summer Napoleon resided at the magnificent château of Montebello (or
Mombello), which is situated on the old Como road a few miles from
the city. It was then a great country villa sitting far back from the
highroad in a large park with cool shady avenues, pretty fountains and
all the exquisite loveliness of an Italian retreat. From the broad high
terrace that ran around the front and the sides of the château, the
Alps could be seen on one side and the beautiful spires of the Milan
cathedral on the other.
Here most of the Bonaparte family were reunited for the first time
since they left Corsica four years before. Madame Bonaparte came to
secure Napoleon’s approval of the marriage of his eldest sister Élisa
to Félix Bacciochi, which had been celebrated at Marseille the first of
May, and to persuade him to furnish a dot. Napoleon finally yielded to
his mother’s wishes, and at the same time informed her of a marriage
which he had arranged between General Leclerc and his sister Pauline.
The marriage was celebrated on the 14 June, with both civil and
religious forms, by the express orders of Napoleon, and the civil union
of Bacciochi and Élisa was blessed by the Church at the same time.
This family meeting was not prolonged. After a visit of two weeks
Madame Letitia left for Corsica, accompanied by Élisa and her husband.
At the same time Joseph set out for Rome, where he had just been made
minister, taking with him his wife and his youngest sister, Caroline.
Jérôme was sent back to college at Paris, and Pauline remained in Italy
with Leclerc, who had been named chief of staff in the army.
The three months which Napoleon and Joséphine passed at Montebello
were perhaps the happiest of their lives. The Conqueror of Italy lived
in regal style, surrounded by his military court. The attention of
Europe was more drawn to this château than to all the palaces of the
emperors and kings. At Milan, as later at Paris, Joséphine admirably
served the interests of her husband. By her antecedents, her relations,
her character, she formed a connecting link between him and the old
aristocracy: without her, by his own admission made later on, he never
could have had any natural _rapport_ with the old régime. The
salon of the former Vicomtesse de Beauharnais recalled the traditions
of the most brilliant circles of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. Joséphine
received the noble families of Milan with an exquisite grace, and there
reigned a kind of etiquette which contrasted in a singular manner with
the democratic air affected by the general.
On the 18 August Napoleon and Joséphine made a short excursion to Lake
Maggiore, accompanied by Berthier and Miot. Immediately upon their
return they set out for Udine where Napoleon was to meet the Austrian
plenipotentiaries. On the 27 August they arrived at Passeriano where
they took up their residence in a château still in existence which had
formerly belonged to a doge of Venice. It was a fine country residence
situated upon the left bank of the Tagliamento about ten miles from
Udine.
The peace negotiations had dragged along through the summer and far
into the autumn of 1797 mainly owing to the hope of the Emperor that
events in France might turn to his advantage. The coup d’état of the 18
Fructidor (4 September) had destroyed the last hope of the Royalists,
and Bonaparte’s victorious army was still in Venetia ready to march
on Vienna, so nothing remained except to conclude peace. The final
treaty was signed on the 17 October: it bore the name of the Peace of
Campo-Formio from a village situated halfway between Passeriano and
Udine.
On the second day of November Napoleon and Joséphine were again back at
Milan. Leaving his wife there, Bonaparte started two weeks later for
Rastadt, travelling by way of Geneva, where he stopped for a day. He
was accompanied by his aides de camp, Duroc, Lavalette and Marmont; his
secretary, Bourrienne, and his physician, Yvan.
On the 25 November Bonaparte reached Rastadt, where he remained only
long enough to exchange with the Austrian plenipotentiaries the
ratification of the Treaty of Campo-Formio, and then left for Paris. He
arrived home on the 5 December, and took up his residence in the little
hôtel in the Rue Chantereine, from which he had set out twenty-one
months before an obscure man, to which he returned as a celebrity. On
the 29 December, by decree of the department of the Seine, the Rue
Chantereine was changed in his honor to Rue de la Victoire.
