Chapter XVI: The Emperor and the Comtesse De Mercy-Argenteau

Although the name of the Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau is a very familiar one, it seems desirable to put on record some details of her family history, if only in order to explain what might otherwise appear somewhat of a mystery--the selection by Napoleon III. of this beautiful and gifted woman as his secret political emissary, both during and, to a certain extent, after his six months’ captivity at Wilhelmshöhe.

She is the daughter of that Prince de Chimay who was the head of the younger branch of the Riquet-Caramans; she is, consequently, the granddaughter of Mme. Tallien, whom the “Directory” named “Notre Dame de Bon-Secours.” Mme. Tallien was the idol of Barras; she was the divinity of the Revolutionary epoch, the worshipped of France. Many people speak of the Chimay family as if it were Flemish. It is Franco-Austrian-Belgian, and had its origin in Gille Paul Riquet, a worthy bourgeois of Béziers--the man who founded the Languedoc Canal, and was ennobled by letters patent, granted by Louis XIV., in 1666. The house of De Mercy has been thrice ennobled, receiving from three different heads of State the coronet which it has worn proudly and with dignity. The actual head of the house in 1871 was Charles François Joseph, whose two sons married the Comtesse de Caraman (Marie Louise de Riquet) and Mlle. Alix de Choiseul-Praslin; his two daughters became the Comtesse d’Oultremont and the Duchesse d’Harcourt.

The Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau was, then, born Comtesse de Caraman-Chimay. It has been said of her that, “like Cleopatra, she would have thrown pearls into the goblet or her heart out of window, according to the caprice of the moment.” When she made her appearance in Paris the Second Empire was at its zenith; the world’s gaze was riveted upon it. All was gaiety and sunshine. It was a magnificent Court, that of the Tuileries in the reign of Napoleon III. and his consort. Only the Cassandras of the period went about predicting, and rightly, that it would not last.

The Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau was a contemporary of some very celebrated women whose names, at least, are still remembered. There were notably the Princesse de Sagan, the Duchesse de Mouchy, the Comtesse Edmond de Pourtalès, and the Marquise de Galliffet, wife of that dashing cavalryman of whom so many amusing stories are told.[107] Our Comtesse shone at the head of the famous “Décameron,” and was counted the most beautiful of the lovely group. They wittily said of her that her grandmother was a goddess, her mother a queen, and she herself a “moderne.” For the first there was Olympus, for the second a throne, for the third the little English cart, which, said one of her sprightly friends, “takes to the Allée des Acacias every morning our mondaines semi-garçons.”

As already hinted, the young Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau made a sensation in Paris society--in the Faubourg as well as at the Tuileries, at Compiègne, and at St. Cloud. The Empress Eugénie admitted her into close friendship. The Emperor paid her his most respectful homage. If a particularly delicate mission had to be undertaken, who so fit to carry it out as this charming woman? We need not wonder, then, that Napoleon III., in the hour of his despair, appealed to her devotion, and charged her to go, as his ambassadress, “séduire le vainqueur et tenter de sauver la France.” Many women envied the Comtesse her mission to Berlin, foredoomed to failure as it was.

The Comtesse was renowned for her jewellery. In diamonds she outshone the Empress; her pearls were the finest in the world; she possessed the family jewels both of the Chimays and the De Mercys. After the war she devoted herself to study. She shines as a musician, in languages she is proficient, she paints miniatures à merveille, and she has always been a sportswoman.

Napoleon III. had been in captivity at Wilhelmshöhe about five months when he began an active correspondence with the Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau, who, on at least one memorable occasion, acted as the intermediary between the dethroned monarch and the late Emperor William. The letters addressed to the Comtesse by the Emperor Napoleon are distinguished by their poignant interest and frank outspokenness; they are, indeed, a revelation of the unhappy man’s innermost thoughts, his aspirations, his fears, and, finally, his apparent abandonment of hope, although we know that, later, his ideas underwent a great change.

