"Like Nineveh, Carthage, Babylon and Rome,France yields to the conqueror, vanquished at home."
"Like Nineveh, Carthage, Babylon and Rome,France yields to the conqueror, vanquished at home."
"Like Nineveh, Carthage, Babylon and Rome,
France yields to the conqueror, vanquished at home."
After Marmont's betrayal Napoleon attempts suicide, and when he believes death imminent sends a last message to Josephine by Caulaincourt, "You will tell Josephine that my thoughts were of her before life departed."
It was on Monday, May 23rd, that Josephine's illness commenced, after receiving at dinner the King of Prussia and his sons (one afterwards Wilhelm der Greise, first Emperor of Germany). Whether the sore throat which killed her was a quinsy or diphtheria[93]is difficult to prove, but the latter seems the more probable. Corvisart, who was himself ill and unable to attend, told Napoleon that she died of grief and worry. Before leaving for the Waterloo campaign Napoleon visited Malmaison, and there, as Lord Rosebery reminds us, allowed his only oblique reproach to Marie Louise to escape him: "Poor Josephine. Her death, of which the news took me by surprise at Elba, was one of the most acute griefs of that fatal year, 1814. She had her failings, of course;but she, at any rate, would never have abandoned me."
Le Chien, le Lapin, et le Chasseur.
Fable.—Composée a l'âge de 13 ans, parNapoleon I.
César, chien d'arrêt renommé,Mais trop enflé de son mérite,Tennait arrêté dans son gîteUn malheureux lapin de peur inanimé."Rends-toi!" lui cria-t-il, d'une voix de tonerreQui fit au loin trembler les peuplades des bois."Je suis César, connu par ses exploits,Et dont le nom remplit toute la terre."A ce grand nom, Jeannot Lapin,Recommandant a Dieu son âme pénitente,Demande d'une voix tremblante:"Trés-sérénissime mâtin,Si je me rends quel sera mon destin?""Tu mourras." "Je mourrai!" dit la bête innocente."Et si je fuis?" "Ton trépas est certain.""Quoi!" reprit l'animal qui se nourrit de thym,"Des deux côtés je dois perdre la vie!Que votre auguste seigneurieVeuille me pardonner, puisqu'il me faut mourir,Si j'ose tenter de m'enfuir."Il dit, et fuit en héros de garenne.Caton l'aurait blamé; je dis qu'il n'eut pas tort.Car le chasseur le voit à peineQu'il l'ajuste, le tire—et le chien tombe mortQue dirait de ceci notre bon La Fontaine?Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera.I'approuve fort cette méthode-là.
César, chien d'arrêt renommé,Mais trop enflé de son mérite,Tennait arrêté dans son gîteUn malheureux lapin de peur inanimé."Rends-toi!" lui cria-t-il, d'une voix de tonerreQui fit au loin trembler les peuplades des bois."Je suis César, connu par ses exploits,Et dont le nom remplit toute la terre."A ce grand nom, Jeannot Lapin,Recommandant a Dieu son âme pénitente,Demande d'une voix tremblante:"Trés-sérénissime mâtin,Si je me rends quel sera mon destin?""Tu mourras." "Je mourrai!" dit la bête innocente."Et si je fuis?" "Ton trépas est certain.""Quoi!" reprit l'animal qui se nourrit de thym,"Des deux côtés je dois perdre la vie!Que votre auguste seigneurieVeuille me pardonner, puisqu'il me faut mourir,Si j'ose tenter de m'enfuir."Il dit, et fuit en héros de garenne.Caton l'aurait blamé; je dis qu'il n'eut pas tort.Car le chasseur le voit à peineQu'il l'ajuste, le tire—et le chien tombe mortQue dirait de ceci notre bon La Fontaine?Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera.I'approuve fort cette méthode-là.
César, chien d'arrêt renommé,
Mais trop enflé de son mérite,
Tennait arrêté dans son gîte
Un malheureux lapin de peur inanimé.
"Rends-toi!" lui cria-t-il, d'une voix de tonerre
Qui fit au loin trembler les peuplades des bois.
"Je suis César, connu par ses exploits,
Et dont le nom remplit toute la terre."
A ce grand nom, Jeannot Lapin,
Recommandant a Dieu son âme pénitente,
Demande d'une voix tremblante:
"Trés-sérénissime mâtin,
Si je me rends quel sera mon destin?"
"Tu mourras." "Je mourrai!" dit la bête innocente.
"Et si je fuis?" "Ton trépas est certain."
"Quoi!" reprit l'animal qui se nourrit de thym,
"Des deux côtés je dois perdre la vie!
Que votre auguste seigneurie
Veuille me pardonner, puisqu'il me faut mourir,
Si j'ose tenter de m'enfuir."
Il dit, et fuit en héros de garenne.
Caton l'aurait blamé; je dis qu'il n'eut pas tort.
Car le chasseur le voit à peine
Qu'il l'ajuste, le tire—et le chien tombe mort
Que dirait de ceci notre bon La Fontaine?
Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera.
I'approuve fort cette méthode-là.
GENEALOGY OF THE BONAPARTE FAMILY
Many more or less fictitious genealogies of the Bonapartes have been published, some going back to mythical times. The first reliable record, however, seems to be that of a certain Bonaparte of Sarzana, in Northern Italy, an imperial notary, who was living towards the end of the thirteenth century, and from whom both the Corsican and the Trevisan or Florentine Bonapartes claim their origin. From him in direct line was descended Francois de Sarzana, who was sent to Corsica in 1509 to fight for the Republic of Genoa. His son Gabriel, having sold his patrimony in Italy, settled in Ajaccio, where he bore the honourable title of Messire, and where, being left a widower, he assumed the tonsure and died Canon of the cathedral.
