visit, but while Joséphine received her with transports of joy, it
was not the same with the other members of the household. The Queen,
with all her affectation of simplicity, was very rigorous on the point
of etiquette, and insisted that her chamberlains should appear every
evening in full uniform, and her ladies in décolleté gowns. Under
the mild régime of Joséphine every one had become somewhat careless,
and Court ceremonial had been more honored in the breach than the
observance. Therefore Hortense was generally regarded as a killjoy.
It was quite different when Eugène came. He had always preserved his
simple, boyish manners, and was only too glad to escape from the
tiresome etiquette he was obliged to maintain at Milan. He entered
heartily into the games and pastimes of the young people, and was
a universal favorite. His trunks were full of presents, which he
distributed with a lavish hand, and this was the only way in which he
recalled the fact that he was a prince.
The day of Saint-Joseph fell in March, and on the eighteenth “all the
personages of the city came in carriages to Navarre to salute the
Empress and wish her a happy fête-day.” In the evening there was a
celebration at the château, and Joséphine distributed presents. The
following evening the Empress gave a ball in the grand salon, where a
parquet floor had been laid for dancing, over the marble tiles.
On the 20 March, to continue the festivities, the mayor gave a dinner
in honor of the Empress. She sent all the members of her household, but
remained at home herself, as she was expecting news from Paris. In this
way she missed the first notification of the great event. At the moment
that the guests came out from dinner, at eight o’clock, a despatch
was received from Paris announcing the birth of the King of Rome.
Enthusiastic toasts were drunk, the bells were rung, and the cannon
fired.
Joséphine, who was anxiously waiting at Navarre, heard the sound of the
guns and the bells before the postmaster could reach her presence. He
had been advised by the courier on his way to Cherbourg, had hastily
donned his uniform, and rushed to the château. When he communicated the
news to Joséphine he noticed at first a slight frown upon her face;
then, recovering her usual gracious manner, she said: “The Emperor
cannot doubt the lively interest that I take in an event which crowns
his joy. He knows that I cannot separate myself from his destiny, and
that his happiness will always make me happy.”
The following morning Eugène arrived at Navarre. The Emperor had had
the delicate thought of sending him to tell Joséphine all the details
of the happy event. She immediately sent her felicitations, and on the
22 March received from the Emperor the following letter, sent by one of
his pages:
_To the Empress Joséphine, at Navarre_
PARIS, 22 March 1811
Mon amie, I have received your letter. I thank you. My son is
big and healthy. I hope that he will do well. He has my chest,
my mouth, and my eyes. I hope that he will fulfill his destiny.
I am always well satisfied with Eugène. He has never caused me
the slightest sorrow.
NAPOLEON
By this tacit comparison of his son and Eugène the Emperor gave
Joséphine the greatest consolation in his power; by this association
of the two names, he practically assured her of the continuance of his
protection and good-will.
In fact, although his letters had not been so frequent of late,
Napoleon, when he wrote, had been as tender and as cordial as ever,
even with a touch of humor. Thus, he had written her in reply to her
New Year’s greetings: “They say that there are more women than men at
Navarre.” In a later letter he said: “I am well; I hope to have a son:
I will let you know at once.... When you see me, you will find that my
regard for you has not changed.”
The Emperor was soon to give her a new proof of his kindness, in
sending her permission to spend the springtime at Malmaison, which
he knew would give her the greatest possible pleasure. The middle of
April, therefore, we find her with Eugène at Malmaison, where she
stayed during the whole month of May. This visit is passed over in
silence by nearly all the biographers of Joséphine, who state that she
remained at Navarre until the middle of September.
About this time Joséphine found herself once more in serious financial
difficulties. In spite of the two millions she had received in 1811,
she had debts to the amount of a million more, and no funds to
complete her purchase of Prégny, to pay for the repairs at Navarre,
and meet her current bills. She was compelled to apply to the Emperor,
who wrote her the following letter:
_To the Empress Joséphine_
TRIANON, 25 August 1811
I have received your letter. I see with pleasure that you are in
good health. I am at Trianon for several days. I expect to go to
Compiègne. My health is very good.