Not the least curious feature of the correspondence given to the world in 1906 through the medium of an important German review, the _Verlagen and Klasing Monatshefte_, is the fact that we hear for the first time of the Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau as figuring prominently in the Bonapartist propaganda of the autumn of 1870, throughout 1871, and up to September, 1872, the Emperor’s final letter, surcharged with gloom, bearing date, Chislehurst, September 9.[108] There is no doubt about their authenticity, for, with one or two exceptions, the epistles are contained in their original envelopes, properly stamped, and bear the postmarks “Cassel” (Wilhelmshöhe) and “Terwagne” (near which Belgian town the château of the Mercy-Argenteaus is situated).

* * * * *

The first letter of the series was written to the Comtesse from the Tuileries, and is a graceful reference to the Count’s naturalization.

_When Napoleon III. was at the Tuileries._

_November 7, 1869._

MADAME,

It is with pleasure that I announce to you that yesterday I signed
the Decree which gives to your husband the rights of
naturalization. I congratulate myself upon having one Frenchman and
one Frenchwoman more.

Believe, madame, in my affectionate and devoted sentiments.

NAPOLÉON.

_Written at Wilhelmshöhe._

WILHELMSHÖHE, _February 4, 1871_.

MADAME LA COMTESSE,

The attachment to me of which you give evidence touches me deeply,
and causes me to answer the questions which you have put to me with
all the frankness inspired by your high-minded sentiments.

The state of France is deplorable, and I do not see how it can be
improved unless the Emperor of Germany displays that chivalrous
mind which everybody knows him to possess. To-day we are completely
vanquished; the interests of Germany, however, are mingled with
ours. To re-establish order, to suppress the revolutionary spirit,
to re-create the prosperity which alone can enable us to pay the
cost of the war and assure peace--these are the results which must
be desired in both countries.

Unfortunately, the convocation of the National Assembly makes all
that very difficult, for that Assembly, if it makes peace, will be
incapable of establishing a Government which can execute the
conditions, and if it does not do so the country will be a prey to
new convulsions.

If I were in the place of the Emperor and King, and the Assembly
had accepted peace, I would demand that the people should be
consulted for establishing a Government sufficiently strong to
fulfil the engagements entered into. If, on the contrary, the
Assembly refused to make peace, I would enter Paris at the head of
my army; I would scatter the demagogues who have usurped power; I
would decline to treat with any but the legitimate Government; I
would propose to that Government a less onerous peace than that
offered to the Assembly, and an alliance based upon an equitable
appreciation of the interests of both countries.

It remains to consider what would be the conditions of such a peace
and such an alliance. They are not easy to divine; but if the two
were in accord, doubtless a favourable solution would be arrived
at, for there are compensations when one is, like the King of
Prussia, the arbiter of Europe.

All these ideas have, I believe, been put before Comte de Bismarck,
and his high-mindedness has led him to grasp them; but events often
upset plans, and force even great statesmen to bend under the yoke
of stern necessity. No glory is lacking the Emperor and King but
that of making a great peace. I mean a peace which, instead of
leaving in its wake ruin, despair, and anarchy, would display the
greatness of his character and the depth of his political views.

You see, madame, that I have permitted myself to tell you all my
thoughts. I hope you will forgive me for this long letter, but you
know how much pleasure it affords me to talk to you.

Pray say everything good on my part to your husband, and believe in
the sentiments of high esteem and sincere and affectionate
friendship which I have for you.

NAPOLÉON.

_Napoleon III. sends a Letter to the Emperor William I. by the Comtesse._

WILHELMSHÖHE, _February 6, 1871_.

MADAME,

The charming letter which you have written to me emboldens me to
tell you that I think you may perhaps be able to do me a great
service; but I hardly dare express here all that I think. It is a
question, like the dove, of carrying a message of peace.

NAPOLÉON.

After the receipt of this letter the Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau journeyed to Wilhelmshöhe, where the illustrious captive gave her verbal instructions and a letter addressed to the Emperor William. She crossed the German lines under an assumed name, accompanied only by her maid, saw Count Bismarck, through him obtained an audience of the Kaiser, and handed to the Kaiser Napoleon’s autograph letter. These proceedings were barren of result. Napoleon III. then sent the Comtesse the following letter:

“_My Gratitude is Very Sincere._”

WILHELMSHÖHE, _February 23, 1871_.