From him an unbroken line of Bonapartes, all of whom in turn were elected to the dignity of Elder of Ajaccio, brings us to Charles Bonaparte Napoleon, father of the Emperor.
The author asked the advice of Monsieur Frédéric Masson about these Letters, to which he at once received the courteous reply, "Il faut absolument rejeter les Lettres publiées par Regnault Varin[94]et reproduites par Georgette Ducrest; pas une n'est authentique." No one who has read much of Napoleon's correspondence can in fact believe for a moment in their authenticity. They are interesting, however, as showing the sort of stuff which went to form our grandfathers' fallacies about the relations of Napoleon and Josephine. Madame Ducrest occasionally played andsang for Josephine after the divorce. Her father was a nephew of Madame de Genlis. Madame Ducrest married a musical composer, M. Bochsa, the then celebrated author ofDansomanieandNoces de Gamache. He afterwards deserted her, and her voice having completely failed, she was compelled to write her Memoirs to earn sustenance thereby. Of these Memoirs M. Masson has said,[95]that "in the midst of apocryphal documents, uncontroverted anecdotes, impossible situations, are yet to be found some first-hand personal observations."
No. 1.—1796.
From General Bonaparte to his Wife.
My first laurel, my love, must be for my country; my second shall be for you. While beating Alvinzi I thought of France; when I had defeated him I thought of you. Your son will present to you a standard which he received from Colonel Morbach, whom he made prisoner with his own hands. Our Eugène, you see, is worthy of his father; and I trust you do not think me an unworthy successor of the great and unfortunate general, under whom 1 should have been proud to learn to conquer. I embrace you.
Bonaparte.
No. 2.—1804.
To General Bonaparte.
I have read over your letter, my dear, perhaps for the tenth time, and I must confess that the astonishment it caused me has given way only to feelings of regret and alarm. You wish to raise up the throne of France, and that, not for the purpose of seating upon it those whom the Revolution overthrew, but to place yourself upon it. You say, how enterprising, how grand and, above all, useful is this design; but I should say, how many obstacles oppose its execution, what sacrifices will its accomplishment demand, and when realised, how incalculable will be its results? But let us suppose that your object were already attained, would you stop at the foundation of the new empire? That new creation, being opposed by neighbouring states, would stir up war with them and perhaps entail their ruin. Their neighbours, in their turn, will not behold it without alarm or without endeavouring to gratify their revenge by checking it. And at home, how much envy and dissatisfaction will arise; howmany plots must be put down, how many conspiracies punished! Kings will despise you as an upstart, subjects will hate you as an usurper, and your equals will denounce you as a tyrant. None will understand the necessity of your elevation; all will attribute it to ambition or pride. You will not want for slaves to crouch beneath your authority until, seconded by some more formidable power, they rise up to oppose you; happy will it be if poison or the poignard!... But how can a wife, a friend dwell on these dreadful anticipations!
This brings my thoughts back to myself, about whom I should care but little were my personal interests alone concerned. But will not the throne inspire you with the wish to contract new alliances? Will you not seek to support your power by new family connections? Alas! whatever those connections may be, will they compensate for those which were first knit by corresponding fitness, and which affection promised to perpetuate? My thoughts linger on the picture which fear—may I say love, traces in the future. Your ambitious project has excited my alarm; console me by the assurance of your moderation.
No. 3.—December 1809.
To the Emperor.
My forebodings are realised! You have just pronounced the word which separates us for ever; the rest is nothing more than mere formality. Such, then, is the result, I shall not say of so many sacrifices (they were light to me, since they had you for their object), but of an unbounded friendship on my part and of the most solemn oaths on yours! It would be a consolation for me if the state which you allege as your motive were to repay my sacrifice by justifying your conduct! But that public consideration which you urge as the ground for deserting me is a mere pretence on your part. Your mistaken ambition has ever been, and will continue to be, the guide of all your actions, a guide which has led you to conquests and to the assumption of a crown, and is now driving you on to disasters and to the brink of a precipice.
You speak of the necessity of contracting an alliance, of giving an heir to your empire, of founding a dynasty! But with whom are you about to form an alliance? with the natural enemy of France, that artful house of Austria, whose detestation of our country has its rise in its innate feelings, in its system, in the laws of necessity. Do you believe that this hatred, of which she has given us such abundant proof, moreparticularly for the last fifty years, has not been transferred by her from the kingdom of France to the French empire? That the children of Maria Theresa, that skilful sovereign, who purchased from Madame de Pompadour the fatal treaty of 1756, which you never mention without shuddering; do you imagine, I repeat, that her posterity, when inheriting her power, has not also inherited her spirit? I am merely repeating what you have so often said to me; but at that time your ambition was satisfied with humbling a power which you now find it convenient to restore to its former rank. Believe me, as long as you shall exercise a sway over Europe, that power will be submissive to you; but beware of reverses of fortune.
As to the necessity of an heir, I must speak out, at the risk of appearing in the character of a mother prejudiced in favour of her son; ought I, in fact, to be silent when I consider the interests of one who is my only delight, and upon whom alone you had built all your hopes? That adoption of the 12th of January 1806 was then another political falsehood! Nevertheless the talents, the virtues of my Eugène are no illusion. How often have you not spoken in his praise? I may say more; you thought it right to reward him by the gift of a throne, and have repeatedly said that he was deserving of greater favours. Well, then! France has frequently re-echoed these praises; but you are now indifferent to the wishes of France.
