Chapter XVI: Part 16

At one of the _couchers_ at St. Cloud the Emperor analyzed a piece
which had just been brought out; it was _Hector_ by _Luce de
Lancival_: this piece pleased him very much; it possessed warmth and
energy of character. He called it a _head-quarter_ piece; and said
that a soldier would be better prepared to meet the enemy after seeing
or reading it. He added that it would be well if there were a greater
number of plays written in the same spirit.—Then, adverting to those
dramatic productions called _drames_ in French, and which he termed
_waiting-maids’ tragedies_, he said they would not bear more than one
representation, after which they suffered a gradual diminution of
interest. A good tragedy, on the contrary, gains upon us every day.
The higher walk of tragedy, continued he, is the school of great men;
it is the duty of sovereigns to encourage and disseminate a taste for
it. Nor is it necessary, he said, to be a poet, to be enabled to judge
of the merits of a tragedy; it is sufficient to be acquainted with men
and things, to possess an elevated mind, and to be a statesman. Then,
becoming gradually more animated, he added, with enthusiasm,—”Tragedy
fires the soul, elevates the heart, and is calculated to generate
heroes. Considered under this point of view, perhaps, France owes to
Corneille a part of her great actions; and, gentlemen, _had he lived
in my time, I would have made him a prince_.”

On a similar occasion, he analyzed and condemned the _Etats de Blois_,
which had just been presented for the first time at the theatre of the
Court; and perceiving among the company present the Arch-Treasurer
Lebrun, who was distinguished for his literary acquirements, he asked
his opinion of it. Lebrun, who was undoubtedly in the author’s
interest, contented himself with remarking that the subject was a bad
one. “That,” replied the Emperor, “was M. Renouard’s first fault; he
chose it himself, it was not forced upon him. Besides, there is no
subject, however bad, which great talent cannot turn to some account,
and Corneille would still have been himself even in one like this. As
for M. Renouard, he has totally failed. He has shewn no other talent
but that of versification; every thing else is bad, very bad; his
conception, his details, his result, are altogether defective. He
violates the truth of history; his characters are false, and their
political tendency is dangerous, and perhaps prejudicial. This is an
additional proof of what, however, is very well known, that there is a
wide difference between the reading and the representation of a play.
I thought at first that this piece might have been allowed to pass; it
was not until this evening that I perceived its improprieties. Of
these, the praises lavished on the Bourbons are the least; the
declamations against the Revolutionists are much worse. M. Renouard
has made the Chief of the Sixteen the Capuchine Chabot of the
Convention. There is matter in his piece to inflame every party and
every passion: were I to allow it to be represented in Paris, I should
probably hear of half a hundred people murdering one another in the
pit. Besides, the author has made Henri IV. a true Philinte, and the
Duke de Guise a Figaro, which is by far too great an outrage on
history. The duke of Guise was one of the most distinguished men of
his time; and if he had but ventured, he might, at that time, have
established the fourth dynasty. Besides, he was related to the
Empress; he was a Prince of the house of Austria, with whom we are in
friendship, and whose Ambassador was present this evening at the
representation. The author has, in more than one instance, shewn a
strange disregard of propriety.” The Emperor afterwards said that he
felt more than ever fixed in the determination he had formed not to
permit any new tragedy to be played on the public stage before it had
undergone a trial at the theatre of the Court. He therefore prohibited
the representation of the _Etats de Blois_. It is worthy of remark,
that, since the restoration of the King, this piece was revived with
the greatest pomp, and supported by all the favour which the
prohibition of the Emperor would naturally procure for it. But,
notwithstanding all this, it failed; so correct was the judgment which
Napoleon had passed upon it.

Talma, the celebrated tragedian, had frequent interviews with the
Emperor, who greatly admired his talent, and rewarded him
magnificently. When the First Consul became Emperor, it was reported
all over Paris, that he had Talma to give him lessons in attitude and
costume. The Emperor, who always knew every thing that was said
against him, rallied Talma one day on the subject, and, finding him
look quite disconcerted and confounded,—“You are wrong,“ said he, “I
certainly could not have employed myself better, if I had had leisure
for it.” On the contrary, it was the Emperor who gave Talma lessons in
his art. “Racine,” said he to him, “has loaded his character of
Orestes with imbecilities, and you only add to their extravagance. In
the _Mort de Pompée_, you do not play Cæsar like a hero; in
Britannicus, you do not play Nero like a tyrant.” Every one knows the
corrections which Talma afterwards made in his performances of these
celebrated characters.

CONTRACTORS, &C. DURING THE REVOLUTION.—THE EMPEROR’S CREDIT ON HIS
RETURN FROM ELBA.—HIS REPUTATION IN THE PUBLIC OFFICES AS A RIGID
INVESTIGATOR.—MINISTERS OF FINANCE AND THE TREASURY.—CADASTRE.

29th.—At six o’clock, the Emperor, having finished his daily
occupations, walked in the garden. We then took a drive in the calash:
it was quite dark, and rained very fast when we returned.

After dinner, while coffee was served round, which we took without
rising from our seats at the dining-table, the conversation turned on
what were termed Agents daring the Revolution, and the great fortunes
which they acquired. The Emperor knew the name, the family, the
profession, and the character, of every one of these men.

