Chapter XV: Part 15

“Sire,” continued I, "being ignorant of your Majesty’s kind intentions respecting me, I was placed in a situation truly ridiculous, amidst the numerous congratulations that I received. I endeavoured to extricate myself from all this embarrassment with the best possible grace; but the more efforts I made for this purpose, the more I was blamed for my modesty. I never asked your Majesty for more than one thing, and that was the situation of Master of Requests, which was immediately granted to me. Clarke reproached me with having lowered my dignity by making such a solicitation. He said that I should have asked to be made a Councillor of State; and that your Majesty would have granted my request."—"No," replied the Emperor, “I did not know you well enough for that. I should have looked upon such a request as the result of silly ambition.”—" Sire," I observed, “I had sufficient tact to guess what your opinion would be.”—"Well,“ continued the Emperor, that was odd enough. But perhaps Clarke was right after all. The solicitation of the inferior post of Master of Requests might have injured you in my opinion; that is to say, it might have tended to fix you in the rank in which I had classed you. I was very well pleased to see my chamberlains have something to do; but Master of Requests was too trivial a post. It is curious,” continued he, “how my memory revives, now that I am speaking on this subject. You had performed detached services, which had rapidly escaped my recollection, because my attention had never been directed to them. If they had been presented to my notice all in a mass, they must have given me a very different opinion of you. You served as a volunteer at Flushing. I knew this; and what I should have regarded as a mere matter of course in any other individual, forcibly struck me in an emigrant, who had for this purpose quitted his family, and who was not without fortune.”—"Sire, I received the most gratifying reward on my return. Your Majesty spoke to me on the subject."—"But," said he, “you suffered this to be lost in the flood of oblivion. You addressed several written communications to me. All these things occur to my recollection by degrees. You transmitted to me some plans respecting the Adriatic Sea, with which I was much pleased. The suggestion was to get possession of the Adriatic, and to establish a fleet there. Ships could have been built at no vast expense, with the wood produced in the immense forests of Croatia. I submitted the whole to the Minister, who never more mentioned the subject to me. But you presented some other things to my notice.”—"Sire, you probably allude to the ideas respecting the system of maritime warfare to be adopted against England, accompanied by an explanatory map."—"Yes, I recollect. The map lay for several days on the desk in my closet. I expressed a wish to see you; but you were absent on a mission."

“Sire, about the same time I had the honour to address to you a plan for transforming the Champ-de-Mars into a _Naumachia_, which would have been an ornament to the palace of the King of Rome. I proposed that the basin should be dug sufficiently deep to admit the launching of small corvettes, which might have been built, rigged, manned and worked by the pupils of the naval school, which, according to my plan, was to be established at the military school. All the Princes of the Imperial house might have been required to devote themselves to these naval exercises for the space of two years, whatever might have been their ultimate destination. Your Majesty might have induced the distinguished families of the empire thus to procure for their sons a knowledge of naval affairs. I doubted not that all these circumstances combined, and the spectacle presented to the capital, would infallibly have rendered the navy at once popular and national in France.”—"Ah! I was not aware of the extent of your plan," said the Emperor, in whose mind every idea immediately became magnified. “This design would have pleased me. It might have produced immense results. From this plan there was but a step to that of rendering the Seine navigable, and cutting a canal from Paris to the sea. This could not have been regarded as too stupendous an enterprise; for more was done by the Romans in ancient times, and more has already been effected by the Chinese of the present day. It would have afforded a pastime to the army in time of peace. I had conceived many plans of the same kind. But our enemies kept me chained to war. Of what glory have they robbed me!... But continue.”—

"Sire, I also submitted to your Majesty’s consideration some ideas respecting the completion of the naval schools."—"Did I adopt them in the schools which I established?" inquired the Emperor. “Did your opinions coincide with mine?” “Sire, the plans for your schools were already determined on; I merely suggested a few hints for their completion.”—"Oh, now I recollect something of the matter. But I think your ideas were a little too democratic; were they not?"—"No, Sire, I set out from the principle that your Majesty had provided for the exclusive competition of the intermediate class, and I proposed to add below it all the chances that might be presented by the competition of seamen; and above it, all the chances that might arise out of the competition of individuals connected with the Court."—"Yes, I recollect," said the Emperor, "your ideas were novel and singular, and they attracted my attention. I submitted the plan to the Minister, who either kept it for his own use, or turned it into ridicule. I also remember that, in the correspondence relative to your mission to Holland, which I ordered to be laid before me, there was mentioned a plan for removing our ships from the German Ocean to the Baltic, by means of canals, which should unite the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula. This idea pleased me; it was after my own taste. And on your return, seeing you at my levee, I was about to propose to you some measure for the execution of your plan. But you did not seem to comprehend my questions, or you gave me unsatisfactory and undecided answers. I concluded that the ideas had probably been suggested by some one else, and that you were taking credit for them. I therefore left you, and turned to speak to your neighbour. I was to blame for acting thus precipitately; but I could not help it.