I say nothing to you at present of the person who is destined to succeed me, and you do not expect that I should make any allusion to this subject. You might suspect the feelings which dictated my language; nevertheless, you can never doubt of the sincerity of my wishes for your happiness; may it at least afford me some consolation for my sufferings. Great indeed will be that happiness if it should ever bear any proportion to them!
No. 4.
Part of a Letter said to be dated Brienne, 1814.
"... On revisiting this spot, where I passed my youthful days, and contrasting the peaceful condition I then enjoyed with the state of terror and agitation to which my mind is now a prey, often have I addressed myself in these words: 'I have sought death in numberless engagements; I can no longer dread its approach; I should now hail it as a boon ... nevertheless, I could still wish to see Josephine once more!'"
No. 5.
To the Empress Josephine, at Malmaison.
Fontainebleau, 16th April 1814.
My dear Josephine,—I wrote to you on the 8th instant (it was on a Friday). You have perhaps not received my letter; fighting was still going on; it is possible that it may have been stopped on its way. The communications must now be re-established. My determination is taken; I have no doubt of this note coming to your hands.
I do not repeat what I have already told you. I then complained of my situation; I now rejoice at it. My mind and attention are relieved from an enormous weight; my downfall is great, but it is at least said to be productive of good.
In my retreat I intend to substitute the pen for the sword. The history of my reign will gratify the cravings of curiosity. Hitherto, I have only been seen in profile; I will now show myself in full to the world. What facts have I not to disclose! how many men are incorrectly estimated! I have heaped favours upon a countless number of wretches; what have they latterly done for me?
They have all betrayed me, one and all, save and except the excellent Eugène, so worthy of you and of me. May he ever enjoy happiness under a sovereign fully competent to appreciate the feelings of nature and of honour!
Adieu, my dear Josephine; follow my example and be resigned. Never dismiss from your recollection one who has never forgotten, and never will forget you! Farewell, Josephine.
Napoleon.
P.S.—I expect to hear from you when I shall have reached the island of Elba. I am far from being in good health.
NOTES:[1]Seeinfra, Napoleon's Heritage, p. xxiv., Introduction.[2]Dr. Johnson (Gentleman's Magazine, 1760), in defence of Mary Stuart.[3]L'Homme, so spoken of during the Empire, outside military circles.[4]Carlyle.[5]Napier.[6]Sometimes he is perhaps more to be trusted than the leading lexicographer, as for example when, the day after Wagram, he writes his Minister of War that thecoup de Jarnacwill come from the English in Spain. Now, when the Jarnac in question was slain in fair fight by La Chateignerie by a blowau jarret, it was anunexpectedblow, but not surely, as Littré tells us,manœuvre perfide,déloyale. Nothing was too disloyal for perfidious Albion, but for 30,000 English to outmanœuvre three marshals and 100,000 French veterans would be, and was, the unexpected which happened at Talavera three weeks later.[7]Findel'sHistory of Freemasonry.[8]Lord Rosebery.[9]This versatile writer, the author ofOberon, the translator of Lucian and Shakespeare, and the founder of psychological romance in Germany, was then in his seventy-fifth year.[10]The historian (1755-1809), "the Thucydides of Switzerland."[11]Horne'sHistory of Napoleon(1841).[12]Ibid.[13]Exclusive of two from Josephine to Napoleon.[14]Un millier de baise(sic).[15]So Tennant (t'en offrir un): but Baron Feuillet de Conches, an expert in Napoleonic graphology, renders the expressiont'en souffrir un.[16]Bonaparte's courier.[17]The date of this letter is May 29, 1800. See Notes.[18]J'ai couché aujourd'hui—i.e.a few hours' morning sleep.[19]The monthBrumaire—i.e.before November 21st.[20]Countess de Serent, the Empress's lady-in-waiting.[21]VI. Nivose, which for the year 1805 was December 27 (see Harris Nicolas' "Chronology of History"). Haydn, Woodward, Bouillet, all have December 26th; Alison andBiographie Universellehave December 27th; but, as usual, the "Correspondence of Napoleon I." is taken here as the final court of appeal.[22]Murat and Borghèse.[23]Eugène's eldest daughter, the Princess Josephine Maximilienne Auguste, born March 14, 1807; married Bernadotte's son, Prince Oscar, June 18, 1827.[24]Toute diablesse.[25]Charles Napoleon, Prince Royal of Holland, died at the Hague, May 5, 1807.[26]Presumed date.[27]His Coronation Day.[28]Charles Louis Napoleon, afterwards Napoleon III.[29]At 17 Rue Lafitte.[30]At Bayonne.[31]General Lefebvre—Desnouettes.[32]Napoleon Louis, Prince Royal of Holland, and Grand Duke of Berg from March 3, 1809.[33]Her two grandsons, who, with Hortense, their mother, were at Baden.[34]Boispréau, belonging to Mademoiselle Julien.[35]AlsoMeme'sMemoirs of Josephine, p. 333.[36]The Empress, with Hortense, had been to dine at Trianon.[37]General Treasurer of the Crown.[38]SoCollection Didot, followed by Aubenas. St. Amand has "ton infortunée fille."[39]Josephine's chief maid-of-honour.[40]Averaged from early historians of the campaigns. Marbot gives the numbers 155,400 French and 175,000 Allies. Allowing for the secession of the Austrian and Prussian contingents and for 30,000 prisoners, he gives the actual French death-roll by February 1813 at 65,000. This is a minimum estimate.[41]No. 89 of Napoleon III.'s Correspondence of Napoleon I., vol. i., the last letter signed Buonaparte; after March 24 we only find Bonaparte.[42]Compelled to surrender Genoa, before Marengo takes place, he swears to the Austrian general he will be back there in fourteen days, and keeps his word.[43]Two days later he evidently feels this letter too severe, and writes: "All goes well. Pillage is less pronounced. This first thirst of an army destitute of everything is quenched. The poor fellows are excusable; after having sighed for three years at the top of the Alps, they arrive in the Promised Land, and wish to taste of it."