MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 >^
 
 " From the departure of the First Consul for the campaign of 
 Marengo, whither I attended him, until the departure from Fontaine- 
 bleau, where I was obliged to leave the Emperor, I was absent 
 from him only twice, the first time for three limes twenty-four 
 hours, the second for seven or eight days. Aside from these brief 
 holidays, the last of which was necessary in order to restore my 
 health, I quitted the Emperor no more than his shadow did." — 
 Constant's Memoirs {^Introduction) ,
 
 Memoirs of Constant 
 
 FIRST VALET DE CHAMBRE OF THE EMPEROR 
 ON THE 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE OF NAPOLEON 
 
 HIS FAMILY AND HIS COURT 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 ELIZABETH GILBERT MARTIN 
 
 IVITH A PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION 
 BY 
 
 IMBERT DE SAINT-AMAND 
 
 Vol. I 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1895
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 Nortxinolj l^rtea 
 
 J. S. Cuahing & Co. — Berwick & Smith 
 Norwood Mali. U.S.A.
 
 
 PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION 
 
 By Imbert de Saint-Amand 
 
 ~l TISTORY is, of all branches of literature, that 
 which has made the most progress. Like 
 science it now rests upon both analysis and synthesis 
 and disdains details no more than generalities. The 
 time is past when historians studied neither the char- 
 acter of their personages nor what one might call the 
 stage decorations amid which the events treated of 
 took place. Psychology and local color have regained 
 their rights. History was formerly a simple mono- 
 chrome ; it is now a splendid fresco. One of the causes 
 of this happy change is the extreme importance that 
 memoirs have come to have. Their authors are just 
 so many ocular and auricular witnesses who defile in 
 turn before their contemporaries or before posterity, 
 and whose depositions, reciprocally rectified, furnish 
 public opinion with the means of rendering its judg- 
 ments upon men and things. Thanks to memoirs, 
 the remark of Michelet is realized: "History is the 
 resurrection of the dead." It is memoirs that have 
 prompted it to use at the same time the telescope and 
 the magnifying-glass. The passion for detail has 
 nothing puerile about it. The infinitely little play a 
 
 V
 
 VI MEMOIRS OF CONSTAXT 
 
 great r81e in nature and in history, as Pasteur and 
 Taine have demonstrated. 
 
 In proportion as the popularity of the novel dimin- 
 ishes, that of memoirs increases. We begin to realize 
 that there are no inventions so impressive as reality. 
 Could a novelist, however great his genius, ever find 
 as extraordinary, as pathetic, and as attractive mate- 
 rial as the destinies of Marie-Antoinette and Napo- 
 leon? What character imagined by Alexandre Dumas 
 or by Balzac can be compared with the Martyr Queen 
 or with the modern Charlemagne ? We witness at 
 this moment in the New World as in the Old the tri- 
 umph of what might be called Napoleonic literature. 
 Chateaubriand has said in his Memoires d' Outre 
 Tomhe : " The world belongs to Bonaparte — that 
 which the spoiler could not finish conquering, his 
 fame usurps. Living, he failed of the world; dead, 
 he possesses it." One may add that in no legend is 
 there more poetry than there is in his history. When 
 the Shah of Persia came to Paris under the presi- 
 dency of Marshal MacMahon, the first visit of the 
 Asiatic sovereign was to the tomb of the Emperor at 
 the Invalides, and before descending into the crypt 
 he respectfully took off his sword as if he dared not 
 appear armed before the shade of the great man. 
 What country of the universe is there in which the 
 echo of this magic name Napoleon has not vibrated. 
 The giant of battles, the victor of Austerlitz, the 
 vanquished of Waterloo, the captive of Saint-Helena 
 is the principal personage of the epoch, which is it-
 
 PREFACE TO ENGLISH EDITION vii 
 
 self but ca series of phenomenal wonders. No century 
 has produced a man so extraordinary, so great an 
 artist in prestige and glory- 
 
 M. George Duruy, son of the celebrated historian, 
 has recently written in the introduction to the 
 Memoirs of Barras which he has just published: 
 " The Emperor continues tranquilly to dominate the 
 century, on the threshold of which his colossal figure 
 stands. Such is the statue of Memnon at the 
 entrance of the Egyptian desert. Sacrilegious hands 
 have tried to disfigure the calm visage of granite 
 which the centuries had respected, but so long as 
 men shall exist they will pause pensive at the foot of 
 the giant image and measure their littleness by its 
 grandeur. Thus will posterity stand before the 
 sphinx with enigmatic and sovereign countenance — 
 Napoleon." The events in which the man of destiny 
 took part present themselves to our mind in propor- 
 tions as epic and as grandiose as if they dated back 
 to the most distant ages, and the heroes of the 
 Empire have already become lyric personages like 
 the legionaries of Csesar or the Knights of Charle- 
 magne. Since the striking success of the Memoirs of 
 General 3Iarhot which, amusing as a novel, are sub- 
 lime as an epic poem, the popularity of all publica- 
 tions relating to the imperial ej)Och is continually 
 increasing. Unpublished memoirs like those of Gen- 
 eral Thi^bault, of Marshal Castellane, of Planal de 
 la Faye, are printed. Old memoirs are republished, 
 such as those of General de S^gur, of Bourrienne, of
 
 viii MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Baron de M^neval, and of Constant, tlie valet de 
 chambre of Napoleon I. ; and the resurrection of 
 these works which seemed forgotten produces per- 
 haps a greater effect than did their first appearance. 
 
 The Memoirs of Constant, the reprint of which has 
 just been very favorably received in France, merit, 
 we believe, the honor of being translated and pub- 
 lished in the United States. No man had a nearer 
 view of Napoleon I. ; and no one has given more 
 exact details regarding the great man's character. 
 M. Fr^d^ric Masson, in his interesting books, entitled, 
 one. Napoleon et Us Femmes, and the other, Napo- 
 Uon cliez lux: La Journee de V Empereur aux Taileries^ 
 and M. L^vy in his work. Napoleon intime, have 
 borrowed largely from the Memoirs of Constant, and 
 the modest but authentic account of the Emperor's 
 valet de chambre will never be disdained by any 
 historian. 
 
 Constant was born December 22, 1778, at P^ruelz, 
 a city which became French upon the reunion of 
 Belgium with France and which was then included 
 in the department of Jemmapes. His father, who had 
 been the Prince de Cro'i's maitre d'hotel, kept at the 
 baths of Saint-Amand, an establishment where persons 
 lodged who came for the waters. The future valet 
 de chambre of Napoleon was brought up by the liber- 
 ality of the Count de Lure, head of one of the oldest 
 families of Valenciennes, who had him given a good 
 education on an estate situated near Tours. Toward 
 the end of 1799 Constant entered the service of
 
 PREFACE TO ENGLISH EDITION ix 
 
 Eugene de Beauharnais. A month after he was 
 attached to the househokl of the wife of General 
 Bonaparte, and one day at the end of March, 1800, 
 the First Consul glanced at him durinor the dinner 
 and, after having examined and scrutinized him from 
 head to foot, said to him : " Young man, should you 
 like to follow me on the campaign ? " Constant re- 
 plied Avith much emotion tliat he would like noth- 
 ing better. From the departure of Napoleon for the 
 campaign of Marengo, whither he followed him, to 
 the departure from Fontainebleau, where he was 
 obliged to leave him, that is, during fourteen con- 
 secutive years, he was only absent from him on two 
 occasions, one of three and the other of seven or 
 eight days. Outside of these extremely brief fur- 
 loughs, the latter of them rendered necessary by his 
 health, he was as inseparable from the Emperor as 
 his shadow. 
 
 Constant was perfectly right in saying: "Noth- 
 ing that relates to j^reat men is to be disdained. 
 Posterity is eager to know the smallest circumstance 
 connected with their kind of life, their characteristic 
 traits, their tastes, their most trivial habits. I re- 
 member," he adds, " that I never had so much pleas- 
 ure at the theatre as the day I saw for the first time 
 the charming play, the Deux Pages. Fleury, who 
 played the part of Frederick the Great, rendered the 
 slow walk, the abrupt speech, the brusque move- 
 ments, and even the near-sightedness of the monarch 
 so perfectly, that from the moment of his entrance
 
 ME3I0IRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 the whole house broke out into applause. ... I 
 feel some pride, I confess, at the thought that these 
 Memoirs may succeed in giving something of the 
 pleasure I have endeavored to depict here, and that 
 in a future, no doubt still distant but nevertheless 
 certain to come about, the artist, who wishes to make 
 the greatest man of this time live and move again 
 before the public, Avill be compelled, if he desires to 
 be a faithful imitator, to form himself upon the por- 
 trait which better than any one I am able to sketch 
 from nature." 
 
 The resemblance of the portrait of the Emperor 
 by Constant is, we believe, perfect. The valet de 
 chambre dissembles neither the weaknesses nor the 
 defects of his master, but he admires sincerely the 
 genius of the sovereign and the winning qualities 
 of the man. " It has been maintained," says he, 
 "that no man is a hero to his valet. I beg to be 
 allowed to be of a different opinion. However near 
 at hand one was accustomed to see the Emperor, he 
 was always a hero, and there was also much to be 
 gained bj^ seeing in him the man, intimately and 
 minutel3^ At a distance one could feel only the 
 prestige of his fame and power; approaching nearer 
 one enjoyed still further, with surprise, all the charm 
 of his conversation, all the simplicity of his family 
 life, and, I do not hesitate to add, the habitual benev- 
 olence of his character." 
 
 The Memoirs of Constant contradict these lines 
 addressed to Napoleon by Lamartiue :
 
 PREFACE TO ENGLISH EDITION xi 
 
 Tu grandis sans plaisir, tu tombas sans murmure, 
 Rien d'humain ne battait sons ton epaisse armure, 
 Sans haine et sans amour, tu vivais pour passer 
 Comme I'aigle regnant dans un ciel solitaire, 
 Tu n'avais qu'un regard pour niesurer la terre 
 Et des serres pour I'enibrasser.^ 
 
 Napoleon was not the impassive man, with heart 
 of bronze, that the poet of the Meditations repre- 
 sents. " I can onl}-- speak," says Constant, " of the 
 hero en dSshabille, and at that time he was always 
 kind and patient, rarely unjust. He took a real in- 
 terest in you and received with pleasure and good 
 nature the attentions of those he liked. The hard- 
 ness of the Emperor and his brutality towards 
 Avoraen are part of the thousand and one calumnies 
 of which he has been the object. He was not always 
 galant, but he was never coarse ; he professed the 
 greatest veneration for a woman of exemplary con- 
 duct, made much of self-respecting family circles, and 
 disliked cjmicism whether in behavior or in lan- 
 guage." Let us add that the testimony of Bour- 
 rienne and of the Baron de Mdneval, who were both 
 secretaries of the great man, agrees thoroughly with 
 that of Constant. Bourrienne says: "Bonaparte was 
 susceptible, kind, accessible to pity; he loved chil- 
 dren greatly, and it is rare that a bad man has an 
 
 ^ You grew great without pleasure, you fell without a murmur — 
 Nothing human beat under your thick armor — Without love and 
 without hate, you lived only to pass — Like the eagle reigning 
 alone in the heavens — You had only a look to measure the earth 
 with — And talons with which to seize it.
 
 xii MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 inclination for children ; in the daily routine of 
 private life he was full of good nature and indul- 
 gence for human weakness." The Baron de Mene- 
 val thus expressed himself : " In the midst of his 
 family Napoleon appeared truly a father. There 
 was an inexpressible charm about this abnegation 
 of his grandeur. I could not get over my surprise at 
 seeing this simplicity of conduct in a man who, from 
 a distance, seemed so imposing. I expected rudenesses 
 and unevenness of temper. Instead I found Napoleon 
 patient, easy to live with, in nowise exacting, of a 
 gaiety that was not seldom boisterous and jesting, and 
 sometimes of a winning good humor." 
 
 We may consider this passage of Constant's Me- 
 moirs as their summing up : " I must make the avowal 
 that onl}"- after having left the Emperor's service did 
 I comprehend all the immensity of his greatness. 
 Attached to his service almost from the besfinning 
 of the Consulate, at a period when I was still very 
 young, he had grown great, so to say, without my 
 perceiving it, and I had especially seen in him, on 
 account of the nature of my service, an excellent 
 master even more than a great man. But what 
 a contrary effect from that which it produces ordi- 
 narily did separation have upon me ! Even to-day 
 I often wonder at the bold frankness with which I 
 have dared to sustain before the Emperor things 
 I thought true ; but his kindness seemed to encour- 
 age me to do so, for very often, instead of being 
 vexed at my vivacities, he used to say to me gently.
 
 PREFACE TO ENGLISH EDITION xiii 
 
 with a benevolent smile, ' Come, come, Monsieur 
 Constant, do not get angiy.' Adorable kindness in 
 a man of so lofty a rank ! Well, I hardly perceived 
 this, in the interior of his chamber; but since then 
 I have felt all its worth." 
 
 Napoleon gains in being studied from the stand- 
 point of intimacy. The mask falls, the man remains, 
 and the hero does not vanish. 
 
 The vogue of Constant's INIemoirs when they first 
 appeared in 1830 was very great. At that epoch the 
 imperial epic exercised over the French nation such 
 an ascendency that if the Duke de Reichstadt had 
 been restored to liberty by Austria, everything indi- 
 cates that the Soil of the Man, as the heir of the victor 
 of Austerlitz was then called, would have been pro- 
 claimed emperor. To-day the re-establishment of the 
 Empire is no longer in question in France, but the 
 prestige of Napoleon has never been more striking 
 there. At Paris the Military Exposition of the 
 Avenue des Champs-Elysdes has been an enthusiastic 
 success. Like religion, glory has its relics. During 
 the months of May and June, 1895, an enormous 
 crowd visited with pious eagerness the historical 
 museum where so many objects that belonged to the 
 Emperor and his companions in arms were displayed. 
 The organizers of this exhibition belonged to all 
 parties. One of them, a young officer and a son of 
 M. Carnot, said : " I would that the entire army 
 might pass through these halls and steep themselves 
 here in heroism."
 
 xiv MEMOIBS OF COX ST ANT 
 
 The present moment was well chosen for bringing 
 out anew memoirs such as those of Constant, not 
 only in France but in the United States. It may be 
 said that the two names best known in the great 
 American republic are those of Washington and 
 Napoleon. Is there in the United States a garret or 
 a hovel into which these two names have not pene- 
 trated? New York, the Paris of the New World, has 
 begun a movement of Napoleonic literature which is 
 spreading in all the cities of the Union, and it will 
 not be long before the imperial epic will be as well 
 known by Americans as by the French themselves. 
 
 In the domain of thought a species of electric 
 current has been established between the United 
 States and France. The force that unites the two 
 great sister republics is not only a community of 
 institutions, it is the possession of the same taste for 
 the arts, for letters and history. The finest pictures 
 of the modern French school belong to Americans. 
 The artists most in vogue in France repair to the 
 United States to seek a fresh affirmation of their 
 success. We may say that in all departments French 
 reputations renew their j^outh, as it were, in the 
 country of AVashington. One of the causes of this 
 sympathy is the remembrance, more active than ever, 
 of the American War of Independence, in which 
 the French had a noble share. The citizens of the 
 Union desire to understand all French annals from 
 that epoch to our own time. The military accounts of 
 the Revolution and the Empire interest them all the 
 
 I
 
 PREFACE TO ENGLISH EDITION XV 
 
 more in that they also have had their battles, and 
 that they only have to stamp on the ground to cause 
 immense and magnificent armies to issue from it. 
 The combatants of the War of Secession, Northern 
 and Southern alike, showed no less heroism than the 
 French volunteers of 1792. And after the struggle 
 the reconciliation of victors and vanquished was 
 based on a sentiment of mutual esteem and military 
 confraternity. The resonant echo of the imperial 
 epoch in the United States is wholly natural. A 
 genius like Napoleon was certain to be admired by a 
 nation which, after having triumphed in the contests 
 of commerce and industry, has proved that when the 
 occasion arose, it could be a great warlike nation as 
 well. 
 
 Imbert de Saint-Amaio).
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 T I ^HE life of a man obliged to make his own way, 
 and who is neither a mechanic nor a tradesman, 
 does not ordinarily begin until about his twentieth 
 year. Until then he vegetates, uncertain of his 
 future, and neither having nor being able to have 
 any definite end in view. It is only when his powers 
 have attained their full development, and his char- 
 acter and propensities at the same time incline him 
 toward such or such a part, that he can decide upon 
 the choice of a career and a profession ; it is only 
 then that he understands himself and sees his sur- 
 roundings clearly ; in fine, it is at this age only that 
 he begins to live. 
 
 Reasoning in this fashion, my own life, since I 
 attained my twentieth year, has comprised thirty 
 years, which may be divided into two equal parts as 
 to months and days, but which could not differ more 
 widely if one considers the events which passed during 
 these two periods of my existence. 
 
 Attached during fifteen years to the person of the 
 Emperor Napoleon, I have seen all the men and all 
 
 VOL. I. — B 1
 
 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 the important tilings of which he alone was the rail} 
 ing-point and centre. I have seen still more thar.^ 
 that ; for I have had under my eyes, in every circum- 
 stance of life, the least as well as the most serious, 
 the most private as well as those which belong the 
 most to history and already form j^art of it ; I have 
 had, I say, incessantly in view, the man whose single 
 name fills the most glorious pages in our annals. 
 Fifteen years I have attended him in his journeys 
 and his campaigns, at his court and in the privacy 
 of his family. Whatever step he might decide on, 
 whatever order he might give, it was diflQcult for 
 the Emperor not to take me, even involuntarily, 
 into his confidence ; and it was without my own will 
 that I more than once found myself in possession of 
 secrets which I would frequently have preferred not 
 to know. How many things occurred during those 
 fifteen years ! In the Emperor's vicinity you lived 
 in the midst of a whirlwind. It was a succession of 
 swift, bewildering events. You were dazzled, and 
 if you tried to fix your attention for an instant, an- 
 other flood of incidents came with a rush which 
 carried you off your feet without giving you leisure 
 to consider them. 
 
 At present, these times of dizzying activity have 
 been succeeded, for me, by the most absolute repose, 
 in the most isolated of retreats. And again it is an 
 interval of fifteen years which has elapsed since I 
 quitted the Emperor. But what a difference ! What 
 is there left to do, nowadays, for those who, like me,
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 3 
 
 tve lived amidst the conquests and marvels of tlie 
 mpire ? If, in the vigor of manhood, our life has 
 oeen blended with the movement of those years, so 
 .short but so thoroughly occupied, it seems to me 
 that our career has been long enough and sufficiently 
 well filled. It is time for us to betake ourselves to 
 repose. We may well withdraw from the world and 
 close our eyes. What is there left for us to see 
 which can compare with what we have already seen ? 
 Such spectacles do not occur twice in a man's life- 
 time. After having passed before his eyes, they 
 suffice to rciDlenish his memory during the rest of 
 the time he has to live ; and in his retirement he has 
 nothing better to do than to occupy his leisure with 
 the memory of what he has beheld. 
 
 And it is this which I have done. The reader 
 will easily believe that I have no more customary 
 pastime than to recur in fancy to the years I spent 
 in the Emperor's service. As far as possible, I have 
 kept myself acquainted with all that has been writ- 
 ten about my former master, his family and his court. 
 What long evenings have slipped by like moments 
 while my wife and my sister-in-law have been read- 
 ing these aloud to the family I Whenever I encoun- 
 tered in these books, some of which are really nothing 
 but miserable rhapsodies, statements that were inex- 
 act, calumnious, or false, I took pleasure in rectifying 
 them, or rather in proving their absurdity. jNIy wife, 
 who lived like me and with me in the midst of these 
 events, also acquainted us with her reflections and
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 explanations ; and, witli no other object but our 
 own satisfaction, she noted down our common 
 observations. 
 
 All who came from time to time to see us in our 
 solitude, and who took pleasure in making me talk 
 of what I had seen, astonished and too often indig- 
 nant at the falsehoods which ignorance or bad faith 
 have vied with each other in retailing about the 
 Emperor and the Empire, evinced to me their satis- 
 faction with the information I was enabled to give 
 them, and advised me to communicate it to the public. 
 But I had never dwelt upon this thought and was 
 very far from imagining that I might some day be 
 the author of a book myself, when M. Ladvocat 
 arrived at our hermitage, and urged me with all his 
 might to publish my Memoirs, which he proposed to 
 bring out himself. 
 
 At the time when I received this visit, which I 
 was not expecting, we were reading in the family 
 the Memoirs of M. de Bourrienne, which had just 
 been published by the firm of Ladvocat, and we had 
 more than once remarked that these Memoirs were 
 exempt from that spirit of depreciation or infatuation 
 we had met with so frequently, and not Avithout 
 disgust, in other books treating of the same subject. 
 M. Ladvocat advised me to complete the biography 
 of the Emperor, which M. de Bourrienne, on account 
 of his high position and customary occupations, had 
 been intent on displa^'ing merely on its political side. 
 After the excellent things he had said of this, it still
 
 MEMOIES OF CONSTANT 
 
 remained to me, according to his publisher, to relate 
 simply and in a maimer suitable to my former posi- 
 tion near the Emperor, that which M. de Bourrienne 
 had necessarily been obliged to neglect, and which 
 no one could know better than I, 
 
 I willingly confess that I found but little to urge 
 against M. Ladvocat's arguments, and that he ended 
 by convincing me when he made me re-read this pas- 
 sage from the introduction to M. de Bourrienne's 
 Memoirs : 
 
 " If all the persons who approached Napoleon, no 
 matter at what time or place, will frankly record all 
 they saw and heard, without any sort of preposses- 
 sion, the future historian will have an abundance of 
 materials. I desire that he who shall undertake this 
 difficult task may find in my notes some hints that 
 may be useful to the perfection of his work." 
 
 And I, too, said I to myself after having re-read 
 these lines attentively, I can furnish notes and ex- 
 planations, point out errors, stigmatize falsehoods, 
 and make public what I know to be the truth ; in 
 a word, I can and I ought to bear my testimony in 
 the long trial which has been going on since the 
 Emperor's downfall ; for I was a ivitness, I saw every- 
 thing, and I can say: I was there. Others also have 
 seen tlie Emperor and his court at close quarters, 
 and it must often happen to me to repeat what they 
 have said on the subject ; because, what they know, 
 I also was in a position to know. But what I, in 
 my turn, know of details, and what I can relate of
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 secret and unknown matters, no one else has been 
 able to know, nor consequently to say before me.^ 
 
 From the departure of the First Consul for the 
 campaign of Marengo, whither I attended him, until 
 the departure from Fontainebleau, where I was 
 obliged to leave the Emperor, I was absent from him 
 only twice ; the first time for three times twenty-four 
 hours ; the second for seven or eight days. Aside 
 from these brief holidays, the last of which was 
 necessary in order to restore my health, I quitted the 
 Emperor no more than his shadow did. 
 
 It has been claimed that no man is a hero to his 
 valet de chamhre. I ask permission to hold a differ- 
 ent opinion. The Emperor, no matter how close at 
 hand he might be seen, was always a hero, and there 
 was much to be gained by seeing the man in him 
 also, near by and in detail. From a distance one 
 experienced merely the prestige of his glory and his 
 power ; on approaching him, one enjo3-ed in addition. 
 
 1 In support of what I have here advanced, I am happy to be able 
 to cite the opinion expressed by M. de Bourrienne, apropos of a sad 
 occurrence which I will relate in its own place: " We are assured 
 that it was in the night preceding Marshal Macdonald's return 
 to Fontainebleau that Napoleon attempted to poison himself ; but 
 as I have no certain details concerning this attempt, and as I will 
 not speak of what I am not very sure, I abstain from giving, as 
 certain persons have done, any conjectures, always hazardous, on 
 a grave matter which was strongly repudiated by Napoleon in his 
 conversations at Saint-Helena. The only person who could solve 
 the doubts that exist on the subject is Constant, who, I am assured, 
 never left Napoleon during that night." Memoirs de M. de Bour- 
 rienne, p. 161 t. X.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 and with surprise, all the charm of his conversa- 
 tion, all the simplicity of his family life, and, I am 
 not afraid to say, the habitual benevolence of his 
 character. 
 
 The reader, curious to know in advance the spirit 
 in which my Memoirs will be written, will perhaps 
 like to find here an extract from a letter I wrote to 
 my publisher on the 19th of January last : 
 
 " M. de Bourrienne is perhaps justified in treating 
 the political man with severity ; but that is not 
 my own point of view. I can only speak of the 
 hero en deshahiUS ; and then he was nearly always 
 kind, patient, and seldom unjust. He became much 
 attached, and received the attentions of those whom 
 he liked with pleasure and good nature. He was a 
 man of routine. I desire to speak of the Emperor 
 as an attached servant, and in nowise as a censor. 
 On the other hand, I do not wish to make an apo- 
 theosis in several volumes. With regard to him I am 
 somewhat like those fathers who recognize defects 
 in their children, blame them severely, but at the 
 same time very readily find excuses for their faults." 
 
 I beg pardon for the familiarity, or, if you like, 
 the impropriety of this comparison, on behalf of the 
 sentiment which inspired it. For the rest, I propose 
 neither to praise nor to blame, but simply to relate 
 what is within my own cognizance, without seeking 
 to bias the judgment of any one. 
 
 I cannot finish this introduction without saying a 
 few words about myself, iu reply to the calumnies
 
 8 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 which have pursued even into his retirement a man 
 who ought not to have enemies, if, in order to avert 
 this misfortune, it were enough to have done a little 
 good, and never any evil. I have been reproached 
 with having abandoned my master after his downfall, 
 with not having shared his exile. I will prove that 
 if I did not folloAV the Emperor, it was not the will 
 to do so which failed me, but rather the possibility. 
 God forbid that I should here depreciate the loyalty 
 of the faithful servants who remained attached to 
 the last to the Emperor's fortunes ; but perhaps I 
 may be permitted to say that, however terrible was 
 the downfall for the Emperor himself, the situation 
 (to speak here of purely personal considerations 
 only) was still honorable enough for those who re- 
 mained in His Majesty's service, and who were not 
 detained in France by an imperious necessit}' . Hence 
 it was not personal interest which led me to separate 
 myself from the Emj)eror. I will explain the motives 
 of this separation. 
 
 The truth will also be made known concerning a 
 pretended abuse of confidence of which, according 
 to other rumors, I was guilty with regard to the 
 Emperor. The simple recital of the misapprehen- 
 sion which gave rise to this fable will sufifice, I hope, 
 to clear me from all suspicion of indelicacy. But 
 if additional testimonies are needed, 1 will invoke 
 those of the personages who lived in the greatest 
 intimacy with the Emperor, and who were likewise 
 in a position to know and appreciate what passed
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 between him and me ; finally, I will appeal to fifty 
 years of an irreproachable life, and say : 
 
 " In times when I found myself so situated that I 
 could render great services, I rendered many, but I 
 never sold them. I might have derived advantage 
 from the measures I took for persons who, as a result 
 of my solicitations, have acquired an immense fort- 
 une ; and I have refused even the legitimate profit 
 which, in their gratitude, very lively at that epoch, 
 they thought they ought to offer me by proposing 
 that I should have an interest in their enterprise. 
 I never tried to take advantage of the benevolence 
 with which the Emperor so long deigned to honor 
 me, in order to enrich or secure places for my rela- 
 tives, and I retired poor, after fifteen years spent in 
 the special service of the richest and most powerful 
 sovereign in Europe." 
 
 This said, I will await with confidence the judg- 
 ment of the reader.
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Birth of the author — His father, his relatives — His first protectors 
 — Emigratiou aud abandonment — A suspicious character twelve 
 years old — Municipal officers or imbeciles — Major Michau — 
 M. Gobert — Carrat — Madame Bonaparte and her daughter — 
 Bouquets and the sentimental scene — Carrat's frugality to 
 others and his generosity to himself — Poltroonery — Frolics of 
 Madame Bonaparte and Hortense — The phantom — The noc- 
 turnal douche — The fall — The author enters the service of M. 
 Eugene de Beauharnais. 
 
 T SHALL say very little about myself in my 
 Memoirs ; for I do not blink the fact that noth- 
 ing in them can interest the public but details con- 
 cerning the great man to whose service my destiny 
 attached me during sixteen years, and whom I hardly 
 ever quitted throughout that period. Still, I shall 
 ask permission to say a few words about my child- 
 hood, and the circumstances which led me to the 
 post of valet de chambre to the Emperor. 
 
 I was born December 2, 1778, at Peruelz, a town 
 which became French at the time of the reunion of 
 Belgium to the Republic, and which then found itself 
 comprised in the department of Jemmapes. Shortly 
 after my birth, my father took a little establishment 
 called the Petit-Chateau, at the baths of Saint- 
 Amand, where persons lodged who came to take the 
 
 10
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 11 
 
 waters. He was assisted in this enterprise by Prince 
 de Croi, in whose house he had been steward. Our 
 affairs prospered beyond my father's expectations, for 
 we received a great number of illustrious invalids. 
 When I had just reached my eleventh year, Count 
 de Lure, head of one of the first families of Valen- 
 ciennes, was one of the residents of the Petit- 
 Chateau ; and as this excellent man had taken a 
 great liking to me, he asked iny parents to allow 
 him to bring me up with his sons, who were near 
 my own age. At this time it was the intention of 
 my family to educate me for holy orders, in order to 
 please one of my uncles, who was dean of Lessine. 
 He was a man of great learning and austere virtue. 
 Thinking that Count de Lure's proposition could 
 make no change in his future projects, my father 
 accepted it, believing that a few years spent in so 
 distinguished a family would give me a taste for 
 learning and prepare me for the more serious studies 
 I would have to make in order to embrace the eccle- 
 siastical career. I set off therefore with Count de 
 Lure, extremely sorry to leave my parents, but at 
 the same time very glad, as is usual at my then age, 
 to see a new place. Count de Lure took me to one 
 of his estates near Tours, where I was received 
 with the most benevolent friendship by the Countess 
 and her children and was treated on a footing of 
 perfect equality with them, and given daily lessons 
 by their tutor. 
 
 Alas ! I unfortunately did not profit long enough
 
 12 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 by the kindness of the Count de Lure and the lessons 
 I received in his house. Hardly a year had elapsed 
 since our installation at the chateau when we heard 
 of the King's arrest at Varennes. The family in 
 which I found myself experienced profound despair 
 on account of it, and, child as I was, I remember that 
 I keenly regretted this news, without being able to 
 tell myself why, but doubtless because it is natural 
 to share the sentiments of those with whom we live, 
 when they treat us as kindly as the Count and 
 Countess de Lure had treated me. Nevertheless I 
 was still in the happy thoughtlessness of childhood 
 when I was awakened one morning by a great noise. 
 Presently I found myself surrounded by a consider- 
 able number of strangers, not one of whom was 
 known to me, and who asked me a host of questions 
 which it was quite impossible for me to answer. I 
 learned then only that the Count and Countess de 
 Lure had emigrated. I was taken to the municipal- 
 ity, where the questions began again in fine style, 
 but as uselessly as ever, seeing that I could only 
 respond by the abundant tears I shed at seeing 
 myself abandoned in this fashion, and far away from 
 my family. I was too young then to reflect on the 
 Count's conduct ; but I have thought since that my 
 abandonment itself was an act of delicacy on his 
 part, as he was unwilling to make me emigrate with- 
 out my parents' consent. I have always had the 
 conviction that before his departure, Count de Lure 
 had recommended me to some persons who had not
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 13 
 
 dared to claim me lest they should compromise them- 
 selves, which, as every one knows, was then extremely 
 dangerous. 
 
 Here I was then, at the age of twelve, without 
 guide, support, or shelter, without advice or money, 
 more than a hundred leagues from my native place, 
 and already accustomed to the amenities of life in a 
 good family. Who would believe it ? In this condi- 
 tion of things I was regarded as a suspicious char- 
 acter, and the authorities of the place required me 
 to present myself monthly to the municipality for 
 the greater security of the Republic. I remember 
 perfectly, moreover, that whenever it pleased the 
 Emperor to have me relate these tribulations of my 
 childhood, he never failed to repeat several times : 
 The imbeciles! in speaking of my worthy municipal 
 officers. However, the authorities of Tours, conclud- 
 ing at last that a twelve-year-old child was in- 
 capable of overthrowing the Republic, gave me a 
 passport with the express injunction to leave the 
 city within twenty-four hours ; which I did very 
 willingly, yet not without a profound uneasiness at 
 finding myself afoot and alone on the road and with 
 a long journey to make. By dint of many priva- 
 tions and much trouble, I finally arrived in the 
 vicinity of Saint-Amand, which I found in the hands 
 of the Austrians. The French surrounded the 
 town, but it was impossible for me to enter it. In 
 despair, I sat down on the side of a ditch and Avas 
 weeping bitterly there when I was noticed by Major
 
 14 ITEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Michau,^ who afterwards became colonel and aide- 
 de-camp to General Loison. Major Michaii came up 
 and questioned me with much interest. He made me 
 tell him all my sad adventures and seemed touched 
 by them, but showed me how impossible it was for 
 him to have me taken to my family. Having just 
 received a furlough, which he was going to spend 
 with his own family at Chinon, he proposed that I 
 should accompany him thither, and I accepted wit 
 lively gratitude. I could never express the kindne 
 and care shown me by the family of M. Micha 
 during the three or four months I spent amon^ 
 them ; at the end of that time, M. Michau took me 
 to Paris with him, where I soon found a place in the 
 house of one M. Gobert, a rich merchant, who treated 
 me with the greatest kindness all the time that I 
 remained there. 
 
 I saw M. Gobert recently, and he reminded me, 
 that, when we travelled together, he was careful to 
 leave one of the seats in his carriage at my disposal, 
 on which I lay down to sleep. I mention this cir- 
 cumstance with pleasure, since, although otherwise 
 of small consequence, it shows M. Gobert's kindness 
 toward me. 
 
 Some years afterward, I made the acquaintance 
 of Carrat, who was in Madame Bonaparte's service 
 while the General was still on his Egyptian expedi- 
 
 I I was afterwards so happy as to obtain for him, from the 
 Emperor, a place ho desired on his retirement, after losing the use 
 of his right arm.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 15 
 
 tion. But before saying how I came to enter the 
 establishment, I think it will be apropos to begin by 
 relating liow Carrat himself became one of Madame 
 Bonaparte's dependents, and at the same time some 
 anecdotes concerning him which are calculated to 
 throw light on the earlier diversions of the residents 
 of Malmaison. 
 
 Carrat was at Plombieres when INIadame Bonaparte 
 "ent there to take the waters. He carried bouquets 
 : her every day, and paid her little compliments 
 > odd and even droll, that Josephine was much 
 iverted; so were the ladies who accompanied her, 
 among whom were Mesdames de Cambis and de 
 Crigny,! and especially her daughter Hortense, who 
 was in fits of laughter at these pleasantries. The 
 fact is that he was extremely amusing on account of 
 a certain foolishness and a sort of originality which 
 did not prevent his being witty. His drolleries 
 having pleased Madame Bonaparte, he completed 
 them by a sentimental scene at the time when that 
 excellent woman was about leaving- the waterinp-- 
 place. Carrat wept, expressed as well as he knew 
 how the keen regret he would feel at not seeing 
 Madame Bonaparte dailj^, as he had contracted a 
 habit of doing, and Madame Bonaparte was so good- 
 natured that she did not hesitate to carry him back 
 witli her to Paris. She had him taught the trade, 
 and then attached him to her service in the capacity 
 
 1 Madame de Crigny was afterwards Madame Denon.
 
 16 3IEM0IRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 of hair-dresser and lackey. Such, at least, were the 
 functions he fulfilled when I made Carrat's acquaint- 
 ance. He used an extraordinary freedom of speech 
 with her, so much so that at times he even scolded 
 her. When Madame Bonaparte, who was extremely 
 generous and always good-natured to everybody, 
 made presents to her women or chatted with them 
 familiarly, Carrat reproached her on account of it: 
 " Why do you give that ? " he would say, and then 
 add : " That is the way you are, Madame, you begin 
 joking with your domestics ! very well, some fine day 
 they will fail to respect you." But if he tried to put 
 obstacles in the way of his mistress's generosity when 
 it extended to others, he was at no pains to restrain 
 it where he was concerned himself, and when any- 
 thing took his fancy he would say bluntly : " Don't 
 you want to give me that ? " 
 
 Bravery is not always the inseparable companion 
 of wit, as Carrat proved more than once. He was 
 endowed with one of those artless and insurmountable 
 dispositions to poltroonery which in comedies never 
 fail to excite the laughter of the spectators, and it 
 was a great amusement for Madame Bonaparte also 
 to play tricks on him which displayed his singular 
 caution. 
 
 The reader must know, in the first place, that 
 one of Madame Bonaparte's greatest pleasures at 
 Malmaison was to walk on the high road bordering 
 the walls of the park. She always preferred this 
 promenade, where there were almost continual clouds
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 17 
 
 of cUist, to tlie delightful alleys inside the park. One 
 day, being accompanied by her daughter Hortense, 
 Madame Bonaparte told Carrat to follow them in 
 their walk. He was in a state of great rapture at 
 this distinction, when suddenly there arose from one 
 of the ditches a large figure draped in a white sheet, 
 in a word, a real spectre, such as I have seen 
 described in translations of some old English ro- 
 mances. It is needless to say that the phantom wds 
 simply a person expressly placed there by these ladies 
 to frighten Carrat, and the comedy certainly had a 
 marvellous success. Carrat, in fact, no sooner 
 caught sight of the spectre tlian he came up to 
 Madame Bonaparte in alarm, and said to her, all in 
 a tremble : " Madame, Madame, look at that phan- 
 tom ! . . . 'tis the ghost of that lady who died lately 
 at Plombieres ! " " Keep quiet, Carrat, you are a 
 poltroon ! " — " Ah ! it is certainly her ghost that is 
 coming back ! " As Carrat was talking in this way, 
 the man in the white sheet, carrying out his part, 
 came toward him, shaking his long veil, and poor 
 Carrat, seized with terror, fell over backward and 
 became so ill that every effort Avas required to 
 restore him to consciousness. 
 
 Another day, while the General was still in Egypt, 
 and hence before I became a member of her household, 
 ]\Iadame Bonaparte wished to give one of her ladies 
 a notion of Carrat's fear. A general plot was got 
 up between the ladies of Malmaison, in which 
 Mademoiselle Hortense played the part of chief con- 
 
 VOL. I. — C
 
 18 MEMOIES OF CONSTANT 
 
 spirator. I have heard the story told so often by 
 Madame Bonaparte that I can give some rather 
 comical details about it. Carrat slept in a room 
 adjoining a small cabinet. A hole was pierced in 
 the partition between them, through which a string 
 was passed, at the end of which was hung a jug full 
 of water. This cooling vase was suspended exactly 
 over the head of the patient. Nor was this all ; for 
 they had taken the precaution of having the screws 
 removed which kept Carrat's folding bed in place, 
 and as the latter was in the habit of going to bed 
 without a light, he saw neither the preparations for 
 his premeditated fall, nor the vase containing the 
 water destined for his novel baptism. All the con- 
 spirators had been waiting for some minutes in the 
 cabinet when he threw himself, heavily enough, on 
 his bed, which instantly sank under him, the watering- 
 pot, meanwhile, responding to a jerk on the string, 
 and producing the elTect intended. Simultaneously 
 the victim of a fall and a nocturnal inundation, Car- 
 rat protested loudly against this combined attack ! 
 " This is horrible ! " he shouted with all his might, 
 the malicious Hortense, meanwhile, in order to in- 
 crease his tribulations, saying to her mother, to 
 Madame de Crigny, Madame de Charvet, and 
 several other ladies of tlie household : " Ah ! 
 mamma, the frogs and toads that are in tlie water 
 have just fallen on his face." These words, added 
 to the profound darkness, merely served to augment 
 Carrat's terror, and becoming seriously angry, he
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 19 
 
 cried out: "It is a horrible thing, Madame, it is an 
 atrocity to phiy such tricks on your domestics." I 
 would not venture to asseverate that Carrat's com- 
 plaints were entirely out of place, but they merely 
 served to excite the gaiety of the ladies, who had 
 taken him for the butt of their pleasantries. 
 
 However that may be, such were the cliaracter and 
 the position of Carrat when, after I had been some 
 time acquainted with him, and General Bonaparte had 
 returned from his Egyptian expedition, he told me 
 that M. Eugene de Beauharnais had applied to him 
 for a confidential valet, his own having been detained 
 at Cairo by a rather serious malady at the moment 
 of departure. This man was called Lefebvre, and 
 was an old servant entirely devoted to his master, as 
 all persons must have been who were acquainted with 
 Prince Eugene ; for I do not believe there ever ex- 
 isted a better man, more polite, more full of consid- 
 eration and even attentions for the persons in his 
 service. Carrat having told me therefore that M. 
 Eugene de Beauharnais wanted a young man to 
 replace Lefebvre, and proposed that I should take 
 his position, I had the happiness of being presented 
 to and suiting him. He was even kind enough to 
 say to me, on the very first day, that my phj^siognomy 
 pleased him greatly, and that he would like me to 
 come to him at once. On my part, I was enchanted 
 with this situation, which, I don't know why, pre- 
 sented itself to my imagination under the gayest 
 colors. I went without loss of time to find my
 
 20 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 modest luggage, and there I was, valet de cliam- 
 bre ad interim of M. de Beauharnais, never think- 
 ing that I would one day be admitted to the spe- 
 cial service of General Bonaparte, and still less that 
 I would become the chief valet de chambre of an 
 emperor.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Prince Eugfene apprenticed to a carpenter — Bonaparte and the 
 sword of Marqnis de Beauharnais — First interview between 
 Napoleon and Josephine — Appearance and qualities of Eugene 
 
 — Frankness — Kindness — Love of pleasure — Breakfasts of 
 young officers and artists — Hoaxes and hoaxed — Thie5met 
 and Dugazon — The stutterers and the cold douche — The 
 old valet reinstated — Constant passes into the service of 
 Madame Bonaparte — Attractions of his new situation — Sou- 
 venirs of the 18th Brumaire — Political breakfasts — The direc- 
 tors in caricature — Barras in the Greek style — Abb6 Siey^s 
 on horseback — The rendezvous — Murat's mistake — President 
 Gohier, General Jub^, and the great manoeuvre — General Mar- 
 mont and the riding-school horses — Malmaisou — Josephine's 
 salon — M. de Talleyrand — General Bonaparte's family — M. 
 Volney — M. Denon — M. Lemercier — M. de Laigle — General 
 Beurnonville — Excursion on horseback — Hortense's fall — 
 Happy married life — Prisoner's base — Bonaparte a bad runner 
 
 — Net income of JIalmaison — Embellishments — Theatres and 
 society actors: MM. Eugfene, Jerome, Bourrienne, Lauriston, 
 etc.; Mademoiselle Horteuse, Madame Murat, the two Demoi- 
 selles Augui6 — Napoleon a simple spectator. 
 
 TT was the 16th of October, 1799, when Eugene 
 de Beauharnais arrived in Paris on his return 
 from the Egyptian expedition, and it was immediately 
 after his arrival that I had the happiness of entering 
 his service. M. Eugene was then twenty-one years 
 of age, and I will not defer the recital of some details 
 that I believe to be little known concerning his life 
 before his mother's marriage with General Bonaparte. 
 
 21
 
 22 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 The reader is aware that his father was one of the 
 victims of the Revolution. After the Marquis de 
 Beauharnais perished on the scaffold, his widow, 
 whose property had been confiscated, finding herself 
 reduced to a condition bordering on poverty, and 
 fearing lest her son, although still very young, might 
 also be prosecuted on account of his noble birth, 
 placed him in a carpenter's shop on the rue de 
 I'Echelle. A lady of my acquaintance, who lived 
 on that street, has often seen him pass by carrying 
 a board on his shoulder. It was a good ways from 
 there to the command of the regiment of consular 
 guides, and above all to the vice-royalty of Italy. 
 I learned, by hearing Eugene himself relate it, the 
 singular circumstance by which he occasioned the 
 first interview of his mother with his stepfather. 
 
 Eugene, being at the time only fourteen or fifteen 
 years old, having been informed that General Bona- 
 parte had become possessor of the sword of the 
 Marquis de Beauharnais, ventured to call on him, 
 a proceeding that obtained complete success. The 
 General received him graciously, and Eugene said 
 he came to ask whether he would not be so kind 
 as to return to him his father's sword. His face, 
 his manner, his frank request, were all pleasing 
 to Bonaparte, who instantly restored the sword lie 
 asked for. Hardly had he taken it in his hands 
 than he covered it with tears and kisses, and 
 that with so natural an air that Bonaparte was 
 enchanted. On learning how the General had re-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 23 
 
 ceived her son, Madame de Beauharnais thought 
 it her duty to call and thank him. Josephine having 
 greatly pleased Bonaparte at this first interview, he 
 returned her visit. They frequently saw each other, 
 and everybody knows how, by one thing after 
 another, she became the first Empress of the French ; 
 and I can affirm, in conformity with many proofs 
 which I afterwards obtained of the fact, that Bona- 
 parte never ceased to love Eugene as much as he 
 could have loved his own son. 
 
 Eugene's qualities were both amiable and solid. 
 His features were not handsome, and yet his counte- 
 nance prepossessed one in his favor. His figure was 
 well-shaped, and yet his appearance was not distin- 
 guished, on account of a habit of slouching in his 
 gait. He was about five feet and three or four 
 inches tall. He was kind, gay, amiable, full of 
 spirit, lively, and generous ; and one may say that 
 his open, candid physiognomy was truly the mirror 
 of his soul. How many services did he not render 
 during the course of his life, and that, too, at the 
 period when he was obliged to impose privations on 
 himself in order to do so ! 
 
 We shall see presently why I passed only one 
 month with Eugene ; but I remember that during 
 this brief period, while scrupulously fulfilling his 
 duties toward his mother and his stepfather, he 
 was very much addicted to the pleasures so natural 
 to his age and in his position. One of the things 
 which pleased him most was to give breakfasts to his
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 friends ; hence he gave them very often ; and that, 
 for my part, amused me greatly, on account of the 
 comical scenes of which I was a spectator. In addi- 
 tion to the young military men belonging to Bona- 
 parte's staff, who were his most punctual guests, he 
 had among other habitual visitors Thiemet, the ven- 
 triloquist, Dazincourt and Michau of the Theatre 
 Frangais, and several other persons whose names 
 just now escape me. As may be easily believed, 
 these reunions were extremely gay ; the 3'oung officers 
 especially, who had returned like Eugene from Egypt, 
 sought for nothing but how to compensate them- 
 selves for the recent privations they had had to endure. 
 At this epoch hoaxes were all the fashion in Paris ; 
 their practitioners were brought to reunions, and 
 Thiemet held a very distinguished rank among them. 
 I recollect that one day at a breakfast of Eugene's, 
 Thiemet called several of those present by their 
 names, by imitating the voices of their servants, as 
 if these voices came from outside ; while he remained 
 quietly in his place, and seemed never to move his 
 lips except for tlie purpose of eating and drinking, 
 two functions which he fulfilled very well. Each of 
 the officers called in this way, went downstairs and 
 found nobody. Then Thiemet, assuming a feigned 
 politeness, went down with them under pretence of 
 assisting in their search, and prolonged their embar- 
 rassment by making them continue to hear voices 
 they knew. Most of them laughed heartily at a 
 pleasantry of which they were the victims ; but
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 25 
 
 there "was one who, being rather duller than his 
 comrades, took the thing seriously and was going to 
 be angry, when Eugene avowed that he had headed 
 the conspiracy. 
 
 I recall another amusing scene the two heroes of 
 which were this same Thidmet of whom I have just 
 spoken, and Dugazon. Several foreigners were as- 
 sembled in Eugene's apartment, the roles were dis- 
 tributed and learned in advance, and the two victims 
 designated. When they were all seated at table, 
 Dugazon, pretending to be a stutterer, addressed 
 some remark to Thidmet, who, having a similar role, 
 replied by stuttering also. Then each of the two 
 pretended to believe that the other was mocking at 
 him, and there ensued a quarrel of stutterers who, the 
 angrier they grew, the harder they found it to express 
 themselves. Thi(5met, who besides playing the stut- 
 terer had also assumed the character of a deaf 
 man, turned to his neighbor, his ear-trumpet at his 
 ear, and asked: "Wh-wh-what i-i-is he s-s-saying?" 
 "Nothing," responded the officious neighbor, who 
 wanted to prevent a quarrel and take his stutterer's 
 side. " Y-y-3'es he i-i-s m-m-mock-mock-ing at me." 
 Then the quarrel grew more lively; they were 
 about to come to blows, and each of the two stutterers 
 had seized a carafe to throw at liis antagonist's head, 
 when a copious immersion from the water contained 
 in the carafes made their officious neiglibors compre- 
 hend the danger of attempts at conciliation. The 
 two stutterers, however, continued shouting like deaf
 
 26 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 men until the last drop of water was spilled ; and I 
 remember that Eugene, who was the author of this 
 plot, was in fits of laughter all the time it lasted. 
 People dried themselves, and all was presently 
 arranged, glasses in hand. Eugene, whenever he got 
 up a joke of this kind, never failed to relate it to his 
 mother, and sometimes even to his stepfather, who 
 were greatly amused by it, Josephine especially. 
 
 I had been leading a rather joyous life for a month 
 with Eugene, when Lefebvre, the valet whom he had 
 left ill at Cairo, came back cured, and asked to have 
 his place again. Eugene, whom I suited better, on 
 account of my youth and activity, proposed that he 
 should enter his mother's household, calling his 
 attention to the fact that he would be much more 
 tranquil there. But Lefebvre, who was extremely 
 attached to his master, went to find Madame Bona- 
 parte and displayed all his chagrin at Eugene's 
 resolution. Josephine promised to take his part; 
 she consoled him, assured him that she would talk 
 to her son, said she would see that he returned to 
 his former post, and that it would be I that she 
 would take into her service. Josephine did, in fact, 
 speak to her son, as she had promised Lefebvre to do ; 
 and, one morning, Eugene announced to me, in the 
 kindest terms, my change of domicile. " Constant," 
 said he, " I am very sorry for the circumstance which 
 obliges us to part ; but, as you know, Lefebvre fol- 
 lowed me to Egypt; he is an old servant; I cannot 
 avoid taking him back. Moreover, you are not going
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 27 
 
 to become a stranger to me ; you are going to my 
 mother's house, where you will be very well off; and 
 there we shall often see each other. Go there from 
 me, this very morning ; I have sjjoken to her about 
 you ; it is an understood thing ; she expects you." 
 
 As may be believed, I lost no time in presenting 
 myself at Madame Bonaparte's house. Knowing 
 that she was at Malmaison, I went there at once, and 
 was received by Madame Bonaparte with a kindness 
 that filled me with gratitude, not knowing that she 
 showed this kindness to everybody, and that it was 
 as inseparable from her character as grace was from 
 her person. I had very little to do ; my time was 
 almost entirely at my own disposal, and I profited by 
 it to make frequent excursions to Paris. Hence the 
 life I led was very pleasant for a young man, who 
 could not yet suspect that, some time afterwards, it 
 would become as constrained as it was then free. 
 
 Before quitting a service which I had found so 
 agreeable, I will relate some facts belonging to that 
 period which my position near the stepson of Gen- 
 eral Bonaparte allowed me to become acquainted 
 with. 
 
 M. de Bourrienne has perfectly recounted the 
 events of the 18th Brumaire in his Memoirs. The 
 account he has given of that famous day is as exact 
 as it is interesting, and all who are curious to know 
 the secret causes which bring about political changes 
 will find them faithfully exposed in the narrative 
 of the Minister of State. I am very far from pre-
 
 28 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 tending to excite an interest of this nature ; but the 
 reading of M. de Bourrienne's work has set me also 
 on the track of my souvenirs. Tliere are circum- 
 stances he may not have known, or may even have 
 omitted voluntarily as being of small importance ; 
 and what he has let fall upon the road I esteem 
 myself fortunate to be able to gather up. 
 
 I was still with M. Eugene de Beauharnais when 
 General Bonaparte overthrew the Director}^ ; but I 
 was just as much in the way of learning all that 
 passed as if I had been in the service of Madame 
 Bonaparte or of the General himself ; for my master, 
 although very young, had the full confidence of his 
 stepfather, and above all that of his mother, who 
 consulted him on every occasion. 
 
 Several days before the 18th Brumaire, M. Eugene 
 ordered me to busy myself with the preparations for 
 a breakfast he was to give on that very day to his 
 friends. The number of the guests, who were all 
 military men, was much larger than usual. The 
 repast was made very lively by an officer who under- 
 took to caricature the manners and deportment of 
 the directors and some of their trusty adherents. 
 To personate Director Barras, he draped himself a la 
 grecque with the tablecloth, took off his black cravat, 
 turned down his shirt collar, and advanced with 
 many airs and graces, resting his left arm on the 
 shoulder of the youngest of his comrades and pre- 
 tending to chuck him under the chin with his right 
 hand. There was not a soul present who did not
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 29 
 
 comprehend the meaning of this sort of charade, and 
 it was greeted with shouts of laughter that seemed 
 as if they would never end. 
 
 Afterwards he personated the Abb^ Siey^s, by 
 passing an enormous labbi ^ of paper through his 
 necktie, elongating indefinitely a pallid visage, and 
 then prancing several times around the room astride 
 on his chair, ending at last in a grand somersault, as 
 if his horse had thrown him. To comprehend the 
 meaning of this pantomime, it must be known that 
 the Abbd Sieyes had been taking riding lessons for 
 some time in the Luxembourg garden, to the great 
 amusement of the promenaders, who assembled in 
 crowds to enjoy the stiff and awkward appearance 
 of the new horseman. 
 