Scarcely had Napoleon attained the Consulship when he became engaged
in a dispute with the celebrated Madame Recamier, whose father held a
situation in the Post-office department. Napoleon, on first taking the
reins of Government, was obliged to sign in confidence a great number
of lists; but he soon established the most rigid inspection in every
department. He discovered that a correspondence with the Chouans was
going on under the connivance of M. Bernard, the father of Madame
Recamier. He was immediately dismissed, and narrowly escaped being
brought to a trial, by which he would doubtless have been condemned to
death. His daughter flew to the First Consul, and, at her
solicitation, Napoleon exempted M. Bernard from taking his trial, but
was resolute with respect to his dismissal. Madame Recamier, who had
been accustomed to ask for every thing, and to obtain every thing,
would be satisfied with nothing less than the re-instatement of her
father. Such were the manners of those times. The severity of the
First Consul excited loud animadversions; it was a thing quite
unusual. Madame Recamier and her party, which was very numerous, never
forgave him.

The contractors and agents were the class which, above all, excited
the uneasiness of the new Supreme Magistrate, who called them the
scourge and the plague of the nation. The Emperor observed that all
France would not have satisfied the ambition of those of Paris alone;
that, when he came to the head of affairs, they constituted an
absolute power; and that they were most dangerous to the state, whose
springs were obstructed by their intrigues, joined to those of their
numerous dependents.—In truth, said he, they could never be regarded
as any thing but sources of corruption and ruin, like Jews and
usurers. They had disgraced the Directory, and they wished in like
manner to control the Consulate. It may be said that at that period
they enjoyed the highest rank and influence in society.

“One of the principal retrograde steps,” said the Emperor, “which I
took, with the view of restoring the past state and manners of
society, was to throw all this false lustre back into the crowd. I
never would raise any of this class to distinction: of all
aristocracies this appeared to me the worst.” The Emperor rendered to
Lebrun the justice of having especially confirmed him in this
principle. “The party always disliked me for this,” said the Emperor;
“but they were still less inclined to pardon the rigid enquiry which I
instituted into their accounts with the Government.”

The Emperor said that in business of this sort he turned the service
of his Council of State to the best account. He used to appoint a
committee of four or five members of the Council, men of integrity and
intelligence. They made their report to him, and, if the case required
farther investigation, they wrote at the bottom of the report:
_Referred to the Grand Judge to enforce the laws_. The individuals
implicated generally endeavoured to compromise the affair, when it
arrived at this point. They would disgorge, one, two, three, or four
millions, rather than suffer the business to be legally investigated.
The Emperor was well aware, that all these facts were misrepresented
in the different circles of the capital, that they produced him many
enemies, and drew down upon him the reproach of arbitrariness and
tyranny. But he thus acquitted a great duty to the mass of society,
who must have been grateful to him for the measures he adopted towards
these bloodsuckers of the public.

“Men are always the same,” said the Emperor: “from the time of
Pharamond downwards, contractors have always acted thus, and people
have always acted in the same way towards them. But at no period of
the monarchy were they ever attacked in so legal a form, or assailed
so energetically and openly as by me. Even among the contractors
themselves, the few individuals who possessed honesty and integrity
found in this extreme severity a new guarantee for their own conduct.
A remarkable instance of this occurred after my return from Elba. Some
houses in London and Amsterdam secretly negotiated with me a loan of
from 80 to 100,000,000, at a profit of seven or eight per cent. The
net sum which was deposited in the Treasury of Paris, was paid to them
by _rentes_ on the great book at fifty, which were then distributed
among the public at fifty-six or fifty-seven.”

This resource, so useful in the crisis in which the Emperor was
placed, and which must at the same time have been so satisfactory and
flattering to himself personally, proves the real opinion that was
entertained of Napoleon in Europe, and the confidence which he
inspired. This negotiation, which was unknown at the time, explains
whence the Emperor derived the financial resources of which he
suddenly found himself possessed on his return from Elba; which was a
great subject of conjecture at the time.

The Emperor himself said that he enjoyed singular reputation among the
heads of offices and accountants. The examination of accounts was a
thing which he very well understood. “The circumstance that first
gained me reputation, in this way, was that, while balancing a yearly
account during the Consulate, I discovered an error of 2,000,000 to
the disadvantage of the Republic. M. Dufresne, who was then chief of
the treasury, and who was a perfectly honest man, at first would not
believe that the error existed. However, it was an affair of figures;
the fact could not be denied. At the treasury several months were
occupied in endeavouring to discover the error. It was at length found
in an account of the contractor Seguin, who immediately acknowledged
it, on being shewn the accounts, and restored the money, saying it was
a mistake.”

On another occasion as the Emperor was examining the accounts of the
pay of the garrison of Paris, he observed an article of sixty and some
odd thousand francs set down to a detachment which had never been in
the capital. The minister made a note of the error, merely from
complaisance, but was convinced in his own mind that the Emperor was
mistaken. Napoleon however proved to be right, and the sum was
restored.

The Emperor regarded as a matter of the highest importance the
separation of the departments of finance and the treasury, both for
the sake of keeping the business of the two departments distinct, and
for enabling them to become mutual checks to each other. The minister
of the treasury, under a sovereign like Napoleon, was the most
important man in the empire; not merely as a minister of the treasury,
but as comptroller-general. All the accounts of the empire came under
his examination, and he was thus enabled to detect every kind of
peculation and abuse, and to make them known to the sovereign; and
communications of this nature were daily made. To special
appropriations Napoleon also attached the greatest importance, as
having been among the happiest springs of his administration.

