That evening there was no one, either rich or poor, who did not take

delight in illuminating his house or his garret. It was only a short

time after his arrival at Paris that the First Consul learned of the

death of General Kleber. The poniard of Suleyman had slain this great

captain the same day that the cannon of Marengo laid low another hero of

the army of Egypt. This assassination caused the First Consul the most

poignant grief, of which I was an eyewitness, and to which I can testify;

and, nevertheless, his calumniators have dared to say that he rejoiced at

an event, which, even considered apart from its political relations,

caused him to lose a conquest which had cost him so much, and France so

much blood and expense. Other miserable wretches, still more stupid and

more infamous, have even gone so far as to fabricate and spread abroad

the report that the First Consul had himself ordered the assassination of

his companion in arms, whom he had placed in his own position at the head

of the army in Egypt. To these I have only one answer to make, if it is

necessary to answer them at all; it is this, they never knew the Emperor.

After his return, the First Consul went often with his wife to Malmaison,

where he remained sometimes for several days. At this time it was the

duty of the valet de chambre to follow the carriage on horseback. One

day the First Consul, while returning to Paris, ascertained a short

distance from the chateau that he had forgotten his snuff-box, and sent

me for it. I turned my bridle, set off at a gallop, and, having found

the snuff-box on his desk, retraced my steps to overtake him, but did not

succeed in doing so till he had reached Ruelle. Just as I drew near the

carriage my horse slipped on a stone, fell, and threw me some distance

into a ditch. The fall was very severe; and I remained stretched on the

ground, with one shoulder dislocated, and an arm badly bruised. The

First Consul ordered the horses stopped, himself gave orders to have me

taken up, and cautioned them to be very careful in moving me; and I was

borne, attended by-him, to the barracks of Ruelle, where he took pains

before continuing his journey to satisfy himself that I was in no danger.

The physician of his household was sent to Ruelle, my shoulder set, and

my arm dressed; and from there I was carried as gently as possible to

Malmaison, where, good Madame, Bonaparte had the kindness to come to see

me, and lavished on me every attention.

The day I returned to service, after my recovery, I was in the

antechamber of the First Consul as he came out of his cabinet. He drew

near me, and inquired with great interest how I was. I replied that,

thanks to the care taken of me, according to the orders of my excellent

master and mistress, I was quite well again. "So much the better," said

the First Consul. "Constant, make haste, and get your strength back.

Continue to serve me well, and I will take care of you. Here," added he,

placing in my hand three little crumpled papers, "these are to replenish

your wardrobe;" and he passed on, without listening to the profuse thanks

which, with great emotion, I was attempting to express, much more for the

consideration and interest in me shown by him than for his present, for I

did not then know of what it consisted. After he passed on I unrolled my

papers: they were three bank-bills, each for a thousand francs! I was

moved to tears by so great a kindness. We must remember that at this

period the First Consul was not rich, although he was the first

magistrate of the republic. How deeply the remembrance of this generous

deed touches me, even to-day. I do not know if details so personal to me

will be found interesting; but they seem to me proper as evidence of the

true character of the Emperor, which has been so outrageously

misrepresented, and also as an instance of his ordinary conduct towards

the servants of his house; it shows too, at the same time, whether the

severe economy that he required in his domestic management, and of which

I will speak elsewhere, was the result, as has been stated, of sordid

avarice, or whether it was not rather a rule of prudence, from which he

departed willingly whenever his kindness of heart or his humanity urged

him thereto.

I am not certain that my memory does not deceive me in leading me to put

in this place a circumstance which shows the esteem in which the First

Consul held the brave soldiers of his army, and how he loved to manifest

it on all occasions. I was one day in his sleeping-room, at the usual

hour for his toilet, and was performing that day the duties of chief

valet, Hambard being temporarily absent or indisposed, there being in the

room, besides the body servants, only the brave and modest Colonel

Gerard Lacuee, one of the aides-de-camp of the First Consul. Jerome

Bonaparte, then hardly seventeen years of age, was introduced. This

young man gave his family frequent cause of complaint, and feared no one

except his brother Napoleon, who reprimanded, lectured, and scolded him

as if he had been his own son. There was a question at the time of

making him a sailor, less with the object of giving him a career, than of

removing him from the seductive temptations which the high position of

his brother caused to spring up incessantly around his path, and which he

had little strength to resist. It may be imagined what it cost him to

renounce pleasures so accessible and so delightful to a young man. He

did not fail to protest, on all occasions, his unfitness for sea-service,

going so far, it is said, that he even caused himself to be rejected by

the examining board of the navy as incompetent, though he could easily

have prepared himself to answer the few questions asked. However, the

will of the First Consul must be obeyed, and Jerome was compelled to

embark. On the day of which I have spoken, after some moments of

conversation and scolding, still on the subject of the navy, Jerome said

to his brother, "Instead of sending me to perish of ennui at sea, you

ought to take me for an aide-de-camp."--"What, take you, greenhorn,"

warmly replied the First Consul; "wait till a ball has furrowed your face

and then I will see about it," at the same time calling his attention to

Colonel Lacuee, who blushed, and dropped his eyes to the floor like a

young girl, for, as is well known, he bore on his face the scar made by a

bullet. This gallant colonel was killed in 1805 before Guntzbourg; and

the Emperor deeply regretted his loss, for he ways one of the bravest and

most skillful officers of the army.

It was, I believe, about this time that the First Consul conceived a

strong passion for a very intelligent and handsome young woman, Madame D.

Madame Bonaparte, suspecting this intrigue, showed jealousy; and her

husband did all he could to allay her wifely suspicions. Before going to

the chamber of his mistress he would wait until every one was asleep in

the chateau; and he even carried his precautions so far as to go from his

room to hers in his night-dress, without shoes or slippers. Once I found

that day was about to break before his return; and fearing scandal, I

went, as the First Consul had ordered me to do in such a case, to notify

the chambermaid of Madame D. to go to her mistress and tell her the hour.

It was hardly five minutes after this timely notice had been given, when

I saw the First Consul returning, in great excitement, of which I soon

learned the cause. He had discovered, on his return, one of Madame

Bonaparte's women, lying in wait, and who had seen him through the window

of a closet opening upon the corridor. The First Consul, after a

vigorous outburst against the curiosity of the fair sex, sent me to the

young scout from the enemy's camp to intimate to her his orders to hold

her tongue, unless she wished to be discharged without hope of return.

I do not know whether I added a milder argument to these threats to buy

her silence; but, whether from fear or for compensation, she had the good

sense not to talk. Nevertheless, the successful lover, fearing another

surprise, directed me to rent in the Allee des Ireuves a little house

where he and Madame D. met from time to time. Such were, and continued

to be, the precautions of the First Consul towards his wife. He had the

highest regard for her, and took all imaginable care to prevent his

infidelities coming to her knowledge. Besides, these passing fancies did

not lessen the tenderness he felt for her; and although other women

inspired him with love, no other woman had his confidence and friendship

to the same extent as Madame Bonaparte. There have been a thousand and

one calumnies repeated of the harshness and brutality of the First Consul

towards women. He was not always gallant, but I have never seen him

rude; and, however singular it may seem after what I have just related,

he professed the greatest veneration for a wife of exemplary conduct,

speaking in admiring terms of happy households; and he did not admire

cynicism, either in morals or in language. When he had any liaisons he

kept them secret, and concealed them with great care.

CHAPTER VI.

The 3d Nivose, year IX. (Dec. 21, 1800),

[Under the Republican regime the years were counted from the

proclamation of the Republic, Sept. 22, 1792. The year was divided

into twelve months of thirty days each, re-named from some

peculiarity, as Brumaire (foggy); Nivose (snowy); Thermidor (hot);

Fructidor (fruit), etc.; besides five supplementary days of

festivals, called 'sans-culottides'. The months were divided into

three decades of ten days instead of weeks, the tenth day (decadi)

being in lieu of Sunday. The Republican calendar lasted till Jan 1,

1806, as to the years and months at least, though the Concordat

had restored the weeks and Sabbaths.--TRANS.]

the Opera presented, by order, The Creation of Haydn; and the First

Consul had announced that he would be present, with all his household, at

this magnificent oratorio. He dined on that day with Madame Bonaparte,

her daughter, and Generals Rapp, Lauriston, Lannes, and Berthier. I was

on duty; but as the First Consul was going to the Opera, I knew that I

should not be needed at the chateau, and resolved, for my part, to go to

the Feydeau, occupying the box which Madame Bonaparte allowed us, and

which was situated under hers. After dinner, which the First Consul

bolted with his usual rapidity, he rose from the table, followed by his

officers, with the exception of General Rapp, who remained with Madame

Josephine and Hortense. About seven o'clock the First Consul entered his

carriage with Lannes, Berthier, and Lauriston, to go to the Opera. When

they arrived in the middle of Rue Sainte-Nicaise, the escort who preceded

the carriage found the road obstructed by a cart, which seemed to be

abandoned, and on which a cask was found fastened strongly with ropes.

The chief of the escort had this cart removed to the side of the street;

and the First Consul's coachman, whom this delay had made impatient,

urged on his horses vigorously, and they shot off like lightning.

Scarcely two seconds had passed when the barrel which was on the cart

burst with a frightful explosion. No one of the escort or of the

companions of the First Consul was slain, but several were wounded; and

the loss among the residents in the street and the passers-by near the

horrible machine was much greater. More than twenty of these were

killed, and more than sixty seriously wounded. Trepsat, the architect,

had his thigh broken. The First Consul afterwards decorated him, and

made him the architect of the Invalides, saying that he had long enough

been the most invalid of architects. All the panes of glass at the

Tuileries were broken, and many houses thrown down. All those of the

Rue Sainte-Nicaise, and even some in the adjacent streets, were badly

damaged, some fragments being blown into the house of the Consul

Cambaceres. The glass of the First Consul's carriage was shivered to

fragments. By a fortunate chance, the carriages of the suite, which

should have been immediately behind that of the First Consul, were some

distance in the rear, which happened in this way: Madame Bonaparte, after

dinner, had a shawl brought to wear to the opera; and when it came,

General Rapp jestingly criticised the color, and begged her to choose

another. Madame Bonaparte defended her shawl, and said to the general

that he knew as much about criticising a toilet as she did about

attacking a fort. This friendly banter continued for some moments; and

in the interval, the First Consul, who never waited, set out in advance,

and the miserable assassins and authors of the conspiracy set fire to the

infernal machine. Had the coachman of the First Consul driven less

rapidly, and thereby been two seconds later, it would have been all over

with his master; while, on the other hand, if Madame Bonaparte had

followed her husband promptly, it would have been certain death to her

and all her suite.

It was, in fact, the delay of an instant which saved her life, as well as

that of her daughter, her sister-in-law, Madame Murat, and all who were

to accompany them, since the carriage of these ladies, instead of being

immediately behind that of the First Consul, was just leaving the Place

Carrousel, when the machine exploded. The glass was shivered; and though

Madame Bonaparte received no injury except the terrible fright, Hortense

was slightly wounded in the face by a piece of glass, and Madame Caroline

Murat, who was then far advanced in pregnancy, was so frightened that it

was necessary to carry her back to the Tuileries. This catastrophe had

its influence, even on the health of her child; for I have been told that

Prince Achille Muratz is subject, to this day, to frequent attacks of

epilepsy. As is well known, the First Consul went on to the opera, where

he was received with tumultuous acclamations, the immobility of his

countenance contrasting strongly with the pallor and agitation of Madame

Bonaparte's, who had feared not so much for herself as for him. The

coachman who had driven the First Consul with such good fortune was named

Germain. He had followed him in Egypt, and in a skirmish had killed an

Arab, with his own hand, under the eyes of the general-in-chief, who,

struck with his courage, had cried out, "Diable! that's a brave man, he

is a Caesar." The name had clung to him. It has been said that this

brave man was drunk at the time of this explosion; but this is a mistake,

which his conduct under the circumstances contradicts in the most

positive manner. When the First Consul, after he became Emperor, went

out, incognito, in Paris, it was Caesar who was his escort, without

livery. It is said in the Memorial de Sainte Helene that the Emperor,

in speaking of Caesar, stated that he was in a complete state of

intoxication, and took the noise of the explosion for an artillery

salute, nor did he know until the next day what had taken place. This is

entirely untrue, and the Emperor was incorrectly informed in regard to

his coachman. Caesar drove the First Consul very rapidly because he had

been ordered to do so, and because he considered his honor interested in

not allowing the obstacle which the infernal machine placed in his way

before the explosion to delay him. The evening of the event I saw

Caesar, who was perfectly sober, and he himself related to me part of the

details that I have just given. A few days after, four or five hundred

hackney-coachmen clubbed together to honor him, and gave him a

magnificent dinner at twenty-four francs per head.