 When breakfast was over, M. Eugene repaired to 
 General Bonaparte, whose aide-de-camp he was, and 
 his friends rejoined their several corps. I followed 
 them out; for certain remarks that had just been 
 made in the rooms of my young master made me 
 suspect that something serious and interesting was 
 about to happen. M. Eugene had agreed to meet 
 his comrades at the Pont-Tournant ; I went there, 
 and found a considerable assemblage of mounted 
 officers in uniform, all in readiness to follow General 
 Bonaparte to Saint-Cloud. 
 
 1 Tlie name given to the bands worn by priests as a part of their 
 ordinary costume. They go around tlie neck and over tlie breast, 
 descending to different lengths at the wearer's pleasure. — Transla- 
 tor'' s note.
 
 30 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 The commanders of all arms liad been requested 
 by General Bonaparte to give breakfasts to their 
 official corps, and they had done the same thing as my 
 young master. And yet not all the officers, not even 
 the generals, were in the secret ; and General jMurat 
 himself, who rushed into the hall of the Cinq-Cents, 
 at the head of his grenadiers, thought the only matter 
 in dispute was a dispensation as to age which General 
 Bonaparte was about to ask, in order to obtain a 
 place as Director. 
 
 I have learned, from a sure source, that at the 
 moment when General Jub^, who was devoted to 
 General Bonaparte, was assembling in the court of 
 the Luxembourg the Directory's guard, of which he 
 was the commander, the worthy M. Gohier, presi- 
 dent of the Directory, put his head out of the window 
 and shouted to Jub<5 : " Citizen-general, what are 
 you doing there?" — "Citizen-president, you see 
 well enough what I am doing ; I am assembling the 
 guard." — " No doubt I see that very well, Citizen- 
 general ; but what are you assembling them for ? " 
 " Citizen-president, I am going to make an inspec- 
 tion of them, and to command a great manoeuvre. 
 Forward, march ! " And the Citizen-general started 
 at the head of his troops to go and rejoin General 
 Bonaparte at Saint-Cloud, while the latter was ex- 
 pected at the house of the Citizen-president, who 
 waited for him in vain at the breakfast to which he 
 had invited him. 
 
 General Marmont also had breakfasted the officers
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 31 
 
 of the arm he commanded (1 think it was tlie artil- 
 lery). At tlie end of the repast he had made a few 
 remarks, persuading them not to separate their cause 
 from that of the conqueror of Italy, and to accom- 
 pany him to Saint-Cloud. "But how do you want 
 us to follow him?" exclaimed one of the guests; 
 "we have no horses.*' "If that is all that hinders 
 you," said the General, "you will find some in the 
 court of this hotel. I have kept all those of the 
 national riding-school. Let us go down and mount." 
 All the officers present accepted this invitation, ex- 
 cepting General Allix, who declared that he would 
 not be mixed up in any squabble. 
 
 I was at Saint-Cloud on the 18th and 19th Bru- 
 maire. I saw General Bonaparte harangue the sol- 
 diers and read them the decree appointing him com- 
 mander-in-chief of all the troops in Paris and through- 
 out the whole extent of the seventeenth military 
 division. I saw him in the first place come out 
 very much agitated from the council of the Anciens, 
 and afterwards from the assembly of the Cinq-Cents. 
 I saw M. Lucien led out of the hall where this 
 assembly was sitting by some grenadiers sent to pro- 
 tect him from the violence of his colleagues. Pale 
 and furious, he sprang upon a horse and galloped 
 straight to the troops to harangue them. At the 
 moment when he turned his sword toward the breast 
 of the General his brother, saying that he would be 
 the first to immolate him if he dared to make an 
 assault on liberty, cries of Long live Bonaparte ! Doivn
 
 32 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 with the Imvyers! broke out on all sides, and the 
 soldiers, led by General Murat, rushed into the hall 
 of the Cinq-Cents. Everybody knows what happened 
 there, and I will not enter into details which have 
 been recounted so many times. 
 
 The General, on becoming First Consul, installed 
 himself at the Luxembourg. At this time he also 
 inhabited Malmaison; but he was often on the road, 
 and so was Josephine ; for their journeys to Paris, 
 when they occupied this residence, were very fre- 
 quent, not simply for government affairs, which 
 often necessitated the presence of the First Consul, 
 but also to go to the play, which General Bona- 
 parte was very fond of, always giving the prefer- 
 ence to the Theatre Francais and the Italian opera. 
 This is a passing observation merely, as I intend 
 to reserve until later on the facts I have col- 
 lected concerning the tastes and familiar, habits of 
 the Emperor. 
 
 Malmaison, at the time of which I am speaking, 
 was a place of delights where no one was ever seen 
 to arrive without an expression of satisfaction; and 
 everywhere I went, I also heard blessings invoked 
 on the First Consul and Madame Bonaparte. In 
 Madame Bonaparte's salon there was not as yet the 
 shadow of that rigid etiquette which it was after- 
 ward necessary to observe at Saint-Cloud, the Tui- 
 leries, and all the palaces where the Emperor might 
 find himself. Society there displayed a simple ele- 
 gance alike removed from republican grossness and
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 33 
 
 the luxury of the Empire. M. de Talleyrand was at 
 this period one of the most assiduous visitors at Mal- 
 maison. He sometimes dined there, but it was more 
 usual for him to come in the evening, between eight 
 and nine o'clock, and return at one or two, and 
 occasionally at three in the morning. Everybody 
 was admitted at the house of Madame Bonaparte on a 
 footing of equality which pleased her much. Murat, 
 Duroc, Berthier, and all the persons who have since 
 figured as great dignitaries, and sometimes with 
 crowns, in the annals of the Empire, came there 
 familiarly. General Bonaparte's family was likewise 
 very attentive, but we knew very well amongst our- 
 selves that they did not like Madame Bonaparte; I 
 acquired proofs of this afterward. Mademoiselle 
 Hortense never quitted her mother, and they loved 
 each other very much. Besides the men distinguished 
 by their functions in the government and the army, 
 there came also some who were not less so by their 
 personal merit, and who had been so by their birth 
 before the Revolution. It was a veritable maofic 
 lantern in which we could see the personages defiling 
 before our eyes, and this spectacle, without recalling 
 the gaiety of Eugene's breakfasts, was far from de- 
 void of attractions. Among the j^ersons whom we 
 saw most frequently, I must mention: M. de Volney, 
 M. Denon, M. Lemercier, Prince de Poix, MM. de 
 Laigle, M. Charles, M. Baudin, General Beurnonville, 
 M. Isabey, and a large number of other men cele- 
 brated in science, literature, and art; in fine, the 
 
 VOL. I. V
 
 34 MEMOmS OF CONSTANT 
 
 majority of those Avho formed the society of Ma- 
 dame de Montesson. 
 
 Madame Bonaparte and Mademoiselle often went 
 out into the country on horseback; the most constant 
 equerries on these excursions were usually Prince de 
 Poix and MM. de Laigle. One day, as one of these 
 cavalcades was re-entering the court of Malmaison, 
 Mademoiselle Hortense's horse became frightened 
 and ran away. Mademoiselle Hortense, who sat a 
 horse perfectly, and who was very agile, attempted to 
 spring off on the grass beside the road, but the fasten- 
 ing which kept the bottom of her riding habit under 
 her foot prevented her extricating herself quickly 
 enough, so that she was upset and dragged along by 
 her horse for several feet. Happily, the gentlemen 
 who accompanied her, having seen her fall, had sprung 
 off their horses and arrived in time to pick her up. 
 By an extraordinary piece of good luck, she had re- 
 ceived no contusion, and was the first to laugh at her 
 mishap. 
 
 During the earliest period of my sojourn at Mal- 
 maison, the First Consul always occupied the same 
 bed with his wife, like an honest citizen of Paris, 
 and I never heard of a single gallant intrigue that 
 took place in the chateau. This society, the majority 
 of whose members were young, and who were often 
 very numerous, frequently gave themselves up to 
 exercises which reminded one of college recreations ; 
 indeed, one of the great diversions of the inhabitants 
 of Malmaison was to play prisoner's base. It was
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 35 
 
 after dinner, usually, that Bonaparte, MM. de Lauris- 
 ton, Didelot, do Luca}^, de Bourrienne, Eugene, Rapp, 
 Isabey, Madame Bonaparte, and Mademoiselle Hor- 
 tense divided themselves into two camps, where the 
 prisoners made and exchanged reminded the First 
 Consul of the great game to which he gave the 
 preference. 
 
 The most agile runners in these games of prisoner's 
 base were M. Eugene, M. Isabey, and Mademoiselle 
 Hortense ; as to General Bonaparte, he often fell 
 down, but he picked himself up again with shouts of 
 laughter. 
 
 General Bonaparte and his family seemed to enjoy 
 an unusual happiness, especially while they were at 
 Malmaison. This habitation, in spite of the pleasures 
 enjoyed there, was far from resembling what it has 
 been since. The property comprised a chateau which 
 General Bonaparte found in a rather bad condition 
 on his return from Egypt, a park which was already 
 very pretty, and a farm the yearly income from which 
 certainly did not exceed twelve thousand francs. 
 Josephine herself superintended all the works exe- 
 cuted there, and never has any woman been endowed 
 with so much taste. 
 
 From the commencement they acted plays at Mal- 
 maison. This was a kind of recreation which the 
 First Consul liked greatly, but he never took any 
 part except that of spectator. All who formed part 
 of the household were present at the representations, 
 and I will not conceal the pleasure we enjoyed, more
 
 36 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 perhaps than any of the others, in seeing the persons 
 in whose service we were thus travestied on the stage. 
 The Malmaison troupe, if I may be permitted thus to 
 designate actors of so exalted a social position, was 
 composed principally of MM. Eugene, J^rSme, Lauris- 
 ton, de Bourrienne, Isabey, de Leroy, Didelot; Mad- 
 emoiselle Hortense, Madame Caroline Murat, and the 
 Demoiselles Augui^, one of whom afterwards married 
 Marshal Ney, and the other ]M. de Broc. All four 
 were very 3^oung and charming, and few Parisian 
 theatres could have brought together such pretty 
 actresses. Moreover, they were very graceful on the 
 stage, and played their parts with real talent. They 
 behaved there much as they did in the salon, where 
 they had an air of exquisite delicacy. The repertory 
 was not greatly varied at first, but it was usually 
 very well selected. The first representation at which 
 I was present Avas composed of the Barlner de Seville 
 in which ]M. Isabey played the r81e of Figaro and 
 Mademoiselle Hortense that of Rosine ; and the 
 DSpit amoureux. Another time I saw the G-ageure 
 imprevue and the Fausses Consultations presented. 
 Mademoiselle Hortense and M. Eugene played per- 
 fectly in this latter piece, and I yet remember vividly 
 how, in the part of Madame Leblanc, Mademoiselle 
 Hortense seemed prettier than ever in her old 
 woman's costume. M. Eugene represented M. Le- 
 noir, and M. Lauriston the charlatan. The First 
 Consul, as I have said, confined himself to the r81e 
 of spectator, but he appeared to take the most lively
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 37 
 
 pleasure in this private, and one might say family- 
 theatre. He laughed, he applauded heartily, but 
 also he often criticised. Madame Bonaparte was 
 equally amused, and even if she had not been proud 
 of the success of her children, the first subjects of the 
 troupe, the fact that this was a relaxation agreeable 
 to her husband would have been enough to make her 
 seem pleased with it ; for it was her constant study 
 to contribute to the happiness of the great man who 
 had united his destiny to hers. 
 
 When a day had been set for a representation, 
 there was never a "wo performance,''^ but there was 
 often a change of plays, not on account of indisposi- 
 tion or an actress's headache, as happens in Parisian 
 theatres, but for much more serious motives. It 
 often happened that M. d'Etieulette would be 
 ordered to his regiment; that an important mission 
 would be entrusted to Count Almaviva ; but Figaro 
 and Rosine always remained faithful at their post, 
 and the desire to please the First Consul was, more- 
 over, so general among all who surrounded him, that 
 the substitutes manifested the utmost good will in the 
 absence of the principals in their department, and 
 the play never failed through default of an actor.^ 
 
 ^ Miclian, of the Comddie Fran^aise, was the instructor of the 
 troupe ; whenever any of tlie actors lacked ardor, Michau would 
 shout: "C/iawcZ/ Chaicdl Chaud!^^
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 M. Charvet — Details anterior to the author's entering Madame 
 Bonaparte's service — Departure for Egypt — The Pomona — 
 Madame Bonaparte at Plombi^res — A horrible fall — Madame 
 Bonaparte forced to remain at the baths and send for her daugh- 
 ter — Euphemie — Love for dainties and roguishness — The 
 Pomona captured by the English — Return to Paris — Purchase 
 of Malmaison — Eirst plots against the Eirst Consul's life — The 
 marble workers — The poisoned tobacco — Schemes of abduction 
 
 — Installation at the Tuileries — The horses and the sabre of 
 Campo-Formio — The heroes of Egypt and Italy — Lannes — 
 Murat — Eugfene — Arrangement of apartments at the Tuileries 
 
 — Kitchen staff of the Eirst Consul — Chamber service — M. de 
 Bourrienne — A game at billiards with Madame Bonaparte — 
 The watch-dogs — Accident to a workman — The Eirst Consul's 
 holidays — The Eirst Consul much loved in his own family — 
 
 — They xoould not dare ! — The First Consul keeping the house 
 accounts — The yoke of misery. 
 
 T" HAD not been long in Madame Bonaparte's service 
 when I made the acquaintance of M. Charvet, 
 the door-keeper of Malmaison. My connection with 
 this excellent man became more intimate daily, so 
 much so that in the end he gave me one of his 
 daugliters in marriage. I was eager to learn from 
 him all that referred to Madame Bonaparte and the 
 First Consul before I entered the household, and in 
 our frequent interviews he took the greatest pleasure 
 in satisfying my curiosity ; it is to his confidences 
 
 38
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 39 
 
 that I owe the following details concerning the 
 mother and the daughter. 
 
 When General Bonaparte set off for Egypt, 
 Madame Bonaparte accompanied him as far as 
 Toulon. She even desired very much to follow 
 him to Egypt, and when the General made objections, 
 she reminded him that, being a Creole by birth, 
 the warmth of the climate would be favorable rather 
 than dangerous to her, and that, by a singular coinci- 
 dence, it was on the Pomona that she wished to make 
 the voyage ; that is, on the same vessel that had 
 brought her in early youth from Martinique to 
 France. General Bonaparte, having finally acceded to 
 his wife's wishes, promised to send her the Pomona^ 
 and persuaded her to go meanwhile and take the 
 waters of Plombieres. Things were settled in this 
 way between the husband and wife, and Madame 
 Bonaparte was enchanted to go to Plombidres, which 
 she had long desired to do, knowing, like everybody 
 else, what was the special reputation of these waters. 
 
 Madame Bonaparte had been at Plombieres but 
 a short time, when one morning, as she was in her 
 salon, hemming bandana handkerchiefs, and chatting 
 with some ladies, Madame de Cambis, who was on 
 the balcony, called her to come and see a pretty little 
 dog that was passing in the street. All present ran 
 out after Madame Bonaparte, and then the balcony 
 gave way with a frightful crash. Fortunately, and 
 one may say by a great chance, nobody was killed ; 
 but Madame de Cambis had her thigh broken, and
 
 40 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Madame Bonaparte was cruelly bruised, although 
 no bones were fractured. M. Charvet, who was in 
 a room over the salon, ran down on hearing- the noise 
 and had a sheep killed and skinned immediately, and 
 Madame Bonaparte enveloped in the skin. She was 
 a long time in regaining her health. Her arms and 
 hands, especially, were so bruised that for some time 
 she was unable to use them, and it was necessary to 
 cut up her food and put it in her mouth, and, in a 
 word, to render her every service ordinarily required 
 by a child. 
 
 We have just seen that Josephine expected to 
 rejoin her husband in Egypt, and this gave her 
 reason to suppose that her stay at the baths of 
 Plombieres would not last long; but her accident 
 made her conclude that it would be prolonged in- 
 definitely, and she wished, while her health was 
 being re-established, to have her daughter with her. 
 Hortense was then fifteen, and was being educated 
 at Madame Campan's boarding-school. She sent a 
 mulatto woman after her whom she was very fond 
 of. Euphemie, as she was called, was the foster-sister 
 of Madame Bonaparte, and was even supposed, though 
 I do not know whether the supposition was well 
 founded, to be her natural sistei'. Euph(3mie set off 
 with M. Charvet in one of Madame Bonaparte's 
 carriages. On their arrival Hortense was enchanted 
 with the journey she was about to make, and espe- 
 cially with the idea of going to licr mother, for whom 
 she had the liveliest affection. Mademoiselle Hor-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 41 
 
 tense was, I will not say a glutton, but excessively 
 fond of good eating, and so M. Charvet, in relating 
 these details, told me that in every town of the least 
 importance the carriage was replenished with bon- 
 bons and dainties, of which Mademoiselle Hortense 
 consumed a great many. One day when Euph^mie 
 and M. Charvet were sound asleep, they were sud- 
 denly awakened by a report which to them seemed 
 terrible, and which gave them the greatest uneasiness, 
 since, on awakening, they found they were passing 
 through a dense forest. This fortuitous accident 
 made Hortense shout with laughter, for they had 
 hardly shown their fright before they were inundated 
 with an odorous foam which explained where the 
 report came from : it was that of a bottle of cham- 
 pagne placed in one of the pockets of the carriage, 
 and which the heat and the motion, or more prob- 
 ably the roguishness of the young traveller, had 
 uncorked with a good deal of noise. When Mad- 
 emoiselle Hortense reached Plombieres, her mother 
 was nearly well, so that Madame Campan's pupil 
 found there all the distractions and amusements 
 suitable to her age. 
 
 One has reason to say that every mischance has its 
 good side ; for, but for the accident that happened to 
 Madame Bonaparte, it is among the possibilities that 
 she would have been taken prisoner by the English. 
 She learned, in fact, that the ship Pomona, on which, 
 as we have seen, she wished to make the voyage, had 
 fallen into the hands of these enemies of France.
 
 42 MEMOIES OF CONSTANT 
 
 And as, moreover, every letter from General Bona- 
 parte dissuaded his wife from joining him, she 
 returned to Paris. 
 
 On her arrival Josephine bethought her of accom- 
 plishing a wish that had been expressed by General 
 Bonaparte before his departure. He had told her 
 that he would like to have a countr}'' house on his 
 return, and had even commissioned his brother Joseph 
 to take the matter in hand, which ]M. Joseph did not 
 do. Madame Bonaparte, who was, on the contrary, 
 always on the lookout for whatever might please 
 her husband, set several people to work hunting ujd 
 something that might be suitable in the environs 
 of Paris. After hesitating long between Ris and 
 Malmaison, she decided on the latter, and bought it 
 from M. Lecoulteux-Dumoley for, I think, the sum 
 of four hundred thousand francs. 
 
 It was stories of this kind that M. Charvet was 
 kind enough to tell me in the days when I first 
 entered the service of Madame Bonaparte. Every 
 one in the house liked to talk about her, and as- 
 suredly not for the sake of slandering her ; for no 
 woman was ever more loved by those around her, 
 or deserved to be so. General Bonaparte also was 
 an excellent man in the privacy of family life. 
 
 Since the return of the First Consul from his 
 Egyptian campaign, several attempts had been made 
 on his life. The police had many times warned him 
 to be on his guard, and not to venture about alone 
 in the neighborhood of Malmaison. The First Con-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 43 
 
 sul was not much inclined to be suspicious, espe- 
 cially before this period. But the discovery of the 
 snares laid for him in his most intimate private life, 
 forced him to use prudence and precaution. It has 
 been said since then that these pretended conspira- 
 cies were mere fabrications of the police, for the pur- 
 pose of making themselves necessary to the First 
 Consul, or else (who knows?) of the First Consul 
 himself, in order to redouble the interest attaching 
 to his person by fear of the perils menacing his life ; 
 and the absurdity of these attempts has been alleged 
 in proof of their falsity. I do not pretend to solve 
 such mysteries ; but it seems to me that in the 
 matter in question, absurdity proves nothing, or, at 
 all events, does not prove falsity. The conspirators 
 of that epoch have given us their own measure so far 
 as extravagance is concerned. What could be more 
 absurd, and yet more real,' than the atrocious folly of 
 the infernal machine? However it may be, I am 
 going to recount what happened under my own eyes 
 during the first months of my sojourn at Malmaison. 
 Nobody in the house had the least doubt of the reality 
 of these attempts, or, at any rate, nobody displayed 
 any such doubts before me. 
 
 All means to get rid of the First Consul seemed 
 good to his enemies. They took everything into 
 their calculations, even his recreations, as the follow- 
 ing occurrence will prove. 
 
 There were repairs and embellishments to make 
 in the chimneys of the First Consul's apartments at
 
 44 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Malmaison. The contractor who had undertaken 
 them had sent some marble-cutters, among whom had 
 slipped in, according to all appearances, some wretches 
 bribed by the conspirators. The persons attached to 
 the First Consul were constantly on the watch, and 
 used the greatest vigilance. They thought they no- 
 ticed that there were some men among these laborers 
 who pretended to be working, but whose manner 
 and appearance were not in keeping with their occu- 
 pation. These suspicions were, unhappily, but too 
 well founded ; for ^^'hen the apartments were ready 
 to receive the First Consul, and at the moment when 
 he came to occupy them, some one found, in making 
 a turn about the rooms, on the desk at which he was 
 about to seat himself, a snuff-box exactly similar to 
 the one the First Consul was in the habit of using. 
 It was supposed at first that this box really belonged 
 to him and had been forgotten there by his valet, but 
 the doubts excited by the appearance of some of the 
 marble-cutters having taken more consistency, the 
 snuff w^as examined and analj^zed. It was poisoned. 
 Those who plotted this treachery had, so people 
 said in those days, an understanding with other 
 conspirators, who were to try a different means of 
 getting rid of the First Consul. They determined 
 to assail the guard of the chateau of INIalmaison and 
 forcibly abduct the head of the government. With 
 this end in view they had uniforms made similar 
 to those of the consular guides who were then on 
 duty day and night near the First Consul, and who
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 45 
 
 followed liim on horseback in his excursions. In 
 this costume, and by aid of their understanding 
 with their accomplices within the house (the pre- 
 tended marble-cutters), they might easily have 
 approached and mingled with the guard, who were 
 fed and lodged at the chateau; they might even 
 have reached the First Consul and carried him off. 
 This first scheme, however, was abandoned as too 
 risky, and the conspirators flattered themselves 
 that they could attain their object more surely and 
 witli less danger by taking advantage of the First 
 Consul's frequent journeys to Paris. Aided by 
 their disguise, they were to mingle with the guides 
 of the escort and kill them. Their rallying-point 
 was to be the quarries of Nanterre. Their plot was 
 discovered for the second time. There was a rather 
 deep quarry in the park at Malmaison, and as it was 
 feared that it miglit be taken advantage of as a 
 hiding-place whence violence might be done to the 
 First Consul in one of his solitary walks, an iron 
 door was put there. 
 
 At one o'clock in the afternoon of February 19, 
 the First Consul repaired in state to the Tuileries, 
 which was then styled the Palace of the Government, 
 in order to install himself there with all his house- 
 hold. His two colleagues were with him, one of 
 whom, the Third Consul, was to occupy the same 
 residence and establish himself in the Pavilion of 
 Flora. The carriage of the consuls was drawn by 
 six white horses presented to the conqueror of
 
 46 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Italy by the Emperor of Germany after the signatures 
 had been affixed to the treaty of Campo-Formio. 
 The magnificent sabre worn by the First Consul at 
 this ceremony had also been given him by that 
 monarch on the same occasion. A remarkable 
 thing about this formal change of domicile was that 
 the acclamations and regards of the crowd, and even 
 of the most distinguished spectators who thronged 
 the windows of the rue Thionville and the quai 
 Voltaire, were addressed only to the First Consul 
 and the young warriors of his brilliant staff, still 
 all bronzed by the sun of the Pyramids or of Italy. 
 In the first rank marched Generals Lannes and 
 Murat, the first easy to recognize by the audacity 
 of his appearance and his thoroughly military man- 
 ners ; the second by the same qualities and, in addi- 
 tion, by a very punctilious elegance in his costume 
 and his weapons. His new title of brother-in-law to 
 the First Consul likewise contributed powerfully 
 to fix universal attention on him. For my part, 
 all mine was absorbed by the principal person in 
 the procession, whom, like all the people who 
 surrounded me, I never looked at without a sort 
 of religious admiration, and by his stepson, the son 
 of my excellent mistress and himself my former 
 master, the brave, modest, and good Prince Eugene, 
 who at that time was not yet a prince. On arriving 
 at the Tuileries, the First Consul took possession at 
 once of the apartment he alwaj^s occupied thereafter, 
 and which formed part of what liad been the royal
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 47 
 
 apartments. This suite was composed of a bedroom, 
 bath-room, a cabinet, and a salon in which he gave 
 audience in the morning, a second salon where the 
 aides-de-camp on duty remained, and which served 
 him as a dining-room, and of a vast antechamber. 
 Madame Bonaparte had her own apartments on the 
 ground-floor, the same she occupied when Empress. 
 Over the part of the building inhabited by the First 
 Consul was the lodging of M. de Bourrienne, his 
 secretary, communication between them being estab- 
 lished by means of a private stairway. 
 
 Although he alread}^ had courtiers at this period, 
 he had as yet no court. The etiquette was of the 
 simplest description. As I have said before, the 
 First Consul slept in the same bed as his wife. 
 They inhabited together sometimes the Tuileries 
 and sometimes Malmaison ; as yet neither grand 
 marshal, chamberlains, prefects of the palace, nor 
 ladies of honor, tiring women and pages were to be 
 seen. The household of the First Consul comprised 
 merely M. Pfister, the steward, M. Venard, chief 
 cook, MM. Gaillot and Dauger, superintendents, 
 and Colin, chief of the kitchen and its depend- 
 encies. M. Ripeau was librarian, and the elder 
 M. Vigogne, equeny. Tlie persons engaged in 
 private service were the first valet de chambre, M. 
 Hambart; Hubert, ordinary valet; and Roustan, the 
 First Consul's Mameluke. There were besides some 
 fifteen persons employed in subordinate offices. M. 
 de Bourrienne governed the entire force and checked
 
 48 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 the expenditures ; although very quick-tempered, he 
 had been able to conciliate universal respect and 
 affection ; he was kind, obliging, and above all very 
 just. Hence, at the time of his disgrace, the whole 
 household was grieved about it ; for my part, I have 
 retained a sincere and respectful memory of him, 
 and I hope that, if he has had the misfortune to 
 find enemies among the great, he has at least met 
 among his inferiors none but grateful hearts which 
 have keenly regretted him. 
 
 Some days after this installation, there was a re- 
 ception of the diplomatic corps at the chateau ; the 
 details I am about to give concerning it will show 
 how simple was the etiquette at this time of what 
 was already styled the Court 
 
 By eight o'clock in the evening the apartments 
 of Madame Bonaparte, situated as I have said, in 
 the part of the ground-floor overlooking the garden, 
 were thronged with people ; there was an incredible 
 profusion of feathers, diamonds, and dazzling toilets ; 
 such a crowd was present that it was necessary to 
 open the door of Madame Bonaparte's bedroom, for 
 the two salons were so full that it was impossible 
 to move around in them. 
 
 When all these people had taken their places as 
 well as they could, after a good deal of embarrass- 
 ment and trouble, Madame Bonaparte was announced, 
 and entered, conducted by M. de Talleyrand. She 
 wore a white muslin robe with short sleeves, and a 
 pearl necklace. Her head was bare, and her braided
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 49 
 
 hair kept in place by a shell comb with a most charm- 
 ing negligence ; her ears must have been agreeably 
 struck by the flattering murmurs that greeted her 
 entrance. Never, I think, had she more grace and 
 majesty. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, still giving his hand to Madame 
 Bonaparte, had the honor of presenting to her in 
 succession the members of the diplomatic corps, not 
 by their own names but by those of their courts. 
 Afterwards he made the round of the two salons 
 with her. The review of the second salon was half 
 over when, without having himself announced, the 
 Fii-st Consul entered, in an extremely simple uni- 
 form, with a tricolored scarf of silk, with fringe of 
 the same material, tied round him. He wore white 
 cashmere tights, with top boots, and carried his hat 
 in his hand. This unelaborate costume appearing 
 in the midst of the embroidered coats, overloaded 
 with ribbons and jewels, which were worn by the 
 ambassadors, formed a contrast at least as imposing 
 as did the toilet of Madame Bonaparte with those 
 of the ladies invited. 
 
 Before relating how it was that I left Madame 
 Bonaparte's service for that of the head of the State, 
 and the abode of ^lalmaison for the second campaign 
 in Italy, I think it well to stop, give a glance behind 
 me, and set down here one or two souvenirs of the 
 time when I still belonged to Madame Bonaparte. 
 In the evenings, wlien nearly everybody had retired,' 
 she was fond of sitting up to play a game of billiards
 
 50 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 and oftener still of backgammon. It happened once 
 that, having dismissed all her company, and being 
 still disinclined to sleep, she asked me if I knew how 
 to play billiards. On my reply, which was affirma- 
 tive, she asked me with charming kindness to have a 
 game with her, and 1 had the honor of playing several. 
 Although I have a certain skill, I managed so as to 
 let her win frequently, which amused her very much. 
 If this was flattery, I must own myself guilty of it, 
 but I think I would have acted in the same way 
 with any other woman, whatever her rank and posi- 
 tion in relation to me, even though she were not 
 half so amiable as Madame Bonaparte. 
 
 The porter of Malmaison, who had the entire con- 
 fidence of his masters, among other means of defence 
 and surveillance which he had devised in order to 
 guard the house and person of the First Consul from 
 an unexpected attack, had obtained a number of 
 enormous watch-dogs, two of which were very fine 
 Newfoundlands. The embellishments of Malmaison 
 were constantly in progress, and a crowd of work- 
 men spent the nights there, all of whom had been 
 warned not to go out of doors alone. One night 
 when several of these watch-dogs were inside the 
 house with the workmen, and allowing themselves 
 to be caressed, their apparent gentleness inspired 
 one of these men with so much courage, or rather 
 imprudence, that he was not afraid to go out alone. 
 He even thought that, to avoid all danger, he could 
 not do better than put himself under the protection
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 61 
 
 of one of these terrible animals. So he took one 
 with him, and they went together, very amicably, 
 through the doorway ; but hardly was he outside 
 when the dog sprang upon his unlucky companion 
 and threw him down. The cries of the poor work- 
 man awakened several of the men-servants and they 
 ran to his rescue. It was time, for the dog was keep- 
 ing him down and choking him cruelly; he was 
 picked up, badly wounded. Madame Bonaparte, on 
 learning this incident, had the man who so narrowly 
 escaped being a victim cared for until he was per- 
 fectly cured, and gave him a large gratuity, at the 
 same time recommending him to be more prudent 
 in future. 
 
 Every moment that the First Consul could snatch 
 from affairs he spent at Malmaison : the eve of each 
 decadi^ was a festival looked forward to by every 
 one in the chateau. Madame Bonaparte used to 
 send domestics afoot and on horseback to meet her 
 husband, and even went lierself frequently with her 
 daughter and the intimates of Malmaison. When I 
 was not on duty I took the saine direction mj^self, 
 and all alone ; for we all had an equal affection for 
 the First Consul and experienced the same anxiety 
 about him. Such was the bitterness and the audacity 
 of the enemies of the First Consul, that the road, 
 though not very long, between Paris and Malmaison 
 was strewn with snares and dangers; we knew that 
 
 ^ The tenth and last day in the Republican calendax.
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 several attempts to abduct him while passing over 
 it had been made and might be repeated. The pas- 
 sage most suspected was that of the quarries of 
 Nanterre, which I have mentioned already ; hence 
 they were carefully visited and inspected by the 
 men of the household on the days of the First 
 Consul's visits ; in the end they filled up the holes 
 that were nearest the road. The First Consul was 
 pleased with our devotion and let us see his satis- 
 faction, but for his own part seemed always fearless 
 and without anxiety ; in fact, he often mocked at us 
 for ours, and would tell the good Josephine very 
 seriously that he had had a fine escape on the road ; 
 that men with sinister faces had shown themselves 
 many a time while he was passing ; that one of them 
 had had the audacity to take aim at him, etc. ; and 
 when he saw her very frightened, he would burst 
 out laughing and give her several taps or kisses on 
 the cheek or neck and say: "Don't be afraid, you 
 great ninny, they would not dare." 
 
 He busied himself on these holidays, as he himself 
 called them, more with his private affairs than with 
 those of the State. But he could never remain 
 idle ; he was always demolishing, restoring, build- 
 ing, enlarging, planting, pruning in the chateau 
 and in the park, examining the expense accounts, 
 calculating his income, and prescribing economies. 
 Time passed quickly in all these occupations, and 
 the moment soon came when he must go, as he 
 used to say, to resume the i/oke of misery.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The First Consul takes the author into his service — Forgotten — 
 Chagrin — Consolations offered by Madame Bonaparte — Repar- 
 ation — Constant's departure for the First Consul's headquarters 
 
 — Enthusiasm of the soldiers starting for Italy — The author 
 rejoins the First Consul — Hospice of Mont Saint-Bernard — 
 Passage — The slide — Huniariity of the monks and generosity of 
 the First Consul — Passage of Mont Albaredo — The First 
 Consul's glance — Taking of Fort de Bard — Entry of Milan — 
 Joy and confidence of the Milanese — Constant's colleagues — 
 Hambard — Hubert — Roustau — Ibrahim-Ali — An Arab's anger 
 — The poniard — The surprise bath — Sequel of the Italian cam- 
 paign — Combat of Montebello — Arrival of Desaix — Long inter- 
 view with the First Consul — Desaix's anger against the English 
 
 — Battle of Marengo — Painful uncertainty — Victory — Death 
 of Desaix — The First Consul's sorrow — The aides-de-camp of 
 Desaix become the aides-de-camp of the First Consul — MM. 
 Rapp and Savaiy — Tomb of Desaix on ilont Saint-Bernard. 
 
 rpOWARD the end of March, 1800, five or six 
 months after my entering the service of Madame 
 Bonaparte, the First Consul kept his eyes on me one 
 day while eating his dinner, and having weighed and 
 measured me from top to toe : " Young man," said 
 he to me, " would you like to follow me to the cam- 
 paign?" I replied with much emotion that I would 
 ask nothing better. " Very well, then, you shall fol- 
 low me ; " and on rising from the table he ordered 
 M. Pfister, the steward, to put me on the list of 
 those belonging to the household who were to take 
 
 53
 
 54 MEMOinS OF CONSTANT 
 
 the journey. My preparations did not take long; 
 I was enchanted at the notion of being attached to 
 the personal service of so great a man, and I already 
 beheld myself on the other side of the Alps. . . . 
 The First Consul went away without me ! M. 
 Pfister, through a possibly premeditated forgetful- 
 ness, had omitted to inscribe me on the list. I was 
 in despair, and went crying to my excellent mistress 
 to relate my misadventure, and she kindly endeav- 
 ored to console me by saying : " Oh well, Constant, 
 all is not lost, my friend: you will stay with me 
 and go hunting in the park to divert yourself, and 
 perhaps in the end the First Consul will ask you 
 again." Nevertheless Madame Bonaparte did not 
 expect this; for she thought as I did, though out 
 of kindness she would not tell me so, that the First 
 Consul, having changed his mind and no longer 
 desiring my services in the campaign, had himself 
 countermanded his order. I soon obtained direct 
 proof to the contrary. On the way to Dijon, in his 
 march toward Mont Saint-Bernard, the First Con- 
 sul, who thought I was in his suite, asked for me 
 and learned then that I had been forgotten. He 
 showed some dissatisfaction and desired M. de Bour- 
 rienne to write immediately to Madame Bonaparte 
 and beg her to send me along without delay. One 
 morning when my vexation had returned, more keen 
 than ever, Madame Bonaparte summoned me and 
 said, with M. de Bourricnne's letter in her hand: 
 " Constant, since you are resolved to quit us to
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 56 
 
 make your campaigns, you may rejoice and be glad, 
 for you are going to start ; the First Consul has sent 
 for you. Call on M. Maret and inquire whether he 
 is not to send a courier very soon ; you can travel 
 along with him." At this good news I was in a 
 state of inexpressible rapture which I did not try 
 to hide. " Then you are very glad to get away from 
 us?" observed Madame Bonaparte with a kindly 
 smile. "No, Madame," I replied; "but to come 
 nearer the First Consul is not to go further from 
 Madame." — "I hope so, truly," she returned. " Go, 
 Constant, and take good care of him." If there 
 had been any need of it, this recommendation from 
 my noble mistress would have augmented the zeal 
 and vigilance with which I had determined to fill 
 my new position. 
 
 I ran without delay to the house of M. Maret, the 
 Secretary of State, who knew me and had shown 
 me much kindness. " Get ready at once," he 
 said to me ; " a courier will be starting this even- 
 ing or to-morrow morning." I returned in haste 
 to Malmaison to announce my near departure to 
 Madame Bonaparte. She instantly had a good post- 
 chaise prepared for me, and Thi^baut (that was the 
 name of the courier I was to accompany) was charged 
 to provide horses for me all along the road. M. 
 Maret gave me eight hundred francs for my travelling 
 expenses. This sum, which I was far from expect- 
 ing, made me open my eyes ; never had I beheld 
 myself so rich. At four o'clock in the morning a
 
 66 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 messenger came from Thiebaut to notify me that 
 everything was ready. I went to his house, where 
 the post-chaise was waiting, and we set off. 
 
 I travelled very agreeably, sometimes in the post- 
 chaise and sometimes as courier ; in the latter case 
 I took Thiebaut's place and he mine. I expected to 
 rejoin the First Consul at Martigny, but his march had 
 been so rapid that I only came up with him at the 
 convent of Mont Saint-Bernard. On our way we were 
 continually passing regiments on the march, and of- 
 ficers and soldiers who were hastening to rejoin their 
 several corps. Their enthusiasm was inexpressible. 
 Those who had made the Italian campaigns, rejoiced 
 at returning to so beautiful a country ; those who did 
 not know it as yet, were burning to see the battle- 
 field immortalized by French valor and the genius of 
 the hero still marching at their head. They all acted 
 as if going to a feast, and climbed the Valais moun- 
 tains, singing. It was eight o'clock in the morning 
 when I arrived at headquarters. Pfister announced 
 me, and I found the Commander-in-Chief in the great 
 lower hall of the hospice. He was taking his break- 
 fast standing, along with his staff. As soon as he 
 caught sight of me : " Ah ! there you are, then, you 
 rogue ! Why didn't you come with me ? " said he. 
 I excused myself, saying that, to my great regret, I 
 had received a countermand, or at least had been left 
 behind at the moment of departure. " Lose no time, 
 my friend," he added, " eat a mouthful quickly ; we 
 are going to start." From that moment I was
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 57 
 
 attached to the special service of the First Consul in 
 the capacity of ordinary valet de chambre, that is, in 
 my turn. This service gave me very little to do. 
 M. Hambart, chief valet de chambre of the First 
 Consul, was in the habit of dressing him from head 
 to foot- 
 Directly after breakfast we began to descend the 
 mountain. Several persons slid down on the snow, 
 very much as people roll down from the top of the 
 Russian mountains in the Beaujon garden. I 
 followed their example. They called it making a 
 sledge. The Commander-in-Chief also slid down an 
 almost perpendicular glacier in this way. His guide 
 was an alert and courageous peasant whose future 
 the First Consul assured for the rest of his life. 
 Some young soldiers who had gone astray in the 
 snow had been discovered, almost dead with cold, by 
 the dogs of the religious, and transported to the 
 hospice, where they had received all imaginable care 
 and been speedily returned to life. The First Consul 
 manifested his gratitude to the good fathers for such 
 active and generous charity. Before quitting the 
 hospice, where tables loaded with provisions were 
 prepared for the soldiers as they climbed up, he left 
 the pious monks, in recompense for the hospitality 
 he and his companions had received, a considerable 
 sum of money, and the vouchers for an annuity for 
 the support of their convent. 
 
 That same day we scaled Mont Albaredo ; but as 
 this passage would have been impracticable for the
 
 58 MEMOIES OF coy STAN T 
 
 cavalry and artillery, they were sent by way of the 
 town of Bard, under the batteries of the fort. The 
 First Consul had ordered them to pass it by night 
 and on the gallop, and had had the wheels of the 
 artillery wagons and the horses' feet wrapped in 
 straw. These precautions were not sufficient com- 
 pletely to prevent the Austrians from hearing our 
 troops, and the cannons of the fort never stopped 
 firing grape-shot. But, luckily, the houses of the 
 town sheltered our soldiers from the fire of their ene- 
 mies, and more than half the army traversed the city 
 without having much to suifer. As to the house- 
 hold of the First Consul, commanded by General 
 Gardanne, and of which I was one, it went around 
 the Fort of Bard. iMay 23, we forded a torrent -which 
 flowed between the town and the fort, with the First 
 Consul at our head. He climbed afterwards, fol- 
 lowed by General Berthier and several officers, a foot- 
 path up the Albaredo which commanded the fort and 
 city of Bard. There, turning his pocket-glass on 
 the opposing batteries, against whose fire nothing 
 protected him but some bushes, he found fault with 
 the disposal of the troops made by the officer charged 
 with commanding the siege, and ordered new ones, 
 whose effect would be, as he said himself, to make 
 the place fall into his hands within a very short time, 
 and rid him, henceforward, of the trouble given him 
 by this fort, which, said he, had hindered him from 
 slee[)ing the two days he had spent at the convent of 
 Saint-Maurice. Then, extending himself at the foot
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 59 
 
 of a fir tree, he fell into a sound slumber, the army 
 meanwhile continuing its passage. Refreshed by 
 this brief instant of repose, the First Consul went 
 down the mountain again, continued his march, and 
 we went to bed at Yorde, where he was to pass the 
 niffht. The brave General Lannes, who commanded 
 the vanguard, acted after a fashion as our quarter- 
 master, seizing by main force every place that barred 
 the road. It was only a few hours after he had 
 forced his wa}'^ into Yorde that we entered it. 
 
 Such was this miraculous passage of Mont Saint- 
 Bernard. Horses, cannons, artillery wagons, im- 
 mense stores, were all dragged or carried over glaciers 
 which seemed inaccessible, and by roads apparently 
 impracticable even for a single man. The Austrian 
 cannons succeeded no better than the snow and ice 
 in arresting the French army ; so true it is that the 
 genius and perseverance of the First Consul had 
 communicated themselves, so to say, even to the 
 least of his soldiers, and inspired them with a cour- 
 age and force the results of which will one day seem 
 fabulous. 
 
 June 2, which was the morrow of the passage of 
 the Tessin, and the very day of our entrance into 
 Milan, the First Consul learned that the Fort of 
 Bard had been taken the day previous. Hence his 
 arrangement of troops had promptly produced its 
 effect, and the route of communication by way of 
 the Saint-Bernard was cleared. 
 
 The First Consul entered Milan without having
 
 60 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 encountered much resistance. The whole population 
 had thronged about his passage and he was received 
 with a thousand acclamations. The confidence of 
 the Milanese was redoubled when they learned that 
 he had promised the assembled clergy to maintain 
 the Catholic worship and clergy as they were estab- 
 lished, and had made them take an oath of fealty to 
 the Cisalpine Republic. 
 
 The First Consul remained some days in this capi- 
 tal, and I had time to cement a more intimate ac- 
 quaintance with my colleagues. They were, as I 
 have said, MM. Hambart, Roustan, and Hubert. We 
 relieved each other every twenty -four hours at noon 
 precisely. My first care, as it has always been when 
 I have had to live with new faces, was to observe, as 
 closely as I could, the character and temper of my 
 comrades, so as to draw conclusions from them which 
 would afterwards regulate my conduct where they 
 were concerned, and to know in advance pretty much 
 what I might have to hope or to fear from their 
 acquaintance. 
 
 Hambart had an unlimited devotion to the First 
 Consul, whom he had followed to Egypt; but he 
 unfortunately had a sombre and misantliropic charac- 
 ter, which made him extremely cross and disagreeable. 
 The favor enjoyed by Roustan had probably contrib- 
 uted not a little toward augmenting this gloomy 
 disposition. In his species of mania, he imagined 
 himself the object of an altogether special surveil- 
 lance. As soon as his service was ended, he would
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 61 
 
 shut himself up in his room, and pass his entire 
 leisure in the most doleful solitude. When the 
 First Consul was in good humor he would joke him 
 about this unsociability, and laughingly call him 
 Mademoiselle Hambart. " Well, Mademoiselle, what 
 are you doing all alone this way in your room ? You 
 are reading some bad novels there, no doubt, some 
 worthless old books treating of princesses abducted 
 and held in surveillance by a barbarous giant." To 
 this poor Hambart would reply with a churlish air : 
 " General, you doubtless know better than I do wliat 
 I am doing," intending by these words an allusion to 
 the espionage by which he believed himself sur- 
 rounded. In spite of this unhappy disposition, the 
 First Consul was very good to him. At the time of 
 the journey to tlie camp of Boulogne he refused to 
 follow the Emperor, who retired him with the post 
 of porter to the palace of Meudon. Here he com- 
 mitted a thousand follies. His end was lamentable. 
 During the Hundred Days, after an audience with 
 the Emperor, he was seized with one of his spells, 
 and threw himself with such force on a kitchen knife 
 that the blade protruded two inches through his 
 back. As it was thought in those days that I had 
 the Emperor's wrath to dread, the rumor spread that 
 it was I who had committed suicide, and this tragic 
 death was announced as mine in several journals. 
 
 H<;bert, valet de chamhre ordinaire, was a very 
 gentle young man, but excessively timid. Like all 
 the rest of the household, he had the most devoted
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 affection for the First Consul. It happened one day, 
 in Egypt, that the latter, ayIio had never been able to 
 shave himself (it was I, as I shall relate hereafter 
 with some details, that taught him how to do so), 
 called for Hubert in the absence of Hambart, who 
 usually shaved him, to perform that duty. As it 
 had sometimes happened to Hubert, as a result of 
 his great timiditj', to cut his master's chin, the lat- 
 ter, who had a pair of scissors in his hand, said to 
 Hebert as he approached, holding his razor : " Take 
 good care, you rogue ; if you cut me, I will poke my 
 scissors into your belly." This threat, made with an 
 air that was almost serious, but wliich was really 
 nothing but a joke, such as I have repeatedly noticed 
 the Emperor loved to make, produced such an im- 
 pression on Hebert that he was unable to finish his 
 work. He was seized with a convulsive trembling, 
 his razor fell from his hands, and it was useless for 
 the Commander-in-Chief to stretch out his neck and 
 repeat with a laugh : " Come, finish then, you cow- 
 ard I " Hebert was not only obliged to stop there, 
 but from that time forward he was obliged to relin- 
 quish the office of barber. The Emperor disliked 
 this excessive timidity in those who served him ; but 
 that did not prevent him, when he had the chateau 
 of Rambouillet renovated, from giving the place of 
 porter there to Hubert, who had asked for it. 
 
 Roustan, so well known under the name of the 
 Emperor's Mameluke, belonged to a good Georgian 
 family. Carried off at the age of six or seven years
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 and taken to Cairo, lie had been brought up among 
 the young slaves who serve the Mamelukes while 
 awaiting the time Avhen they shall be old enough to 
 enter that warlike militia themselves. The Sheik of 
 Cairo, when giving General Bonaparte a magnificent 
 Arabian steed, had also given him Roustan and 
 Ibrahim, another Mameluke who was afterwards at- 
 tached to Madame Bonaparte's service under the name 
 of Ali. It is known that Roustan became an indispen- 
 sable accompaniment on every occasion when the 
 Emperor appeared in public. He was a part of 
 every journey, every cortege, and, what was most 
 honorable of all, of ever}?- battle. In the brilliant 
 staff which followed the Emperor, he shone above 
 all the rest by the glitter of his rich Oriental cos- 
 tume. The sight of him produced a prodigious 
 effect, especially on the common people and in the 
 provinces. lie was supposed to be in high credit 
 with the Emperor, and this arose, according to cer- 
 tain credulous persons, from the fact that Roustan 
 had saved his master's life by throwing himself be- 
 tween him and the sabre of an enemy about to strike 
 him. I believe that this was an error. The alto- 
 gether special favor of which he was the object was 
 sufficiently accounted for by the habitual kindness 
 of His Majesty for all those who Avere in his service. 
 Moreover, this favor did not extend beyond the circle 
 of the domestic relations. M. Roustan married a 
 young and pretty Frenchwoman, named Mademoi- 
 selle Douville, whose father was the Empress Jose-
 
 64 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 phine's valet de chambre. When, in 1814 and 1815, 
 some journals reproached him somewhat because he 
 had not followed to the end the fortunes of him 
 to whom he had always professed the greatest devo- 
 tion, he replied that the family ties he had con- 
 tracted forbade his leaving France, and that he 
 could do nothing to disturb the happiness he en- 
 joyed in his domestic life. 
 
 Ibrahim took the name of Ali on passing into 
 Madame Bonaparte's service. He was of a more 
 than Arabian ugliness and had a wicked glance. I 
 recall a little circumstance concerning him which 
 happened at Malmaison, and may give a notion of 
 his character. One day when we were playing on 
 the lawn of the chateau, I unintentionally caused 
 him to fall, while running. Furious at his tumble, 
 he picked himself up, drew his poniard which he 
 never laid aside, and sprang toward me to strike me 
 with it. I had laughed at first, like every one else, 
 at his accident, and amused myself by making him 
 run. But warned by the cries of my comrades, and 
 turning round to see how near he was, I perceived 
 at once both his weapon and his anger. I stopped 
 instantly, my foot firm and my eye fixed on his 
 poniard, and I was luclcy enough to avoid the thrust, 
 although it just brushed against my breast. Furious 
 in my own turn, as may be readily believed, I seized 
 him by his wide trousers and threw him ten feet 
 away from me into the Malmaison river, which was 
 barely two feet deep. The plunge quieted his senses
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 65 
 
 in the first place, and, besides, his poniard had sunk 
 to the bottom of the water, which rendered my man 
 much less redoubtable. But he began to scream so 
 loudly in his disappointment that Madame Bona- 
 parte heard him, and as she overflowed with kind- 
 ness for her Mameluke, I was roundly scolded. 
 Nevertheless this poor Ali had such an unsociable 
 temper that he quarrelled with everj^body in the 
 house, and was finally sent to Fontainebleau as 
 chateau messenger. 
 
 I return to our campaign. June 13, the First 
 Consul slept at Torre-di-Galifolo, where he had 
 established his headquarters. The march of the 
 army had not slackened since the day we entered 
 Milan. General Murat had crossed the Po and 
 seized Plaisance. General Lannes, although pushing 
 ahead with his brave vanguard, had delivered a 
 bloody battle at Montebello, a name he was after- 
 wards to render illustrious by bearing it. The very 
 recent arrival of Desaix, who came from Egypt, 
 overwhelmed the Commander-in-Chief with joy and 
 also gave additional confidence to the soldiers, by 
 whom the brave and modest Desaix was adored. 
 The First Consul had received him with the most 
 frank and cordial friendship, and they immediately 
 spent three consecutive hours alone together. At 
 the close of this conference an order of the day 
 announced to the army that General Desaix would 
 take command of the Boudet division. I heard several 
 persons belonging to the suite of General Desaix 
 
 VOL. I. — F
 
 66 3rEM0IRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 remark that his patience and evenness of temper had 
 been put to rude tests during his voyage by adverse 
 winds, forced delays, the tediousness of quarantine, 
 and especially by the malicious proceedings of the 
 English, who had for some time kept him prisoner 
 on their fleet, in sight of the coast of France, not- 
 withstanding that he was the bearer of a passport 
 signed in Egypt by the English authorities, as a 
 result of a capitulation reciprocally accepted. His 
 resentment against them, therefore, was of the most 
 ardent sort, and he said he keenly regretted that the 
 enemies he would have to fight were not English. 
 In spite of the simplicity of his tastes and habits, 
 nobody was more athirst for glory than this brave 
 General. All his wrath against the English sprang 
 from the fear he had that he would not arrive in 
 time to reap new laurels. He arrived but too soon, 
 to find a glorious death, but alas ! one so premature ! 
 The celebrated battle of Marengo was delivered 
 June 14. It began early and lasted all day. I 
 remained at the quarters, with all the General's 
 household. We were in a manner within reach of 
 the cannon of the battle-field, and contradictory 
 reports were all the time arriving. One would 
 represent the battle as entirely lost, the next would 
 give us the victory ; there was a moment when the 
 increase in the number of our wounded and the 
 rcdoublement of the Austrian firing would make us 
 believe for an instant that we were beaten ; then all 
 of a sudden some one would come to tell us that
 
 MEMOinS OF CONSTANT 67 
 
 this apparent defeat was merely the result of a bold 
 manoeuvre of the First Consul, and that a charge 
 made by General Desaix had assured the winning 
 of the battle. But the victory cost France and the 
 heart of the First Consul dear. Desaix, struck by 
 a ball, had fallen dead on the instant, and the grief 
 of his men having only exasperated their courage, 
 they had routed the enemy at the point of the 
 bayonet, the latter having been badly cut up al- 
 ready by a brilliant charge of General Kellermann. 
 