Put your affairs in order; do not spend more than a million
and a half, and put as much aside every year. That will
make a reserve of fifteen millions in ten years, for your
grandchildren: it is nice to be able to give them something and
to be useful to them. Instead of that I am told that you have
debts: that would be very bad. Look after your affairs, and
do not give to everybody who asks it. If you desire to please
me, let me know that you have a large fund. Judge what a poor
opinion I shall have of you if I know that you are in debt with
an income of three millions.
Adieu, mon amie, take care of your health.
NAPOLEON
This letter, No. 227 in the Didot Collection, bears the date of 25
August 1813, but this is plainly an error. That year Napoleon left
Paris the middle of April for the campaign in Saxony, and did not
return until the 9 November. On the other hand, he was at the Trianon
on the 25 August 1811, and that is undoubtedly the correct date.
After a careful inquiry into Joséphine’s affairs, the report made to
the Emperor showed that her situation was even worse than he expected,
and on the 4 November he sent word to her intendant that he had
allowed an additional sum of a million francs for her dowry that year.
* * * * *
Two years later, on his return from the disastrous campaign of 1813,
the Emperor sent at once for Mollien, the Minister of the Treasury,
and, in place of many subjects far more important, he took up “the
finances of the Empress Joséphine,” the economies which she could and
should make. “She can no longer count upon me to pay her debts,” he
said; “I no longer have the right to add anything to what I have done
for her. The fate of her family must not rest only upon my head.” Then
he added in a low tone, as if speaking to himself: _Je suis mortel et
plus qu’un autre_.
When Mollien told him that Joséphine had shed tears in the course of
an interview he had with her, Napoleon exclaimed: “But she must not be
allowed to weep!”
Immediately after this conference with Mollien, Napoleon wrote
Joséphine:
_To the Empress Joséphine, at Malmaison_
FRIDAY, 8 A.M. (November) 1813
I am sending to learn how you are, for Hortense has told me
that you were in bed yesterday. I have been annoyed with you on
account of your debts; I do not wish you to have any; on the
contrary, I hope that you will put a million aside each year, to
give to your granddaughters when they are married.
However, never doubt my friendship for you, and do not worry
over this matter.
Adieu, mon amie, send me word that you are well. They tell me
that you are getting as fat as a good farmer’s wife of Normandie.
NAPOLEON
As Masson says, after recounting this incident: _N’est-il pas
toujours le même--et elle, toujours pareille!_
* * * * *
One would think that this new financial crisis, coming after so
many others, might have made Joséphine, at least for a time, more
reasonable, but such was not the case. While she was at Malmaison she
sent for her old architect, Fontaine, to consult him about her plans
for Navarre. She wanted to remove the dome, and change the château into
an Italian villa, with a flat roof, and a crown of balustrades.
A month later, she again sends for the architect. This time she has
another plan: to construct at Malmaison a new château, with all
the modern improvements. As this will be very costly, in order to
provide the funds, “she begs Fontaine to propose to the Emperor, if
he finds an opportunity, an exchange of the palace of the Élysée
against its value in money.” This project did not displease Napoleon,
who had often regretted his gift of the Élysée to Joséphine. There
was no privacy at the Tuileries, and he had deprived himself of the
only residence in Paris where he and his family could take a little
exercise. Joséphine could not reside in the city, and for both of
them it seemed an excellent arrangement. Napoleon was therefore
inclined to welcome the proposal, but he did not care to add another
million or two to the large sums he had already given the Empress.
He accordingly made a counter-proposition: an exchange of the Élysée
for the château of Laeken, a modern palace, richly furnished, and in
perfect order, surrounded by a large park, and near an important city.
He had purchased this property when First Consul, in April 1804, for
about a million francs, and had subsequently spent another million in
alterations and additions. The château was considered to be one of
the finest of the imperial residences, and was always kept in perfect
order, ready for immediate occupancy. By a decree under date of 10
February 1812 the Emperor authorized the exchange, but Joséphine never
visited her new residence, even to take possession.
* * * * *
In September 1811 Joséphine returned to Malmaison for the winter. The
Navarre party, as it was called, was now in a flourishing condition,
and the Court of the Empress Joséphine fairly rivalled that of the
Empress Marie-Louise.
In the spring of 1812 she had the pleasure of a short visit from
Eugène, who had been summoned from Milan to receive the orders of the
Emperor regarding the coming war with Russia. Augusta was expecting
another baby the last of July, and Eugène persuaded his mother to make
her long-deferred visit to Milan, to be present on that occasion.