CHAPTER EIGHT
1798–1799
THE PURCHASE OF MALMAISON
Joséphine Returns to Paris--The Talleyrand Fête--Purchase of the
Hôtel Chantereine--Bonaparte’s Tour of Inspection--His Sudden
Return--Napoleon’s Fortune--He Leaves for Toulon--The Fleet
Sails--Joséphine at Plombières--She Buys Malmaison--Fortunes of
the Bonapartes--Joséphine’s Indiscretions--Napoleon Hears the
Reports--His Liaison with Madame Fourès
Joséphine finally reached Paris upon the second day of January. She
took nearly six weeks for the journey, and did not seem to be in as
great haste as she claimed in her letters, to leave that tiresome
Italy, and see her beloved daughter again. After a visit to Turin, she
crossed Mont-Cenis in terrible weather, and stopped several days at
Lyon. The fête to Bonaparte, planned by Talleyrand, had to be put off
from day to day, as the general wished his wife to be present.
Aside from the necessary calls on the Directors and ministers, during
the month after his return Napoleon made only a few appearances in
public. On the 10 December he attended the fête given in his honor by
the Directors at the Luxembourg. Another evening he was present during
one act of a play at the Français. The rest of the time he deliberately
stayed at home and refused to receive the applause of the people which
greeted him on every appearance.
The day after the arrival of Joséphine it was necessary for him to
issue from his retirement to attend the fête arranged by Talleyrand.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs then occupied the luxurious Hôtel
Gallifet, in the Rue du Bac, which had been splendidly decorated for
the occasion. At half past ten Bonaparte appeared, in civilian costume,
accompanied by his wife, who wore a Greek tunique, with cameos in her
hair. Somewhat embarrassed by the ovation he received, Napoleon took
the arm of Arnault and made the tour of the salons. It was during this
promenade that Madame de Staël forced herself upon his attention, and
received, in answer to her impertinent questions, the celebrated reply
which was to make of her his life-long enemy.
“General,” she said, as soon as she had met him, “what woman do you
love best?”
“My wife.”
“Naturally; but whom do you esteem most?”
“That one who is the best housekeeper.”
“Very true; but who do you think is the first among women?”
“Madame, the one who bears the most children.”
There is little wonder that the conceited Madame de Staël did not love
Napoleon after this brief passage at arms.
During the supper Bonaparte was seated beside his wife, to whom he was
most attentive. At one o’clock they left the ball.
On her return from Italy Joséphine had settled again in her little
hôtel of the Rue de la Victoire, upon which she had ordered extensive
alterations made, at a cost of over one hundred thousand francs,
although at the time she still had only a lease. However, on the last
day of March Bonaparte purchased the property for the sum of 52,000
francs. The house was soon full to overflowing with the many rare
paintings and objets d’art which Joséphine had shipped from Italy. This
was the beginning of the immense collection which later entirely filled
her château of Malmaison.
In October, before his return from Italy, Bonaparte had been appointed
general-in-chief of the Army of England. On the 4 February he left
Paris for a twelve days’ tour of inspection of the Channel ports from
Calais to Ostende. On his return he reported to the Directory that
the proposed invasion of England was a most dangerous and difficult
undertaking, and, as an alternative plan, suggested an eastern
expedition which would menace the British trade with the Indies. He
had little difficulty in obtaining the consent of the Directory to the
new plan, and on the 4 March the Government formally approved of the
expedition to Egypt.
All the familiars of Joséphine stood in the greatest awe of Napoleon,
but the moment he was absent the house was filled with the friends of
the mistress of the mansion. As soon as Bonaparte left for his tour of
the Channel ports, Joséphine seems to have renewed her intimacy with
Barras. There is certainly ground for suspicion in the note she hastily
scribbled to the secretary of the Director on the unexpected return of
her husband: “Bonaparte arrived to-night. I beg you, my dear Bottot, to
assure Barras of my regret that I cannot go to dinner with him. Tell
him not to forget me. You know better than any one my position.”
It was a notorious fact that most of the generals of the Republic
had not returned to Paris with empty hands, but Bonaparte pretended
that he was different from the others. Later, at Saint Helena, he
claimed that on his return from Italy his fortune did not exceed three
hundred thousand francs, but it seems probable that he had nearer three
millions. In addition, he had his salary of forty thousand francs as
general-in-chief, and seven thousand francs a month while head of the
French legation at Rastadt. During his absence in the East he left
his funds in the hands of Joseph, as a common purse for the family,
and it is well known that the Bonapartes did not suffer for lack of
money while he was away. It is very possible that in his recollections
Napoleon omitted a zero from his calculations.
