LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 SAN DIEGO
 
 777
 
 1 O I RS OF 
 RESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 fADAME DE REMUSAT 
 Lady-in- Waiting to the Empress 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
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 N E \V V O R K 
 
 P F COLLIER & SON 
 
 !, I S H f. R S
 
 TH 

 
 MEMOIRS OF 
 THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 BY MADAME DE REMUSAT 
 Lady-in- Waiting to the Empress 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 With a Special Introduction 
 and Illustrations 
 
 NEW YORK 
 P F COLLIER & SON 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 Copyright 1879 
 BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 Copyright 1910 
 BY P. F. COLLIER & SON
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGX 
 
 INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS il 
 
 PREFACE BY PAUL DE R^MUSAT 13 
 
 PORTRAITS AND ANECDOTES BY THE AUTHOR .... 65 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 (1802-1803.) 
 
 Family Affairs My First Evening at Saint Cloud General 
 Moreau M. de Remusat is made Prefect, and I, Lady of 
 the Palace Habits of the First Consul and of Mme. 
 Bonaparte M. de Talleyrand The Family of the First 
 Consul Miles. Georges and Duchesnois Mme. Bonaparte's 
 Jealousy 103 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 (1803.) 
 
 A Return to the Customs of the Monarchy M. de Fontanes 
 Mme. d'Houdetot Rumors of War Meeting of the Corps 
 Legislatif Departure of the English Ambassador M. 
 Maret Marshal Berthier Journey of the First Consul to 
 Belgium A Carriage Accident The Amiens Fetes 133 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 (1803.) 
 
 Continuation of the Journey to Belgium Opinions of the First 
 Consul on Gratitude, on Glory, and on the French Ghent, 
 Malines, and Brussels The Clergy M. de Roquelaure 
 Return to Saint Cloud Preparations for an Invasion of 
 England Marriage of Mme. Leclerc Journey of the First 
 Consul to Boulogne Illness of M. de Remusat I rejoin 
 him Conversations with the First Consul ... 148 
 
 Vol. 9 3 A Memoirs
 
 4 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 (1803-1804.) 
 
 Continuation of the First Consul's Conversations at Boulogne 
 Reading of the Tragedy of " Philippe Auguste " My New 
 Impressions Return to Paris Mme. Bonaparte's Jealousy 
 Winter Fetes of 1804 M. de Fontanes M. Fouche Savary 
 Pichegru Arrest of General Moreau . . .171 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 The Arrest of Georges Cadoudal The Mission of M. de Cau- 
 laincourt to Ettenheim The Arrest of the Due d'Enghien 
 My Distress and my Urgency with Mme. Bonaparte An 
 Evening at Malmaison The Death of the Due d'Enghien 
 Remarkable Words of the First Consul . . .192 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 (1804.) 
 
 The Impression produced in Paris by the Death of the Due 
 d'Enghien The First Consul's Efforts to dispel it Per- 
 formance at the Opera House Death of Pichegru Breach 
 between Bonaparte and his Brother Lucien Project of 
 adopting the Young Napoleon Foundation of the Em- 
 pire 213 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Effects and Causes of the Accession of Bonaparte to the Im- 
 perial Throne The Emperor converses The Grievances of 
 Mme. Murat The Character of M. de Remusat The New 
 Court 233 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 (1804.) 
 
 The Trial of General Moreau Condemnation of MM. de Pol- 
 ignac, De Riviere, etc. Pardon of M. de Polignac A Letter 
 from Louis XVIII 256 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 (1804.) 
 
 Plans for the Invasion An Article in the " Moniteur " The 
 Great Officers of State The Ladies-in-Waiting The Anni-
 
 CONTENTS 5 
 
 versary of July I4th Beauty of the Empress Projects of 
 Divorce Preparations for the Coronation . . . 270 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 The Pope's Arrival in Paris The Plebiscitum The Marriage of 
 the Empress Josephine The Coronation Fetes in the 
 Champ de Mars, at the Opera, etc. The Court of the 
 Empress 294 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 (1807.) 
 
 The Emperor in Love Mme. de X . Mme. de Damas The 
 
 Empress confides in me Palace Intrigues Murat is raised 
 to the Rank of Prince 311 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 (1805.) 
 
 Opening of the Session of the Senate M. de Talleyrand's 
 Report Letter from the Emperor to the King of England 
 Union of the Crown of Italy to the Empire Mme. Bacciochi 
 becomes Princess of Piombino Performance of " Athalie " 
 The Emperor goes to Italy His Dissatisfaction M. de 
 Talleyrand Prospect of War with Austria . . . 331 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 (1805.) 
 
 Fetes at Verona and Genoa Cardinal Maury My Retired Life 
 in the Country Mme. Louis Bonaparte " Les Templiers " 
 The Emperor's Return His Amusements The Marriage of 
 M. de Talleyrand War is declared .... 350 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 (1805.) 
 
 M. de Talleyrand and M. Fouche The Emperor's Speech to the 
 Senate The Departure of the Emperor The Bulletins of 
 the Grand Army Poverty in Paris during the War The 
 Emperor and the Marshals The Faubourg St. Germain 
 Trafalgar Journey of M. de Remusat to Vienna . . 368
 
 6 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 (1805.) 
 
 The Battle of Austerlitz The Emperor Alexander Negotiations 
 Prince Charles M. d'Andre M. de Remusat in Disgrace 
 Duroc Savary The Treaty of Peace .... 388 
 
 VOLUME II 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 (1805-1806.) 
 
 State of Paris during the War Cambaceres Le Brun Mme. 
 Louis Bonaparte Marriage of Eugene de Beauharnais 
 Bulletins and Proclamations Admiration of the Emperor 
 for the Queen of Bavaria Jealousy of the Empress M. de 
 
 Nansouty Mme. de . Conquest of Naples Position 
 
 and Character of the Emperor 409 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 (1806.) 
 
 The Death of Pitt Parliamentary Debates in England Public 
 Works Industrial Exhibition New Etiquette Perform- 
 ances at the Opera House and at the Comedie Franchise 
 
 Monotony of the Court Opinions of the Empress Mme. 
 
 Louis Bonaparte Mme. Murat The Bourbons New 
 Ladies-in-Waiting M. Mole Mme. d'Houdetot Mme. de 
 Barante 428 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 (1806.) 
 
 The Emperor's Civil List His Household and its Expenses 
 Dress of the Empress and of Mme. Murat Louis Bonaparte 
 Prince Borghese Fetes at Court The Empress's Family 
 Marriage of Princess Stephanie Jealousy of the Empress 
 Theatricals at Malmaison 452 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 The Emperor's Court His Ecclesiastical Household His Mili- 
 tary Household The Marshals The Ladies Delille 
 Chateaubriand Mme. de Genlis Romances Literature 
 Arts 474
 
 CONTENTS 7 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 (1806.) , 
 
 Senatus Consultum of the 30th of March Foundation of Mon- 
 archies and Duchies Queen Hortense .... 506 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 (1806.) 
 
 I go to Cauterets The King of Holland Factitious Tranquillity 
 of France M. de Metternich The New Catechism The 
 Germanic Confederation Poland Death of Mr. Fox War 
 is declared Departure of the Emperor M. Pasquier and M. 
 Mole Session of the Senate The Opening of Hostilities 
 The Court Reception of Cardinal Maury . . . 528 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 (1806-1807.) 
 
 Death of Prince Louis of Prussia Battle of Jena The Queen 
 of Prussia and the Emperor Alexander The Emperor and 
 the Revolution Court Life at Mayence Life in Paris 
 Marshal Brune Taking of Lubeck The Princess of Hatz- 
 feld The Auditors of the State Council Sufferings of the 
 Army The King of Saxony Battle of Eylau . . 553 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 (1807.) 
 
 The Return of the Empress to Paris The Imperial Family 
 Junot Fouche The Queen of Holland Levy of the Con- 
 scripts of 1808 Theatricals at Court Letter from the Em- 
 peror Siege of Dantzic Death of the Empress of 
 Austria Death of Queen Hortense's Son M. Decazes 
 The Emperor's Want of Feeling 576 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 (1807.) 
 
 The Duke of Dantzic Fouche' s Police Battle of Friedland M. 
 de Lameth Treaty of Tilsit Return of the Emperor M. 
 de Talleyrand The Ministers The Bishops . . 595 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 (1807.) 
 
 Vexations at Court Friendship with M. de Talleyrand General 
 Rapp General Clarke Session of the Legislative Bodies
 
 8 CONTENTS 
 
 The Emperor's Speech Fetes of the i$th of August Mar- 
 riage of Jerome Bonaparte Death of Le Brun The Abbe 
 Delille M. de Chateaubriand Dissolution of the Tribunate 
 The Court removes to Fontainebleau . . . 613 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 (1807.) 
 
 The Power of the Emperor Resistance of the English The 
 Emperor's Life at Fontainebleau Plays Talma King 
 Jerome The Princess of Baden The Grand Duchess of 
 Berg Princess Borghese Cambaceres Foreign Princes 
 Spanish Affairs Previsions of M. de Talleyrand M. de 
 Remusat is made Superintendent of Theatres The Fortunes 
 and the Difficulties of the Marshals .... 635 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 (1807-1808.) 
 Projects of Divorce 674 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 (1807-1808.) 
 
 Return from Fontainebleau The Emperor's Journey in Italy 
 The Youth of M. de Talleyrand Fetes at the Tuileries 
 The Emperor and the Artists The Emperor's Opinion of 
 the English Government The Marriage of Mile, de Tascher 
 Count Romanzoff Marriage of Marshal Berthier The 
 University Affairs of Spain 693 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 (1808.) 
 
 The War with Spain The Prince of the Peace The Prince of 
 the Asturias The Abdication of King Charles IV. The 
 Departure of the Emperor His Sojourn at Bayonne Letter 
 of the Emperor Arrival of the Princes in France Birth of 
 the Second Son of the Queen of Holland Abdication of the 
 Prince of the Asturias 723 
 
 CONCLUSION 742 
 
 POSTSCRIPT 760
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE clear and interesting "Preface" of Paul de 
 Remusat, grandson of the author of these Memoirs, 
 renders unnecessary a lengthy introduction on the part 
 of the publishers. The reader will find there a sym- 
 pathetic sketch of the talented lady-in-waiting, and 
 through her eyes a vivid portrait not only of Josephine 
 and Napoleon, but of surrounding Court life. 
 
 Madame de Remusat, born Claire de Vergennes, 
 was a woman of superior descent and endowments; 
 her grandson may feel a pardonable pride in setting 
 forth her virtues. Her father and grandfather were 
 among the many political victims of the Revolution, 
 perishing in 1794 upon the same scaffold, three days 
 before the fall of Robespierre. Her mother took the 
 young girl and her sister to a retired spot in the valley 
 of Montmorency, whither they were followed by a 
 friend of the family, Augustin de Remusat, who won 
 the hand of Claire. 
 
 Among the neighbours, during the months of retire- 
 ment from political storm, was Madame de Beau- 
 harnais, who in 1796 became the wife of Bonaparte, 
 and later the famous Empress Josephine. A warm 
 friendship sprang up between the two families, and 
 when Josephine removed to Paris to take her exalted 
 place, Madame de Remusat went with her as a lady- 
 in-waiting; while M. de Remusat was made Prefect 
 of the Palace, in 1802. 
 
 These Memoirs are an exact record of the life of
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 the author, as well as a survey of the first years of 
 the nineteenth century. They show us what changes 
 the establishment of the Empire effected at Court, and 
 how life there constantly shifted to reflect the chang- 
 ing fortunes of its master. The figure of Napoleon 
 stands out boldly, albeit sketched with an unsympa- 
 thetic pen. The lady-in-waiting's loyalty was entirely 
 upon the side of her mistress in the latter's struggle 
 against the Bonaparte family; and when the downfall 
 of Josephine occurred, Madame de Remusat followed 
 her into retirement. It was then that she took up her 
 pen to write of historic people and affairs. Her first 
 manuscripts, however, were destroyed, in 1815, the 
 author fearing that they would compromise her family 
 politically by their outspoken criticisms. Napoleon 
 had escaped from Elba, and none could prophesy what 
 a day might bring forth. 
 
 In 1818 she began the subject afresh, inspired, as 
 she says, by her "love of truth," and desiring to refute 
 certain opinions advanced by Madame de StaeTs newly 
 published "Considerations upon the French Rev- 
 olution." The circumstances of the renewed literary 
 labour are set forth interestingly in Paul de Remusat's 
 story. The Memoirs, he says, were to have been di- 
 vided into five parts, treating of five distinct epochs. 
 Only three were completed-, treating of the important 
 interval between the years 1802 and 1809. This 
 manuscript left unfinished at Madame de Remusat's 
 death, in 1821, awaited publication for sixty years, 
 when the people and the events which it described so 
 freely had long since passed away. It was not until 
 1 88 1, that the grandson of the author gave them to 
 the world. His reasons therefor and the story of the 
 manuscript itself are an appetising foretaste of this 
 work written by a person famed for her sincerity. 
 clear vision, and "talent for being true."
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 CORONATION OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 from the painting by Louis David 
 
 "BONAPARTE LIKED WOMEN TO DRESS WELL/' ETC. 
 from the painting by F. Simm 
 
 SOVEREIGNS, PRINCES, MILITARY OFFICERS, PRIESTS, WOMEN 
 from the painting by Adrien Moreau 
 
 VOLUME II 
 
 " MY POOR JOSEPHINE, I CANNOT LEAVE You " 
 from the painting by L. J. Pott 
 
 FOR TWELVE HOURS THEY FOUGHT WITHOUT EITHER SIDE 
 BEING ABLE TO CLAIM THE VICTORY " 
 from the painting by F. Schommer 
 
 QUEEN LOUISE TRYING TO WIN FAVOR FROM NAPOLEON 
 
 FOR PRUSSIA 
 from the painting by R. Eichstadt
 
 PREFACE 
 
 MY father bequeathed to me the manuscript of 
 the memoirs of my grandmother, who was 
 lady-in-waiting to the Empress Josephine, 
 accompanied by an injunction that I should publish 
 them. He regarded those memoirs as extremely im- 
 portant to the history of the first portion of the present 
 century, and had frequently contemplated publishing 
 them himself ; but he was always hindered from doing 
 so, either by his other duties, by his many labors, or 
 by certain scruples. He deferred the moment at which 
 the public was to be made acquainted with these val- 
 uable reminiscences of an epoch recent, indeed, but 
 respecting which the present generation is so ill 
 informed precisely because that epoch was recent, 
 and many persons who had been involved in its im- 
 portant events were still living. Although the author 
 of these memoirs can not be accused of intentional 
 malice, she passes judgment upon persons and things 
 very freely. A certain consideration, which is not 
 always consonant with the verity of history, is due, 
 not only to the living, but to the children of the dead ; 
 the years passed on, however, and the reasons for 
 silence diminished with the lapse of time. 
 
 About 1848 my father would perhaps have allowed 
 this manuscript to see the light; but the empire and 
 
 13
 
 I 4 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the Emperor returned, and then the book might have 
 been regarded either as a piece of flattery tendered to 
 the son of Queen Hortense, who is very gently handled 
 by the writer, or as a direct insult, on other points, 
 to the dynasty. Circumstances had thus given a 
 polemic character an aspect of actuality, as the 
 phrase goes to a work which should be regarded as 
 a candid and impartial history, the narrative of a 
 remarkable woman, who relates with simple sincerity 
 that which she witnessed at the court and during the 
 reign of the Emperor, and who records her estimate 
 of him as an individual. In any case, it is probable 
 that the book would have been prosecuted, and its 
 publication interdicted. I may add, lest any should 
 consider these reasons insufficient, that my father, 
 who was always willing that his politics, his opinions, 
 and his personal conduct should be discussed by the 
 critics and the press, who lived in the full glare of 
 publicity, yet shrank with great reluctance from plac- 
 ing names which were dear to him before the public. 
 That they should incur the slightest censure, that they 
 should be uttered with any severity of tone, he dreaded 
 extremely. He was timid when either his mother or 
 his son was in question. His love for his mother 
 had been the " grand passion " of his life. To her he 
 ascribed all the happiness of his youth, every merit 
 which he possessed, and all the success of every kind 
 that had come to him throughout his whole existence. 
 He derived from her his qualities alike of heart and 
 mind; he was bound to her by the tie of close simi- 
 larity of ideas, as well as by that of filial affection. 
 Her memory, her letters, her thoughts occupied a place 
 in his life which few suspected, for he seldom spoke 
 of her, precisely because he was always thinking of 
 her, and he would have feared imperfect sympathy 
 from others in his admiration of her who was incom-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 15 
 
 parable in his eyes. Who among us does not know 
 what it is to be united by a passionate, almost fierce 
 affection to one who is no more; ceaselessly to think 
 of that beloved one, to question, to dream, to be always 
 under the impression of the vanished presence of the 
 silent counsels; to feel that the life gone from us is 
 mixed up with our own life, every day, not only on 
 great occasions, and in all our actions, whether public 
 or private; and yet, that we can not bear to speak to 
 others of the ever-present occupant of our thoughts 
 no, not even to our dearest friends and can not even 
 hear the dear name uttered without secret pain and 
 disquiet? Rarely, indeed, can even the sweetness of 
 praise lavished upon that name by a friend or a 
 stranger avail to soothe our deep, mysterious trouble, 
 or render it endurable. 
 
 While, however, a proper and natural sentiment 
 dictates that memoirs should not appear until a con- 
 siderable time has elapsed, it is equally desirable that 
 their publication should not be delayed until all trace 
 of the facts related, of the impressions made, or of 
 the eye-witnesses of events has passed away. In order 
 that the accuracy, or at least the sincerity of memoirs 
 may not be disputed, each family should be in a posi- 
 tion to substantiate them by its own recollections ; and 
 it is well that the generation which reads them should 
 follow that which they depict. The records they 
 contain are all the more useful because the times 
 which they chronicle have not yet become altogether 
 historic. This is our case at the present moment, and 
 the great name of Napoleon is still a party battle-cry. 
 It is interesting to introduce a new element into the 
 strife which rages around that majestic shade. Al- 
 though the epoch of the First Empire has been much 
 discussed by the writers of memoirs, the inner life of 
 the imperial palace has never been handled freely, and
 
 16 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 in detail; and for this good reasons have existed. 
 The functionaries or the frequenters of the court of 
 Napoleon I. did not care to reveal with entire unre- 
 serve the story of the time they had passed in his 
 service. The majority, having joined the Legitimist 
 ranks after the Restoration, were humiliated by the 
 remembrance that they had served the usurper, espe- 
 cially in offices which are generally held to be enno- 
 bled only by the hereditary greatness of him who 
 confers them; and their descendants would have been 
 disconcerted had such manuscripts been left to them, 
 by their authors, with the obligation of giving them 
 to the world. It would, perhaps, be difficult to find 
 another editor, also a grandson, who could publish 
 such a work so willingly as I. The talent of the 
 writer and the utility of her book affect me much more 
 than the difference between the opinions of my grand- 
 mother and those of her descendants. My father's 
 life, his renown, the political creed which is his most 
 precious bequest to me, absolve me from any necessity 
 for explaining how and why it is that I do not neces- 
 sarily adopt all the views of the author of these 
 Memoirs. On the contrary, it would be easy to find 
 in this book the first traces of that liberal spirit which 
 animated my grandparents in the first days of the 
 Revolution, which was transmitted to and happily 
 developed in their son. It was almost being liberal 
 already not to regard the principles of political liberty 
 with hatred at the end of the last century, when so 
 many people were ready to lay crimes which tarnished 
 the Revolution to the charge of that liberty, and to 
 pass judgment, notwithstanding the true admiration 
 and the deep gratitude with which they regarded the 
 Emperor, on the defects of his character and the evils 
 of despotism. 
 
 Such valuable impartiality was rare indeed among
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 17 
 
 the contemporaries of the great Emperor, nor have we 
 met with it in our own time among the servants of 
 a sovereign far less likely to dazzle those who ap- 
 proached him. Such a sentiment is, however, easy at 
 the present day. Events have brought France into a 
 state in which she is ready to receive everything with 
 equanimity, to judge every one with equity. We have 
 observed many changes of opinion concerning the 
 early years of the present century. One need not have 
 reached a very advanced stage of life to recall a time 
 when the legend of the Empire was accepted even by 
 the enemies of the Empire; when it might be admired 
 with impunity; when children believed in an Emperor, 
 who was at once a grand personage and a good fellow, 
 somewhat like the notion of God entertained by 
 Beranger, who indeed turned both God and Napoleon 
 into heroes for his odes. The most determined adver- 
 saries of despotism, those who were themselves des- 
 tined to undergo persecution by a new Empire, 
 brought back to France the mortal remains of Napo- 
 leon the Great his " ashes," as, lending an antique 
 coloring to a modern ceremony, it was the fashion to 
 say just then. At a later date, experience of the 
 Second Empire opened the eyes, even of those who do 
 not admit passion into politics, to the truth respecting 
 the first. The disasters brought upon France in 1870, 
 by Napoleon III., have reminded us that it was the 
 other Emperor who commenced that fatal work; and 
 an almost general malediction rises to the lips of the 
 nation at that name Bonaparte which was once 
 uttered with respectful enthusiasm. So fluctuating is 
 the justice of nations! It is, however, allowable to 
 say that the justice of France to-day comes nearer to 
 true justice than at the time when, swayed by the long- 
 ing for rest and the dread of liberty, she surrendered 
 herself to the passion for military glory. Between
 
 i8 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 these two extremes how many modes of opinion have 
 arisen, and gone through their several phases of tri- 
 umph and decline ! It will be evident to all readers, I 
 hope, that the author of the following Memoirs, who 
 came to the Court in her youth, regarded those 
 problems which were then and still are in debate, 
 although General Bonaparte thought he had solved 
 them, with an entire absence of prejudice. Her opin- 
 ions were formed by degrees, like the opinions of 
 France itself, which was also very young in those days. 
 She was at first dazzled and aroused to enthusiasm by 
 the great genius of the age, but she afterward re- 
 covered the balance of her judgment by the aid of 
 events and of contact with other minds. More than one 
 of our contemporaries may find in these Memoirs an 
 explanation of the conduct or the state of mind of 
 some persons of their kin whose Bonapartism or 
 Liberalism at different epochs has hitherto appeared 
 inexplicable to them. And also not their least merit 
 in my eyes these Memoirs will reveal to the reader 
 the first germs of a remarkable talent, which was 
 developed in the writer's son to a supreme degree. 
 
 A brief summary of the life of my grandmother, 
 or at least of the period which preceded her arrival 
 at Court, is indispensable to the reader's comprehen- 
 sion of the impressions and the remembrances which 
 she brought thither. My father had frequently pro- 
 jected a complete biography of his parents, and had, 
 indeed, sketched out some portions of the work. He 
 did not leave any of it in a finished condition; but a 
 great number of notes and fragments written by his 
 own hand, concerning the members of his family, his 
 own youthful opinions, and persons whom he had 
 known, render it easy to narrate the incidents of my 
 grandmother's early years, the feelings with which 
 she entered upon her life at Court, and the circum-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 19 
 
 stances that led her to write her Memoirs. It is also 
 in my power to add some comments upon her by her 
 son, which will lead the reader to know and esteem 
 her. It was my father's strong desire that her readers 
 should be inspired with kindly sentiments toward the 
 object of his own devotion, love and admiration; and 
 I believe that the perusal of her reminiscences, and 
 especially of her correspondence, which is also to be 
 given to the public in due time, can not fail to secure 
 the realization of his wish. 
 
 II 
 
 Claire Elisabeth Jeanne Gravier de Vergennes was 
 born on the 5th of January, 1780. Her father was 
 Charles Gravier de Vergennes, Counselor to the Par- 
 liament of Burgundy, Master of Requests, afterward 
 Intendant of Auch, and finally Director of the 
 Vingtiemes.* My great-grandfather was not, there- 
 fore, as it has been frequently but erroneously stated, 
 the minister who was so well known as the Comte de 
 Vergennes. That minister had an elder brother who 
 was called " the Marquis," the first of the family, I 
 believe, who bore such a title. This marquis had 
 quitted the magistracy to enter upon a diplomatic 
 career. He was acting as minister in Switzerland in 
 1777, when the French treaties with the Helvetian 
 Republic were renewed. Afterward he was given the 
 title of ambassador. His son, Charles Gravier de 
 Vergennes, who was born at Dijon in 1751, married 
 Adelaide Frangoise de Bastard, born about 1760. This 
 lady's family came originally from Gascony, and a 
 branch of it, whose members distinguished themselves 
 
 * The Vingtieme was a tax imposed under the ancien regime, 
 on land and house property, and which amounted to a twentieth 
 of the revenue.
 
 20 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 at the bar and in the magistracy, was settled at 
 Toulouse. Her father, Dominique de Bastard, born at 
 Laffitte (Haute-Garonne), had been one of the coun- 
 selors to the parliament, and was the senior counselor 
 at the time of his death. His bust is in the Salle des 
 Illustres in the Capitol. He took an active part in the 
 measures of Chancellor Maupeou. His daughter's 
 husband, M. de Vergennes, being a member of the 
 legal profession, bore, as was the custom under the 
 old regime, no title. It is said that he was a man of 
 only ordinary ability, who took his pleasure in life 
 without much discrimination, but also that he had 
 good sense and was a useful official. He belonged to 
 that administrative school of which MM. de Trudaine 
 were the leaders. 
 
 Madame de Vergennes, of whom my father con- 
 stantly spoke, was a person of more individuality of 
 character; she was both clever and good. When he 
 was quite a child, my father was on most confidential 
 terms with her, as grandsons frequently are with their 
 grandmothers. In his bright and kindly nature, his 
 pleasant raillery, which was never malicious, he re- 
 sembled her; and from her he also inherited his 
 musical gifts, a good voice for singing, and a quick 
 memory for the airs and couplets of the vaudevilles 
 of the day. He never lost his habit of humming the 
 popular songs of the old regime. Madame de Ver- 
 gennes had the ideas of her time a touch of philos- 
 ophy, stopping short of incredulity, and a certain 
 repugnance to the Court, although she regarded Louis 
 XVI. with affection and respect. Her intellect, which 
 was bright, practical, and independent, was highly cul- 
 tivated; her conversation was brilliant and sometimes 
 very free, after the manner of the period. Neverthe- 
 less, she gave her two daughters, Claire and Alix, a 
 strict and indeed rather solitary education, for it was
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 21 
 
 the fashion of that day that parents should see but 
 little of their children. The two sisters studied in a 
 large, fireless room, apart from the rest of the house, 
 under the inspection of a governess, and were in- 
 structed in what may be called the frivolous arts 
 music, drawing, and dancing. They were seldom 
 taken to see a play, but they were occasionally indulged 
 with a visit to the opera, and now and then with a ball. 
 M. de Vergennes had not desired or foreseen the 
 Revolution ; but he was neither displeased nor alarmed 
 by it. He and his friends belonged to that citizen 
 class, ennobled by holding public offices, which seemed 
 to be the nation itself, and he can not have found him- 
 self much out of his place among those who were 
 called " the electors of '89." He was elected a member 
 of the Council of the Commune, and made a major in 
 the National Guard. M. de Lafayette, whose grand- 
 daughter was to become the wife of M. de Vergennes's 
 grandson, forty years after, and M. Royer-Collard, 
 whom that grandson was to succeed at the French 
 Academy, treated him like one of themselves. His 
 opinions were more in accordance with those of M. 
 Royer-Collard than with those of M. de Lafayette, 
 and the French Revolution soon shot far ahead of him. 
 He did not, however, feel any inclination to emigrate. 
 His patriotism, as well as his attachment to Louis 
 XVI., led him to remain in France; and thus he was 
 unable to elude that fate which, in 1793, threatened 
 all who were in positions similar to his and of the 
 same way of thinking. He was falsely accused of 
 intending to emigrate, by the Administration of the 
 Department of Saone et Loire; his property was 
 placed under sequestration ; and he was arrested in 
 Paris, at the house in the Rue Saint Eustache which 
 he had inhabited since 1788. The man who arrested 
 him had no warrant from the Committee of Public
 
 22 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Safety except for the arrest of M. de Vergennes's 
 father. He took the son because he lived with the 
 father, and both died on the same scaffold on the 
 6th Thermidor (24th July, 1794), three days before 
 the fall of Robespierre. 
 
 M. de Vergennes's death left his unhappy wife and 
 daughters unprotected, and in straitened circumstances, 
 as he had sold his estate in Burgundy a short time 
 previously, and its price had been confiscated by the 
 nation. There remained to them, however, one friend, 
 not powerful, indeed, but full of zeal and good will. 
 This was a young man with whom M. de Vergennes 
 had become acquainted in the early days of the Revo- 
 lution, whose family had formerly been of some im- 
 portance in the commercial world, and also in the 
 civic administration of Marseilles, so that the younger 
 members were taking their places in the magistracy 
 and in the army, in short, among " the privileged," as 
 the phrase then went. This young man, Augustin 
 Laurent de Remusat, was born at Valensoles, in Pro- 
 vence, on the 28th of August, 1762. After having 
 studied, with great credit, at Juilly, the former seat 
 of that Oratorian College which still exists near Paris, 
 he was nominated, at twenty years of age, advocate- 
 general to the Cour des Aides and the Chambre des 
 Comptes Reunies of Provence. My father has sketched 
 the portrait of that young man, his arrival in Paris, 
 and his life in the midst of the new society. The fol- 
 lowing note tells, better than I could, how M. de 
 Remusat loved and married Mademoiselle Claire de 
 Vergennes : 
 
 " The society of Aix, a city in which nobles dwelt 
 and a parliament assembled, was of the brilliant order. 
 My father lived a great deal in society. He was of an 
 agreeable presence, had a great deal of pleasant humor, 
 fine and polished manners, high spirits, and a reputa-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 23 
 
 tion for gallantry. He sought and obtained all the 
 social success that a young man could desire. Never- 
 theless, he attended sedulously to his profession, which 
 he liked, and he married, in 1783, Mademoiselle de 
 Sannes, the daughter of the Procureur-Gcneral of his 
 Compagnie. This marriage was dissolved by the death 
 of Madame de Remusat, who died shortly after the 
 birth of a daughter. 
 
 " The Revolution broke out ; the supreme courts 
 were suppressed; and the settling of their business 
 was a serious and important affair. In order to carry 
 it through, the Cour des Aides sent a deputation to 
 Paris. My father was one of the delegates. He has 
 often told me that he then had occasion to see M. de 
 Mirabeau, deputy for Aix, on the business of his mis- 
 sion ; and, notwithstanding his prejudices as an adherent 
 of the old parliaments, he was charmed with Mira- 
 beau's pompous politeness. My father never told me 
 details of his manner of living, so that I do not know 
 what were the circumstances under which he went to 
 the house of my grandfather Vergennes. He passed 
 through the terrible years of the Revolution alone and 
 unknown in Paris, and without any personal mishaps. 
 Society no longer existed. His company was there- 
 fore all the more agreeable, and even the more useful 
 to my grandmother (Madame de Vergennes), who 
 was involved in great anxieties and misfortunes. My 
 father used to tell me that my grandfather was a 
 commonplace sort of man, but he soon learned to 
 appreciate my grandmother very highly, and she con- 
 ceived a liking for him. She was a wise, moderate- 
 minded woman, who entertained no fancies, cherished 
 no prejudices, and gave way to no impulses. She 
 distrusted everything in which there was any exag- 
 geration, and detested affectation of every kind, but 
 she was readily touched by solid worth and by genuine
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 feeling; while her clear-headedness and her practical, 
 somewhat sarcastic turn of mind preserved her from 
 everything that lacked prudence or morality. Her 
 head was never betrayed by her heart ; but, as she had 
 suffered from the neglect of a husband to whom she 
 was superior, she was disposed to make inclination and 
 choice the ruling motives of marriage. 
 
 " Immediately after the death of my grandfather, a 
 decree was issued, by which all nobles were ordered 
 to quit Paris. Madame de Vergennes retired to Saint 
 Gratien, in the valley of Montmorency, with her two 
 daughters, Claire and Alix; and she gave my father 
 permission to follow her thither. His presence was 
 precious to them. His bright and cheerful nature, his 
 amiability, and careful attentions to those he loved, 
 made him a charming companion. His taste for a 
 quiet life, the country, and seclusion, and his cultivated 
 mind, exactly fitted him for a family circle composed 
 of intelligent persons, and in which education was 
 always going on. I can not believe that my grand- 
 mother did not early foresee and acquiesce in that 
 which was destined to happen, even supposing there 
 was not at that time anything to read in the heart 
 of her daughter. It is certain, for my mother says so 
 in several of her letters, that, although she was then 
 only a child, her prematurely serious turn of mind, 
 her sensitive and emotional nature, her vivid imagina- 
 tion, and finally, the combined influences of intimacy, 
 solitude, and misfortune, all united to inspire her with 
 an interest in my father, which had from the first all 
 the characteristics of a lofty and abiding sentiment. I 
 do not think I have ever met a woman in whom so 
 much moral strictness was combined with so much 
 romantic sensibility as in my mother. Her youth, her 
 extreme youth, was, as it were, steadied by those for- 
 tunate circumstances which bound her to duty by
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 25 
 
 ties of passion, and procured for her that rare combi- 
 nation, peace of soul and the delightful agitation of 
 the heart. 
 
 " She was not tall, but her figure was elegant and 
 well proportioned. She was fair and plump; indeed, 
 it used to be feared that she would grow too fat. Her 
 eyes were fine and expressive, black, like her hair ; her 
 features were regular, but rather too large. Her 
 countenance was grave, almost imposing ; but the intel- 
 ligent kindliness of her glance tempered the gravity 
 of her features very pleasantly. Her strong, well- 
 trained, fertile intellect, had certain virile qualities, 
 with which the extreme vividness of her imagination 
 frequently clashed. She possessed sound judgment 
 and keen powers of observation, and she was entirely 
 unaffected in her manners and in her modes of expres- 
 sion, although she was not without a certain subtlety 
 of ideas. In reality, she was profoundly reasonable, 
 but she was headstrong; her intellect was more rea- 
 sonable than herself. In her youth she lacked gayety 
 and probably ease, may have appeared to be pedantic 
 because she was serious, affected because she was 
 silent, absent-minded, and indifferent to almost all 
 the small things of every-day life. But, with her 
 mother, whose cheerful moods she sometimes crossed, 
 with her husband, whose simple tastes and easy temper 
 she never crossed, she was not wanting in richness and 
 freedom. She had even a kind of gayety of her own, 
 which developed as she grew older, when, having been 
 very absent and absorbed in her own thoughts while 
 she was very young, she became more like her mother. 
 I have often thought that, if she had lived long enough 
 to share the house in which I am writing to-day, she 
 would have been the merriest of us all." 
 
 My father wrote these lines in 1857, at Laffitte 
 (Haute-Garonne), where all those whom he loved
 
 26 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 were assembled, and we were gay and happy. In 
 quoting them I am somewhat outrunning my narrative, 
 for he speaks here of his mother as of a woman and 
 not as of a young girl, and Claire de Vergennes, when 
 she married, early in the year 1796, was hardly sixteen 
 years old. 
 
 M. and Mme. de Remusat for thus I shall desig- 
 nate them henceforth, for the sake of clearness in my 
 story lived sometimes in Paris, and sometimes in a 
 modest country house at Saint Gratien, a residence 
 which had two strong recommendations the beauty 
 of the landscape and the attraction of the neighbor- 
 hood. 
 
 Nearest and pleasantest of neighbors were the own- 
 ers of Sannois, with whom Madame de Vergennes 
 was very intimate. Jean Jacques Rousseau's " Con- 
 fessions," Madame d'Epinay's " Memoires," and a 
 hundred works of the last century as well, have made 
 the place and the persons known to the world. 
 Madame d'Houdetot (Sophie de Lalive) had lived 
 peacefully, in her old age, throughout the troublous 
 time of the Revolution in that country house, in the 
 society of her husband and of M. de Saint Lambert. 
 Between the famous trio and the young couple at 
 Saint Gratien so close an intimacy was formed that, 
 when the house at Saint Gratien was sold, my grand- 
 parents hired one within a shorter distance of the 
 residence of their friends, and a way of communica- 
 tion was made between the gardens of their respective 
 abodes. By degrees, however, M. de Remusat got 
 into the habit of going to Paris more and more fre- 
 quently; and, as the times became quieter, he began 
 to think of emerging from obscurity, and from the 
 narrow circumstances to which he was reduced by 
 the confiscation of the property of his wife's father 
 and the loss of his own place in the magistracy. As
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 27 
 
 is always the case in France, it was of employment 
 in some public function that he thought. He had no 
 relations with the Government, or even with M. de 
 Talleyrand, who was then Foreign Minister, but he 
 directed his efforts toward that department, and 
 obtained, if not exactly a place, at least an occupation, 
 which was likely to lead to a place, in the office of the 
 solicitors to the Ministry. 
 
 Besides the agreeable and intellectual relations 
 which they maintained with Sannois, M. and Mme. de 
 Remusat had formed an intimacy no less close, but 
 which was destined to exercise a much greater influ- 
 ence over their fortunes, with Madame de Beauhar- 
 nais, who, in 1796, became the wife of Bonaparte. 
 When her friend had acquired power through her all- 
 powerful husband, Madame de Vergennes applied to 
 her on behalf of her son-in-law, who wished to enter 
 the Council of State or the Administration. The First 
 Consul, however, or his wife, had a different idea of 
 what ought to be done. The consideration and respect 
 in which Madame de Vergennes was held, her social 
 station, her name which was allied both to the old 
 regime and to the new ideas gave a certain value to 
 the relations of her family with the consular palace, 
 which at that time had but little intercourse with 
 Parisian society. Quite unexpectedly, M. de Remusat 
 was appointed Prefect of the Palace, in 1802; and 
 shortly afterward Madame de Remusat became Lady- 
 in-Waiting (Dame pour Accompagner} to Madame 
 Bonaparte, a title which was soon changed into the 
 better sounding one of Lady of the Palace (Dame du 
 Palais).
 
 28 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 III 
 
 Persons of the way of thinking of M. and Mme. de 
 Remusat had no sacrifice to make in casting in their lot 
 with the new regime. They had neither the extrava- 
 gant sentiments of the Royalists, nor the austerity of 
 the Republicans. No doubt their attitude of mind 
 approached more nearly to that of the Royalists than 
 to that of the Republicans, but their royalism reduced 
 itself to pious veneration for Louis XVI. The mis- 
 fortunes of that unhappy prince rendered his memory 
 sacred, and his person had always been regarded in 
 the family of M. de Vergennes with peculiar respect; 
 but " Legitimacy " had not yet been invented, and 
 those persons who most deeply deplored the fall of 
 the old regime, or rather that of the ancient dynasty, 
 did not hold themselves under any obligation to 
 believe that everything done in France in the absence 
 of the Bourbons was null and void. Pure and un- 
 alloyed admiration was inspired by the young general 
 who was reestablishing material, if not moral order, 
 with such brilliant success, in a society which was 
 disturbed after a fashion very different from that of 
 those successive later times, in which so many worth- 
 less " saviours " have turned up. 
 
 Public functionaries in those days adhered to the 
 opinion which was very natural under the old regime, 
 that an official is responsible only for what he does, 
 and not for either the acts or the origin of the Govern- 
 ment. The sense of "solidarity " does not exist in 
 absolute monarchies. The parliamentary regime has 
 happily rendered us more sensitive, and all honest peo- 
 ple now admit the collective responsibility of all the
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 29 
 
 agents of a power. One could not nowadays serve a 
 government whose tendency and general policy one 
 did not approve ; but it was otherwise in former times. 
 My father who had more right than any one else to 
 be strict in these matters, and who, perhaps, owed 
 somewhat of his extreme political scrupulousness to 
 the difficult position in which he had seen his parents 
 placed during his own childhood, between their private 
 impressions and their official duties explains these 
 shades of difference in an unpublished letter to M. 
 Sainte Beuve, to whom he had communicated certain 
 biographical details for an article in the " Revue des 
 Deux Mondes." 
 
 " It was not a pis alter, from necessity, weakness, or 
 as a temporary expedient, that my parents attached 
 themselves to the new regime. Of their free will and 
 with entire confidence they united themselves with 
 its fortunes. If you add to that all the pleasures of 
 an easy and prominent position to be stepped into 
 from one of poverty and obscurity, the curiosity which 
 a court of so novel a kind inspired, the incomparable 
 interest of the spectacle of a man like the Emperor at 
 an epoch when he was irreproachable, young, and 
 still amiable, you can easily conceive the attraction 
 which induced my parents to overlook all that was in 
 reality opposed to their tastes, their reason, and even 
 their true interests in this new position. At the end 
 of two or three years, they had learned too well that 
 a court is always a court, and that all is not pleasure 
 in the personal service of an absolute master, even 
 though h may charm and dazzle. But this did not 
 prevent their being for a long time well enough satis- 
 fied with their lot. My mother especially was much 
 amused with all that passed before her eyes, and she 
 was on very good terms with the Empress, who was 
 extremely kind and generous, while she enthusias-
 
 30 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 tically admired the Emperor. He treated my mother 
 with flattering distinction. She was almost the only 
 woman with whom he ever talked. My mother would 
 sometimes say, after the Empire had ceased to exist: 
 
 'Va, je t'ai trop aime pour ne pas te hair!" 
 
 Of the impressions made by the new Court upon the 
 new Lady of the Palace we have no record. The 
 security of the Post-office was very doubtful. 
 Madame de Vergennes burned all her daughter's 
 letters, and the correspondence of the latter with her 
 husband does not commence until some years later, 
 during the Emperor's journeys in Italy and Germany. 
 Nevertheless, we can perceive from her Memoirs, 
 although they do not abound in personal details, how 
 strange and novel everything seemed to so very young 
 a woman, transplanted all of a sudden into this palace, 
 and an eye-witness of the private life of the glorious 
 chief of an unknown government. She was very seri- 
 ous, as, when they are not very frivolous the young 
 are apt to be, and much disposed to observation and 
 reflection. She seems to have had no taste for display, 
 no great solicitude about external things, no turn for 
 gossip or the running down of other people, no love of 
 talking or display. What was thought of her at that 
 time? We can not tell. We only know, from certain 
 passages in sundry letters and memoirs, that she was 
 considered clever, and that people were a little afraid 
 of her. Probably, however, her companions thought 
 her pedantic rather than dangerous. She had a con- 
 siderable " success," especially at first ; for in its early 
 days the Court was not numerous there were few 
 distinctions or favors to be schemed for, rivalry was 
 not very brisk or ardent. Little by little, however, 
 this little society became a real court. Now, courtiers 
 are always afraid of intellect, and especially of that
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 31 
 
 disposition, unintelligible to them, which clever people 
 have to interest themselves in a disinterested manner, 
 so to speak, in knowing things and judging characters, 
 without even thinking of turning their knowledge to 
 their own advantage. Courtiers always suspect that 
 every opinion has a hidden aim. Persons of quick in- 
 tellect are very strongly impressed by the spectacle 
 of human affairs, even when they are merely looking 
 on at them. And that faculty is the most incompre- 
 hensible to those who do not possess it, and who 
 attribute its effects to some personal motive, or inter- 
 ested calculation. They suspect intrigue or resent- 
 ment every time that they observe a movement in any 
 direction, but they have no idea of the spontaneous 
 and gratuitous action of the mind. Every one has 
 been exposed to mistrust of this kind, which is more 
 to be dreaded when a woman, endowed with exces- 
 sive activity of imagination, and drawn on by her 
 intelligence to form opinions on matters out of her 
 sphere, is in question. Many persons, especially in 
 that somewhat coarse society, would detect egotism 
 and pretension in her life and conversation, and accuse 
 her unduly of ambition. 
 
 That her husband was entirely devoid of ambition, 
 and free from any disposition to intrigue, was evident 
 to all. The position in which the favor of the First 
 Consul had placed him did not suit him; he would, no 
 doubt, have preferred some laborious administrative 
 function to one which demanded nothing of him but 
 suavity and a graceful demeanor. From the " Me- 
 moirs," from his own letters, and from my father's 
 account of him, we gather that M. de Remusat was a 
 man of discreet conduct, with keen wits, and a cheer- 
 ful and even temper not at all a person calculated to 
 make enemies. Indeed, he would never have had any, 
 but for a certain shyness, which, little as it seems to
 
 32 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 harmonize with conversational powers and an agree- 
 able manner, is, nevertheless, occasionally allied with 
 them. His taste for quiet life, and some indolence 
 and timidity of character, had impelled him more and 
 more toward retirement and isolation. Modesty and 
 self-esteem mingled in his nature; and, without ren- 
 dering him insensible to the honors of the post which 
 he had obtained, they sometimes made him ashamed 
 of the solemn trifles to which that very post forced 
 him to devote his life. He believed himself to be 
 made for better things, but he did not care for toiling 
 in search of that which did not come to him of itself. 
 He took but little pleasure in expressing the art, in 
 which he was probably not deficient, of managing men. 
 He did not love to put himself forward, and his indo- 
 lent temperament induced him to let things take their 
 chance. He afterward became a hard-working 
 prefect, but he was a negligent and inactive courtier. 
 He employed his skill simply to avoid disputes, and 
 he discharged his official functions with quiet good 
 taste. After having had many friends, and entered 
 into numerous relations, he let them drop through, or 
 at least he never seemed to do anything to retain them. 
 Unless great care be taken, ties are loosened, recol- 
 lections are effaced, rivalries are formed, and all the 
 chances of ambition escape one's grasp. M. de 
 Remusat had no skill in playing a part, forming con- 
 nections, bringing people together, or contriving the 
 opportunities of fortune or success. He seems never 
 to have regretted this. It would be easy for me to 
 trace his motives to depict his character in detail, and 
 to narrate his errors, his grievances, and even his 
 sufferings; for was he not my grandfather? 
 
 The first severe trial which M. and Mme. de 
 Remusat had to endure in their new position was the 
 murder of the Due d'Enghien. How profound was
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 33 
 
 the grief which they felt when the man whom they 
 ardently admired, as the express image of power and 
 genius, and whom they strove to love, stained his 
 hands with innocent blood, and they were forced to 
 recognize that such a deed was simply the result of 
 a cold and inhuman calculation, the following narra- 
 tive will prove. It will, indeed, be seen that the im- 
 pression made by the crime upon all honest persons at 
 the Court was even deeper than that which it produced 
 outside among the general public, who had become 
 almost indifferent, through custom, to deeds of this 
 kind. Even among the Royalists, who were absolutely 
 inimical to the Government, the event caused more 
 sorrow than indignation, so perverted had the public 
 mind become in political matters and respecting State 
 expedients! Where could the men of that day have 
 acquired principles? Was it the old regime or the 
 Terror which could have instructed them? A short 
 time afterward, the Sovereign Pontiff came to Paris, 
 and, among the reasons which made him hesitate to 
 crown the new Charlemagne, it is very doubtful 
 whether this one was ever even weighed for a moment. 
 The press was dumb, and men must be possessed of 
 information before they are aroused to anger. Let us 
 hope that civilization has now made so much progress 
 that a repetition of similar incidents would be im- 
 possible. We should, however, be restrained from 
 optimism on this point by the remembrance of what 
 we have witnessed in our own time. 
 
 The following Memoirs are an exact record of the 
 life of the author, and the history of the early years of 
 the present century. They show us what changes the 
 establishment of the Empire effected at the Court, and 
 how life there and its relations became more difficult 
 and embarrassing; how by degrees the prestige of the 
 Emperor declined, in proportion as he misused his
 
 $4 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 great gifts, his power, and his chances. Mistake 
 reverses, and failures were multiplied ; and at the sarr 
 time the adhesion of the earliest admirers of tf 
 Emperor became less fervent, and the manner c 
 serving reflected the mode of thinking. Two partie 
 the Beauharnais and the Bonapartes, disputed t? 
 favor of the sovereign master with each other ; and ft 
 and Mme. de Remusat were regarded as belonging 1 
 the former, by reason of their natural feelings an 
 their family relations. Their position was cons< 
 quently affected in no small degree by the down fa 
 and departure of the Empress Josephine. Everythir 
 was, however, much changed, and, when her lady-ii 
 waiting followed her into her retirement, the Emperc 
 seems to have made but little effort to detain Mm 
 de Remusat. Perhaps he was glad that a person c 
 good sense and quick intelligence should watch ov< 
 his forsaken and somewhat imprudent wife; but 
 must also be taken into account that my grandmother 
 delicate health, her love of quiet, and her distaste fc 
 all festivities, had isolated her almost entirely fro: 
 court life. 
 
 Her husband, wearied and disgusted, gave wa 
 every day more and more to his discontent, and 1 
 his inability to lay himself out to please the great pe 
 sonages who were either cold or hostile to him. H 
 neglected his functions as Chamberlain in order 1 
 concentrate himself on his duties as " Administrate 
 of Theatres," but the latter he fulfilled admirabl 
 A great part of the actual organization of the Theati 
 Frangais is due to him. My father, born in 179 
 and very young when his father was Chamberlai 
 to the Emperor, was remarkable as a child f( 
 his intelligence and his observation, and he r 
 tained a very distinct recollection of that peric 
 of discouragement and ennui. He has told n
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 35 
 
 that he frequently knew his father to return 
 from Saint Cloud utterly worn out, and tried 
 beyond his patience by the burden which the arbitrari- 
 ness and the ill temper of the Emperor laid upon all 
 who approached him. That the child was an eye- and 
 ear-witness of his complaints at those moments in 
 which restraints are cast off is evident, for, when he 
 was more master of himself, he was fain to represent 
 himself as satisfied with his master and his position, 
 and he endeavored to conceal his vexations from his 
 son. Perhaps he was better calculated to serve the 
 simple, tranquil, sober, intellectual Bonaparte, while 
 still a novice in the pleasures of sovereignty, than the 
 blase and intoxicated Napoleon, who exhibited the 
 worse taste possible on all State occasions, and became 
 more exacting every day in the matter of ceremonial 
 and adulatory observance. 
 
 An apparently trifling circumstance, whose gravity 
 was not at first perceived by those whom it concerned, 
 increased the difficulties of the situation, and hurried 
 on the inevitable catastrophe. Although the history 
 of the affair is insignificant, it will not be read without 
 interest, and it sheds a light upon times now happily 
 far removed from us, and which Frenchmen, if the 
 lessons of the past are to avail, will not suffer to 
 return. 
 
 The celebrated Lavoisier was very intimate with M. 
 de Vergennes. He died, as every one knows, on the 
 scaffold on the igth Floreal, year 2 (gth May, 1794). 
 His widow, who contracted a second marriage with 
 M. Rumford, a German savant, or at least a commer- 
 cial man aiming at science for he was the inventor 
 of the Prussian stoves, and also of the thermometer 
 that bears his name remained on terms of close 
 friendship with Madame de Vergennes and her fam- 
 ily. This second marriage had not been happy, and 
 
 Vol. 9 B Memoirs
 
 36 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 compassion was, very justly, excited on behalf of the 
 ill-treated wife, who was compelled to invoke the 
 protection of the law against unendurable tyranny 
 and exaction. As M. Rumford was a foreigner, it 
 was in the power of the police to procure information 
 respecting him from his own country, to reprimand 
 him severely, and even to oblige him to leave France. 
 This, I believe, was eventually done, and it was at the 
 request of my grandmother that M. de Talleyrand and 
 M. Fouche took up the matter. Madame Rumford 
 was anxious to evince her gratitude to those person- 
 ages, and the following is my father's account of the 
 results of her wish : 
 
 " My mother consented to invite Madame Rumford 
 to dinner, to meet M. de Talleyrand and M. Fouche. 
 Surely, it was not an act of opposition to entertain the 
 High Chamberlain and the Minister of Police at her 
 table! Nevertheless, that meeting so naturally 
 brought about, the motive of which was as insignifi- 
 cant as it was harmless, but which was, I acknowledge, 
 unusual, and never occurred again was represented 
 to the Emperor, in the reports that were sent out to 
 him in Spain, as a political conference, and the proof 
 of an important coalition. Although I do not contend 
 that it was impossible for M. de Talleyrand and M. 
 Fouche to have taken advantage of the opportunity 
 of talking together; or deny that my mother, perceiv- 
 ing the respective inclinations of the two, or put upon 
 the scent by something that was said by M. de Talley- 
 rand, might have regarded the occasion as a favorable 
 one for bringing about an interview which amused 
 herself at the same time that it was useful to one of 
 her friends, I have not the slightest reason for sup- 
 posing that such was the case. I am, on the contrary, 
 perfectly certain of having heard my father and 
 mother quote this incident, when reverting to it some
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 37 
 
 years afterward, as an instance of the unexpected 
 importance which may be assumed by a fortuitous 
 and insignificant matter, and say, smilingly, that 
 Madame Rumford little knew what she had cost 
 them. 
 
 " They added that on that occasion the word ' tri- 
 umvirate ' had been uttered, and my mother had said, 
 laughingly, ' My dear, I am sorry for it ; but your lot 
 could only be that of Lepidus.' My father also said 
 that certain persons of the Court, not enemies of his, 
 had sometimes spoken of ' the Conference ' to him as 
 a fact, and had said, though without any hostile inten- 
 tion, ' Now that it is all over, tell us what it was about, 
 and what it was you really meant to do ? ' 
 
 This narrative gives us an insight into the life of 
 Courts, and also testifies to the intimacy of my grand- 
 parents with M. de Talleyrand. Although the former 
 Bishop of Autun does not seem to have been actuated 
 in this particular instance by that kind of feeling which 
 he 'habitually carried into his relations with women, 
 he both liked and admired Mme. de Remusat. I have 
 found amusing evidence of his sentiments in a sketch 
 of her which he wrote, on the official paper of the 
 Senate, during the leisure time of a sitting at which he 
 presided as "Vice-Grand Elector," probably in 1811: 
 
 "CONSERVATIVE SENATE, 
 " LUXEMBOURG, April 29th. 
 
 " I have a fancy for commencing the portrait of 
 Clari. She is not what the world calls a beauty, but 
 every one agrees in pronouncing her an agreeable 
 woman. She is twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, 
 and she is neither more nor less blooming than she 
 ought to be at twenty-eight. Her figure is good, her 
 carriage is graceful and unaffected. Clari is not thin;
 
 38 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 she is only slight and refined. Her complexion is 
 not brilliant, but she has the special charm of 
 looking fairer in proportion as she is in a stronger 
 light. To describe Clari in a sentence, let me say that 
 the better she is known the more amiable she 
 appears. 
 
 " Clari has large, black eyes ; their long lids give an 
 expression of mingled tenderness and vivacity which 
 is striking, even when her mind is inactive and she 
 does not want to express anything. Those occasions 
 are, however, very rare. Lively ideas, quick percep- 
 tion, a vivid imagination, exquisite sensibility, and 
 constant kindness are expressed in her glance. To 
 give an idea of that, it would be necessary to paint the 
 soul which depicts itself in it, and then Clari would 
 be the most beautiful of beings. I am not sufficiently 
 well versed in the rules of drawing to know whether 
 Clari's features are quite regular. I believe her nose 
 is too thick; but I know that she has beautiful eyes, 
 lips, and teeth. A great part of her forehead is gen- 
 erally hidden by her hair, and that is a pity. Her 
 smile is rendered as arch as it is sweet by her two 
 dimples. Her dress is often careless, but never in bad 
 taste, and she is scrupulously neat. That neatness 
 forms part of the system of order and decorum from 
 which Clari never deviates. Clari is not rich, but as 
 she is moderate in her tastes and above caprice and 
 fancy, she despises extravagance, and has never per- 
 ceived that her fortune is limited, except when she has 
 been obliged to restrain her benevolence. But, besides 
 the art of giving, she has a thousand other ways of 
 conferring kindnesses. Always ready to commend 
 good deeds and to excuse faults, her mind is always 
 bent on beneficent purposes. Clari affords us a strik- 
 ing proof of how much superior a kindly wit is to 
 talent which produces only severity, criticism, and
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 39 
 
 satire. She is more ingenious in her manner of pass- 
 ing favorable judgments than ever was malignity in 
 the art of suggesting the false and suppressing the 
 true. 
 
 " Clari always vindicates those whose part she 
 takes, but without offending those whom she confutes. 
 Clari has a large and cultivated mind. I know no 
 one who can talk better than she ; but she exhibits her 
 superior information only when she is giving one a 
 proof of her confidence and friendship. Clari's hus- 
 band knows that he possesses a treasure, and has the 
 good sense to appreciate it. Clari is a good mother; 
 that is her reward." 
 
 The Emperor was displeased at the intimacy between 
 the Grand Chamberlain and the First Chamberlain, 
 and these Memoirs will show that he tried more 
 than once to set the two at variance. He even 
 succeeded for a time in alienating them. But their 
 intimacy was unbroken when M. de Talleyrand fell 
 into disgrace. 
 
 It is well know that honorable motives on his part 
 led to a violent altercation between himself and his 
 imperial master in January, 1809, at the period of the 
 Spanish war, which was the beginning of the mis- 
 fortunes of the empire, and the result of the Emper- 
 or's errors. Both M. de Talleyrand and M. Fouche 
 predicted, or at least foreboded, that public disappro- 
 bation and suspicion would be aroused. " Throughout 
 the whole empire," writes M. Thiers, " hate was be- 
 ginning to take the place of love." This change was 
 taking place among officials as well as citizens. More- 
 over, M. de Montesquiou, a member of the Legisla- 
 ture, who succeeded M. de Talleyrand in his place at 
 court, was a less important personage than the latter, 
 who had relegated to the First Chamberlain not only 
 the troublesome portions of the duties of his post,
 
 40 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 but also those which were agreeable, and which con- 
 ferred distinction. It was a " come-down " to lose 
 a chief whose own importance enhanced that of the 
 position next below him. Truly this was a strange 
 time! 
 
 Talleyrand, though in disgrace as a minister, and 
 as the holder of one of the highest posts at Court, had 
 not forfeited the Emperor's confidence. The latter 
 would send for him every now and then, and freely 
 disclose the secret of the question or the circumstance 
 on which he desired his advice. These consultations 
 went on to the end, even at those times when the Em- 
 peror was talking of sending M. de Talleyrand to 
 Vincennes. In return, M. de Talleyrand would enter 
 into his views, and advise him with perfect frankness ; 
 and so this strange intercourse was carried on as if 
 nothing had happened between them. 
 
 State policy and the greatness of his own position 
 afforded certain privileges and consolations to M. de 
 Talleyrand which were beyond the reach of a cham- 
 berlain or a lady-in-waiting. Those who are in close 
 contact with absolute power do not foresee that the 
 day must come when their feelings will clash with 
 their interests, and some of their duties with others. 
 They forget that there are principles of government 
 which must be guarded by constitutional guarantees. 
 They yield to the natural desire to be " somebodies " 
 in the state, to serve the established authority; they 
 do not study the nature and conditions of that author- 
 ity. So long as it exacts nothing against their con- 
 science, they serve it in the sphere to which it has ap- 
 pointed them. But the hour comes when, without 
 exacting anything new from them, it carries extrava- 
 gance, violence, and injustice to such a height that it 
 becomes hard to obey it, even in things of no moment ; 
 they remain, nevertheless, bound to obedience, while
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 41 
 
 in their inmost soul they are full of indignation and 
 of pain. Then comes actual desire for its fall. It 
 may be said that their course is simple; let them re- 
 sign. But they are afraid of giving rise to rumor and 
 scandal, of being neither understood nor approved by 
 public opinion. Moreover, no contract binds the ser- 
 vants of the state to the conduct of the chief of the 
 state. Having no rights, they would seem to have no 
 duties. They are powerless for prevention, and are, 
 therefore, not afraid of having to expiate errors. 
 Thus people thought in the reign of Louis XIV., and 
 thus they still think in a great part of Europe; it was 
 thus they thought under Napoleon, and perhaps they 
 will be of the same opinion again. So shameful and 
 wretched a thing is absolute power ! It paralyzes both 
 the honest scruples and the real duties of honest men. 
 
 IV 
 
 Traces of these convictions, or at least of their 
 germ, may be discerned in the correspondence of M. 
 and Madame de Remusat, and all things contributed 
 to confirm them. Direct communication with the Em- 
 peror became more and more infrequent, and his charm 
 of manner, though still powerful, failed to weaken 
 the impression made by his policy. The divorce of the 
 Empress restored to Madame de Remusat, in great 
 part, her freedom of judgment and the disposal of her 
 time. She attached herself to the Empress Josephine 
 in her disgrace, a proceeding not calculated to raise 
 her in the estimation of the Court. Her husband soon 
 after retired from the post of Keeper of the Ward- 
 robe, under circumstances which are detailed in these
 
 42 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Memoirs, and the coolness increased. I use the word 
 " coolness " advisedly, because in certain pamphlets 
 written against my father it was alleged that his fam- 
 ily had been guilty of grave offenses, at which the 
 Emperor was much incensed. That this was quite 
 untrue is amply proved by the fact that although M. 
 de Remusat resigned the post of Keeper of the Ward- 
 robe, he continued to be Chamberlain and Supervisor 
 of Theatres. He merely gave up the most trouble- 
 some and most onerous of his offices. No doubt those 
 habits of intimacy and confidence which arise in com- 
 mon every-day life were weakened by his relinquish- 
 ment of that post; but, on the other hand, he gained 
 greater freedom and more frequent intercourse, both 
 with his family and with society, and, as they were no 
 longer restricted to the drawing-rooms of the Tuile- 
 ries and St. Cloud, both husband and wife were en- 
 abled to bring more clear-sightedness and independ- 
 ence of judgment to bear upon the policy of their 
 sovereign. Before the final disasters, aided by the 
 advice and predictions of M. de Talleyrand, they fore- 
 saw the fall of the Empire, and were enabled to choose 
 between the possible solutions of the problem then 
 in course of working out. There was no hope that the 
 Emperor would be satisfied with a peace more humili- 
 ating to himself than to France, and indeed Europe 
 was no longer in the humor to gratify him even to that 
 extent. 
 
 The public mind turned naturally toward the return 
 of the Bourbons, notwithstanding certain drawbacks, 
 which were but dimly apprehended. The salons of 
 Paris, without being actually Royalist, were anti- 
 revolutionary. At this epoch the plan of making the 
 Bonapartes heads of the Conservative and Catholic 
 party had not yet been invented. To bring back the 
 Bourbons was a very momentous resolution, and it
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 43 
 
 was not adopted without struggles, anxieties, and 
 apprehensions of all sorts. My father regarded the 
 painful recollection which he always retained of the 
 attitude of his family in 1814 a family so simple, so 
 honorable, and so unpretending as a useful political 
 lesson, one which contributed, as much as his own 
 reflections, to lead him to believe that simplicity and 
 straightforwardness are the truest policy. He records 
 in the following words his own observations on the 
 state of feeling that prevailed at the fall of the 
 Empire : 
 
 " Policy alone reconciled my family to the Restor- 
 ation. My father never for a moment regarded his 
 own acquiescence otherwise than as an absolute neces- 
 sity, of which he voluntarily accepted the consequences. 
 It would have been foolish to conceal the nature of 
 those consequences, or to have endeavored to avoid 
 them altogether ; but they might have been more firmly 
 resisted, or at least some effort might have been made 
 to reduce their proportions. My mother, as a woman, 
 was influenced by -the sentimental aspect of Bourbon- 
 ism, and allowed herself to be carried away by the en- 
 thusiasm of the moment. In every great political 
 movement there is a fascination, unless one is pre- 
 served from it by party spirit; and this sympathy, 
 combined with the national taste for declamation, has 
 a large share in the absurdities which accompany 
 every change of government. My mother was, how- 
 ever, disgusted from the first by the exaggeration of 
 sentiment, of opinion, and of ridiculous language, that 
 prevailed. The humiliating and insolent side of the 
 Restoration, as indeed of every restoration, is what 
 shocks me the most ; but, if the Royalists had not gone 
 too far, a great deal would have been overlooked. 
 The things of this kind which sensible folk will endure 
 are surprising. I still feel grateful to my father be-
 
 44 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 cause, in the very first days of the Monarchy, he some- 
 what sharply rebuked a person who was advocating 
 in our salon the extreme doctrines of Legitimacy. 
 Nevertheless, W T C had to accept this Legitimacy under 
 a more politic form. The word itself was, I believe, 
 sanctioned by M. de Talleyrand, and thence ensued 
 an inevitable train of consequences which speedily 
 developed themselves." 
 
 This is not merely an historical judgment of my 
 father's ; at that time he was beginning, notwithstand- 
 ing his youth, to think for himself, and to guide, or 
 at least to influence, the political opinions of his par- 
 ents. As I shall soon be in a position to publish the 
 reminiscences of his youth, I will not dwell upon them 
 here. I must, however, mention him in connection 
 with the memoirs of his mother, as he had more to do 
 with them than might be supposed. 
 
 I have not hitherto alluded to one of the most char- 
 acteristic traits of her whose life I have undertaken 
 to narrate. She was a tender, careful, and admirable 
 mother. Her son Charles, born on the 24th Ventose, 
 year 5 (March 14, 1797), cheered her from his child- 
 hood with the hopes which he afterward realized, and, 
 as he grew in years and intelligence, aroused in her 
 intellectual tastes similar to his own. Her second 
 son, Albert, was born five years later than Charles, 
 and died in 1830. His faculties were never com- 
 pletely developed; he remained a child until the end. 
 She had tender compassion for him, and lavished upon 
 him care so unceasing and devoted that it was admir- 
 able even in a mother. But her great love was for her 
 first-born, and never was filial or maternal affection 
 founded on more striking resemblance in mind and 
 character. Her letters are full of her maternal ten- 
 derness. The following is addressed to her beloved 
 son, when he was just sixteen. I think it will convey
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 45 
 
 a favorable impression of both, and throw a light on 
 the history of their after lives : 
 
 VICHY, July 25, 1813. 
 
 " I have been suffering from a severe sore throat 
 for the last few days, and time has hung heavily, my 
 child; to-day I feel a little better, and I am going to 
 amuse myself by writing to you. Besides, you have 
 been scolding me for my silence, and reproaching me 
 too often with your four letters. I will no longer be 
 behindhand with you, and this letter, I think, will en- 
 title me to scold you in my turn, if an opportunity 
 offers. My dear boy, I follow you step by step in 
 all your studies, and I see you are full of work during 
 this month of July, which I am passing so monoto- 
 nously. I know pretty well, too, all you say and do on 
 Thursdays and Sundays. Madame de Grasse tells me 
 of your little talks, and amuses me with it all. For 
 instance, she told me that the other day you had 
 praised me to her, and said that when you and I talk 
 together you are sometimes tempted to think me too 
 clever. But you need not be checked by any fear of 
 that, for you, my dear child, have at least as much 
 wit as I. I tell you so frankly, because that gift, al- 
 though an advantage, needs many other things to sup- 
 port it, and therefore you may take my words rather 
 as warning than as praise. If my conversation with 
 you often takes a serious turn, you must impute it 
 to the fact that I am your mother, and have not relin- 
 quished that role; to my discovery of some wise 
 thoughts in my own head, and wanting to put them 
 into yours ; and to my desire to make good use of the 
 quickly passing time that will soon bear you far from 
 me. When I need no longer advise and warn you, we 
 shall talk together quite at our ease, interchanging our
 
 46 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 reflections, our remarks, and our opinions on every- 
 thing and everybody quite frankly, without fear of 
 vexing one another; in fact, with all that sincere and 
 intimate friendship which, I believe, may perfectly 
 well exist between a mother and a son. There are not 
 so many years between us as to prevent me from sym- 
 pathizing with your youth, or sharing some of your 
 feelings. Women's shoulders wear young heads for 
 a long time, and in the head of a mother one side is 
 always just the same age as her child's. 
 
 " Madame de Grasse told me also that you want to 
 amuse yourself during these holidays by writing some 
 of your notions on various subjects. I think you are 
 right. It will be interesting for you to read them 
 again in a few years. Your father would say I want 
 to make you a scribbler like myself for he does not 
 stand on ceremony with me but I do not care. 
 There can be no harm in setting down one's thoughts 
 in writing for one's self alone, and I think both taste 
 and style may be formed in this way. It is just be- 
 cause your father is lazy, and only writes one letter a 
 week; true, it is a very pleasant one, but still that is 
 not much. . . . But there! I must not run on about 
 him. 
 
 " During my retirement I thought I should like to 
 draw your portrait, and if I had not had a sore throat, 
 I would have tried to do so. While I was thinking it 
 over, I found that in order not to be insipid, and, in- 
 deed, to be correct, I should have to point out a few 
 faults, and I do believe the hard words have stuck in 
 my throat and given me quinsy. While planning this 
 portrait, I assure you I took you to pieces very care- 
 fully, and I found many good qualities well developed, 
 a few just beginning to bud, and then some slight con- 
 gestions which hinder certain others from exhibiting 
 themselves. I beg your pardon for using a medical
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 47 
 
 expression ; it is because I am in a place where nothing 
 but congestions and the way to get rid of them is talked 
 about. I will explain all this some day when I am in 
 the vein, but to-day I will touch only on one point 
 your behavior to others. You are polite more so, 
 indeed, than is customary at your age: you have a 
 pleasant manner in addressing people, and you are a 
 good listener. Do not let this last quality slip. Ma- 
 dame de Sevigne says that an appreciative silence is a 
 mark of superior sense in young people. ' But, 
 mother, what are you driving at? You promised to 
 point out a fault, and hitherto I see nothing like one. 
 A father's blow turns aside. Let us come to the fact, 
 my dear mother.' So I will, my son, in one moment; 
 you forget that I have a sore throat, and can only 
 speak slowly. Well, then, you are polite. When you 
 are asked to do something which will gratify those you 
 love, you consent willingly; but, when an opportunity 
 of so doing is merely pointed out to you, natural in- 
 dolence and a certain love of self make you hesitate; 
 and, when left to yourself, you do not seek such oppor- 
 tunities, for fear of the trouble they might entail. 
 Can you understand these subtle distinctions? While 
 you are still partly under my authority, I can influence 
 and guide you: but you will soon have to answer for 
 yourself, and I should wish you to think a little about 
 other people, notwithstanding the claims of your own 
 youth, which are naturally engrossing. I am not sure 
 that I have expressed myself clearly. As my ideas 
 have to find their way through a headache and 
 all my bandages, and for the last four days I have 
 not sharpened my wits by contact with those of 
 Albert, the quinsy may possibly have got into my 
 discourse. 
 
 ' You must make the best of it. At any rate, it is 
 a fact that you have polished manners, in other words,
 
 48 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 you are kind. Kindness is the politeness of the heart. 
 But enough. 
 
 " Your little brother makes a good figure at the vil- 
 lage dances. He has become quite a rustic. In the 
 morning he fishes and takes long walks about the 
 country. He understands more about trees and agri- 
 culture than you do. In the evening he shines among 
 our big Auvergne shepherdesses, to whom he shows 
 off all those little airs and graces which you know 
 so well. 
 
 " Adieu, my dear son ; I leave off because I have 
 come to the end of my paper. Writing all this to you 
 relieves me a little of my ennui, but I must not quite 
 overwhelm you by pouring out too much at a time. 
 My respects to Griffon, and best compliments to M. 
 Leclerc." 
 
 In this confidential strain the mother and the son 
 carried on their correspondence. One year later, in 
 1814, the son left school, destined to fulfil all the 
 promise of his childhood, and to hold thenceforth a 
 more important place in the life and occupations of 
 his parents. His influence soon began to tell on theirs, 
 the more so that there existed no absolute divergence 
 in their opinions. But he was more positive and bolder 
 than his parents, because he was not fettered by the 
 ties of old memories and old affection. He felt no 
 regret for the Emperor, and, although deeply moved 
 by the sufferings of the French army, he witnessed the 
 fall of the Empire, if not with joy, at least with in- 
 difference. To him, as to most talented young men 
 of his time, it came as an emancipation. He eagerly 
 embraced the first notions of constitutional order,
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 49 
 
 which made their reappearance with the Bourbons. 
 But he was struck by the ridiculous side of Royalist 
 society. Many of the revived fashions and phrases 
 seemed to him to be mere foolery ; he was disgusted by 
 the abuse lavished upon the Emperor and the men of 
 the Empire, but neither his parents nor he, although 
 still a little suspicious of the new order of things, 
 was seriously opposed to it. Neither the personal 
 vexations which resulted from it, such as the depri- 
 vation of employment, the necessity of selling to great 
 disadvantage a library which was the delight of my 
 grandfather, and which lives in the recollection of 
 lovers of books, nor a thousand other annoyances, 
 could prevent their experiencing a sense of relief. 
 They almost verified a celebrated saying of the Em- 
 peror, who, when at the zenith of his power, once 
 asked those surrounding him what would be said after 
 his death. They all hastened to answer in phrases of 
 compliment or of flattery. But he interrupted them 
 by exclaiming, " What ! you are at a loss to know what 
 people will say ? They will say ' Ouf !' " 
 
 It was difficult to attend to personal interests in 
 those days ; one could hardly help being diverted from 
 them, and engrossed solely by the spectacle of France 
 and Europe. Curiosity would naturally outweigh 
 ambition in a family such as we are depicting. My 
 grandfather did nevertheless think of entering the 
 administration, and once more revived his project, 
 hitherto doomed to disappointment, of gaining admit- 
 tance to the Council of State; but he was as supine 
 about it as before. Had he entered the administration, 
 he would only have been following the example of the
 
 50 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 majority of the former officials of the Empire, for the 
 Bonapartist Opposition did not come into existence 
 until the latter days of the Monarchy. The members 
 of the Imperial family lived in constant and friendly 
 intercourse with the new regime, or rather with the 
 reinstated old regime. The Empress Josephine was 
 treated with great respect, and the Emperor Alexan- 
 der frequently visited her at Malmaison. She wished 
 to take up a dignified and fitting position, and she con- 
 fided to her lady-in-waiting that she thought of asking 
 the title of High Constable for her son Eugene, show- 
 ing thereby that she scarcely understood the spirit of 
 the Restoration. Queen Hortense, who afterward 
 became the bitter enemy of the Bourbons, and was 
 concerned in numerous conspiracies, obtained the 
 Duchy of Saint Leu, for which she intended to return 
 thanks in person to Louis XVIII. All projects of this 
 kind had, however, to be abandoned ; for the Empress 
 Josephine was suddenly carried off by malignant sore 
 throat in March, 1814, and the last link that bound 
 my kinsfolk to the Bonaparte family was sundered 
 for ever. 
 
 The Bourbons seemed to make a point of annoying 
 and depressing those very persons whom their Govern- 
 ment should have endeavored to conciliate, and by 
 slow degrees a belief gained ground that their reign 
 would be of short duration, and that France, just then 
 more in love with equality than with liberty, would 
 demand to be placed once more under the yoke which 
 had seemed to be shattered; in fact, that the days of 
 Imperial splendor and misery would return. It was, 
 therefore, with less amazement than might be sup- 
 posed that my grandfather learned one day from a 
 friend that the Emperor had escaped from Elba and 
 landed at Cannes. Historical events seem more as- 
 tounding to those who read of them than to eye- wit-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 51 
 
 nesses. Those who knew Bonaparte could readily 
 believe him capable of again putting France and 
 Frenchmen in peril for the sake of a selfish scheme. 
 His return was, however, a tremendous event, and 
 every one had to think not only of the political future, 
 but also of his own. Even those who, like M. de 
 Remusat, had not publicly taken any political side, and 
 who only wanted to be left in repose and obscurity, 
 had everything to lose, and were bound to provide 
 against eventualities. The general suspense did not 
 last long; even before the Emperor's entry into Paris, 
 M. Real came to announce to M. de Remusat that he 
 was sentenced to exile together with twelve or fifteen 
 others, among whom was M. Pasquier. 
 
 An event still more serious than exile, and which 
 left a deeper trace in my father's memory, occurred 
 between the first news of the return of Napoleon and 
 his arrival at the Tuileries. On the day after that on 
 which the landing w r as publicly announced, Mme. de 
 Nansouty hurried to her sister's house, full of dismay 
 at all that she had been told of the persecution to 
 which the opponents of the vindictive and all-powerful 
 Emperor were about to be exposed. She told my 
 grandparents that a rigorous inquisition by the police 
 was to be put in action; that M. Pasquier appre- 
 hended molestation, and that everything in the house 
 which could give rise to suspicion must be got rid of. 
 My grandmother, who might not otherwise have 
 thought of danger, remembered with alarm that a 
 manuscript highly calculated to compromise her hus- 
 band, her sister, her brother-in-law, and her friends, 
 was in the house. For many years, probably from her 
 first appearance at Court, she had been in the habit 
 of taking notes daily of the events and conversations 
 which came under her notice, while her memory of 
 them was fresh. She had recorded nearly everything
 
 52 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 she saw and heard, at Paris, at St. Cloud, and at 
 Malmaison. For twelve years she had transferred, 
 not only events and circumstances, but studies of char- 
 acter and disposition, to the pages of her journal. 
 This journal was kept in the form of a correspondence. 
 It consisted of a series of letters, written from Court 
 to a friend from whom nothing was concealed. The 
 author well knew all the value of these fictitious let- 
 ters, which recalled her whole life, with its most 
 precious and most painful recollections. Ought she 
 to risk, for what would appear to others only literary 
 or sentimental selfishness, the peace, the liberty, nay, 
 even the life of those she loved? No one was aware 
 of the existence of this manuscript, except her hus- 
 band and Mme. Cheron, the wife of the Prefect of 
 that name, a very old and attached friend. Her 
 thoughts turned to this lady, who had once before 
 taken charge of the dangerous manuscript, and she 
 hastened to seek her. Unfortunately Mme. Cheron 
 was from home, and not likely to return for a con- 
 siderable time. What was to be done? My grand- 
 mother came back, greatly distressed, and, without 
 further reflection or delay, threw her manuscripts into 
 the fire. My father came into the room just as she 
 was burning the last sheets, somewhat cautiously, lest 
 the flame should reach too high. He was then seven- 
 teen, and has often described the scene to me the 
 remembrance of it was most painful to him. He 
 thought at first that his mother was merely destroying 
 a copy of the memoirs, which he had never read, and 
 that the precious original manuscript was safely 
 concealed. He threw the last sheets into the fire 
 with his own hand, attaching but little import- 
 ance to the action. " Few deeds," he used to say, 
 " after I learned all the truth, have I ever so bitteriy 
 regretted."
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 53 
 
 From the very first, the author and her son so 
 deeply lamented what they had done for they learned 
 almost immediately that the sacrifice was uncalled for 
 that for years they could not speak of it between 
 themselves or to my grandfather. The latter bore his 
 exile with much philosophy. He was not forbidden to 
 dwell in France, but only in Paris and its neighbor- 
 hood, and it was decided that they should all await 
 the passing of the storm in Languedoc, where he pos- 
 sessed an estate which he had bought back from the 
 heirs of M. de Bastard, his wife's grandfather, and 
 which had long been neglected. The family removed, 
 therefore, to Laffitte, where my father afterward 
 passed so many years, now in the midst of political 
 agitation, again in quiet study. In after days he again 
 came thither from exile; for the sufferings of good 
 citizens from absolute power were not to be, restricted 
 to the year 1815, and Napoleons have returned to 
 France from a greater distance than the Isle of 
 Elba. 
 
 My grandfather started for Laffitte on March I3th, 
 and his family joined him there a few days afterward. 
 At Laffitte they passed the three months of that reign, 
 shorter but still more fatal than the first, which has 
 been called " The Hundred Days." There my father 
 entered upon his literary career, not as yet producing 
 original works, but translating Pope, Cicero, and 
 Tacitus. His only original writings were his songs. 
 The family lived quietly, unitedly, and almost happily, 
 waiting the end of a tragedy of which they foresaw 
 the denouement, and at Laffitte they received the news 
 of Waterloo. They heard at the same time of the 
 abdication of Napoleon, and that M. de Remusat was 
 appointed Prefect of Haute-Garonne, by a decree of 
 July 12, 1815. This appointment was quite to the 
 taste of my grandfather, for it placed him once more
 
 54 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 in office, without involving him in the parade of a 
 court; but it was less pleasing- to his wife, who re- 
 gretted Paris and her old friends there, and who 
 dreaded the disturbances at Toulouse, at that time a 
 prey to the violence of southern Royalism " the 
 White Terror," as it was then called. 
 
 The new Prefect immediately set out for Toulouse, 
 and was greeted on his arrival with the news that 
 General Ramel, notwithstanding that he had hoisted 
 the white flag on the Capitol, had been assassinated. 
 Such are the injustice and violence of party spirit, 
 even when victorious; nay, especially when victo- 
 rious ! 
 
 But, however interesting this episode of our 
 national troubles may be, it is not necessary to dwell 
 on them here. The principal personage in these 
 Memoirs is not the Prefect, but Mme. de Remusat. 
 My grandmother, anxious about the course of events, 
 and perhaps afraid of the vehemence of her son's 
 opinions, which were little suited to his father's 
 official position, sent him back to Paris, to his great 
 satisfaction. 
 
 Then ensued a correspondence between them which 
 will make both of them known to us, and will perhaps 
 depict the writer of these Memoirs more clearly than 
 do the Memoirs themselves. 
 