 The First Consul slept on the field of battle. In 
 spite of the decisive victory just gained, he was full 
 of sadness, and in the evening, before Hambart and 
 me, he said several things which proved the profound 
 affliction he experienced from the death of General 
 Desaix : " That France had just lost one of her best 
 defenders and he his best friend ; that no one knew 
 all the virtue there was in Desaix's heart and what 
 genius in his head." Thus he consoled himself for 
 his grief by eulogizing to everybody the hero who 
 had just died on the field of honor. " My brave 
 Desaix," he said again, " had always desired to die 
 like this." Then he added, almost with tears in 
 his eyes : " But need death have been so quick to 
 grant his prayer ! " There was not a soldier in our 
 victorious army who did not share so justifiable an 
 affliction. Rapp and Savary, the General's aides-de- 
 camp, remained in the bitterest despair beside the 
 body of their chief, whom, in spite of his youth, they 
 called theii' father, more to express his inexhaust-
 
 68 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 ible kindness toward them than on account of the 
 gravity of his character. As a consequence of his 
 respect for his friend's memory, the Commander- 
 in-Chief, although his staff was complete, attached 
 these young officers to himself as aides-de-camp. 
 
 Commander Rapp (that was his rank then) was 
 at this time what he has been all his life, good, full 
 of courage, and universally beloved. His frankness, 
 though sometimes a little rude, was pleasing to the 
 Emperor. I have heard the latter eulogize his aide- 
 de-camp a thousand times ; he always called him mi/ 
 brave Rapp. This worthy General was not lucky in 
 battles, and seldom took part in an affair without 
 receiving some wound. Since I am already antici- 
 pating the course of events, I will say here that in 
 Russia, on the eve of the battle of Moscow, I heard 
 the Emperor say to General Rapp, who had arrived 
 from Dantzic : " Attention, my hero ; we are going 
 to fight to-morrow; look out for yourself, fortune 
 does not spoil you." " That is one of the perquisites 
 of the trade," replied the General. " Rely on it. Sire, 
 I will not do less than my best." 
 
 M. Savary maintained toward the First Consul 
 that ardent zeal and boundless devotion which had 
 attached him to General Desaix. If he lacked any 
 one of General Rapp's qualities, it was certainly 
 not that of bravery. Of all the men who surrounded 
 the Emperor, not one was more absolutely devoted 
 to his slightest will. I shall doubtless have occasion, 
 during the course of these Memoirs, to recall some
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 69 
 
 traits of this unexampled devotion, for which the 
 Duke de Rovigo was so magnificently rewarded ; but 
 it is just to say that he at least did not wound the 
 hand that had elevated him, and that he gave to 
 the very end, and after the end of his former master 
 (it is thus that it pleased him to style the Emperor), 
 the not very well followed example of gratitude. 
 
 A decree of the government, in the following June, 
 provided that the body of Desaix should be trans- 
 ported to the convent of the great Saint>Bernard, 
 and a monument for him raised there in attestation 
 of the regrets of France, and especially of those of 
 the First Consul, in a spot where he had covered 
 himself with immortal glory.^ 
 
 ^ Two monuments have been raised in Paris to tlie brave Desaix : 
 a statue on the Place des Victoires and a bust on the Place Dau- 
 phine. The statue affected a theatrical pose which scarcely 
 accorded with the serious manners and perfect simplicity of him 
 whose image it was supposed to reproduce. Moreover, being per- 
 fectly nude, except as it was badly veiled by a sword-belt, it 
 shocked all eyes and provoked scurrilous jests. The great victor 
 of Waterloo was represented, during his lifetime, in Hyde Park, as 
 an enormous Achilles, and His Grace (at least the statue of His 
 Grace) is executed in such a manner that the curious lose not a 
 single line, a single muscle of his heroic person. That nothing 
 might be wanting to this parody, it was the English ladies, so sus- 
 ceptible on the point of decency and dignity, who raised this monu- 
 ment to My Lord Duke. 
 
 To come back to Desaix (it is to come very far back), the statue 
 raised to him on the Place des Victoires was removed under the 
 Empire by order of the government. As to the bust which may 
 still be seen on the Place Dauphine, it would be difficult to imagine 
 anything more shabby, blackened up, or neglected. That is the 
 way that Desaix's bust is treated. On the other hand, Pichegru 
 has statues of bronze.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Return to Milan, on march to Paris — The Singer Marches! and 
 the First Consul — Impertinence and several days in prison — 
 Madame Grassini — Entering France by way of Mont Cenis 
 
 — Triumphal arches — Procession of young girls — Entry of 
 Lyons — Couthon and the demolishers — The First Consul 
 causes the houses on the Place Belcour to he i-ebuilt — The 
 overset carriage — Illuminations at Paris — Kl^ber — Calumnies 
 against the First Consul — Fall of Constant's horse — Kindness 
 of the First Consul and Madame Bonaparte toward Constant 
 
 — Generosity of the First Consul — The author's emotion — Tlie 
 Emperor outrageously misunderstood — The First Consul, 
 Jerome Bonaparte, and Colonel Lacu^e — The First Consul's 
 love for Madame D. — Madame Bonaparte's jealousy and the 
 First Consul's precautions — Indiscreet curiosity of a chamber- 
 maid — Threats and forced discretion — The small house in the 
 All^e des Veuves — The First Consul's consideration for his wife 
 
 — The First Consul's morals and his manners with women. 
 
 n^HIS victory of Marengo had assured the conquest 
 of Italy; hence the First Consul, judging his 
 presence more necessary in Paris than at the head 
 of his army, gave the chief command to General 
 Massdna and made ready to recross the mountains. 
 We returned to Milan, where the First Consul was 
 received with still more enthusiasm than during our 
 first visit. The establishment of a republic crowned 
 the wishes of the majority of the Milanese, and they 
 styled the First Consul their saviour for having de- 
 livered them from the Austrian yoke. Nevertheless 
 
 70
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 71 
 
 there was a party which detested equally the changes, 
 the French army which had been the instrument of 
 them, and the young chief who was their author. 
 In this party figured a celebrated artist, Marchesi 
 the singer; when we first went through, the First 
 Consul had sent for him, and the musician had begged 
 to be excused from inconveniencing himself; he 
 finally came, but with all the importance of a man 
 who felt his dignity wounded. The very simple 
 costume of the First Consul, his short figure and 
 his pale and not very good-looking visage, were not 
 calculated greatly to impress the heroes of the theatre. 
 Hence the Commander-in-Chief having received him 
 well and very politely asked him to sing an air, 
 he had responded by this bad pun, delivered in an 
 impertinent tone which his Italian accent heightened: 
 " Signor Zeneral, if it is a good air you want, you 
 will find an excellent one by taking a little turn in 
 ze zarden." For this pretty performance Signor 
 Marchesi was instantly turned out of doors and 
 that very evening an order had been sent to put 
 him into prison. On his return, when the can- 
 nonading of Marengo had doubtless silenced his 
 resentment against Marchesi, and when he thought, 
 moreover, that the artist's penance for a wretched 
 quibble had been long enough, the First Consul sent 
 for him and again begged him to sing. This time 
 Marchesi was polite and modest, and sang in an en- 
 chanting manner. After the concert, the First Con- 
 sul applauded him, shook his hand warmly, and
 
 72 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 complimented him in the most affectionate tone. 
 From that moment peace was concluded between the 
 two powers, and Marchesi did nothing but chant 
 the praises of the First Consul thereafter. 
 
 At this same concert, the First Consul was struck 
 by the beauty of a famous songstress, Madame 
 Grassini. He did not find her cruel, and at the end 
 of a few hours the conqueror of Italy counted an 
 additional conquest. She breakfasted next morning 
 with the First Consul and General Berthier in the 
 chamber of the former. General Berthier was com- 
 missioned to provide for the journey of Madame 
 Grassini, who was sent to Paris, and attached to 
 the concerts of the court. . . . 
 
 The First Consul left Milan June 24, and we 
 re-entered France by way of Mont Cenis. We 
 travelled with the greatest rapidity. The First 
 Consul was received everywhere with an enthusiasm 
 difficult to describe. Triumphal arches had been 
 erected at the entrance of every town, and in each 
 canton a deputation of notables came to harangue 
 and compliment him. Long files of young girls, 
 dressed in white and crowned with flowers, with 
 flowers in their hands and throwing flowers into the 
 First Consul's carriage, were liis only escort, sur- 
 rounding, following, and preceding him until he had 
 passed, or, whenever he alighted, until he set foot to 
 the ground. Hence this journey was throughout a 
 perpetual festival. At Lyons it was a delirium : the 
 whole city came out to meet him. He entered it in
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 78 
 
 the midst of an immense crowd and the noisiest ac- 
 clamations, and alighted at the H6tel des Cdlestins. 
 During the Terror, and Avhen the Jacobins had 
 wreaked their whole fury on the city of Lyons, 
 which they had sworn to ruin, the fine edifices which 
 ornamented the Place Belcour had been razed from 
 top to bottom, and the hideous cripple Couthon had 
 been the first to carry the sledge-hammer thither, 
 at the head of the vilest rabble of the clubs. The 
 First Consul detested the Jacobins, who, on their 
 side, hated and feared him, and it was his most 
 unceasing care to destroy their work, or, better, to 
 raise up again the ruins with which they had covered 
 France. He thought then, and rightly, that he could 
 not better respond to the affection of the Lj-onnese 
 than by encouraging with all his might the recon- 
 struction of the buildings on the Place Belcour, and 
 he laid the first stone himself before his departure. 
 The city of Dijon gave the First Consul a reception 
 not less brilliant. 
 
 Between Villeneuve and Sens, at the descent of 
 the bridge of Montereau, the eight horses plunged 
 forward at a gallop, dragging the carriage very 
 swiftly (the First Consul already travelled in ro3'al 
 style), and the screw of one of the front wheels came 
 out. The people living along the road, witnessing 
 this accident and foreseeing what would be the result 
 of it, shouted with all their might to the postilions 
 to stop; but the latter could not manage it. The 
 carriage was rudely overturned. The First Consul
 
 74 3IEM0IIiS OF CONSTANT 
 
 received no damage ; General Bertliier's face was 
 somewhat scratched by the broken glass of the 
 windows ; two footmen who were on the seat were 
 thrown violently to a distance and rather badly 
 bruised. The First Consul came out, or rather was 
 hauled out through one of the doors ; however, this 
 accident did not stop him ; he got at once into 
 another carriage and reached Paris without any 
 further mishap. He alighted at the Tuileries in the 
 night of July 2 ; and when the news of his return 
 had gone the rounds of Paris the next day, the entire 
 population thronged the courts and garden. They 
 crowded beneath the windows of the Pavilion of 
 Flora, hoping to get a glimpse of the saviour of 
 France, the liberator of Italy. In the evening there 
 was neither rich nor poor who did not illuminate his 
 mansion or his garret. 
 
 It was shortly after his arrival in Paris that the 
 First Consul learned the death of General Kl^ber. 
 Suleyman's poniard had immolated this great captain 
 the same day that the cannon of ]\Iarengo brought 
 low another hero of the army of Egypt. This assas- 
 sination afflicted the First Consul very keenly. I 
 witnessed this and can affirm it, and yet his calum- 
 niators have dared to say that he rejoiced at an event 
 which, even to consider it merely on its political side, 
 caused him the loss of a conquest which had cost him 
 so many efforts and France so much expense and 
 blood. Other wretches, still more infamous and 
 stupid, have gone so far as to imagine and to circulate
 
 MEMOIIiS OF CONSTANT 75 
 
 the rumor that the First Consul had commanded the 
 assassination of his companion in arms, of hira whom 
 he had put in his own place at the head of the army 
 of Egypt. I know of but one answer to make to 
 such people, if any answer is needed : it is that they 
 never knew the Emperor. 
 
 After his return the First Consul often went with 
 liis wife to Malmaison, where he sometimes remained 
 for several days. At this period the valet on duty 
 followed the carriage on horseback. One day as he 
 was going to Paris, the First Consul perceived, when 
 about a hundred paces from the chateau, that he had 
 forgotten his snuff-box ; he told me to go and find it. 
 I wheeled and set off at a gallop, and having found 
 the snuff-box on the First Consul's bureau, I set off 
 at the same pace on his track. I did not come up with 
 his carriage till we reached Ruelle. But just as I 
 was about to do so, my horse's foot slipped on a 
 pebble ; he fell and threw me over into a ditch. The 
 fall was severe ; I remained stretched out on the spot, 
 a shoulder dislocated and an arm badly bruised. The 
 First Consul had his horses stopped at once, gave 
 himself the orders necessary for taking me up, and 
 indicated the attentions which must be given me 
 in my condition ; I was carried, in his presence, to 
 the Ruelle barracks, and before continuing his route 
 he assured himself that I was in no danger. The 
 family doctor was summoned to Ruelle, where he 
 set my shoulder and dressed my arm. From there 
 I was taken, as gently as possible, to jMalmaison.
 
 76 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 The excellent Madame Bonaparte was so kind as to 
 visit me, and had all possible attentions lavished on 
 me. 
 
 On the day when I resumed my service, after my 
 recovery, I was in the First Consul's antechamber 
 just as he was leaving his cabinet. He came up to 
 me and asked with much interest how I was. I 
 answered him that, thanks to the care my excellent 
 masters had caused to be given me, I was completely 
 cured. " So much the better," said the First Consul 
 to me. " Constant, make haste to regain your former 
 strength. Continue to serve me well, and I will 
 take care of you. Here," added he, putting three 
 little papers in my hand, " this is to replenish your 
 wardrobe ; " and he passed on without listening to 
 the thanks I was addressing to him with much emo- 
 tion, far more for the benevolence and the interest 
 he had deigned to display, than for his present ; for 
 I did not know in what that consisted. When he 
 was gone, I unrolled my chiffons ; they were three 
 bank-notes of a thousand francs each ! I was affected 
 to tears by so perfect a kindness. It must be remem- 
 bered that at this time the First Consul was not rich, 
 although he was tlie first magistrate of the Republic. 
 Hence the recollection of this generous deed still 
 moves me profoundly even now. I do not know 
 whether any one will be interested by details so per- 
 sonal to me ; but I think them calculated to make 
 known the character of the Emperor, so outrageously 
 misapprehended, and his habitual manner with the
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 11 
 
 people of his household ; they will at the same time 
 afford grounds for a conclusion as to whether the 
 rigid economy he required in his family, and of which 
 I shall myself have occasion to speak elsewhere, was, 
 as it has been called, a sordid avarice, or not rather a 
 rule of prudence which he willingly departed from 
 when urged to do so by his kindness or his humanity. 
 I do not know whether my memory deceives me in 
 making me set down here a circumstance that proves 
 the esteem the First Consul had for the heroes of his 
 army, and which he liked to display to them on every 
 occasion. I was in his bedroom one day, at the usual 
 hour for his toilet, and was on that day fulfilling the 
 duties of first valet de chambre, Hambert being either 
 absent or in some way hindered. There was no one in 
 the apartment, apart from the attendants, except the 
 brave and modest Colonel Gerard Lacu^je, one of the 
 First Consul's aides-de-camp. M. J^r6me Bonaparte, 
 then hardly seventeen years old, was introduced. 
 This young man was giving his family frequent sub- 
 jects for complaint, and feared nobody but his brother 
 Napoleon, who reprimanded, preached to, and scolded 
 him as if he had been his son. There was a question 
 at the time of making him a sailor less for the sake of 
 a career than to remove him from the seductive temp- 
 tations which the lofty fortune of his brother caused 
 to spring up under his feet, and Avhich he was very 
 far from resisting. One can understand that it cost 
 him something to relinquish pleasures so easy and so 
 intoxicating to a young man. Hence he never failed
 
 78 3TEM0IRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 to proclaim his inaptitude for the naval service on 
 every occasion, going so far, it was said, as to allow 
 himself to be rejected by the marine examiners, 
 altliough, with a little study and good will, it Avould 
 have been easy for him to answer their questions. 
 However, the will of the First Consul had to be 
 obeyed, and M. Jdrome was obliged to embark. 
 On the day I am speaking of, after some minutes of 
 conversation and of grumbling, always on the subject 
 of the marine, M. J^rOme said to his brother: "In- 
 stead of sending me to die of ennui at sea, you ought 
 to take me for aide-de-camp." " You greenliorn ! " 
 his brother responded briskly ; " wait until a ball 
 shall have ploughed up your face, and then we will 
 see ; " and at the same time he glanced toward Colonel 
 Lacu^e, who reddened and cast down his eyes like a 
 young girl. To understand how flattering to hin\i 
 this answer was, one should know that his face was 
 scarred by a ball. This brave colonel was killed 
 in 1805, before Guntzbourg. The Emperor keenly 
 regretted him. He was one of the most intrepid, 
 most learned men in the army. 
 
 It was, I think, about this epoch that tlie First 
 Consul was smitten with a strong passion for a 
 
 young lady full of wit and grace, Madame D . 
 
 Madame Bonaparte, suspecting this intrigue, showed 
 that she was jealous of it, and lier husband did all he 
 could to allay the conjugal suspicions. He waited 
 until everybody was asleep before going to his 
 mistress, and even carried precaution so far as to
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 79 
 
 make the transit between the two apartments in 
 night-drawers, minus either shoes or stockings. I 
 once saw the day break before lie returned, and, 
 dreading scandal, I went, according to the orders 
 given me by the First Consul liiniself, in case such 
 
 a thing should happen, to warn Madame D 's 
 
 waiting-woman, so that, on her part, she could go 
 and tell her mistress the hour. Hardly five minutes 
 after this prudent warning had been given, I saw 
 the First Consul returning in considerable agitation, 
 of which I presently learned the cause : he had 
 caught sight, as he was coming back, of one of 
 Madame Bonaparte's women, who Avas spying on 
 him through the window of a cabinet opening on the 
 corridor,. The First Consul, after a vigorous out- 
 burst against the curiosity of the fair sex, sent me 
 to the young scout of the enemy's camp, to notify 
 her of the order to hold her tongue if she did not 
 want to be dismissed, and not to repeat her indiscre- 
 tion in future. I do not know whether he did not 
 add some gentler argument to these terrible threats, 
 in order to hui/ her silence ; but whether through fear 
 or favor, she had the good sense to keep quiet. 
 Nevertheless the successful lover, fearing some new 
 surprise, ordered me to hire a little house in the 
 
 All^e des Veuves, where he and Madame D 
 
 met from time to time. 
 
 This was the way in which the First Consul 
 always acted toward his wife. He Avas full of con- 
 sideration for her, and took every imaginable means
 
 80 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 of preventing his infidelities from reaching her 
 knowledge. Moreover, these passing infidelities de- 
 tracted nothing from his tenderness for her, and 
 although other women may have inspired him with 
 love, none had his confidence and friendship to the 
 same extent as Madame Bonaparte. It is the same 
 with the Emperor's severity and brutality toward 
 women as it is with the thousand and one other 
 calumnies of which he was the object. He was not 
 always courtly, but no one ever saw him coarse, 
 and however singular this observation may appear 
 after what I have just narrated, he professed the 
 greatest veneration for a well-conducted woman, 
 praised faithful marriages, and did not like inde- 
 cency either in morals or language. Although he 
 had several secret liaisons, it was not his fault 
 that they were not carefully concealed.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The infernal machine — The most disabled of architects — The 
 happy chance — Precipitation and delay alike salutary — Hor- 
 tense slightly wounded — Fright of Madame Murat and its con- 
 sequences — Germain the coachman — How he got the name of 
 Caesar — Inexactitudes respecting him — Banquet oifered him by 
 five hundred cabmen — The author at the Feydeau during the 
 explosion — Alarm — Runs without a hat — Inflexible sentinels 
 — The First Consul re-enters the Tuileries — The First Consul's 
 remarks to Constant — The consular guard — The First Con- 
 sul's household placed under surveillance — Unalterable fidelity 
 — The Jacobins innocent and the Royalists guilty — Grand review 
 — Joy of soldiers and people — Universal peace — Public rejoic- 
 ings and improvised feasts — Reception of the military corps and 
 of Lord Cornwallis — Military luxury — The Begent diamond. 
 
 rpHE 3d Nivose, year IX. (December 21, 1800), 
 the Opera gave, hy command^ Haydn's Creation^ 
 and the First Consul had announced that he would 
 go with all his family to hear the magnificent ora- 
 torio. He dined that day with Madame Bonaparte, 
 her daughter, and Generals Rapp, Lauriston, Lannes, 
 and Berthier. I was just then on duty ; but as the 
 First Consul was going to the Opera, I thought my 
 presence at the chateau would be superfluous, and 
 determined to go for my own part to the Feydeau, 
 where ]\Iadame Bonaparte provided us with a box 
 situated beneath her own. After dinner, which the 
 
 VOL. I. — G 81
 
 82 MEMOIES OF CONSTANT 
 
 First Consul expedited with his usual promptness, 
 he rose from table, followed by his officers, except- 
 ing General Rapp, who remained with Mesdames 
 Josephine and Hortense. Toward seven o'clock the 
 First Consul entered a carriacre alons^ with MM. 
 Lannes, Berthier, and Lauriston, to go to the Opera ; 
 on reaching the middle of the rue Saint-Nicaise, the 
 outrider who preceded the carriage found the way- 
 obstructed by what seemed to be an abandoned cart, 
 on top of which a cask was strongly attached by 
 cords. The head of the escort had this cart shoved 
 alongside the houses on the right, and the First 
 Consul's coachman, who had become impatient at 
 this brief delay, whipped up his horses, which started 
 off like a flash. It was not more than two seconds 
 after they started when the barrel on the cart ex- 
 ploded with a frightful noise. None of the escort 
 and suite of the First Consul were killed, but sev- 
 eral received injuries. The fate of those who, either 
 living in the street or passing through it, found 
 themselves near the horrible machine was much 
 more afflicting; more than twenty of them perished, 
 and more tlian sixty were grievously wounded. M. 
 Trepsat, architect, had a thigli broken ; the First 
 Consul afterwards decorated him and appointed him 
 architect of the Invalides, saying to him that he had 
 long been the most disabled of architects. All the 
 window panes in the Tuileries were broken ; several 
 houses fell down ; all those on the rue Saint-Nicaise 
 and even some on adjacent streets were badly dam-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 83 
 
 aged.i Some of the debris flew as far as the house 
 of Consul Cambacdres. The windows of the First 
 Consul's carriage were broken in pieces. 
 
 By the luckiest of chances, the cai-riages of the 
 suite, which were to have been immediately behind 
 that of the First Consul, were far enough behind, 
 and this is Avhy: After dinner, Madame Bonaparte 
 had sent for a shawl to wear to the Opera; when 
 it was brought. General Rapp gayly criticised the 
 color of it and urged her to choose another. Madame 
 Bonaparte defended her shawl, and said to the Gen- 
 
 1 The prefect of police sent a report to the consuls in which, 
 after having recounted the details of this frightful event, he gave 
 the list of killed and wounded. There were eight of the former 
 and twenty -eight of the latter. 
 
 "Forty-six horses," adds the report, "were extremely damaged. 
 
 "The damage to real estate is estimated at the sum of 40,845 
 francs. 
 
 " To furniture, at 123,645 francs. 
 
 "The national buildings are not comprised in this estimate. 
 
 "The horse, the remains of the vehicle, and several portions of 
 the casks were taken to the prefecture. 
 
 "These remains have been scrupulously collected, A descrip- 
 tion of the horse has been drawn up with the greatest care." 
 
 M. Dubois had thought it his duty to end his i-eport by a compli- 
 ment to the First Consul, in which there was, notwithstanding, 
 considerable truth ; viz., that the attempt of the 3d Nivose had 
 redoubled the attachment of the French to the head of the State. 
 Here is the last paragraph but one of the report : 
 
 " From the very first moment of the explosion an inquest was 
 made on the spot. Declarations were received ; and even amidst 
 the cries of anguish uttered by the wretched victims of the most 
 atrocious of outrages, the heart could still experience an agreeable 
 sensation ; these unfortunates forgot themselves to think only of 
 the First Consul ; it was for him that they demanded vengeance."
 
 84 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 eral that he knew as much about attacking a toilet 
 as she did about attacking a redoubt. This friendly 
 discussion was carried on for some time in the same 
 tone. During this interval, the First Consul, who 
 never waited, started in advance, and the miserable 
 assassins who were authors of the plot set off their 
 infernal machine. If the First Consul's coachman 
 had been in less of a hurry, and had delayed only 
 two seconds longer, it would have been all up with 
 his master; if, on the contrary, Madame Bonaparte 
 had made haste to follow her husband, it would have 
 been all over with her and her suite ; it was, in fact 
 this momentary delay which saved her life and her 
 daughter's, that of Madame Murat, her sister-in-law, 
 and those of all who were to accompany her. The 
 carriage containing these ladies, instead of being in 
 line with that of the First Consul, had come out on 
 the Place du Carrousel at the moment when the 
 machine exploded; its windows were broken also. 
 Madame Bonaparte received nothing but a great 
 fright ; Mademoiselle Hortense was slightly wounded 
 in the face by a splinter of glass ; Madame Caroline 
 Murat, who was then far advanced in pregnancy, 
 was seized by such a fear that they were obliged to 
 take her back to the chS,teau. This catastrophe had 
 a ofreat effect also on the health of her child. I have 
 been told that Prince Achille Murat is still subject 
 to frequent attacks of epilepsy. It is known that 
 the First Consul went on to the Opera, where he was 
 received with indescribable acclamations, and where
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 85 
 
 the calmness imprinted on his countenance contrasted 
 strongly with the pallor and agitation of Madame Bona- 
 parte, who had trembled, not for herself, but for him. 
 The coachman who thus fortunately conducted the 
 First Consul was called Germain : he had gone with 
 him to Egypt, and during an affray had killed an 
 Arab with his own hands under the eyes of the 
 Commander-in-Chief, who, amazed at his courage, 
 had exclaimed: "The devil! there's a hero ! He is a 
 Csesar ! " The name stuck to him. It has been 
 pretended that this worthy man was drunk at the 
 time of the explosion. That is an error which his 
 very address in this circumstance contradicts in a 
 positive manner. Whenever the First Consul, after 
 becoming Emperor, went out incognito in Paris, it 
 was Csesar who drove him, but never in livery. It 
 will be found in the Memorial of Saint Helena that 
 the Emperor, speaking of Csesar, says that he was in 
 a state of complete intoxication ; that he took the 
 detonation for a salute of artillery, and did not know 
 until the next morning what had happened. All 
 that is inexact, and the Emperor had been badly 
 informed with respect to his coachman. Csesar 
 drove the First Consul very fast because the latter 
 had charged him to do so, and because he thought, 
 for his own part, that it concerned his honor not 
 to be late on account of the obstacle interposed 
 by the infernal machine before the explosion. I 
 saw Csesar the evening of the event, who was per- 
 fectly recent^ and who related to me some of the
 
 86 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 events I have just told. Some days afterward, four 
 or five hundred Parisian hackmen clubbed tog-ether 
 and offered him a magnificent dinner, at twenty- 
 four francs a head. 
 
 While the infernal conspiracy was being carried 
 out and costing the lives of so great a number of 
 innocent citizens, yet without attaining the end pro- 
 posed by the assassins, I was, as I have said, at the 
 Feydeau theatre, where I was preparing to enjoy at 
 leisure one evening's liberty and the pleasure of see- 
 ing a play, a thing for wliich I have all my life had a 
 real passion. But hardly was I squarely installed in 
 the box, when the doorkeeper entered suddenly and 
 in the greatest disorder: "Monsieur Constant," 
 cried she, " they say the First Consul has just been 
 blown up ; everybody has heard a frightful noise ; 
 they declare that he is dead." These terrible words 
 were like a thunderclap to me ; not knowing what 
 I was about, and not thinking to take my hat, I 
 ran like a madman to the chateau. I saw no ex- 
 traordinary commotion while passing through the 
 rue Vinvienne and the Palais-Royal, but in the rue 
 Saint-Honor^ the tumult was extreme. I saw them 
 carrying on stretchers some dead bodies and some 
 wounded who had at first been sheltered in neigh- 
 boring houses in the rue Saint-Nicaise ; a thousand 
 groups had assembled, and were cursing with one 
 voice the still unknown authors of this execrable 
 attempt. Some were accusing the Jacobins, who, 
 tliree months earlier, had put poniards in the hands
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 87 
 
 of Ceracchi, Arena, and Topino-Lebrun ; while others, 
 though not so many, named the aristocrats, the 
 Royalists, as alone guilty of this atrocity. I lent 
 no further ear to these various accusations than the 
 time required to force my way through a dense and 
 enormous crowd ; as soon as I could I resumed my 
 course, and in two seconds was at the Carrousel. I 
 sprang toward the wicket, but at the same moment the 
 two sentinels crossed bayonets on my breast. It was 
 of no use for me to cry that I was the First Consul's 
 valet de chambre ; my bare head, my distracted air, 
 the disorder of my whole person and of my ideas, 
 seemed suspicious to them, and they obstinately and 
 most energetically refused to let me enter. I then 
 begged them to summon the concierge of the chateau ; 
 he came, and I was introduced, or rather I precipi- 
 tated myself into the chateau, where I learned what 
 had just occurred. Soon after, the First Consul ar- 
 rived and was at once surrounded by all his officers 
 and his entire household ; there was not a soul 
 present who was not in the greatest anxiety. When 
 the First Consul alighted from the carriage, he seemed 
 very calm and was smiling ; he even seemed amused. 
 On entering the vestibule, he said to his officers, rub- 
 bing his hands : " Eh well ! gentlemen, we have had 
 a fine escape!" The latter were shuddering with 
 wrath and indignation. Then he entered the large 
 salon on the ground-floor, where a great number of 
 councillors of state, and officials, were already as- 
 sembled ; they had barely commenced to offer him
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 their congratulations when he began to speak, and in 
 a tone so loud that his voice could be heard outside 
 the salon. We were told after this council that he 
 had had a lively altercation with M. Fouch^, min- 
 ister of police, whom he had reproached with his 
 ignorance of this conspiracy, and that he had loudly 
 accused the Jacobins of being the authors of it. 
 
 When he was going to bed that evening, the First 
 Consul laughingly asked me if I had been frightened. 
 " More than you were, General," I answered ; and 
 I told him how I had learned the bad news at the 
 Feydeau, and how I had run Avithout a hat to the 
 wicket of the Carrousel, where the sentinels had been 
 determined not to let me enter. He was amused by 
 the oaths and unflattering epithets with which they 
 had accompanied their refusal, and ended by saying 
 to me : " After all, my dear Constant, you must bear 
 thera no ill will for it ; they were only doing their 
 duty. They were honest men, on whom I can rely." 
 The fact is that the consular guard was not less loyal 
 at this epoch than when it afterwards received the 
 title of imperial guard. At the first rumor of the 
 danger incurred by the First Consul, all the soldiers 
 of this faithful troop had spontaneously assembled in 
 the court of the Tuileries. 
 
 After this fatal catastrophe, which disturbed all 
 France and put so many families in mourning, the 
 entire police force was actively emploj^ed in searching 
 for its authors. The household of the First Consul 
 was at once placed under surveillance. We were
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 89 
 
 incessantly spied upon, without our suspecting it. 
 All our proceedings, all our visits, all our comings 
 and goings, were known ; and likewise our friends 
 and connections, and we ourselves were under in- 
 spection. But such was the devotion of each and all 
 of us to the person of the First Consul, so great was 
 the affection he could inspire in those about hiin, that 
 not one of those in his service was suspected for an 
 instant of being implicated in this infamous attempt. 
 Neither then, nor in any affair of the sort, were the 
 people of his own household ever compromised, and 
 never has the name of the least of the Emperor's 
 servants been found mixed up in criminal schemes 
 against a life so dear and glorious. 
 
 The minister of police suspected the Royalists of 
 this outrage. The First Consul accused nothing but 
 the conscience of the Jacobins, heavy enough already, 
 it must be owned, with crimes as odious. One 
 hundred and thirty of these men, the most prominent 
 of the party, were transported merely on suspicion 
 and without trial. It is well known that the dis- 
 covery, trial, and execution of Saint-Regent and 
 Carbon, the real criminals, proved that the suspic- 
 ions of the minister were better founded than those 
 of the head of the State. 
 
 The 4th Nivose, at noon, the First Consul held a 
 grand review on the Place du Carrousel. An in- 
 numerable crowd of citizens were assembled there to 
 see him and testify their affection for his person and 
 their indignation against enemies who dared attack
 
 90 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 him only by assassination. Hardly had he turned 
 his horse toward the fii"st line of grenadiers of the 
 consular guard, when the air was rent with countless 
 shouts. He rode very slowly tlirough all the ranks, 
 exhibiting much feeling, and responding by several 
 simple and affectionate salutes to this outburst of 
 popular joy. The cries of "Long live Bonaparte! 
 Lonsr live the First Consul ! " did not cease until 
 after he had returned to his apartments. 
 
 The conspirators who persevered with such bitter- 
 ness in their attempts on the life of the First Consul, 
 could have chosen no time more unfavorable to their 
 schemes than 1800 and 1801 ; for at that period the 
 First Consul was loved not only for his great military 
 achievements, but also, and above all, for the hopes 
 of peace that he gave to France. These hopes were 
 speedily realized. At the first rumor that peace had 
 been concluded wdth Austria, the majority of the 
 inhabitants of Paris assembled underneath the win- 
 dows of the Pavilion of Flora. Benedictions and cries 
 of gratitude and joy resounded there ; then musicians 
 assembled to serenade the head of the State, ended 
 by forming into orchestras, and dancing was kept up 
 all night. I have never seen anything more singular 
 and joyful than this improvised festival. 
 
 And when, in October, the Peace of Amiens having 
 been concluded with England, France found herself 
 delivered from all the wars she had sustained for so 
 many years and at the price of so many sacrifices, no 
 idea can be formed of the transports which broke
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 91 
 
 forth on every side. The decrees ordaining either 
 the disarmament of war vessels or the reorganization 
 of strongholds on a peace footing, were welcomed as 
 pledges of happiness and security. On the day of 
 the reception of Lord Cornwallis, the English am- 
 bassador, the First Consul displayed the greatest 
 pomp. " We must show these haughty Britons," he 
 said the evening before, " that we are not reduced 
 to beggary." The fact is that the English, before 
 touching French soil, had expected to find nothing 
 but ruins, dearth, and poverty in all directions. 
 France had been described to them in the most 
 sombre colors, and they imagined themselves about 
 to land in Barbary. Their surprise was extreme 
 when they saw how many evils the First Consul had 
 repaired in so short a time, and the improvements he 
 still proposed to make. They spread the news in 
 their own country of what they called the First Con- 
 sul's prodigies, and thousands of their compatriots 
 hastened over to see and judge them with their own 
 eyes. At the moment when Lord Cornwallis entered 
 the hall of ambassadors with his suite, these English- 
 men must have been struck by the aspect of the First 
 Consul, surrounded by his two colleagues, the entire 
 diplomatic corps, and an already brilliant military 
 court. Amidst all tliese rich uniforms his own was 
 remarkable for its simplicity ; but the diamond called 
 the Regent, which had been pawned b}- the Directory, 
 and redeemed within a few days by the First Consul, 
 glittered in the hilt of his sword.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 The King of Etniria — Madame de Montesson — The monarch not 
 industrious — Conversation about him between the Fii'st and 
 Second Consuls — A joke about the return of the Bourbons — 
 Intelligence and conversation of Don Louis — Singular traits of 
 economy — A present worth a hundred thousand ecus and a 
 royal gratuity of six francs — The severity of Don Louis toward 
 his attendants — Hauteur towards a diplomat, and disgust for 
 serious occupations — The King of Etruria installed by the 
 future King of Naples — The Queen of Etruria — Her lack of 
 taste in dress — Her good sense — Her kindness — Her fidelity 
 in the fulfilment of her duties — INIagnificent fetes at the house 
 of M. de Talleyrand — At the house of Madame de Montesson 
 — At that of the minister of the interior on the anniversary of 
 the battle of Marengo — Departure of Their Majesties. 
 
 XN May, 1801, the Prince of Tuscany, Don Louis I., 
 -^ whom the First Consul had just made King of 
 Etruria, arrived in Paris to go from there into his 
 new kingdom. He travelled under the name of the 
 Count of Leghorn, with his wife, the Infanta of 
 Spain, Marie Louise, third daughter of Charles IV. 
 Notwithstanding the incognito he seemed to wish 
 to maintain, judging from the modest title he had 
 assumed, possibly on account of the insignificant 
 appearance of his little court, he was received and 
 treated at the Tuileries in kingly style. This prince 
 Avas in rather bad health and suffered, so they said, 
 
 92
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 93 
 
 from epilepsy. He had been lodged at the hotel of 
 the Spanish Embassy, formerly the hotel Montesson, 
 and he had begged Madame de Montesson, who lived 
 next door, to allow him to restore a way of com- 
 munication long since closed up. He took great 
 pleasure, as the Queen of Etruria did also, in the 
 company of this lady, the widow of the Duke of 
 Orleans, and spent several consecutive hours there 
 almost every da3^ A Bourbon himself, he doubtless 
 liked to hear all the details that could be given him 
 by a person who had lived at their court and in the 
 intimacy of their family, to which she belonged her- 
 self by ties which were none the less legitimate and 
 avowed for being officially unrecognized. Madame 
 de Montesson received at her house all the most dis- 
 tinguished people in Paris. She had reunited the re- 
 mains of social circles formerly most sought after, 
 and which the Revolution had dispersed. A friend 
 of jNIadame Bonaparte, she was liked and venerated 
 by the First Consul, who desired that people should 
 think and speak well of him in the most noble and 
 most elegant salon of the capital. Moreover, he 
 relied on the souvenirs and the exquisite tone of 
 this lady to establish in his own palace and society, 
 of which he already dreamed of making a courts the 
 usages and etiquette practised in those of sovereigns. 
 The King of Etruria was not a great worker, and, 
 in this respect, he did not greatly please the First 
 Consul, who could not endure idleness. I heard 
 him one day, in conversation with his colleague,
 
 94 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 M. Cambacdres, treat liis royal protege (absent, as 
 there is no need to say) very severely. " There 
 is a good prince," said he, " who does not concern 
 himself much about his very dear and beloved sub- 
 jects. He spends his time cackling with old women, 
 to whom he says aloud a great many good things 
 about me, while he grumbles in an undertone at 
 having to owe his elevation to the head of this 
 cursed French Republic. That fellow occupies him- 
 self with nothing but promenades, hunting, balls, 
 and plays." " They say," observed M. Cambaceres, 
 " that you intended to disgust the French with kings 
 by showing them such a specimen, just as the Spar- 
 tans disgusted their children with drunkenness by 
 making them see a slave drunk." — " Not at all, not 
 at all, my dear fellow," returned the First Consul; 
 "I am not anxious to disgust them with royalty; 
 but the sojourn of His Majesty the King of Etruria 
 will dissatisfy that considerable number of worthy 
 people who are laboring to revive the taste for the 
 Bourbons." 
 
 Don Louis did not deserve, perhaps, to be treated 
 so severely, though, it must be owned, he was en- 
 dowed with very little wit and still less charm. 
 When he dined at the Tuileries he could not answer 
 the simplest questions put to him by tlie First Con- 
 sul without embarrassment ; beyond rain and fine 
 weather, horses, dogs, and other subjects of equal 
 importance, there was nothing to which he could 
 give a satisfactory response. The Queen, his wife,
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 95 
 
 often made signs to put him on the right track, and 
 even whispered to him what he ought to do or say ; 
 but that only made his absolute lack of presence of 
 mind more shocking. People in general made a 
 good deal of fun at his expense, but they took care, 
 however, not to do it in the presence of the First 
 Consul, who would not have suffered a failure in 
 respect toward a guest to whom he himself showed 
 much. 
 
 During his stay the First Consul sent him several 
 times some magnificent presents, Savonnerie carpets, 
 Lyons stuffs, Sevres porcelains. On such occasions. 
 His Majesty refused nothing, unless it were to give 
 some trifling gratuity to the bearers of all these 
 precious objects. Gne day they brought him a vase 
 of the greatest value (it cost, I think, a hundred 
 thousand ecus); it took a dozen workmen to place 
 it in the King's apartment. Their work finished, tlie 
 men were waiting for His Majesty to testify to them 
 his satisfaction, and flattered themselves on beholding 
 him display a truly royal generosity. However, time 
 slipped by and they did not see the hoped-for recom- 
 pense arriving. At last they addressed themselves 
 to one of the chamberlains, and begged him to lay 
 their just claims before the King of Etruria. His 
 Majesty, who was still in ecstasies over the beauty of 
 the gift and the munificence of the First Consul, 
 could not have been more surprised than he was at 
 such a demand. This was a present ; then what he 
 had to do was to receive, not to give. It was only
 
 96 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 after a good deal of urging that the chamberlain 
 obtained for each of these workmen an ^cu of six 
 francs, which the good fellows refused. 
 
 The members of the Prince's suite claimed that to 
 this exaggerated aversion to expense, he joined an 
 extreme severity toward them. However, the first 
 of these two dispositions probably induced the atten- 
 dants of the King of Etruria to exaggerate the second. 
 Masters who are much too economical never fail to be 
 adjudged severe, and at the same time to be severely 
 judged by their servants. It is perhaps (be it said 
 in passing) on account of judgments of this nature 
 that certain persons have credited the calumnious re- 
 port which represented the Emperor as often inclined 
 to thrash people ; and yet the economy of the Emperor 
 Napoleon was nothing but a love of the most perfect 
 order in his household expenses. What is certain 
 about the King of Etruria is that he did not really 
 feel either all the enthusiasm or all the gratitude 
 that he professed for the First Consul. The latter 
 had more than one proof of this; so much for his 
 sincerity. As for his talent for governing and reign- 
 ing, the First Consul said on rising to M. Cambac^res, 
 in the same interview of which I just now recounted 
 a few words, that the Spanish ambassador complained 
 of the haughtiness of the Prince towards him, of his 
 complete ignorance, and of the disgust with which 
 every sort of serious occupation inspired him. Such 
 was the king who was to govern a part of Italy. It 
 was General Murat who installed him in his king-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 97 
 
 dom, without suspecting, according to all appearance, 
 that a throne was reserved for him also, within a few 
 leagues of that on which he had just seated Don 
 Louis. 
 
 The Queen of Etruria was, in the judgment of the 
 First Consul, much better and more prudent than 
 her august spouse. This princess shone neither by 
 grace nor elegance ; she had herself dressed in the 
 morning for the whole day, and promenaded in the 
 garden with a diadem, or flowers on her head, and in 
 a robe with a train that swept the sand of the alleys. 
 More often than not she carried in her arms one of 
 her children still in swaddling-clothes and subject 
 to all the inconveniences of such a baby. One can 
 understand that by evening Her Majesty's toilet 
 was somewhat in disorder. Besides, she was far from 
 being pretty, and had not the manners befitting her 
 rank. But, Avhich certainly more than compensated 
 for all this, she was very good, very much loved by 
 her attendants, and fulfilled scrupulously all her 
 duties as wife and mother ; hence the First Consul, 
 who esteemed the domestic virtues so highly, pro- 
 fessed the highest and most sincere esteem for her. 
 
 There was a constant succession of fetes during 
 the whole month that Their INIajesties stayed in Paris. 
 M. de Talleyrand offered them one at Neuilly of 
 admirable opulence and splendor. I was on duty, 
 and I attended the First Consul there. The chateau 
 and the park were illuminated by a brilliant pro- 
 fusion of colored o-lass. There was a concert in
 
 98 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 the first place, at tlie end of which the back of the 
 hall was lifted like the curtain at a theatre, and dis- 
 played the principal place in Florence, the ducal 
 palace, a fountain of gushing water, and the Tuscans 
 indulging in the games and dances of their country 
 and chanting couplets in honor of their sovereigns. 
 M. de Talleyrand came to beg Their ]\Iajesties 
 to deign to mingle with their subjects ; and they 
 had hardly set foot in the garden when tliey found 
 themselves as it were in fairyland : luminous bombs, 
 rockets, Bengal lights, went off in every direction 
 and in every form; colonnades, triumphal arches, 
 and flaming palaces rose, were eclipsed, and suc- 
 ceeded each other without a break. Several tables 
 were laid in the apartments and in the gardens, and 
 all the spectators were able to seat themselves in 
 succession. Finally a magnificent ball worthily 
 crowned this evening of enchantments ; it was opened 
 by tlie King of Etruria and Madame Leclerc (Pauline 
 Borghese). 
 
 Madame de Montesson also offered Their Majesties 
 a ball, at which all the family of the First Consul 
 were present. But of all these diversions, that which 
 I have remembered best is the truly marvellous soirde 
 given by M. Chaptal, minister of the interior. The 
 day he selected was the 14th of June, anniversary of 
 the battle of Marengo. After the concert, the play, 
 the ball, a new representation of the city and the in- 
 habitants of Florence, a splendid supper was served 
 in the garden, under military tents, decorated with
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 99 
 
 flags, sheaves of arms, and trophies. Each lady was 
 accompanied and served at table by an officer in uni- 
 form. When the King and Queen of Etruria came 
 out of their tent a balloon was sent up, which carried 
 into the air the name of Marengo in letters of fire. 
 
 Their Majesties wished to visit the principal public 
 establishments before departing. They went to the 
 Conservatory, to a session of the Institute, where they 
 looked as if they comprehended very little, and to 
 the Mint, where a medal was struck in their honor. 
 M. Chaptal received the thanks of the Queen for the 
 manner in which he had received and treated the 
 noble guests, as a savant of the Institute, as a minister 
 in his own house, and in the visits they had made to 
 the different establishments of the capital. The day 
 before his departure, the King had a long secret inter- 
 view with the First Consul. I do not know what 
 took place ; but neither of them looked satisfied on 
 coming out of it. Nevertheless Their Majesties 
 must, on the whole, have carried away with them 
 the most favorable idea of the reception accorded 
 them.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 A madman's passion for Mademoiselle Hortense — Marriage of M. 
 Louis Bonaparte and Hortense — Vexations — Cliaracter of M. 
 Louis — Atrocious calumny against the Emperor and his step- 
 daughter — Inclination of Hortense before her marriage — 
 General Duroc marries Mademoiselle Hervas d' Alm^nara — 
 Portrait of this lady — The broken piano and the smashed watch 
 — Marriage and sadness — Misfortunes of Hortense before, 
 during, and after her grandeurs — The First Consul's journey 
 to Lyons — Fetes and felicitations — Soldiers of the army of 
 Egypt — The Pope's legate — The deputies of the council — 
 Death of the Archbishop of Milan — Occasional verses — Poets 
 of the Empire — The First Consul and his writing master — 
 M. I'Abb^ Dupuis, librarian of Malmaison. 
 
 "TN all the fetes offered by the First Consul to 
 Their Majesties, the King and Queen of Etruria, 
 Mademoiselle Hortense had shone with that sj^lendor 
 of youth and grace which made her the pride of her 
 mother and the most beautiful ornament of the bud- 
 ding court of the First Consul. 
 
 About this time she inspired the most violent pas- 
 sion in a gentleman of very good family, but whose 
 brain was already, I think, somewhat deranged before 
 he took this foolish love into his head. This unfortu- 
 nate incessantly prowled about Malmaison ; and as 
 soon as Mademoiselle came out, he would run to the 
 side of the carriage and, with the liveliest demonstra- 
 
 100
 
 MEMOIIiS OF CONSTANT 101 
 
 tions of affection, throw flowers, locks of his hair, 
 and verses of his composition in through the door. 
 Whenever he met Mademoiselle on foot, he would 
 throw himself on his knees before her with a thou- 
 sand passionate gestures, and call her by the most 
 touching names. In spite of everybody, he followed 
 her even into the court of the chateau, and gave him- 
 self up to all his folly. At first, Mademoiselle, being 
 young and gay, amused herself with the affectations 
 of her adorer. She read the verses he sent her, and 
 gave them to the ladies who accompanied to read 
 also. Such poetry was calculated to produce laughter ; 
 hence she found no fault with it at first ; but after 
 these first transports of gaiety, Mademoiselle Hor- 
 tense, who, like her mother, was good and charm- 
 ing, never failed to say, with a compassionate look 
 and accent: "That poor man is very much to be 
 pitied!" In the end, however, the importunities of 
 this wretched madman multiplied so that they became 
 insupportable. In Paris he would stand at the door 
 of the theatres whenever Mademoiselle Hortense was 
 to go there, and prostrate himself at her feet, suppli- 
 cating, weeping, laughing, and gesticulating all at 
 once. This spectacle amused the crowd too much to 
 continue to amuse Mademoiselle de Beauharnais any 
 longer ; Carrat was ordered to get rid of the unfortu- 
 nate man, who was, I think, placed in an asylum. 
 
 Mademoiselle would have been only too happy if 
 she had never known love except through the bur- 
 lesque effects it produced in a deranged brain. In
 
 102 MEMOinS OF CONSTANT 
 
 that case she would have seen it only on its comic 
 and amusing side. But the moment came when she 
 had to feel all the sorrow and bitterness there is in the 
 disappointments of this passion. In January, 1802, 
 she was married to M. Louis Bonaparte, brother of 
 the First Consul. This alliance was suitable as far 
 as age was concerned. M. Louis was hardly twenty- 
 four, and Mademoiselle de Beauharnais not more 
 than eighteen ; and yet it was the source of long and 
 interminable vexations to both of them. M. Louis 
 was, however, good and sensible, full of benevolence 
 and wit, studious and a friend of letters, like all his 
 brothers except one ; but his health was poor, he 
 was ill almost constantly, and had a melancholy 
 disposition. All of the First Consul's brothers re- 
 sembled him more or less, and M. Louis more than 
 the others, especially in the days of the consulate, 
 and before the Emperor Napoleon grew fat. At the 
 same time, not one of his brothers had that incisive 
 and imposing glance, and that rapid and imperious 
 gesture which came to him at first by instinct and 
 afterwards through the habit of command. M. Louis 
 had peaceful and modest tastes. It has been claimed 
 that at the time of his marriage he had a keen at- 
 tachment for a person whose name could not be 
 discovered and is, I believe, a mystery still. Mad- 
 emoiselle Hortense was extremely pretty, with a 
 charming and mobile countenance. Moreover, she 
 was full of grace, talents, and affability ; benevolent 
 and lovable like her mother, she had not tliat exces-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 103 
 
 sive facility, or, better, that feebleness of character 
 which sometimes detracted from Madame Bonaparte. 
 Yet this is the woman whom the evil rumors spread 
 abroad by wretched libellers have so outrageously 
 calumniated ! One's gorge rises with disgust and in- 
 dignation when such revolting absurdities are told 
 and repeated. If these worthy fabricators are to be 
 believed, the First Consul must have seduced his 
 wife's daughter before giving her in marriage to his 
 own brother. One has only to put such a thing into 
 words to make its falsity comprehended. I know 
 the love affairs of the Emperor better than anybody; 
 in that sort of clandestine connections he dreaded 
 scandal and hated the boastings of vice, and I can 
 affirm on my honor that the infamous desires which 
 have been attributed to him never germinated in his 
 heart. Like all those, and even better than all those 
 who approached Mademoiselle de Beauharnais, be- 
 cause he knew his stepdaughter more intimately, he 
 had the tenderest affection for her; but this senti- 
 ment was entirely paternal, and Mademoiselle re- 
 sponded to it with that respectful fear which a 
 well-bred girl experiences in the presence of her 
 father. She could have obtained all she desired 
 from her stepfather if extreme timidity had not pre- 
 vented her from asking ; but, instead of address- 
 ing herself directly to him, she would in the first 
 place have recourse to the secretary and attend- 
 ants of the Emperor. Would she have acted in 
 this way if the evil rumors scattered by her ene-
 
 104 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 mies and those of the Emperor had had the least 
 foundation ? 
 
 Before this marriage Mademoiselle had an inclina- 
 tion for General Duroc. He was barely thirty, well 
 made, and a favorite of the head of the State, who, 
 knowing him to be prudent and reserved, had en- 
 trusted several important missions to him. An aide- 
 de-camp of the First Consul, a general of division, and 
 governor of the Tuileries, he had long been living in 
 intimate familiarity with Malmaison and the home 
 of the First Consul. During his obligatory absences 
 he kept up a regular correspondence with Mademoi- 
 selle Hortense, and yet the indifference with which 
 he allowed her marriage with M. Louis proves that 
 he shared but feebly in the affection which he had 
 inspired. It is certain that he might have had Mad- 
 emoiselle de Beauharnais for his wife if he had 
 been willing to accept the terms on which the First 
 Consul offered him his stepdaughter's hand. But he 
 expected something better, and his usual prudence 
 failed at the moment when it might have shown him 
 a future easy to foresee, and calculated to crown the 
 wishes of an ambition more exalted than his own. 
 Hence he flatly refused, and the entreaties of 
 Madame Bonaparte, which had already shaken her 
 husband, took decidedly the upper hand. Madame 
 Bonaparte, who found herself not treated in a very 
 friendly manner by the brothers of the First Consul, 
 sought to create a. support for herself in this family 
 against the troubles constantly accumulated around
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 105 
 
 her by tliose who sought to deprive her of her hus- 
 band's affection. It was with this end in view that 
 she did all she could to bring about a marriage be- 
 tween her daughter and one of her brothers-in-law. 
 