Speaking of the _cadastre_, he said that, according to the plan which
he had drawn up, it might be considered as the real constitution of
the Empire. It was the true guarantee of property, and the security
for the independence of each individual; for, the tax being once fixed
and established by the legislature, each individual might make his own
arrangements, and had nothing to fear from the authority or arbitrary
conduct of assessors, which is always the point most sensibly felt,
and the surest to enforce submission. During this conversation, the
Emperor gave his opinion of the talents of Messrs. Gaudin, Mollien,
and Louis, as well as most of his other Ministers and Councillors of
State. He concluded by observing that he had succeeded in creating a
system of administration doubtless the purest and most energetic in
Europe; and that he himself had the details so much at his command
that he was sure he now could, merely with the help of the Moniteur,
trace the complete history of the financial transactions of the Empire
during his reign.

March 1st.—To-day two vessels arrived from the Cape. One, the
Wellesley, a seventy-four, had another ship which had been taken to
pieces in her hold. Both were India built of teak-wood, three-fourths
cheaper than they could have been built in England. This is an
excellent kind of wood; and ships made of it are said to last much
longer than European-built ships; though hitherto it has been
complained that they are not such good sailers. However, it is not
improbable that this teak wood may produce a revolution in the
materials and construction of English ships.

2nd.—The China fleet is arrived. Several vessels successively entered
the road in the course of the day, and many others are within sight.
This is a sort of festival and harvest for the people of St. Helena.
The money which these transient visitors circulate in the Island
constitutes a chief portion of the revenues of the inhabitants.

At five o’clock the Emperor proceeded to the garden, and went on foot
as far as an opening between some of the hills, whence we could
discern several vessels in full sail, making for the Island. The last
ship that arrived from the Cape had brought a phaeton for the Emperor.
He wished to try it this evening, and he got into it, accompanied by
the Grand Marshal, and rode round the park. He, however, thinks that
this kind of equipage is both useless and ridiculous, in present
circumstances. After dinner the Emperor felt much fatigued; he has
been indisposed for some days, and he retired this evening at an early
hour.

THE INVASION OF ENGLAND.

3rd.—The Emperor sent for me at two o’clock; I found him shaving. He
told me that I beheld in him a man who was on the point of death, on
the brink of the grave. He added that I must have been aware that he
was ill, because he must have waked me often during the night. I had,
indeed, heard him cough and sneeze continually: he had a violent cold
in his head, which he had caught in consequence of staying out too
long in the damp air on the preceding evening. He stated his
determination, in future, always to return in doors at six o’clock.
After he had dressed, he sat down to his English lesson; but he did
not continue at it long, for his head ached severely. He told me to
sit down by him, and made me talk for more than two hours about what I
had observed in London during my emigration. Among other things, he
inquired, “Were the English very much afraid of my invasion? What was
the general opinion at the time?”—“Sire,“ I replied, “I cannot inform
you: I had then returned to France. But in the saloons of Paris we
laughed heartily at the idea of an invasion of England; and the
English who were there at the time did so too. It was said that even
Brunet laughed at the scheme, and that you had caused him to be
imprisoned because he had been insolent enough in one of his parts, to
set some nut-shells afloat in a tub of water, which he called
manœuvring his little flotilla.” “Well!” replied the Emperor, “You
might laugh in Paris, but Pitt did not laugh in London. He soon
comprehended the extent of the danger, and therefore threw a coalition
on my shoulders at the moment when I was raising my arm to strike.
Never was the English oligarchy exposed to greater danger.

“I had taken measures to ensure the possibility of my landing. I had
the best army in the world; I need only say it was the army of
Austerlitz. In four days I should have been in London; I should have
entered the English capital, not as a conqueror but as a liberator. I
should have been another William III.; but I would have acted with
greater generosity and disinterestedness. The discipline of my army
was perfect. My troops would have behaved in London just as they would
in Paris. No sacrifices, not even contributions, would have been
exacted from the English. We should have presented ourselves to them,
not as conquerors but as brothers, who came to restore to them their
rights and liberties. I would have assembled the citizens, and
directed them to labour in the task of their regeneration; because the
English had already preceded us in political legislation; I would have
declared that our only wish was to be able to rejoice in the happiness
and prosperity of the English people; and to these professions I would
have strictly adhered. In the course of a few months, the two nations,
which had been such determined enemies, would have thenceforward
composed only one people, identified in principles, maxims and
interests. I should have departed from England, in order to effect
from south to north, under republican colours (for I was then First
Consul) the regeneration of Europe, which, at a later period, I was on
the point of effecting from north to south under monarchical forms.
Both systems were equally good, since both would have been attended
with the same result, and would have been carried into execution with
firmness, moderation, and good faith. How many ills that are now
endured, and how many that are yet to be experienced, would not
unhappy Europe have escaped! Never was a project so favourable to the
interests of civilization conceived with more disinterested
intentions, or so near being carried into execution. It is a
remarkable fact that the obstacles which occasioned my failure were
not the work of men, but all proceeded from the elements. In the
south, the sea frustrated my plans; the burning of Moscow, the snow
and the winter, completed my ruin in the north. Thus water, air, and
fire, all nature and nature alone, was hostile to the universal
regeneration which nature herself called for!... The problems of
Providence are insoluble!”