"When I call to mind all these circumstances, I find that I had so many motives for bestowing attention on you, that I am astonished I should have neglected you: and I cannot help thinking that you must have manœuvred admirably, before you could have succeeded in withdrawing yourself so completely from my notice. It is very certain that all these facts have but just now occurred to me: and at the period of our departure, and some time afterwards, you were, with the exception of your name and person, a stranger to me. I looked upon you as one of whom I knew nothing. How do you account for this? You cannot perhaps explain it; but it is nevertheless true.

“I ask again, why you did not avail yourself of the good offices of your friends; or why you did not appeal to me in person?”—"Sire, those who enjoyed the privilege of approaching nearest to your person were intent only on advancing their own interests. Their friendship did not extend beyond mere good wishes. To speak a word for another was what they called using their influence; and that was reserved solely for their own advantage. Besides, even though I had had the opportunity of speaking for myself, I should always have preferred others to speak for me. You, Sire, had but little leisure, your arrangements were very uncertain, it was necessary to explain every thing to you in few words. At the same time, I had so little confidence in myself, and was so fearful of creating an unfavourable impression, that I preferred withdrawing myself from your notice. For it was not sufficient to enter into intrigue; it was necessary that the intrigue should be brought to a result."—"Perhaps it was as well after all," said the Emperor. “You have judged the matter rightly; for, even had I known as much of you as I now do, your reserve and timidity would perhaps have ruined you. I now recollect a circumstance, which probably operated to your prejudice. When M. de Montesquiou proposed you as Chamberlain, he represented you as being possessed of vast fortune; but I soon learned the contrary. I do not mean to say that this circumstance was in any way injurious to you, or that it afforded any ground of objection to you personally; but other individuals, who wished to be appointed Chamberlains, complained of not having been preferred on account of their superior fortune, or quoted your example, if they thought themselves neglected on the score of their poverty. This is the way at Court.”

“It appears evident, Sire, that, with my character, I was destined never to be known to your Majesty.”—"Yes,“ said the Emperor and it had nearly happened so. But yet, on my return, did I not appoint you a Chamberlain? and their number was very limited. Did I not immediately create you a Councillor of State? You had been a member of the old aristocracy, you had been an emigrant, and you had undergone great trials; all these were powerful recommendations to me. Besides, at that time, so many voices were raised in praise of your conduct that, sooner or later, I must have known you thoroughly.”

ARRIVAL OF THE LIBRARY.—HORNEMANN’S TESTIMONY
IN FAVOUR OF GENERAL BONAPARTE.

22nd.—To-day the weather was very bad. The Emperor sent for me about three o’clock. He was in the topographical cabinet, surrounded by all the persons of his suite, who were engaged in unpacking some boxes of books which had arrived by the Newcastle. The Emperor himself helped to unpack, and seemed to be highly amused with the occupation. Men naturally adapt themselves to their circumstances: their enjoyments are trivial in proportion as their sufferings are severe. On seeing the file of Moniteurs, which had been so long expected, he expressed unfeigned delight: he took it up and began eagerly to peruse it.

After dinner the Emperor looked over Park’s and Hornemann’s Travels in Africa, and he traced their course on my Atlas. In these narratives, Hornemann, and the African Society of London, bore ample testimony to the generous assistance they had received from the General-in-chief of the army of Egypt (Napoleon), who had seized every opportunity of promoting their discoveries. The polite and handsome manner in which these facts were mentioned was very gratifying to the Emperor, who had been long accustomed to find his name connected with insulting epithets.

ON MEMORY.—TRADE.—NAPOLEON’S IDEAS AND PLANS
ON SEVERAL POINTS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY.

23rd.—I attended the Emperor about three o’clock. He had been so delighted at the receipt of his new books that he had passed the whole night in reading and dictating notes to Marchand. He was very much fatigued; but my visit afforded him a little respite. He dressed and went out to walk in the garden.

During dinner the Emperor alluded to his immense reading in his youth; and he found, from all the books he had perused relative to Egypt, that he had scarcely any thing to correct in what he had dictated on Egypt: he had stated many facts which he had not read, but which, on reference to these books, he found to be correct.

The conversation turned on the subject of memory. The Emperor remarked that a head without memory was like a garrison without fortifications. His he said was a useful kind of memory. It was not general and absolute; but relative, faithful, and only retentive of what was necessary. Some one present observed that his own memory was like his sight, that it became confused by the distance of places and objects, as he removed from one situation to another; upon which the Emperor replied that, for his part, his memory was like his heart, that it preserved a faithful impression of all that ever had been dear to him.

A-propos of good memory and fond recollections, I must here note down a remark of the Emperor’s, which I omitted to mention at the time it was made. One day at dinner, while describing one of his engagements in Egypt, he named numerically the eight or ten demi-brigades which had been engaged. On hearing this, Madame Bertrand could not refrain from asking how, after so long a time, he could possibly recollect all these numbers. "Madame, this is a lover’s recollection of his former mistresses," was Napoleon’s reply.

After dinner, the Emperor ordered my Atlas to be brought to him, for the purpose of verifying the particulars which he had collected in his books on Africa, and he was astonished to find every thing correspond so accurately.