While the infernal plot was being executed, and costing the lies of many

innocent citizens, without attaining the object the assassins proposed,

I was, as I have said, at the Theatre Feydeau, where I had prepared

myself to enjoy at my leisure an entire evening of freedom, amid the

pleasures of the stage, for which I had all my life a great liking.

Scarcely had I seated myself comfortably, however, when the box-keeper

entered in the greatest excitement, crying out, "Monsieur Constant, it is

said that they have just blown up the First Consul; there has been a

terrible explosion, and it is asserted that he is dead." These terrible

words were like a thunderbolt-to me. Not knowing what I did, I plunged

down-stairs, and, forgetting my hat, ran like mad to the chateau. While

crossing Rue Vivienne and the Palais Royal, I saw no extraordinary

disturbance; but in Rue Sainte Honore there was a very great tumult, and

I saw, borne away on litters, many dead and wounded, who had been at

first carried into the neighboring houses of Rue Sainte Nicaise. Many

groups had formed, and with one voice all were cursing the still unknown

authors of this dastardly attempt. Some accused the Jacobins of this,

because three months before they had placed the poniard in the hands of

Cerrachi, of Arena, and of Topino Lebrun; whilst others, less numerous

perhaps, thought the aristocrats, the Royalists, could alone be guilty of

this atrocity. I could give no time to these various accusations, except

as I was detained in forcing my way through an immense and closely packed

crowd, and as rapidly as possible went on, and in two seconds was at the

Carrousel. I threw myself against the wicket, but the two sentinels

instantly crossed bayonets before my breast. It was useless to cry out

that I was valet de chambre of the First Consul; for my bare head, my

wild manner, the disorder, both of my dress and ideas, appeared to them

suspicious, and they refused energetically and very obstinately to allow

me to enter. I then begged them to send for the gatekeeper of the

chateau; and as soon as he came, I was admitted, or rather rushed into

the chateau, where I learned what had just happened. A short time after

the First Consul arrived, and was immediately surrounded by his officers,

and by all his household, every one present being in the greatest state

of anxiety. When the First Consul alighted from his carriage he appeared

calm and smiling; he even wore an air of gayety. On entering the

vestibule he said to his officers, rubbing his hands, "Well, sirs, we

made a fine escape!" They shuddered with indignation and anger. He then

entered the grand saloon on the ground floor, where a large number of

counselors of state and-dignitaries had already assembled; but hardly had

they begun to express their congratulations, when he interrupted them,

and in so vehement a manner that he was heard outside the saloon. We

were told that after this council he had a lively altercation with

Fouche, Minister of Police, whom he reproached with his ignorance of

this plot, openly accusing the Jacobins of being the authors.

That evening, on retiring, the First Consul asked me laughingly if I was

afraid. "More than you were, my general," I replied; and I related to

him how I had heard the fatal news at the Feydeau, and had run without my

hat to the very wicket of the Carrousel, where the sentinels tried to

prevent my entering. He was amused at the oaths and abusive epithets

with which they had accompanied their defense of the gate, and at last

said to me, "After all, my dear Constant, you should not be angry with

them; they were only obeying orders. They are brave men, on whom I can

rely." The truth is, the Consular Guard was at this period no less

devoted than it has been since as the Imperial Guard. At the first rumor

of the great risk which the First Consul had run, all the soldiers of

that faithful band had gathered spontaneously in the court of the

Tuileries.

After this melancholy catastrophe, which carried distress into all

France, and mourning into so many families, the entire police were

actively engaged in searching for the authors of the plot. The dwelling

of the First Consul was first put under surveillance, and we were

incessantly watched by spies, without suspecting it. All our walks, all

our visits, all our goings and comings, were known; and attention was

especially directed to our friends, and even our liaisons. But such was

the devotion of each and all to the person of the First Consul, such was

the affection that he so well knew how to inspire in those around him,

that not one of the persons attached to his service was for an instant

suspected of having a hand in this infamous attempt. Neither at this

time, nor in any other affair of this kind, were the members of his

household ever compromised; and never was the name of the lowest of his

servants ever found mixed up in criminal plots against a life so valued

and so glorious.

The minister of police suspected the Royalists of this attempt; but the

First Consul attributed it to the Jacobins, because they were already

guilty, he said, of crimes as odious. One hundred and thirty of the most

noted men of this party were transported on pure suspicion, and without

any form of trial. It is now known that the discovery, trial, and

execution of Saint Regent and Carbon, the true criminals, proved that the

conjectures of the minister were more correct than those of the chief of

state.

The 4th Nivose, at noon, the First Consul held a grand review in the

Place Carrousel, where an innumerable crowd of citizens were collected to

behold, and also to testify their affection for his person, and their

indignation against the enemies who dared attack him only by

assassination. Hardly had he turned his horse towards the first line of

grenadiers of the Consular Guard, when their innumerable acclamations

rose on all sides. He rode along the ranks, at a walk, very slowly,

showing his appreciation, and replying by a few simple and affectionate

words to this effusion of popular joy; and cries of "Vive Bonaparte!

Vive the First Consul!" did not cease till after he had re-entered his

apartments.

The conspirators who obstinately persisted, with so much animosity, in

attacking the life of the First Consul, could not have chosen a period in

which circumstances would have been more adverse to their plans than in

1800 and 1801, for then the Consul was beloved not only for his military

deeds, but still more for the hope of peace that he gave to France, which

hope was soon realized. As soon as the first rumor spread abroad that

peace had been concluded with Austria, the greater part of the

inhabitants of Paris gathered under the windows of the Pavilion of Flora.

Blessings and cries of gratitude and joy were heard on all sides; then

musicians assembled to give a serenade to the chief of state, and

proceeded to form themselves into orchestras; and there was dancing the

whole night through. I have never seen a sight more striking or more

joyous than the bird's-eye view of this improvised jubilee.

When in the month of October, the, peace of Amiens having been concluded

with England, France found herself delivered from all the wars that she

had maintained through so many years, and at the cost of so many

sacrifices, it would be impossible to form an idea of the joy which burst

forth on all sides. The decrees which ordered either the disarmament of

vessels of war, or the placing of the forts on a peace footing, were

welcomed as pledges of happiness and security. The day of the reception

of Lord Cornwallis, Ambassador of England, the First Consul ordered that

the greatest magnificence should be displayed. "It is necessary," he had

said the evening before, "to show these proud Britons that we are not

reduced to beggary." The fact is, the English, before setting foot on

the French continent, had expected to find only ruins, penury, and

misery. The whole of France had been described to them as being in the

most distressing condition, and they thought themselves on the point of

landing in a barbarous country. Their surprise was great when they saw

how many evils the First Consul had already repaired in so short a time,

and all the improvements that he still intended to carry out; and they

spread through their own country the report of what they themselves

called the prodigies of the First Consul, by which thousands of their

compatriots were influenced to come and judge with their own eyes. At

the moment that Lord Cornwallis entered the great hall of the Ambassadors

with his suite, the eyes of all the English must have been dazzled by the

sight of the First Consul, surrounded by his two colleagues, with all the

diplomatic corps, and with an already brilliant military court.

In the midst of all these rich uniforms, his was remarkable for its

simplicity; but the diamond called the Regent, which had been put in pawn

under the Directory, and redeemed a few days since by the First Consul,

sparkled on the hilt of his sword.

CHAPTER VII.

In the month of May, 1801, there came to Paris, on his way to take

possession of his new kingdom, the Prince of Tuscany, Don Louis the

First, whom the First Consul had just made King of Etruria. He traveled

under the name of the Count of Leghorn, with his wife, who was the

infanta of Spain, Maria Louisa, third daughter of Charles the Fourth; but

in spite of the incognito, which, from the modest title he had assumed,

he seemed really anxious to preserve, especially, perhaps, on account of

the poor appearance of his small court, he was, notwithstanding, received

and treated at the Tuileries as a king. This prince was in feeble

health, and it was said had epilepsy. They were lodged at the residence

of the Spanish Embassy, formerly the Hotel Montessori; and he requested

Madame de Montessori, who lived in the next house, to reopen a private

communication between the houses which had long been closed. He, as well

as the Queen of Etruria, greatly enjoyed the society of this lady, who

was the widow of the Duke of Orleans, and spent many hours every day in

her house. A Bourbon himself, he doubtless loved to hear every

particular relating to the Bourbons of France, which could so well be

given by one who had lived at their court, and on intimate terms with the

royal family, with which she was connected by ties which, though not

official, were none the less well known and recognized.

Madame de Montesson received at her house all who were most distinguished

in Parisian society. She had reunited the remnants of the most select

society of former times, which the Revolution had dispersed. A friend of

Madame Bonaparte, she was also loved and respected by the First Consul,

who was desirous that they should speak and think well of him in the most

noble and elegant saloon of the capital. Besides, he relied upon the

experience and exquisite refinement of this lady, to establish in the

palace and its society, out of which he already dreamed of making a

court, the usages and etiquette customary with sovereigns.

The King of Etruria was not fond of work, and in this respect did not

please the First Consul, who could not endure idleness. I heard him one

day, in conversation with his colleague, Cambaceres, score severely his

royal protege (in his absence, of course). "Here is a prince," said he,

"who does not concern himself much with his very dear and well-beloved

subjects, but passes his time cackling with old women, to whom he dilates

in a loud tone on my good qualities, while he complains in a whisper of

owing his elevation to the chief of this cursed French Republic. His

only business is walking, hunting, balls, and theaters."--"It is

asserted," remarked Cambaceres, "that you wished to disgust the French

people with kings, by showing them such a specimen, as the Spartans

disgusted their children with drunkenness by exhibiting to them a drunken

slave."

"Not so, not so, my dear sir," replied the First Consul. "I have no desire

to disgust them with royalty; but the sojourn of the King of Etruria will

annoy a number of good people who are working incessantly to create a

feeling favorable to the Bourbons." Don Louis, perhaps, did not merit

such severity, although he was, it must be admitted, endowed with little

mind, and few agreeable traits of character. When he dined at the

Tuileries, he was much embarrassed in replying to the simplest questions

the First Consul addressed him. Beyond the rain and the weather, horses,

dogs, and other like subjects of conversation, he could not give an

intelligent reply on any subject. The Queen, his wife, often made signs

to put him on right road, and even whispered to him, what he should say

or do; but this rendered only the more conspicuous his absolute want of

presence of mind. People made themselves merry at his expense; but they

took good care, however, not to do this in the presence of the First

Consul, who would not have suffered any want of respect to a guest to

whom he had shown so much. What gave rise to the greatest number of

pleasantries, in regard to the prince, was his excessive economy, which

reached a point truly incredible. Innumerable instances were quoted,

which this is perhaps the most striking. The First Consul sent him

frequently during his stay, magnificent presents, such as Savonnerie

carpets, Lyons cloths, and Sevres porcelain; and on such occasions his

Majesty would give some small gratuity to the bearers of these precious

articles. One day a vase of very great value (it cost, I believe, a

hundred thousand crowns) was brought him which it required a dozen

workmen to place in the apartments of the king. Their work being

finished, the workmen waited until his Majesty should give them some

token of his satisfaction, and flattered themselves he would display a

truly royal liberality. As, notwithstanding, time passed, and the

expected gratuity did not arrive, they finally applied to one of his

chamberlains, and asked him to lay their petition at the feet of the King

of Etruria. His Majesty, who was still in ecstasy over the beauty of the

present, and the munificence of the First Consul, was astounded at such a

request. "It was a present," said he; "and hence it was for him to

receive, not to give;" and it was only after much persistence that the

chamberlain obtained six francs for each of these workmen, which were

refused by these good people. The persons of the prince's suite asserted

that to this extreme aversion to expense he added an excessive severity

towards themselves; however, the first of these traits probably disposed

the servants of the King of Etruria to exaggerate the second.