After a few moment’s silence, he reverted to the subject of the
English invasion. “It was supposed,” said he, “that my scheme was
merely a vain threat, because it did not appear that I possessed any
reasonable means of attempting its execution. But I had laid my plans
deeply, and without being observed. I had dispersed all our French
ships; and the English were sailing after them to different parts of
the world. Our ships were to return suddenly and at the same time, and
to assemble in a mass along the French coasts. I should have had
seventy or eighty French or Spanish ships in the Channel; and I
calculated that I should continue master of it for two months. Three
or four thousand small vessels were to be ready at a signal. A hundred
thousand men were every day drilled in embarking and landing, as a
part of their exercise. They were full of ardour, and eager for the
enterprise, which was very popular with the French, and was supported
by the wishes of a great number of the English. After landing my
troops, I calculated upon only one pitched battle, the result of which
could not be doubtful; and victory would have brought us to London.
The nature of the country would not admit of a war of monœuvring.
My conduct would have done the rest. The people of England groaned
under the yoke of an oligarchy. On feeling that their pride had not
been humbled, they would have ranged themselves on our side. We should
have been considered only as Allies come to effect their deliverance.
We should have presented ourselves with the magical words of liberty
and equality,” &c.

After adverting to a great number of the minor details of the plan,
which were all admirable, and remarking how very near execution it had
been, he abruptly stopped, and said, “Let us go out, and take a turn.”

We walked for some time; it had been raining for three days, but now
the weather was perfectly fine. The Emperor, not forgetting his
resolution to be in-doors always by six o’clock, immediately ordered
the calash; took a drive, and returned home in good time. My son
followed on horse-back; it was the first time he had enjoyed such an
honour. He acquitted himself very well, and the Emperor complimented
him on the occasion.

The Emperor continued unwell, and retired to rest very early.

THE CHINESE FLEET.

4th.—To-day the Emperor received some captains of the China fleet. He
conversed a long time with them respecting their trade, the facility
of their intercourse with the Chinese, the manners of that people, &c.
The ships which trade to China are from 14 to 1500 tons’ burthen,
nearly equal to sixty-fours; and they draw from twenty-two to
twenty-three feet of water: they are laden almost exclusively with
tea. One of those just arrived had nearly 1500 tons on board. The
cargoes of the six ships which came into the road last night are
valued at about sixty millions; and as they will be subject to a duty
of 100 per cent., on their arrival in England, 120 millions will thus
at once be thrown into circulation in Europe.

Europeans are allowed very little liberty at Canton. Their residence
is chiefly limited to the suburbs. They are treated with the greatest
contempt by the Chinese, who assume an air of great superiority, and
conduct themselves in a very arbitrary manner. The Chinese are very
intelligent, industrious, and active; but they are great thieves and
extremely treacherous. They transact all business in the European
languages, which they speak with facility.

The arrival of fleets at St. Helena is a circumstance equally pleasing
to the crews and the inhabitants of the Island. The latter sell their
merchandize and purchase provisions; the seamen, on their part, are
enabled to set foot on land, and to refresh themselves. This state of
things usually continues for a fortnight or three weeks; but, on the
present occasion, the Admiral, to the great disappointment of every
body, limited the period of refreshment to two days only for the first
two ships that had anchored off the town. The others were ordered to
remain under sail, and to come up to the town in succession, two by
two. It must be supposed that he has received very strict orders, or
is under some very great apprehension, of which we are not aware.

The Emperor walked for some time in the garden before he got into his
calash. Among the trees in the neighbourhood, we perceived some
officers newly arrived at the Island, who were endeavouring to get a
peep at the Emperor, the sight of whom seemed to be an object of great
importance to them.

ETIQUETTE OF THE EMPEROR’S COURT.—CIRCUMSTANCE THAT TOOK PLACE AT
TARARE.—OFFICERS OF STATE.—CHAMBERLAINS.—UNEQUALLED SPLENDOUR OF THE
COURT OF THE TUILERIES.—ADMIRABLE REGULATION OF THE PALACE.—THE
EMPEROR’S LEVEES.—DINING IN STATE.—THE COURT AND THE CITY.

5th.—To-day the Emperor conversed a great deal about this Court and
the etiquette observed in it. The following is the substance of what
fell from him on this subject.

At the period of the Revolution, the Courts of Spain and Naples still
imitated the ceremony and grandeur of Louis XIV., mingled with the
pomp and exaggeration of the Castilians and Moors. They were insipid
and ridiculous. The court of St. Petersburg had assumed the tone and
forms of the drawing-room; that of Vienna had become quite
citizen-like; and there no longer remained any vestige of the wit, the
grace, and the good taste of the Court of Versailles.