He then began to converse on trade, and the principles and systems which he had introduced. He opposed the principles of economists, which he said were correct in theory, though erroneous in their application. The political constitution of different states, continued he, must render these principles defective; local circumstances continually call for deviations from their uniformity. Duties, he said, which were so severely condemned by political economists, should not, it is true, be an object to the exchequer: they should be the guarantee and protection of a nation, and should correspond with the nature and the objects of its trade. Holland, which is destitute of productions and manufactures, and which has a trade only of transit and commission, should be free from all fetters and barriers. France, on the contrary, which is rich in every sort of production and manufactures, should incessantly guard against the importations of a rival, who might still continue superior to her, and also against the cupidity, egotism, and indifference of mere brokers.

“I have not fallen into the error of modern systematizers,” said the Emperor, "who imagine that all the wisdom of nations is centered in themselves. Experience is the true wisdom of nations. And what does all the reasoning of economists amount to? They incessantly extol the prosperity of England, and hold her up as our model; but the Custom-House system is more burthensome and arbitrary in England than in any other country. They also condemn prohibitions; yet it was England that set the example of prohibitions, and they are in fact necessary with regard to certain objects. Duties cannot adequately supply the place of prohibitions: there will always be found means to defeat the object of the legislator. In France we are still very far behind on these delicate points, which are still unperceived or ill-understood by the mass of society. Yet what advancement have we not made! What correctness of ideas has been introduced by my gradual classification of agriculture, industry, and trade; objects so distinct in themselves, and which present so great and positive a graduation!

"1st.—_Agriculture_; the soul, the first basis of the empire.

"2nd.—_Industry_; the comfort and happiness of the population.

"3rd.—_Foreign trade_; the superabundance, the proper application of the surplus of agriculture and industry.

"Agriculture was continually improving during the whole course of the Revolution. Foreigners thought it ruined in France. In 1814, however, the English were compelled to admit that we had little or nothing to learn from them.

"Industry or manufactures, and internal trade, made immense progress during my reign. The application of chemistry to the manufactures caused them to advance with giant strides. I gave an impulse, the effects of which extended throughout Europe.

"Foreign trade, which in its results is infinitely inferior to agriculture, was an object of subordinate importance in my mind. Foreign trade is made for agriculture and home industry, and not the two latter for the former. The interests of these three fundamental bases are diverging and frequently conflicting. I always promoted them in their natural gradation; but I could not, and ought not to have ranked them all on an equality. Time will unfold what I have done, the national resources which I created, and the emancipation from the English which I brought about. We have now the secret of the commercial treaty of 1783. France still exclaims against its author; but the English demanded it on pain of resuming the war. They wished to do the same after the treaty of Amiens; but I was then all-powerful; I was a hundred cubits high. I replied that if they were in possession of the heights of Montmartre I would still refuse to sign the treaty. These words were echoed through Europe.

The English will now impose some such treaty on France, at least if popular clamour, and the opposition of the mass of the nation, do not force them to draw back. This thraldom would be an additional disgrace in the eyes of that nation, which is now beginning to acquire a just perception of her own interests.

"When I came to the head of the government, the American ships, which were permitted to enter our ports on the score of their neutrality, brought us raw materials, and had the impudence to sail from France without freight, for the purpose of taking in cargoes of English goods in London. They moreover had the insolence to make their payments, when they had any to make, by giving bills on persons in London. Hence the vast profits reaped by the English manufacturers and brokers, entirely to our prejudice. I made a law that no American should import goods to any amount, without immediately exporting their exact equivalent. A loud outcry was raised against this: it was said that I had ruined trade. But what was the consequence? Notwithstanding the closing of my ports, and in spite of the English who ruled the seas, the Americans returned and submitted to my regulations. What might I not have done under more favourable circumstances?

"Thus I naturalized in France the manufacture of cotton, which includes:—

"1st. _Spun-cotton._—We did not previously spin it ourselves; the English supplied us with it as a sort of favour.

"2nd. _The woven-stuff._—We did not yet make it; it came to us from abroad.

"3rd. _The printing._—This was the only part of the manufacture that we performed ourselves. I wished to naturalize the two first branches; and I proposed to the Council of State that their importation should be prohibited. This excited great alarm. I sent for Oberkamp, and I conversed with him a long time. I learned from him that this prohibition would doubtless produce a shock, but that, after a year or two of perseverance, it would prove a triumph, from which we should derive immense advantages. Then I issued my decree in spite of all; this was a true piece of statesmanship.

"I at first confined myself merely to prohibiting wove-cottons; then I extended the prohibition to spun cotton; and we now possess within ourselves the three branches of the cotton manufacture, to the great benefit of our population, and the injury and regret of the English:—which proves that, in civil government as well as in war, decision of character is often indispensable to success. I offered a million of francs as a reward for the discovery of a method of spinning flax like cotton, and this discovery would undoubtedly have been made,[24] but for our unfortunate circumstances. I should then have prohibited cotton, if I could not have naturalized it on the continent.

Footnote 24:

Flax is actually now spun like cotton at Verviers and Liege.

"The encouragement of the production of silk was an object that equally claimed my attention. As Emperor of France and King of Italy I calculated on receiving an annual revenue of 120 millions from the production of silk.