 General Duroc probably repented in the end of the 
 precipitancy of his refusal when crowns began to 
 rain into the august family with which he might 
 have allied himself; when he saw Naples, Spain, 
 Westphalia, Upper Italy, the duchies of Parma, 
 Lucca, etc., becoming the appanages of the new im- 
 perial dynasty ; when the beautiful and gracious Hor- 
 tense herself, who had loved him so much, ascended 
 the throne which she would have been so happy to 
 share with the object of her hrst affections. As for 
 him, he married Mademoiselle Hervas d'Alm^nara, 
 daughter of the banker of the court of Spain, a little 
 woman, very brown, very thin, and not very grace- 
 ful ; but, on the other hand, of the most vixenish, 
 haughtiest, most exacting and capricious temper. 
 As she was to have an enormous dowry in marriage, 
 the First Consul asked her hand for his first aide-de- 
 camp. I have been told that Madame Duroc forgot 
 herself so far as to beat her servants, and even to 
 fly into the strangest passions with people in nowise 
 dependent on her. When M. Dubois came to tune 
 her piano, if she was unfortunately present, as she 
 could not endure the noise required by this opera- 
 tion, she would drive the tuner away with the ut- 
 most violence. In one of these singular fits, she 
 one day broke all the keys of her instrument; at
 
 106 MEifOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 another time, M. Mugnier, clockmaker to the 
 Emperor, and the first artist in Paris of his pro- 
 fession, with M. Br^guet, having brought her a very 
 costly watch, which had been o^^-dered by the Duchess 
 de Frioul herself, this bijou did not please her, and 
 in her rage she threw the watch on the floor, began 
 to dance on it, and broke it into pieces in M. Mugnier's 
 presence. She would never ^^ay for it, and the Mar- 
 shal was obliged to settle the bill himself. Thus the 
 mistaken refusal of General Duroc and the not 
 very disinterested calculations of Madame Bonaparte 
 caused the misery of two households. 
 
 For the rest, the portrait I have just drawn, and 
 which I think true, although not much flattered, 
 is simply that of a young woman spoiled like an 
 only daughter, harsh-tempered like a Spaniard, and 
 brought up with that indulgence and even with that 
 absolute negligence which injures the education of all 
 the compatriots of Mademoiselle d'Alm^nara. Time 
 has calmed this vivacity of youth, and Madame the 
 Duchess de Frioul has since given an example of the 
 most tender devotion to all her duties, and of a great 
 strength of soul in the frightful misfortunes she has 
 had to endure. For the loss of her liusband, most 
 sorrowful though it was, glory had at least some con- 
 solations to offer to the widow of the grand marshal. 
 But when a young girl, sole heiress to a great name 
 and an illustrious title, is suddenly carried away by 
 death from all the liopcs and all the love of her 
 mother, who would dare to speak to her of consola-
 
 MEMOIIiS OF CONSTANT 107 
 
 tions ? If there could be any (which I do not be- 
 lieve), it must needs be the remembrance of the 
 cares and tenderness lavished to the end by a mater- 
 nal heart. This memory, the bitterness of which is 
 mingled with a certain sweetness, cannot be lacking 
 to Madame the Duchess de Frioul. 
 
 The religious ceremony of the marriage took place 
 January 7, in the house on the rue de la Victoire, 
 and the marriage of General Murat with Mademoiselle 
 Caroline Bonaparte, which had only been contracted 
 before the ofiScer of the civil law, was consecrated 
 the same day. The two spouses (M. Louis and his 
 wife) were very melancholy: the latter wept bit- 
 terly during the ceremony, and her tears were not 
 stanched afterward. She was far from seeking her 
 husband's eyes, and on his side, he was too proud 
 and too embittered to pursue her with his attentions. 
 The good Josephine did all she could to unite them. 
 Feeling that this union which commenced so badly 
 was her work, she would have liked to reconcile her 
 own interest, or at least what she considered such, 
 with the happiness of her daughter. But her efforts, 
 like her advice and entreaties, accomplished nothing. 
 1 have a hundred times seen Madame Louis Bona- 
 parte seek the solitude of her own apartment and the 
 bosom of a friend to shed her tears there. They es- 
 caped from her even in the salon of the First Consul, 
 where one sorrowfully beheld this brilliant and gay 
 young woman, who had often done the honors and 
 relaxed the stiffness of etiquette so graciously, now
 
 108 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 retiring into a corner, or into the embrasure of a 
 window, with some person in whom she trusted, to 
 confide her troubles to her. During this interview, 
 from which she emerged with red and humid eyes, 
 her husband kept himself, pensive and taciturn, at 
 the opposite end of the salon. 
 
 People have greatly censured the errors of Her 
 Majesty the Queen of Holland, and all that has been 
 said or written against this princess bears the marks 
 of gross exaggeration. So lofty a fortune drew all 
 eyes upon her and excited a jealous malevolence; 
 and yet those who have envied her would not have 
 failed to pity themselves if they had been put in her 
 place on condition of sharing her afflictions. The 
 misfortunes of Queen Hortense began with her life. 
 Her father dead on the revolutionary scaffold, her 
 mother thrown into prison, she found herself, when 
 yet a child, isolated and without other support than 
 the fidelity of the former servants of the family. Her 
 brother, the noble and worthy Prince Eugene, had 
 been obliged, they say, to apprentice himself to a 
 trade ; she had some years of happiness, or at least of 
 repose, during the time that she was confided to the 
 motherly cares of Madame Campan, and also after 
 leavinof her boai'dins: school. But fate was now re- 
 leased from obligations : her inclinations thwarted, an 
 unhappy marriage opened for her a new train of 
 misfortunes. The death of her first son, whom the 
 Emperor had intended to adopt, and whom he had 
 designated as his successor to tlie Empire, the divorce
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 109 
 
 of her mother, the cruel death of her dearest friend, 
 Madame de Brocq,^ who fell down a precipice before 
 her eyes, the overthrow of the impeiial throne which 
 caused her to lose her title and her rank as queen, 
 a loss which she felt much less sensibly than she did 
 the misfortune of him whom she regarded as her 
 father; finally, the continual annoyances of her do- 
 mestic disputes, the vexatious trial, and her sorrow 
 at beholding her eldest son taken from her by her 
 husband's order; such have been the principal ca- 
 tastrophes of a life which one might have thought 
 destined to much happiness. 
 
 On the day after the marriage of Mademoiselle 
 Hortense, the First Consul started for Lyons, where 
 the deputies of the Cisalpine Republic, assembled 
 for the election of a president, were awaiting him. 
 
 1 Mademoiselle Adfele Augui^, sister of Madame la Marechale 
 Ney, married General de Brocq, grand marshal of the court of 
 Holland. Her Majesty Queen Hortense, being at the baths of 
 Aix in Savoy, took pleasure in making excursions -with her friend, 
 on the most craggy mountains. On one of these they found a 
 torrent in their path, bridged only by a fragile plank. The Queen, 
 conducted by her equerry, crossed first, and was turning to encour- 
 age Madame de Brocq, when she saw her slip and fall headlong 
 down the precipice. At this horrible sight the Queen uttered 
 piercing shrieks. But her despair did not deprive her of presence 
 of mind. She gave orders and multiplied prayers and promises. 
 But all aid was useless. The body had been shattered in the fall, 
 and a certain time elapsed before the cold and mutilated corpse 
 could be withdrawn from the water. These sad remains were 
 brought back to Saint-Leu, all of whose inhabitants were plunged 
 into profound grief. Madame de Brocq's duty was to distribute 
 the luimerous charities of the Queen. She merited the tears 
 called forth by her death.
 
 110 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Everywhere along his passage he was received amidst 
 fetes and by the felicitations which people were eager 
 to express to him on the miraculous manner in which 
 he had escaped from the plots of his enemies. This 
 journey did not differ in any way from those he 
 made afterward as emperor. On arriving in Lyons, 
 he received the visit of all the authorities of the 
 constituted bodies, deputations from the neighboring 
 departments, and members of the Italian council. 
 Madame Bonaparte, who went on this journey, ac- 
 companied her husband to the theatre, and shared 
 with him the honors of the magnificent fete offered 
 him by the city of Lyons. The day when the coun- 
 cil elected and proclaimed the First Consul president 
 of the Italian republic, he reviewed the troops of the 
 garrison on the Place des Brotteaux, and recognized 
 several soldiers of the army of Egypt, with whom he 
 talked for some time. On all these occasions the 
 First Consul wore the same costume which he did at 
 Malmaison, and which I have described elsewhere. 
 He rose early, mounted his horse, and visited the pub- 
 lic works, among others those of the Place Belcour, 
 the first stone of which he had laid on his return 
 from Italy, He went through the Brotteaux, inspect- 
 ing and examining everything, and, always indefati- 
 gable, worked on coming in again as if he had been 
 at the Tuileries. He seldom changed his dress; 
 that only happening when he received the authorities 
 at his table or the principal inhabitants. He received 
 all requests kindly. Before leaving he presented
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 111 
 
 the mayor of the city with a scarf of honor, and the 
 Pope's legate with a rich snuff-box ornamented with 
 his portrait. The deputies of the council also re- 
 ceived presents, and were not backward in returning 
 them. They offered Madame Bonaparte some mag- 
 nificent ornaments in diamonds and precious stones 
 and the most costly jewels. 
 
 The First Consul, on arriving in Lyons, had been 
 keenly afflicted by the sudden deatli of a worthy 
 prelate wliom lie had known in his first Italian 
 campaign. The Archbishop of Milan had come to 
 Lyons, in spite of his great age, to see the First Con- 
 sul whom he loved tenderly ; so much so that in con- 
 versation tlie venerable old man had been heard to 
 address the young General as " my son." The peas- 
 ants of Pavia having revolted, because they had been 
 fanaticized by being told that the French wished to 
 destroy their religion, the Archbishop of Milan, to 
 prove to them that their fears were groundless, had 
 often shown himself in the carriage with General 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 This prelate had stood the journey perfectly. 
 M. de Talleyrand, who had arrived in Lyons some 
 days before the First Consul, had given a dinner 
 to the Cisalpine deputies and the principal nota- 
 bilities of the city. Tlie Archbishop of Milan was 
 on his right. Hardly seated, and as he was bending 
 toward M. de Talleyrand to speak to him, he died 
 in his chair. 
 
 January 12, the city of Lyons offered to the First
 
 112 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Consul and Madame Bonaparte a magnificent ball, 
 preceded by a concert. At eight o'clock in the even- 
 ing, the three mayors, accompanied by the commis- 
 sioners of the fete, came to seek their guests at the 
 government palace. I seem still to see that immense 
 amphitheatre, magnificently decorated, and illumi- 
 nated b}^ chandeliers and candles without number; 
 those seats draped with the richest tapestries from 
 the manufactories of the city, and covered with thou- 
 sands of brilliant women, some of them young and 
 beautiful, and all of them ornamental. The theatre 
 had been selected as the place for the entertainment. 
 At the entry of the First Consul and of Madame 
 Bonaparte, who came forward giving an arm to one 
 of the mayors, there rose a thunder of applause and 
 acclamations. All at once the theatrical decorations 
 disappeared and gave way to the Place Bonaparte 
 (the former Place Belcour), such as it had been re- 
 stored by order of the First Consul. In the middle 
 of it arose a pyramid surmounted by the statue of the 
 First Consul, who was represented as leaning on a 
 lion. Trophies of arms and of bas-reliefs figured on 
 one of the faces the battle of Areola, and on the other 
 that of IVIarengo. 
 
 When the first transports excited by this spectacle, 
 which simultaneously recalled the good deeds and 
 the victories of the hero of the fete, had quieted 
 down, a great silence fell, and then delightful music, 
 blended with chants all celebrating the glory of the 
 First Consul, his Avife, tlie warriors surrounding him.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 118 
 
 and the representatives of the Italian republics, 
 was heard. The singers and players were all of 
 them amateurs of Lyons. Mademoiselle Longue, M. 
 Gerbet, postoffice director, and M. Theodore, a mer- 
 chant, each of whom had sung his part in a ravish- 
 ing manner, received the felicitations of the First 
 Consul and the most gracious thanks of Madame 
 Bonaparte. 
 
 What I noticed most in the couplets which were 
 sung on this occasion and which resembled all occa- 
 sional verses, was that the First Consul was extolled 
 in the same terms that all the poets of the Em- 
 pire have since employed. All the exaggerations 
 of flattery were exhausted in the time of the Con- 
 sulate ; in the years that followed it was necessary 
 to. repeat them. Thus, in the Lyons couplets the 
 First Consul was the god of victory^ the conqueror of 
 the Nile and of Neptune^ the saviour of the country^ 
 the peacemaker of the woi'ld, the arbiter of Europe. 
 The French soldiers were transformed into friends 
 and companions of Alcides, etc. This was to cut the 
 grass from under the feet of future poets. 
 
 The Lyons fete terminated by a ball which lasted 
 until daybreak. The First Consul remained two 
 hours, during which time he conversed with the city 
 magistrates. 
 
 While the more considerable inhabitants were offer- 
 ing to their guests this magnificent entertainment, 
 the people, in spite of the cold, were devoting them- 
 selves to dancing and pleasure in the public squares. 
 
 vox.. I. I
 
 114 IIEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Toward midnight, some very fme fireworks were set 
 off on the Place Bonaparte. 
 
 After spending fifteen or eighteen days at Lyons, 
 we resumed the road to Paris. The First Consul 
 and his wife still continued to reside by preference 
 at Malmaison. It was, I think, shortly after the 
 return of the First Consul, that a man not at all well 
 dressed, solicited an audience. He was ushered into 
 the cabinet and asked what lie wanted. " General," 
 responded the solicitor, intimidated by his presence, 
 "it was I who had the honor to give you writing 
 lessons at the school of Brienne." " The fine pupil 
 that you made there ! " quickly interrupted the First 
 Consul, " I compliment you on it." Then he was 
 the first to laugh at his vivacity, and addressed some 
 good-natured remarks to this honest man, whose 
 timidity had not been lessened by such a compliment. 
 A few days later, the master received from the worst, 
 doubtless, of all his pupils of Brienne (every one 
 knows how badly the Emperor wrote), a pension 
 sufficient for his needs. 
 
 Another of the former teachers of the First Consul, 
 M. I'Abb^ Dupuis, had been placed by him at Mal- 
 maison in the capacity of private librarian. He lived 
 and died there. He was a modest man and had the 
 I'eputation of being well informed. The First Consul 
 often visited him in his apartment and always showed 
 him every imaginable regard and attention.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Proclamation of the law on public worship — Conversation on 
 this subject — The regulation — The plenipotentiaries for the 
 Concordat — Tlie Abb6 Bernier and Cardinal Caprara — The 
 red hat and the red cap — Costume of the First Consul and his 
 colleagues — The first Te Deinn chanted at Notre-Dame — Differ- 
 ent sentiments of the spectators — The Kepublican calendar 
 
 — The beard and the white shirt — General ^&daZZa/i-Menou — 
 His courage in resisting the Jacobins — His flag — His ro- 
 mantic death — Institution of the order of the Legion of Honor 
 
 — The First Consul at Ivry — The inscriptions of 1802 and the 
 inscription of 1814 — The mayor of Ivry and the mayor of 
 Evi-eux — Simplicity of a high functionary — The cinq-z-enfants 
 
 — The First Consul's arrival at Rouen — M. Beugnot and Arch- 
 bishop Cambacfires — The mayor of Rouen in the carriage of 
 the First Consul — General Soult and General Moncey — The 
 First Consul has a corporal to breakfast at his table — The First 
 Consul at Havre and Honfleur — Goes from Havre to Fecamp 
 
 — The First Consul's arrival at Dieppe — Return to Saint- 
 Cloud. 
 
 nnHE day of the proclamation made by the First 
 Consul of the law on public worship, he arose 
 early and summoned his attendants to make his toi- 
 let. While they were dressing him, I saw M. Joseph 
 Bonaparte and Consul Cambacdr^s enter his apart- 
 ment. 
 
 " Well," said the First Consul to the latter ; " we 
 are going to Mass ; what do they think of that in 
 Paris?" 
 
 116
 
 116 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 "Many people," responded M. Cambac^res, "pro- 
 pose going to the first representation and hissing 
 the piece, if they do not find it amusing." 
 
 "If any one takes a notion to hiss, I will have 
 him turned out of doors by the grenadiers of the 
 consular guard." 
 
 '- But what if the grenadiers begin to hiss like the 
 others ? " 
 
 "As to that I have no fears. My 'old mous- 
 taches' will go to Notre-Dame here, just as they 
 went to the mosque in Cairo. They will look to see 
 what I am doing, and seeing me behave seriously 
 and decently, they will do the same, saying to 
 themselves : That's the regulation." 
 
 "I am afraid," said M. Joseph Bonaparte, "that 
 the general officers may not be so accommodating. 
 I have just left Augereau, who is spitting fire and 
 flame at what he calls your pious affectations. He 
 and several others will not be easy to bring into the 
 bosom of our holy mother, the Church." 
 
 "Bah! is Augereau like that? He's a brawler 
 who makes a good deal of racket, and if lie has some 
 imbecile little cousin, he will put him in the semi- 
 nary for me to make a chaplain of him. Apropos," 
 pursued the First Consul, addressing his colleague, 
 "when is your brother going to take possession of 
 his see of Rouen ? Do you know he has the finest 
 archbishopric in France there ? He will be a cardinal 
 before the year is over ; that is a settled affair." 
 
 The Second Consul bowed. From that moment
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 117 
 
 his behavior towards the First Consul was rather 
 that of a courtier than an equal. 
 
 The plenipotentiaries who had been appointed to 
 discuss and sign the Concordat were MM. Joseph 
 Bonaparte, Cr(^tet, and the Abb<^ Bernier. The 
 latter, whom I have sometimes seen at the Tuileries, 
 had been a chief of Chouans, and everything about 
 him showed it. In the same conversation of which 
 I have just related the commencement, the First 
 Consul spoke with his two interlocutors about the 
 conferences on the Concordat. " The Abb^ Bernier," 
 said he, "frightened the Italian prelates by the 
 vehemence of his logic. One would have thought 
 he believed himself still conducting the Vend^ans 
 to the charge against the hlues. Nothing was more 
 singular than the contrast of his rude and disputa- 
 tious manners with the polished formalities and 
 honeyed tone of the prelates. Cardinal Caprara 
 came two days ago with a frightened air, to ask 
 whether it was true that during the war of La 
 Vendde the Abbd Bernier made an altar out of Re- 
 publican corpses to celebrate the Mass on. I told 
 him that I knew nothing about it, but that it was 
 possible. 'General First Consul,' cried the terrified 
 Cardinal, 'it is not a red hat but a red cap that 
 this man needs ! ' 
 
 " I am very much afraid," went on the First 
 Consul, " that that may stand in the way of the Abb^ 
 Bernier's berretta." 
 
 These gentlemen quitted the First Consul when
 
 118 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 his toilet was finished, and went to prepare them- 
 selves for the ceremony. On that day the First 
 Consul wore the consular costume, which was a 
 scarlet coat without lapels, with a large embroidery 
 of golden palms on all the seams. The sabre he had 
 brought from Egypt was suspended at his side by 
 a shoulder belt that was rather narrow, but finely 
 wrought and richly embroidered. He retained his 
 black collar, being unwilling to wear a lace cravat. 
 Otherwise he was like his colleagues, in knee-breeches 
 and slippers. A French hat with waving plumes in 
 the three colors completed this rich apparel. 
 
 This first celebration of the divine office at Notre- 
 Dame was a singular spectacle for the Parisians. 
 jNIany people hastened thither as they would to a 
 theatrical representation. Many also, especially 
 among the military men, made it a subject of raillery 
 rather than of edification. And as to those who, dur- 
 ing the Revolution, had done all in their power to 
 overthrow the cult which the First Consul had just 
 re-established, they found it hard to hide their indig- 
 nation and chagrin. The populace saw nothing in 
 the Te Deiim which was chanted that day for peace 
 and concord but a new aliment offered to their curi- 
 osity. But in the middle class, a great number of 
 pious persons, who had keenly regretted the suppres- 
 sion of the devotional practices in which they had 
 been brought up, were glad of the return of the 
 ancient worship. Moreover, there was not at this 
 time any symptom of superstition or rigorism capable
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 119 
 
 of alarming the enemies of intolerance. The clergy 
 were very careful not to show themselves too exact- 
 ing. They asked very little, condemned nobody, and 
 the representative of the Holy Father, the Cardinal- 
 Legate, pleased everybody, except perhaps some old 
 priests vexed by his indulgence, the worldly grace of 
 his manners, and the freedom of his conduct. This 
 prelate was in perfect accord with the First Consul, 
 who liked his conversation very much. 
 
 It is certain also that, all religious sentiment apart, 
 the fidelity of the people to their ancient customs 
 made them return with pleasure to the repose and 
 the celebration of Sunday. The Republican calendar 
 was no doubt learnedly calculated ; but it had been 
 smitten with ridicule in the first place by the replace- 
 ment of the saints of the ancient calendar by the days 
 of the ass, the pig, the turnip, the onion, etc. . . . 
 Besides, if it was skilfully calculated, it was not at 
 all commodiously divided, and on this head I recall 
 the witticism of a very clever man, and one who, in 
 spite of the disapprobation contained in his words, 
 would yet have desired the establishment of the Re- 
 publican system everywhere except in the almanac. 
 When the decree of the Convention ordaining the 
 adoption of the Republican calendar was published, 
 he said : " Thei/ may say lohat they like, but they 
 will have to do ivith two enemies who will not yield : 
 the beard and the white s7«V^" The fact is that for 
 the working class, and for all classes employed in 
 difficult tasks, there was too long an interval between
 
 120 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 one decadi and another. I do not know whether this 
 was the effect of a deeply rooted routine ; but the 
 populace, accustomed to work for six consecutive 
 days, and to rest on the seventh, found nine days of 
 uninterrupted labor very long. Hence, the suppres- 
 sion of the ddcadis was universally approved. The 
 decree which appointed Sunday as the day for the 
 publication of the banns of marriage was not so much 
 so, some persons dreading that the former pretensions 
 of the clergy over the civil state might revive. 
 
 A few days after the formal re-establishment of 
 the Catholic worship, I saw a general officer arrive 
 at the Tuileries who would perhaps have preferred 
 the establishment of the religion of Mahomet, and the 
 change of Notre-Dame into a mosque. This was 
 the last general-in-chief of the ariiiy of Egypt, who, 
 people said, had become a Mussulman at Cairo, the 
 ci-devant Baron de Menou. In spite of the latest 
 check he had been subjected to by the English in 
 Egypt, General Ahdallah-Menoii was well received 
 by the Eirst Consul, who soon after appointed him 
 governor-general of Piedmont. General Menou's 
 bravery was equal to every test, and he had displayed 
 the greatest courage elsewhere than on the field of 
 battle, and amidst the most difficult circumstances. 
 After the day of August 10, although he belonged 
 to the Republican party, he had been seen to follow 
 Louis XVI. to the assemblj^ and had been denounced 
 as a Royalists by the Jacobins. In 1795, the Eau- 
 bourg Saint- Antoine having risen e7i 7nasse, and ad-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 121 
 
 vanced towards the Convention, General Menou had 
 surrounded and disarmed the seditious ; but he had 
 resisted the atrocious orders of the commissioners 
 of the Convention, who wanted to have the entire 
 quarter burned, in order to punish the inhabitants 
 for their continual insurrections. Some time after, 
 having again failed to comply with the order of the 
 Conventionists to riddle the sections of Piuis with 
 grapeshot, he was arraigned before a commission, 
 which would have caused him to lose his head if 
 General Bonaparte, who had replaced him in com- 
 mand of the army of the interior, had not used all 
 his influence to save his life. Such multiplied acts 
 of courage and generosity would suffice, and more 
 than suffice, to excuse in this brave officer the other- 
 wise very legitimate pride with which he boasted 
 of having armed the national guards and substi- 
 tuted for the white flag the tricolor, which he called 
 mt/ standard. From the government of Piedmont 
 he passed to that of Venice, and died of love, in 
 1810, in spite of his sixty years, for an actress whom 
 he had followed from Venice to Reggio. 
 
 The institution of the order of the Legion of 
 Honor preceded by a few days the proclamation of 
 the Consulate for life. This proclamation gave rise 
 to a feast which was celebrated the 15th of August. 
 This was the anniversary of the First Consul's birth, 
 and people profited by the occasion to celebrate this 
 anniversary for the first time. On that day the 
 First Consul completed his thirty-third year.
 
 122 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 In the following month of October I attended the 
 First Consul in his journey to Normandy. We 
 stopped at Ivry, where the First Consul visited the 
 battle-field. He said on reaching it ; " Honor to the 
 memory of the best Frenchman loho ever sat on the 
 throne of France.^' And he ordered the restoration 
 of the column w^liich had been erected in memory of 
 the victory gained by Henri IV. 
 
 The reader will perhaps thank me for giving here 
 the inscriptions cut on the four faces of the pyramid. 
 
 First inscription. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul, to the memory of 
 Henri IV., victorious over the enemies of the State, on the 
 field of Ivry, March 14, 1590. 
 
 Second inscription. 
 Great men love the glory of those who resemble them. 
 
 Third inscription. 
 
 In the year IX. of the French Republic, the 7th Brumaire, 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul, after having passed over 
 this plain, ordered the reconstruction of the monument des- 
 tined to consecrate the memory of Henri IV. and that of the 
 victory of Ivry. 
 
 Fourth inscription. 
 
 The misfortunes experienced by France at the epoch of the 
 battle of Iviy, were the result of the appeal made by the 
 different French parties to the Spanish and English nations. 
 Every family, every party which calls foreign powers to its 
 assistance, has merited and will merit to the latest posterity 
 the maledictions of the French people.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 123 
 
 All of these inscriptions have been effaced and 
 replaced by the following: 
 
 This is the place of the pillar where Henri IV. stood on the day 
 of Ivnj, Moj-ch 14, 1590. 
 
 M. L^dier, mayor of Ivry, accompanied the First 
 Consul on this excursion. The First Consul talked 
 with him a long time and seemed w'ell satisfied. 
 The mayor of Evreux did not give him an equally 
 good idea of his talents ; hence he rudely interrupted 
 him in the middle of a sort of compliment this wor- 
 thy magistrate was trying to pay him, by inquiring 
 whether he knew his confrere, the mayor of Ivry. 
 " No, General," replied the mayor. " Well, so much 
 the worse for you ; I advise you to make his ac- 
 quaintance." 
 
 It was at Evreux also that an administrator of high 
 rank had the opportunity of amusing Madame Bona- 
 parte and her suite by a piece of naivete w^hich di- 
 verted everybody but the First Consul, because he 
 did not like such silly things when they proceeded 
 from a man of position. ]\I. de Ch did the hon- 
 ors of the county town to the wife of the First Con- 
 sul, and in spite of his great age showed much 
 alacrity and promptness in so doing. Among other 
 questions dictated by her usual benevolence and 
 grace, Madame Bonaparte asked him if he was mar- 
 ried, and if he had a family. " O Madame, I should 
 
 think so," replied M, de Ch with a smile and a 
 
 bow; "I have cinq-z-enfanU.'" "Ah! mon Die^if'
 
 124 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 cried Madame Bonaparte, " what a regiment ! it 
 is extraordinary. How, Monsieur, sixteen children P 
 (^seize enfants).^'' " Yes, Madame, cinq-z-enfants, 
 cinq-z-enfants,'^ repeated the administrator, not see- 
 ing anything very marvellous in that, and being as- 
 tonished merely by the astonishment manifested by 
 Madame Bonaparte. In the end some one explained 
 to the latter the error she had been led into by the 
 dangerous liaison of M. de Ch , adding as se- 
 riously as he could : " Deign, Madame, to excuse M. 
 
 de Ch ; the Revolution interrupted the course 
 
 of his studies." He was more than sixty years old. 
 
 From Evreux we started for Rouen, where we ar- 
 rived at about three in the afternoon. M. Chaptal, 
 minister of the interior, INI. Beugnot, prefect of 
 the department, and M. Cambaceres, Archbishop of 
 Rouen, came to meet the First Consul at a certain 
 distance from the city. The mayor, M. Fontenay, 
 awaited him at the gates, of which he presented him 
 the keys. The First Consul held them for some time 
 in his hands, and then returned them to the mayor, 
 saying in a tone loud enough to be heard by the 
 crowd surrounding his carriage : " Citizens, I could 
 not better confide the keys than to the charge of the 
 worthy magistrate who enjoys my confidence and 
 yours by so many titles." He caused M. Fontenay 
 to get into his carriage, saying that he ivished to honor 
 Rouen in the person of its mayor. 
 
 Madame Bonaparte was in her husband's carriage ; 
 General Moncey rode at the right-hand side of it.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 125 
 
 In the second carriage were General Soult and two 
 aides-de-camp; in a third, General Bessidres and M. 
 de Lu9ay; in a fourth, General Lauriston. Then 
 came the servants' carriages. Hambart, Hubert, and 
 I were in the first one. 
 
 I should try in vain to give an idea of the enthu- 
 siasm of the people of Rouen on the arrival of the 
 First Consul. The market porters and boatmen in 
 grand costume were awaiting us on the outside of 
 the city ; and when the carriage containing the two 
 august personages was within their reach, these excel- 
 lent fellows ranged themselves in double file and pre- 
 ceded the carriage in this way as far as the hotel of 
 tlie prefecture, where the First Consul alighted. 
 
 The prefect and the mayor of Rouen, the Arch- 
 bishop and the general commanding the division, 
 dined with the First Consul, who displayed the most 
 amiable gaiety during the repast, and was most care- 
 ful to inform himself concerning the condition of 
 manufactures, new discoveries in the arts of mak- 
 ing fabrics, and, in short, all that could relate to 
 the prosperity of this essentially industrial city. 
 
 In the evening, and nearly all night, an immense 
 crowd surrounded the hotel and filled the g^ardens of 
 the prefecture, which were illuminated and adorned 
 with allegorical transparencies in praise of the First 
 Consul. Each time that he showed himself on the 
 terrace of the garden, the air resounded with ap- 
 plause and acclamations which seemed to flatter 
 him extremely.
 
 126 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 The next morning, after having made the rounds 
 of the city on horseback, and visiting the magnificent 
 places by which it is surrounded, the First Consul 
 heard Mass, which was celebrated at eleven o'clock 
 by the Archbishop in the chapel of the prefecture. 
 An hour later he had to receive the general council 
 of the department, the municipal council, the clergy 
 of Rouen, and the tribunals. He had to listen to 
 a half-dozen discourses, all conceived in nearly the 
 same terms, and to which he replied in a manner cal- 
 culated to give the orators the highest opinion of 
 their own merits. All these bodies, on quitting the 
 First Consul, were presented to Madame Bonaparte, 
 who received them with her usual grace. 
 
 In the evening Madame Bonaparte gave a reception 
 for the wives of the functionaries. The First Consul 
 was present at this reception, a fact availed of in 
 order to present to him several newly amnestied 
 persons, whom he received with benevolence. 
 
 For the rest, there were the same illuminations, the 
 same acclamations as on the evening- before. All 
 countenances wore a festive look which delighted 
 me, and, in my opinion, contrasted singularly with 
 the horrible wooden houses, the dirty and narrow 
 streets, and the Gothic constructions which then 
 characterized the city of Rouen. 
 
 On Monday, November 1, at seven o'clock in the 
 morning, the First Consul mounted a horse, escorted 
 by a detachment of the young men of the city, form- 
 ing a voluntary guard. He crossed the bridge of
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 127 
 
 boats, and went through the Faubourg Saint-Sever. 
 On returning from this promenade, we found the 
 people awaiting him at tlie head of the bridge, who 
 conducted him back to the hotel of the prefecture, 
 making the air ring with shouts of joy. 
 
 After breakfast, High Mass was sung by Monseig- 
 neur the Archbishop, it being the feast of All Saints ; 
 then came the learned societies, the heads of the ad- 
 ministration, and the judges of the peace, with their 
 discourses. That of the latter contained a re- 
 markable phrase : these good magistrates, in their 
 enthusiasm, asked the First Consul's permission to 
 surname him the grand judge of the peace of Europe. 
 As they were leaving the apartment of the First 
 Consul, I noticed the man who had delivered the 
 speech i there were tears in his ej'es, and he was 
 proudly repeating the response just made to him. I 
 regret not having remembered his name ; he was, 
 I was told, one of the most respectable men in 
 Rouen. His face inspired confidence and wore an 
 expression of frankness that prepossessed one in his 
 favor. 
 
 In the evening, the First Consul went to the 
 theatre. The hall, filled to the roof, presented a 
 charming sight. The municipal authorities had 
 caused a superb entertainment to be prepared, which 
 the First Consul found greatly to his taste ; he 
 complimented the prefect and the mayor on it several 
 times. After having seen the opening of the ball, 
 and made two or three turns around the hall, he
 
 128 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 withdrew, surrounded by the staff of the national 
 guard. 
 
 A great part of Tuesday was employed by the 
 First Consul in visiting the workshops of the 
 numerous manufactories of the city. The minister 
 of the interior, the prefect, the mayor, the general 
 commanding the division, the inspector-general of 
 the county police, and the staff of the consular guard 
 accompanied him. In one manufactory of the 
 Faubourg Saint-Sever, the minister of the interior 
 presented to him the senior workman, known for 
 having woven the first piece of velvet in France. 
 After complimenting this honorable old man, the 
 First Consul granted him a pension. Other rewards 
 or encouragements were likewise distributed to sev- 
 eral persons whose useful inventions recommended 
 them to public gratitude. 
 
 On Monday morning earl}^, we started for Elbeuf, 
 where we anived at ten o'clock, preceded by some 
 sixt}'- young men of the most distinguished families 
 in the city, who, after the example of those of 
 Rouen, aspired to the honor of forming the guard 
 of the First Consul. 
 
 The country all around was covered by an in- 
 numerable multitude, coming from the surrounding 
 communes. The First Consul alighted at the house 
 of the mayor of Elbeuf, where he breakfasted. After- 
 wards he visited the city in detail, seeking infor- 
 mation everywhere ; and learning that one of the 
 principal needs of the citizens was the construction
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 129 
 
 of a road from Elbeuf to a little neighboring town, 
 called Romilly, he gave orders to the minister of the 
 interior to have the work begun at once. 
 
 At Elbeuf, as at Rouen, the First Consul was 
 loaded witli homage and benedictions. We returned 
 to the latter city at four in the afternoon. 
 
 The merchants of Rouen had prepared a fete in 
 the stock exchange. The First Consul and his wife 
 went there after dinner. He remained a long while 
 on the ground-floor of this great building, where 
 magnificent samples of tlic industries of the depart- 
 ment were displayed. He examined all, and had 
 them examined by Madame Bonaparte, who wished 
 to buy several pieces of stuff. 
 
 Then the First Consul Avent up into the first 
 story; there, in a beautiful salon, were assembled 
 a hundred ladies and misses, nearly all pretty, the 
 wives or daughters of the principal merchants of 
 Rouen, who were waiting to pay him their comj)li- 
 ments. He sat down in this charming circle, and 
 remained there about a quarter of an hour, going 
 afterwards into another hall, where he listened to 
 the representation of a little " proverb," mingled 
 with couplets, expressive, as one may guess, of the 
 attachment and the gratitude of the people of Rouen. 
 
 This " proverb " was followed by a ball. 
 
 On Thursday evening, the First Consul announced 
 that he would leave for Havre the next morning 
 at daybreak. I was, in fact, awakened by Hubert at 
 five in the morning, who told me we would start at 
 
 VOL. I. — K
 
 130 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 six o'clock. I had a bad awakening, which made 
 me sick all day : I would have given a good deal 
 to sleep some hours longer. . . . Finally, we had to 
 set off. Before getting into the carriage, the First 
 Consul made a present to Monseigneur the Arch- 
 bishop of a snuff-box with his portrait. He also 
 gave one to the maj'or bearing the inscription : 
 The French People. 
 
 We stopped at Caudebec for breakfast. The mayor 
 of this town presented to the First Consul a corporal 
 who had made the Italian campaign (his name, I 
 think, Avas Roussel), and who had received a sabre 
 of honor as the reward of his fine conduct at Ma- 
 rengo. He was at Caudebec on a six months' fur- 
 lough, and he asked the First Consul's permission to 
 stand sentry at the door of the apartment occupied 
 by the august travellers. This Avas granted, and 
 when the First Consul and Madame Bonaparte sat 
 down at table, Roussel was called and invited to 
 breakfast with his former general. At Havre and 
 at Dieppe, the First Consul thus invited to his 
 table all those, whether soldiers or sailors, who had 
 obtained guns, sabres, or boarding-axes of honor. 
 The First Consul stopped for half an hour at Bol- 
 bec, displaying much attention and interest in exam- 
 ining the industrial products of the arrondissement, 
 complimenting the guards of honor who came to 
 meet him on their fine appearance, thanking the 
 priest for the prayers he addressed to Heaven for 
 him, and leaving in his hands and those of the
 
 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 131 
 
 mayor tokens for the poor of his passage. On the 
 arrival of the First Consul at Havre, the city was 
 illuminated. The First Consul and his numerous 
 coitecfe marched between two rows of illumination 
 stands, of liery columns of every sort. The vessels 
 that were in the harbor looked like a forest in 
 flames ; they were surcharged with colored lamps to 
 the tops of their masts. On the day of his arrival, 
 the First Consul received only a part of the authori- 
 ties of the city; he went to bed shortly afterwards, 
 sajdng that he \vas sleepy ; but by six o'clock next 
 morning he was on horseback, and for more than 
 two hours he was ranging the beach, the hillsides 
 of Ingouville for more than a league, the banks of 
 the Seine as far as the acclivity of Hoc; and he 
 made the exterior round of the citadel. About 
 three o'clock the First Consul began to receive the 
 authorities. He conversed with them, in the great- 
 est detail, about the works which must be accom- 
 plished in order that their port, which he always 
 called the port of Paris, should attain the highest 
 degree of prosperity. He did the sub-prefect, the 
 mayor, the two presidents of the tribunals, the com- 
 mandant of the place, and the chief of the 10th half 
 brigade of light infantry, the honor of inviting them 
 to his table. 
 
 In the evening the First Consul went to the 
 theatre, where they played a little piece written 
 for the occasion, about as good as such things ever 
 are, but for which the First Consul, and especially
 
 132 MEifOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Madame Bonaparte, were well pleased with the au- 
 thors. The illuminations were still more brilliant 
 than on the previous evening. I especially remem- 
 ber that the majority of the transparencies Avere 
 inscribed with these words : 18 Brumaire^ year VIII. 
 At seven o'clock on Sunday morning, after having 
 visited the marine arsenal and all the basins, the 
 First Consul embarked on a little yawl, the weather 
 being fine, and remained in the roadstead during 
 several hours. His cortege was composed of a great 
 number of boats filled with fashionable men and 
 women, and with musicians who played the favorite 
 airs of the First Consul. Several more hours were 
 spent in receiving merchants, to whom the First 
 Consul said openly that he had had the greatest 
 pleasure in conferring on the commerce of Havre 
 with the colonies. That evening there was a fete 
 arranged by the mercantile community, at which 
 the First Consul was present for half an hour. On 
 Monday, at five o'clock in the morning, he embarked 
 on a lugger, and went to Honfleur. The weather 
 was somewhat threatening at the time of departure, 
 and several persons had tried to persuade the First 
 Consul not to go on board. Madame Bonaparte, to 
 whose ears this rumor came, ran to her husband and 
 begged him not to start; but he embraced her, 
 laughing and calling her a trembler, and went 
 aboard the boat that was awaiting him. He had 
 scarcely done so when the wind suddenly became 
 more calm and the weather was magnificent. On
 
 MJEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 133 
 
 his return to Havre, the First Consul held a review 
 on the Place de la Citadelle, and visited the artillery- 
 establishments. He again received until evening a 
 great number of public functionaries and merchants, 
 and the next day, at six o'clock in the morning, we 
 started for Dieppe. 
 
 At the moment when we arrived at Fdcamp, the 
 town presented an extremely curious spectacle. All 
 the inhabitants of the neighboring towns and vil- 
 lages accompanied the clergy in chanting a Te Deum 
 for the anniversary of the 18th Brumaire. These 
 innumerable voices, rising to Heaven in prayer 
 for him, moved the First Consul deeply. He 
 repeated several times, during breakfast, that he 
 had experienced more emotion from these chants 
 under the vaulted sky, than he had ever done from 
 more brilliant music. 
 
 We reached Dieppe at six in the evening ; the 
 First Consul did not go to bed until after having 
 received all the felicitations, which were certainly 
 very sincere there, as they were at that time 
 throughout France. At eight o'clock next day he 
 went down to the wharf, where he stayed a long 
 time watching the fishing boats come in, and then 
 visited the Faubourg du Pollet and the works they 
 were commencing in the basins. He admitted to 
 his table the sub-prefect, the mayor, and three sailors 
 of Dieppe, who had obtained boarding-axes of honor 
 for distinguishing: themselves at the combat of 
 Boulogne. The First Consul ordered the construe-
 
 134 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 tioii of a sluice in the last wharf, and the con- 
 tinuation of a canal which was to extend to Paris, 
 but of which only a few feet had yet been built. 
 From Dieppe we went to Gisors and to Beauvais ; 
 and finally the First Consul and his wife returned to 
 Saint-Cloud, after an absence of fifteen days, during 
 which time active restorations had been in progress 
 in this ancient royal residence, which the First Con- 
 sul had decided to accept, as I shall presently 
 explain.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Influence of the journey to Normandy on the mind of the First 
 Consul — The evokition of the Empire — Memories and history 
 
 — First ladies and first officers of Madame Bonaparte — Mes- 
 damcs de K^musat, de Cramayel, de Lu§ay, de Lauriston — 
 Mademoiselle d'Arberg and Mademoiselle de Lugay — Prudence 
 at court — MM. de R^musat, de Cramayel, de Lu^ay, Didelot — 
 The palace refused, then accepted — Bawbles — The servitors 
 of Marie-Antoinette better treated under the Consulate than 
 since the Restoration — Fire at Saint-Cloud — The watch 
 chamber — The bourgeois bed — How the First Consul went 
 down to his wife's room at night — Duty and conjugal triumph 
 
 — Excessive severity toward a young woman — Weapons of 
 honor and the troopers — The baptism of blood — The First 
 Consul following the plough — Laborers and councillors of state 
 
 — The Republican grenadier becomes a laborer — Audience of 
 the First Consul — The author introduced into the General's 
 cabinet — A good reception and a curious conversation. 
 
 n^HE journey of the First Consul in the richest 
 and most enlightened departments of France 
 must have banished from his mind many of the 
 difficulties he might at first have dreaded to en- 
 counter in the execution of his schemes. Every- 
 where he had been received like a monarch ; and 
 not he alone, but Madame Bonaparte had been 
 welcomed with all the honors usually reserved for 
 crowned heads. There was not the slightest differ- 
 ence between the homage paid them then, and that 
 
 135
 
 136 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 with which they were afterward surrounded even un- 
 der the Empire, when Their Majesties made journeys 
 through their dominions at different epoclis. This 
 is why I have entered into some details concerning 
 this one ; if they appear too long, or too devoid 
 of novelty to some readers, I beg them to remember 
 that I am not writing merely for those who have seen 
 the Empire. The generation which was a witness 
 of so many great things and which was able to 
 see close at hand, and from his beginnings, the 
 greatest man of this century, is already giving place 
 to other generations which cannot and could not 
 judge except on the testimony of that which pre- 
 ceded them. What is familiar to this person, who 
 has examined it with his own eyes, is not so for 
 others who need to have somebody relate to them 
 what they could not have seen. Moreover, details 
 neglected as futile and common by history, which 
 makes a profession of gravity, are perfectly suitable 
 to simple souvenirs, and sometimes enable one to 
 understand and judge an epoch well. It seems to 
 me, for example, that the cordiality of the whole 
 population and of the authorities toward the First 
 Consul and Madame Bonaparte during their journey 
 in Normandy, sufficiently shows that the chief of 
 the State would not liave to fear a very great 
 opposition, at least on the part of the nation, when 
 it should please him to change his title and proclaim 
 himself Emperor. 
 
 Not long after our return, a decision of the consuls
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 137 
 
 accorded to Madame Bonaparte four ladies to assist 
 her in doing the honors of the palace. They were 
 Mesdames de R(:3musat, de Tallouet, de Lii^ay, and 
 de Lauriston. Under the Empire tliey became ladies 
 of the palace. Madame de Lugay often occasioned a 
 laugh among the servants by little traits of parsi- 
 mony ; but she was good and obliging. Madame 
 de R^musat was a woman of the greatest merit, and 
 very sensible. She seemed a trifle hauglity, and that 
 was the more noticed because M. de R^musat was 
 full of good-nature. 
 
 In the sequel, there was a lady of honor, Madame 
 de la Rochefoucauld, of whom I shall have occasion 
 to speak later ; 
 
 A lady of the bed-chamber, Madame de Lu9ay, 
 who was replaced by Madame de la Villette, so 
 gloriously known afterwards by her devotion to her 
 husband ; 
 
 Twenty-four ladies of the palace, Frenchwomen, 
 among them Mesdames de R^musat, de Tallouet, 
 de Lauriston, Ney, d'Arberg, Louise d'Arberg, after- 
 ward the Countess de Lobau, de Walsh-S^rent, de 
 Colbert, Lannes, Savary, de Turenne, Octave de 
 S%ur, de Montalivet, de Marescot, de Bouill^, Solar, 
 Lascaris, de Brignol^, de Canisy, de Chevreuse, Vic- 
 tor de Mortemart, de Montmorency, Matignon, and 
 Maret ; 
 
 Twelve ladies of the palace, Italians ; 
 
 These ladies were on duty every month, so that 
 one Italian and two Frenchwomen were always
 
 138 MEMOIRS OF CONSTAXT 
 
 together. The Emperor would not, at first, have 
 misses among the ladies of the palace, but he relaxed 
 this regulation for Mademoiselle Louise d'Arberg, 
 since Madame the Countess de Lobau, and Mademoi- 
 selle de Lu^ay, who married Count Philippe de S^gur, 
 author of the fine history of the Russian campaign. 
 These two young ladies proved by their prudent and 
 reserved conduct that it is possible to be discreet, 
 even at court ; 
 
 Four ladies cVannonce^ Mesdames Soustras, Ducrest- 
 Villeneuve, Fdlicit^ Longroy, and Egl^ Marchery ; 
 
 Two chief lady's-maids, Mesdames Roy and Marco 
 de Saint-Hilaire, who had under their charge the 
 grand wardrobe and the jewel cases ; 
 
 Four ordinary lady's-maids ; 
 
 A reader. 
 
 In men, the personnel of the household of Her 
 Majesty the Empress was composed in the sequel of : 
 
 A first equerry, Senator Harville, fulfilling the 
 functions of chevalier of honor ; 
 
 A first chamberlain. General of division Nansouty; 
 
 A second chamberlain, introducer of ambassadors, 
 M. de Beaumont; 
 
 Four ordinary chamberlains, MM. de Courtomer, 
 Degrave, Galard de B^arn, Hector d'Aubusson de 
 La Feuillade ; 
 
 Four chief equerries, MM. Corbineau, Berckeim, 
 d'Audenarde, and Fouler ; 
 
 A major-domo-general of Her Majesty's household, 
 M. Hinguerlot;
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 139 
 
 A private secretary, M. Deschamps; 
 
 Two chief valets de chambre, MM. Fr^re and 
 Douville ; 
 
 Four ordinary valets de chambre ; 
 
 Four ushers of the chamber ; 
 
 Two chief footmen, MM. Lesp^rance and d'Argens; 
 
 Six ordinary footmen ; 
 
 The kitchen and sanitary officers were those of the 
 Emperor's household. In addition, six of the Emper- 
 or's pages were always on duty near the Empress. 
 
 The first chaplain was M. Ferdinand de Rohan, 
 former Archbishop of Cambray. 
 
 Another decision of the same epoch settled the 
 functions of the prefects of the palace. The four 
 first prefects of the consular palace were MM. de 
 R^musat, de Cramayel appointed later as introducer 
 of ambassadors and master of ceremonies ; de Lu^ay, 
 and Didelot, since prefect of Cher. 
 
 Malmaison no longer sufficed for the First Consul, 
 whose household, like that of Madame Bonaparte, 
 daily became more numerous. A more extensive 
 dwelling had become necessary, and the First Consul 
 decided on Saint-Cloud. 
 
 The inhabitants of Saint-Cloud had addressed a 
 petition to the legislative bod}'-, asking the First 
 Consul to be so good as to make their chateau his 
 summer residence, and the Assembly had hastened to 
 transmit it to the First Consul, supporting it, even, 
 by its own entreaties, and by comparisons which it 
 believed flattering. The General formally refused,
 
 140 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 saying that when he should have acquitted himself 
 of the functions with which the people had charged 
 him, he would consider himself honored by a recom- 
 pense a\^'arded by tlie people ; biit so long as he 
 should be chief of the government, he would never 
 accept anything. In spite of the determined tone of 
 this response, the inhabitants of Saint-Cloud, who 
 had the greatest interest in having their request 
 granted, renewed it when the First Consul was ap- 
 pointed consul for life, and this time he consented 
 to accept it. The expenses for repairing and fur- 
 nishing it were immense, greatly surpassing the esti- 
 mates, and yet he was dissatisfied with the furniture 
 and adornments. He complained to M. Charvet, 
 concierge of Malmaison, whom he had appointed 
 concierge of this new palace, and whom he had di- 
 rected to supervise the distribution of the rooms and 
 to look after the furnishing, that the apartments pre- 
 pared for him were like those of a kept ivoman ; that 
 there was nothing in them but bawbles, and knick-knacks^ 
 and nothing of importance. On this occasion he again 
 gave a proof of his eagerness to do what was right, 
 without disturbing himself about prejudices which 
 still had much weight. Knowing that there were at 
 Saint-Cloud a great number of the former servitors 
 of Queen Marie-Antoinette, he told M. Charvet to 
 offer them either their former places or pensions ; the 
 greater number resumed their places. In 1814 people 
 were much less generous. All the employees were sent 
 off, even those who had served Marie-Antoinette.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 141 
 
 The First Consul had not been long installed in 
 Saint-Cloud when this chateau, once more become a 
 sovereign 7'esldence^ was very nearly a i)rey to flames. 
 There was a guard-house under the vestibule of the 
 centre of the palace. One night when the soldiers 
 had made too much fire, the stove became so hot that 
 an armchair which was shoved against one of the 
 hot-air holes which warmed the salon took fire, and 
 the flame promptly communicated itself to all the 
 furniture. The officer of the post noticing it imme- 
 diately notified the concierge, and they ran to the 
 room of General Duroc, whom they awakened. The 
 General rose in all haste, and recommending perfect 
 silence, they organized a chain. He got into the 
 reservoir himself, together with the concierge, to 
 pass the buckets of water to the soldiers, and in two 
 or three hours the fire, which had already devoured 
 all the furniture, was extinct. It was not until the 
 next morning that the First Consul, Josephine, Hor- 
 tense, in a word, all the inhabitants of the chateau, 
 were apprised of this accident, and they all testified, 
 the First Consul especially, their gratitude for the 
 care that had been taken not to awaken them. To 
 prevent such accidents, or at least to render them 
 less dangerous in future, the First Consul organized 
 a night guard at Saint-Cloud, and, in the sequel, in 
 all his residences. This guard was called the watch 
 chamber. 
 
 In the early days of the First Consul's residence 
 in the palace of Saint-Cloud, he slept in the same bed
 
 142 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 with his wife. Etiquette supervened later on, and in 
 this respect somewhat chilled conjugal tenderness. In 
 effect, the First Consul ended by occupying an apart- 
 ment rather remote from that of Madame Bonaparte. 
 To go to her he had to pass through a long servants' 
 corridor. The ladies of the palace, the serving 
 women, etc., had rooms on either side of it. When 
 the First Consul wished to pass the night with his 
 wife, he undressed in his own room, whence he issued 
 in a dressing-gown and a bandana handkerchief 
 around his head. I walked in front of him, carrying 
 a flambeau. At the end of this corridor was a stair- 
 case of fifteen or sixteen steps which led to Madame 
 Bonaparte's apartment. It was a great joy for her 
 to receive a visit from her husband ; the whole house 
 heard of it the next day. I see her still saying to 
 every newcomer, and rubbing her little hands : " / 
 got up late to-day , but you see it is because Bonaparte 
 came to spend the night with ?ne." On that day she 
 would be still more amiable than usual ; she repelled 
 nobody, and we could obtain whatever we wanted. 
 For my part, I have often tried the experiment. 
 
 One evening when I was conducting the First 
 Consul to one of these conjugal visits, we perceived 
 in the corridor a very well-dressed young man who 
 was coming out of the room of one of Madame Bona- 
 parte's women. He tried to slip away, but the First 
 Consul cried out in a loud voice : " Who is there ? 
 where are you going ? ivhat are you doing ? what is your 
 game ? " It was simply one of Madame Bonaparte's
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 143 
 
 valets. Stupefied by these hasty interrogations, he 
 replied in a frightened voice that he had been exe- 
 cuting a commission for Madame Bonaparte. " All 
 right," returned the First Consul, " but don't let me 
 find you here again." Persuaded that the gallant 
 would profit by the lesson, the General did not seek 
 to learn his name or that of his fair friend. 
 
