established on the old terms.
No. 2.
This letter seems to have been taken by Eugene to Paris, and thence
forwarded to the Emperor with a letter from that Prince in which he
enumerates Josephine's suggestions and wishes--(1) that she will not
go to Aix-la-Chapelle if other waters are suggested by Corvisart;
(2) that after stopping a few days at Malmaison she will go in June
for three months to the baths, and afterwards to the south of
France; visit Rome, Florence, and Naples incognito, spend the winter
at Milan, and return to Malmaison and Navarre in the spring of
1811; (3) that in her absence Navarre shall be made habitable, for
which fresh funds are required; (4) that Josephine wishes her
cousins the Taschers to marry, one a relative of King Joseph, the
other the Princess Amelie de la Leyen, niece of the Prince Primate.
To this Napoleon replies from Compiegne, April 26th, that the De Leyen
match with Louis Tascher may take place,[89] but that he will not
interest himself in the other (Henry) Tascher, who is giddy-headed
and bad-tempered. "I consent to whatever the Empress does, but I will
not confer any mark of my regard on a person who has behaved ill
to me. I am very glad that the Empress likes Navarre. I am giving
orders to have L12,000 which I owe her for 1810, and L12,000 for 1811
advanced to her. She will then have only the L80,000 from the public
treasury to come in.... She is free to go to whatever spa she cares
for, and even to return to Paris afterwards." He thinks, however, she
would be happier in new scenes which they had never visited together,
as they had Aix-la-Chapelle. If, however, the last are the best she
may go to them, for "what I desire above all is that she may keep
calm, and not allow herself to be excited by the gossip of Paris."
This letter goes far to soothe the poor chatelaine of Navarre.
No. 2A.
_Two letters._--The other, now missing, may have some reference to the
pictures to which he refers in his letter to Fouche the next day. "Is
it true that engravings are being published with the title of
_Josephine Beauharnais nee La Pagerie_? If this is true, have the
prints seized, and let the engravers be punished" (_New Letters_, No.
253).
No. 3.
Probably written from Boulogne about the 25th. His northern tour
with Marie Louise had been very similar to one taken in 1804,
but his _entourage_ found the new bride very cold and callous
compared to Josephine. Leaving Paris on April 29th Napoleon's
_Correspondence_ till June is dated Laeken (April 30th); Antwerp
(May 3rd); Bois-le-Duc; Middleburg, Gand, Bruges, Ostend (May
20th); Lille, Boulogne, Dieppe, Le Havre, Rouen (May 31st). He
takes the Empress in a canal barge from Brussels to Malines and
himself descends the subterranean vault of the Escaut-Oise canal,
between St. Quentin and Cambrai. He is at St. Cloud on June 2nd.
Josephine has felt his wanderings less, as she has the future
Emperor, her favourite grandson, with her, the little Oui-Oui, as she
calls him, and for whom the damp spring weather of Holland was
dangerous. She was also at Malmaison from the middle of May to June
18th. The original collection of _Letters_ (Didot Freres, 1833) heads
the letter correctly to the Empress Josephine at _Malmaison_, but the
_Correspondence_, published by order of Napoleon III., gives it
erroneously, to the Empress Josephine, _at the Chateau of Navarre_
(No. 16,537).
_I will come to see you._--He comes for two hours on June 13th, and
makes himself thoroughly agreeable. Poor Josephine is light-headed
with joy all the evening after. The meeting of the two Empresses
is, however, indefinitely postponed, and Josephine had now no
further reason to delay her departure. Leaving her little grandson
Louis behind, she travels under the name of the Countess d'Arberg,
and she is accompanied by Madame d'Audenarde and Mlle. de Mackau, who
left the Princess Stephanie to come to Navarre. M. Masson notes that
Madame de Remusat needs the Aix waters, and will rejoin Josephine
(within a week), under pretext of service, and thus obtain her
cure gratuitously. They go _via_ Lyons and Geneva to Aix-les-Bains.
M. Masson, who has recently made a careful and complete study of
this period, describes the daily round. "Josephine, on getting out
of bed, takes conscientiously her baths and douches, then, as usual,
lies down again until _dejeuner_, 11 A.M., for which the whole of the
little Court are assembled at _The Palace_--wherever she lives, and
however squalid the dwelling-place, her abode always bears this name.
Afterwards she and her women-folk ply their interminable tapestry,
while the latest novel or play (sent by Barbier from Paris) is read
aloud. And so the day passes till five, when they dress for dinner at
six; after dinner a ride. At nine the Empress's friends assemble in
her room, Mlle. de Mackau sings; at eleven every one goes to bed."
This programme, however, varies with the weather. Here is St.
Amand's version (_Dernieres Annees de l'Imperatrice Josephine_, p.
237): "A little reading in the morning, an airing (_le promenade_)
afterwards, dinner at eight on account of the heat, games afterwards,
and some little music; so passed existence."
No. 4.
_July 8th._--On July 5th, driving along the Chambery road, Josephine
met the courier with a letter from Eugene describing the terrible fire
at Prince Schwartzenberg's ball, where the Princess de la Leyen,
mother of young Taschre's bride-elect, was burnt. It is noteworthy
that the Emperor makes no allusion to the conflagration. As, however,
this is the first letter since the end of May, others may have been
lost or destroyed.