"The system of commercial licenses was no doubt mischievous! Heaven forbid that I should have laid it down as a principle. It was the invention of the English; with me it was only a momentary resource. Even the continental system, in its extent and rigour, was by me regarded merely as a measure occasioned by the war and temporary circumstances.

“The difficulties, and even the total stagnation, of foreign trade during my reign arose out of the force of circumstances and the accidents of the time. One brief interval of peace would immediately have restored it to its natural level.”

ARTILLERY.—ITS USE.—ITS DEFECTS.—OLD SCHOOLS.

24th.—The Emperor informed us that he had spent full four-and-twenty hours in reading the Moniteur on the subject of the Constituent Assembly. He said that he had found these accounts as amusing as a romance; they mark the first rise of those men who had, at a later period, played so distinguished a part. However, he said, it was necessary to have an idea of the external springs of action, otherwise the reports of the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly lost much of their interest, and were frequently unintelligible. The spirit of the first moments, the first interests, of the Revolution remained entirely hidden.

After dinner the Emperor conversed on the subject of Artillery. He had wished for more uniformity and less of subdivision in the pieces. The general was often unable to judge of the best mode of employing them, and nothing could be superior to the advantages of uniformity in all the instruments and accessories of war.

The Emperor observed that in general the artillery did not fire sufficiently in a battle. The principal consideration in war is that there should be no want of ammunition. When there is an actual scarcity, of course, that forms an exception; but, in every other case, it is necessary to fire incessantly. The Emperor, who had himself often been nearly killed by spent balls, and who knew how important such an event would have been to the fate of the battle or the campaign, maintained the propriety of firing continually, without calculating expense. Moreover, he said, that if he wished to avoid the post of danger, he would station himself at the distance of 300 toises, rather than at 600. At the first-mentioned point, the balls frequently pass over the head; but at the latter they must fall somewhere or other.

He remarked, that it was impossible to make artillery fire on masses of infantry, when they were themselves assailed by an opposite battery. This arises from natural cowardice, said he, good-humouredly, from the irresistible instinct of self-preservation. An artillery-officer who was among us protested against this observation.—"It is nevertheless true," continued the Emperor; “you immediately stand on your guard against the enemy who attacks you. You seek to destroy him, lest he should destroy you. You often desist from firing, that he may cease to harass you, and direct his charge against the masses of infantry, who are of much greater importance to the fate of the battle.”

The Emperor frequently adverted to the corps of artillery, in which he had served in his youth. He said that it was the best constituted corps in Europe. It was a sort of family service. The officers were quite of a paternal turn, the bravest and worthiest men in the world, pure as gold. They were somewhat too far advanced in life, because the peace had continued too long. The young men laughed at them, because sarcasm and irony were the fashion of the day; but they adored them, and never failed to render justice to their merits.[25]

Footnote 25:

Napoleon, in his will, has given proof of this sentiment by a bequest
in favour of Baron Duthiel, his old chief of artillery, or his
children, “as a token of gratitude,” so he wrote with his own hand,
“for the attention which that brave general paid to us, when, as
lieutenant and captain, we were under his command.”

25th.—We have received the third and last package of books brought by the frigate. The Emperor has greatly fatigued himself by assisting to unpack and arrange them.

About three o’clock, several persons were presented to the Emperor; among others, the Admiral and his lady. The Emperor was indisposed, and he dined in his own chamber, attended by the Grand Marshal.

CAMPAIGN OF ITALY.—THE EMPEROR’S OPINION OF GENERAL

DROUOT.—ON THE BATTLE OF HOHENLINDEN.

26th.—The Emperor sent for me and my son, and set us to look over the Moniteur, for the purpose of comparing and completing the manuscript of the Campaigns of Italy.

The Emperor, though he had announced his intention of doing so, had not yet resumed his dictations, and I rejoiced at a circumstance which promised at length to excite renewed interest.

Our business was to select from the Moniteur all the reports and official letters, for the purpose of vouchers. The Emperor wished them to be properly classed, and desired us to make an estimate of their extent, in order that he might be able to calculate at once the space they would occupy when printed, reminding me at the same time that these were henceforth my own affairs; that I should only be serving myself for the future. Delightful words, to which the tone of his voice, his familiar air, and his whole expression, imparted even more value than was conveyed in their meaning!

To-day, during dinner, the Emperor again reviewed the character of his Generals. He passed an eulogium on several of them, the greater number of whom are now no more. He bestowed the highest praise on the talents of General Drouot. Every thing in life is a problem, said he; it is only by what is known that we can come at what is unknown. He observed that he knew to a certainty that General Drouot possessed every quality necessary to make a great General. He had sufficient reasons for supposing him superior to many of his Marshals. He had no hesitation in believing him capable of commanding 100,000 men. “And perhaps,” added he, “he was far from thinking so himself, which, after all, can only be regarded as an additional good quality.”

He again alluded to the prodigious valour of Murat and Ney, whose courage, he said, so often outstripped their judgment. Such is the enigma, said he, of certain actions in certain individuals: the inequality between disposition and understanding explains all.