In May she passed several days at Saint-Leu with Hortense and her
children. But she did not venture to start for Italy without the
permission of the Emperor. From Dantzig on the 8 June he wrote: “I
hope that the waters will do you good, and I shall be glad to see you
on my return”; but not a word about Italy. Finally, from Gubin on the
20 June he wrote: “I do not see anything in the way of your going to
Milan, to be with the Vicereine. You had better go there incognito. You
will find it very hot.”
This letter did not reach the Empress until the first of July, and then
again her departure was deferred for two weeks by news of the illness
of one of her grandchildren at Aix-la-Chapelle. As this did not prove
serious, Joséphine finally set out on the 16 July, and reached Milan
twelve days later. Her letter to Hortense is worth quoting:
_To Queen Hortense, at Aix-la-Chapelle_
MILAN, 28 July 1812
I was very tired on my arrival here, my dear Hortense....
The pleasure of seeing Augusta has revived me. Her health is
very good and her pregnancy is far advanced. I am with her at
the Villa Bonaparte; I have Eugène’s rooms. You can imagine
all the pleasure it gave me to make the acquaintance of his
little family. Your nephew is very strong, an infant Hercules.
His sisters are extremely pretty. The elder is a beauty; she
resembles her mother in the height of her forehead. The younger
has a lively and clever face; she will be very pretty.
I have received here three letters from Eugène, the last under
date of the 13 (July); his health is very good; he is still in
pursuit of the Russians, without overtaking them. It is the
general hope that the campaign will not be long. May this hope
be realized!...
You do not speak of your health; I hope that the waters have
done you good: it is the first prayer of a mother who loves you
better than herself.
JOSÉPHINE
Only three days after Joséphine’s arrival there was a fourth
grandchild, the future Empress Amélie of Brazil. “Augusta,” writes
Joséphine the same day, “is perfectly well, and her daughter is superb,
full of strength and health.”
Before she had been at Milan a week, Joséphine was already uneasy, and
anxious to leave for Aix-les-Bains. But she prolonged her stay for a
month because Madame Mère and her brother, Cardinal Fesch, were at the
waters, and she did not wish to meet them. At Aix she found Julie,
“good and amiable as usual,” with her sister, the former Désirée Clary,
who was now the wife of Bernadotte, the Prince-Royal of Sweden. After
their departure, at the end of September, she went to her château of
Prégny for a short stay. A few days after her arrival she writes to
Hortense: “I regret that you are not here with me. The weather is very
fine. The views of the lake and of Mont-Blanc are magnificent. It only
lacks you at Prégny to appreciate with delight the full charm of a
quiet life.”
On the 21 October her “quiet life” at Prégny came to an end, and
Joséphine set out for Malmaison, leaving the good people of Geneva
quite content with her departure, as “the kind of life which we have
led since she is here does not agree with our habitudes.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
1813–1814
THE FALL OF THE EMPIRE
The Malet Conspiracy--What it Revealed--Joséphine’s
Anxiety--Return of the Emperor--Joséphine and the King of
Rome--Eugène Commands the Grand Army--Napoleon’s Errors in
1813--Hortense at Aix--Her Sons at Malmaison--Recollections
of Napoleon the Third--A Doting Grandmother--Death of Mme. de
Broc--Louis Returns to France--Eugène’s Fidelity--Napoleon’s
Suspicions--He Asks Joséphine to Write Her Son--Her Despair--She
Leaves for Navarre
Joséphine reached Malmaison on her return from Switzerland the 25
October, the day after the Malet affair. She wrote Eugène that the
consternation had been general, but had not lasted long: at the end of
several hours, everything was as calm as before. The whole plot turned
upon the false report of the death of the Emperor. Armed with forged
papers, and supported only by two battalions of the Paris garrison,
this madman succeeded in gaining possession of the Post Office and
the Treasury, and imprisoning Savary, the minister, and Pasquier, the
prefect of police. He was finally arrested, condemned by a military
court, and executed.
The Malet plot for the first time clearly revealed to the public the
instability of the Empire, which was founded only on the glory and the
genius of Napoleon. In this moment of crisis, when the conspirators
shouted, “The Emperor is dead!” not a voice was raised to cry:
“L’Empereur est mort! Vive l’Empereur!”