Masters who are too economical never fail to be deemed severe themselves,

and at the same time are severely criticised by their servants. For this

reason, perhaps (I would say in passing), there is current among some

people a calumny which represents the Emperor as often taking a fancy to

beat his servants. The economy of the Emperor Napoleon was only a desire

for the most perfect order in the expenses of his household. One thing I

can positively assert in regard to his Majesty, the King of Etruria, is

that he did not sincerely feel either all the enthusiasm or all the

gratitude which he expressed towards the First Consul, and the latter had

more than one proof of this insincerity. As to the king's talent for

governing and reigning, the First Consul said to Cambaceres at his levee,

in the same conversation from which I have already quoted, that the

Spanish Ambassador had complained of the haughtiness of this prince

towards him, of his extreme ignorance, and of the disgust with which all

kind of business inspired him. Such was the king who went to govern part

of Italy, and was installed in his kingdom by General Murat, who

apparently had little idea that a throne was in store for himself a few

leagues distant from that on which he seated Don Luis.

The Queen of Etruria was, in the opinion of the First Consul, more

sagacious and prudent than her august husband. This princess was

remarkable neither for grace nor elegance; she dressed herself in the

morning for the whole day, and walked in the garden, her head adorned

with flowers or a diadem, and wearing a dress, the train of which swept

up the sand of the walks; often, also, carrying in her arms one of her

children, still in long dresses, from which it can be readily understood

that by night the toilet of her Majesty was somewhat disarranged. She

was far from pretty, and her manners were not suited to her rank. But,

which fully atoned for all this, she was good-tempered, much beloved by

those in her service, and fulfilled scrupulously all the duties of wife

and mother; and in consequence the First Consul, who made a great point

of domestic virtues, professed for her the highest and most sincere

esteem.

During the entire month which their Majesties spent in Paris, there was a

succession of fetes, one of which Talleyrand gave in their honor at

Neuilly, of great magnificence and splendor, and to which I, being on

duty, accompanied the First Consul. The chateau and park were

illuminated with a brilliant profusion of colored lights. First there

was a concert, at the close of which the end of the hall was moved aside,

like the curtain of a theater, and we beheld the principal square in

Florence, the ducal palace, a fountain playing, and the Tuscans giving

themselves up to the games and dances of their country, and singing

couplets in honor of their sovereigns. Talleyrand came forward, and

requested their Majesties to mingle with their subjects; and hardly had

they set foot in the garden than they found themselves in fairyland,

where fireworks, rockets, and Bengal fires burst out in every direction

and in every form, colonnades, arches of triumph, and palaces of fire

arose, disappeared, and succeeded each other incessantly. Numerous

tables were arranged in the apartments and in the garden, at which all

the spectators were in turn seated, and last of all a magnificent ball

closed this evening of enchantments. It was opened by the King of

Etruria and Madame Le Clerc (Pauline Borghese).

Madame de Montesson also gave to their Majesties a ball, at which the

whole family of the First Consul was present. But of all these

entertainments, I retain the most vivid recollection of that given by

Chaptal, Minister of the Interior, the day which he chose being the

fourteenth of June, the anniversary of the battle of Marengo. After the

concert, the theater, the ball, and another representation of the city

and inhabitants of Florence, a splendid supper was served in the garden,

under military tents, draped with flags, and ornamented with groupings of

arms and trophies, each lady being accompanied and served at table by an

officer in uniform. When the King and Queen of Etruria came out of their

tent, a balloon was released which carried into the heavens the name of

Marengo in letters of fire.

Their Majesties wished to visit, before their departure, the chief public

institutions, so they were taken to the Conservatory of Music, to a

sitting of the Institute, of which they did not appear to comprehend

much, and to the Mint, where a medal was struck in their honor. Chaptall

received the thanks of the queen for the manner in which he had

entertained and treated his royal guests, both as a member of the

Institute, as minister at his hotel, and in the visits which they had

made to the different institutions of the capital. On the eve of his

departure the king had a long private interview with the First Consul;

and though I do not know what passed, I observed that on coming out

neither appeared to be satisfied with the other. However, their

Majesties, on the whole, should have carried away a most favorable

impression of the manner in which they had been received.

CHAPTER VIII.

In all the fetes given by the First Consul in honor of their Majesties,

the King and Queen of Etruria, Mademoiselle Hortense shone with that

brilliancy and grace which made her the pride of her mother, and the most

beautiful ornament of the growing court of the First Consul.

About this time she inspired a most violent passion in a gentleman of a

very good family, who was, I think, a little deranged before this mad

love affected his brain. This poor unfortunate roamed incessantly around

Malmaison; and as soon as Mademoiselle Hortense left the house, ran by

the side of her carriage with the liveliest demonstrations of tenderness,

and threw through the window flowers, locks of his hair, and verses of

his own composition. When he met Mademoiselle Hortense on foot, he threw

himself on his knees before her with a thousand passionate gestures,

addressing her in most endearing terms, and followed her, in spite of all

opposition, even into the courtyard of the chateau, and abandoned himself

to all kinds of folly. At first Mademoiselle Hortense, who was young and

gay, was amused by the antics of her admirer, read the verses which he

addressed to her, and showed them to the ladies who accompanied her. One

such poetical effusion was enough to provoke laughter (and can you blame

her?); but after the first burst of laughter, Mademoiselle Hortense, good

and charming as her mother, never failed to say, with a sympathetic

expression and tone, "The poor man, he is much to be pitied!" At last,

however, the importunities of the poor madman increased to such an extent

that they became insupportable. He placed himself at the door of the

theaters in Paris at which Mademoiselle Hortense was expected, and threw

himself at her feet, supplicating, weeping, laughing, and gesticulating

all at once. This spectacle amused the crowd too much to long amuse

Mademoiselle de Beauharnais; and Carrat was ordered to remove the poor

fellow, who was placed, I think, in a private asylum for the insane.

Mademoiselle Hortense would have been too happy if she could have known

love only from the absurd effects which it produced on this diseased

brain, as she thus saw it only in its pleasant and comic aspect. But the

time came when she was forced to feel all that is painful and bitter in

the experience of that passion. In January, 1802, she was married to

Louis Bonaparte, brother of the First Consul, which was a most suitable

alliance as regards age, Louis being twenty-four years old, and

Mademoiselle de Beauharnais not more than eighteen; and nevertheless it

was to both parties the beginning of long and interminable sorrows.

Louis, however, was kind and sensible, full of good feeling and

intelligence, studious and fond of letters, like all his brothers (except

one alone); but he was in feeble health, suffered almost incessantly, and

was of a melancholy disposition. All the brothers of the First Consul

resembled him more or less in their personal appearance, and Louis still

more than the others, especially at the time of the Consulate, and before

the Emperor Napoleon had become so stout. But none of the brothers of

the Emperor possessed that imposing and majestic air and that rapid and

imperious manner which came to him at first by instinct, and afterwards

from the habit of command. Louis had peaceful and modest tastes. It has

been asserted that at the time of his marriage he was deeply attached to

a person whose name could not be ascertained, and who, I think, is still

a mystery.

Mademoiselle Hortense was extremely pretty, with an expressive and mobile

countenance, and in addition to this was graceful, talented, and affable.

Kindhearted and amiable like her mother, she had not that excessive

desire to oblige which sometimes detracted from Madame Bonaparte's

character. This is, nevertheless, the woman whom evil reports,

disseminated by miserable scandal-mongers, have so outrageously

slandered! My heart is stirred with disgust and indignation when I hear

such revolting absurdities repeated and scattered broadcast. According

to these honest fabricators, the First Consul must have seduced his

wife's daughter, before giving her in marriage to his own brother.

Simply to announce such a charge is to comprehend all the falsity of it.

I knew better than any one the amours of the Emperor. In these

clandestine liaisons he feared scandal, hated the ostentations of vice,

and I can affirm on honor that the infamous desires attributed to him

never entered his mind. Like every one else, who was near Mademoiselle

de Beauharnais, and because he knew his step-daughter even more

intimately, he felt for her the tenderest affection; but this sentiment

was entirely paternal, and Mademoiselle Hortense reciprocated it by that

reverence which a wellborn young girl feels towards her father. She

could have obtained from her step-father anything that she wished, if her

extreme timidity had not prevented her asking; but, instead of addressing

herself directly to him, she first had recourse to the intercession of

the secretary, and of those around the Emperor. Is it thus she would

have acted if the evil reports spread by her enemies, and those of the

Emperor, had had the least foundation?

Before her marriage Hortense had an attachment for General Duroc, who was

hardly thirty years of age, had a fine figure, and was a favorite with

the chief of state, who, knowing him to be prudent and discreet, confided

to him important diplomatic missions. As aide-de-camp of the First

Consul, general of division, and governor of the Tuileries, he lived long

in familiar intimacy at Malmaison, and in the home life of the Emperor,

and during necessary absences on duty, corresponded with Mademoiselle

Hortense; and yet the indifference with which he allowed the marriage of

the latter with Louis to proceed, proves that he reciprocated but feebly

the affection which he had inspired. It is certain that he could have

had. Mademoiselle de Beauharnais for his wife, if he had been willing to

accept the conditions on which the First Consul offered the hand of his

step-daughter; but he was expecting something better, and his ordinary

prudence failed him at the time when it should have shown him a future

which was easy to foresee, and calculated to satisfy the promptings of an

ambition even more exalted than his. He therefore refused positively;

and the entreaties of Madame Bonaparte, which had already influenced her

husband, succeeded.

Madame Bonaparte, who saw herself treated with so little friendship by

the brothers of the First Consul, tried to make his family a defense for

herself against the plots which were gathering incessantly around her to

drive her away from the heart of her husband. It was with this design

she worked with all her might to bring about the marriage of her daughter

with one of her brothers-in-law.

General Duroc doubtless repented immediately of his precipitate refusal

when crowns began to rain in the august family to which he had had it in

his power to ally himself; when he saw Naples, Spain, Westphalia, Upper

Italy, the duchies of Parma, Lucca, etc., become the appendages of the

new imperial dynasty; when the beautiful and graceful Hortense herself,

who had loved him so devotedly, mounted in her turn a throne that she

would have been only too happy to have shared with the object of her

young affections. As for him, he married Mademoiselle Hervas d'Almenara,

daughter of the banker of the court of Spain. She was a little woman

with a very dark complexion, very thin, and without grace; but, on the

other hand, of a most peevish, haughty, exacting, and capricious temper.

As she was to have on her marriage an enormous dowry, the First Consul

had demanded her hand in marriage for his senior aide-de-camp. Madame

Duroc forgot herself, I have heard, so far as to beat her servants, and

to bear herself in a most singular manner toward people who were in no

wise her dependants. When M. Dubois came to tune her piano,

unfortunately she was at home, and finding the noise required by this

operation unendurable, drove the tuner off with the greatest violence.

In one of these singular attacks she one day broke all the keys of his

instrument. Another time Mugnier, clockmaker of the Emperor, and the

head of his profession in Paris, with Breguet, having brought her a watch

of very great value that madame, the Duchess of Friuli had herself

ordered, but which did not please her, she became so enraged, that, in

the presence of Mugnier, she dashed the watch on the floor, danced on it,

and reduced it to atoms. She utterly refused to pay for it, and the

marshal was compelled to do this himself. Thus Duroc's want of foresight

in refusing the hand of Hortense, together with the interested

calculations of Madame Bonaparte, caused the misery of two households.

