PARIS, August, 1805.
MY LORD:--Though the Treaty of Luneville will probably soon be buried in
the rubbish of the Treaty of Amiens, the influence of their parents in
the Cabinet of St. Cloud is as great as ever: I say their parents,
because the crafty ex-Bishop, Talleyrand, foreseeing the short existence
of these bastard diplomatic acts, took care to compliment the innocent
Joseph Bonaparte with a share in the parentage, although they were his
own exclusive offspring.
Joseph Bonaparte, who in 1797, from an attorney’s clerk at Ajaccio, in
Corsica, was at once transformed into an Ambassador to the Court of Rome,
had hardly read a treaty, or seen a despatch written, before he was
himself to conclude the one, and to dictate the other. Had he not been
supported by able secretaries, Government would soon have been convinced
that it is as impossible to confer talents as it is easy to give places
to men to whom Nature has refused parts, and on whom a scanty or
neglected education has bestowed no improvements. Deep and reserved,
like a true Italian, but vain and ambitious, like his brothers, under the
character of a statesman, he has only been the political puppet of
Talleyrand. If he has sometimes been applauded upon the stages where he
has been placed, he is also exposed to the hooting and hisses of the
suffering multitude; while the Minister pockets undisturbed all the
entrance-money, and conceals his wickedness and art under the cloak of
Joseph; which protects him besides against the anger and fury of
Napoleon. No negotiation of any consequence is undertaken, no diplomatic
arrangements are under consideration, but Joseph is always consulted, and
Napoleon informed of the consultation. Hence none of Bonaparte’s
Ministers have suffered less from his violence and resentment than
Talleyrand, who, in the political department, governs him who governs
France and Italy.
As early as 1800, Talleyrand determined to throw the odium of his own
outrages against the law of nations upon the brother of his master.
Lucien Bonaparte was that year sent Ambassador to Spain, but not sharing
with the Minister the large profits of his appointment, his diplomatic
career was but short. Joseph is as greedy and as ravenous as Lucien, but
not so frank or indiscreet. Whether he knew or not of Talleyrand’s
immense gain by the pacification at Luneville in February, 1801, he did
not neglect his own individual interest. The day previous to the
signature of this treaty, he despatched a courier to the rich army
contractor, Collot, acquainting him in secret of the issue of the
negotiation, and ordering him at the same time to purchase six millions
of livres--L 250,000--in the stocks on his account. On Joseph’s arrival
at Paris, Collot sent him the State bonds for the sum ordered, together
with a very polite letter; but though he waited on the grand pacificator
several times afterwards, all admittance was refused, until a douceur of
one million of livres--nearly L 42,000--of Collot’s private profit opened
the door. In return, during the discussions between France and England
in the summer of 1801, and in the spring of 1802, Collot was continued
Joseph’s private agent, and shared with his patron, within twelve months,
a clear gain of thirty-two millions of livres.
Some of the secret articles of the Treaty of Luneville gave Austria,
during the insurrection in Switzerland, in the autumn of 1802, an
opportunity and a right to make representations against the interference
of France; a circumstance which greatly displeased Bonaparte, who
reproached Talleyrand for his want of foresight, and of having been
outwitted by the Cabinet of Vienna. The Minister, on the very next day,
laid before his master the correspondence that had passed between him and
Joseph Bonaparte, during the negotiation concerning these secret
articles, which were found to have been entirely proposed and settled by
Joseph; who had been induced by his secretary and factotum (a creature of
Talleyrand) to adopt sentiments for which that Minister had been paid,
according to report, six hundred thousand livres--L25,000. Several other
tricks have in the same manner been played upon Joseph, who,
notwithstanding, has the modesty to consider himself (much to the
advantage and satisfaction of Talleyrand) the first statesman in Europe,
and the good fortune to be thought so by his brother Napoleon.
When a rupture with England was apprehended, in the spring of 1803,
Talleyrand never signed a despatch that was not previously communicated
to, and approved by Joseph, before its contents were sanctioned by
Napoleon. This precaution chiefly continued him in place when Lord
Whitworth left this capital,--a departure that incensed Napoleon to such
a degree that he entirely forgot the dignity of his rank amidst his
generals, a becoming deportment to the members of the diplomatic corps,
and his duty to his mother and brothers, who all more or less experienced
the effects of his violent passions. He thus accosted Talleyrand, who
purposely arrived late at his circle:
“Well! the English Ambassador is gone; and we must again go to war. Were
my generals as great fools as some of my Ministers, I should despair
indeed of the issue of my contest with these insolent islanders. Many
believe that had I been more ably supported in my Cabinet, I should not
have been under the necessity of taking the field, as a rupture might
have been prevented.”
“Such, Citizen First Consul!” answered the trembling and bowing Minister,
“is not the opinion of the Counsellor of State, Citizen Joseph
Bonaparte.”
“Well, then,” said Napoleon, as recollecting himself, “England wishes for
war, and she shall suffer for it. This shall be a war of extermination,
depend upon it.”
The name of Joseph alone moderated Napoleon’s fury, and changed its
object. It is with him what the harp of David was with Saul. Talleyrand
knows it, and is no loser by that knowledge. I must, however, in
justice, say that, had Bonaparte followed his Minister’s advice, and
suffered himself to be entirely guided by his counsel, all hostilities
with England at that time might have been avoided; her Government would
have been lulled into security by the cession of Malta, and some
commercial regulations, and her future conquest, during a time of peace,
have been attempted upon plans duly organized, that might have ensured
success. He never ceased to repeat, “Citizen First Consul! some few
years longer peace with Great Britain, and the ‘Te Deums’ of modern
Britons for the conquest and possession of Malta, will be considered by
their children as the funeral hymns of their liberty and independence.”
It was upon this memorable occasion of Lord Whitworth’s departure, that
Bonaparte is known to have betrayed the most outrageous acts of passion;
he rudely forced his mother from his closet, and forbade his own sisters
to approach his person; he confined Madame Bonaparte for several hours to
her chamber; he dismissed favourite generals; treated with ignominy
members of his Council of State; and towards his physician, secretaries,
and principal attendants, he committed unbecoming and disgraceful marks
of personal outrage. I have heard it affirmed that, though her husband,
when shutting her up in her dressing-room, put the key in his pocket,
Madame Napoleon found means to resent the ungallant behaviour of her
spouse, with the assistance of Madame Remusat.