[44]Bingham, with his customary ill-nature, remarks that Bonaparte, "in spite of the orders of the Directory, took upon himself to sign the armistice." These orders, dated March 6th, were intended for a novice, and no longer applicable to the conqueror of two armies, and which a Despatch on the way, dated April 25th, already modified. Jomini admits the wisdom of this advantageous peace, which secured Nice and Savoy to France, and gave her all the chief mountain-passes leading into Italy.[45]Murat, says Marmont, who hated him, was the culprit here.[46]J. H. Rose inEng. Hist. Review, January 1899.[47]See Essay by J. H. Rose inEng. Hist. Review, January 1899.[48]With fevers caught in the rice-swamps of Lombardy.[49]With aqua tofana, says Marmont.[50]On reaching London a few months later Mistress Billington was engaged simultaneously by Drury Lane and Covent Garden, and during the following year harvested £10,000 from these two engagements.[51]She was, however, no mere amateur, and knew, says Mlle. d'Avrillon, the names of all her plants, the family to which they belonged, their native soil, and special properties.[52]Rueil, le château de Richelieu et la Malmaison, by Jacquin and Duesberg, p. 130; in Aubenas'Joséphine, vol. i.[53]Lucien declares that Napoleon said to his wife, in his presence and that of Joseph, "Imitate Livia, and you will find me Augustus."—(Jung, vol. ii. 206.) Lucien evidently suspects an occult sinister allusion here, but Napoleon is only alluding to the succession devolving on the first child of their joint families. Lucien refused Hortense, but Louis was more amenable to his brother's wishes. On her triumphal entry into Mühlberg (November 1805), the Empress reads on a column a hundred feet high—"Josephinae, Galliarum Augustae."[54]Made Grand Huntsman in 1804.[55]An anachronism; he was at this time First Consul.[56]An euphuistic way of saying he could not learn longer ones. In war time Napoleon had to insist on Eugène keeping his letters with him and constantly re-reading them.[57]The Emperor had himself planned the Itinerary, and had mistaken a projected road for a completed one, between Rethel and Marche.[58]The first month of the Republican calendar.[59]Memoirs, vol. ii. 165.[60]Bouillet,Dictionnaire Universelle, &c.[61]"The Queen of that Court was the fair Madame Tallien. All that imagination can conceive will scarcely approach the reality; beautiful after the antique fashion, she had at once grace and dignity; without being endowed with a superior wit, she possessed the art of making the best of it, and won people's hearts by her great kindness."—Memoirs of Marmont, vol. i., p. 887.[62]This brave general was mortally wounded in the cavalry charge which saved the battle, and the friends of Bernadotte assert that the message was never given—an assertion more credible if the future king's record had been better on other occasions.[63]Alison says 75,000 allies, 85,000 French, but admits allies had 100 more cannon.[64]Augereau, says Méneval, went out of his mind during this battle, and had to be sent back to France.[65]The Decree itself says "nos enfants et descendants males, legitimes et naturels."[66]On October 11th Prince Ferdinand had written Napoleon for "the honour of allying himself to a Princess of his august family"; and Lucien's eldest daughter was Napoleon's only choice.[67]Napoleon visited Madrid and its Palais Royal incognito, and (like Vienna) by night (Bausset).[68]With Lejeune on one occasion.[69]Biographie Universelle.Michaud saysponies.[70]This Archduke was the "international man" at this juncture. Louis Bonaparte speaks of a society at Saragossa, of which the object was to make the Archduke Charles king of Spain.[71]These Adelphes or Philadelphes were the socialists or educated anarchists of that day. They wished for thestatu quobefore Napoleon became supreme ruler. They had members in his army, and it seems quite probable that Bernadotte gave them passive support. General Oudet was their recognised head, and he died under suspicious circumstances after Wagram. The society was, unlike the Carbonari, anti-Catholic.[72]Pelet, vol. i. 127.[73]Pelet, vol. i. 282.[74]"Gaily asking his staff to breakfast with him" (Pelet).[75]Lejeune says "some hours afterwards."[76]Eugène's.[77]"What a loss for France and for me," groaned Napoleon, as he left his dead friend.[78]By here subordinating himself to the Senate, the Emperor was preparing a rod for his own back hereafter.[79]This clause gives considerable trouble to Lacépède and Regnauld. They cannot even find a precedent whether, if they met, Josephine or Marie Louise would take precedence of the other.[80]In addition to this, Napoleon gives her £40,000 a year from his privy purse, but keeps most of it back for the first two years to pay her 120 creditors. (For interesting details see Masson,Josephine Répudiée.)[81]Which agrees with Madame d'Avrillon, who says they left the Tuileries at 2.30. Méneval says Napoleon left for Trianon a few hours later. Savary writes erroneously that they left the following morning.[82]M. Masson seems to indicate a visit on December 16th, but does not give his authority (Josephine Repudiée, 114).[83]Correspondence of Napoleon I., No. 15,952.[84]New Letters of Napoleon, 1898.[85]Canon Ainger's comparison.[86]See Baron Lejeune for an interesting account of a chess quadrille at a dance given by the Italian Minister, Marescalchi.[87]On this occasion Baron Lejeune sees the Archduke Charles, and remarks: "There was nothing in his quiet face with its grave and gentle expression, or in his simple, modest, unassuming manner, to denote the mighty man of war; but no one who met his eyes could doubt him to be a genius."[88]"This gloomy and forsaken château," says St. Amand, "whose only attraction was the half-forgotten memory of its vanished splendours, was a fit image of the woman who came to seek sanctuary there."[89]He endows the husband with £4000 a year, and the title of Count Tascher.[90]"Une épouse sans époux, et une reine sans royaume"—St. Amand.[91]Aubenas.[92]Mlle. d'Avrillon says that during the Swiss voyage Josephine found it desirable, for the first time, to "wear whalebone in her corsets."[93]The same question may be asked respecting the death of Montaigne.[94]Memoires et Correspondance de l'Impératrice Joséphine, parJ. B. J. Innocert Philadelphe Regnault Varin. Paris, 1820, 8o. This book is not in the British Museum Catalogue.[95]Josephine Impératrice et Reine, Paris, 1899.