On the 3 May 1798 Napoleon and Joséphine, after dining informally with
Barras at the Luxembourg, went to the Théâtre-Français to see Talma
in _Macbeth_. That evening the Conqueror of Italy was greeted
with the same enthusiasm as during the first days of his return. After
the play they went home, and at midnight set out for Toulon. Besides
Joséphine, Napoleon had in the carriage with him his secretary,
Bourrienne, and his aides de camp, Eugène, Duroc and Lavalette. To
escape the vigilance of the English spies Napoleon had kept his plans
entirely secret, and even forbade Joséphine to go to Saint-Germain to
say adieu to Hortense.
Upon their arrival at Toulon, Bonaparte informed Joséphine for the
first time that he did not intend to take her with him, as he did not
wish to expose her to the dangers and fatigues of the voyage, and the
severity of the climate. In vain she pleaded that the voyage had no
terrors for her after three trips across the Atlantic, and that the
heat of Egypt could not affect a Creole. To console her, Bonaparte
finally promised that, as soon as he was well established in Egypt, at
the end of two months, he would send for her the frigate _Pomone_,
under the convoy of which she had made her first voyage from Martinique
to France.
Bonaparte knew that there was no time to be lost in setting sail, but
the expedition was detained ten days by contrary winds. Although he was
not then aware of the fact, on the second day of May Nelson had been
detached from the fleet that was blockading Cadiz, to go in search of
information regarding the preparations at Toulon. He arrived off that
port on the 17 May, but was driven back by an adverse wind, and was
not able to return until ten days after the departure of the French
expedition. Never was Fortune more favorable to Napoleon! If the French
fleet had encountered Nelson at any time during the long voyage of six
weeks it had not more than one chance in a hundred of escaping absolute
destruction.
The adieux of Bonaparte and Joséphine were very tender. The signal for
departure was given, and before a strong north-west wind the fleet
moved out of the port. Bonaparte was on the _Orient_, a vessel of
one hundred and twenty guns, and from a balcony Joséphine with a glass
followed her husband as long as the ship was in sight.
After the departure of the expedition Joséphine did not return directly
to Paris, but went to Plombières in the Vosges to take the waters.
While there she met with a serious accident: a wooden balcony, upon
which she was standing with several friends, gave way under them,
and she fell fourteen feet to the pavement below. Fortunately no
bones were broken, but she was painfully bruised. Hortense was sent
for, at the school of Madame Campan, and nursed her mother during the
convalescence. No sovereign was ever better cared for. Barras received
the bulletins of her health drawn up by the resident physicians; all
the authorities of the department called; musicians, brought from
Epinal, gave her serenades; her rooms were filled with rare flowers.
At Plombières she received the first news of the expedition, from the
capture of Malta to the occupation of Cairo. She also learned from
Bonaparte’s letters that she must give up the idea of sailing to rejoin
him. The fleet of Nelson was in full command of the Mediterranean, and
all the French ports were closed. The frigate upon which she was to
have sailed had been captured by an English cruiser in leaving Toulon.
The last of August Joséphine was back in Paris. At this time she
arranged to purchase the estate of Malmaison. The price is generally
stated to have been 160,000 francs, “paid in part with her dot, and in
part with the resources of her husband.” As a matter of fact the deed
which was passed before a notary of Paris the 21 April 1799 shows that
the price agreed upon was 225,000 francs, with 37,500 francs additional
for the furniture, and over 9000 francs for the recording fee.
Joséphine only paid down in cash the amount of the furniture, 37,500
francs, with the avails of “diamonds and jewelry belonging to her.” The
balance was left unsettled.
From the funds deposited by Napoleon with Joseph was drawn the
money to pay for the princely estates bought about the same time by
other members of the family. In Italy, Lucien purchased of a Roman
princess an estate bringing in a revenue of 4000 francs a year; at
Paris, a hôtel corner of the Rues du Mont-Blanc and de la Victoire;
near Villers-Cotterets, a fine château, which with the farm of Soucy
brought in over 17,000 francs a year. Joseph also acquired, at Paris, a
new hôtel which cost him at the outset over 100,000 francs; and, near
Senlis, the magnificent estate of Mortefontaine, with a vast park and
one of the finest English gardens in Europe, for which he paid 258,000
francs. As the place had been much neglected during the Revolution, he
was obliged to spend in its restoration another quarter of a million
the first year. Truly, the modest three hundred thousand francs brought
back from Italy by Napoleon went a long way!