 As, however, the latter work only is in question at 
 present, it is not necessary to give in detail the history 
 of the period subsequent to 1815. The administration 
 of the department, which commenced under such 
 gloomy auspices, was, for a period of nineteen months, 
 extremely difficult. While the son, mixing in very 
 Liberal society in Paris, adopted the opinions of ad- 
 vanced constitutional Royalism, which did little more 
 than tolerate the Bourbons, the father, amid totally 
 different surroundings, underwent a similar mental
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 55 
 
 process, and placed himself by word and deed in -the 
 front rank of those officials of the King's Govern- 
 ment who were the least Royalist and the most Liberal. 
 He was a just and moderate man, a lover of law, 
 neither an aristocrat nor a bigot. The people of Tou- 
 louse were all that he was not; nevertheless he was 
 successful there, and left behind him a kindly mem- 
 ory, which lapsed as the men of his time disappeared, 
 but of which my father has more than once found 
 traces. These early days of constitutional liberty, 
 even in a province which did not afterward put 
 its theories boldly in practice, are curious to contem- 
 plate. 
 
 The light of that liberty illumined all that the Em- 
 pire had left in darkness. Opinions, ideas, hatred, 
 passions, came to life. The Government of the Bour- 
 bons was represented by a married priest, M. de Tal- 
 leyrand, and a regicide Jacobin, M. Fouche; but even 
 they could not oppose the reactionary tendency of the 
 time, and the Liberal policy did not triumph until the 
 accession of MM. Decazes, Pasquier, Mole, and 
 Royer-Collard to the ministry, and the passing- of the 
 famous decree of the 5th of September. The new 
 policy was of course advantageous to those who had 
 practiced it beforehand, and there could be no ill will 
 toward the Prefect on account of the failure of the 
 Liberal party in the elections of Haute-Garonne. So 
 soon as the ministry was firmly established, and as 
 M. Laine had succeeded M. de Vaublanc, my grand- 
 father was appointed Prefect of Lille. My father 
 records in a letter already quoted the effect of these 
 events on the mind of Mme. de Remusat: 
 
 " The nomination of my father to Lille brought my 
 mother back into the midst of the great stir of public 
 opinion, which was soon to declare itself as it had 
 not done since 1789. Her intelligence, her reason
 
 56 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 all her feelings and all her convictions, were about to 
 make a great step in advance. The Empire, after 
 awakening her interest in public affairs and enabling 
 her to understand them, subsequently directed her 
 mind toward a high moral aim, by inspiring her with 
 a horror of tyranny. Hence came her desire for a 
 government of order, founded on law, reason, and the 
 spirit of the nation; hence a certain leaning toward 
 the forms of the English constitution. Her stay at 
 Toulouse and the reaction of 1815 gave her such a 
 knowledge of social realities as she could never have 
 acquired in the salons of Paris, enlightening her as to 
 the results and the causes of the Revolution, and the 
 needs and sentiments of the nation. She understood, 
 in a general way, on which side lay true help, strength, 
 life, and right. She learned that a new France had 
 been called into existence, and what it was, and that 
 it was for and by this new France that government 
 must be carried on." 
 
 VI 
 
 My grandmother's stay at Lille was occasionally 
 varied by visits to her son in Paris. The pleasures 
 of society were but a prelude to the literary success 
 that he achieved a few months later; and indeed he 
 was already practicing composition in his frequent 
 letters to his mother on politics and literature. Mme. 
 de Remusat had more leisure at Lille than in Paris, 
 and, although her health was still delicate, she indulged 
 her taste for intellectual pursuits. Hitherto she had 
 written nothing but the Memoirs that she had after- 
 ward destroyed, and a few short tales and essays. In 
 the leisure of a country life she now attempted a ro-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 57 
 
 mance in the form of letters, called " Les Lettres 
 Espagnols, ou I'Ambitieux." While she was working 
 at this with ardor and success, the posthumous work 
 of Mme. de Stael, " Considerations sur la Revolution 
 Franchise," came out in 1818, and made a great im- 
 pression on her. Now that sixty years have elapsed, 
 it is difficult for us to realize the extraordinary effect 
 of Mme. de StaeTs eloquent dissertation on the prin- 
 ciples of the Revolution. The opinions of the author, 
 then quite novel, are now merely noble truisms 
 obvious to all. But in the days that immediately fol- 
 lowed the Empire they were something more. Every- 
 thing was then new, and the younger generation, who 
 had undergone twenty years of tyranny, had to learn 
 over again that which their fathers had known so 
 well in 1789. 
 
 My grandmother was especially struck by the elo- 
 quent pages in which the author gives somewhat de- 
 clamatory expression to her hatred of Napoleon. 
 Mme. de Remusat felt a certain sympathy with the 
 author's sentiments, but she could not forget that at 
 one time she had thought differently. People who 
 are fond of writing are easily tempted into explaining 
 their conduct and feelings on paper. She conceived 
 a strong desire to arrange all her reminiscences, to 
 describe the Empire as she had seen it, and how she 
 had at first loved and admired, next condemned and 
 dreaded, afterward suspected and hated, and finally 
 renounced it. The Memoirs she had destroyed in 1815 
 would have been the most accurate exposition of this 
 succession of events, situations, and feelings. It was 
 vain to think of rewriting them, but it was possible, 
 with the help of a good memory and an upright inten- 
 tion, to compose others which should be equally sin- 
 cere. Full of this project, she wrote to her son (May 
 27, 1818) :
 
 58 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 " I have taken up a new notion. You must know 
 that I wake every morning at six o'clock, and that I 
 write regularly from that hour until half-past nine. 
 Well, I was sitting up with the manuscript of my 
 ' Lettres Espagfiols ' all scattered about me, when cer- 
 tain chapters of Mme. de Stael's book came into my 
 head. I flung my romance aside, and took up a clean 
 sheet of paper, bitten with the idea that I must write 
 about Bonaparte. On I went, describing the death 
 of the Duke d'Enghien and that dreadful week I spent 
 at Malmaison; and, as I am an emotional person, I 
 seemed to be living all through that time over again. 
 Words and events came back of themselves; between 
 yesterday and to-day I have written twenty pages, and 
 am somewhat agitated in consequence." 
 
 The same circumstance which reawakened the 
 recollections of the mother aroused the literary tastes 
 of the son ; and while he was publishing an article on 
 Mme. de Stael in the " Archives," his first appearance 
 in print, he wrote as follows to his mother on the 
 same date, May 27, 1818. Their respective letters 
 crossed on the road : 
 
 " 'All honor to the sincere ! ' This book, my dear 
 mother, has renewed my regret that you have burned 
 your Memoirs, and has made me most anxious that 
 you should retrieve that loss. You really owe this to 
 yourself, to us, to the interests of truth. Read up the 
 old almanacs ; study the ' Moniteur ' page by page ; 
 get back your old letters from your friends, and go 
 over them, especially those to my father. Try to 
 remember not only the details of events, but your 
 own impressions of them. Try to resuscitate the 
 views you formerly held, even the illusions you have 
 lost; recall your very errors. Show how you, with 
 many other honorable and sensible people, indignant 
 and disgusted with the horrors of the Revolution,
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 59 
 
 were carried away by natural aversions, and beguiled 
 by enthusiasm for one man, which was in reality 
 highly patriotic. Explain how we had all of us be- 
 come, as it were, strangers to political life. We had 
 no dread of the empire of an individual; we went out 
 to meet it. Then show how this man either became 
 corrupt, or else displayed his true character as his 
 power increased. Tell how it unfortunately happened 
 that, as you lost one by one your illusions concerning 
 him, you became more and more dependent, and how 
 the less you submitted to him in heart, the more you 
 were obliged to obey him in fact; how at last, after 
 having believed in the uprightness of his policy be- 
 cause you were mistaken in himself, your discovery 
 of his true character led you to a correct view of his 
 system; and how moral indignation finally brought 
 you by degrees to what I may call a political hatred of 
 him. This, my dear mother, is what I entreat of you to 
 do. You see what I mean, do you not? and you will 
 do it." 
 
 Two days after, on the 3Oth of May, my grand- 
 mother replied as follows : 
 
 " Is it not wonderful how perfectly we understand 
 each other ? I am reading the book, and I am as much 
 struck by it as you are. I regret my poor Memoirs 
 for new reasons, and I take up my pen again without 
 quite knowing whither it will lead me; for, my dear 
 child, this task which you have set me, and which of 
 itself is tempting, is also formidable. I shall, how- 
 ever, set about reviving my impressions of certain 
 epochs, at first without order or sequence, just as 
 things come back to me. You may trust me to set 
 down the very truth. Yesterday, when I was alone 
 and at my desk, I was trying to recall my first meet- 
 ing with this wretched man. A tide of remembrance 
 rushed over me, and that which you so justly call my
 
 60 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 political hatred was ready to fade away and give place 
 to my former illusions." 
 
 A few days later, on the 8th of June, 1818, she 
 dwells on the difficulties of her task : 
 
 " Do you know that I need all my courage to do as 
 you tell me? I am like a person who, having spent 
 ten years at the galleys, is asked to write an account 
 of how he passed his time. My heart sinks when I 
 recall old memories. There is pain both in my past 
 fancies and in my present feelings. You are right in 
 saying I love truth ; but it follows that I can not, like 
 so many others, recall the past with impunity, and I 
 assure you that, for the last week, I have risen quite 
 saddened from the desk at which you and Mme. de 
 Stael have placed me. I could not reveal these feel- 
 ings to any one but you. Others would not under- 
 stand, and would only laugh at me." 
 
 On the 28th of September and the 8th of October 
 of the same year, she writes to her son : 
 
 " If I were a man, I should certainly devote a part 
 of my life to studying the League; being only a 
 woman, I confine myself to verbal utterances about you 
 know whom. What a man ! what a man ! It terrifies 
 me to retrace it all. It was my misfortune to be very 
 young when I was placed near him; I did not reflect 
 on what passed before me; but now that we are both 
 older, I and the generation to which I belong, my 
 memories move me more than did events at that time. 
 If you come ... I think you will find that I have 
 not lost much time this summer. I have already writ- 
 ten nearly five hundred pages, and I was going to 
 write much more; the task lengthens as I work at it. 
 Afterward much time and patience will be required to 
 put all this material in order. Perhaps I shall never 
 have either one or the other; if so, that will be your 
 business when I shall be no longer here."
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 61 
 
 " Your father," she writes again, " says that he does 
 not know of any one to whom I could show what I am 
 writing. He declares that no one excels me in ' the 
 talent for being true ' as he expresses it. So, there- 
 fore, I write for nobody in particular. Some day you 
 will find my manuscripts among my effects, and you 
 can do what you like with them." 
 
 On the 8th of October, 1818, she writes: "There 
 is a thought that sometimes troubles me. I say to my- 
 self, ' Suppose some day my son publishes this, what 
 will be said of me? ' Then the fear seizes me that I 
 shall be held to have been malicious, or at least ill- 
 natured, and I rack my brain for something to praise. 
 But this man (Bonaparte) was such a ruthless des- 
 troyer of all worth and we were brought so low that 
 I am straitened by the demands of truth, and I grow 
 quite disheartened." 
 
 These fragments of her letters indicate the spirit in 
 which the Memoirs of Mme. de Remusat were writ- 
 ten; and it was not that of a literary pastime, nor a 
 pleasure of the imagination. Her motive was neither 
 ambition to be an author, nor the desire to put forward 
 an apology. The love of truth, the political spectacle 
 before her eyes, and the influence of a son who became 
 day by day more strongly confirmed in those Liberal 
 opinions which were destined to be the delight and the 
 honor of his life these things gave her courage to 
 persevere in her task for more than two years. She 
 understood that noble policy which places the rights 
 of man above the rights of the State. Nor was this 
 all. As often happens to persons deeply engaged in 
 intellectual work, her task became plain and easy, and 
 she led a more active life than at any previous time. 
 In spite of failing health, she constantly traveled from 
 Lille to Paris ; she acted the part of Elmire in " Tar- 
 tuffe " at M. Mole's house at Champlatreux ; she com-
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 menced a work on the Women of the Seventeenth 
 Century, which she afterward expanded into her 
 " Essai sur 1'Education des Femmes;" she supplied 
 Dupuytren with material for a panegyric on Cor- 
 visart, and she even published a tale in the " Lycee 
 Frangais." 
 
 In the midst of the happiness which she derived 
 from her quiet life and her busy mind, from her hus- 
 band's official and her son's literary success, her health 
 failed. First came a weakness of the eyes, which, 
 without actually threatening her sight, occasioned her 
 both pain and inconvenience; then followed a general 
 delicacy of the system, in which the stomach was 
 chiefly affected. After alternate changes for the bet- 
 ter and the worse, her son brought her to Paris on the 
 28th of November, 1821, in a suffering condition, 
 which was alarming to those who loved her, but did 
 not appear to the doctors to indicate immediate dan- 
 ger. Broussais, however, took a desponding view of 
 her case, and my father was then first struck by the 
 power of induction to which the discoveries and the 
 errors of that eminent man are alike due. Notwith- 
 standing her illness, she occupied herself on her return 
 to Lille with literary and historical work, and received 
 company, including a great number of political per- 
 sonages. She was still able to feel interested in the 
 fall of the Duke Decazes, and she foresaw that the 
 coming into power of M. de Villele that is to say, of 
 the ultras or reactionaries, as they are now called 
 would render it impossible for her husband to retain 
 the Prefecture of Lille; and, in fact, he was super- 
 seded on the 9th of January, 1822. Before this oc- 
 curred, Mme. de Remusat was no more. She expired 
 suddenly in the night, December 16, 1821, aged forty- 
 one years. 
 
 She bequeathed to her son a lifelong sorrow, and
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 63 
 
 to her friends the memory of a remarkable and charm- 
 ing woman. Not one of those friends is now living; 
 M. Pasquier, M. Mole, M. Guizot, and M. Leclerc 
 have recently passed away. I render her memory the 
 truest homage in my power by the publication of these 
 unfinished Memoirs, which, with the exception of a 
 few chapters, she was unable to read over or correct. 
 The work was to have been divided into five parts, 
 corresponding with five distinct epochs. She com- 
 pleted only three, which treat of the interval between 
 1802 and 1808; that is to say, from her first appear- 
 ance at Court to the breaking out of the war in Spain. 
 The unwritten portions would have described the 
 period that elapsed between that war and the divorce 
 (1808-1809), and the five following years, ending 
 with the fall of the Emperor. I am well aware that 
 a work of the nature of this one is calculated to bring 
 down upon both its author and its editor much blame, 
 many insinuations, and a great deal of political ani- 
 mosity. Its apparent contradictions will be held up 
 to observation, rather than the interesting analogy 
 of the opinions of three generations which it sets 
 forth, and the difference in the times. It will be a 
 theme for wonder that any man could be a chamber- 
 lain and any woman a lady-in-waiting, and yet that 
 both could be so far from servile, so liberal, so little 
 shocked by the i8th Brumaire, so patriotic, so much 
 fascinated by that man of genius, Bonaparte, and so 
 severe upon his faults, so clear-sighted respecting the 
 majority of the members of the Imperial family, so 
 indulgent or so blind with regard to others who have 
 left an equally fatal impress on our national history. 
 It will, however, be difficult to avoid doing justice 
 to the sincerity, the honesty, and the intelligence of 
 the author, or to read the book without deriving from 
 it an increased aversion to absolute power, a keener
 
 64 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 perception of its sophistry, and the hollowness of the 
 apparent prosperity with which it dazzles public opin- 
 ion. These impressions I have especially derived from 
 it, and I desire to retain them. It would have been 
 sufficient preface to this book had I written only those 
 words which my father uttered, sixty years ago, when, 
 on reading Mme. de Stae'l, he asked his mother to tell 
 him the story of the cruel years of the First Empire: 
 " All honor to the sincere ! " 
 
 PAUL DE* REMUSAT.
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 PORTRAITS AND ANECDOTES 
 
 NOW that I am about to commence these 
 Memoirs, I think it well to precede them by 
 some observations on the character of the 
 Emperor, and the various members of the family 
 respectively. These observations will help me in the 
 difficult task I am about to undertake, by aiding 
 me to recall the impressions of the last twelve years. 
 I shall begin with Bonaparte himself. I am far from 
 saying that he always appeared to me in the light in 
 which I see him now; my opinions have progressed, 
 even as he did ; but I am so far from being influenced 
 by personal feelings, that I do not think it is possible 
 for me to deviate from the exact truth. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte is of low stature, and rather 
 ill-proportioned ; his bust is too long, and so shortens 
 the rest of his figure. He has thin chestnut hair, his 
 eyes are grayish blue, and his skin, which was yellow 
 while he was slight, became in later years a dead white 
 without any color. His forehead, the setting of his 
 eye, the line of his nose all that is beautiful, and 
 reminds one of an antique medallion. His mouth, 
 which is thin-lipped, becomes agreeable when he 
 
 65
 
 66 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 laughs; the teeth are regular. His chin is short, and 
 his jaw heavy and square. He has well-formed hands 
 and feet; I mention them particularly, because he 
 thought a good deal of them. 
 
 He has an habitual slight stoop. His eyes are dull, 
 giving in his face when in repose a melancholy and 
 meditative expression. When he is excited with anger 
 his looks are fierce and menacing. Laughter becomes 
 him; it makes him look more youthful and less formi- 
 dable. It is difficult not to like him when he laughs, his 
 countenance improves so much. He was always 
 simple in his dress, and generally wore the uniform of 
 his own guard. He was cleanly rather from habit 
 than from a liking for cleanliness; he bathed often, 
 sometimes in the middle of the night, because he 
 thought the practice good for his health. But, apart 
 from this, the precipitation with which he did every- 
 thing did not admit of his clothes being put on care- 
 fully; and on gala days and full-dress occasions his 
 servants were obliged to consult together as to when 
 they might snatch a moment to dress him. 
 
 He could not endure the wearing of ornaments ; the 
 slightest constraint was insupportable to him. He 
 would tear off or break anything that gave him the 
 least annoyance; and sometimes the poor valet who 
 had occasioned him a passing inconvenience would 
 receive violent proof of his anger. I have said there 
 was a sort of fascination in the smile of Bonaparte; 
 but, during all the time I was in the habit of seeing 
 him, he rarely put forth that charm. Gravity was the 
 foundation of his character; not the gravity of a 
 dignified and noble manner, but that which arises from 
 profound thought. In his youth he was a dreamer; 
 later in life he became a moody, and later still an 
 habitually ill-tempered man. When I first began to 
 know him well, he was exceedingly fond of all that
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 67 
 
 induces reverie Ossian, the twilight, melancholy 
 music. I have seen him enraptured by the murmur of 
 the wind, I have heard him talk with enthusiasm of 
 the moaning of the sea, and he was tempted some- 
 times to believe that nocturnal apparitions were not 
 beyond the bounds of possibility; in fact, he had a 
 leaning to certain superstitions. When, on leaving 
 his study in the evening, he went into Mme. Bona- 
 parte's drawing-room, he would sometimes have the 
 candles shaded with white gauze, desire us to keep 
 profound silence, and amuse himself by telling or 
 hearing ghost stories : or he would listen to soft, sweet 
 music executed by Italian singers, accompanied only 
 by a few instruments lightly touched. Then he would 
 fall into a reverie which all respected, no one venturing 
 to move or stir from his or her place. When he 
 aroused himself from that state, which seemed to 
 procure him a sort of repose, he was generally more 
 serene and more communicative. He liked then to 
 talk about the sensations he had experienced. He 
 would explain the effect music had upon him; he 
 always preferred that of Paisiello, because he said it 
 was monotonous, and that impressions which repeat 
 themselves are the only ones that take possession of us. 
 The geometrical turn of his mind disposed him to 
 analyze even his emotions. No man has ever medi- 
 tated more deeply than Bonaparte on the " where- 
 fore " that rules human actions. Always aiming at 
 something, even in the least important acts of his life, 
 always laying bare to himself a secret motive for each 
 of them, he could never understand that natural non- 
 chalance which leads some persons to act without a 
 project and without an aim. He always judged others 
 by himself, and was often mistaken, his conclusions 
 and the actions which ensued upon them both proving 
 erroneous. 
 Vol. 9 C Memoirs
 
 68 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Bonaparte was deficient in education and in man- 
 ners; it seemed as if he must have been destined either 
 to live in a tent where all men are equal, or upon a 
 throne where everything is permitted. He did not 
 know how either to enter or to leave a room; he did 
 not know how to make a bow, how to rise, or how to 
 sit down. His questions were abrupt, and so also was* 
 his manner of speech. Spoken by him, Italian loses 
 all its grace and sweetness. Whatever language he 
 speaks, it seems always to be a foreign tongue to him ; 
 he appears to force it to express his thoughts. And 
 then, as any rigid rule becomes an insupportable 
 annoyance to him, every liberty which he takes pleases 
 him as though it were a victory, and he would never 
 yield even to grammar. He used to say that in his 
 youth he had liked reading romances as well as study- 
 ing the exact sciences ; and probably he was influenced 
 by so incongruous a mixture. Unfortunately, he had 
 met with the worst kind of romances, and retained so 
 keen a remembrance of the pleasure they had given 
 him that, when he married the Archduchess Marie 
 Louise, he gave her " Hippolyte, Comte de Douglas." 
 and "Les Contemporains," so that, as he said, she 
 might form an idea of refined feeling, and also of the 
 customs of society. 
 
 In trying to depict Bonaparte, it would be necessary, 
 following the analytical forms of which he was so 
 fond, to separate into three very distinct parts his 
 soul, his heart, and his mind ; for no one of these ever 
 blended completely with the others. Although very 
 remarkable for certain intellectual qualities, no man, 
 it must be allowed, was ever less lofty of soul. There 
 was no generosity, no true greatness in him. I have 
 never known him to admire, I have never known him 
 to comprehend, a fine action. He always regarded 
 every indication of a good feeling with suspicion; he
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 69 
 
 did not value sincerity ; and he did not hesitate to say 
 that he recognized the superiority of a man by the 
 greater or less degree of cleverness with which he used 
 the art of lying. On the occasion of his saying this, 
 he added, with great complacency, that when he was 
 a child one of his uncles had predicted that he should 
 govern the world, because he was an habitual liar. 
 " M. de Metternich," he added, " approaches to being 
 a statesman he lies very well." 
 
 All Bonaparte's methods of government were 
 selected from among those which have a tendency to 
 debase men. He dreaded the ties of affection; he 
 endeavored to isolate every one ; he never sold a favor 
 without awakening a sense of uneasiness, for he held 
 that the true way to attach the recipients to himself 
 was by compromising them, and often even by blasting 
 them in public opinion. He could not pardon virtue 
 until he had succeeded in weakening its effect by ridi- 
 cule. He can not be said to have truly loved glory, 
 for he never hesitated to prefer success to it; thus, 
 although he was audacious in good fortune, and 
 although he pushed it to its utmost limits, he was timid 
 and troubled when threatened with reverses. Of gen- 
 erous courage he was not capable; and, indeed, on 
 that head one would hardly venture to tell the truth 
 so plainly as he has told it himself, by an admission 
 recorded in an anecdote which I have never forgotten. 
 One day, after his defeat at Leipsic, and when, as he 
 was about to return to Paris, he was occupied in col- 
 lecting the remains of his army for the defense of our 
 frontiers, he was talking to M. de Talleyrand of the 
 ill success of the Spanish war, and of the difficulty in 
 which it had involved him. He spoke openly of his 
 own position, not with the noble frankness that does 
 not fear to own a fault, but with that haughty sense 
 of superiority which releases one from the necessity
 
 70 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 of dissimulation. At this interview, in the midst of 
 his plain speaking, M. de Talleyrand said to him sud- 
 denly, " But how is it? You consult me as if we had 
 not quarreled." 
 
 Bonaparte answered, " Ah, circumstances ! circum- 
 stances! Let us leave the past and the future alone. 
 I want to hear what you think of the present moment." 
 
 " Well," replied M. de Talleyrand, " there is only 
 one thing you can do. You have made a mistake : you 
 must say so ; try to say so nobly. Proclaim, therefore, 
 that being a King by the choice of the people, elected 
 by the nations, it has never been your design to set 
 yourself against them. Say that, when you began the 
 war with Spain, you believed you were about to deliver 
 the people from the yoke of an odious minister, who 
 was encouraged by the weakness of his prince; but 
 that, on closer observation, you perceive that the Span- 
 iards, although aware of the faults of their King, are 
 none the less attached to his dynasty, which you are 
 therefore about to restore to them, so that it may not 
 be said you ever opposed a national aspiration. After 
 that proclamation, restore King Ferdinand to liberty, 
 and withdraw your troops. Such an avowal, made in 
 a lofty tone, and when the enemy are still hesitating 
 on our frontier, can only do you honor; and you are 
 still too strong for it to be regarded as a cowardly act." 
 
 "A cowardly act! " replied Bonaparte; " what does 
 that matter to me? Understand that I should not fail 
 to commit one, if it were useful to me. In reality, 
 there is nothing really noble or base in this world; I 
 have in my character all that can contribute to secure 
 my power, and to deceive those who think they know 
 me. Frankly, I am base, essentially base. I give you 
 my word that I should feel no repugnance to commit 
 what would be called by the world a dishonorable 
 action ; my secret tendencies, which are, after all, those
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 71 
 
 of nature, opposed to certain affectations of greatness 
 with which I have to adorn myself, give me infinite 
 resources with which to baffle every one. Therefore, 
 all I have to do now is to consider whether your advice 
 agrees with my present policy, and to try and find out 
 besides," he added (says M. de Talleyrand), with a 
 satanic smile, " whether you have not some private 
 interest in urging me to take this step." 
 
 Another anecdote which bears on the same charac- 
 teristic will not be out of place here. Bonaparte, w^hen 
 on the point of setting out for Egypt, went to see M. 
 de Talleyrand, then Minister of Foreign Affairs under 
 the Directory. " I was in bed, being ill," said M. de 
 Talleyrand. " Bonaparte sat down near me, and 
 divulged to me all the dreams of his youthful imagina- 
 tion. I was interested in him because of the activity 
 of his mind, and also on account of the obstacles which 
 I was aware would be placed in his way by secret 
 enemies of whom I knew r . He told me of the difficulty 
 in which he was placed for want of money, and that 
 he did not know where to get any. ' Stay,' I said to 
 him ; ' open my desk. You will find there a hundred 
 thousand francs that belong to me. They are yours 
 for the present; you may repay the money when you 
 return.' Bonaparte threw himself on my neck, and I 
 was really delighted to witness his joy. When he 
 became Consul, he gave me back the money I had lent 
 him ; but he asked me one day, ' What interest could 
 you have had in lending me that money? I have 
 thought about it a hundred times since then, and have 
 never been able to make out your object.' ' I had 
 none.' I replied. ' I was feeling very ill : it was quite 
 possible I might never see you again; but you were 
 young, you had impressed me very strongly, and I 
 felt impelled to render you a service without any after- 
 thought whatsoever.' ' In that case,' said Bonaparte,
 
 72 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 * and if it was really done without any design, you 
 acted a dupe's part' ' 
 
 According to the order I have laid down, I ought 
 now to speak of Bonaparte's heart; but, if it were 
 possible to believe that a being, in every other way 
 similar to ourselves, could exist without that portion 
 of our organization which makes us desire to love and 
 to be loved, I should say that in his creation the heart 
 was left out. Perhaps, however, the truth was that 
 he succeeded in suppressing it completely. He was 
 always too much engrossed by himself to be influenced 
 by any sentiment of affection, no matter of what kind. 
 He almost ignored the ties of blood and the rights of 
 nature; I do not know that even paternity weighed 
 with him. It seemed, at least, that he did not regard 
 it as his primary relation with his son. One day, at 
 breakfast, when, as was often the case, Talma had 
 been admitted to see him, the young Napoleon was 
 brought to him. The Emperor took the child on his 
 knee, and, far from caressing, amused himself by 
 slapping him, though not so as to hurt him ; then, turn- 
 ing to Talma, he said, " Talma, tell me what I am 
 doing?" Talma, as may be supposed, did not know 
 what to say. " You do not see it," continued the 
 Emperor; " I am slapping a King." 
 
 Notwithstanding his habitual hardness, Bonaparte 
 was not entirely without experience of love. But, 
 good heavens ! what manner of sentiment was it in his 
 case? A sensitive person forgets self in love, and 
 becomes almost transformed; but to a man of the 
 stamp of Bonaparte it only supplies an additional sort 
 of despotism. The Emperor despised women, and 
 contempt can not exist together with love. He re- 
 garded their weakness as an unanswerable proof of 
 their inferiority, and the power they have acquired in 
 society as an intolerable usurpation a result and an
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 73 
 
 abuse of the progress of that civilization which, as M, 
 de Talleyrand said, was always his personal enemy. 
 On this account Bonaparte was under restraint in the 
 society of women ; and, as every kind of restraint put 
 him out of humor, he was always awkward in their 
 presence, and never knew how to talk to them. It is 
 true that the women with whom he was acquainted 
 were not calculated to change his views of the sex. 
 We may easily imagine the nature of his youthful 
 experiences. In Italy morals were utterly depraved, 
 and the general licentiousness was augmented by the 
 presence of the French army. When he returned to 
 France society was entirely broken up and dispersed. 
 The circle that surrounded the Directory was a corrupt 
 one, and the Parisian women to whose society he was 
 admitted were vain and frivolous, the wives of men 
 of business and contractors. When he became Consul, 
 and made his generals and his aides-de-camp marry, 
 or ordered them to bring their wives to Court, the 
 only women he had about him were timid and silent 
 girls, newly married, or the wives of his former com- 
 rades, suddenly withdrawn from obscurity by the good 
 fortune of their husbands, and ill able to conform to 
 the change in their position. 
 
 I am disposed to believe that Bonaparte, almost 
 always exclusively occupied by politics, was never 
 awakened to love except by vanity. He thought noth- 
 ing of a woman except while she was beautiful, or at 
 least young. He would probably have been willing to 
 subscribe to the doctrine that, in a well-organized 
 country, we should be killed just as certain kinds of 
 insects are destined by nature to a speedy death, so 
 soon as they have accomplished the task of maternity. 
 Yet Bonaparte had some affection for his first wife; 
 and, if he was ever really stirred by any emotion, it 
 was by her and for her. Even a Bonaparte can not
 
 74 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 completely escape from every influence, and a man's 
 character is composed, not of what he is always, but 
 of what he is most frequently. 
 
 Bonaparte was young when he first made the ac- 
 quaintance of Mme. de Beauharnais, who was greatly 
 superior to the rest of the circle in which she moved, 
 both by reason of the name she bore and from the 
 elegance of her manners. She attached herself to 
 him, and flattered his pride; she procured him a step 
 in rank; he became accustomed to associate the idea 
 of her influence with every piece of good fortune 
 which befell him. This superstition, which she kept 
 up very cleverly, exerted great power over him for a 
 long time; it even induced him more than once to 
 delay the execution of his projects of divorce. When 
 he married Mme. de Beauharnais, Bonaparte believed 
 that he was allying himself to a very great lady; his 
 marriage, therefore, was one conquest the more. I 
 shall give further details of the charm she exercised 
 over him when I have to speak more particularly of 
 her. 
 
 . Notwithstanding his preference for her, I have seen 
 him in love two or three times, and it was on these 
 occasions that he exhibited the full measure of the 
 despotism of his character. How irritated he became 
 at the least obstacle! How roughly he put aside the 
 jealous remonstrances of his wife! " It is your place," 
 he said, " to submit to all my fancies, and you ought 
 to think it quite natural that I should allow myself 
 amusements of this kind. I have a right to answer 
 all your complaints by an eternal I. I am a person 
 apart; I will not be dictated to by any one." But he 
 soon began to desire to exercise over the object of his 
 passing preference an authority equal to that by which 
 he silenced his wife. Astonished that any one shouldj 
 have any ascendancy over him, he speedily became
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 75 
 
 angry with the audacious individual, and he would 
 abruptly get rid of the object of his brief passion, 
 having let the public into the transparent secret of his 
 success. 
 
 The intellect of Bonaparte was most remarkable. 
 It would be difficult, I think, to find among men a 
 more powerful or comprehensive mind. It owed 
 nothing to education; for, in reality, he was ignorant, 
 reading but little, and that hurriedly. But he quickly 
 seized upon the little he learned, and his imagination 
 developed it so extensively that he might easily have 
 passed for a well-educated man. 
 
 His intellectual capacity seemed to be vast, from the 
 number of subjects he could take in and classify 
 without fatigue. With him one idea gave birth to a 
 thousand, and a word would lift his conversation into 
 elevated regions of fancy, in which exact logic did 
 not indeed keep him company, but in which his intel- 
 lect never failed to shine. 
 
 It was always a great, pleasure to me to hear him 
 talk, or rather to hear him hold forth, for his con- 
 versation was composed generally of long mono- 
 logues ; not that he objected to replies when he was in 
 a good humor, but, for many reasons, it was not 
 always easy to answer him. His Court, which for a 
 long time was entirely military, listened to his least 
 word with the respect that is paid to the word of 
 command; and afterward it became so numerous that 
 any individual undertaking to refute him, or to carry 
 on a dialogue with him, felt like an actor before an 
 audience. I have said that he spoke badly, but his 
 language was generally animated and brilliant; his 
 grammatical inaccuracies sometimes lent his sentences 
 an unexpected strength, very suitable to the originality 
 of his ideas. He required no interlocutor to warm him 
 up. He would dash into a subject, and go on for a
 
 76 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 long time, careful to notice, however, whether he was 
 followed, and pleased with those who comprehended 
 and applauded him. Formerly, to know how to listen 
 to him was a sure and easy way of pleasing him. Like 
 an actor who becomes excited by the effect he pro- 
 duces, Bonaparte enjoyed the admiration he watched 
 for closely in the faces of his audience. I remember 
 well how, because he interested me very much when 
 he spoke, and I listened to him with pleasure, he 
 proclaimed me a woman of intellect, although at that 
 time I had not addressed two consecutive sentences to 
 him. 
 
 He was very fond of talking about himself, and 
 criticised himself on certain points, just as another 
 person might have done. Rather than fail to make 
 the most out of his own character, he would not have 
 hesitated to subject it to the most searching analysis. 
 He used often to say that a real politician knows how 
 to calculate even the smallest profits that he can make 
 out of his defects; and M. de Talleyrand carried that 
 reflection even further. I once heard him say, " That 
 devil of a man deceives one on all points. His very 
 passions mislead, for he manages to dissemble them 
 even when they really exist." I can recall an incident 
 which will show how, when he found it useful, he 
 could pass from the most complete calm to the most 
 violent anger. 
 
 A little while before our last rupture with England, 
 a rumor was spread that war was about to recom- 
 mence, and that the ambassador, Lord Whitworth, 
 was preparing to leave Paris. Once a month the First 
 Consul was in the habit of receiving, in Mme. Bona- 
 narte's apartments, the ambassadors and their wives. 
 This reception was held in great pomp. The foreign- 
 ers were ushered into a drawing-room, and when they 
 were all there the First Consul would appear, accom-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 77 
 
 panied by his wife. Both were attended by a prefect 
 and a lady of the palace. To each of them the am- 
 bassadors and their wives were introduced by name. 
 Mme. Bonaparte would take a seat; the First Consul 
 would keep up the conversation for a longer or a 
 shorter time, according to his convenience, and then 
 withdraw with a slight bow. A few days before the 
 breach of the peace, the Corps Diplomatique had met 
 as usual at the Tuileries. While they were waiting, 
 I went to Mme. Bonaparte's apartment, and entered 
 the dressing-room, where she was finishing her toilet. 
 
 The First Consul was sitting on the floor, playing 
 with little Napoleon, the eldest son of his brother 
 Louis. He presently began to criticise his wife's dress, 
 and also mine, giving us his opinion on every detail of 
 our costume. He seemed to be in the best possible 
 humor. I remarked this, and said to him that, judging 
 by appearances, the letters the ambassadors would 
 have to write, after the approaching audience, would 
 breathe nothing but peace and concord. Bonaparte 
 laughed, and went on playing with his little nephew. 
 
 By-and-by he was told that the company had 
 arrived. Then he rose quickly, the gayety vanished 
 from his face, and I was struck by the severe expres- 
 sion that suddenly replaced it : he seemed to grow pale 
 at will, his features contracted; and all this in less 
 time than it takes me to describe it. "Let us go, 
 mesdames," said he, in a troubled voice; and then he 
 walked on quickly, entered the drawing-room, and, 
 without bowing to any one, advanced to the English 
 ambassador. To him he began to complain bitterly of 
 the proceedings of his Government His anger seemed 
 to increase every minute; it soon reached a height 
 which terrified the assembly; the hardest words, the 
 most violent threats, were poured forth by his trem- 
 bling lips. No one dared to move. Mme. Bonaparte
 
 78 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 and I looked at each other, dumb with astonishment, 
 and every one trembled. The impassibility of the 
 Englishman was even disconcerted, and it was with 
 difficulty he could find words to answer. 
 
 Another anecdote which sounds strange, but is very 
 characteristic, proves how completely he could com- 
 mand himself when he chose to do so. 
 
 When he was traveling, or even during a campaign, 
 he never failed to indulge in gallantries which he 
 regarded as a short respite from business or battles. 
 His brother-in-law Murat, and his grand-marshal 
 Duroc, were charged with the task of procuring him 
 the means of gratifying his passing fancies. On the 
 occasion of his first entry into Poland, Murat, who 
 had preceded him to Warsaw, was ordered to find for 
 the Emperor, who would shortly arrive, a young and 
 pretty mistress, and to select her from among the 
 nobility. He acquitted himself cleverly of this com- 
 mission, and induced a noble young Polish lady, who 
 was married to an old man, to comply with the 
 Emperor's wishes. No one knows what means he 
 employed, or what were his promises; but at last the 
 lady consented to go in the evening to the castle near 
 Warsaw, where the Emperor was lodged. 
 
 The fair one arrived rather late at her destination. 
 She has herself narrated this adventure, and she ac- 
 knowledges, what we can readily believe, that she 
 arrived agitated and trembling. 
 
 The Emperor was in his cabinet. The lady's arrival 
 was announced to him; but, without disturbing him- 
 self, he ordered her to be conducted to her apartment, 
 and offered supper and a bath, adding that afterward 
 she might retire to rest if she chose. Then he quietly 
 went on writing until a late hour at night. 
 
 At last, his business being finished, he proceeded to 
 the apartment where he had been so long waited for,
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 79 
 
 and presented himself with all the manner of a master 
 who disdains useless preliminaries. Without losing a 
 moment, he began a singular conversation on the 
 political situation of Poland, questioning the young 
 lady as if she had been a police agent, and demanding 
 some very circumstantial information respecting the 
 great Polish nobles who were then in Warsaw. He 
 inquired particularly into their opinions and their 
 present interests, and prolonged this extraordinary 
 interrogatory for a long time. The astonishment of a 
 woman twenty years of age, who was not prepared for 
 such a cross-examination, may be imagined. She 
 answered him as well as she could, and only when she 
 could tell him no more did he seem to remember that 
 Murat had promised, in his name, an interview of a 
 more tender nature. 
 
 This extraordinary wooing did not, however, pre- 
 vent the young Polish lady from becoming attached 
 to the Emperor, for their liaison was prolonged during 
 several campaigns. Afterward the fair Pole came to 
 Paris, where a son was born, who became the object 
 of the hopes of Poland, the rallying point of Polish 
 dreams of independence. 
 
 I saw his mother when she was presented at the 
 Imperial Court, where she at first excited the jealousy 
 of Mme. Bonaparte; but after the divorce she became 
 the intimate friend of the repudiated Empress at 
 Malmaison, whither she often brought her son. It is 
 said that she was faithful to the Emperor in his mis- 
 fortunes, and that she visited him more than once at 
 the Isle of Elba. He found her again in France when 
 he made his last and fatal appearance there. But, 
 after his second fall (I do not know at what time she 
 became a widow), she married again, and she died in 
 Paris this year (1818). I had these details from M. 
 de Talleyrand.
 
 8o MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 I will now resume my sketch. Bonaparte carried 
 selfishness so far that it was not easy to move him 
 about anything that did not concern himself. He 
 was, however, occasionally surprised, as it were, into 
 impulses of tenderness; but they were very fugitive, 
 and always ended in ill humor. It was not uncommon 
 to see him moved even to the point of shedding a few 
 tears; they seemed to arise from nervous irritation, 
 of which they became the crisis. " I have," he said, 
 " very unmanageable nerves, and at these times, if my 
 blood did not always flow slowly, I think I should be 
 very likely to go mad." I know, indeed, from Corvi- 
 sart, that his pulse beat more slowly than is usual for 
 a man's. Bonaparte never felt what is commonly 
 called giddiness, and he always said that the expres- 
 sion, " My head is going round," conveyed no mean- 
 ing to him. It was not only from the ease with which 
 he yielded to all his impulses that he often used lan- 
 guage which was painful and distressing to those 
 whom he addressed, but also because he felt a secret 
 pleasure in exciting fear, and in harassing the more 
 or less trembling individuals before him. He held 
 that uncertainty stimulates zeal, and therefore he 
 rarely displayed satisfaction with either persons or 
 things. Admirably served, always obeyed on the 
 moment, he would still find fault, and keep everybody 
 in the palace in dread of his displeasure about some 
 small detail. If the easy flow of his conversation had 
 established for the time a sense of ease, he would 
 suddenly imagine that it might be abused, and by a 
 hard and imperious word put the person whom he had 
 welcomed and encouraged in his or her place that is 
 to say, in fear. He hated repose for himself and 
 grudged it to others. When M. de Remusat had 
 arranged one of those magnificent fetes where all the 
 arts were laid under contribution for his pleasure, I
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 81 
 
 was never asked whether the Emperor was pleased, 
 but whether he had grumbled more or less. His 
 service was the severest of toil. He has been heard 
 to say, in one of those moments when the strength of 
 conviction appeared to weigh upon him, " The truly 
 happy man is he who hides from me in the country, 
 and when I die the world will utter a great ' Ouf! ' 
 
 I have said that Bonaparte was incapable of gener- 
 osity; and yet his gifts were immense, and the rewards 
 he bestowed gigantic. But, when he paid for a service, 
 he made it plain that he expected to buy another, and 
 a vague uneasiness as to the conditions of the bargain 
 always remained. There was also a good deal of 
 caprice in his gifts, so that they rarely excited grati- 
 tude. Moreover, he required that the money he dis- 
 tributed should all be expended, and he rather liked 
 people to contract debts, because it kept them in a 
 state of dependence. His wife gave him complete 
 satisfaction in the latter particular, and he would 
 never put her affairs in order, so that he might keep 
 the power of making her uneasy in his hands. At one 
 time he settled a considerable revenue on M. de 
 Remusat, that we might keep what is called open 
 house, and receive a great many foreigners. We were 
 very exact in the first expenses demanded by a great 
 establishment. A little while after, I had the misfor- 
 tune to lose my mother, and was forced to close my 
 house. The Emperor then rescinded all his gifts, on 
 the ground that we could not keep the engagement we 
 had made, and he left us in what was really a position 
 of embarrassment, caused entirely by his fugitive and 
 burdensome gifts. I pause here. If I carry out the 
 plan I have formed, my memory, carefully consulted, 
 will furnish me by degrees with other anecdotes which 
 will complete this sketch. What I have already 
 written will suffice to convey an idea of the character
 
 82 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 of him with whom circumstances connected the best 
 years of my life. 
 
 BONAPARTE'S MOTHER 
 
 Mme. Bonaparte (nee Ramolini) was married in 
 1767 to Charles Bonaparte, who belonged to one of 
 the noble families of Corsica. It is said that there 
 had been a liaison between her and M. de Marbeuf, 
 governor of the island; and some went so far as to 
 allege that Napoleon was the son of M. de Marbeuf. 
 It is certain that he always showed kindness to the 
 family of Marbeuf. However that may have been, 
 the governor had Napoleon Bonaparte included among 
 the number of noble children who were to be sent 
 from Corsica to France, to be educated at a military 
 school. He was placed at that of Brienne. 
 
 The English having become masters of Corsica in 
 1790, Mme. Bonaparte, a rich widow, retired to Mar- 
 seilles with her other children. Their education had 
 been much neglected, and, if we are to accept the 
 recollections of the Marseillais as evidence, her daugh- 
 ters had not been brought up under the strict rule of a 
 scrupulous morality. The Emperor, indeed, never 
 pardoned the town of Marseilles for having been 
 aware of the position his family occupied at that 
 period, and the disparaging anecdotes of them impru- 
 dently repeated by certain Provengals seriously mili- 
 tated against the interests of the whole of Provence. 
 
 The widowed Mme. Bonaparte established herself 
 at Paris on her son's attainment of power. She lived 
 a retired life, amassing as much money as possible ; 
 she meddled in no public matters, and neither had nor 
 wished to have any influence. Her son overawed 
 her, as he did all the rest of the world. She was a 
 woman of very ordinary intelligence, who, notwith-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 83 
 
 standing the rank in which events placed her, never 
 did anything worthy of praise. After the fall of the 
 Empire she retired to Rome, where she lived with her 
 brother, Cardinal Fesch. It is said that he, in the 
 first Italian campaign, showed himself eager to profit 
 by the opportunity of founding his fortune which then 
 presented itself. He acquired, received, or even took, 
 it is said, a considerable quantity of pictures, statues, 
 and valuable articles, which have since served to 
 decorate his various residences. When he afterward 
 became a Cardinal and Archbishop of Lyons, he de- 
 voted himself wholly to the duties of his two great 
 offices, and in the end he acquired a most honorable 
 reputation among the clergy. He often opposed the 
 Emperor while his disputes with the Pope were pend- 
 ing, and was not one of the least obstacles to the 
 execution of Bonaparte's wishes on the occasion of the 
 futile attempt to hold a council at Paris. Either for 
 political reasons or from religious motives, he made 
 some opposition to the divorce; at least, the Empress 
 Josephine believed him to have done so. I shall go 
 more into details on this subject hereafter. The Car- 
 dinal has, since his retirement to Rome, preserved 
 the unvarying favor of the Sovereign Pontiff. 
 
 JOSEPH BONAPARTE 
 
 Joseph Bonaparte was born in 1768. He has a 
 handsome face, is fond of the society of women, and 
 has always been remarkable for having gentler man- 
 ners than any of his brothers. Like them, however, 
 he affects astute duplicity. His ambition, although 
 less developed than that of Napoleon, has nevertheless 
 come out under certain circumstances, and he has 
 always shown capacity enough to be master of the 
 situations in which he has been placed, difficult though
 
 84 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 they have often been. In 1805 Bonaparte wished to 
 make Joseph, King of Italy, requiring him, however, 
 to renounce all claim to the succession to the throne 
 of France. This Joseph refused to do. He always 
 adhered tenaciously to what he called his rights, and 
 believed himself destined to give the French repose 
 from the turmoil in which they were kept by the over- 
 activity of his brother. He understood better than 
 Napoleon how to carry a point by fair means, but he 
 failed to inspire confidence. He is amiable in domes- 
 tic life; but he did not exhibit much ability, either on 
 the throne of Naples or on that of Spain. It is true 
 he was permitted to reign only as if he were Napo- 
 leon's lieutenant, and in neither country did he inspire 
 personal esteem or arouse animosity. 
 
 His wife, the daughter of a Marseilles merchant 
 named Clary, is the simplest and the best woman in the 
 world. Plain, common-looking, timid, and silent, she 
 attracted no attention, either at the Emperor's Court, 
 or when she successively wore those two crowns which 
 she has apparently lost without regret. There are two 
 daughters by this marriage. The family is now estab- 
 lished in America. The sister of Mme. Bonaparte 
 was married to General Bernadotte, now King of 
 Sweden. She, who was not a commonplace person, 
 had before her marriage been very much in love with 
 Napoleon, and appears to have always preserved the 
 memory of that feeling. It has been supposed that 
 her hardly extinguished passion caused her obstinate 
 refusal to leave France. She lives in Paris at present, 
 where she leads a very retired life. 
 
 LUCIEN BONAPARTE 
 
 Lucien Bonaparte has a great deal of ability. He 
 displayed a taste for the arts and for certain kinds of
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 85 
 
 literature at an early age. As a deputy from Corsica, 
 some of his speeches in the Council of the Five Hun- 
 dred were remarked at the time; among others, that 
 which he made on the 22d of September, 1798, the 
 anniversary of the foundation of the Republic. He 
 there defined the oath that each member of the Council 
 ought to take to watch over the constitution and 
 liberty, and to execrate any Frenchman who should 
 endeavor to reestablish royalty. On General Jour- 
 dan's expressing some fears relative to the rumors 
 that the Council was menaced with a speedy over- 
 throw, Lucien reminded them of the existence of a 
 decree which pronounced outlawry on all who should 
 attack the inviolability of the national representation. 
 It is probable that all the time he had a secret under- 
 standing with his brother, and was awaiting like him 
 the approach of the hour when they might lay the 
 foundation for the elevation of their family. There 
 were, however, some constitutional ideas in Lucien's 
 head; and, perhaps, if he had been able to preserve 
 any influence over his brother, he might have opposed 
 the indefinite growth of arbitrary power. He suc- 
 ceeded in sending information to Napoleon in Egypt 
 of the state of affairs in France; and, having thus 
 hastened his brother's return, he aided him effectually, 
 as is well known, in the revolution of the i8th 
 Brumaire, 1799. 
 
 Lucien afterward became Minister of the Interior, 
 then Ambassador to Spain, and in both capacities he 
 gave offense to the First Consul. Bonaparte did not 
 like to remember services which had been rendered to 
 him, and Lucien was in the habit of reminding him of 
 them in an aggressive manner during their frequent 
 altercations. 
 
 While he was in Spain he became very intimate 
 with the Prince of the Peace, and assisted to arrange
 
 86 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the treaty of Badajoz, which on that occasion saved 
 Portugal from invasion. 
 
 He received a sum which has been estimated at five 
 hundred millions of francs as a reward for his ser- 
 vices. This was paid partly in money, and partly in 
 diamonds. At this time he also formed a project of 
 marriage between Bonaparte and an Infanta of Spain ; 
 but Napoleon, either from affection for his wife, or 
 from fear of exciting the suspicions of the republicans, 
 with whom he was still keeping on terms, rejected 
 the idea of his marriage, which was to have been con- 
 cluded through the agency of the Prince of the Peace. 
 
 1 I 795 Lucien Bonaparte, who was then keeper 
 of the military stores near Toulon, had married the 
 daughter of an innkeeper, who bore him two daugh- 
 ters, and who died a few years later. The elder of 
 these two girls was in after years recalled to France 
 by the Emperor, who, when he saw his affairs going 
 badly in Spain, wished to treat for peace with the 
 Prince of the Asturias, and to make him marry this 
 daughter of Lucien's. But the young girl, who was 
 placed under her grandmother's care, too frankly im- 
 parted in her letters to her father the impression she 
 received of her uncle's Court; she ridiculed the most 
 important personages, and her letters, having been 
 opened, so irritated the Emperor that he sent her 
 back to Italy. 
 
 In 1803 Lucien, now a widower and entirely 
 devoted to a life of pleasure, to which I might indeed 
 give a harsher name, fell suddenly in love with Mme. 
 Jouberthon, the wife of a stock-broker. Her husband 
 was promptly sent to Saint Domingo, where he died, 
 and then this beautiful and clever woman managed to 
 make Lucien marry her, despite the opposition of the 
 First Consul. An open rupture took place between 
 the two brothers on that occasion. Lucien left France
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 87 
 
 in the spring of 1804, and established himself at Rome. 
 It is well known that since then he has devoted 
 himself to the interests of the Pope, and has adroitly 
 secured his protection; so much so that even now, 
 although he was recalled to Paris at the period of the 
 fatal enterprise of 1815, he was permitted to return, 
 after the second restoration of the King, to the Roman 
 States, and live quietly with those members of his 
 family who had retired thither. Lucien was born 
 in 1775. 
 
 Louis BONAPARTE 
 
 Louis Bonaparte, born in 1778, is a man concerning 
 whom opinions have differed widely. His assump- 
 tion of a stricter morality than that of other members 
 of his family, his odd opinions based, however, on 
 daring theories rather than on solid principles have 
 deceived the world, and made for him a reputation 
 apart from that of his brothers. With much less 
 talent than either Napoleon or Lucien, he has a touch 
 of romance in his imagination, which he manages to 
 combine with complete hardness of heart. Habitual 
 ill health blighted his youth, and has added to the 
 harsh melancholy of his disposition. I do not know 
 whether, had he been left to himself, the ambition so 
 natural to all his family would have been developed in 
 him ; but he has, at least, shown upon several occasions 
 that he considered himself entitled to profit by the 
 chances which circumstances have thrown in his way. 
 He has been applauded for wishing to govern Holland 
 in the interests of the country, in spite of his brother's 
 projects, and his abdication, although it was due to a 
 whim rather than to generous feeling, has certainly 
 done him honor. It is, after all, the best action of his 
 life.
 
 88 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Louis Bonaparte is essentially egotistical and suspi- 
 cious. In the course of these Memoirs he will become 
 better known. Bonaparte said of him one day, " His 
 feigned virtues give me almost as much trouble as 
 Lucien's vices." He has retired to Rome since the 
 downfall of his family. 
 
 MADAME JOSEPHINE BONAPARTE AND HER FAMILY 
 
 The Marquis de Beauharnais, father of the general 
 who was the first husband of Mme. Bonaparte, having 
 been employed in a military capacity at Martinique, 
 became attached to an aunt of Mme. Bonaparte's, with 
 whom he returned to France, and whom he married 
 in his old age. 
 
 This aunt brought her niece, Josephine de la 
 Pagerie, to France. She had her educated, and made 
 use of her ascendency over her aged husband to marry 
 her niece, at the age of fifteen years, to young Beau- 
 harnais, her stepson. Although he married her 
 against his inclination, there is no doubt that at one 
 time he was much attached to his wife; for I have 
 seen very loving letters written by him to her when he 
 was in garrison, and she preserved them with great 
 care. Of this marriage were born Eugene and Hor- 
 tense. When the Revolution began, I think that 
 Beauharnais's love for his wife had cooled. At the 
 commencement of the Terror M. de Beauharnais was 
 still commanding the French armies, and had no 
 longer any relations with his wife. 
 
 I do not know under what circumstances she became 
 acquainted with certain deputies of the Convention, 
 but she had some influence with them ; and, as she was 
 kind-hearted and obliging, she used it to do as much 
 good to as many people as possible. From that time 
 her reputation for good conduct was very much dam-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 89 
 
 aged; but her kindness, her grace, and the sweetness 
 of her manners could not be disputed. She served my 
 father's interests more than once with Barrere and 
 Tallien, and owed to this my mother's friendship. In 
 1793 chance placed her in a village on the outskirts of 
 Paris, where, like her, we were passing the summer. 
 Our near neighborhood led to some intimacy. I 
 remember that Hortense, who was three or four years 
 younger than I, used to visit me in my room, and? 
 while amusing herself by examining my little trinkets, 
 she would tell me that all her ambition for the future 
 was to be the owner of a similar treasure. Unhappy 
 woman! She has since been laden with gold and 
 diamonds, and how has she not groaned under the 
 crushing weight of the royal diadem! 
 
 In those evil days when every one was forced to 
 seek a place of safety from the persecution by which 
 all classes of society were beset, we lost sight of Mme. 
 de Beauharnais. Her husband, being suspected by the 
 Jacobins, had been thrown into prison in Paris, and 
 condemned to death by the Revolutionary Tribunal. 
 She also was imprisoned, but escaped the guillotine, 
 which preyed on all without distinction. Being a 
 friend of the beautiful Mme. Tallien, she was intro- 
 duced into the society of the Directory, and was espe- 
 cially favored by Barras. Mme. de Beauharnais had 
 very little fortune, and her taste for dress and luxury 
 rendered her dependent on those who could help her 
 to indulge it. Without being precisely pretty, she pos- 
 sessed many personal charms. Her features were del- 
 icate, her expression was sweet; her mouth was very 
 small, and concealed her bad teeth; her complexion 
 was rather dark, but with the help of red and white 
 skillfully applied she remedied that defect; her figure 
 was perfect; her limbs were flexible and delicate; her 
 movements were easy and elegant. La Fontaine's line
 
 90 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 could never have been more fitly applied than to her: 
 "Et la grace, plus belle encore que la beaute." 
 
 She dressed with perfect taste, enhancing the beauty 
 of what she wore; and, with these advantages and the 
 constant care bestowed upon her attire, she contrived 
 to avoid being eclipsed by the youth and beauty of 
 many of the women by whom she was surrounded. 
 To all this, as I have already said, she added extreme 
 kindness of heart, a remarkably even temper, and 
 great readiness to forget any wrong that had been 
 done to her. 
 
 She was not a person of remarkable intellect. A 
 Creole, and frivolous, her education had been a good 
 deal neglected; but she recognized her deficiencies, 
 and never made blunders in conversation. She pos- 
 sessed true natural tact; she readily found pleasant 
 things to say ; her memory was good a useful quality 
 for those in high position. Unhappily, she was defi- 
 cient in depth of feeling and elevation of mind. She 
 preferred to charm her husband by her beauty, rather 
 than the influence of certain virtues. She carried 
 complaisance to excess for his sake, and kept her hold 
 on him by concessions which, perhaps, contributed to 
 increase the contempt with which he habitually re- 
 garded women. She might have taught him some 
 useful lessons ; but she feared him, and allowed him to 
 dictate to her in everything. She was changeable, easy 
 to move and easy to appease, incapable of prolonged 
 emotion, of sustained attention, of serious reflection; 
 and, although her greatness did not turn her head, 
 neither did it educate her. The bent of her character 
 led her to console the unhappy; but she could only 
 dwell on the troubles of individuals she did not think 
 of the woes of France. The genius of Bonaparte 
 overawed her: she only criticised him in what con-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 91 
 
 cerned herself personally; in everything else she re- 
 spected what he called " the force of his destiny." He 
 exerted an evil influence over her, for he inspired her 
 with contempt for morality, and with a large share of 
 his own characteristic suspicion ; and he taught her the 
 art of lying, which each of them practiced with skill 
 and effect. 
 
 It is said that she was the prize of his command of 
 the army of Italy; she has often assured me that at 
 that time Bonaparte was really in love with her. She 
 hesitated between him, General Hoche, and M. de 
 Caulaincourt, who also loved her. Bonaparte pre- 
 vailed. I know that my mother, then living in retire- 
 ment in the country, was much surprised on learning 
 that the widow of M. de Beauharnais was about to 
 marry a man so little known as Bonaparte. 
 
 When I questioned her as to what Bonaparte was 
 like in his youth, she told me that he was then dreamy, 
 silent, and awkward in the society of women, but pas- 
 sionate and fascinating, although rather an odd person 
 in every way. She charged the campaign in Egypt 
 with having changed his temper, and developed that 
 petty despotism from which she afterward suffered 
 so much. 
 
 I have seen letters from Napoleon to Mme. Bona- 
 parte, written at the time of the first Italian campaign. 
 She accompanied him to Italy, but he sometimes left 
 her with the rearguard of the army, until a victory 
 had secured the safety of the road. These epistles 
 are very singular. The writing is almost illegible; 
 they are ill spelt; the style is strange and confused. 
 But there is in them such a tone of passionate feeling; 
 the expressions are so animated, and at the same time 
 so poetical ; they breathe a love so different from mere 
 " amours," that there is no woman who would not 
 have prized such letters. They formed a striking
 
 92 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 contrast with the graceful, elegant, and measured 
 style of those of M. de Beauharnais. How strange it 
 must have been for a woman to find herself one of the 
 moving powers of the triumphant march of an army, 
 at a time when politics alone governed the actions of 
 men ! On the eve of one of his greatest battles, Bona- 
 parte wrote : " I am far from you ! It seems to me 
 that I am surrounded by the blackest night; I need 
 the lurid light of the thunderbolts which we are about 
 to hurl upon our enemies to dispel the darkness into 
 which your absence has thrown me. Josephine, you 
 wept when I parted from you you wept! At that 
 thought all my being trembles. But calm yourself: 
 Wurmser shall pay dearly for the tears I have seen 
 you shed." And on the morrow Wurmser was beaten. 
 The enthusiasm with which General Bonaparte was 
 received in beautiful Italy, the magnificence of the 
 fetes, the fame of his victories, the wealth which every 
 officer might acquire there, the unbounded luxury in 
 which she lived, accustomed Mme. Bonaparte from 
 that time forth to all the pomp with which she was 
 afterward surrounded; and she acknowledged that 
 nothing in her life ever equaled the emotions of that 
 time, when love came (or seemed to come) daily, to 
 lay at her feet a new conquest over a people enrap- 
 tured with their conqueror. It is, however, plain from 
 these letters that Mme. Bonaparte, in the midst of this 
 life of triumph, of victory, and of license, gave some 
 cause for uneasiness to her victorious husband. His 
 letters, sometimes sullen and sometimes menacing, 
 reveal the torments of jealousy; and they abound in 
 melancholy reflections, which betray his weariness of 
 the fleeting delusions of life. It may have been that 
 these misunderstandings, which outraged the first very 
 keen feelings Bonaparte had ever experienced, had a 
 bad effect upon him, and hardened him by degrees.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 93 
 
 Perhaps he would have been a better man if he had 
 been more and better loved. 
 
 When, on his return from this brilliant campaign, the 
 conquering general was obliged to exile himself to 
 Egypt, to escape from the growing suspicion of the 
 Directory, Mme. Bonaparte's position became pre- 
 carious and difficult. Her husband entertained serious 
 doubts of her, and these were prompted by Joseph and 
 Lucien, who dreaded the powerful influence that she 
 might exercise through her son, who had accompanied 
 Bonaparte. Her extravagant tastes led her into reck- 
 less expense, and she was harassed by debts and duns. 
 
 Before leaving France, Bonaparte had directed her 
 to purchase an estate; and as she wished to live in 
 the neighborhood of Saint Germain, where her daugh- 
 ter was being educated, she selected Malmaison. There 
 we met her again, when we were residing for some 
 months at the chateau of one of our friends, at a 
 short distance from Malmaison. Mme. Bonaparte, 
 who was naturally unreserved, and even indiscreet, 
 had no sooner met my mother again than she talked to 
 her very freely about her absent husband, about her 
 brothers-in-law in fact, about a host of people who 
 were utter strangers to us. Bonaparte was supposed 
 to be almost lost to France, and his wife was neg- 
 lected. My mother took pity on her; we showed her 
 some attention, which she never forgot. At that time 
 I was seventeen years of age, and I had been married 
 one year. 
 
 It was at Malmaison that Mme. Bonaparte showed 
 us an immense quantity of pearls, diamonds, and 
 cameos, which at that time constituted the contents of 
 her jewel-case. Even at that time it might have 
 figured in a story of the " Arabian Nights," and it was 
 destined to receive immense accessions. Invaded and 
 grateful Italy had contributed to these riches, and the
 
 94 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Pope also, as a mark of his appreciation of the respect 
 with which the conqueror treated him by denying 
 himself the pleasure of planting his flag upon the 
 walls of Rome. The reception-rooms at Malmaison 
 were sumptuously decorated with pictures, statues, and 
 mosaics, the spoils of Italy, and each of the generals 
 who figured in the Italian campaign exhibited booty 
 of the same kind. 
 
 Although she was surrounded with all these 
 treasures, Mme. Bonaparte was often without money 
 to meet her every-day expenses; and, to get out of 
 this difficulty, she trafficked in her influence with the 
 people in power at the time, and compromised herself 
 by entering into imprudent relations. Dreadfully 
 embarrassed, on worse terms than ever with her 
 brothers-in-law, supplying too much reason for their 
 accusations against her, and no longer counting on the 
 return of her husband, she was strongly tempted to 
 give her daughter in marriage to the son of Rewbell, 
 a member of the Directory ; but Mile, de Beauharnais 
 would not consent, and her opposition put an end to 
 a project whose execution would doubtless have been 
 highly displeasing to Bonaparte. 
 
 Presently a rumor of Bonaparte's arrival at Frejus 
 arose. He came back with his mind full of the evil 
 reports that Lucien had repeated to him in his letters. 
 His wife, on hearing of his disembarkation, set out 
 to join him; she missed him, had to retrace her steps, 
 and returned to the house in the Rue Chantereine some 
 hours after his arrival there. She descended from her 
 carriage in haste, followed by her son and daughter, 
 and ran up the stairs leading to his room; but what 
 was her surprise to find the door locked! She called 
 to Bonaparte, and begged him to open it. He replied 
 through the door that it should never again be opened 
 for her. Then she wept, fell on her knees, implored
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 95 
 
 him for her sake and that of her two children; but 
 all was profound silence around her, and several hours 
 of the night passed over her in this dreadful suspense. 
 At last, however, moved by her sobs and her perse- 
 verance, Bonaparte opened the door at about four 
 o'clock in the morning, and appeared, as Mme. Bona- 
 parte herself told me, with a stern countenance, which, 
 however, betrayed that he too had been weeping. He 
 bitterly reproached her with her conduct, her forget- 
 fulness of him, all the real or imaginary sins of which 
 Lucien had accused her, and concluded by announcing 
 an eternal separation. Then turning to Eugene de 
 Beauharnais, who was at that time about twenty years 
 old " As for you," he said, " you shall not bear the 
 burden of your mother's faults. You shall be always 
 my son; I will keep you with me." 
 
 " No, no, General," replied Eugene : " I must share 
 the ill fortune of my mother, and from this moment I 
 say farewell to you." 
 
 These words shook Bonaparte's resolution. He 
 opened his arms to Eugene, weeping; his wife and 
 Hortense knelt at his feet and embraced his knees; 
 and, soon after, all was forgiven. In the explanation 
 that ensued, Mme. Bonaparte succeeded in clearing 
 herself from the accusations of her brother-in-law; 
 and Bonaparte, then burning to avenge her, sent for 
 Lucien at seven o'clock in the morning, and had him, 
 without any forewarning, ushered into the room 
 where the husband and wife, entirely reconciled, occu- 
 pied the same bed. 
 
 From that time Bonaparte desired his wife to break 
 with Mme. Tallien and all the society of the Directory. 
 The i8th Brumaire completely severed her connection 
 with those individuals. She told me that on the eve of 
 that important day she observed, with great surprise, 
 that Bonaparte had loaded two pistols and placed them
 
 96 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 beside his bed. On her questioning him, he replied 
 that a certain event might happen in the night which 
 would render such a precaution necessary. Then, 
 without another word, he lay down, and slept soundly 
 until the next morning. 
 
 When he became Consul, the gentle and gracious 
 qualities of his wife, which attracted many persons 
 to his Court whom his natural rudeness would have 
 otherwise kept away, were of great service to him. 
 To Josephine he intrusted the measures to be taken 
 for the return of the emigres. Nearly all the 
 " erasures " passed through the hands of Mme. Bona- 
 parte; she was the first link that united the French 
 nobility to the Consular Government. We shall learn 
 more of this in the course of these Memoirs. 
 
 Eugene de Beauharnais, born in 1780, passed 
 through all the phases of a sometimes stormy and 
 sometimes brilliant life, without ever forfeiting his 
 title to general esteem. Prince Eugene, sometimes in 
 camp with his father, sometimes in all the leisure and 
 luxury of his mother's house, was, to speak correctly, 
 educated nowhere. His natural instinct led toward 
 what is right; the schooling of Bonaparte formed but 
 did not pervert him ; the lessons taught him by events 
 all these were his instructors. Mme. Bonaparte was 
 incapable of giving sound advice; and therefore her 
 son, who loved her sincerely, perceived very early in 
 his career that it was useless to consult her. 
 
 Prince Eugene did not lack personal attractions. 
 His figure was graceful; he was skilled in all bodily 
 exercises; and he inherited from his father that fine 
 manner of the old French gentleman, in which, per- 
 haps, M. de Beauharnais himself gave him his earliest 
 lessons. To these advantages he added simplicity and 
 kindheartedness ; he was neither vain nor presump- 
 tuous; he was sincere without being indiscreet, and
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 97 
 
 could be silent when silence was necessary. Prince 
 Eugene had not much natural talent; his imagination 
 was not vivid, and his feelings were not keen. He 
 was always obedient to his stepfather; and, although 
 he appreciated him exactly, and was not mistaken 
 with regard to him, he never hesitated to observe the 
 strictest fidelity to him, even when it was against his 
 own interests. Never once was he surprised into 
 showing any sign of discontent, either when the 
 Emperor, while loading his own family with honors, 
 seemed to forget him, or when his mother was repu- 
 diated. At the time of the divorce Eugene maintained 
 a very dignified attitude. 
 
 Eugene, as colonel of a regiment, was beloved by 
 his soldiers. In Italy he was held in high honor. The 
 sovereigns of Europe esteemed him, and the world 
 was well pleased that his fortunes have survived those 
 of his family. He had the good fortune to marry a 
 charming princess, who never ceased to love him, and 
 whom he rendered happy. He possessed in perfec- 
 tion those qualities which make the happiness of home 
 life sweet temper, and that natural cheerfulness 
 which rises above every ill, and was perhaps due to the 
 fact that he was never profoundly moved by anything. 
 When, however, that kind of indifference toward the 
 interests of other people is also displayed in one's own 
 personal troubles, it may fairly be called philosophy. 
 
 Hortense, Prince Eugene's younger sister (she was 
 born in 1783), was, I think, the most unhappy person 
 of our time, and the least formed by nature to be so. 
 Cruelly slandered by the Bonapartes, who hated her, 
 included in the accusations which the public delighted 
 to bring against all who belonged to that family, she 
 was not strong enough to contend against such a com- 
 bination of ills, and to defy the calumnies that blighted 
 her life.
 
 98 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Mme. Louis Bonaparte, like her mother and 
 brother, was not remarkable for intellect; but, like 
 them, she possessed tact and good feeling, and she 
 was more high-minded and imaginative than they. 
 Left to herself in her youth, she escaped the contagion 
 of the dangerous example of evil. At Mme. Campan's 
 select and elegant boarding-school she acquired accom- 
 plishments rather than education. While she was 
 young, a brilliant complexion, beautiful hair, and a 
 fine figure rendered her agreeable to look upon; but 
 she lost her teeth early, and illness and sorrow altered 
 her features. Her natural instincts were good; but, 
 being absolutely ignorant of the world and the usages 
 of society, and entirely given up to ideal notions drawn 
 from a sphere which she had created for herself, she 
 was unable to rule her life by those social laws which 
 do not indeed preserve the virtue of women, but which 
 procure them support when they are accused, without 
 which it is impossible to pass through the world, and 
 which the approbation of conscience can not replace. 
 It is not sufficient to lead a good life in order to appear 
 virtuous; women must also obey those rules which 
 society has made. Mme. Louis, who was placed in 
 circumstances of extreme difficulty, never had a guide; 
 she understood her mother, and could not venture to 
 place any confidence in her. As she held firmly to 
 the principles, or rather to the sentiments, her imagi- 
 nation had created, she was at first very much sur- 
 prised at the lapses from morality in which she 
 detected the women by whom she was surrounded, and 
 was still more surprised when she found that these 
 faults were not always the result of love. Her mar- 
 riage cast her on the mercy of the most tyrannical of 
 husbands ; she became the resigned and dejected victim 
 of ceaseless and unremitting persecution, and sank 
 under the weight of her sorrow. She yielded to it
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 99 
 
 without daring to complain, and it was not until she 
 was on the point of death that the truth became 
 known. I knew Mme. Louis Bonaparte very inti- 
 mately, and was acquainted with all the secrets of her 
 domestic life. I have always believed her to be the 
 purest, as she was the most unfortunate, of women. 
 
 Her only consolation was in her tender love for her 
 brother; she rejoiced in his happiness, his success, his 
 amiable temper. How many times have I heard her 
 say, " I only live in Eugene's life ! " 
 
 She declined to marry Rewbell's son, and this rea- 
 sonable refusal was the result of one of the errors of 
 her imagination. From her earliest youth she had 
 persuaded herself that a woman, if she would be 
 virtuous and happy, should marry no man unless she 
 loved him passionately. Afterward, when her mother 
 wished her to marry the Comte de Mun, now a peer 
 of France, she again refused to obey her. 
 
 M. de Mun had emigrated; Mme. Bonaparte 
 obtained permission for his return. He came back to 
 a considerable fortune, and asked for the hand of 
 Mile, de Beauharnais in marriage. Bonaparte, then 
 First Consul, had little liking for this union. Mme. 
 Bonaparte would, however, have had her own way 
 about it, only for the obstinate resistance of her 
 daughter. Some one said before her that M. de Mun 
 had been, while in Germany, in love with Mme. de 
 Stae'l. That celebrated woman was in the imagination 
 of the young girl a sort of monster, whom it was im- 
 possible to know without scandal and without taint. 
 M. de Mun became odious to her, and thus he missed 
 a great match and the terrible downfall that was to 
 ensue. It was a strange accident of destiny, thus to 
 have missed being a prince, perhaps a king, and 
 then dethroned. 
 
 A little while after, Duroc, then one of the Consul's 
 
 Vol. 9 D Memoirs
 
 ioo MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 aides-de-camp, and in high favor with him, fell in 
 love with Hortense. She was not insensible to his 
 passion, and thought she had at length found that 
 other half of her being which she sought for. Bona- 
 parte was in favor of the marriage; but this time 
 Mme. Bonaparte was inflexible. " My daughter," she 
 said, " must marry a gentleman or a Bonaparte." 
 Then Louis was proposed. He had no liking for Hor- 
 tense, he detested the Beauharnais family, and despised 
 his sister-in-law: but, as he was taciturn, he was 
 supposed to be amiable; as he was severe in his judg- 
 ments, he was supposed to be a good man. Mme. 
 Louis has since told me that when she first heard of 
 this arrangement she suffered terribly. Not only was 
 she forbidden to think of the man she loved, but she 
 was also to be given to another, whom she instinctively 
 distrusted. However, as this marriage was in accord- 
 ance with her mother's wishes, as it would cement 
 the family ties, and might advance her brother's inter- 
 ests, she yielded herself a submissive victim; nay, she 
 did even more. Her imagination was full of the 
 duties imposed on her; she determined to make every 
 sort of sacrifice to the wishes of a husband whom 
 she had the misfortune not to love. Too sincere and 
 too reserved to feign sentiments she did not feel, she 
 was gentle, submissive, full of deference, and more 
 anxious perhaps to please him than if she had loved 
 him. The false and suspicious disposition of Louis 
 Bonaparte led him to regard the gentle deference of 
 his wife as affectation and coquetry. " She practices 
 on me," he said, " to deceive me." He believed that 
 her conduct was dictated by the counsels of her 
 experienced mother ; he repelled the efforts she made to 
 please him, and treated her with rude contempt. Nor 
 was this all. He actually divulged to Mme. Louis all 
 the accusations which had been brought against her
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 101 
 
 mother, and, after having gone as far in that direction 
 as he could go, he signified his pleasure that confiden- 
 tial relations between his wife and her mother should 
 cease. He added, " You are now a Bonaparte. Our 
 interests should be yours ; those of your own family no 
 longer concern you." He accompanied this cruel noti- 
 fication with insulting threats, and a coarse expression 
 of his disdainful opinion of women; he enumerated 
 the precautions he meant to take in order, as he said, 
 to escape the common fate of all husbands, and 
 declared that he would not be the dupe either of her 
 attempts to escape his vigilance or of the tricks of pre- 
 tended docility by which she might hope to win him 
 over. 
 
 The effect of such a declaration upon a young 
 woman full of fancies may easily be conceived. She 
 conducted herself, however, as an obedient wife, and 
 for many years only her sadness and her failing health 
 betrayed her sufferings. Her husband, who was hard 
 and capricious, and, like all the Bonapartes, selfish 
 worn and embittered besides by a painful disease 
 which he had contracted during the Egyptian cam- 
 paign set no limit to his exactions. As he was afraid 
 of his brother, while at the same time he wanted to 
 keep his wife away from Saint Cloud, he ordered 
 her to say it was by her own wish that she seldom 
 went thither, and forbade her to remain there a single 
 night, no matter how much her mother might press 
 her to do so. Mme. Louis became pregnant very soon 
 after her marriage. The Bonapartes and Mme. 
 Murat, who were displeased at this marriage, because, 
 as Joseph's children were girls, they foresaw that a 
 son of Louis, who would also be a grandson of Mme. 
 Bonaparte, would be the object of natural interest, 
 spread the outrageous report that this pregnancy was 
 the result of an intimacy between the First Consul
 
 102 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 and his stepdaughter, with the connivance of Jose- 
 phine herself. The public was quite ready to believe 
 this scandalous falsehood, and Mme. Murat repeated 
 it to Louis, who, whether he believed it or not, made 
 it a pretext for every kind of conjugal tyranny. The 
 narrative of his cruelty to his wife would lead me too 
 far at present; I shall return to the subject hereafter. 
 Her servants were employed as spies upon her; the 
 most trifling notes addressed to or written by her were 
 opened; every friendship was prohibited; Louis was 
 jealous even of Eugene. Scenes of violence were 
 frequent ; nothing was spared her. Bonaparte was not 
 slow to perceive this state of affairs, but he was grate- 
 ful to Mme. Louis for her silence, which put him at 
 his ease, and exempted him from the necessity of 
 interference. He, who never esteemed women, always 
 professed positive veneration for Hortense, and the 
 manner in which he spoke of and acted toward her is 
 a formal contradiction of the accusations which were 
 brought against her. In her presence his language 
 was always careful and decent. He often appealed to 
 her to arbitrate between his wife and himself, and he 
 took rebukes from her that he would not have listened 
 to patiently from any one else. " Hortense," he said 
 more than once, " forces me to believe in virtue."
 
 BOOK I 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 (1802-1803.) 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the date of the year 
 in which I undertake this narrative, I shall 
 not seek to excuse the motives which led my 
 husband to attach himself to the person of Bonaparte, 
 but shall simply explain them. In political matters 
 justifications are worth nothing. Certain persons, 
 having returned to France only three years ago, or 
 having taken no part in public affairs before that 
 epoch, have pronounced a sort of anathema against 
 those among our fellow citizens who for twenty 
 years have not held completely aloof from passing 
 events. If it be represented to them that nobody 
 pretends to pronounce whether they were right or 
 wrong to indulge in their long sleep, and that they 
 are merely asked to remain equally neutral on a 
 similar question, they reject such a proposition with 
 all the strength of their present position of vantage; 
 they deal out unsparing and most ungenerous blame, 
 for there is now no risk in undertaking the duties on 
 which they pride themselves. And yet, when a revolu- 
 tion is in progress, who can flatter himself that he 
 has always adopted the right course? Who among 
 us has not been influenced by circumstances? Who,, 
 indeed, can venture to throw the first stone, without 
 
 103
 
 104 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 fear lest it recoil upon himself? Citizens of the same 
 country, all more or less hurt by the blows they have 
 given and received, ought to spare each other they 
 are more closely bound together than they think; and 
 when a Frenchman mercilessly runs down another 
 Frenchman, let him take care he is putting weapons 
 to use against them both into the hands of the for- 
 eigner. 
 
 Not the least evil of troubled times is that bitter 
 spirit of criticism which produces mistrust, and per- 
 haps contempt, of what is called public opinion. The 
 tumult of passion enables every one to defy it. Men 
 live for the most part so much outside of themselves, 
 that they have few opportunities of consulting their 
 conscience. In peaceful times, and for common ordin- 
 ary actions, the judgments of the world replace it well 
 enough; but how is it possible to submit to them, when 
 they are ready to deal death to those who would bow 
 to them? It is safest, then, to rely on that conscience 
 which one can never question with impunity. Neither 
 my husband's conscience nor my own reproaches him 
 or me. The entire loss of his fortune, the experience 
 of facts, the march of events, a moderate and legit- 
 imate desire for easier circumstances, led M. de Remu- 
 sat to seek a place of some kind in 1802. To profit by 
 the repose that Bonaparte had given to France, and to 
 rely on the hopes he inspired, was, no doubt, to de- 
 ceive ourselves, but we did so in common with all the 
 rest of the world. 
 
 Unerring prevision is given to very few; and if, 
 after his second marriage, Bonaparte had maintained 
 peace, and had employed that portion of his army 
 which he did not disband to line our frontiers, who is 
 there that would have dared to doubt the duration of 
 his power and the strength of his rights? At that 
 time both his power and his rights seemed to have
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 105 
 
 acquired the force of legitimacy. Bonaparte reigned 
 over France with the consent of France. That fact 
 only blind hatred or foolish pride can now attempt to 
 deny. He reigned for our misfortune and for our 
 glory : the alliance of those two words is, in the pres- 
 ent state of society, more natural than it seems, at 
 least when military glory is in question. When he 
 became Consul, people breathed freely. At first he 
 won public confidence; when, afterward, causes of 
 disquiet arose, the country was already committed to 
 him. At last he frightened all the minds who had 
 believed in him, and led true citizens to desire his 
 fall, even at the risk of loss to themselves. This is the 
 history of M. de Remusat and myself; there is noth- 
 ing humiliating in it. We too were relieved and con- 
 fident when the country had breathing space, and after- 
 ward we desired its deliverance before all things. 
 