[1]Seeinfra, Napoleon's Heritage, p. xxiv., Introduction.[2]Dr. Johnson (Gentleman's Magazine, 1760), in defence of Mary Stuart.[3]L'Homme, so spoken of during the Empire, outside military circles.[4]Carlyle.[5]Napier.[6]Sometimes he is perhaps more to be trusted than the leading lexicographer, as for example when, the day after Wagram, he writes his Minister of War that thecoup de Jarnacwill come from the English in Spain. Now, when the Jarnac in question was slain in fair fight by La Chateignerie by a blowau jarret, it was anunexpectedblow, but not surely, as Littré tells us,manœuvre perfide,déloyale. Nothing was too disloyal for perfidious Albion, but for 30,000 English to outmanœuvre three marshals and 100,000 French veterans would be, and was, the unexpected which happened at Talavera three weeks later.[7]Findel'sHistory of Freemasonry.[8]Lord Rosebery.[9]This versatile writer, the author ofOberon, the translator of Lucian and Shakespeare, and the founder of psychological romance in Germany, was then in his seventy-fifth year.[10]The historian (1755-1809), "the Thucydides of Switzerland."[11]Horne'sHistory of Napoleon(1841).[12]Ibid.[13]Exclusive of two from Josephine to Napoleon.[14]Un millier de baise(sic).[15]So Tennant (t'en offrir un): but Baron Feuillet de Conches, an expert in Napoleonic graphology, renders the expressiont'en souffrir un.[16]Bonaparte's courier.[17]The date of this letter is May 29, 1800. See Notes.[18]J'ai couché aujourd'hui—i.e.a few hours' morning sleep.[19]The monthBrumaire—i.e.before November 21st.[20]Countess de Serent, the Empress's lady-in-waiting.[21]VI. Nivose, which for the year 1805 was December 27 (see Harris Nicolas' "Chronology of History"). Haydn, Woodward, Bouillet, all have December 26th; Alison andBiographie Universellehave December 27th; but, as usual, the "Correspondence of Napoleon I." is taken here as the final court of appeal.[22]Murat and Borghèse.[23]Eugène's eldest daughter, the Princess Josephine Maximilienne Auguste, born March 14, 1807; married Bernadotte's son, Prince Oscar, June 18, 1827.[24]Toute diablesse.[25]Charles Napoleon, Prince Royal of Holland, died at the Hague, May 5, 1807.[26]Presumed date.[27]His Coronation Day.[28]Charles Louis Napoleon, afterwards Napoleon III.[29]At 17 Rue Lafitte.[30]At Bayonne.[31]General Lefebvre—Desnouettes.[32]Napoleon Louis, Prince Royal of Holland, and Grand Duke of Berg from March 3, 1809.[33]Her two grandsons, who, with Hortense, their mother, were at Baden.[34]Boispréau, belonging to Mademoiselle Julien.[35]AlsoMeme'sMemoirs of Josephine, p. 333.[36]The Empress, with Hortense, had been to dine at Trianon.[37]General Treasurer of the Crown.[38]SoCollection Didot, followed by Aubenas. St. Amand has "ton infortunée fille."[39]Josephine's chief maid-of-honour.[40]Averaged from early historians of the campaigns. Marbot gives the numbers 155,400 French and 175,000 Allies. Allowing for the secession of the Austrian and Prussian contingents and for 30,000 prisoners, he gives the actual French death-roll by February 1813 at 65,000. This is a minimum estimate.[41]No. 89 of Napoleon III.'s Correspondence of Napoleon I., vol. i., the last letter signed Buonaparte; after March 24 we only find Bonaparte.[42]Compelled to surrender Genoa, before Marengo takes place, he swears to the Austrian general he will be back there in fourteen days, and keeps his word.[43]Two days later he evidently feels this letter too severe, and writes: "All goes well. Pillage is less pronounced. This first thirst of an army destitute of everything is quenched. The poor fellows are excusable; after having sighed for three years at the top of the Alps, they arrive in the Promised Land, and wish to taste of it."[44]Bingham, with his customary ill-nature, remarks that Bonaparte, "in spite of the orders of the Directory, took upon himself to sign the armistice." These orders, dated March 6th, were intended for a novice, and no longer applicable to the conqueror of two armies, and which a Despatch on the way, dated April 25th, already modified. Jomini admits the wisdom of this advantageous peace, which secured Nice and Savoy to France, and gave her all the chief mountain-passes leading into Italy.[45]Murat, says Marmont, who hated him, was the culprit here.[46]J. H. Rose inEng. Hist. Review, January 1899.[47]See Essay by J. H. Rose inEng. Hist. Review, January 1899.[48]With fevers caught in the rice-swamps of Lombardy.[49]With aqua tofana, says Marmont.[50]On reaching London a few months later Mistress Billington was engaged simultaneously by Drury Lane and Covent Garden, and during the following year harvested £10,000 from these two engagements.[51]She was, however, no mere amateur, and knew, says Mlle. d'Avrillon, the names of all her plants, the family to which they belonged, their native soil, and special properties.[52]Rueil, le château de Richelieu et la Malmaison, by Jacquin and Duesberg, p. 130; in Aubenas'Joséphine, vol. i.[53]Lucien declares that Napoleon said to his wife, in his presence and that of Joseph, "Imitate Livia, and you will find me Augustus."