When, therefore, Napoleon attained the sovereign power, he found a
clear road before him, and he had an opportunity of forming a Court
according to his own taste. He was desirous of adopting a rational
medium by accommodating the dignity of the throne to modern customs,
and, particularly, by making the creation of a Court contribute to
improve the manners of the great, and promote the industry of the mass
of the people. It certainly was no easy matter to re-construct a
throne on the very spot where a reigning monarch had been judicially
executed, and where the people had constitutionally sworn hatred to
kings. It was not easy to restore dignities, titles, and decorations,
among a people who for the space of fifteen years had waged a war of
proscription against them. Napoleon, however, who seemed always to
possess the power of effecting what he wished, perhaps because he had
the art of wishing for what was just and proper, after a great
struggle, surmounted all these difficulties. When he became Emperor,
he created a class of nobility, and formed a Court. Victory seemed all
on a sudden to do her utmost to consolidate and shed a lustre over
this new order of things. All Europe acknowledged the Emperor; and at
one period it might have been said that all the Courts of the
Continent had flocked to Paris to add to the splendour of the
Tuileries, which was the most brilliant and numerous Court ever seen.
There was a continued series of parties, balls, and entertainments;
and the Court was always distinguished for extraordinary magnificence
and grandeur. The person of the sovereign was alone remarkable for
extreme simplicity, which, indeed, was a characteristic that served to
distinguish him amidst the surrounding splendour. He encouraged all
this magnificence, he said, from motives of policy, and not because it
accorded with his own taste. It was calculated to encourage
manufactures and national industry. The ceremonies and festivities
which took place on the marriage of the Empress and the birth of the
King of Rome, far surpassed any which had preceded them, and probably
will never again be equalled.

The Emperor endeavoured to establish, in his foreign relations, every
thing that was calculated to place him in harmony with the other
Courts of Europe; but at home he constantly tried to adapt old forms
to new manners.

He established the _levers_ and _couchers_ of the old kings of France;
but with him they were merely nominal, and did not exist in reality,
as in former times. Instead of being occupied in the most minute and
indelicate details of the toilet, these hours under the Emperor were,
in fact, appropriated to receiving in the morning and dismissing in
the evening, such persons of his household as had to receive orders
directly from him, and who were privileged to pay their court to him
at those times.

The Emperor also established special presentations to his person and
admission to his Court: but instead of making noble birth the only
means of securing these honours, the title for obtaining them was
founded solely on the combined bases of fortune, influence, and public
services.

Napoleon, moreover, created titles, the qualifications for which were
nearly similar to those of the old feudal system. These titles,
however, possessed no real value, and were established for an object
purely national. Those which were unaccompanied by any prerogatives or
privileges might be enjoyed by persons of any rank or profession, and
were bestowed as rewards for all kinds of services. The Emperor
observed that abroad they had the useful effect of appearing to be an
approximation to the old manners of Europe, while at the same time
they served as a toy for amusing the vanities of many individuals at
home; “for,” said he, “how many superior men are children oftener than
once a day!”

The Emperor revived decorations of honour, and distributed crosses and
ribands. But instead of confining them to particular and exclusive
classes, he extended them to society in general as rewards for every
kind of talent and public service. By a happy privilege, perhaps
peculiar to Napoleon, it happened that the value of these honours was
enhanced in proportion to the number distributed. He estimated that he
had conferred about 25,000 decorations of the Legion of Honour; and
the desire to obtain the honour, he said, increased until it became a
kind of _mania_.

After the battle of Wagram, he sent the decoration of the Legion of
Honour to the Archduke Charles, and, by a refinement in compliment,
peculiar to Napoleon, he sent him merely the silver cross, which was
worn by the private soldiers.

The Emperor said that it was only by acting strictly and voluntarily
in conformity with these maxims that he had become the real national
monarch; and an adherence to the same course would have rendered the
fourth dynasty the truly constitutional one. Of these facts, said he,
the people of the lowest rank frequently evinced an instinctive
knowledge.

The Emperor related the following anecdote:—On returning from his
coronation in Italy, as he approached the environs of Lyons, he found
all the population assembled on the roads to see him pass, and he took
a fancy to ascend the hill of Tarare alone. He gave orders that nobody
should follow him, and, mingling with the crowd, he accosted an old
woman, and asked what all the bustle was about. She replied, that the
Emperor was expected. After some little conversation he said to her:
“My good woman, formerly you had the tyrant Capet; now you have the
tyrant Napoleon; what have you gained by the change?” The force of
this argument disconcerted the old woman for a moment; but she
immediately recollected herself, and replied, “Pardon me, sir, there
is a great difference. We ourselves chose this one; but we got the
other by chance.” “The old woman was right,” said the Emperor, “and
she exhibited more instinctive good sense than many men who are
possessed of great information and talent.”

The Emperor surrounded himself with great Crown officers. He
established a numerous household of chamberlains, equerries, &c. He
selected persons to fill these offices indiscriminately from among
those whom the Revolution had elevated, and from the ancient families
which it had ruined. The former considered themselves as standing on
ground which they had acquired; the latter on that which they thought
they had recovered. The Emperor had in view, by this mixture of
persons, the extinction of hatred and the amalgamation of parties. He
observed, however, that it was easy to perceive a variety of manners.
The individuals belonging to the ancient families performed their
duties with the greatest courtesy and assiduity. A Madame de
Montmorency would have stooped down to tie the Empress’s shoes; a lady
of the new school would have hesitated to do this, lest she should be
taken for a real waiting-woman; but Madame de Montmorency had no such
apprehension. These posts of honour were for the most part without
emolument; they were even attended with expense. But they brought the
individuals who filled them daily under the eye of the Sovereign—of an
all-powerful Sovereign, the source of honour and emoluments; and who
had declared that he would not have the lowest officer in his
household solicit a favour from any one but himself.