 That reminds me that he was much more severe in 
 regard to another lady's-maid of Madame Bonaparte. 
 She was young and very pretty, and inspired very 
 
 tender sentiments in two aides-de-camp, MM. R 
 
 and E . They sighed incessantly at her door, and 
 
 sent her flowers and billets doux. The young girl — at 
 least such was the general opinion of the household — 
 gave them nothing in return. Josephine liked her 
 very much, and jQt the First Consul, having noticed 
 the gallantries of these gentlemen, displayed great 
 anger, and had the poor young woman sent away, in 
 spite of her tears and the entreaties of Madame Bona- 
 parte and those of the brave and good Colonel R 
 
 who naively swore that the fault was all on his side, 
 that the poor little thing deserved nothing but 
 praise, and had never listened to him. All was 
 unavailing against the resolution of the First Consul, 
 who replied to everything by saying : " I will have 
 no disorders, no scandals in my house." 
 
 Whenever the First Consul made a distribution of 
 weapons of honor, there was a banquet at the Tui- 
 leries, to which all were admitted indiscriminately, no 
 matter what their grades might be, who had shared
 
 144 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 in these rewards. There were sometimes two hun- 
 dred guests at these dinners, which were served in the 
 grand gallery of the chateau. General Duroc was 
 master of ceremonies, and the First Consul was care- 
 ful to recommend him to intermingle common sol- 
 diers, colonels, generals, etc. It was the former 
 especially that he ordered the domestics to take good 
 care of, and give them plenty to eat and drink. 
 These were the longest repasts that I ever saw given 
 by the Emperor ; here he showed a perfect amiability 
 and unconstraint ; he made every effort to put his 
 guests at their ease ; but with a good many of them 
 he had trouble in doing so. Nothing was funnier 
 than to see these honest troopers holding themselves 
 two feet away from the table, not daring to approach 
 either their napkin or their bread ; red to their ears, 
 and their necks stretched towards their general, as if 
 to receive the countersign. The First Consul would 
 make them relate the lofty deed which had earned 
 them the national reward, and sometimes shouted 
 with laughter at their singular narrations. He per- 
 suaded them to make a good meal, and sometimes 
 drank to their health; but with some, his encour- 
 agements failed to overcome their timidity, and the 
 footmen would take away their plates one after 
 another, without their having touched them. This 
 constraint did not prevent them from being full of joy 
 and enthusiasm on quitting the table. ''An revob\ 
 my heroes," the First Consul would say to them, 
 "baptize those new-born babies for me as soon as pos-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 145 
 
 sible " (pointing with liis finger at their sabres of 
 honor). God knows that they did not fail to do 
 so when the opportunity came. 
 
 This kindliness of the First Consul toward com- 
 mon soldiers reminds me of an anecdote that hap- 
 pened at Malmaison, and which gives another reply 
 to those accusations of pride and severity that have 
 been made against him. 
 
 The First Consul went out very early one morning, 
 dressed in his gray overcoat, and accompanied by 
 General Duroc, to walk in the direction of the 
 machinery of Marly. As they were walking and 
 talking, they saw a laborer who was tracing a furrow 
 and coming towards them. " Say, my good fellow," 
 said the First Consul, stopping, " your furrow is not 
 straight; don't you know your trade?" "At any 
 rate, you can't teach it to me, my fine gentleman ; 
 you would find it very hard work to do as well." 
 — " Nonsense I " " You think so ? well, try it," re- 
 plied the honest man, ceding his place to the First 
 Consul. The latter took the handle of the plough, 
 and, urging on the horses, wanted to commence the 
 lesson ; but he did not make a single step in a 
 straight line, so awkwardly did he take hold. " Come, 
 come," said the peasant, laying his hand on that of 
 the General to take back his plough, " yoiu" work is 
 good for nothing ; every one to his trade ; you go 
 and take a walk, that is your business." But the 
 First Consul did not continue his walk without pay- 
 ing for the lesson in morals he had just received from 
 
 vol.. 1. — L
 
 146 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 the laborer. General Diiroc gave him two or three 
 louis to reimburse him for the loss of time they had 
 caused him. The peasant, astonished by this gener- 
 osity, left his plough to go and tell his adventure, 
 and on the road met a woman to Avhom he said that 
 he certainly thought he had met two big gentlemen 
 (^gros messieurs'), to judge of them by what he still 
 had in his hand. The farmer's wife, better advised, 
 asked him how the two promenaders were dressed, 
 and from his description divined that it was the First 
 Consul and one of his friends. The good man was 
 dumfounded for a time ; but the next day he took 
 a fine resolution, and having arrayed himself in his 
 best clothes, he presented himself at Malmaison, and 
 asked to speak to the First Consul to thank him, as 
 he said, for the fine present he had made him the day 
 before. I went to inform the First Consul of this 
 visit, and he ordered me to introduce the laborer.^ 
 The latter, while I was absent on this errand, had, to 
 use his own expression, taken his courage in both hands 
 to prepare himself for this great interview. I found 
 him standing in the middle of the antechamber (for 
 
 1 The author of the Memorial cites an anecdote of the Emperor 
 at Saint-Helena, similar to that I am relating here. His Majesty 
 professed the highest esteem for the cultivators of the soil, and 
 took pleasure in consulting them even on matters foreign to their 
 occupations, but on which their good sense and experience might 
 suggest to them a sound opinion. He used to saj* that he made 
 known to the peasants the difficnlties of his Council of State, a7id 
 communicated to the Council of State the observations of the 
 peasants.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 147 
 
 he had not dared to sit down on the benches, which, 
 although of the simplest, appeared to him magnifi- 
 cent), dreaming of what he \vas going to say to the 
 First Consul to show his gratitude. I marched 
 before him, he following, putting his feet down on 
 the carpet with the utmost precaution, and, when I 
 opened the door of the cabinet for him, politely 
 urging me to go in first. When the First Consul 
 had nothing secret to say or dictate, he was willing 
 enough to leave the door of his cabinet open. This 
 time he made me a sign not to close it, so that I 
 could see and hear all that passed. 
 
 The honest laborer commenced, on entering the 
 cabinet, by saluting the back of M. de Bourrienne, 
 who could not see him, occupied as he was in writ- 
 ing at a little table placed in the embrasure of the 
 window. The First Consul looked at him making 
 his salutes, threw himself back in his armchair, one 
 of whose arms he was, as usual, tormenting with a 
 penknife. At last, however, he began to speak in 
 this fashion : 
 
 "Well, my good fellow " (the peasant turned round, 
 recognized him and saluted again), " well," pursued 
 the First Consul, " has the harvest been good this 
 year?" 
 
 " But, saving your presence, Citizen my General, 
 it has not been so bad as all that." 
 
 "To make the earth bring forth," resumed the 
 First Consul, " it must be dug up ; isn't that so ? 
 Fine gentlemen are good for nothing at that work."
 
 148 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 "Without offence to you, General, the hands of 
 the bourgeois are too soft to manage a plough. It 
 needs a solid fist to move those tools." 
 
 " That's true," responded the First Consul, smiling. 
 "But big and strong as you are, you ought to be 
 able to handle something besides a plough. A 
 good musket, for example, or else the hilt of a 
 fine sabre." 
 
 The laborer drew himself up with an air of pride : 
 " General, in my time I have done like the others. 
 
 I had been married five years when those b 
 
 of Prussians (pardon, General) entered Landrecies. 
 The requisition came ; they gave me a musket and 
 a cartridge-box at the town house, and march ! Ah 
 well, we were not equipped like those big fellows I 
 saw just now on entering the court." 
 
 He meant the grenadiers of the consular guard. 
 
 " Why did you quit the service ? " continued the 
 First Consul, who seemed to take great interest in 
 this conversation. 
 
 " Faith, General, every one in his turn. There are 
 sabre thrusts enough for all. One hit me here " 
 (the worthy laborer stooped and showed his head, 
 pushing aside the hair), "and after several weeks 
 in the hospital, they gave me leave to return to my 
 wife and my plough." 
 
 " Have you any children ? " 
 
 " 1 have three. General ; two boys and a girl." 
 
 "You must make a soldier of your oldest boy. 
 If he behaves himself well, I will take charge of
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 149 
 
 him. Adieu, my good fellow ; when you have need 
 of me come back to see me." Thereupon the First 
 Consul rose, asked M. de Bourrienne for some 
 louis, which he added to those the laborer had 
 already received from him, and ordered me to take 
 him away. We were already in the antechamber, 
 when the First Consul called the laborer back to 
 say : 
 
 "Were you at Fleurus?" 
 
 " Yes, General." 
 
 "Could you tell me the name of your general- 
 in-chief?" 
 
 " Well, I should think so ! It was General 
 Jourdan." 
 
 " Good ; au revoir." And I led the old soldier of 
 the Republic away, enchanted with his reception.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The envoy of the Bey of Tunis and the Arabian horses — Bad faith 
 of England — Journey to Boulogne — In Flanders and Belgium 
 
 — Continual jaunts — The author acts as first valet de chambre 
 
 — Constant's debut as barber to the First Consul — Apprentice- 
 ship — Plebeian chins — The eagle glance — The First Consul 
 difficult to shave — Constant persuades him to shave himself — 
 His reasons for doing so — Imprudent confidence of the First 
 Consul — The first lesson — The cuts — Slight reproaches — 
 The First Consul's avrkward way of holding his razor — The 
 chiefs and the harangues — Arrival of the First Consul at 
 Boulogne — Preludes to the formation of the camp of Boulogne 
 
 — Speech of twenty fathers of families — Naval combat gained 
 by Admiral Bruix against the English — The dinner and the 
 victory — The English and the Iron Coast — Projected assault 
 upon the pei'son of the First Consul — Eapidity of the journey 
 
 — The minister of police — Presents offered by the cities — 
 Works commanded by the First Consul — Munificence — The 
 First Consul a bad driver — Pallor of Cambac6r6s — The swoon 
 
 — The Gospel precept — Dreamless sleep — The Ottoman ambas- 
 sador — The cashmere shawls — The Mussulman at prayers and 
 at the theatre. 
 
 A T the beginning of tins year (1803) there 
 arrived in Paris an envoy from Tunis, who 
 presented the First Consul, in the name of the Bey, 
 with ten Arabian horses. The Bey was then in 
 dread of the wrath of England, and he was trying to 
 secure France as a powerful ally who would be able 
 to protect him ; he could not have done better, for 
 
 150
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 151 
 
 everything announced the rupture of that Peace of 
 Amiens so greatly rejoiced over by all Europe. 
 England kept none of its promises and executed not 
 a single article of the treaty ; on liis side, the First 
 Consul, revolted by such bad faith, and unwilling 
 to be duped by it, armed publicly, ordered the com- 
 plement of officers to be filled up and a new levy of 
 one hundred and twenty thousand conscripts. War 
 was officially declared in June ; but there had been 
 hostilities before that. 
 
 At the end of this month the First Consul made a 
 journey to Boulogne, and visited Picardy, Flanders, 
 and Belgium, to organize the expedition he med- 
 itated against the English and to put the northern 
 coasts in a state of defence. Returning to Paris in 
 August, he left it again in November for a second 
 visit to Boulogne. These repeated jaunts were 
 too much for M. Hambart, first valet de chambre, 
 who had long been sick. Hence, wdien the First 
 Consul had been on the point of setting out on 
 his first tour in the north, M. Hambart had asked 
 his permission not to be of the party, alleging, which 
 was very true, the bad state of his health. " That 
 is the way you are," said the First Consul, "always 
 sick and complaining ! And if you stay here, who 
 is going to shave me ? " " General," replied M. 
 Hambart, " Constant knows how to shave as well 
 as I do." I was present and occupied at that very 
 moment in dressing the First Consul. He looked 
 at me and said : " Eh ! monsieur le drole, since
 
 152 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 you are so clever, you may make your trial on 
 the spot; we shall see how you will go at it." I 
 knew the mishap of poor Hdbert, which I have 
 previously related, and not wishing to experience 
 one like it, I had long been learning to shave. I 
 had paid a barber to teach me his trade, and had 
 even, in my leisure moments, apprenticed myself 
 at his shop, where I had shaved all his customers 
 indiscriminately. The chins of these worthy people 
 had had somewhat to suffer before my hand was 
 light enough for me to dare to bring my razor near 
 the consular chin. But by dint of reiterated 
 experiences on the beards of the vulgar, I had 
 arrived at a degree of address which inspired me with 
 the greatest confidence. Hence, on the First Con- 
 sul's order, I got ready the hot water and soap-ball, 
 opened the razor boldly, and began the operation. 
 Just as I was about to bring the razor to the First 
 Consul's face, he rose brusquely, turned round, and 
 fixed his two eyes on me with an expression of 
 severity and interrogation which I cannot describe. 
 Seeing that I remained undisturbed, he sat down 
 again, saying with more gentleness : " Continue ; " 
 which I did with sufiicient address to satisfy him 
 very well. When I had finished he said to me: 
 " Hereafter it is you that shall shave me." And, in 
 fact, from that time, he would have no other barber. 
 Thenceforward my duties became much more active ; 
 for every day I was obliged to make my appearance 
 to shave the First Consul, and I can affirm that it
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 163 
 
 was no easy thing to do. During the ceremony of 
 removing his beard he frequently talked, read the 
 papers, moved round on his chair, turned suddenly, 
 and I was obliged to use the greatest precaution to 
 avoid wounding him. Luckily, this misfortune never 
 happened to me. When l)y chance he did not talk, he 
 remained immovable and stiff as a statue, and one 
 could not make him lower, raise, or bend his head, as 
 would have been necessary in order to accomplish 
 the task more easily. He had also one singular 
 mania, which was to have only one side of his 
 face lathered and shaved at a time. He would 
 never let me pass to the other side until the first 
 was finished. The First Consul found this more 
 convenient. 
 
 Later on, when I had become his first valet de 
 chambre, when he deigned to treat me with the 
 greatest kindness, and I had ils much freedom of 
 speech with him as his rank permitted, I took the 
 liberty of persuading him to shave himself ; for, as 
 I have just said, being unwilling to allow himself 
 to be shaved by anybody but me, he was obliged to 
 wait to have me sent for, with the army espe- 
 cially, where he Avas not always regular about ris- 
 ing. He refused for a long time to follow my 
 advice, and whenever I repeated it : " Ah ha ! Mr. 
 Laziness ! " he would say to me, laughing, " wouldn't 
 you be very glad to have me do half your work ? " 
 At last I had the good fortune to convince him 
 of the disinterestedness and wisdom of my advice.
 
 154 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 The fact is that I wanted very much to persuade 
 him ; for, representing to myself what would neces- 
 sarily happen if an indispensable absence, a malady, 
 or any other motive should keep me at a distance 
 from the First Consul, I could not think without a 
 shudder that his life would be at the mercy of the 
 first comer. For him, I am sure he never thought of 
 this ; for, whatever stories have been told about his 
 distrust, it is certain that he never took any precau- 
 tions against the snares that treachery might lay for 
 him. His confidence on this point verged even on 
 imprudence. Hence all who loved him, and they 
 were all who surrounded him, sought to remedy this 
 lack of precaution by all the vigilance of which they 
 were capable. I need not say that it was above all 
 this very solicitude for the precious life of my master 
 which induced me to insist on the advice I had given 
 him to shave himself. 
 
 The first times when he essayed to put my lessons 
 into practice, it was more disquieting than laughable 
 to see the Emperor (he was that then), who did not 
 know how to hold the razor, in spite of the principles 
 I had just laid down, illustrating them by reiterated 
 examples, seize it by the handle and apply it per- 
 pendicularly to his cheek without laying it flat. He 
 would make an abrupt slash with it, never failing to 
 cut himself, and then draw back his hand as quickly 
 as possible, exclaiming : " You see very well, you 
 rogue ! you are the cause of my cutting myself ! " 
 Then I would take the razor and finish the operation.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 155 
 
 The next day, the same scene as the day before, but 
 with less bloodshed. Every day increased the 
 Emperor's skill ; and he ended, by dint of repeated 
 lessons, in being able to dispense with me. Only he 
 still cut himself occasionally, and then he would 
 begin again to scold me a little ; but in a bantering 
 way and kindly. Besides, from the manner in which 
 he went at it, and which he would not change, it was 
 very possible that he would never avoid cutting him- 
 self frequently ; for he shaved himself from top to 
 bottom, and not from bottom to top like everybody 
 else, and this bad method, which all my efforts could 
 never alter, added to the habitual abruptness of his 
 movements, made it impossible for me not to shudder 
 every time I saw him take his razor. 
 
 Madame Bonaparte accompanied the First Consul 
 on the first of these journeys. Like that to Lyons, it 
 was a continual series of fetes and triumphs. 
 
 In expectation of the arrival of the First Consul, 
 the inhabitants of Boulogne had raised triumphal 
 arches all the way from the Montreuil gate to the 
 temporary building erected for him at the camp at 
 the right. Each arch was of foliage, and bore the 
 names of the combats and pitched battles in which he 
 had been victorious. These domes and arcades of 
 verdure and flowers presented an admirable sight. 
 One of them, much higher than the others, rose in 
 the middle of the rue de 1' Ecu (the chief street) ; the 
 ^lite of the city were assembled around it ; more than 
 a hundred young persons adorned with flowers, chil-
 
 156 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 dren, fine old men, and a large number of veterans 
 who had not been detained in camp by military duty, 
 were awaitinsf the arrival of the First Consul with 
 impatience. As he approached, rejoicing cannons 
 announced to the English, whose fleet was still lying 
 in Boulogne waters, the appearance of Napoleon on 
 the shore where the formidable army he had resolved 
 to throw into England was assembling. 
 
 The First Consul, who had been mounted on a 
 little gray horse which had the vivacity of a squirrel, 
 alighted, and, followed by his brilliant staff, he ad- 
 dressed these paternal words to the city authorities : 
 " I come to assure the welfare of France ; the 
 sentiments you manifest, your tokens of gratitude, all 
 affect me ; I shall never forget my entry into Bou- 
 logne, which I have chosen as the centre of reunion 
 for my armies. Citizens, do not be alarmed by this 
 rendezvous ; it is that of the defenders of the 
 country, and presently of the conquerors of haughty 
 England." The First Consul continued his march, 
 surrounded by the whole population, who only left 
 him at the door of his baraque, where more than 
 thirty generals received him. The firing of cannons, 
 the ringing of bells, and shouts of joy lasted until 
 nightfall. 
 
 The next day after our arrival, the First Consul 
 visited the Pont-de-Briques, a little village situated 
 half a league from Boulogne ; a farmer read him the 
 following coni[)liinent : 
 
 " General, we twenty are fathers of families who
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 167 
 
 offer you a score of big fellows who are and always 
 will be at your orders : take them with you, General, 
 they may aid you serviceably when j^ou go to Eng- 
 land. As for us, we are fulfilling another duty; 
 our arms will cultivate the earth so that bread shall 
 not be lacking to the heroes who are to crush the 
 English." 
 
 Napoleon smilingly thanked the outspoken coun- 
 tryman, glanced at a small country house built be- 
 side the high road, and said, addressing himself to 
 General Berthier: "I will have ray headquarters 
 established there." Then he spurred his horse and 
 rode away. A general and several officers remained 
 to execute his order, and the First Consul returned 
 the same night to sleep at Pont-de-Briques. 
 
 I was told at Boulogne the details of a naval com- 
 bat fought a short time before our arrival between 
 the French fleet, commanded by Admiral Bruix, and 
 the English squadron with which Nelson was block- 
 ing the port of Boulogne. I will tell them as they 
 were told to me, as I thought the convenient man- 
 ner in which the French admiral directed the 
 operations of his seamen very curious. 
 
 About two hundred vessels, both gunboats and 
 bomb-ketches, flat-boats and pinnaces, formed the 
 line of defence ; the coast and the forts were bris- 
 tling with batteries. Several frigates detached them- 
 selves from the enemy's station, and, preceded by 
 two or three brigs, got into battle array in front of 
 the line and within range of the cannon of our
 
 158 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 flotilla. Then the fight began, and the balls came 
 from every direction. Nelson, who had promised 
 the destruction of the flotilla, reinforced his line of 
 battle by two other ranks of vessels and frigates ; 
 thus placed in echelon, they fought with a great su- 
 periority of forces. For more than seven hours, 
 the sea, covered with fire and smoke, offered to the 
 whole population of Boulogne the superb and fright- 
 ful spectacle of a naval combat where more than 
 eighteen hundred cannons were discharged at once. 
 Nelson's genius could do nothing against our sailors 
 and soldiers. Admiral Bruix was in his barrack, 
 which was placed near the coast-telegraph of signals. 
 He fought Nelson from there, drinking with his 
 staff and several ladies of Boulogne whom he had 
 invited to dinner. The guests were chanting the 
 first victories of the First Consul, while the Admiral, 
 without leaving the table, manoeuvred the flotilla 
 by means of the signals he ordered. Nelson, impa- 
 tient to conquer, brought forward all his naval forces, 
 but the wind being against him, he could not keep 
 the promise he had made in London to burn our 
 flotilla. Far from that, several of his vessels were 
 badly damaged, and Admiral Bruix, seeing the 
 English drawing off, shouted victory while pouring 
 champagne for his guests. The French flotilla had 
 not suffered much, while the enemy's squadron had 
 been ruined by the continual firing of our stationary 
 batteries. On that day, the English recognized that 
 it would be impossible for them to approach the
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 169 
 
 coast of Boulogne, wliicli tliey have since surnamed 
 the Iron Coast (^Cote de Fer^. 
 
 When the First Consul quitted Boulogne, he was 
 to go to Abbeville and remain there twenty-four 
 hours. The mayor of that town had neglected noth- 
 ing to receive him worthily. Abbeville was superb 
 on that day. The most beautiful trees in a neighbor- 
 ing wood had been dug up by their roots to form 
 avenues in all the streets through which the First 
 Consul was to pass. Several inhabitants who owned 
 magnificent gardens, had sent their rarest shrubs to 
 range along his route. Carpets from the manufac- 
 tory of MM. Hecquet-Dorval were stretched on the 
 ground to be trodden by liis horses. An unexpected 
 circumstance suddenly disturbed the fete : a courier, 
 expedited by the minister of police, arrived just as 
 we were approaching the city. The minister warned 
 the First Consul that they meant to assassinate him 
 two leagues from there ; the day and hour were 
 indicated. 
 
 To frustrate the intended attack against his person, 
 the First Consul passed through the city on a gallop, 
 and, followed by several lancers, went to the place 
 where he was to be attacked; there he made a halt 
 of about lialf an hour, ate some Abbeville biscuits, 
 and went back again. The assassins were tricked; 
 their preparations had been made for the next da3^ 
 
 The First Consul and Madame Bonaparte contin- 
 ued their journey across Picardy, Flanders, and the 
 Low Countries. War vessels were daily offered him
 
 160 MEMOmS OF CONSTANT 
 
 by the different councils-general. They continued 
 to address him and to present him with the keys of 
 cities as if he were exercising royal power. Amiens, 
 Dunkirk, Lille, Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Liege, 
 Namur, distinguished themselves by the brilliancy 
 of the reception they gave the illustrious travellers. 
 The inhabitants of the city of Antwerp presented 
 the First Consul with six magnificent bay horses. 
 Likewise the First Consul left behind him service- 
 able marks of his passage. By his orders the works 
 were at once begun for cleaning and improving the 
 port of Amiens. In this city, and in others when it 
 was going on, he visited the exhibition of industrial 
 products, encouraging the manufacturers by his 
 counsels and assisting them by his decrees. At 
 Li^ge he placed at the disposal of the prefect of the 
 Ourthe a sum of three hundred thousand francs for 
 the repair of the houses burned by the Austrians in 
 this department, during the first wars of the Revolu- 
 tion. Antwerp owed to him its inner port, its basins, 
 and its dockyards. At Brussels, he ordered the 
 junction of the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt by 
 a canal. He caused a stone bridge to be thrown 
 across the Meuse at Givet, and, at Sedan, the widow 
 Rousseau received from him a sum of sixty thousand 
 francs for the rebuilding of her factory, which iiad 
 been destroyed by fire. In fine, I could not enumer- 
 ate all the benefits, public or private, which the 
 First Consul and Madame Bonaparte strewed along 
 their route.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 161 
 
 Shortly after our return to Saint-Cloud, the First 
 Consul, being out in a carriage with liis wife and 
 M. Cambac^res, took the notion to drive four-in-haud 
 the horses attached to it, which were those that had 
 been given to him by the inhabitants of Antwerp. 
 He mounted on the box, therefore, and took the reins 
 from the hands of C^sar, his coachman, who got up 
 behind. They were just then in the horseshoe alley, 
 which goes by way of the Breteuil pavilion and Ville- 
 d'Avray. It says in the 3Temorial of Saint-Helena, 
 that the aide-de-camp, having awhvardlt/ crossed the 
 horses, made them run away. Cdsar, who gave me 
 all the details of this lamentable adventure, did not 
 say a A\ord about the aide-de-camp ; and, in all 
 conscience, no other awkwardness was required to 
 upset the carriage than that of a coachman as inex- 
 perienced as the First Consul. Besides, the horses 
 were young and spirited, and Cesar himself needed 
 all his skill to drive them. Not feeling his hand any 
 longer, they started off at a gallop ; and C^sar, 
 seeing the new direction they were taking towards 
 the right, began to shout : To the left ! with the voice 
 of a stentor. Consul Cambac(;res, paler than ever, 
 took very little pains to reassure the frightened 
 jMadame Bonaparte, but cried with all his might: 
 "Stop! stop! you are going to smash us!" That 
 might easily have happened ; but the First Consul 
 heard nothing, and moreover he was no longer 
 master of his horses. On arriving, or rather on 
 being dragged to the gate, he could not take the 
 
 vol.. I. — M
 
 162 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 middle of the road, but ran against a post and fell 
 out heavily. Fortunately the horses stopped. The 
 First Consul, thrown ten feet and striking on his 
 stomach, fainted and did not come to himself until 
 some one touched him to pick him up. IMadame 
 Bonaparte and the Second Consul received only slight 
 contusions, but the good Josephine had suffered 
 horribly from anxiety about her husband. However, 
 though he had been rudely shaken up, he would not 
 be bled, and contented himself with being rubbed 
 with cologne water, his favorite remedy. That night, 
 on going to bed, he talked gayly about his mishap 
 and the extreme fright which his colleague had dis- 
 played, and ended by saying: '■^ We must render to 
 Cesar the things that are Cesar's; let him keep his 
 whip, and every one stick to his trade." He ad- 
 mitted, however, in spite of his pleasantries, that he 
 had never thought himself so near death, and even 
 that he deemed himself dead for some seconds. I do 
 not remember whether it was on this occasion or 
 on some other that I heard the Emperor say that 
 death ivas 7iothing hut a sleep ivithout dreams. 
 
 In October of this year the First Consul received 
 in public audience Haled-Effendi, ambassador of the 
 Ottoman Porte. 
 
 The arrival of the Turkish ambassador made a 
 sensation at the Tuileries, because he brought a 
 great quantity of cashmere shawls to tlie First Consul ; 
 people were sure they would be distributed, and each 
 woman flattered herself on being favorably treated.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 163 
 
 I think that without his strange costume, and es- 
 pecially without his cashmeres, he would have pro- 
 duced very little effect on persons accustomed to see 
 sovereign princes pay their court to the head of the 
 government both at home and abroad. Even his 
 costume was not more remarkable than that of 
 Roustan, to which we were accustomed, and as to 
 his obeisances, they were hardly more profound 
 than those of the ordinary courtiers of the First 
 Consul. At Paris, they say that the enthusiasm 
 lasted longer. 'Tis so droll to be a Turk! Some 
 ladies had the honor to see the bearded ambassador 
 eat ; he was polite and even gallant with them, and 
 gave them several presents which were much boasted 
 of. His manners were not too Mussulman-like, and 
 he was not afraid to see our pretty Parisians without 
 a veil on their faces. One day, which he spent 
 almost entirely at Saint-Cloud, I saw him making 
 his prayer. It was in the court of honor, on a large 
 parapet bordered b}^ a stone balustrade. The am- 
 bassador had carpets stretched alongside the apart- 
 ments which were afterwards those of the King of 
 Rome, and there he made his genuflections in sight 
 of several members of the household, who, out of 
 discretion, kept themselves behind the shutters. In 
 the evening he was present at the theatre. I think 
 they played Zaire or Maliomet ; he did not under- 
 stand a word.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Another journey to Boulogne — Visit to the flotilla and review of 
 the troops — The line's jealousy of tlie guard — The First Consul 
 at the camp — The General's anger with the soldiers ^ — -Boredom 
 of the officers and pleasures of the camp — Timidity of the 
 Boulognese women — Jealousy of the husbands — Visits of the 
 women of Paris, Abbeville, Dunkirk, and Amiens to the camp of 
 Boulogne — Soirees at the house of the mistress of Colonel 
 Joseph Bonaparte — Generals Soult, Saint-Hilaire, and Andr^ossy 
 
 — The clever woman and the two happy lovers — Curiosity of 
 the First Consul — The First Consul taken for a war commis- 
 sioner — Commencement of General Bertrand's favor — Regula- 
 tor Arcambal and the two visitors — The First Consul spying 
 on his brother, who pretends not to recognize him — The First 
 Consul and the innocent games — The First Consi;l has nothing 
 to give as a forfeit — Note from the First Consul — Xaval combat 
 
 — The First Consul commands a manoeuvre and makes a mistake 
 
 — Error recognized and silence of the General — The First 
 Consul points the cannons and has the bullets reddened — Fight 
 between two Picards — Continual explosion — Dinner to the roar 
 of cannons — English frigate dismasted and brig run down. 
 
 IN November of this year, the First Consul re- 
 turned to Boulogne to visit the flotilla and 
 review some troops Avliich were already assembled 
 there, in the camps destined for the army with which 
 he proposed to descend on England. I have pre- 
 served some notes and still more souvenirs of my 
 different sojourns in Boulogne. Never did the 
 Emperor display elsewhere a greater military power. 
 
 164
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 165 
 
 Never did any one see assembled, on one spot, troops 
 that were finer or readier to march at the slightest 
 sign from their chief. It is not surprising, then, 
 that I have found in my memory of this epoch details 
 which no one, I think, has yet thought of publishing. 
 Nor has any person, if I do not deceive myself, been 
 in a better position to know them than I. As to that, 
 the reader will soon be able to judge for himself. 
 
 In the different reviews held by the First Consul, 
 he seemed to wish to excite the enthusiasm of the 
 soldiers and their attachment to his person, by the 
 care with which he seized every occasion to flatter 
 their self-love. 
 
 One day, having particularly remarked the excel- 
 lent appearance of the 36th and 57th regiments of 
 the line and of the 10th light infantry, he made 
 all the chiefs come out of the ranks, from the 
 corporals to the colonels, and going amongst them, 
 he showed his satisfaction by reminding them of the 
 occasions when, under the fire of cannon, he had 
 also made complimentary remarks on these three 
 brave regiments. He complimented the non-com- 
 missioned officers on the good training of the soldiers, 
 and the captains and chiefs of battalion on the 
 ensemble and the precision of the manoeuvres. In a 
 word, each one had his share of praise. 
 
 This flattering distinction did not excite the jeal- 
 ousy of the other army corps; each regiment had 
 received that day its greater or lesser portion of 
 compliments, and when the review was ended, they
 
 1G6 JIEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 returned peaceably to their cantonments. But the 
 soldiers of the 36th, 57th, and 10th, very proud 
 of having been favored so signally, went in the 
 afternoon to display their triumph in an out- 
 of-town caf^ frequented by the mounted grenadiers 
 of the guard. They began by quiet drinking, talk- 
 ing about campaigns, cities that had been talcen, the 
 First Consul, and finally the morning's review ; then 
 some young men of Boulogne, who had mingled 
 with the drinkers, took the notion of singing some 
 very recently composed couplets, in which the brav- 
 ery and the exploits of the three regiments were 
 lauded to the skies, without a word being said of 
 the rest of the army, not even of the guard; and 
 it was in the favorite cafe of the guard that these 
 couplets were sung ! The latter at first maintained 
 a gloomy silence ; but presently, pushed too far, 
 they loudly protested against these verses, which 
 they declared detestable. The quarrel began in a 
 very lively fashion ; there was a good deal of shout- 
 ing, they insulted each other, and then separated, 
 but without too much noise, giving a rendezvous 
 for the next morning at four o'clock, in the en- 
 virons of Marquise, a little village two leagues from 
 Boulogne. It was very late in the evening when 
 the soldiers left the cafij. 
 
 More than two hundred grenadiers of the guard 
 repaired separately to the place of rendezvous, and 
 found the ground occupied by a nearly equal num- 
 ber of adversaries of the 3Gth, 57th, and 10th. 
 
 i
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 167 
 
 Without explanations, without uproar, each took 
 his sabre in his hand, and fought during more 
 than an hour with appalling coolness. One Mar- 
 tin, a grenadier of the guard, a man of gigantic 
 stature, killed with his own hand seven or eight 
 soldiers of the 10th. They would probably all have 
 been massacred if General Saint-IIilaire, apprised 
 too late of this sanguinary quarrel, had not at once 
 sent out a regiment of cavalry which put a stop to 
 the fighting. The grenadiers had lost ten men, 
 and the soldiers of the line thirteen ; the wounded 
 on both sides were very many. 
 
 The First Consul went to the camp the next 
 morning, had the provocators of this terrible scene 
 brought before him, and said to them in a severe 
 tone : " I know why you fought ; several brave men 
 have succumbed in a struggle unworthy of them and 
 of you. You shall be punished. I have ordered that 
 the verses which were the cause of so many misfort- 
 unes shall be printed. I intend that in learning 
 your punishment, the Boulognese shall know that 
 you have forfeited the esteem of your brothers in 
 arms." 
 
 Meanwhile the troops, and especially the ofHcers, 
 began to be tired of their stay in Boulogne, a city 
 less adapted, perhaps, than any other to render an 
 inactive existence supportable. Nevertheless they 
 did not murmur, for there had never been found 
 room for murmurs where the First Consul was ; but 
 they stormed with bated breath at being kept in
 
 168 3IEM0IRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 camp or in the harbor, with Enghiiid before them 
 and only nine or ten leagues off. Pleasures were 
 rare in Boulogne ; the Boulognese women, charming 
 persons in general, dared not give 2~>fii"ties in their 
 own houses, lest they should displease their hus- 
 bands, very jealous men, like all Picards. And yet 
 there was a fine hall in which balls and soirees 
 might easily have been given ; but, although they 
 may have wished to, these ladies dared not make 
 use of it ; it was necessary that a certain number of 
 fair Parisians, moved by the sad fate of so many 
 brave and handsome officers, should come to Bou- 
 logne to beguile the weariness of so long a repose. 
 The example of the Parisians piqued the women 
 of Abbeville, Dunkirk, and Amiens, and Boulogne 
 was presently replenished with male and female 
 strangers who came to do the honors of the city. 
 
 Among all these ladies, she who attracted most 
 attention by an excellent tone and plenty of wit and 
 
 beauty, was one Madame F , of Dunkirk, an 
 
 excellent musician, full of gaiety, graces, and youth ; 
 
 it was impossible that Madame F should not turn 
 
 many heads. Colonel Joseph, brother of the First 
 Consul, General Soult, who was afterwards marshal, 
 Generals Saint-Hilaire and Andrdossy, and several 
 other great personages were at her feet. Only two 
 succeeded in making themselves acceptable, and of 
 these one was Colonel Joseph, who soon passed in the 
 
 town for the favored lover of Madame F . The 
 
 fair Dunkirker often gave soir(3es, at which Colonel
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 169 
 
 Joseph never failed to be present. Among all his 
 rivals, and he certainly had a good many, one alone 
 took umbrage at him; this was Soult, the general- 
 in-chief. This rivalry was not at all prejudicial to 
 the interests of Madame F ; like a skilful tac- 
 tician, she adroitly provoked the jealousy of her two 
 aspirants, by accepting in turn from each of them 
 compliments, bouquets of roses, and better than that 
 occasionally. 
 
 The First Consul, informed of his brother's amours, 
 took the whim one evening of going to amuse him- 
 self at the little salon of Madame F , which was 
 
 merely a room on the first story of a joiner's house 
 in the rue des Minimes. So as not to be recognized, 
 he put on citizen's dress, and wore a wig and specta- 
 cles. He took General Bertrand into his confidence, 
 who was already in great favor with him, and who 
 also was careful to do all in his power to make 
 himself unrecognizable. 
 
 Thus disguised, the First Consul and his com- 
 panion presented themselves at Madame F 's and 
 
 asked for the major-domo Arcambal. The strictest 
 incognito was recommended to M. Arcambal by the 
 First Consul, who would not have been recognized 
 for all the world. M. Arcambal promised secrecy. 
 The two visitors were announced as civil commis- 
 sioners at the army. 
 
 They were playing houillotte : the tables were 
 covered with gold, and the game and the punch ab- 
 sorbed the attention of the joyous habitu^is to such a
 
 170 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 point that none of them took any heed of the two 
 personages who had just entered. As to the mistress 
 of the house, she had never seen close by either the 
 First Consul or General Bertrand ; consequently 
 there was nothing to fear from her. I can well 
 believe that Colonel Joseph recognized his brother, 
 but he crave no sio^n of it. 
 
 The First Consul, avoiding observation as much 
 as possible, watched the looks interchanged between 
 
 his brother and Madame F . Convinced of their 
 
 mutual understanding, he was about to quit the 
 salon of the pretty Dunkirker, when she, who did 
 not fancy seeing the number of her guests diminish- 
 ing as 3'et, ran to the pretended commissioners, and 
 graciously detained them, saying that they were 
 going to play little games, and that they must not 
 go without having given forfeits. The First Consul, 
 having consulted General Bertrand by a glance, 
 found it amusing to remain and play at innocent 
 games. 
 
 In fact, at the end of several minutes, on the re- 
 quest of Madame F , the players deserted bouil- 
 
 lotte and ranged themselves in a circle around her. 
 They began by dancing the houlanrfere', then followed 
 the innocent games. It came the First Consul's turn 
 to give a forfeit. He was at hrst much embarrassed, 
 having nothing about him but a scrap of paper on 
 which he had written the names of certain colonels 
 in lead pencil. However, he confided this paper to 
 Madame F , begging her not to open it. The
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 171 
 
 wish of the First Consul was res2)ected, and the 
 paper remained closed on the knees of the fair lady 
 until the forfeit should be redeemed. This moment 
 arrived, and some one imposed on the great captain 
 the singular penance of playing the porter, while 
 
 Madame F , ^^■ith Colonel Joseph, should make 
 
 the voyage to Cytliera in the next room. The First 
 Consul acquitted himself with a good grace of the 
 part he had to play ; then, after the forfeits had been 
 returned, he signed to General Bertrand to follow 
 him. They went out, and presently the joiner, who 
 lived on the ground-floor, came up to deliver a little 
 note to ]\Iadame F . It contained these words : 
 
 "I thank you, Madame, for the amiable welcome 
 you have given me. If you come some day to my 
 baraque, I will again play the porter, if you like ; 
 but this time I will not leave to others the care of 
 accompanying you in the voyage to Cythera. 
 
 " Signed : Bonaparte." 
 
 The charming Dunkirker read the note to herself; 
 but she did not allow the givers of forfeits to remain 
 ignorant that they had received the visit of the First 
 Consul. At the end of an hour they separated, leav- 
 ing ]\Iadame F alone to reflect on the visit and 
 
 the note of the great man. 
 
 It was during this same sojourn that there was a 
 terrible combat in the roadstead of Boulogne to pro- 
 tect the entry into the port of a flotilla composed of 
 twenty or thirty vessels, coming from Osteud, Dun-
 
 172 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 kirk, and Nieuport, loaded with munitions for the 
 national fleet. 
 
 A magnificent frigate, carrying thirty-six cannon, 
 a cutter and a brig of the first rank were detached 
 from the English fleet in order to intercept the 
 Batavian flotilla ; but they were received in a manner 
 that deprived them of all wish to return there. 
 
 The port of Boulogne was defended by five forts : 
 the fort de la Creche, the fort en Bois, the fort 
 Musoir, and the ordnance tower, all provided with 
 an extraordinary abundance of cannons and mortars. 
 The line of broadside which barred the entry was 
 composed of two hundred and fifty gunboats and 
 other vessels ; the division of imperial gunboats 
 formed part of them. 
 
 Each gunboat carried three twenty-four pound 
 cannons, two bow-chasers, and one stern-chaser. Five 
 hundred pieces of ordnance, then, were playing on 
 the enemy inde23endently of all the batteries of the 
 forts. Eacli piece fired more than three times a 
 minute. 
 
 The fight began at one in the afternoon. The 
 weather was superb. At the first discharge of 
 cannon, the First Consul left the headquarters at the 
 Pont-de-Briques, and went off at a gallop, followed 
 by his staff, to give his orders to Admiral Bruix. 
 Presentl}'', wishing to observe for himself the move- 
 ments of the defence, and aid in directing them, he 
 jumped into a l)()at rowed by the marines of the guard, 
 and was followed by the Admiral and several officers.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 173 
 
 Thus it was that the First Consul went into the 
 midst of the vessels which formed the line of broad- 
 side, through a thousand dangers and a rain of shells, 
 bombs, and ballets. Intending to laiid at Wimereux 
 after having gone through the line, he turned toward 
 the Cro'i tower, saying that he must double it. 
 Admiral Bruix, aharmed at the thought of the useless 
 danger they were going to incur, represented the 
 imprudence of this manoeuvre to the First Consul. 
 " What shall we gain by doubling this fort ? Nothing 
 but bullets. . . . General, by turning it we should 
 arrive just as quickly." The First Consul was not 
 of the Admiral's opinion ; he persisted in wishing to 
 double the tower. The Admiral, at the risk of being 
 cashiered, gave contrary orders to the sailors ; and 
 the First Consul saw himself obliged to pass behind 
 the fort, very much irritated and addressing re- 
 proaches to the Admiral, Avhich very soon ceased ; for 
 the yawl liad hardly passed when a transport boat 
 wdiich had doubled the Cro'i tower, was crushed and 
 sunk by three or four shells. 
 
 The First Consul held his peace on seeing how 
 right the Admiral had been, and the rest of the way 
 was accomplished without hindrance as far as the 
 little port of Wimereux. On arriving there, he went 
 up the cliff to encourage the cannoneers. He spoke 
 to every one of them, slapped them on the shoulder, 
 and incited them to take good aim. " Courage, my 
 friends," he said to them ; " think that j^ou are fight- 
 ing fellows who will hold out a long time : send
 
 174 MEMOIES OF CONSTANT 
 
 them off with the honors of war.'" While looking at 
 the fine resistance and the majestic manoeuvres of the 
 frigate, he asked : " Do you think the captain can be 
 English, my lads ? I don't believe it." 
 
 The gunners, inflamed by the words of the First 
 Consul, redoubled their ardor and speed. " Keep 
 looking at the frigate, General," cried one of them ; 
 "the bowsprit is going to come down." He had 
 spoken truly ; the mast of the bowsprit was cut in two 
 by the ball. " Give this fellow twenty francs," 
 said the First Consul, addressing the officers who 
 had followed him. 
 
 Beside the batteries of Wimereux was a forge to 
 heat the bullets. The First Consul watched the 
 smiths at work and gave them his advice. " That is 
 not red enough, my lads; we must send them redder 
 than that . . . come, come ! " One of the men had 
 known him as a lieutenant of artillery, and said to 
 his comrades : " He understands these little things 
 finely . . . just as he does big ones." 
 
 That day, two soldiers without arms, who, stationed 
 on the cliff, were looking at the manoeuvres, began 
 to quarrel with each other in a ver}^ comical manner. 
 " Look," said one, " do you see the little corporal 
 down there?" "No, I don't see him." — "What, 
 don't you see him in his yawl ? " " Ah yes ! but he 
 can't be thinking what lie is about, that's sure ; if he 
 should get a rap now, he would set the whole army 
 crying. Why does he expose himself like that?" — 
 " Heavens ! that's his place." " Not at all. " — ^ " I say
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 175 
 
 it is." " No, I say." — " Look here, what would you 
 do to-morrow if the little corporal were killed?" 
 " Eh ! but I tell you that's his place," etc. ; and not 
 having, as it appeared, strong enough arguments on 
 either side, they came to fisticuffs. It took a good 
 deal of trouble to separate them. 
 
 The combat had begun at one o'clock in the after- 
 noon ; at about ten in the evening the Batavian 
 flotilla entered the port amidst the most horrible 
 firing I ever saw. In this obscurity, the bombs which 
 crossed each other in every direction formed an arch 
 of fire above the harbor and the city. The continual 
 explosion of all this artillery was repeated by the 
 echoes from the cliffs with a frightful noise ; and, 
 singularly enough, not a person in the city was afraid. 
 The Boulognese had become accustomed to danger ; 
 they were expecting something terrible every day ; 
 they had the preparations for attack or defence under 
 their eyes all the time ; they had become soldiers by 
 dint of seeing them. On that day they dined to the 
 roar of cannon, but everybody dined ; the dinner 
 hour was neither advanced nor retarded. Men went 
 to their business, women occupied themselves with 
 their housekeeping, young girls practised the piano. 
 . . . All beheld with indifference the cannon balls 
 passing over their heads, and the curious, whom a 
 desire to see the combat had attracted to the cliff, 
 seemed scarcely more affected than people usually 
 are on seeing a military piece played at Franconi's. 
 
 I still wonder how three vessels could have en-
 
 176 MEMOinS OF CONSTANT 
 
 dured for more than nine hours such a violent shock. 
 At the moment when the flotilla entered the port the 
 English cutter had sunk, the brig had been burned 
 by the red-hot balls ; nothing remained but the 
 frigate, with its masts shattered, its sails torn, and 
 yet standing as immovable as a rock. It was so close 
 to the line of broadside that the sailors on either side 
 could recognize and count each other. Behind her, 
 at a reasonable distance, were more than a Imndred 
 English sail. At last, after ten o'clock, a signal from 
 the English admiral made the frigate put about, and 
 the firing ceased. The line of broadside was not 
 greatly damaged in this long and terrible fight, be- 
 cause the guns of the frigate carried nearly always 
 into the rigging, and never into the body of the 
 boats. The brig and the cutter did the most harm.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Return of the First Consul to Paris — Arrival of Trince Camille 
 Borghese — Pauline Bonaparte and her first husband, General 
 Leclerc — The General's love for his wife — Portrait of General 
 Leclerc — Departure of the General for Santo Domingo — The 
 First Consul decrees the departure of his sister also — Revolt of 
 Christophe and Dessalines — Arrival of the General and his wife 
 at the Cape — Courage of Madame Leclerc — Insurrection of the 
 blacks — The remains of the army of Brest, and twelve thou- 
 sand revolted negi'oes — Heroic valor of the General-in-Chief, 
 attacked by a fatal disease — Courage of Madame Leclerc — 
 Nobleness and intrepidity — Pauline saving her son — Death of 
 General Leclerc — Marriage of Pauline — Chagrin of Lafon, and 
 response of Mademoiselle Duchesnois — j\L Jules de Canouville 
 and the Princess Borghese — The Princess in disgrace with the 
 Emperor — Generosity of the Princess toward her brother — The 
 only friend that remained to him — The diamonds of the Prin- 
 cess in the Emperor's carriage at the battle of Waterloo. 
 
 f I ^HE First Consul quitted Boulogne to return to 
 -^ Paris, where he wished to be present at the 
 marriage of one of his sisters. Prince Camille Bor- 
 ghese, a descendant of one of the most noble families 
 of Rome, had arrived there to marry Madame Pauline 
 Bonaparte, Avidow of General Leclerc, who died of 
 yellow fever -iit Santo Domingo. 
 
 I remember having seen this unhappy general, at 
 the house of the First Consul, some time before his 
 departure for the fatal expedition which cost him his 
 life and France the loss of so many brave soldier's and 
 
 VOL. I. — \ 177
 
 178 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 of enormous sums of money. General Leclerc, whose 
 name is now almost forgotten, or even in some sort 
 abandoned to contempt, was a kind and benevolent 
 man. He was passionately enamoured of his wife, 
 whose levity, to say nothing worse, afflicted and 
 plunged him into a profound and habitual melan- 
 choly which it was painful to behold. The Princess 
 Pauline (who was far enough from being a princess 
 then) had nevertheless married him freely and from 
 choice ; which did not prevent her from tormenting 
 her husband by caprices without end, and telling him 
 a hundred times a day that he was very fortunate 
 in having a sister of the First Consul for his wife. 
 I am convinced that, with his simple tastes and 
 pacific temper. General Leclerc would have liked less 
 brilliancy and more repose much better. 
 
 The First Consul had required his sister to accom- 
 pany the General to Santo Domingo. She was obliged 
 to obey and to quit Paris, where she wielded the 
 sceptre of fashion and eclipsed all other women by 
 her elegance and her coquetry as much as by her 
 incomparable beauty, in order to go and brave a 
 dangerous climate and the ferocious companions of 
 Christophe and Dessalines. At the close of the year 
 1801, the flag-ship Ocean had sailed for t'le Cape, with 
 General Leclerc, his wife, and their so;, on board. 
 
 On arriving at the Cape, the conduct of Madame 
 Leclerc was above all praise. On more than one 
 occasion, but particularly on that which I am go- 
 ing to try to recall, she displayed a courage worthy
 
 MEMOIES OF CONSTANT 179 
 
 of her name and the position of her husband. I have 
 these details from an eye-witness, whom I knew in 
 Paris in the service of the Princess Pauline. 
 
 The day of the great insurrection of the blacks, in 
 September, 1802, the bands of Christophe and Dessa- 
 lines, composed of more than twelve thousand negroes 
 exasperated by their hatred against the whites, and 
 their certainty that if they failed no quarter would 
 be given them, came to assault the Cape town, which 
 was defended by only a thousand soldiers. These 
 were the only remnants of that numerous army 
 which had gone out of Brest a year earlier, so brill- 
 iant and so full of hope. This handful of heroes, 
 the majority of them weak from fever, commanded 
 by the general-in-chief of the expedition, who was 
 likewise suffering from the malady of which he died, 
 repulsed the repeated attacks of the negroes with 
 unheard-of efforts and heroic valor. 
 
 During the combat, in which the fury if not the 
 numbers and force were equal on both sides, Madame 
 Leclerc was with her son, and under the guard of a 
 devoted friend who had only a weak artillery com- 
 pany at his orders, in the house where her husband 
 had established his residence, at the foot of the rocks 
 bordering the coast. The General-in-Chief, fearing 
 lest this residence might be surprised by a part of 
 the enemy, and unable to foresee the result of the 
 struggle he was maintaining at the upper end of 
 the Cape, where the blacks were making their most 
 fui'ious assaults, sent orders to have his wife and son
 
 180 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 taken on board the French fleet. Pauline would not 
 consent to it. Always true to the pride inspired in 
 her by her name (though there was this time both 
 grandeur and nobility in her pride), she said to the 
 ladies of the city, who had taken shelter with her, 
 and who were entreating her to depart, and telling 
 her horrible things about the treatment to which 
 women were exposed by the negroes : " The rest of 
 you can go. You are not Bonaparte's sisters." 
 
 However, the danger increasing every moment, 
 General Leclerc sent an aide-de-camp to the resi- 
 dence, who was enjoined, in case of a new refusal 
 on the part of Pauline, to take her on board in spite 
 of herself. The officer was obliged to execute this 
 order strictly. Madame Leclerc was held by force 
 in an armchair carried by four soldiers. A grenadier 
 marched at her side, with the son of his general in 
 his arms; and during this scene of flight and terror, 
 the child, already worthy of his mother, played with 
 his conductor's plume. Followed by her cortege of 
 women, all trembling and in tears, of whom her 
 courage was tlie only rampart on this dangerous 
 transit, Pauline was transported in this way as far 
 as the seashore. But just as they were about to 
 put her in the boat, another of her husband's aides 
 brought her news of the defeat of the blacks. 
 " You see," said she as they were returning to the 
 house, "I was right in not wishing to embark." 
 Still she was not yet entirely out of danger. A 
 troop of negroes belonging to the army which liad
 
 MEMOIUS OF CONSTANT 181 
 
 just been so miraculously repulsed, and seeking to 
 effect their retreat among the piers, met the feeble 
 escort of Madame Leclerc. The insurgents seemed 
 to bo intending to attack them ; they had to be 
 driven off by muskets fired in their very faces. 
 Pauline maintained an imperturbable presence of 
 mind in the midst of this affray. 
 
 All these circumstances were of course reported 
 to the First Consul ; his self-love was flattered by 
 them, and I think it was to the Prince Borghese that 
 he said one day at his levee : " Pauline was predes- 
 tined to espouse a Roman ; for she is all Roman, 
 from head to foot." 
 
 Unhappily this courage, which a man might have 
 envied her, was not accompanied in the Princess 
 Pauline by those less brilliant and more modest 
 virtues which are nevertheless more necessary to 
 a woman and more rightfully expected of her than 
 audacity and indifference to danger. 
 
 I do not know whether it is true, as has been 
 written somewhere, that Madame Leclerc had an 
 affection for an actor of the Theatre Fran9ais at 
 the time she was obliged to go to Santo Domingo. 
 Neither can I say whether oNIademoiselle Duchesnois 
 did really have the naivete to exclaim in the pres- 
 ence of a hundred persons, apropos of this dej)art- 
 ure : " Lafon will never be consoled for it ; he is 
 capable of dying on account of it." But what 
 I personally knew of the frailties of this princess 
 would easily incline me to believe this anecdote.
 