The portrait I have sketched, and I believe faithfully, although not a

flattering picture, is merely that of a young woman with all the

impulsiveness of the Spanish character, spoiled as an only daughter, who

had been reared in indulgence, and with the entire neglect which hinders

the education of all the young ladies of her country. Time has calmed

the vivacity of her youth; and madame, the Duchess of Friuli, has since

given an example of most faithful devotion to duty, and great strength of

mind in the severe trials that she has endured. In the loss of her

husband, however grievous it might be, glory had at least some

consolation to offer to the widow of the grand marshal. But when her

young daughter, sole heiress of a great name and an illustrious title,

was suddenly taken away by death from all the expectations and the

devotion of her mother, who could dare to offer her consolation? If

there could be any (which I do not believe), it would be found in the

remembrance of the cares and tenderness lavished on her to the last by

maternal love. Such recollections, in which bitterness is mingled with

sweetness, were not wanting to the duchess.

The religious ceremony of marriage between Louis and Hortense took place

Jan. 7, in a house in the Rue de la Victoire; and the marriage of General

Murat with Caroline Bonaparte, which had been acknowledged only before

the civil authorities, was consecrated on the same day. Both Louis and

his bride were very sad. She wept bitterly during the whole ceremony,

and her tears were not soon dried. She made no attempt to win the

affection of her husband; while he, on his side, was too proud and too

deeply wounded to pursue her with his wooing. The good Josephine did all

she could to reconcile them; for she must have felt that this union,

which had begun so badly, was her work, in which she had tried to combine

her own interest, or at least that which she considered such, and the

happiness of her daughter. But her efforts, as well as her advice and

her prayers, availed nothing; and I have many a time seen Hortense seek

the solitude of her own room, and the heart of a friend, there to pour

out her tears. Tears fell from her eyes sometimes even in the midst of

one of the First Consul's receptions, where we saw with sorrow this young

woman, brilliant and gay, who had so often gracefully done the honors on

such occasions and attended to all the details of its etiquette, retire

into a corner, or into the embrasure of a window, with one of her most

intimate friends, there to sadly make her the a confidante of her trials.

During this conversation, from which she rose with red and swollen eyes,

her husband remained thoughtful and taciturn at the opposite end of the

room. Her Majesty, the Queen of Holland, has been accused of many sins;

but everything said or written against this princess is marked by

shameful exaggeration. So high a fortune drew all eyes to her, and

excited bitter jealousy; and yet those who envied her would not have

failed to bemoan themselves, if they had been put in tier place, on

condition that they were to bear her griefs. The misfortunes of Queen

Hortense began with life itself. Her father having been executed on a

revolutionary scaffold, and her mother thrown into prison, she found

herself, while still a child, alone, and with no other reliance than the

faithfulness of the old servants of the family. Her brother, the noble

and worthy Prince Eugene, had been compelled, it is said, to serve as an

apprentice. She had a few years of happiness, or at least of repose,

during the time she was under the care of Madame Campan, and just after

she left boarding-school. But her evil destiny was far from quitting

her; and her wishes being thwarted, an unhappy marriage opened for her a

new succession of troubles. The death of her first son, whom the Emperor

wished to adopt, and whom he had intended to be his successor in the

Empire, the divorce of her mother, the tragic death of her best-loved

friend, Madame de Brocq, who, before her eyes, slipped over a precipice;

the overturning of the imperial throne, which caused her the loss of her

title and rank as queen, a loss which she, however, felt less than the

misfortunes of him whom she regarded as her father; and finally, the

continual annoyance of domestic dissensions, of vexatious lawsuits, and

the agony she suffered in beholding her oldest surviving son removed from

her by order of her husband,--such were the principal catastrophes in a

life which might have been thought destined for so much happiness.

The day after the marriage of Mademoiselle Hortense, the First Consul set

out for Lyons, where there awaited him the deputies of the Cisalpine

Republic, assembled for the election of a president. Everywhere on his

route he was welcomed with fetes and congratulations, with which all were

eager to overwhelm him on account of the miraculous manner in which he

had escaped the plots of his enemies. This journey differed in no wise

from the tours which he afterwards made as Emperor. On his arrival at

Lyons, he received the visit of all the authorities, the constituent

bodies, the deputations from the neighboring departments, and the members

of the Italian councils. Madame Bonaparte, who accompanied him on this

journey, attended with him these public displays, and shared with him the

magnificent fete given to him by the city of Lyons. The day on which the

council elected and proclaimed the First Consul president of the Italian

Republic he reviewed, on the Place des Brotteaux, the troops of the

garrison, and recognized in the ranks many soldiers of the army of Egypt,

with whom he conversed for some time. On all these occasions the First

Consul wore the same costume that he had worn at Malmaison, and which I

have described elsewhere. He rose early, mounted his horse, and visited

the public works, among others those of the Place Belcour, of which he

had laid the corner-stone on his return from Italy, passed through the

Place des Brotteaux, inspected, examined everything, and, always

indefatigable, worked on his return as if he had been at the Tuileries.

He rarely changed his dress, except when he received at his table the

authorities or the principal inhabitants of the city. He received all

petitions most graciously, and before leaving presented to the mayor of

the city a scarf of honor, and to the legate of the Pope a handsome

snuff-box ornamented with his likeness.

The deputies of the council received presents, and were most generous in

making them, presenting Madame Bonaparte with magnificent ornaments of

diamonds and precious stones, and other most valuable jewelry.

The First Consul, on arriving at Lyons, had been deeply grieved at the

sudden death of a worthy prelate whom he had known in his first campaign

in Italy.

The Archbishop of Milan had come to Lyons, notwithstanding his great age,

in order to see the First Consul, whom he loved with such tenderness that

in conversation the venerable old man continually addressed the young

general as "my son." The peasants of Pavia, having revolted because

their fanaticism had been excited by false assertions that the French

wished to destroy their religion, the Archbishop of Milan, in order to

prove that their fears were groundless, often showed himself in a

carriage with General Bonaparte.

This prelate had stood the journey well, and appeared in good health and

fine spirits. Talleyrand, who had arrived at Lyons a few days before the

First Consul, gave a dinner to the Cisalpine deputies and the principal

notables of the city, at which the Archbishop of Milan sat on his right.

He had scarcely taken his seat, and was in the act of leaning forward to

speak to M. de Talleyrand, when he fell dead in his armchair.

On the 12th of January the town of Lyons gave, in honor of the First

Consul and Madame Bonaparte, a magnificent fete, consisting of a concert,

followed by a ball. At eight o'clock in the evening, the three mayors,

accompanied by the superintendents of the fete, called upon their

illustrious guests in the government palace. I can imagine that I see

again spread out before me that immense amphitheater, handsomely

decorated, and illuminated by innumerable lusters and candles, the seats

draped with the richest cloths manufactured in the city, and filled with

thousands of women, some brilliant in youth and beauty, and all

magnificently attired. The theater had been chosen as the place of the

fete; and on the entrance of the First Consul and Madame Bonaparte, who

advanced leaning on the arm of one of the mayors, there arose a thunder

of applause and acclamations. Suddenly the decorations of the theater

faded from sight, and the Place Bonaparte (the former Place Belcour)

appeared, as it had been restored by order of the First Consul. In the

midst rose a pyramid, surmounted by the statue of the First Consul, who

was represented as resting upon a lion. Trophies of arms and bas-reliefs

represented on one side, the other that of Marengo.

When the first, transports excited by this spectacle, which recalled at

once the benefits and the victories of the hero of the fete, had

subsided, there succeeded a deep silence, and delightful music was heard,

mingled with songs, dedicated to the glory of the First Consul, to his

wife, the warriors who surrounded him, and the representatives of the

Italian republics. The singers and the musicians were amateurs of Lyons.

Mademoiselle Longue, Gerbet, the postmaster, and Theodore, the merchant,

who had each performed their parts in a charming manner, received the

congratulations of the First Consul, and the most gracious thanks of

Madame Bonaparte.

What struck me most forcibly in the couplets which were sung on that

occasion, and which much resembled all verses written for such occasions,

was that incense was offered to the First Consul in the very terms which

all the poets of the Empire have since used in their turn. All the

exaggerations of flattery were exhausted during the consulate; and in the

years which followed, it was necessary for poets often to repeat

themselves. Thus, in the couplets of Lyons, the First Consul was the God

of victory, the conqueror of the Nile and of Neptune, the savior of his

country, the peacemaker of the world, the arbiter of Europe. The French

soldiers were transformed into friends and companions of Alcides, etc.,

all of which was cutting the ground from under the feet of the singers of

the future.

The fete of Lyons ended in a ball which lasted until daylight, at which

the First Consul remained two hours, which he spent in conversation with

the magistrates of the city. While the better class of the inhabitants

gave these grand entertainments to their guests, the people,

notwithstanding the cold, abandoned themselves on the public squares to

pleasure and dancing, and towards midnight there was a fine display of

fireworks on the Place Bonaparte.

After fifteen or eighteen days passed at Lyons, we returned to Paris, the

First Consul and his wife continuing to reside by preference at

Malmaison. It was, I think, a short time after the return of the First

Consul that a poorly dressed man begged an audience; an order was given

to admit him to the cabinet, and the First Consul inquired his name.

"General," replied the petitioner, frightened by his presence, "it is I

who had the honor of giving you writing lessons in the school of

Brienne."--"Fine scholar you have made!" interrupted vehemently the

First Consul; "I compliment you on it!" Then he began to laugh at his

own vehemence, and addressed a few kind words to this good man, whose

timidity such a compliment had not reassured. A few days after the

master received, from the least promising, doubtless, of all his pupils

at Brienne (you know how the Emperor wrote), a pension amply sufficient

for his needs.

Another of the old teachers of the First Consul, the Abbe Dupuis, was

appointed by him to the post of private librarian at Malmaison, and lived

and died there. He was a modest man, and had the reputation of being

well-educated. The First Consul visited him often in his room, and paid

him every imaginable attention and respect.

CHAPTER IX.

The day on which the First Consul promulgated the law of public worship,

he rose early, and entered the dressing-room to make his toilet. While

he was dressing I saw Joseph Bonaparte enter his room with Cambaceres.

"Well," said the First Consul to the latter, "we are going to mass. What

do they think of that in Paris?"--"Many persons," replied M. Cambaceres,

"will go to the representation with the intention of hissing the piece,

if they do not find it amusing."

"If any one thinks of hissing, I will have him put out-of-doors by the

grenadiers of the Consular Guard."

"But if the grenadiers begin to hiss like the others?"

"I have no fear of that. My old soldiers will go to Notre Dame exactly

as they went to the mosque at Cairo. They will watch me; and seeing

their general remain quiet and reverent, they will do as he does, saying

to themselves, 'That is the countersign!'"

"I am afraid," said Joseph Bonaparte, "that the general officers will not

be so accommodating. I have just left Augereau, who was vomiting fire

and fury against what he calls your capricious proclamations. He, and.

a few others, will not be easy to bring back into the pale of our holy

mother, the church."

"Bah! that is like Augereau. He is a bawler, who makes a great noise;

and yet if he has a little imbecile cousin, he puts him in the priests

college for me to make a chaplain of him.

"That reminds me," continued the First Consul, addressing his colleague,

"when is your brother going to take possession of his see of Rouen? Do

you know it has the finest archiepiscopal palace in France? He will be

cardinal before a year has passed; that matter is already arranged."

The second consul bowed. From that moment his manner towards the First

Consul was rather that of a courtier than an equal.

The plenipotentiaries who had been appointed to examine and sign the

Concordat were Joseph Bonaparte, Cruet, and the Abbe Bernier. This

latter, whom I saw sometimes at the Tuileries, had been a chief of the

Chouans, [The Chouans were Royalists in insurrection in Brittany.]

and took a prominent part in all that occurred. The First Consul, in

this same conversation, the opening of which I have just related,

discussed with his two companions the subject of the conferences on the

Concordat. "The Abby Bernier," said the First Consul, "inspired fear in

the Italian prelates by the vehemence of his logic. It might have been

said that he imagined himself living over again the days in which he led

the Vendeens to the charge against the blues. Nothing could be more

striking than the contrast of his rude and quarrelsome manner with the

polished bearing and honeyed tones of the prelates. Cardinal Caprara

came to me two days ago, with a shocked air, to ask if it is true that,

during the war of the Vendee, the Abbe Bernier made an altar on which to

celebrate mass out of the corpses of the Republicans. I replied that I

knew nothing of it, but that it was possible. 'General, First Consul,'

cried the frightened cardinal, 'it is not a red hat, but a red cap, which

that man should have?'