At the time of his marriage with the Empress Maria-Louisa, the Emperor
made an extensive recruit of chamberlains from among the highest ranks
of the old aristocracy; this he did with the view of proving to Europe
that there existed but one party in France, and rallying round the
Empress those individuals whose names must have been familiar to her.
It is understood that the Emperor even hesitated whether or not to
select the lady of honour from that class; but his fear lest the
Empress, with whose character he was unacquainted, might be imbued
with prejudices respecting birth, that might too much elate the old
party, induced him to make another choice.

From this moment until the period of our disasters, the most ancient
and illustrious families eagerly solicited places in the household of
the Emperor; and how could it be otherwise? The Emperor governed the
world: he had raised France and the French people above the level of
other nations. Power, glory, constituted his retinue. Happy were they
who inhaled the atmosphere of the Imperial Court. To be immediately
connected with the Emperor’s person, furnished, both abroad and at
home, a title to consideration, homage, and respect.

Upon the Restoration, a royalist, who had preserved himself pure, and
in whose sight I had found grace, said to me, in the most serious
tone, (for, what a difference in ideas does not difference of party
produce!) that with my name, and the openness of conduct I had
maintained, I ought not to despair of still obtaining a situation near
the King, or in the household of some of the Princes or Princesses.
How greatly was he astonished when I replied:—“My friend, I have
rendered that impossible: I have served the most powerful master upon
earth: I cannot in future, without degradation, stand in the same
relation to any other. Know, that when we conveyed the orders of the
Emperor to a distance, into foreign Courts, wearing his uniform, we
considered ourselves, and were every where treated, as upon an
equality with princes. He has presented to us the spectacle of not
fewer than seven Kings waiting in his saloons, in the midst of us, and
with us. On his marriage, four Queens bore the robe of the Empress, of
whom, moreover, one of us was the Gentleman Usher, another the
Equerry. Believe then, my friend, that a noble ambition is perfectly
satisfied with such honours.”

Besides, the magnificence and splendour that composed this unexampled
Court, rested on a system and a regularity of administration that has
excited the astonishment and admiration of those who have searched
amid its wrecks. The Emperor himself inspected the accounts several
times in the course of the year. All his mansions were found to be
repaired and decorated: they contained nearly forty millions in
household furniture, besides four millions in plate. If he had enjoyed
a few years of peace, imagination can scarcely fix limits, he said, to
what he would have accomplished.

The Emperor said he had conceived an excellent idea, which he was much
grieved at not having put in execution: it was to have commissioned
some persons to collect the most important petitions. “They should
have named, every day,” said he, “three or four individuals from the
provinces, who would have been admitted to my levee, and have
explained their business to me in person; I would have discussed it
with them immediately, and administered justice to them without
delay.”

I observed to the Emperor that the Commission he had created at a very
early period, under the name of “Commission of Petitions,” came very
near the idea in question, and was, in fact, productive of much good.
I was President of it on his return from Elba, and in the first month
I had already done justice to more than four thousand petitions. “It
is true,” I observed, “that circumstances originally, and custom
afterwards, had never allowed this establishment to enjoy the most
valuable prerogative with which its organization had been endowed,
that which would undoubtedly have produced the greatest effect on
public opinion; namely to present to him officially, at his great
audience on Sunday, the result of the week’s labours.” But the nature
of things, the constant expeditions of the Emperor, and, above all,
the jealousy of the Ministers, had concurred to deprive the Commission
of this high privilege.

The Emperor said, also, he was sorry he had not established it as part
of the etiquette of the Court that all persons who had been presented,
females particularly, who had any claim to obtain an audience of him,
should have the unquestioned right of entering the ante-chamber. The
Emperor, passing through it several times in the day, might have taken
the opportunity to satisfy some of their requests; and might in this
manner have spared the refusal of audiences, or the loss of time
occasioned by them. The Emperor had hesitated for some time, he said,
about re-establishing the _grand couvert_ of the kings of France, that
is, the dining in public, every Sunday, of the whole Imperial family.
He asked our opinion of it. We differed. Some approved of it,
represented this family spectacle as beneficial to public morals, and
fitted to produce the best effects on public spirit; besides, said
they, it afforded means for every individual to see his Sovereign.
Others opposed it, objecting that this ceremony involved something of
divine right and feudality, of ignorance and servility, which had no
place in our habits or the modern dignity of them. They might go to
see the Sovereign at the church or the theatre: there they joined at
least in the performance of his religious duties, or took part in his
pleasures; but to go to see him eat was only to bring ridicule on both
parties. The sovereignty having now become, as the Emperor had so well
said, a magistracy, should only be seen in full activity; conferring
favours, redressing injuries, transacting business, reviewing armies,
and above all, divested of the infirmities and the wants of human
nature, &c.... Its utility, its benefits, should form its new charm:
the image of the sovereign should be present continually and
unlooked-for, like Providence. Such was the new school:—such had been
ours.

“Well,” said the Emperor, “it may be true that the circumstances of
the time should have limited this ceremony to the Imperial heir, and
only during his youth; for he was the child of the whole nation; he
ought to become thenceforth the object of the sentiments and the sight
of all.”

On his return from Elba, the Emperor said he had an idea of dining
every Sunday in the _Galerie de Diane_ with four or five hundred
guests: this, said he, would undoubtedly have produced a great effect
on the public, particularly at the time of the _Champ de Mai_, on the
assembling of the Deputies from the departments at Paris; but the
rapidity and the importance of business prevented it. Besides, he was
apprehensive, perhaps, that there might have been observed in this
measure too great an affectation of popularity, and that his enemies
abroad might give it the semblance of fear on his part.