At the same time Joséphine had much difficulty in obtaining from Joseph
the payment of the small allowance of forty thousand francs fixed by
Napoleon, and was very indignant over the way in which he disbursed her
husband’s money. With her magnificent jewels, her priceless paintings
and objets d’art, she was actually short of money to meet her current
bills.
[Illustration: JOSEPHINE]
In acting as he did, Joseph may have gone beyond his brother’s orders;
but the conduct of Joséphine since her return from Plombières had
been anything but exemplary. She was again on very intimate terms
with Barras, and her liaison with Hippolyte Charles, which had begun
at Milan, was a matter of public notoriety. At Malmaison this young
officer ruled almost as lord and master. Did Joséphine think, like
many others, that Bonaparte would never return from the Orient, or
did she imagine that Egypt was so far away that he would never hear
of her conduct? If so, she was mistaken in both suppositions: he was
to return, to give her a very _mauvais quart d’heure_, and the
reports were to reach him in Egypt, through an indiscretion on the
part of Junot. Both Bourrienne and Madame Junot have given us a vivid
picture of Napoleon’s rage and despair on this occasion. He cried: “I
would give all the world to know that Junot’s tale is false, so much do
I love Joséphine. But if she is really guilty, a divorce must separate
us forever. I will not submit to be the laughing-stock of all the
imbeciles of Paris. I will write Joseph to have the divorce declared.”
It is absurd to claim, as many historians have done, that Napoleon at
the time of his marriage was ignorant of Joséphine’s past life. He
certainly must have known of her relations with Barras, at least; but
the past did not concern him: all that he asked for was fidelity in
the future. The nobleness of his character, and his understanding of
the situation, are clearly shown in the letter he wrote her from Milan
11 June 1796: “Everything pleased me, even the remembrance of your
errors and of the afflicting scene which took place two weeks before
our marriage.” His rights over her heart and mind only date from the
hour that she accepted his love and freely gave him her hand: the past
no longer counts. But from that moment she belongs to him, and if she
deceives him, all is over. If Joséphine had been true to him, without
doubt Napoleon would have remained faithful in Egypt as he had been in
Italy.
At Cairo the favorite rendez-vous of the officers was a garden
modelled upon the Tivoli at Paris, which was kept by an old
school-friend of Bonaparte at Brienne. Here Napoleon met a very pretty
young woman with blond hair, a dazzling complexion, and beautiful
teeth. Her name was Marguerite-Pauline Bellisle, and she was an
apprentice to a modiste at Carcassonne when she married a young
lieutenant in the chasseurs à cheval named Fourès. In the midst of
their honeymoon came the command to embark for Egypt, with stringent
orders that no wives were to accompany the expedition. Like several
other devoted wives, the young woman donned one of her husband’s
uniforms and sailed on the same ship with him.
Either from virtue or calculation, Madame Fourès did not yield to the
first attack. It required declarations, letters, handsome presents.
Finally all was arranged.
The middle of December, Fourès received orders to leave for France,
this time alone, as bearer of letters to the Directory. A mansion
was hastily furnished, near the general’s palace, and the young lady
installed there. Unfortunately for the peace of the new _ménage_
the vessel upon which Fourès took passage was captured by the English,
who were well informed regarding events at Cairo, and were malicious
enough to send him back to Egypt. He rushed to Cairo, and made a scene
with his wife, who promptly secured a divorce.
Napoleon seems to have become very much in love with the little
Bellisle, or _Bellilote_ as she became known, and went so far as
to offer to marry her after divorcing Joséphine, provided she gave him
a child. “Mais quoi! la petite sotte n’en sait pas avoir,” he said with
humor. When he returned to France he arranged to have her follow him,
but she in turn was captured by the English. When she finally reached
Paris it was too late. Napoleon was reconciled with Joséphine, and
the coup d’état of the 18 Brumaire had made him master of France. The
Consul refused to see her, but made her a handsome allowance. She was
afterwards married again, separated from her husband, and lived to the
good old age of ninety-two years, dying in March 1869 during the last
year of the Second Empire.