"I am much afraid," continued the First Consul, "that that kind of cap

would prevent the Abbe Bernier from getting the red hat."

These gentlemen left the First Consul when his toilet was finished, and

went to make their own. The First Consul wore on that day the costume of

the consuls, which consisted of a scarlet coat without facings, and with

a broad embroidery of palms, in gold, on all the seams. His sword, which

he had worn in Egypt, hung at his side from a belt, which, though not

very wide, was of beautiful workmanship, and richly embroidered. He wore

his black stock, in preference to a lace cravat, and like his colleagues,

wore knee-breeches and shoes; a French hat, with floating plumes of the

three colors, completed this rich costume.

The celebration of this sacrament at Notre Dame was a novel sight to the

Parisians, and many attended as if it were a theatrical representation.

Many, also, especially amongst the military, found it rather a matter of

raillery than of edification; and those who, during the Revolution, had

contributed all their strength to the overthrow of the worship which the

First Consul had just re-established, could with difficulty conceal their

indignation and their chagrin.

The common people saw in the Te Deum which was sung that day for peace

and the Concordat, only an additional gratification of their curiosity;

but among the middle classes there was a large number of pious persons,

who had deeply regretted the suppression of the forms of devotion in

which they had been reared, and who were very happy in returning to the

old worship. And, indeed, there was then no manifestation of

superstition or of bigotry sufficient to alarm the enemies of

intolerance.

The clergy were exceedingly careful not to appear too exacting; they

demanded little, condemned no one; and the representative of the Holy

Father, the cardinal legate, pleased all, except perhaps a few

dissatisfied old priests, by his indulgence, the worldly grace of his

manners, and the freedom of his conduct. This prelate was entirely in

accord with the First Consul, and he took great pleasure in conversing

with him.

It is also certain, that apart from all religious sentiment, the fidelity

of the people to their ancient customs made them return with pleasure to

the repose and celebration of Sunday. The Republican calendar was

doubtless wisely computed; but every one is at first sight struck with

the ridiculousness of replacing the legend of the saints of the old

calendar with the days of the ass, the hog, the turnip, the onion, etc.

Besides, if it was skillfully computed, it was by no means conveniently

divided. I recall on this subject the remark of a man of much wit, and

who, notwithstanding the disapprobation which his remark implied,

nevertheless desired the establishment of the Republican system,

everywhere except in the almanac. When the decree of the Convention

which ordered the adoption of the Republican calendar was published, he

remarked: "They have done finely; but they have to fight two enemies who

never yield, the beard, and the white shirt."

[That is to say, the barber and the washerwoman, for whom ten days

was too long an interval.--TRANS.]

The truth is, the interval from one decadi to another was too long for

the working-classes, and for all those who were constantly occupied.

I do not know whether it was the effect of a deep-rooted habit, but

people accustomed to working six days in succession, and resting on the

seventh, found nine days of consecutive labor too long, and consequently

the suppression of the decadi was universally approved. The decree which

ordered the publication of marriage bans on Sunday was not so popular,

for some persons were afraid of finding in this the revival of the former

dominance of the clergy over the civil authorities.

A few days after the solemn re-establishment of the catholic worship,

there arrived at the Tuileries a general officer, who would perhaps have

preferred the establishment of Mahomet, and the change of Notre Dame into

a mosque. He was the last general-in-chief of the army of Egypt, and was

said to have turned Mussulman at Cairo, ex-Baron de Menou. In spite of

the defeat by the English which he had recently undergone in Egypt,

General Abdallah-Menou was well received by the First Consul, who

appointed him soon after governor-general of Piedmont. General Menou was

of tried courage, and had given proof of it elsewhere, as well as on the

field of battle, and amid the most trying circumstances.

After the 10th of August, although belonging to the Republican party, he

had accompanied Louis Sixteenth to the Assembly, and had been denounced

as a Royalist by the Jacobins. In 1795 the Faubourg Saint Antoine having

risen en masse, and advanced against the Convention, General Menou had

surrounded and disarmed the seditious citizens; but he had refused to

obey the atrocious orders of the commissioners of the Convention, who

decreed that the entire faubourg should be burned, in order to punish the

inhabitants for their continued insurrections. Some time afterwards,

having again refused to obey the order these commissioners of the

Convention gave, to mow down with grapeshot the insurrectionists of

Paris, he had been summoned before a commission, which would not have

failed to send him to the guillotine, if General Bonaparte, who had

succeeded him in the command of the army of the interior, had not used

all his influence to save his life. Such repeated acts of courage and

generosity are enough, and more than enough, to cause us to pardon in

this brave officer, the very natural pride with which he boasted of

having armed the National Guards, and having caused the tricolor to be

substituted for the white flag. The tricolor he called my flag. From

the government of Piedmont he passed to that of Venice; and died in 1810

for love of an actress, whom he had followed from Venice to Reggio, in

spite of his sixty years.

The institution of the order of the Legion of Honor preceded by a few

days the proclamation of the Consulate for life, which proclamation was

the occasion of a fete, celebrated on the 15th of August. This was the

anniversary of the birth of the First Consul, and the opportunity was

used in order to make for the first time this anniversary a festival.

On that day the First Consul was thirty-three years old.

In the month of October following I went with the First Consul on his

journey into Normandy, where we stopped at Ivry, and the First Consul

visited the battlefield. He said, on arriving there, "Honor to the

memory of the best Frenchman who ever sat upon the throne of France," and

ordered the restoration of the column, which had been formerly erected,

in memory of the victory achieved by Henry the Fourth. The reader will

perhaps desire to read here the inscriptions, which were engraved by his

order, on the four faces of the pyramid.

First Inscription.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, FIRST CONSUL, TO THE MEMORY

OF HENRY THE FOURTH, VICTORIOUS OVER THE

ENEMIES OF THE STATE, ON THE FIELD

OF IVRY, 14TH MARCH, 1590.

Second Inscription.

GREAT MEN LOVE THE GLORY OF THOSE WHO RESEMBLE THEM.

Third Inscription.

THE 7TH BRUMAIRE, YEAR XI, OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, FIRST CONSUL,

HAVING VISITED THIS FIELD, ORDERED THE REBUILDING

OF THE MONUMENT DESTINED TO PERPETUATE THE MEMORY OF

HENRY IV., AND THE VICTORY OF IVRY.

Fourth Inscription.

THE WOES EXPERIENCED BY FRANCE, AT THE EPOCH

OF THE BATTLE OF IVRY, WERE THE RESULT

OF THE APPEAL MADE BY THE OPPOSING PARTIES IN FRANCE TO

SPAIN AND ENGLAND. EVERY FAMILY, EVERY PARTY

WHICH CALLS IN FOREIGN POWERS TO ITS AID,

HAS MERITED AND WILL MERIT, TO THE MOST DISTANT POSTERITY

THE MALEDICTION OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE.

All these inscriptions have since been effaced, and replaced by this, "On

this spot Henry the Fourth stood the day of the battle of Ivry, 14th

March, 1590."

Monsieur Ledier, Mayor of Ivry, accompanied the First Consul on this

excursion; and the First Consul held a long conversation with him, in

which he appeared to be agreeably impressed. He did not form so good an

opinion of the Mayor of Evreux, and interrupted him abruptly, in the

midst of a complimentary address which this worthy magistrate was trying

to make him, by asking if he knew his colleague, the Mayor of Ivry. "No,

general," replied the mayor. "Well, so much the worse for you; I trust

you will make his acquaintance."

It was also at Evreux that an official of high rank amused Madame

Bonaparte and her suite, by a naivete which the First Consul alone did

not find diverting, because he did not like such simplicity displayed by

an official. Monsieur de Ch---- did the honors of the country town to

the wife of the First Consul, and this, in spite of his age, with much

zeal and activity; and Madame Bonaparte, among other questions which.

her usual kindness and grace dictated to her, asked him if he was

married, and if he had a family. "Indeed, Madame, I should think so,"

replied Monsieur de Ch---- with a smile and a bow, "j'ai cinq-z-enfants."

--"Oh, mon Dieu," cried Madame Bonaparte, "what a regiment! That is

extraordinary; what, sir, seize enfants?"--"Yes, Madame, cinq-z-enfants,

cinq-z-enfants," repeated the official, who did not see anything very

marvelous in it, and who wondered at the astonishment shown by Madame

Bonaparte. At last some one explained to her the mistake which la

liaison dangereuse of M. de Ch had caused her to make, and added with

comic seriousness, "Deign, Madame, to excuse M. de Ch----. The

Revolution has interrupted the prosecution of his studies." He was more

than sixty years of age.

From Evreux we set out for Rouen, where we arrived at three o'clock in

the afternoon. Chaptal, Minister of the Interior, Beugnot, Prefect of

the Department, and Cambaceres, Archbishop of Rouen, came to meet the

First Consul at some distance from the city. The Mayor Fontenay waited

at the gates, and presented the keys. The First Consul held them some

time in his hands, and then returned them to the mayor, saying to him

loud enough to be heard by the crowd which surrounded the carriage,

"Citizens, I cannot trust the keys of the city to any one better than the

worthy magistrate who so worthily enjoys my confidence and your own;" and

made Fontenay enter his carriage, saying he wished to honor Rouen in the

person of its mayor.

Madame Bonaparte rode in the carriage with her husband; General Moncey,

Inspector-general of the Constabulary, on horseback on the right; in the

second carriage was General Soult and his aides-de-camp; in the third

carriage, General Bessieres and M. de Lugay; in the fourth, General

Lauriston; then came the carriages of the personal attendants, Hambard,

Hebert, and I being in the first.

It is impossible to give an idea of the enthusiasm of the inhabitants of

Rouen on the arrival of the First Consul. The market-porters and the

boatmen in grand costume awaited us outside the city; and when the

carriage which held the two august personages was in sight, these brave

men placed themselves in line, two and two, and preceded thus the

carriage to the hotel of the prefecture, where the First Consul alighted.

The prefect and the mayor of Rouen, the archbishop, and the general

commanding the division dined with the First Consul, who showed a most

agreeable animation during the repast, and with much solicitude asked

information as to the condition of manufactures, new discoveries in the

art of manufacturing, in fact, as to everything relating to the

prosperity of this city, which was essentially industrial.

In the evening, and almost the whole night, an immense crowd surrounded

the hotel, and filled the gardens of the prefecture, which were

illuminated and ornamented with allegorical transparencies in praise of

the First Consul; and each time he showed himself on the terrace of the

garden the air resounded with applause and acclamations which seemed most

gratifying to him.

The next morning, after having made on horseback the tour of the city,

and visited the grand sites by which it is surrounded, the First Consul

heard mass, which was celebrated at eleven o'clock by the archbishop in,

the chapel of the prefecture. An hour after he had to receive the

general council of the department, the council of the prefecture, the

municipal council, the clergy of Rouen, and the courts of justice, and

was obliged to listen to a half-dozen discourses, all expressed in nearly

the same terms, and to which he replied in such a manner as to give the

orators the highest opinion of their own merit. All these bodies, on

leaving the First Consul, were presented to Madame Bonaparte, who

received them with her accustomed grace, in, the evening Madame Bonaparte

held a reception for the wives of the officials, at which the First

Consul was present, of which fact some availed themselves to present to

him several emigres, who had recently returned under the act of amnesty,

and whom he received graciously.

After which followed crowds, illuminations, acclamations, all similar to

those of the evening before. Every one wore an air of rejoicing which

delighted me, and contrasted strangely, I thought, with the dreadful

wooden houses, narrow, filthy streets, and Gothic buildings which then

distinguished the town of Rouen.

Monday, Nov. 1, at seven o'clock in the morning, the First Consul mounted

his horse, and, escorted by a detachment of the young men of the city,

forming a volunteer guard, passed the bridge of boats, and reached the

Faubourg Saint-Sever. On his return from this excursion, we found the

populace awaiting him at the head of the bridge, whence they escorted him

to the hotel of the prefecture, manifesting the liveliest joy.