 No one will ever know what I suffered during the 
 later years of Bonaparte's tyranny. It would be im- 
 possible for me to describe the absolute sincerity with 
 which I longed for the return of the King, who would, 
 as I firmly believed, restore peace and liberty to us. I 
 foresaw all my personal losses; and M. de Remusat 
 foresaw them even more clearly than I did. That 
 which we desired would ruin the fortune of our chil- 
 dren. But the loss of that fortune, which we could 
 have preserved only by the sacrifice of our convictions, 
 did not cost us a regret. The ills of France cried too 
 loud then shame to those who would not listen to 
 them! We served Bonaparte, we even loved and 
 admired him; and it costs me nothing to make this 
 avowal. It seems to me it is never painful to avow 
 a genuine feeling. I am not at all embarrassed because 
 the opinions I held at one time are opposed to those 
 which I held at another; I am not incapable of being 
 mistaken. I know what I have felt, and I have always
 
 106 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 felt it sincerely ; that is sufficient for God, for my son, 
 for my friends, for myself. 
 
 My present task is, however, a difficult one, for I 
 must go back in search of a number of impressions 
 which were strong and vivid when I received them, 
 but which now, like ruined buildings devastated by fire, 
 have no longer any connection one with another. 
 
 At the commencement of these Memoirs I shall pass 
 as briefly as possible over all that is merely personal to 
 ourselves, up to the time of our introduction to the 
 Court of Bonaparte; afterward I shall perhaps revert 
 to still earlier recollections. A woman can not be ex- 
 pected to relate the political life of Bonaparte. If he 
 was so reserved with those who surrounded him that 
 persons in the next room to him were often ignorant 
 of events which they would indeed learn by going into 
 Paris, but could only comprehend fully by transport- 
 ing themselves out of France, how much more impos- 
 sible would it have been for me, young as I was when 
 I made my entry into Saint Cloud, and during the first 
 years that I lived there, to do more than seize upon 
 isolated facts at long intervals of time ? I shall record 
 what I saw, or thought I saw, and will do my best to 
 make my narrative as accurate as it is sincere. 
 
 I was twenty-two years old when I became lady-in- 
 waiting to Mme. Bonaparte. I was married at sixteen 
 years of age, and had previously been perfectly happy 
 in a quiet life, full of home affections. The convul- 
 sions of the Revolution, the execution of my father in 
 1794, the loss of our fortune, and my mother's love of 
 retirement, kept me out of the gay world, of which I 
 knew and desired to know nothing. I was suddenly 
 taken from this peaceful solitude to act a part upon 
 the stage of history; and, without having passed 
 through the intermediate stage of society, I was much 
 affected by so abrupt a transition, and my character
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 107 
 
 has never lost the impression it then received. I 
 dearly loved my husband and my mother, and in their 
 society I had been accustomed to follow the impulses 
 of my feelings. In the Bonaparte household I inter- 
 ested myself only in what moved me strongly. I never 
 in my life could occupy myself with the trifles of what 
 is called the great world. 
 
 My mother had brought me up most carefully; my 
 education was finished under the superintendence of 
 my husband, who was a highly cultivated man, and 
 older than I by sixteen years. I was naturally grave, a 
 tendency which in women is always allied to enthusi- 
 asm. Thus, during the early part of my residence 
 with Mme. Bonaparte and her husband, I was full of 
 the sentiments which I considered due to them. Their 
 well-known characters, and what I have already related 
 of their domestic life, rendered this a sure preparation 
 for many mistakes, and certainly I did not fail to make 
 them. 
 
 I have already mentioned our friendship with Mme. 
 Bonaparte during the expedition to Egypt. After that 
 we lost sight of her, until the time when my mother, 
 having arranged a marriage for my sister with a rela- 
 tive of ours, who had returned secretly, but was still 
 included in the list of the proscribed, addressed herself 
 to Mme. Bonaparte in order to obtain his " erasure." 
 The matter was readily arranged. Mme. Bonaparte, 
 who was then endeavoring, with much tact and kind- 
 ness, to win over persons of a certain class who still 
 held aloof from her husband, begged that my mother 
 and M. de Remusat would visit her one evening, in 
 order to return thanks to the First Consul. It was not 
 possible to refuse, and accordingly, one evening, 
 shortly after Bonaparte had taken up his abode there, 
 we went to the Tuileries. His wife told me afterward 
 that on the first night of their sojourn in the palace,
 
 io8 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 he said to her, laughing, " Come, little Creole, get into 
 the bed of your masters." 
 
 We found Bonaparte in the great drawing-room on 
 the ground floor; he was seated on a sofa. Beside him 
 I saw General Moreau, with whom he appeared to be in 
 close conversation. At that period they were still try- 
 ing to get on together. A very amiable speech of 
 Bonaparte's, of a graceful kind unusual with him, was 
 much talked of. He had had a superb pair of pistols 
 made, with the names of all Moreau's battles engraved 
 on the handles in gold letters. " You must excuse their 
 not being more richly ornamented," said Bonaparte, 
 presenting them to him; " the names of your victories 
 took up all the space." 
 
 There were in the drawing-room, ministers, generals, 
 and ladies. Among the latter, almost all young and 
 pretty, were Mme. Louis Bonaparte; Mme. Murat, 
 who was recently married, and who struck me as very 
 charming; and Mme. Marat, who was paying her 
 wedding visit, and was at that time perfectly beautiful. 
 Mme. Bonaparte received her company with perfect 
 grace; she was dressed tastefully in a revived antique 
 style which was the fashion of the day. Artists had at 
 that time a good deal of influence on the customs of 
 society. 
 
 Bonaparte rose when we courtesied to him, and after 
 a few vague words reseated himself, and took no more 
 notice of the ladies who were in the room. I confess 
 that, on this occasion, I was less occupied with him 
 than with the luxury, the elegance, and the magnifi- 
 cence on which my eyes rested for the first time. 
 
 From that time forth we made occasional visits to 
 the Tuileries ; and after a while it was suggested to us, 
 and we took to the idea, that M. de Remusat might fill 
 some post, which would restore us to the comfort of 
 which the loss of our fortune had deprived us. M. de
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 109 
 
 Remusat, having been a magistrate before the Revolu- 
 tion, would have preferred occupation of a legal char- 
 acter. He would not grieve me by separating me from 
 my mother and taking me away from Paris, and there- 
 fore he was disposed to ask for a place in the Council 
 of State, and to avoid prefectures. But then we really 
 knew nothing of the structure and composition of the 
 Government. My mother had mentioned our position 
 to Mme. Bonaparte, who had taken a liking to me, and 
 was also pleased with my husband's manners, and it 
 occurred to her that she might place us near herself. 
 Just at this time my sister, who had not married the 
 cousin whom I have mentioned, married M. de Nan- 
 souty, a general of brigade, the nephew of Mme. de 
 Montesson, and a man very much esteemed in the 
 army and in society. This marriage strengthened our 
 connection with the Consular Government, and a 
 month afterward Mme. Bonaparte told my mother that 
 she hoped before long M. de Remusat would be made 
 a Prefect of the Palace. I will pass over in silence the 
 sentiments with which this news was received in the 
 family. For my own part, I was exceedingly fright- 
 ened. M. de Remusat was resigned rather than 
 pleased ; and, as he is a particularly conscientious man, 
 he applied himself to all the minute details of his new 
 occupation immediately after his nomination, which 
 soon followed. Shortly afterward I received the fol- 
 lowing letter from General Duroc, Governor of the 
 Palace : 
 
 " MADAME : The First Consul has nominated you 
 to attend upon Mme. Bonaparte, in doing the honors 
 of the palace. His personal knowledge of your char- 
 acter and of your principles satisfies him that you will 
 acquit yourself of this duty with the politeness which 
 distinguishes French ladies, and with dignity such as
 
 no MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the Government requires. I am happy to have been 
 made the medium of announcing to you this mark of 
 his esteem and confidence. 
 
 " Receive, madame, my respectful homage." 
 
 Thus did we find ourselves installed at this singular 
 Court. Although Bonaparte would have been angry if 
 any one had seemed to doubt the sincerity of his utter- 
 ances, which were at this period entirely republican, he 
 introduced some novelty into his manner of life every 
 day, which tended to give the place of his abode more 
 and more resemblance to the palace of a sovereign. 
 He liked display, provided it did not interfere with his 
 own particular habits ; therefore he laid the weight of 
 ceremonial on those who surrounded him. He be- 
 lieved also that the French are attracted by the glitter 
 of external pomp. He was very simple in his own 
 attire, but he required his officers to wear magnificent 
 uniforms. He had already established a marked dis- 
 tance between himself and the two other Consuls; and 
 just as, although he used the preamble, " By order of 
 the Consuls," etc., in the acts of government, his own 
 signature only was placed at the end, so he held his 
 court alone, either at the Tuileries or at Saint Cloud; 
 he received the ambassadors with the ceremonial used 
 by kings, and always appeared in public attended by 
 a numerous guard, while he allowed his colleagues only 
 two grenadiers before their carriages; and finally he 
 began to give his wife rank in the state. 
 
 At first we found ourselves in a somewhat difficult 
 position, which, nevertheless, had its advantages. Mili- 
 tary glory and the rights it confers were all-in-all to 
 the generals and aides-de-camp who surrounded Bona- 
 parte. They seemed to think that every distinction 
 belonged exclusively to them. The Consul, however, 
 who liked conquest of all kinds, and whose design was
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE in 
 
 to gain over to himself all classes of society, made his 
 Court pleasant to persons belonging to other profes- 
 sions. Besides this, M. de Remusat, who was a man of 
 intellect, of remarkable learning, and superior to his 
 colleagues in conversational powers, was soon distin- 
 guished by his master, who was quick at discovering 
 qualities which might be useful to himself. Bona- 
 parte was glad that persons in his service should know, 
 for his purposes, things of which he was ignorant. 
 He found that my husband knew all about certain cus- 
 toms which he wanted to reestablish, and was a safe 
 authority on matters of etiquette and the habits of good 
 society. He briefly indicated his projects, was at once 
 understood, and as promptly obeyed. This unusual 
 manner of pleasing him at first gave some offense to 
 the military men. They foresaw that they would no 
 longer be the only persons in favor, and that they 
 would be required to alter the rough manners 
 which did well enough for camps and fields of battle; 
 therefore our presence displeased them. For my own 
 part, although I was so young, I had more ease of 
 manner than their wives. Most of my companions 
 were ignorant of the world, timid and silent, and they 
 were either shy or frightened in the presence of the 
 First Consul. As for me, I was, as I have already 
 said, very quick and lively, easily moved by novelty, 
 fond of intellectual pleasures, interested in observing 
 so many persons, all unknown to me; and I found 
 favor with my new sovereign, because, as I have said 
 elsewhere, I took pleasure in listening to him. And 
 then, Mme. Bonaparte liked me, because she herself 
 had chosen me ; she was pleased that she had been able 
 to attach a person of good family to herself, and that 
 through the medium of my mother, whom she re- 
 spected highly. She trusted me, and I was attached 
 to her, so that before long she confided all her secrets
 
 ii2 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 to me, and I received them with discretion. Although 
 I might have been her daughter, I was often able to 
 give her good advice, because the habits of a secluded 
 and strict life make one take a serious view of things. 
 My husband and I were soon placed in so prominent 
 a position that we had to secure forgiveness for it. 
 We obtained that position almost entirely by preserv- 
 ing our simple ways, by keeping within the bounds of 
 politeness, and by avoiding everything which might 
 lead to the suspicion that we wanted to trade on the 
 favor we were in. 
 
 M. de Remusat lived in a simple and kindly fashion 
 in the midst of this warlike Court. As for me, I was 
 fortunate enough to hold my own without offense, 
 and I put forward no pretension distasteful to other 
 women. Tiie greater number of my companions were 
 much handsomer than I some of them were very 
 beautiful; and they were all superbly dressed. My 
 face, which had no beauty but that of youth, and the 
 habitual simplicity of my attire, satisfied them that in 
 several ways they were superior to me; and it soon 
 seemed as if we had made a tacit compact that they 
 should charm the eyes of the First Consul when we 
 were in his presence, and that I should endeavor, as 
 far as lay in my power, to interest his mind. As I 
 have already said, to do that one had only to be a 
 good listener. 
 
 Political ideas rarely enter into the head of a woman 
 at twenty-two. I was at that time quite without 
 any kind of party spirit. I never reasoned on the 
 greater or less right which Bonaparte had to the 
 power of which every one declared that he made a 
 good use. M. de Remusat, who believed in him, as 
 did nearly the whole of France, was full of the hopes 
 which at that time seemed to be well founded. All 
 classes, outraged and disgusted by the horrors of the
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 113 
 
 Revolution, and grateful to the Consular Government 
 which preserved us from the Jacobite reaction, looked 
 upon its coming into power as a new era for the coun- 
 try. The trials of liberty that had been made over 
 and over again had inspired a very natural, though 
 not very reasonable, aversion to it ; for, in truth, lib- 
 erty always disappeared when its name was used 
 merely to vary successive species of tyranny. Gen- 
 erally speaking, nobody in France wanted anything 
 except quiet, the right to free exercise of the intellect, 
 the cultivation of private virtues, and the reparation 
 by degrees of those losses of fortune which were com- 
 mon to all. When I remember all the dreams which 
 I cherished at that time, the recollection makes me 
 sick at heart. I regret those fancies, as one regrets 
 the bright thoughts of the springtime of life of that 
 time when, to use a simile familiar to Bonaparte him- 
 self, one looks at all things through a gilded veil which 
 makes them bright and sparkling. " Little by little," 
 said he," this veil thickens as we advance in life, until 
 all is nearly black." Alas! he himself soon stained 
 with blood that gilded veil through which France had 
 gladly contemplated him. 
 
 It was in the autumn of 1802 that I established 
 myself for the first time at Saint Cloud, where the 
 First Consul then was. There were four ladies, and 
 we each passed a week in succession in attendance on 
 Mme. Bonaparte. The service, as it was called, of 
 the prefects of the palace, of the generals of the guard, 
 and of the aides-de-camp, was conducted in the same 
 way. Duroc, the Governor of the Palace, lived at 
 Saint Cloud; he kept the household in perfect order; 
 we dined with him. The First Consul took his meals 
 alone with his wife. Tw 7 ice a week he invited some 
 members of the Government ; once a month he gave a 
 great dinner to a hundred guests at the Tuileries, in
 
 ii4 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the Gallery of Diana; after these dinners he received 
 every one who held an important post or rank, either 
 military or civil, and also foreigners of note. During 
 the winter of 1803 we were still at peace with Eng- 
 land. A great number of English people came tQ 
 Paris, and as we were not accustomed to seeing them, 
 they excited great curiosity. 
 
 At these brilliant receptions there was a great dis- 
 play of luxury. Bonaparte liked women to dress 
 well, and, either from policy or from taste, he en- 
 couraged his wife and sisters to do so. Mme. Bona- 
 parte and Mmes. Bacciochi and Murat (Mme. Leclerc, 
 afterward Princess Pauline, was at Saint Domingo 
 in 1802) were always magnificently attired. Cos- 
 tumes were given to the different corps; the uniforms 
 were rich; and this pomp, coming as it did after a 
 period in which the affectation of squalor had been 
 combined with that of extravagant ch'ismc, seemed 
 to be an additional guarantee against the return of 
 that fatal regime which was still remembered with 
 dread. 
 
 Bonaparte's costume at this period is worthy of 
 record. On ordinary days he wore one of the uni- 
 forms of his guard; but he had decreed, for himself 
 and his two colleagues, that on all occasions of grand 
 ceremonial each should wear a red coat, made in win- 
 ter in velvet, in summer of some other material, and 
 embroidered in gold. The two Consuls, Cambaceres 
 and Le Brun, elderly, powdered, and well set up, wore 
 this gorgeous coat, with lace, ruffles, and a sword, 
 after the old fashion of full dress, but Bonaparte, 
 who detested all such adornments, got rid of them as 
 much as possible. His hair was cut short, smoothed 
 down, and generally ill arranged. With his crimson- 
 and-gold coat he would wear a black cravat, a lace 
 frill to his shirt, but no sleeve ruffles. Sometimes he
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 115 
 
 wore a white vest embroidered in silver, but more 
 frequently his uniform waistcoat, his uniform sword, 
 breeches, silk stockings, and boots. This extraor- 
 dinary costume and his small stature gave him the 
 oddest possible appearance, which, however, no one 
 ventured to ridicule. When he became Emperor, he 
 wore a richly laced coat, with a short cloak and a 
 plumed hat; and this costume became him very well. 
 He also wore a magnificent collar of the Order of 
 the Legion of Honor, in diamonds, on state occasions; 
 but on ordinary occasions he wore only the silver 
 cross. 
 
 On the eve of his coronation, the marshals he had 
 newly created a few months before came to pay him a 
 visit, all gorgeously arrayed. The splendor of their 
 costume, in contrast with his simple uniform, made 
 him smile. I was standing at a little distance from 
 him, and as he saw that I smiled also, he said to me, in 
 a low tone, " It is not every one who has the right to be 
 plainly dressed." Presently the marshals of the army 
 began disputing among themselves about the great 
 question of precedence. Their pretensions were very 
 well founded, and each enumerated his victories. Bo- 
 naparte, while listening to them, again glanced at me. 
 " I think," said I, " you must have stamped your foot 
 on France, and said, ' Let all the vanities arise from 
 the soil.' ' " That is true," he replied ; " but it is 
 fortunate that the French are to be ruled through 
 their vanity." 
 
 During the first months of my sojourn at Saint 
 Cloud in the winter, and at Paris, my life was very 
 pleasant. In the morning at eight o'clock Bonaparte 
 left his wife's room and went to his study. When we 
 were in Paris he again went down to her apartments 
 to breakfast; at Saint Cloud he breakfasted alone, 
 generally on the terrace. While at breakfast he re-
 
 ii6 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 ceived artists and actors, and talked to them freely 
 and pleasantly. Afterward he devoted himself to 
 public affairs until six o'clock. Mme. Bonaparte 
 remained at home during the morning, receiving an 
 immense number of visitors, chiefly women. Among 
 these would be some whose husbands belonged to the 
 Government, and some (these were called de I'ancicn 
 regime} who did not wish to have, or to appear to 
 have, relations with the First Consul, but who solic- 
 ited, through his wife, "erasures" or restitutions. 
 Mme. Bonaparte received them all with perfect grace. 
 She promised everything, and sent every one away 
 well pleased. The petitions were put aside and lost 
 sometimes, but then they brought fresh ones, and she 
 seemed never tired of listening. 
 
 We dined at six in Paris; at Saint Cloud we went 
 out to drive at that hour the Consul alone in a 
 caleche with his wife, we in other carriages. Bona- 
 parte's brother and sisters and Eugene de Beauhar- 
 nais might come to dine with him whenever they 
 wished to do so. Sometimes Mme. Louis came; but 
 she never slept at Saint Cloud. The jealousy of 
 Louis Bonaparte, and his extreme suspicion, had al- 
 ready made her shy and melancholy. Once or twice 
 a week the little Napoleon (who afterward died in 
 Holland) was sent to Saint Cloud. Bonaparte seemed 
 to love that child; he built hopes for the future upon 
 him. Perhaps it was only on account of those hopes 
 that he noticed him; for M. de Talleyrand has told 
 me that, when the news of his nephew's death reached 
 Berlin, Bonaparte, who was about to appear in pub- 
 lic, was so little affected that M. de Talleyrand said, 
 " You forget that a death has occurred in your family, 
 and that you ought to look serious." " I do not 
 amuse myself," replied Bonaparte, " by thinking of 
 dead people."
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 117 
 
 It would be curious to compare this frank utterance 
 with the fine speech of M. de Fontanes, who, having 
 to deliver an address upon the depositing of the Prus- 
 sian flags in great pomp at the Invalides, dwelt 
 pathetically upon the majestic grief of a conqueror 
 who turned from the splendor of his victories to shed 
 tears over the death of a child. 
 
 After the Consul had dined, we were told we might 
 go upstairs again. The conversation was prolonged, 
 according as he was in a good or a bad humor. He 
 would go away after a while, and in general we did 
 not see him again. He returned to work, gave some 
 particular audience or received one of the ministers, 
 and retired early. Mme. Bonaparte played at cards in 
 the evening. Between ten and eleven o'clock she 
 would be told, " Madame, the First Consul has gone 
 to his room," and then she would dismiss us for the 
 night. 
 
 She and every one about her \vere very reserved 
 respecting public affairs. Duroc, Maret (then Sec- 
 retary of State), and the private secretaries were all 
 impenetrable. Most of the soldiers, to avoid talking, 
 as I believe, abstained from thinking; in that kind 
 of life there was not much wear and tear of the mind. 
 
 On my arrival at Court, I was quite ignorant of the 
 more or less dread that Bonaparte inspired in those 
 who had known him for some time, and I was less 
 embarrassed in his presence than the others ; and I did 
 not think myself bound to adopt the system of mono- 
 syllables religiously, and perhaps prudently, adopted 
 by all the household. This, however, exposed me to 
 ridicule in a way of which I was unconscious at first, 
 which afterward amused me, but which in the end I 
 had to avoid. 
 
 One evening Bonaparte was praising the ability of 
 the elder M. Portalis, w ; ho was then working at the
 
 ii8 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Civil Code, and M. de Remusat said M. Portalis had 
 profited by the study of Montesquieu in particular, 
 adding that he had read and learned Montesquieu as 
 one learns the catechism. Bonaparte, turning to one 
 of my companions, said to her, laughing, " I would 
 bet something that you do not know what this Mon- 
 tesquieu is." " Pardon me," she replied, " everybody 
 has read ' Le Temple de Gnide.' ' At this Bonaparte 
 went off into a fit of laughter, and I could not help 
 smiling. He looked at me and said, " And you, ma- 
 dame ? " I replied simply that I was not acquainted 
 with " Le Temple de Gnide," but had read "Conside- 
 rations sur les Remains," and that I thought neither 
 the one nor the other work was the catechism to 
 which M. de Remusat alluded. "Diable!" said 
 Bonaparte, "you are a savante!" This epithet dis- 
 concerted me, for I felt that it would stick. A minute 
 after, Mme. Bonaparte began to talk of a tragedy 
 (I do not know what it was) which was then being 
 performed. On this the First Consul passed the liv- 
 ing authors in review, and spoke of Ducis, whose 
 style he did not admire. He deplored the mediocrity 
 of our tragic poets, and said that, above everything 
 in the world, he should like to recompense the author 
 of a fine tragedy. I ventured to say that Ducis had 
 spoilt the " Othello " of Shakespeare. This long 
 English name coming from my lips produced a sensa- 
 tion among our silent and attentive audience in epau- 
 lettes. Bonaparte did not altogether like anything 
 English being praised. We argued the point awhile. 
 All I said was very commonplace; but I had named 
 Shakespeare, I had held my own against the Consul, 
 I had praised an English author. What audacity! 
 what a prodigy of erudition ! I was obliged to keep 
 silence for several days after, or at least only to take 
 part in idle talk, in order to efface the effect of
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 119 
 
 my unlucky and easily gained reputation for clever- 
 ness. 
 
 \Yhen I left the palace and went back to my 
 mother's house, I associated there with many amiable 
 women and distinguished men, whose conversation 
 was most interesting; and I smiled to myself at the 
 difference between their society and that of Bona- 
 parte's Court. 
 
 One good effect of our almost habitual silence was, 
 that it kept us from gossip. The women had no chance 
 of indulging in coquetry; the men were incessantly 
 occupied in their duties; and Bonaparte, who did not 
 yet venture to indulge all his fancies, and who felt 
 that the appearance of regularity w r ould be useful to 
 him, lived in a way which deceived me as to his mo- 
 rality. He appeared to love his wife very much; she 
 seemed to be all in all to him. Nevertheless, I dis- 
 covered ere long that she had troubles of a nature 
 which surprised me. She was of an exceedingly 
 jealous disposition. It was a very great misfortune 
 for her that she had no children by her second hus- 
 band ; he sometimes expressed his annoyance, and then 
 she trembled for her future. The family of the First 
 Consul, who were always bitter against the Beau- 
 harnais, made the most of this misfortune. From 
 these causes quarrels arose. Sometimes I found Mme. 
 Bonaparte in tears, and then she would complain bit- 
 terly of her brothers-in-law, of Mme. Murat, and of 
 Murat, who kept up their own influence by exciting 
 the Consul to passing fancies, and promoting his secret 
 intrigues. I begged her to keep quiet. I could see 
 that if Bonaparte loved his wife, it was because her 
 habitual gentleness gave him repose, and that she 
 would lose her power if she troubled or disturbed him. 
 However, during my first years at Court, the slight 
 differences which arose between them always ended
 
 120 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 in satisfactory explanations and in redoubled tender- 
 ness. 
 
 After 1802 I never saw General Moreau at Bona- 
 parte's Court ; they were already estranged. Moreau's 
 mother-in-law and wife were schemers, and Bonaparte 
 could not endure a spirit of intrigue in women. 
 Moreover, on one occasion the mother of Mme. 
 Moreau, being at Malmaison, had ventured to jest 
 about the suspected scandalous intimacy between Bona- 
 parte and his young sister Caroline, then newly mar- 
 ried. The Consul had not forgiven these remarks, 
 for which he had severely censured both the mother 
 and the daughter. Moreau complained, and was 
 sharply questioned about his own attitude. He lived 
 in retirement, among people who kept him in a state 
 of constant irritation; and Murat, who was the chief 
 of an active secret police, spied out causes of offense 
 which were wholly unimportant, and continually car- 
 ried malicious reports to the Tuileries. This multi- 
 plication of the police was one of the evils of Bo- 
 naparte's government, and was the result of his 
 suspicious disposition. The agents acted as spies upon 
 each other, denounced each other, endeavored to make 
 themselves necessary, and kept alive Bonaparte's 
 habitual mistrust. After the affair of the infernal 
 machine, of which M. de Talleyrand availed himself 
 to procure the dismissal of Fouche, the police had 
 been put into the hands of Regnier, the chief judge. 
 Bonaparte thought that his suppressing the Ministry 
 of Police, which was a revolutionary invention, would 
 look like liberalism and moderation. He soon re- 
 pented of this step, and replaced the regular ministry 
 by a multitude of spies, whom he continued to employ 
 even after he had reinstated Fouche. His Prefect of 
 Police, Murat, Duroc, Savary (who then commanded 
 the gend'armerie d' elite), Maret (who had also a secret
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 121 
 
 police, at the head of which was M. de Semonville), 
 and I don't know how many others, did the work of 
 the suppressed ministry. 
 
 Fouche, who possessed in perfection the art of mak- 
 ing himself necessary, soon crept back secretly into 
 the favor of the First Consul, and succeeded in get- 
 ting himself made minister a second time. The badly 
 conducted trial of General Moreau aided him in that 
 attempt, as will be seen by what follows. 
 
 At this time Cambeceres and Le Brun, Second and 
 Third Consuls, took very little part in the administra- 
 tion of the Government The latter, who was an old 
 man, gave Bonaparte no concern. The former, a dis- 
 tinguished magistrate, who was of great weight in all 
 questions within the province of the Council of State, 
 took part only in the discussion of certain laws. Bona- 
 parte profited by his knowledge, and relied with good 
 reason on the ridicule which his petty vanity excited 
 to diminish his importance. Cambaceres, charmed 
 with the distinctions conferred on him, paraded them 
 with childish pleasure, which was humored and 
 laughed at. His self-conceit on certain points fre- 
 quently secured his safety. 
 
 At the time of which I speak, M. de Talleyrand had 
 vast influence. Every great political question passed 
 through his hands. Not only did he regulate foreign 
 affairs at that period, and principally determine the 
 new State constitutions to be given to Germany a 
 task which laid the foundations of his immense for- 
 tune but he had long conferences with Bonaparte 
 every day, and urged him to measures for the estab- 
 lishment of his power on the basis of reparation and 
 reconstruction. At that time I am certain that meas- 
 ures for the restoration of monarchy were frequently 
 discussed between them. M. de Talleyrand always 
 remained unalterably convinced that monarchical gov-
 
 122 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 ernment only was suitable to France; while, for his 
 own part, it would have enabled him to resume all his 
 former habits of life, and replaced him on familiar 
 ground. Both the advantages and the abuses proper 
 to courts would offer him chances of acquiring power 
 and influence. I did not know M. de Talleyrand, and 
 all I had heard of him had prejudiced me strongly 
 against him. I was, however, struck by the elegance 
 of his manners, which presented so strong a contrast 
 to the rude bearing of the military men by whom I 
 was surrounded. He preserved among them the in- 
 delible characteristics of a grand seigneur. He over- 
 awed by his disdainful silence, by his patronizing 
 politeness, from which no one could escape. M. de 
 Talleyrand, .who was the most artificial of beings, con- 
 trived to make a sort of natural character for himself 
 out of a number of habits deliberately adopted; he 
 adhered to them under all circumstances, as though 
 they had really constituted his true nature. His habit- 
 ually light manner of treating the most momentous 
 matters was almost always useful to himself, but it 
 frequently injured the effect of his actions. 
 
 For several years I had no acquaintance with him 
 I distrusted him vaguely; but it amused me to hear 
 him talk, and see him act with ease peculiar to him- 
 self, and which lent infinite grace to all those ways 
 of his, which in any other man would be regarded as 
 sheer affectation. 
 
 The winter of this year (1803) was very brilliant. 
 Bonaparte desired that fetes should be given, and he 
 also occupied himself with the restoration of the thea- 
 tres. He confided the carrying out of the latter de- 
 sign to his Prefects of the Palace. M. de Remusat 
 was intrusted with the charge of the Comedie Fran- 
 c.aise; a number of pieces which had been prohibited 
 by Republican policy were put upon the stage. By
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 123 
 
 degrees all the former habits of social life were re- 
 sumed. This was a clever way of enticing back those 
 who had been familiar with that social life, and of 
 reuniting the ties that bind civilized men together. 
 This system was skilfully carried out. Hostile opin- 
 ions became weaker daily. The Royalists, who had 
 been baffled on the i8th Fructidor, continued to hope 
 that Bonaparte, after having reestablished order, would 
 include the return of the house of Bourbon among his 
 restorations. They deceived themselves on this point 
 indeed, but at least they might thank him for the re- 
 establishment of order; and they looked forward to a 
 decisive blow, which, by disposing of his person and 
 suddenly rendering vacant a place which henceforth 
 no one but he could fill, would make it evident that only 
 the legitimate sovereign could be his natural successor. 
 This secret idea of a party which is generally confident 
 in what it hopes, and always imprudent in what it at- 
 tempts, led to renewed secret correspondences with 
 our princes, to attempts by the emigres, and to move- 
 ments in La Vendee; and all these proceedings Bona- 
 parte watched in silence. 
 
 On the other hand, those who were enamored of 
 federal government observed with uneasiness that the 
 consular authority tended toward a centralization 
 which was by degrees reviving the idea of royalty. 
 These malcontents were almost of the same mind as 
 the few individuals who, notwithstanding the errors 
 into which the cause of liberty had led some of its 
 partisans, were forced by their consciences to ac- 
 knowledge that the French Revolution was a move- 
 ment of public utility, and who feared that Bona- 
 parte might succeed in paralyzing its action. Now and 
 then a few words were said on this subject, which, 
 although very moderate in tone, showed that the Roy- 
 alists were not the only antagonists the secret projects
 
 124 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 of Bonaparte would meet with. Then there were the 
 ultra-Jacobins to be kept within bounds, and also the 
 military, who, full of their pretensions, were aston- 
 ished that any rights except their own should be recog- 
 nized. The state of opinion among all these different 
 parties was accurately reported to Bonaparte, who 
 steered his way among them prudently. He went on 
 steadily toward a goal, which at that time few people 
 even guessed at. He kept attention fixed upon a por- 
 tion of his policy which he enveloped in mystery. He 
 could at will attract or divert attention, and alternately 
 excite the approbation of the one or the other party 
 disturb or reassure them as he found it necessary; 
 now exciting wonder, and then hope. He regarded 
 the French as fickle children ready to be amused by a 
 new plaything at the expense of their own dearest 
 interests. His position as First Consul was advan- 
 tageous to him, because, being so undefined, it excited 
 less uneasiness among a certain class of people. At 
 a later period the positive rank of Emperor deprived 
 him of that advantage; then, after having let France 
 into his secret, he had no other means left whereby to 
 efface the impression from the country, but that fatal 
 lure of military glory which he displayed before her. 
 From this cause arose fcis never-ending wars, his 
 interminable conquests; for he felt we must be occu- 
 pied at all hazards. And now we can see that from 
 this cause, too, arose the obligation imposed on him 
 to push his destiny to its limits, and to refuse peace 
 either at Dresden or even at Chatillon. For Bona- 
 parte knew that he must infallibly be lost, from that 
 day on which his compulsory quietude should give us 
 time to reflect upon him and upon ourselves. 
 
 At the end of 1802, or the beginning of 1803, there 
 appeared in the " Moniteur " a dialogue between a 
 Frenchman, enthusiastic on the subject of the English
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 125 
 
 constitution, and a so-called reasonable Englishman, 
 who, after having shown that there is, strictly speak- 
 ing, no constitution in England, but only institutions, 
 all more or less adapted to the position of the country 
 and to the character of its inhabitants, endeavors to 
 prove that these institutions could not be adopted by 
 the French without giving rise to many evils. By 
 these and similar means, Bonaparte endeavored to 
 control that desire for liberty which always springs 
 up anew in the minds of the French people. 
 
 About the close of 1802 we heard at Paris of the 
 death of General Leclerc, of yellow fever, at Saint 
 Domingo. In the month of January his pretty young 
 widow returned to France. She was then in bad 
 health, and dressed in deep, somber mourning; but 
 still I thought her the most charming person I had 
 ever seen. Bonaparte strongly exhorted her to con- 
 duct herself better than she had done before she went 
 out to Saint Domingo; and she promised everything, 
 but soon broke her word. 
 
 The death of General Leclerc gave rise to a little 
 difficulty, and the settling of this tended toward that 
 revival of former customs which was preparing the 
 way for monarchy. Bonaparte and Mme. Bonaparte 
 put on mourning, and we received orders to do like- 
 wise. This was significant enough; but it was not 
 all. The ambassadors were to pay a visit at the Tui- 
 leries, to condole with the Consul and his wife on 
 their loss, and it was represented to them that polite- 
 ness required them to wear mourning on the occasion. 
 They met to deliberate, and, as there was not time 
 for them to obtain instructions from their several 
 courts, they resolved to accept the intimation they had 
 received, thus following the custom usual in such 
 cases. Since September, 1802, an ambassador from 
 England, Lord Whitworth, had replaced the charge
 
 126 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 d'affaires. There was hope of a lasting peace; inter- 
 course between England and France increased daily; 
 but, notwithstanding this, persons who were a little 
 better informed than the crown foresaw causes of dis- 
 sension between the two Governments. There had 
 been a discussion in the English Parliament about the 
 part which the French Government had taken in the 
 matter of the new Swiss constitution, and the " Mon- 
 iteur," which was entirely official, published articles 
 complaining of certain measures which were taken in 
 London against Frenchmen. Appearances were, how- 
 ever, extremely favorable; all Paris, and especially 
 the Tuileries, seemed to be given up to fetes and pleas- 
 ures. Domestic life at the chateau was all peace, when 
 suddenly the First Consul's taking a fancy to a young 
 and beautiful actress, of the Theatre Frangais, threw 
 Mme. Bonaparte into great distress, and gave rise to 
 bitter quarrels. 
 
 Two remarkable actresses (Miles. Duchesnois and 
 Georges) had made their debut in tragedy almost at 
 the same time. The one was very plain, but her genius 
 speedily gained popularity; the other was not so tal- 
 ented, but was extremely beautiful. The Parisian pub- 
 lic sided warmly with one or the other, but in general 
 the success of talent was greater than that of beauty. 
 Bonaparte, on the contrary, was charmed with the 
 latter; and Mme. Bonaparte soon learned, through 
 the spying of her servants, that Mile. Georges had on 
 several occasions been introduced into a little back 
 room in the chateau. This discovery caused her ex- 
 treme distress; she told me of it with great emotion, 
 and shed more tears than I thought such a temporary 
 affair called for. I represented to her that gentleness 
 and patience were the only remedies for a grief which 
 time would certainly cure ; and it was during the con- 
 versations we had on this subject that she gave me a
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 127 
 
 notion of her husband which I would not otherwise 
 have formed. According to her account, he had no 
 moral principles whatever, and only concealed his vi- 
 cious inclinations at that time because he feared they 
 might harm him; but, when he could give himself up 
 to them without any risk, he would abandon himself 
 to the most shameful passions. Had he not seduced 
 his own sisters one after the other? Did he not hold 
 that his position entitled him to gratify all his inclin- 
 ations? And, besides, his brothers were practicing 
 on his weakness to induce him to relinquish all rela- 
 tions with his wife. As the result of their schemes 
 she foresaw the much-dreaded divorce, which had al- 
 ready been mooted. " It is a great misfortune for 
 me," she added, " that I have not borne a son to Bona- 
 parte. That gives their hatred a weapon which they 
 can always use against me." " But, madame," I said, 
 " it appears to me that your daughter's child almost 
 repairs that misfortune; the First Consul loves him, 
 and will, perhaps, in the end adopt him." " Alas ! " 
 replied she, " that is the object of my dearest wishes; 
 but the jealous and sullen disposition of Louis Bona- 
 parte leads him to oppose it. His family have mali- 
 ciously repeated to him the insulting rumors concern- 
 ing my daughter's conduct and the paternity of her 
 son. Slander has declared the child to be Bonaparte's, 
 and that is sufficient to make Louis refuse his consent 
 to the adoption. You see how he keeps away from us, 
 and now my daughter is obliged to be on her guard 
 in everything. Moreover, independently of the good 
 reasons I have for not enduring Bonaparte's infidel- 
 ities, they always mean that I shall have a thousand 
 other annoyances to submit to." 
 
 This was quite true. I observed that from the 
 moment the First Consul paid attention to another 
 woman whether it was that his despotic temper led
 
 128 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 him to expect that his wife should approve this indi- 
 cation of his absolute independence in all things, or 
 whether nature had bestowed upon him so limited a 
 faculty of loving that it was all absorbed by the person 
 preferred at the time, and that he had not a particle 
 of feeling left to bestow upon another he became 
 harsh, violent, and pitiless to his wife. Whenever he 
 had a mistress, he let her know it, and showed a sort 
 of savage surprise that she did not approve of his in- 
 dulging in pleasures which, as he would demonstrate, 
 so to speak, mathematically, were both allowable and 
 necessary for him. " I am not an ordinary man," he 
 would say, " and the laws of morals and of custom 
 were never made for me." Such speeches as these 
 aroused the anger of Mme. Bonaparte, and she replied 
 to them by tears and complaints, which her husband 
 resented with the utmost violence. After a while his 
 new fancy would vanish suddenly, and his tenderness 
 for his wife revive. Then he was moved by her grief, 
 and would lavish caresses upon her as unmeasured as 
 his wrath had been ; and, as she was very placable and 
 gentle, she was easily appeased. 
 
 While the storm lasted, however, my position was 
 rendered embarrassing by the strange confidences of 
 which I was the recipient, and at times by proceedings 
 in which I was obliged to take part. I remember one 
 occurrence in particular, during the winter of 1803, 
 at which, and the absurd panic into which it threw me, 
 I have often laughed since. 
 
 Bonaparte was in the habit of occupying the same 
 room with his wife; she had cleverly persuaded him 
 that doing so tended to insure his personal safety. 
 " I told him," she said, " that as I was a very light 
 sleeper if any nocturnal attempt against him was made, 
 I should be there to call for help in a moment." In 
 the evening she never retired until Bonaparte had gone
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 129 
 
 to bed. But when Mile. Georges was in the ascend- 
 ant, as she used to visit the chateau very late, he did 
 not on those occasions go to his wife's room until an 
 advanced hour of the night. One evening Mme. Bo- 
 naparte, who was more than usually jealous and sus- 
 picious, kept me with her, and eagerly talked of her 
 troubles. It was one o'clock in the morning ; we were 
 alone in her boudoir, and profound silence reigned in 
 the Tuileries. All at once she rose. " I can not bear 
 it any longer," she said. " Mile. Georges is certainly 
 with him ; I will surprise them." I was alarmed by this 
 sudden resolution, and said all I could to dissuade her 
 from acting on it, but in vain. " Follow me," she 
 said ; " let us go up together." Then I represented to 
 her that such an act, very improper even on her part, 
 would be intolerable on mine ; and that, in case of her 
 making the discovery which she expected, I should 
 certainly be one too many at the scene which must 
 ensue. She would listen to nothing; she reproached 
 me with abandoning her in her distress, and she begged 
 me so earnestly to accompany her, that, notwith- 
 standing my repugnance, I yielded, saying to myself 
 that our expedition would end in nothing, as no doubt 
 precautions had been taken to prevent a surprise. 
 
 Silently we ascended the back staircase leading to 
 Bonaparte's room; Mme. Bonaparte, who was much 
 excited, going first, while I followed slowly, feeling 
 very much ashamed of the part I was being made to 
 play. On our way we heard a slight noise. Mme. 
 Bonaparte turned to me and said, " Perhaps that is 
 Rutsan, Bonaparte's Mameluke, who keeps the door. 
 The wretch is quite capable of killing us both." On 
 hearing this, I was seized with such terror that I could 
 not listen further, and, forgetting that I was leaving 
 Mme. Bonaparte in utter darkness, I ran back as 
 quickly as I could to the boudoir, candle in hand. She
 
 130 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 followed me a few minutes after, astonished at my 
 sudden flight. When she saw my terrified face, she 
 began to laugh, which set me off laughing also, and 
 we renounced our enterprise. I left her, telling her I 
 thought the fright she had given me a very good thing 
 for her, and that I was very glad I had yielded to it. 
 
 Mme. Bonaparte's jealousy affected her sweet tem- 
 per so much that it could not long be a secret to any- 
 body. I was in the embarrassing position of a confi- 
 dant without influence over the person who confided 
 in me, and I could not but appear to be mixed up in 
 the quarrels which I witnessed. Bonaparte thought 
 that one woman must enter eagerly into the feelings 
 of another, and he showed some annoyance at my be- 
 ing made aware of the facts of his private life. 
 
 Meantime, the ugly actress grew in favor with the 
 public of Paris, and the handsome one was frequently 
 received with hisses. M. de Remusat endeavored to 
 divide patronage equally between the two; but what- 
 ever he did for the one or for the other was received 
 with equal dissatisfaction, either by the First Consul 
 or by the public. 
 
 These petty affairs gave us a good deal of annoy- 
 ance. Bonaparte, without confiding the secret of his 
 interest in the fair actress to M. de Remusat, com- 
 plained to my husband, saying that he would not ob- 
 ject to my being his wife's confidant, provided I would 
 only give her good advice. My husband represented 
 me as a sensible person, brought up with a great re- 
 gard for propriety, and who would be most unlikely 
 to encourage Mme. Bonaparte's jealous fancies. The 
 First Consul, who was still well disposed toward us, 
 accepted this view of my conduct; but thence arose 
 another annoyance. He called upon me to interfere 
 in his conjugal quarrels, and wanted to avail himself 
 of what he called my good sense against the foolish
 
 2 3
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 131 
 
 jealousy of which he was wearied. As I never could 
 conceal my real sentiments, I answered quite sincerely, 
 when he told me how weary he was of all these scenes, 
 that I pitied Mme. Bonaparte very much, whether she 
 suffered with or without cause, and that he, above 
 all persons, ought to excuse her ; but, at the same time, 
 I admitted that I thought it undignified on her part to 
 endeavor to prove the infidelity which she suspected 
 by employing her servants as spies on her husband. 
 The First Consul did not fail to tell his wife that I 
 blamed her in this respect, and then I was involved in 
 endless explanations between the husband and the 
 wife, into which I imported all the ardor natural to 
 my age, and also the devotion and attachment which 
 I felt for both of them. We went through a constant 
 succession of scenes, whose details have now faded 
 from my memory, and in which Bonaparte would be 
 at one time, imperious, harsh, excessively suspicious, 
 and at another, suddenly moved, tender, almost gen- 
 tle, atoning with a good grace for the faults he ac- 
 knowledged but did not renounce. 
 
 I remember one day, in order to avoid an awkward 
 tete-a-tete with Mme. Bonaparte, he made me remain 
 to dinner. His wife was just then very angry, be- 
 cause he had declared that henceforth he would have a 
 separate apartment, and he insisted that I should give 
 my opinion on this point. I was quite unprepared 
 to answer him, and I knew that Mme. Bonaparte 
 would not readily forgive me if I did not decide in 
 her favor. I tried to evade a reply; but Bonaparte, 
 who enjoyed my embarrassment, insisted. I could 
 find no other way out of the difficulty than by saying 
 that I thought anything which might make people 
 think the First Consul was altering his manner of liv- 
 ing would give rise to injurious reports, and that the 
 least change in the arrangements of the chateau would 
 
 Vol. 9 E Memoirs
 
 132 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 inevitably be talked about. Bonaparte laughed, and, 
 pinching my ear, said, " Ah ! you are a woman, and 
 you all back each other." 
 
 Nevertheless, he carried out his resolution, and from 
 that time forth occupied a separate apartment. His 
 manner toward his wife, however, became more affec- 
 tionate after this breeze, and she, on her side, was less 
 suspicious of him. She adopted the advice which I 
 constantly urged upon her, to treat such unworthy 
 rivalry with disdain. " It would be quite time enough 
 to fret," I said, " if the Consul chose one of the women 
 in your own society; that would be a real grief, and 
 for me a serious annoyance." Two years afterward 
 my prediction was only too fully realized, especially 
 as regarded myself.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 (1803.) 
 
 WITH the exception of this slight disturbance, 
 the winter passed quietly. The progress 
 of the restoration of order was marked by 
 several new institutions. The lyceums were organ- 
 ized; the magistrates again wore official robes, and 
 were also invested with some importance. A collection 
 of French paintings was placed at the Louvre, and 
 called " the Museum," and M. Denon was appointed 
 superintendent. Pensions and rewards were con- 
 ferred on men of letters, and M. de Fontanes was 
 frequently consulted on these points. Bonaparte 
 liked to talk with him, and their conversations 
 were in general very entertaining. The First Con- 
 sul amused himself by attacking the pure and clas- 
 sical taste of M. de Fontanes, who defended our 
 French chefs d'ceuvre with warmth, and thus he gained 
 a reputation for courage among those present. For 
 there were already persons at that Court who took so 
 readily to the role of the courtier, that they looked 
 upon any one who ventured to admire " Merope " or 
 " Mithridates," after the master had declared that he 
 cared for neither of those works, as quite a heroic 
 being. 
 
 Bonaparte appeared to derive great amusement from 
 these literary controversies. At one time he even 
 thought of inviting certain men of letters to come 
 twice a week to Mme. Bonaparte's receptions, so that 
 
 133
 
 134 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 he might enjoy their conversation. M. de Remusat, 
 who was acquainted with a number of distinguished 
 men in Paris, was directed to invite them to the 
 chateau. Accordingly, one evening, several academi- 
 cians and well-known literary men were invited. Bo- 
 naparte was in a good humor that night; he talked 
 very well, and allowed others to talk; he was agree- 
 able and animated. I was charmed to see him make 
 himself so agreeable. I was very anxious that he 
 should make a favorable impression on persons who 
 had not previously known him, and thus defeat cer- 
 tain prejudices which prevailed against him. When 
 he chose, he could exhibit keen judgment, as he did, 
 for instance, in appraising the worth of the old Abbe 
 Morellet's intellect. Morellet was a straightforward, 
 positive man, who proceeded in argument from fact 
 to fact and would never admit the power of the imag- 
 ination on the progress of human ideas. Bonaparte 
 delighted in upsetting this system. Allowing his 
 imagination to take any flight it wished and in the 
 Abbe's presence it carried him far he broached all 
 kinds of subjects, gave full flight to his ideas, was 
 highly amused at the bewilderment of the Abbe, and 
 was really very entertaining. 
 
 The next day he spoke with pleasure of the pre- 
 vious evening, and said he would like to have many 
 such. A similar reception was therefore fixed for a 
 few days later. Somebody (I forget who) began to 
 talk with much animation about liberty of thought 
 and speech, and the advantages which they secure to 
 nations. This led to a discussion considerably less 
 free than on the former occasion, and the Consul main- 
 tained a silence which seemed to paralyze the com- 
 pany. On the third evening he came in late, was 
 absent and gloomy, and spoke only a few uncon- 
 nected sentences. Every one was silent and con-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 135 
 
 strained; and the next day the First Consul told us 
 that he saw there was nothing to be made of these 
 men of letters, nothing to be gained by admitting them 
 to intimacy, and he did not wish they should be in- 
 vited again. He could not bear any restraint, and 
 being obliged to appear affable and in a good humor 
 on a certain day and at a certain hour was a yoke 
 which he hastened to shake off. 
 
 During that winter two distinguished academicians, 
 MM. de la Harpe and de Saint-Lambert, died. I 
 regretted the latter very much, because I was exceed- 
 ingly attached to Mme. d'Houdetot, whose intimate 
 friend he had been for forty years, and at whose house 
 he died. This delightful old lady received all the best 
 and most agreeable society of Paris. I was a con- 
 stant visitor at her house; there I found the revival 
 of a day which then seemed lost beyond recall I 
 mean that in which people conversed in an agreeable 
 and instructive manner. Mme. d'Houdetot, whose 
 age and disposition alike kept her aloof from all polit- 
 ical parties, enjoyed the repose that the country was 
 enjoying, and profited by it to collect all that remained 
 of Parisian good society at her house. They came 
 willingly to tend and to amuse her old age. To go to 
 her house was a relief from the restraint under which 
 I lived at the Tuileries, partly from the example of 
 others and partly from the experience which I was 
 beginning to acquire. 
 
 About this time a rumor rose that war with Eng- 
 land was likely to break out again. Private letters 
 revealing certain enterprises set on foot in La Ven- 
 dee were published. In these letters the English Gov- 
 ernment was accused of aiding the Vendeans, and 
 George Cadoudal was named in them as the agent 
 between the English Government and the Chouans. M. 
 Andre was also mentioned; it was said he had got
 
 136 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 into France secretly, after already having endeavored, 
 before the i8th Fructidor, to assist the Royalist cause. 
 While this rumor was spreading, the Legislative As- 
 sembly was called together. The report of the state 
 of the Republic which was laid before it was remark- 
 able, and gave rise to much comment. It included 
 peace with foreign powers; the conclusum given at 
 Ratisbon upon the new partition of Germany, and 
 recognized by all the sovereigns; the constitution 
 accepted by the Swiss; the Concordat; the regulation 
 of public education; the formation of the Institute; 
 the improved administration of justice; the amelior- 
 ation of the finances ; the Civil Code, of which a por- 
 tion was submitted to the Assembly; various public 
 works commenced both on our frontiers and in 
 France; plans for Antwerp, for Mont Cenis, the 
 banks of the Rhine, and the canal de 1'Ourcq; the 
 acquisition of the island of Elba; the possession of 
 Saint Domingo; several proposals for laws, upon in- 
 direct taxation, on the formation of chambers of com- 
 merce, on the exercise of the profession of medicine, 
 and on manufactures. All this formed a satisfactory 
 statement, and one honorable to the Government. At 
 the end of the report, however, a few words were 
 slipped in with reference to the possibility of a rup- 
 ture with England, and the necessity for increasing 
 the army. Neither the Legislative Assembly nor the 
 Tribunate offered any opposition whatever, and ap- 
 probation which at that time was really deserved was 
 bestowed upon so fair a beginning to many great 
 undertakings. 
 
 In March, bitter complaints appeared in our news- 
 papers of certain pamphlets against Bonaparte which 
 were circulated in England. This sensitiveness to 
 strictures by the English free press was only a pre- 
 text; the occupation of Malta and our intervention in
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 137 
 
 the Government of Switzerland were the true causes 
 of the rupture. On the 8th of March, 1803, a mes- 
 sage from the King of England to the Parliament 
 declared that important differences between the two 
 Governments had arisen, and complained of the war- 
 like preparations which were being made in the ports 
 of Holland. Immediately afterward the scene took 
 place in which Bonaparte either feigned or allowed 
 himself to exhibit violent anger in the presence of all 
 the ambassadors. A little later he left Paris for Saint 
 Cloud. 
 
 Notwithstanding his absorption in public affairs, he 
 took care to direct one of his Prefects of the Palace 
 to write a letter of congratulation and compliment to 
 the celebrated musician Paisiello on the opera of 
 " Proserpine," which had just been given in Paris. 
 The First Consul was exceedingly anxious to attract 
 the celebrated people of all countries to France, and 
 he paid them liberally. 
 
 Shortly afterward the rupture between France and 
 England took place, and the English ambassador 
 before whose house a great crowd had been in the 
 habit of assembling daily, in order to judge of the 
 state of affairs, according to the preparations for 
 departure which they could or could not perceive in 
 the courtyard left Paris abruptly. M. de Talley- 
 rand communicated to the Senate a statement of the 
 reasons that rendered war inevitable. The Senate 
 replied that they could only applaud the combined 
 moderation and firmness of the First Consul, and 
 sent a deputation to Saint Cloud to express their grat- 
 itude and their devotion. M. de Vaublanc, when 
 speaking in the Legislative Assembly, exclaimed en- 
 thusiastically, " What chief of a nation has ever 
 shown a greater love of peace? " If it were possible 
 to separate the history of the negotiations of the First
 
 138 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Consul from that of his exploits, it would read like 
 the life of a magistrate whose sole endeavor had been 
 the establishment of peace. The Tribunate expressed 
 a desire that energetic measures should be taken ; and, 
 after these various acts of admiration and obedience, 
 the session of the Legislative Assembly came to a 
 close. 
 
 Then appeared certain violent notes against the 
 English Government, which soon became numerous, 
 and dealt in detail with the attacks of the free daily 
 press in London. Bonaparte dictated the substance 
 of these notes, and M. Maret drew them up. Thus 
 the sovereign of a great empire entered, so to speak, 
 into a war of words with journalists, and lowered his 
 own dignity by allowing it to be seen that he was 
 stung by the criticisms of ephemeral newspapers, 
 whose comments it would have been far wiser to 
 ignore. It was easy for the English journalists to 
 find out how hard their remarks hit the First Consul, 
 and a little later the Emperor of France, and they 
 accordingly redoubled their attacks. How many 
 times, when we saw him gloomy and out of temper, 
 did Mme. Bonaparte tell us it was because he had read 
 some article against himself in the " Courier " or the 
 " Sun " ! He tried to wage a pen-and-ink war with 
 the English press; he subsidized certain journals in 
 London, expended a great deal of money, and de- 
 ceived no one either in France or in England. 
 
 I have said that he often dictated notes on this sub- 
 ject for the " Moniteur." Bonaparte dictated with 
 great ease. He never wrote anything with his own 
 hand. His handwriting was bad, and as illegible by 
 himself as by others; his spelling was very defective. 
 He utterly lacked patience to do anything whatever 
 with his own hands. The extreme activity of his 
 mind and the habitual prompt obedience rendered to
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 139 
 
 him prevented him from practicing- an occupation in 
 which the mind must necessarily wait for the action 
 of the body. Those who wrote from his dictation 
 first M. Bourrienne, then M. Maret, and Menneval, 
 his private secretary had made a sort of shorthand 
 for themselves, in order that their pens might travel 
 as fast as his thoughts. He dictated while walking to 
 and fro in his cabinet. When he grew angry, he 
 would use violent imprecations, which were suppressed 
 in writing, and which had at least the advantage of 
 giving the writer time to come up with him. He 
 never repeated anything that he once said, even if it 
 had not been heard; and this was very hard on the 
 poor secretary, for he remembered accurately what 
 he had said and detected every omission. One day 
 he read a tragedy in manuscript, and it interested 
 him sufficiently to inspire him with a fancy to make 
 some alterations in it. " Take a pen and paper," said 
 he to M. de Remusat, " and write for me." Hardly 
 giving my husband time to seat himself at a table, he 
 began to dictate so quickly that M. de Remusat, al- 
 though accustomed to write with great rapidity, was 
 bathed in perspiration while trying to follow him. 
 Bonaparte perceived his difficulty, and would stop now 
 and then to say, " Come, try to understand me, for I 
 will not repeat what I say." He always derived amuse- 
 ment from causing any one uneasiness and distress. 
 His great general principle, which he applied to every- 
 thing, both small and great, was that there could be 
 no zeal where there was no disquiet. Fortunately he 
 forgot to ask for the sheet of observations he had dic- 
 tated. M. de Remusat and I have often tried to read 
 it since, but we have never been able to make out a 
 word of it. 
 
 M. Maret, the Secretary of State, was a man of 
 very ordinary intellect ; indeed, Bonaparte did not dis-
 
 140 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 like mediocrity, because he said he had enough brains 
 to give those about him what they wanted in that way. 
 M. Maret rose to high favor in consequence of his 
 great facility in writing from the First Consul's dicta- 
 tion. He accustomed himself to follow and seize upon 
 the first indication of Bonaparte's idea so faithfully 
 that he could report it just as it came from the speak- 
 er's brain without making an observation. His favor 
 with his master was perhaps still more largely due to 
 the fact that he felt or feigned boundless devotion to 
 him, and it was displayed by such enthusiastic admira- 
 tion that Bonaparte could not help being flattered. 
 So far did M. Maret carry the art 'of skillful adulation, 
 that it was positively asserted that when he traveled 
 with the Emperor he took the trouble to leave with his 
 wife drafts of letters, which she copied carefully, com- 
 plaining that her husband was so exclusively devoted 
 to his master that she could not help feeling jealous. 
 As all the letters were delivered at the Emperor's own 
 quarters while he was traveling, and as he frequently 
 amused himself by opening them, these clever com- 
 plainings produced exactly the intended effect. 
 
 When M. Maret was Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 he took care not to follow the example of M. de Tal- 
 leyrand, who used to say that it was, above all, Bona- 
 parte himself w r hom it was necessary for that minister 
 to manage. Maret, on the contrary, fostered all Bona- 
 parte's passions, and was surprised that foreign sov- 
 ereigns should dare to be angry when he insulted 
 them, or should offer any resistance to their own ruin. 
 He thus advanced his personal fortune at the expense 
 of Europe, whose just interests an honest and able 
 minister would have endeavored to protect. A courier 
 was always in readiness, by whom he might dispatch 
 to any one of the sovereigns the first angry words that 
 escaped from Bonaparte, when he heard news which
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 141 
 
 displeased him. His weak complaisance was some- 
 times injurious to his master. It caused more than 
 one rupture which was regretted when the first out- 
 break of violence had passed, and it probably con- 
 tributed to the fall of Bonaparte ; for, in the last year 
 of his reign, while he lingered at Dresden uncertain 
 what to do, Maret delayed for eight days the retreat 
 it was so important to make, because he had not the 
 courage to inform the Emperor of the defection of 
 Bavaria, a piece of intelligence it was most necessary 
 he should learn. An anecdote of M. de Talleyrand 
 may be related here, as a sample of the skill with which 
 that astute minister managed Bonaparte, and also of 
 the completeness of his own ascendancy. 
 
 A treaty of peace between England and France was 
 being arranged at Amiens in the spring of 1810. Cer- 
 tain difficulties which had arisen between the pleni- 
 potentiaries were giving rise to some little uneasiness, 
 and Bonaparte was anxiously expecting dispatches. 
 A courier arrived, and brought to the Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs the much-desired signature. M. de 
 Talleyrand put it in his pocket and went to the First 
 Consul. He appeared before him with that immovable 
 countenance which he wears on every occasion. For 
 a whole hour he remained with Bonaparte, transact- 
 ing a number of important matters of business, and 
 when all was done, " Now," said he, smiling, " I am 
 going to give you a great pleasure ; the treaty is signed, 
 and here it is." Bonaparte was astounded at this 
 fashion of announcing the matter. " Why did you 
 not tell me at once?" he demanded. "Ah," replied 
 M. de Talleyrand, " because then you would not have 
 listened to me on any other subject. When you are 
 pleased, you are not always pleasant." The self-con- 
 trol displayed in this reticence struck the Consul, 
 " and," added M. de Talleyrand, " did not make him
 
 142 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 angry, because he saw immediately how far it might 
 be made useful to himself." 
 
 Another person, who was really more attached to 
 Bonaparte, and quite as demonstrative in his admi- 
 ration for him as M. Maret, was Marshal Berthier, 
 Prince of Wagram. He had served in the campaign 
 in Egypt, and had become strongly attached to his 
 General. Berthier's friendship for him was so great 
 that, little as Bonaparte valued anything coming from 
 the heart, he could not but respond to it in some de- 
 gree. The sentiment was, however, very unequally 
 divided between them, and was used by the powerful 
 one of the two as a means of exaction. One day 
 Bonaparte said to M. de Talleyrand : " I really can not 
 understand how a relation that bears some appearance 
 of friendship has established itself between Berthier 
 and me. I don't indulge in useless sentiments, and 
 Berthier is so uninteresting that I do not know why 
 I should care at all about him; and yet, when I think 
 of it, I believe I really have some liking for him." 
 " If you do care about him," replied M. de Talley- 
 rand, " do you know the reason why ? It is because 
 he believes in you." 
 
 These anecdotes, which I set down as they recur to 
 my memory, did not come to my knowledge till a much 
 later period, when my greater intimacy with M. de 
 Talleyrand revealed to me the chief traits in Bona- 
 parte's character. At first I was completely deceived 
 by him, and was very happy to be so. I knew he had 
 genius, I saw that he was disposed to make amends 
 for the passing wrongs he did his wife, and I remarked 
 his friendship for Berthier with pleasure; he caressed 
 little Napoleon in my presence, and seemed to love 
 him. I regarded him as accessible to kindly natural 
 feelings, and my youthful imagination arrayed him 
 in all those qualities which I desired to find in him. It
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 143 
 
 is only just to him also to admit that excess of power 
 intoxicated him; that his passions were increased in 
 violence by the facility with which he was enabled to 
 gratify them; but that while he was young, and as 
 yet uncertain of the future, he frequently hesitated 
 between the open exhibition of vice and, at least, the 
 affectation of virtue. 
 
 After the declaration of war with England, some- 
 body (I do not know who) suggested to Bonaparte 
 the idea of an invasion by means of flat-bottomed 
 boats. I can not say with certainty whether he really 
 believed in this plan, or whether he only used it as a 
 pretext for collecting and increasing his army, which 
 he assembled at the camp of Boulogne. So many 
 people maintained that a descent upon the shores of 
 England in this way was practicable, that it is quite 
 possible he may have thought fate had a success of the 
 kind in store for him. Enormous works were begun 
 in our ports, and in some of the Belgian towns; the 
 army marched to the coast, and Generals Soult and 
 Key were sent to command it at different points. The 
 idea of a conquest of England fired the general imag- 
 ination ; and even the English themselves began to feel 
 uneasy, and thought it necessary to make some pre- 
 parations for defense. Attempts were made to excite 
 the public mind against the English by dramatic 
 representations; scenes from the life of William the 
 Conqueror were represented at the theatres. The 
 conquest of Hanover was easily effected, but then 
 came the blockade of our ports that did us so much 
 harm. 
 
 During the summer of this year (1803) a journey 
 to Belgium was arranged, and Bonaparte required that 
 it should be made with great magnificence. He had 
 little trouble in persuading Mme. Bonaparte to take 
 with her everything that could make an impression
 
 144 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 on the people to whom she was about to exhibit her- 
 self. Mme. Talhouet and I were selected to accom- 
 pany her, and the Consul gave me thirty thousand 
 francs for those expenses which he prescribed. He set 
 out on the 24th of June, with a cortege of several car- 
 riages, two generals of his guard, his aides-de-camp, 
 Duroc, two Prefects of the Palace (M. de Remusat 
 and a Piedmontese named Salmatoris), and com- 
 menced the journey in great pomp. 
 
 Before we set out, we went for one day to Morte- 
 fontaine, an estate which had been purchased by Jo- 
 seph Bonaparte. All the family were assembled there, 
 and a strange occurrence took place. We passed the 
 morning in walking about the gardens, which are 
 beautiful. When dinner hour approached, a question 
 arose about the placing of the guests. The elder 
 Mme. Bonaparte was at Mortefontaine, and Joseph 
 told his brother that he intended to take his mother 
 in to dinner, and to place her on his right hand, while 
 Mme. Bonaparte was to sit on his left. The First 
 Consul took offense at this arrangement, which placed 
 his wife in the second rank, and insisted that his 
 brother should transfer their mother to that position. 
 Joseph refused, and no argument could induce him to 
 give way. When dinner was announced, Joseph took 
 his mother's hand, and Lncien escorted Mme. Bona- 
 parte. The First Consul, incensed at this opposition 
 to his will, hurriedly crossed the room, took the arm 
 of his wife, passed out before every one, seated her 
 beside himself, and then, turning to me, ordered me to 
 place myself near him. The company were all greatly 
 embarrassed, I even more so than the others; and 
 Mme. Joseph Bonaparte, to whom some politeness 
 was due, found herself at the bottom of the table, as 
 if she were not one of the family. 
 
 The stiffness and gloom of that dinner-party may
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 145 
 
 be easily imagined. The brothers were angry, Mme. 
 Bonaparte was wretched, and I was excessively em- 
 barrassed by my prominent position. During the din- 
 ner Bonaparte did not address a single member of his 
 family; he occupied himself with his wife, talked to 
 me, and chose this opportune occasion to inform me 
 that he had that morning restored to my cousin, the 
 Vicomte de Vergennes, certain forests which had 
 long been sequestrated on account of his emigration, 
 but which had not been sold. I was touched by this 
 mark of his kindness, but it was very vexatious to me 
 that he selected such a moment to tell me of it, because 
 the gratitude which I would otherwise have gladly 
 expressed, and the joy which I really felt, made me 
 appear to the observers of the little scene to be talking 
 freely to him, while I was really in a state of painful 
 constraint. The remainder of the day passed drearily, 
 as may be supposed, and we left Mortefontaine on 
 the morrow. 
 
 An accident which happened at the beginning 
 of our journey increased the regard which I was 
 then happy to feel for Bonaparte and his wife. 
 He traveled with her and one of the generals of his 
 guard, and his carriage was preceded by one contain- 
 ing Duroc and three aides-de-camp. A third carriage 
 was occupied by Mme. Talhouet, M. de Remusat, and 
 myself; two others followed. Shortly after we had 
 left Compiegne, where we visited a military school, 
 on our way to Amiens, our carriage was violently 
 overturned. Mme. Talhouet's head was badly cut; 
 M. de Remusat and I were only bruised. With some 
 trouble we were extricated from the carriage. Bona- 
 parte, who was on in front, was told of this accident ; 
 he at once alighted from his carriage, and with Mme. 
 Bonaparte, who was much frightened about me, has- 
 tened to join us at a cottage, whither we had been
 
 146 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 taken. I was so terrified that, as soon as I saw Bona- 
 parte, I begged him with tears to send me back to 
 Paris; I already disliked traveling as much as did the 
 pigeon of La Fontaine, and in my distress I cried out 
 that I must return to my mother and my children. 
 
 Bonaparte said a few words intended to calm me; 
 but, finding that he could not succeed in doing so, he 
 took my arm in his, gave orders that Mme. Talhouet 
 should be placed in one of the carriages, and, after 
 satisfying himself that M. de Remusat was none the 
 worse for the accident, led me, frightened as I was, to 
 his own carriage, and made me get in with him. We 
 set off again, and he took pains to cheer up his wife 
 and me, and told us, laughingly, to kiss each other and 
 cry, " because," he said, " that always does women 
 good." After a while his animated conversation dis- 
 tracted my thoughts, and my fear of the further jour- 
 ney subsided. Mme. Bonaparte having referred to 
 the grief my mother would feel if any harm happened 
 to me, Bonaparte questioned me about her, and ap- 
 peared to be \vell aware of the high esteem in which 
 she was held in society. Indeed, it was largely to this 
 that his attention to me was due. At that period, 
 when so many people still held back from the advances 
 he made to them, he was greatly gratified that my 
 mother had consented to my holding a place in his 
 household. At that time I was in his eyes almost a 
 personage whose example would, he hoped, be fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 On the evening of the same day we arrived at 
 Amiens, where we were received with enthusiasm 
 impossible to describe. The horses were taken from 
 the carriage, and replaced by the inhabitants, who 
 insisted on drawing it themselves. I was the more 
 affected by this spectacle, as it was absolutely novel 
 to me. Alas! since I had been of an age to observe
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 147 
 
 what was passing around me, I had witnessed only 
 scenes of terror and woe, I had heard only sounds of 
 hate and menace; and the joy of the inhabitants of 
 Amiens, the garlands that decorated our route, the 
 triumphal arches erected in honor of him who was 
 represented on all these devices as the saviour of 
 France, the crowds who fought for a sight of him, the 
 universal blessings which could not have been uttered 
 to order the whole spectacle, in fact, so affected me 
 that I could not restrain my tears. Mme. Bonaparte 
 wept; I saw even the eyes of Bonaparte himself glis- 
 ten for a moment.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 (1803.) 
 
 ON Bonaparte's arrival intown, the Prefect of 
 the Palace was directed to summon the vari- 
 ous persons in authority, that they might be 
 presented to him. The prefect, the mayor, the bishop, 
 the presidents of the tribunals, would read an address 
 to him, and then, turning to Mme. Bonaparte, make 
 her a little speech also. According to the mood he 
 happened to be in, Bonaparte would listen to these 
 discourses to the end, or interrupt them by questioning 
 the deputation on the nature of their respective func- 
 tions, or on the district in which they exercised them. 
 He rarely put questions with an appearance of interest, 
 but rather with the air of a man who desires to show 
 his knowledge, and w r ants to see whether he can be 
 answered. These speeches were addressed to the 
 Republic ; but any one who reads them may see that in 
 almost every respect they might have been addressed 
 to a sovereign. Indeed, the mayors of some of the 
 Flemish towns went so far as to urge the Consul to 
 " complete the happiness of the world by exchanging 
 his precarious title for one better suited to the lofty 
 destiny to which he was called." I was present the 
 first time that happened, and I kept my eyes fixed upon 
 Bonaparte. When these very words were uttered, he 
 had some difficulty in checking the smile that hovered 
 about his lips; but, putting strong control upon him- 
 self, he interrupted the orator, and replied, in a tone 
 of feigned anger, that it would be unworthy of him 
 
 148
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 149 
 
 to usurp an authority which must affect the existence 
 of the Republic. Thus, like Caesar, he repudiated the 
 crown, though perhaps he was not ill pleased that they 
 were beginning to offer it to him. The good people 
 of the provinces we visited were not very far wrong; 
 for the splendor that surrounded us, the sumptuous- 
 ness of that military yet brilliant court, the strict 
 ceremonial, the imperious tone of the master, the sub- 
 mission of all about him, and, finally, the expectation 
 that homage should be paid the wife of the first magis- 
 trate, to whom the Republic certainly owed none all 
 this strongly resembled the progress of a King. 
 
 After these audiences, Bonaparte generally rode out 
 on horseback; he showed himself to the people, who 
 followed him with acclamations; he visited the public 
 monuments and manufactories, but always in a hurried 
 way, for he could never get over that precipitation 
 which gave him an ill-bred air. Afterward he would 
 give a dinner, or attend a fete which had been pre- 
 pared for him, and this was always the most weari- 
 some part of the business to him. " I am not made 
 for pleasure," he would say, in a melancholy tone. 
 Then he would leave the town, after having received 
 petitions, attended to complaints, and distributed alms 
 and presents. He was accustomed, when on a journey 
 of this sort, to inform himself at each town he went 
 to what public establishments were wanting there, and 
 he would order them to be founded, in commemora- 
 tion of his visit. The inhabitants would load him with 
 blessings for this munificence. But shortly afterward 
 a mandate from the Minister of the Interior would 
 arrive, drawn up in this form : " In conformity with 
 the gracious permission of the First Consul " (later 
 it was "the Emperor"), "you are directed, citizen 
 mayors, to have such and such a building constructed, 
 taking care that the expenses shall be defrayed by the
 
 ISO MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 funds of your commune." Thus these towns would 
 suddenly find themselves obliged to alter the disposi- 
 tion of their funds, very often at a moment when they 
 were not sufficient for necessary expenses. The Pre- 
 fect took care, however, that the orders were executed, 
 or at least the most useful portion of them; and it 
 must be admitted that, from one end of France to 
 the other, everything was being embellished, and that 
 the general prosperity was such that new works, even 
 of the most important nature, might safely be under- 
 taken everywhere. 
 
 At Arras, at Lille, and at Dunkirk, we had similar 
 receptions; but it seemed to me that the enthusiasm 
 cooled down when we got beyond the former boun- 
 daries of France. At Ghent, especially, we detected 
 some coldness in the popular greeting. In vain did 
 the authorities endeavor to stir up the zeal of the 
 inhabitants; they were curious, but not enthusiastic. 
 Bonaparte was a little annoyed, and inclined to pro- 
 ceed without delay. He thought better of this, how- 
 ever, and said in the evening to his wife : " These 
 people are bigoted and under the influence of the 
 priests; we must remain a long time at church to- 
 morrow, and propitiate the clergy by some favor. In 
 this way we shall regain lost ground." Next day he 
 attended high mass with every appearance of devout- 
 ness; he talked to the Bishop, whom he completely 
 captivated, and by degrees he obtained the popular 
 acclamations he desired. At Ghent he met the daugh- 
 ters of the Due de Villequier, formerly one of the four 
 Gentlemen of the Chamber to the King. These ladies 
 were nieces of the Bishop, and Bonaparte restored to 
 them the beautiful estate of Villequier, with its large 
 revenues. I had the happiness of contributing to this 
 restitution, by urging it with all my might, both upon 
 Bonaparte and upon his wife. The two amiable young
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 151 
 
 ladies have never forgotten this to me. When I 
 assured Bonaparte of their gratitude, " Ah/* said he, 
 " gratitude ! That is a poetic word which has no 
 meaning in times of revolution; and what I have just 
 done would not prevent your friends from rejoicing 
 if some Royalist emissary should succeed in assassin- 
 ating me during this journey." And, as I betrayed the 
 surprise with which I heard him, he continued : " You 
 are young; you do not know what political hatred is. 
 It is like a pair of spectacles: one sees everybody, 
 every opinion, or every sentiment only through the 
 glass of one's passions. Hence, nothing is bad or good 
 of itself, but simply according to the party to which 
 one belongs. In reality, this mode of seeing is con- 
 venient, and we profit by it; for we also have our 
 spectacles, and, if we do not see things through our 
 passions, we see them through our interests." 
 
 " But," I replied, " where, in such a system, do you 
 place the applause which you do care to win? For 
 what class of men do you spend your life in great and 
 often perilous enterprises ? " 
 
 " Ah," he answered, " one can not avoid one's 
 destiny; he who is called can not resist. Besides, 
 human pride finds the public it desires in that ideal 
 world which is called posterity. He who believes that, 
 a hundred years hence, a fine poem, or even a line in 
 one, will recall a great action of his own, or that a 
 painting will commemorate it, has his imagination 
 fired by that idea. The battle-field has no dangers, 
 the cannon roars in vain ; to him it is only that sound 
 which, a thousand years hence, will carry a brave 
 man's name to the ears of our distant descendants." 
 
 " I shall never be able to understand," I continued, 
 " how a man can expose himself to every sort of 
 danger for fame's sake, if his own inward sentiment 
 be only contempt for the men of his own time."
 
 152 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Here Bonaparte interrupted me quickly. " I do not 
 despise men, madame that is a thing you must never 
 say; and I particularly esteem the French." 
 
 I smiled at this abrupt declaration, and, as he 
 guessed why, he smiled also ; and approaching me and 
 pulling my ear, which was, as I have already said, a 
 trick of his when he was in a good humor, he repeated, 
 " Do you hear, madame ? you must never say that I 
 despise the French." 
 
 From Ghent we went to Antwerp, where we were 
 received with a special ceremony. On occasions of 
 visits from kings and princes, the people of Antwerp 
 are in the habit of parading through their streets a 
 giant, who never makes his appearance except on such 
 solemn festivals. Although we were neither king nor 
 prince, we were obliged to yield to the people's w r ish 
 in this matter, and it put Bonaparte i" good humor 
 with the town of Antwerp. He occupied himself 
 much while there with the important extension which 
 he designed for its harbor, and gave orders for the 
 commencement of the great works which have since 
 been executed there. 
 
 On the way from Antwerp to Brussels we stopped 
 at Malines for a few hours, and there we saw the 
 new Archbishop, M. de Roquelaure. He was Bishop 
 of Senlis under Louis XVI., and had been the intimate 
 friend of my great-uncle, the Count de Vergennes. 
 I had seen a great deal of him in my childhood, and I 
 was glad to meet him again. Bonaparte talked to him 
 in a very insinuating manner. At this period he 
 affected great esteem for the priests, and care for 
 their interests. He knew how steadily religion sup- 
 ports royalty, and he hoped that through the priests 
 he might get the people taught that catechism which 
 we have since seen, in which all who did not love 
 and obey the Emperor were threatened with eternal
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 153 
 
 condemnation. For the first time since the Revolu- 
 tion, the clergy found the Government occupying 
 itself with their welfare, and giving them rank and 
 consideration. They showed themselves grateful, and 
 were useful to Bonaparte until the moment came 
 when he endeavored to impose his ever-growing des- 
 potism on their consciences, and the priests had to 
 choose between him and their duty. At this time, 
 however, the words, " He has reestablished religion," 
 were in every pious mouth, and told immensely in 
 his favor. 
 
 Our entry into Brussels was magnificent. Several 
 fine regiments awaited the First Consul at the gate, 
 where he mounted his horse. Mme. Bonaparte found 
 a superb carriage, presented to her by the city, await- 
 ing her; the streets \vere lavishly decorated, cannon 
 were fired, the bells were rung; the numerous clergy 
 were assembled in great pomp on the steps of all the 
 churches; there was an immense crowd of the popu- 
 lation, and also many foreigners, and the weather was 
 beautiful. I was enchanted. Our stay in Brussels 
 was a succession of brilliant fetes. The French min- 
 isters, Consul Le Brun, the envoys from the foreign 
 courts who had business to arrange, came to meet 
 us there. At Brussels I heard M. de Talleyrand reply 
 in an adroit and flattering manner to a question sud- 
 denly put to him by Bonaparte, who asked him how 
 he had so rapidly made his great fortune ? " Nothing 
 could be more simple," replied M. de Talleyrand; " I 
 bought stock on the I7th Brumaire, and I sold it 
 again on the I9th." 
 
 One Sunday we were to visit the cathedral in great 
 state. M. de Remusat went early in the morning to 
 the church, to arrange the ceremony. He had been 
 directed not to object to any honor which the clergy 
 might propose to pay to the First Consul on this
 
 154 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 occasion. As, however, it was arranged that the priests 
 should go to the great doors with the canopy and the 
 cross to receive the First Consul, a question arose 
 whether Mme. Bonaparte was to share this distinction 
 with him, and Bonaparte did not venture to bring her 
 so prominently forward. She was, therefore, placed 
 in a tribune with the Second Consul. At twelve 
 o'clock, the hour agreed upon, the clergy left the altar, 
 and proceeded to the grand entrance of the magnificent 
 Church of Sainte Gudule. They awaited the arrival 
 of the First Consul, but he did not appear. At first 
 they were astonished, then alarmed; but they pres- 
 ently perceived that he had slipped into the church, 
 and seated himself on the throne which was prepared 
 for him. The priests, surprised and disconcerted, re- 
 turned to the sanctuary, and commenced divine 
 service. The fact was, just as he was setting out, 
 Bonaparte was told that, at a similar ceremony, 
 Charles V. had preferred to enter the Church of 
 Sainte Gudule by a little side-door which had ever 
 after been called by his name; and it seemed he had 
 taken a fancy to use the same entrance, hoping, per- 
 haps, that henceforth it would be called the door of 
 Charles V. and of Bonaparte. 
 
 One morning the numerous and magnificent regi- 
 ments which had been brought to Brussels were 
 reviewed by the Consul, or, as on this occasion I ought 
 to call him, the General. His reception by the troops 
 was nothing sho'rt of rapturous. It was well worth 
 seeing how he talked to the soldiers how he ques- 
 tioned them one after the other respecting their cam- 
 paigns or their wounds; taking particular interest in 
 the men who had accompanied him to Egypt, I have 
 heard Mme. Bonaparte say that her husband was in 
 the constant habit of poring over the list of what are 
 called the cadres of the army, at night, before he slept.
 
