Chapter V: Modern French Character and Manners (3)

[33] "I have called you around me to do good; you have done ill. You have among you persons devoted to England, who correspond with the Prince Regent, by means of the Advocate Deseze. Eleven-twelfths of you are good; the rest are factious. Return to your departments;--I shall have my eye on you. I am one whom men may kill, but whom they cannot dishonour. Who is he among you who could support the load of government. It has crushed the Constituent Assembly, which dictated laws to a weak king. The Fauxbourg St Antoine would have assisted me, but it would soon have abandoned you. What are become of the Jacobins, the Girondins, the Vergniaus, the Guadets, and so many others? They are dead. You have sought to _bespatter_ me in the eyes of France. This is a heinous crime;--besides, what is the throne? Four pieces of gilded wood covered with velvet. I had pointed out to you a Secret Committee; it is there that you should have established your griefs. It was in the family that our _dirty linen should have been washed_. I have a title; you have none. What are you in the Constitution? Nothing. You have no authority. The Throne is the Constitution. Every thing is in the throne, and in me. I repeat it to you, you have among you factious persons. Mr Lainè is a wicked man; the rest are factious. I know them, and I shall pursue them. I ask you, Was it while the enemy were among us that you ought to have done such things? Nature has endowed me with great courage, it can resist every thing. Much has it cost my pride, but I have sacrificed it. But I am above your miserable declamations. I had need of consolation,--and you have dishonoured me. But no; my victories crush your complaints. I am one of those who triumph or who die. Return to your departments.

[34] "One of his Ministers one day addressed him, presenting him a report which he had desired. The subject was a conspiracy against his person. I was present at that scene; I expected, I confess, to see him enter in a fury, thunder forth against the traitors, threaten the magistrates, and accuse them of negligence. Not at all; he ran over the paper without the least sign of agitation. Judge of my surprise, or rather what sweet emotion I felt, when he pronounced these _touching and sublime_ words:--Count, the state has not suffered, the magistrates have not been insulted. It was only my person they aimed at; I pity them for not knowing that my every wish is for the good of France; but every man may go astray. Tell the ungrateful men that I pardon them." Now, I defy the most faithful royalist, who should have witnessed such an action, not to exclaim--If Heaven was to give an usurper to France, let us thank it for having given this one! But stop, unfortunate one: your eyes have indeed seen, your ears have heard; believe nothing, but be present at the levee of this hero, so magnanimous, so little desirous of revenging himself. The doors are opened--Behold him! The crowd of courtiers surround him--all fix their eyes on him--his face is changed--the muscles are violently contracted--his whole appearance is that of a ruffian; a death-like silence reigns in the assembly--the Prince has not yet spoken, but he surveys the group: He perceives the same officer, who, two days before, had presented him the report. "Count (said he), are these vile conspirators executed? Are their accomplices in chains? Have the executioners given a new example to the imitators of those who aim at my life?"

[35] "You wish to see us drawn on hurdles to the scaffold."

[36] These nutshells.

[37] Swords of honour--guns of honour.

[38] Saucepan of honour.

[39] "Moreau was conversing with the Emperor Alexander, from whom he was only distant half a horse's length. It is likely, that they perceived from the place this brilliant staff, and fired on it at random. Moreau alone was struck; a cannon-ball broke his right knee, and passing through the horse's side, carried off the flesh of his left leg. The generous Alexander shed tears. Colonel Rapatel rushed towards Moreau, who uttered a long sigh, and then fainted. Returned to himself, he spoke with the utmost coolness. He said to Monsieur Rapatel, "I am lost, my friend, but it is so glorious to die for such a cause, and under the eyes of so great a Prince!" A few minutes afterwards, he said to the Emperor Alexander himself, "Nothing remains, Sire, save the trunk; but the heart is there, and the head is your's." He must have suffered the most excruciating pain; but he called for a segar, and quietly began smoking. Mr Wylie, first surgeon to the Emperor, hastened to amputate the limb, which was most severely used. During this cruel operation, Moreau scarce shewed a change of countenance, and did not cease to smoke his segar. The amputation performed, Mr Wylie examined the right leg, and found it in such a state, that he could not refrain from expressing his terror. "I understand you," said Moreau, "you must cut off this one too.--Well, do it quickly.--However, I would rather have died." He wanted to write to his wife; and he wrote to her, with a steady hand, these words:--"MY DEAR FRIEND,--The battle was decided three days ago.--I have had both legs carried off by a bullet--that rascal Bonaparte is always lucky. They have performed the amputation as well as possible. The army has made a retrograde movement, but it is not occasioned by any reverse, but from a manœuvre, and in order to approach General Blucher.--Excuse my scribbling.--I love you, and I embrace you with all my heart. I have charged Rapatel to finish."--Immediately after this, he said, "I am not without danger, I know it well; but if I die, if a premature fate hurry me from a beloved wife and child--from my country, which I have wished to serve in spite of itself; do not forget to say to the French, who shall speak of me, that I die with the regret of not having accomplished my projects--To free my country from the frightful yoke that oppresses her;--to crush Bonaparte-every species of war, every possible means, were laudable. With what joy would I have consecrated the little talent I posses to the cause of humanity. My heart belonged to France."