 182 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 All Paris knew the particular favor with which 
 she honored M. Jules cle Canouville,^ a young and 
 brilliant colonel, of great bravery, perfect figure, 
 
 1 M. Bousquet, a celebrated dentist, ■was summoned to Neuilly 
 (the residence of the Princess Pauline), in order to examine the 
 teeth of Her Imperial Highness. On being introduced into her 
 apartments, he made ready to begin his operation. "Sir," said a 
 charming young man in a dressing gown, lying negligently on a 
 sofa, "take good care, I entreat you, about what you are going 
 to do. I am extremely attached to my Paulette's teeth, and will 
 make you responsible for any accident." "Be easy, my Prince ; 
 I can assure Your Imperial Highness that there will not be the 
 least danger." The advice continued all the time that M. Bous- 
 quet was occupied in arranging this pretty mouth ; at last, having 
 finished what he had to do, he passed into the attendants' hall, 
 where the ladies of the palace, the chamberlains, etc., were 
 assembled, awaiting their time to enter the apartment of the 
 Princess. They made haste to ask M. Bousquet questions. "Her 
 Imperial Highness is very well," said he, "and she ought to be 
 very happy in the tender attachment of her august spouse, which 
 he has just been displaying before me in such a touching manner. 
 His anxiety was extreme, and it was with difficulty that I could 
 reassure him about the consequences of the simplest thing in the 
 world. I shall tell everywhere what I have just witnessed. It is 
 sweet to be able to cite such examples of conjugal tenderness in so 
 elevated a rank. I am really impressed by it." Nobody tried to 
 interrupt the worthy M. Bousquet in the expression of his enthu- 
 siasm ; the longing to laugh prevented a word from being said ; and 
 he went away convinced that nowhere was there to be found a 
 more admirable family life than that of the Prince and Princess 
 Borghese. The former was in Italy, and the handsome young 
 man was M. de Canouville. I have borrowed this curious anecdote 
 from the Memoires de Josephine, the author of which, who has 
 seen and observed the courts of Navarre and Malmaison with so 
 much truth and good judgment, is, I am told, a woman, and who 
 cannot, in fact, be other than a very intelligent woman, and one 
 better placed than any one else for knowing the private life of Her 
 Majesty the Empress.
 
 ME3I0IBS OF CONSTANT 183 
 
 and a recklessness which gained him innumerable 
 successes with certain women, although he employed 
 very little discretion with them. The Princess 
 Pauline's liaison with this amiable officer was the 
 most durable that she ever formed. Unfortunately, 
 neither of them was at all reserved, and their mut- 
 ual affection soon acquired a scandalous publicity. 
 Later, I shall have occasion to relate, in its own 
 place, the adventure which caused the disgrace, 
 banishment, and perhaps the death of Colonel de 
 Canouville ; the whole army deplored his death, so 
 premature and above all so cruel, because it was 
 not by an enemy's bullet that he was struck.^ 
 
 Yet, whatever may have been the weakness of tlie 
 Princess Pauline for her lovers, and although such 
 incredible examples of it may be cited, without 
 departing from truth, her admirable devotion to the 
 person of His Majesty the Emperor, in 1814, should 
 cause her faults to be treated with indulgence. 
 
 A hundred times had the heedlessness of her con- 
 duct, and especially her failure in attention and 
 respect toward the Empress Marie-Louise, irritated 
 the Emperor against the Princess Borghese. He 
 always ended by forgiving her. Still, at the time of 
 her august brother's fall, she was again in disgrace. 
 On beingf informed that the island of Elba had been 
 assigned as a prison to the Emperor, she hastened to 
 
 1 He was killed by a bullet from a French gun, discharged by 
 some one after an action in which he had displayed the most 
 brilliant coui'ase.
 
 184 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 shut herself up there witli him, abandoning Rome 
 and Italy, whose most beautiful palaces belonged to 
 her. At the critical period before the battle of 
 Waterloo, His Majesty found the heart of his sister 
 Pauline faithful. Fearing that he might need money, 
 she sent him her richest diamond ornaments, the price 
 of which was enormous. They were found in the car- 
 riage of the Emperor, which was taken at Waterloo, 
 and exposed to the curiosity of tlie inhabitants 
 of London. But the diamonds have been lost, at 
 least to their legitimate owner.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Arrest of General Moreau — Constant sent as an observer — Gen- 
 eral Moreau married by Madame Bonaparte — Mademoiselle 
 Hulot — ^Madame Ilulot — Lofty pretensions — Moreau's oppo- 
 sition — His railleries — Intrigues and conspiracies of malcon- 
 tents — Testimonies of affection given by the First Consul to 
 General Moreau — What the Emperor said and did the day that 
 General Moreau's aides-de-camp were arrested — General Toy's 
 companion in arms — The abduction — Excessive severity toward 
 Colonel Del^l^e — A child's stratagem — Arbitrary measures — 
 The Emperor's inflexibility — The deputies of Besan9on and 
 
 Marshal M Panic and firmness — Court friends — A 
 
 formal audience at the Tuileries — Reception of the Bison tins — 
 Courageous response — Reparation — A change of opinions — 
 The old comrades — The chief of staff of the army of Portugal 
 — Premature death — Surveillance exercised over the members 
 of the Emperor's household at each new conspiracy — The 
 keeper of the portfolio — Registers of the concierges — The 
 Emperor's jealousy excited by a suspected name. 
 
 ^T^HE First Consul was in a state of great agita- 
 tion on the day of General Moreau's arrest. 
 All the morning, his emissaries and the agents of the 
 police were going and coming. Measures had been 
 taken so that the arrest should be made at the same 
 hour, whether at Gros-Bois, or at the general's resi- 
 dence in the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore. The 
 First Consul was anxiously walking up and down in 
 liis chamber. He had me called and ordered me to 
 go and station myself in front of the general's Paris 
 
 185
 
 186 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 house to observe whether the arrest was made, and if 
 there were any tumult, and to come back quickly and 
 report to him. I obeyed, but nothing extraordinary 
 was passing in the house, and I saw nobody but some 
 police spies strolling in the street, and keeping an 
 eye on the door of the dwelling inhabited by the 
 man who had been designated as their prey. My 
 presence might have been noticed, so I departed, and 
 on my way back to the chateau, I learned that Gen- 
 eral Moreau had been arrested on the road as he was 
 returning to Paris from Gros-Bois, which he sold a 
 few months later to Marshal Berthier, before starting 
 for the United States. I quickened my pace and ran 
 to announce the tidings of the arrest to the First 
 Consul. He knew it already and made me no reply. 
 He was still pensive and dreamy, as he had been in 
 the morning. 
 
 As I have been led to speak of General Moreau, I 
 will recall the fatal circumstances by which he was 
 impelled to tarnish his fame. Madame Bonaparte 
 had married him to Mademoiselle Hulot, her friend, 
 and like herself a Creole of the Isle de France. This 
 young person, sweet, amiable, and full of the qualities 
 which make a good wife and mother, loved her hus- 
 band passionately ; she was proud of that glorious 
 name which surrounded her with respect and honors. 
 But, unfortunately, she had the greatest deference 
 for her mother, who was very ambitious, and desired 
 nothing less tlian to behold her daughter seated on 
 a throne. Her empire over Madame Moreau soon
 
 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 187 
 
 included the general himself, who, ruled by her 
 counsels, became sombre, dreamy, melancholy, and 
 lost forever that tranquillity of mind which had dis- 
 tinguished him. From that time the general's 
 house was open to plots and intrigues ; all the mal- 
 contents, and there were many of them, met each 
 other there ; from that time the general undertook 
 to disapprove all the acts of the First Consul ; he 
 opposed the re-establishment of public worsliip, he 
 called the institution of the Legion of Honor a piece 
 of childish and ridiculous mummery. These grave im- 
 prudences, and plenty of others, soon reached, as may 
 readily be believed, the ears of the First Consul, who 
 at first refused to credit them; but how could he 
 remain deaf to insinuations that daily returned with 
 increased force, and were doubtless envenomed by 
 malice? 
 
 Now, while the imprudent speeches of the gen- 
 eral were contributing to ruin him in the mind of 
 the First Consul, his mother-in-law, with dangerous 
 obstinacy, encouraged him in his opposition, per- 
 suaded, as she said, that the future would do justice 
 to the present. She was not aware how truly she 
 spoke. The general rushed headlong into the abyss 
 which opened in front of him. How altogether con- 
 trary was his conduct to his character ! He had a 
 decided aversion for the English ; he detested the 
 Chouans and all that pertained to the old nobility. 
 Besides, a man like General Moreau, after having 
 served his country so gloriously, was not made to
 
 188 MEMOIRS OF COIfSTANT 
 
 carry arms against her. But he was misled, and he 
 misled himself in thinking that he was fit to play a 
 great political rOle. He was ruined by the flattery 
 of a party which raised as many enmities as it could 
 against the First Consul by exciting the jealousy of 
 his former companions in arms. 
 
 I have seen more than one token of affection given 
 by the First Consul to General Moreau. During one 
 of the latter's visits to the Tuileries, and wliile he 
 was conversing with the First Consul, General Carnot 
 came in from Versailles with a pair of very elaborately 
 wrought pistols, presented to the First Consul by the 
 manufactory of Versailles. To take these two beauti- 
 ful weapons from the hands of General Carnot, to 
 examine them a moment, and then offer them to 
 General Moreau, saying : "• Keep them ; they could 
 not come more apropos," — all that was done quicker 
 than I can write it. The general could not have 
 been more flattered by this proof of friendsliip, and 
 he warmly thanked the First Consul. 
 
 Tlie name and the trial of General Moreau remind 
 me of the story of a brave officer who found himself 
 compromised in this unhappy affair, and barely 
 extricated himself from it, after several years of 
 disgrace, by dint of the courage with which he ven- 
 tured to expose himself to the Emperor's wrath. 
 The authenticity of the details I am going to give 
 can be attested, at need, b}^ living persons whom I 
 shall have occasion to name in my recital, and whose 
 testimony no reader would dream of rejecting.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 189 
 
 General Moreau's disgrace at first extended to all 
 who were connected with him : the affection and 
 devotion borne him by the army men, whether offi- 
 cers or soldiers, who had served under him, was well 
 known. His aides-de-camp were arrested, even those 
 who were not in Paris. 
 
 One of these. Colonel Del^lde, had been several 
 months at Besangon on furlough, reposing from his 
 campaigns in the bosom of his family, along with a 
 young wife to whom he had not long been married, 
 but occupying himself very little -with political affairs, 
 a good deal with his pleasures, and not at all with 
 conspiracies. The comrade and brother in arms of 
 Colonels Guilleminot, Ilugo,^ and Foy,^ all three of 
 whom afterward became generals, he spent joyous 
 evenings with them in garrison and agreeable ones 
 at home. All at once Colonel Delel^e was arrested, 
 thrown into a post-chaise, and it was only when they 
 were rolling at a gallop on the road to Paris that he 
 learned from the officer of gendarmerie, who accom- 
 panied him, that General Moreau had conspired, and 
 that in his capacity as aide-de-camp of the General he 
 was included among the conspirators. 
 
 On arriving at Paris, the Colonel w^as put into 
 close custody, at La Force, I think. His wife, justly 
 alarmed, hastened in pursuit of him ; but it was not 
 until after a great many days that she obtained 
 
 1 The father of M. Victor Hugo, wlio is himself the godson of 
 Madame Del^lt-e. 
 
 2 The illustrious General Foy.
 
 190 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 permission to communicate ^yith the prisoner, and 
 even then she could do so only by signs. She would 
 remain in the court of the prison, while he would 
 show himself for some moments, and pass his hand 
 through the bars of his window. 
 
 However, the rigor of these orders was abated for 
 the Colonel's son, a little child of three or four 
 years. His father obtained the favor of embracing 
 him. He came every morning in his mother's arms, 
 and a turnkey would take him to the prisoner. In 
 presence of this troublesome witness the poor little 
 fellow would play his part with all the cunning of a 
 consummate dissimulator. He would pretend to be 
 lame, and complain that there were grains of sand in 
 his shoe that hurt him. The Colonel, turning his 
 back on the jailer, would take the child on his knee 
 to rid him of what troubled him, and find in the shoe 
 a note from his wife, apprising him in very few 
 words of the progress of the legal inquiry, and what 
 he had to hope or fear on his own account. 
 
 At last, after several months of captivity, sentence 
 having been passed on the conspirators, Colonel 
 Deldlde, against whom no accusation had been 
 brought, was not absolved, as he had a right to 
 expect, but struck off the army rolls, and arbitrarily 
 sent away under surveillance, and forbidden to come 
 within forty leagues of Paris. At first he was also 
 enjoined not to return to Besan9on, and it was not 
 until he had been out of prison for a year that he 
 was permitted to live there.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTAXT 191 
 
 Young and full of courage, the Colonel beheld, 
 from the depths of his retreat, his friends and com- 
 rades making their way and gaining name, rank, 
 and glory on the field of battle. He saw himself 
 condemned to inaction and obscurity. He spent 
 his days in following on the maps the triumphant 
 march of those armies in which he felt that he 
 deserved to resume his rank. A thousand requests 
 were addressed by him and by his friends to the 
 chief of the Empire, that he would permit him to go 
 merely as a volunteer, to join his former comrades, 
 were it with a knapsack on his back. His prayers were 
 rejected. The Emperor's will was inflexible, and to 
 every new application he answered : " Let him wait." 
 
 The inhabitants of Besan9on, who considered 
 Colonel Delel^e their compatriot, interested them- 
 selves keenly in the misfortune of this brave officer. 
 An occasion presented itself to recommend him anew 
 to the clemency, or rather to the justice, of the 
 Emperor, and they profited by it. 
 
 This was, I think, on the return from the cam- 
 paign of Prussia and Poland. Deputations were 
 coming from all parts of France, charged to con- 
 gratulate the Emperor on his new victories. Colonel 
 Del^l^e was unanimously elected a member of the 
 deputation from Doubs, of which the mayor and 
 the prefect of Besan^on formed part, and which was 
 presided over by the worthy jMarshal jNI . 
 
 An occasion, then, is at last offered to Colonel 
 Del^l^e to have the lono- interdict raised which has
 
 192 MEMOIIiS OF CONSTANT 
 
 weighed upon his head and kept his sword idle ! 
 He will speak to the Emperor ; he will complain, 
 respectfully but with dignity, of the motiveless dis- 
 grace in which he has been detained so long. He 
 will render heartfelt thanks to the generous affection 
 of his fellow-citizens, whose suffrages will, he hopes, 
 plead in his favor with His Majesty. 
 
 The Besan^on deputies, on their arrival in Paris, 
 have themselves presented to the different ministers. 
 The minister of police takes the president of the depu- 
 tation aside, and asks him what signifies the presence 
 among the deputies of a man publicly known to be 
 in disgrace, and the sight of whom cannot fail to 
 be disagreeable to the chief of the Empire. 
 
 On issuing from this private interview. Marshal 
 
 M enters, pale and terrified, the apartment of 
 
 Colonel Delelde. 
 
 " All is lost, my friend I I see, by the looks of 
 things at the bureau, that they are still ill-disposed 
 toward you. If the Emperor sees you amongst us, 
 he will take that for an express intention to go 
 against his orders, and lie will be furious." 
 
 " Ah well, what can I do about that ? " 
 
 " But, to avoid compromising the department, the 
 deputation, to avoid compromising yourself, you 
 might well, perhaps — " 
 
 The Marshal hesitates. 
 
 " I should do well ? " asks the Colonel. 
 
 "Perhaps by withdrawing without making any 
 scandal — "
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 193 
 
 Here the Colonel interrupted the president of the 
 deputation. 
 
 " Marshal, permit me to refuse this counsel. I did 
 not come so far in order to recoil, like a child, 
 before the first obstacle. I am tired of a disgrace 
 I have not deserved ; still more tired of my idleness. 
 Whether the Emperor is angry or is appeased, he 
 will see me ; let him have me shot if he likes, I do 
 not cling to a life such as I have led for the last 
 four years. However, Marshal, I will submit to 
 what shall be decided by my colleagues, the deputies 
 of Besan^on." 
 
 These latter did not disapprove the Colonel's reso- 
 lution, and he went with them to the Tuileries on 
 the day of the formal reception of all the deputa- 
 tions of the Empire. 
 
 Every hall in the Tuileries was encumbered by a 
 crowd in richly embroidered coats and brilliant uni- 
 forms. The military household of the Emperor, his 
 civil family, the generals present in Paris, the diplo- 
 matic corps, the ministers and chiefs of the diiierent 
 administrations, the deputies of the departments with 
 their prefects and their mayors, decorated with tri- 
 colored scarfs ; all were assembled in innumerable 
 groups, and were awaiting the arrival of His Majesty, 
 talking meanwhile in undertones. 
 
 In one of these groups was seen a tall officer, 
 dressed in a very simple uniform and of a fashion 
 which dated several years back. He did not wear 
 either on his neck or on his breast the decoration 
 
 VOL. I. — O
 
 194 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 which at that time no officer of his grade was with- 
 out. It was Colonel Del^l^e. The president of the 
 deputation of which he formed part, seemed embar- 
 rassed and almost afflicted. The former comrades 
 of the Colonel hardly dared to recognize him. The 
 most adventurous gave him a little nod from a dis- 
 tance, which expressed both anxiety and pity. The 
 most prudent did not look at him at all. 
 
 As for him, he remained impassive and resolute. 
 
 At last a folding door flew open, and an usher 
 cried : 
 
 " The Emperor, gentlemen." 
 
 The groups broke up ; people ranged themselves 
 in two rows. The Colonel placed himself in the 
 first rank. 
 
 His Majesty began his turn around the salon. He 
 addressed remarks to the president of each deputa- 
 tion, and said to every one of them some flattering 
 words. Arriving in front of the deputation of Doubs, 
 the Emperor, after having said a few words to the 
 brave marshal who conducted it, was about to pass 
 on to others, when his eyes fell upon an officer whom 
 he had never seen. He stopped in surprise, and 
 addressed his familiar question to the deputy : 
 
 " Who are you ? " 
 
 "Sire, I am Colonel Deldlde, formerly first aide- 
 de-camp of General Moreau." 
 
 These words were uttered in a steady voice which 
 resounded through the profound silence commanded 
 by the presence of the sovereign.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 195 
 
 The Emperor drew back a step, and fixed both 
 eyes upon the Colonel. The latter did not flinch 
 before this glance, but he bowed slightly. 
 
 Marshal M was as pale as a dead man. 
 
 The Emperor resumed : " What do you come to 
 ask for here?" 
 
 " What I have asked for years, Sire ; that Your 
 Majesty would deign to tell me of what I am guilty, 
 or else restore me to my rank." 
 
 Among those who were near enough to hear these 
 questions and answers, there were not many who 
 could breathe freel}'. 
 
 At last a smile parted the Emperor's tightly closed 
 lips. He lifted a finger to his mouth as he approached 
 the Colonel, and said to him in an almost friendly 
 tone : 
 
 " People have complained a little of that ; but don't 
 say any more about it." 
 
 And he went on his way. He had hardly gone 
 ten steps beyond the group formed by the deputies 
 of Besan9on, when he came back, and stopping 
 opposite the Colonel : 
 
 " Mr. Minister of War," said His Majesty, " take 
 the name of this officer, and take care to remind me 
 of it. He is tired of doing nothing; we will give 
 him some occupation." 
 
 As soon as the audience was over, it was who 
 should get to the Colonel quickest. They surrounded 
 him, they congratulated him, they embraced him, 
 they tore him away from each other. All of his for-
 
 196 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 mer companions wanted to take him away with them. 
 His hand could not grasp all the hands extended to 
 
 him. General S , who only the day before had 
 
 still further increased the alarms of Marshal M 
 
 by expressing his astonishment that any one should 
 have the audacity to come and brave the Emperor in 
 this way, stretched his arm above the shoulders of 
 those who were pressing around the Colonel, and 
 shaking hands with him in the most cordial way in 
 the world : " Del^l^e," he cried, " don't forget that I 
 expect you to breakfast to-morrow." 
 
 Two days after this court scene, Del^lde received his 
 appointment as chief of staff of the army of Portugal, 
 commanded by the Due d'Abrantes. His equipments 
 were soon ready, and at the moment of departing he 
 had a final audience of the Emperor, who said to him : 
 " Colonel, I know it is needless to urge jon to make 
 up for lost time. Before long, I hope, we shall be quite 
 content with each other." On coming out from this 
 last audience, the brave Del^lde said that all he lacked 
 now to make him happy was a good occasion to have 
 himself cut to pieces for a man who knew so well 
 how to close the wounds of a long disgrace. Such 
 was the empire that His Majesty exercised over 
 men's minds. 
 
 The Colonel had soon crossed the Pyrenees ; he 
 went through Spain and was received by Junot with 
 open arms. The army of Portugal had had much 
 to suffer during the two years it had been fighting 
 against the population and against the English with
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 197 
 
 unequal forces. They were badly supplied with pro- 
 visions, the soldiers ill clothed and not well shod. 
 The new chief of staff did all in his power to remedy 
 this disorder, and the soldiers began to be sensible of 
 his presence, when he fell sick from overwork and 
 fatigue, and died before having, to use the Emperor's 
 expression, made np for lost time. 
 
 I have said elsewhere that on every conspiracy 
 against the life of the First Consul, all the persons of 
 his household were naturally subjected to close sur- 
 veillance. Their least proceedings were watched; 
 they were followed when outside the chateau ; their 
 conduct was inspected in its most minute details. 
 At the time when the Pichegru plot was discovered, 
 there was only one keeper of the portfolio, named 
 Landoire, and his place was therefore one of the most 
 difficult, because he could never go away from a 
 little dark corridor on which the door of the cabinet 
 opened, and he ate his meals running, and almost on 
 the sly. Luckily for Landoire, they gave him a 
 second ; and on this occasion Augel, one of the 
 palace porters, was designated by the First Consul 
 to go and establish himself at the barrier des Bons- 
 Hommes, during Fichegru's trial, in order to reconnoi- 
 tre and observe domestics of the house as they came 
 and went about their service, nobody being allowed 
 to leave Paris without permission. Angel's reports 
 pleased the First Consul. He had him summoned, 
 seemed satisfied with his answers and his intelligence, 
 and appointed him as substitute for Landoire in keep-
 
 198 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 ing the portfolio. Thus the task of the latter became 
 easier by half. Augel went on the Russian campaign, 
 in 1802, and died on the return, when he was only a 
 few leagues from Paris, in consequence of the fatigues 
 and privations which we sliared with the army. 
 
 However, it was not merely the servants attached to 
 the household of the First Consul who found them- 
 selves subjected to this regime of surveillance. From 
 the time he became Emperor, he established, among 
 the concierges of all the imperial palaces, a register 
 on which people from outside, and strangers who 
 came to visit any one within, were obliged to inscribe 
 their names and that of the persons they came to see. 
 Every evening this register was carried to the grand 
 marshal of the palace, or in his absence to the gov- 
 ernor ; and the Emperor often consulted it. He once 
 read there a name which, in his capacity as husband, 
 he had his reasons, and perhaps even reason, for 
 suspecting. His Majesty had previously ordered the 
 absence of this person ; hence, on meeting this un- 
 lucky name again on the concierge's book, he was 
 beside himself with rage, believing that both sides had 
 dared to disobey his orders. Information was sought 
 for on the spot, and it turned out, very luckily, that 
 the suspected visitor was merely a very insignificant 
 person, whose only fault was that of bearing a name 
 justly compromised.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 The awakening of the First Consul, Ma'rcli 21, 1804 — Silence of 
 the First Consul — Josephine's arrival in the chamber of the 
 First Consul — Chagrin of Josephine and pallor of the First 
 Consul — The wretches have been too quick — News of the death 
 of the Due d'Enghien — The First Consul's emotion — Preludes 
 of the Empire — The First Consul Emperor — The Senate at 
 Saint-Cloud — CambacSres the first to salute the Emperor by 
 the name of Sire — The senators present their homage to the 
 Empress — Joy in the chateau — Everybody promoted — The 
 salon and the antechamber — Embarrassment of all the attend- 
 ants — The first awakening of the Emperor — The French 
 princes — M. Lucien and Madame Jouberton — The marshals 
 of the Empire — Awkwardness of the first courtiers — The 
 chamberlains and the grand officers — Lessons given by the 
 men of the former court — Contempt of the Emperor for 
 the anniversaries of the Kevolution — The Emperor's first fete 
 and the first imperial cortege — The Temple of Mars and 
 the grand master of ceremonies — Cardinal du Belloy and 
 the grand chancellor of the Legion of Honor — The man of 
 the people and the imperial accolade — Departure from Paris 
 for the camp of Boulogne — The only holiday the Emperor 
 gave me — My arrival at Boulogne — Details of my service near 
 the Emperor — M. de R6musat, MjNL Boyer and Yvan — The 
 Emperor's habits — M. de Bourrienne and the tip of the 
 ear — Mania for giving little blows — Vivacity of the Emperor 
 against his equerry — M. de Caulaincourt, grand equerry — 
 Keparation — A generous gratuity. 
 
 n^HE 3'ear 1804, wliicli was so glorious for the 
 Emperor, was also, with the exception of 1814 
 and 1815, that which brought him the most vexa- 
 tions. It does not belong to me to judge of such 
 
 199
 
 200 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 grave events, nor to examine what part the Emperor 
 took in them, nor who are those who surrounded and 
 counselled him. I ought not and cannot recount 
 anything but what I saw and heard. March 21 of 
 that year, I entered the First Consul's chamber very 
 early. I found him awake, his elbow leaning on his 
 pillow ; he looked sombre and fatigued. On seeing 
 me come in, he sat up, passed his hand several times 
 across his forehead, and said: "Constant, I have a 
 headache." Then jerking off the bedclothes, he 
 added : " I have slept badly." He could not have 
 seemed more preoccupied and absorbed ; he even had 
 a sad and suffering air which surprised and affected 
 me. While I was dressing him he did not say a 
 word to me, a thing that never happened except 
 when some thought disturbed and tormented him. 
 There was nobody in his chamber with him but 
 Roustan and me. At the moment when, his toilet 
 being finished, I was handing him his snuff-box, 
 handkerchief, and bonboniiiere, the door suddenly 
 opened and we saw the wife of the First Consul 
 appear in her morning gown, her features drawn and 
 her face covered with tears. This sudden apparition 
 astonished and even alarmed us, that is, Roustan and 
 me, because there was only one extraordinary cir- 
 cumstance which could induce Madame Bonaparte to 
 leave her room in this costume, and before having 
 taken all necessary precautions to disguise the rav- 
 ages usually hidden by the toilet. She entered, or 
 rather she rushed into the chamber, crying : " The
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 201 
 
 Due d'Enghicn is dead I Ah! my friend, what have 
 you done?" Then she fell sobbing into the First 
 Consul's arms. He became as pale as death, and 
 said with extraordinary emotion : " T/ie W7-etches 
 have been too quick!"' Then he went out, supporting 
 Madame Bonaparte, who could scarcely walk and 
 continued to weep. The news of the Prince's death 
 spread consternation throughout the chateau. The 
 First Consul remarked this universal grief, and yet 
 he reproached nobody. The fact is that the greatest 
 chagrin which this fatal catastrophe caused to his ser- 
 vitors, who for the most part were attached to him 
 still more by affection than by duty, sprang from 
 the thousrht that it could not fail to detract from the 
 glory and tranquillity of their master. The First 
 Consul probably knew how to interpret our senti- 
 ments. However that may be, this is all I saw and 
 all I heard in private of this deplorable event. I do 
 not pretend to know what passed in the interior of 
 the cabinet. The First Consul's emotion seemed to 
 me sincere and not affected. He remained sad and 
 silent for several days, speaking very little at his 
 toilet and only when necessity required. 
 
 During the course of this month and the next one, 
 I noticed the continual goings and comings, and the 
 frequent interviews with the First Consul of different 
 persons who were said to be members of the Council 
 of State, tribunes or senators. For a long time the 
 army and the majority of the citizens, who idolized 
 the hero of Italy and Egypt, had openly manifested
 
 202 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 their desire to see him wear a title worthy of his 
 renown and the grandeur of France. It was known, 
 moreover, that it was he that did all that was done 
 in the State, and that his pretended colleagues were 
 really his inferiors. People thought it just that he 
 should become supreme chief in name, since he was 
 already so in fact. Since his fall I have often heard 
 His Majesty called by the name of usurper ; and the 
 only effect it has ever produced upon me has been to 
 make me laugh with pity. If the Emperor usurped 
 the throne, he had more accomplices than all the 
 tyrants of tragedy and melodrama ; for three-fourths 
 of the French people were in the plot. It is known 
 that it was May 18 when the Empire was proclaimed, 
 and that the First Consul (I shall call him the 
 Emperor hereafter) received the Senate at Saint- 
 Cloud, led by Consul Cambac(ires, who was arch- 
 chancellor of the Empire a few hours later. It was 
 from his mouth that the Emperor heard himself for 
 the first time saluted by the name of Sire. On issu- 
 ing from this audience, the Senate went to present its 
 homage to the Empress Josephine. The remainder 
 of the day was passed in receptions, presentations, 
 interviews, and felicitations. Everybody in the cha- 
 teau was intoxicated with joy, every one produced 
 the effect of having received a sudden promotion. 
 They embraced, they congratulated each other, they 
 mutually communicated their hopes and plans for 
 the future: there was not even the meanest subaltern 
 who was not seized with ambition; in a word, the
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 203 
 
 antechamber, saving the difference of personages, 
 offered the exact repetition of what was passing in 
 the salon. 
 
 Nothing could be funnier than the embarrassment 
 of all the attendants when it was a question of how 
 to respond to the interrogations of His Majesty. 
 They began by making mistakes ; then they would 
 correct themselves and do worse still ; they repeated 
 ten times in a minute, sire, general, your majesty, citi- 
 zen, first consul. Entering the Emperor's chamber 
 next morning as usual, I replied to his customary 
 questions, What time is it? Ho iv is the weather? "Sire, 
 seven o'clock, fine weather." Having approached 
 his bed, he pulled my ear, struck me on the cheek, 
 and called me monsieur le drdle ; it was his favorite 
 word for me when he was particularly pleased with 
 my service. His Majesty had sat up and worked far 
 into the night. He looked serious and occupied, but 
 contented. What a difference between this waking 
 and that of the preceding March 21. 
 
 That same day His Majesty went to hold his first 
 grand levee at the Tuileries, where all the civil and 
 military authorities were presented. The brothers 
 and sistei-s of the Emperor were made princes and 
 princesses, with the exception of M. Lucien, who 
 had quarrelled with His Majesty on the occasion of 
 his marriasfe with Madame Jouberton. Eighteen 
 generals were elevated to the dignity of marshals of 
 the Empire. Everything surrounding Their Maj- 
 esties put on a semblance of court and of royal power
 
 204 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 from this first day. A great deal has been said of the 
 awkwardness of their first courtiers, who were very- 
 little accustomed to the service imposed on them by 
 their new appointments, and to the ceremonies of 
 etiquette ; but this has been exaggerated like every- 
 thing else. There might well be in the commence- 
 ment something of that embarrassment which those in 
 the Emperor's private service experienced, as I have 
 said above. Still that lasted only a short time, and 
 the chamberlains and great officers remodelled them- 
 selves almost as quickly as we valets de chambre. 
 Moreover, there presented themselves to give them 
 lessons, a swarm of men of the former court, who had 
 obtained from the kindness of the Emperor the favor 
 of being struck from the list of SmigrSs^ and who 
 eagerly solicited appointments in the budding impe- 
 rial court for themselves and their wives. 
 
 His Majesty did not like the anniversary fetes of 
 the Republic ; some of them had always seemed to 
 him odious and cruel, and the others ridiculous. I 
 have seen him grow indignant that they should 
 have dared to make an annual fete of the 21st of 
 January, and smile with pity at the remembrance of 
 what he called the masquerades of the theophilanthro- 
 pists, '•'■ivho,^'' said he, '■^ivould have none of Jesus 
 Christy and made saints of Fenelon and Las-Casas, 
 Catholic prelates."" M. de Bourrienne says in his 
 Memoirs, that " it was not one of the least oddities 
 of Napoleon's policy that he should have kept for 
 the first year of his reign the fete of July 14."
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 205 
 
 Concerning this passage I will permit myself to call 
 attention to the fact that, if His Majesty profited by 
 the epoch of an annual solemnity to appear in pomp 
 in public, on the other hand he so changed the object 
 of the fete that it would have been difficult to recosf- 
 nize in it the anniversary of the taking of the Bas- 
 tille and of the first federation. I do not know 
 whether there was a word said of either of these events 
 in the whole ceremony ; and to disconcert still more 
 the souvenirs of the Republicans, the Emperor or- 
 dered that the f^te should not be celebrated until the 
 15th, because that was a Sunday, and hence there 
 would be no loss of time for the inhabitants of the 
 capital. Besides, there was no question at all of 
 celebrating the conquerors of the Bastille, but solely 
 of a great distribution of crosses of the Legion of 
 Honor. 
 
 This was the first time that Their Majesties dis- 
 played themselves to the people in all the magnificence 
 of their power. The procession passed through the 
 grand avenue of the Tuileries on its way to the H6tel 
 des Invalides, whose church, changed during the 
 Revolution into a Temple of Mars^ had been restored 
 to the Catholic worship by the Emperor, and was to 
 serve for the magnificent ceremonial of this day. It 
 was also the first time that tlie Emperor used the 
 privilege of passing through the garden of the Tuile- 
 ries in a carriage. His cortege was superb; that of 
 the Empress Josephine was not less brilliant. The 
 rapt ecstasy of the people was at its height, and can-
 
 206 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 not be described. By the Emperor's orders, I had 
 mingled with the crowd, so as to observe in what 
 spirit they took part in the fete ; 1 did not hear a 
 murmur ; so great, whatever may have been said 
 about it since, was the enthusiasm of all classes for 
 His Majesty. The Emperor and the Empress were 
 received at the door of the Invalides by the governor 
 and by the Count de Segur, grand master of ceremo- 
 nies ; and at the entrance of the church by Cardinal 
 du Belloy, at the head of a large number of the 
 clergy. After the Mass M. de Lac^pede, grand chan- 
 cellor of the Legion of Honor, pronounced a discourse 
 which was followed by the roll-call of the grand 
 officers of the Legion. Then the Emperor seated 
 himself, put on his hat, and repeated in a loud voice 
 the formula of the oath, at the end of which all the 
 legionaries shouted: Isivearit! and at once a thou- 
 sand-times repeated cries of Long live the Emperor ! 
 resounded through the church and beyond it. A sin- 
 gular circumstance enhanced the interest excited by 
 the ceremony. While the knights of the new order 
 were passing one after another in front of the 
 Emperor who received them, a man of the people, 
 wearing a round jacket, came and stood on the 
 steps of the throne. His Majesty seemed some- 
 what astonished and paused for an instant. The 
 man was questioned and showed his certificate. 
 At once the Emperor showed eagerness to have 
 him draw near, and gave him the decoration with 
 a brisk accolade. On returning, the cortege fol-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 207 
 
 lowed the same road, passing again through the 
 Tuileries garden. 
 
 July 18, three days after this ceremony, the Em- 
 peror left Saint-Cloud for the camp of Boulogne. I 
 thought His Majesty would be willing to dispense 
 with my presence for several days ; and as it was a 
 number of years since I had seen my family, that I 
 would experience the very natural pleasure of seeing 
 them again, and conversing with my relatives about 
 the singular circumstances in which I had found 
 myself since we parted. I would have felt, I confess, 
 great joy in chatting with them about my present 
 condition and my expectations, and I needed the ex- 
 pansion and the confidence of domestic intimacy to 
 compensate for the constraint and annoyances which 
 my service imposed on me. Therefore I asked per- 
 mission to go and spend eight days at Perueltz. It 
 was granted without difficulty, and I lost no time in 
 starting. But what was my astonishment when, on 
 the very day after my arrival, I received by courier 
 a letter from Count Rdmusat, who commanded me 
 to rejoin the Emperor without delay, adding that 
 His Majesty had need of me, and that I must occupy 
 myself with nothing but getting there promptly! 
 In spite of the disappointment I had experienced on 
 receiving such orders, I nevertheless felt flattered at 
 having become so necessary to the great man who 
 had deigned to admit me to his service. Hence I 
 bade farewell to my family without delay. His 
 Majesty had scarcely arrived in Boulogne wlien he
 
 208 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 set off again on an excursion of several days to the 
 departments of the North. I was at Boulogne before 
 he returned, and I hastened to organize the service 
 of His Majesty, who found everything ready on his 
 arrival ; which did not prevent his telling me that 
 I had been abserit a long time. 
 
 Since I am on that subject, I will set down here, 
 although it will be to anticipate by years, one or two 
 circumstances which will give the reader a chance 
 to judge for himself of the rigorous assiduity to 
 which I was obliged to restrict myself. 
 
 By reason of the fatigues incident to my continual 
 journeys in the train of the Emperor, I had con- 
 tracted a malady of the bladder from which I suf- 
 fered horribly. For a long time I armed myself 
 against my pains by patience and dieting: but the 
 anguish having at length become totally insupport- 
 able, I requested His Majesty, in 1808, to give me 
 a month to have myself treated. Doctor Boyer had 
 told me that a month was the least time strictly 
 necessary for my cure, and that, without it, my 
 malady would become incurable. My request was 
 granted, and I went to Saint-Cloud, to the family 
 of my wife. M. Yvan, the Emperor's surgeon, came 
 to see me every day. A week had hardly elapsed 
 wlien he told me that His jNIajesty thought that I 
 must be pretty well cured, and that he desired that 
 I should resume my service. This desire was equiv- 
 alent to an order; I felt it, and I returned to the 
 Emperor, who, seeing me pale and suffering, deigned
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 209 
 
 to say a thousand kind things to me, but not a word 
 of a new leave of absence. These two absences are 
 the only ones I took during sixteen years ; hence, on 
 my return from Moscow, and during the campaign 
 of France, my illness had attained its extremest 
 phase ; and if I quitted the Emperor at Fontaine- 
 bleau, it was because it was impossible, notwith- 
 standing all my attachment for so good a master, 
 for me to serve him any longer. After this separa- 
 tion which was so painful to me, a year hardly suf- 
 ficed to cure me, and not entirely even then. But 
 I shall have to speak of this sad epoch later on. I 
 return to the recital of facts which prove that I 
 could, with more justice than some others, have be- 
 lieved myself a great personage, since my humble 
 services seemed to be indispensable to the master 
 of Europe. A good many habitues of the Tuileries 
 would have had more trouble than I should to de- 
 monstrate their utility. Is there too much vanity in 
 what I have just said? and the chamberlains, will 
 they not have reason to be vexed by it? I can't say 
 about that, and I will go on with my story. 
 
 The Emperor clung to his habits; he would, as 
 has been seen, be served by me in preference to any 
 one else ; and yet I ought to say that these gentle- 
 men of the chamber were all full of zeal and devo- 
 tion ; but I was the longest in service, and I never 
 quitted him. One day the Emperor asked for some 
 tea in the middle of the day. M. S^ndchal was on 
 duty ; he made it and presented it to His Majesty,
 
 210 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 who found it detestable. I was summoned ; the Em- 
 peror complained to me that some one wanted to 
 poison him. (That was his word when anything tasted 
 bad.) Going back to the pantry, I poured, from the 
 same teapot, a cup which I arranged and carried to 
 His Majesty, with two silver-gilt teaspoons, accord- 
 ing to custom, one to taste of it before the Emperor, 
 the other for him. This time he found the tea ex- 
 cellent. He complimented me on it with the benev- 
 olent familiarity he sometimes used toward his 
 attendants ; and on giving me back the cup, he 
 pulled my ears and said : " Now teach them how to 
 make tea ; they know nothing about it." 
 
 M. de Bourrienne, whose excellent Memoirs I 
 have read with the greatest pleasure, says some- 
 where that the Emperor in his moments of good 
 humor would pinch his intimates by the tip of the 
 ear; I have my own experience that he pinched 
 the whole of it, and often both ears at once ; and 
 that with a master hand. It is also said in the same 
 Memoirs that he only gave his little friendly taps 
 with two fingers ; in that M. de Bourrienne is very 
 modest ; I can again attest thereupon that His 
 Majesty, although his hand was not large, dis- 
 tributed his favors much more largely; but this 
 species of caress, as well as the preceding, was given 
 and received as a mark of special kindliness, and 
 far from any one complaining of it then., I have 
 heard more than one dignitary say with pride, like 
 that sergeant of the comedy :
 
 ME^fOIRS OF CONSTANT 211 
 
 " Master, try it again ; 
 The blow on my cheek is still too warm." 
 
 In his private life the Emperor was nearly always 
 gay, amiable, chatting familiarly with his atten- 
 dants, and questioning them about their family, their 
 affairs, and even their pleasures. His toilet finished, 
 his face suddenly changed ; he was grave, thought- 
 ful, he resumed his imperial air. It has been said 
 that he often struck the domestics of his household ; 
 that is false. I never but once saw him yield to an 
 impulse of that description; and certainly the cir- 
 cumstances which caused it and the reparation 
 which followed it, may render it, if not excusable, 
 at least easy to understand. This is the fact which 
 I witnessed, and which occurred in the environs of 
 Vienna, the day after the death of Marshal Lannes. 
 The Emperor was profoundly affected; he had not 
 spoken a word during his toilet. He was hardly 
 dressed when he demanded his horse. An unlucky 
 chance would have it that M. Jardin, his groom, 
 was not in the stables at the time when it was sad- 
 dled, and the stable-man did not put his usual bridle 
 on the horse. His Majesty was barely mounted, 
 when the animal backed, reared, and the rider fell 
 heavily to the ground. M. Jardin came up just 
 as the Emperor rose, irritated, and in this first trans- 
 port of anger he received a cut of the whip across 
 the face. M. Jardin went aAva}^ in despair at an 
 ill-usage to which His Majesty had not accustomed 
 him, and a few hours afterward, M. de Caulaincourt,
 
 212 ME3I0IBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 grand equerry, finding himself alone with His 
 Majesty, described to him the chagrin of his head 
 groom. The Emperor expressed keen regret for 
 his vivacity, had M. Jardin summoned, talked to 
 him with a kindness which effaced his injustice, and 
 sent him, a few days later, a gratuity of three thou- 
 sand francs. I have been told that a similar thino- 1 
 happened to M. Vigogne senior, in Egypt. But 
 even if that were true, ought two such facts in 
 the whole life of the Emperor, coupled with circum- 
 stances so well calculated to make even the mildest 
 man act out of character, to suffice to draw wpon 
 Napoleon the odious reproach of beating cruelly the 
 'persons ivlio ivaited on Jam P 
 
 1 We arrived at Tentoura the 20tli of May. It was very hot 
 that day, which produced a general discouragement. All we had 
 to rest upon were dry and burning sands ; on our right was an 
 unfriendly and deserted sea. Our loss in killed and wounded was 
 already considerable since we had quitted Acre. There was noth- 
 ing clieerful about the future. This truly afflicting state in which 
 the remnant of tlie army corps which had been called triumphant 
 found itself, made an impression upon the General which it was 
 impossible not to feel. We had hardly reached Tentoura when he 
 had his tent set up ; he called me and dictated in a preoccupied way 
 an order that everybody should walk, and the horses, mules, and 
 camels be given to the wounded, tlie sick, and the plague-stricken 
 who had been brought along, and who still showed any signs of 
 life. " Take that to Berthicr.^'' The order was sent on the spot. 
 Hardly had I got back to the tent, when Vigogne senior, equerry to 
 the General-in-Chief, entered, and touching his hat, said : " General., 
 xohat loill yoxt reserve for yourself?''^ In the first movement of 
 anger excited by this question, the General-in-Chief struck the 
 equerry a violent blow in the face with his whip, and then he 
 added in a terrible voice : " Everybody is to go on foot, and I the 
 first : don't you know the order ? Get out." {Memoires de M. de 
 Bourrienne, tom. 2, chap. 10, p. 252.)
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 The Emperor's assiduity at labor — Koustan and the flask of eau- 
 de-vie — Tlie army of Boulogne — The four camps — The Pont- 
 de-Briques — The Emperor's haraque — The council-chamber 
 
 — The eagle guided by the tutelary star — The Emperor's bed- 
 chamber — The bed — The furniture — The telescope room — 
 The portmanteau — Distribution of the rooms — The semaphore 
 
 — The gigantic mortars — The Emperor launches the first bomb 
 
 — Marshal Soult's haraque — The Emperor sees Dover and its 
 garrison from his chamber — The streets of the camp of the 
 right — A road cut perpendicularly up the cliff — The forgotten 
 engineer — The flotilla — The forts — Baraqite of Prince Joseph 
 
 — The grenadier stuck in the mire — Kind action of the Emperor 
 
 — The bridge of service — The terrible countersign — The sen- 
 tinels and sailors of the watch — Exclusion of women and 
 foreigners — The spies — Fusillade — The schoolmaster shot — 
 The incendiaries — Terror in the city — Military chant — False 
 
 alarm — Consternation — Calmness of Madame F The 
 
 commandant condemned to death, and pardoned by the Em- 
 peror. 
 
 A T the headquarters of Pont-de-Briqiies, the 
 Emperor worked as much as in his cabinet 
 at the Tuileries. After his excursions on horseback, 
 his inspections, his visits, his reviews, he took his 
 repast in haste and re-entered his cabinet, where he 
 often worked a great part of the night. He thus 
 led the same sort of life as in Paris. In his 
 turns on horseback Roustan followed him every- 
 where : the latter always carried witli him a little 
 
 213
 
 214 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 silver flask of eau-de-vie, for the use of His Majesty, 
 who, for that matter, seldom availed himself of it. 
 
 The army of Boulogne was composed of about a 
 hundred and fifty thousand infantry and ninety thou- 
 sand cavalry, divided into four principal camps : the 
 camp of the right, the camp of the left, the cainp of 
 Wimereux, and the camj) of Amhleteuse. 
 
 His Majesty the Emperor had his headquarters at 
 Pont-de-Briques, so called, I have been told, because 
 there had been discovered there the brick foundations 
 of an ancient camp of Ciesarl Pont-de-Briques, as 
 I have said before, is half a league or thereabouts 
 from Boulogne, and His Majesty's headquarters was 
 established in the only house of the place that was 
 then habitable. The headquarters was guarded by a 
 mounted post of the imperial guard. 
 
 The four camps were on a very high cliff, domi- 
 nating the sea in such a manner that on a fair day 
 one might see the English coast. In the right camp 
 barracks had been established for the Emperor, 
 Admiral Bruix, Marshal Soult, and M. Decres, then 
 minister of the navy. 
 
 The Emperor's barrack, constructed by the care 
 of M. Sordi, acting as chief engineer of military 
 communications, and whose nephew, M. Lecat de 
 Rue, attached at this period as aide-de-camp to the 
 staff of Marshal Soult, has been so kind as to furnish 
 me with information which is not specially within 
 my competence ; — the barrack of the Emperor, I 
 say, was made of planks, like the booths of a fair, but
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 215 
 
 with this difference, that the planks were carefully 
 wrought and painted light gray. In shape it was a 
 long square, having two semicircular pavilions at 
 each extremity. It was surrounded by a circular 
 piazza closed by a wooden lattice, and lighted from 
 without by reflectors four feet apart. The windows 
 were placed at the sides. 
 
 The pavilion which looked out to sea was com- 
 posed of three rooms and a lobby. The principal 
 room served for the council-chamber, and was deco- 
 rated with silver-gray paper ; the ceiling was painted 
 with golden clouds, amidst which could be seen a 
 background of blue sky, an eagle holding the thun- 
 der, and guided toward England by a star, the Em- 
 peror's tutelary star. In the middle of this chamber 
 was a large oval table covered with a green cloth, 
 without fringe. There was nothing in front of this 
 table but His Majesty's armchair, made of simple 
 native wood, covered with green morocco and stuffed 
 with hoi'se-hair, and which could be taken to pieces. 
 On the table was a boxwood stand for ink and pens. 
 This was the only furniture of the council-chamber, 
 where nobody but the Emperor could sit down, the 
 generals standinsf before him, and havine^ nothings 
 but the hilt of their swords to lean on during these 
 councils, which sometimes lasted three or four hours. 
 
 The council-chamber was entered through a lobby. 
 In this lobby, on the right hand, was His Majesty's 
 bed-chamber, which was closed by a glass door and 
 lighted by a window which opened on the camp of
 
 216 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 the right, with a view of the sea on the left. Here 
 was the Emperor's iron bedstead, with a large green 
 sarcenet curtain, fastened to the ceiling by a ring of 
 gilded copper. It had two pallets, a hair mattress, 
 two bolsters, one at the head and the other at the 
 foot, and no pillow ; and two coverlets, one in white 
 cotton, the other in green sarcenet, wadded and 
 quilted. Two very simple folding chairs stood beside 
 it. The casement was hung with small green sarce- 
 net curtains. This room was papered in rose-color 
 with a lace-work tracery and an Etruscan border. 
 
 Opposite the sleeping-room was another chamber 
 parallel to it, in which was a sort of telescope which 
 had cost twelve thousand francs. This instrument 
 was about four feet long by one in diameter. It was 
 mounted on a mahogan}- support some three feet in 
 height, and the case which served to contain it was 
 shaped almost like a piano. In the same room, on 
 two stools, was a yellow leather casket wliicli con- 
 tained three complete changes of dress and linen. 
 This was the campaign wardrobe of His Majesty; 
 above it was a square hat, lined with white satin and 
 much worn. The Emperor had a very sensitive head, 
 did not like new hats and kept the same ones a long 
 while. 
 
 The main body of the imperial barrack was divided 
 into three rooms: a salon, a vestibule, and a large 
 dining-room which communicated with the kitchens 
 by a lobby parallel to that I have just described. 
 Outside of the barrack, and in the direction of the
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 217 
 
 kitchens, was a little thatched cabin which served 
 as a laundry and scullery. 
 
 The barrack of Admiral Bruix was arranged in 
 the same way as the Emperor's, but on a smaller 
 scale. The signal semaphore was beside it, a sort 
 of maritime telegraph for making signals. A little 
 further off was the ordnance tower, a terrible 
 battery composed of six mortars, six howitzers, and 
 twelve twenty-four pounders. These six mortars, 
 the greatest in calibre that had ever been made, were 
 sixteen inches thick, carried forty-five pounds of 
 powder in the chamber, and sent seven-hundred- 
 pound bombs fifteen hundred fathoms into the air 
 and a league and a half out to sea. Each bomb 
 fired cost the State three hundred francs. Lances 
 twelve feet in length were employed in touching 
 off these frightful macliines, and the cannoneer 
 protected himself as much as possible by putting 
 his head between his legs and not rising until after 
 the discharge. The Emperor wished to launch the 
 first bomb himself. 
 
 Marshal Soult's barrack was on the right of the 
 ordnance tower. It was built like the hut of a 
 savage, covered with thatch down to the ground, 
 lighted from above, and with a door by which one 
 descended into apartments which seemed buried. 
 The principal room was round; there was a large 
 work table in it covered with green cloth and 
 surrounded by small camp-stools. 
 
 The last barrack was that of M. Decr^s, minister
 
 218 ME2I0IRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 of the navy, which was built and arranged like that 
 of Marshal Soult. 
 
 From his barrack the Emperor could observe all 
 the manoeuvres at sea, and the telescope of which I 
 have spoken was so good that Dover castle, with its 
 garrison, was, so to say, under tlie eyes of His 
 Majesty. 
 
 The right camp, established on the cliff, was di- 
 vided into streets each of which bore the name of 
 some distinguished general. This cliff was bris- 
 tling with batteries from Boulogne to Ambleteuse, 
 that is to say, for a distance of more than ten leagues. 
 
 To go from Boulogne to the right camp, there was 
 but one road, which began in the rue des Vieillards 
 and passed to the cliff between His Majesty's bar- 
 rack and those of ]\IM. Bruix, Soult, and Decres. 
 When the Emperor wished to go down on the beach 
 at low tide, he had to make a great detour. One 
 day he complained of it very loudly. M. Bonnefoux, 
 maritime prefect of Boulogne, heard His Majesty's 
 complaints, and addressing himself to M. Sordi, 
 engineer of military communications, he asked if it 
 were not possible to remedy this serious incon- 
 venience. The engineer replied that the thing was 
 feasible ; means could be found by which His Majesty 
 could go directly from his barrack to the beach, but 
 that, on account of the excessive elevation of the 
 cliff, it would be necessary to dig the road in a zig- 
 zag to avoid the rapidity of the descent. " Make it 
 as you think best," said the Emperor, "but I must
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 219 
 
 go down by it in three days." The skilful engineer 
 set to work ; in three days and three nights, a road 
 of stones fastened together by iron clamps was con- 
 structed, and the Emperor, charmed by such dili- 
 gence and talent, set M. Sordi down for the next 
 distribution of crosses. It is not known by what 
 regrettable negligence this skilful man was for- 
 gotten. 
 
 The harbor of Boulogne contained about seven- 
 teen hundred vessels, such as flatboats, gunboats, 
 skiffs, lighters, bomb-ketches, etc. The entrance of 
 the port was defended by an enormous chain and by 
 four forts, two on the right and two on the left. 
 
 The Musoir fort, on the left, was armed by three 
 formidable batteries, placed one above the other ; the 
 second and third by thu-ty-six pounders. On the 
 right of this fort was the tow-bridge, and behind this 
 bridge an old tower called the Croi tower, garnished 
 with good and handsome batteries. On the left, 
 about a quarter of a league from fort Musoir, was 
 fort la Creche, advanced a good way into the sea, 
 built of cut stone, and terrible. On the right of this, 
 finally, was the wooden fort, armed in a prodigious 
 manner, and pierced by a large opening, which was 
 exposed at low tide. 
 