The conversation turned on the battle of Hohenlinden. The Emperor remarked that “it was one of those great triumphs that are brought about by chance, and obtained without plan. Moreau, he repeated, was destitute of invention; he was not sufficiently decided; and, therefore, he was most fit to be employed on the defensive. Hohenlinden was a confused sort of affair; the enemy had been unexpectedly attacked amidst his own operations, and was conquered by troops whom he had already broken and nearly destroyed. The merit rested chiefly with the troops and generals of the partial corps, who had been most exposed to danger, and who had fought like heroes.”

When speaking of the campaigns of Italy, we observed to the Emperor that the rapid succession of his daily victories, which filled the mouth of fame, must have been a source of great delight to him.—"By no means," replied he. “At least they were supposed to have been so by those who were at a distance from the scene of conflict.”—"That may be; those who were at a distance knew only our success; they knew nothing of our situation. If those victories could have procured me pleasure, I should have enjoyed repose. But I had always the aspect of danger before me, and the victory of to-day was speedily forgotten through the obligation of gaining another to-morrow."

I recollect having heard a distinguished General (Lamarque) deliver a very characteristic opinion of Moreau. Lamarque had been much attached to Moreau, and had for a long time served under him. He was endeavouring to make me understand the different tactics of Moreau and Napoleon. He said:—"Had their two armies been in presence, and there had been sufficient time to move, I would have entered the ranks of Moreau, which were sure to be managed with the utmost regularity, precision, and calculation. On these points, it was impossible to excel, or even to equal, Moreau. But if the two armies had to approach from points a hundred leagues distant from each other, the Emperor would have routed his adversary three, four, or five times over, before the latter could have had time to look about him."

ANNOYANCE FROM RATS.—LORD CASTLEREAGH’S IMPOSTURES.—FRENCH
HEIRESSES.

Thursday, 27th.—We had nearly gone without our breakfast: an incursion of the rats, which had entered our kitchen from several points, during the night, had deprived us of every thing eatable. We are much infested with these vermin; they are of enormous size, and very daring and mischievous; it took them very little time to penetrate our walls and floors. Attracted by the smell of the victuals, they even made their way into our drawing-room whilst we were at dinner. We were several times obliged to give them battle after the dessert; and one evening, when the Emperor wished to retire, and his hat was handed to him, a rat of the largest size jumped out of it. Our grooms had tried to rear some poultry, but they were compelled to abandon the attempt, because the rats devoured all the fowls. They would even seize them in the night on their perches.

The Emperor was this day translating some review or journal, in which it was mentioned that Lord Castlereagh had asserted at a public meeting that Napoleon, even since his fall, had not hesitated to declare that, so long as he should have reigned, he would have continued to make war against England, having never had any object but that of her destruction.

The Emperor could not help feeling provoked by these words. “Lord Castlereagh,” said he, with indignation, “must be much accustomed to lying, and must place great dependence on the credulity of his auditors. Can their own good sense allow them to believe that I could ever make such a foolish speech, even if I had had such intentions!”

It was afterwards stated that Lord Castlereagh had said, in parliament, that the reason why the French army was so much attached to Bonaparte was that he made a kind of conscription of all the heiresses of the empire, and then distributed them amongst his generals. “Here again,” observed the Emperor, “Lord Castlereagh tells a wilful falsehood. He came amongst us; he had an opportunity of seeing our manners and laws, and of knowing the truth; he must be certain that such a thing was quite impracticable and out of my power. What does he take our nation for? The French were never capable of submitting to such tyranny. I have, no doubt, made a great number of matches; and I would gladly have made thousands more; it was one of the most effectual methods of amalgamating and uniting irreconcileable factions. If I had had more time to myself, I would have taken great pains to extend these unions to the provinces, and even to the Confederation of the Rhine, in order to strengthen the connection of those distant portions of the empire with France; but in such proceedings, I exerted only my influence, and never my authority. Lord Castlereagh disregards such distinctions; it is important to his policy to render me odious; he is not scrupulous about the means; he does not shrink from any calumny; he has every advantage over me. I am in chains; he has taken all possible precautions for keeping my mouth shut, and preventing the possibility of my making any reply, and I am a thousand leagues from the scene of action; his position is commanding; nothing stands in his way. But certainly this conduct is the _ne plus ultra_ of impudence, baseness, and cowardice.”

I shall now introduce an instance which may serve to prove the truth of the foregoing assertion of Napoleon with respect to French heiresses. I had the account from the lips of the person chiefly interested.

M. d’Aligre had a daughter who was heiress to immense property: the Emperor conceived the idea of marrying her to M. de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza, for whom he had such a particular regard that he was looked upon as a kind of favourite. His personal qualities, not less than his high official employment, rendered him one of the first personages in the empire. The Emperor, therefore, never imagined that there could be the slightest impediment to this union. He sent for M. d’Aligre, who often came to Court, and made his request; but M. d’Aligre had other views, and declined the alliance. Napoleon urged it in every possible way, but M. d’Aligre remained immoveable. From his manner of relating the affair to me, it was evident that he thought he had shewn great courage, and, in fact, he deserved the credit of having done so, for he imagined, like all of us, that it was very dangerous to thwart the Emperor’s inclinations. We were, however, all mistaken; we did not know Napoleon. I am now convinced that the justice due to individuals, and to family rights in particular, are sacred to him; and I never heard that M. d’Aligre suffered any inconvenience whatever through his refusal.