At seven o'clock, the sick man finding himself alone with Mr Svinine, said to him, with a faint voice, "I must absolutely dictate a letter to you."--Mr Svinine took up the pen, and sighing, traced the few following lines, dictated by Moreau.

* * *

"SIRE,--I sink into the tomb with the same sentiments of respect, admiration, and devotion with which your Majesty has always inspired me, since I have had the happiness of approaching your person."

"In pronouncing these last words, the sick man stopped short and shut his eyes. Mr Svinine waited, thinking that Moreau was deliberating on the sequel of the letter--Vain hope--Moreau was no move."

[40] "Well, my good woman;--You expect the Emperor, don't you?" 'Yes, Sir; I hope we shall have a sight of him.' "Well, my good woman, what do you folks say of the Emperor?" 'That he is a great villain.' "Eh, my good woman; and what do you yourself say?" 'Shall I tell you frankly, Sir, what I think?--If I were the captain of the ship, I would only take him on board to drown him.'

[41] "The Commissaries, on arriving at Calade, found him with his head leaning on his two hands, and his face bathed in tears. He told them that people decidedly aimed at his life; and that the mistress of the inn, who had not known him, had told him that the Emperor was detested as a rascal, and that they would only embark him to drown him. He would eat or drink nothing, however pressed to it; and though he might have been assured by the example of those who were at table with him, he made them bring him some bread and water from his carriage, which he ate with avidity. They waited for night to continue the journey; they were only two leagues from Aix. The populace of that town would not have been so easily constrained, as in the other towns, where he had already run such risks. The Sub-Prefect, taking with him the Lieutenant and six of the gens-d'armes, rode towards Calade. The night was dark, and the weather very cold; which double circumstance protected Napoleon much better than would have been effected by the strongest escort. The Sub-Prefect and the guards met his suite a few instants after they had quitted Calade, and followed him till he arrived at the gates of Aix, at two in the morning. After having changed horses, Bonaparte continuing his route, passed under the walls of the town, and the reiterated cries of "Long live the King," which were shouted forth by the inhabitants assembled on the ramparts. Arrived at the limits of the Department, at an inn called the Great Pagere, he stopped there for breakfast. General Bertrand proposed to the Sub-Prefect to ascend to the room of the Commissaries, where all were at breakfast before his departure. Here were ten or twelve persons. Napoleon was of the number; he had the dress of an Austrian officer, and a helmet on his head. Seeing the Sub-Prefect in his councillor's habit, he said to him, "You would not have known me in this dress; it is these gentlemen who have made me take it, thinking it necessary to ensure my safety. I could have had an escort of 3000 men, which I refused, preferring to trust myself to French honour. I have not had reason to complain of that confidence from Fontainbleau to Avignon; but between that town and this, I have been insulted, and have been in great danger. The Provençals degrade themselves. Since I have been in France, I have not had a good regiment of Provençals under my orders. They are good for nothing but to make a noise. The Gascons are boasters, but at least they are brave."--At these words, one of the party, who no doubt was a Gascon, pulled out his shirt ruffle, and said, "that's pleasant." Bonaparte continuing to address himself to the Sub-Prefect, said to him, "What is the Prefect about?"--'He left this at the first news of the change which had happened at Paris.' "And his wife?" 'She had left it before.' "She then took the start. Do the people pay the revenue and the droits reunis?"--'Not a halfpenny.'--"Are there many English at Marseilles?" Here the Sub-Prefect related all that had lately passed in that port, and with what transports they had received the English. Bonaparte, who did not take much pleasure in such a recital, put an end to it, by saying to the Sub-Prefect, "Tell your Provençals that the Emperor is very ill pleased with them."

"Arrived at Bouilledon, he shut himself up in an apartment, with his sister (Pauline Borghese)--Sentinels were placed at the door. Notwithstanding which, some ladies arriving at the gallery, which communicated with that room, beheld there an officer in Austrian uniform, who said to them, "Ladies, what do you wish to see?" 'We wish to see Napoleon.' "But that's myself." The ladies, looking at him, said, smiling, 'You are joking, Sir; you are not Napoleon.' "I assure you, ladies, it is I.--What!--You thought Napoleon must have a more wicked appearance. Don't they say that I am a wretch, a rascal?"--The ladies did not care to undeceive him. Bonaparte, not wishing to press them hard on this subject, turned the conversation.--But always occupied with his first idea, he returned to it immediately.--"Acknowledge, at least, ladies, that now, when fortune is against me, they say that I am a wretch, a miscreant, and a marauder. But do you know the meaning of all this? I wished to make France superior to England, and I have failed in this project."