 On the cliff at the left of the city, the same height 
 as the other or very near it, was the left camp. 
 Here could be seen the barrack of Prince Joseph, 
 then colonel of the 4tli regiment of the line. This 
 barrack was thatched. At the foot of this camp and
 
 220 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 of the cliff, the Emperor had a basin dug by a part 
 of the troops. 
 
 It was in this basin that a young soldier of the 
 guard, up to his knees in mud, was pulling with all 
 his might to disengage his wheelbarrow, which was 
 still more muddy than he ; but he could not manage 
 it, and, all covered with sweat, he swore and cursed 
 like an angry grenadier. All of a sudden, as he 
 happened to lift his eyes, he perceived the Emperor, 
 Avho was passing by the works to go and see his 
 brother Joseph, at the camp of the left. Thereupon 
 he began to look at him with a suppliant air and 
 gestures, singing in an almost sentimental tone: 
 " Come, come unto my aid.''^ His Majesty could not 
 avoid smiling, and he made a sign to the soldier to 
 approach, which the poor devil did, brushing off the 
 mud with much difficulty. "What is your regi- 
 ment? " " Sire, the first of the guard." — " Since when 
 have you been a soldier?" "Since you have been 
 Emperor, Sire." — '•'•Dlahle! that's not long — Not 
 long enough for me to make you an officer, is it? 
 But conduct yourself well and I'll have you made 
 sergeant-major. After that, if you like, the cross and 
 the epaulettes on the first battle-field. Are you con- 
 tent?" " Yes, Sire." " Major-general," continued the 
 Emperor, turning to General Berthier, "take the 
 name of this young man. Make them give him 
 three hundred francs to clean his pantaloons and 
 have his wheelbarrow mended." And Ilis Majesty 
 went on, amidst the acclamations of the soldiers.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 221 
 
 At the inner side of the harbor was a wooden 
 bridge which was called the pont de service. The 
 powder magazines were behind it and they contained 
 immense munitions. After nightfall no one entered 
 by this bridge without giving the countersign to the 
 second sentinel, for the first one always allowed 
 people to pass. But he did not allow them to return. 
 If the person coming on the bridge did not know or 
 had forgotten the countersign, he was sent back by 
 the second sentinel, and the first one, placed at the 
 head of the bridge, had express orders to run his 
 bayonet through the imprudent one who had entered 
 this dangerous passage without being able to answer 
 the questions of the sentries. These rigorous pre- 
 cautions were rendered necessary by the proximity 
 of the terrible magazines, which a spark might blow 
 up along with the city, the fleet, and the two camps. 
 
 At night the port was closed by the great chain 
 which I have spoken of, and the wharves were pro- 
 tected by sentinels placed fifteen feet apart. Every 
 quarter of an hour they cried : " Sentinels, take care 
 of yourselves f' And the marines stationed in the 
 top-sails would respond to this cry by that of : " AlVs 
 well,''' pronounced in a drawling and melancholy 
 voice. Nothing more monotonous and sad than this 
 continual murmur, this roll of voices all howling in 
 the same tone, and all the more so because those who 
 uttered these cries did all they knew how to make 
 them as alarming as possible. 
 
 Women not domiciled in Boulo^rne were forbidden
 
 222 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 to stay there without a special authorization from the 
 minister of police. This measure had been deemed 
 necessary on account of the army. Otherwise, each 
 soldier might fetch a woman to Boulogne ; and God 
 knows what disorder that would have entailed. And 
 in general, foreigners were not received into the city 
 without the greatest difficulty. 
 
 In spite of all these precautions, spies from the 
 English fleet were daily introduced into the city. 
 No mercy was shown them when they were discov- 
 ered; and yet emissaries, who landed from no one 
 knew where, came to the theatre in the evenings, 
 and pushed imprudence so far as to write their 
 opinions of the actors and actresses, whom they 
 designated by name, and to paste these writings on 
 the walls of the theatre. They braved the police in 
 this Avay. One day two little boats covered with 
 tarred canvas were found on the shore, which these 
 gentlemen had probably employed for their excur- 
 sions. 
 
 In June, 1804, eight English were arrested, per- 
 fectly well dressed, in white silk stockings, etc. 
 They had sulphur machines about them designed to 
 set the fleet on fire. They were shot at the end of 
 an hour without any other trial. 
 
 There were traitors also at Boulogne. A school- 
 master, the secret agent of Lords Keith and Melville, 
 was surprised one morning on the cliff of the camp 
 of the right making telegraphic signals with his arms. 
 Arrested almost at the same moment by the sen-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 223 
 
 tries, he wanted to protest his innocence and turn 
 the thing into a joke. But his papers were searched 
 and a correspondence found among them with the 
 English which proved his treason to demonstration. 
 He was brought before the council of war and shot 
 the next day 
 
 One evening, between eleven o'clock and midnight, 
 a fire-ship, rigged in the French style, carrying a 
 French flag, and having quite the appearance of a 
 gunboat, advanced toward the line of broadside and 
 passed. By an unpardonable negligence, the chain of 
 the port was not stretched that night. This fire-ship 
 was followed by a second, which blew up and carried 
 with it a shallop. The explosion gave the alarm to 
 the whole fleet: on the instant lights were burninsr 
 all around, and, thanks to these lights, the beholders, 
 to their inexpressible anxiety, saw the first fire-ship 
 advancing between the jetties. Two or three pieces 
 of wood attached with cables luckily arrested its 
 progress. It exploded with such an uproar that all 
 the windows in the city were broken, and a great 
 number of the inhabitants who, for lack of beds, were 
 sleeping on tables, were thrown to the floor and 
 awakened by the fall without comprehending what 
 had happened. In ten minutes everybody was afoot. 
 They thought the English were in the harbor. Then 
 there was trouble, a tumult, cries to deafen one. 
 Criers preceded by drums were sent around the city, 
 who reassured the inhabitants by telling them that 
 the danger was over.
 
 224 ME3I0IRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 The next clay ballads were made on this nocturnal 
 alarm. They were presently in all mouths. I have 
 preserved one which I am going to set down here, 
 and which is the one the soldiers sang the longest : 
 
 Depuis longtemps la Bretague 
 Pour imiter la Montague, 
 Mena9ait le continent 
 D'un f uneste evenenient. 
 Dans les ombres du mystere 
 Vingt monstres ^ elle enfanta. 
 Pitts'ecria: " j'en siiis pere," 
 Et personne n'en douta. 
 
 Bientot dans la nuit profonde, 
 Melville ^ lance sur I'onde 
 Tons ces monstres nouveau-nes, 
 Pour Boulogne destines. 
 Lord Keith, en bonne nourrice, 
 Dans son sein les tient caches : 
 Le flot lui devient propice, 
 Et les enfants sont laches. 
 
 Le Fran9ais, qui toujours veille, 
 Vers le bruit prete I'oreille ; 
 Mais il ne soup9onnait pas 
 Des voisins si sc^lerats. 
 Son etoile tutelaire 
 Semble briller a ses yeux : 
 Le danger meuie I'eclaire 
 En I'eclairant de ses feux. 
 
 1 It was afterwards known that there had been twenty of these 
 fire-ships intended to destroy the fleet. 
 
 ^ The English fleet was coumianded by Lords Melville and 
 Keith.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 225 
 
 Cette infernale famille 
 S'approche de la flotille : 
 En expirant elle fait 
 Beaucoup de bruit, peu d'effet. 
 Les marques qu'elle a laisseea 
 De sa brillant valeur, 
 Sont quelques vitres cassees 
 Et la honte de I'auteur. 
 
 Mons. Pitt, sur votre rivage 
 Vous bravez notre courage, 
 Bien convaincu que jamais 
 Vous ii'y verrez les Fran9ais. 
 Vous comptez sur la distance, 
 Vos vaisseaux et vos bourgeois ; 
 Mais les soldats de la France 
 Vous feront compter deux fois. 
 
 Dans nos clialoupes agiles, 
 Les vents devenus dociles, 
 Vous retenant dans vos ports, 
 Nous conduiront a vos bords ; 
 Vous for^ant a Tarine egale 
 Vous verrez que nos soldats 
 Ont la machine infernale 
 Placee au bout de leurs bras.^ 
 
 1 Britain for a long time past, 
 Imitating the Mountain, 
 Has tlireatencd the continent 
 With a terrible event. 
 In the shades of mystery, 
 Twenty monsters slie brought forth. 
 " I'm their father," Pitt exclaimed, 
 And no one had a doubt about it. 
 
 Presently in darkness deep, 
 Melville launched upon the wave 
 
 VOL. I. Q
 
 226 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Another alarm, but of a totally different kind, 
 turned all Boulogne upside down in the autumn of 
 1804. Toward eight o'clock in the evening, a chim- 
 ney caught fire on the right of the port. The light 
 of this fire, shining through the masts of the fleet, 
 alarmed the commandant of a post which was on the 
 opposite side. At this epoch all the vessels were 
 loaded with powder and munitions. The poor com- 
 mandant lost his head ; he screamed: '-'- 3Ii/ lads, the 
 fleet is on fire,''' and he had the general alarm beat. 
 This frightful news flew like lightning. In less 
 than half an hour, more than sixty thousand men 
 
 All these monsters newly born, 
 For Boulogne intended. 
 Lord Keith, as a good nurse, 
 Kept them in his bosom hidden : 
 The tide became propitious. 
 And the infants were let loose. 
 
 The Frenchman, who always watches, 
 
 Toward the uproar bends his ear ; 
 
 But he does not suspect 
 
 Such rascally neighbors. 
 
 His tutelary star 
 
 Seems shining in his eyes : 
 
 The danger itself enlightens him 
 
 By illumining him with its fires. 
 
 This infernal family 
 
 Approaches the flotilla : 
 
 In expiring it makes 
 
 A good deal of noise and small effect. 
 
 The marks it has left 
 
 Of its brilliant valor, 
 
 Arc a few broken windows 
 
 And its author's shame.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 227 
 
 debouched on the quays ; the tocsin was sounded in 
 all the churches, the forts discharged alarm guns ; 
 and drummers and trumpeters began running 
 through the streets and making an infernal racket. 
 
 The Emperor was at headquarters when this 
 terrible cry : " The fleet is on fire ! " came to his ears. 
 " It is impossible ! " he cried at once. Nevertheless 
 we set off instantly. 
 
 What a frightful spectacle I witnessed when we 
 entered the city ! Women in tears, holding their 
 infants in their arms and running like mad while 
 uttering shrieks of despair; men abandoning their 
 houses, carrying away their most precious objects, 
 knocking against and bruising each other in the 
 darkness. From all sides one heard cries of : " Look 
 out for yourself ! We are going to skip ! We are 
 
 Mr. Pitt, on your shore, 
 You affront our courage, 
 Well convinced that never 
 "Will you see the Frenchmen there. 
 You reckon on the distance, 
 Your vessels and your citizens : 
 But the soldiers of France 
 Will make you reckon twice. 
 
 In our nimble shallops, 
 The winds becoming docile, 
 You retaining in your ports. 
 Us conducting to your shores, 
 Forcing you to equal weapons. 
 You will see that our soldiers 
 Have the infernal machine 
 Just at the end of their arms.
 
 228 ME3I0IIiS OF CONSTANT 
 
 all ruined ! " and maledictions, blasphemies, and lam- 
 entations enough to make your hair stand up. 
 
 His Majesty's aides-de-camp and those of General 
 Soult galloped wherever they could pass, stopping 
 the drummers and asking them : " Why do you beat 
 the general? Who ordered you to beat the gen- 
 eral?" "We know nothing about it," was the 
 reply; and 'the drums kept on beating, and the 
 tumult increasing, and the crowd hurled themselves 
 to the gates, struck with a terror which an instant of 
 reflection would have banished. But fear admits of 
 no reflection, unfortunately. 
 
 It is true to say, however, that a number of the 
 inhabitants, less timid than the others, remained 
 tranquilly at home, knowing very well that if the 
 fleet were on fire they would not have had time to 
 make an outcry. These did all in their power to re- 
 assure the frightened crowd. INIadame F , the 
 
 very pretty and amiable wife of a clockmaker, was 
 busy in her kitchen preparing supper when a neigh- 
 bor entered in great alarm and said to her : " Save 
 yourself, Madame, you have not a minute to lose ! " 
 "Why, what's the matter? " — " The fleet is afire." 
 "Ah! bah!" — "Fly, Madame, fly! I tell you the 
 fleet is on fire." And the neighbor took Madame 
 F by the arm and gave her a strong pull. Ma- 
 dame F was just then holding a pan in which 
 
 there were some apple fritters. " Take care ! you 
 are making me spoil my fritters," said she, laughing ; 
 and a few words, between jest and earnest, were
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 229 
 
 enough to reassure the poor devil, who ended by 
 deriding himself. 
 
 At last the tumult quieted down ; a profound calm 
 succeeded to this alarm, no explosion had been heard. 
 Was it a false alarm then? Everybody went back 
 home no longer thinking of fire, but disturbed by 
 another fear. Robbers might well have profited by 
 the absence of the inhabitants to pillage the houses. 
 . . . By good luck, no accident of this kind had 
 occurred. 
 
 The next day, the poor commandant who had taken 
 and given the alarm so unseasonably, was brought 
 before the council of war. He had no bad inten- 
 tions, but the law was formal. He was condemned 
 to death, but his judges recommended him to the 
 clemency of the Emperor, who pardoned him.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Distribution of crosses of the Legion of Honor at the camp of 
 Boulogne — The helmet of Duguesclin — Prince Joseph, colonel 
 
 — Boat and horse races — Jealousy of a council of superior 
 officers — Justice rendered by the Emperor — Unlucky fall 
 followed by a triumph — A point-blank petition — The minister 
 of marine falls into the water — The Emperor's gaiety — The 
 epicurean general — A boulangere danced by the Emperor and 
 Madame Bertrand — Boulognese women at the ball — The mac- 
 aroons and the reticules — La Mar^chale Soult queen of the ball 
 
 — The beautiful suppliant — The provision dealer condemned to 
 death — Clemency of the Emperor. 
 
 ~\ /TANY of the brave fellows who composed the 
 army of Boulogne had merited the cross in the 
 last campaigns. His Majesty desired this distribu- 
 tion to be a solemnity which should leave immortal 
 memories. He selected for it the daj^ after his own 
 birthday, August 16, 1804. Nothing more beautiful 
 was ever seen, nor could be seen perhaps. 
 
 At six o'clock in the morning, more than eighty 
 thousand men started from the four camps and ad- 
 vanced by divisions, drummers and musicians at the 
 head, toward the level ground of the Hubert mill, 
 situated on the cliff beyond the right camp. In this 
 plain, with its back turned toward the sea, a scaffold- 
 ing some fifteen feet high had been erected. It was 
 ascended by three stairways, one in the middle and 
 
 230
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 231 
 
 one at either side, all three covered by superb carpets. 
 On this amphitheatre of about forty feet square, were 
 three platforms. The middle one supported the im- 
 perial armchair, decorated Avith flags and trophies. 
 The platform on the left was covered with seats for 
 the brothers of the Emperor and the great dignitaries. 
 That on the right supported a tripod of antique 
 shape on which was a helmet, the helmet of Dugues- 
 clin, I think, filled with crosses and ribbons ; beside 
 the tripod a seat had been placed for the arch- 
 chancellor. 
 
 At about three hundred feet from the throne, the 
 ground rose in a gentle slope that was nearly round ; 
 it was on this slope that the troops arranged them- 
 selves in a half-circle. On an eminence at the right 
 of the throne were scattered sixty or eighty tents 
 made of naval ensigns. They were for the ladies of 
 the city, and they produced a charming effect. They 
 were so far from the throne that those who occupied 
 them were obliged to use lorgnettes. Between these 
 tents and the throne was a part of the imperial guard 
 on horseback, ranged in order of battle. 
 
 The weather was magnificent ; not a cloud was in 
 the sky: the English cruiser had disappeared, and 
 nothincr was in sigfht at sea but the line of broadside 
 superbly hung with flags. 
 
 At ten o'clock in the morning, a salvo of artillery 
 announced the departure of the Emperor. His 
 Majesty started from his barrack, surrounded by more 
 than eighty generals and two hundred aides-de-
 
 232 MEMOIRS OF CONSTA^'T 
 
 camp ; he was followed by his entire household. 
 The Emperor wore the uniform of a colonel-general 
 of foot-guards, and came at a gallop to the foot of 
 the throne, amidst universal acclamations and the 
 most frightful racket that could be made by drums, 
 trumpets, and cannons, beating, sounding, and thun- 
 dering together. 
 
 His Majesty ascended the throne, followed by his 
 brothers and some of the great dignitaries. When 
 he was seated, everybody took his place, and the dis- 
 tribution of crosses began in the following manner : 
 an aide-de-camp of the Emperor called the designated 
 soldiers, who came one by one, halted at the foot of 
 the throne, saluted, and mounted the staircase on the 
 right. They were received by the arch-chancellor, 
 who gave them their brevet. Two pages, stationed 
 between the tripod and the Emperor, took the 
 decoration from the helmet of Duguesclin and 
 handed it to His Majesty, who attached it himself to 
 the hero's breast. As he did so, more than eight 
 hundred drummers beat a roll, and when the deco- 
 rated soldier came down from the throne by the stair- 
 case on the left, passing in front of the Emperor's 
 brilliant staff, fanfares executed by more than twelve 
 hundred musicians signalized the return of the 
 legionary to his company. It is needless to say that 
 the cry of Lonff live the Emperor was repeated twice 
 at each decoration. 
 
 The distribution, begun at ten o'clock, terminated 
 about three. Then the aides-de-camp were seen
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 233 
 
 passing through the divisions ; a salvo of artillery 
 was heard, and eighty thousand men advanced in 
 serried columns to within twenty-five or thirty feet 
 of the throne. The most profound silence succeeded 
 to the roll of the drums, and the Emperor having 
 given his orders, the troops manoeuvred for nearly 
 an hour. Afterward each division defiled in front 
 of the throne on the way hack to camp, each chief 
 lowering the point of his sword as he passed by. 
 
 Prince Joseph, who had newly been made colonel 
 of the 4th regiment of the line, was observed to 
 salute his brother as he passed in a manner more 
 graceful than military. The Emperor repressed by 
 a contraction of the eyebrows the somewhat critical 
 remarks which his former companions seemed in- 
 clined to permit themselves on the subject. Save 
 for this slight movement. His Majesty's countenance 
 had never been more radiant. 
 
 At the moment when the troops were defiling, 
 the wind, which had been blowing violently for two 
 or three hours, became terrible. An orderly officer 
 came running up to tell the Emperor that four or 
 five gunboats had run aground. The Emperor at 
 once left the plain at a gallop, followed by several 
 marshals, and went to station himself on the beach. 
 The crew of the gunboats were saved, and the 
 Emperor returned to Pont-de-Briques. 
 
 This great army could not regain its cantonments 
 before eight in the evening. The next day, the left 
 camp gave a military fete, at which the Emperor was
 
 234 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 present. From morning, boats mounted on wheels 
 went full sail through the streets of the camp, im- 
 pelled by a favorable wind. Officers amused them- 
 selves by chasing them at a gallop, and seldom 
 caught up to them. These exercises lasted for an 
 hour or two ; but, the wind changing, the boats cap- 
 sized, amidst shouts of laughter. 
 
 Next came a horse-race. The prize was twelve 
 hundred francs. A lieutenant of di'agoons, much 
 esteemed in his company, asked the favor of com- 
 peting. But the haughty council of superior officers 
 refused to admit him, on the pretext that his rank 
 was not high enough, but in reality because he was 
 considered a horseman of prodigious skill. Stung 
 to the quick by this unjust refusal, the lieutenant 
 of dragoons addressed himself to the Emperor, who 
 permitted him to run with the others, after having 
 made inquiries the result of which apprised him that 
 this brave officer was the sole support of a numerous 
 family, and that his conduct was irreproachable. 
 
 At a given signal the riders started. The lieu- 
 tenant was not slow in passing the others ; he was 
 about to touch the goal, when, by an unlucky acci- 
 dent, a poodle-dog stupidly ran between his horse's 
 legs, and it fell. An aide-de-camp who was directly 
 behind him was proclaimed victor. The lieutenant 
 picked himself up as well as he could, and was about 
 to withdraw very disconsolatel3% yet somewhat con- 
 soled by the marks of interest displayed by the spec- 
 tators, when the Emperor had him called and said:
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 235 
 
 "You deserve the prize and you shall have it. . . . 
 I make you a captain." And turning to the grand 
 marshal of the palace : " Have them pay twelve hun- 
 dred francs to Captain N " (the name escapes 
 
 me). And everybody began shouting: Long live the 
 Emperor! and congratulating the new captain on 
 his fortunate fall. 
 
 In the evening there were fireworks that could be 
 seen from the coast of England. Thirty thousand 
 soldiers executed manoeuvres with rockets in their 
 muskets. These rockets rose to an incredible height. 
 The bouquet, which represented the arms of the Em- 
 pire, was so fine that during five minutes Boulogne, 
 the surrounding countr}^, and the whole coast was as 
 bright as day. 
 
 Some da3-s after these fetes, as the Emperor was 
 passing from one camp to the -other, a sailor, who 
 was on the watch for him that he might present a 
 petition, found himself caught in a torrent of rain, 
 and fearing that his paper might be spoilt, he shel- 
 tered himself behind an isolated barrack on the 
 beach where ropes were kept. He had been wait- 
 ing there a long time, drenched to the skin, Avhen 
 he saw the Emperor coming down from the left 
 camp at full gallop. Just as His Majesty, still gal- 
 loping, was about to pass the barrack, my brave 
 sailor, who was lying in wait for him, sprang from 
 his hiding-place and threw himself in front of the 
 Emperor, liolding out his petition in the attitude of 
 a fencing-master making a lunge. The Emperor's
 
 236 MEMOIBS OF CONSTAjS^T 
 
 horse sprang aside and came to a full stop, fright- 
 ened by this sudden apparition. His Majesty, as- 
 tonished for a moment, cast a dissatisfied glance at 
 the seaman, and went on his way, without taking 
 the petition which was presented in such a bizarre 
 fashion. 
 
 It was on that day, I think, that the minister of 
 the navy, M. Decres, had the ill-luck to tumble into 
 the water, to the great amusement of His Majesty. 
 In order to permit His Majesty to go from the 
 quay to a gunboat, a single plank had been thrown 
 between the two. His Majesty passed, or rather 
 jumped across this light bridge, and was received 
 on board in the arms of a seaman of the guard. 
 M. Decres, much fatter and less nimble than the 
 Emperor, walked cautiously on to the plank, which 
 it alarmed him to hnd bending beneath his feet. 
 When he reached the middle, the weight of his 
 body broke the plank, and the minister of marine 
 fell into the water between the quay and the 
 boat. His Majesty turned round at the noise made 
 by M. Decres in falling, and bending over the side 
 of the boat: "What! "said he, "is it our minister 
 of marine who has fallen? How can it possibly 
 be he ? " And the Emperor laughed heartily while 
 speaking thus. Meanwhile, two or three sailors 
 were employed in getting M. Decres out of his 
 scrape. He was hoisted into the boat with a good 
 deal of difficulty, as may be believed, the water 
 pouring from his nose, mouth, and ears, and very
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 237 
 
 much ashamed of his mishap, which the pleasantries 
 of His Majesty made still more afflicting. 
 
 Toward the end of our stay, the generals gave a 
 grand ball to the ladies of the city. The ball was 
 magnificent ; the Emperor was present at it. For 
 this purpose a hall had been constructed in carpentry 
 and joiner's work. It was decorated in perfectly 
 good taste with garlands, flags, and trophies. Gen- 
 eral Bertrand was appointed master of ceremonies 
 by his colleagues, and General Bisson took charge 
 of the buffet. This employment perfectly suited 
 General Bisson, the greatest gastronomer in the 
 camp, whose enormous paunch sometimes embar- 
 rassed him in marching. He required no less than 
 from six to eight bottles with his dinner, which 
 he never took alone ; for it was a torment to him 
 not to chatter while eating. He usually invited his 
 aides-de-camp, whom, doubtless through love of mis- 
 chief, he always selected from among the thinnest 
 and frailest officers in the army. The buffet was 
 worthy of him who had it in charge. 
 
 The orchestra was composed of the bands of 
 twenty regiments, who played by turns. Only, at 
 the commencement of the ball, they executed a 
 triumphal march all together, while the aides-de-camp, 
 dressed in the most gallant manner in the world, 
 were receiving the ladies invited and giving them 
 bouquets. 
 
 To be admitted to this ball it was necessary 
 to have at least the rank of commandant. It
 
 238 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 is impossible to form an idea of the beauty of the 
 sight presented by this multitude of uniforms, all 
 vying with each other in brilliancy. The fifty or sixty 
 generals who gave the ball had sent to Paris for 
 costumes embroidered with inconceivable richness. 
 The group which formed around His Majesty when 
 he entered, glittered with gold and diamonds. The 
 Emperor remained an hour at this entertainment and 
 danced the hoidangere with Madame Bertrand; he 
 wore the uniform of colonel-general of the mounted 
 guard. 
 
 Madame la Mardchale Soult was the queen of 
 the ball. She wore a black velvet robe, strewn with 
 those diamonds known as Rhine pebbles. 
 
 In the middle of the night a splendid supper was 
 served, the preparations for which had been super- 
 intended by General Bisson. And to say that is to 
 imply that nothing was lacking. 
 
 The ladies of Boulogne, who had never been pres- 
 ent at anything of the sort before, were amazed. 
 When supper-time came, some of them took the 
 notion of filling their reticules with sweets and 
 dainties ; I think they would like to have carried 
 off the hall, the musicians, and the dancers. For 
 more than a month the ball was the only subject 
 of their conversations. 
 
 At this epoch, or very near it, as His Majesty was 
 promenading on horseback in the environs of his 
 barrack, a pretty girl of fifteen or sixteen, dressed 
 in Avhite, and all in tears, threw herself on her
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 239 
 
 knees in front of him. The Emperor at once dis- 
 mounted and ran to pick her up, asking kindly 
 what he could do for her. The poor child had 
 come to ask mercy for her father, a provision dealer, 
 condemned to the galleys for serious frauds. His 
 Majesty could not resist such youth and charms : 
 he pardoned him.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Popularity of the Emperor at Boulogne — His fatal obstinacy — 
 Firmness of Admiral Bruix — The Emperor's whip and the 
 Admiral's sword — Unjust exile — Tempest and shipwreck — The 
 Emperor's courage — The corpses and the little hat — Infallible 
 means to stifle murmurs — The drummer saved on his drum — 
 Dialogue between two sailors — False embarkation — Proclama- 
 tion — Column of the Boulogne camp — Departure of the Em- 
 peror — Accounts to settle — Difficulties made by the Emperor 
 about paying for his barrack — A creditor's flatteries — The 
 engineer's bill paid in rix-doUars and frederics. 
 
 "TN Boulogne, as in every other place, the Emperor 
 knew how to endear himself to all by his modera- 
 tion, his justice, and the generous grace with which he 
 recognized the slightest service. All the inhabitants 
 of Boulogne, all the peasants of the neighborhood, 
 would have let themselves be killed for him. His 
 slightest peculiarities were the subject of their con- 
 versation. And yet his conduct one day excited 
 complaints ; he was unjust. He was universally 
 blamed : his injustice had caused so many disasters. 
 I am going to give a faithful report of this sad event 
 of which I did not witness any part. 
 
 One morning on mounting his horse, the Emperor 
 announced that he would hold a review of the naval 
 forces, and gave orders to have the vessels forming the 
 
 240
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 241 
 
 line of blockade leave their positions, as he intended 
 to review them in open sea. He set out with Roustan 
 for his usual ride, and expressed the desire that all 
 should be ready on his return, the hour of which he 
 designated. Everybody knew that the Emperor's 
 desire was his will ; some one went during his absence 
 to transmit it to Admiral Bruix, who responded with 
 imperturbable coolness that he was very sorry, but 
 that the review would not take place that day. 
 Consequently not a vessel stirred. 
 
 On returning from his ride, the Emperor inquired 
 if all was ready ; he was told what the Admiral had 
 replied. He had this reply twice repeated to him. 
 He was unaccustomed to the tone of it, and stamp- 
 ing violently, he sent for the Admiral, who presented 
 himself at once. 
 
 He did not come quickly enough to suit the 
 Emperor, however, and he met him half-way from his 
 barrack. The staff were following His Majesty, and 
 ranged themselves silently around him. His eyes 
 shot lightning. 
 
 "Mr. Admiral," said the Emperor in an agitated 
 voice, " why have you not executed my orders ? " 
 
 "Sire," replied Admiral Bruix with respectful 
 firmness, " there is a horrible tempest brewing. . . . 
 Your Majesty can see it as well as I can ; do you 
 wish to expose the lives of so many brave fellows 
 without necessity ? " As a matter of fact, the heavi- 
 ness of the atmosphere and the dull rumbling in the 
 distance justified the fears of the Admu-al but too
 
 242 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 well. "Sir," replied the Emperor, more and more 
 irritated, " I gave orders ; once more, why have you 
 not executed them? The consequences concern me 
 alone. Obey ! " — "Sire, I will not obey." — " Sir, you 
 are insolent ! " And the Emperor, who still held his 
 whip in his hand, advanced toward the Admiral with a 
 threatening gesture. Admiral Bruix drew back a step, 
 and laid his hand on the hilt of his sword. " Sire," 
 he said, turning pale, " take care ! " The Emperor, 
 motionless for a time, his hand raised, fixed his eyes 
 on the Admiral, who, on his side, maintained his 
 terrible attitude. At last, the Emperor threw his 
 whip on the ground. M. Bruix let go of the hilt 
 of his sword, and with uncovered head awaited the 
 result of this horrible scene. 
 
 "Mr. Rear-admiral Magon," said the Emperor, 
 "you will have the movement I ordered executed 
 on the instant. As to you, sir," continued he, bring- 
 ing back his glance to Admiral Bruix, "you will 
 leave Boulogne within twent3^-four hours, and retire 
 to Holland. Go." His Majesty withdrew at once. 
 Some officers, but not very many, shook the hand 
 the Admiral held out to them in parting. 
 
 Meanwhile Rear-admiral Magon caused the fleet 
 to perform the fatal manoeuvre required by the 
 Emperor. Hardly were the first steps taken when 
 the sea became frightful to behold. The heavily 
 clouded sky was furrowed with lightnings, the 
 thunder roared every instant, and the wind broke 
 up all the lines. At last occurred what the Admiral
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 243 
 
 had foreseen, and the most fearful tempest dispersed 
 the vessels in such a manner as to render their situ- 
 ation desperate. The Emperor, with down-bent head 
 and crossed arms, was walking the beach when terri- 
 ble cries were suddenly heard. More than twenty 
 gunboats crowded with soldiers and sailors had just 
 been cast ashore, and the unfortunates whom they 
 had carried were struggling against furious waves, 
 crying for aid that no one dared to give them. Pro- 
 foundly touched by this spectacle, his heart torn by 
 the lamentations of the immense crowd drawn by the 
 tempest to the cliffs and the shore, the Emperor, 
 who saw his generals and officers shivering with 
 horror around him, resolved to set the example of de- 
 votion, and in spite of every effort made to detain 
 him, he threw himself into a life-boat, saying : " Let 
 me alone ! let me alone ! some one must get them 
 out." His boat filled with water in an instant. The 
 waves passed and repassed above it, and the Emperor 
 was drenched. A billow still stronger than the 
 others narrowh' missed carrying His jNIajesty over- 
 board, and his hat was thrown into the water. Elec- 
 trified by such courage, officers, soldiers, sailors, and 
 citizens flew to the rescue, some in boats and some 
 by swimming. But, alas ! but a small number of the 
 unfortunates ^^'ho had composed the crew of the 
 gunboats could be saved, and the next day the sea 
 threw back on the beach more than two hundred 
 corpses, along with the hat of the victor of Marengo. 
 This sad morrow was a day of desolation for
 
 244 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Boulogne and for the camp. There was no one who 
 did not hasten to the shore, searching anxiously 
 among the corpses heaped up b}^ the waves. The 
 Emperor groaned over so many disasters which in- 
 teriorly he doubtless could not fail to attribute to 
 his own obstinacy. Agents provided with gold went 
 by his orders through the city and the camp, to pre- 
 vent the murmurs that were all ready to break out. 
 
 That day, I saw a drummer belonging to the crew 
 of the shipwrecked shallops come back on his drum, 
 as if it had been a raft. The poor devil had his 
 thigh broken. He had remained more than twelve 
 hours in this horrible situation. 
 
 To finish up with the camp of Boulogne, I will 
 relate here what did not in reality happen until the 
 month of August, 1805, after the return of the 
 Emperor from his journey and his coronation in 
 Italy. 
 
 Soldiers and sailors were burning with impatience 
 to embark for England, but the desired moment did 
 not arrive. Every evening they said to each other : 
 To-morrow there will be a good wind, it will be 
 foggy, and we shall start; and they fell asleep in 
 that hope. Day would break with sun or rain. 
 
 One evening, however, when the favorable wind was 
 blowing, I heard two sailors, chatting together on 
 the wharf, indulging in conjectures about the future: 
 "The Emperor would do well to start to-morrow," 
 said one ; " lie will never have better weatlier, there 
 will surely be a fog." "Bah!" said the other, "he
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 245 
 
 does not even think of it ; it is more than a fortnight 
 since the lleet has budged. They don't want to start 
 so soon." " And yet all the munitions are on board ; 
 everything could be unmoored in a jiffy." They 
 came to place the night-sentinels, and the conversa- 
 tion of the two old sea-dogs stopped there. But I 
 soon had reason to recognize that their experience 
 had not deceived them. In fact, toward three o'clock 
 in the morning a light fog overspread the sea, which 
 was a little rough ; the wind of the previous day 
 sprang up again. At daybreak, the fog thickened 
 so as to hide the fleet from the English. The most 
 profound silence reigned everywhere. Not a single 
 unfriendly sail had been signalled during the night, 
 and, as the sailors had said, everything favored the 
 descent. 
 
 At five o'clock in the morning signals came from 
 the semaphore. In a twinkling, all the seamen were 
 stirring. The harbor resounded with shouts of joy ; 
 the order to depart had been received ! While the 
 sails were being hoisted, the general was beaten in 
 the four camps. The whole army was called to arms 
 and came down precipitately into the city, hardly be- 
 lieving what they had just heard. " We are going to 
 start, then," said all these valiant fellows ; " we are 
 
 going to say two words to those of English ! " 
 
 And the pleasure that moved them expressed itself 
 in acclamations which were silenced by a rolling of 
 the drums. The embarkation took place in profound 
 silence, and in an orderly manner which I should
 
 246 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 vainly try to describe. In seven hours two hundred 
 thousand soldiers were aboard the fleet ; and, when a 
 little after midday this fine army was about to start 
 out, amid the farewells and good wishes of the entire 
 city assembled on the wharves and on the cliffs, at 
 the moment when all the soldiers, standing with un- 
 covered heads, were detaching themselves from 
 French soil to the cry of Lo7ig live the Emperor ! a 
 message arrived from the imperial barrack which dis- 
 embarked the troops and sent them back to camp. 
 A telegraphic despatch received that very moment 
 by His Majesty obliged him to give another direction 
 to his troops. 
 
 The soldiers returned sadly to their quarters ; some 
 of them testified loudly, and in a very energetic 
 manner, the disappointment caused them by this 
 species of mystification. They had always regarded 
 the success of the enterprise against England as a 
 thing completely certain, and to see themselves 
 arrested at the instant of departure was in their 
 eyes the greatest misfortune that could happen. 
 
 When all was in order, the Emperor repaired to 
 the right camp, and there he made a proclamation in 
 presence of the troops which was carried to the 
 other camps, and posted everywhere. This was 
 about the tenor of it : 
 
 " Brave soldiers of the camp of Boulogne ! 
 
 " You will not go to England. English gold has 
 seduced the Emperor of Austria, who has just de- 
 clared war on France. His army has broken the line
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 247 
 
 it was to keep ; Bavaria is invaded. Soldiers ! new 
 laurels await you beyond the Rhine ; let us speed to 
 conquer from the enemy we have conquered already." 
 
 This proclamation was received with universal 
 transports. All frowns vanished. It mattered little 
 to these intrepid men whether they were led to 
 Austria or to England. They were thirsting to fight, 
 war was proclaimed ; all their desires were satisfied. 
 
 Thus vanished all those grand schemes for a de- 
 scent on England, ripened so long, so wisely planned. 
 It is not doubtful now that, with time and perse- 
 verance, the enterprise would have been crowned 
 with the greatest success. But it was not to be. 
 
 Several regiments remained at Boulogne ; and 
 while their brethren were overthrowing the Aus- 
 trians, they erected a column on the beach destined 
 long to recall the souvenir of Napoleon and his 
 immortal army. 
 
 Directly after the proclamation of which I have 
 just spoken, His Majesty gave orders to make all 
 ready for his approaching departure. The grand 
 marshal of the palace was directed to examine and 
 pay all the expenses incurred by the Emperor, or 
 which he had caused to be incurred during his dif- 
 ferent sojourns ; not without being recommended, as 
 usual, to take good care not to overpa}', or pay too 
 dear. I think I have said already that His Majesty 
 was extremely economical in all that concerned him 
 personally, and that he was afraid of spending 
 twenty francs without some verj- useful end in view.
 
 248 MEMOIRS OF COXSTANT 
 
 Among many other accounts to be regulated, the 
 grand marshal of the palace found that of M. Sordi, 
 engineer of military communications, who had been 
 directed by him to undertake the interior and exte- 
 rior decorations of His Majesty's barrack. The bill 
 amounted to fift}^ thousand francs. The grand 
 marshal uttered cries of horror at this alarming 
 total; he would not settle M. Sordi's bill, and dis- 
 missed him, saying that he could not authorize the 
 payment without first having taken the Emperor's 
 orders. 
 
 The engineer withdrew, after assuring the grand 
 marshal that he had not overcharged for any article, 
 and that he had followed his instructions literally. 
 He added that in this state of things, he could not 
 possibly make the least reduction. The next day 
 M. Sordi received orders to present himself before 
 the Emperor. 
 
 The Emperor was in his barrack, the subject of 
 the discussion. He had under his eyes, not the 
 account of the engineer, but a map on which he was 
 following the future march of his army. M. Sordi 
 came and was introduced by General Cafarelli. The 
 half-opened door permitted the General, and me also, 
 to hear the conversation about to begin. " Sir," said 
 His Majesty, " you have spent a great deal too much 
 money in decorating this wretched barrack : yes, cer- 
 tainly, a great deal too much. . . . Fifty thousand 
 francs ! do you think of that, sir ? but that is fright- 
 ful. I will not have you paid." The engineer.
 
 MEMOinS OF CONSTANT 249 
 
 dumfoiinded by this brusque rush into the subject, 
 did not at first know what to reply. Happily the 
 Emperor, by casting his eyes once more at the 
 unrolled map, gave him time to collect himself. He 
 responded : " Sire, the gold clouds which formed the 
 ceiling of this room [all this took place in the council- 
 chamber], and which surround the guiding star of 
 Your Majesty, did in fact cost twenty thousand 
 francs. But if I had consulted the heart of your 
 subjects, the imperial eagle which is again about to 
 crush the enemies of France and of your throne 
 would have spread its wings in the midst of the 
 rarest diamonds." "That is all very well," replied 
 the Emperor, laughing ; " it is very well, but I will 
 not pay you at present, and since you tell me that 
 this eagle which cost so dear ouQ-ht to crush the 
 Austrians, wait till it does so, and I will pay your 
 bill with the rix-dollars of the Emperor of Germany 
 and the sfold frederics of the Kinof of Prussia." And 
 His Majesty, resuming his compass, began to make 
 his army move over the map. 
 
 As a matter of fact, the engineer's account was not 
 settled until after the battle of Austerlitz, and then, 
 as the Emperor had said, in rix-dollars and frederics.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Journey in Belgium — Furlough of twenty-four hours — The inhabi- 
 tants of Alost — Their cordiality towards Constant — The valet 
 feted on the master's account — Kindness of the Emperor — 
 
 Journal of Madame on a journey to Aix-la-Chapelle — 
 
 History of this journal — Narration de Madame M. 
 
 d' Aubusson, chamberlain — Ceremony of the oath — Josephine's 
 grace — An old acquaintance — Josephine's aversion to etiquette 
 
 — Madame de La Kochefoucauld — The faubourg Saint-Germain 
 
 — A chamberlain's key instead of a colonel's commission — 
 Formation of the imperial households — Members of the old 
 court at the new one — The opposition party in the noble 
 faubourg — Madame de La Rochefoucauld, Madame de Balby, 
 and Madame de Bouilley — Shameful beggars — Distribution of 
 crosses of honor — Napoleon complains of being badly lodged in 
 the Tuileries — Bad humor — The Museum seen by torchlight 
 
 — A perilous passage — Napoleon before the statue of Alex- 
 ander — Grandeur and littleness — A saying of the Princess 
 Dolgorouki — The Emperor at Boulogne and the Empress at 
 Aix-la-Chapelle — The Empress fails in etiquette and is rebuked 
 by her grand equerry — The malachite and the wife of the 
 mayor of Rheims — Picard's troupe and his pieces — The dili- 
 gence and the rue Saint-Denis — Court dresses and rags — 
 Household and circle of the Empress — Madame de S^monville 
 
 — Madame de Spare — Madame Macdonald — Confidence of the 
 Empress — Her character that of a child — Her intelligence — 
 Her education — Her manners — Her candor and self-distrust — 
 The Emperor's reserve with the Empress — His superstition 
 
 — Prediction made to Josephine — M. de Talleyrand — Motive 
 of his hatred for Josephine — The dinner at the house of Barras 
 
 — M. de Talleyrand urges a divorce — Madame de Staiil and M. 
 de Narbonne — Indifference of the Emperor as to whether he 
 were liked by those who surrounded him — The thermometer 
 of court friendships — Profound reverences and profound iusi- 
 
 250
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 251 
 
 pidity — Ceremony in the church of Aix — Arrival of the Em- 
 peror — Vexations — Espionage — The young general and the 
 old military man — False reports — The Emperor's jealousy — 
 Josephine justified — Napoleon -wholly occupied with etiquette 
 — Grand reception of the constituted authorities — Pretended 
 charlatanism of the Emperor — The Emperor talking of the 
 arts and of love — "Was the Emperor witty — Adulation of the 
 clergy — The grand relics — M. de Pradt the Emperor's first 
 chaplain — Alexander and the bushel of millet —Talma — Did 
 M. de Pradt believe in God ? — The Emperor's whist — The Due 
 d'Aremberg, the blind player — The author takes a hand at 
 the Emperor's table without knowing the game — An axiom 
 of the great Comeille — Disgrace of M. de Semonville — M. de 
 Montholon — Madame la Duchesse de Montebello — Napoleon's 
 sally against women — The English muslins — The Emperor's 
 first sweetheart — The Emperor represented as insolent, disdain- 
 ful, and vulgar — Constant's observation on this criticism — The 
 manners of iMurat unlike those of the Emperor — The Emperor 
 haughty and contemptuous of the human species. 
 
 n^OWARD the end of November, the Emperor 
 set out from Boulogne to make an excursion 
 into Belgium, and to rejoin the Empress, who had 
 gone to Aix-la-Chapelle. Everywhere along his 
 route he was received not merely with the honors 
 reserved for crowned heads, but in addition with 
 acclamations intended for his person rather than 
 his power. I slmll say nothing of the numerous 
 fetes given him during his journey, nor of the note- 
 worthy things that occurred. These details can be 
 found everywhere, and I wish to speak only of 
 what is personal to me, or at lenst of what is 
 not known to each and all. Let it su£(ice me then 
 to say that we passed through Arras, Valenciennes, 
 Mons, Bruxelles, etc., in triumph as it were. At the
 
 252 3IEM0IRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 gate of each city, the municipal council presented 
 the Emperor with the wine of honor and the keys of 
 the place. We remained several days at Lacken, 
 and being only five leagues from Alost, a little town 
 where I had relatives, I asked His Majesty's per- 
 mission to leave him for twenty-four hours ; which 
 he granted, but with difficulty. Alost, like the rest 
 of Belgium at this period, professed the greatest 
 attachment for the Emperor. I scarcely had a 
 mordent to mj-self. I was staying at the house of 
 
 one of my friends, M. D , whose family had long 
 
 been in one of the chief employments of the Belgian 
 government. I think the whole town came there to 
 visit me; but I was not vain enough to attribute to 
 myself all the honor of this cordiality. They wanted 
 to know even the least details that related to the 
 great man near whom I was placed. I was extraor- 
 dinarily feted on this account, and my twenty-four 
 hours passed too quickly. On my return. His 
 Majesty deigned to put a thousand questions about 
 the town of Alost and its inhabitants, what they 
 thought of his government and his person. I could 
 answer him without flattery that he was adored. He 
 seemed pleased, and talked kindly to me about ni}'- 
 family and my petty interests. We left Lacken the 
 next day and passed through Alost. If I could have 
 foreseen that the day before, I might have stayed 
 there several hours longer. However, the Emperor 
 had made so much difficulty about granting a single 
 day, that I should probably not have dared venture
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 253 
 
 on more, even if I had known that the household was 
 to pass through the town. 
 
 The Emperor liked Lacken ; he had considerable 
 repairs and embellishments made there, and through 
 his efforts this palace became a charming place of 
 abode. 
 
 This journey of Their Majesties lasted nearly 
 three months. We did not return to Paris, or 
 rather to Saint-Cloud, until some time in October. 
 At Cologne and Coblentz the Emperor had received 
 the visit of several German princes and princesses ; 
 but, as I could only know by hearsay what passed 
 in these interviews, I had determined not to speak 
 of them, Avhen there fell into my hands a manuscript 
 in which the author enters into all the details of 
 which I could have no cognizance. This is how I 
 found myself possessor of this curious journal. 
 
 It seems that one of the ladies of Her Majesty the 
 Empress Josephine noted down daily everything 
 interesting that happened in the interior of the 
 palace and the imperial family. These souvenirs, 
 among which occur many unflattering portraits, were 
 brought to the Emperor's notice probably, as it was 
 supposed at the time, by the indiscretion and unfaith- 
 fulness of a chambermaid. 
 
 Their Majesties were very severely, and to my mind 
 very unjustly treated in the Memoirs of ^Madame 
 
 . Hence the Emperor flew into a violent rage, 
 
 and Madame received her dismissal. The day 
 
 when His Majesty read these manuscripts in his bed-
 
 254 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 room at Saint-Cloud, his secretary, who was accus- 
 tomed to carry all papers into His Majesty's cabinet, 
 doubtless forgot a rather small paper book, which I 
 found on the floor, near the Emperor's bath-tub. 
 This paper book was nothing less than the Account 
 of the Journey/ of the JEmpress to Aix-la-Chapelle, a 
 relation which apparently formed part of the Memoirs 
 
 of Madame . As we were just starting for Paris, 
 
 and moreover as papers negligently forgotten and 
 not missed did not seem to be of great importance, 
 I threw them into the upper part of an armoire of 
 a cabinet which was seldom opened, and concerned 
 myself no further about them. It seems that no- 
 body thought more of them than I did ; for it was 
 not until two years afterward that, in searching every 
 corner of the bedchamber in search of some mislaid 
 object, my eyes fell upon the dusty manuscript of 
 
 Madame . The Emperor's thoughts Avere very 
 
 remote at that time from the petty vexations of 1805, 
 and I did not feel myself guilty of a great indiscre- 
 tion in taking the manuscript home with me, and I 
 hope nobody will be displeased at finding it annexed 
 to my Memoirs. At the same time I protest here, in 
 advance, against any interpretation which would tend 
 to make me jointly responsible for the opinions of 
 
 Madame . She belonged to the number of those 
 
 persons who, belonging to the old regime, either indi- 
 vidually or through their family ties, had thought they 
 could accept or even solicit appointments in the Em- 
 peror's household, without renouncing their preju-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 255 
 
 dices or their hatred for him. This hatred has led the 
 author of the Journey into more than one unjust exag- 
 geration concerning whatever relates to Their Majes- 
 ties, and I have replied in several notes to things that 
 to me seem inexact in her criticisms. In what refers 
 to the German princes and some other personages, 
 Madame impresses me as having been ingen- 
 iously truthful, although a little too jeering. 
 
 DIARY OF THE JOURNEY TO MAYENCE 
 
 Paris, July 1, 1804. — I took my oatli to-day at 
 Saint-Cloud, as lady of the Empress's palace, at the 
 same time when M. d'Aubusson took his as chamber- 
 lain. Madame de La Rochefoucauld was the only 
 person who witnessed this ceremony, which took 
 place in the blue salon in a rather gay manner. 
 Josephine was very gracious about it ; she had for- 
 merly met M. d'Aubusson in society, and she seemed 
 to find it very pleasant to renew acquaintance with 
 him by receiving his oath as Empress. She speaks 
 of her elevation very frankly, very becomingly. She 
 said to us with delightful artlessness that it was very 
 unpleasant to her to remain seated when women who 
 were formally her equals, or even her superiors, 
 entered her apartments; that she was required to 
 conform to this etiquette, but that she found it quite 
 impossible. Madame de La Rochefoucauld, who 
 had to be entreated for a long time before she would 
 accept the place of lady of honor, and who }ielded
 
 256 3IEM0mS OF cq-nstant 
 
 only through affection for Josephine, has given herself 
 infinite pains to bring the whole faubourg Saint-Ger- 
 main to this court. It was she who persuaded M. 
 d'Aubusson. He had wished to enter the service as a 
 colonel ; he was rather surprised to receive an ap- 
 pointment as chamberlain instead of a regiment. All 
 Paris occupies itself with the formation of the house- 
 holds of the Emperor and the Empress ; every day 
 one hears of some family of the old court which is 
 going to form part of this one. The embarrassment 
 with which people accost persons of their acquaint- 
 ance is curious enough: uncertain whether they have 
 received appointments, one does not like to boast of 
 his own ; but on learning theirs, one is enchanted ; 
 it is one weapon more for the sheaf they would like 
 to form in opposition to the malicious pleasantries of 
 the faubourg Saint-Germain. 
 
 July 8, 1804. — Madame de La Rochefoucauld 
 related a rather amusing adventure this morning. 
 She had just made a call on Madame de Balby. The 
 latter, enchanted to find a chance to throw a stone 
 into her garden, said to her : " Madame de Bouilley 
 has just gone away ; I told her that people in society 
 were mentioning her as a lady of the palace ; but she 
 denied it in a way that proved to me that they were 
 in the wrong." Madame de La Rochefoucauld had 
 with her at that very moment the letter in which 
 Madame de Bouilley asks for this place; she replied: 
 " I do not know why Madame de Bouilley denies it, 
 for here is her application and her appointment."
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 261 
 
 July 14, 1804. — What a fatiguing day ! "VVe were 
 assembled at the chateau at eleven o'clock, to accom- 
 pany the Empress to the church of the Invalides, to 
 witness a distribution of the decorations of the Legion 
 of Honor. 
 
 Seated in a tribune opposite the Emperor's throne, 
 we saw him receive nineteen hundred chevaliers. 
 This ceremony was interrupted for an instant by the 
 arrival of a man of the people, wearing a simple 
 jacket, who presented himself on the steps of the 
 throne. Napoleon paused in surprise : some one 
 questioned the man, who showed his brevet, and 
 he received the accolade and his decoration. The 
 cortege followed the same road on returning, passing 
 through the grand alley of the Tuileries. It was 
 the first time that Bonaparte has entered the garden 
 in a carriage. On re-entering the apartments of the 
 Empress, he approached the window ; some children 
 who were on the terrace, seeing him, shouted : Long 
 live the Emperor ! He drew back with very per- 
 ceptible ill-humor, saying : " I am the worst-lodged 
 sovereign in Europe ; no one has ever thought of 
 allowing the public to come so near his palace." I 
 must confess that if I had arrived at the Tuileries 
 in the way that Napoleon has, I should have thought 
 it more suitable not to seem to find myself ill-lodged. 
 
 I do not know whether it was because this little 
 spurt of ill-humor lasted ; but, on entering the circle 
 which we formed, he ajjproached Madame de La Val- 
 lette, and kicking the bottom of her dress, he said :
 
 258 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 " Fie ! Madame, what a dress ! what trimming ! It is 
 in the very worst taste ! " Madame de La Vallette 
 seemed a little disconcerted. 
 
 In the evening we went up to the balcony of the 
 middle pavilion to hear the concert that was given 
 in the garden. After some moments, the Emperor 
 took a whim to see the statues of the Louvre by 
 torchlight. M. Denon, who was there, received his 
 orders ; the footmen carried torches ; we crossed the 
 grand gallery, and went down into the halls of the 
 antiques. In passing through them, Napoleon paused 
 a long time before a bust of Alexander ; there was 
 a sort of affectation in his calling our attention to 
 the fact that necessarily this head was bad, that it 
 was too large, Alexander being much smaller than 
 himself. He dwelt greatly on those words : much 
 smaller. I was at a little distance, but I had heard 
 him ; having come nearer, he absolutely repeated 
 the phrase ; he seemed charmed to inform us that 
 he was larger than Alexander. Ah ! liow small he 
 seemed to me at that moment ! 
 
 July 15, 1804. — This evening I was at a house 
 where the Princess Dolgorouki came on leaving the 
 drawing-room at the Tuileries. Some one asked her 
 what she thought about it. " It is certainly a great 
 power," she responded, " but it is not a court." 
 