 155 
 
 He would go to sleep repeating the names of the corps, 
 and even those of some of the individuals who com- 
 posed them; he kept those names in a corner of his 
 memory, and this habit came to his aid when he 
 wanted to recognize a soldier, and to give him the 
 pleasure of a cheering word from his General. He 
 spoke to the subalterns in a tone of good fellowship, 
 which delighted them all, as he reminded them of 
 their common feats of arms. Afterward, when his 
 armies became so numerous, when his battles became 
 so deadly, he disdained to exercise this kind of fasci- 
 nation. Besides, death had extinguished so many 
 remembrances, that in a few years it became difficult 
 for him to find any great number of the companions 
 of his early exploits; and, when he addressed his 
 soldiers before leading them into battle, it was as a 
 perpetually renewed posterity, to which the preceding 
 and destroyed army had bequeathed its glory. But 
 even this somber style of encouragement availed for 
 a long time with a nation which believed itself to be 
 fulfilling its destiny while sending its sons year after 
 year to die for Bonaparte. 
 
 I have said that Bonaparte took great pleasure in 
 recalling his campaign in Egypt; it was, indeed, his 
 favorite theme of discourse. He had taken with him, 
 on the journey I am describing, M. Monge the sarant, 
 whom he had made a senator, and whom he liked 
 particularly, for the sole reason that he was among 
 the number of the members of the Institute who had 
 gone with him to Egypt. Bonaparte often talked to 
 him of that expedition " that land of poetry," he 
 would say, " which was trodden by Caesar and Pom- 
 pey." He would speak with enthusiasm of the time 
 when he appeared before the amazed Orientals like a 
 new Prophet ; for the sway he exercised over imagina- 
 tion, being the most complete of all, he prized more
 
 156 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 highly than any other. " In France," he said, " one 
 must conquer everything at the point of demonstra- 
 tion. In Egypt we did not require our mathematics; 
 did we, Monge? " 
 
 It was at Brussels that I began to get accustomed 
 to M. de Talleyrand, and to shake off the earlier im- 
 pression made by his disdainful manner and sarcastic 
 disposition. The idleness of a court life makes the 
 day seem a hundred hours long, and it happened that 
 we often passed many of those hours together in the 
 salon, waiting until it should please Bonaparte to 
 come in or to go out. It was during one of these 
 weary waits that I heard M. de Talleyrand complain 
 that his family had not realized any of the plans he 
 had formed for them. His brother, Archambault de 
 Perigord, had just been sent into exile for having 
 indulged in the sarcastic language common to the 
 family. He had, however, applied it to persons of 
 rank too high to be ridiculed with impunity, and he 
 had also offended by refusing to give his daughter in 
 marriage to Eugene de Beauharnais, to whom he had 
 preferred Count Just de Noailles. M. de Talleyrand, 
 who was quite as anxious as Mme. Bonaparte that 
 his niece should marry Beauharnais, blamed his 
 brother's conduct severely, and I could perfectly un- 
 derstand that such an alliance would have been advan- 
 tageous to his personal policy. One of the first things 
 that struck me, when I had talked for a little while 
 with M. de Talleyrand, was the entire absence of any 
 kind of illusion or enthusiasm on his part with regard 
 to all that was passing around us. Every one else was 
 more or less under the influence of feelings of this 
 kind. The implicit obedience of the military officers 
 might easily pass for zeal, and, in the case of some of 
 them, it really was devotion. The ministers affected 
 or felt profound admiration; M. Maret paraded his
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 157 
 
 worship of the First Consul on every occasion; 
 Berthier was happy in the sincerity of his attachment ; 
 in short, every one seemed to feel something. M. de 
 Remusat tried to like his post, and to esteem the man 
 who had conferred it on him. As for myself, I cul- 
 tivated every opportunity of emotion and of self- 
 deception; and the calm indifference of M. de Talley- 
 rand amazed me. " Good heavens ! " I said to him on 
 one occasion, " how is it possible that you can live 
 and work without experiencing any emotion either 
 from what passes around us, or from your own 
 actions ? " " Ah ! what a woman you are, and how 
 young ! " he replied : and then he began to ridicule me, 
 as he did every one else. His jests wounded my 
 feelings, yet they made me laugh. I was angry with 
 myself for being amused, and yet, because my vanity 
 was pleased at my own comprehension of his wit, less 
 shocked than I ought to have been at the hardness of 
 his heart. However, I did not yet know him, and 
 it was not till much later, when I had got over the 
 restraint that he imposed on every one at first, that I 
 observed the curious mixture of qualities in his 
 character. 
 
 On leaving Brussels we went to Liege and 
 Maestricht, and reentered the former boundaries of 
 France by way of Mezieres and Sedan. Mme. Bona- 
 parte was charming during this journey, and left an 
 impression on my mind of her kindness and gracious- 
 ness which, as I found fifteen years afterward, time 
 could not efface. 
 
 I was delighted to return to Paris, and to find my- 
 self once more among my family and free from the 
 restraint of court life. M. de Remusat, like myself, 
 was tired of the idle yet restless pomp of the last six 
 weeks; and we rejoiced in the quiet of our happy 
 home.
 
 158 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 On his return to Saint Cloud, Bonaparte and Mme. 
 Bonaparte received complimentary addresses from the 
 Corps Legislatif, the tribunals, etc. ; the First Consul 
 also received a visit from the Corps Diplomatique. 
 Shortly after this, he enhanced the dignity of the 
 Legion of Honor by appointing M. de Lacepede its 
 Chancellor. Since the fall of Bonaparte, certain 
 liberal writers, and among others Mme. de Stae'l, have 
 endeavored to stigmatize that institution by reviving 
 the recollection of an English caricature which repre- 
 sented Bonaparte cutting up the bonnet rouge of the 
 Revolution to make the crosses of the Legion. But, if 
 he had not misused that institution as he misused 
 everything, there would have been nothing to blame 
 in the invention of a recompense which was an induce- 
 ment to every kind of merit, without being a great 
 expense to the State. What splendid deeds on the 
 battle-field has that little bit of ribbon inspired! If it 
 had been accorded to merit only in every walk of life, 
 if it had never been given from motives of caprice 
 or individual favor, it would have been a fine idea to 
 assimilate all services rendered to the country, no 
 matter of what nature, and to bestow a similar deco- 
 ration upon them all. The institutions of Bonaparte 
 in France ought not to be indiscriminately condemned. 
 Most of them have a commendable purpose, and might 
 have been made of advantage to the nation. But his 
 insatiable greed of power perverted them. So intol- 
 erant was he of any obstacles, that he could not even 
 endure those which arose from his own institutions, 
 and he instantly set them aside by an arbitrary 
 decision. 
 
 Having in the course of this year (1803) created 
 the different senatorships, he gave a Chancellor, a 
 Treasurer, and Praetors to the Senate. M. de Laplace 
 was the Chancellor. Bonaparte honored him because
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 159 
 
 he was a savant, and liked him because he was a skill- 
 ful flatterer. The two Praetors were General Lefebvre 
 and General Serrurier. M. de Fargues was the 
 Treasurer. 
 
 The Republican year ended as usual in the middle 
 of September, and the anniversary of the Republic 
 was celebrated by popular fetes, and kept with royal 
 pomp at the palace of the Tuileries. We heard at the 
 same time that the Hanoverians, who had been con- 
 quered by General Mortier, had celebrated the First 
 Consul's birthday with great rejoicings. Thus, by 
 degrees, by appearing at first at the head of all, and 
 then quite alone, he accustomed Europe to see France 
 in his person only, and presented himself everywhere 
 as the sole representative of the nation. 
 
 Bonaparte, who well knew that he would meet 
 with resistance from those who held by the old ways 
 of thinking, applied himself early and skillfully to 
 gain the young, to whom he opened all the doors of 
 advancement in life. He attached auditors to the 
 different ministries, and gave free scope to ambition, 
 whether in military or in civil careers. He often said 
 that he preferred to every other advantage that of 
 governing a new people, and the youthful generation 
 afforded him that novelty. 
 
 The institution of the jury was also discussed in 
 that year. I have heard that Bonaparte himself had 
 no liking for it ; but, as he intended later on to govern 
 rather by himself than with the assistance of assem- 
 blies which he feared, he was obliged to make some 
 concessions to their most distinguished members. By 
 degrees, all the laws were presented to the Council by 
 the ministers, and were either changed into decrees, 
 which, without any other sanction, were put in force 
 from one end of France to the other; or else, having 
 been received with the silent approbation of the Corps
 
 160 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Legislatif, they were passed with no more trouble 
 than that imposed upon reporters of the Council, who 
 had to preface them by a discourse, so that they might 
 have some show of necessity. Lyceums were also 
 established in all the important towns, and the study 
 of ancient languages, which had been abolished during 
 the Revolution, was again made obligatory in public 
 education. 
 
 It was at this time that the flotilla of flat-bottomed 
 boats which was to be used for the invasion of Eng- 
 land was being constructed. Day by day it was more 
 confidently asserted that in fine weather it would be 
 possible for the flotilla to reach the shores of England 
 without being impeded by ships of war. It was said 
 that Bonaparte himself would command the expedi- 
 tion, and such an enterprise did not seem to be beyond 
 the bounds of his daring or of his good fortune. Our 
 newspapers represented England as agitated and 
 alarmed, and in reality the English Government was 
 not quite exempt from fear on the subject. The 
 " Moniteur " still complained bitterly of the English 
 liberal journals, and the gauntlet of wordy war was 
 taken up on both sides. In France the law of con- 
 scription was put in action, and large bodies of troops 
 were raised. Sometimes people asked what was the 
 meaning of this great armament, and of such para- 
 graphs as the following, which appeared in the " Mon- 
 iteur " ; " The English journalists suspect that the great 
 preparations for war, which the First Consul has just 
 commenced in Italy, are intended for an Egyptian 
 expedition." 
 
 No explanation was given. The French nation 
 placed confidence in Bonaparte of a kind like that 
 which some credulous minds feel in magic ; and, as his 
 success was believed to be infallible, it was not difficult 
 to obtain a tacit consent to all his operations from a
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 161 
 
 people naturally prone to worship success. At that 
 time a few wise heads began to perceive that he would 
 not be useful to us; but, as the general dread of the 
 Revolutionary Government still proclaimed him to 
 be necessary, no opposition could be made to his 
 authority without the risk of facilitating the revolt of 
 that party, which it was believed he alone could 
 control. 
 
 In the mean time he was always active and ener- 
 getic ; and, as it did not suit him that the public mind 
 should be left to repose, which leads to reflection, he 
 aroused apprehension and disturbance in every way 
 that might be useful to himself. A letter from the 
 Comte d'Artois, taken from the " Morning Chronicle," 
 was printed about this time; it offered the services of 
 the emigres to the King of England, in case of a 
 descent upon his coasts. Rumors were spread of cer- 
 tain attempts made in the eastern departments; and 
 since the war in La Vendee had been followed by the 
 inglorious proceedings of the Chcuans, people had 
 become accustomed to the idea that any political move- 
 ment set on foot in that part of France had pillage 
 and incendiarism for its objects. In fact, there seemed 
 no chance of quietness except in the duration of the 
 established Government; and when certain friends of 
 liberty deplored its loss for the new liberal institu- 
 tions were of little value in their eyes because they 
 were the work of absolute power they were met with 
 the following argument, which was perhaps justified by 
 circumstances : " After the storm through which we 
 have passed, and amid the strife of so many parties, 
 superior force only can give us liberty; and, so long 
 as that force tends to promote principles of order and 
 morality, we ought not to regard ourselves as straying 
 from the right road ; for the creator will disappear, but 
 that which he has created will remain with us."
 
 162 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 While more or less disturbance was thus kept up by 
 his orders, Bonaparte himself maintained a peaceful 
 attitude. He had returned to his usual orderly and 
 busy life at Saint Cloud, and we passed our days as I 
 have already described. His brothers were all em- 
 ployed Joseph, at the camp of Boulogne; Louis, at 
 the Council of State; Jerome, the youngest, in Amer- 
 ica, whither he had been sent, and where he was well 
 received by the Anglo-Americans. Bonaparte's sisters, 
 who were now in the enjoyment of wealth, vied with 
 each other in the decoration of the houses which the 
 First Consul had given them, and in the luxury of 
 their furniture and equipment. Eugene de Beauhar- 
 nais occupied himself exclusively in his military duties; 
 his sister lived a dull and quiet life. 
 
 Mme. Leclerc had inspired Prince Borghese (who 
 had not long arrived in France from Rome) with an 
 ardent attachment, which she returned. The Prince 
 asked her hand of Bonaparte, but his demand was at 
 first refused. I do not know what the motive of his 
 refusal was, but think it may perhaps have been dic- 
 tated by his vanity, which would have been hurt by 
 the supposition that he desired to be relieved of any 
 family claims; and probably, also, he did not wish to 
 appear to accept a first proposal with alacrity. But, 
 as the Hason between his sister and the Prince became 
 publicly known, the Consul consented at last to legiti- 
 mize it by a marriage, which took place at Mortefon- 
 taine while he was at Boulogne. 
 
 He set out to visit the camp and the flotilla on the 
 3d of November, 1803. This time his journey was of 
 an entirely military character. He was accompanied 
 only by the generals of his guard, by his aides-de- 
 camp, and by M. de Remusat. 
 
 When they arrived at Pont de Briques, a little 
 village about a league from Boulogne, where Bona-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 163 
 
 parte had fixed his headquarters, my husband fell 
 dangerously ill. So soon as I heard of his illness I 
 set out to join him, and arrived at Pont de Briques in 
 the middle of the night. Entirely occupied by my 
 anxiety, I had thought of nothing but of the state in 
 which I should find the invalid. But, when I got out 
 of the carriage, I was rather disconcerted by finding 
 myself alone in the midst of a camp, and not knowing 
 what the First Consul would think of my arrival. I 
 was reassured, however, by the servants, who told 
 me I was expected, and that a room had been set apart 
 for me two days before. I passed the remainder of 
 the night there, waiting until daylight before I saw my 
 husband, as I did not like to risk disturbing him. I 
 found him greatly pulled down by illness, but he was 
 so rejoiced to see me that I congratulated myself on 
 having come without asking permission. 
 
 In the morning Bonaparte sent for me. I was so 
 agitated that I could hardly speak. He saw this the 
 moment I entered the room, and he kissed me, made 
 me sit down, and restored me to composure by his 
 first words. " I was expecting you," he said. " Your 
 presence will cure your husband." At these words I 
 burst into tears. He appeared touched, and endeav- 
 ored to console me. Then he directed me to come 
 every day to dine and breakfast with him, laughing as 
 he said, " I must look after a woman of your age 
 among so many soldiers." He asked me how I had 
 left his wife. A little while before his departure some 
 more secret visits from Mile. Georges had given rise 
 to fresh domestic disagreements. " She troubles her- 
 self," he said, " a great deal more than is necessary. 
 Josephine is always afraid that I shall fall seriously in 
 love. Does she not know, then, that I am not made for 
 love ? For what is love ? A passion which sets all the 
 universe on one side, and on the other the beloved 
 
 Vol. 9 F Memoirs
 
 164 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 object. I certainly am not of a nature to give myself 
 up to any such exclusive feeling. What, then, do 
 these fancies, into which my affections do not enter, 
 matter to her? This," he continued, looking at me 
 seriously, " is what her friends ought to dwell upon ; 
 and, above all, they ought not to try to increase their 
 influence over her by fostering her jealousy." There 
 was in his last words a tone of suspicion and severity 
 which I did not deserve, and I think he knew that very 
 well; but he never missed an opportunity of carrying 
 out his favorite system, which was to keep one's mind 
 what he called " breathless " ; that is to say, constantly 
 anxious. 
 
 He remained at Pont de Briques for ten days after I 
 arrived there. My husband's malady was a painful 
 one, but the doctors were not alarmed. With the 
 exception of one quarter of an hour during which the 
 First Consul's breakfast lasted, I spent the morning 
 with my dear invalid. Bonaparte went to the camp 
 every day, reviewed the troops, visited the flotilla, and 
 assisted at some slight skirmishes, or rather at an 
 exchange of cannon-balls, between us and the English, 
 who constantly cruised in front of the harbor and 
 tried to molest our workmen. 
 
 At six o'clock Bonaparte returned, and then I was 
 summoned. Occasionally some of the officers of his 
 household, the Minister of Marine or the Minister of 
 Public Works, who had accompanied him, were 
 invited to dinner. At other times we dined tete-a-tete, 
 and then he talked on a multitude of subjects. He 
 spoke of his own character, and described himself as 
 having always been of a melancholy temperament 
 far more so than any of his comrades. My memory 
 has faithfully preserved all he said to me. The fol- 
 lowing is a correct summary of it : 
 
 " I was educated," he said, " at a military school,
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 165 
 
 and I showed no aptitude for anything but the exact 
 sciences. Every one said of me, ' That child will 
 never be good for anything but geometry.' I kept 
 aloof from my schoolfellows. I had chosen a little 
 corner in the school-grounds, where I would sit and 
 dream at my ease; for I have always liked reverie. 
 When my companions tried to usurp possession of 
 this corner, I defended it with all my might. I already 
 knew by instinct that my will was to override that of 
 others, and that what pleased me was to belong to 
 me. I was not liked at school. It takes time to make 
 one's self liked : and, even when I had nothing to do, I 
 always felt vaguely that I had no time to lose. 
 
 " I entered the service, and soon grew tired of gar- 
 rison work. I began to read novels, and they inter- 
 ested me deeply. I even tried to write some. This 
 occupation brought out something in my imagination 
 which mingled itself with the positive knowledge I had 
 acquired; and I often let myself dream, in order that 
 I might afterward measure my dreams by the com- 
 pass of my reason. I threw myself into an ideal 
 world, and I endeavored to find out in what precise 
 points it differed from the actual world in which I 
 lived. I have always liked analysis; and, if I were 
 to be seriously in love, I should analyze my love bit 
 by bit. Why? and How? are questions so useful that 
 they can not be too often asked. I conquered, rather 
 than studied, history; that is to say, I did not care to 
 retain, and did not retain, anything that could not give 
 me a new idea; I disdained all that was useless, but 
 took possession of certain results which pleased me. 
 
 " I did not understand much about the Revolution, 
 but I approved of it. Equality, which was to elevate 
 myself, attracted me. On the 2Oth of June I was in 
 Paris, and I saw the populace marching upon the 
 Tuileries. I have never liked popular movements, and
 
 166 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 I was indignant at the violent deeds of that day. I 
 thought the ringleaders in the attack very imprudent, 
 for I said to myself, ' It is not they who will profit by 
 this revolution.' But, when I was told that Louis 
 had put the red cap on his head, I came to the conclu- 
 sion that he had ceased to reign; for in politics there 
 is no resurrection. 
 
 " On the loth of August I felt that, had I been called 
 upon, I would have defended the King. I set myself 
 against those who founded the Republic by the people. 
 Besides, I saw men in plain clothes attacking men in 
 uniform, and I could not stand that. 
 
 " One evening I was at the theatre; it was the I2th 
 Vendemiaire. I heard it said about me that next day 
 du train might be looked for. You know that was the 
 usual expression of the Parisians, who regarded the 
 various changes of government with indifference, as 
 those changes did not disturb their business, their 
 pleasures, or even their dinners. After the Terror, 
 people were satisfied with anything, so that they were 
 allowed to live quietly. 
 
 " I heard it said that the Assembly was sitting in 
 permanence; I went there, and found all confusion 
 and hesitation. Suddenly I heard a voice say from 
 the middle of the hall, * If any one here knows the 
 address of General Bonaparte, he is begged to go and 
 tell him that he is expected at the Committee of the 
 Assembly.' I have always observed with interest how 
 chance interferes in certain events, and this chance 
 decided me. I went to the Committee. 
 
 " There I found several terrified deputies, Cam- 
 baceres among others. They expected to be attacked 
 the next day, and they could not come to any resolu- 
 tion. They asked my advice; I answered by asking 
 for guns. This proposition so alarmed them that the 
 whole night passed without their coming to any decision.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 167 
 
 In the morning there was very bad news. Then 
 they put the whole business into my hands, and after- 
 ward began to discuss whether they had the right to 
 repel force by force. 'Are you going to wait,' I 
 asked them, ' until the people give you permission to 
 fire upon them? I am committed in this matter; you 
 have appointed me to defend you; it is right that you 
 should leave me to act.' Thereupon I left these law- 
 yers to stultify themselves with words. I put the 
 troops in motion, and pointed two cannons with terri- 
 ble effect from Saint Roch; the army of citizens and 
 the conspirators were swept away in an instant. 
 
 " But I had shed Parisian blood ! What sacrilege ! 
 It was necessary to obliterate the effect of such a deed. 
 I felt myself more and more urgently called upon to 
 do something. I asked for the command of the army 
 of Italy. Everything had to be put in order in that 
 army, both men and things. Only youth can have 
 patience, because it has the future before it. I set out 
 for Italy with ill-trained soldiers, who were, how- 
 ever, full of zeal and daring. In the midst of the 
 troops I had wagons placed, and escorted on the 
 march, although they were empty. These I called the 
 treasure-chests of the army. I put it in the order of 
 the day that shoes should be distributed to the recruits : 
 no one would wear them. I promised my soldiers that 
 fortune and glory should await us behind the Alps; 
 I kept my word, and ever since then the army would 
 follow me to the end of the world. 
 
 " I made a splendid campaign ; I became a person 
 of importance in Europe. On the one hand, with the 
 assistance of my orders of the day, I maintained the 
 revolutionary system; on the other hand, I secretly 
 conciliated the emigres by allowing them to form cer- 
 tain hopes. It is easy to deceive that party, because 
 it starts always not from what exists, but from what
 
 1 68 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 it wishes to believe. I received magnificent offers of 
 recompense if I would follow the example of General 
 Monk; the Pretender even wrote to me in his vague 
 and florid style ; I conquered the Pope more effectually 
 by not going to Rome than if I had burned his capital. 
 In short, I became important and formidable; and the 
 Directory, although I made them very uneasy, could 
 not bring any formal accusation against me. 
 
 " I have been reproached with having favored the 
 i8th Fructidor; they might as well reproach me with 
 having supported the Revolution. It was necessary 
 to take advantage of the Revolution, and to derive 
 some profit from the blood that had been shed. What ! 
 were we to give ourselves up unconditionally to the 
 princes of the house of Bourbon, who would have, 
 thrown in our teeth all the misfortunes we had suffered 
 since their departure, and would have imposed silence 
 upon us, because we had solicited their return? Were 
 we to exchange our victorious flag for that white 
 banner which had mingled with the standards of our 
 enemies? Was I to content myself with a few mil- 
 lions and a petty dukedom ? The part of Monk is not 
 a difficult one to play; it would have given me less 
 trouble than the Egyptian campaign, or even than the 
 i8th Brumaire; but can anything teach princes who 
 have never seen a battle-field? To what did the re- 
 turn of Charles II. lead the English, except the 
 dethronement of James II.? Had it been necessary, 
 I should certainly have dethroned the Bourbons a 
 second time, so that the best thing they could have 
 done would have been to get rid of me. 
 
 " When I returned to France, I found public opin- 
 ion in a lethargic condition. In Paris and Paris is 
 France people can never interest themselves in things 
 if they do not care about persons. The customs of an 
 an old monarchy had taught them to personify every-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 169 
 
 thing. This habit of mind is bad for a people who 
 desire liberty seriously; but Frenchmen can no longer 
 desire anything seriously, except perhaps it be 
 equality ; and even that they would renounce willingly 
 if every one could flatter himself that he was the first 
 To be equals, with everybody uppermost, is the secret 
 of the vanity of all of you; every man among you 
 must, therefore, be given the hope of rising. The 
 great difficulty of the Directory was that no one cared 
 about them, and that people began to care a good deal 
 about me. 
 
 " I do not know what would have happened to me 
 had I not conceived the happy thought of going to 
 Egypt. When I embarked I did not know but that I 
 might be bidding an eternal farewell to France; but 
 I had no doubt that she would recall me. The charm 
 of Oriental conquest drew my thoughts away from 
 Europe more than I should have believed possible. 
 My imagination interfered this time again with my 
 actions; but I think it died out at Saint Jean d'Arc. 
 However that may be, I shall never allow it to inter- 
 fere with me again. 
 
 " In Egypt I found myself free from the wearisome 
 restraints of civilization. I dreamed all sorts of 
 things, and I saw how all that I dreamed might be 
 realized. I created a religion. I pictured myself on 
 the road to Asia, mounted on an elephant, with a 
 turban on my head, and in my hand a new Koran, 
 which I should compose according to my own ideas. 
 I would have the combined experience of two worlds 
 to set about my enterprise; I was to have ransacked, 
 for my own advantage, the whole domain of history; 
 I was to have attacked the English power in India, 
 and renewed my relations with old Europe by my 
 conquest. The time which I passed in Egypt was the 
 most delightful part of my life, for it was the most
 
 170 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 ideal. Fate decided against my dreams; I received 
 letters from France; I saw that there was not a 
 moment to lose. I reverted to the realities of life, and 
 I returned to Paris to Paris, where the gravest 
 interests of the country are discussed in the entr'acte 
 of an opera. 
 
 " The Directory trembled at my return. I was very 
 cautious; that is one of the epochs of my life in which 
 I have acted with the soundest judgment. I saw the 
 Abbe Sieyes, and promised him that his verbose con- 
 stitution should be put into effect ; I received the chiefs 
 of the Jacobins and the agents of the Bourbons; I 
 listened to advice from everybody, but I only gave it 
 in the interest of my own plans. I hid myself from 
 the people, because I knew that when the time came 
 curiosity to see me would make them run after me. 
 Every one was taken in my toils ; and, when I became 
 the head of the State, there was not a party in France 
 which did not build some special hope upon my 
 success."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 (1803-1804 ) 
 
 ONE evening, while we were at Boulogne, Bona- 
 parte turned the conversation upon literature. 
 Lemercier, the poet, whom Bonaparte liked, 
 had just finished a tragedy, called " Philippe Auguste," 
 which contained allusions to the First Consul, and had 
 brought the manuscript to him. Bonaparte took it 
 into his head to read this production aloud to me. It 
 was amusing to hear a man, who was always in a 
 hurry when he had nothing to do, trying to read Alex- 
 andrine verses, of which he did not know the meter, 
 and pronouncing them so badly that he did not seem 
 to understand what he read. Besides, he no sooner 
 opened any book than he wanted to criticise it. I 
 asked him to give me the manuscript, and I read it out 
 myself. Then he began to talk; he took the play out 
 of my hand, struck out whole passages, made several 
 marginal notes, and found fault with the plot and the 
 characters. He did not run much risk of spoiling the 
 piece, for it was very bad. Singularly enough, when 
 he had done reading, he told me he did not wish the 
 author to know that all these erasures and corrections 
 were made by so important a hand, and he directed 
 me to take them upon myself. I objected to this, as 
 may be supposed. I had great difficulty in convincing 
 him that, as it might be thought strange that even he 
 should thus have meddled with an author's manu- 
 script, it would be contrary to all the convenances for 
 
 171
 
 172 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 me to have taken such a liberty. " Well, well," said 
 he, " perhaps you are right ; but on this, as on every 
 other occasion, I own I do not like that vague and 
 levelling phrase, the convenances, which you women 
 are always using. It is a device of fools to raise them- 
 selves to the level of people of intellect ; a sort of social 
 gag, which obstructs the strong mind and only serves 
 the weak. It may be all very well for women : they 
 have not much to do in this life; but you must be 
 aware that I, for example, can not be bound by the 
 convenances." 
 
 " But," I replied, " is not the application of these 
 laws to the conduct of life like that of the dramatic 
 unities to the drama? They give order and regular- 
 ity, and they do not really trammel genius, except 
 when it would, without their control, err against good 
 taste." 
 
 " Ah, good taste ! That is another of those clas- 
 sical words which I do not adopt. It is perhaps my 
 own fault, but there are certain rules which mean 
 nothing to me. For example, what is called ' style,' 
 good or bad, does not affect me. I care only for the 
 force of the thought. I used to like Ossian, but it was 
 for the same reason which made me delight in the 
 murmur of the winds and waves. In Egypt I tried to 
 read the ' Iliad ' : but I got tired of it. As for French 
 poets, I understand none of them except Corneille. 
 That man understood politics, and if he had been 
 trained to public affairs he would have been a states- 
 man. I think I appreciate him more truly than any 
 one else does, because I exclude all the dramatic senti- 
 ments from my view of him. For example, it is only 
 lately I have come to understand the denouement of 
 ' Cinna.' At first I regarded it as merely a contri- 
 vance for a pathetic fifth act: for really, clemency, 
 properly speaking, is such a poor little virtue, when
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 173 
 
 it is not founded on policy, that to turn Augustus sud- 
 denly into a kind-hearted prince appeared to me an 
 unworthy climax. However, I saw Monvel act in 
 the tragedy one night, and the mystery of the great 
 conception was revealed to me. He pronounced the 
 ' Soyons amis, Cinna,' in so cunning and subtle a tone, 
 that I saw at once the action was only a feint of the 
 tyrant, and I approved as a calculation what had 
 appeared to me silly as a sentiment. The line should 
 always be so delivered that, of all those who hear it, 
 only Cinna is deceived. 
 
 " As for Racine, he pleases me in ' Iphigenie.' That 
 piece, while it lasts, makes one breathe the poetic air 
 of Greece. In ' Britannicus ' he has been trammeled 
 by Tacitus, against whom I am prejudiced, because 
 he does not sufficiently explain his meaning. The 
 tragedies of Voltaire are passionate, but they do not 
 go deeply into human nature. For instance, his 
 Mahomet is neither a prophet nor an Arab. He is an 
 impostor, who might have been educated at the Ecole 
 Polytechnique, for he uses power as I might use it in 
 an age like the present. And then, the murder of the 
 father by the son is a useless crime. Great men are 
 never cruel except from necessity. 
 
 " As for comedy, it interests me about as much as 
 the gossip of your drawing-rooms. I understand your 
 admiration of Moliere, but I do not share it; he has 
 placed his personages in situations which have no 
 attractions for me." 
 
 From these observations it is plain that Bonaparte 
 cared only to observe human nature when it was 
 struggling with the great chances of life, and that 
 man in the abstract interested him but little. In con- 
 versations of this kind the time I spent at Boulogne 
 with the First Consul was passed, and it was at the 
 close of my sojourn there that I underwent the first
 
 174 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 experience that inspired me with mistrust of persons 
 among whom I was obliged to live at Court. The 
 officers of the household could not believe that a 
 woman might remain for hours together with their 
 master, simply talking with him on matters of general 
 interest, and they drew conclusions which were inju- 
 rious to my character. I may now venture to say that 
 the purity of my mind, and my life-long attachment 
 to my husband, prevented my even conceiving the 
 possibility of such a suspicion as that which was 
 formed in the Consul's ante-chamber, while I was con- 
 versing with him in his salon. When Bonaparte re- 
 turned to Paris, his aides-de-camp talked about my 
 long interviews with him, and Mme. Bonaparte took 
 fright at their stories; so that when, after a month's 
 stay at Pont de Briques, my husband was sufficiently 
 recovered to bear the journey, and we returned to 
 Paris, my jealous patroness received me coldly. 
 
 I returned full of gratitude toward the First Con- 
 sul. He had received me so kindly; he had shown 
 such interest in the state of my husband's health; his 
 attention to me had so much soothed my troubled and 
 anxious mind, and had been so great a resource in that 
 solitary place; and I was so much flattered by the 
 pleasure he seemed to take in my society, that on my 
 return I told every one, with the eager gratitude of 
 one twenty-three years old, of the extreme kindness 
 he had shown me. My friend, who was really at- 
 tached to me, advised me to be careful of my 
 words, and apprised me of the impression they had 
 made. I remember to this hour that her hint struck 
 like a dagger to my heart. It was the first time I had 
 suffered injustice; my youth and all my feelings re- 
 volted against such an accusation. Stern experience 
 only can steel us against the unjust judgments of the 
 world, and perhaps we ought to regret the time when
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 175 
 
 they had the power to wound us deeply. My friend's 
 warning had, however, explained Mme. Bonaparte's 
 conduct toward me. One day, when I was more hurt 
 by this than usual, I could not refrain from saying 
 to her, with tears in my eyes, " What, madame ! do 
 you suspect me ? " As she was very kind and always 
 easily touched by passing emotions, she embraced me, 
 and thenceforth treated me with her former cordiality. 
 But she did not understand my feelings. There was 
 nothing in her mind which corresponded to my just 
 indignation; and, without endeavoring to ascertain 
 whether my relations with her husband at Boulogne 
 had been such as they were represented to her, she was 
 content to conclude that in any case the affair had been 
 merely temporary, since I did not, when under her 
 own eyes, depart from my usual reserve toward Bo- 
 naparte. In order to justify herself, she told me that 
 the Bonaparte family had spread injurious reports 
 against me during my absence. " Do you not per- 
 ceive," I asked her, " that, rightly or wrongly, it is 
 believed here that my tender attachment to you, ma- 
 dame, makes me clear-sighted to what is going on, 
 and that, feeble as my counsels are, they may help 
 you to act with prudence? Political jealousy spreads 
 suspicion broadcast everywhere, and, insignificant as 
 I am, I do believe they want to make you quarrel with 
 me." Mme. Bonaparte agreed in the truth of my 
 observation ; but she had not the least idea that I could 
 feel aggrieved because it had not occurred to herself 
 in the first instance. She acknowledged that she had 
 reproached her husband about me, and he had evi- 
 dently amused himself by leaving her in doubt. These 
 occurrences opened my eyes about the people among 
 whom I lived to an extent which alarmed me and up- 
 set all my former feelings toward them. I began to 
 feel that the ground which I had trodden until then
 
 176 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 with all the confidence of ignorance was not firm; I 
 knew that from the kind of annoyance I had just expe- 
 rienced I should never again be free. 
 
 The First Consul, on leaving Boulogne, had de- 
 clared, in the order of the day, that he was pleased 
 with the army; and in the " Moniteur " of November 
 12, 1803, we read the following: "It was remarked 
 as a presage that, in the course of the excavations for 
 the First Consul's camp, a war hatchet was found, 
 which probably belonged to the Roman army that 
 invaded Britain. There were also medals of William 
 the Conqueror found at Ambleteuse, where the First 
 Consul's tent was pitched. It must be admitted that 
 these circumstances are singular, and they appear still 
 more strange when it is borne in mind that when 
 General Bonaparte visited the ruins of Pelusium, in 
 Egypt, he found there a medallion of Julius Caesar." 
 
 The allusion was not a very fortunate one, for, not- 
 withstanding the medallion of Julius Caesar, Bona- 
 parte was obliged to leave Egypt; but these little 
 parallels, dictated by the ingenious flattery of M. 
 Maret, pleased his master immensely, and Bonaparte 
 was confident that they were not without effect upon 
 the country. 
 
 In the journals every effort was made at that time 
 to excite the popular imagination on the subject of the 
 invasion of England. I do not know whether Bona- 
 parte really believed that such an adventure was pos- 
 sible, but he appeared to do so, and the expense in- 
 curred in the construction of flat-bottomed boats was 
 considerable. The war of words between the English 
 newspapers and the " Moniteur " continued. We read 
 in the " Times," " It is said that the French have made 
 Hanover a desert, and they are now about to abandon 
 it " ; to which a note in the " Moniteur " immediately 
 replied, " Yes, when you abandon Malta." The
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 177 
 
 Bishops issued pastorals, in which they exhorted the 
 nation to arm itself for a just war. " Choose men 
 of good courage," said the Bishop of Arras, " and go 
 forth to fight Amalek. Bossuet has said, 'To sub- 
 mit to the public orders is to submit to the orders of 
 God, who establishes empires.' ' 
 
 This quotation from Bossuet reminds me of a story 
 which M. Bourlier, the Bishop of Evreux, used to tell. 
 It related to the time when the Council was assembled 
 at Paris with a view to inducing the Bishops to oppose 
 the decrees of the Pope. " Sometimes," said the 
 Bishop of Evreux, " the Emperor would have us all 
 summoned, and would begin a theological discussion 
 with us. He would address himself to the most recal- 
 citrant among us, and say, ' My religion is that of 
 Bossuet; he is my Father of the Church; he defended 
 our liberties. I want to commence his w r ork and to 
 maintain your dignity. Do you understand me ? ' 
 Speaking thus, and pale with anger, he would clap his 
 hand on the hilt of his sword. The ardor with which 
 he was ready to defend us made me tremble, and this 
 singular amalgamation of the name of Bossuet and 
 the word liberty, with his own threatening gestures, 
 would have made me smile if I had not been too 
 heavy-hearted at the prospect of the hard times which 
 I foresaw for the Church." 
 
 I now return to the winter of 1804. This winter 
 passed as the preceding one had done, in balls and 
 fetes at Court and in Paris, and in the organization 
 of the new laws which were presented to the Corps 
 Legislatif. Mme. Bacciochi, who had a very decided 
 liking for M. de Fontanes, spoke of him so often at 
 that time to her brother, that her influence, added to 
 Bonaparte's own high opinion of the academician, 
 determined him to make M. de Fontanes President of 
 the Corps Legislatif. This selection appeared strange
 
 1 78 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 to some people ; but a man of letters would do as well 
 as any other President for what Bonaparte intended 
 to make of the Corps Legislatif. M. de Fontanes had 
 to deliver harangues to the Emperor under most diffi- 
 cult circumstances, but he always acquitted himself 
 with grace and distinction. He had but little strength 
 of character, but his ability told when he had to speak 
 in public, and his good taste lent him dignity and 
 impressiveness. Perhaps that was not an advantage 
 for Bonaparte. Nothing is so dangerous for sov- 
 ereigns as to have their abuses of power clothed in the 
 glowing colors of eloquence, when they figure before 
 nations; and this is especially dangerous in France, 
 where forms are held in such high esteem. How often 
 have the Parisians, although in the secret of the farce 
 the Government was acting, lent themselves to the 
 deception with a good grace, simply because the actors 
 did justice to that delicacy of taste which demands 
 that each shall do his best with the role assigned to 
 him? 
 
 In the course of the month of January, the " Mon- 
 iteur " published a selection of articles from the Eng- 
 lish journals, in which the differences between Bavaria 
 and Austria, and the probabilities of a continental war, 
 were discussed. Paragraphs of this kind were from 
 time to time inserted in the newspapers, without any 
 comment, as if to prepare us for what might happen. 
 These intimations like the clouds over mountain 
 summits, which fall apart for a moment now and then, 
 and afford a glimpse of what is passing behind al- 
 lowed us to have momentary peeps at the important 
 discussions which were taking place in Europe, so 
 that we should not be much surprised when they re- 
 sulted in a rupture. After each glimpse the clouds 
 would close again, and we would remain in darkness 
 until the storm burst.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 179 
 
 I am about to speak of an important epoch, concern- 
 ing which my memory is full and faithful. It is that 
 of the conspiracy of Georges Cadoudal, and the crime 
 to which it led. With respect to General Moreau, I 
 shall repeat what I have heard said, but shall be careful 
 to affirm nothing. I think it well to preface this nar- 
 rative by a brief explanation of the state of affairs at 
 that time. Certain persons, somewhat closely con- 
 nected with politics, were beginning to assert that 
 France felt the necessity of hereditary right in the 
 governing power. Political courtiers, and honest, 
 sincere revolutionists, seeing that the tranquillity of 
 the country depended on one life, were discussing the 
 instability of the Consulate. By degrees the thoughts 
 of all were once more turned to monarchy, and this 
 would have had its advantages if they could have 
 agreed to establish a monarchy tempered by the laws. 
 Revolutions have this great disadvantage, that they 
 divide public opinion into an infinite number of varie- 
 ties, which are all modified by circumstances. This 
 it is which gives opportunity to that despotism which 
 comes after revolutions. To restrain the power of 
 Bonaparte, it would have been necessary to venture 
 on uttering the word " Liberty " ; but as, only a few 
 years before, that word had been used from one end 
 of France to the other as a disguise for the worst 
 kind of slavery, it inspired an unreasonable but fatal 
 repugnance. 
 
 The Royalists, finding that day by day Bonaparte 
 was departing more widely from the path they had 
 expected he would take, were much disturbed. The 
 Jacobins, whose opposition the First Consul feared 
 much more, were secretly preparing for action, for 
 they perceived that it was to their antagonists that the 
 Government was giving guarantees. The Concordat, 
 the advances made to the old nobility, the destruction
 
 i8o MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 of revolutionary equality, all these things constituted 
 an encroachment upon them. How happy would 
 France have been had Bonaparte contended only 
 against the factions! But, to have done that, he must 
 have been animated solely by the love of justice, and 
 guided by the counsels of a generous mind. 
 
 When a sovereign, no matter what his title may be, 
 sides with one or other of the violent parties which 
 stir up civil strife, it is certain that he has hostile 
 intentions against the rights of citizens, who have con- 
 fided those rights to his keeping. Bonaparte, in order 
 to fix his despotic yoke upon France, found himself 
 obliged to come to terms with the Jacobins; and, un- 
 fortunately, there are persons whom no guarantee but 
 that of crime will satisfy. Their ally must involve 
 himself in some of their iniquities. This motive had 
 a great deal to do with the death of the Due d'En- 
 ghien; and I am convinced that all which happened at 
 that time was the result of no violent feeling, of no 
 blind revenge, but simply a Machiavellian policy, re- 
 solved to smooth its own path at any cost. Neither 
 was it for the gratification of vanity that Bonaparte 
 wanted to change his title of Consul for that of Em- 
 peror. We must not believe that he was always ruled 
 by insatiable passions; he was capable of controlling 
 them by calculation, and, if in the end he allowed him- 
 self to be led away, it was because he became intoxi- 
 cated by success and flattery. The comedy of republi- 
 can equality, which he was obliged to play so long as 
 he remained Consul, annoyed him, and in reality only 
 deceived those who were willing to be deceived. It re- 
 sembled the political pretenses of ancient Rome, when 
 the Emperors from time to time had themselves re- 
 elected by the Senate. I have heard persons who, 
 having put on the 4ove of liberty like a garment, and 
 yet paid assiduous court to Bonaparte while he was
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 181 
 
 First Consul, declare that they had quite withdrawn 
 their esteem from him so soon as he conferred the 
 title of Emperor upon himself. I never could under- 
 stand their argument. How was it possible that the 
 authority which he exercised almost from the moment 
 of his entrance into the government did not enlighten 
 them as to his actual position? Might it not rather 
 be said that he gave a proof of sincerity in his assump- 
 tion of a title whose real powers he exercised? 
 
 At the epoch of which I am treating, it became 
 necessary that the First Consul should strengthen his 
 position by some new measure. The English, who 
 had been threatened, were secretly exciting disturb- 
 ances to act as diversions from the projects formed 
 against themselves; their relations with the Chouans 
 were resumed; and the Royalists regarded the Con- 
 sular Government as a mere transition state from the 
 Directory to the Monarchy. One man only stood in 
 the way; it became easy to conclude that he must be 
 got rid of. 
 
 I remember to have heard Bonaparte say in the sum- 
 mer of that year (1804) that for once events had hur- 
 ried him, and that he had not intended to establish 
 royalty until two years later. He had placed the police 
 in the hands of the Minister of Justice. This was a 
 sound and moral proceeding, but it was contradicted 
 by his intention that the magistracy should use that 
 police as it had been used when it was a revolutionary 
 institution. I have already said that Bonaparte's first 
 ideas were generally good and great. To conceive and 
 carry them out was to exercise his power, but to sub- 
 mit to them afterward savored of abdication. He was 
 unable to endure the dominion even of any of his own 
 institutions. Restrained by the slow and regular forms 
 of justice, and also by the feebleness and mediocrity 
 of his Chief Judge, he surrounded himself with in-
 
 182 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 numerable police agents, and by degrees regained 
 confidence in Fouche, who was an adept in the art of 
 making himself necessary. Fouche, a man of keen 
 and far-seeing intellect, a Jacobin grown rich, and 
 consequently disgusted with some of the principles of 
 that party with which, however, he still remained 
 conne'cted, so that he might have support should 
 trouble arise had no objection to invest Bonaparte 
 with royalty. His natural flexibility made him always 
 ready to accept any form of government in which he 
 saw a post for himself. His habits were more revolu- 
 tionary than his principles, and the only state of things, 
 I believe, which he could not have endured, would 
 have been one which should make an absolute nonen- 
 ity of him. To make use of him one must thoroughly 
 understand his disposition, and be very cautious in 
 dealing with him, remembering that he needed troub- 
 lous times for the full display of his capacity; for, as 
 he had no passions and no aversions, he rose at such 
 times superior to the generality of those about him, 
 who were all more or less actuated by either fear or 
 resentment. 
 
 Fouche has denied that he advised the murder of the 
 Due d'Enghien. Unless there is complete certainty 
 of the fact, I see no reason for bringing the accusation 
 of a crime against a man who positively denies it. 
 Besides, Fouche, who was very far-sighted, must have 
 foreseen that such a deed would give only a temporary 
 guarantee to the party which Bonaparte wanted to 
 win. He knew the First Consul too well to fear that 
 he would think of replacing the King on a throne 
 which he might occupy himself, and there is little 
 doubt that, with the information he possessed, he 
 would have pronounced the murder of the Due d'En- 
 ghien to be a mistake. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand's plans were also served by his
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 183 
 
 advice that Bonaparte should invest himself with 
 royalty. That proceeding would suit M. de Talley- 
 rand to a nicety. His enemies, and even Bonaparte 
 himself, have accused him of having advised the mur- 
 der of the unhappy prince. But Bonaparte and his 
 enemies are not credible on this point ; the well-known 
 character of M. de Talleyrand is against the truth of 
 the statement. He has said to me more than once that 
 Bonaparte informed him and the two Consuls of the 
 arrest of the Due d'Enghien and of his own unalter- 
 able determination at the same time. He added that 
 they all three saw that words were useless, and there- 
 fore kept silence. That was indeed a deplorable weak- 
 ness, but one very common to M. de Talleyrand, who 
 would not think of remonstrating for the sake of 
 conscience only, when he knew that a line of action 
 had been decided upon. Opposition and bold resist- 
 ance may take effect upon any nature, however reso- 
 lute. A sovereign of a cruel and sanguinary disposi- 
 tion will sometimes sacrifice his inclination to the 
 force of reason arrayed against it. Bonaparte was 
 not cruel either by inclination or on system ; he merely 
 wanted to carry his point by the quickest and surest 
 method. He has himself said that at that time he was 
 obliged to get rid of both Jacobins and Royalists. 
 The imprudence of the latter furnished him with this 
 fatal opportunity. He seized it ; and what I shall here- 
 after have to relate will show that it was with the 
 coolest of calculation, or rather of sophistry, that he 
 shed illustrious and innocent blood. 
 
 A few days after the first return of the King, the 
 Due de Rovigo [General Savary] presented himself 
 at my house one morning. He then tried to clear him- 
 self from the accusations that were brought against 
 him. He spoke to me of the death of the Due d'En- 
 ghien. "The Emperor and I," he said, "were
 
 184 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 deceived on that occasion. One of the inferior agents 
 in Georges Cadoudal's conspiracy had been suborned 
 by my police. He came to us, and stated that one 
 night, when all the conspirators were assembled, the 
 secret arrival of an important chief who could not yet 
 be named had been announced to them. A few nights 
 later, a person appeared among them, to whom the 
 others paid great respect. The spy described the un^ 
 known so as to give us the impression that he was a 
 prince of the house of Bourbon. About the same time 
 the Due d'Enghien had established himself at Etten- 
 heim, with the intention, no doubt, of awaiting the 
 result of the conspiracy. The police agents wrote that 
 he sometimes disappeared for several days together. 
 We concluded that at these times he came to Paris, 
 and his arrest was resolved upon. Afterward, when 
 the spy was confronted with the persons who had been 
 arrested, he recognized Pichegru as the important 
 personage of whom he had spoken; and when I told 
 this to Bonaparte he exclaimed, with a stamp of his 
 foot, ' Ah, the wretch ! what has he made me do ?' ' 
 
 To return to the facts. Pichegru arrived in France 
 on the 1 5th of January, 1804, and from the 25th of 
 January was concealed in Paris. It was known that, 
 in the year 5 of the Republic, General Moreau had 
 denounced him to the Government for keeping up 
 relations with the house of Bourbon. Moreau was 
 supposed to hold Republican opinions ; but he had 
 probably then exchanged them for the idea of a con- 
 stitutional monarchy. I do not know whether his 
 family would now defend him as earnestly as they 
 did then from the accusation of having aided the plans 
 of the Royalists, nor do I know whether implicit con- 
 fidence is to be placed on confessions made in the reign 
 of Louis XVIII. The conduct of Moreau in 1813, 
 and the honor paid to his memory by our princes,
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 185 
 
 might, however, fairly lead us to believe that they had 
 reason to count on him previously. At the pejiod of 
 which I am now speaking, Moreau was deeply irri- 
 tated against Bonaparte. It has never been doubted 
 that he visited Pichegru in secret; he certainly kept 
 silence about the conspiracy. Some of the Royalists 
 who were arrested at this time declared that he Had 
 merely displayed that prudent hesitation which waits 
 to declare itself for the success of a party. Moreau, 
 it was said, was a feeble and insignificant man, ex- 
 cept on the field of battle, and overweighted by his rep- 
 utation. " There are persons," said Bonaparte, " who 
 do not know how to wear their fame. The part of 
 Monk suited Moreau perfectly. In his place I should 
 have acted as he did, only more cleverly." 
 
 It is not, however, in order to justify Bonaparte 
 that I mention my doubts. Whatever was Moreau's 
 character, his fame was real; it ought to have been 
 respected, and an old comrade in arms, grown discon- 
 tented and embittered, ought to have been excused. 
 A reconciliation with him, even if it had only been a 
 result of that political calculation which Bonaparte 
 discerned in the " Auguste " of Corneille, would still 
 have been the wisest proceeding. But I do not doubt 
 that Bonaparte was sincerely convinced of what he 
 called Moreau's moral treason, and he held that to be 
 sufficient for the law and for justice, because he al- 
 ways refused to look at the true aspect of anything 
 which was displeasing to himself. He was assured 
 that proofs to justify the condemnation of Moreau 
 were not wanting. He found himself committed to a 
 line of action, and afterward he refused to recognize 
 anything but party spirit in the equity of the tribunals ; 
 and, besides, he knew the most injurious thing which 
 could happen to him would be that this interesting 
 prisoner should be declared innocent. When he found
 
 1 86 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 himself on the point of being- compromised, he would 
 stop at nothing. From this cause arose the deplorable 
 incidents of the famous trial. The conspiracy had 
 been a subject of conversation for several days. On 
 the 1 7th of February, 1804, I went to the Tuileries 
 in the morning. The Consul was in the room with his 
 wife; I was announced and shown in. Mme. Bona- 
 parte was in great distress; her eyes were red with 
 crying. Bonaparte was sitting near the fireplace, with 
 little Napoleon on his knees. He looked grave, but 
 not agitated, and was playing mechanically with the 
 child. 
 
 "Do you know what I have done?" said he. I 
 answered in the negative. " I have just given an 
 order for Moreau's arrest." I could not repress a 
 start. " Ah, you are astonished," said he. " There 
 will be a great fuss about this, will there not? Of 
 course, it will be said that I am jealous of Moreau, that 
 this is revenge, and other petty nonsense of the same 
 kind. I jealous of Moreau! Why, he owes the best 
 part of his reputation to me. It was I who left a fine 
 army with him, and kept only recruits with myself 
 in Italy. I wanted nothing more than to get on well 
 with him. I certainly was not afraid of him; I am 
 not afraid of anybody, and less of Moreau than of 
 other people. I have hindered him from committing 
 himself twenty times over. I warned him that there 
 would be mischief made between us; he knew that as 
 well as I did. But he is weak and conceited ; he allows 
 women to lead him, and the various parties have urged 
 him." 
 
 While he was speaking Bonaparte rose, approached 
 his wife, and, taking her by the chin, made her hold 
 up her head. " Ha ! " he said, " every one has not got 
 a good wife, like me. You are crying, Josephine. 
 What for, eh? Are you frightened?" "No; but J
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 187 
 
 don't like to think of what will be said." "What? 
 How can that be helped? " Then, turning to me, he 
 added, " I am not actuated by any enmity or any desire 
 of vengeance; I have reflected deeply before arresting 
 Moreau. I might have shut my eyes, and given him 
 time to fly, but it would have been said that I did not 
 dare to bring him to trial. I have the means of con- 
 victing him. He is guilty; I am the Government; the 
 whole thing is quite simple." 
 
 I can not tell whether the power of my old recol- 
 lections is still upon me, but I confess that even at this 
 moment I can hardly believe that when Bonaparte 
 spoke thus he was not sincere. I have watched each 
 stage of progress in the art of dissimulation, and I 
 know that at that particular epoch he still retained 
 certain accents of truthfulness, which afterward were 
 no longer to be detected in his voice. Perhaps, how- 
 ever, it was only that at that time I still believed in 
 him. 
 
 With the above words he left us, and Mme. Bona- 
 parte told me that he remained up almost the whole 
 of the night, debating whether or not he should have 
 Moreau arrested, weighing the pros and cons of the 
 measure, without any symptom of personal feeling in 
 the matter; that then, toward daybreak, he sent for 
 General Berthier, and after a long interview with him 
 he determined on sending to Grosbois, whither Mo- 
 reau had retired. 
 
 This event gave rise to a great deal of discussion, 
 and opinion was much divided. General Moreau's 
 brother, a tribune, spoke with great vehemence at the 
 Tribunate, and produced considerable effect. A depu- 
 tation was sent up by the three representative bodies 
 with an address of congratulation to the First Consul. 
 In Paris, all who represented the liberal portion of the 
 population, a section of the bourgeoisie, lawyers, and
 
 1 88 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 men of letters, were warmly in favor of Moreau. It 
 was, of course, plain enough that political opposition 
 formed an element in the interest exhibited on his 
 behalf; his partisans agreed that they would throng 
 the court at which he was to be brought up, and there 
 was even a threatening whisper about what should 
 be done if he were condemned. Bonaparte's police 
 informed him that there was a plot to break into 
 Moreau's prison. This irritated him, and his calmness 
 began to give way. Murat, his brother-in-law, who 
 was then Governor of Paris, hated Moreau, and took 
 care to add to Bonaparte's exasperation by his daily 
 reports to him, he and Dubois, the Prefect of Police, 
 combining together to pursue him with alarming 
 rumors. Events, unhappily, came to the aid of their 
 design. Each day a fresh ramification of the con- 
 spiracy was discovered, and each day Parisian society 
 refused more obstinately than on the preceding to be- 
 lieve that there was any conspiracy at all. A war of 
 opinion was being waged between Bonaparte and the 
 Parisians. 
 
 On the 29th of February Pichegru's hiding-place 
 was discovered, and he was arrested, after a gallant 
 struggle with the gendarmes. This event somewhat 
 shook the general incredulity, but public interest still 
 centered in Moreau. His wife's grief assumed a rather 
 theatrical aspect, and this also had its effect. In the 
 mean time Bonaparte, who was ignorant of the for- 
 malities of law, found them much more tedious than 
 he had expected. At the commencement of the affair, 
 the Chief Judge had too readily undertaken to sim- 
 plify and shorten the procedure, and now only one 
 charge was distinctly made: that Moreau had held 
 secret conferences with Pichegru, and had received his 
 confidence, but without pledging himself positively 
 to anything. This was not sufficient to secure a con-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 189 
 
 damnation, which was becoming a necessity. In short, 
 notwithstanding that great name which is mixed up 
 in the affair, Georges Cadoudal has always been be- 
 lieved to have been, as at the trial he appeared to be, 
 the real leader of the conspiracy. 
 
 It would be impossible to describe the excitement 
 that pervaded the palace. Everybody was consulted; 
 the most trifling conversations were repeated. One 
 day Savary took M. de Remusat aside, and said, " You 
 have been a magistrate, you know the laws; do you 
 think the details of this affair that we are in posses- 
 sion of are sufficient for the information of the 
 judges?" "No man," replied my husband, "has 
 ever been condemned merely because he did not reveal 
 projects with which he was made acquainted. No 
 doubt that is a political wrong with respect to the 
 Government, but it is not a crime which ought to in- 
 volve the penalty of death; and, if that is your sole 
 plea, you will only have furnished Moreau with evi- 
 dence damaging to yourselves." " In that case," said 
 Savary, " the Chief Judge has led us into making a 
 great blunder. It would have been better to have had 
 a military commission." 
 
 From the day of Pichegru's arrest, the gates of 
 Paris were shut, while search was made for Georges 
 Cadoudal, who eluded pursuit with extraordinary suc- 
 cess. Fouche, who laid the foundations of his new 
 reputation on this occasion, mercilessly ridiculed the 
 unskillfulness of the police, and his comments en- 
 raged Bonaparte, who was already angry enough; so 
 that, when he had incurred a real danger, and saw 
 that the Parisians were disinclined to believe the state- 
 ment of the facts, he began to wish for revenge. 
 " Judge," said he, " whether the French can ever be 
 governed by legal and moderate institutions : I have 
 put down a revolutionary but useful department of
 
 190 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the ministry, and conspiracies are immediately formed. 
 I have foregone my own personal feelings; I have 
 handed over the punishment of a man who intended 
 to kill me to an authority independent of myself; and, 
 far from giving me any thanks for all this, people 
 laugh at my moderation, and assign corrupt motives 
 to my conduct. I will teach them to belie my inten- 
 tions. I will lay hold of all my powers again, and 
 prove to them that I alone am made to govern, to de- 
 cide, and to punish." 
 
 Bonaparte grew more and more angry as he became 
 aware, from moment to moment, that something was 
 amiss with himself. He had thought to rule public 
 opinion, but here was public opinion escaping from 
 his hold. He had been ruled himself by it in the out- 
 set of his career, I am certain, and he had gained no 
 credit by that ; so he resolved that never again would 
 he be so mistaken. It will seem strange, to those who 
 do not know how utterly the wearing of a uniform 
 destroys the habit of thinking, that not the slightest 
 uneasiness was felt on this occasion with respect to the 
 army. Military men do everything by word of com- 
 mand, and they abstain from opinions which are not 
 prescribed to them. Very few officers remembered 
 then that they had fought and conquered under 
 Moreau, and the bourgeoisie was much more excited 
 about the affair than any other class. 
 
 The Polignacs, M. de Riviere, and some others were 
 arrested. Then the public began to think there really 
 was some truth in the story of the conspiracy, and that 
 the plot was a Royalist one. Nevertheless, the Repub- 
 lican party still demanded Moreau. The nobility were 
 alarmed and kept very quiet; they condemned the im- 
 prudence of the Polignacs, who have since acknowl- 
 edged that they were not seconded with so much zeal 
 as they had been led to expect. The error into which
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 191 
 
 they fell, and to which the Royalist party was always 
 prone, was that they believed in the existence of what 
 they desired, and acted upon their illusions. This is 
 a mistake common to men who are led by their pas- 
 sions or by their vanity. 
 
 I suffered a great deal at this time. At the Tuile- 
 ries the First Consul was moody and silent, his wife 
 was frequently in tears, his family were angry; his 
 sister exasperated him by her violent way of talking. 
 In society opinions were divided: on the one hand 
 were distrust, suspicion, indignant satisfaction; on the 
 other, regret that the attempt had failed and passion- 
 ate condemnation. All these contentions distracted 
 and upset me. I shut myself up with my mother and 
 my husband ; we questioned one another about all that 
 we heard and everything that we respectively thought. 
 M. de Remusat's steady rectitude of mind was grieved 
 by the errors which were perpetrated; and, as his 
 judgment was quite uninfluenced by passion, he began 
 to dread the future, and imparted to me his sagacious 
 and melancholy prevision of a character which he 
 studied closely and silently. His apprehensions dis- 
 tressed me; the doubts which were springing up in 
 my own mind rendered me very unhappy. Alas! the 
 moment was drawing near when I was to be far more 
 painfully enlightened.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 AFTER the arrests which I have already re- 
 corded, there appeared in the " Moniteur " 
 certain articles from the " Morning Chron- 
 icle," in which it was stated that the death of Bona- 
 parte and the restoration of Louis XVIII. were 
 imminent. It was added that persons newly arrived 
 from London affirmed that speculation upon these 
 eventualities was rife on the Stock Exchange, and 
 that Georges Cadoudal, Pichegru, and Moreau were 
 named openly there. In the same " Moniteur " 
 appeared a letter from an Englishman to Bonaparte, 
 whom he addressed as " Monsieur Consul." The 
 purport of this letter was to recommend, as specially 
 applicable to Bonaparte, a pamphlet written in Crom- 
 well's time, which tended to prove that persons such 
 as Cromwell and himself could not be assassinated, 
 because there was no crime in killing a dangerous 
 animal or a tyrant. " To kill is not to assassinate in 
 such cases," said the pamphlet; "the difference is 
 great." 
 
 In France, however, addresses from all the towns 
 and from all the regiments, and pastorals by all the 
 Bishops, complimenting the First Consul and congrat-* 
 ulating France on the danger which had been escaped, 
 were forwarded to Paris; and these documents were 
 punctually inserted in the " Moniteur." 
 
 At length, on the 29th of March, Georges Cadoudal 
 was arrested in the Place de 1'Odeon. He was in a 
 cabriolet, and, perceiving that he was followed, he 
 
 192
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 193 
 
 urged on his horse. A gendarme bravely caught the 
 animal by the head, and was shot dead by Cadoudal ; 
 the cabriolet was, however, stopped, owing to the 
 crowd which instantly collected at the noise of the 
 pistol-shot, and Cadoudal was seized. Between sixty 
 thousand and eighty thousand francs in notes were 
 found on him, and given to the widow of the man 
 whom he had killed. The newspapers stated that he 
 acknowledged he had come to France for no other 
 purpose than to assassinate Bonaparte; but I remem- 
 ber to have heard at the time that the prisoner, whose 
 courage and firmness during the whole of the proceed- 
 ings were unshaken, and who evinced great devotion 
 to the house of Bourbon, steadily denied that there 
 had ever been any purpose of assassination, while 
 admitting that his intentions had been to attack the 
 carriage of the First Consul, and to carry him off 
 without harming him. 
 
 At this time the King of England (George III.) 
 was taken seriously ill, and our Government reckoned 
 upon his death to insure the retirement of Mr. Pitt 
 from the ministry. 
 
 On the 2ist of March the following appeared in 
 the " Moniteur " : " Prince de Conde has addressed a 
 circular to the emigres, with a view to collecting them 
 on the Rhine. A prince of the house of Bourbon is 
 now on the frontier for that purpose." 
 
 Immediately afterward the secret correspondence 
 that had been taken from Mr. Drake, the accredited 
 English Minister in Bavaria, was published. These 
 proved that the English Government was leaving no 
 means untried of creating disturbance in France. M. 
 de Talleyrand was directed to send copies of this 
 correspondence to all the members of the Corps Dip- 
 lomatique, and they expressed their indignation in 
 letters which were inserted in the " Moniteur."
 
 194 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Holy Week was approaching. On Pas^.on Sunday, 
 the 1 8th of March, my week of attendance on Mine. 
 Bonaparte began. I went to the Tuileries in the morn- 
 ing, in time for mass, which was again celebrated with 
 all the former pomp. After mass, Mme. Bonaparte 
 received company in the great drawing-room, and re- 
 mained for some time, talking to several persons. 
 When we went down to her private apartments, she 
 informed me that we were to pass that week at Mal- 
 maison. " I am very glad," she added ; " Paris 
 frightens me just now." Shortly afterward we set 
 out; Bonaparte was in his own carriage, Mme. Bona- 
 parte and myself in hers. I observed that she wns 
 very silent and sad for a part of the way, and I let 
 her see that I was uneasy about her. At first she 
 seemed reluctant to give me any explanation, but at 
 length she said, " I am going to trust you with a great 
 secret. This morning Bonaparte told me that he had 
 sent M. de Caulaincourt to the frontier to seize the 
 Due d'Enghien. He is to be brought back here." 
 " Ah, madame," I exclaimed, " what are they going 
 to do with him?" "I believe," she answered, "he 
 will have him tried." I do not think I have ever in 
 my life experienced such a thrill of terror as that 
 which her words sent through me. Mme. Bonaparte 
 thought I was going to faint, and let down all the 
 glasses. " I have done what I could," she went on, 
 "to induce him to promise me that the prince's life 
 shall not be taken, but I am greatly afraid his mind is 
 made up." " What, do you really think he will have 
 him put to death? " " I fear so." At these words I 
 burst into tears, and then, so soon as I could master 
 my emotion sufficiently to be able to speak, I urged 
 upon her the fatal consequences of such a deed, the 
 indelible stain of the royal blood, whose shedding 
 would satisfy the Jacobin party only, the strong inter-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 195 
 
 est with which the prince inspired all the other parties, 
 the great name of Conde, the general horror, the bitter 
 animosity which would be aroused, and many other 
 considerations. I urged every side of the question, 
 of which Mme. Bonaparte contemplated one only. 
 The idea of a murder was that which had struck her 
 most strongly; but I succeeded in seriously alarming 
 her, and she promised me that she would endeavor by 
 every means in her power to induce Bonaparte to 
 relinquish his fatal purpose. 
 
 We both arrived at Malmaison in the deepest dejec- 
 tion. I took refuge at once in my own room, where I 
 wept bitterly. I was completely overwhelmed by this 
 terrible discovery. I liked and admired Bonaparte; 
 I believed him to be called by an invincible power to 
 the highest of human destinies; I allowed my youthful 
 imagination to run riot concerning him. All in a 
 moment, the veil which hid the truth from my eyes 
 was torn away, and by my own feelings at that instant 
 I could only too accurately divine what would be the 
 general opinion of such an act. 
 
 There was no one at Malmaison to whom I could 
 speak freely. My husband was not in waiting, and 
 had remained in Paris. I was obliged to control my 
 agitation, and to make my appearance with an un- 
 moved countenance ; for Mme. Bonaparte had earnestly 
 entreated me not to let Bonaparte divine that she had 
 spoken to me of this matter. 
 
 On going down to the drawing-room at six o'clock, 
 I found the First Consul playing a game of chess. He 
 appeared quite serene and calm ; it made me ill to look 
 at his face. So completely had my mind been upset 
 by all that had passed through it during the last two 
 hours, that I could not regard him with the feelings 
 which his presence usually inspired; it seemed to me 
 that I must see some extraordinary alteration in him. 
 
 yol. 9 G Memoirs
 
 196 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 A few officers dined with him. Nothing whatever of 
 any significance occurred. After dinner he withdrew 
 to his cabinet, where he transacted business with his 
 police. That night, when I was leaving Mme. Bona- 
 parte, she again promised me that she would renew 
 her entreaties. 
 
 I joined her as early as I could on the following 
 morning, and found her quite in despair. Bonaparte 
 had repelled her at every point. He had told her that 
 women had no concern with such matters; that his 
 policy required this coup d'etat; that by it he should 
 acquire the right to exercise clemency hereafter; that, 
 in fact, he was forced to choose between this decisive 
 act and a long series of conspiracies which he would 
 have to punish in detail, as impunity would have en- 
 couraged the various parties. He should have to go 
 on prosecuting, exiling, condemning, without end; to 
 revoke his measures of mercy toward the emigres; to 
 place himself in the hands of the Jacobins. The 
 Royalists had more than once compromised him with 
 the revolutionists. The contemplated action would 
 set him free from all parties alike. Besides, the Due 
 d'Enghien, after all, had joined in the conspiracy of 
 Georges Cadoudal; he was a cause of disturbance to 
 France, and a tool in the hands of England for effect- 
 ing her purposes of vengeance. The prince's military 
 reputation might in the future prove a source of 
 trouble in the army; whereas by his death the last link 
 between our soldiers and the Bourbons would be 
 broken. In politics, a death which tranquillizes a 
 nation is not a crime. Finally, he had given his orders 
 he would not withdraw them; there was an end of 
 the matter. 
 
 During this interview, Mme. Bonaparte informed 
 her husband that he was about to aggravate the 
 heinousness of the deed by the selection of M. de Cau-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 197 
 
 laincourt, whose parents had formerly been in the 
 household of the Prince de Conde, as the person who 
 was to arrest the Due d'Enghien. " I did not know 
 that," replied Bonaparte; "but what does it matter? 
 If Caulaincourt is compromised, there is no great 
 harm in that; indeed, it will only make him serve me 
 all the better, and the opposite party will henceforth 
 forgive him for being a gentleman." He then added 
 that M. de Caulaincourt, who had been informed of 
 only a portion of his plan, believed that the Due 
 d'Enghien was to be imprisoned in France. 
 
 My heart failed me at these words. M. de Caulain- 
 court was a friend of mine. It seemed to me that he 
 ought to have refused to undertake such a task as that 
 which had been imposed upon him. 
 
 The day passed drearily. I remember that Mme. 
 Bonaparte, who was very fond of trees and flowers, 
 was busy during the morning superintending the trans- 
 planting of a cypress to a newly laid-out portion of 
 her garden. She threw a few handfuls of earth on 
 the roots of the tree, so that she might say that she had 
 planted it with her own hands. " Ah, madame," said 
 I to her, as I observed her doing so, " a cypress is 
 just the tree to suit such a day as this." I have never 
 passed by that cypress since without a thrill of pain. 
 
 My profound emotion distressed Mme. Bonaparte. 
 She had great faith in all Bonaparte's views, and, 
 owing to her natural levity and fickleness, she excess- 
 ively disliked painful or lasting impressions. Her 
 feelings were quick, but extraordinarily evanescent. 
 Being convinced that the death of the Due d'Enghien 
 was inevitable, she wanted to get rid of an unavailing 
 regret; but I would not allow her to do so. I im- 
 portuned her all day long, without ceasing. She 
 listened to me with extreme gentleness and kindness, 
 but in utter dejection; she knew Bonaparte better than
 
 198 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 I. I wept while talking to her ; I implored her not to 
 allow herself to be put down, and, as I was not with- 
 out influence over her, I succeeded in inducing her to 
 make a last attempt. 
 
 " Mention me to the First Consul, if necessary," 
 said I. " I am of very little importance, but at least 
 he will be able to judge of the impression he is about 
 to make by the effect upon me, and I am more attached 
 to him than other people are. I, who would ask 
 nothing better than to find excuses for him, can not 
 see even one for what he intends to do." 
 
 We saw very little of Bonaparte during the whole 
 of that second day. The Chief Judge, the Prefect 
 of Police, and Murat all came to Malmaison, and had 
 prolonged audience of the First Consul; I augured ill 
 from their countenances. I remained up a great part 
 of the night; and when at length I fell asleep my 
 dreams were frightful. I fancied that I heard con- 
 stant movements in the chateau, and that a fresh 
 attempt was about to be made upon our lives. I was 
 possessed with a strong desire to go and throw myself 
 at Bonaparte's feet, and implore him to take pity 
 upon his own fame, which I then believed to be very 
 pure and bright, and I grieved heartily over the tar- 
 nishing of it. The hours of that night can never be 
 effaced from my memory. 
 
 On the Tuesday morning Mme. Bonaparte said to 
 me, " All is useless. The Due d'Enghien arrives tfiis 
 evening. He will be taken to Vincennes and tried 
 to-night. Murat has undertaken the whole. He is 
 odious in this matter ; it is he who is urging Bonaparte 
 on, by telling him that his clemency will be taken for 
 weakness, that the Jacobins will be furious, and one 
 party is now displeased because the form** fame of 
 Moreau has not been taken into consideration, and will 
 ask why a Bourbon should be differently treated.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 199 
 
 Bonaparte has forbidden me to speak to him again 
 on the subject. He asked me about you," she added, 
 " and I acknowledged that I had told you everything. 
 He had perceived your distress. Pray try to control 
 yourself." 
 
 At this I lost all self-restraint, and exclaimed, " Let 
 ,him think what he likes of me. It matters very little 
 to me, madame, I assure you ; and if he asks me why 
 I am weeping, I will tell him that I weep for him." 
 And, in fact, I again burst into tears. 
 
 Mme. Bonaparte was thrown into utter consterna- 
 tion by the state I was in she was almost a stranger 
 to any strong mental emotion; and when she tried to 
 calm me by reassuring words I could only say to her, 
 " Ah, madame, you do not understand me ! " After 
 this event, she said, Bonaparte would go on just as 
 he had done before. Alas ! it was not the future which 
 was troubling me. I did not doubt his power over 
 himself and others. The anguish that filled my whole 
 being was interior and personal. 
 
 Dinner hour came, and she had to go down with a 
 composed face. Mine was quite beyond my control. 
 Again Bonaparte was playing chess: he had taken a 
 fancy to that game. Immediately on perceiving me 
 he called me to him, saying that he wanted to consult 
 me. I was not able to speak. He addressed me in a 
 tone of kindness and interest, which increased my con- 
 fusion and distress. When dinner was served, he 
 placed me near himself, and asked me a number of 
 questions about the affairs of my family. He seemed 
 bent on bewildering me, and hindering me from think- 
 ing. Little Napoleon (the son of Louis and Hor- 
 tense) had been brought down from Parts; and his 
 uncle placed the child in the middle of the table, and 
 seemed much amused when he pulled the dishes about, 
 and upset everything within his reach.
 
 200 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 After dinner he sat on the floor, playing with the 
 boy, and apparently in very high spirits, but, it seemed 
 to me, assumed. Mme. Bonaparte, who was afraid 
 that he would have been angry at what she had told 
 him about me, looked from him to me, smiling sweetly, 
 as if she would have said, " You see, he is not so bad 
 after all; we may make our minds easy." 
 
 I hardly knew where I was. I felt as though I 
 were dreaming a bad dream; no doubt I looked be- 
 wildered. Suddenly, fixing a piercing gaze on me, 
 Bonaparte said, " Why have you no rouge on ? You 
 are too pale." I answered that I had forgotten to put 
 on any. " What ! " said he, " a woman forget to put 
 on her rouge ? " And then, with a loud laugh, he turned 
 to his wife and added, " That would never happen to 
 you, Josephine." I was greatly disconcerted, and he 
 completed my discomfiture by remarking, " Two 
 things are very becoming to women rouge and tears." 
 
 When General Bonaparte was in high spirits, he 
 was equally devoid of taste and moderation, and on 
 such occasions his manners smacked of the barrack- 
 room. He went on for some time jesting with his 
 wife with more freedom than delicacy, and then chal- 
 lenged me to a game of chess. He did not play well, 
 and never would observe the correct " moves." I 
 allowed him to do as he liked; every one in the room 
 kept silence. Presently he began to mutter some lines 
 of poetry, and then repeated a little louder, " Soyons 
 amis, Cinna," and Guzman's lines in Act v. Scene vii. 
 of "Alzire": 
 
 "Des dieux que nous seryons connais la difference: 
 Les tiens t'ont commande le meurtre et la vengeance: 
 Et le mien, quand ton bras vient de m'assassiner, 
 M'ordonne de te plaindre et de te pardonner." 
 
 As he half whispered the line,
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 201 
 
 "Et le mien, quand ton bras vient de m'assassiner," 
 
 I could not refrain from raising my eyes and looking 
 at him. He smiled, and went on repeating the verses. 
 In truth, at that moment I did believe that he had 
 deceived his wife and everybody else, and was plan- 
 ning a grand scene of magnanimous pardon. I caught 
 eagerly at this idea, and it restored me to composure. 
 My imagination was very juvenile in those days, and 
 I longed so much to be able to hope ! 
 
 ;< You like poetry?" Bonaparte asked me. How I 
 longed to answer, " Especially when the lines are 
 applicable ; " but I did not dare to utter the words. I 
 may as well mention in this place that the very day 
 after I had set down the above reminiscence, a friend 
 lent me a book entitled " Memoires Secretes sur la Vie 
 de Lucien Bonaparte." This work, which is probably 
 written by a secretary of Lucien's, is inaccurate in 
 several instances. Some notes added at the end are 
 said to be written by a person worthy of belief. I 
 found among them the following, which struck me as 
 curious : " Lucien was informed of the death of the 
 Due d'Enghien by General Hullin, a relative of Mme. 
 Jouberthon, who came to her house some hours after 
 that event, looking the image of grief arid consterna- 
 tion. The Military Council had been assured that the 
 First Consul only purposed to assert his authority, 
 and fully intended to pardon the prince, and certain 
 lines from ' Alzire ', commencing 
 
 ' Des dieux que nous servons connais la difference/ 
 
 had been quoted to them." 
 
 But to resume. We went on with our game, and his 
 gayety gave me more and more confidence. We were 
 still playing when the sound of carriage-wheels was 
 heard, and presently General Hullin was announced.
 
 202 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Bonaparte pushed away the chess-table roughly, rose, 
 and went into the adjoining gallery. There he re- 
 mained all the rest of the evening, with Murat, Hullin, 
 and Savary. We saw no more of him, and yet I went 
 to my room feeling more easy. I could not believe 
 but that Bonaparte must be moved by the fact of 
 having such a victim in his hands. I hoped the prince 
 would ask to see him; and in fact he did so, adding, 
 " If the First Consul would consent to see me, he 
 would do me justice, for he would know that I have 
 done my duty." My idea was that Bonaparte would 
 go to Vincennes, and publicly grant the prince pardon 
 in person. If he were not going to act thus, why 
 should he have quoted those lines from " Alzire " ? 
 
 That night, that terrible night, passed. Early in 
 the morning I went down to the drawing-room, and 
 there I found Savary. He was deadly pale, and I 
 must do him the justice to say that his face betrayed 
 great agitation. He spoke to me with trembling lips, 
 but his words were quite insignificant. I did not ques- 
 tion him ; for persons of his kind will always say what 
 they want to say without being asked, although they 
 never give answers. 
 
 Mme. Bonaparte came in, looked at me very sadly, 
 and, as she took her seat, said to Savary, " Well so 
 it is done?" "Yes, madame," he answered. "He 
 died this morning, and, I am bound to acknowledge, 
 with great courage." I was struck dumb with horror. 
 
 Mme. Bonaparte asked for details. They have all 
 been made known since. The prince was taken to 
 one of the trenches of the chateau. Being offered a 
 handkerchief to bind his eyes with, he rejected it with 
 dignity, and, addressing the gendarmes, said, " You 
 are Frenchmen : at least you will do me the service 
 not to miss your aim." He placed in Savary's hands 
 a ring, a lock of hair, and a letter for Mme. de Rohan ;
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 203 
 
 and all these Savary showed to Mme. Bonaparte. The 
 letter was open; it was brief and tender. I do not 
 know whether these last wishes of the unfortunate 
 prince were carried out. 
 
 "After his death," said Savary, "the gendarmes 
 were told that they might take his clothes, his watch, 
 and the money he had in his pocket; but not one of 
 them would touch anything. People may say what 
 they like, but one can not see a man like that die as 
 coolly as one can see others. I feel it hard to get 
 over it." 
 
 Presently Eugene de Beauharnais made his appear- 
 ance. He was too young to have recollections of the 
 past, and in his eyes the Due d'Enghien was simply 
 a conspirator against the life of his master. Then 
 came certain generals, whose names I will not set 
 down here; and they approved of the deed so loudly 
 that Mme. Bonaparte thought it necessary to apolo- 
 gize for her own dejection, by repeating over and 
 over again the unmeaning sentence, " I am a woman, 
 you know, and I confess I could cry." 
 
 In the course of the morning a number of visitors 
 came to the Tuileries. Among them were the Con- 
 suls, the Ministers, and Louis Bonaparte and his wife. 
 Louis preserved a sullen silence, which seemed to 
 imply disapprobation. Mme. Louis was so frightened 
 that she did not dare to feel, and seemed to be asking 
 what she ought to think. Women, even more than 
 men, were subjugated by the magic of that sacra- 
 mental phrase of Bonaparte's " My policy." With 
 those words he crushed one's thoughts, feelings, and 
 even impressions ; and, when he uttered them, no one 
 in the palace, especially no woman, would have dared 
 to ask him what he meant. 
 
 My husband also came during the morning, and his 
 presence relieved me from the terrible oppression
 
 204 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 from which I was suffering. He, like myself, was 
 grieved and downcast. How grateful I was to him 
 for not lecturing me upon the absolute necessity of our 
 appearing perfectly composed under the circum- 
 stances! We sympathized in every feeling. He told 
 me that the general sentiment in Paris was one of dis- 
 gust, and that the heads of the Jacobin party said, 
 " He belongs to us now." He added the following 
 words, which I have frequently recalled to mind since : 
 " The Consul has taken a line which will force him 
 into laying aside the useful, in order to efface this 
 recollection, and into dazzling us by the extraordinary 
 and the unexpected." He also said to Mme. Bona- 
 parte : " There is one important piece of advice which 
 you ought to give the First Consul. It is that he 
 should not lose a moment in restoring public confi- 
 dence. Opinion is apt to be precipitate in Paris. He 
 ought at least to prove to the people that the event 
 which has just occurred is not due to the development 
 of a cruel disposition, but to reasons whose force I 
 am not called upon to determine, and which ought to 
 make him very circumspect." 
 