After breakfast, there was a high mass by the archbishop, the occasion

being the fete of All Saints; then came the learned societies, the chiefs

of administration, and justices of the peace, with their speeches, one of

which contained a remarkable sentence, in which these good magistrates,

in their enthusiasm, asked the First Consul's permission to surname him

the great justice of the peace of Europe. As they left the Consul's

apartment I noticed their spokesman; he had tears in his eyes, and was

repeating with pride the reply he had just received.

I regret that I do not remember his name, but I was told that he was one

of the most highly esteemed men in Rouen. His countenance inspired

confidence, and bore an expression of frankness, which prepossessed me in

his favor.

In the evening the First Consul went to the theater, which was packed to

the ceiling, and offered a charming sight. The municipal authorities had

a delightful fete prepared, which the First Consul found much to his

taste, and upon which he complimented the prefect and the mayor on

several different occasions. After witnessing the opening of the ball,

he made two or three turns in the hall, and retired, escorted by the

staff of the National Guard.

On Tuesday much of the day was spent by the First Consul in visiting the

workshops of the numerous factories of the city, accompanied by the

minister of the interior, the prefect, the mayor, the general commanding

the division, the inspector-general of police, and the staff of the

Consular Guard. In a factory of the Faubourg Saint-Sever, the minister

of the interior presented to him the dean of the workmen, noted as having

woven the first piece of velvet in France; and the First Consul, after

complimenting this honorable old man, granted him a pension. Other

rewards and encouragements were likewise distributed to several parties

whose useful inventions commended them to public gratitude.

Wednesday morning early we left for Elbeuf, where we arrived at ten

o'clock, preceded by threescore young men of the most distinguished

families of the city, who, following the example of those of Rouen,

aspired to the honor of forming the guard of the First Consul.

The country around us was covered with an innumerable multitude, gathered

from all the surrounding communes. The First Consul alighted at Elbeuf,

at the house of the mayor, where he took breakfast, and then visited the

town in detail, obtaining information everywhere; and knowing that one of

the first wishes of the citizens was the construction of a road from

Elbeuf to a small neighboring town called Romilly, he gave orders to the

minister of the interior to begin work upon it immediately.

At Elbeuf, as at Rouen, the First Consul was overwhelmed with homage and

benedictions; and we returned from this last town at four o'clock in the

afternoon.

The merchants of Rouen had prepared a fete in the hall of the Stock

Exchange, which the First Consul and his family attended after dinner.

He remained a long time on the ground floor of this building, where there

were displayed magnificent specimens from the industries of this

Department. He examined everything, and made Madame Bonaparte do the

same; and she also purchased several pieces of cloth.

The First Consul then ascended to the first floor, where, in the grand

saloon, were gathered about a hundred ladies, married and single, and

almost all pretty, the wives and daughters of the principal merchants of

Rouen, who were waiting to compliment him. He seated himself in this

charming circle, and remained there perhaps a quarter of an hour; then

passed into another room, where awaited him the representation of a

little proverb, containing couplets expressing, as may be imagined, the

attachment and gratitude of the inhabitants of Rouen. This play was

followed by a ball.

Thursday evening the First Consul announced that he would leave for Havre

the next morning at daybreak; and exactly at five o'clock I was awakened

by Hebert, who said that at six o'clock we would set out. I awoke

feeling badly, was sick the whole day, and would have given much to have

slept a few hours longer; but we were compelled to begin our journey.

Before entering his carriage, the First Consul made a present to

Monseigneur, the archbishop, of a snuff-box with his portrait, and also

gave one to the mayor, on which was the inscription, 'Peuple Francais'.

We stopped at Caudebec for breakfast. The mayor of this town presented

to the First Consul a corporal who had made the campaign of Italy (his

name was, I think, Roussel), and who had received a sword of honor as a

reward for his brave conduct at Marengo. He was at Caudebec on a

half-year's furlough, and asked the First Consul's permission to be a

sentinel at the door of the apartment of the august travelers, which was

granted; and after the First Consul and Madame Bonaparte were seated at

the table, Roussel was sent for, and invited to breakfast with his

former general. At Havre and at Dieppe the First Consul invited thus to

his table all the soldiers or sailors who had received guns, sabers, or

boarding-axes of honor. The First Consul stopped an hour at Bolbec,

showing much attention and interest in examining the products of the

industries of the district, complimenting the guards of honor who passed

before him on their fine appearance, thanking the clergy for the prayers

in his behalf which they addressed to Heaven, and leaving for the poor,

either in their own hands, or in the hands of the mayor, souvenirs of

his stay. On the arrival of the First Consul at Havre, the city was

illuminated; and the First Consul and his numerous cortege passed

between two rows of illuminations and columns of fire of all kinds. The

vessels in the port appeared like a forest on fire; being covered with

colored lamps to the very top of their masts. The First Consul

received, the day of his arrival at Havre, only a part of the

authorities of the city, and soon after retired, saying that he was

fatigued; but at six o'clock in the morning of the next day he was on

horseback, and until two o'clock he rode along the seacoast and low

hills of Ingouville for more than a league, and the banks of the Seine

as far as the cliffs of Hoc. He also made a tour outside of the

citadel. About three o'clock the First Consul began to receive the

authorities. He conversed with them in great detail upon the work that

had, been done at this place in order that their port, which he always

called the port of Paris, might reach the highest degree of prosperity,

and did the sub-prefect, the mayor, the two presidents of the tribunals,

the commandant of the place, and the chief of the tenth demi-brigade of

light infantry the honor of inviting them to his table.

In the evening the First Consul went to the theater, where they played a

piece composed for the occasion, about as admirable as such pieces

usually are, but on which the First Consul and Madame Bonaparte

especially complimented the authors. The illuminations were more

brilliant even than on the evening before; and I remember especially that

the largest number of transparencies bore the inscription, 18th Brumaire,

year VIII.

Sunday, at seven o'clock in the morning, after having visited the Marine

Arsenal and all the docks, the weather being very fine, the First Consul

embarked in a little barge, and remained in the roadstead for several

hours, escorted by a large number of barges filled with men and elegantly

dressed women, and musicians playing the favorite airs of the First

Consul. Then a few hours were again passed in the reception of

merchants, the First Consul assuring them that he had taken the greatest

pleasure in conferring with them in regard to the commerce of Havre with

the colonies. In the evening, there was a fete prepared by the

merchants, at which the First Consul remained for half an hour; and on

Monday, at five o'clock in the morning, he embarked on a lugger for

Honfleur. At the time of his departure the weather was a little

threatening, and the First Consul was advised not to embark. Madame

Bonaparte, whose ears this rumor reached, ran after her husband, begging

him not to set out; but he embraced her, laughing, calling her a coward,

and entered the vessel which was awaiting him. He had hardly embarked

when the wind suddenly lulled, and the weather became very fine. On his

return to Havre, the First Consul held a review on the Place de la

Citadelle, and visited the artillery barracks, after which he received,

until the evening, a large number of public dignitaries and merchants;

and the next day, at six o'clock in the morning, we set out for Dieppe.

When we arrived at Fecamp, the town presented an extremely singular

spectacle. All the inhabitants of the town, and of the adjoining towns

and villages, followed the clergy, chanting a Te Deum for the anniversary

of the 18th Brumaire; and these countless voices rising to heaven for him

affected the First Consul profoundly. He repeated several times during

breakfast that he had felt more emotion on hearing these chants under the

dome of heaven than he had ever felt while listening to the most

brilliant music.

We arrived at Dieppe at six o'clock in the evening. The First Consul

retired, only after having received all their felicitations, which were

certainly very sincere there, as throughout all France at that time. The

next day, at eight o'clock, the First Consul repaired to the harbor,

where he remained a long while watching the return of the fishermen, and

afterwards visited the faubourg of Pollet, and the work on the docks,

which was then just beginning. He admitted to his table the sub-prefect,

the mayor, and three sailors of Dieppe who had been given boarding-axes

of honor for distinguishing themselves in the combat off Boulogne. He

ordered the construction of a breakwater in the inner port, and the

continuation of a canal for navigation, which was to be extended as far

as Paris, and of which, until this present time, only a few fathoms have

been made. From Dieppe we went to Gisors and to Beauvais; and finally

the First Consul and his wife returned to Saint-Cloud, after an absence

of two weeks, during which workmen had been busily employed in restoring

the ancient royal residence, which the First Consul had decided to

accept, as I have before stated.

CHAPTER X.

The tour of the First Consul through the wealthiest and most enlightened

departments of France had removed from his mind the apprehension of many

difficulties which he had feared at first in the execution of his plans.

Everywhere he had been treated as a monarch, and not only he personally,

but Madame Bonaparte also, had been received with all the honors usually

reserved for crowned heads. There was no difference between the homage

offered them at this time, and that which they received later, even

during the Empire, when their Majesties made tours of their states at

different times. For this reason I shall give some details; and if they

should seem too long, or not very novel, the reader will remember that I

am not writing only for those who lived during the Empire. The

generation which witnessed such great deeds, and which, under their very

eyes, and from the beginning of his career, saw the greatest man of this

century, has already given place to another generation, which can judge

him only by what others may narrate of him. What may be familiar to

those who saw with their own eyes is not so to others, who can only take

at second-hand those things which they had no opportunity of seeing for

themselves. Besides, details omitted as frivolous or commonplace by

history, which makes a profession of more gravity, are perfectly

appropriate in simple memoirs, and often enable one to understand and

judge the epoch more correctly. For instance, it seems to me that the

enthusiasm displayed by the entire population and all the local

authorities for the First Consul and his wife during their tour in

Normandy showed clearly that the chief of the state would have no great

opposition to fear, certainly none on the part of the nation, whenever it

should please him to change his title, and proclaim himself Emperor.

Soon after our return, by a decree of the consuls four ladies were

assigned to Madame Bonaparte to assist her in doing the honors of the

palace. They were Mesdames de Remusat, de Tallouet, de Lucay, and de

Lauriston. Under the Empire they became ladies-in-waiting. Madame de

Lauriston often raised a smile by little exhibitions of parsimony, but

she was good and obliging. Madame de Remusat possessed great merit, and

had sound judgment, though she appeared somewhat haughty, which was the

more remarkable as M. de Remusat was exactly the reverse. Subsequently

there was another lady of honor, Madame de La Rochefoucault, of whom I

shall have occasion to speak later.

The lady of the robes, Madame de Lucay, was succeeded by Madame La

Vallette, so gloriously known afterwards by her devotion to her husband.

There were twenty-four French ladies-in-waiting, among whom were Mesdames

de Remusat, de Tallouet, de Lauriston, Ney, d'Arberg, Louise d'Arberg

(afterwards the Countess of Lobau), de Walsh-Serent, de Colbert, Lannes,

Savary, de Turenne, Octave de Segur, de Montalivet, de Marescot, de

Bouille Solar, Lascaris, de Brignole, de Canisy, de Chevreuse, Victor de

Mortemart, de Montmorency, Matignon, and Maret. There were also twelve

Italian ladies-in-waiting.

These ladies served in turn one month each, there being thus two French

and one Italian lady on duty together. The Emperor at first did not

admit unmarried ladies among the ladies-in-waiting; but he relaxed this

rule first in favor of Mademoiselle Louise d'Arberg (afterwards Countess

of Lobau), and then in favor of Mademoiselle de Lucay, who has since

married Count Philip de Segur, author of the excellent history of the

campaign in Russia; and these two young ladies by their prudence and

circumspect conduct proved themselves above criticism even at court.

There were four lady ushers, Mesdames Soustras, Ducrest-Villeneuve,

Felicite Longroy, and Egle Marchery.

Two first ladies' maids, Mesdames Roy and Marco de St. Hilaire, who had

under their charge the grand wardrobe and the jewel-box.

There were four ladies' maids in ordinary.

A lady reader.

The men on the staff of the Empress's household were the following:

A grand equerry, Senator Harville, who discharged the duties of a

chevalier of honor.

A head chamberlain, the general of division, Nansouty.

A vice-chamberlain, introducer of the ambassadors, de Beaumont.

Four chamberlains in ordinary, de Courtomer, Degrave, Galard de Bearn,

Hector d'Aubusson de la Feuillade.