After dinner, the Emperor tried some of Pigault Le Brun’s romances and others of the same kind, but in vain: after turning over a few pages of each, he rejected them all, saying that they were all in very bad taste.

THE GOVERNOR’S STATEMENTS RESPECTING THE
EXPENSES AT LONGWOOD, &C.

Friday, 28th.—Towards one o’clock, the Emperor sent for me and my son. We carried him the first chapter of the Campaigns of Italy, with our last work completing it. He detained us until almost six o’clock.

The Governor had paid a visit to the Grand Marshal, and in a vague manner given him reason to expect some reductions at Longwood. He had stated, with some simplicity, that it had been expected at London that the permission which had been offered us to return to Europe would have greatly diminished the Emperor’s domestic circle. He had also said, without being well understood by the Grand Marshal, that, if we had any private property, we might avail ourselves of our own money, by drawing upon our own funds, as I had already done. His government, he said, had never intended to allow the Emperor more than a table for four persons daily at most, and company to dine once a-week. What a statement! Is it possible that he meant to insinuate that, with respect to us, we ought to pay for our maintenance, and contribute, for the future, to the expenses of the establishment? Let it not be thought incredible: we daily learn here to believe that there is nothing impossible.

The Emperor, afterwards, reverting to a book which he had been reading, and in which there was a story of an Irish lady, respecting whom Goldsmith had abused him violently, recollected well, he said, that, being at Bayonne at the chateau de Marrach, when the city of Bourdeaux gave him a _fête_, he saw, by the side of the Empress Josephine, a charming face of the most perfect beauty, with which he was forcibly struck. The impression she had made did not pass unperceived. It had been anticipated and brought about designedly. “God knows,” said the Emperor, “with what intention. She was a Miss ——, afterwards Madame ——, a new reader to the Empress Josephine, whom she attended to the chateau de Marrach, and might very possibly have had great success. She already occupied my thoughts, when M. de Lavalette, who was at the head of the secret department of the post-office, destroyed the charm. He sent, direct to me, a letter addressed to this young lady. It was from her mother, or her aunt, an Irishwoman, and contained minute directions for the part she was to play, and particularly urged her by all means to contrive to secure such a living pledge as might prolong her empire, or at least secure her great influence. On reading this,” said the Emperor, “all illusion vanished. The coarseness of the intrigue, the turpitude of the details, the style, the hand which had written the letter; but, above all, her being a foreigner, produced immediate disgust; and the pretty little Irish girl was, in fact, as Goldsmith says, put into a post-chaise and suddenly packed off to Paris. And here I find,” continued Napoleon, “a libel imputing this to me as a crime, when, in fact, it was much rather a virtue in me; an act of continence, of which I might, perhaps, boast with much more reason than the famous Scipio. But this is the way in which history is written.”

After dinner, when we were debating what we should read, the Emperor said that, since we confessed we had not wit enough to relate each his tale or story, we ought at least to be condemned to choose, by turns, our evening’s reading; and he began by naming for his part, the poem _De la Pitié_, by the Abbé Delille. He thought the verses good, the language pure, the ideas pleasing; nevertheless, he observed, it was destitute of imagination or warmth. It was, undoubtedly, superior in versification to Voltaire; but still far beneath our other great masters.

Saturday, 29th.—The Emperor breakfasted in the garden, and invited us all. After breakfast he took an airing in the calash. He was in good spirits, and rallied us all in our turns. One he complimented on the beauty and elegance of his apartments, another on the sums which the Governor had paid for him, and which would soon be increased by a handsome stock of child-bed linen; me he congratulated on the taste which the Governor seemed to have for my bills of exchange, which had induced his Excellency to wish the rest to draw bills likewise. He laughed, and was highly amused with our remarks on each other. The weather suddenly changed and obliged him to return home.

After dinner, the Emperor read some passages of Milton, translated by the Abbé Delille. He thought the versification very inferior to the poem _De la Pitié_; and, in fact, it was a work prescribed to the author, written during his emigration, whilst at London, and published by subscription.

During the whole of our morning’s ride, the conversation turned on our kings and their mistresses: Mesdames de Montespan, de Pompadour, Dubarry, &c. The principle was warmly discussed, opinions differed, and were obstinately defended. The Emperor amused himself with fluctuating alternately from one opinion to another. He concluded, however, by deciding in favour of morality.

POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE COURT OF LONDON DURING OUR EMIGRATION.—GEORGE
III.—MR. PITT.—THE PRINCE OF WALES.—ANECDOTES.—THE NASSAUS.—REMARKABLE
DIGRESSION OF NAPOLEON TO HIS OWN HISTORY.