CHAPTER NINE
1799
THE RETURN OF BONAPARTE
Bonaparte Leaves Egypt--He Lands in France--Joséphine Fails
to Meet Him--Their Reconciliation--His Generous Pardon--He
Pays Her Debts--Her Rôle in the Coup d’État--She Invites
Gohier to Déjeuner--The Two Days of Brumaire--Bonaparte, First
Consul--They Move to the Luxembourg
At midnight on Thursday the 22 August 1799 Bonaparte embarked at
Alexandria on the frigate _Muiron_, which with three other smaller
ships set sail at five o’clock in the morning. He was accompanied
by Murat and Lannes, both recently wounded, as well as by Berthier,
Bessières, Duroc, Lavalette and Marmont. He also took with him Eugène
de Beauharnais, and his secretary, Bourrienne.
He had the same good fortune as on his outward voyage. The English
fleet had gone to Cyprus for repairs and he slipped out unmolested.
Contrary winds forced the little fleet to hug the African coast, and
they only made three hundred miles in twenty days. The English ships
cruising between Sicily and Cape Bon were eluded. Then the wind changed
and better progress was made.
After a voyage of forty days Bonaparte entered the port of Ajaccio on
the first of October. Here he was detained for a week by adverse winds.
Finally, on the 7 October, he sailed for France. It was his last visit
to his native island.
At noon on the 9 October Napoleon landed at Fréjus, and at six o’clock
started for Paris. His journey was one long ovation. At every city
through which he passed he was received with transports of enthusiasm.
After a stop of half a day at Lyon, where he attended the theatre, at
midnight he again set out, travelling in a post-chaise at great speed,
not stopping by night or day. He reached Paris at six o’clock on the
morning of the 16 October and went directly to his hôtel in the Rue de
la Victoire, where, as upon his return from Italy, he found no one to
receive him.
Joséphine was dining at the Luxembourg with Gohier, the president of
the Directory, when the news was received of the unexpected landing
of Bonaparte at Fréjus. She had almost forgotten that he existed, and
seemed to think that he would never return. But there was no time now
for hesitation: she immediately set out to meet her husband, and tell
her story before he had a chance to see his brothers. She naturally
took the usual route by Dijon and Mâcon, but Napoleon was travelling
by way of the Bourbonnais, and she did not meet him. On her return to
Paris, a few days later, Bonaparte locked his door and refused to see
her. His brothers had taken advantage of her absence to tell Napoleon
the story of her conduct, and he was fully resolved upon a divorce. For
a whole day she knocked in vain, and cried and sobbed before the closed
door. Finally, at the suggestion of her maid, she sent for Eugène and
Hortense, who joined their supplications to those of their mother. The
door at last was unlocked, and Bonaparte appeared with open arms, his
eyes wet with tears, his face convulsed with the long and terrible
struggle which he had had with his heart. When his brothers appeared
the next morning they found that all had been forgiven and forgotten.
Notwithstanding all of Joséphine’s indiscretions Napoleon was wise to
abandon the idea of a divorce, which would have interfered seriously
with his plans. He did well to disregard the advice of his family,
who had always disapproved of his marriage and done their best to
bring about a rupture. During his absence, in spite of his orders to
Joséphine not to mingle in public affairs, she had manœuvred like a
skilled diplomatist, and had well prepared the way for his return.
Although her relations with Barras had now ceased, she was on very
cordial terms with her former admirer, as well as with Gohier, the
new president of the Directory. Her salon was also frequented by
Talleyrand, Fouché, Cambacérès, and many others whose support was
essential to the success of his plans. It is possible that without the
assistance of Joséphine, Napoleon might never have become emperor.
When Napoleon pardoned Joséphine, it was in no half-hearted way--it
was a pardon generous and complete, an entire wiping out of all her
errors. He had the remarkable faculty, when his confidence was renewed,
of no longer remembering: of suppressing in his marvellous memory all
recollections of faults which he did not wish to punish. Not only did
he forgive his wife, but, a virtue even rarer, he disdained to punish
her guilty accomplices, and never stood in the way of their advancement
in life.