When the news reached Napoleon he said: “While the Empress was there,
the King of Rome, my ministers, and all the great bodies of the State!
Is then a man everything here? the institutions, the oaths, nothing!”
Yes, a man was everything, and nothing else counted.
Joséphine has often been accused, at this crisis in the career of the
Emperor, of being interested only in her own selfish affairs, but her
letters tell another story. She writes from Malmaison to her daughter:
“You give me new life, my dear Hortense, in assuring me that you have
read the letters of the Emperor to the Empress; she is very amiable to
have shown them to you.... I must admit to you that I was very Uneasy.”
We have also the testimony of her attendant, Mlle. Avrillon: “No words
can describe the effect produced by the bulletins which announced
the terrible disasters of Moscow. The profound anxiety which we saw
depicted upon the face of the Empress Joséphine contributed above all
to make us sad.... Seeing her at these sad moments, it seemed as if she
reproached Fate, as if she accused Heaven of having separated them, of
having withdrawn from Napoleon the safeguard of her presence.”
The Parisians had hardly finished reading the terrible Twenty-ninth
Bulletin, when it became known that the Emperor was at the Tuileries.
In the midst of the cares and the work which overwhelmed him, he sent
Joséphine, through Hortense, his tender remembrances. As soon as he
could find an opportunity he visited Malmaison. Although there is much
doubt as to the exact date, it seems to have been at this time, during
the last week in December, that Joséphine persuaded him to let her see
the little King of Rome. The meeting took place at the château known
as Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne. The child usually took a drive
every afternoon in the Bois with his governess, and on this occasion
the Emperor accompanied them on horseback. Joséphine drove over from
Malmaison and met them. This was the only time Joséphine ever saw the
boy, and it is the general opinion that this was also her last meeting
with Napoleon.
On New Year’s day, Joséphine, always a prey to superstition, noticed
the date with alarm. “Have you remarked,” she said, “that the year
begins on a _Friday_, and that it is Eighteen-_thirteen_! It
is a sign of great misfortunes.”
On leaving the remnants of the Grand Army, to return to Paris, the
Emperor had placed Murat in command. In a letter to the Emperor from
Posen under date of the 17 January, Eugène stated that the King of
Naples had left that morning, in spite of all the efforts made by
himself and Berthier to keep him, and that he himself had provisionally
assumed the command, while awaiting the orders of the Emperor.
Joséphine was much pleased by the terms in which the _Moniteur_
officially announced the change: “The King of Naples, being indisposed,
has been obliged to give up the command of the army, which he has
placed in the hands of the Viceroy. The latter has more experience in
administering large affairs, and he has the entire confidence of the
Emperor.”
At the same time, the Emperor sent Eugène the following letter:
_To the Viceroy Eugène_
_Paris_, 22 January 1813
My son, take the command of the Grand Army. I regret that I
did not leave it to you at the time of my departure. I flatter
myself that you would have returned more slowly, and that
I should not have sustained such immense losses. The past
misfortunes are beyond remedy.
NAPOLEON
Notwithstanding the terrible Russian disaster, Napoleon at the
beginning of 1813 was still in a position to save his empire. He
had 250,000 veteran troops in Spain, and 150,000 more in the German
fortresses. If he had abandoned the hopeless effort to keep Joseph on
his throne, sent Ferdinand back to Spain, and concentrated all of his
forces behind the Elbe, he could have met the Russians and Prussians
with a seasoned army of 400,000 men, with a reserve force nearly
as large in training in the dépôts of France; he could easily have
defeated the Allies, and Austria would never have entered the coalition.
[Illustration: EUGÈNE DE BEAUHARNAIS]
The Emperor left Paris for the front on the 15 April. In May he
gained two brilliant victories, at Lutzen and Bautzen, but they were
indecisive because he did not have the cavalry to follow them up. The
first week in June he consented to an armistice, which was finally
extended until the 10 August, when Austria joined the Allies. Two
weeks later he won at Dresden his last great victory, but this too
proved indecisive; in October he was beaten at Leipzig, and forced to
withdraw behind the Rhine. This was the poorest campaign ever conducted
by Napoleon, “the weakest in conception, the most fertile in blunders,
and the most disastrous in its results.”