 Mme. Bonaparte fully appreciated the advice of 
 M. de Remusat, and immediately repeated his words 
 to her husband. He seemed well disposed to listen to 
 her, and answered briefly, " That is quite true." On 
 rejoining Mme. Bonaparte before dinner, I found her 
 in the gallery, with her daughter and M. de Caulain- 
 court, who had just arrived. He had superintended 
 the arrest of the prince, but had not accompanied him 
 to Paris. I recoiled at the sight of him. " And you, 
 too," said he, addressing me, so that all could hear 
 him, " you are going to detest me ! And yet I am only 
 unfortunate; but that I am in no small degree, for 
 the Consul has disgraced me by this act. Such is the 
 reward of my devotion to him. I have been shame-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 205 
 
 fully deceived, and I am now ruined." He shed tears 
 while speaking, and I could not but pity him. 
 
 Mme. Bonaparte assured me afterward that he had 
 spoken in the same way to the First Consul, and I was 
 myself a witness to his maintenance of a severe and 
 angry bearing toward Bonaparte, who made many 
 advances to him, but for a long time in vain. The 
 First Consul laid out his plans before him, but found 
 him cold and uninterested ; then he made him brilliant 
 offers, by way of amends, which were at first rejected. 
 Perhaps they ought to have been always refused. 
 
 In the mean time public opinion declared itself 
 strongly against M. de Caulaincourt. Certain persons 
 condemned the aide-de-camp mercilessly, while they 
 made excuses for the master; and such injustice exas- 
 perated M. de Caulaincourt, who might have bowed 
 his head before frank and candid censure, fairly dis- 
 tributed between them. When, however, he saw that 
 every sort of affront was to be neaped on him, in order 
 that the real culprit might go quite free, he conceived 
 an utter disdain for these people, and consented to 
 force them into silence by placing himself in a posi- 
 tion of such authority as would enable him to over- 
 rule them. He was urged to take this course by Bona- 
 parte, and also by his own ambition. " Do not act like 
 a fool," said the former. " If you retreat before the 
 blows which are aimed at you, you will be done for; 
 no one will give you any thanks or credit for your 
 tardy opposition to my wishes, and you will be all the 
 more heavily censured because you are not formi- 
 dable." By dint of similar reasoning frequently 
 reiterated, and by the employment of every sort of 
 device for consoling and coaxing M. de Caulaincourt, 
 Bonaparte succeeded in appeasing his resentment, and 
 by degrees he raised him to posts of great dignity 
 about his own person. The weakness which induced
 
 206 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 M. de Caulaincourt to pardon the indelible injury 
 which the First Consul had done him may be more or 
 less blamed; but, at least, it should be admitted that 
 he was never a blind or servile courtier, and that he 
 remained to the last among the small number of Bo- 
 naparte's servants who never neglected an opportu- 
 nity of telling him the truth. 
 
 Before dinner, both Mme. Bonaparte and her 
 daughter entreated me to command my countenance 
 as much as possible. The former told me that her 
 husband had asked her that morning what effect the 
 deplorable news had produced upon me; and on her 
 replying that I had wept, he said, " That is a matter 
 of course ; she merely did what was to be expected of 
 her as a woman. You don't understand anything 
 about our business; but it will all subside and every- 
 body will see that I have not made a blunder." 
 
 At length dinner was announced. In addition to 
 the household officers on duty for that week, the din- 
 ner-party included M. and Mme. Louis Bonaparte, 
 Eugene Beauharnais, M. de Caulaincourt, and General 
 Hullin, who was then Commandant of Paris. The 
 sight of this man affected me painfully. His expres- 
 sion of face, perfectly unmoved, was just the same 
 on that day as it had been on the preceding. I quite 
 believe that he did not think he had done an ill deed, 
 or that he had performed an act of zeal in presiding 
 over the military commission which condemned the 
 prince. Bonaparte rewarded the fatal service which 
 he had rendered him with money and promotion, but 
 he said more than once, when he noted Hullin's pres- 
 ence, " The sight of him annoys me ; he reminds me 
 of things which I do not like." 
 
 Bonaparte did not come into the drawing-room at 
 all ; he went from his cabinet to the dinner-table. He 
 affected no high spirits that day; on the contrary, he
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 207 
 
 remained during the whole time of dinner in a pro- 
 found reverie. We were all very silent. Just as we 
 were about to rise from table, the First Consul said, 
 in a harsh, abrupt tone, as if in reply to his own 
 thoughts, " At least they will see what we are capable 
 of, and henceforth, I hope, they will leave us alone." 
 He then passed on into the drawing-room, where he 
 talked for a long time in a low voice with his wife, 
 looking at me now and then, but without any anger 
 in his glance. I sat apart from all, downcast and ill, 
 without either the power or the wish to utter a 
 word. 
 
 Presently Joseph Bonaparte and M. and Mme. 
 Bacciochi arrived, accompanied by M. de Fontanes. 
 Lucien was on bad terms with his brother, who had 
 objected to his marriage with Mme. Jouberthon, and 
 came no more to the palace ; indeed, he was then mak- 
 ing ready to leave France. During the evening, 
 Murat, Dubois, who was Prefect of Police, the mem- 
 bers of the Council of the State, and others arrived, all 
 with composed faces. The conversation was at first 
 trifling and awkward: the women sitting silent, the 
 men standing in a semicircle, Bonaparte walking about 
 from one side of the room to the other. Presently he 
 began a discussion, half literary, half historical, with 
 M. de Fontanes. The mention of certain names which 
 belong to history gave him an opportunity of bringing 
 out his opinion of some of our kings and great military 
 commanders. I remarked on this evening that he 
 dwelt on the dethronements of every kind, both actual 
 and such as are effected by a change of mind. He 
 lauded Charlemagne, but maintained that France had 
 always been en decadence under the Valois. He de- 
 preciated the greatness of Henry IV. " He was want- 
 ing," said he, " in gravity. Good nature is an affecta- 
 tion which a sovereign ought to avoid. What does he
 
 208 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 want? Is it to remind those who surround him that 
 he is a man like any other ? What nonsense ! So soon 
 as a man is a king he is apart from all, and I have 
 always held that the instinct of true policy was in 
 Alexander's idea of making himself out to be the 
 descendant of a god." He added that Louis XIV. 
 knew the French better than Henry IV.; but he 
 hastened to add that Louis had allowed " priests and 
 an old woman " to get the better of him, and he made 
 some coarse remarks on that point. Then he held 
 forth on Louis XIV.'s generals, and on military 
 science in general. 
 
 " Military science," said Bonaparte, " consists in 
 calculating all the chances accurately in the first place, 
 and then in giving accident exactly, almost mathe- 
 matically, its place in one's calculations. It is upon 
 this point that one must not deceive one's self, and 
 that a decimal more or less may change all. Now, 
 this apportioning of accident and science can not get 
 into any head except that of a genius, for genius must 
 exist wherever there is a creation; and assuredly the 
 grandest improvisation of the human mind is the gift 
 of an existence to that which has it not. Accident, 
 hazard, chance, whatever you choose to call it, a 
 mystery to ordinary minds, becomes a reality to 
 superior men. Turenne did not think about it, and so 
 he had nothing but method. I think," he added with 
 a smile, " I should have beaten him. Conde had a 
 better notion of it than Turenne, but then he gave him- 
 self up to it with impetuosity. Prince Eugene is one 
 of those who understood it best. Henry IV. always 
 put bravery in the place of everything; he only fought 
 actions he would not have come well out of a pitched 
 battle. Catinat has been cried up chiefly from the 
 democratic point of view; I have, for my own part, 
 carried off a victory on the spot where he was beaten.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 209 
 
 The philosophers have worked up his reputation after 
 their own fancy, and that was all the easier to do, 
 because one may say anything one likes about ordinary 
 people who have been lifted into eminence by circum- 
 stances not of their own creating. A man, to be really 
 great, no matter in what order of greatness, must 
 have actually improvised a portion of his own glory 
 must have shown himself superior to the event which 
 he has brought about. For instance, Caesar acted now 
 and then with weakness, which makes me suspect the 
 praises that are lavished on him in history. 
 
 " I am rather doubtful of your friends the histo- 
 rians, M. de Fontanes. Even your Tacitus himself 
 explains nothing; he arrives at certain results without 
 indicating the routes that have been followed. He 
 is, I think, able as a writer, but hardly so as a states- 
 man. He depicts Nero as an execrable tyrant, and 
 then he tells us, almost in the same page with a descrip- 
 tion of the pleasure he felt in burning down Rome, 
 that the people loved him. All that is not plain and 
 clear. Believe me, we are sometimes the dupes of our 
 beliefs of writers who have fabricated history for us 
 in accordance with the natural bent of their own 
 minds. But do you know whose history I should like 
 to read, if it were well written? That of King Fred- 
 erick II. of Prussia. I hold him to be one of those 
 who has best understood his business in every sort of 
 way. These ladies " here he turned to us " will 
 not be of my opinion ; they will say that he was harsh 
 and selfish. But, after all, is a great statesman made 
 for feeling? Is he not a completely eccentric person- 
 age, who stands always alone, on his own side, with 
 the world on the other? The glass through which he 
 looks is that of his policy; his sole concern ought to 
 be that it should neither magnify nor diminish. And, 
 while he observes objects with attention, he must also
 
 210 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 be careful to hold the reins equally; for the chariot 
 which he drives is often drawn by ill-matched horses. 
 How, then, is he to occupy himself with those fine 
 distinctions of feelings which are important to the 
 generality of mankind? Can he consider the affec- 
 tions, the ties of kinship, the puerile arrangements of 
 society? In such a position as his, how many actions 
 are regarded separately, and condemned, although 
 they are to contribute as a whole to that great work 
 which the public does not discern? One day, those 
 deeds will terminate the creation of the Colossus which 
 will be the wonder of posterity. And you, mistaken 
 as you are you will withhold your praises, because 
 you are afraid lest the movement of that great machine 
 should crush you, as Gulliver crushed the Lilliputians 
 when he moved his legs. Be advised; go on in ad- 
 vance of the time, enlarge your imagination, look out 
 afar, and you will see that those great personages 
 whom you think violent and cruel are only politic. 
 They know themselves better, they judge themselves 
 more correctly than you do ; and, when they are really 
 able men, they know how to master their passions, for 
 they even calculate the effects of them." 
 
 From this, which was a kind of manifesto, the opin- 
 ions of Bonaparte may be gathered, and also a notion 
 of the rapid succession in which his ideas followed 
 each other when he allowed himself to talk. It some- 
 times happened that his discourse would be less con- 
 secutive, for he put up well enough with interrup- 
 tions; but on the day in question every one seemed 
 to be benumbed in his presence; no one ventured to 
 take up certain applications of his words, which it was 
 evident he intended. He had never ceased walking to 
 and fro while he was talking, and this for more than 
 an hour. Many other things which he said have 
 escaped my memory. At length, abruptly breaking
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 211 
 
 off the chain of his ideas, he directed M. de Fontanes 
 to read aloud certain extracts from Drake's corre- 
 spondence, which I have already mentioned, all relat- 
 ing to the conspiracy. When the reading of the 
 extracts was concluded, " There are proofs here," said 
 he, " that can not be disputed. These people wanted 
 to throw France into confusion, and to destroy the 
 Revolution by destroying me; it was my duty both 
 to defend and to avenge the Revolution. I have 
 proved of what it is capable. The Due d'Enghien 
 was a conspirator like any other, and he had to be 
 treated as such. The whole affair, moreover, was 
 arranged without caution or accurate knowledge of 
 the ground, on the faith of some obscure correspond- 
 ence; a few credulous old women wrote letters, and 
 were believed. The Bourbons will never see anything 
 except through the CEil-de-Bcsuf, and they are fated 
 to be perpetually deluded. The Polignacs made sure 
 that every house in Paris would be open to them ; and, 
 when they arrived here, not a single noble would 
 receive them. If all these fools were to kill me, they 
 would not get their own way; they would only put 
 angry Jacobins in my place. The day of etiquette is 
 over, but the Bourbons can not give it up. If ever you 
 see them return, mark my words that will be the 
 first subject that will occupy their minds. Ah! it 
 would have been another story could they have been 
 seen, like Henry IV., covered with dust and blood on 
 a battle-field. A kingdom is not got back by dating a 
 letter from London, and signing it ' Louis.' Never- 
 theless, such a letter compromises imprudent people, 
 and I am obliged to punish them, although I feel a sort 
 of pity for them. I have shed blood ; it was necessary 
 to do so. I may have to shed more, but not out of 
 anger simply because blood-letting is one of the 
 remedies in political medicine. I am the man of the
 
 212 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 State; I am the French Revolution, I say it, and I 
 will uphold it." 
 
 After this last declaration, Bonaparte dismissed us 
 all. We dispersed without daring to interchange our 
 ideas, and thus ended this fatal day.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 (1804.) 
 
 THE First Consul spared no pains to allay the 
 excitement which was caused by this event. 
 He perceived that his conduct had raised the 
 question of his real character, and he set himself to 
 prove, both by his speeches in the Council of State, 
 and also to all of us, that political considerations only, 
 and not passion of any kind, had led to the death of 
 the Due d'Enghien. As I said before, he made no 
 attempt to check the genuine indignation evinced by 
 M. de Caulaincourt, and toward me he displayed in- 
 dulgence which once more unsettled my opinions. 
 How strong a power of persuasion do sovereigns, 
 whatever their character, exercise over us! Our feel- 
 ings, and, to be frank, our vanity also, run to meet 
 their slightest advances half-way. I grieved, but I 
 felt myself being slowly won over by the adroitness 
 of Bonaparte; and I cried 
 
 " Plut a Dieu ce fut dernier de ses crimes !" 
 
 Meanwhile we returned to Paris, and then my feel- 
 ings were again painfully excited by the state of opin- 
 ion there. I could make no reply to what was said. 
 I could only try to persuade those who believed that 
 this fatal act was but the beginning of a blood-stained 
 reign, that they were mistaken ; and although it would 
 be difficult, in point of fact, to exaggerate the impres- 
 
 213
 
 214 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 sion that such a crime must produce, still party spirit 
 ran so high that, although my own feelings revolted 
 against it, I sometimes found myself endeavoring to 
 offer some sort of excuse for it uselessly enough, 
 since I was addressing myself to people whose con- 
 victions were unalterable. 
 
 I had a warm discussion with Mme. de , a 
 
 cousin of Mme. Bonaparte's. She was one of those 
 persons who did not attend the evening receptions at 
 the Tuileries, but who, having divided the palace into 
 two separate regions, considered that they might ap- 
 pear in Mme. Bonaparte's apartment on the ground 
 floor in the morning, without departing from their 
 principles or sullying their reminiscences by recogni- 
 tion of the actual government on the first floor. 
 
 She was a clever, animated woman, with rather 
 highflown notions. Mme. Bonaparte was frightened 
 by her vehement indignation; and, finding me with 
 her one day, she attacked me with equal vigor, and 
 compassionated both of us for being, as she said, bound 
 in chains to a tyrant. She went so far that I tried to 
 make her understand the distress she was inflicting 
 on her cousin. Then she turned violently upon me, 
 and accused me of not sufficiently appreciating the 
 horror of the event that had just taken place. " As 
 for me," she said, " every sense and every feeling is 
 so outraged that, if your Consul were to come into 
 this room, you would see me fly on the instant, as one 
 flies from a venomous beast." " Ah, madame," I an- 
 swered (little thinking that my words would prove 
 prophetic), "refrain from expressions which at some 
 future day may prove embarrassing to you. Weep 
 with us, but reflect that the recollection of words ut- 
 tered in a moment of excitement often complicates 
 one's subsequent actions. To-day you are angry with 
 me for my apparent moderation; yet, perhaps, my
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 215 
 
 feelings will last longer than yours." And, in fact, a 
 few months later, Mme. de became lady-in-wait- 
 ing to her cousin, the newly made Empress. 
 
 Hume says somewhere that Cromwell, having estab- 
 lished a sort of phantom of royalty, very soon found 
 himself surrounded by that particular class of nobles 
 who conceive themselves called on to live in palaces 
 so soon as their doors are reopened. The First Con- 
 sul, on assuming the insignia of the power he already 
 wielded, offered a salve to the conscience of the old 
 nobility which vanity always readily applies ; for who 
 can resist the temptation of recovering the rank he 
 feels himself made to adorn? I am about to draw a 
 very homely comparison, but I believe a true one. In 
 the nature of the grand seigneur there is something 
 of the character of the cat, which remains faithful to 
 the same house, no matter who may become the pro- 
 prietor of it. 
 
 Bonaparte, stained with the blood of the Due d'En- 
 ghien, but having become an Emperor, succeeded in 
 obtaining from the French nobles that for which he 
 would have vainly sought so long as he was only First 
 Consul; and when, in later days, he maintained to 
 one of his ministers that this murder was indeed a 
 crime, but not a blunder " for," he added, " the 
 consequences that I foresaw have all exactly hap- 
 pened " he was, in that sense, right. 
 
 And yet, if we look at things from a higher stand- 
 point, the consequences of this act of his reached fur- 
 ther than he thought for. He succeeded, doubtless, 
 in moderating certain opinions, for there are num- 
 bers of people who give up feeling when there is noth- 
 ing to hope; but, as M. de Remusat said, the odium 
 which the crime cast upon him obliged him to divert 
 our thoughts from it by a succession of extraordinary 
 feats, which would impose silence respecting the past.
 
 216 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Moreover, he bound himself, as it were, to be always 
 successful, for by success alone could he be justified. 
 If we contemplate the tortuous and difficult path he 
 was henceforth obliged to tread, we shall conclude 
 that a noble and pure policy, based upon the prosper- 
 ity of the human race and the free exercise of its 
 rights, would have been then, as it is always, the best 
 on which a sovereign can act. 
 
 By the death of the Due d'Enghien, Bonaparte suc- 
 ceeded in compromising, first ourselves, then the 
 French nobility, finally the whole nation and all Eu- 
 rope. Our fate was united with his, it is true this 
 was a great point for him; but, when he dishonored 
 us, he lost the right to that devotion and adherence 
 which he claimed in vain when the hour of his ill for- 
 tune came. How could he reckon on a link forged, 
 it must be owned, at the cost of the noblest feelings 
 of the soul? Alas! I judge by my own case. From 
 that time forward I began to blush in secret at the 
 chain I wore; and this hidden feeling, which I stifled 
 at different times with more or less success, afterward 
 became the general sentiment. 
 
 On his return to Paris, the First Consul was struck 
 by the effect he had produced. He perceived that 
 feelings go more slowly than opinions, and that men's 
 countenances wore a new expression in his presence. 
 Weary of a remembrance that he would have liked 
 to render a bygone from the very first, he thought 
 the best plan was to let the people wear out their emo- 
 tions as quickly as possible; and so he determined to 
 appear in public, although certain persons advised 
 any cost," he answered, " throw that event into the 
 past; and it will remain new so long as anything fresh 
 him to defer doing so for a while. " But we must, at 
 is to be felt about it. If we change nothing in our 
 habits, the public will soon regard the occurrence as
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 217 
 
 an old affair." It was therefore arranged that he 
 should go to the opera. 
 
 On that evening I was in attendance on Mme. Bo- 
 naparte; her carriage followed her husband's. His 
 usual custom was not to wait for her, but to pass 
 rapidly up the staircase and show himself in his box; 
 on this occasion, however, he waited in the little ante- 
 room adjoining it until Mme. Bonaparte arrived. 
 She was trembling very much, and he was excessively 
 pale; he looked round at us all, as if mutely asking us 
 how we thought he would be received; and then he 
 went forward at last like a man marching up to a 
 battery. He was greeted in the usual way, either be- 
 cause the sight of him produced its customary effect 
 for the multitude do not change their habits in a 
 moment or because the police had taken measures 
 of precaution beforehand. I had greatly feared he 
 would not be applauded, and yet, when I saw that he 
 was, my heart sank within me. 
 
 He remained only a few days in Paris; thence he 
 removed to Saint Cloud, and I believe from that time 
 forth he began to carry his projects of sovereignty 
 into execution. He felt the necessity of imposing an 
 authority which could no longer be contested upon 
 Europe, and, at the very moment when he had just 
 broken with all parties by deeds which he himself 
 regarded as merely acts of vigor, he thought it well 
 to reveal the goal toward which he had been advanc- 
 ing with more or less precaution. He began by ob- 
 taining from the Corps Legislatif, now assembled, a 
 levy of sixty thousand men; not that he wanted them 
 for the war with England, which could only be car- 
 ried on by sea, but because he required to assume an 
 imposing attitude when about to astonish Europe by 
 an altogether novel incident. The Code of Civil Laws 
 had just been completed; this was an important work,
 
 218 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 and was said to be worthy of general approval. The 
 halls wherein the three great bodies of the State as- 
 sembled rang on this occasion with the praises of 
 Bonaparte. M. Marcorelle, a deputy of the Corps 
 Legislatif, moved, amid loud acclamations, on the 
 24th of March, three days after the death of the Due 
 d'Enghien, that a bust of the First Consul should be 
 placed in the Chamber of Deputies. " Let us," he 
 said, " by a striking mark of our affection, proclaim 
 to Europe that he who has been threatened by the 
 daggers of vile assassins is the object of our attach- 
 ment and admiration." 
 
 A few days later, Fourcroy, a member of the Coun- 
 cil of State, closed the session in the name of the 
 Government. He alluded to the princes of the house 
 of Bourbon as " members of that unnatural family 
 which would have drowned France in her own blood, 
 so that they might reign over her," and added that 
 they must be threatened with death if they ventured to 
 pollute French territory by their presence. 
 
 Meanwhile, preparations for the great trial were 
 going on; every day more Chouans were arrested, 
 either in Brittany or in Paris, who were concerned 
 in this conspiracy, and Georges Cadoudal, Pichegru, 
 and Moreau had already been examined several times. 
 The two first, it was said, answered with firmness; 
 Moreau appeared to be much dejected. No clear in- 
 formation was obtained by these interrogatories. 
 
 One morning General Pichegru was found stran- 
 gled in his prison. This event made a great sensa- 
 tion. It was unhesitatingly attributed to the need of 
 getting rid of a formidable enemy. Pichegru's deter- 
 mination of character would, it was said, have led 
 him, when the proceeding became public, to utter 
 strong language, which would have had an undesir- 
 able effect. He would, perhaps, have created a party
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 219 
 
 in his favor; he would have cleared Moreau, whose 
 guilt it was already so difficult to prove. On the other 
 hand, the partisans of Bonaparte said : " Nobody can 
 doubt that Pichegru came to Paris in order to get up 
 an insurrection. He himself does not deny it. His 
 own avowals would have convinced the most incredu- 
 lous ; his absence will prevent that full light, which is 
 so desirable, from being thrown on the proceedings." 
 
 Many years afterward I asked M. de Talleyrand 
 one day what he thought of the death of Pichegru. 
 " I think," said he, " that it happened very suddenly 
 and in the nick of time! " But just then M. de Tal- 
 leyrand had fallen out with Bonaparte, and took 
 every opportunity of bringing accusations against 
 him; I therefore by no means commit myself to any 
 statement respecting this event. The subject was not 
 spoken of at Saint Cloud, and every one refrained 
 from the slightest reflection on it. 
 
 About this time Lucien Bonaparte left France, hav- 
 ing quarreled irrevocably with his brother. His mar- 
 riage with Mme. Jouberthon, which Bonaparte had 
 been unable to prevent, was the cause of the rupture. 
 The Consul, full of his great projects, made a last 
 attempt to induce him to renounce this marriage; but 
 it was in vain that Lucien was apprised of the ap- 
 proaching grandeur of his family, in vain that a mar- 
 riage with the Queen of Etruria was proposed to him. 
 " Love was the strongest," and he refused everything. 
 A violent scene ensued, and Lucien was exiled from 
 France. 
 
 On this occasion I happened to see the First Con- 
 sul give way to one of those rare bursts of emotion 
 of which I have before spoken. It was at Saint 
 Cloud, rather late one evening. Mme. Bonaparte was 
 anxiously waiting the result of this final conference 
 between the two brothers ; M. de Remusat and I were
 
 220 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the only persons with her. She did not care for Lu- 
 cien, but she deprecated any family scandal. It was 
 near midnight when Bonaparte came into the room; 
 he was deeply dejected, and, throwing himself into 
 an arm-chair, he exclaimed, in a troubled voice, " It 
 is all over! I have broken with Lucien, and ordered 
 him from my presence." Mme. Bonaparte began to 
 expostulate. " You are a good woman," he said, 
 " to plead for him." Then he rose from his chair, 
 took his wife in his arms, and laid her head softly on 
 his shoulder, and with his hand still resting on the 
 beautiful head which formed a contrast to the sad, 
 set countenance so near it, he told us that Lucien had 
 resisted all his entreaties, and that he had resorted 
 equally in vain to both threats and persuasion. " It 
 is hard, though," he added, " to find in one's own 
 family such stubborn opposition to interests of such 
 magnitude. Must I, then, isolate myself from every 
 one? Must I rely on myself alone? Well ! I will suf- 
 fice to myself, and you, Josephine you will be my 
 comfort always." 
 
 I retain a pleasurable recollection of this little scene. 
 Tears were in Bonaparte's eyes as he spoke. I felt 
 inclined to thank him when he betrayed feelings like 
 those of other men. Shortly after this, his brother 
 Louis crossed his wishes in another way, and this in- 
 cident had probably a great influence on the fate of 
 Mme. Bonaparte. 
 
 The Consul, being quite resolved to raise himself 
 to the throne of France and to found a dynasty, had 
 occasionally glanced at the question of a divorce al- 
 ready; but, either because of his attachment to his 
 wife being still too strong, or because his existing 
 relations with Europe did not permit him to hope for 
 an alliance which would strengthen his political posi- 
 tion, he seemed just then disinclined to break with
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 221 
 
 Josephine, and disposed to adopt the young Louis 
 Napoleon, who was his own nephew and also Jo- 
 sephine's grandson. 
 
 He no sooner allowed this project to be discerned 
 than his family rebelled. Joseph Bonaparte ventured 
 to represent to him that he had done nothing 
 to forfeit the right to the crown which, as eldest 
 brother, he would acquire, and he defended that right 
 as if it had really existed of old. 
 
 Bonaparte, who was always irritated by opposition, 
 grew very angry, and only the more determined. He 
 confided his intentions to his wife, who was over- 
 joyed, and spoke to me as though the realization of 
 this project would bring her own anxieties to an end. 
 Mme. Louis assented, but without displaying any 
 gratification. She was not at all ambitious, and, in 
 fact, could not help fearing that such an elevation 
 would bring down misfortune on the head of her son. 
 
 One day, when Bonaparte was surrounded by his 
 family, he placed the little Napoleon between his 
 knees, and said, while playing with him, " Do you 
 know, my little fellow, that you run the risk of being 
 a king some day?" "And Achille?" immediately 
 asked Murat, who was present. " Oh, Achille," an- 
 swered Bonaparte, " will be a great soldier." This 
 reply incensed Mme. Murat; but Bonaparte, pretend- 
 ing not to notice her, and stung by his brother's 
 opposition, which he believed with reason to have 
 been prompted by Mme. Murat, went on to say to his 
 little step-grandson, "And mind, my poor child, I 
 advise you, if you value your life, not to accept invita- 
 tions to dine with your cousins." 
 
 We may imagine to what feelings such bitter words 
 would give rise. From that moment Louis Bona- 
 parte was beset by his family, who adroitly reminded 
 him of the rumors respecting his wife, and that he
 
 222 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 ought not to sacrifice the interests of his own kins- 
 folk to those of a child who was at least half a Beau- 
 harnais; and, as Louis Bonaparte was not quite so 
 destitute of ambition as people have since made him 
 out, he, like Joseph, went to the First Consul to ask 
 why the sacrifice of his own rights should be de- 
 manded of him. " Why," said he, " should I yield 
 my share of inheritance to my son? How have I 
 deserved to be cut off? What will my position be 
 when this child, having become yours, finds himself 
 very much higher placed than I, and quite independent 
 of me, standing next to yourself, and regarding me 
 with suspicion, if not with contempt? No; I will 
 never consent to this; and, rather than renounce the 
 proper course of succession to the royalty which is to 
 be yours, rather than consent to humble myself be- 
 fore my own son, I will leave France, taking Napo- 
 leon with me, and we shall see whether you will dare 
 openly to take a child from his father! " 
 
 The First Consul, powerful as he was, found it 
 impossible to overcome his brother's opposition. His 
 wrath availed nothing, and he was obliged to yield, 
 for fear of a vexatious and even ridiculous scandal; 
 for such it certainly would have been, to see this 
 whole family quarreling beforehand over the crown 
 which France had not yet actually conferred. 
 
 The strife was hushed up, and Napoleon was 
 obliged to draw up the scheme of succession, and the 
 possible case of adoption which he reserved to him- 
 self the power of making, in the terms to be found in 
 the decree relating to the elevation of the First Con- 
 sul to the Empire. 
 
 These quarrels embittered the enmity already ex- 
 isting between the Bonapartes and the Beauharnais. 
 The former regarded the plan of adoption as the 
 result of Mme. Bonaparte's scheming. Louis gave
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 223 
 
 stricter orders to his wife than before that she should 
 hold no familiar intercourse with her mother. " If 
 you consult her interests at the cost of mine," he told 
 her harshly, " I swear to you that I will make you 
 repent. I will separate you from your son; I will 
 shut you up in some out-of-the-way place, and no 
 power on earth shall deliver you. You shall pay for 
 your concessions to your own family by the wretched- 
 ness of the rest of your life. And take care, above 
 all, that none of my threats reach the ears of my 
 brother. Even his power should not save you from 
 my anger." 
 
 Mme. Louis bowed her head, a patient victim to 
 this violence. She was then expecting the birth of 
 her second child. Grief and anxiety told upon her 
 health, which was permanently injured; the fresh 
 complexion, her only beauty, disappeared. She had 
 possessed natural spirits, but they now died away for 
 ever; and she became silent and timid. She refrained 
 from confiding her troubles to her mother, whose 
 indiscretion and hasty temper she dreaded; and nei- 
 ther would she further irritate the First Consul. He, 
 knowing well his brother's character, felt grateful to 
 her for her reticence, and guessed at the sufferings 
 she had to endure. From that time forth he never 
 let an opportunity pass without exhibiting the inter- 
 est I may even say the respect with which the mild 
 and prudent demeanor of his stepdaughter inspired 
 him. 
 
 What I have just said is quite opposed to the gen- 
 eral opinion which has unfortunately been enter- 
 tained of this unhappy woman; but her vindictive 
 sisters-in-law never missed an opportunity of injur- 
 ing her reputation by the most odious calumnies, and, 
 as she bore the name of Bonaparte, the public, when 
 they came to hate the Imperial despotism, included
 
 224 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 every one belonging to the family in their impartial 
 contempt, readily believed every calumny against 
 Mme. Louis. Her husband (whose ill treatment of 
 her irritated him all the more against her), obliged 
 to own that she could not love him after the tyranny 
 he had exercised, jealous with the jealousy of pride, 
 and naturally suspicious, embittered by ill health, and 
 utterly selfish, made her feel the full weight of con- 
 jugal despotism. She was surrounded by spies; her 
 letters were opened before they reached her hands; 
 her conversations even with female friends were re- 
 sented; and, if she complained of this insulting sever- 
 ity, he would say to her, " You can not love me. 
 You are a woman consequently a being all made 
 up of evil and deceit; you are the daughter of an 
 unprincipled mother; you belong to a family that I 
 loathe. Are not these reasons enough for me to sus- 
 pect you ? " 
 
 Mme. Louis, from whom I obtained these details 
 long afterward, found her only comfort in the affec- 
 tion of her brother, whose conduct, though jealously 
 watched by the Bonapartes, was unassailable. Eu- 
 gene, who was simple and frank, light-hearted, and 
 open in all his dealings, displaying no ambition, hold- 
 ing himself aloof from every intrigue, and doing his 
 duty wherever he was placed, disarmed calumny be- 
 fore it could reach him, and knew nothing of all that 
 took place in the palace. His sister loved him pas- 
 sionately, and confided her sorrows to him only, dur- 
 ing the few moments that the jealous watchfulness of 
 Louis allowed them to pass together. 
 
 Meanwhile, the First Consul, having complained 
 to the Elector of Bavaria of the correspondence which 
 Mr. Drake kept up in France, and this English gen- 
 tleman entertaining some apprehensions as to his own 
 safety, as did also Sir Spencer Smith, the British
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 225 
 
 Envoy at the Court of Wiirtemburg, they both sud- 
 denly disappeared. Lord Morpeth asked the Govern- 
 ment, in the House of Commons, for an explanation 
 of Drake's conduct. The Chancellor of the Exche- 
 quer replied that the envoy had been given authority 
 for his proceedings, and that a fuller explanation 
 should be afforded when the ambassador had fur- 
 nished the information that had been demanded from 
 him. 
 
 At this time Bonaparte held long and frequent con- 
 sultations with M. de Talleyrand. The latter, whose 
 opinions were essentially monarchical, urged the Con- 
 sul to change his title to that of King. He has since 
 owned to me that the name of Emperor alarmed him ; 
 it conveyed a sense of vagueness and immensity, 
 which was precisely what charmed the imagination 
 of Bonaparte. He added, " A combination of the 
 Roman Republic and of Charlemagne in the title 
 turned his head. I amused myself one day by mysti- 
 fying Berthier. I took him aside, and said to him, 
 ' You know of the great scheme that is occupying us. 
 Go to the Consul, and urge him to take the title of 
 King; it will please him.' Accordingly Berthier, who 
 was delighted to have an opportunity of speaking to 
 Bonaparte on an agreeable subject, went up to him 
 at the other end of the room in which we were all 
 assembled, and I drew back a little, foreseeing the 
 storm. Berthier began his little speech, but at the 
 word ' King ' Bonaparte's eyes flashed fire ; he seized 
 Berthier by the throat, and pushed him back against ' 
 the wall. * You idiot ! ' he said ; ' who has been ad- 
 vising you to come here and excite my anger? An- 
 other time, don't take such a task on yourself.' Poor 
 Berthier, in dire confusion, looked piteously at me, 
 and it was a long time before he forgave my sorry 
 jest."
 
 226 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 At last, on April 30, 1804, the tribune Curee, who 
 had no doubt learnt his part, and who, later on, was 
 rewarded for his complaisance by being created a 
 senator, made what was then called " a motion of 
 order " in the Tribunate, demanding that the govern- 
 ment of the Republic should be confided to an Em- 
 peror, and that the Empire should be made hereditary 
 in the family of Napoleon Bonaparte. His speech 
 was effective. He regarded an hereditary succession, 
 he said, as a guarantee against plots from without, 
 and that in reality the title of Emperor only meant 
 " Victorious Consul." Nearly all the tribunes put 
 down their names to speak. A commission of thir- 
 teen members was appointed. Carnot alone had the 
 courage to protest against this proposal. He declared 
 that he would vote against an Empire, for the same 
 reason that he had voted against a life Consulship, 
 but without any personal animosity, and that he was 
 quite prepared to render obedience to the Emperor 
 should he be elected. He spoke in high praise of the 
 American form of government, and added that Bona- 
 parte might have adopted it at the time of the treaty 
 of Amiens; that the abuses of despotism led to worse 
 results than the abuses of liberty; and that, before 
 smoothing the way to this despotism, which would be 
 all the more dangerous because it was reared on 
 military success, it would have been advisable to 
 create institutions for its due repression. Notwith- 
 standing Carnot's opposition, the motion was put to 
 the vote and adopted. 
 
 On May 4th a deputation from the Tribunate car- 
 ried it to the Senate, who were already prepared for 
 it. The Vice-President, Frangois de Neufchateau, 
 replied that the Senate had expected the vote, and 
 would take it into consideration. At the same sit- 
 ting it was decided that the motion of the Tribunate
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 227 
 
 and the answer of the Vice-President should be laid 
 before the First Consul. 
 
 On May 5th the Senate sent an address to Bona- 
 parte, asking him, without further explanation, for a 
 final act which would insure the future peace of 
 France. His answer to this address may be read in 
 the " Moniteur." " I beg you," he said, " to let me 
 know your entire purpose. I desire that we may be 
 able to say to the French nation on the I4th of next 
 July, ' The possessions that you acquired fifteen years 
 ago, liberty, equality, and glory, are now beyond the 
 reach of every storm.' ' In reply, the Senate voted 
 unanimously for imperial government, adding that, 
 in the interests of the French people, it was important 
 that it should be intrusted to Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 
 After May 8th addresses from the towns poured 
 in at Saint Cloud. An address from Lyons came 
 first; a little later came those from Paris and other 
 places. At the same time came the vote from Klein's 
 division, and then one from the troops in camp at 
 Montreuil under the orders of General Ney; and the 
 other divisions promptly followed these examples. 
 M. de Fontanes addressed the First Consul in the 
 name of the Corps Legislatif, which at this moment 
 was not sitting; but those among its members who 
 were then in Paris met, and voted as the Senate had 
 done. The excitement that these events caused at 
 Saint Cloud may readily be imagined. 
 
 I have already recorded the disappointment which 
 Louis Bonaparte's rejection of the project of adop- 
 tion had inflicted on his mother-in-law. She still 
 hoped, however, that the First Consul would contrive, 
 if he himself remained in the same mind, to overcome 
 the opposition of his brother; and she expressed to 
 me her delight that her husband's new prospects had 
 not induced him to reconsider the terrible question 
 
 VoL 9 H Memoirs
 
 228 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 of the divorce. Whenever Bonaparte was displeased 
 with his brothers, Mme. Bonaparte always rose in his 
 estimation, because he found consolation in the un- 
 failing sweetness of her disposition. She never tried 
 to extract from him any promise either for herself 
 or for her children ; and the confidence she showed in 
 his affection, together with the disinterestedness of 
 Eugene, when contrasted with the exactions of the 
 Bonaparte family, could not fail to please him. Mme. 
 Bacciochi and Murat, who were in great anxiety 
 about coming events, endeavored to worm out of M. 
 de Talleyrand, or out of Fouche, the secret projects 
 of the First Consul, so that they might know what 
 to expect. Their perturbation was beyond their power 
 to conceal; and it was with some amusement that I 
 detected it in their troubled glances and in every word 
 they let fall. 
 
 At last we were told, one evening, that on the fol- 
 lowing day the Senate was to come in great state and 
 lay before Bonaparte the decree which should give 
 him a crown. When I recall that evening, the emo- 
 tions I experienced on hearing the news return to me. 
 The First Consul, when informing his wife of the 
 coming event, had told her he intended to surround 
 himself with a more numerous Court, but that he 
 would fitly distinguish between the new-comers and 
 those old servants who had first devoted themselves 
 to his service. He particularly desired her to assure 
 M. de Remusat and me of his good will toward us. 
 I have already told how he bore with the anguish 
 which I was unable to hide on the occasion of the 
 death of the Due d'Enghien. His indulgence on this 
 point did not diminish; perhaps it amused him to pry 
 into my secret feelings, and gradually to appease them 
 by such marked kindness that it revived my flagging 
 attachment to him.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 229 
 
 I could not as yet overcome my feelings toward 
 him. I grieved over his great fault; but when I saw 
 that he was, so to speak, a better man than formerly, 
 though I believed he had made a fatal mistake, I felt 
 grateful to him for keeping his word and being gen- 
 tle and kind afterward, as he had promised. The 
 fact is that at this period he could not afford to dis- 
 pense with anybody, and he therefore neglected no 
 means of success. His dexterous behaviour toward 
 M. de Caulaincourt had won him over so that he had 
 gradually recovered his former serenity of mind, and 
 was at this epoch one of the confidants of the First 
 Consul's schemes. Bonaparte, having questioned his 
 wife as to what each person at Court had said at the 
 time of the prince's death, learned from her that M. 
 de Remusat, who was habitually reticent both from 
 inclination and from prudence, but who always spoke 
 the truth when asked, had not hesitated to own his 
 indignation. Being apparently resolved that nothing 
 should irritate him, he broached the subject to M. de 
 Remusat, and, having revealed to him as much of his 
 policy as he thought proper, succeeded in convincing 
 my husband that he had really believed the Duke's 
 death indispensable to the safety of France. My hus- 
 band, when repeating this conversation to me, said, 
 " I am far from agreeing with him that this deed of 
 blood was needed to establish his authority, and I did 
 not hesitate to tell him so ; but I own that it is a relief 
 to me to think that he did not commit the crime out 
 of revenge. He is evidently distressed, no matter 
 what he may say, by the effect it has produced; and 
 I believe he will never again seek to strengthen his 
 authority by such terrible means. I did not neglect 
 to point out to him that in an age like ours, and in a 
 nation like ours, it is playing a dangerous game to 
 rule by terror and bloodshed; and I think that the
 
 2 3 o MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 earnest attention with which he listened to me augurs 
 well for the future." 
 
 This sincere avowal of what we both felt shows 
 how much need we had of hope. Severe judges of 
 other people might blame us, no doubt, for the facil- 
 ity with which we again deceived ourselves, and im- 
 pute our credulity, with apparent justice, to our own 
 position in the Court. Ah! it is so hard to have to 
 blush in secret for the calling one has chosen, it is so 
 pleasant to like one's self-imposed duties, it is so 
 natural to paint in bright colors one's own and one's 
 country's future, that it is only after a long struggle 
 the conviction of a truth which must shatter one's 
 whole life is admitted. Such a truth did come home 
 to us, slowly, but with a strength that could not be 
 gainsaid ; and we paid dearly for an error to which all 
 well-disposed persons clung as long as possible. 
 
 On May 18, 1804, the Second Consul, Camba- 
 ceres, President of the Senate, came to Saint Cloud, 
 accompanied by all the senators and escorted by a 
 large body of troops. He made a set speech, and gave 
 to Bonaparte for the first time the title of " Your 
 Majesty." Bonaparte took it calmly, just as though 
 he had borne it all his life. The Senate then pro- 
 ceeded to the apartment of Mme. Bonaparte, who in 
 her turn was proclaimed Empress. She replied with 
 that natural grace which always raised her to the 
 level of any position, however lofty, in which she 
 might be placed. 
 
 At the same time, the Grand Dignitaries, as they 
 were called, were created Grand Elector, Joseph Bo- 
 naparte; High Constable, Louis Bonaparte; Arch- 
 Chancellor of the Empire, Cambaceres; Arch-Treas- 
 urer, Le Brun. The Ministers, Maret (the Secretary 
 of State, who ranked with the Ministers), the 
 Colonels-general of the Guards, Duroc (the Gov-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 231 
 
 ernor of the Palace), and the aides-de-camp took the 
 oaths; and the next day the officers of the army, 
 among whom was Colonel Eugene Beauharnais, were 
 presented to the Emperor by the new Constable. 
 
 The opposition which Bonaparte had encountered 
 in his own family, to his intended adoption of the lit- 
 tle Louis, induced him to postpone that project. The 
 succession was therefore declared to belong to the 
 heirs male of Napoleon Bonaparte, and failing these, 
 to the sons of Joseph and of Louis, who were created 
 Imperial Princes. The organic senatus consultum 
 declared that the Emperor might adopt as his succes- 
 sor any one of his nephews whom he chose, but not 
 until the selected individual had reached the age of 
 eighteen, and that no further act of adoption could 
 take place in the family. 
 
 The civil list was to be the same as that granted to 
 the King in 1791, and the princes were to be endowed 
 in accordance with the law of December 20, 1791. 
 The great dignitaries were to have one third of the 
 sum settled on the princes. They were to preside over 
 the electoral colleges of the six largest towns in the 
 Empire, and the princes, from the eighteenth year of 
 their age, were to be permanent members of the Sen- 
 ate and the Council of State. 
 
 Fourteen Marshals of France were created at this 
 date, and the title of Marshal was conferred on four 
 of the Senators. The new Marshals were Berthier, 
 Murat, Moncey, Jourdan, Massena, Augereau, Ber- 
 nadotte, Soult, Brune, Lannes, Mortier, Ney, Da- 
 voust, Bessieres; the four Senators were Kellermann, 
 Lefebvre, Perignon, and Serrurier. 
 
 An article in the " Moniteur " apprised the public 
 that the title of Imperial Highness was to be given 
 to the princes, that of Serene Highness and Mon- 
 seigneur to the great dignitaries; that the Ministers
 
 232 IMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 were to be called Monseigneur by public officials and 
 all petitioners, and the Marshals Monsieur le Mare- 
 chal. 
 
 Thus disappeared the title of " Citizen," which 
 had long since been disused in society, where " Mon- 
 sieur " had resumed its former place, but which Bo- 
 naparte was always most careful to employ. On the 
 same day, the i8th of May, his brothers, with Camba- 
 ceres and Le Brun and the officers of his household, 
 were invited to dine with him, and we heard him use 
 the old word " Monsieur " for the first time, without 
 being betrayed by habit into saying " Citizen " even 
 once. 
 
 Titles were also accorded to the great officers of 
 the Empire, eight inspectors and colonels-general of 
 artillery, engineers, cavalry, and the navy, and the 
 great civil officers of the Crown, to whom I shall 
 refer hereafter.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE accession of Bonaparte to the Imperial 
 throne was very variously regarded in Europe, 
 and even in France opinions were divided. It 
 is, however, quite certain that it did not displease the 
 great majority of the nation. The Jacobins were not 
 astonished by it, for they themselves were in the habit 
 of pushing success as far as it would go, whenever 
 luck favored them. Among the Royalists it spread 
 disheartenment, and that was just what Bonaparte 
 wanted. The exchange of the Consulate for Imperial 
 authority was, however, regarded with dislike by all 
 true friends of liberty. These true friends were, un- 
 fortunately, divided into two classes, so that their 
 influence was diminished an evil which still exists. 
 One class regarded the change of the reigning dynasty 
 with indifference, and would have accepted Bonaparte 
 as readily as another, provided that he had received 
 his royal authority in right of a constitution which 
 would have restrained as well as founded it. They 
 regarded the seizure of power by an enterprising and 
 warlike man with serious apprehension; for it was 
 plain enough that the so-called " bodies of the State," 
 which were already reduced to insignificance, would 
 be unable to check his encroachments. The Senate 
 seemed to be given over to mere passive obedience; 
 the Tribunate was shaken to its foundations ; and what 
 was to be expected from a silent Corps Legislatif? 
 The Ministers, deprived of all responsibility, were no 
 more than head clerks, and it was evident beforehand 
 
 233
 
 234 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 that the Council of State would henceforth be merely 
 a storehouse, whence such laws as circumstances might 
 demand could be taken, as occasion for them arose. 
 
 If this section of the friends of liberty had been 
 more numerous and better led, it might have set itself 
 to demand the settled and legitimate exercise of its 
 rights, which is never demanded in vain by a nation 
 in the long run. There existed, however, a second 
 party, which agreed with the first on fundamental 
 principles only, and, abiding by theories of its own, 
 which it had already attempted to practise in a dan- 
 gerous and sanguinary manner, lost the opportunity 
 of producing an effective opposition. To this section 
 belonged the proselytes of the Anglo-American Gov- 
 ernment, who had disgusted the nation with the notion 
 of liberty. 
 
 They had witnessed the creation of the Consulate 
 without any protest, for it was a tolerably fair imita- 
 tion of the Presidentship of the United States; they 
 believed, or wished to believe, that Bonaparte would 
 maintain that equality of rights to which they attached 
 so much importance, and some among them were 
 really deceived. I say " some," because I think the 
 greater number fell into a trap, baited with flattery 
 and consultations on all sorts of matters, which Bona- 
 parte dexterously set for them. If they had not had 
 some private interest to serve by deceiving themselves, 
 how could they have declared afterward that they had 
 approved of Bonaparte only as Consul, but that as 
 Emperor he was odious to them ? In what respect was 
 he, while Consul, different from his ordinary self? 
 What was his Consular authority but dictatorship 
 under another name? Did he not, as Consul, make 
 peace and declare war without consulting the nation? 
 Did not the right of levying the conscription devolve 
 upon him? Did he permit freedom in the discussion
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 235 
 
 of affairs? Could any journal publish a single arti- 
 cle without his approval ? Did he not make it perfectly 
 clear that he held his power by the right of his victo- 
 rious arms ? How, then, could stern Republicans have 
 allowed him to take them by surprise? 
 
 I can understand how it was that men, worn out by 
 the turmoil of the Revolution, and afraid of that 
 liberty which had been so long associated with death, 
 looked for repose under the dominion of an able ruler, 
 on whom fortune was seemingly resolved to smile. I 
 can conceive that they regarded his elevation as a 
 decree of destiny, and fondly believed that in the 
 irrevocable they should find peace. I may confidently 
 assert that those persons believed quite sincerely that 
 Bonaparte, whether as Consul or as Emperor, would 
 exert his authority to oppose the attempts of faction, 
 and would save us from the perils of anarchy. 
 
 None dared to utter the word Republic, so deeply 
 had the Terror stained that name, and the Directorial 
 government had perished in the contempt with which 
 its chiefs were regarded. The return of the Bourbons 
 could only be brought about by the aid of a revolution ; 
 and the slightest disturbance terrified the French 
 people, in whom enthusiasm of every kind seemed to 
 be dead. Besides, the men in whom they had trusted 
 had, one after the other, deceived them; and as, this 
 time, they were yielding to force, they were at least 
 certain that they were not deceiving themselves. 
 
 The belief, or rather the error, that only despotism 
 could at that epoch maintain order in France, was 
 very widespread. It became the mainstay of Bona- 
 parte ; and it is due to him to say that he also held it. 
 The factions played into his hands by imprudent 
 attempts which he turned to his own advantage; he 
 had some grounds for his belief that he was necessary ; 
 France believed it too; and he even succeeded in per-
 
 236 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 suading foreign sovereigns that he formed a barrier 
 against Republican influences, which, but for him, 
 might spread widely. At the moment when Bonaparte 
 placed the Imperial crown upon his head, there was 
 not a king in Europe who did not believe that he wore 
 his own crown more securely because of that event. 
 Had the new Emperor added to that decisive act the 
 gift of a liberal constitution, the peace of nations and 
 of kings might, in sober seriousness, have been for 
 ever secured. 
 
 Sincere defenders of Bonaparte's original system 
 and some of these still exist advance, in justification 
 of it, that we could not have exacted from him that 
 which it belongs only to a legitimate sovereign to 
 bestow; that freedom to discuss our interests might 
 have been followed by the discussion of our rights; 
 that England, jealous of our reviving prosperity, 
 would have fomented fresh disturbances among us; 
 that our princes had not abandoned their designs, and 
 that the slow methods of constitutional government 
 would not have availed to restrain the contending 
 factions. Hume says, when speaking of Cromwell, 
 that it is a great difficulty for a usurping government 
 that its personal policy is generally opposed to the 
 interest of its country. This gives a superiority to 
 hereditary authority, of which it would be well that 
 nations should be convinced. But, after all, Bona- 
 parte was not an ordinary usurper; his elevation 
 offered no point of comparison with that of Cromwell. 
 " I found the crown of France lying on the ground," 
 said he, " and I took it up on the point of my sword." 
 He was the product of an inevitable revolution; but 
 he had no share in its disasters, and I sincerely believe 
 that, until the death of the Due d'Enghien, it would 
 have been possible for him to legitimatize his power by 
 conferring upon France benefits of a kind which
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 237 
 
 would have pledged the nation to him and his for ever. 
 
 His despotic ambition misled him; but, I say it 
 again, he was not the only one who went astray. He 
 was beguiled by appearances which he did not take the 
 trouble to investigate. The word " liberty " did in- 
 deed resound in the air about him, but those who 
 uttered it were not held in sufficient esteem by the 
 nation to be made its representatives to him. Well- 
 meaning, honest folk asked nothing of him but repose, 
 and did not trouble themselves about the form under 
 which it was to be granted. And then, he knew well 
 that the secret weakness of the French nation was 
 vanity, and he saw a means of gratifying it easily by 
 the pomp and display that attend on monarchical 
 power. He revived distinctions which were now, in 
 reality, democratic, because they were placed within 
 the reach of all and entailed no privileges. The eager- 
 ness displayed in the pursuit of these titles, and of 
 crosses, which were objects of derision while they 
 hung on the coats of one's neighbors, was not likely 
 to undeceive him, if indeed he was on the wrong road. 
 Was it not natural, on the contrary, that he should 
 applaud and congratulate himself, when he had suc- 
 ceeded in bringing feudal and republican pretensions 
 to the same level by the assistance of a few bits of 
 ribbons and some words added to men's names ? Had 
 not we ourselves much to do with that notion which 
 became so firmly fixed in his mind, that, for his own 
 safety and for ours, he ought to use the power which 
 he possessed to suspend the Revolution without des- 
 troying it? "My successor," said he, "whoever he 
 may be, will be forced to march with his own times, 
 and to find his support in liberal opinions. I will 
 bequeath them to him, but deprived of their primitive 
 asperity." France imprudently applauded this idea. 
 
 Nevertheless, a warning voice that of conscience
 
 238 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 for him, that of our interests for us spoke to him and 
 to us alike. If he would silence that importunate 
 whisper, he would have to dazzle us by a series of sur- 
 prising feats. Hence those interminable wars, whose 
 duration was so all-important to him that he always 
 called the peace which he signed " a halt," and hence 
 the fact that into every one of his treaties he was 
 forced by M. de Talleyrand's skill in negotiation. 
 When he returned to Paris, and resumed the admin- 
 istration of the affairs of France, in addition to the 
 fact that he did not know what to do with an army 
 whose demands grew with its victories, he had to 
 encounter the dumb but steady and inevitable resistance 
 which the spirit of the age, in spite of individual pro- 
 clivities, opposes to despotism; so that despotism has 
 happily become an impracticable mode of govern- 
 ment. It died with the good fortune of Bonaparte, 
 when, as Mme. de Stae'l said, " The terrible mace 
 which he alone could wield fell at last upon his own 
 head." Happy, thrice happy, are the days in which 
 we are now living, since we have exhausted every 
 experiment, and only madmen can dispute the road 
 which leads to safety. 
 
 Bonaparte was seconded for a long time by the mil- 
 itary ardor of the youth of France. That insensate 
 passion for conquest which has been implanted by an 
 evil spirit in men collected into societies, to retard the 
 progress of each generation in every kind of pros- 
 perity, urged us forward in the path of Bonaparte's 
 career of devastation. France can rarely resist glory, 
 and it was especially tempting when it covered and 
 disguised the humiliation to which we were then con- 
 demned. When Bonaparte was quiet, he let us per- 
 ceive the reality of our servitude; when our sons 
 marched away to plant our standards on the ramparts 
 of all the great cities of Europe, that servitude dis-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 239 
 
 appeared. It was a long time before we recognized 
 that each one of our conquests was a link in the chain 
 that fettered our liberties ; and, when we became fully 
 a-,vare of what our intoxication had led us into, it was 
 too late for resistance. The army had become the 
 accomplice of tyranny, had broken with France, and 
 would treat a cry for deliverance as revolt. 
 
 The greatest of Bonaparte's errors one very char- 
 acteristic of him was that he never took anything 
 but success into account in the calculations on which 
 he acted. Perhaps he was more excusable than another 
 would have been in doubting whether any reverse 
 could come in him. His natural pride shrank from 
 the idea of a defeat of any kind. There was the weak 
 point in his strong mind, for such a man as he ought 
 to have contemplated every contingency. But, as he 
 lacked nobility of soul, and had not that instinctive 
 elevation of mind which rises above evil fortune, he 
 turned his thoughts away from this weakness in him- 
 self, and contemplated only his wonderful faculty of 
 growing greater with success. " I shall succeed " was 
 the basis of all his calculations, and his obstinate 
 repetition of the phrase helped him to realize the pre- 
 diction. At length his own good fortune grew into a 
 superstition with him, and his worship of it made 
 every sacrifice which was to be imposed upon us fair 
 and lawful in his eyes. 
 
 And we ourselves let us once more own it did 
 we not at first share this baleful superstition? At 
 the time of which I write, it had great mastery over 
 our wonder-loving imaginations. The trial of General 
 Moreau and the death of the Due d'Enghien had 
 shocked every one's feelings, but had not changed 
 public opinion. Bonaparte scarcely tried to conceal 
 that both events had furthered the project which for a 
 long time past he had been maturing. It is to the
 
 240 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 credit of human nature that repugnance to crime is 
 innate among us; that we willingly believe, when a 
 guilty act is acknowledged by its perpetrator, that he 
 has been absolutely forced to commit it ; and, when he 
 succeeded in raising himself by such deeds, we too 
 readily accepted the bargain that he offered us abso- 
 lution on our part, as the guerdon of success on his. 
 
 Thenceforth he was no longer beloved; but the 
 days in which monarchs reign through the love of 
 nations are gone by, and, when Bonaparte let us see 
 that he could punish even our thoughts, he was well 
 pleased to exchange the affection we had striven to 
 retain for him for the very real fear that he inspired. 
 We admired, or at least we wondered at, the boldness 
 of the game which he was openly playing; and when 
 at last he sprang, with imposing audacity, from the 
 blood-stained grave at Vincennes to the steps of the 
 Imperial throne, exclaiming, " I have won ! " France, 
 in her amazement, could but reecho his words. And 
 that was all he wanted her to do. 
 
 A few days after Bonaparte had assumed the title 
 of Emperor (by which I shall not scruple to desig- 
 nate him, for, after all, he bore it longer than that of 
 Consul), on one of those occasions when, as I have 
 said before, he was disposed to talk freely to us, he 
 was discussing his new position with the Empress, my 
 husband, and myself. I think I see him still, in the 
 window-recess of a drawing-room at Saint Cloud, 
 astride on a chair, resting his chin on the back of it. 
 Mme. Bonaparte reclined on a sofa near him; I was 
 sitting opposite him, and M. de Remusat stood behind 
 my chair. For a long time the Emperor had been 
 silent ; then he suddenly addressed me : " You have 
 borne me a grudge for the death of the Due 
 d'Enghien? " " It is true, Sire," I answered, " and I 
 still bear it you. I believe you did yourself much
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 241 
 
 harm by that act." " But are you aware that he was 
 waiting at the frontier for me to be assassinated?" 
 '^Possibly, Sire; but still he was not in France." 
 "Ah! there is no harm in showing other countries, 
 now and then, that one is the master." " There, Sire! 
 do not let us speak of it, or you will make me cry." 
 "Ah! tears! Woman's only weapon. That is like 
 Josephine. She thinks she has carried her point when 
 she begins to cry. Are not tears, M. de Remusat, the 
 strongest argument of women? " " Sire," replied my 
 husband, " there are tears which can not be censured." 
 " Ah ! I perceive that you also take a serious view 
 of the matter. But that is quite natural; you have 
 seen other days, all of you, and you remember them. 
 I only date from the day when I began to be some- 
 body. What is a Due d'Enghien to me? Only an 
 emigre, more important than the others nothing 
 more. But that was enough to make me strike hard. 
 Those crack-brained Royalists had actually spread a 
 report that I was to replace the Bourbons on the 
 throne. The Jacobins became alarmed, and they sent 
 Fouche to me to inquire into my intentions. Power 
 has for the last two years fallen so naturally into my 
 hands, that people may well have doubted sometimes 
 whether I had any serious intention of investing my- 
 self with it officially. I came to the conclusion that it 
 was my duty to profit by this, in order to put a lawful 
 end to the Revolution. The reason why I chose Em- 
 pire rather than Dictatorship is because one becomes 
 legitimate by taking up well-known ground. I began 
 by trying to reconcile the two contending factions at 
 the time of my accession to the Consulship. I thought 
 that, in establishing order by means of permanent 
 institutions, I should put an end to their enterprises; 
 but factions are not to be put down so long as any 
 fear of them is shown, and every attempt to conciliate
 
 242 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 them looks like fear. Besides, it may sometimes be 
 possible to get the better of a sentiment; but of an 
 opinion, never. I saw clearly that I could make no 
 alliance between the two, but that I might make one 
 with both of them on my own account. The Con- 
 cordat and the permissions to return have conciliated 
 the emigres, and I shall soon be completely reconciled 
 with them; for you will see how the attractions of a 
 Court will allure them. The mere phrases that recall 
 former habits will win over the nobility, but the Jaco- 
 bins require deeds. They are not men to be won by 
 fair words. They were satisfied with my necessary 
 severity when, after the 3d Nivose, at the very moment 
 of a purely Royalist conspiracy, I transported a num- 
 ber of Jacobins. They might justly have complained 
 if I had struck a weaker blow. You all thought I was 
 becoming cruel and bloodthirsty, but you were wrong. 
 I have no feelings of hatred I am not capable of 
 acting from revenge; I only sweep obstacles from my 
 path, and, if it were expedient, you should see me 
 pardon Georges Cadoudal to-morrow, although he 
 came simply and solely to assassinate me. 
 
 " When people find that public tranquillity is the 
 result of the event in question, they will no longer 
 reproach me with it, and in a year's time this execution 
 will be regarded as a great act of policy. It is true, 
 however, that it has driven me to shorten the crisis. 
 What I have just done I did not intend to do for two 
 years yet. I meant to retain the Consulate, although 
 words and things clash with one another under this 
 form of government, and the signature I affixed to 
 all the acts of my authority was the sign manual of a 
 continual lie. We should have got on nevertheless, 
 France and I, because she has confidence in me, and 
 what I will she wills. 
 
 " As, however, this particular conspiracy was
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 243 
 
 meant to shake the whole of Europe, the Royalists 
 and also Europe had to be undeceived. I had to 
 choose between continuous persecution or one decisive 
 blow; and my decision was not doubtful. I have for 
 ever silenced both Royalists and Jacobins. Only the 
 Republicans remain mere dreamers, who think a 
 republic can be made out of an old monarchy, and 
 that Europe would stand by and let us quietly found 
 a federative government of twenty million men. The 
 Republicans I shall not win, but they are few in 
 number and not important. The rest of you French- 
 men like a monarchy; it is the only government that 
 pleases you. I will wager that you, M. de Remusat, 
 are a hundred times more at your ease, now that you 
 call me Sire and that I address you as Monsieur?" 
 
 As there was some truth in this remark, my husband 
 laughed, and answered that certainly the sovereign 
 power became his Majesty very well. 
 
 " The fact is," resumed the Emperor, good- 
 humoredly, " I believe I should not know how to obey. 
 I recollect, at the time of the Treaty of Campo Formio, 
 M. de Cobentzel and I met, in order to conclude it, in a 
 room where, according to an Austrian custom, a dais 
 had been erected and the throne of the Emperor of 
 Austria was represented. On entering the room, I 
 asked what that meant; and afterward I said to the 
 Austrian Minister, ' Now, before we begin, have that 
 arm-chair removed, for I can never see one seat higher 
 than the others without instantly wanting to place my- 
 self in it.' You see, I had an instinct of what was to 
 happen to me some day. 
 
 " I have now acquired one great advantage for my 
 government of France : neither she nor I will deceive 
 ourselves any longer. Talleyrand wanted me to make 
 myself King that is the word of his dictionary; 
 but I will have no grands seigneurs, except those I
 
 244 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 make myself. Besides which, the title of King is 
 worn out. Certain preconceived ideas are attached 
 to it; it would make me a kind of heir, and I will be 
 the heir of no one. The title that I bear is a grander 
 one; it is still somewhat vague, and leaves room for 
 the imagination. Here is a revolution brought to an 
 end, and, I flatter myself, not harshly. Would you 
 know why ? Because no interests have been displaced, 
 and many have been revived. That vanity of yours 
 must always have breathing room; you would have 
 been wearied to death with the dull sternness of a 
 republican government. What caused the Revolution ? 
 Vanity. What will end it? Vanity again. Liberty 
 is a pretext; equality is your hobby, and here are the 
 people quite pleased with a king taken from the ranks 
 of the soldiery. Men like the Abbe Sieves," he added, 
 laughing, " may inveigh against despotism, but my 
 authority will always be popular. To-day I have the 
 people and the army on my side ; and with these a man 
 would be a great fool who could not reign." 
 
 With these concluding words, Bonaparte rose. 
 Hitherto he had been very agreeable ; his tone of voice, 
 his countenance, his gestures, all were familiar and 
 encouraging. He had been smiling, he had seen our 
 answering smiles, and had even been amused by the 
 remarks we had made on his discourse ; in fact, he had 
 put us perfectly at our ease. But now, in a moment, 
 his manner changed. He looked at us sternly, in a 
 way that always seemed to increase his short stature, 
 and gave M. de Remusat some insignificant order in 
 the curt tone of a despotic master, who takes care that 
 every request shall be a command. 
 
 His tone of voice, so different from that to which I 
 had been listening for the last hour, made me start; 
 and, when we had withdrawn, my husband, who had 
 noticed my involuntary movement, told me that he
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 245 
 
 had felt the same sensation. " You perceive," he said, 
 " he was afraid that this momentary unbending and 
 confidence might lessen the fear he is always anxious 
 to inspire. He therefore thought proper to dismiss us 
 with a reminder that he is the master." I never for- 
 got this just observation, and more than once I have 
 seen that it was founded on a sound appreciation of 
 Bonaparte's character. 
 
 I have allowed myself to digress in relating this 
 conversation and the reflections which preceded it, and 
 must now return to the day on which Bonaparte was 
 made Emperor, and continue to depict the curious 
 scenes of which I was an eye-witness. 
 
 I have already enumerated the guests whom Bona- 
 parte invited to dine with him on that day. Just be- 
 fore dinner was announced, Duroc, the Governor 
 of the Palace, informed each of us, severally, that the 
 title of Prince was to be given to Joseph and Louis 
 Bonaparte, and that of Princess to their wives. Mmes. 
 Bacciochi and Murat were enraged at the distinction 
 thus made between themselves and their sisters-in-law ; 
 and Mme. Murat could hardly conceal her anger. At 
 six o'clock the new Emperor made his appearance, and, 
 with perfect ease and readiness, saluted each one 
 present by his or her new title. The scene made a 
 deep impression on me; I felt it like a presentiment. 
 The early part of the day had been fine, but very hot ; 
 but, about the time of the arrival of the Senate at 
 Saint Cloud, the weather suddenly changed, the sky 
 became overcast, thunder was heard, and for several 
 hours a storm seemed impending. The dark and 
 heavy atmosphere which weighed on the palace of 
 Saint Cloud struck me as an evil omen, and I could 
 hardly conceal the depression I felt. The Emperor 
 was in good spirits, and, I think secretly enjoyed the 
 slight confusion which the new ceremonial created
 
 246 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 among us all. The Empress was, as usual, gracious, 
 and unaffected, and easy; Joseph and Louis looked 
 pleased; Mme. Joseph appeared resigned to anything 
 that might be required of her; Mme. Louis was equally 
 submissive; and Eugene Beauharnais, whom I can not 
 praise too highly in comparison with the others, was 
 simple and natural, evidently free from any secret 
 ambition or repining. This was not the case with the 
 new-made Marshal Murat; but his fear of his brother- 
 in-law forced him to restrain himself, and he main- 
 tained a sullen silence. Mme. Murat was excessively 
 angry, and during the dinner had so little control over 
 herself that, on hearing the Emperor address Mme. 
 Louis several times as " Princess," she could not 
 restrain her tears. She drank several glasses of water 
 in order to recover herself, and to appear to be taking 
 something at the table, but her te-ars were not to be 
 checked. Every one was embarrassed, and her brother 
 smiled maliciously. For my own part, I was surprised, 
 and even shocked, to see that young and pretty face 
 disfigured by emotions whose source was so mean a 
 passion. 
 
 Mme. Murat was then between twenty-two and 
 twenty-three years of age; her dazzlingly white skin, 
 her beautiful fair hair, the flowery wreath which 
 decked it, the rose-colored dress she wore, all con- 
 tributed to give her a youthful and childlike appear- 
 ance. The feelings which she now displayed con- 
 trasted harshly with those charms. No one could pity 
 her tears, and I think they impressed every one else as 
 disagreeably as they impressed me. 
 
 Mme. Bacciochi, who was older and had more com- 
 mand over herself, shed no tears; but her manner was 
 abrupt and sarcastic, and she treated us all with 
 marked haughtiness. 
 
 The Emperor became annoyed at last by his
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 247 
 
 sisters' behavior, and he aggravated their ill humor by 
 indirect taunts, which wounded them very deeply. All 
 that I witnessed during that eventful day gave me 
 new notions of the effect which ambition produces on 
 minds of a certain order; it was a spectacle of which 
 I could have formed no previous conception. 
 
 On the following day, after a family dinner, a 
 violent scene took place, at which I was not present; 
 but we could hear something of it through the wall 
 which divided the Empress's boudoir from our salon. 
 Mme. Murat burst into complaints, tears, and re- 
 proaches; she asked why she and her sisters were to 
 be condemned to obscurity and contempt, while 
 strangers were to be loaded with honors and dignity? 
 Bonaparte answered her angrily, asserting several 
 times that he was master, and would distribute honors 
 as he pleased. It was on this occasion that he uttered 
 the memorable remark, " Really, mesdames, to hear 
 your pretension, one would think we hold the crown 
 from our father, the late King." 
 
 The Empress afterward retailed to me the whole of 
 this angry dispute. With all her kind-heartedness, she 
 could not help enjoying the wrath of a person who so 
 thoroughly disliked her. The discussion ended by 
 Mme. Murat's falling on the floor in a dead faint, 
 overcome by her excessive anger and by the acrimony 
 of her brother's reproaches. At this, Bonaparte's 
 anger vanished, and when his sister recovered con- 
 sciousness he gave her some little encouragement. A 
 few days later, after a consultation with M. de Talley- 
 rand, Cambaceres, and others, it was arranged that 
 titles of courtesy should be given to the sisters of the 
 Emperor, and we learned from the " Moniteur " that 
 they were to be addressed as " Imperial Highness." 
 
 Another vexation was, however, in store for Mme. 
 Murat and her husband. The private regulations of
 
 248 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the palace of Saint Cloud divided the Imperial apart- 
 ment into several reception-rooms, which could only 
 be entered according to the newly acquired rank of 
 each person. The room nearest the Emperor's cabinet 
 became the throne-room, or Princes' room, and Mar- 
 shal Murat, although the husband of a princess, was 
 excluded from it. M. de Remusat had the unpleasant 
 task of refusing him admittance when he was about to 
 pass in. Although my husband was not responsible 
 for the orders he had received, and executed them 
 with scrupulous politeness, Murat was deeply offended 
 by this public affront; and he and his wife, already 
 prejudiced against us on account of our attachment to 
 the Empress, henceforth honored us both, if I may use 
 the word, with a secret enmity, of which we have 
 more than once experienced the effects. Mme. Murat, 
 however, who had discovered her influence over her 
 brother, was far from considering the case hopeless on 
 this occasion ; and, in fact, she eventually succeeded in 
 raising her husband to the position she so eagerly 
 desired for him. 
 
 The new code of precedence caused some disturb- 
 ance in a Court which had hitherto been tolerably 
 quiet. The struggle of contending vanity that con- 
 vulsed the Imperial family was parodied in Mme. 
 Bonaparte's circle. 
 
 In addition to her four ladies-in-waiting, Mme. 
 Bonaparte was in the habit of receiving the wives of 
 the various officers attached to the service of the First 
 Consul. Besides these, Mme. Murat was frequently 
 invited she lived permanently at Saint Cloud on 
 account of her husband's position there ; also Mme. de 
 la Valette, the Marquis de Beauharnais's daughter, 
 whose misfortunes and conjugal tenderness afterward 
 made her famous at the time of the sentence passed on 
 her husband and his escape, in 1815. He was of very
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 249 
 
 humble origin, but clever, and of amiable disposition. 
 After having served some time in the army, he had 
 abandoned a mode of life unsuited to his tastes. The 
 First Consul had employed him on some diplomatic 
 missions, and had just appointed him Counsellor of 
 State. He evinced extreme devotion to all the Beau- 
 harnais, whose kinsman he had become. His wife 
 was amiable and unpretending by nature, but it seemed 
 as though vanity were to become the ruling passion 
 in every one belonging to the Court, of both sexes and 
 all ages. 
 
 An order from the Emperor which gave the ladies- 
 in-waiting precedence over others became a signal for 
 an outburst of feminine jealousy. Mme. Maret, a 
 cold, proud personage, was annoyed that we should 
 take precedence of her, and made common cause with 
 Mme. Murat, who fully shared her feelings. Besides 
 this, M. de Talleyrand, who was no friend to Maret, 
 and mercilessly ridiculed his absurdities, and was also 
 on bad terms with Murat, had become an object of 
 dislike to both, and, consequently, a bond of union 
 between the two. The Empress did not like anybody 
 who was a friend of Mme. Murat, and treated Mme. 
 Maret with some coldness; and, although I never 
 shared any of these feelings, and, for my own part, 
 disliked nobody, I was included in the animadversions 
 of that party upon the Beauharnais. 
 
 On Sunday morning the new Empress received 
 commands to appear at mass, attended only by her 
 four ladies-in-waiting. Mme. de la Valette, who had 
 hitherto accompanied her aunt on all occasions, rinding 
 herself suddenly deprived of this privilege, burst into 
 tears, and so we had to set about consoling this ambi- 
 tious young lady. I observed these things with much 
 amusement, preserving my serenity in these somewhat 
 absurd dissensions, which were, nevertheless, natural
 
 250 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 enough. So much was it a matter of course for the 
 inmates of the palace to live in a state of excitement, 
 and to be either joyous or depressed according as their 
 new-born projects of ambition were accomplished or 
 disappointed, that one day, when I was in great spirits 
 and laughing heartily at some jest or other, one of 
 Bonaparte's aides-de-camp came up to me and asked 
 me in a low voice whether I had been promised some 
 new dignity. I could not help asking him in return 
 whether he fancied that at Saint Cloud one must 
 always be in tears unless one was a princess. 
 
 Yet I had my own little ambition too, but it was 
 moderate and easy to satisfy. The Emperor had made 
 known to me through the Empress, and M. de Caulain- 
 court had repeated it to my husband, that, on the con- 
 solidation of his own fortunes, he would not forget 
 those who had from the first devoted themselves to 
 his service. Relying on this assurance, we felt easy 
 with regard to our future, and took no steps to render 
 it secure. We were wrong, for every one else was 
 actively at work. M. de Remusat had always kept 
 aloof from any kind of scheming, a defect in a man 
 who lived at a Court. Certain good qualities are 
 absolutely a bar to advancement in the favor of sov- 
 ereigns. They do not like to find generous feelings 
 and philosophical opinions which are a mark of inde- 
 pendence of mind in their surroundings; and they 
 think it still less pardonable that those who serve 
 them should have any means of escaping from their 
 power. Bonaparte, who was exacting in the kind of 
 service he required, quickly perceived that M. de 
 Remusat would serve him faithfully, and yet would 
 not bend to all his caprices. This discovery, together 
 with some additional circumstances which I shall 
 relate in their proper places, induced him to discard 
 his obligations to him. He retained my husband near
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 251 
 
 him; he made use of him to suit his own convenience; 
 but he did not confer the same honors upon him which 
 he bestowed on many others, because he knew that 
 no favors would procure the compliance of a man who 
 was incapable of sacrificing self-respect to ambition. 
 The arts of a courtier were, besides, incompatible with 
 M. de Remusat's tastes. He liked solitude, serious 
 occupations, family life; every feeling of his heart was 
 tender and pure; the use, or rather the waste of his 
 time, which was exclusively occupied in a continual 
 and minute attention to the details of Court etiquette, 
 was a source of constant regret to him. The Revolu- 
 tion, which removed him from the ranks of the magis- 
 tracy, having deprived him of his chosen calling, he 
 thought it his duty to his children to accept the position 
 which had offered itself; but the constant attention 
 to important trifles to which he was condemned was 
 wearisome, and he was only punctual when he ought 
 to have been assiduous. Afterward, when the veil 
 fell from his eyes, and he saw Bonaparte as he really 
 was, his generous spirit was roused to indignation, 
 and close personal attendance on him became very- 
 pain ful to my husband. Nothing is so fatal to the 
 promotion of a courtier as his being actuated by 
 conscientious scruples which he does not conceal. But, 
 at the period of which I am speaking, these feelings 
 of ours were still only vague, and I must repeat what 
 I have already said that we believed that the Emperor 
 was in some measure indebted to us, and we relied on 
 him. 
 
 The time soon came, however, when we lost some of 
 our importance. People of rank equal to our own, 
 and soon afterward those who were our superiors 
 both in rank and fortune, begged to be allowed to 
 form part of the Imperial Court ; and thenceforth the 
 services of those who were the first to show the way
 
 252 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 thither decreased in value. Bonaparte was highly 
 delighted at his gradual conquest of the French 
 nobility, and even Mme. Bonaparte, who was more 
 susceptible of affection than he, had her head turned 
 for a time by finding real grandes dames among her 
 ladies-in-waiting. Wiser and more far-sighted persons 
 than ourselves would have been more than ever atten- 
 tive and assiduous in order to keep their footing, which 
 was disputed in every direction by a crowd full of 
 their own importance; but, far from acting thus, 
 we gave way to them. We saw in all this an oppor- 
 tunity of partially regaining our freedom, and impru- 
 dently availed ourselves of it; and when, from any 
 cause whatever, one loses ground at Court, it is rarely 
 to be recovered. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, who was urging Bonaparte to 
 surround himself with all the prestige of royalty, 
 advised him to gratify the vanity and pretension of 
 those whom he wished to allure; and in France the 
 nobility can be satisfied only by being placed in the 
 front. Those distinctions to which they thought 
 themselves entitled had to be dangled before their 
 eyes; the Montmorencys, the Montesquious, etc., were 
 secured by the promise that, from the day they cast in 
 their lot with Bonaparte, they should resume all their 
 former importance. In fact, it could not be otherwise, 
 when the Emperor had once resolved on forming a 
 regular Court. 
 
 Some persons have thought that Bonaparte would 
 have done more wisely had he retained some of the 
 simplicity and austerity in externals which disappeared 
 with the Consulate when he adopted the new title of 
 Emperor. A constitutional government and a limited 
 Court, displaying no luxury, and significant of the 
 change which successive revolutions had wrought in 
 people's ideas, might perhaps have been less pleasing
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 253 
 
 to the national vanity, but it would have commanded 
 more real respect. At the time of which I am speak- 
 ing, the dignities to be conferred on those persons 
 surrounding the new sovereign were much discussed. 
 Duroc requested M. de Remusat to give his ideas on 
 the subject in writing. He drew up a wise and moder- 
 ate plan, but which was too simple for those secret 
 projects which no one had then divined. " There is 
 not sufficient display in it," said Bonaparte, as he read 
 it; "all that would not throw dust in people's eyes." 
 His project was to decoy, in order to deceive more 
 effectually. 
 
 As he refused to give a free constitution to the 
 French, he had to conciliate and fascinate them by 
 every possible means; and, there being always some 
 littleness in pride, supreme power was not enough for 
 him he must have the appearance of it too; he must 
 have etiquette, chamberlains, and so forth, which he 
 believed would disguise the parvenu. He liked display ; 
 he leaned toward a feudal system quite alien to the 
 age in which he lived, but which nevertheless he in- 
 tended to establish. It would, however, in all prob- 
 ability, have only lasted for the duration of his own 
 reign. 
 
 It would be impossible to record all his notions on 
 this subject. The following were some of them : " The 
 French Empire," he would say, "will become the 
 mother country of the other sovereignties of Europe. 
 I intend that each of the kings shall be obliged to build 
 a big palace for his own use in Paris ; and that, on the 
 coronation of the Emperor of the French, these kings 
 shall come to Paris, and grace by their presence that 
 imposing ceremony to which they will render homage." 
 What did this project mean, except that he hoped to 
 revive the feudal system, and to resuscitate a Charle- 
 magne who, for his own advantage only, and to
 
 254 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 strengthen his own power, should avail himself of the 
 despotic notions of a former era and also of the expe- 
 rience of modern times? 
 
 Bonaparte frequently declared that he alone was the 
 whole Revolution, and he at length persuaded himself 
 that in his own person he preserved all of it which it 
 would not be well to destroy. 
 
 A fever of etiquette seemed to have seized on all 
 the inhabitants of the Imperial palace of Saint Cloud. 
 The ponderous regulations of Louis XIV. were taken 
 down from the shelves in the library, and extracts 
 were commenced from them, in order that a code might 
 be drawn up for the use of the new Court. Mine. 
 Bonaparte sent for Mme. Campan, who had been First 
 Bedchamber Woman to Marie Antoinette. She was 
 a clever woman, and kept a school, where, as I have 
 already mentioned, nearly all the young girls who 
 appeared at Bonaparte's Court had been educated. 
 She was questioned in detail as to the manners and 
 customs of the last Queen of France, and I was 
 appointed to write everything that she related from 
 her dictation. Bonaparte added the very voluminous 
 memoranda which resulted from this to those which 
 were brought to him from all sides. M. de Talley- 
 rand was consulted about everything. There was a 
 continual coming and going; people were living in a 
 kind of uncertainty which had its pleasing side, 
 because every one hoped to rise higher. I must can- 
 didly confess that we all felt ourselves more or less 
 elevated. Vanity is ingenious in its expectations, and 
 ours were unlimited. 
 
 Sometimes it was disenchanting, for a moment, to 
 observe the almost ridiculous effect that this agitation 
 produced upon certain classes of society. Those who 
 had nothing to do with our brand-new dignities said 
 with Montaigne, " Vengeons-nous par en medire."
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 255 
 
 Jests more or less witty, and calembours more or less 
 ingenious, were lavished on these new-made princes, 
 and somewhat disturbed our brilliant visions; but the 
 number of those who dare to censure success is small, 
 and flattery was much more common than criticism, 
 at any rate in the circle under our observation. 
 