—(Jung, vol. ii. 206.) Lucien evidently suspects an occult sinister allusion here, but Napoleon is only alluding to the succession devolving on the first child of their joint families. Lucien refused Hortense, but Louis was more amenable to his brother's wishes. On her triumphal entry into Mühlberg (November 1805), the Empress reads on a column a hundred feet high—"Josephinae, Galliarum Augustae."[54]Made Grand Huntsman in 1804.[55]An anachronism; he was at this time First Consul.[56]An euphuistic way of saying he could not learn longer ones. In war time Napoleon had to insist on Eugène keeping his letters with him and constantly re-reading them.[57]The Emperor had himself planned the Itinerary, and had mistaken a projected road for a completed one, between Rethel and Marche.[58]The first month of the Republican calendar.[59]Memoirs, vol. ii. 165.[60]Bouillet,Dictionnaire Universelle, &c.[61]"The Queen of that Court was the fair Madame Tallien. All that imagination can conceive will scarcely approach the reality; beautiful after the antique fashion, she had at once grace and dignity; without being endowed with a superior wit, she possessed the art of making the best of it, and won people's hearts by her great kindness."—Memoirs of Marmont, vol. i., p. 887.[62]This brave general was mortally wounded in the cavalry charge which saved the battle, and the friends of Bernadotte assert that the message was never given—an assertion more credible if the future king's record had been better on other occasions.[63]Alison says 75,000 allies, 85,000 French, but admits allies had 100 more cannon.[64]Augereau, says Méneval, went out of his mind during this battle, and had to be sent back to France.[65]The Decree itself says "nos enfants et descendants males, legitimes et naturels."[66]On October 11th Prince Ferdinand had written Napoleon for "the honour of allying himself to a Princess of his august family"; and Lucien's eldest daughter was Napoleon's only choice.[67]Napoleon visited Madrid and its Palais Royal incognito, and (like Vienna) by night (Bausset).[68]With Lejeune on one occasion.[69]Biographie Universelle.Michaud saysponies.[70]This Archduke was the "international man" at this juncture. Louis Bonaparte speaks of a society at Saragossa, of which the object was to make the Archduke Charles king of Spain.[71]These Adelphes or Philadelphes were the socialists or educated anarchists of that day. They wished for thestatu quobefore Napoleon became supreme ruler. They had members in his army, and it seems quite probable that Bernadotte gave them passive support. General Oudet was their recognised head, and he died under suspicious circumstances after Wagram. The society was, unlike the Carbonari, anti-Catholic.[72]Pelet, vol. i. 127.[73]Pelet, vol. i. 282.[74]"Gaily asking his staff to breakfast with him" (Pelet).[75]Lejeune says "some hours afterwards."[76]Eugène's.[77]"What a loss for France and for me," groaned Napoleon, as he left his dead friend.[78]By here subordinating himself to the Senate, the Emperor was preparing a rod for his own back hereafter.[79]This clause gives considerable trouble to Lacépède and Regnauld. They cannot even find a precedent whether, if they met, Josephine or Marie Louise would take precedence of the other.[80]In addition to this, Napoleon gives her £40,000 a year from his privy purse, but keeps most of it back for the first two years to pay her 120 creditors. (For interesting details see Masson,Josephine Répudiée.)[81]Which agrees with Madame d'Avrillon, who says they left the Tuileries at 2.30. Méneval says Napoleon left for Trianon a few hours later. Savary writes erroneously that they left the following morning.[82]M. Masson seems to indicate a visit on December 16th, but does not give his authority (Josephine Repudiée, 114).[83]Correspondence of Napoleon I., No. 15,952.[84]New Letters of Napoleon, 1898.[85]Canon Ainger's comparison.[86]See Baron Lejeune for an interesting account of a chess quadrille at a dance given by the Italian Minister, Marescalchi.[87]On this occasion Baron Lejeune sees the Archduke Charles, and remarks: "There was nothing in his quiet face with its grave and gentle expression, or in his simple, modest, unassuming manner, to denote the mighty man of war; but no one who met his eyes could doubt him to be a genius."[88]"This gloomy and forsaken château," says St. Amand, "whose only attraction was the half-forgotten memory of its vanished splendours, was a fit image of the woman who came to seek sanctuary there."[89]He endows the husband with £4000 a year, and the title of Count Tascher.[90]"Une épouse sans époux, et une reine sans royaume"—St. Amand.[91]Aubenas.[92]Mlle. d'Avrillon says that during the Swiss voyage Josephine found it desirable, for the first time, to "wear whalebone in her corsets."[93]The same question may be asked respecting the death of Montaigne.[94]Memoires et Correspondance de l'Impératrice Joséphine, parJ. B. J. Innocert Philadelphe Regnault Varin. Paris, 1820, 8o. This book is not in the British Museum Catalogue.[95]Josephine Impératrice et Reine, Paris, 1899.