Four equerries, Corbineau, Berckheim, d'Audenarde, and Fouler.

A superintendent-general of her Majesty's household, Hinguerlot.

A secretary of commands, Deschamps.

Two head valets, Frere and Douville.

Four valets in ordinary.

Four men servants.

Two head footmen, L'Esperance and d'Argens. Six ordinary footmen. The

staff of the kitchen and sanitation were the same as in the household of

the Emperor; and besides these, six pages of the Emperor were always in

attendance upon the Empress.

The chief almoner was Ferdinand de Rohan, former archbishop of Cambray.

Another decree of the same date fixed the duties of the prefects of the

palace. The four head prefects of the consular palace were de Remusat,

de Crayamel (afterwards appointed introduces of ambassadors, and master

of ceremonies), de Lugay, and Didelot. The latter subsequently became

prefect of the Department of the Cher.

Malmaison was no longer sufficient for the First Consul, whose household,

like that of Madame Bonaparte, became daily more numerous. A much larger

building had become necessary, and the First Consul fixed his choice upon

Saint-Cloud.

The inhabitants of Saint-Cloud addressed a petition to the Corps

Legislatif, praying that the First Consul would make their chateau his

summer residence; and this body hastened to transmit it to him, adding

their prayers to the same effect, and making comparisons which they

believed would be agreeable to him. The general refused formally, saying

that when he should have finished and laid down the duties with which the

people had charged him, he would feel honored by any recompense which the

popular will might award him; but that so long as he was the chief of the

Government he would accept nothing.

Notwithstanding the determined tone of this reply, the inhabitants of the

village of Saint-Cloud, who had the greatest interest in the petition

being granted, renewed it when the First Consul was chosen consul for

life; and he then consented to accept. The expenses of the repairs and

furnishing were immense, and greatly exceeded the calculations that had

been made for him; nevertheless, he was not satisfied either with the

furniture or ornaments, and complained to Charvet, the concierge at

Malmaison, whom he appointed to the same post in the new palace, and whom

he had charged with the general supervision of the furnishing and the

placing of the furniture, that he had fitted up apartments suitable only

for a mistress, and that they contained only gewgaws and spangles, and

nothing substantial. On this occasion, also, he gave another proof of

his habitual desire to do good, in spite of prejudices which had not yet

spent their force. Knowing that there were at Saint-Cloud a large number

of the former servants of Queen Marie Antoinette, he charged Charvet to

offer them either their old places or pensions, and most of them resumed

their former posts. In 1814 the Bourbons were far from acting so

generously, for they discharged all employees, even those who had served

Marie Antoinette.

The First Consul had been installed at Saint-Cloud only a short while,

when the chateau, which had thus again become the residence of the

sovereign at enormous expense, came near falling a prey to the flames.

The guard room was under the vestibule, in the center of the palace; and

one night, the soldiers having made an unusually large fire, the stove

became so hot that a sofa, whose back touched one of the flues which

warmed the saloon, took fire, and the games were quickly communicated to

the other furniture. The officer on duty perceiving this, immediately

notified the concierge, and together they ran to General Duroc's room and

awoke him. The general rose in haste, and, commanding perfect silence,

made a chain of men. He took his position at the pool, in company with

the concierge, and thence passed buckets of water to the soldiers for two

or three hours, at the end of which time the fire was extinguished, but

only after devouring all the furniture; and it was not until the next

morning that the First Consul, Josephine, Hortense, in short, all the

other occupants of the chateau, learned of the accident, all of whom, the

First Consul especially, expressed their appreciation of the

consideration shown in not alarming them.

To prevent, or at least to render such accidents less likely in future,

the First Consul organized a night-guard at Saint-Cloud, and subsequently

did the same at all his residences; which guard-was called "the watch."

During his early occupation of Saint-Cloud the First Consul slept in the

same bed with his wife; afterwards etiquette forbade this; and as a

result, conjugal affection was somewhat chilled, and finally the First

Consul occupied an apartment at some distance from that of Madame

Bonaparte. To reach her room it was necessary to cross a long corridor,

on the right and left of which were the rooms of the ladies-in-waiting,

the women of the service, etc. When he wished to pass the night with his

wife, he undressed in his own room, and went thence in his wrapper and

night-cap, I going before him with a candle. At the end of this corridor

a staircase of fifteen or sixteen steps led to the apartment of Madame

Bonaparte. It was a great joy to her to receive a visit from her

husband, and every one was informed of it next morning. I can see her

now rubbing her little hands, saying, "I rose late to-day; but, you see,

it is because Bonaparte spent the night with me." On such days she was

more amiable than ever, refused no one, and all got whatever they

requested. I experienced proofs of this myself many times.

One evening as I was conducting the First Consul on one of these visits

to his wife, we perceived in the corridor a handsome young fellow coming

out of the apartment of one of Madame Bonaparte's women servants. He

tried to steal away; but the First Consul cried in a loud voice, "Who

goes there? Where are you going? What do you want? What is your name?"

He was merely a valet of Madame Bonaparte, and, stupefied by these

startling inquiries, replied in a frightened voice that he had just

executed an errand for Madame Bonaparte. "Very well," replied the First

Consul, "but do not let me catch you again." Satisfied that the gallant

would profit by the lesson, the general did not seek to learn his name,

nor that of his inamorata. This reminds me of an occasion on which he

was much more severe in regard to another chambermaid of Madame

Bonaparte. She was young, and very pretty, and inspired very tender

sentiments in Rapp and E----, two aides-de-camp, who besieged her with

their sighs, and sent her flowers and billets-doux. The young girl, at

least such was the opinion of every one, gave them no encouragement, and

Josephine was much attached to her; nevertheless, when the First Consul

observed the gallantries of the young men, he became angry, and had the

poor girl discharged, in spite of her tears and the prayers of Madame

Bonaparte and of the brave and honest Colonel Rapp, who swore naively

that the fault was entirely on his side, that the poor child had not

listened to him, and that her conduct was worthy of all praise. Nothing

availed against the resolution of the First Consul, whose only reply was,

"I will have nothing improper in my household, and no scandal."

Whenever the First Consul made a distribution of arms of honor, there was

always a banquet at the Tuileries, to which were admitted, without

distinction, and whatever their grade, all who had a share in these

rewards. At these banquets, which took place in the grand gallery of the

chateau, there were sometimes two hundred guests; and General Duroc being

master of ceremonies on these occasions, the First Consul took care to

recommend him to intermingle the private soldiers, the colonels, the

generals, etc. He ordered the domestics to show especial attention to

the private soldiers, and to see that they had plenty of the best to eat

and to drink. These are the longest repasts I have seen the emperor

make; and on these occasions he was amiable and entirely unconstrained,

making every effort to put his guests entirely at their ease, though with

many of them this was a difficult task. Nothing was more amusing than to

see these brave soldiers sitting two feet from-the table, not daring to

approach their plates or the food, red to the ears, and with their necks

stretched out towards the general, as if to receive the word of command.

The First Consul made them relate the notable deeds which had brought

each his national recognition, and often laughed boisterously at their

singular narrations. He encouraged them to eat, and frequently drank to

their health; but in spite of all this, his encouragement failed to

overcome the timidity of some, and the servants removed the plates of

each course without their having touched them, though this constraint did

not prevent their being full of joy and enthusiasm as they left the

table. "Au revoir, my brave men," the First Consul would say to them;

"baptize for me quickly these new-born," touching with his fingers their

sabers of honor. God knows whether they spared themselves!

This preference of the First Consul for the private soldier recalls an

instance which took-place at Malmaison, and which furnishes, besides, a

complete refutal of the charges of severity and harshness which have been

brought against him.

The First Consul set out on foot one morning, dressed in his gray

riding-coat, and accompanied by General Duroc, on the road to Marly.

Chatting as they walked, they saw a plowman, who turned a furrow as he

came towards them.

"See here, my good man," said the First Consul, stopping him, "your

furrow is not straight. You do not know your business."--"It is not you,

my fine gentleman, who can teach me. You cannot do as well. No, indeed

-you think so; very well, just try it," replied the good man, yielding

his place to the First Consul, who took the plow-handle, and making the

team start, commenced to give his lesson. But he did not plow a single

yard of a straight line. The whole furrow was crooked. "Come, come,"

said the countryman, putting his hand on that of the general to resume

his plow, "your work is no good. Each one to his trade. Saunter along,

that is your business." But the First Consul did not proceed without

paying for the lesson he had received. General Duroc handed the laborer

two or three louis to compensate him for the loss of time they had caused

him; and the countryman, astonished by this generosity, quitted his plow

to relate his adventure, and met on the way a woman whom he told that he

had met two big men, judging by what he had in his hand.

The woman, better informed, asked him to describe the dress of the men,

and from his description ascertained that it was the First Consul and one

of his staff; the good man was overcome with astonishment. The next day

he made a brave resolution, and donning his best clothes, presented

himself at Malmaison, requesting to speak to the First Consul, to thank

him, he said, for the fine present he had given him the day before.

I notified the First Consul of this visit, and he ordered me to bring the

laborer in. While I was gone to announce him, he had, according to his

own expression, taken his courage in both hands to prepare himself for

this grand interview; and I found him on my return, standing in the

center of the antechamber (for he did not dare to sit upon the sofas,

which though very simple seemed to him magnificent), and pondering what

he should say to the First Consul in token of his gratitude. I preceded

him, and he followed me, placing each foot cautiously on the carpet; and

when I opened the door of the cabinet, he insisted with much civility on

my going first. When the First Consul had nothing private to say or

dictate, he permitted the door to stand open; and he now made me a sign

not to close it, so that I was able to see and hear all that passed.

The honest laborer commenced, on entering the cabinet, by saluting the

back of de Bourrienne, who could not see him, occupied as he was in

writing upon a small table placed in the recess of a window. The First

Consul saw him make his bows, himself reclining in his armchair, one of

the arms of which, according to habit, he was pricking with the point of

his knife. Finally he spoke. "Well, my brave fellow." The peasant

turned, recognized him, and saluted anew. "Well," continued the First

Consul, "has the harvest been fine this year?"--"No, with all respect,

Citizen General, but not so very bad."

"In order that the earth should produce, it is necessary that it should

be turned up, is it not so? Fine gentlemen are no good for such work."

"Meaning no offense, General, the bourgeois have hands too soft to handle

a plow. There is need of a hard fist to handle these tools."

"That is so," replied the First Consul, smiling. "But big and strong as

you are, you should handle something else than a plow. A good musket,

for instance, or the handle of a good saber."

The laborer drew himself up with an air of pride. "General, in my time I

have done as others. I had been married six or seven years when these

d---d Prussians (pardon me, General) entered Landrecies. The requisition

came. They gave me a gun and a cartridge-box at the Commune

headquarters, and march! My soul, we were not equipped like those big

gallants that I saw just now on entering the courtyard." He referred to

the grenadiers of the Consular Guard.

"Why did you quit the service?" resumed the First Consul, who appeared

to take great interest in the conversation.

"My faith, General, each one in his turn, and there are saber strokes

enough for every one. One fell on me there" (the worthy laborer bent

his head and divided the locks of his hair); "and after some weeks in the

field hospital, they gave me a discharge to return to my wife and my

plow."

"Have you any children?"

"I have three, General, two boys and a girl."

"You must make a soldier of the oldest. If he will conduct himself well,

I will take care of him. Adieu, my brave man. Whenever I can help you,

come to see me again." The First Consul rose, made de Bourrienne give

him some louis, which he added to those the laborer had already received

from him, and directed me to show him out, and we had already reached the

antechamber, when the First Consul called the peasant back to say to him,

"You were at Fleurus?"--"Yes, General."--"Can you tell me the name of

your general-in-chief?"--"Indeed, I should think so. It was General

Jourdan."--"That is correct. Au revoir;" and I carried off the old

soldier of the Republic, enchanted with his reception.

CHAPTER XI.