* * * * *
Joséphine passed the winter of 1813 very quietly at Malmaison. While
the Emperor was in Paris, there were but few callers, but after his
departure in April, they began once more to flock to Malmaison. The
fine weather also made her life more cheerful. In May she spent several
days with her daughter at Saint-Leu, and when Hortense left for
Aix-les-Bains in June, she confided her children to her mother for the
period of her absence. This was a great joy for Joséphine, who was a
doting grandmother, whatever may have been her shortcomings as a mother.
This sojourn with their grandmother at Malmaison made such a profound
impression upon the children, that Louis, the future Napoleon the
Third, who was then only five years old, retraced his recollections
of the visit sixty years later, in some memoirs which have remained
unpublished. He writes:
“I can still see the Empress Joséphine in her salon, on the
ground-floor, smothering me with her caresses, and already flattering
my _amour-propre_ by the attention she paid to my sayings. For my
grandmother spoiled me in the fullest sense of the word, while on the
contrary my mother, from my earliest infancy, endeavored to repress my
faults, and develop my good qualities.
“I remember that, arrived at Malmaison, my brother and I were allowed
to do as we pleased. The Empress, who was passionately fond of her
plants and her hothouses, permitted us to cut and suck the sugarcane,
and she always told us to ask for anything we wanted. When she said
this one day, on the eve of a fête, my brother, who was three years
older than myself, and consequently more sentimental, asked for a
watch with the picture of our mother. But when the Empress said to me:
‘Louis, ask for what will give you the greatest pleasure,’ I asked her
to let me walk in the mud with the little ragamuffins. Let no one think
that this request was ridiculous, for all the time that I remained in
France, up to the age of seven years, it was one of my greatest griefs
to be obliged to drive into the city with four or six horses.”
Joséphine, who feared to be scolded by Hortense, for the way in which
she spoiled the children, writes: “Do not worry about your sons, for
they are entirely well. Their color is rose and white; I can assure you
that they have not had the slightest illness since they are here. I am
delighted to have them with me; they are charming.”
In July, Joséphine was shocked to hear of the tragic death of Madame de
Broc, the most intimate friend of Hortense. In visiting with the Queen
the cascade of Grésy, which Joséphine had so much admired two years
before, she slipped upon a wet plank, and fell into the gulf below. She
was a sister of the wife of Marshal Ney, and a niece of Madame Campan;
she had been brought up with Hortense, married by her, and after the
death of her husband had become her inseparable friend. Joséphine
offered to go at once to her daughter if her presence and her care
could be of any use to her, and also sent one of her chamberlains. But
Hortense did not take advantage of this offer, and prolonged her stay
at Aix until the middle of August. Upon her return she stopped only a
day at Malmaison and then left with her sons for Dieppe, where she had
been ordered to take sea baths. The departure of the two boys left a
great void in the life of Joséphine. Their visit was almost the only
pleasure she had during this trying year.
In November, the Rémusats came to dine at Malmaison, and brought the
news that Louis had written the Emperor, expressing the wish to become
reconciled with him, and not to be separated from him in his hour of
misfortune. Joséphine, who never treasured up any grudges, expressed
herself as thinking that this was very praiseworthy on the part of
Louis. She only feared for her daughter “new torments.” But Hortense
reassured her on this point. She wrote: “I am not at all uneasy; my
husband is a good Frenchman; he proves it by returning to France at a
moment when all Europe declares against her. He is a worthy man, and,
if our characters are not sympathetic, it is because we have faults
which cannot be reconciled.”
At this moment Eugène also gave proofs of devotion which contrasted
strongly with the treachery of Murat and Bernadotte, who were so
closely connected by marriage with the Bonapartes, and this served
also to increase the maternal pride of Joséphine. The middle of
October, Eugène received a letter from his father-in-law, the King of
Bavaria, announcing his adhesion to the coalition, and suggesting an
armistice with the Army of Italy. Eugène declined this overture, and
in his reply expressed his entire devotion to the Emperor. Augusta,
at the same time, wrote her father in a similar vein, and in a letter
to the Emperor stated that nothing in the world would ever cause her
or her husband to forget their duty to him. A month later an aide de
camp of the King of Bavaria asked for an interview with the Viceroy,
and presented a letter containing a new offer to assure the future of
his family. Once more Eugène refused, saying: “It is useless to deny
that the star of the Emperor is beginning to pale, but it is all the
greater reason for those who have received benefits from him to remain
faithful.”