MY DEAR COMTESSE,

I learn with great pleasure of your arrival, and I am happy to
think that your little daughter is quite well again. Need I tell
you of the sweet remembrances and regrets that your visit has left?
I really do not know how to recognize such loyal and disinterested
devotion as yours; but you know at least that my gratitude is very
sincere. I await impatiently news from the quarter to which you
have been. I often fear lest people should accept that which is put
before them without thinking of the future. The eagerness with
which the neutrals have recognized the sovereignty of M. Thiers is
a proof of the little dignity which animates the foreign Courts.

Accept, madame, the new assurance of my sincere and affectionate
friendship.

NAPOLÉON.

“_Writing to Bismarck Useless._”

WILHELMSHÖHE, _February 25, 1871_.

MY DEAR COMTESSE,

I send you the line that you wanted. It is a pale reflex of my
sentiments towards you. It is very good of you to think of writing
to M. de B---- [Bismarck], but I believe it would be useless. In
the first place, I have asked M. de F---- to do so, and he has
left; then, again, it is too late now to enable me to profit by it.
Things have taken a bad turn for me. We must put up with the
d’Orléans, who have numerous partisans amongst the middle classes;
and then I cannot be pardoned for having been served so badly and
so unfortunately.

Accept, dear Comtesse, etc.

NAPOLÉON.

“_I admit we were the Aggressors._”

WILHELMSHÖHE, _March 2, 1871_.

MY DEAR COMTESSE,

How can one fail to be discouraged in presence of the conditions of
peace imposed upon France? I admit that we were the aggressors; I
admit that we were defeated, and that, therefore, we were compelled
to pay the cost of the war or abandon part of our territory; but to
condemn us to make both sacrifices is very hard. Where is the
Government which will be able to stand with a material and moral
burden like that upon its shoulders? With such conditions it is not
a peace which the Emperor of Germany has concluded--it is to kill
us; instead of re-establishing peace, it will sow hatred and
distrust in the future. Is this a good plan, even for Germany? I
do not think so. The state of civilization in which Europe finds
itself demands that the nations bind themselves together by a crowd
of common interests which would make the ruin of one react upon all
the others.

The work of France stopped for several years, thirty-eight millions
of people delivered up to anarchy, and having in their hearts only
a desire for vengeance--this is to keep a wound open in one of the
principal members of the social body. If the Emperor of Germany and
M. de Bismarck had thoroughly reflected upon the state of Europe;
if, instead of allowing themselves to be dazzled by the
extraordinary success which they have obtained, they had desired to
put an end to revolutions and to war, they had declared that as
long as France had no stable, and consequently liberal, Government,
they would only sanction a suspension of hostilities in the nature
of a truce, and would take steps to put themselves in a more
favourable military position in case the struggle should
recommence, but as soon as there was a Government based upon law
and accepted by the whole nation they would feel more certain of
peace in the future than they could be by holding dissatisfied
departments, detached from a nation profoundly ... that would have
been de la grande politique; the hatred against Germany would have
disappeared as though by magic, peace would have been assured for
many years, there would have been renewed confidence, there would
have been a revival of commercial affairs, and the Emperor of
Germany would have obtained a glory far greater than he will
acquire by the possession of Metz and Strasburg.

I am writing to you as if you were my Minister for Foreign Affairs;
but I find it a consolation, in the midst of the preoccupations
which beset me, to open my heart to you.

Accept, etc.

NAPOLÉON.

BISMARCK’S BRUSQUE TELEGRAM TO THE EMPEROR’S INTERMEDIARY.

Two short letters of no particular importance follow, and then comes this very brusque telegram from Bismarck to the Comtesse, dated Berlin, March 27, 1871:

_To the Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau, Château of Ochain, near Terwagne, Belgium._

Your allusions to the conditions of peace surprise me, and prevent
me from replying to your letter. It is absolutely impossible.

V. BISMARCK.

LETTERS WRITTEN AT CHISLEHURST.

“_The Future is Very Dark._”

That telegram probably led to the Emperor writing to the Comtesse as follows, a few days after his arrival in England from Wilhelmshöhe:

CHISLEHURST, _April 1, 1871_.