It is the custom, said the Emperor, to talk of the influence of the
tone and manners of the Court upon those of a nation; he was far from
having brought about any such result; but it was the fault of
circumstances and of several unperceived combinations: he had
reflected much on the subject, and he thought that it would have been
accomplished in time.

“The Court,” he continued, “taken collectively, does not exert this
influence; it is only because its elements, those who compose it, go
to communicate, each in his own sphere of action, that which they have
collected from the common source; the tone of the Court, then, is not
infused into a whole nation, but through intermediate societies. Now,
we had no such societies, nor could we yet have them. Those delightful
assemblies, where one enjoys so fully the advantages of civilization,
suddenly disappear at the approach of revolutions, and are
re-established but slowly, when the tempests dissipate. The
indispensable bases of society are indolence and luxury; but we were
all still in a state of agitation, and great fortunes were not yet
firmly established. A great number of theatres, a multitude of public
establishments, moreover, presented pleasures more ready, less
constrained, and more exciting. The women of the day, taken
collectively, were young; they liked better to be out, and to shew
themselves in public, than to remain at home and compose a narrower
circle. But they would have grown old, and with a little time and
tranquillity, every thing would have fallen into its natural course.
And then again,” he observed, “it would perhaps be an error to judge
of a modern Court by the remembrance of the old ones. The power
certainly resided in the old Courts; they said, the Court and the
City;—at the present day, if we desired to speak correctly, we were
obliged to say the City and the Court. The feudal lords, since they
have lost their power, seek to make themselves amends in their
enjoyments. Sovereigns themselves seemed to be, for the future,
subjected to this law: the throne, with our liberal ideas, insensibly
ceased to be a signory, and became purely a magistracy; the Prince
having only a simple practical character to sustain, always
sufficiently dull and tedious in the long run, must seek to withdraw
from it, to come as a mere citizen, and take his share in the
pleasures of society.”

Among a great number of new measures projected by the Emperor for a
more tranquil futurity, his favourite idea had been, peace being
obtained and repose secured, to devote his life to purifying the
administration and to local meliorations; to be occupied in perpetual
tours in the departments: he would have visited, not hurried over;
sojourned, not posted through: he would have used his own horses,
would have been surrounded by the Empress, the King of Rome, his whole
Court. At the same time he wished this great equipage not to be
burdensome to any, but rather a benefit to all: a suite of tapestry
hangings and all the other appendages, following the train, would have
furnished and decorated his places of rest. The other persons of the
Court, he said, would have been quartered on the citizens, who would
have looked upon their guests as a benefit rather than a burden,
because they would always have been the sure means of their acquiring
some advantage or some favours. “It is thus,” he continued, “that I
should have been able in every place to prevent frauds, punish
misappropriations, direct edifices, bridges, roads; drain marshes,
fertilize lands, &c.—If Heaven had then,” he continued, “granted me a
few years, I would certainly have made Paris the capital of the world,
and all France a real fairy-land.” He often repeated these last words:
how many people have already said this, or will repeat it after him!

SET OF CHESSMEN FROM CHINA.—PRESENTATION OF
THE CAPTAINS OF THE CHINA FLEET.

6th.—The Emperor mounted his horse at seven o’clock: he told me to
call my son to accompany us; this was a great favour. During our ride
the Emperor dismounted five or six times to observe, with the help of
a glass, some vessels that were in sight: he ascertained one to be a
Dutchman; the three colours are always, with us, an object of lively
emotion. On one of these occasions, the most mettlesome horse in the
company got loose, and occasioned a long pursuit; my son came up with
him, brought him back in triumph, and the Emperor observed that in a
tournament this would be a victory.

On our return, the Emperor breakfasted within doors: he detained us
all.

Before and after breakfast, the Emperor conversed with me in private
on serious matters which I cannot trust to paper.

The heat was become excessive: he retired. It was half-past four when
he sent for me again; he was finishing dressing. The Doctor brought
him a set of chessmen, which he had been buying on board the vessels
from China; the Emperor had wished to have one. For this he had paid
thirty Napoleons: it was an object of great admiration with the worthy
Doctor; and, at the same time, nothing seemed more ridiculous to the
Emperor. All the pieces, instead of resembling ours, were coarse and
clumsy images of the figures indicated by the names: thus, a knight
was armed at all points, and the castle rested on an enormous
elephant, &c. The Emperor could not make use of them, saying,
pleasantly, that every piece would require a crane to move it.

In the mean time many officers and others employed in the China fleet
were sauntering in the garden. Their curiosity had led them some hours
before to our dwelling; we had been literally invaded in our chambers.
One said, the pride of his life would be to have seen Napoleon:
another, that he durst not appear in his wife’s presence in England,
if he could not tell her that he had been fortunate enough to behold
his features; another, that he would willingly forego all the profits
of his voyage for a single glance, &c.

The Emperor caused them to be admitted: it would be difficult to
describe their satisfaction and joy: they had not ventured to expect
or to hope for so much. The Emperor, according to custom, proposed
many questions to them concerning China, its commerce, its
inhabitants: their revenues, their manners; the missionaries, &c. He
detained them above half an hour, before he dismissed them. At their
departure we described to him the enthusiasm we had witnessed in these
officers, and repeated all that had fallen from them relative to him.
“I believe it,” said he; “you do not perceive that they are our
friends. All that you have observed in them belongs to the commonalty
of England—the natural enemies, perhaps without giving themselves
credit for it, of their old and insolent Aristocracy.”