 Such was, then, the position of affairs at the close 
 of the era which terminates here. The narrative of 
 the second epoch will show what progress we all made 
 (when I say " we all," I mean France and Europe) in 
 this course of brilliant errors, which was destined to 
 lead to the loss of our liberties and the obscuration of 
 our true greatness for a long period. 
 
 In the April of that year Bonaparte made his 
 brother Louis a member of the Council of State, and 
 Joseph colonel of the 4th Regiment of Infantry. 
 " You must both belong to the civil and military ser- 
 vice by turns," he said. " You must not be strangers 
 to anything that concerns the interests of the country."
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 (1804.) 
 
 THE creation of the Empire had turned public 
 attention away from the proceeding against 
 Moreau, which were, however, going on. 
 The accused had been brought before the tribunal 
 several times ; but, the more the case was investigated, 
 the less hope there was of the condemnation of Mo- 
 reau, which became day by day an object of greater 
 importance. I am perfectly convinced that the Em- 
 peror would not have allowed Moreau's life to be 
 taken. That the General should be condemned and 
 pardoned would have been sufficient for his purpose, 
 which was to refute, by the sentence of the court, 
 those who accused him of having acted with undue 
 haste and personal animosity. 
 
 All who have brought cool observation to bear upon 
 this important event are agreed in thinking that Mo- 
 reau exhibited weakness and want of judgment. 
 When he was brought up for examination, he showed 
 none of the dignity that was expected from him. 
 He did not, like Georges Cadoudal, assume the atti- 
 tude of a determined man, who openly avowed the 
 lofty designs that had actuated him; neither did he 
 assume that of an innocent man, full of righteous 
 indignation at an unjust charge. He prevaricated in 
 some of his answers, and the interest which he in- 
 spired was diminished by that fact; but even then 
 Bonaparte gained nothing by this lessening enthusi- 
 
 256
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 257 
 
 asm, and not only party spirit, but reason itself, cen- 
 sured no less strongly than before a proceeding which 
 was still attributed to personal enmity. 
 
 At length, on the 3Oth of May, the formal indict- 
 ment (acte d' accusation) appeared in the " Moni- 
 teur." It was accompanied by certain letters written 
 by Moreau in 1795, before the i8th Fructidor, which 
 proved that the General, being then convinced that 
 Pichegru was corresponding with the princes, had 
 denounced him to the Directory. A general and nat- 
 ural question then arose: Why had Moreau acted so 
 differently in the case of this second conspiracy, jus- 
 tifying himself by the statement that he had not 
 thought it proper to reveal the secret of a plot, in 
 which he had refused to engage, to the First Consul? 
 
 On the 6th of June the examinations of all the ac- 
 cused persons were published. Among these there 
 were some who declared positively that the princes, in 
 England, were quite confident that they might count 
 upon Moreau; that it was with this hope Pichegru 
 had gone to France, and that the two generals had 
 subsequently on several occasions had interviews with 
 Georges Cadoudal. They even asserted that Pichegru 
 had evinced great dissatisfaction after these inter- 
 views, had complained that Moreau gave him only 
 half-hearted support, and seemed anxious to profit on 
 his own account by the blow which was to strike 
 Bonaparte. A person named Bolland declared that 
 Moreau had said, " The first thing to be done is to 
 get rid of the First Consul." 
 
 Moreau, on being questioned in his turn, answered 
 that Pichegru, when he was in England, had con- 
 veyed an inquiry to him as to whether he would assist 
 him in case he should wish to return to France, and 
 that he had promised to help him to carry out that 
 project. It naturally occasioned no little astonish-
 
 258 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 ment that Pichegru, who had been denounced some 
 years before by Moreau himself, should have applied 
 to him to obtain his " erasure " ; and Pichegru had, at 
 the time of his examination, denied that he had done 
 so. At the same time, however, he also denied that 
 he had seen Moreau, although Moreau acknowledged 
 that they had met, and he persisted in declaring that 
 in coming to France he had been actuated solely by 
 his aversion to a foreign country, and his desire to 
 return to his own. Shortly afterward Pichegru was 
 found strangled in his prison, and the circumstances 
 of his death have never been explained, nor have any 
 comprehensible motives which could have rendered it 
 necessary to himself been assigned. 
 
 Moreau admitted that he had received Pichegru 
 (who took him, he said, by surprise) at his house, 
 but he declared at the same time that he had posi- 
 tively refused to enter into a scheme for the replace- 
 ment of the house of Bourbon on the throne, because 
 such a resolution would disturb the settlement of the 
 national property; and he added that, so far as his 
 own personal pretensions were concerned, the notion 
 was absurd, as it would have been necessary to their 
 success that not only the First Consul, but the two 
 other Consuls, the Governors of Paris, and the guard, 
 should be got rid of. He declared that he had seen 
 Pichegru but once, although others of the accused 
 asserted that several interviews had taken place be- 
 tween them; and he maintained this line of defense 
 unshaken. He was, however, obliged to admit that 
 he had discovered at an advanced stage of the affair 
 that Frasnieres, his private secretary, was deeply in- 
 volved with the conspirators. Frasnieres had fled on 
 the first alarm. 
 
 Georges Cadoudal answered that his plan was to 
 attack the First Consul, and remove him by force;
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 259 
 
 that he had never entertained a doubt of rinding in 
 Paris itself a number of enemies of the actual regime 
 who would aid him in his enterprise; and that he 
 would have endeavored by every means in his power 
 to replace Louis XVIII. upon his throne. He stead- 
 ily denied, however, that he knew either Pichegru or 
 Moreau; and he terminated his replies with these 
 words : " You have victims enough ; I do not wish to 
 augment their number." 
 
 Bonaparte seemed to be impressed by this strength 
 of character, and said to us on that occasion, "If it 
 were possible that I could save any of these assassins, 
 I should pardon Georges." 
 
 The Due de Polignac replied that he had come to 
 France secretly, with the sole purpose of ascertaining 
 positively the state of public opinion, and what were 
 the chances it afforded; but that, when he perceived 
 that an assassination was in question, he had thought 
 only of getting away again, and would have left 
 France if he had not been arrested. 
 
 M. de Riviere made a similar answer, and M. Jules 
 de Polignac declared that he had merely followed his 
 brother. 
 
 On the loth of June twenty of the accused persons 
 were convicted and sentenced to death. At the head 
 of the list were Georges Cadoudal and the Marquis 
 de Riviere. The judgment went on to state that Jules 
 de Polignac, Louis Meridan, Moreau, and Bolland 
 were guilty of having taken part in the said conspir- 
 acy, but that it appeared from the " instruction " and 
 the investigation that there were circumstances which 
 rendered them excusable, and that the court therefore 
 commuted the punishment which they had incurred 
 to that of fine and imprisonment. 
 
 I was at Saint Cloud when the news of this finding 
 of the court arrived. Every one was dumbfounded. 
 Vol. 9 I Memoirs
 
 260 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 The Chief Judge had pledged himself to the First 
 Consul that Moreau should be condemned to death, 
 and Bonaparte's discomfiture was so great that he 
 was incapable of concealing it. It was publicly 
 known that, at his first public audience on the Sunday 
 following, he displayed ungoverned anger toward 
 Lecourbe (brother to the general of that name), the 
 judge who had spoken strongly in favor of Moreau's 
 innocence at the trial. He ordered Lecourbe out of 
 his presence, calling him a " prevaricating judge " 
 an epithet whose signification nobody could guess; 
 and shortly afterward he deprived him of his judge- 
 ship. 
 
 I returned to Paris, much troubled by the state of 
 things at Saint Cloud, and I found that among a cer- 
 tain party in the city the result of the trial was re- 
 garded with exultation which was nothing short of 
 an insult to the Emperor. The nobility were much 
 grieved by the condemnation of the Due de Polignac. 
 
 I was with my mother and my husband, and we 
 were deploring the melancholy results of these pro- 
 ceedings, and the numerous executions which were 
 about to take place, when I was informed that the 
 Duchesse de Polignac, and her aunt, Mme. Daudlau, 
 the daughter of Helvetius, whom I had often met in 
 society, had come to visit me. They were ushered into 
 the room, both in tears. The Duchess, who was in an 
 interesting situation, enlisted my sympathies at once; 
 she came to entreat me to procure an audience of the 
 Emperor for her, that she might implore him to par- 
 don her husband. She had no means of gaining ad- 
 mission to the palace of Saint Cloud, and she hoped I 
 would assist her. M. de Remusat and my mother 
 were, like myself, fully alive to the difficulty of the 
 enterprise, but we all three felt that I ought not to 
 allow that difficulty to hinder me from making the
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 261 
 
 attempt ; and as we still had some days before us, be- 
 cause of the appeal against their sentence which the 
 condemned men had made, I arranged with the two 
 ladies that they should go to Saint Cloud on the fol- 
 lowing day, while I was to precede them by a few 
 hours, and induce Mme. Bonaparte to receive them. 
 
 Accordingly, the next day I returned to Saint 
 Cloud, and I had no difficulty in obtaining a promise 
 from my good Empress that she would receive a 
 person in so unhappy a position. But she did not 
 conceal from me that she felt considerable dread of 
 approaching the Emperor at a moment when he was 
 so much displeased. " If," said she, " Moreau had 
 been condemned, I should feel more hopeful of our 
 success; but he is in such a rage that I am afraid he 
 will turn us away, and be angry with you for what 
 you are going to make me do." 
 
 I was too much moved by the tears and the condi- 
 tion of Mme. de Polignac to be influenced by such a 
 consideration, and I did my best to make the Empress 
 realize the impression which these sentences had pro- 
 duced in Paris. I reminded her of the death of the 
 Due d'Enghien, of Bonaparte's elevation to the Im- 
 perial throne in the midst of sanguinary punishments, 
 and pointed out to her that the general alarm would 
 be allayed by one act of clemency which might, at 
 least, be quoted side by side with so many acts of 
 severity. 
 
 While I was speaking to the Empress with all the 
 warmth and earnestness of which I was capable, and 
 with streaming tears, the Emperor suddenly entered 
 the room from the terrace outside ; this he frequently 
 did of a morning, when he would leave his work, and 
 come through the glass door into his wife's room for 
 a little talk with her. He instantly perceived our agi- 
 tation, and, although at another moment I should
 
 262 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 have been taken aback at his unlooked-for presence, 
 the profound emotion which I felt overcame all other 
 considerations, and I replied to his questions with a 
 frank avowal of what I had ventured to do. The 
 Empress, who was closely observing his countenance, 
 seeing the severe look that overcast it, did not hesitate 
 to come to my aid by telling him that she had already 
 consented to receive Mme. de Polignac. 
 
 The Emperor began by refusing to listen to us, and 
 complaining that we were putting him in for all the 
 difficulty of a position which would give him the ap- 
 pearance of cruelty. " I will not see this woman," he 
 said to me. " I can not grant a pardon. You do not 
 see that this Royalist party is full of young fools, who 
 will begin again with this kind of thing, and keep on 
 at it, if they are not kept within bounds by a severe 
 lesson. The Bourbons are credulous; they believe 
 the assurances which they get from schemers who 
 deceive them respecting the real state of the public 
 mind of France, and they will send a lot of victims 
 over here." 
 
 This answer did not stop me; I was extremely ex- 
 cited, partly by the event itself, and perhaps also by 
 the slight risk I was running of displeasing my for- 
 midable master. I would not be so cowardly in my 
 own eyes as to' retreat before any personal considera- 
 tion, and that feeling made me bold and tenacious. 
 I insisted so strongly, and entreated with such earn- 
 estness, that the Emperor, who was walking hurriedly 
 about the room while I was speaking, suddenly paused 
 opposite to me, and, fixing a piercing gaze on me, 
 said : " What personal interest do you take in these 
 people? You are not excusable except they are your 
 relatives." 
 
 " Sire," I answered, with all the firmness I could 
 summon up, " I do not know them, and until yester-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 263 
 
 day I had never seen Mme. de Polignac." "What! 
 And you thus plead the cause of people who came here 
 to assassinate me?" "No, Sire; I plead the cause 
 of an unfortunate woman who is in despair, and 
 I must say it I plead your own cause too." And 
 then, quite carried away by my feelings, I repeated 
 all that I had said to the Empress. She was as much 
 affected as myself, and warmly seconded all I said. 
 But we could obtain nothing from the Emperor at 
 that moment ; he went angrily away, telling us not to 
 " worry " him any more. 
 
 A few minutes afterward I was informed that 
 Mme. de Polignac had arrived. The Empress re- 
 ceived her in a private room, and promised that she 
 would do everything in her power to obtain a pardon 
 for the Due de Polignac. During the course of that 
 morning, certainly one of the most agitating I have 
 ever lived through, the Empress went twice into her 
 husband's cabinet, and twice had to leave it, repulsed. 
 Each time she returned to me, quite disheartened, and 
 I was losing hope and beginning to tremble at the 
 prospect of having to take a refusal to Mme. de 
 Polignac as the final answer. At length we learned 
 that M. de Talleyrand was with the Emperor, and I 
 besought the Empress to make one last attempt, think- 
 ing that, if M. de Talleyrand were a witness to it, he 
 would endeavor to persuade Bonaparte. And, in 
 fact, he did second the Empress at once and strongly ; 
 and at length Bonaparte, vanquished by their suppli- 
 cations, consented to allow Mme. de Polignac to ap- 
 pear before him. This was promising everything; 
 it would have been impossible to utter a cruel " No ! ' 
 in such a presence. Mme. de Polignac was ushered 
 into the cabinet, and fell fainting at the Emperor's 
 feet. The Empress was in tears; the pardon of the 
 Due de Polignac was granted, and an article written
 
 264 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 by M. de Talleyrand gave a charming account of the 
 scene, in what was then called the " Journal de 1' Em- 
 pire," on the following day. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, on leaving the Emperor's cab- 
 inet, found me in the Empress's boudoir, and related 
 to me all that had occurred. He made me cry afresh, 
 and he was far from being unmoved himself; but, 
 nevertheless, he also made me laugh by his recital of 
 an absurd little circumstance which had not escaped 
 his keen perception of the ridiculous. Poor Mme. 
 Daudlau, who had accompanied her niece, and wanted 
 to produce her own particular little effect, kept on 
 repeating, in the midst of her efforts to revive Mme. 
 de Polignac who was restored to consciousness with 
 great difficulty " Sire, I am the daughter of Hel- 
 vetius ! " 
 
 The Due de Polignac's sentence was commuted to 
 four years' imprisonment, to be followed by banish- 
 ment. He was sent to join his brother, and, after 
 having been confined in a fortress, they were removed 
 to a civil prison, whence they escaped during the cam- 
 paign of 1814. The Due de Rovigo (Fouche), who 
 was then Minister of Police, was suspected of having 
 connived at their escape, in order to curry favor with 
 the party whose approaching triumph he foresaw. 
 
 I have no desire to make more of myself on this 
 occasion than I strictly deserve, but I think it will be 
 admitted that circumstances so fellout as to permit 
 me to render a very substantial service to the Polignac 
 family one of which it would seem natural that they 
 should have preserved some recollection. Since the 
 return of the King to France, I have, however, been 
 taught by experience how effectually party spirit, 
 especially among courtiers, effaces all sentiments of 
 which it disapproves, no matter how just they 
 may be.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 265 
 
 After the incident which I have just related, I re- 
 ceived a few visits from Mme. de Polignac, who 
 doubtless held herself bound to so much recognition 
 of me; but, by degrees, as we lived in different cir- 
 cles, we lost sight of each other for some years, until 
 the Restoration. At that epoch the Due de Polignac, 
 having been sent by the King to Malmaison to thank 
 the Empress Josephine in his Majesty's name for her 
 zealous efforts to save the life of the Due d'Enghien, 
 took advantage of the opportunity to express his own 
 gratitude to her at the same time. The Empress in- 
 formed me of this visit, and said that no doubt the 
 Duke would also call on me; and I confess that I 
 expected some polite recognition from him. I did 
 not receive any; and, as it was not according to my 
 notions to endeavor to arouse by any words of mine 
 gratitude which could only be valuable by being vol- 
 untary, I remained quietly at home, and made no 
 reference to an event which the persons concerned in 
 it seemed to wish to forget, or at least to ignore. 
 
 One evening chance brought me in contact with 
 Mme. de Polignac. It was at a reception at the house 
 of the Due d'Orleans, and in the midst of a great 
 crowd. The Palais Royal was splendidly decorated, 
 all the French nobility were assembled there, and the 
 grands seigneurs and high-born gentlemen to whom 
 the Restoration at first seemed to mean the restora- 
 tion of their former rights, accosted each other with 
 the easy, secure, and satisfied manner so readily re- 
 sumed with success. Amid this brillant crowd I per- 
 ceived the Duchesse de Polignac. After long- years I 
 found her again, restored to her rank, receiving all 
 those congratulations which were due to her, sur- 
 rounded by an adulatory crowd. I recalled the day 
 on which I first saw her, the state she was then in, 
 her tears, her terror, the way in which she came
 
 266 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 toward me when she entered my room, and almost 
 fell at my feet. I was deeply moved by this contrast, 
 and, being only a few paces from her, the interest 
 with which she inspired me led me to approach her. 
 I addressed her in a tone of voice which, no doubt, 
 fully conveyed the really tender feeling of the mo- 
 ment, and congratulated her on the very different cir- 
 tumstances under which we met again. All I would 
 bave asked of her was a word of remembrance, which 
 would have responded to the emotion I felt on her 
 account. This feeling was speedily chilled by the 
 indifference and constraint with which she listened 
 to what I said. She either did not recognize me, or 
 she affected not to do so; I had to give my name. 
 Her embarrassment increased. On perceiving this I 
 immediately turned away, and with very painful feel- 
 ings ; for those which her presence had caused, and 
 which I had thought at first she would share, were 
 rudely dispelled. 
 
 The Empress's goodness in obtaining a remission 
 of the capital sentence for M. de Polignac made a 
 great sensation in Paris, and gave rise to renewed 
 praise of her kindness of heart, which had obtained 
 almost universal recognition. The wives, or mothers, 
 or sisters of the other political offenders immediately 
 besieged the palace of Saint Cloud, and endeavored 
 to obtain audience of the Empress, hoping to enlist 
 her sympathy. Applications were also made to her 
 daughter, and they both obtained further pardons or 
 commutations of sentence. The Emperor felt that 
 a dark shadow would be cast on his accession to the 
 throne by so many executions, and showed himself 
 accessible to the petitions addressed to him. 
 
 His sisters, who were by no means included in the 
 popularity of the Empress, and were anxious to ob- 
 tain if possible some public favor for themselves, gave
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 267 
 
 the wives of some of the condemned men to under- 
 stand that they might apply to them also. They then 
 took the petitioners in their own carriages to Saint 
 Cloud, in a sort of semi-state, to entreat pardon for 
 their husbands. These proceedings, as to which the 
 Emperor, I believe, had been consulted beforehand, 
 seemed less spontaneous than those of the Empress 
 indeed, bore signs of prearrangement ; but at any rate 
 they served to save the lives of several persons. 
 Murat, who had excited universal indignation by his 
 violent behavior and by his hostility to Moreau, also 
 tried to regain popularity by similar devices, and did 
 in fact obtain a pardon for the Marquis de Riviere. 
 On the same occasion he brought a letter from Geor- 
 ges Cadoudal to Bonaparte, which I heard read. It 
 was a manly and outspoken letter, such as might be 
 penned by a man who, being convinced that the deeds 
 he has done, and which have proved his destruction, 
 were dictated by a generous sense of duty and an 
 unchangeable resolution, is resigned to his fate. Bo- 
 naparte was deeply impressed by this letter, and again 
 expressed his regret that he could not extend clem- 
 ency to Georges Cadoudal. 
 
 This man, the real head of the conspiracy, died 
 with unshaken courage. Twenty had been condemned 
 to death. The capital sentence was, in the cases of 
 seven, commuted to a more or less prolonged impris- 
 onment. Their names are as follows: the Due de 
 Polignac, the Marquis de Riviere, Russillon, Rochelle, 
 D'Hozier, Lajollais, Guillard. The others were exe- 
 cuted. General Moreau was taken to Bordeaux, and 
 put on board a'ship for the United States. His fam- 
 ily sold their property by Imperial command; the 
 Emperor bought a portion of it, and bestowed the 
 estate of Grosbois on Marshal Berthier. 
 
 A few days later, the " Moniteur " published a pro-
 
 268 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 test from Louis XVIII. against the accession of Na- 
 poleon. It appeared on July i, 1804, but produced 
 little effect. The Cadoudal conspiracy had weakened 
 the faint sentiment of barely surviving allegiance to 
 the old dynasty. The plot had, in fact, been so badly 
 conceived; it seemed to be based on such total igno- 
 rance of the internal state of France, and of the opin- 
 ions of the various parties in the country; the names 
 and the characters of the conspirators inspired so lit- 
 tle confidence; and, above all, the further disturb- 
 ances which must have resulted from any great 
 change, were so universally dreaded that, with the 
 exception of a small number of gentlemen whose in- 
 terests would be served by the renewal of an abol- 
 ished state of things, there was in France no regret 
 for a result which served to strengthen the newly 
 inaugurated system. Whether from conviction, or 
 from a longing for repose, or from yielding to the 
 sway of the great fortunes of the new Head of the 
 State, many gave in their adhesion to his sovereignty, 
 and from this time forth France assumed a peaceful 
 and orderly attitude. The opposing factions became 
 disheartened, and, as commonly happens when this is 
 the case, each individual belonging to them made 
 secret attempts to link his lot to the chances offered 
 by a totally new system. Gentle and simple, Royal- 
 ists and Liberals, all began to scheme for advance- 
 ment. New ambitions and vanities were aroused, 
 and favors solicited in every direction. Bonaparte 
 beheld those on whom he could least have counted 
 suing for the honor of serving him. 
 
 Meanwhile he was not in .haste to choose from 
 among them ; he delayed a long time, in order to feed 
 their hopes and to increase the number of aspirants. 
 During this respite, I left the Court for a little breath- 
 ing-time in the country. I stayed for a month in the
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 269 
 
 valley of Montmorency, with Mme. d'Houdetot, of 
 whom I have already spoken. The quiet life I led in 
 her house was refreshing after the anxieties and an- 
 noyances which I had recently had to endure almost 
 uninterruptedly. I needed this interval of rest; my 
 health, which since that time has always been more 
 or less delicate, was beginning to fail, and my spir- 
 its were depressed by the new aspect of events, and 
 by discoveries I was slowly making about things in 
 general, and about certain great personages in par- 
 ticular. The gilded veil which Bonaparte used to say 
 hung before the eyes of youth was beginning to lose 
 its brightness, and I became aware of the fact with 
 astonishment, which always causes more or less suf- 
 fering, until time and experience have made us wiser 
 and taught us to take things more easily.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 (1804.) 
 
 BY degrees the flotillas built in our other har- 
 bors came round to join those of Boulogne. 
 They sometimes met with obstacles on the 
 way, for English vessels were always cruising about 
 the coast to prevent their junction. The camps at 
 Boulogne, at Montreuil, and at Compiegne presented 
 an imposing appearance, and the army became daily 
 more numerous and more formidable. 
 
 There is no doubt that these preparations for war, 
 and the comments which were made upon them in 
 Paris, caused some anxiety in Europe; for an article 
 appeared in the newspapers which created no great 
 impression at the time, but which I considered to be 
 worth preserving, because it was an exact forecast of 
 all that has since occurred. It appeared in the " Mon- 
 iteur " of July 10, 1804, on the same day with an 
 account of the audience given by the Emperor to all 
 the ambassadors who had just received fresh creden- 
 tials to his Court. Some of the latter contained flatter- 
 ing expressions from foreign sovereigns on his 
 accession to the throne. 
 
 This is the article: 
 
 " From time immemorial, the metropolis has been 
 the home of hearsay (les on dit}. A new rumor 
 springs up every day, to be contradicted on the next. 
 Although there has been of late more activity, and a 
 certain persistence in these reports which gratify idle 
 curiosity, we think it more desirable to leave them to 
 
 270
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 271 
 
 time, and that wisest of all possible replies silence! 
 Besides, what sensible Frenchman, really interested in 
 discovering the truth, will fail to recognize in the 
 current rumors the offspring of malignity more or 
 less interested in their circulation? 
 
 " In a country where so large a number of men are 
 well aware of existing facts, and are able to judge 
 of those which do not exist, if any one imagines that 
 current rumors ought to cause him real anxiety, if a 
 credulous confidence in them influences his commercial 
 enterprises or his personal interests, either his error is 
 not a lasting one, or he must lay the blame on his own 
 want of reflection. 
 
 " But foreigners, persons attached to diplomatic 
 missions, not having the same means of judging, nor 
 the same knowledge of the country, are often deceived ; 
 and, although for a long time past they have had 
 opportunities of observing how invariably every event 
 gives the lie to current gossip, they nevertheless repeat 
 it in foreign countries, and thus give rise to most 
 erroneous notions about France. We therefore 
 think it advisable to say a few words in this journal 
 on the subject of political gossip. 
 
 " It is said that the Emperor is about to unite the 
 Italian republic, the Ligurian republic, the republic 
 of Lucca, the kingdom of Etruria, the Papal States, 
 and, by a necessary consequence, Naples and Sicily, 
 under his own rule. It is said that the same fate is 
 reserved for Switzerland and Holland. It is said that, 
 by annexing Hanover, the Emperor will be enabled to 
 become a member of the Germanic Confederation. 
 
 " Many deductions are drawn from these supposi- 
 tions; and the first we remark is that the Pope will 
 abdicate, and that Cardinal Fesch or Cardinal Ruffo 
 will be raised to the Pontifical Throne. 
 
 " We have already said, and we repeat it, that if the
 
 272 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 influence of France were to be exerted in any changes 
 affecting the Sovereign Pontiff, it would be exerted 
 for the welfare of the Holy Father, and to increase the 
 respect due to the Holy See and its possessions, rather 
 than to diminish it. 
 
 " As to the kingdom of Naples, Mr. Action's aggres- 
 sive action and his constantly hostile policy might in 
 former times have afforded France a legitimate cause 
 of war, which she would never have undertaken with 
 the intention of uniting the Two Sicilies to the French 
 Empire. 
 
 " The Italian and Ligurian republics and the king- 
 dom of Etruria will not cease to exist as independent 
 States, and it is surely very unlikely that the Emperor 
 would disown both the duties attached to the authority 
 which he derives from the comitia of Lyons, and the 
 personal glory he has acquired by twice restoring to 
 independence the States which twice he has conquered. 
 
 " We may ask, as regards Switzerland, who pre- 
 vented its annexation to France before the Act of 
 Mediation? This Act, the immediate result of care 
 and thought on the part of the Emperor, has restored 
 tranquillity to those peoples, and is a guarantee of their 
 independence and security, so long as they themselves 
 do not destroy this guarantee by substituting the will 
 of one of their constituent corporations, or that of a 
 party, for the elements of which it is composed. 
 
 " Had France desired to annex Holland, Holland 
 would now be French, like Belgium. That she is an 
 independent power is because France felt with regard 
 to that country, as she felt in the case of Switzerland, 
 that the localities required an individual existence and 
 a particular kind of organization. 
 
 " A still more absurd supposition is entertained 
 respecting Hanover. The annexation of that province 
 would be the most fatal gift that could be made to
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 273 
 
 France, and no lengthened consideration of the matter 
 is needed in order to perceive this. Hanover would 
 become a cause of rivalry between the French nation 
 and that prince who was the ally and friend of France 
 at a time when all Europe was in coalition against her. 
 In order to retain Hanover, it would be necessary to 
 keep up a military force at a cost out of all proportion 
 to the few millions which constitute the whole of the 
 revenues of that country. Will that Government 
 which has made sacrifices in order to maintain the 
 principle that a simple and continuous frontier-line, 
 even as far as the fortifications of Strasbourg and 
 of Mayence on the right bank, is necessary, be so 
 short-sighted as to wish for the incorporation of 
 Hanover ? 
 
 " But, it is said, the advantage of belonging to the 
 Germanic Confederation depends on the possession of 
 Hanover. The mere title of Emperor of the French is 
 sufficient answer to this singular idea. The Ger- 
 manic Confederation is composed of kings, electors, 
 and princes, and it recognizes, in relation to itself, but 
 one imperial dignity. It would be to misjudge the 
 noble pride of our country to suppose she would ever 
 consent to become an element in any other confedera- 
 tion, even had such a thing been compatible with 
 national dignity. What could have prevented France 
 from maintaining her rights in the circle of Burgundy, 
 or those which conferred on her the possession of the 
 Palatinate? We may even ask, with pardonable pride, 
 who was it that prevented France from keeping 
 part of the States of Baden and of the Swabian 
 territory ? 
 
 " No, France will never cross the Rhine ! Nor will 
 her armies pass over it, unless it become necessary for 
 her to protect the German Empire and its princes, 
 who inspire an interest in her because of their attach-
 
 274 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 ment to her, and their value in the balance of power in 
 Europe. 
 
 " If these are simply idle rumors, we have answered 
 them sufficiently. If they owe their origin to the 
 anxious jealousy of foreign Powers, who are always 
 crying out that France is ambitious in order to cloak 
 their own ambition, there is another answer to be 
 made. Owing to the two coalitions successively 
 entered into against us, and to the treaties of Campo 
 Formio and Luneville, France has no province for her 
 neighbor which she could wish to annex; and, if in 
 the past she has displayed an example of moderation 
 unexampled in modern history, the result is an advan- 
 tage for her, inasmuch as she need not henceforth take 
 up arms. 
 
 "Her capital is in the center of her Empire; her 
 frontiers are bounded by small States which complete 
 her political constitution ; geographically she can desire 
 nothing belonging to her neighbors she is therefore 
 naturally inimical to none; and, as there exists in her 
 respect neither another Finland, nor another River 
 Inn, she is in a position which no other Power enjoys. 
 
 " As it is with those rumors which try to prove that 
 France is inordinately ambitious, so it is with others 
 of a different nature. 
 
 " Not long ago rebellion was in our camps. Two 
 days back thirty thousand Frenchmen had refused to 
 embark at Boulogne; yesterday our legions were at 
 war with each other, ten against ten, thirty against 
 thirty, flag against flag. Our four Rhenish depart- 
 ments were informed that we were about to restore 
 them to their former ruler. To-day, perhaps, it is 
 said that the public treasury is empty, that the public 
 works have been discontinued, that discord prevails 
 everywhere, and that the taxes are unpaid. If the 
 Emperor starts for the camps, it will be said, perhaps,
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 275 
 
 that he is hurrying thither to restore peace. In fact, 
 whether he remains at Saint Cloud, or goes to the 
 Tuileries, or lives at Malmaison, there will be oppor- 
 tunities for absurd reports. 
 
 " And if these rumors, simultaneously spread about 
 in foreign countries, were intended to cause alarm on 
 account of the ambition of the Emperor, and at the 
 same time to encourage any unbecoming and mistaken 
 acts, by leading people to hope that his Government is 
 weak, we can but repeat the words that a Minister was 
 instructed to utter on leaving a certain Court : ' The 
 Emperor of the French desires war with no one, who- 
 soever he may be; he dreads war with no one. He 
 does not meddle with his neighbors' business, and he 
 has a right to similar treatment. He has always man- 
 ifested a wish for a durable peace, but the history of 
 his life does not justify us in thinking that he will 
 suffer himself to be insulted or despised.' ' 
 
 After a refreshing sojourn in the country, I came 
 back once more to the whirl of Court life, where the 
 fever of vanity seemed every day to lay stronger 
 hold of us. 
 
 The Emperor now appointed the great officers of the 
 household. General Duroc was made Grand Marshal 
 of the Palace; Berthier, Master of the Hunt (Grand 
 Veneur} ; M. de Talleyrand, Grand Chamberlain ; 
 Cardinal Fesch, High Almoner; M. de Caulaincourt, 
 Grand Equerry; and M. de Segus, Grand Master of 
 the Ceremonies. M. de Remusat received the title of 
 First Chamberlain. He ranked immediately next to 
 M. de Talleyrand, who would be chiefly occupied by 
 foreign affairs, and was to depute my husband to do 
 the greater part of his duties. The matter was thus 
 arranged at first; but soon after the Emperor 
 appointed Chamberlains in Ordinary. Among them 
 were the Baron de Talleyrand (a nephew of the Grand
 
 276 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Chamberlain), some senators, some Belgian gentle- 
 men of high birth, and, a little later, some French 
 gentlemen also. 
 
 With these began little emulations as to precedence, 
 and discontent on account of distinctions which were 
 withheld from them. M. de Remusat found himself 
 exposed to continual envy, and as it were at war with 
 these personages. I am now ashamed when I recall 
 the annoyance which all this caused me ; but whatever 
 the Court in which one lives and ours had become a 
 very real one it is impossible not to attach importance 
 to the trifles of which it is composed. An honorable 
 and sensible man is often ashamed in his own eyes of 
 the pleasure or annoyance which he experiences in the 
 profession of a courtier, and yet he can scarcely avoid 
 either the one or the other. A ribbon, a slight differ- 
 ence in dress, permission to pass through a particular 
 door, the entree to such or such a salon these are the 
 pitiful causes of a constantly recurring vexation. In 
 vain do we try to harden ourselves against them. The 
 importance in which they are held by a great number 
 of persons obliges us, in spite of ourselves, to prize 
 them. In vain do sense and reason rebel against such 
 a use of human faculties ; however dissatisfied we may 
 feel with ourselves, we must needs become as small- 
 minded as everybody else, and either fly the Court 
 altogether, or consent to take seriously all the follies 
 that fill the very air we breathe. 
 
 The Emperor added to the difficulties inseparable 
 from the regulations of a palace those of his own 
 temper. He enforced etiquette with the strictness of 
 martial law. Ceremonies were gone through as though 
 by beat of drum ; everything was done at double-quick 
 time; and the perpetual hurry, the constant fear that 
 Bonaparte inspired, added to the un familiarity of a 
 good half of his courtiers with formalities of the
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 277 
 
 kind, rendered the Court dull rather than dignified. 
 Every countenance wore an expression of uneasiness 
 and solicitude in the midst of all the magnificence with 
 which his ostentatious tastes led the Emperor to sur- 
 round himself. 
 
 Mme. de la Rochefoucauld, who was the Empress's 
 cousin, was appointed her Lady of Honor, and Mme. 
 de la Fayette Lady of the Bedchamber. Twelve 
 Ladies-in-Waiting were nominated, and by degrees 
 the number of these was augmented. Many great 
 ladies from different parts of the country were included 
 in the list, persons who were much surprised at finding 
 themselves in each other's society. Without enter- 
 ing into any details here, which would now serve 
 no good purpose, I may mention that applications 
 were then made by persons who now affect a strict 
 royalism, hardly compatible with the opinions they 
 then professed. It ought to be frankly admitted that 
 all classes wanted to have their share of these new 
 creations, and I could point to several persons who, 
 after having blamed me because I came to the First 
 Consul's Court in consequence of an old friendship, 
 spared no efforts on their own part to obtain places 
 at that of the Emperor, from ambitious motives. 
 
 As for the Empress, she was delighted to find her- 
 self surrounded by a numerous suite, and one so grati- 
 fying to her vanity. The victory she had w r on over 
 Mme. de la Rochefoucauld by attaching her to her 
 person, the pleasure of reckoning M. d'Aubusson de la 
 Feuillade among her Chamberlains, Mme. d'Arberg 
 de Segur and the Marechales among her Ladies-in- 
 Waiting, intoxicated her a little; but I must admit 
 that this essentially feminine feeling deprived her of 
 none of her accustomed grace and kindliness. The 
 Empress always knew perfectly well how to preserve 
 the supremacy of her own rank, while showing polite
 
 278 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 deference toward those men or women who added to 
 the splendor of her Court by their personal distinction. 
 
 At this time the " Ministry of General Police " was 
 reconstructed, and Fouche was once more placed at 
 its head. 
 
 The 1 8th Brumaire was the date at first fixed for 
 the coronation, and in the mean time, to show that the 
 revolutionary epochs were not to be disregarded, the 
 Emperor repaired in great pomp to the Invalides on 
 the I4th of July, and, after having heard mass, dis- 
 tributed the Cross of the Legion of Honor to a number 
 of persons selected from all classes comprised in the 
 Government, the army, and the Court. I must not 
 omit to record that on this occasion the Empress 
 looked young and lovely among all the youthful and 
 handsome women by whom she was surrounded for 
 the first time in public. Her costume was admirably 
 selected and in perfect taste. The ceremony took place 
 under burning sunshine. She appeared in broad day- 
 light, attired in a robe of rose-colored tulle, spangled 
 with silver stars, and cut very low, according to the 
 fashion of the day. Her headdress consisted of a 
 great number of diamond wheat-ears. This brilliant 
 attire, the elegance of her bearing, the charm of her 
 smile, the sweetness of her countenance, produced 
 such an effect, that I heard many persons who were 
 present at the ceremony say that the Empress outshone 
 all the ladies of her suite. 
 
 A few days afterward the Emperor set out for the 
 camp at Boulogne, and, if public rumor was to be 
 believed, the English began to feel really alarmed at 
 the prospect of an invasion. 
 
 He passed more than a month in inspecting the 
 coasts and reviewing the troops in the various camps. 
 The army was at that time numerous, flourishing, and 
 animated by the best spirit. He was present at several
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 279 
 
 engagements between the vessels which were block- 
 ading us and our flotillas, which by this time had a 
 formidable aspect. 
 
 While engaged in these military occupations, he 
 fixed, by several decrees, the precedence and the rank 
 of the various authorities which he had created; for 
 his mind embraced every topic at once. He had 
 already formed a private intention of asking the Pope 
 to crown him, and, in order to carry this out, he neg- 
 lected neither that address by which he might amicably 
 carry his point, nor certain measures by which he 
 might be able to render a refusal exceedingly difficult. 
 He sent the Cross of the Legion of Honor to Cardinal 
 Caprara, the Pope's legate, and accompanied the dis- 
 tinction by words equally flattering to the Sovereign 
 Pontiff and promising for the reestablishment of reli- 
 gion. These fine phrases appeared in the " Moniteur." 
 Nevertheless, when he communicated his project of 
 confirming his elevation by so solemn a religious 
 ceremony to the Council of State, he had to encounter 
 determined opposition from certain of his councilors. 
 Treilhard, among others, resisted the proposal 
 strongly. The Emperor allowed him to speak, and 
 then replied : " You do not know the ground we are 
 standing on so well as I know it. Let me tell you that 
 religion has lost much less of its power than you think. 
 You do not know all that I effect by means of the 
 priests whom I have gained over. There are thirty 
 departments in France sufficiently religious to make 
 me very glad that I am not obliged to dispute with the 
 Pope for power in them. It is only by committing 
 every other authority in succession to mine that I shall 
 secure my own, that is to say, the authority of the 
 Revolution, which we all wish to consolidate." 
 
 While the Emperor was inspecting the ports, the 
 Empress went to Aix-la-Chapelle to drink the waters.
 
 28o MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 She was accompanied by some of her new household, 
 and M. de Remusat was ordered to follow her, and 
 to await the Emperor, who was to rejoin her at Aix. 
 I was glad of this respite. I could not disguise from 
 myself that so many newcomers were effacing by 
 degrees her first estimate of my value to her, which 
 had owed much to the non-existence of comparisons; 
 and, although I was yet young in experience of the 
 world, I felt that a short absence would be useful, 
 and that I should afterward take, if not the first place, 
 that of my choice, and hold it throughout securely. 
 
 Mme. de la Rochefoucauld, who attended the Em- 
 press, was then a woman of between thirty-six and 
 forty years old, short and ill-made, with a striking 
 countenance, but only ordinary abilities. She had a 
 great deal of assurance, like most plain women who 
 have had some success notwithstanding their defects. 
 She was very lively, and not at all ill-natured. She 
 proclaimed her adherence to all the opinions of those 
 who were called " aristocrats " by the Revolution ; 
 and, as she would have been puzzled to reconcile those 
 views with her present position, she made up her 
 mind to laugh at them, and would jest about herself 
 with the utmost good humor. The Emperor liked 
 her because she was quick, frivolous, and incapable 
 of scheming. Indeed, no Court in which women were 
 so numerous ever offered less opportunity for any 
 kind of intrigue. Affairs of state were absolutely 
 confined to the cabinet of the Emperor only ; we were 
 ignorant of them, and we knew that nobody could med- 
 dle with them. The few persons in whom the Emperor 
 confided were wholly devoted to the execution of his 
 will, and absolutely unapproachable. Duroc, Savary, 
 and Maret never allowed an unnecessary word to escape 
 them, confining themselves strictly to communicating 
 to us without delay such orders as they received. We
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 281 
 
 were in their sight and in our own mere machines, 
 simply and solely doing those things which we were 
 ordered to do, and of about as much importance as 
 the elegant articles of new furniture with which the 
 palaces of the Tuileries and Saint Cloud were now 
 profusely adorned. 
 
 I remarked at this time, with some amusement, 
 that, as by degrees the grands seigneurs of former 
 days came to Court, they all experienced, no matter 
 how widely their characters differed, a certain sense 
 of disappointment curious to observe. When at first 
 they once more breathed the air of palaces, found 
 themselves again among their former associates and in 
 the atmosphere of their youth, beheld anew decora- 
 tions, throne-rooms, and Court costumes, and heard 
 the forms of speech habitual in royal dwellings, they 
 yielded to the delightful illusion. They fondly 
 believed that they might conduct themselves as they 
 had been accustomed to do in those same palaces, 
 where all but the master remained unchanged. But a 
 harsh word, a peremptory order, the pressure of an 
 arbitrary will, soon reminded them roughly that every- 
 thing was new in this unique Court. Then it was 
 strange to see how, despite all their efforts, they lost 
 their presence of mind, feeling the ground uncertain 
 under their feet, and became constrained and uneasy 
 in all their futile little ways. They were too vain or 
 too weak to substitute a grave bearing, unlike the 
 manners of their past, for their former customs, and 
 they did not know what course to adopt. The arts of 
 the courtier availed nothing with Bonaparte, and so 
 profited them not at all. It was not safe to remain a 
 man in his presence that is to say, to preserve the 
 use of one's intellectual faculties; it was easier and 
 quicker for everybody, or nearly everybody, to assume 
 the attitude of servility. If I chose, I could tell exactly
 
 282 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the individuals to whom such a course came most 
 readily; but, if I were to go more at length into this 
 subject, I should give my Memoirs the color of a 
 satire, which is neither according to my taste nor my 
 intention. 
 
 While the Emperor was at Boulogne, he sent his 
 brother Joseph to Paris, where all the governing 
 bodies presented addresses to him and his wife. Thus, 
 he assigned each person his own place, and dictated 
 supremacy to some and servitude to others. On the 
 3d of September he rejoined his wife at Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle, and remained there some days, holding a bril- 
 liant Court and receiving the German Princes. Dur- 
 ing this sojourn, M. de Remusat was directed to send 
 to Paris for the company of the second theatre, then 
 managed by Picard, and several fetes were given to 
 the Electors, which, although they did not approach 
 the magnificence of later occasions, were very splendid. 
 The Elector Arch-Chancellor of the German Empire 
 and the Elector of Baden paid assiduous court to our 
 sovereigns. The Emperor and Empress visited 
 Cologne, and ascended the Rhine as far as Mayence, 
 where they were met by a crowd of princes and dis- 
 tinguished foreigners. This excursion lasted until the 
 month of October. 
 
 On the 1 4th Mme. Louis Bonaparte gave birth to a 
 second son. Bonaparte arrived in Paris a few days 
 later. This event was a great source of happiness to 
 the Empress. She believed that it would have a most 
 favorable effect upon her future, and yet at that very 
 moment a new plot was being formed against her, 
 which she only succeeded in defeating after much 
 effort and mental suffering. 
 
 Ever since we had learned that the Pope would come 
 to Paris for the coronation of the Emperor, the Bona- 
 parte family had been exceedingly anxious to prevent
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 283 
 
 Mme. Bonaparte from having a personal share in the 
 ceremony. The jealousy of our Princesses was 
 strongly excited on this point It seemed to them that 
 such an honor would place too great a distance between 
 themselves and their sister-in-law, and, besides, dislike 
 needs no motive of interest personal to itself to make 
 anything which is a gratification to its object distaste- 
 ful. The Empress ardently longed for her coronation, 
 which she believed would establish her rank and her 
 security, and the silence of her husband alarmed her. 
 He appeared to be hesitating, and Joseph spared no 
 argument to induce him to make his wife merely a 
 witness of the ceremony. He even went so far as to 
 revive the question of the divorce, advising Bonaparte 
 to profit by the approaching event to decide upon it. 
 He pointed out the advantage of an alliance with some 
 foreign princess, or at least with the heiress of a great 
 name in France, and cleverly held out the hope that 
 such a marriage would give him of having a direct 
 heir; and he spoke with all the more chance of being 
 listened to, because he insisted strongly on the personal 
 disinterestedness of advice which, if taken, might 
 remove himself from all chance of the succession. 
 The Emperor, incessantly harassed by his family, 
 appeared to be impressed by his brother's arguments, 
 and a few words which escaped him threw his wife 
 into extreme distress. Her former habit of confiding 
 all her troubles to me now led her to restore me to her 
 confidence. I was exceedingly puzzled how to advise 
 her, and not a little afraid of committing myself in so 
 serious a matter. An unexpected incident was near 
 bringing about the very thing which we dreaded. 
 
 For some time Mme. Bonaparte had perceived an 
 increase of intimacy between her husband and Mme. 
 
 de . In vain did I entreat her not to furnish the 
 
 Emperor with a pretext for a quarrel, which would
 
 284 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 be made use of against her. She was too full of her 
 grievance to be prudent, and, in spite of my warning, 
 she watched for an opportunity of confirming her 
 suspicions. At Saint Cloud the Emperor occupied the 
 apartment which opens upon the garden, and is on 
 the same level. Above this apartment was a small 
 suite of rooms communicating with his own by a back 
 staircase, which he had recently had furnished, and the 
 Empress strongly suspected the purpose of this myste- 
 rious retreat. One morning, when there were several 
 persons in her drawing-room, the Empress, seeing 
 
 Mme. de (who was then resident at Saint Cloud) 
 
 leave the room, suddenly rose a few minutes after- 
 ward, and, taking me apart into a window, said : " I 
 am going to clear up my doubts this very moment; 
 stay here with all these people, and, if you are asked 
 where I have gone, say that the Emperor sent for 
 me." I tried to restrain her, but she was quite un- 
 governable, and would not listen to me. She went 
 out at the same moment, and I remained, excessively 
 apprehensive of what might be going to happen. In 
 about half an hour the Empress reentered the room 
 by the opposite door. She seemed exceedingly agi- 
 tated, and almost unable to control herself, but took 
 her seat before an embroidery frame. I remained at a 
 distance from her, apparently occupied by my needle- 
 work, and avoiding her eye ; but I could easily perceive 
 her agitation by the abruptness of all her movements, 
 which were generally slow and soft. At last, as she 
 was incapable of keeping silence under strong emo- 
 tion of any kind, she could no longer endure this 
 constraint, and, calling to me in a loud voice, she 
 bade me follow her. When we had reached her bed- 
 room, she said : " All is lost. It is but too true. I 
 went to look for the Emperor in his cabinet, and he 
 was not there; then I went up the back stairs into
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 285 
 
 the upper room. I found the door shut, but I could 
 
 hear Bonaparte's voice, and also that of Mme. de . 
 
 I knocked loudly at the door, and called out that I 
 was there. You may imagine the start I gave them. 
 It was some time before the door was opened, and 
 when at last I was admitted, though I know I ought 
 to have been able to control myself, it was impossible, 
 
 and I reproached them bitterly. Mme. de began 
 
 to cry, and Bonaparte flew into so violent a passion 
 that I had hardly time to fly before him and escape his 
 rage. I am still trembling at the thought of it; I did 
 not know to what excess his anger might have gone. 
 No doubt he will soon come here, and I may expect a 
 terrible scene." The emotion of the Empress moved 
 me deeply. " Do not," said I, " commit a second 
 fault, for the Emperor will never forgive you for 
 having admitted any one, no matter whom, to your 
 confidence. Let me leave you, Madame. You must 
 wait for him; let him find you alone." I returned at 
 once to the drawing-room, where I found Mme. 
 de . She glanced at me nervously; she was ex- 
 tremely pale, talked almost incoherently, and tried 
 hard to find out whether I knew what had passed. I 
 resumed my work as tranquilly as I could, but I think 
 
 Mme. de , having seen me leave the room, must 
 
 have known that the Empress had told me. Every 
 one was looking at every one else and nobody could 
 make out what was happening. 
 
 A few minutes afterward we heard a great noise in 
 the apartment of the Empress, and of course I knew 
 that the Emperor was there, and that a violent quarrel 
 was taking place. Mme. de called for her car- 
 riage, and at once left for Paris. This sudden depart- 
 ure was not likely to mend matters. I was to go to 
 Paris in the evening. Before I left Saint Cloud the 
 Empress sent for me, and told me, with many tears,
 
 286 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 that Bonaparte, after having insulted her in every 
 possible way, and smashed some of the furniture in 
 his rage, had signified to her that she was at once to 
 quit Saint Cloud. He declared that, weary of her 
 jealous spying, he was determined to shake off such a 
 yoke, and to listen henceforth only to the counsels of 
 his policy, which demanded that he should take a wife 
 capable of giving him children. She added that he 
 had sent orders to Eugene de Beauharnais to come to 
 Saint Cloud in order to make arrangements for the 
 departure of his mother, and she added that she was 
 now lost beyond redemption. She then directed me 
 to go and see her daughter in Paris on the following 
 day, and to inform her exactly of all that had occurred. 
 
 Accordingly, I went to Mme. Louis Bonaparte. She 
 had just seen her brother, who had come from Saint 
 Cloud. The Emperor had signified to him his resolu- 
 tion to divorce his wife, and Eugene had received the 
 communication with his accustomed submission, but 
 refused all the personal favors which were offered to 
 him as a consolation, declaring that from the moment 
 such a misfortune should fall upon his mother he 
 would accept nothing, but that he would follow her 
 to any retreat which might be assigned to her, were 
 it even at Martinique, as he was resolved to sacrifice 
 all to her great need of comfort. Bonaparte had 
 appeared to be deeply impressed by this generous 
 resolution; he had listened to all that Eugene said in 
 unbroken silence. 
 
 I found Mme. Louis less affected by this event than 
 I expected. " I can not interfere in any way," she 
 said. " My husband has positively forbidden me to do 
 so. My mother has been very imprudent. She is 
 about to forfeit a crown, but, at any rate, she will 
 have peace. Ah ! believe me, there are women more 
 unhappy than she." She spoke with such profound
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 287 
 
 sadness that I could not fail to read her thoughts; 
 but, as she never allowed a word to be said about her 
 own personal position, I did not venture to reply in 
 such a way as would make it evident that I had under- 
 stood her. " And, besides," said she in conclusion, " if 
 there be any chance at all of setting this matter right, 
 it is the influence of my mother's tears and her gentle- 
 ness over Bonaparte. Believe me, it is better to leave 
 them to themselves not to interfere at all between 
 them ; and I strongly advise you not to return to Saint 
 
 Cloud, especially as Mme. N has mentioned you, 
 
 and believes that you would give hostile advice." 
 
 I remained away from Saint Cloud for two days, 
 in accordance with the advice of Mme. Louis Bona- 
 parte; but on the third I rejoined my Empress, con- 
 cerning whom I felt the deepest solicitude. I found 
 her relieved from one pressing trouble. Her sub- 
 mission and her tears had, in fact, disarmed Bona- 
 parte; his anger and its cause were no longer in 
 question. A tender reconciliation had taken place 
 between them; but, immediately afterward, the Em- 
 peror had thrown his wife into fresh agitation by 
 letting her see that he was seriously entertaining the 
 idea of a divorce. " I have not the courage," he said 
 to her, " to come to a final resolution ; and if you let 
 me see that you are too deeply afflicted if you can 
 render me obedience only I feel that I shall never 
 have the strength to oblige you to leave me. I tell 
 you plainly, however, that it is my earnest desire that 
 you should resign yourself to the interests of my 
 policy, and yourself spare me all the difficulties of this 
 painful separation." The Empress told me that he 
 wept bitterly while uttering these terrible words. I 
 remember well how, as I listened to her, I conceived 
 in my mind the plan of a great and generous sacrifice 
 which she might make to France.
 
 288 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Believing, as I then believed, that the fate of the 
 nation was irrevocably united with that of Napoleon, 
 I thought there would be true greatness of soul in 
 devoting one's self to all that might secure and confirm 
 that destiny. I thought, had I been the woman to 
 whom such a representation had been made, that I 
 should have had courage to abandon the brilliant 
 position which, after all, was grudged to me, and 
 retire into a peaceful solitude, satisfied with the sacri- 
 fice that I had made. But, when I saw in Mme. Bona- 
 parte's face what suffering the Emperor's words had 
 caused her, I remembered that my mother had once 
 said that advice to be useful must be adapted to the 
 character of the person to whom it is offered, and I 
 refrained from uttering the lofty sentiments of which 
 my mind was full. I bethought me in time of the 
 dread with which the Empress would contemplate 
 retirement, of her taste for luxury and display, and of 
 the devouring ennui to which she would inevitably fall 
 a prey when she had broken with the world; and I 
 confined myself to saying that I saw only two alter- 
 natives for her. The first of these was to sacrifice 
 herself bravely and with dignity; in which case she 
 ought to go to Malmaison on the following morning, 
 and thence to write to the Emperor, declaring that 
 she restored his freedom to him; or to remain where 
 she was, acknowledging herself to be unable to decide 
 upon her own fate, and, though always ready to obey, 
 positively determined to await his direct orders before 
 she should descend from the throne on which he had 
 placed her. 
 
 She adopted the second alternative. Assuming the 
 attitude of a resigned and submissive victim, she ex- 
 cited the jealous anger of all the Bonapartes by her 
 gentle demeanor. Yielding, sad, considerate of every- 
 body, entirely obedient, but also skillful in availing
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 289 
 
 herself of her ascendency over her husband, she 
 reduced him to a condition of agitation and indecision 
 from which he could not escape. 
 
 At length, one memorable evening, after long hesi- 
 tation, during which the Empress suffered mortal 
 anguish and suspense, the Emperor told her that the 
 Pope was about to arrive in Paris, that he would 
 crown them both, and that she had better at once 
 begin to prepare for the great ceremony. It is easy to 
 picture to one's fancy the joy with which such a termi- 
 nation to all her misery filled the heart of the Empress, 
 and also the discomfiture of the Bonapartes, especially 
 Joseph; for the Emperor had not failed to acquaint 
 his wife, according to his usual custom, with the 
 attempts that had been made to induce him to decide 
 on a divorce, and it is only reasonable to suppose that 
 these revelations increased the ill feeling already 
 existing on both sides. 
 
 On this occasion the Empress confided to me the 
 ardent desire she had long felt to have her marriage, 
 which had been civilly contracted, confirmed by a 
 religious ceremony. She said that she had sometimes 
 spoken of this to the Emperor, and that, although he 
 had not evinced any repugnance, he had objected 
 that, even if a priest were brought into the palace to 
 perform the religious rite, it could not be done with 
 sufficient secrecy to conceal the fact that until then 
 they had not been married according to the Church. 
 Either that was his real reason, or he wanted to hold 
 this means of breaking his marriage in reserve for 
 future use, should he consider it really advisable to do 
 so; at any rate, he had rejected his wife's pleading 
 firmly, but mildly. She therefore determined to await 
 the arrival of the Pope, being persuaded, very reason- 
 ably, that his Holiness would espouse her interests on 
 such a point.
 
 290 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 The entire Court was now occupied in preparations 
 for the ceremony of the coronation. The Empress 
 was continually surrounded by all the best artists in 
 millinery in Paris, and the venders of the most fash- 
 ionable wares. With their assistance she decided on 
 the new form of Court dress, and on her own costume. 
 As may be supposed, there was no thought of 
 resuming the hoop worn under the old regime; it was 
 merely proposed that to our ordinary garments the 
 long mantle (which was still worn after the return of 
 the King) should be added, and also a very becoming 
 ruff of blonde, which was attached to the shoulders 
 and came high up at the back of the head, as we see 
 it in portraits of Catherine de' Medici. The use of 
 this ruff was afterward discontinued, although it was, 
 in my opinion, very pretty, and lent dignity and grace 
 to the whole costume. The Empress already pos- 
 sessed diamonds of considerable value, but the Em- 
 peror not only made costly additions to her jewel-case, 
 but also placed the diamonds belonging to the national 
 treasury in her hands, and desired that she should 
 wear them on the great day. A diadem of brilliants, 
 above which the Emperor was with his own hands 
 to place the closed crown upon her head, was made 
 for her, and the ceremony was privately rehearsed. 
 David, who afterward painted the great picture of 
 the coronation of the Emperor and Empress, attended 
 these rehearsals, and arranged the positions of each. 
 The coronation of the Emperor had been eagerly dis- 
 cussed. The first idea was that the Pope should place 
 the diadem upon the head of the Emperor; but Bona- 
 parte refused to receive the crown from any hand but 
 his own, and uttered on that occasion the sentence 
 which Mme. de Stael has quoted in her work : " I 
 found the crown of France upon the ground, and I 
 picked it up."
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 291 
 
 At length, after a great deal of discussion, it was 
 arranged that the Emperor was to crown himself, 
 and that the Pope should only give his benediction. 
 Everything was done to make the fetes brilliant and 
 popular, and people began to flock into Paris. Con- 
 siderable bodies of troops were ordered up to the 
 capital; all the chief authorities of the provinces were 
 invited; the Arch-Chancellor of the German Empire 
 and a great number of foreigners arrived. Party 
 spirit slumbered for the time being, and the whole 
 city gave itself up to the excitement and curiosity of 
 so novel an incident, and a spectacle which would 
 doubtless be magnificent. The shopkeepers drove a 
 thriving trade; workmen of all kinds were employed, 
 and rejoiced in the occasion that procured them such 
 a stroke of luck; the population of the city seemed to 
 be doubled; commerce, public establishments, and 
 theatres all profited by the occasion, and all was bustle 
 and activity. 
 
 The poets were requested to celebrate this great 
 event. Chenier was ordered to compose a tragedy for 
 the perpetual commemoration of it, and he took CyruS 
 for his hero. The Opera was to give splendid ballets. 
 To us dwellers in the palace money was given for 
 our expenses, and the Empress presented each of her 
 Ladies-in-Waiting with handsome diamond orna- 
 ments. The Court dress of the gentlemen about the 
 Emperor was also regulated. This becoming costume 
 consisted of the French coat, in different colors for 
 those who belonged to the department of the Grand 
 Marshal, the Grand Chamberlain, and the Grand 
 Equerry respectively; silver embroidery for all; a 
 cloak of velvet lined with satin, worn over one shoul- 
 der; a sash, a lace cravat, and a hat turned up in 
 front, with a white plume. The Princes were to wear 
 white coats embroidered in void; the Emperor was 
 
 Vol. 9 J Memoirs
 
 292 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 to wear a long robe somewhat resembling that worn 
 by our kings, a mantle of purple velvet sewn with 
 golden bees, and his crown, a golden wreath of laurels 
 like that of the Caesars. 
 
 It seems like a dream, or a story from the " Arabian 
 Nights," when I recall the luxury that was displayed 
 at that period, the perpetual disputes about precedence, 
 the claims of rank, and all the demands made by every- 
 body. The Emperor directed that the Princesses 
 should carry the Empress's mantle; there was the 
 greatest difficulty in inducing them to consent to do 
 this; and I remember well that, when at last they did 
 consent, they performed their office with so ill a grace 
 that the Empress, overpowered by the weight of her 
 magnificent robe, could hardly walk, for they would 
 scarcely lift the folds off the ground. They obtained 
 permission to have their own trains borne by their 
 respective chamberlains, and this distinction somewhat 
 consoled them for the obligation that was imposed 
 upon them. 
 
 In the mean time we learned that the Pope had left 
 Rome on the 2d of November. The slowness of his 
 journey and the vast scale of the preparations ren- 
 dered it necessary to put off the coronation until the 
 2d of December; and on the 24th of November the 
 Court went to Fontainebleau to receive his Holiness, 
 who arrived there on the following day. 
 
 Before I close this chapter, I wish to mention a 
 circumstance which ought, it seems to me, to be re- 
 corded. The Emperor had for the moment relin- 
 quished the idea of a divorce, but, being still extremely 
 anxious to have an heir, he asked his wife whether 
 she would consent to acknowledge a child of his as 
 her own, and to feign pregnancy, so that every one 
 should be deceived. She consented to accede to any 
 wish of his on this point. Then Bonaparte sent for
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 293 
 
 Corvisart, his chief physician, in whom he had well- 
 merited confidence, and confided his plan to him. " If 
 I succeed," said he, " in making sure of the birth of a 
 boy who shall be my own son, I want you, as a witness 
 of the pretended confinement of the Empress, to do all 
 that would be necessary to give the device every 
 appearance of reality." Corvisart, who felt that his 
 honor and probity were injured by the mere proposi- 
 tion, refused to do what the Emperor required of 
 him, but promised inviolable secrecy. It was not until 
 long afterward, and since Bonaparte's second mar- 
 riage, that he confided this fact to me, while at the 
 same time he affirmed in the strongest terms the legiti- 
 mate birth of the King of Rome, concerning which 
 some entirely unfounded doubts had been raised.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE Pope was probably induced to come to 
 France solely by the representations which 
 were made to him of advantages and conces- 
 sions to be gained by such a gracious act. He arrived 
 at Fontainebleau with the intention of lending him- 
 self to all that might be required of him, within legit- 
 imate bounds; and, notwithstanding the superiority 
 on which the conqueror who had forced him to take 
 this unheard-of step plumed himself, and the small 
 respect in which the Court held a sovereign who did 
 not reckon the sword among the insignia of his roy- 
 alty, he impressed everybody by his dignity and the 
 gravity of his bearing. 
 
 The Emperor went to meet him at a few leagues' 
 distance from the chateau, and, when the carriages 
 met, he alighted, as did his Holiness also. The Pope 
 and the Emperor embraced, and then got into the 
 same carriage, the Emperor entering first, in order, as 
 the " Moniteur " of the day explained, to give the 
 Pope the right-hand seat, and so they came to the 
 palace. 
 
 The Pope arrived on Sunday, at noon; and having 
 rested for a while in his own apartment, to which he 
 was conducted by the Grand Chamberlain (i. e., M. 
 de Talleyrand), the Grand Marshal, and the Grand 
 Master of Ceremonies, he visited the Emperor, who 
 met him outside the door of his cabinet, and, after an 
 interview of half an hour's duration, reconducted him 
 
 294
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 295 
 
 to the great hall, which was then called " The Hall of 
 the Great Officers." The Empress had received in- 
 structions to place the Pope at her right hand. 
 
 After these visits, Prince Louis, the Ministers, the 
 Arch-Chancellor, the Arch-Treasurer, Cardinal Fesch, 
 and the great officers then at Fontainebleau, were pre- 
 sented to the Pope, who received them all most gra- 
 ciously. He afterward dined with the Emperor and 
 retired early. 
 
 The Pope was at this time sixty-two years of age, 
 tall and upright of figure, and with a handsome, 
 grave, benevolent face. He was attended by a numer- 
 ous suite of Italian priests anything but impressive 
 personages, whose rough, noisy, and vulgar manners 
 contrasted strangely with the grave good breeding of 
 the French clergy. The Palace of Fontainebleau 
 presented a strange spectacle just then, inhabited as 
 it was by so extraordinary a medley of persons 
 sovereigns, princes, military officers, priests, women, 
 all gathered together in the different salons at the pre- 
 scribed hours. On the day after his arrival, his Holi- 
 ness received all those persons belonging to the Court 
 who desired that honor, in his own apartment. We 
 had the privilege of kissing his hand and receiving 
 his blessing. His presence in such a place, and on so 
 great an occasion, affected me very deeply. 
 
 After these receptions, visits were again inter- 
 changed between the sovereigns. On the occasion of 
 her second interview with the Pope, the Empress car- 
 ried out the intention she had secretly formed, and 
 confided to him that her marriage had been a civil 
 ceremony only. His Holiness, after having com- 
 mended her for the good use she made of her power, 
 and addressing her as " My daughter," promised her 
 that he would require of the Emperor that his coro- 
 nation should be preceded by the ceremony necessary
 
 296 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 to legitimize his marriage with her; and, in fact, the 
 Emperor was obliged to consent to this. On their 
 return to Paris Cardinal Fesch married Bonaparte to 
 Josephine, as I shall presently relate. 
 
 On the Monday evening a concert was to take place 
 in the apartments of the Empress. The Pope, how- 
 ever, declined to be present, and retired just as the 
 entertainment was about to begin. 
 
 At this time the Emperor took a fancy to Mme. de 
 
 X , and whether it was that his budding passion 
 
 had inspired him with a wish to please, or that his 
 satisfaction at the success of his plans kept him in 
 good humor, I can not say; certain it is, however, 
 that while we were at Fontainebleau he was more 
 affable and approachable than usual. After the Pope 
 had retired, the Emperor remained in the Empress's 
 drawing-room, and talked, not with the men, but, by 
 preference, with the women who were there. His 
 wife, keen of perception where anything which 
 aroused her jealousy was in question, was struck by 
 this departure from his ordinary habits, and suspected 
 that some new fancy was the cause of it. She could 
 not, however, discover the real object of his thoughts, 
 because he very adroitly paid marked attention to 
 
 each of us in succession; and Mme. de X , 
 
 who as yet conducted herself with great reserve, did 
 not seem to perceive that she was the particular object 
 of the general gallantries that the Emperor affected 
 to distribute among us. Some of those present be- 
 lieved that the Marechale Ney was about to receive 
 his homage. The Marechale is the daughter of M. 
 Augue, formerly Receiver-General of Finance, and 
 her mother was one of the Bedchamber Women to 
 Queen Marie Antoinette. She was educated by her 
 aunt, Mme. Campan, and when in her establishment 
 became the friend and companion of Hortense de
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 297 
 
 Beauharnais, now the Princess Louis. She was at 
 this time about twenty-two or twenty-three years old, 
 and rather pretty, but too thin. She knew very little 
 of the world, was excessively shy, and had not the 
 slightest desire to attract the Emperor, whom she 
 regarded with extreme dread. 
 
 During our sojourn at Fontainebleau, a decree of 
 the Senate was published in the " Moniteur." It was 
 to the effect that, according to the verification of the 
 registers of the votes given upon the question of the 
 Empire, made by a commission of the Senate, Bona- 
 parte and his family were declared to be called to the 
 throne of France. The general total of voters 
 amounted to 3,574,898. Of these, 3,572,329 were 
 ayes, 2,569 noes. 
 
 The Court returned to Paris on Thursday, the 29th 
 of November. The Emperor and the Pope traveled 
 in the same carriage, and his Holiness was lodged in 
 the Pavilion of Flora. Certain members of the house- 
 hold were appointed to attend on him. 
 
 During the first few days of his residence in Paris, 
 the Pope was not treated by the inhabitants with all 
 the respect which might have been anticipated. A 
 crowd, attracted by curiosity, thronged his path when 
 he visited the churches, and assembled under his bal- 
 cony when he appeared there to give his blessing. 
 By degrees, however, the description of the dignity, 
 of his manners given by those who had access to him, 
 several noble and affecting sayings of his on different 
 occasions, and the self-possession which he main- 
 tained in a position so new and strange to the head of 
 Christendom, produced a marked change even among 
 the lower classes of the people. 
 
 Every morning the terrace of the Tuileries was 
 covered with a great multitude, calling loudly for 
 him, and kneeling to receive his blessing. The people
 
 298 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 were admitted to the gallery of the Louvre at certain 
 specified times during the day, and then the Pope 
 would walk from end to end of it and bless the multi- 
 tude. Mothers flocked thither with their children, 
 and were received with special kindness. One day an 
 individual who was a well-known enemy of religion 
 was in the gallery when the Pope arrived, and, as his 
 curiosity urged him to stay, he held himself aloof, as 
 though to avoid the benediction. The Pope drew near 
 him, divined his secret hostility, and said to him, in 
 the gentlest tone: "Why do you avoid me, sir? Is 
 there any danger in an old man's blessing ? " 
 
 Very soon all Paris resounded with praise of the 
 Pope, and the Emperor's jealousy was excited. He 
 made certain arrangements which obliged his Holi- 
 ness to deny himself to the too eager entreaties of the 
 faithful; and the Pope, who detected the Emperor's 
 uneasiness, adopted extreme reserve, but without al- 
 lowing the slightest sign of human pride to appear in 
 his manner or conduct. 
 
 Two days before the coronation, M. de Remusat, 
 who, in addition to being Grand Chamberlain, was 
 also Keeper of the Wardrobe, and therefore charged 
 with all the details of the Imperial costumes, sub- 
 mitted to the Empress the superb diadem which had 
 just been made for her. He found her in a state of 
 delight and satisfaction, which she could hardly con- 
 ceal from general notice. Presently she took my hus- 
 band apart, and confided to him that, on the morning 
 of that same day, an altar had been erected in the 
 Emperor's cabinet, and that Cardinal Fesch had per- 
 formed the marriage ceremony between herself and 
 Bonaparte, in the presence of two aides-de-camp. 
 After the ceremony she had procured a written cer- 
 tificate of the marriage from the Cardinal. She care- 
 fully preserved this document, and, notwithstanding
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 299 
 
 all the Emperor's efforts to obtain it from her, she 
 never could be induced to part with it. 
 
 It has since been said that any religious marriage 
 not witnessed by the cure of the parish in which it is 
 celebrated is de facto null and void, and that a means 
 of breaking the marriage was purposely reserved by 
 this expedient. In that case, Cardinal Fesch must 
 have been a consenting party to the fraud; and yet 
 his subsequent conduct forbids any such supposition. 
 When violent quarrels arose on the subject of the 
 divorce, and the Empress went so far as to threaten 
 her husband with the publication of the certificate in 
 her possession, Cardinal Fesch was consulted upon 
 the point. He repeatedly affirmed that the document 
 was in good form, and that his conscience obliged 
 him to declare the marriage so validly solemnized that 
 it could not be broken otherwise than by an act of 
 arbitrary authority. 
 
 After the divorce the Emperor wanted to get pos- 
 session of the document in question; but the Cardinal 
 advised the Empress not to part with it It is a 
 remarkable proof of the extent to which suspicion 
 and distrust prevailed anpng all the members of the 
 Bonaparte family, that the Empress, while availing 
 herself of advice that coincided with her own feel- 
 ings, told me she sometimes thought the Cardinal 
 gave her that advice in connivance with the Emperor, 
 who wanted to drive her to some outbreak which 
 would give him an excuse for banishing her from 
 France. And yet, the uncle and nephew had quar- 
 reled, at that very time, about the Pope's affairs. 
 
 On the 2d of December the coronation took place. 
 It would be difficult to describe its splendor or to 
 enter into the details of that day. The weather was 
 cold, but dry and bright; the streets of Paris were
 
 300 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 crowded with people more curious than enthusiastic; 
 the guard under arms presented a fine spectacle. 
 
 The Pope preceded the Emperor by several hours, 
 and waited with admirable patience for the long- 
 delayed arrival of the procession. He sat upon the 
 throne erected for him in the church, and made no 
 complaint either of cold or weariness. The Cathedral 
 of Notre Dame was decorated with taste and mag- 
 nificence. At the far end was a splendid throne for 
 the Emperor, on which he was to appear surrounded 
 by his entire Court. Before setting out for Notre 
 Dame, we were admitted to the apartment of the 
 Empress. Our attire was very brilliant, but it paled 
 before the magnificence of the costumes of the Im- 
 perial family. The Empress especially, sparkling with 
 diamonds, and wearing her hair in countless curls, a 
 style of the time of Louis XVI., did not look more 
 than twenty-five.* She wore a white satin gown, and 
 a Court mantle of the same material, both profusely 
 embroidered in mingled gold and silver. Her orna- 
 ments consisted of a diadem, a necklace, earrings, and 
 a girdle of diamonds of immense value; and all this 
 gorgeous attire was worn with her customary easy 
 grace. Her sisters-in-law were also adorned with a 
 vast quantity of jewels. The Emperor inspected each 
 of us in our turn, smiling at this luxury, which was, 
 like all the rest, a sudden creation of his sovereign 
 will. 
 
 His own costume was brilliant. He was to assume 
 the Imperial robes at Notre Dame, but for the pres- 
 ent he wore a French coat of red velvet embroidered 
 in gold, a white sash, a short cloak sewn with bees, a 
 plumed hat turned up in front with a diamond buckle, 
 and the collar of the Legion of Honor in diamonds. 
 
 * She was forty-one, having been born at Martinique on the 
 23d of June, 1763.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 301 
 
 This superb dress became him well. The whole Court 
 wore velvet cloaks embroidered in gold. It must be 
 acknowledged that we paraded ourselves a little for 
 our mutual amusement; but the spectacle was really 
 beautiful. 
 
 The Emperor got into his carriage it had seven 
 glasses, and was gorgeously gilded with his wife 
 and his two brothers, Joseph and Louis. Then we 
 all took our appointed places in the carriages which 
 were to follow, and the splendid cortege proceeded 
 at a foot-pace to Notre Dame. There was no lack of 
 shouting on our way; and, although the acclamations 
 of the people had not that ring of enthusiasm which 
 a sovereign jealous of his people's love longs to recog- 
 nize, they sufficed to gratify the vanity of a haughty 
 master, but one who was not sensitive. 
 
 On his arrival at Notre Dame, the Emperor entered 
 the archiepiscopal palace, and there assumed his robes 
 of state. They seemed almost to crush him ; his slight 
 frame collapsed under the enormous mantle of er- 
 mine. A simple laurel-wreath encircled his head; he 
 looked like an antique medallion, but he was ex- 
 tremely pale, and genuinely affected. The expression 
 of his countenance was stern and somewhat dis- 
 tressed. 
 
 The ceremony was grand and impressive. A gen- 
 eral movement of admiration was noticeable at the 
 moment when the Empress was crowned. She was 
 so unaffected, so graceful, as she advanced toward 
 the altar, she knelt down with such simple elegance, 
 that all eyes were delighted with the picture she pre- 
 sented. When she had to walk from the altar to the 
 throne, there was a slight altercation with her sisters- 
 in-law, who carried her mantle with such an ill grace 
 that I observed at one moment the new-made Em- 
 press could not advance a step. The Emperor per-
 
 302 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 ceived this, and spoke a few sharp short words to his 
 sisters, which speedily brought them to reason. 
 
 During the ceremony, the Pope bore an air of 
 resignation of a noble sort, the result of his own will, 
 and for a purpose of great utility. It was between 
 two and three o'clock when the cortege left Notre 
 Dame, and we did not reach the Tuileries until the 
 short December day had closed in. We were lighted 
 by the general illuminations, and a number of torches 
 were carried along the line of vehicles. We dined at 
 the chateau, with the Grand Marshal, and after din- 
 ner the Emperor received all the members of the 
 Court who had not yet retired. He was in high spir- 
 its, and delighted with the ceremony; he admired us 
 all, jested about the effect of finery on women, and 
 said to us, laughingly, " You owe it to me, mesdames, 
 that you are so charming! " He had not allowed the 
 Empress to take off her crown, although she had 
 dined tete-a-tete with him, and he complimented her 
 on the grace with which she wore it. At length he 
 dismissed us. 
 
 Innumerable fetes and rejoicings took place during 
 the ensuing month. On the 5th of December the 
 Emperor went to the Champ de Mars with the same 
 state as on the coronation day, and distributed eagles 
 to a number of regiments. The enthusiasm of the 
 soldiers far surpassed that of the people; but the bad 
 weather spoiled the effect of this second great day. 
 It rained in torrents, but nevertheless an immense 
 multitude thronged the Champ de Mars. M. Maret 
 devoted the following flowery passage in the " Mon- 
 iteur " to the rain of the 5th of December: "Al- 
 though the situation of the spectators was distressing, 
 there was not one among them who did not find ample 
 compensation in the sentiment which induced him to 
 remain in his place, and in the utterance of aspirations
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 303 
 
 (vceux}, to which his acclamations bore testimony." 
 A common and absurd form of flattery, and one 
 which has been resorted to in every age, is the mak- 
 ing believe that, because a king has need of sunshine, 
 he can secure its presence. I remember when it was a 
 current saying at the Tuileries that the Emperor had 
 only to fix a certain day for a review or a hunting- 
 party, and the sky could not fail to be cloudless. 
 Whenever it was so, the fact was eagerly remarked; 
 but nothing was said about the days that were dull 
 or rainy. A similar device was adopted in the time of 
 Louis XIV. It was not, indeed, possible to say that 
 it did not rain during the distribution of the eagles 
 at the Champ de Mars, but I met many people who 
 gravely assured me that the rain did not wet them. 
 
 A spacious platform had been constructed for the 
 accommodation of the Imperial family and the Court ; 
 on this the throne, protected as much as possible from 
 the rain, was placed. The canvas and hangings were 
 speedily wet through; the Empress was obliged to 
 withdraw, with her daughter who was out for the 
 first time after the birth of her second child and 
 her sisters-in-law, excepting Mme. Murat, who con- 
 tinued to brave the weather although she was lightly 
 dressed. She was training herself, as she said laugh- 
 ingly, " to endure the inevitable constraints of roy- 
 alty." 
 
 On that day a sumptuous banquet was given at the 
 Tuileries. A table was laid in the Gallery of Diana, 
 beneath a magnificent canopy, for the Pope, the Em- 
 peror, the Empress, and the first Arch-Chancellor of 
 the German Empire. The Pope sat on the left of the 
 Empress, and the Emperor on her right. They were 
 waited on by the great officers of the household. 
 Lower down, there was a table for the Princes, among 
 \vhom was the Hereditary Prince of Baden; a table
 
 304 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 for the Ministers; one for the ladies and gentlemen 
 of the Imperial household all served with the ut- 
 most luxury. Some fine music was performed dur- 
 ing the repast. Then came a largely attended recep- 
 tion, at which the Pope was present ; and a ballet, per- 
 formed by dancers from the Opera, in the great 
 drawing-room. The Pope withdrew before the bal- 
 let. The evening concluded with cards, and the Em- 
 peror gave the signal for departure by retiring. 
 
 At the Emperor's Court, play merely formed a por- 
 tion of the ceremonial. He never allowed money to 
 be staked, and the games were whist and loto. We 
 used to make up the tables just for something to do, 
 and generally talked, while we held our cards without 
 looking at them. The Empress was fond of playing 
 cards, even without money, and played whist in real 
 earnest. Her card-table and that of the Princesses 
 were placed in the room called the Emperor's cabinet, 
 at the entrance of the Gallery of Diana. She played 
 with the greatest personages present, foreigners, am- 
 bassadors, or Frenchmen. The two ladies-in-waiting 
 on duty for the week occupied seats behind her; a 
 chamberlain stood near her chair. While she was 
 playing, all who were in the rooms came, one after 
 the other, to make their bows and courtesies to her. 
 Bonaparte's brothers and sisters also played, and sent 
 invitations to join their card-tables, by their respec- 
 tive chamberlains, to various persons. His mother, 
 who had been given a house and the title of Princess, 
 but who was always called Madame Mere, did the 
 same. The Emperor walked about everywhere, pre- 
 ceded by chamberlains who announced his presence. 
 On his approach every voice was hushed; no one left 
 his place; the ladies stood up, waiting for the insig- 
 nificant, and frequently ungracious, remarks which 
 he would address to them. He never remembered a
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 305 
 
 name, and his first question almost invariably was, 
 " And what do you call yourself ? " There was not 
 a woman present on those occasions who did not re- 
 joice when he moved away from her vicinity. 
 
 This reminds me of an anecdote about Grety. As a 
 member of the Institute he frequently attended the 
 Sunday receptions, and it happened several times that 
 the Emperor, who had come to recognize his face, 
 approached him almost mechanically and asked him 
 his name. One day Gretry, who was tired of this 
 perpetual question, and perhaps a little annoyed at not 
 having produced a more lasting impression, answered 
 to the Emperor's rudely uttered " And you ! who are 
 you ? " in a sharp, impatient tone, " Sire, I am still 
 Gretry." Ever afterward the Emperor recognized 
 him perfectly. The Empress, on the contrary, had an 
 accurate memory for names, and also for the smallest 
 particulars concerning each individual. 
 