[42] "When we are on the paved streets of Paris, we perceive that the people do not there make the laws;--no convenience for pedestrians--no side pavement; the people seem to be a body separated from the other orders of the state--the rich and the great who possess equipages, have the right of crushing and mutilating them in the streets--a hundred victims expire every year under the wheels of the carriages."

[43] "Before the revolution, the village contained four thousand inhabitants. It furnished, as its share to the general service of the church, and of the hospitals, as well as for the instruction of youth, five ecclesiastics, two sisters of charity, and three schoolmasters. These last are replaced by a riding-master, a drawing-master, and two music-masters. Out of eight manufactories of woollen and cotton stuffs, there remains but one. But in revenge, there are established two coffee-houses, one tobacco-shop, one restaurateur's shop, and one billiard-room, which flourish in a manner quite surprising. We reckoned formerly forty ploughmen. Twenty-five of these have become couriers, riders, and coachmen. Their place is filled up by women, who conduct the plough, and who, to amuse themselves, carry occasionally to the market, carts full of straw or of charcoal. The number of carpenters, masons, and other artisans, is diminished by about a half. But the price of all articles of workmanship having risen also one half; _it comes to the same thing, and a compensation is established_. One class of individuals, which the villages furnishes in great abundance, and in much too great a proportion, are livery servants and domestics of luxury. Whilst this lasts, the country will be depopulated of all those useful ranks who cultivate the soil, and the towns will be peopled with the idle and corrupt. Many women and young girls, who were only sempstresses and under servants, have found advancement in the great cities, and in the capital. They have become waiting maids, embroiderers, and milliners. One might say that luxury had exhausted our youth; all eyes are turned towards it, and it alone occupies every thought. Never, at any former period, did the contingent in lawyers, bailiffs, law students, physicians, and artists, exceed three or four; it is now raised to sixty-two: and what we should never have conceived in former days, there are now among us as many painters, poets, comedians, opera dancers, and travelling musicians, as a city of eighty thousand souls would have furnished thirty or forty years ago."

[44] The variety of the laws and customs is attended with this effect, that the most intelligent advocate becomes as ignoramus when he finds himself in Gascony or in Normandy. He loses at Vernon a case which he had gained at Poissy. Select the most skilful for a consultation or for pleading; well, he will be under the necessity of having his advocate and his attorney, if we commit to his care a cause in most of the other courts.

[45] "I can excuse, but do not envy those who can live as if they had neither suffered nor seen others suffer; but they must pardon me, who am unable to imitate them. These days of total and unheard-of degradation in human nature are yet before my eyes, press heavily on my soul, and fall incessantly from my pen, destined to retrace them even to my last hour."

[46] The reader will easily perceive, that the end of this chapter was written at the time of Napoleon's landing from Elba. Not a word of it has been altered, for the author is convinced that it is an accurate picture of France in its present state.

[47] "A Frenchman, (says Madame de Stael, with great truth,) can still continue to speak, even when he has no ideas."

[48] "Their trifling, naturally intended for the toilet, seems to have become accessary to the formation of the general character of the nation: They trifle in council, they trifle at the head of an army, they trifle with an ambassador."

[49] "Gentlemen, it is impossible to deceive persons enlightened as you are; I am absolutely going to cut off the head of this child: But before commencing, I must let you see that I am no quack. Well, in the meantime, as an exordium, Who is there among you who has the toothache?" "I," exclaimed instantly a sturdy peasant, &c.

[50] "Gentlemen, in the universe there is but one sun; in the kingdom of France there is but one king; in the science of medicine there is Charini alone."

[51] "You are a Scotchman?" 'Yes, Sir.' "Oh, how droll that is." 'And how is it droll, Sir?' "It is the country of Napoleon. It is an island, is it not?" 'Certainly not, Sir.' "On my faith, I thought they always called it the Island of Corse."

[52] "Give a supper; that will make every body run."

[53] "Even if Old Nick should ring his supper-bell, The French would lick their lips, and flock to H--II."

[54] "Down with the tyrant! Down with the soldiers! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Marshals! Long live the army! Long live Louis, the wished-for Monarch! Long live the descendant of Good Henry IV.! Long live the nation! No feudal laws! No Kings! No nobility! No assessed taxes! No conscription."

[55] "Long life to death!"

[56] "Who, after having sacrificed millions of victims, could not die like a soldier."

ERRATA. [Transcriber's note: already corrected.]

Page 20. line 3. for _a_ read _est_.
21. 18. after _sont_ insert _de_.
97. 6. for _les_ read _des_.
156. last line, for _c'est_ read _ce m'est_.
272. line 20. for _des_ read _de_.
273. 17. for _des_ read _de_.