Sunday, 30th.—The Emperor desired me to be called early in the morning to breakfast with him; he was sad, gloomy, and unable to converse; he could not find words. Chance having produced the mention of London and of my emigration, the Emperor said, by way of fixing on a subject, and finding something to occupy his attention, “You must have seen in London, the Court, the King, the Prince of Wales, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, and other great personages who figured at that time? Tell me what you know of them. What did people think of them? Give me an historical sketch.”—"Sire, your Majesty forgets, or perhaps was never precisely informed of the situation of an emigrant in London. I doubt whether we should have been received at Court; the good old George III. was deeply concerned for our personal misfortunes, but he was extremely reluctant to avow us in a political sense. And if we could have been received there, our means would not have enabled us to appear. I did not therefore go to Court. I have, however, seen most of those whom your Majesty mentions, and I have also heard much said of them.

"I have seen and heard the King several times in the House of Lords, and been very near him; the Prince of Wales in the same place, and also in company in the metropolis. Besides, it is not in London as in France; we do not find there that immense distance between the Court and the mass of the nation; the country is so crowded, information so general, education so equal, affluence so common, and the sphere of activity so rapid, that the whole nation seems to be in the same place and on the same plane; whilst, in looking at this assemblage, which might deserve to be called distinguished, one is tempted to ask, _Where is the people?_ which is, in fact, the question that Alexander is said to have asked at the time of his visit to London. It follows then, that having seen many people of all classes, conditions, and opinions, I must have imbibed some notions approaching in all probability very near the truth. Unluckily, I was then little solicitous about observing and collecting information; and I am likewise fearful that the lapse of so much time may now confuse my memory.

"George the Third was the honestest man in his dominions; his personal virtues made him an object of profound veneration; an extreme morality, and great respect for the laws, were the principal characteristics of his whole life. He came to the throne at twenty years of age, deeply enamoured of a charming young Scotch lady, of one of the first families in the country, it was much feared that he would marry her; but it was sufficient to remind him that it was contrary to law, and he instantly consented to marry the person who should be chosen for him. This was a princess of Mecklenburg. In his grief, he thought her very ordinary, and in fact she was so; nevertheless George III. remained all his life an exemplary husband; he was never known to be guilty of the least infidelity.

"The accession of George III. was an actual political revolution in England: the days of the Pretenders were over; the house of Hanover was established; the Whigs, who had placed that family on the throne, were dismissed from administration: they were troublesome observers, who were no longer wanted. The government was again seized by the Tories, those friends of power, who have ever since kept it, to the great detriment of public liberty.

"The King, however, was personally free from prejudice in this respect: he sincerely loved the laws, justice, and the welfare and prosperity of his country. The violent part taken by England against our French revolution was much less the fault of George III. than of Mr. Pitt, who was the real firebrand. The latter was instigated by the extreme hatred to France which he inherited from his father, the great Chatham, and also by a strong predilection for power and the oligarchy. At the commencement of our revolution, Mr. Pitt was the man of the people: he governed England; he drew in the King, who was always to be worked on by facts; and it must be acknowledged that the excesses and crimes of our outset afforded very favourable opportunities to the measures and the eloquence of Mr. Pitt. It is probable, Sire, that if the unfortunate George III. had retained his reason, your Majesty would eventually have found it greatly to your advantage, because your reign would have presented new facts to his observation, to which he would have yielded. George III. had his own species and degree of character: it was in harmony with his intellectual conceptions: he wished to know things, to be convinced. When once his resolution was taken, it was difficult to make him alter it; yet it was not impossible: his good sense afforded great opportunities.

"His illness was, on this account, a curse to us, a curse to Europe, and to the English themselves, who begin now to give up the high opinion they once professed of Mr. Pitt, of whose fatal errors they now feel the effects.

"It was the first attack of the King’s illness which established the reputation and credit of Mr. Pitt. That minister was little more than twenty-five years of age, when he ventured alone to encounter the mass of those who deserted the King and considered him lost; and who were eager to proclaim the monarch’s incapacity, in order to possess themselves of power under his youthful successor. This conduct rendered Mr. Pitt the idol of the nation. This was the most glorious period of his life; and his noblest triumph was, undoubtedly, that of conducting George III. to St. Paul’s, to return thanks to God for his restoration to health, amidst an immense concourse of people intoxicated with joy and satisfaction.

"There was no doubt that Mr. Pitt was on this occasion the saviour of the King as well as of the public peace; for experience proved that George III. had not become incapable of reigning again; and it was strongly suspected that, had the regency been organized, as the Opposition wished to have it, this capability would not have been very readily acknowledged at a subsequent period; and thus a civil war might have been occasioned.

"I have often heard it said that the mental derangement of George III. was not a common kind of madness: that his alienation did not exactly arise from a local affection of the brain, but from the repletion of the vessels leading to it; a derangement produced by a malady which had long been peculiar to this family. His disorder, it was said, was rather delirium than insanity. When the cause was removed, the sovereign instantly recovered all his faculties, in as great perfection as if they had sustained no interruption; this circumstance explains his numerous relapses and restorations. As a proof of this, people used to mention the strength of mind he must have possessed, to be able, immediately on his first convalescence, to support the pomp of the procession, attended by the assembled population of London, filling the air with acclamations.