 For a long time the routine of the Court receptions 
 continued to be what I have described. Aftenvard, 
 concerts, ballets, and even plays, were added to the 
 list of amusements; but I shall refer to this subject 
 in due order of time. The Emperor desired that 
 special places should be assigned to the ladies-in- 
 waiting, and these small privileges excited small jeal- 
 ousies which engendered great animosities, after the 
 invariable law of courts. At this period the Emperor 
 indulged in ceremonies of every kind; he liked them, 
 especially because they were of his own creation. He 
 always spoiled their effect to some extent by the habit- 
 ual precipitation from which he could rarely refrain, 
 and by the apprehension lest all should not be exactly 
 as he wished, with which he inspired everybody. On 
 one occasion, he gave audience, seated on his throne 
 and surrounded by the great officers of the household, 
 the Marshals, and the Senate, to all the Prefects, and
 
 306 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 to the Presidents of the electoral colleges. He then 
 granted a second audience to the former, and strongly 
 urged them to carry out the conscription. " Without 
 that," said the Emperor (and these words were in- 
 serted in the "Moniteur"), "there can be neither 
 national power nor national independence." No 
 doubt, he was then cherishing a project for placing 
 the crown of Italy upon his head, and felt that his 
 designs must lead to war; and besides, as the impos- 
 sibility of an invasion of England had been made 
 clear to him, although the preparations were still car- 
 ried on, the necessity for employing an army which 
 was becoming a burden to France was pressed upon 
 his attention. In the midst of these graver subjects 
 of anxiety, he had reason to be provoked with the 
 Parisians. He had bespoken from Chenier a tragedy 
 to be acted on the occasion of the coronation. The 
 poet had selected Cyrus for his theme, and the fifth 
 act of the tragedy (the coronation of the hero of 
 ancient history) represented the ceremony of Notre 
 Dame accurately enough. The piece was a poor pro- 
 duction, and the allusions in it were too palpable, too 
 evidently written to order. The Parisian audience 
 hissed the tragedy from first to last, and laughed 
 aloud at the scene of the enthronement. The Em- 
 peror was much displeased ; he was as angry with my 
 husband as if M. de Remusat had been responsible to 
 him for the approbation of the public, and by the 
 revelation of this weak point the public learned to 
 avenge themselves at the theatre for the silence so 
 rigorously imposed upon them elsewhere. 
 
 The Senate gave a magnificent fete, and the Corps 
 Legislatif followed the example. On the i6th of 
 December an entertainment took place, by which the 
 city of Paris incurred a debt, unpaid for many years, 
 for a grand public feast, fireworks, a ball, and the
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 307 
 
 silver-gilt toilet-services presented to the Emperor and 
 Empress. Addresses and laudatory inscriptions 
 abounded in all directions. The flatteries lavished 
 upon Louis XIV. during his reign have been much 
 commented upon; I am sure, if they were all put 
 together, they would not amount to one tenth of those 
 which were bestowed upon Bonaparte. Some years 
 later, at another fete given by the city of Paris to the 
 Emperor, the repertory of inscriptions being ex- 
 hausted, a brilliant device was resorted to. Over the 
 throne which he was to occupy were placed the fol- 
 lowing words from the Holy Scriptures, in letters of 
 gold : " I am that I am." And no one seemed to be 
 scandalized ! 
 
 France was given up at this time to fetes and 
 merry-making. Medals were struck and distributed 
 profusely. The Marshals gave a great ball in the 
 Opera House, at a cost of ten thousand francs to 
 each. The pit was boarded over, on a level with the 
 stage; the boxes were festooned with silver gauze, 
 brilliantly lighted, and filled with ladies in full dress. 
 The Imperial family were seated aparte on an estrade, 
 and the company danced in the vast inclosure. Flow- 
 ers and diamonds in profusion, splendid dresses, and 
 the magnificence of the Court made this a most bril- 
 liant entertainment. We were all put to great ex- 
 pense on these occasions. A sum of ten thousand 
 francs was allowed to the ladies-in-waiting as com- 
 pensation for their expenditure, but it was not nearly 
 sufficient. The cost of the coronation amounted to 
 four millions of francs. 
 
 The princes and distinguished foreigners staying in 
 Paris paid an assiduous court to our sovereign, and the 
 Emperor did the honors of Paris with a good grace. 
 Prince Louis of Baden was then very young, and 
 rather shy; he kept himself in the background. The
 
 3 o8 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Prince Primate, who was over sixty, was amiable, 
 lively and garrulous. He was well acquainted with 
 France, and with Paris, where he had lived in his 
 youth; he was fond of literature, and friendly with 
 the former Academicians, who were admitted, with 
 a few other persons, to the smaller receptions held by 
 the Empress. During this winter about fifty ladies 
 and a number of gentlemen used to be invited, once 
 or twice a week, to sup at the Tuileries. Eight o'clock 
 was the hour named, and full dress, but not Court 
 dress, was worn. We played at cards in the drawing- 
 room on the ground-floor, which is now Madame's 
 drawing-room. On Bonaparte's appearance we used 
 to pass into a music-room, where a musical perform- 
 ance by Italian singers occupied half an hour; then 
 we returned to the drawing-room, and resumed our 
 cards. The Emperor would move about, either play- 
 ing or talking. A sumptuous and elegant supper was 
 served at eleven o'clock, the ladies only being seated. 
 Bonaparte's arm-chair would remain unoccupied; he 
 would saunter round the table, but eat nothing. When 
 supper was over, he would take his departure. The 
 princes and princesses, the great officers of the Em- 
 pire, two or three ministers, a few marshals, some 
 generals, senators, State councillors, and their wives, 
 were always invited to these small parties. There 
 was great rivalry in dress. The Empress, as well as 
 her sisters-in-law, always appeared in something new, 
 with quantities of pearls and precious stones. She 
 was the possessor of pearls worth a million of francs. 
 At that time stuffs shot with gold or silver began to 
 be worn. During the winter turbans became the 
 fashion at court; they were made either of white or 
 colored muslin, spotted with gold, or of a brilliant 
 Turkish material. By degrees our garments assumed 
 an Eastern shape: over our richly embroidered mus-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 309 
 
 lin gowns we used to wear short dresses of some 
 colored fabric, open in front, and our arms, shoulders, 
 and bosoms uncovered. 
 
 The Emperor, who, as I shall presently relate, was 
 becoming more and more deeply in love, sought to 
 disguise the fact by paying attentions to all the ladies, 
 and seemed at his ease only when surrounded by them. 
 The gentlemen would then become aware that their 
 presence embarrassed him, and they would retire to 
 an adjoining room. The scene was then not unlike 
 a harem, as I remarked one evening to Bonaparte. 
 He was in a good humor, and laughed; but my jest 
 was far from pleasing to the Empress. 
 
 The Pope, who passed his evenings in retirement, 
 visited the churches, hospitals, and public institutions 
 in the morning. He officiated on one occasion at 
 Xotre Dame, and a great crowd was admitted to kiss 
 his feet. He visited Versailles and the suburbs of 
 Paris, and was received with such profound respect 
 at the Invalides that the Emperor grew uneasy. And 
 yet I heard that, while his Holiness was most anxious 
 to return to Rome, the Emperor still detained him. I 
 have never been able to discover his motive. 
 
 The Pope was always dressed in white : having been 
 a monk, he wore a woolen habit, and over it a sort 
 of surplice of cambric trimmed with lace, which had 
 a curious effect. His calotte, or skull-cap, was of 
 white woolen stuff. 
 
 At the end of December the Corps Legislatif was 
 opened in state ; labored speeches upon the importance 
 and the happiness of the great event which had just 
 taken place were delivered, and a report, not only 
 flourishing but also true, on the prosperous condition 
 of France, was presented. 
 
 Meanwhile, applications for places at the new 
 Court were numerous, and the Emperor acceded to
 
 3 io EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 some of them. He also named senators from among 
 the presidents of the electoral colleges. Marmont 
 was made colonel-general of the Mounted Chasseurs; 
 and the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honor was 
 bestowed on Cambaceres, Le Brun, the Marshals, Car- 
 dinal Fesch, MM. Duroc, De Caulaincourt, De Tal- 
 leyrand, De Segur, and also on several Ministers, the 
 Chief Judge, and on MM. Gaudin and Portalis, Min- 
 isters of Public Worship. These appointments and 
 favors kept every one in a state of expectation. 
 
 Thenceforth the impulse was given; people became 
 accustomed to wishing, to waiting, to seeing daily 
 some new thing. Each day would bring forth some 
 little circumstance, unexpected in itself, but antici- 
 pated; for we had acquired a habit of always being on 
 the lookout for something. Afterward the Emperor 
 extended to the entire nation, to the whole of Europe, 
 the system of continually exciting ambition, curiosity, 
 and hope: this was not the least ingenious secret of 
 his government
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 (1807.) 
 
 THE Empress could not forbear from occasionally 
 complaining in private, that her son had no 
 share in the promotions which were made 
 daily ; but she had the good sense to conceal her dissat- 
 isfaction, and Eugene himself maintained an easy 
 attitude, which was highly honorable to him, and in 
 marked contrast with the jealous impatience of Murat. 
 Mme. Murat was continually importuning the Em- 
 peror to raise her husband to a rank which would 
 place him above the Marshals, among whom it annoyed 
 him to be included. During the winter both the hus- 
 band and wife contrived to profit by the weakness of 
 the Emperor, and earned a claim to his favor by mak- 
 ing themselves useful in his new love affair, as we 
 shall presently see. 
 
 I have already said that Eugene was captivated by 
 Mme. de X . This lady, who was then twenty- 
 four or twenty-five years of age, was of fair hair and 
 complexion; her blue eyes could wear any expression 
 she chose, except indeed that of frankness ; her dispo- 
 sition was habitually deceitful. Her nose was aquiline 
 and rather long, her mouth was lovely, and her teeth, 
 which she frequently displayed, were beautiful. She 
 was of middle height, with an elegant but too slender 
 figure; she had small feet, and danced to perfection. 
 She had no remarkable ability, but was not wanting in 
 cleverness; her manners were quiet and cold. It was 
 
 3"
 
 312 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 difficult to excite her feelings, still more difficult to 
 hurt them. 
 
 The Empress had at first treated her with marked 
 distinction. She praised her beauty, approved of her 
 style of dress, and made more of her than of others, 
 for the sake of her son, Prince Eugene. This, perhaps, 
 led in the first instance to the Emperor's taking notice 
 of her. He began to pay her attention during the 
 sojourn to the Court at Fontainebleau. 
 
 Mme. Murat, who was the first to discern her 
 brother's inclination, tried to insinuate herself into 
 the confidence of the lady, and succeeded so far as to 
 set her on her guard against the keen eyes of the" 
 Empress. Murat, in accordance, I believe, with some 
 private arrangement, pretended to be an admirer of 
 
 Mme. de X , and thus for a time threw the Court 
 
 off the scent. 
 
 The Empress, who was well aware of the new 
 passion of the Emperor, but could not discover its 
 object, at first suspected the Marechale Ney, to whom 
 he was in the habit of talking a good deal ; and for a 
 few days that poor lady was closely watched. As 
 usual, the Empress confided her jealous suspicions to 
 me, but I saw nothing as yet to justify them. 
 
 The Empress complained to Mme. Louis of what 
 she called the perfidy of Mme. Ney. The latter was 
 questioned, and, after having declared that her own 
 feeling toward the Emperor was simply fear, she ad- 
 mitted that he had sometimes appeared to pay her 
 
 attention, and that Mme. de X had congratulated 
 
 her on the grand conquest she was about to make. 
 This was a flash of light to the Empress. She at once 
 discovered the truth, and saw that Murat was feigning 
 love for the lady only that he might be the bearer of 
 declarations from the Emperor. 
 
 In Duroc's deference toward Mme. de X she
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 313 
 
 also discerned a proof of his master's sentiments, and 
 in the conduct of Mme. Murat a deeply laid scheme 
 against her own peace of mind. The Emperor began 
 to pass more time in his wife's apartments. Nearly 
 every evening he would come down, and his looks and 
 words betrayed the object of his preference. If Jose- 
 phine went privately to the theatre for the Emperor 
 did not like her to appear in public without him he 
 would join her party unexpectedly; and day by day he 
 became more engrossed and less capable of self-control. 
 Mme. de X maintained an appearance of indiffer- 
 ence, but she made use of every art of feminine 
 coquetry. Her dress became more and more elegant, 
 her smile more subtle, her looks more full of meaning ; 
 and it was soon easy enough to guess what was going 
 on. The Empress suspected that Mme. Murat con- 
 nived at secret interviews in her own house, and she 
 afterward became certain of the fact. Then, accord- 
 ing to her custom, she burst into tears and reproaches, 
 and once more I found myself obliged to listen to 
 confidences which were dangerous to receive, and to 
 give advice which was never heeded. 
 
 The Empress attempted expostulations, but they 
 were very badly taken. Her husband lost his temper, 
 reproached her with opposing his pleasures, and 
 ordered her to be silent; and while she, abandoned to 
 her grief, was sad and downcast in public, he, more 
 gay, free, and animated than we had yet seen him, 
 paid attention to us all, and lavished rough compli- 
 ments on us. On the occasions of the Empress's recep- 
 tions, of which I have already spoken, he looked really 
 like a Sultan. He would sit down to a card-table, 
 
 often selecting his sister Caroline, Mme. de X , 
 
 and myself to make up his game; and, scarcely 
 noticing his cards, he would start some sentimental 
 discussion in his own style, with more wit than senti-
 
 314 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 ment, occasionally with doubtful taste, but with a 
 great deal of animation. On these occasions Mme. de 
 
 X was very reserved, and, being probably afraid 
 
 lest I might make some discoveries, would answer in 
 monosyllables only. 
 
 Mme. Murat took but slight interest in these con- 
 versations ; she always went straight to her point, and 
 cared little for detail. As for me, I was amused by 
 them, and I could take my part with a liberty of spirit 
 not possessed by the other three, who were all more or 
 less preoccupied. Sometimes, without naming any 
 one, Bonaparte would commence a dissertation on 
 jealousy, and then it was easy to see that he applied it 
 to 'his wife. I understood him, and defended her 
 gayly, as well as I could, without plainly indicating 
 
 her; and I could see that Mme. de X and Mme. 
 
 Murat gave me no thanks for that. 
 
 Mme. Bonaparte would keep a watch on us during 
 these conversations, which always made her uneasy, 
 from the other end of the room, where she was playing 
 at cards. Although she had reason to know she might 
 depend on me, yet, as she was naturally suspicious, 
 she sometimes feared that I would sacrifice her to the 
 desire of pleasing the Emperor, and she was also vexed 
 with me because I would not tax him with his conduct. 
 
 She would sometimes ask me to go to him and tell 
 him of the harm which, as she said, this new entangle- 
 ment was doing him in the eyes of the world ; again, 
 
 she wanted me to contrive that Mme. de X should 
 
 be watched in her own house, whither she knew Bona- 
 parte sometimes went of an evening; or else she would 
 make me write, in her presence, anonymous letters full 
 of reproaches. These I wrote in order to satisfy her, 
 and to prevent her from getting other persons to write 
 them ; but I carefully burned them afterward, although 
 I assured her that I had sent them.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 315 
 
 Servants whom she could trust were employed to 
 discover the proofs she sought for. The employees of 
 her favorite tradespeople were taken into her confi- 
 dence, and I suffered the more from her imprudent 
 conduct, when I learned shortly afterward that Mme. 
 Murat put down all the discoveries made by the Em- 
 press to my account, and accused me of a mean 
 espionage of which I was incapable. 
 
 The Empress was the more distressed because her 
 son was profoundly grieved by this affair. Mme. de 
 
 X , who, either from coquetry, inclination, or 
 
 vanity, had at first listened favorably to him, avoided 
 even the slightest appearance of friendship with him 
 since her new and more brilliant conquest. She prob- 
 ably boasted to the Emperor of the passion with which 
 she had inspired Eugene; certain it is that the latter 
 was treated with coldness by his stepfather. The 
 Empress showed her anger at this ; the Princess Louis 
 was also distressed, but she concealed her feelings; 
 Eugene was sore at heart, but his outward composure 
 laid him little open to attack. 
 
 In all this the undying hatred between the Bona- 
 partes and the Beauharnais was displayed, and it was 
 my fate to find myself entangled in it, notwithstanding 
 all my moderation. I have discovered by experience 
 that everything, or nearly everything, depends on 
 chance at Court. Human prudence is not a sufficient 
 safeguard, and I know no means of escaping from 
 misconstruction, unless the sovereign himself be inca- 
 pable of suspicion. Far from this, however, the Em- 
 peror welcomed all gossip, and believed everything 
 that was ill-natured, on any subject. The surest way 
 to please him was to carry every rumor to him, and to 
 denounce everybody's conduct; and therefore M. de 
 Remusat, who was placed so near him, never obtained 
 his favor. He declined to tread such a path to sue-
 
 316 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 cess, although it was frequently pointed out to him by 
 Duroc. 
 
 One evening the Emperor, who was quite out of 
 patience, owing to a scene with his wife, in which, 
 driven to desperation, she had declared she would 
 
 forbid the entry of her apartments to Mme. de X , 
 
 addressed himself to M. de Remusat, and complained 
 that I did not use my influence over her to dissuade 
 her from acts of imprudence. He concluded by telling 
 him that he wished to speak to me in private, and that 
 I was to ask for an audience. M. de Remusat con- 
 veyed this order to me, and accordingly on the follow- 
 ing day I asked for an audience, which was fixed for 
 the next morning. 
 
 A hunting-party had been arranged for that day. 
 The Empress started first with the foreign princes; 
 she was to wait for the Emperor in the Bois de 
 Boulogne. I arrived just as the Emperor was enter- 
 ing his carriage; his suite was assembled round him. 
 He returned to his cabinet in order to receive me, to 
 the great astonishment of the Court, to whom the 
 merest trifle was an event. 
 
 He began by complaining bitterly of the discussions 
 in his household, and launched out into invectives 
 against women in general, and his own wife in par- 
 ticular. He reproached me with assisting her spies, 
 and accused me of many actions of which I knew 
 nothing whatever, but which had been reported to him. 
 I recognized in all he said the ill offices of Mme. 
 Murat, and, what hurt me more, I perceived that in 
 several instances the Empress had used my name, and 
 had attributed to me her own words or thoughts, in 
 order to strengthen her case. This, together with the 
 Emperor's angry words, distressed me, and tears rose 
 to my eyes. The Emperor noticed them, and rudely 
 rebuked my emotion with a saying which he frequently
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 317 
 
 used, and which I have already quoted : " Women 
 have always two ways of producing an effect paint 
 and tears." Just then these words, uttered in an ironi- 
 cal tone and with the intention of disconcerting me, 
 had the opposite effect; they angered me, and gave 
 me courage to answer : " No, Sire ; but when I am 
 unjustly accused, I can not but weep tears of indig- 
 nation." 
 
 I must render this testimony to the Emperor: he 
 was seldom hard upon any one who displayed firm- 
 ness; either because, meeting with it seldom, he was 
 unprepared for it, or because his natural sense of 
 justice responded to a feeling justly entertained. 
 
 He was not displeased with me. " Since you do not 
 approve," he said, " of the watch set over me by the 
 Empress, how is it your influence is not sufficient to 
 deter her? She humiliates both herself and me by 
 surrounding me with spies; she only furnishes 
 weapons to her enemies. Since you are in her confi- 
 dence, you must answer for her, and I shall hold you 
 responsible for all her faults." He smiled slightly as 
 he spoke these words. Then I represented to him that 
 I was tenderly attached to the Empress; that I was 
 incapable of advising her to an improper course of 
 action ; but that no one could gain much influence over 
 a person of so passionate a nature. I told him that 
 he showed no tact in dealing with her, and that, 
 whether he was rightly or wrongly suspected, he was 
 harsh and treated her too roughly. I durst not blame 
 the Empress for that which was really blameworthy in 
 her conduct, for I knew he would not fail to repeat 
 my words to his wife. I ended by telling him that I 
 should keep away from the palace for some time, and 
 that he would see whether things went on any better 
 in consequence. 
 
 He then said that he was not, and could not be, in
 
 318 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 love; that he thought no more of Mme. de X 
 
 than of anybody else; that love was for men of a 
 different disposition from his own; that he was alto- 
 gether absorbed in politics; that he would have no 
 women ruling in his Court; that they had injured 
 Henry IV. and Louis XIV. : that his own business 
 was a much more serious one than that of those kings, 
 and that Frenchmen had become too grave to pardon 
 their sovereign for recognized liaisons and official 
 mistresses. He spoke of his wife's past conduct, add- 
 ing that she had not the right to be severe. I ventured 
 to check him on this subject, and he was not angry 
 with me. Finally, he questioned me as to the indi- 
 viduals who were employed as spies by the Empress. 
 I could only answer that I knew none of them. Then 
 he reproached me with want of attachment to himself. 
 I maintained that I was more sincerely devoted than 
 those who carried worthless gossip to him. This 
 conversation ended better than it had begun ; I could 
 perceive that I had made a favorable impression. 
 
 This interview had lasted a long time ; and the Em- 
 press, who grew tired of waiting in the Bois de 
 Boulogne, had sent a mounted servant to discover 
 what was detaining her husband. She was informed 
 that he was alone with me. Her uneasiness became 
 very great; she returned to the Tuileries, and, rinding 
 I was no longer there, she sent Mme. de Talhouet to 
 my house to learn all that had taken place. In obedi- 
 ence to the Emperor's commands, I replied that the 
 conversation had been restricted to certain matters 
 relative to M. de Remusat. 
 
 In the evening there was a dance at General 
 Savary's, at which the Emperor had promised to be 
 present. During the winter he took every opportunity 
 of appearing in society; he was in good spirits, and 
 would even dance, rather awkwardly. I arrived at
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 319 
 
 Mme. Savary's before the Court party. The Grand 
 Marshal (Duroc) came forward to meet me, and 
 offered his arm to conduct me to my place; and oar 
 host was full of attentions. My long audience of that 
 morning had given rise to conjectures; I was treated 
 with respect, as though I were in high favor, or had 
 received confidential communications. I could not 
 help smiling at the simple cunning of these courtiers. 
 
 Presently the Emperor and Empress arrived. In 
 making his progress round the room, Bonaparte 
 stopped and spoke to me in a friendly manner. The 
 Empress was watching us, full of anxiety. Mme. 
 
 Murat looked astonished and Mme. de X nervous. 
 
 All this amused me; I did not foresee the consequen- 
 ces. The next day the Empress pressed me with ques- 
 tions which I took care not to answer; she became 
 offended, and declared that I was sacrificing her to 
 the Emperor, that I chose the safe side, and that I no 
 more than others cared for her. Her reproaches 
 grieved me deeply. 
 
 I confided all my troubles to my dear mother. I 
 was acquiring a bitter experience, and was still young 
 enough to shed tears over it. My mother comforted 
 me, and advised me to hold myself a little aloof, which 
 I did ; but this did not help me. The Emperor obliged 
 me to speak to him, and, when he reproached his wife 
 for her indiscreet behavior, pretended he was repeating 
 my opinions. The Empress treated me with coldness; 
 I saw that she avoided speaking to me, and, for my 
 part, I did not consider myself bound to seek her 
 confidence. 
 
 The Emperor, who enjoyed sowing dissension be- 
 tween us, perceived the coolness, and paid me, in 
 consequence, all the more attention; but Mme. de 
 
 X , who had been taught to dislike me, and was 
 
 uneasy at the favor in which I was held, and who also
 
 320 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 perhaps did me the honor of feeling a little jealous, 
 tried in every way to injure me. As everything in 
 this world works together for evil purposes only too 
 readily, she found an opportunity in which she was 
 perfectly successful. 
 
 On the other hand, Eugene Beauharnais and the 
 Princess Louis were convinced that I had betrayed 
 their mother, in order to further the ambition of M. 
 de Remusat, who preferred the favor of the master 
 to that of the mistress. M. de Remusat held himself 
 entirely aloof from all these matters; but, where 
 ambition is concerned, the probable is always the true 
 in the belief of dwellers in a court. Eugene, who had 
 been friendly to my husband, now kept aloof from 
 him. As courtiers, our position was not an unfavor- 
 able one ; but, as we were merely honorable people and 
 would not reap any disgraceful advantage from it, we 
 were both greatly distressed. 
 
 I have still to relate how Mme. de X contrived 
 
 to strike the final blow. Among my mother's friends 
 and mine was Mme. Charles de Damas, whose daugh- 
 ter, the wife of the Count de Vogue, was the intimate 
 friend of my sister, and was also intimate, though 
 in a less degree, with myself. Mme. de Damas was 
 an ardent Royalist, and in the habit of expressing her 
 opinions with some imprudence. She had even been 
 accused, after the affair of the 3d Nivose (the infernal 
 machine), of having concealed certain Chouans who 
 were implicated. In the autumn of 1804 Mme. de 
 Damas was exiled to a distance of forty leagues from 
 Paris, on account of some foolish speeches. The act 
 of severity sorely distressed both the mother and the 
 daughter: the latter was near her confinement, and 
 I, having witnessed their tears and shared their grief, 
 went for consolation to the Empress. She spoke to 
 her husband, and he was good enough to listen to my
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 321 
 
 petition, and to grant me the revocation of the sen- 
 tence. 
 
 Mme. de Damas, in her impulsive and affectionate 
 way, published abroad the service I had rendered her, 
 and, bound by feelings of gratitude to the Empress, 
 as well as alarmed at the risk she had run, she became 
 thenceforth more careful of her words. She never 
 mentioned politics to me, but respected my position 
 as I respected her feelings. 
 
 It happened, however, that in the Marquise de 
 
 C , a lady who had formerly been celebrated at 
 
 Court and in society for her brilliancy of repartee, 
 
 Mme. de Damas had an enemy. Mme. de C was 
 
 on friendly terms with Mme. de X , and, having 
 
 discovered her liaison with the Emperor, she extorted 
 
 an avowal of the facts from Mme. de X . Then, 
 
 being of an active and scheming disposition, she un- 
 dertook to advise her friend in her capacity of mistress 
 to the sovereign. They had some conversation about 
 
 me, and Mme. de C , who always imagined the 
 
 intrigues of Versailles in the incidents of the Em- 
 peror's Court, concluded, with some show of proba- 
 bility, that it was my intention to supplant the new 
 favorite. As I was reputed to possess some talent, and 
 as my reputation on this point owed a great deal to 
 my mother's, it was supposed that I must be fond of 
 
 intrigue. Mme. de C , intending to do a bad turn 
 
 to Mme. de Damas, and at the same time to injure 
 
 me, mentioned her to Mme. de X as a woman 
 
 more devoted than ever to her Royalist opinions, 
 ready to enter into any secret correspondence, and to 
 abuse ths indulgence with which she had been treated, 
 by acting against the Emperor whenever she could. 
 My friendship with her was described as more inti- 
 mate than it really was; and this, being reported to 
 the Emperor, served to prejudice him against me. He
 
 322 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 no longer summoned me to join him at the card- 
 table, nor conversed with me; I was not invited to 
 Malmaison or to the hunting-parties ; in short, I found 
 myself in disgrace without being able to guess at the 
 cause, for, on account of my failing health, I was 
 living in comparative solitude and retirement. My 
 husband and I were too closely united for disgrace to 
 fall on one without including the other, and neither 
 of us could understand why we were thus treated. 
 
 As the Emperor's friendship for me cooled, I re- 
 gained the confidence of his wife, who took me back 
 into favor as lightly as she had given me up, and 
 without a word of explanation. By this time I knew 
 her sufficiently to understand that explanations would 
 be useless. She enlightened me respecting the Em- 
 peror's displeasure. She had learned from him that 
 
 Mme. de C and Mme. de X 'had informed 
 
 against me. He had gone so far as to acknowledge to 
 his wife that he was in love, and gave her to under- 
 stand that he must not be thwarted ; adding, in order 
 to console her, that it was a passing fancy, which 
 would only be increased by opposition, but would soon 
 pass away if it were not balked. 
 
 The Empress made up her mind to endurance; but 
 
 she never addressed Mme. de X . The latter cared 
 
 little for that, however, and regarded the conjugal 
 broils of which she was the cause with impudent in- 
 difference. Besides, under the direction of Mme. 
 Murat, she ministered to the Emperor's tastes by 
 retailing to him a great deal of evil of a great number 
 of people. Many persons were ruined during her spell 
 of favor, and she fostered the worst qualities of the 
 Emperor's suspicious nature. 
 
 When I learned this new accusation against me, I 
 again requested an audience of him; but this time his 
 manner was stern. He reproached me with being
 
 The Palace of Fontainebleau presented a strange spectacle 
 just then, inhabited as it was by so extraordinary a medley of 
 persons sovereigns, princes, military officers, priests, women. 
 
 p. 295 
 From the painting by Adrien Moreau.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 323 
 
 friendly only with his enemies, with having defended 
 the Polignacs, with being an agent of the " aristocrats." 
 " I intended to make a great lady of you," he said 
 " to raise your fortunes to a great height ; but all that 
 can only be the reward of entire devotion. You must 
 break with your former friends, and, the next time 
 Mme. de Damas comes to your house, you must refuse 
 her admittance, and have her told that you carl not 
 associate with my enemies. Then I shall believe in 
 your attachment." I made no attempt to point out to 
 him how contrary such a mode of action would be to 
 all my habits; but I consented to refrain from seeing 
 Mme. de Damas, whose conduct, at least since the 
 pardon had been granted her, I defended. He spoke 
 to me very severely; he was deeply prejudiced, and 
 I saw that I must only trust to time to open his eyes. 
 A few days later Mme. de Damas was again ordered 
 into exile. She was ill in bed; and the Emperor sent 
 Corvisart to her, to certify whether, in fact, she could 
 not be removed. Corvisart was a friend of mine, and 
 gave his opinion according to my wishes ; but at length 
 Mme. de Damas recovered and left Paris. It was long 
 before she returned. I no longer visited her, nor did 
 she come to me, but she retained her former affection 
 for me, and perfectly understood the motives which 
 constrained me to act as I did. Count Charles de 
 Damas, who was straightforward, simple, and less 
 indiscreet than his wife, was never annoyed by the 
 police, while they kept constant watch on Mme. de 
 Damas. Some years later, the Emperor gave Mme. 
 de Vogue to understand that he wished her to be 
 presented at Court: this was during the reign of the 
 Archduchess. 
 
 Meanwhile the Bonapartes triumphed. Eugene, the 
 constant object of their jealousy, was positively badly 
 treated, and was a source of secret trouble to the Em- 
 Vol. 9 K Memoirs
 
 3 2 4 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 peror. Suddenly, toward the end of January, in very 
 severe weather, Eugene received orders to proceed 
 with his regiment to Italy within four and twenty 
 hours. Eugene felt convinced that he was in complete 
 disgrace. The Empress, believing this to be the doing 
 
 of Mme. de X , wept bitterly, but her son strictly 
 
 forbade her to make any appeal. He took leave of 
 the Emperor, who received him with coldness, and we 
 heard the following day that the Guards' Regiment of 
 Guides had departed, its colonel marching at its head, 
 notwithstanding the inclemency of the season. 
 
 The Princess Louis, in speaking to me of this harsh 
 act, expressed her pride in her brother's obedience. 
 " If the Emperor," she said, " had exacted such a thing 
 from a member of his own family, you would have 
 seen what a noise would have been made ; but not one 
 word has been uttered in this case, and I think Bona- 
 parte must be impressed by such an act of submission." 
 And in fact he was, but still more by the ill-natured 
 satisfaction of his brothers and sisters. He liked to 
 disappoint them; and although, in a fit of jealousy, 
 he had sent away his stepson, he immediately rewarded 
 him for his good behavior. On the ist of February, 
 1805, the Senate received two letters from the Em- 
 peror. In one he announced the elevation of Marshal 
 Murat to the rank of Prince and Grand Admiral of 
 the Empire. This was the reward of his recent acts 
 of complaisance, and the result of Mme. Murat's 
 importunities. In the other letter, which was couched 
 in flattering and affectionate terms toward Eugene he 
 was created Vice-Arch-Chancellor tf State. This was 
 one of the great posts of the Empire. Eugene heard 
 of his promotion when he was a few miles from Lyons, 
 where the courier found him on horseback at the head 
 of his regiment, covered with thickly falling snow. 
 
 Before I deal with the union of the crown of Italy
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 325 
 
 with that of France, a great event which afforded 
 us a new spectacle, and was the cause of the war that 
 broke out in the autumn of this year, I will relate all 
 
 that remains to be told concerning Mme. de X . 
 
 She seemed to engross the Emperor's thoughts more 
 and more; and, as she became assured of her power, 
 so she became less circumspect in her conduct toward 
 the Empress, and seemed to delight in her misery. 
 During a short stay which we made at Malmaison, 
 appearances were more than ever outraged. To the 
 surprise of every one, the Emperor would walk about 
 
 the grounds with Mme. de X and young Mme. 
 
 Savary whose eyes and tongue were not at all formi- 
 dable and he devoted less time than usual to business. 
 The Empress remained in her room, weeping, tortured 
 with apprehension, brooding upon recognized liasons, 
 disgrace and oblivion for herself, and possibly divorce, 
 the continually recurring object of her apprehensions. 
 She no longer had courage for useless altercations; 
 but her sadness bore witness to her grief, and at last 
 touched her husband's heart. Perhaps his love for her 
 revived, or possession weakened his passion for Mme. 
 
 de X , or he became ashamed of the sway the 
 
 latter exercised over him ; but, whatever was the cause, 
 that which he had predicted of himself came to pass. 
 One day, when he was alone with his wife and saw her 
 weeping at something he had said, he suddenly re- 
 sumed the affectionate manner of former times, and, 
 admitting her to the most intimate confidence, owned 
 to her once more that he had been very much infatu- 
 ated, but said that it was all over. He added that he 
 had detected an attempt to govern him that Mme. de 
 
 X had told him a number of very ill-natured 
 
 stories; and he actually concluded by asking the Em- 
 press to assist him to put an end to a liaison which he 
 no longer cared about.
 
 326 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 The Empress was not in the least vindictive; it is 
 but just to say that for her. So soon as she found 
 that she no longer had anything to fear, her anger 
 vanished. Delighted to be rid of her trouble, she 
 showed no severity toward the Emperor, but once 
 more became the gentle and indulgent wife, always 
 ready to forgive him. She objected to any publicity 
 on this occasion, and even promised her husband that, 
 
 if he would alter his behavior to Mme. de X , she, 
 
 on her part, would alter hers also, and would shield 
 the lady from any annoyance which might result from 
 the change. She only claimed the right to an interview 
 
 with Mme. de X . Accordingly, she sent for her, 
 
 and spoke to her plainly and frankly, pointing out the 
 risk she had run, excusing her apparent levity on the 
 plea of her youth and imprudence, recommending 
 greater discretion for the future, and promising that 
 the past should be forgotten. 
 
 During this conversation Mme. de X remained 
 
 perfectly self-possessed, calmly denying that she 
 deserved any such admonitions, evincing no emotion, 
 not a trace of gratitude. In sight of the whole Court, 
 which for some time continued to observe her, she 
 maintained a cool and self-contained demeanor, which 
 proved that her heart was not much concerned in the 
 intimacy now broken off, and also that she could keep 
 her private feelings well in check for it is difficult to 
 believe that her vanity, at any rate, was not deeply 
 mortified. The Emperor, who, as I have already said, 
 dreaded the least appearance of being ruled by any- 
 body, ostentatiously exhibited his freedom. He was 
 
 not even commonly civil to Mme. de X ; he never 
 
 looked at her; and he spoke slightingly of her, either 
 to Mme. Bonaparte, who could not deny herself the 
 pleasure of repeating his words, or to men with whom 
 he was on familiar terms. He was careful to explain
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 327 
 
 that this had only been a passing fancy, and would 
 relate the successive phases of it with indecent candor, 
 most insulting toward her who had been its object. 
 He was ashamed of his infatuation, for it was a proof 
 that he had submitted to a power stronger than his 
 own. 
 
 This behavior confirmed me in a belief which I 
 had often expounded to the Empress in order to con- 
 sole her. To be the wife of such a man might be a 
 grand and enviable position, gratifying to one's pride 
 at least; but to be his mistress could never be other- 
 wise than unsatisfactory, for his was not a nature to 
 compensate a weak and loving woman for the sacri- 
 fices she would have to make for him, nor to afford an 
 ambitious one the means of exercising power. 
 
 With the short reign of Mme. de X the influ- 
 ence of Murat and the Bonapartes came for the time 
 being to an end; for, on the reconciliation of the 
 Emperor with his wife, his former confidence in her 
 revived, and he heard from her lips of all the petty 
 schemes of which she had been the victim and himself 
 the object. I profited in a measure by the change; yet 
 the impression which had been made could not be alto- 
 gether effaced, and the Emperor retained his convic- 
 tion that M. de Remusat and I were incapable of the 
 sort of devotion that he required, a devotion claiming 
 the sacrifice both of personal inclinations and of those 
 convenances which he despised. He had a right, per- 
 haps, to expect the former: one ought to renounce a 
 Court life, unless one can make it the only sphere of 
 one's thoughts and actions; and neither my husband 
 nor I was capable of doing so. I have always longed 
 to attach myself with all my heart to the duties of my 
 state, and at this period I was too heart-sore not to feel 
 some constraint in performing those which devolved 
 on me. I began to see that the Emperor was not the
 
 328 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 man I had taken him for. Already he inspired me 
 with fear rather than with affection; and, in propor- 
 tion as my assiduity in obeying him increased, I felt 
 the sharp pain of vanishing illusions, and I suffered 
 beforehand from all that I foresaw. The quaking of 
 the earth on which we stood alarmed both M. de 
 Remusat and myself, and he especially resigned him- 
 self with difficulty to a life which was extremely un- 
 pleasing to him. 
 
 When I recall these troubles now, how happy I am 
 to see him, quiet and contented, at the head of affairs 
 in an important province, honorably fulfilling the duty 
 of a good citizen, and serving his country usefully!* 
 Can there be a worthier employment of the faculties 
 of an enlightened and high-hearted man, or a greater 
 contrast with the restless, troublesome, not to say 
 ridiculous life which has to be led, without one mo- 
 ment's intermission, in the courts of kings? I say 
 courts, because they are all alike. No doubt the differ- 
 ence of character in sovereigns has some influence over 
 the lives of those who surround them ; there are shades 
 of difference in the homage exacted by Louis XIV., 
 our own King Louis XVIIL, the Emperor Alexander, 
 or Bonaparte. But, though masters may differ, cour- 
 tiers are everywhere the same; the same passions are 
 in play, for vanity is invariably their secret spring. 
 Jealousy, the longing to supplant others, the fear of 
 being stopped on the road, or finding others preferred 
 to one's self these do, and always will, cause similar 
 perturbations; and I am profoundly persuaded that 
 any one, who, dwelling in a palace, wishes to exercise 
 his faculties of thinking and of feeling, must be 
 unhappy. 
 
 *At the time I write, September, 1818, my husband is Prefect 
 of the Departement du Nord.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 329 
 
 Toward the end of this winter the Imperial Court 
 was again augmented. A number of persons, among 
 whom I could name some who are now inexorable to 
 all who ever were in the Emperor's service, were 
 eagerly bidding for place. The Empress, M. de 
 Talleyrand, and M. de Remusat received their re- 
 quests, and handed long lists to Bonaparte, who would 
 smile when he saw in the same column the names of 
 ci-devant Liberals, of soldiers who had been jealous of 
 his promotion, and of gentlemen who, after having 
 jeered at what they called our farce of royalty, were 
 now all begging to be allowed to play parts in it. Some 
 of these petitions were granted. Mesdames de 
 Turenne, de Montalivet, de Bouille, Deveaux, and 
 Marescot were appointed Ladies-in-Waiting ; MM. 
 Hedouville, de Croij, de Mercy d'Argenteau, de 
 Tournon, and de Bondy were made Chamberlains to 
 the Emperor; MM. de Beam, de Courtomer, and the 
 Prince de Gavre, Chamberlains to the Empress ; M. de 
 Canisy, Equerry; M. de Bausset, Prefect of the 
 Palace, etc. 
 
 This numerous Court consisted of various elements 
 foreign to each other, but all were brought to one 
 level by fear of the all-powerful master. There was 
 little rivalry among the ladies; they were strangers 
 to each other, and did not become intimate. The 
 Empress treated them all alike. Mme. de la Roche- 
 foucauld, light-hearted and easy-tempered, showed no 
 jealousy toward any one. The Mistress of the Robes 
 was amiable, silent, and nothing more. Day by day I 
 drew back from the somewhat dangerous friendship 
 of the Empress; but I must own that such was her 
 evenness of temper, so gracious was her bearing, that 
 the Court circle by which she was surrounded was 
 free from disturbance or jealousy. 
 
 It was not so in the case of the Emperor but then
 
 330 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 he himself designedly kept up a state of disquiet. For 
 instance, M. de Talleyrand, who had slightly dimin- 
 ished the importance of M. de Remusat's position, not 
 with the intention of injuring him, but in order to 
 satisfy some new-comers who were jealous of my 
 husband, was brought into closer contact with him 
 afterward, and began to appreciate his worth and to 
 show some interest in him. Bonaparte perceived this. 
 The slightest appearance of private friendship alarmed 
 him, and he took the minutest precautions to prevent 
 anything of the kind ; so he spoke to my husband one 
 day in a tone of unusual cordiality. " Take care," 
 said he, " M. de Talleyrand seems to be making 
 advances to you; but I know to a certainty that he 
 bears you no good will." 
 
 " And why should M. de Talleyrand bear me ill 
 will ? " said my husband to me, on repeating these 
 words. We could not tell why, but this speech gave 
 us a feeling of distrust, which was all that the Em- 
 peror wanted. 
 
 Such was the state of things at the Emperor's 
 Court in the spring of 1805. I will now retrace my 
 steps and give an account of the momentous resolution 
 that was come to concerning the crown of Italy.
 
 BOOK II 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 (1805.) 
 
 ON the 4th of February, 1805, we were informed 
 by the " Moniteur " that the King of Eng- 
 land had intimated, in his speech on the 
 opening of Parliament on the i6th of January, that 
 the Emperor had made fresh propositions of recon- 
 ciliation. The Government had replied that nothing 
 could be agreed upon without previously conferring 
 with the other Powers of the Continent, and espe- 
 cially with the Emperor Alexander. 
 
 According to custom, some sharp comments were 
 made upon this speech, which, while they put forward 
 the friendly relations that existed at least, outwardly 
 between ourselves and the sovereigns of Europe, 
 yet admitted a certain coolness between the Emperors 
 of Russia and of France, and attributed this coolness 
 to the intrigues of MM. de Marcoff and de Voron- 
 zoff, who were both partisans of the English policy. 
 The King's speech also announced war between Eng- 
 land and Spain. 
 
 On the same day, the 4th of February, the Senate 
 having been assembled, M. de Talleyrand presented 
 a report, very ably drawn up, in which he expounded 
 the system of conduct adopted by Bonaparte toward 
 
 331
 
 332 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the English. He described it as a constant effort for 
 peace, while entertaining no fear of war. He drew 
 attention to the state of our preparations which 
 threatened the English coasts, many flotillas being 
 equipped and ready in the harbors; and to the army, 
 large in numbers and high in heart. He gave an ac- 
 count of the means of defense which the enemy had 
 gathered together on the coasts, and which proved 
 that the landing of the French was not looked upon 
 as impossible; and, after bestowing the highest praise 
 on the conduct of the Emperor, he read to the as- 
 sembled Senate the following letter, addressed to the 
 King of England: 
 
 "SiR AND BROTHER: 
 
 " Having been called by Providence, and by the 
 voice of the Senate, the people, and the army, to the 
 throne of France, my first feeling is a desire for 
 peace. 
 
 " France and England are wasting their prosper- 
 ity. They may contend for centuries; but are their 
 Governments rightfully fulfilling their most sacred 
 duty, and does not their conscience reproach them 
 with so much blood shed in vain, for no definite end ? 
 I am not ashamed to take the initiative. I have, I 
 think, sufficiently proved to the whole world that I 
 do not fear the chances of war. Indeed, war can 
 bring me nothing to fear. Peace is my heartfelt wish, 
 but war has never been adverse to my renown. I im- 
 plore your Majesty not to deprive yourself of the 
 happiness of bestowing peace on the world. Do not 
 delegate so consolatory an action to your children. 
 Never was there a better occasion, nor a more favor- 
 able moment for imposing silence on passion, and for 
 listening only to the voice of humanity and reason. 
 If this opportunity be lost, what term can be assigned
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 333 
 
 to a war which all my endeavors might fail to ter- 
 minate? In the last ten years your Majesty's king- 
 dom has increased in magnitude and wealth by more 
 than the whole extent of Europe; your nation has 
 reached the highest point of prosperity. What do you 
 hope to gain by war? The coalition of some conti- 
 nental powers? The Continent will remain tranquil. 
 A coalition would but increase the preponderance and 
 the continental greatness of France. To renew inter- 
 nal difficulties? The times are no longer the same. 
 To destroy our revenues? Revenues founded on 
 good husbandry are not to be destroyed. To snatch 
 her colonies from France? Colonies are objects of 
 but secondary importance to France; and does not 
 your Majesty already possess more than you can 
 keep? If your Majesty will reflect on it, you will see 
 that war will be without an object, without any prob- 
 able result for yourself. Ah! how sad a prospect is 
 it to engage nations in war for war's sake ! 
 
 " The world is large enough for our two nations 
 to live in it, and the power of reason is sufficient to 
 enable us to overcome all difficulties, if on both sides 
 there is the will to do so. In any case, I have fulfilled 
 a duty which I hold to be righteous, and which is dear 
 to my heart. I trust your Majesty will believe in the 
 sincerity of the sentiments I have just expressed, and 
 in my earnest desire to give you a proof of them. On 
 this, etc. 
 
 (Signed) "NAPOLEON. 
 
 . 
 
 12 Nivose, year 13. 
 2d January, 1805." 
 
 After having eulogized this letter (surely a remark- 
 able one!) as a striking proof of Bonaparte's love for 
 the French, of his desire for peace, and of his gen- 
 erous moderation, M. de Talleyrand communicated
 
 334 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the reply of Lord Mulgrave, the Foreign Secretary. 
 It was as follows: 
 
 " His Majesty has received the letter addressed to 
 him by the chief of the French Government, dated 
 the 2d inst. 
 
 " His Majesty has no dearer wish than to embrace 
 the first opportunity of once more procuring for his 
 subjects the advantages of a peace which shall be 
 founded on bases not incompatible with the perma- 
 nent security and the essential interests of his States. 
 His Majesty is convinced that this end can only be 
 attained by an arrangement which will provide alike 
 for the future security and tranquillity of Europe, 
 and prevent a renewal of the dangers and misfortunes 
 which have beset the Continent. 
 
 " His Majesty, therefore, feels it to be impossible 
 to reply more decisively to the question which has 
 been put to him, until he has had time to communicate 
 with those continental Powers with whom he is allied, 
 and particularly with the Emperor of Russia, who 
 has given the strongest proofs of his wisdom and 
 good feeling, and of the deep interest which he takes 
 in the security and independence of Europe. 
 
 " 14th January, 1805." 
 
 The vague and indefinite character of this thor- 
 oughly diplomatic reply exhibited the Emperor's let- 
 ter to great advantage. That letter was firm in tone, 
 and bore every appearance of magnanimous sincerity. 
 It had, therefore, a good effect, and the various re- 
 ports of those whose task it was to present it to the 
 three great bodies of the State put it in the most 
 favorable light. 
 
 The report of Regnault de Saint-Jean d'Angely, 
 Councillor of State, is remarkable and interesting
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 335 
 
 even now. The praises accorded to the Emperor, 
 though carried to excess, are finely phrased; the pic- 
 ture of Europe is ably drawn; that of the evil which 
 war must entail on England is at least specious; 
 and, finally, the description of our prosperity at 
 that period is impressive, and very little, if at all, 
 exaggerated. 
 
 " France," he said, " has nothing to ask from 
 Heaven, but that the sun may continue to shine, the 
 rain to fall on our fields, and the earth to render the 
 seed fruitful." 
 
 All this was true then, and, had a wise administra- 
 tion, a moderate government, and a liberal constitu- 
 tion been given to France, that prosperity would have 
 been consolidated. But constitutional ideas formed 
 no part of Bonaparte's plan. Perhaps he really be- 
 lieved, as he often said, that the French character and 
 the geographical position of France were opposed to 
 representative government. Perhaps, conscious of his 
 own strength and ability, he could not make up his 
 mind to sacrifice to the future well-being of France 
 those advantages which he believed he could give us 
 by the mere strength of his will. Whatever was the 
 case, he seldom lost an opportunity of disparaging our 
 neighbor's form of government. 
 
 " The unfortunate position in which you have 
 placed your nation," he wrote in the " Moniteur," 
 addressing himself to the English Cabinet, " can only 
 be explained by the ill fortune of a State whose home 
 policy is insecure, and whose Government is the 
 wretched tool of Parliamentary factions and of a 
 powerful oligarchy." 
 
 Although he felt at times that he was opposing the 
 spirit of the age, he believed himself strong enough 
 to resist it. At a later period he said : " During my 
 lifetime I shall reign as I please; but my son must
 
 336 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 perforce be a Liberal." And meanwhile he pictured 
 to himself the creation of feudal states, believing that 
 he could make them acceptable, and preserve them 
 from the criticism which was beginning to assail an- 
 cient institutions, by establishing them on a scale so 
 grand that, as our pride would be enlisted, our reason 
 might be silenced. He believed that once again he 
 could exhibit what history has already witnessed, the 
 world subject to a " People-King," but that royalty 
 was to be represented in his own person. A combina- 
 tion of Eastern and Roman institutions, bearing also 
 some resemblance to the times of Charlemagne, was 
 to transform the sovereigns of Europe into great 
 feudatories of the French Empire; and perhaps, if 
 the sea had not effectually preserved England from 
 invasion, this gigantic project might have been car- 
 ried out. 
 
 Shortly after, the Emperor laid the foundation- 
 stone of this brain-built edifice. I allude to the union 
 of the Iron Crown with that of France. 
 
 On the 1 7th of March M. de Melzi, Vice-President 
 of the Italian Republic, accompanied by the principal 
 members of the Council of State and a numerous 
 deputation of presidents of the electoral colleges, 
 deputies from the Corps Legislatif, and other import- 
 ant persons, was received by the Emperor on his 
 throne, and submitted to him the ardent desire of the 
 Council that he would graciously consent to reign over 
 the ultramontane republic also. " Our present Gov- 
 ernment," said M. de Melzi, " can not continue, be- 
 cause it throws us behind the age in which we live. 
 Constitutional monarchy is everywhere indicated by 
 the finger of progress. 
 
 " The Italian Republic claims a King, and her in- 
 terests demand that this King should be Napoleon, 
 on the condition that the two crowns shall be united
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 337 
 
 on his head only, and that, so soon as the Mediterra- 
 nean is once more free, he will himself nominate a 
 successor of his own blood." 
 
 Bonaparte replied that he had always labored for 
 the welfare of Italy; that for this end he would accept 
 the crown, because he believed that any other course 
 would j ust now be fatal to her independence ; and that 
 afterward, when the time came for so doing, he would 
 gladly place the Iron Crown on some younger head, 
 as he should always be ready to sacrifice himself for 
 the interests of the States over which he was called to 
 reign. 
 
 On the following day, the i8th of March, he pro- 
 ceeded to the Senate in state, and announced both the 
 request of the Council and his own consent. M. de 
 Melzi and all the Italians took the oaths, and the Sen- 
 ate approved and applauded as usual. The Emperor 
 concluded his speech by declaring that the genius of 
 evil would seek in vain to rekindle the fire of war on 
 the Continent ; that which had been united to the Em- 
 pire would remain united. 
 
 He doubtless foresaw that this event would be the 
 occasion of an early war, at least with the Emperor 
 of Austria, which, however, he was far from dread- 
 ing. The army was becoming weary of inaction; the 
 invasion of England was too perilous. It might be 
 that favorable circumstances would render the land- 
 ing possible, but how could the army maintain its 
 footing afterward in a country where reinforcement 
 would be wellnigh impossible? And, in case of fail- 
 ure, what would be the chances of retreat? It may 
 be observed, in the history of Bonaparte, that he al- 
 ways contrived to avoid a positively hopeless position 
 as far as possible, and especially for himself per- 
 sonally. A war, therefore, would serve his purpose 
 by relieving him from this project of invasion,
 
 338 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 which, from the moment he renounced it, became 
 ridiculous. 
 
 During the same session, the State of Piombino 
 was given to the Princess Elisa. On announcing this 
 to the Senate, Bonaparte stated that the principality 
 had been badly governed for several years; that the 
 interests of France were concerned, on account of the 
 facilities which it offered for communication with 
 the Island of Elba and with Corsica ; and that the gift 
 was not a token of special affection, but an act in 
 accordance with a wise policy, with the splendor of 
 the crown, and with the interests of nations. 
 
 As a proof that these gifts of the Emperor were in 
 the nature of fiefs, the Imperial decree was to the 
 effect that the children of- Mme. Bacciochi, on succeed- 
 ing to their mother, should receive investiture from 
 the Emperor of the French; that they should not 
 marry without his consent; and that the Princess's 
 husband, who was to assume the title of Prince of 
 Piombino, should take the following oath: 
 
 " I swear fidelity to the Emperor ; I promise to aid 
 with my whole power the garrison of the Island of 
 Elba; and I declare that I will not cease, under any 
 circumstances, to fulfill the duties of a good and 
 faithful subject toward his Majesty the Emperor of 
 the French." 
 
 A few days after this the Pope solemnly baptized 
 the second son of Louis Bonaparte, who was held at 
 the font by his father and mother. This great cere- 
 mony took place at Saint Cloud. The park was illu- 
 minated on the occasion, and public games were pro- 
 vided for the people. In the evening there was a 
 numerous reception, and a first performance of 
 " Athalie " at the theatre at Saint Cloud. 
 
 Racine's great tragedy had not been performed 
 since the Revolution. The Emperor, who admitted
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 339 
 
 he had never been impressed by reading the play, was 
 much struck by its representation, and repeated on 
 that occasion that he greatly wished such a tragedy 
 might be written during his own reign. He gave leave 
 that it should be performed in Paris ; and thenceforth 
 most of our great plays resumed their place on the 
 stage, whence they had been prudently banished by 
 the Revolution. 
 
 Some few lines, nevertheless, were cut out, lest 
 application might be made of them to present circum- 
 stances. Luc de Lancival, the author of " Hector," 
 and shortly afterward Esmenard, author of " Le 
 Poeme de la Navigation," were intrusted with the 
 task of revising Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire. But, 
 with all due respect to these precautionary measures 
 of a too careful police, the missing lines, like the 
 statues of Brutus and Cassius, were the more con- 
 spicuous by their absence. 
 
 In consequence of the momentous decision he had 
 arrived at, the Emperor announced that he would 
 speedily proceed to Italy, and fixed the epoch of his 
 coronation for the month of May. He convened the 
 Italian Legislature for the same date, and issued sev- 
 eral decrees and ordinances relating to the new cus- 
 toms to be established in Italy. 
 
 He also appointed ladies-in-waiting and chamber- 
 lains to attend on his mother; and among others M. 
 de Cosse-Brissac, who had solicited that favor. At 
 the same time Prince Borghese was declared a French 
 citizen, and the ladies-in-waiting received an accession 
 to their number in Mme. de Canisy, one of the most 
 beautiful women of her time. 
 
 Mme. Murat gave birth to a child just at this time ; 
 she was then residing at the Hotel Thelusson, at the 
 end of the Rue d'Artois. It was observed on this 
 occasion that the luxuriousness of the new Princesses
 
 340 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 was continually on the increase, and yet it had not 
 then reached the height which it afterward attained. 
 Mme. Murat's bedchamber was hung with pink satin, 
 the bed and window curtains were of the same mate- 
 rial, and these hangings were trimmed with broad 
 and very fine lace, instead of fringe. 
 
 The preparations for the Emperor's departure soon 
 occupied us exclusively. This event was fixed for 
 the 2d of April, when the Pope was also to leave 
 Paris; and a few days previously M. de Remusat 
 started for Milan, in charge of the regalia and the 
 crown diamonds, which were to be used at the coro- 
 nation. This was for me the beginning of troubles, 
 which were destined to recur for some years. I had 
 never before been separated from my husband, and 
 I was so much accustomed to the enjoyments of my 
 home that I found it hard to be deprived of them. It 
 made the Court life to which I was condemned more 
 irksome, and was very painful to my husband also, 
 who, like myself, fell into the error of letting his 
 feelings be perceived. I have already said that a 
 courtier is a failure if he suffer any feelings to divert 
 his attention from the minutiae which constitute his 
 duties. 
 
 My distress at my husband's departure on a jour- 
 ney which seemed to me so long, and even dangerous 
 for my imagination exaggerated everything regard- 
 ing him made me desirous that he should be accom- 
 panied by a friend of ours, named Salembemi, who 
 had formerly been an officer in the navy. He was 
 badly off had only the salary of some small appoint- 
 ment to live on, with what M. de Remusat, who em- 
 ployed him as his secretary, paid him. To him I con- 
 fided the care of my husband's health. He was a 
 clever man, but difficult to deal with, somewhat mali- 
 cious, and of a peevish temper. He was the cause ot
 
 341 
 
 more than one of our troubles, and this is why I now 
 make mention of him. 
 
 My delicate health made it impossible to include 
 me in the suite. The Empress seemed to regret this. 
 As for myself, I was, on the whole, glad of a rest 
 after the busy life I had been leading, and happy to 
 remain with my mother and my children. 
 
 Mesdames de la Rochefoucauld, d'Arberg, de Ser- 
 rant, and Savary, a considerable number of chamber- 
 lains, the great officers, and. in short, a numerous and 
 youthful Court, accompanied the Empress. The Em- 
 peror started on the 2d, and the Pope on the 4th of 
 April. At every stage of his journey to Rome his 
 Holiness received tokens of great respect; and he 
 then, no doubt, believed he was bidding adieu to 
 France for ever. 
 
 Murat remained as Governor of Paris, and with 
 a charge of superintendence which he extended over 
 everything; but his reports, I think, were not always 
 disinterested. Fouche, who was more liberal, if I 
 may use the expression, in the exercise of his police 
 functions, and who was well entitled to consider 
 himself necessary, carried things with rather a high 
 hand, but was conciliatory to all parties accord- 
 ing to his system of making himself useful to 
 everybody. 
 
 The Arch-Chancellor Cambaceres also remained as 
 Director of the Council of State an office of which 
 he acquitted himself well and to do the honors of 
 Paris. He received a good deal of company, welcom- 
 ing them with a gloomy civility which gave him an 
 almost ridiculous air. 
 
 Paris and France were at that time in repose: all 
 things seemed to work together for order, and the 
 general state of subjection to be complete. The Em- 
 peror went first to Champagne. He passed a day at
 
 342 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the fine old chateau of Brienne, in order that he might 
 visit the scenes of his childhood. Mme. de Brienne 
 professed extreme enthusiasm for him, and, as wor- 
 ship was not displeasing to him, he behaved to her 
 with great amiability. It was amusing just then, to 
 see some of her kinsfolk at Paris receiving the lively 
 letters she wrote to them on this Imperial visit. How- 
 ever, as she described events, these letters produced a 
 good effect in what we call here " good society." 
 Success is easy to the powerful; they must needs be 
 very ill-natured or very blundering when they fail to 
 please. 
 
 A few days after all these grand departures, the 
 following paragraph appeared in the " Moniteur " : 
 " Monsieur Jerome Bonaparte has arrived at Lisbon, 
 on board an American vessel. Among the passengers 
 are Mr. and Miss Patterson. M. Jerome immediately 
 took the post for Madrid. Mr. and Miss Patterson 
 have reembarked. It is understood that they have 
 returned to America." I believe that they crossed to 
 England. 
 
 This Mr. Patterson was no other than the father- 
 in-law of Jerome, who, having fallen in love while 
 in America with the daughter of an American mer- 
 chant, had made her his wife, persuading himself that, 
 after some displeasure on his brother's part, he should 
 obtain his forgiveness. But Bonaparte, who was al- 
 ready forming other projects for his family, was 
 highly incensed, annulled the marriage, and forced 
 his brother to an immediate separation. Jerome trav- 
 eled to Italy, and joined him at Turin, but was very 
 badly received. He was ordered to join one of our 
 fleets then cruising in the Mediterranean, remained 
 at sea for a considerable time, and was not restored 
 to favor until several months afterward. 
 
 Throughout all France the Emperor was welcomed
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 343 
 
 with genuine enthusiasm. He stayed at Lyons, where 
 he secured the good will of the traders by issuing de- 
 crees favorable to their interests. He crossed Mont 
 Cenis and remained a few days at Turin. 
 
 Meanwhile M. de Remusat had reached Milan, 
 where he met Prince Eugene, who received him with 
 his characteristic cordiality. The Prince questioned 
 my husband as to what had taken place in Paris since 
 he had left that city, and succeeded in eliciting some 
 
 details concerning Mme. de X which were very 
 
 grievous to his feelings. M. de Remusat wrote to me 
 that, pending the arrival of the Court, he was leading 
 a tolerably quiet life. He explored Milan, which 
 seemed to him a dull town, and its palace was dull 
 also. The inhabitants showed little affection for the 
 French. The nobles shut themselves up in their 
 houses, under the pretext that they were not rich 
 enough to do the honors of the place in a fitting style. 
 Prince Eugene endeavored to collect them about him, 
 but succeeded imperfectly. The Italians, still in a state 
 of suspense, did not know whether to rejoice or 
 repine at the novel destiny which we forced upon 
 them. 
 
 M. de Remusat sent me at this period some rather 
 curious details of the life of the Milanese. Their 
 ignorance of all that constitutes agreeable society; 
 the absolute non-existence among them of family life, 
 the husbands, strangers to their wives, leaving them 
 to the care of a cavaliere servente; the dullness of the 
 theatres; the darkness of the house, whither people 
 go in morning-dress, to occupy themselves in the 
 nearly closed boxes with anything rather than listen- 
 ing to the opera ; the want of variety in the perform- 
 ances; the difference between the costumes and those 
 of France all these things gave M. de Remusat mat- 
 ter for remarks, which were all to the advantage of
 
 344 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 our beloved country, while they also increased his 
 desire to return to France and to me. 
 
 During this time the Emperor was revisiting the 
 scenes of his former victories. He held a grand re- 
 view on the battle-field of Marengo, and distributed 
 crosses on that occasion. The troops who had been 
 massed together on the pretext of this review, and 
 remained afterward in the neighborhood of the Adige, 
 furnished a reason or pretext on which the Austrian 
 Government strengthened their already very power- 
 ful line of defense behind this river; and French pol- 
 icy took offense at these precautions. 
 
 On the Qth of May the Emperor reached Milan. 
 His presence caused great excitement in the town, and 
 the circumstances attending the coronation aroused 
 the same ambition as they had caused in Paris. The 
 highest nobles of Milan began to long for the new 
 distinctions and the advantages appertaining to them; 
 independence and unity of government were held out 
 to the Italians, and they gave themselves up to the 
 hopes they were allowed to conceive. 
 
 Immediately on the arrival of the Court at Milan, 
 I was struck by the dismal tone of M. de Remusat's 
 letters, and soon afterward I learned that he was suf- 
 fering from his master's displeasure. The naval offi- 
 cer of whom I have spoken, a satirical spectator of 
 what was going on at Milan, having taken it into his 
 head to write to Paris some lively and rather sarcas- 
 tic accounts of what was passing before his eyes, 
 his letters had been opened, and M. de Remusat was 
 ordered to send him back to Paris. He was not at 
 first told the reason for this order, and it was only at 
 a later period that he learned its cause. The dis- 
 pleasure of the Emperor was not confined to the sec- 
 retary; it fell also on him who had brought him to 
 Italy,
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 345 
 
 Besides this, Prince Eugene let fall som* of the 
 details he had obtained in confidence from my hus- 
 band; and, finally, it was discovered from our letters, 
 as I have said before, that our thoughts and aspira- 
 tions were not entirely centered in the interests of our 
 places at Court. These causes were sufficient to anger 
 a master who was by nature irascible ; and so, accord- 
 ing to his custom of using men for his own advan- 
 tage when they could be useful to him, whatever 
 might be his feelings toward them, he exacted from 
 my husband a service of the most rigid punctuality, 
 because the length of time M. de Remusat had passed 
 at Court had given him experience in a ceremonial 
 which daily became more minute, and to which the 
 Emperor attached greater importance. At the same 
 time he treated him with harshness and severity, re- 
 peating continually to those who, with good reason, 
 would praise the high and estimable qualities of my 
 husband, " All that you say may be true, but he does 
 not belong to me as I wish him to belong to me." 
 This reproach was always on his lips during the years 
 we passed in his service, and perhaps there is some 
 merit in our never having ceased to deserve it. 
 
 This Court life, so busy and yet so idle, gave M. de 
 Talleyrand and M. de Remusat an opportunity of 
 becoming better acquainted, and was the beginning 
 of an intimacy which at a later period caused me many 
 and various emotions. 
 
 The fine tact of M. de Talleyrand discerned the 
 rightmindedness and the keenness of observation of 
 my husband; they agreed on a multitude of subjects, 
 and the difference of their dispositions did not pre- 
 vent them from enjoying an interchange of ideas. 
 One day M. de Talleyrand said to M. de Remusat: 
 " I can see that you distrust me, and I know whence 
 your caution proceeds. We serve a master who does
 
 346 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 not like intimacies. When he appointed us both to 
 the same service, he foresaw there might be friend- 
 ship between us. You are a clever man, and that is 
 enough to make him wish that you and I should re- 
 main apart. He therefore prejudiced you in some 
 way against me, and he also tried, by I know not what 
 reports, to put me on my guard. It will not be his 
 fault if we do not remain strangers to one another. 
 This is one of his weaknesses, and we must recognize, 
 indulge, and excuse, without, however, submitting to 
 it." This straightforward way of speaking, enhanced 
 by the graceful manner which M. de Talleyrand knows 
 so well how to assume when he likes, pleased my 
 husband, who, moreover, found in this friendship 
 something to make up for the weariness of his post. 
 At this period M. de Remusat perceived that M. de 
 Talleyrand, who had the influence over Bonaparte of 
 his utility, felt considerable jealousy of Fouche, whom 
 he disliked. He entertained a positive contempt for 
 M. Maret, and gratified it by the biting sarcasm in 
 which he habitually indulged, and which few could 
 escape. Although under no delusion regarding Bo- 
 naparte, he nevertheless served him well; for he tried 
 to restrain his passions by the position in which he 
 placed him, both with respect to foreign affairs and 
 in France; and he also advised him to create certain 
 institutions which would control him. The Emper- 
 or, who, as I have said, liked to create, and who 
 seized rapidly upon anything novel and impressive, 
 would follow the advice of M. de Talleyrand, and, in 
 concert with him, would lay the foundation of some 
 useful enterprise. But afterward his domineering 
 temper, his suspicion, his dread of finding himself 
 restrained, made him afraid of the action of that 
 which he had himself created, and, with sudden 
 caprice, he would abruptly suspend or relinquish the
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 347 
 
 work he had begun. M. de Talleyrand was provoked 
 by this; but, as he was naturally indolent and care- 
 less, and did not possess in himself those qualities of 
 strength and perseverance which enable a man to 
 carry his points in detail, he usually ended by neglect- 
 ing and abandoning the fatiguing task of solicitude 
 and superintendence. The sequence of events will, 
 however, explain all this better than I can in this 
 place. 
 
 Meantime, war broke out between England and 
 Spain, and we were frequently, sometimes success- 
 fully, engaged at sea. A fleet which sailed out from 
 Toulon found means to join the Spanish squadron, 
 and the press exulted loudly over this feat. 
 
 On the 3Oth of May Bonaparte was crowned King 
 of Italy, with great pomp. The ceremony was sim- 
 ilar to that which had taken place in Paris. The Em- 
 press sat in a gallery and beheld the spectacle. M. de 
 Remusat told me that a thrill of emotion passed over 
 the crowd in the church at the moment when Bona- 
 parte, taking hold of the Iron Crown, and placing it 
 on his head, uttered in a threatening voice the antique 
 formula, " II cielo me la diede, guai a chi la toc- 
 chera ! " The remainder of the Emperor's stay at 
 Milan was divided between attending fetes and issu- 
 ing decrees for the regulation and administration of 
 his new kingdom. Rejoicings took place all over 
 France in honor of the event; and yet it caused great 
 apprehension among many people, who foresaw that 
 war with Austria would result from it. 
 
 On the 4th of June the Doge of Genoa arrived at 
 Milan. He came to beg that his Republic might be 
 united to the Empire ; and this action, which had been 
 concerted or commanded beforehand, was made the 
 occasion of a grand reception and state ceremony. 
 That portion of Italy was at once divided into new
 
 348 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 departments, and shortly afterward the new constitu- 
 tion was sent to the Italian Legislature, and Prince 
 Eugene was made Viceroy of the kingdom. The 
 order of the Iron Crown was created; and, the dis- 
 tributions being made, the Emperor left Milan and 
 set out on a journey which, under the appearance of 
 a pleasure-trip, was in reality undertaken for the pur- 
 pose of reconnoitering the Austrian forces on the line 
 of the Adige. 
 
 By the treaty of Campo Formio Bonaparte had 
 abandoned the Venetian States to the Emperor of 
 Austria, and the latter thus became a formidable 
 neighbor to the kingdom of Italy. On his arrival at 
 Verona, he received a visit from Baron Vincent, who 
 commanded the Austrian garrison in that portion of 
 the town which belonged to his sovereign. The 
 Baron was commissioned to inform himself of the 
 state of our forces in Italy; the Emperor, on his part, 
 observing those of the foreigner. On inspecting the 
 banks of the Adige, he perceived that forts would 
 have to be constructed for the defense of the river; 
 but, on calculating the necessary time and expense, he 
 said that it would be better and quicker to push the 
 Austrians back from that frontier altogether. From 
 that moment we may believe that he had resolved 
 upon the war which was declared some months later. 
 
 It was impossible that the Emperor of Austria 
 should regard with indifference the acquisition by 
 France of so much power in Italy; and the English 
 Government, which was making great efforts to stir 
 up a continental war against us, skillfully availed it- 
 self of the uneasiness of the Emperor of Austria, and 
 the dissatisfaction which was by degrees impairing 
 the cordiality of our relations with Russia. The Eng- 
 lish newspapers hastened to assert that the Emperor 
 had held a review of his troops in Italy for the sole
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 349 
 
 purpose of putting them on the footing of a formi- 
 dable enemy; and thenceforth movements began in 
 the Austrian army. Those appearances of peace 
 which were still observed up to the time of the rup- 
 ture were in reality preparations by both Emperors, 
 who at that period had become almost declared 
 enemies.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 (1805.) 
 
 THE Emperor visited Cremona, Verona, Mantua, 
 Bologna, Modena, Parma, and Piacenza, and 
 then went to Genoa, where he was received 
 with enthusiasm. He sent for Le Brun, the Arch- 
 Treasurer, to whom he intrusted the task of superin- 
 tending the new administration to be established in 
 that city. At Genoa also he parted with his sister 
 Elisa, who had accompanied him on his journey, and 
 to whom he gave the little Republic of Lucca, adding 
 to it the State of Piombino. At this period the 
 French began once more to wear foreign decorations. 
 Prussian, Bavarian, and Spanish orders were sent to 
 the Emperor, to be distributed by him at his pleasure. 
 He divided them among his great officers, some of his 
 ministers, and a few of his marshals. 
 
 At Verona a fight between dogs and bulls was given, 
 for the entertainment of the Emperor, in the ancient 
 amphitheatre, which contained forty thousand specta- 
 tors. Loud applause greeted his arrival, and he was 
 really affected by this reception, rendered impressive 
 by the place, and by the magnitude of the crowd. 
 The fetes at Genoa were very magnificent. Floating 
 gardens were constructed on huge flat barges; these 
 gardens led to a floating temple, which, approaching 
 the land, received Bonaparte and his Court. Then the 
 barges, which were all fastened together, were set in 
 motion, and the Emperor found himself on a beautiful 
 
 350
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 351 
 
 island In the middle of the harbor, whence he had a 
 complete view of Genoa, and of the simultaneous 
 displays of fireworks from various parts of the splen- 
 didly illuminated city. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand found amusement entirely to his 
 taste during his stay at Genoa; for he was always 
 pleased to detect an absurdity and to point it out to 
 others. Cardinal Maury, who had retired to Rome 
 since his emigration, had gained a great reputation 
 there by the firmness of his attitude in our famous 
 Constituent Assembly. Nevertheless, he was desirous 
 of returning to France, and M. de Talleyrand wrote 
 to him from Genoa, advising him to come at once and 
 present himself to the Emperor. The Cardinal acted 
 upon this, and, immediately assuming that obsequious 
 attitude which he has ever since scrupulously retained, 
 he entered Genoa, loudly proclaiming that he had come 
 to see " the great man." 
 
 He obtained an audience. " The great man " took 
 his measure very quickly, and, while esteeming him 
 at his proper value, resolved to make him give a com- 
 plete contradiction to his past conduct. He gained 
 him over easily by flattering him a little, and induced 
 him to return to France, where we have since seen him 
 play a somewhat ridiculous part. M. de Talley- 
 rand, whose recollections of the Constituent Assem- 
 bly were not effaced, took many opportunities of 
 wreaking a petty revenge upon the Cardinal, by bring- 
 ing out his silly sycophancy in the most skillful and 
 cunning manner. 
 
 While the Emperor was thus traveling through 
 Italy and consolidating his power, and everybody 
 around him was getting tired of the continual full- 
 dress parade at which he kept his Court; while the 
 Empress, happy in the elevation of her son, and yet 
 grieved by her separation from him, amused herself
 
 352 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 and distracted her mind by the perpetual fetes given in 
 her honor, and took pleasure in exhibiting her magnif- 
 icent jewels and her elegant costumes, I was leading 
 a quiet and pleasant life in the valley of Montmorency, 
 at the house of Mme. d'Houdetot. I have already 
 mentioned this amiable and accomplished woman. 
 Her recollections enabled me to reconstruct in my 
 imagination those days of which she loved to talk. It 
 gave me great pleasure to hear her speak of the famous 
 philosophers whom she had known, and whose ways 
 and sayings she remembered so clearly. I was so full 
 of the " Confessions " of Jean Jacques Rousseau that 
 I was not a little surprised to find her somewhat cold 
 in her appreciation of him ; and I may say, in passing, 
 that the opinion of Mme. d'Houdetot, who would, I 
 should think, have regarded Rousseau with excep- 
 tional indulgence, contributed not a little to make me 
 distrust his character, and believe that he was only 
 great in point of talent. 
 
 During the absence of the Court, Paris was quiet 
 and dull. The Imperial family were living in the 
 country. I sometimes saw Mme. Louis Bonaparte at 
 Saint Leu, a place which her husband had just 
 bought. Louis appeared to occupy himself exclusively 
 with his garden. His wife was lonely, ill, and always 
 afraid of letting some word at which he might be 
 offended escape her. She had not ventured either to 
 rejoice at the elevation of Prince Eugene or to weep 
 for his absence, which was, of course, indefinite. She 
 wrote to him seldom and briefly, because she knew 
 that the privacy of her letters was not respected. On 
 one occasion, when I was visiting her, she told me a 
 rumor had arisen that the Due de Polignac and his 
 brother, who were imprisoned in the Chateau of Ham, 
 had attempted to escape; that they had been trans- 
 ferred to the Temple; and that Mme. Bonaparte and
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 353 
 
 myself were accused of being concerned in the affair. 
 The accusation, of which Mme. Louis suspected Murat 
 to be the author, was utterly unfounded. Mme. Bona- 
 parte never gave a thought to the two prisoners, and I 
 had entirely lost sight of the Duchesse de Polignac. 
 
 I lived in the strictest retirement, so that my solitude 
 might supply a sufficient answer to any gossip con- 
 cerning my conduct; but I was more and more dis- 
 tressed by the necessity for taking such precautions, 
 and especially at being unable to use the position in 
 which I was placed for any purposes of utility to the 
 Emperor, to myself, or to those persons who wished 
 to obtain certain favors from him through me. There 
 was no want of kindness in my natural disposition; 
 and, besides that, I felt a degree of pride, which I do 
 not think was misplaced, in serving those who had 
 formerly blamed me, and in silencing their criticisms 
 of my conduct by favors which could not be said to 
 lack generosity. I also believed that the Emperor 
 might win many persons who now held aloof, by the 
 permission which he had granted me to bring their 
 solicitations and their necessities under his attention ; 
 and as I was still attached to him, although he inspired 
 me with more fear than formerly, I would have gained 
 all hearts for him had it been possible. But, as it 
 became evident that my plan was not always approved 
 by him, I found I had to think of defending myself, 
 rather than assisting others. 
 
 My reflections were occasionally very sad. At other 
 times I could make up my mind to the difficulties of 
 my position, and resolve that I would only look at the 
 agreeable side of it. I enjoyed a certain consideration 
 in society, and I liked that; and we were fairly pros- 
 perous, though not free from the difficulties which 
 always beset persons whose fortunes have no secure 
 basis, and whose expenses are obligatory. But I was
 
 354 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 young, and I thought little of the future. I was sur- 
 rounded by pleasant society; my mother was perfec- 
 tion to me, my husband most kind and good, my 
 eldest son all I could wish. I lived on the pleasantest 
 terms with my kind and charming sister. All this 
 turned away my thoughts from the Court, and enabled 
 me to bear the drawbacks of my position patiently. 
 My health was a perpetual trial to me; it was always 
 delicate, and an unquiet life was evidently injurious. 
 I must not, however, dwell upon myself; I do not 
 know how I have been tempted into doing so. If 
 ever this narrative should be read by others, as well 
 as by my son, all this ought to be suppressed without 
 hesitation. 
 
 During the Emperor's sojourn in Italy, two plays 
 had a great success at the Comedie Franchise. The 
 first was " Le Tartufe des Mceurs," translated, or 
 rather adapted, from Sheridan's " School for Scan- 
 dal," by M. Cheron; the second was " Les Templiers." 
 M. Cheron had been a deputy to the Legislative As- 
 sembly. He-married a niece of the Abbe Morellet ; his 
 wife and himself were intimate friends of mine. The 
 Abbe had written to the Emperor to solicit a place for 
 M. Cheron ; and, on Bonaparte's return, " Le Tartufe 
 des Mceurs " was acted before him. He was so much 
 amused by the play that, having ascertained the name 
 of its author from M. de Remusat, and also learned 
 that M. Cheron was well deserving of employment, 
 he, in a moment of easy good nature, sent him to 
 Poitiers as Prefect. Unfortunately, he died there 
 three years afterward. His widow is a most estimable 
 and talented person. 
 
 M. de Fontanes had read " Les Templiers " to 
 Bonaparte, who approved of some portions of the 
 piece, but objected to others. He wished to have cer- 
 tain corrections made, but the author refused, and the
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 355 
 
 Emperor was annoyed. He was by no means pleased 
 that " Les Templiers " had a brilliant success, and set 
 himself against both the play and the author, with a 
 petty despotism which was characteristic of him when 
 either persons or things incurred his displeasure. All 
 this happened when he came back. 
 
 Bonaparte expected that his wishes and his opinions 
 should be accepted as rules. He had taken a fancy 
 to the music of " Les Bardes," an opera by Lesueur, 
 and he was almost angry that the Parisian public did 
 not think as highly of it as he did. 
 
 The Emperor came direct from Genoa to Paris. 
 This was to be his last sight of fair Italy, that land in 
 which he seemed to have exhausted every mode of 
 impressing the minds of men, as a general, as a pacifi- 
 cator, and as a sovereign. He returned by Mont 
 Cenis, and gave orders for great works which, like 
 those of the Simplon Pass, should facilitate the com- 
 munications between the two nations. The Court was 
 increased in number by several Italian noblemen and 
 ladies who were attached to it. The Emperor had 
 already appointed some Belgians as additional cham- 
 berlains, and the obsequious forms in which he was 
 addressed were now uttered in widely varying accents. 
 
 He arrrived at Fontainebleau on the nth of July, 
 and went thence to reside at Saint Cloud. Shortly 
 after, the " Moniteur " began to bristle with notes, 
 announcing in almost threatening language the storm 
 which was so soon to burst over Europe. Certain 
 expressions which occurred from time to time in these 
 notes revealed the author who had dictated them. One 
 of these in particular made an impression on my 
 memory. It had been stated in the English news- 
 papers that a supposed genealogy of the Bonaparte 
 family, which retraced its nobility to an ancient origin, 
 had been printed in London. " Researches of this 
 Voi. a L Memoirs
 
 350 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 kind are purposeless," said the note. " To all those 
 who may ask from what period dates the house of 
 Bonaparte, there is a ready answer : ' It dates from 
 the i8th Brumaire.' " 
 
 I met the Emperor after his return with mingled 
 feelings. It was difficult not to be affected by his 
 presence, but it was painful to me to feel that my 
 emotion was tempered by the distrust with which he 
 was beginning to inspire me. The Empress received 
 me in a most friendly manner, and I avowed to her 
 quite frankly the trouble that was on my mind. I 
 expressed my surprise that no past proof of devoted- 
 ness or disinterested service could avail with her hus- 
 band against a sudden prejudice. She repeated my 
 words to him, and he well understood what they 
 meant ; but he persisted in his own definition of what 
 he called devotedness, which was an entire surrender 
 of one's being, of one's sentiments and one's opinions, 
 and repeated that we ought to give up all our former 
 habits, in order to have only one thought, that of his 
 interest and his will. He promised, in recompense for 
 this exaction, that we should be raised to a great 
 height of rank and fortune, and have everything that 
 could gratify our pride. " I will give them," said he, 
 speaking of us, " enough to enable them to laugh at 
 those who find fault with them now; and, if they wilf 
 break with my enemies, I will put their enemies under 
 their feet." Apart from this, I had but little annoy- 
 ance in the household, and my position was easy 
 enough, as Bonaparte's mind was fixed on important 
 affairs during his stay in France before the campaign 
 of Austerlitz. 
 