MY DEAR COMTESSE,

I thank you for all that you have written and done. No one could
have acted with more intelligence and heart. Unfortunately, we are
dealing with pitiless people. We must wait for the second answer,
but I do not think it will be better than the first. I believe it
would be completely useless to take any kind of step respecting
Marshal M. [MacMahon] or others. The time has not yet come for
taking any initiative whatsoever as regards internal affairs. I
thank you, nevertheless, for the intention. The future is very
dark, and one must leave Providence to guide the will of men. I am
very grateful for your unfailing devotion, and I again assure you
of my affectionate friendship.

NAPOLÉON.

“_I have not Forgotten You._”

There is a silence of nearly three months. The Emperor was very ill, and unable to write to the Comtesse between April and June. In the subjoined letter he explains why he had not written:

CAMDEN PLACE, _June 14, 1871_.

MY DEAR COMTESSE,

What a long time it is since I wrote to you! Perhaps you think I
have forgotten you, but it is not so. I have been suffering so long
that it was impossible for me to write. To-day I am, happily, well
again. I will not speak of what has happened since we met. Many of
the plans have come to naught; but I do not regret it. Each thing
must come at its own time, and the favourable movement which has
been spontaneously produced in France ought to make us hopeful for
the future, even if it is hopeless to charge oneself with the
destinies of so frivolous a people as the French.

Accept, my dear Comtesse, the assurance of my affectionate
friendship.

NAPOLÉON.

_The Trap laid for the Comtesse._

CHISLEHURST, _December 9, 1871_.

MY DEAR COMTESSE,

Your amiable letter makes me look at the coming year in brighter
colours. I have happily convinced myself that your long silence was
the result of chance, and was not caused by forgetfulness. I am
indignant at what you tell me about the trap which was laid for you
at Brussels. It is sad to see the police have recourse to such
devices. I am much touched by the offers of service made by you,
but for the moment one can only await events, and endeavour by
propaganda to obtain a plébiscite and better election results.

Accept, etc.

NAPOLÉON.

_The Emperor’s Final Letters: “Clouds cover the Horizon.”_

On May 5, 1872, the Emperor wrote thanking the Comtesse for sending news. His Majesty added:

I will not speak to you about politics, for it is sad to see what
is happening; but there are instances of devotion which make one
forget the ingratitude of some and the wickedness of others.

Under date June 2, 1872, the Emperor wrote to his fair correspondent condoling with her upon the death of a relative. The last letter is dated September 9, 1872, just four months prior to the Emperor’s death. He again expresses his sympathy at her bereavement, and concludes:

The future appears to me very uncertain. Clouds cover the horizon,
and one can hardly perceive the blue sky.

_From the Emperor’s Secretary (M. Pietri) to the Comtesse._

CAMDEN PLACE, CHISLEHURST, _June 16, 1871_.

MADAME LA COMTESSE,

I have just received the reply to the telegram which I had the
honour to address to you at Liége, and I hasten to forward the
letter that the Emperor has directed me to send to you, as to which
I congratulate myself upon not having put an incorrect address.

The Emperor is to-day entirely recovered. He has resumed his
occupations and his usual life. He has been cruelly pained by all
the evils which overwhelm our unfortunate country, and of which we
cannot yet see the end.

We have before our eyes only the material ruins of Paris. They have
turned our looks away from the ruins of all France, and from the
appalling situation which must result from the surrender of Alsace
and Lorraine and the occupation of Metz by the Prussians.

At Versailles they accuse us of conspiracy. They are wrong, and
they must know well that it is the contrary. We have only one way
of usefully conspiring--that is, to wait; for time will conspire
for us, and will help Truth to come out of the well in which they
have kept her enclosed, while those standing upon the lid preach
error and lies. They will get tired, and then she [Truth] will
appear. Already she begins to see daylight. It is upon her that we
must count, in not adding to the evils of the country intrigues
which could only aggravate them. We must content ourselves with
following what is done at Versailles.

Accept, Madame la Comtesse, etc.

F. PIETRI.