At dinner the Emperor ate little; he was unwell: after coffee, he
attempted a game at chess, but he was too much inclined to sleep, and
retired almost immediately.

A TRICK.

7th.—The Emperor mounted his horse at a very early hour; he told me
again to call my son to accompany him. The evening before, the Emperor
seeing him on horseback, had asked me if I did not make him learn to
groom his horse; that nothing was more useful; that he had given
particular orders for it in the military school at St. Germain. I was
vexed that such an idea had escaped me; I seized it eagerly, and my
son still more so. He was at this moment on a horse that no one had
touched but himself. The Emperor, whom I informed of it, seemed
pleased, and condescended to make him go through a sort of little
examination. Our ride lasted nearly two hours and a half, rambling all
the time about Longwood.

At our return the Emperor had breakfast in the garden, to which he
detained us all.

A short time before dinner, I presented myself as usual in the
drawing-room: the Emperor was playing at chess with the Grand Marshal.
The valet-de-chambre in waiting at the door of the room brought me a
letter, on which was written _Very urgent_. Out of respect to the
Emperor, I went aside to read it: it was in English; it stated that I
had composed an excellent work; that, nevertheless, it was not without
faults; that if I would correct them in a new edition, no doubt the
work would be more valuable for it; and then went on to pray that God
would keep me in his gracious and holy protection. Such a letter
excited my astonishment, and made me rather angry; the colour rushed
to my face: I did not, at first, give myself time to consider the
writing. In reading it over again I recognised the hand,
notwithstanding its being much better written than usual, and I could
not help laughing a good deal to myself. But the Emperor, who cast a
side-glance at me, asked me from whom the letter came that was given
to me. I replied, that it was a paper that had caused a very different
feeling in me at first from that which it would leave permanently. I
said this with so much simplicity, the mystification had been so
complete, that he laughed till tears came in his eyes. The letter was
from him; the pupil had a mind to jest with his master, and try his
powers at his expense. I carefully preserve this letter; the gaiety,
the style, and the whole circumstance, render it more valuable to me
than any diploma the Emperor could have put into my hands when he was
in power.

AN OPPORTUNITY FOR THE EMPEROR TO MAKE USE OF HIS ENGLISH.—ON
MEDICINE.—CORVISART.—DEFINITION.—ON THE PLAGUE.—MEDICAL PRACTICE IN
BABYLON.

8th.—The Emperor had had no sleep during the night; he had, therefore,
amused himself with writing me another letter in English; he sent it
to me sealed; I corrected the errors in it, and sent him an answer
also in English, by the return of the courier. He understood me
perfectly: this convinced him of the progress he had made, and
satisfied him that for the future he could, strictly speaking,
correspond in his new tongue.

For nearly a fortnight past, General Gourgaud had been unwell; his
indisposition had turned to a very malignant dysentery, which
occasioned some alarm. The Admiral now sent him the Surgeon of the
Northumberland (Dr. Warden); the Emperor detained this gentleman to
dinner. During the repast, and for a long time afterwards, the
conversation was exclusively on medicine; sometimes lively, sometimes
serious and profound. The Emperor was in good spirits: he talked with
great volubility; he overwhelmed the Doctor with questions, and with
ingenious and subtle arguments, that perplexed him much: the latter
was much dazzled by this brilliancy; so that, after dinner, he took me
aside to ask me how it happened that the Emperor was so well informed
on these matters: he did not doubt but they were his usual topics of
conversation. “Not more than any thing else,” I said, with truth; “but
there are few subjects with which the Emperor is unacquainted, and he
treats them all in a new and engaging manner.”

The Emperor has no faith in medicine, or its remedies, of which he
makes no use. “Doctor,” said he, “our body is a machine for the
purpose of life: it is organized to that end—that is its nature. Leave
the life there at its ease, let it take care of itself, it will do
better than if you paralyze it by loading it with medicines. It is
like a well-made watch, destined to go for a certain time; the
watch-maker has not the power of opening it, he cannot meddle with it
but at random, and with his eyes bandaged. For one who, by dint of
racking it with his ill-formed instruments, succeeds in doing it any
good, how many blockheads destroy it altogether!”

The Emperor, then, did not admit the utility of medicine but in a few
cases, in disorders that were known and distinctly ascertained by time
and experience: and he then compared the art of the physician with
that of the engineer in regular sieges, where the maxims of Vauban,
and the rules of experience, have brought all the chances within the
scope of known laws. In accordance, too, with these principles, the
Emperor had conceived the idea of a law which should have allowed to
the mass of medical practitioners in France the use of simple
medicines only, and forbidden them to employ _heroic_ remedies, that
is, such as may cause death, unless they made three or four thousand
francs, at least, by their profession; which, said he, afforded
grounds for supposing them to have education, judgment, and a certain
public reputation. “This measure,” said he, “was certainly just and
beneficent; but in my circumstances it was unseasonable: information
was not yet sufficiently diffused. No doubt the mass of the people
would have seen only an act of tyranny in the law, which,
nevertheless, would have rescued them from their executioners.”