 A circumstance recurs to my memory at this mo- 
 ment, which is only important because it serves to 
 depict this strange man. I therefore give it a place 
 here. The despotism of his will grew in proportion
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 357 
 
 to the enlargement of the circle with which he sur- 
 rounded himself; he wanted to be the sole arbiter of 
 reputations, to make them and to unmake them at his 
 pleasure. He branded a man or blighted a woman for 
 a word, without any kind of hesitation; but he was 
 much displeased that the public should venture to 
 observe and to comment on the conduct of either the 
 one or the other, if he had placed them within the 
 rays of the aureole with which he surrounded himself. 
 During his journey in Italy, the idleness of life in 
 palaces and its opportunities had given rise to several 
 gallant adventures on his part, which were more or 
 less serious, and these had been duly reported in 
 France, where they fed the general appetite for gossip. 
 One day, when several ladies of the Court among 
 them those who had been in Italy were breakfasting 
 with the Empress, Bonaparte came suddenly into the 
 room and, leaning on the back of his wife's chair, 
 addressed to one and another of us a few words, at 
 first insignificant enough. Then he began to question 
 us about what we were all doing, and let us know, but 
 only by hints, that some among us were considerably 
 talked of by the public. The Empress, who knew 
 her husband's ways, and was aware that, when talking 
 in this manner, he was apt to go very far, tried to 
 interrupt him ; but the Emperor, persisting in the con- 
 versation, presently gave it an exceedingly embar- 
 rassing turn. " Yes, ladies, you occupy the attention 
 of the worthy inhabitants of the Faubourg St. Ger- 
 main. They say, for instance, that you, Mme. , 
 
 have a liaison with M. ; that you, Mme. ." 
 
 And so he went on, addressing himself to three or 
 four ladies in succession. The effect upon us all of; 
 such an attack may easily be imagined. The Emperor 
 was amused by the confusion into which he threw us. 
 " But," added he, " you need not suppose that I
 
 358 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 approve of talk of this kind. To attack my Court is 
 to attack myself, and I do not choose that a word shall 
 be said, either of me, or of my family, or of my 
 Court." While thus speaking, his countenance, which 
 had previously been smiling, darkened, and his voice 
 became extremely harsh. He then burst out violently 
 against that section of Parisian society which was still 
 rebellious, declaring that he would exile every woman 
 who should say a word against any lady-in-waiting; 
 and he proceeded to work himself into a violent pas- 
 sion upon this text, which he had entirely to himself, 
 for not a single one of us attempted to make him an 
 answer. The Empress at length rose from the table 
 in order to terminate this unpleasant scene, and the 
 general movement put an end to it. The Emperor left 
 the room as suddenly as he had come in. One of our 
 ladies, a sworn admirer of everything that Bonaparte 
 said and did, began to expatiate upon the kindness of 
 such a master, who desired that our reputation should 
 
 be held a sacred thing. But Mme. de , a very 
 
 clever woman, answered her impatiently, " Yes, 
 madame, let the Emperor only defend us once again in 
 that fashion, and we are lost." 
 
 Bonaparte was greatly surprised when the Empress 
 represented to him the absurdity of this scene, and he 
 always insisted that we ought to have been grateful 
 for the readiness with which he took offense when we 
 were attacked. 
 
 During his stay at Saint Cloud he worked inces- 
 santly, and issued a great number of decrees relative 
 to the administration of the new departments he had 
 acquired in Italy. He also augmented his Council of 
 State, to which he gave more influence from day to 
 day, because he was quite sure of having it com- 
 pletely under his authority. He showed himself at the 
 Opera, and was well received by the Parisians, whom,
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 359 
 
 however, he still thought cold in comparison with the 
 people of the provinces. He led a busy and laborious 
 life, sometimes allowing himself the recreation of 
 hunting; but he walked out for one hour a day only, 
 and received company on but one day in each week. 
 On that day the Comedie Franchise came to Saint 
 Cloud, and acted tragedies or comedies in a very pretty 
 theatre which had been recently built. Then began 
 the difficulties of M. de Remusat in providing amuse- 
 ment for him whom Talleyrand called " the Unamus- 
 able." In vain were the masterpieces of our theatrical 
 repertoire performed; in vain did our best actors 
 strive their very best to please him: he generally 
 appeared at these representations preoccupied and 
 weighed down by the gravity of his thoughts. He laid 
 the blame of his own want of attention to the play on 
 his First Chamberlain, on Corneille, on Racine, or on 
 the actors. He liked Talma's acting, or rather Talma 
 himself there had been some sort of acquaintance 
 between them during his obscure youth ; he gave him 
 a great deal of money, and received him familiarly; 
 but even Talma could not succeed in interesting him. 
 Just like an invalid, who blames others for the state 
 of his own health, he was angry with those who could 
 enjoy the pleasures that passed him by ; and he always 
 thought that by scolding and worrying he should get 
 something invented which would succeed in amusing 
 him. The man who was intrusted with Bonaparte's 
 pleasures was very seriously to be pitied; unfortu- 
 nately for us, M. de Remusat was the man, and I 
 can not describe what he had to bear. 
 
 At this time the Emperor was still flattering him- 
 self that he would be able to gain some naval triumphs 
 over the English. The united French and Spanish 
 fleets made several efforts, and an attempt was made to 
 defend the colonies. Admiral Nelson, pursuing us
 
 360 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 everywhere, no doubt upset the greater part of our 
 plans ; but this was carefully concealed, and our news- 
 papers taught us to believe that we were beating the 
 English every day. It is likely that the project of the 
 invasion was abandoned. The English Government 
 was raising up formidable enemies for us upon the 
 Continent. The Emperor of Russia, who was young 
 and naturally inclined to independence, was perhaps 
 already tempted to resent the preponderance that our 
 Emperor desired to exercise, and some of his ministers 
 were suspected of favoring the English policy, which 
 aimed at making him our enemy. The peace with 
 Austria held only by a thread. The King of Prussia 
 alone seemed resolved to maintain his alliance with 
 us. " Why," said a note in the " Moniteur," " while 
 the Emperor of Russia exercises his influence upon 
 the Porte, should he object to that of France being 
 exercised upon certain portions of Italy? When with 
 Herschel's telescope he observes from the terrace of 
 his palace that which passes between the Emperor of 
 the French and a few Apennine populations, why 
 should he exact that the Emperor of the French shall 
 not see what is passing in the ancient empire of Soly- 
 man, and what is happening in Persia? It is the 
 fashion to accuse France of ambition, and yet how 
 great has been her past moderation," etc., etc. 
 
 In the month of August the Emperor set out for 
 Boulogne. It was no longer his purpose to inspect the 
 flotillas, but he intended to review that numerous army 
 encamped in the north, which before long he was des- 
 tined to set in motion. During his absence the Empress 
 made an excursion to the baths of Plombieres. I think 
 I shall usefully employ this interval of leisure by 
 retracing my steps, in order to mention certain partic- 
 ulars concerning M. de Talleyrand which I have 
 hitherto omitted.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 361 
 
 Talleyrand, who had come back to France some time 
 before, was appointed " Minister of External Rela- 
 tions " through the influence of Mme. de Stael, who 
 induced Barras, the Director, to select him for that 
 post. It was under the Directory that he made the 
 acquaintance of Mme. Grand. Although she was no 
 longer in her first youth, this lady, who was born in 
 the East Indies, was still remarkable for her beauty. 
 She wished to go to England, where her husband 
 resided, and she applied to M. de Talleyrand for a 
 passport. Her beauty and her visit produced, appar- 
 ently, such an effect upon him that either the passport 
 was not given, or it remained unused. Mme. Grand 
 remained in Paris ; shortly afterward she was observed 
 to frequent the " Hotel of External Relations," and 
 after a while she took up her abode there. Meanwhile, 
 Bonaparte was First Consul; his victories and his 
 treaties brought the ambassadors of the first Powers 
 in Europe and a crowd of other foreigners to Paris. 
 Persons who were obliged by their position to frequent 
 M. de Talleyrand's society accepted the presence of 
 Mme. Grand, who did the honors of his table and his 
 salon with a good grace; but they were somewhat 
 surprised at the weakness which had consented to put 
 so prominently forward a woman who was indeed 
 handsome, but so deficient in education and so faulty 
 in temper that she was continually annoying Talley- 
 rand by her foolish conduct, and disturbing him by 
 her uncertain humor. M. de Talleyrand has a very 
 good temper, and much laisser-aller in the events of 
 every-day life. It is easy enough to rule him by fright- 
 ening him, because he hates a disturbance, and Mme, 
 Grand ruled him by her charms and her exactions. 
 When, however, the ambassadresses were in question, 
 difficulties arose, as some of them would not consent 
 to be received at the Hotel of External Relations by
 
 352 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Mme. Grand. She complained, and these protests on 
 both sides came to the ears of die First Consul 
 
 He immediately had a decisive interview on this 
 subject with Talleyrand, and informed his minister 
 mat he must banish Mme. Grand from his house. No 
 sooner had Mme. Grand been apprised of this decision, 
 than she went to Mme. Bonaparte, whom she induced, 
 by dint of tears and supplications, to procure for her 
 an interview with Bonaparte. She was admitted to his 
 presence, fell on her knees, and entreated him to revoke 
 a decree which reduced her to despair. Bonaparte 
 allowed himself to be moved by the tears and sobs of 
 this fair personage, and, after having quieted her, he 
 said : " I see only one way of managing this. Let 
 Talleyrand marry you, and all will be arranged; but 
 you must bear his name, or you can not appear in his 
 house." Mme. Grand was much pleased with this 
 decision; the Consul repeated it to Talleyrand, and 
 gave him twenty-four hours to make up his mind. It 
 is said that Bonaparte took a malign pleasure in 
 making Talleyrand marry, and was secretly delighted 
 to have this opportunity of branding his character, and 
 thus, according to his favorite system, getting a guar- 
 antee of his fidelity. It is very possible that he may 
 have entertained such an idea; it is also certain that 
 Mme. Bonaparte, over whom tears always exercised a 
 great influence, used all her power with her husband 
 to induce him to favor Mme. Grand's petition. 
 
 Talleyrand went back to his hotel, gravely troubled 
 by the prompt decision which was required of him. 
 There he had to encounter tumultuous scenes. He 
 was attacked by all the devices likely to exhaust his 
 patience. He was pressed, pursued, urged against his 
 inclination. Some remains of love, the power of 
 habit, perhaps also the fear of irritating a woman 
 whom it is impossible to suppose he had not admitted
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 363 
 
 to his confidence, combined to influence him. He 
 yielded, set out for the country, and found, in a village 
 in the valley of Montmorency, a cure who consented to 
 perform the marriage ceremony. Two days after- 
 ward we were informed that Mme. Grand had become 
 Mme. de Talleyrand, and the difficulty of the Corps 
 Diplomatique was at an end. It appears that M. 
 Grand, who lived in England, although little desirous 
 of recovering a wife from whom he had long been 
 parted, contrived to get himself largely paid for with- 
 holding the protest against this marriage with which 
 he repeatedly menaced the newly wedded couple. M. 
 de Talleyrand, wanting something to amuse him in 
 his own house, brought over from London the daugh- 
 ter of one of his friends, who on her deathbed, had 
 confided the child to him. This child was that little 
 Charlotte who was, as we all know, brought up in his 
 house, and who has been very erroneously believed to 
 be his daughter. He attached himself strongly to his 
 young ward, educated her carefully, and, having 
 adopted her and bestowed his name upon her, married 
 her in her seventeenth year to his cousin Baron de 
 Talleyrand. The Talleyrands were at first justly 
 annoyed by this marriage, but she ultimately succeeded 
 in gaining their friendship. 
 
 Those persons who are acquainted with Talleyrand, 
 who know to what a height he carries delicacy of taste, 
 wit, and grace in conversation, and how much he needs 
 repose, are astonished that he should have united him- 
 self with a person so uncongenial to him. It is, there- 
 fore, most likely that imperative circumstances com- 
 pelled him to do so, and that Bonaparte's command 
 and the short time allowed him in which to come to a 
 decision prevented a rupture, which in fact would have 
 suited him much better. What a difference it would 
 have made for Talleyrand if he had then dissolved
 
 364 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 this illicit union, and set himself to merit and effect a 
 future reconciliation with the Church he had aban- 
 doned! Apart from desiring for him that that recon- 
 ciliation had been made then in good faith, how much 
 consideration would he have gained if afterward, 
 when all things were reordered and replaced, he had 
 resumed the Roman purple in the autumn of his days, 
 and at least repaired in the eyes of the world the scan- 
 dal of his life! As a cardinal, a noble, and a truly 
 distinguished man, he would have had a right to 
 respect and regard, and his course would not have 
 been beset with embarrassment and hesitation. 
 
 In the situation in which he was placed by his 
 marriage, he had to take constant precaution to escape, 
 as far as possible, from the ridicule which was always 
 suspended over him. No doubt he managed better 
 than others might have done in such a position. Pro- 
 found silence respecting his private troubles, an appear- 
 ance of complete indifference to the foolish things 
 which his wife was always saying and the blunders 
 which she was always making, a haughty demeanor to 
 those who ventured to smile at him or at her, extreme 
 politeness, which was called benevolence, great social 
 influence and political weight, a large fortune, unalter- 
 able patience under insult, and great dexterity in 
 taking his revenge, were the weapons with which he 
 met the general condemnation; and, notwithstanding 
 his great faults, the public have never dared to despise 
 him. Nevertheless, it is not to be supposed that he 
 has not paid the private penalty of his imprudent con- 
 duct. Deprived of domestic happiness, almost at 
 variance with his family, who could not associate with 
 Mme. de Talleyrand, he was obliged to resort to an 
 entirely factitious existence, in order to escape from 
 the dreariness of his home, and perhaps from the bit- 
 terness of his secret thoughts. Public affairs occupied
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 365 
 
 him, and such leisure as they left him he gave to play. 
 He was always attended by a crowd of followers, and 
 by giving his mornings to business, his evenings to 
 society, and his nights to cards, he never exposed 
 himself to a tiresome tete-a-tete with his wife, or to the 
 dangers of solitude, which would have brought serious 
 reflections. Bent on getting away from himself, he 
 never sought sleep until he was quite sure that extreme 
 fatigue would enable him to procure it. 
 
 The Emperor did not make up for the obligation 
 which he had imposed on him by his conduct to Mme. 
 de Talleyrand. He treated her coldly, even rudely; 
 never admitted her to the distinctions of the rank to 
 which she was raised, without making a difficulty 
 about it; and did not disguise the repugnance with 
 which she inspired him, even while Talleyrand still 
 possessed his entire confidence. Talleyrand bore all 
 this, never allowed the slightest complaint to escape 
 him, and arranged so that his wife should appear but 
 seldom at Court. She received all distinguished for- 
 eigners on certain days, and on certain other days the 
 Government officials. She made no visits, none were 
 exacted from her; in fact, she counted for nothing. 
 Provided each person bowed to her on entering and 
 leaving his salon, Talleyrand asked no more. Let me 
 say, in conclusion, that he always seemed to bear with 
 perfectly resigned courage the fatal " tu I'as voulu " 
 of Moliere's comedy. 
 
 In the course of these Memoirs I shall have to speak 
 of M. de Talleyrand again, when I shall have reached 
 the period of our intimacy with him. 
 
 I did not know Mme. Grand in the prime of her life 
 and beauty, but I have heard it said that she was one 
 of the most charming women of her time. She was 
 tall, and her figure had all the suppleness and grace so 
 common to women born in the East. Her complexion
 
 366 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 was dazzling, her eyes of the brightest blue, and her 
 slightly retrousse nose gave her, singularly enough, a 
 look of Talleyrand himself. Her fair golden hair 
 was of proverbial beauty. I think she was about 
 thirty-six when she married M. de Talleyrand. The 
 elegance of her figure was already slightly injured by 
 her becoming stout. This afterward increased, and 
 by degrees her features lost their delicacy and her 
 complexion became very red. The tone of her voice 
 was disagreeable, her manners were abrupt; she was 
 of an unamiable disposition, and so intolerably stupid 
 that she never by any chance said the right thing. 
 Talleyrand's intimate friends were the objects of her 
 particular dislike, and they cordially detested her. 
 Her elevation gave her little happiness, and what she 
 had to suffer never excited anybody's interest. 
 
 While the Emperor was reviewing the whole of his 
 army, Mme. Murat went to Boulogne to pay him a 
 visit, and he desired that Mme. Louis Bonaparte, who 
 had accompanied her husband to the baths of Saint 
 Amand, should also attend him there, and bring her 
 son. On several occasions he went through the ranks 
 of his soldiers, carrying this child in his arms. The 
 army was then remarkably fine, strictly disciplined, 
 full of the best spirit, well provided, and impatient for 
 war. This desire was destined to be satisfied before 
 long. 
 
 Notwithstanding the reports in our newspapers, we 
 were almost always stopped in everything that we 
 attempted to do for the protection of our colonies. 
 The proposed invasion appeared day by day more 
 perilous. It became necessary to astonish Europe by 
 a less doubtful novelty. " We are no longer," said the 
 notes of the " Moniteur," addressed to the English 
 Government, " those Frenchmen who were sold and 
 betrayed by perfidious ministers, covetous mistresses,
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 367 
 
 and indolent kings. You march toward an inevitable 
 destiny." 
 
 The two nations, English and French, each claimed 
 the victory in the naval combat off Cape Finisterre, 
 where no doubt our national bravery opposed a strong 
 resistance to the science of the enemy, but which had 
 no other result than to oblige our fleet to reenter the 
 port. Shortly afterward our journals were full of 
 complaints of the insults which the flag of Venice had 
 sustained since it had become a dependency of Austria. 
 We soon learned that the Austrian troops were mov- 
 ing; that an alliance between the Emperors of Austria 
 and Russia was formed against us; and the English 
 journals triumphantly announced a continental war. 
 This year the birthday of Napoleon was celebrated 
 with great pomp from one end of France to the other. 
 He returned from Boulogne on the 3d of September, 
 and at that time the Senate issued a decree by which 
 the Gregorian calendar was to be resumed on the ist 
 of January, 1806. Thus disappeared, little by little, 
 the last traces of the Republic, which had lasted, or 
 appeared to last, for thirteen years.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 (1805.) 
 
 AT the period of which I am writing, M. de Tal- 
 leyrand was still on bad terms with M. 
 Fouche, and, strange to say, I remember that 
 the latter charged him with being deficient in con- 
 scientiousness and sincerity. He always remembered 
 that on the occasion of the attempt of the 3d Nivose 
 (the infernal machine) Talleyrand had accused him 
 to Bonaparte of neglect, and had contributed not a 
 little to his dismissal. On his return to the Ministry 
 he secretly nursed his resentment, and let slip no op- 
 portunity of gratifying it, by that bitter and cynical 
 mockery which was the habitual tone of his conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 Talleyrand and Fouche were two very remarkable 
 men, and both were exceedingly useful to Bonaparte. 
 But it would be difficult to find less resemblance and 
 fewer points of contact between any two persons 
 placed in such close and continuous relations. The 
 former had studiously preserved the carelessly reso- 
 lute manner, if I may use that expression, of the 
 nobles of the old regime. Acute, taciturn, measured 
 in his speech, cold in his bearing, pleasing in con- 
 versation, deriving all his power from himself alone 
 for he held no party in his hand his very faults, 
 and even the stigma of his abandonment of his for- 
 mer sacred state of life, were sufficient guarantee to 
 the Revolutionists, who knew him to be so adroit and 
 
 368
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 369 
 
 so supple that they believed him to be always keeping 
 the means of escaping them in reserve. Besides, he 
 opened his mind to no one. He was quite impene- 
 trable upon the affairs with which he was charged, 
 and upon his own opinion of the master whom he 
 served; and, as a final touch to this picture, he neg- 
 lected nothing for his own comfort, was careful in 
 his dress, used perfumes, and was a lover of good 
 cheer and all the pleasures of the senses. He was 
 never subservient to Bonaparte, but he knew how to 
 make himself necessary to him, and never flattered 
 him in public. 
 
 Fouche, on the contrary, was a genuine product of 
 the Revolution. Careless of his appearance, he wore 
 the gold lace and the ribbons which were the insignia 
 of his dignities as if he disdained to arrange them. 
 He could laugh at himself on occasion : he was active, 
 animated, always restless; talkative, affecting a sort 
 of frankness which was merely the last degree of de- 
 ceit; boastful; disposed to seek the opinion of others 
 upon his conduct by talking about it; and sought no 
 justification except in his contempt of a certain class 
 of morality, or his carelessness of a certain order of 
 approbation. But he carefully maintained, to Bona- 
 parte's occasional disquiet, relations with a party 
 whom the Emperor felt himself obliged to conciliate 
 in his person. With all this, Fouche was not deficient 
 in a sort of good fellowship; he had even some esti- 
 mable qualities. He was a good husband to an ugly 
 and stupid wife, and a very good, even a too-indul- 
 gent, father. He looked at revolution as a whole; he 
 hated small schemes and constantly recurring sus- 
 picions, and it was because this was his way of think- 
 ing that his police did not suffice for the Emperor. 
 Where Fouche recognized merit, he did it justice. 
 It is not recorded of him that he was guilty of any per-
 
 370 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 sonal revenge, nor did he show himself capable of 
 persistent jealousy. It is even likely that, although 
 he remained for several years an enemy of Talley- 
 rand's, it was less because he had reason to complain 
 of him than because the Emperor took pains to keep 
 up a division between two men whose friendship he 
 thought dangerous to himself; and, indeed, it was 
 when they were reconciled that he began to distrust 
 them both, and to exclude them from affairs. 
 
 In 1805 Talleyrand stood much higher in favor 
 than Fouche. The business in hand was to found a 
 monarchy, to impose it upon Europe and upon France 
 by skillful diplomacy and the pomp of a Court; and 
 the ci-devant noble was much fitter to advise upon all 
 these points. He had an immense reputation in Eu- 
 rope. He was known to hold conservative opinions, 
 and that was all the morality demanded by the for- 
 eign sovereigns. The Emperor, in order to inspire 
 confidence in his enterprise, needed to have his signa- 
 ture supported by that of his Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs. So necessary to his projects did he consider 
 this that he did not grudge the distinction. The agi- 
 tation which reigned in Europe at the moment when 
 the rupture with Austria and Russia took place called 
 for very frequent consultations between the Emperor 
 and M. de Talleyrand; and, when Bonaparte left 
 Paris to commence the campaign, the Minister estab- 
 lished himself at Strasburg, so that he might be able 
 to reach the Emperor when the French cannon should 
 announce that the hour of negotiations had arrived. 
 
 About the middle of September rumors of an ap- 
 proaching departure were spread at Saint Cloud. M. 
 de Remusat received orders to repair to Strasburg, 
 and there to prepare the Imperial lodgings; and the 
 Empress declared so decidedly her intention of fol- 
 lowing her husband that it was settled she should go
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 371 
 
 to Strasburg with him. A numerous Court was to 
 accompany them. As my husband was going, I 
 should have been very glad to accompany him, but I 
 was becoming more and more of an invalid, and was 
 not in a state to travel. I was therefore obliged to 
 submit to this new separation, a more sorrowful one 
 than the former. This was the first time since I had 
 been at the Court that I had seen the Emperor setting 
 out for the army. The dangers to which he was about 
 to be exposed revived all my former attachment to 
 him. I had not courage to reproach him with any- 
 thing when I saw him depart on so serious a mission ; 
 and the thought that, of many persons who were go- 
 ing, there would no doubt be some whom I should 
 never see again, brought tears to my eyes, and made 
 my heart sink. In the glittering salon of Saint Cloud 
 I saw wives and mothers in terror and anguish, who 
 did not dare to let their grief be seen, so great was the 
 fear of displeasing the Emperor. The officers affected 
 carelessness, but that was the necessary bravado of 
 their profession. At that time, however, there were 
 a great many of them who, having attained a sufficient 
 fortune, and being unable to foresee the almost gigan- 
 tic height to which the continuity of war was after- 
 ward to raise them, were very sorry to relinquish 
 the pleasant and quiet life which they had now led 
 for some years. 
 
 Throughout France the law of the conscription 
 was strictly carried out, and this caused some dis- 
 turbance in the provinces. The fresh laurels which 
 our army was about to acquire were regarded with 
 indifference. But the soldiers and subalterns were 
 full of hope and ardor, and rushed to the frontiers 
 with eagerness, a presage of success. 
 
 On the 20th qf September the following appeared 
 in the " Moniteur : "
 
 372 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 " The Emperor of Germany, without previous ne- 
 gotiation or explanation, and without any declaration 
 of war, has invaded Bavaria. The Elector has re- 
 treated to Warzburg, where the whole Bavarian army 
 is assembled." 
 
 On the 23d the Emperor repaired to the Senate, 
 and issued a decree calling out the reserves of the con- 
 scripts of five years' standing. Berthier, the Minister 
 of War, read a report on the impending war, and the 
 Minister of the Interior demonstrated the necessity 
 of employing the National Guard to protect the 
 coasts. 
 
 The Emperor's speech was simple and impressive; 
 it was generally approved. Our causes of complaint 
 against Austria were fully set forth in the " Moni- 
 teur." There is little doubt that England, if not 
 afraid, was at least weary of the stay of our troops 
 on the coast, and that it was her policy to raise up 
 enemies for us on the Continent, while the division 
 of the kingdom of Italy, and still more its union with 
 the French Empire, was sufficiently disquieting to the 
 Austrian Cabinet. Without a knowledge of the 
 diplomatic secrets of the period, which I do not pos- 
 sess, it is hard to understand why the Emperor of 
 Russia broke with us. It is probable that commercial 
 difficulties were making him anxious about his rela- 
 tions with England. It may be well to quote some 
 words of Napoleon's on this subject. " The Em- 
 peror Alexander," he said, " is a young man; he longs 
 for a taste of glory, and, like all children, he wants 
 to go a different way from that which his father fol- 
 lowed." Neither can I explain the neutrality of the 
 King of Prussia, which was so advantageous to us, 
 and to himself so fatal, since it did but delay his over- 
 throw for one year. It seems to .me that Europe 
 blundered. The Emperor's character should have
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 373 
 
 been better appreciated; and there should have been 
 either a clear understanding that he must be always 
 yielded to, or he should have been put down by gen- 
 eral consent at the outset of his career. 
 
 But I must return to my narrative, from which I 
 have digressed in order to treat of a subject beyond 
 my powers. 
 
 I passed the last few days preceding the Emperor's 
 departure at Saint Cloud. The Emperor worked 
 unremittingly ; when over- fatigued, he would lie down 
 for a few hours in the daytime, but would rise in the 
 middle of the night and go on with his labors. He 
 was, however, more serene and gracious than at other 
 times; he received company as usual, went occasion- 
 ally to the theatres, and did not forget, when he was 
 at Strasburg, to send a present to Fleury, the actor, 
 who, two days before his departure, had performed 
 Corneille's " Menteur," by which he had succeeded 
 in amusing the Emperor. 
 
 The Empress was as full of confidence as the wife 
 of Bonaparte would naturally be. Happy to be al- 
 lowed to accompany him and to escape from the talk 
 of Paris, which alarmed her, from the spying of her 
 brothers-in-law, and the monotony of Saint Cloud, 
 delighted with the fresh opportunity for display, she 
 looked on a campaign as on a journey, and main- 
 tained a composure which, as it could not by reason 
 of her position proceed from indifference, was a gen- 
 uine compliment to him whom she firmly believed 
 fortune would not dare to forsake. Louis Bonaparte, 
 who was in bad health, was to remain in Paris, and 
 had received orders, as had also his wife, to entertain 
 liberally in the absence of the Emperor. Joseph pre- 
 sided over the Administrative Council of the Senate. 
 He resided at the Luxembourg, where he was also 
 to hold a Court. Princess Borghese was recovering
 
 374 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 her health at Trianon. Mme. Murat withdrew to 
 Xeuilly, where she occupied herself in beautifying 
 her charming dwelling; Murat accompanied the Em- 
 peror to headquarters. M. de Talleyrand was to re- 
 main at Strasburg until further orders. M. Maret 
 attended the Emperor; he was the author-in-chief of 
 the bulletins. 
 
 On the 24th the Emperor set out, and he reached 
 Strasburg without stopping on the way. 
 
 I returned in low spirits to Paris, where I rejoined 
 my children, my mother, and my sister. I found the 
 latter much distressed by her separation from M. de 
 Xansouty, who was in command of a division of 
 cavalry. 
 
 Immediately on the departure of the Emperor, 
 rumors became rife in Paris of an intended invasion 
 of the coast, and, in fact, such an expedition might 
 have been attempted; but, fortunately, our enemies 
 were not quite so audacious and enterprising as our- 
 selves, and at that time the English had not such con- 
 fidence in their army as since then it has justly 
 inspired. 
 
 The tightening of the money-market began almost 
 immediately to be felt : in a short time payment at the 
 Bank was suspended; money fetched a very high 
 price. I heard it said that our export trade did not 
 suffice for our wants; that war had stopped it, and 
 was raising the price of all our imports. This, I was 
 told, was the cause of the sudden embarrassment 
 which had come upon us. 
 
 Special and personal anxieties were added to the 
 general depression. Many families of distinction had 
 sons in the army, and trembled for their fate. In 
 what suspense did not parents await the arrival of 
 bulletins which might suddenly apprise them of the 
 loss of those most dear to them! What agonies did
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 375 
 
 not Bonaparte inflict on women, on mothers, during 
 many years! He has sometimes expressed astonish- 
 ment at the hatred he at last inspired; but could he 
 expect to be forgiven such agonized and prolonged 
 suspense, so much weeping, so many sleepless nights, 
 and days of agonizing dread? If he had but admitted 
 the truth, he must have known there is not one nat- 
 ural feeling on which he had not trampled. 
 
 Before his departure, and in order to gratify the 
 nobles, he created what was called the Guard of 
 Honor. He gave the command to his Grand Master 
 of Ceremonies. It was almost funny to see poor M. 
 de Segnr's zeal in forming his Guard, the eagerness 
 displayed by certain great personages to obtain admit- 
 tance into it, and the anxiety of some of the chamber- 
 lains, who imagined the Emperor w r ould much ad- 
 mire the change of their red coats for a military uni- 
 form. I shall never forget the surprise, nay, the 
 fright which M. de Lucay, Prefect of the Palace, a 
 mild and timid person, gave me, when he asked me 
 whether M. de Remusat, the father of a family, a 
 former magistrate, and at that time more than forty 
 years of age, did not also intend to embrace the mili- 
 tary career thus suddenly opened to everybody. We 
 were beginning to be accustomed to so many strange 
 things that, in spite of sense and reason, I felt some 
 solicitude on this subject, and I wrote to my hus- 
 band, who replied that he had not been seized with 
 martial ardor, and that he hoped the Emperor might 
 still reckon among his servants some who did not 
 wear swords. 
 
 At this time the Emperor had partly restored us to 
 favor. On his departure from Strasburg he confided 
 the entire charge of the Court and the Empress's 
 household to my husband. These were sufficiently 
 easy duties, with no greater drawback than a certain
 
 376 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 amount of tedium. M. de Talleyrand, who also re- 
 mained behind at Strasburg, gave some zest to the 
 daily routine of M. de Remusat's life. They now 
 became really intimate, and were frequently together. 
 M. de Remusat, who was by nature simple, modest, 
 and retiring, showed to advantage as he became better 
 known, and M. de Talleyrand recognized his intel- 
 lectual qualities, his excellent judgment, and his up- 
 rightness. He began to trust him, to appreciate the 
 safety of intercourse with him, and to treat him as 
 a friend; while my husband, who was gratified by 
 receiving such overtures from a quarter whence he 
 had not expected them, conceived for him from that 
 moment an affection which no subsequent vicissitude 
 has lessened. 
 
 Meanwhile the Emperor had left Strasburg. On 
 the ist of October he commenced the campaign, and 
 the entire army, transported as if by magic from 
 Boulogne, was crossing the frontier. The Elector 
 of Bavaria, on being called upon by the Emperor of 
 Austria to afford free passage to his troops, refused 
 to do so, and was being invaded on every side; but 
 Bonaparte marched to his aid without delay. 
 
 We then received the first bulletin from the Grand 
 Army. It announced a first success at Donauworth, 
 and gave us the proclamations of the Emperor, and 
 that of the Viceroy of Italy. Massena was ordered to 
 reenforce the latter, and to push into the Tyrol with 
 the united French and Italian armies. To phrases 
 well calculated to inflame the zeal of our soldiers were 
 added others of biting sarcasm against our enemy. 
 A circular addressed to the inhabitants of Austria, 
 asking for contributions of lint, was published, accom- 
 panied by the following note : " We hope the Emperor 
 of Austria will not require any, as he has gone back 
 to Vienna."
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 377 
 
 Insults to the ministers were not spared, nor to 
 some of the great Austrian nobles, among whom was 
 the Count de Colloredo, who was accused of being 
 governed by his wife, herself entirely devoted to Eng- 
 lish policy. These unworthy attacks occurred pro- 
 miscuously in the bulletins, among really elevated 
 sentiments, which, although put forth with Roman 
 rather than with French eloquence, were very 
 effective. 
 
 Bonaparte's activity in this campaign was posi- 
 tively marvelous. From the beginning he foresaw 
 the advantages that would accrue to him from the 
 first blunders of the Austrians, and also his ultimate 
 success. Toward the middle of October he wrote to 
 his wife: " Rest easy; I promise you the shortest and 
 most brilliant of campaigns." 
 
 At Wertingen our cavalry obtained some advan- 
 tage over the enemy, and M. de Nansouty distin- 
 guished himself. A brilliant skirmish also took place 
 at Giintzburg, and the Austrians were soon retreating 
 from every point. 
 
 The army became more and more enthusiastic, and 
 seemed to take no heed of the approach of winter. 
 Just before going into action, the Emperor harangued 
 his soldiers on the Lech bridge, in the midst of thickly 
 falling snow. " But," continued the bulletin, " his 
 words were of fire, and the soldiers forgot their priva- 
 tions." The bulletin ended with these prophetic 
 words : " The destinies of the campaign are fixed." 
 
 The taking of Ulm and the capitulation of its im- 
 mense garrison completed the surprise and terror of 
 Austria, and served to silence the factious spirit in 
 Paris, which had been with difficulty repressed by 
 the police. It is hard to prevent Frenchmen from 
 ranging themselves on the side of glory, and we began 
 to share in that which our army was gaining. But
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the monetary difficulty was still painfully felt : trade 
 suffered, the theatres were empty, an increase of pov- 
 erty was perceptible, and the onry hope that sustained 
 us was that a campaign so brilliant must be followed 
 by an immediate peace. 
 
 After the capitulation of Uhn, the Emperor him- 
 self dictated the following phrase in the bulletin: 
 " The panegyric of the army may be pronounced in 
 two words : It is worthy of its leader." He wrote to 
 the Senate, sending the colors taken from the enemy, 
 and announcing that die Elector had returned to his 
 capital Letters from him to the bishops, requesting 
 them to offer thanksgiving for our victories, were also 
 published. 
 
 From the very beginning of the campaign pastoral 
 kliei'S had been read in every metropolitan church, 
 justifying the war, and encouraging the new recruits 
 to march promptly whithersoever they should be 
 called. The bishops now began the task once more, 
 and exhausted the Scriptures for texts to prove that 
 the Emperor was protected by die God of armies. 
 
 Joseph Bonaparte was the bearer of his brother's 
 letter to the Senate. That body decreed that, in re- 
 ply, an address of congratulation should be carried 
 to headquarters by a certain number of its members. 
 
 At Strasburg die Empress received a number of 
 German princes, who came to join her Court, and to 
 offer her their homage and congratulations. With a 
 natural pride she showed diem the Emperor's letters, 
 in which long beforehand he announced to her the 
 victories he was about to gain : and either his skillful 
 foresight must needs be admired, or else the power 
 of a destiny which never for a moment belied itself 
 must be recognized. 
 
 Marshal Xey distinguished himself at Elchingen, 
 and the Emperor consented so fully to leave the
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 379 
 
 honors of the occasion to him that afterward, when 
 he created dukes, he desired that the Marshal's title 
 should be Duke of Elchingen. 
 
 I use the word consented, because it is admitted that 
 Bonaparte was not always perfectly just in appor- 
 tioning the fame which he accorded to his generals. 
 In one of his occasional fits of frankness, I heard him 
 say that he liked to bestow glory only on those who 
 knew not how to sustain it. According to his policy 
 with respect to the military chiefs under his orders, 
 or the degree of confidence which he placed in them, 
 he would either preserve silence concerning certain 
 victories of theirs, or change the blunder of a par- 
 ticular marshal into a success. A general would hear 
 through some bulletin of an action which had never 
 taken place, or of a speech which he had never made. 
 Another would find himself famous in the news- 
 papers, and would wonder how he had deserved to 
 be thus distinguished. Others would endeavor to 
 protest against his neglect of them, or against dis- 
 torted accounts of events. But how was it possible to 
 correct what had once been read, and was already 
 effaced by more recent news? For Bonaparte's 
 rapidity in war gave us daily something fresh to 
 learn. On these occasions he would either impose 
 silence on the protest, or, if he wished to appease the 
 offended officer, a sum of money, a prize from the 
 enemy, or permission to levy a tax was granted to 
 him, and thus the affair would end. 
 
 This crafty spirit, which was inherent in Bona- 
 parte's character, and which he employed adroitly in 
 dealing with his marshals and superior officers, may 
 be justified, up to a certain point, by the difficulty he 
 occasionally met with in managing so large a number 
 of individuals of widely differing characters but sim- 
 ilar aims. He was perfectly cognizant of the scope
 
 380 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 of their various talents; he knew in what manner each 
 of them might be useful to him: while rewarding 
 their services he was perpetually obliged to repress 
 their pride and jealousy. He was forced to use every 
 means in his power to secure his own success; above 
 all, he could miss no opportunity of making them feel 
 their entire dependence on himself, and that their re- 
 nown as well as their fortune was in his hands alone. 
 This point once reached, he might feel certain not to 
 be importuned by them, and to be at liberty to reward 
 their services at his own price. In general, however, 
 the marshals have had no cause to complain that he 
 did not rate them highly. The rewards obtained by 
 them were frequently gigantic; and, the long contin- 
 uance of war having raised their hopes to the highest 
 pitch, we have seen them become dukes and princes 
 without being astonished at the fact, and end by 
 thinking that royalty alone could worthily crown their 
 destiny. Enormous sums were divided among them, 
 and every kind of exaction from the vanquished was 
 permitted them; some of them made immense for- 
 tunes, and, if most of these disappeared with the Gov- 
 ernment under which they had been amassed, it was 
 because they had been acquired so easily that their 
 upstart possessors naturally spent them lavishly, feel- 
 ing confident that the facilities for making such for- 
 tunes would never be exhausted. 
 
 In this first campaign of Napoleon's reign, although 
 the army was as yet subject to a discipline which was 
 afterward considerably relaxed, the vanquished peo- 
 ple found themselves a prey to the rapacity of the 
 conqueror, and the obligation of receiving some field 
 officer for a single night, or even for a few hours, 
 cost many a great Austrian noble or prince the entire 
 destruction and pillage of his home. The common 
 soldiers were under discipline, and there was an out-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 381 
 
 ward appearance of order, but there was nothing to 
 hinder a marshal from taking away with him, on his 
 departure, any objects which had caught his fancy. 
 After the close of the war, I have often heard the 
 
 wife of Marshal X relate, with laughter, that her 
 
 husband, knowing her taste for music, had sent her 
 an immense collection of music-books, which he had 
 found in some German prince's house ; and she would 
 add, with equal ingenuousness, that he had dispatched 
 so many packing-cases full of lusters and Vienna 
 glass, which he had picked up in every direction, to 
 their house in Paris, that she was quite at a loss to 
 know where to put them. 
 
 While the Emperor knew so well how to hold the 
 pretensions of his generals in check, he spared no 
 pains to encourage and satisfy the rank and file. Af- 
 ter the taking of Ulm, a decree was issued to the effect 
 that the month of Vendemiaire, which was just 
 closed, should in itself be reckoned as a campaign. 
 
 On the feast of All Saints a solemn Te Deum was 
 sung at Notre Dame, and Joseph gave several enter- 
 tainments in honor of our victories. 
 
 Meanwhile Massena was distinguishing himself by 
 victories in Italy, and it soon became certain that the 
 Emperor of Austria would have to pay dearly for 
 this great campaign. The Russian army was hasten- 
 ing by forced marches to his aid, but had not yet 
 joined the Austrians, who meanwhile were being de- 
 feated by our Emperor. It was said at the time that 
 the Emperor Francis made a blunder by entering upon 
 the war before the Emperor Alexander was in a posi- 
 tion to help him. 
 
 During this campaign Bonaparte induced the King 
 of Naples to remain neutral, and agreed to rid him 
 of the French garrison which he had hitherto been 
 obliged to maintain. Several decrees relating to the
 
 382 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 administration of France were promulgated from 
 various headquarters, and the former Doge of Genoa 
 was created a senator. 
 
 The Emperor liked to appear to be engaged in a 
 number of different affairs at once, and to show that 
 he could cast what he called " an eagle glance " in 
 every direction at the same instant. For this reason, 
 and also on account of his suspicious disposition, he 
 wrote a letter to the Minister of Police, desiring him 
 to keep a watchful eye on the Faubourg St. Germain, 
 meaning those members of the French nobility who 
 remained opposed to him, and stating that he had 
 been informed of certain things that had been said 
 against him in his absence, and would punish them 
 on his return. 
 
 It was Fouche's habit, on receiving such orders as 
 these, to send for the persons, both men and women, 
 who were more specially accused. Whether he really 
 thought the Emperor's displeasure was excited by 
 mere trifles, and that, as he sometimes used to say, 
 it was foolish to prevent French people from talking, 
 or whether he desired to win golden opinions by his 
 own moderation, after advising those persons for 
 whom he had sent to be more cautious, he wonid con- 
 clude by admitting that the Emperor made too much 
 ado about trivialities. Thus, by degrees, he acquired 
 a reputation for justice and moderation, which did 
 away with the first impressions of his character. The 
 Emperor, who was informed of this conduct on his 
 part, resented it, and was secretly on his guard against 
 one so careful to conciliate all parties. 
 
 On the 1 2th of November our victorious army 
 entered the gates of Vienna. The newspapers gave 
 full details of the circumstances, and these accounts 
 acquire additional interest from the fact that they 
 were all dictated by Bonaparte, and that he frequently
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 383 
 
 took upon .himself to invent, as an afterthought, cir- 
 cumstances or anecdotes likely to strike the popular 
 imagination. 
 
 " The Emperor," says the bulletin, " has taken up 
 his abode in the palace of Schonbrunn ; he writes in a 
 cabinet in which stands a statue of Maria Theresa. 
 On observing this, he exclaimed: 'Ah! if that great 
 queen were still living, she would not allow herself 
 to be led by such a woman as Mme. de Colloredo! 
 Surrounded by her nobles, she would have ascertained 
 the wishes of her people. She would never have al- 
 lowed her provinces to be ravaged by the Muscovites/ 
 etc." 
 
 Meanwhile some bad news came to temper Bona- 
 parte's success. Admiral Nelson had just beaten our 
 fleet at Trafalgar. The French navy had fought with 
 splendid bravery, but had been disastrously defeated. 
 This produced a bad effect in Paris, and disgusted 
 the Emperor for ever with naval enterprises. He 
 became so deeply prejudiced against the French navy 
 that from that time it was scarcely possible to induce 
 him to take any interest in or pay any attention to 
 the subject. Vainly did the sailors or soldiers who 
 had distinguished themselves on that fatal day en- 
 deavor to obtain recognition or sympathy for the dan- 
 gers they had encountered : they were practically for- 
 bidden even to revert to the disaster; and when, in 
 after-years, they wanted to obtain any favor, they 
 took care not to claim it on the score of the admirable 
 courage to which only the English dispatches ren- 
 dered justice. 
 
 Immediately on the Emperor's return to Vienna, 
 he sent for M. de Talleyrand, perceiving that the time 
 for negotiations was at hand, and that the Emperor 
 of Austria was about to treat for peace. It is prob- 
 able that our Emperor had already decided on making
 
 384 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the Elector of Bavaria a King, on enlarging his 
 dominions, and also on the marriage of Prince 
 Eugene. 
 
 M. de Remusat was sent to Paris in order that he 
 might convey the Imperial insignia and the crown 
 diamonds to Vienna. I saw him but for an instant, 
 and learned with fresh vexation that he was about to 
 leave for a still more distant country. On his return 
 to Strasburg he received orders to proceed at once to 
 Vienna, and the Empress was directed to repair to 
 Munich with the whole Court. Nothing could ex- 
 ceed the honors rendered to her in Germany. Princes 
 and Electors crowded to welcome her, and the Elector 
 of Bavaria, especially, neglected nothing to make her 
 reception all that could be desired. She remained at 
 Munich, waiting for her husband's return. 
 
 M. de Remusat, while on his journey, reflected 
 sadly upon the condition of the countries through 
 which he passed. The land still reeked of battle. 
 Devastated villages, roads encumbered with corpses 
 and ruins, brought before his eyes all the horrors of 
 war. The distress of the vanquished added an ele- 
 ment of danger to the discomfort of this journey so 
 late in the season. Everything contributed painfully 
 to impress the imagination of a man who was a friend 
 to humanity, and who lamented the disasters which 
 result from the passions of conquerors. My hus- 
 band's letters, full of painful reflections, grieved me 
 deeply, and served to lessen the enthusiasm which 
 had been beginning to revive as I read accounts of 
 victories, in which the bright side only was shown to 
 the public. 
 
 When M. de Remusat reached Vienna, the Em- 
 peror was no longer there. The negotiations had 
 lasted but a short time, and our army was marching 
 forward. M. de Talleyrand and M. Maret remained
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 385 
 
 at Schonbrunn, where they both lived, but without 
 intimacy. M. Maret's familiarity with the Emperor 
 gave him a sort of influence, which he kept up, as I 
 have already said, by adoration, true or feigned, and 
 displayed in all his words and actions. M. de Talley- 
 rand would make fun of this sometimes, and quiz 
 the Secretary of State, who resented such conduct 
 excessively. He was therefore always on hjs 
 guard against M. de Talleyrand, and disliked him 
 sincerely. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, who was thoroughly weary of 
 Vienna, greeted M. de Remusat on his arrival with 
 great cordiality, and the intimacy between them in- 
 creased during the idle life both were leading. It is 
 very likely that M. Maret, who wrote regularly to 
 the Emperor, reported upon this new friendship, and 
 that it was displeasing to a person always prone to 
 take offense, and apt to detect ulterior motives in the 
 most unimportant actions of life. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, finding scarcely any one but M. 
 de Remusat who could understand him, disclosed to 
 him the political views with which the victories of our 
 armies inspired him. He warmly desired to consoli- 
 date the peace of Europe, and his great fear was that 
 the glamour of victory and the predilections of the 
 military men surrounding the Emperor, all of them 
 having again become accustomed to war, would in- 
 duce the latter to prolong it. " When the moment 
 comes for actually concluding peace," he said, " you 
 will see that the greatest difficulty I shall have will be 
 in treating with the Emperor himself, and it will take, 
 much talking to sober the intoxication produced by 
 gunpowder." In these moments of confidence M. de 
 Talleyrand would speak candidly of the Emperor. 
 While he admitted the great defects of his character, 
 he believed him to be destined irrevocably to end the
 
 386 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Revolution in France, and to found a lasting govern- 
 ment; and he also believed that he himself should be 
 able to rule the Emperor's conduct with regard to 
 Europe. " If I fail to persuade him," he said, " I 
 shall, at any rate, know how to fetter him in spite of 
 himself, and to force him to take some repose." 
 
 M. de Remusat was delighted to find an able states- 
 man, and one who enjoyed the confidence of the Em- 
 peror, full of projects so wise in themselves; and he 
 began to regard him with the esteem that every 
 French citizen owes to a man who endeavors to con- 
 trol the effects of a boundless ambition. He often 
 wrote to me that he was delighted with the discov- 
 eries which his intimacy with M. de Talleyrand 
 enabled him to make, and I began to feel interest 
 in one who alleviated the wearisome exile of my 
 husband. 
 
 In my hours of solitude and anxiety, my husband's 
 letters were my only pleasure and the sole charm of 
 my existence. Although he prudently avoided details, 
 I could see that he was satisfied with his position. 
 Then he would describe to me the different sights he 
 had seen. He would tell me of his drives or walks in 
 Vienna, which he described as a large and beautiful 
 city, and of his visits to certain important personages 
 who had remained there, as well as to other families. 
 He was struck by their extreme attachment to the 
 Emperor Francis. These good people of Vienna, al- 
 though their city was conquered, did not hesitate 
 openly to express their hopes of a speedy return to the 
 paternal rule of their master; and, while they sym- 
 pathized with him in his reverses, they never uttered 
 a single reproach. 
 
 Good order was maintained in Vienna; the gar- 
 rison was under strict discipline, and the inhabitants 
 had no great cause of complaint against their conquer-
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 387 
 
 ors. The French entered into some of the amuse- 
 ments of the place; they frequented the theatres, and 
 it was at Vienna that M. de Remusat first heard the 
 celebrated Italian singer Crescentini, and subse- 
 quently engaged him for the Emperor's musical 
 service. 
 
 Vol. 9 M-Memoirs
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 (1805.) 
 
 THE arrival of the Russian forces and the severe 
 conditions exacted by the conqueror made the 
 Emperor of Austria resolve on once more try- 
 ing the fortune of war. Having assembled his forces 
 and joined the Emperor Alexander, he awaited Bona- 
 parte, who was advancing to meet him. The two im- 
 mense armies met in Moravia, near the little village of 
 Austerlitz, which, until then unknown, has become 
 for ever memorable by reason of the great victory 
 which France won there. 
 
 Bonaparte resolved to give battle on the following 
 day, the ist of December, the anniversary of his coro- 
 nation. 
 
 The Czar had sent Prince Dolgorouki to our head- 
 quarters with proposals of peace, which, if the Em- 
 peror has told the truth in his bulletins, could hardly 
 be entertained by a conqueror in possession of his 
 enemy's capital. If we may believe him, the surrender 
 of Belgium was demanded, and that the Iron Crown 
 should be placed on another head. The envoy was 
 taken through a part of the encampment which had 
 been purposely left in confusion ; he was deceived by 
 this, and misled the Emperors by his report of the 
 state of things. 
 
 The bulletin of those two days, the ist and 2d of 
 December, states that the Emperor, on returning to his 
 
 388
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 389 
 
 quarters toward evening, spoke these words: "This 
 is the fairest evening of my life; but I regret to think 
 that I must lose a good number of these brave fellows. 
 I feel, by the pain it gives me, that they are indeed my 
 children ; and I reproach myself for this feeling, for I 
 fear it may render me unfit to make war." 
 
 The following day, in addressing his soldiers, he 
 said : ' This campaign must be ended by a thunder- 
 clap. If France is to make peace only on the terms 
 proposed by Dolgorouki, Russia shall not obtain them, 
 even were her army encamped on the heights of Mont- 
 martre." Yet it was decreed that these same armies 
 should, one day, be encamped there, and that at Belle- 
 ville Alexander was to receive Napoleon's envoy, 
 coming to offer him peace on any terms he chose to 
 dictate. 
 
 I will not transcribe the narrative of that battle, 
 so truly honorable to our arms it will be found in 
 the " Moniteur " ; and the Emperor of Russia, with 
 characteristic and noble simplicity, declared that the 
 dispositions taken by the Emperor to insure success, 
 the skill of his generals, and the ardor of the French 
 soldiers, were all alike incomparable. The flower of 
 the three nations fought with unflagging determina- 
 tion; the two Emperors were obliged to fly in order 
 to escape being taken, and, but for the conferences of 
 the following day, it seems that the Emperor of Russia 
 would have found his retreat very difficult. 
 
 The Emperor dictated almost from the field of battle 
 the narrative of all that had taken place on the ist, the 
 2d, and the 3d of December. He even wrote part of 
 it himself. The dispatch, hurriedly composed, yet full 
 of details and very interesting, even at the present day, 
 on account of the spirit in which it was conceived, 
 consisted of twenty-five pages covered with erasures 
 and with references, and was sent to M. Maret at
 
 390 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Vienna, to be immediately put in form and sent to the 
 " Moniteur " in Paris. 
 
 On receiving this dispatch, M. Maret hastened to 
 communicate it to M. de Talleyrand and M. de Remu- 
 sat. All three were then residing in the palace of the 
 Emperor of Austria; they shut themselves up in the 
 Empress's private apartment, then occupied by M. de 
 Talleyrand, in order to decipher the manuscript. The 
 handwriting of the Emperor, which was always very 
 illegible, and his bad spelling, made this a somewhat 
 lengthy task. The order of events had to be rear- 
 ranged, and incorrect expressions to be replaced by 
 more suitable ones, and then, by the advice of M. de 
 Talleyrand and to the great terror of M. Maret, cer- 
 tain phrases were suppressed, as too humiliating to 
 the foreign sovereigns, or so directly eulogistic of 
 Bonaparte himself that one wonders he could have 
 penned them. They retained certain phrases which 
 were underscored, and to which it was evident he 
 attached importance. This task lasted several hours, 
 and was interesting to M. de Remusat, as it gave him 
 an opportunity of observing the very different meth- 
 ods of serving the Emperor adopted by the two 
 Ministers respectively. 
 
 After the battle, the Emperor Francis asked for an 
 interview, which took place at the French Emperor's 
 quarters. 
 
 "This," said Bonaparte, " has been my only palace 
 for the last two months." 
 
 " You make such good use of it," replied the 
 Emperor of Austria, " that it ought to be agreeable 
 to you." 
 
 " It is asserted," says the bulletin, " that the Em- 
 peror, in speaking of the Emperor of Austria, used 
 these words : ' That man has led me to commit an 
 error, for I could have followed up my victory, and
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 391 
 
 have taken the whole Russian and Austrian army 
 prisoners; but, after all, there will be some tears the 
 less.' ' 
 
 According to the bulletin, the Czar was let off easily. 
 Here is the account of the visit which Savary was sent 
 to make to him: 
 
 ' The Emperor's aide-de-camp had accompanied 
 the Emperor of Germany after the interview, in order 
 to learn whether the Emperor of Russia would agree 
 to the capitulation. He found the remnant of the 
 Russian army without artillery or baggage, and in 
 frightful disorder. 
 
 " It was midnight ; General Meerf eld had been 
 repulsed from Golding by Marshal Davoust, and the 
 Russian army was surrounded not a man could 
 escape. Prince Czartoryski presented General Savary 
 to the Emperor. 
 
 " ' Tell your master,' said the Czar, ' that I am 
 going away; that he did wonders yesterday, that his 
 achievements have increased my admiration for him, 
 that he is predestined by Heaven, and that my army 
 would require a hundred years to equal his. But can 
 I withdraw in safety?' 'Yes, sire, if your Majesty 
 ratifies what the two Emperors of France and Austria 
 have agreed upon in their interview.' * And what is 
 that? ' ' That your Majesty's army shall return home 
 by stages to be regulated by the Emperor, and that 
 it shall evacuate Germany and Austrian Poland. On 
 these conditions I have it in commission to go to our 
 outposts, and give them orders to protect your retreat, 
 as the Emperor is desirous to protect the friend of the 
 First Consul.' ' What guarantee is required ? ' ' Your 
 word, sire.' ' I give it you.' 
 
 " General Savary set out on the instant at full 
 gallop, and, having joined Davoust, he gave orders to 
 suspend all operations and remain quiet. It is to be
 
 392 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 hoped that the generosity of the Emperor of France 
 on this occasion may not be so soon forgotten in 
 Russia as was his sending back six thousand men to 
 the Emperor Paul, with expressions of his esteem. 
 
 " General Savary had an hour's conversation with 
 the Emperor of Russia, and found him all that a man 
 of good sense and good feeling ought to be, whatever 
 reverses he may have experienced. 
 
 " The Emperor asked him about the details of the 
 day. * You were inferior to me/ he said, * and yet you 
 were superior upon all the points of attack.' ' That, 
 sire/ answered the General, * is the art of war, and 
 the fruit of fifteen years of glory. This is the fortieth 
 battle the Emperor has fought.' * True. He is a 
 great warrior. As for me, this is the first time I have 
 seen fighting. I have never had any pretension to 
 measure myself with him.' ' When you have experi- 
 ence, sire, you may perhaps surpass him.' ' I shall 
 now go away to my capital. I came to lend my aid 
 to the Emperor of Austria; he has had me informed 
 that he is content, and I am the same.' ' 
 
 There was a good deal of speculation at that time 
 as to what was the Emperor's real reason for con- 
 senting to make peace after this battle, instead of 
 pushing his victory further; for, of course, nobody 
 believed in the motive which was assigned for it, i. e., 
 the sparing of so many tears which must otherwise 
 have been shed. 
 
 May we conclude that the day of Austerlitz had cost 
 him so dear as to make him shrink from incurring 
 another like it, and that the Russian army was not so 
 utterly defeated as he would have had us believe ? Or 
 was it that again he had done as he himself expressed 
 it, when he was asked why he had put an end to the 
 march of victory by the treaty of Leoben : " I was 
 playing at vingt-et-un, and I stopped short at vingt"?
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 393 
 
 May we believe that Bonaparte, in his first year of 
 empire, did not yet venture to sacrifice the lives of the 
 people as ruthlessly as he afterward sacrificed them, 
 and that, having entire confidence in M. de Talley- 
 rand at that period, he yielded more readily to the 
 moderate policy of his Minister? Perhaps, too, he 
 believed that he had reduced the Austrian power by 
 his campaign more than he really had reduced it; for 
 he said, after his return from Munich, " I have left 
 the Emperor Francis too many subjects." 
 
 Whatever may have been his motives, he deserves 
 praise for the spirit of moderation that he maintained 
 in the midst of an army heated by victory, and which 
 certainly was at that moment desirous of prolonging 
 the war. The marshals and all the officers about the 
 Emperor did everything in their power to induce him 
 to carry on the campaign ; they were certain of victory 
 everywhere, and by shaking the purpose of their chief 
 they created for M. de Talleyrand all the difficulties 
 that he had foreseen. The Minister, summoned to 
 headquarters, had to contend with the disposition of 
 the army. He maintained, alone and unsupported, 
 that peace must be concluded that the Austrian 
 power was necessary to the equilibrium of Europe; and 
 it was then that he said, " When you shall have weak- 
 ened all the powers of the center, how are you to 
 hinder those of the extremities the Russians, for 
 instance from falling upon them? " In reply to this 
 he was met by private interests, by a personal and 
 insatiable desire for the chances of fortune which the 
 continuance of the war might offer; and certain per- 
 sons, who knew the Emperor's character well, said. 
 "If even we do not put an end to this affair on the 
 spot, you will see that we shall commence another 
 campaign by and by." 
 
 As for the Emperor himself, disturbed by this
 
 394 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 diversity of opinion, urged by his first love of war, and 
 influenced by his habitual distrust, he allowed M. de 
 Talleyrand to perceive that he suspected him of a 
 secret understanding with the Austrian ambassador, 
 and of sacrificing the interests of France. M. de 
 Talleyrand answered with that firmness which he 
 always maintains in great affairs, when he has taken a 
 certain line: "You deceive yourself. My object is 
 to sacrifice the interest of your generals, which is no 
 concern of mine, to the interests of France. Reflect 
 that you lower yourself by saying such things as they 
 say, and that you are worthy to be something more 
 than a mere soldier." The Emperor was flattered by 
 being praised at the expense of his former companions 
 in arms ; and by adroitness -of this kind M. de Talley- 
 rand succeeded in gaining his ends. At length he 
 brought the Emperor to resolve on sending him to 
 Presburg, where the negotiations were to take place; 
 but it is a strange and probably unexampled fact that 
 Bonaparte, while giving M. de Talleyrand powers to 
 treat for peace, actually deceived him on a point of 
 vital importance, and placed in his path the greatest 
 difficulty that ever a negotiator had experienced. 
 
 On the occasion of the meeting of the two Emper- 
 ors after the battle, the Emperor of Austria consented 
 to relinquish the State of Venice ; but he had demanded 
 that the portion of the Tyrol conquered by Massena 
 should be restored to Austria, and Napoleon, no doubt 
 affected in spite of his mastery over his emotions, and 
 a little off his guard in the presence of this vanquished 
 sovereign, who had come to discuss his interests in 
 person on the battle-field where the bodies of his sub- 
 jects who had fallen in his cause still lay, had not been 
 able to maintain his inflexibility. He gave up the 
 Tyrol; but no sooner had the interview come to an 
 end than he repented of what he had done, and, when
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 395 
 
 giving M. de Talleyrand details of the engagements 
 to which he had pledged himself, he kept that one 
 secret. 
 
 The Minister having set out for Presburg, Bona- 
 parte returned to Vienna, and took up his abode in the 
 palace at Schonbrunn. He occupied himself in review- 
 ing his army, verifying his losses, and reforming each 
 corps as it presented itself for inspection. In his pride 
 and satisfaction in the results of the campaign, he was 
 good-humored with everybody, behaved well to all 
 those members of the Court who awaited him at 
 Vienna, and took great pleasure in relating the 
 wonders of the war. 
 
 On one point only did he exhibit displeasure. He 
 was greatly surprised that his presence produced so 
 little effect upon the Viennese, and that it was so 
 difficult to induce them to attend the fetes he provided 
 for them, and the dinners at the palace to which he 
 invited them. Bonaparte could not understand their 
 attachment to a conquered sovereign one, too, so 
 much inferior to himself. One day he spoke quite 
 openly about this to M. de Remusat. " You have 
 passed some time at Vienna," he said, " and have had 
 opportunities of observing them. What a strange 
 people they are! They seem insensible alike to glory 
 and to reverses." M. de Remusat, who had formed a 
 high opinion of the Viennese, and admired their disin- 
 terested and loyal character, replied by praising them, 
 and relating several instances of their attachment to 
 their sovereign of which he had been an eye-witness. 
 " But," said Bonaparte, " they must sometimes have 
 talked of me. What do they say ?" " Sire," answered 
 M. de Remusat, " they say, ' The Emperor Napoleon 
 is a great man, it is true ; but our Emperor is perfectly 
 good, and we can love none but him.' " These senti- 
 ments, which were all unchanged by misfortune, were
 
 396 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 incomprehensible to a man who recognized no merit 
 except in success. When, after his return to Paris, 
 he heard of the touching reception given by the 
 Viennese to their vanquished Emperor, he exclaimed : 
 "What people! If I came back to Paris thus, I 
 should certainly not be received after that fashion." 
 A few days after the Emperor's return, M. de Tal- 
 leyrand arrived at Vienna from Presburg, to the 
 great surprise of everybody. The Austrian ministers 
 at Presburg had brought forward the subject of the 
 Tyrol ; he had been obliged to admit that he had no 
 instructions on that point, and he now came to obtain 
 them. He was much displeased at having been 
 treated in such a manner. W T hen he spoke of this to 
 the Emperor, the latter told him that in a yielding 
 moment, of which he now repented, he had acceded 
 to the request of the Emperor Francis, but that he was 
 quite resolved not to keep his word. M. de Remusat 
 told me that M. de Talleyrand, of whom he saw a 
 great deal at this time, was really indignant. Not only 
 did he perceive that war was about to begin again, but 
 that the Cabinet of France was stained by perfidy, and 
 a portion of the dishonor would inevitably fall upon 
 him. His mission to Presburg would henceforth be 
 ridiculous, would show how little influence over his 
 master he possessed, and would destroy his personal 
 credit in Europe, when he took such care to preserve. 
 The marshals raised their war-cry anew. Murat, Ber- 
 thier, Maret, all the flatterers of the Emperor's ruling 
 passion, seeing to which side he leaned, urged him on 
 toward what they called " glory." M. de Talleyrand 
 had to bear reproaches from every one, and he often 
 said to my husband, bitterly enough : " I find no one 
 but yourself here to show me any friendship ; it would 
 take very little more to make those people regard me 
 as a traitor." His conduct at this period, and his
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 397 
 
 patience, did him honor. He succeeded in bringing 
 the Emperor back to his way of thinking upon the 
 necessity of making peace, and, after having extracted 
 from him the final word which he required, he set out 
 a second time for Presburg, better satisfied, although 
 he could not obtain the restitution of the Tyrol. On 
 taking leave of M. de Remusat, he said, " I shall settle 
 the affair of the Tyrol, and induce the Emperor to 
 make peace, in spite of himself." 
 
 During Bonaparte's stay at Schonbrunn he received 
 a letter from Prince Charles, to the effect that, being 
 full of admiration for his person, the Prince wished 
 to see and converse with him. The Emperor, flattered 
 by this compliment from a man who enjoyed a high 
 reputation in Europe, fixed upon a small hunting-lodge 
 a few leagues from the palace as the place of meeting, 
 and directed M. de Remusat to join the other persons 
 who were to accompany him. He also bade him take 
 with him a very richly mounted sword. " After our 
 conversation," said he, " you will hand it to me. I 
 wish to present it to the Prince on leaving him." 
 
 The Emperor joined the Prince, and they remained 
 in private conference for some time. When he came 
 out of the room my husband approached him, accord- 
 ing to the orders he had received. Bonaparte impa- 
 tiently waved him off, telling him that he might take 
 the sword away ; and when he returned to Schonbrunn 
 he spoke slightingly of the Prince, saying that he had 
 found him very commonplace and by no means worthy 
 of the present he had intended for him. 
 
 I must now relate an incident which concerned M. 
 de Remusat personally, and which once more checked 
 the favor that the Emperor seemed disposed to extend 
 toward him. I have frequently remarked that our 
 destiny always arranged matters so that we should 
 not profit by the advantages of our position, but since
 
 398 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 that time I have often felt thankful to Providence; for 
 that very contrariety preserved us from a more disas- 
 trous fall. 
 
 In the early years of the Consular Government the 
 King's party had clung to the hope of a revival of 
 favorable chance for him in France, and they had more 
 than once tried to establish an understanding with the 
 country. M. d' Andre, formerly a deputy to the Con- 
 stituent Assembly, an emigre, and devoted to the royal 
 cause, had undertaken Royalist missions to some of 
 the sovereigns of Europe, and Bonaparte was per- 
 fectly aware of that fact. M. d'Andre was, like M. de 
 Remusat, a native of Provence, and they had been 
 schoolfellows. M. d'Andre had also been a magistrate 
 prior to the Revolution (he was Councilor to the Par- 
 liament of Aix), and, although they did not keep up 
 any mutual relations, they were not entirely strangers. 
 At the period of which I am writing, M. d'Andre, 
 disheartened by the failure of his fruitless efforts, con- 
 vinced that the Imperial cause was absolutely victo- 
 rious, and weary of a wandering life and consequently 
 straitened means, was longing to return to his own 
 country. Being in Hungary during the campaign of 
 1805, he sent his wife to Vienna, and appealed to his 
 friend General Mathieu Dumas to obtain leave for 
 him. The General, although rather alarmed at having 
 to undertake such a mission, promised to take steps 
 in the matter, but advised Mme. d'Andre to see M. 
 de Remusat and procure his interest. One morning 
 Mme. d'Andre arrived. My husband received her as 
 he conceived he ought to receive the wife of a former 
 friend; he was much concerned at the position in 
 which she represented M. d'Andre to be, and, not 
 knowing that there were particular circumstances in 
 the case which were likely to render the Emperor 
 implacable, thinking besides that his victories might
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 399 
 
 incline him to clemency, consented to present her 
 petition. His official position as Keeper of the Ward- 
 robe gave him the right to enter the Emperor's dress- 
 ing-room. He hastened down to his Majesty's apart- 
 ment, and found him half dressed and in a good 
 humor, whereupon he immediately gave him an 
 account of Mme. d' Andre's visit, and preferred the 
 request which he had undertaken to urge. 
 
 At the mention of the name of M. d'Andre, the 
 Emperor's face darkened. " Do you know," said he, 
 "that you are talking to me of a mortal enemy?" 
 
 ' No, Sire," replied M. de Remusat; " I am ignorant 
 whether your Majesty has really reason to complain 
 of him; but, if such be the case, I would venture to 
 ask pardon for him. M. d'Andre is poor and pro- 
 scribed; he asks only that he may return and grow 
 old in our common country." " Have you any rela- 
 tions with him? " " None, Sire." " And why do you 
 interest yourself in him?" " Sire, he is a Provengal; 
 he was educated with me at Juilly, he is of my own 
 profession, and he was my friend." " You are very 
 fortunate," said the Emperor, darting a fierce glance 
 at him, " to have such motives to excuse you. Never 
 speak of him to me again ; and know this : if he were 
 at Vienna, and I could get hold of him, he should be 
 hanged within twenty-four hours." Having said these 
 words, the Emperor turned his back on M. de 
 Remusat. 
 
 Wherever the Emperor was with his Court, he 
 habitually held what was called his levee every morn- 
 ing. So soon as he was dressed, he entered a recep- 
 tion-room, and those persons who formed what was 
 called the " service " were summoned. These were 
 the great officers of his household, M. de Remusat, as 
 Keeper of the Wardrobe and First Chamberlain, and 
 the generals of his guard. The second levee was com-
 
 400 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 posed of the Chamberlains, of such generals of the 
 army as could present themselves, and, in Paris, of 
 the Prefect of Police, the Princes, and the Ministers. 
 Sometimes he greeted all these personages silently, 
 with a mere bow, and dismissed them at once. He 
 gave orders when it was necessary, and he did not 
 hesitate to scold any one with whom he was displeased, 
 without the slightest regard to the awkwardness of 
 giving or receiving reprimands before a crowd of 
 witnesses. 
 
 After he left M. de Remusat, the Emperor held his 
 levee; then he sent everybody away, and held a long 
 conversation with General Savary. On its conclusion, 
 Savary rejoined my husband in one of the reception- 
 rooms, took him aside, and addressed him after a 
 fashion which would appear very strange to any one 
 unacquainted with the crudity of the General's prin- 
 ciples in certain matters. 
 
 " Let me congratulate you," said he, accosting M. 
 de Remusat, " on a fine opportunity of making your 
 fortune, of which I strongly advise you to avail your- 
 self. You played a dangerous game just now by 
 talking to the Emperor of M. d'Andre, but all may be 
 set right again. Where is he? But, now I think of it, 
 he is in Hungary at least, his wife told me so. Ah, 
 bah ! don't dissimulate about it. The Emperor believes 
 that he is in Vienna; he is convinced that you know 
 where he is, and he wants you to tell." " I assure 
 you, General," replied M. de Remusat, " that I am 
 absolutely ignorant of where he is. I had no corre- 
 spondence with him. His wife came to see me to-day 
 for the first time ; she begged me to speak for her hus- 
 band to the Emperor; I have done so, and that is all." 
 " Well, then, if that be so, send for her to come to you 
 again. She will have no suspicion of you. Make her 
 talk, and try to elicit from her where her husband is.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 401 
 
 You can not imagine how much you will please the 
 Emperor by rendering him this service." 
 
 M. de Remusat, utterly confounded at this speech, 
 was quite unable to conceal his astonishment! 
 '* What ! " he exclaimed, " you make such a proposal 
 as that to me? I told the Emperor that I was the 
 friend of M. d'Andre; you also know that, and you 
 would have me betray him, give him up, and that by 
 means of his wife, who has trusted me!" Savary 
 was astonished, in his turn, at the indignation of M. 
 de Remusat. " What folly ! " said he. " Take care 
 you do not spoil your luck! The Emperor has more 
 than once had occasion to doubt that you are as entirely 
 devoted to him as he would have you to be. Now, 
 here is an opportunity for removing his suspicions, and 
 you will be very unwise if you let it escape." 
 
 The conversation lasted for some time. M. de 
 Remusat was, of course, unshaken ; he assured Savary 
 that, far from seeking out Mme. d'Andre, he would 
 not even consent to see her, and he informed her, 
 through General Mathieu Dumas, of the failure of his 
 mission. Savary returned to the subject in the course 
 of the day, and said, over and over again : " You are 
 throwing away your chances; I confess I can not make 
 you out." " That does not matter," my husband 
 would reply. 
 
 And, in fact, the Emperor did resent this refusal, 
 and assumed toward M. de Remusat the harsh, icy 
 tone which was always a mark of his displeasure. 
 M. de Remusat endured it with resignation, and com- 
 plained only to Duroc, the Grand Marshal of the 
 Palace, who understood his difficulty better than 
 Savary could, but regretted that anything should have 
 occurred to diminish his favor with Bonaparte. He 
 also congratulated my husband on his conduct, which 
 seemed to him an act of the greatest courage ; for not
 
 402 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 to obey the Emperor was, in his eyes, the most won- 
 derful thing in the world. 
 
 Duroc was a man of a singular character. His 
 mind was narrow; his feelings and thoughts were 
 always, perhaps deliberately, confined to a small circle ; 
 but he lacked neither cleverness nor clear-sightedness. 
 He was filled, perhaps, rather with submission than 
 devotion to Bonaparte, and believed that no one placed 
 near him could use any or every faculty better than in 
 exactly obeying him. 
 
 In order not to fail in this, which he considered a 
 strict duty, he would not allow himself even a thought 
 beyond the obligations of his post. Cold, silent, and 
 impenetrable as to every secret confided to him, I 
 believe he had made it a law to himself never to reflect 
 on the orders he received. He did not flatter the 
 Emperor; he did not seek to please him by tale-bear- 
 ing, which, though often tending to no result, was yet 
 gratifying {o Bonaparte's naturally suspicious mind; 
 but, like a mirror, Duroc reflected for his master all 
 that had taken place in his presence, and, like an echo, 
 he repeated his master's words in the same tone and 
 manner in which they had been uttered. Were we 
 to have fallen dead before his eyes in consequence of 
 a message of which he was the bearer, he would still 
 have delivered it with imperturbable precision. 
 
 I do not think he ever inquired of himself whether 
 the Emperor was or was not a great man; he was 
 the master, and that was enough. His obedience 
 made him of great use to the Emperor; the interior of 
 the palace, the entire management of the household 
 and its expenditure, was his charge, and everything 
 was regulated with perfect order and extreme 
 economy, and yet with great magnificence. 
 
 Marshal Duroc had married a Spanish lady of great 
 fortune, little beauty, and a good deal of intelligence.
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 403 
 
 She was the daughter of a Spanish banker named 
 Hervas, who had been employed in some second-rate 
 diplomatic capacity, and had subsequently been created 
 Marquis d'Abruenara. He was Minister in Spain 
 under Joseph Bonaparte. Mme. Duroc had been 
 brought up at Mme. Campan's school, where Mme. 
 Louis Bonaparte, Mme. Savary, Mme. Davoust, Mme. 
 Ney, and others, had also been educated. 
 
 She and her husband lived together on good terms, 
 but without that perfect union which is so great a 
 source of consolation to those who have to endure the 
 restraints of a Court. He would not allow her to hold 
 an opinion of her own on passing events, or to have 
 any familiar friend ; and he had none himself. I have 
 never known any one who felt less need of friendship, 
 or who cared less for the pleasures of conversation. 
 He had not the slightest idea of social life; he did not 
 know: the meaning of a taste for literature or art; and 
 this indifference to things in general, which he combined 
 with the most perfect obedience to orders, while he 
 never showed any sign of weariness or constraint, nor 
 yet the slightest appearance of enthusiasm, made him 
 quite a remarkable character, and interesting to 
 observe. He was greatly esteemed at Court, or at 
 any rate was of great importance. Everything was 
 referred to him, and to him all complaints were ad- 
 dressed. He attended to everybody, seldom offering 
 an opinion, still less a counsel; but he listened with 
 attention, faithfully reported what was said, and never 
 showed either the slightest mark of ill will or the least 
 sign of interest. 
 
 Bonaparte, who had great skill in utilizing men, 
 liked to be served by one who stood so completely 
 apart from others. There was no danger in aggran- 
 dizing such a man as this; he therefore loaded him 
 with honors and riches. His gifts to Savary, which
 
 404 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 were also very considerable, were dictated by a differ- 
 ent motive. " That is a man," he used to say, " who 
 must continually be bought; he would belong to any 
 one who would give him a crown more than I do." 
 And yet, strange to say, notwithstanding this feeling, 
 Bonaparte trusted him, or at any rate believed the 
 tales he brought. He knew, in truth, that Savary 
 would refuse him nothing, and he would say of him 
 sometimes, " If I ordered Savary to rid himself of 
 his wife and children, I am sure he would not hesi- 
 tate." 
 
 Savary, though an object of general terror, was, in 
 spite of his mode of life and his actions, hidden or 
 otherwise, not radically a bad man. Love of money 
 was his ruling passion. He had no military talent, 
 and was even accused by his brave comrades of being 
 wanting in courage on the battle-field. He had, there- 
 fore, to build up his fortune in a different fashion 
 from that of his companions in arms. He perceived 
 a way open to him in the system of cunning and tale- 
 bearing which Bonaparte favored; and, having once 
 entered on it, it was not possible for him to retrace his 
 steps. He was, intrinsically, better than his reputa- 
 tion; that is, his first impulses were superior to his 
 subsequent action. He was not wanting in natural 
 ability; could be kindled to a momentary enthusiasm 
 of the imagination; was ignorant, but with a desire 
 for information, and had an instinctively right judg- 
 ment. He was rather a liar than a deceitful man; 
 harsh in manner, but very timid in reality. He had 
 reasons of his own for knowing Bonaparte and trem- 
 bling before him. Nevertheless, while he was Min- 
 ister, he ventured on some show of opposition, and 
 then appeared to entertain a certain desire to gain 
 public esteem. He, perhaps, like many others, owed 
 the development of his views to the times he lived in,
 
 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 405 
 
 which stifled the better side of his character. The 
 Emperor sedulously cultivated evil passions in the 
 men who served him, and they flourished abundantly 
 under his reign. 
 
 To return. M. de Talleyrand's negotiations were 
 slowly advancing. In spite of every obstacle, he suc- 
 ceeded, by means of correspondence, in persuading the 
 Emperor to make peace ; and the Tyrol, that stumbling- 
 block of the treaty, was ceded by the Emperor Francis 
 to the King of Bavaria. When, a few years after- 
 ward, the Emperor had quarreled with M. de Talley- 
 rand, he would angrily refer to this treaty, and com- 
 plain that his Minister had wrested from him the fruit 
 of victory, and brought about the second Austrian 
 campaign by leaving too much power in the hands of 
 the sovereign of that country. 
 
 The Emperor had time, before leaving Vienna, to 
 receive a deputation from four of the mayors of the 
 city of Paris, who came to congratulate him on his 
 victories. Shortly afterward he departed for Munich, 
 having announced that he was about to place the regal 
 crown on the head of the Elector of Bavaria, and to 
 conclude the marriage of Prince Eugene. 
 
 The Empress, who had been staying at Munich for 
 some time, was overjoyed at a union which would 
 ally her son with the greatest houses of Europe. She 
 greatly wished that Mme. Louis Bonaparte should 
 be present at the ceremony; but the request met with 
 an obstinate refusal from Louis, and, as usual, his wife 
 was obliged to submit. 
 
 The Emperor, who also wished to introduce a kins- 
 woman to the Bavarians, summoned Mme. Murat to 
 Munich. She came thither with mingled feelings. 
 The pleasure of being regarded as a person of im- 
 portance, and of displaying herself, was damped by 
 the elevation of the Beauharnais family; and she had
 
 406 EMPRESS JOSEPHINE 
 
 some difficulty, as I shall presently relate, in conceal- 
 ing her dissatisfaction. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand returned to the Court after sign- 
 ing the treaty, and once more peace seemed restored to 
 Europe at any rate, for a time. Peace was signed 
 on Christmas Day, 1805. 
 
 In this treaty the Emperor of Austria recognized 
 the Emperor Napoleon as King of Italy. He ceded 
 the Venetian States to the kingdom of Italy. He 
 recognized the Electors of Bavaria and Wiirtemburg 
 as kings, ceding to the former several principalities 
 and the Tyrol, to the latter a number of towns, and 
 to the Elector of Baden part of the Brisgau. 
 
 The Emperor Napoleon undertook to obtain the 
 principality of Wurzburg from the King of Bavaria 
 for the Archduke Ferdinand, who had been Grand 
 Duke of Tuscany. The Venetian States were to be 
 handed over within a fortnight. These were the 
 principal conditions of the treaty.