[1]Seeinfra, Napoleon's Heritage, p. xxiv., Introduction.
[2]Dr. Johnson (Gentleman's Magazine, 1760), in defence of Mary Stuart.
[3]L'Homme, so spoken of during the Empire, outside military circles.
[4]Carlyle.
[5]Napier.
[6]Sometimes he is perhaps more to be trusted than the leading lexicographer, as for example when, the day after Wagram, he writes his Minister of War that thecoup de Jarnacwill come from the English in Spain. Now, when the Jarnac in question was slain in fair fight by La Chateignerie by a blowau jarret, it was anunexpectedblow, but not surely, as Littré tells us,manœuvre perfide,déloyale. Nothing was too disloyal for perfidious Albion, but for 30,000 English to outmanœuvre three marshals and 100,000 French veterans would be, and was, the unexpected which happened at Talavera three weeks later.
[7]Findel'sHistory of Freemasonry.
[8]Lord Rosebery.
[9]This versatile writer, the author ofOberon, the translator of Lucian and Shakespeare, and the founder of psychological romance in Germany, was then in his seventy-fifth year.
[10]The historian (1755-1809), "the Thucydides of Switzerland."
[11]Horne'sHistory of Napoleon(1841).
[12]Ibid.
[13]Exclusive of two from Josephine to Napoleon.
[14]Un millier de baise(sic).
[15]So Tennant (t'en offrir un): but Baron Feuillet de Conches, an expert in Napoleonic graphology, renders the expressiont'en souffrir un.
[16]Bonaparte's courier.
[17]The date of this letter is May 29, 1800. See Notes.
[18]J'ai couché aujourd'hui—i.e.a few hours' morning sleep.
[19]The monthBrumaire—i.e.before November 21st.
[20]Countess de Serent, the Empress's lady-in-waiting.
[21]VI. Nivose, which for the year 1805 was December 27 (see Harris Nicolas' "Chronology of History"). Haydn, Woodward, Bouillet, all have December 26th; Alison andBiographie Universellehave December 27th; but, as usual, the "Correspondence of Napoleon I." is taken here as the final court of appeal.
[22]Murat and Borghèse.
[23]Eugène's eldest daughter, the Princess Josephine Maximilienne Auguste, born March 14, 1807; married Bernadotte's son, Prince Oscar, June 18, 1827.
[24]Toute diablesse.
[25]Charles Napoleon, Prince Royal of Holland, died at the Hague, May 5, 1807.
[26]Presumed date.
[27]His Coronation Day.
[28]Charles Louis Napoleon, afterwards Napoleon III.
[29]At 17 Rue Lafitte.
[30]At Bayonne.
[31]General Lefebvre—Desnouettes.
[32]Napoleon Louis, Prince Royal of Holland, and Grand Duke of Berg from March 3, 1809.
[33]Her two grandsons, who, with Hortense, their mother, were at Baden.
[34]Boispréau, belonging to Mademoiselle Julien.
[35]AlsoMeme'sMemoirs of Josephine, p. 333.
[36]The Empress, with Hortense, had been to dine at Trianon.
[37]General Treasurer of the Crown.
[38]SoCollection Didot, followed by Aubenas. St. Amand has "ton infortunée fille."
[39]Josephine's chief maid-of-honour.
[40]Averaged from early historians of the campaigns. Marbot gives the numbers 155,400 French and 175,000 Allies. Allowing for the secession of the Austrian and Prussian contingents and for 30,000 prisoners, he gives the actual French death-roll by February 1813 at 65,000. This is a minimum estimate.
[41]No. 89 of Napoleon III.'s Correspondence of Napoleon I., vol. i., the last letter signed Buonaparte; after March 24 we only find Bonaparte.
[42]Compelled to surrender Genoa, before Marengo takes place, he swears to the Austrian general he will be back there in fourteen days, and keeps his word.
[43]Two days later he evidently feels this letter too severe, and writes: "All goes well. Pillage is less pronounced. This first thirst of an army destitute of everything is quenched. The poor fellows are excusable; after having sighed for three years at the top of the Alps, they arrive in the Promised Land, and wish to taste of it."
[44]Bingham, with his customary ill-nature, remarks that Bonaparte, "in spite of the orders of the Directory, took upon himself to sign the armistice." These orders, dated March 6th, were intended for a novice, and no longer applicable to the conqueror of two armies, and which a Despatch on the way, dated April 25th, already modified. Jomini admits the wisdom of this advantageous peace, which secured Nice and Savoy to France, and gave her all the chief mountain-passes leading into Italy.
[45]Murat, says Marmont, who hated him, was the culprit here.
[46]J. H. Rose inEng. Hist. Review, January 1899.
[47]See Essay by J. H. Rose inEng. Hist. Review, January 1899.
[48]With fevers caught in the rice-swamps of Lombardy.
[49]With aqua tofana, says Marmont.
[50]On reaching London a few months later Mistress Billington was engaged simultaneously by Drury Lane and Covent Garden, and during the following year harvested £10,000 from these two engagements.