At the beginning of this year (1803), there arrived at Paris an envoy

from Tunis, who presented the First Consul, on the part of the Bey, with

ten Arab horses. The Bey at that time feared the anger of England, and

hoped to find in France a powerful ally, capable of protecting him; and

he could not have found a better time to make the application, for

everything announced the rupture of the peace of Amiens, over which all

Europe had so greatly rejoiced, for England had kept none of her

promises, and had executed no article of the treaty. On his side, the

First Consul, shocked by such bad faith, and not wishing to be a dupe,

openly prepared for war, and ordered the filling up of the ranks, and a

new levy of one hundred and twenty thousand conscripts. War was

officially declared in June, but hostilities had already begun before

this time.

At the end of this month the First Consul made a journey to Boulogne, and

visited Picardy, Flanders, and Belgium, in order to organize an

expedition which he was meditating against the English, and to place the

northern seacoast in a state of defense. He returned to Paris in August,

but set out in November for a second visit to Boulogne.

This constant traveling was too much for Hambard, who for a long time had

been in feeble health; and when the First Consul was on the point of

setting out for his first tour in the North, Hambard had asked to be

excused, alleging, which was only too true, the bad state of his health.

"See how you are," said the First Consul, "always sick and complaining;

and if you stay here, who then will shave me?"--"General," replied

Hambard, "Constant knows how to shave as well as I." I was present, and

occupied at that very moment in dressing the First Consul. He looked at

me and said, "Well, you queer fellow, since you are so skilled, you shall

make proof of it at once. We must see how you will do." I knew the

misadventure of poor Hebert, which I have already related; and not

wishing a like experience, I had been for some time practicing the art of

shaving. I had paid a hairdresser to teach me his trade; and I had even,

in my moments of leisure, served an apprenticeship in his shop, where I

had shaved, without distinction, all his customers. The chins of these

good people had suffered somewhat before I had acquired sufficient

dexterity to lay a razor on the consular chin; but by dint of repeated

experiments on the beards of the commonalty I had achieved a degree of

skill which inspired me with the greatest confidence; so, in obedience to

the order of the First Consul, I brought the warm water, opened the razor

boldly, and began operations. Just as I was going to place the razor

upon the face of the First Consul, he raised himself abruptly, turned,

and fastened both eyes upon me, with an expression of severity and

interrogation which I am unable to describe. Seeing that I was not at

all embarrassed, he seated himself again, saying to me in a mild tone,

"Proceed." This I did with sufficient skill to satisfy him; and when I

had finished, he said to me, "Hereafter you are to shave me;" and, in

fact, after that he was unwilling to be shaved by any one else. From

that time also my duties became much more exacting, for every day I had

to shave the First Consul; and I admit that it was not an easy thing to

do, for while he was being shaved, he often spoke, read the papers, moved

about in his chair, turned himself abruptly, and I was obliged to use the

greatest precautions in order not to cut him. Happily this never

occurred. When by chance he did not speak, he remained immobile and

stiff as a statue, and could not be made to lower, nor raise, nor bend

his head to one side, as was necessary to accomplish the task easily. He

also had a singular fancy of having one half of his face lathered and

shaved before beginning the other, and would not allow me to pass to the

other side of his face until the first half was completely finished, as

the First Consul found that plan suited him best.

Later, when I had become his chief valet, and he deigned to give me

proofs of his kindness and esteem, and I could talk with him as freely

as his rank permitted, I took the liberty of persuading him to shave

himself; for, as I have just said, not wishing to be shaved by any one

except me, he was obliged to wait till I could be notified, especially in

the army, when his hour of rising was not regular. He refused for a long

time to take my advice, though I often repeated it. "Ah, ha, Mr. Idler!"

he would say to me, laughing, "you are very anxious for me to do half

your work;" but at last I succeeded in satisfying him of my

disinterestedness and the wisdom of my advice. The fact is, I was most

anxious to persuade him to this; for, considering what would necessarily

happen if an unavoidable absence, an illness, or some other reason, had

separated me from the First Consul, I could not reflect, without a

shudder, of his life being at the mercy of the first comer. As for him,

I am sure he never gave the matter a thought; for whatever tales have

been related of his suspicious nature, he never took any precaution

against the snares which treason might set for him. His sense of

security, in this regard, amounted even to imprudence; and consequently

all who loved him, especially those who surrounded him, endeavored to

make up for this want of precaution by all the vigilance of which they

were capable; and it is unnecessary to assert that it was this solicitude

for the precious life of my master which had caused me to insist upon the

advice I had given him to shave himself.

On the first occasions on which he attempted to put my lessons into

practice, it was even more alarming than laughable to watch the Emperor

(for such he was then); as in spite of the lessons that I had given him

with repeated illustrations, he did not yet know how to hold his razor.

He would seize it by the handle, and apply it perpendicularly to his

cheek, instead of laying it flat; he would make a sudden dash with the

razor, never failing to give himself a cut, and then draw back his hand

quickly, crying out, "See there, you scamp; you have made me cut myself."

I would then take the razor and finish the operation The next day the

same scene would be repeated, but with less bloodshed; and each day the

skill of the Emperor improved, until at last, by dint of numberless

lessons, he became sufficiently an adept to dispense with me, though he

still cut himself now and then, for which he would always mildly reproach

me, though jestingly and in kindness. Besides, from the manner in which

he began, and which he would never change, it was impossible for him not

to cut his face sometimes, for he shaved himself downward, and not

upward, like every one else; and this bad method, which all my efforts

could not change, added to the habitual abruptness of his movements, made

me shudder every time I saw him take his razor in hand.

Madame Bonaparte accompanied the First Consul on the first of these

journeys; and there was, as on that to Lyons, a continued succession of

fetes and rejoicing.

The inhabitants of Boulogne had, in anticipation of the arrival of the

First Consul, raised several triumphal arches, extending from the

Montreuil gate as far as the great road which led to his barrack, which

was situated in the camp on the right. Each arch of triumph was

decorated with evergreens, and thereon could be read the names of the

skirmishes and battles in which he had been victorious. These domes and

arches of verdure and flowers presented an admirable coup-d'-oeil. One

arch of triumph, higher than the others, was placed in the midst of the

Rue de l'Ecu (the main street), and the elite of the citizens had

assembled around it; while more than a hundred young people with garlands

of flowers, children, old men, and a great number of brave men whom

military duty had not detained in the camp, awaited with impatience the

arrival of the First Consul. At his approach the joyful booming of

cannon announced to the English, whose fleet was near by in the sea off

Boulogne, the appearance of Napoleon upon the shore on which he had

assembled the formidable army he had determined to hurl against England.

The First Consul was mounted upon a small gray horse, which was active as

a squirrel. He dismounted, and followed by his brilliant staff,

addressed these paternal words to the citizens of the town: "I come to

assure the happiness of France. The sentiments which you express, and

all your evidences of gratitude, touch me; I shall never forget my

entrance into Boulogne, which I have chosen as the center of the reunion

of my armies. Citizens, do not be alarmed by this multitude. It is that

of the defenders of your country, soon to be the conquerors of haughty

England."

The First Consul proceeded on his route, surrounded by the whole

populace, who accompanied him to the door of his headquarters, where more

than thirty generals received him, though the firing of cannon, the

ringing of bells, the cries of joy, ceased only when this great day

ended.

The day after our arrival, the First Consul visited the Pont de Brique, a

little village situated about half a league from Boulogne. A farmer read

to him the following complimentary address:--

"General, in the name of twenty fathers we offer you a score of fine

fellows who are, and always will be, at your command. Lead them,

General. They can strike a good blow for you when you march into

England. As to us, we will discharge another duty. We will till the

earth in order that bread may not be wanting to the brave men who will

crush the English."

Napoleon, smiling, thanked the patriotic countrymen, and glancing towards

the little country house, built on the edge of the highway, spoke to

General Berthier, saying, "This is where I wish my headquarters

established." Then he spurred his horse and rode off, while a general

and some officers remained to execute the order of the First Consul, who,

on the very night of his arrival at Boulogne, returned to sleep at Pont

de Brique.

They related to me at Boulogne the details of a naval combat which had

taken place a short time before our arrival between the French fleet,

commanded by Admiral Bruix, and the English squadron with which Nelson

blockaded the port of Boulogne. I will relate this as told to me,

deeming very unusual the comfortable mode in which the French admiral

directed the operations of the sailors.

About two hundred boats, counting gunboats and mortars, barges and

sloops, formed the line of defense, the shore and the forts bristling

with batteries. Some frigates advanced from the hostile line, and,

preceded by two or three brigs, ranged themselves in line of battle

before us and in reach of the cannon of our flotilla; and the combat

began. Balls flew in every direction. Nelson, who had promised the

destruction of the flotilla, re-enforced his line of battle with two

other lines of vessels and frigates; and thus placed en echelon, they

fought with a vastly superior force. For more than seven hours the sea,

covered with fire and smoke, offered to the entire population of Boulogne

the superb and frightful spectacle of a naval combat in which more than

eighteen hundred cannon were fired at the same time; but the genius of

Nelson could not avail against our sailors or soldiers. Admiral Bruix

was at his headquarters near the signal station, and from this position

directed the fight against Nelson, while drinking with his staff and some

ladies of Boulogne whom he had invited to dinner. The guests sang the

early victories of the First Consul, while the admiral, without leaving

the table, maneuvered the flotilla by means of the signals he ordered.

Nelson, eager to conquer, ordered all his naval forces to advance; but

the wind being in favor of the French, he was not able to keep the

promise he had made in London to burn our fleet, while on the contrary

many of his own boats were so greatly damaged, that Admiral Bruix, seeing

the English begin to retire, cried "Victory!" pouring out champagne for

his guests. The French flotilla suffered very little, while the enemy's

squadron was ruined by the steady fire, of our stationary batteries. On

that day the English learned that they could not possibly approach the

shore at Boulogne, which after this they named the Iron Coast (Cote de

Fer).

When the First Consul left Boulogne, he made his arrangements to pass

through Abbeville, and to stop twenty four hours there. The mayor of the

town left nothing undone towards a suitable reception, and Abbeville was

magnificent on that day. The finest trees from the neighboring woods

were taken up bodily with their roots to form avenues in all the streets

through which the First Consul was to pass; and some of the citizens, who

owned magnificent gardens, sent their rarest shrubs to be displayed along

his route; and carpets from the factory of Hecquet-Dorval were spread on

the ground, to be trodden by his horses. But unforeseen circumstances

suddenly cut short the fete.

A courier, sent by the minister of police, arrived as we were

approaching the town, who notified the First Consul of a plot to

assassinate him two leagues farther on; the very day and hour were named.

To baffle the attempt that they intended against his person, the First

Consul traversed the city in a gallop, and, followed by some lancers,

went to the spot where he was to be attacked, halted about half an hour,

ate some Abbeville cakes, and set out. The assassins were deceived.

They had not expected his arrival until the next day.

The First Consul and Madame Bonaparte continued their journey through

Picardy, Flanders, and the Low Countries. Each day the First Consul

received offers of vessels of war from the different council-generals,

the citizens continued to offer him addresses, and the mayors to present

him with the keys of the cities, as if he exercised royal power. Amiens,

Dunkirk, Lille, Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Liege, and Namur distinguished

themselves by the brilliant receptions they gave to the illustrious

travelers. The inhabitants of Antwerp presented the First Consul with

six magnificent bay horses. Everywhere also, the First Consul left

valuable souvenirs of his journey; and by his orders, works were

immediately commenced to deepen and improve the port of Amiens. He

visited in that city, and in all the others where he stopped, the

exposition of the products of industry, encouraging manufacturers by his

advice, and favoring them in his decrees. At Liege, he put at the

disposal of the prefect of the Our the the sum of three hundred thousand

francs to repair the houses burned by the Austrians, in that department,

during the early years of the Revolution. Antwerp owes to him the inner

port, a basin, and the building of carpenter-shops. At Brussels, he

ordered that the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt should be connected by

a canal. He gave to Givet a stone bridge over the Meuse, and at Sedan

the widow Madame Rousseau received from him the sum of sixty thousand

francs for the re-establishment of the factory destroyed by fire.

Indeed, I cannot begin to enumerate all the benefits, both public and

private, which the First Consul and Madame Bonaparte scattered along

their route.