"After his second relapse, he gave another not less remarkable proof of this nature, by the calmness and composure which he displayed, when fired at by an assassin, as he entered his box at the theatre. He was so little disturbed that he instantly turned to the Queen, who had just reached the door of the box, to tell her not to be alarmed, for that it was only a squib which had been let off in the theatre: he remained during the whole performance apparently unmoved. Here was certainly no proof of weakness. The permanence of the complaint in his latter years might indeed be opposed to these facts, if it be certain that he had not long lucid intervals.

"George III., although so worthy and well-meaning a monarch, was several times very near falling a victim to assassins. Several instances of this kind occur in his history; and I do not believe any of the persons implicated suffered death, because they all appeared to be insane—all religious or political fanatics. The last and most famous attempt occurred, I think, in 1800.[26] The King went to the theatre, as he did from time to time at that critical period, to keep up his popularity. As he entered his box, a man in the pit took aim at him with a horse pistol, and the ball only missed through the King’s bowing at the moment to salute the public. The dreadful tumult that ensued may easily be conceived! The man did not attempt to deny his crime; he was precisely such another as the fanatic at Schoenbrun, who would have sacrificed your Majesty, and always maintained that he had no other object in view than peace and the happiness of his country. A jury pronounced this man insane, and he was condemned to confinement.

Footnote 26:

The author seems not to be aware that this is the very attempt to
which he had just adverted.—_Translator._

"During my excursion to London in 1814, a singular chance procured me a sight of this very assassin. My mind being still occupied with the mission which your Majesty had confided to me the preceding year, concerning the depôts of mendicity and houses of correction, I wished to see the English establishments of this kind. Whilst I was taking a minute survey of Newgate, I entered an apartment in which I found a great number of condemned persons enjoying a certain degree of liberty. The first on whom my conductor fixed his eyes happened to be Hatfield, whom he pointed out to me, and whose name I immediately recollected, and asked if he was the man who had attempted to assassinate George III. It was the same, he said, and he was undergoing the confinement to which he had been condemned, as insane, in Newgate. I observed that, at the time, his insanity had been much doubted and contested by the public, as it always happens in such cases. I was assured, however, that Hatfield was indisputably mad, but only by fits; that his madness was, however, so mild that he was suffered to go about the town, on his word; and that he was the first to request he might be attended to, when he felt that his disorder was coming on. My conductor then called him. Having ventured to ask him some questions, he immediately discovered me to be French by my accent, and told me he had often fought against my countrymen in Flanders. (He had served in the light-horse, or dragoons, under the Duke of York.) He bore their marks, he said, shewing me several scars; and yet, he added, he was far from hating them, for they were brave, and were not to blame in that affair; people had insisted on meddling in their disputes, which concerned themselves only. He began to grow very warm, which induced my conductor to make me a sign, and to send him away. We had touched the chord of his derangement, my conductor observed, and had we continued, he would have become outrageous.

"But I return to George III. The predominant sentiment of that prince was the love of the public good and the welfare of his country. To these he always sacrificed every consideration: this alone induced him to retain Mr. Pitt so long, towards whom he felt a strong repugnance, because he was very ill-treated by that minister.

"The crisis was of the most vital importance to England; the danger most imminent; the talents of the Prime Minister of a superior kind. He was, therefore, necessary. Presuming on the omnipotence of this circumstance over the King’s mind, Mr. Pitt ruled him tyrannically, and without the least delicacy; he scarcely allowed him the disposal of the most trifling place. If there was a vacancy, and the King wished to reward a private servant of his own, he was always too late; Mr. Pitt had already disposed of it, and for the good of the state, he would say—for the sake of parliamentary services. If the King shewed too much dissatisfaction, Mr. Pitt had one invariable answer constantly ready—he would resign and give up his place to another. At length a circumstance occurred of the most delicate kind, as it concerned the King’s conscience, who was very religious; that is to say, the question of the emancipation of the Catholics of Ireland, to which he obstinately refused to consent. Mr. Pitt insisted with equal perseverance; he was pledged to this measure, he said, and resorted to his usual threat. But the King this time took him at his word, and, overjoyed at his deliverance, repeated the same day, to several persons, that he had now got rid of a man who had for twenty years been kicking at him. And it may not, perhaps, be useless to observe here, as a remarkable singularity, in contrast to Mr. Pitt’s ill usage of the King, that George III. has been heard to say that, of all his ministers, Mr. Fox (so much accused of republicanism, and perhaps not without foundation) was the person who, when at the head of affairs, had constantly shewn him the greatest delicacy, deference, respect, and attention.

"Nevertheless, such was the influence of the public interest over the King’s mind that, notwithstanding all his aversion, he reinstated Mr. Pitt a year afterwards. It was thought, at the time, that when Mr. Pitt retired he had had the address to fix Mr. Addington, a creature of his own, in the ministry, in order to be able to replace himself there in a short time without difficulty: but it has since been proved that Mr. Pitt himself was obliged to have recourse to intrigues to overthrow his successor and obtain his second administration, which, however, was by no means worthy of him: it was filled with disasters which he himself had occasioned. The ball that decided the victory of Austerlitz killed him in London.