[51]She was, however, no mere amateur, and knew, says Mlle. d'Avrillon, the names of all her plants, the family to which they belonged, their native soil, and special properties.
[52]Rueil, le château de Richelieu et la Malmaison, by Jacquin and Duesberg, p. 130; in Aubenas'Joséphine, vol. i.
[53]Lucien declares that Napoleon said to his wife, in his presence and that of Joseph, "Imitate Livia, and you will find me Augustus."—(Jung, vol. ii. 206.) Lucien evidently suspects an occult sinister allusion here, but Napoleon is only alluding to the succession devolving on the first child of their joint families. Lucien refused Hortense, but Louis was more amenable to his brother's wishes. On her triumphal entry into Mühlberg (November 1805), the Empress reads on a column a hundred feet high—"Josephinae, Galliarum Augustae."
[54]Made Grand Huntsman in 1804.
[55]An anachronism; he was at this time First Consul.
[56]An euphuistic way of saying he could not learn longer ones. In war time Napoleon had to insist on Eugène keeping his letters with him and constantly re-reading them.
[57]The Emperor had himself planned the Itinerary, and had mistaken a projected road for a completed one, between Rethel and Marche.
[58]The first month of the Republican calendar.
[59]Memoirs, vol. ii. 165.
[60]Bouillet,Dictionnaire Universelle, &c.
[61]"The Queen of that Court was the fair Madame Tallien. All that imagination can conceive will scarcely approach the reality; beautiful after the antique fashion, she had at once grace and dignity; without being endowed with a superior wit, she possessed the art of making the best of it, and won people's hearts by her great kindness."—Memoirs of Marmont, vol. i., p. 887.
[62]This brave general was mortally wounded in the cavalry charge which saved the battle, and the friends of Bernadotte assert that the message was never given—an assertion more credible if the future king's record had been better on other occasions.
[63]Alison says 75,000 allies, 85,000 French, but admits allies had 100 more cannon.
[64]Augereau, says Méneval, went out of his mind during this battle, and had to be sent back to France.
[65]The Decree itself says "nos enfants et descendants males, legitimes et naturels."
[66]On October 11th Prince Ferdinand had written Napoleon for "the honour of allying himself to a Princess of his august family"; and Lucien's eldest daughter was Napoleon's only choice.
[67]Napoleon visited Madrid and its Palais Royal incognito, and (like Vienna) by night (Bausset).
[68]With Lejeune on one occasion.
[69]Biographie Universelle.Michaud saysponies.
[70]This Archduke was the "international man" at this juncture. Louis Bonaparte speaks of a society at Saragossa, of which the object was to make the Archduke Charles king of Spain.
[71]These Adelphes or Philadelphes were the socialists or educated anarchists of that day. They wished for thestatu quobefore Napoleon became supreme ruler. They had members in his army, and it seems quite probable that Bernadotte gave them passive support. General Oudet was their recognised head, and he died under suspicious circumstances after Wagram. The society was, unlike the Carbonari, anti-Catholic.
[72]Pelet, vol. i. 127.
[73]Pelet, vol. i. 282.
[74]"Gaily asking his staff to breakfast with him" (Pelet).
[75]Lejeune says "some hours afterwards."
[76]Eugène's.
[77]"What a loss for France and for me," groaned Napoleon, as he left his dead friend.
[78]By here subordinating himself to the Senate, the Emperor was preparing a rod for his own back hereafter.
[79]This clause gives considerable trouble to Lacépède and Regnauld. They cannot even find a precedent whether, if they met, Josephine or Marie Louise would take precedence of the other.
[80]In addition to this, Napoleon gives her £40,000 a year from his privy purse, but keeps most of it back for the first two years to pay her 120 creditors. (For interesting details see Masson,Josephine Répudiée.)
[81]Which agrees with Madame d'Avrillon, who says they left the Tuileries at 2.30. Méneval says Napoleon left for Trianon a few hours later. Savary writes erroneously that they left the following morning.
[82]M. Masson seems to indicate a visit on December 16th, but does not give his authority (Josephine Repudiée, 114).
[83]Correspondence of Napoleon I., No. 15,952.
[84]New Letters of Napoleon, 1898.
[85]Canon Ainger's comparison.
[86]See Baron Lejeune for an interesting account of a chess quadrille at a dance given by the Italian Minister, Marescalchi.
[87]On this occasion Baron Lejeune sees the Archduke Charles, and remarks: "There was nothing in his quiet face with its grave and gentle expression, or in his simple, modest, unassuming manner, to denote the mighty man of war; but no one who met his eyes could doubt him to be a genius."
[88]"This gloomy and forsaken château," says St. Amand, "whose only attraction was the half-forgotten memory of its vanished splendours, was a fit image of the woman who came to seek sanctuary there."
[89]He endows the husband with £4000 a year, and the title of Count Tascher.
[90]"Une épouse sans époux, et une reine sans royaume"—St. Amand.
[91]Aubenas.
[92]Mlle. d'Avrillon says that during the Swiss voyage Josephine found it desirable, for the first time, to "wear whalebone in her corsets."
[93]The same question may be asked respecting the death of Montaigne.
[94]Memoires et Correspondance de l'Impératrice Joséphine, parJ. B. J. Innocert Philadelphe Regnault Varin. Paris, 1820, 8o. This book is not in the British Museum Catalogue.
[95]Josephine Impératrice et Reine, Paris, 1899.
ExcludingNapoleonandJosephine,which occur on nearly every page.