 Paris, July — , 1804. — The Emperor starts to- 
 morrow to go and see the flat-boats at Boulogne, 
 and the Empress for Aix-la-Chapelle, where she will 
 take the waters. I must accompany her.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 259 
 
 Rheims, July — , 1804. — This morning, before 
 leaving Saint-Cloiul, the Empress crossed two halls 
 to give an order to a person occupying a rather sub- 
 altern position in her household. M. d'llarville, 
 her grand equerry, came up in a fright to represent 
 to her that Her Majesty would totally compromise 
 the dignity of the throne, and that she ought to give 
 her orders through his lips. " Eh ! sir," said Jose- 
 phine, gayly, " this etiquette is perfect for princesses 
 born on the throne and accustomed to the restraint 
 which it imposes; but I, who have had the good 
 luck to live so many years as a private person, think 
 it well to give my orders sometimes without an 
 interpreter." The grand equerry bowed, and we set 
 out. 
 
 Sedan, July 30, 1804. — This morning I found 
 Josephine very busily reading a large sheet of manu- 
 script, and I was not a little surprised to see that 
 she was learning her lesson. Whenever she travels, 
 everything is fixed, foreseen in advance. It is 
 known in what place she must be harangued by such 
 or such an authority ; here she must respond in such 
 a manner ; there in such another. All is regulated, 
 even to the presents she must make. But it some- 
 times happens that her memory fails her ; and then, 
 if her response is not as suitable as that which had 
 been prepared, it is at least always made with such 
 courtesy and kindness that people are always sat- 
 isfied. 
 
 Liege, August 1, 1804. — I feared that we should
 
 260 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 never get here. The Emperor, without mforming 
 himself as to whether a projected road through the 
 forest of Ardennes had been completed, had traced 
 ours on the map ; the relays were arranged accord- 
 ing to his orders, and we were twenty times in 
 danger of having our carriages smashed. In several 
 places they were kept up with rojies. No one ever 
 imagined making women travel like dragoon officers. 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, August 7, 1804. — The Empress 
 has established herself here in the house of one M. 
 de Jacob}^ lately purchased by the Emperor. It had 
 been spoken of as a very agreeable habitation, and 
 we were surprised on finding a wretched little house. 
 The prefect wished to have Josephine come at once 
 and install herself at the prefecture ; but such is her 
 perfect submission to Bonaparte's wishes that she 
 would not do so without his orders. He is bent on 
 favorizing the inhabitants of the reunited depart- 
 ments, desiring to attach them to France. It was 
 this motive that induced him to buy M. de Jacoby's 
 house and pay four times its value for it. 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, August — , 1804, — This morning, 
 on reading the Publicist newspaper, Josephine was 
 rather disagreeably surprised at seeing, in the account 
 of her journe}^ that some one had reported and 
 printed her adieux to the wife of the mayor of 
 Rheims, with whom she had lodged while in that 
 city. It often happens that one carelessly says some- 
 thing which lacks common sense, without noticing it ; 
 but, if one encounters the same phrase in print, then
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 2G1 
 
 reflection makes one appreciate just what it amounts 
 to. I own that there is no need of it to judge of this 
 one. On leaving Rheims, the Empress gave the 
 mayor's wife a medallion of malachite, and said as 
 she embraced her : " ^Tis the color of 7«oj;e." The fact 
 is that hope had not the least thing to do in this 
 case; it was a mere piece of stupidity. I was there ; 
 I heard and I remarked it ; but I took good care not 
 to remember it this morning. Josephine was in de- 
 spair; she was certain, and that in perfectly good 
 faith, that she had not said such a thing : it would 
 have been cruel to contradict her. The private sec- 
 retary proposed that she should deny using it in the 
 journal ; she thought of it for a moment ; but whether 
 she suddenly remembered it, or was afraid of doing 
 something which Bonaparte might disapprove, she 
 contented herself with writing to him that she had 
 not uttered this stupidity ; that her first impulse had 
 been to contradict it, but she had been unwilling to 
 do anything without his orders. A courier was de- 
 spatched to Boulogne.^ 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, August 11, 1804. — Our life here is 
 tiresome and monotonous. With the exception of a 
 daily ride, which we take in an open carriage through 
 the environs of the city, the remainder of the day is 
 precisely like yesterday. Picard's troupe has come 
 
 ^ The Emperor's decision was that the journalist must be repri- 
 manded ; and from tliat time they were forbidden ever to publish 
 any response of either the Emperor or the Empress without having 
 first seen it in the Monitexir. — Editor''s note.
 
 262 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 here and will remain as long as the Empress does. 
 Every evening we go and j^awn at the theatre; 
 Picard's repertory is unimaginably fatiguing in the 
 long run. To be sure it is clever, and has some very 
 good comic scenes ; but the subjects are always 
 selected from the lowest ranks of life, one never 
 emerges from the stage-coach or the rue Saint-Denis. 
 For a day it is possible to be amused with the novelty 
 of this tone ; but one is presently fatigued at finding 
 one's self so far from home. 
 
 August 11, 1804. — Not having gone to the theatre 
 this evening, and some one having spoken of a plan 
 of Paris in relief, the Empress wished to see it. The 
 evening being very fine, why, she asked, should we 
 not walk there? This was a novelty, and every one 
 was in haste to start. M. d'Harville, who is always 
 the chevalier of etiquette, was in despair. He in- 
 tended to hazard his opinion, but we were already 
 too far away. The fact is that he was quite right, as 
 the sequel of this frolic has proved. The streets 
 being almost empty in the evenings, we met hardly 
 anybody in going ; but while we were examining this 
 plan, the rumor of our excursion got around ; and 
 when we came out, there were candles in all the 
 windows, and the whole populace on our route. We 
 must have formed a sufficiently amusing cortege ; 
 those gentlemen, with their liats under their arms 
 and swords at their sides, who gave us their hands 
 and aided us to pass through the crowd which 
 pressed around us, and whose tatters presented a
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 263 
 
 rather startling contrast with our feathers, our dia- 
 monds, and our long dresses. At last we reached 
 the hotel of the prefecture ; the Empress felt then 
 that she had acted thoughtlessly, and she frankly- 
 acknowledged it. 
 
 August 13, 1804. — It was said this evening that 
 the Emperor would soon arrive here : that will im- 
 part a little movement and variety to our habitual 
 circle, which is perfectly monotonous. It is com- 
 posed of Madame de La Rochefoucauld, a woman of 
 very amiable disposition ; four ladies of the palace, 
 the grand equerry, two chamberlains, the chief 
 equerry; M. Deschamps, the private secretary; 
 the prefect and his family ; two or three gen- 
 erals who have married German women, real 
 caricatures. I must add one very amiable woman, 
 Madame de Sdmonville, wife of the French ambassa- 
 dor to Holland ; by her first marriage she was 
 Madame de Montholon. She has had two sons and 
 two daughters : one is Madame de Spare ; the other, 
 who married General Joubert, became the wife of 
 General Macdonald by a second marriage. This 
 young and lovely woman is dying ; she came here to 
 take the waters ; her mother, Madame de Sdmonville, 
 accompanied and takes care of her. I fear that it 
 will be in vain. Hence we enjoy very little of 
 Madame de S^monville's society; she seldom leaves 
 her daughter. 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, August 14, 1804. — I remained 
 alone quite a long time with Josephine this morning ;
 
 264 MEMOIRS OF CO^'^STANT 
 
 she talked to me witli a confidence Avliicli would have 
 flattered me very much, if I had not seen daily that 
 this abandon is natural and necessary to her. The 
 estimate I have formed of her character is perhaps 
 premature, since I have known her so short a time ; 
 however, I do not believe I am mistaken. She is 
 exactly like a ten-year-old child. She has the good 
 nature and the levity of one ; she is quickly moved ; 
 weeps and then is consoled in a moment. One might 
 say of her intelligence what Moliere said of a man's 
 probity, "that he had just enough to prevent his 
 being hanged." She has precisely what is needed 
 to keep one from being a simpleton. Ignorant, like 
 the generality of Creoles, she has learned nothing 
 or almost nothing except through conversation ; but 
 having passed her life in good society, she has 
 acquired very good manners, grace, and that jargon 
 which in society sometimes takes the place of wit. 
 Social events are a canvas which she embroiders and 
 arranges, and which supplies materials for her conver- 
 sation. She has at least quarter of an hour of wit a 
 day. What I find charming in her is that diffidence 
 which, in her position, is a great merit. If she finds 
 intelligence and judgment in any of the persons who 
 surround her, she consults them with a candor and 
 artlessness which are wholly delightful. Her temper 
 is perfectly even and sweet ; it is impossible not to 
 love her. I fear that this need of opening her heart, 
 of communicating all her ideas, all that passes 
 between her and the Emperor, must deprive her of
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTxLNT 265 
 
 much of his confidence. She complains of not pos- 
 sessing it; she told me this morning that never 
 in all the years she has spent with him, has she 
 seen in him a single moment of unreserve ; that 
 if, at some moments, he shows a little confidence, 
 it is only to excite that of the person to whom 
 he is talking ; but that he never reveals his en- 
 tire thought. She says that he is very supersti- 
 tious ; that one day being with the army in Italy, 
 he broke in his pocket the glass which covered her 
 portrait and that he was in despair, convinced that 
 it was a warning of her death ; he had no repose until 
 after the return of the courier whom he sent to reas- 
 sure himself.^ 
 
 This conversation led Josephine to speak to me 
 about the singular prediction which was made to her 
 just as she was leaving Martinique. A sort of gypsy 
 said to her : " You are Sfoing^ to France to be married ; 
 your marriage will not be happy ; your husband will 
 die in a tragic manner ; you will incur great dangers 
 yourself at that period ; but you will come out 
 triumphantly from them ; you are destined to the 
 most glorious condition, and without being a queen, 
 you will be more than a queen." She added that 
 being very young then, she paid very little attention 
 to this prediction ; that she only remembered it at 
 the time when M. de Beauharnais was guillotined ; 
 
 1 At this epoch the Emperor was still in love with Josephine. 
 Note of Madame .
 
 266 ME^fOIES OF constant 
 
 that she spoke of it then to several ladies who like 
 herself were imprisoned in the days of the Terror ; 
 but that at present she saw it accomplished in every 
 point. It is a very singular chance which has brought 
 about the coincidence between this prediction and 
 lier destiny. 
 
 August 15. — This morning, while driving, Jose- 
 phine continued the conversation begun yesterday. 
 I was alone with her in the carriage ; she talked 
 to me about M. de Talleyrand ; she claims that he 
 hates her, and without any motive but the injuries 
 he has done her. Alas ! it is too true that he who 
 has offended never pardons. These words are writ- 
 ten large in the history of the human heart. The 
 offended person may forget it, but conscience never 
 fails to remember. During Bonaparte's sojourn in 
 Egypt, at a time when eyery one regarded him as 
 ruined, ]\I. de Talleyrand, who was always at the feet 
 of power, had been in various circumstances very im- 
 polite to Madame Bonaparte. One da}^, especially, 
 he was dining with her at the house of B arras ; 
 Madame Tallien was present ; it is claimed that this 
 woman, who was celebrated for her beauty, exercised 
 at this time a great empire over Barras. M. de 
 Talleyrand, placed near her and Madame Bonaparte, 
 showed so much grace in the attentions with which 
 he surrounded INIadame Tallien, and so little polite- 
 ness toward Madame Bonaparte, that the latter, who 
 knew him to be the perfection of courtiers, concluded 
 that General Bonaparte must be known to be dead
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 267 
 
 for him to treat her so badly; because if he had 
 thought he could ever return to France, he would 
 have been afraid he might avenge the slights put 
 upon liis wife in liis absence. This idea, uniting with 
 wounded self-love, made her leave the table in tears. 
 M. de Talleyrand, who has not forgotten this circum- 
 stance, and who fears lest Josephine may one day 
 have the power and the wish to revenge herself for it, 
 did all that lay in liis power during the last three 
 months that elapsed before the creation of the 
 Empire, to induce Napoleon to divorce her, in order 
 that he might marry the Princess Wilhelmine of 
 Baden ; he urged, with all possible skill, the support 
 he would gain in the courts of Russia and Bavaria, 
 with whom he would become allied by this marriage ; 
 and the need of consolidating his Empire by the hope 
 of having children. The Emperor wavered a little ; 
 but he finally resisted, and Josephine has no more 
 anxiety on that account.^ 
 
 Although she has not much intelligence, she is not 
 lacking in a certain sort of cleverness; she has 
 known how to profit by the superstitious weakness 
 of the Emperor, and slie sometimes says to him : 
 " Thei/ talk of thy star, but it is mine that influences 
 thine; it was to me that a lofty destiny teas pre- 
 dicted." This idea has probably contributed more 
 than people think to the overthrow of INI. de Talley- 
 
 1 The sequel proved that she deceived herself. — Note of 
 Madame .
 
 268 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 rand's schemes, and to tighten the bonds he wished 
 to break.i 
 
 Josephine has just told me a rather piquant anec- 
 dote. Madame de Stael wrote to Count Louis de 
 Narbonne not long since. As she was sending 
 her letter by a man whom she believed trusty, she 
 expressed her whole mind; she was particularly 
 sprightly concerning persons who have accepted 
 places at court since the creation of the Empire. 
 She added that she hoped that she would never 
 be chagrined, in reading the journal, by seeing his 
 name beside theirs. The man entrusted with this 
 letter carried it to Fouch^. The latter (after paying 
 for this rascally transaction) read it, copied it, and 
 having closed it up again with care, said to the man : 
 "Fulfil your commission; get M. de Narbonne's 
 aoiswer, and bring it to me ; " which he did not fail 
 to do. The Count replied in the same tone. They 
 say that we were not spared in this response. I 
 forgive him with all my heart ; I am tempted to laugh 
 myself at the bizarre ensemble that we present. This 
 court is a veritable harlequin's dress ; but if the cos- 
 tume has all the requisite motleys, harlequin has not 
 all the graces of his state ; ^ his awkwardness is in 
 
 1 If Napoleon searches into the past for the causes of his down- 
 fall, it will be difficult, if he retains this superstitiovis weakness, 
 for him not to remark that, since his divorce, events, which he 
 had governed so long, have all turned against him. — Note of 
 Madame . 
 
 2 It is a crime of a new species not to have all the graces of the 
 state of a harlequin. The manners of the Emperor were simple
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 269 
 
 singular contrast with the great nobles by whom he is 
 surrounded. I am sorry that one can set over against 
 the Count's pleasantries his assiduity in the circles 
 of Cambacdres and of all the ministers. Josephine 
 claims that this letter, of which Napoleon is reminded 
 by each obeisance of M. de Narbonne (and he makes 
 a good many of them), deprives them of all their 
 grace, and that he will never obtain anything.^ 
 
 August 16. — I perceive, by the redoublement of 
 politeness in the persons who surround the Empress, 
 how much I am daily losing in their esteem. At 
 court, it is in this way that one must measure the 
 degree of attachment one inspires. For some days 
 I had been astonished to find that I had become the 
 object of general attention ; to tell the truth I did 
 not know to what to attribute it, and in my inno- 
 cence I might perhaps have laid it to my own merits. 
 Who knows just how far self-love might have misled 
 
 me ? M. de , the most affected, the most insipid 
 
 of all courtiers, past, present, and to come, under- 
 
 and natui-al, but without awkwardness. Doubtless they did con- 
 trast with the obsequious and courtier-like forms of the great 
 nobles who surrounded him ; for he was the only one who lield 
 himself straight and erect, while these gentlemen bowed to tlio 
 ground. — Note by the editor. 
 
 1 Some time after this epoch, Count do Narbonne was appointed 
 to the embassy of Vienna and became one of those who were best 
 treated by Bonaparte. What did he care about the attachment, 
 the devotion of those whom he employed ? He knew that he 
 would never obtain them ; but he liked the flattery of the old 
 courtiers, because it was more adroit than that of the new ones. 
 — Note by Madame .
 
 270 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 took to enlighten my inexperience ; he called on 
 me this morning, ten times more reverentially than 
 usual. He said to me that everybody had remarked 
 Josephine's kindness toward me, our long conversa- 
 tions together, the attention with which she offered 
 me every day at breakfast the dishes she found in 
 front of her; that, for his part, he had been par- 
 ticularly pleased on remarking these distinctions; 
 but that they had become a subject of jealousy to 
 many persons. I laughed at the importance which 
 he attached to all that, and I privately promised 
 myself no longer to put to my own credit atten- 
 tions which I owe only to the whim of the sover- 
 eign. 
 
 August 16. — To-day we have had a grand cere- 
 mony in the church, for the distribution of several 
 decorations of the Legion of Honor. They had been 
 sent to General Lorges, who desired that Josephine 
 should give them herself. The clergy came to 
 receive her at the door of the church. A throne 
 was prepared for her in the choir, and everything 
 had a solemn appearance. General Lorges made a 
 speech, but he is more brave than eloquent; he 
 knows how to fight better than he knows how to 
 speak in public. He said to us in this discourse that 
 lie thought himself happy in seeing beauty on the 
 throne and virtue beside it. If this is not his exact 
 phrase, it is at least his thought. We could all feel 
 aggrieved at this compliment, since to one he accorded 
 virtue without beauty, and to the others beauty with-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 271 
 
 out virtue, but we all laughed a good deal over it 
 when we came out. The Empress told us that she 
 was very well content to have virtue for her lot, and 
 asked to which one of us that of beauty had been 
 awarded. Self-love stood ready to persuade each one 
 that she had been intended, and we mutually took 
 the credit of this compliment. 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, August 18, 1801. — Everything 
 is in commotion in the palace; Bonaparte arrives 
 to-morrow. It is extraordinary that in a situation 
 like his, one should not be loved.^ That would be 
 so easy when one has only to will to make people 
 happy in order to do so. But it seems that he does 
 not often have this will ; for from the first footman 
 to the first officer of the crown, each one experiences 
 a sort of terror at his approach. The court will 
 become more brilliant; the ambassadors, not having 
 been newly accredited since the metamorphosis of 
 the consul into an emperor, will all arrive to 
 present their letters. We shall remain here sev- 
 eral days longer. We shall go to Cologne and 
 Coblentz, and remain some days in each city, and 
 
 1 There is a great eiTor here, to say the least. The Emperor 
 did know how to make himself loved, and, in fact, he was loved 
 by all who were in his service. I believe I have furnished more 
 than one proof of this in my Memoirs. Of all his old servants, I 
 dare affirm there is not one who will contradict me on this point. 
 That the Emperor may not have been loved by his courtiers is 
 possible. With such power as his, one makes still more ingi'ates 
 than happy people ; and the gratitude of courtiers is proverbial. 
 But ought one to bring that as a reproach against His Majesty ? — 
 Note by Constant.
 
 272 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 from there to Mayence, where all the princes who 
 are to form the Rhine confederation will assemble. 
 
 August 19, 1804. — He has arrived, and espionage 
 along with him ; the vexations which ordinaril}'^ form 
 his cortege have already banished all gaiety from 
 our little circle. His return has apprised us that 
 among a dozen persons who were appointed to accom- 
 pany Josephine here, there is one who was entrusted 
 with the part of spy. Napoleon knew on arriving 
 that on such a day we had made an excursion, that 
 on such another day we had breakfasted with 
 Madame de S^monville, in a wood in the environs 
 of Aix-la-Chapelle. The informer (whom we know) 
 thought she would make her recital more meritorious 
 by attributing to General Lorges, who is young and 
 has very agreeable manners, the fault of a poor old 
 military man who, probably, having been a soldier 
 longer than an officer, did not know that one should 
 not sit down before the Empress, on the same sofa. 
 Josephine was too kind to show him that he had 
 done an unsuitable thing ; she was afraid of humili- 
 ating him. This proof of her goodness of heart had 
 been transformed into a guilty condescension in 
 favor of a young man for whom she must have a 
 great deal of indulgence and kindness, since he 
 could feel himself so perfectly at ease with her. 
 This was tlie conclusion it was intended that the Em- 
 peror should draw. Luckily, this circumstance, so 
 unlikely to be remarked, had been so, and it was not 
 difficult for Josephine to prove who was the guilty
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 273 
 
 person: his age, his lack of experience of society, 
 have effaced all the black Avith which tliis action 
 had been painted. How can one help being aston- 
 ished 1 that a man who has passed his life in camps, 
 who has been nurtured and brought up by the 
 Republic, should attach importance to these trifles ! 
 Ah ! the love of power is doubtless natural to man ; 
 a child does, for the plaything which he disputes 
 with his comrade, what sovereigns do, at a more 
 advanced age, for the provinces they wish to wrest 
 from each other. But how far it is from that noble 
 pride which wishes to dominate its equals, to this 
 code of etiquette which forms at present the dearest 
 occupation of Napoleon ! I was wondering this 
 evening, as I looked at all these men standing up, 
 and not daring to move a step outside the circle 
 they formed, why it is that the powerful of all times 
 and of all countries have attached the idea of respect 
 to constrained attitudes. I think they find the sight 
 of all these men bent incessantly in their presence 
 sweet, because it is a continual reminder of their 
 power over them. 
 
 August 20, 1804. — This morning Napoleon re- 
 ceived all the constituted authorities of the cit3^ 
 They issued from this audience confounded, aston- 
 ished to the last decrree. " What a man ! " said the 
 
 1 IIoio can one help being astonisJted that it seems astonishing 
 
 to Madame that the Emperor loved his honor and his wife 
 
 well enough to be jealous of both? The Republic and the love of 
 power had nothing to do with it. — Note by Constant. 
 
 VOL. 1. — T
 
 274 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 major to me, " what a prodigy ! what a universal 
 genius ! How is it that he knows this department, 
 so distant from the capital, better than we do ? Not 
 a detail escapes him; he knows everything; he is 
 acquainted with all the products of our industry." 
 I smiled ; I was greatly tempted to inform this honest 
 man, who was going to retail his admiration through- 
 out the city, that it would bear a good deal of abate- 
 ment; that this perfect acquaintance which Napo- 
 leon displayed to them is a piece of charlatanism 
 with which he subjugates the vulgar. He has had 
 thoroughly exact statistics drawn up of France and 
 its reunited departments. When he travels, he takes 
 with him the manuscript books which relate to the 
 countries he is to visit ; ^ these he learns by heart an 
 hour before the audience ; then he appears, talks 
 about everything with the air of a man whose mind 
 embraces all the vast country that he governs, and 
 leaves these good people rapt in admiration. An 
 hour afterward, he no longer knows a word of what 
 excited this admiration. 
 
 The prefect, M. Mechin, came to this audience 
 with a certain assurance (rather common with him), 
 
 1 What matters it whether the Emperor made himself conver- 
 sant with what related to the country he was to travel tlirough an 
 hour or a year before his audience ? The only question is whether 
 lie did make himself so conversant. And if he learned it by heart, 
 how could he have forgotten it by the end of an hour ? He 
 remembered it so well that he generously marked his passage by 
 benefits and improvements which attest his perfect knowledge of 
 localities. — Note by Constant.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 275 
 
 not suspecting the ordeal he was about to undergo. 
 Napoleon, who had just learned his lesson, asked 
 him several questions to which he did not know how 
 to answer ; he was troubled, embarrassed. " Mon- 
 sieur," said the Emperor to him, " when a man does 
 not know a department better than this, he is un- 
 worthy to administer it." And he removed him 
 from office. Such was the result of to-day's audience. 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, August 21. — I am often tempted 
 to inform Napoleon, who asks so many questions 
 about the usages of the old court, that grace and 
 urbanity prevailed there ; that in it women dared to 
 converse with princes. Here, we are precisely like 
 little girls who are going to be examined in cate- 
 chism. Napoleon is very much offended if any one 
 ventures to address a remark to him.^ Half lying 
 down on a sofa, he alone supplies the conversation ; 
 for nobody replies to him except by a i/es or a no, sire, 
 pronounced very timidly. He usually talks about 
 the arts, such as music and painting ; he frequently 
 takes love for the subject of conversation, and God 
 knows how he talks about it.^ It does not belong to 
 a woman to judge a general ; hence, I shall not pre- 
 
 1 It was no more customary in the old court than in the new 
 one for any one to address a remark to the sovereign without 
 being interrogated. — Note by the editor. 
 
 2 The letters wiltten from Italy by General Bonaparte to his 
 wife, and published for the first time in the Memoirs of a Con- 
 temporary^ the admirable novel entitled Giulio, in the Memoirs of 
 M. de Bonrrieiine, make it plain enough whether the Emperor did 
 or did not know how to talk of love. — Note by the editor.
 
 276 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 sume to speak of his military feats; but the spirit 
 of the salon ^ is our province, and concerning that it is 
 permissible to sa}^ that he has none at all. 
 
 August 22, 1804. — It must be that this need of 
 adulating power is very general, since not even 
 priests are exempt from it. This morning we were 
 shown what are called the grand relics : they were 
 sent as a present to Charlemagne by the Empress 
 Irene, and have been preserved since that time in an 
 iron press contrived in a wall. This press is opened 
 every seven years, to show the relics to the people, 
 a circumstance which attracts a very considerable 
 multitude from all the surrounding region. Each 
 time that the relics are replaced in the press, the door 
 is walled up, and not opened again for seven years. 
 Josephine had a wish to see them, and although the 
 seven years had not elapsed, the wall was demolished. 
 Among these relics, a little silver-gilt casket attracted 
 particular attention. The priests who showed us this 
 treasure piqued our curiosity by saying that the most 
 ancient tradition attached a great happiness to the 
 possibility of opening this coffer, but that so far 
 nobody had been able to do it. Josephine, whose 
 curiosity was keenly excited, took it in her fingers 
 and it opened almost at once. There were no ex- 
 
 1 Whoever has been near the Emperor and been able to hear his 
 conversations, sparkling with -wit and originality, vritli the most 
 eminent men of his court, particularly with M. dc Fontanes, will 
 be justly surprised at reading in Madame 's Diary that Na- 
 poleon had no wit. — Note by the editor.
 
 MEMOJES OF CONSTANT 277 
 
 ternal traces of a lock, but there must have been 
 some secret for opening the interior spring. I am 
 persuaded that the priests who showed us the relics 
 knew the secret, and that they contrived this little 
 pleasure for the Empress. However it may be, this 
 circumstance has been regarded as veri/ extraordinary ; 
 they have laid great stress on it to Josephine, who, 
 although sufficiently amused by this surprise, does 
 not attach more importance to it than it deserves. 
 For the rest, curiosity has not been very well satis- 
 fied ; for nothing was found in the box but a few 
 little scraps of stuff which may be regarded as relics 
 if one chooses, but the authenticity of which is 
 not certified. 
 
 I have come back home saddened by this employ- 
 ment of my morning. I do not like to encounter 
 courtiers or ambitious men among the clergy ; I can- 
 not even understand how there can be any. I find 
 something so noble, so elevated in their prerogatives, 
 that my imagination likes to disengage them from all 
 our weaknesses. Detached from all the passions 
 which disturb and rule humanity, placed as inter- 
 mediaries between man and the Divinity, they are 
 entrusted with the sweet employment of consoling 
 the unfortunate, and of showing them, athwart the 
 storms of life, a harbor where at last they will find 
 repose. Can the world offer a dignity equal to this 
 privilege which is reserved to them, of penetrating 
 into the asylum of misfortune ; of soothing there the 
 anguish of the dying and again surrounding him
 
 278 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 with hope ; of taking from death that which is most 
 appalling in it, — the dread of nothingness ? No, a 
 priest cannot barter these beautiful prerogatives for 
 money, or for what the world calls honors. 
 
 August 23, 1804. — On opening my journal, my 
 eyes fastened on the page I wrote yesterday ; I could 
 not help smiling as I compared what I said of the 
 simplicity, the sanctity, the dignity of the priesthood, 
 with the conversation I heard this evening between 
 M. de Pradt, the Emperor's first chaplain, and a 
 general. They both wore the same decoration, — the 
 cross of honor. I wondered how the man of God, 
 the minister of peace, had merited the same recom- 
 pense as the warrior charged with sending death to 
 the enemies of his country. Their sovereigns ought 
 to recall the lesson taught by Alexander on the dis- 
 tinction between recompenses : a man very adroitly 
 darted some grains of millet through a needle in his 
 presence ; he ordered that a bushel of millet should 
 be given him, wishing to proportion the recompense 
 to the utility of the talent. This art of rewarding 
 with discernment is not very common at present. 
 We see Talma better paid than a general. Tie has 
 more than sixty thousand francs, both from the 
 theatre and from Bonaparte. I leave the comedian 
 and return to M. de Pradt. While listening to his 
 brilliant, philosophic conversation this evening, I was 
 reminded of the piquant question once addressed to 
 him by a very witty man who found himself in liis 
 company at a dinner of twenty-five persons, and
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 279 
 
 who asked him: " Monseigneur, do you believe in 
 God?" 
 
 August 24. — The Emperor plays whist nearly 
 every evening with Josephine and Madame de La 
 Rochefoucauld; the fourth person is chosen from 
 persons who come to the drawing-room. This even- 
 ing the Due d'Aremberg was to be the fourth ; the 
 Emperor found it rather stimulating to play with a 
 blind man. I was about to sit down at the tiresome 
 loto table, when the first chamberlain came to tell me 
 that Napoleon had designated me for his whist. I 
 replied that I had but one difficulty, which was that 
 I had never learned the game. M. de Rdmusat went 
 to carry my response, to which the Emperor, who 
 does not know what an impossibility is, said : " It is 
 all the same." This was an order ; I complied with 
 it. Madame de La Rochefoucauld, whose place I oc- 
 cupied, gave me some advice ; and besides, excepting 
 the Due d'Aremberg, who has the memory of a blind 
 man, and who never forgets a single card named to 
 him, I played pretty nearly as well as the Empress 
 and the Emperor. The game was not long. The 
 Due d'Aremberg usually has a man beside him who 
 arranges his cards ; his play is designated to him by 
 means of a little board adapted to the table ; by 
 passing his hand over this board, he knows his cards 
 by the pegs in relief which are placed by the man 
 whom he calls his marker. He plays very well and 
 even with astonishing quickness, if one thinks of all 
 the labor required to make him know his cards.
 
 280 MEMOIRS OF CONSTA^'T 
 
 But, not daring to have himself accompanied to the 
 palace by his marker, who is a sort of valet de 
 chambre, the man's place was taken by the Duchesse 
 d'Aremberg, and his play was very much retarded ; 
 hence the Emperor, who likes to play quickl}^ and 
 whose curiosity was satisfied, left the table after the 
 first rubber. 
 
 August 25. — Corneille was right when he said : 
 
 He who can do what he wills, wills more than he ought. 
 
 This line contains a moral axiom of great verity. 
 M. de Semonville is a victim offered to-day by 
 politics in holocaust to the Dutch. This action is 
 revoltingly unjust; M. de Talleyrand had required 
 of M. de Semonville some measure which displeased 
 the Hollanders. Bonaparte, who wants to keep on 
 good terms with them, would not avow that his 
 ambassador had only acted in accordance with the 
 orders of M. de Talleyrand, because he would then 
 have to sacrifice him, and (although he detests him), 
 as he thinks him more useful than M. de Semonville, 
 he sacrifices the latter. Perhaps they think they 
 can excuse this action by telling us that the ideas 
 of justice, considered in connection with a private 
 person, are not applicable to sovereigns ; I think, 
 on the contrary, that as their actions belong to 
 posterity, which will judge them apart from the 
 prestige which dazzles us, they ought always to 
 take morality and justice for their guides. 
 
 Yesterday, at the reception of ambassadors, when
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 281 
 
 Bonaparte was near jM. cle Semonville, he turned 
 his Lack, being unwilling to speak to him ; and 
 when the latter asked the sinfjle favor of bein£f 
 allowed to explain himself in an audience, it was 
 refused him. They knew all he would say; he 
 was justified In advance ; but that is precisely why 
 he was not received. They could not say to him : 
 " You were right ; M. de Talleyrand was wrong, 
 and 3'et it is you who will pay for him ; " as this 
 is what the Emperor had decided on in his supe- 
 rior wisdom, he will neither see nor listen to him. 
 Is it true, then, that the abuse of power is always 
 linked with power, as the effect is to the cause ? 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, August 26. — I saw M. de Semon- 
 ville this morning: he told me that ]M. de Talley- 
 rand, in talking with him yesterday, tried very 
 adroitly to persuade him tliat he ought to give orders 
 at the Hague to liave all his papers burned. " Take 
 care," he said to him, " the Emperor is a petty Nero.^ 
 He will perhaps send^ to seize your papers, and 
 that may be very disagreeable. iNIadame de Spare, 
 your stepdaughter, is at the Hague ; write and tell 
 her to burn everything promptly ; it is more essen- 
 
 1 These words were heard by the Due de Bassano, who was 
 leaning on the chiraneypiece near which MM. de Talleyrand and 
 Sfimonville were talking. There is no doubt that they were re- 
 peated by him to Napoleon. — Note by Madame . 
 
 - M. de Talleyrand was too shrewd a courtier to use such lan- 
 guage before such witnesses ; but if he had in fact done so M. the 
 Due de Bassano was incapable of repeating them to the Emperor. 
 — Note by the editor.
 
 282 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 tial thau you may think." This counsel, given in 
 a friendly and interested tone, might have been fol- 
 lowed by a dolt ; but M. de Talleyrand was dealing 
 with a man as shrewd as himself. M. de Semonville 
 perfectly recognized his object, which was to destroy 
 all the documents that would justify him. Instead 
 of writing to Madame de Spare to burn his papers, 
 he had just despatched one of his stepsons, M. de 
 Montholon, in search of them. He will wait until 
 he is supplied with all his proofs ; but I doubt much 
 that they will produce any other effect than that of 
 making Bonaparte very cross if he ever consents to 
 look at them, which I do not believe he will.^ 
 
 This evening I was placed beside Madame Lannes ^ 
 in the salon. 
 
 This was the first time that I had seen her; she 
 has arrived from Portugal with her husband, who 
 was ambassador there. I found her charming. The 
 Emperor, in going around the drawing-room, said 
 to her in that extraordinary tone he uses with all 
 women : " The?/ say you lived on fine terms tvith the 
 Prince-regent of Portugal.'''' Madame Lannes replied 
 
 1 M. dc Semonville lost his embassy, and was honorably 
 annulled by the Senate. In recalling these facts, which are exact, 
 one must be astonished that M. de Montholon, one of the two 
 stepsons of M. de S6monville, should in the seciucl have attached 
 himself to the destiny of Napoleon. When the explanation of this 
 stranp;e conduct is sought for, it may be found in M. de Montholon's 
 marriage, which was not approved by his family, and set them 
 at variance. 
 
 2 Afterwards the Duchess de Montebello.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 283 
 
 very suitably that the Prince had always treated 
 her husband and herself with much kindness. She 
 returned to my side, saying to me : "I do not know 
 what fatality always places me under the Emperor's 
 eyes when he is in a bad humor; because I do not 
 think he means to say disagreeable things to me; 
 and yet that often happens. " The poor woman 
 almost had tears in her eyes. This unbefitting 
 sarcasm was all the more out of place because her 
 conduct is generally eulogized; but, this evening. 
 Napoleon was unchained against all women ; he told 
 us we " had no patriotism, no national spirit ; that 
 we ought to blush to wear muslins; that English- 
 women set us an example by wearing nothing but 
 stuffs of their own country; that this craze for Eng- 
 lish muslins is all the more extraordinary since we 
 have in France linen-cambrics which could replace 
 them and would make much prettier dresses ; that for 
 his part he should always love that stuff preferably 
 to any other, because, in his youth, his first sweet- 
 heart had a frock of it." At that expression, first 
 sweetheart, I could hardly avoid laughing, all the 
 more because my eyes met those of Madame de La 
 Rochefoucauld, wlio was dying with desire to do the 
 same. It is extraordinary that Bonaparte should 
 have such common manners.^ When he wishes to be 
 
 1 Again the manners of the Emperor ! But that day he was 
 unchained against icomen, which explains Madame 's ill- 
 temper with him. We need not say that there is more than exag- 
 geration in describing as insolence the brusqucrie with which the
 
 284 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 dignified, he is insolent and disdainful ; and if he 
 has a moment of gaiety, he becomes the most vulgar 
 of men. His brother-in-law Murat, born in a class 
 far beneath his own, and who received no manner of 
 education, has formed himself in the school of 
 society in an astonishing manner. I was at Dijon 
 several years ago, at the time when he went to 
 review an army corps which had been assembled 
 there. I dined with him at the house of General 
 Canclaux, who was in command at Dijon; and then 
 he had altogether the appearance of a soldier in an 
 officer's uniform. I saw him again recently, and T 
 was astonished to find his manners very polished, 
 and even rather agreeable. But Napoleon is too 
 proud ever to acquire anything in point of manners ; 
 he has too much respect for himself ever to think 
 of self-examination, and too much contempt for the 
 human species to think for a single moment that any 
 one can be better than he. 
 
 Emperor might sometimes be reproached, in common with Fred- 
 erick II. and other great men, and to see nothing but the most 
 vulgar gaiety in his moments of affability. — Note by the editor.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE DIARY CONTINUED. 
 
 The Duke and Duchess of Bavaria — Their children — Prince 
 Pius — The little body and the big ribbons — Princess Elisabeth 
 
 — The Emperor offended by hearing her talk at table — De- 
 parture from Aix-la-Chapelle and arrival at Cologne — The 
 steeples, the churches, and the convents — Work and sleep of 
 the Emperor — His use of coffee — The Emperor at the toilet 
 of the Empress — The jewel-case disarranged by the Em- 
 peror — Mysteries of the toilet — The Emperor much occupied 
 with the toilet of the ladies of his court — Five toilets a day — 
 The Emperor's antipathy for sensible women — ^Yomen con- 
 sidered by him as part of his furniture — The Emperor and the 
 Queen of Prussia — Departure from Cologne and sojourn at 
 Bonn — The house and gardens of M. de Belderbuch — Noc- 
 turnal meditation on the bank of the Rhine — Hymns of the 
 German pilgrims — M. de Chaban, prefect of Coblentz — Voy- 
 age on the Rhine — Picturesque sites — Storm and tempest on 
 the Rhine — Arrival at Bingen — Delay — Double entrance at 
 Mayence — Discontent attributed to Napoleon — Stormy tete- 
 a-tete — Tears of the Empress — Presentation of the Princess of 
 Baden — Family quarrel on the subject of Prince Eugene — 
 Firmness of the Empress — The Emperor a slave to etiquette 
 
 — M. de Caulaincourt and the Princess of Baden — Outburst of 
 the Emperor against Kant — Tlie Princess and the Hereditary 
 Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt and his wife the Princess Wilhel- 
 mine of Baden — Josephine's curiosity — Portrait of the Prin- 
 cess Wilhelmine — Josephine's little triumph — The yacht of 
 the Prince of Nassau-Weilbourg — Breakfast on a Rhine island 
 
 — Ravages of war — The Emperor grants the petition of a poor 
 woman — Beneficent action of Josephine — Definition of happi- 
 ness given by the Emperor — Excursion of the author and 
 
 285
 
 286 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Madame de La Rochefoucauld to Frankfort — The grand May- 
 ence ball — Unreasonableness of the Emperor — Josephine 
 obliged to go to the ball although ill — The princesses of Nassau 
 — The author's humiliation on seeing the Emperor ignore court 
 usages — Breakfast with the Prince of Nassau — Severity of 
 the Emperor toward Madame Lorges — German taste and French 
 taste — Departure from Mayence — Monotony of harangues. 
 
 A IX-LA-CHAPELLE, August 28. — The Duke 
 -^^ and Duchess Leopold of Bavaria, Prince Pius, 
 their son, and Princess Elisabeth, their daughter,^ 
 have arrived here to pay their court ; they have just 
 taken possession of Dusseldorf, which fell to them by 
 way of indemnity. The Duchess must have been a 
 very beautiful woman ; she has a fine figure and a very 
 noble air. Prince Pius, her son, is just at that most 
 disadvantageous age, between childhood and youth. 
 The Emperor has laughed a good deal at his little 
 legs, Avhich have all they can do to support his 
 small body, overladen with orders and grand cor- 
 dons. They make a droll little caricature of him. 
 The Princess Elisabeth is not pretty, but I think 
 that if she were better dressed she would be well- 
 shaped. She is very polite and very talkative, a 
 thing which scandalizes Napoleon. At dinner she 
 was placed between him and Eugene de Beauhar- 
 nais : accustomed to her father's little court, and to 
 that of the Elector of Bavaria, she is simple enough 
 not to be at all intimidated in speaking to Bona- 
 parte. He finds it most extraordinary that she does 
 
 1 Since Trinccss of Neufchatcl and Wagram.
 
 MEMOinS OF CONSTANT 287 
 
 not wait until she is asked a question, as all the 
 persons do by whom he is surrounded. Hence, I 
 remarked at table that he paid very little attention 
 to her, as if he wished to punish her for not being 
 afraid of him ; but Eugene, whose manners are so 
 good, and who sat on the other side of the Princess, 
 was what he always is, perfectly polite. 
 
 Cologne, August 31. — We have left Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle, and the day before yesterday we arrived at 
 Cologne, a city which has a very gloomy appearance. 
 As we were entering some one called my attention 
 to its three hundred and sixty-five steeples, which 
 shows what an enormous number of convents and 
 churches were here before the French took posses- 
 sion. I hope we shall stay here only a few days. 
 One tiling that I had already remarked at Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, but more particularly here, is the errors 
 every one entertains on the subject of Napoleon. 
 It is a common notion that he seldom sleeps, and 
 that he works incessantly ; but I see that if he rises 
 early to put the regiments through their manojuvres, 
 he takes good care to go to bed much earlier in the 
 evening. Yesterday, for example, he was on horse- 
 back by five o'clock in the morning ; in the evening 
 he retired to his apartment before nine ; and Jose- 
 phine told us that it was to go to bed. They pre- 
 tend also that he makes an immoderate use of coffee, 
 to shake off sleep ; he takes a cup after his breakfast, 
 and as much at dinner. But this is the way with the 
 public : if a man, placed in fortunate circumstances,
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 performs great things, we lay it all to the account of 
 his genius. We are unwilling to owe anything to 
 the power of chance: that admission is repugnant 
 to human self-love. Our imagination creates a phan- 
 tom, and surrounds it with a brilliant aureole ; ^ but 
 if we are permitted to see it at closer quarters, all 
 this prestige with which we adorned it when at 
 a distance disappears ; once more we find the man 
 with all his weaknesses, all his littleness, and we 
 wax indignant at the worship we have rendered 
 him. 
 
 Cologne, September 1. — This morning I was 
 chatting with Josephine while her hair was being 
 dressed. The Emperor came in, and upset the 
 whole jewel-case to make her try on different orna- 
 ments. It was good to see Madame Saint-Hilaire, 
 the first femme de chambre, who has charge of the 
 jewels, at the instant when Bonaparte was dis- 
 arranging them. She was formerly femme de 
 chambre to Madame Adelaide, and would like to es- 
 tablish the same etiquette in the department of the 
 toilet to which she was accustomed in the old court ; 
 but that is not easy. A sufficiently large number of 
 femmes de chambre have been appointed, who were 
 each to be on duty three months at a time. Jose- 
 phine, who is arriving at that age when one has need 
 of all the art and all the mysteries of the toilet, was 
 
 ^ I do not sec why the Emperor should lose his brilliant aureole 
 for sometimes going to bed early and using coffee with moderation. 
 — Note by Constant.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 289 
 
 much annoyed at having all these spectators ; she 
 begged to retain only her former women ; and, with 
 the exception of Madame Saint-Hilaire, all those 
 who had been appointed were converted into dames 
 d'anrionce. Their only function is to announce the 
 Emperor when he comes to see the Empress ; conse- 
 quently they are in the interior of the apartments. 
 
 This mania for meddling with the toilet of women 
 is very extraordinary in a man entrusted (I mean to 
 say all but) with the destinies of the world. It is 
 so well known that Herbaut, Josephine's valet de 
 chambre, remarked to me the first time that he 
 dressed my hair, that I placed my diadem at one 
 side, and that the Emperor wished to have them 
 all worn absolutely straight. I laughed at his 
 observation, and assured him that I dressed to 
 please mj'self, and consulted no taste but my own. 
 He was very much astonished, and assured me 
 that all these ladies were careful to conform to that 
 of Napoleon. He occupies himself with these details 
 to such a degree that on one day of great ceremony, 
 Josephine having put on a dress of pink and silver 
 which he did not like, he threw his inkstand at her 
 with violence, to force her to change it. Here we do 
 nothing else : at ten in the morning we dress for 
 breakfast ; at noon we make another toilet to go to 
 the presentations ; often these are renewed at differ- 
 ent hours, and the dress must always be adapted to 
 the sort of persons who are presented: so that it 
 sometimes happens that we change our toilet three
 
 290 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 times in the course of tlie morning, making a fourth 
 for dinner, and a fifth for a ball. This continual occu- 
 pation is a perfect torment to me. 
 
 Cologne, September 2. — The Emperor has a 
 very pronounced antipathy for what are called 
 sensible women ; he limits d\iv destination to orna- 
 menting- a salon. So much so that I think he finds 
 no great difference between a fine vase of flowers 
 and a pretty woman. When he busies himself 
 about their toilet, it is on account of the luxury 
 he wishes to establish in all his furniture ; he finds 
 fault with or approves a dress just as he would do 
 with the covering of an armchair; a woman at his 
 court is only one more piece of stage furniture 
 in his salon. Josephine says banteringly that there 
 are at least five or six days in the year on which 
 women might have some influence over him, but 
 that, these few days excepted, they count for nothing 
 (or almost nothing) with him. This evening the 
 conversation turned upon the Queen of Prussia ; 
 he cannot endure her, and he does not conceal it. 
 Sovereigns are exactly like lovers ; if they quarrel, 
 they say horrible things about each other. They 
 ought to remember when they are at war that 
 they will end by making peace, and that in this 
 case, although they restore the fortresses they have 
 taken, they cannot efface the insulting things they 
 have said. I believe that this method, so fashion- 
 able at present, of filling the journals with recip- 
 rocal invectives, arises in great part from the
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 291 
 
 character of Napoleon and the newness of his 
 dynasty ; for, in reading history, I discover that 
 there was formerly a tone of moderation between 
 princes making war with each other which no longer 
 exists at present. 
 
 Bonn, September 5. — ■ We left Cologne this morn- 
 ing. For a long time I have not passed so agreeable 
 an evening as to-day. The Empress has been enter- 
 tained by M. de Belderbiich, who has a charming 
 house. The garden, which was illuminated, extends 
 to the bank of the Rhine, which is very wide at this 
 place. Musicians had been placed in a boat on the 
 stream. While they were setting off fireworks after 
 supper, I slipped away alone to the bottom of the 
 garden, as far as the shore. I needed to escape for 
 a few moments from the constraint that weighs on 
 me so heavily. The air was pure and calm ; little 
 by little people quitted the garden. Nothing was 
 to be heard but sweet harmonious music ; but 
 presently even that ceased; the most profound 
 silence was interrupted only by the sound of the 
 waves breaking on the stones near which I was 
 leaning. The moon, which was reflected in the 
 stream, came to replace the lanterns which were 
 going out in the garden, and to spread the harmony 
 of its gentle radiance over the beautiful scene before 
 my eyes. Absorbed in profound reflection, I did not 
 perceive that the hours Avere gliding by, until some 
 religious hymns which became audible in the extreme 
 distance awakened my attention. I cannot well
 
 292 MEMOIRS OF CONSTAXT 
 
 describe their effect upon me in that instant ; they 
 might have been taken for a concert of celestial 
 spirits, these hymns which the winds were bringing 
 me from the other bank of the Rhine. But the 
 pleasure I found in listening to these sounds, aerial 
 as it were, was interrupted. Some persons who, 
 disturbed by my long absence, were looking for 
 me in the garden, came up just at that moment; 
 they told me that at this time of the year it is 
 very common in Germany for the people of several 
 villages to assemble for the purpose of visiting 
 different saints venerated in the region, and that 
 these pilgrims frequently march during the night 
 to avoid the heat, sometimes singing hymns with 
 that harmony almost natural to Germans. Thus 
 were explained the religious hymns I had just 
 listened to. 
 
 Coblentz, September 8. — Here we are lodged at 
 the prefecture. The simplicity, I might almost say 
 the poverty of the furniture, does great honor to the 
 prefect, M. de Chaban. The Emperor expressed 
 surprise at this destitution; the prefect replied: 
 " Tliis region is so poor, and there are so many 
 unfortunates, that I should be ashamed to ask the 
 city for an increase for tlie sake of luxuries. I have 
 everything that is necessary." These necessaries are 
 several old armchairs, an old bed, and some tables. 
 This simplicity is admirable. He occupies himself 
 with nothing but the care of the poor. One delights 
 in meeting such a being, who unites much intelli-
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 293 
 
 gence to so many virtues. The Emperor, who is 
 always surrounded by artistic luxur}^ was inclined 
 to be displeased on arriving at being lodged in this 
 fashion ; his dry and arid soul cannot appreciate all 
 M. de Chaban's worth ;i but yet he knows how well 
 his paternal administration is adapted to make the 
 French liked in this country. 
 
 Coblentz, September 9. — I think I shall have to 
 accuse myself of a little duplicity to-day; because 
 one can have no compromise with conscience ; it is 
 not deceived by expressions. The Emperor promised 
 Josephine this morning that, if he did not restore 
 to my husband the unsold property of which I desire 
 the restitution, he would at any rate make it up to 
 him by an appointment. After dinner, when the 
 time came for coffee, the Empress was urging me 
 to thank Napoleon. When he drew near us, asking 
 what we were doing, "She is telling me," replied 
 Josephine, "that she dares not thank you for what 
 you promised me this morning for her." " Why 
 not ? " said the Emperor. " Do I frighten you ? " 
 "But, Sire," I returned, " it is not extraordinary that 
 the idea of what Your INIajesty has done should 
 attach to your person, and consequently make it 
 imposing." I was telling the truth : it is the death 
 of the Due d'Enghien, and that of so many other 
 victims, which, for me, attaches to his person, and 
 
 1 The Emperor was economical and incessantly preached econ- 
 omy. — Note by Constant.
 
 294 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 always shows him to me stained with their blood. 
 And yet (see the perversity!), I was not sorry that 
 he was deceived by my response, which he under- 
 stood as a compliment which made him smile. Ah ! 
 I fear that example is beginning to corrupt me. It 
 is high time for me to go back and cultivate my 
 fields! 
 
 Coblentz, September 10. — It seems that Napoleon 
 had last night a violent attack of the nervous malady 
 or epilepsy to which he is subject. He had been 
 ver}^ much indisposed for a long time before Jose- 
 phine, who occupied the same room, dared to summon 
 assistance ; but finally, his suffering being prolonged, 
 she determined to have a light. Roustan, who 
 always lies outside the Emperor's door, was sleeping 
 so profoundly that she could not waken him. The 
 apartment of the prefect is so far removed from 
 luxury that it does not even contain matters of mere 
 convenience. There was no bell; the valets de 
 chambre were far away, and Josephine, only half- 
 dressed, was obliged to set ajar the door of the aide- 
 de-camp on duty in order to get a light. General 
 Rapp, somewhat astonished by this nocturnal visit, 
 gave her one; and, after several hours of anguish, 
 the attack was assuaged. Napoleon had forbidden 
 Josephine to say a single word about his indisposi- 
 tion. Hence she imposed secrecy on all to whom 
 she recounted it this morning. But how can one 
 expect that others will keep a secret that we cannot 
 keep ourselves ? And liave we a right to impose on
 
 MEMOIIiS OF CONSTANT 295 
 
 others a discretion in which we are lacking? The 
 Emperor was pale enough this evening, depressed 
 enough; but nobody ventured to ask him how he 
 was. They knew they would incur disgrace by seem- 
 ing to think that His Majest}^ could be subject to 
 any human infirmity. ^ 
 
 Coblentz, September 11. — I stayed for a moment 
 in the salon of the aides-de-camp: Generals Cafarelli, 
 Rapp, and Lauriston were there ; they were talking 
 of the extreme favor Avhich M. de Caulaincourt 
 enjoys. " We don't envy it," said these gentlemen ; 
 " we would not have bought it at the same price." 
 This sentiment is doubtless common to many people ; 
 but, in the position of these gentlemen, I thought 
 there was some merit in expressing it so frankly .^ 
 
 1 The Emperor was never subject to attacks of epilepsy. That 
 is another of the stories they have retailed about him. It will be 
 seen, in the portrait I have drawn of the Emperor, what might 
 have given rise to it. — Note by Constant. 
 
 2 It is a matter of public notoriety at present that the Due de 
 Vicenza, so unworthily calumniated during so many years by 
 enemies who skilfully profited by the silence imposed on him by 
 his position near the Emperor, neither took nor could take any 
 part in the catastrophe of the Due d'Enghien. It is proved that at 
 the moment when General Ordener, who alone was commissioned 
 to arrest the unhappy Prince, acquitted himself of this fatal mission, 
 M. de Caulaincourt was thirty leagues from Ettenheim, charged, 
 for his own part, to arrest the Baroness de Keich and several 
 emigres who were keeping up a correspondence against the head 
 of the French government, and that M. de Caulaincourt became 
 less rigorous before repassing the frontier with them. It is proved 
 that M. de Caulaincourt had no knowledge of the mission confided 
 to General Ordener until everybody else knew it, and after this 
 mission was accomplished ; finally, it is proved that M. de Caulain-
 
 296 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Coblentz, September 12. — The Prince of Nassau- 
 Weilbourg has come here to pay his court. He has 
 proposed to Josephine to send her two yachts in 
 which to ascend the Rhine as far as Mayence ; which 
 she has accepted. We start to-morrow, and the 
 Emperor will follow the new road which has been 
 opened on the banks of the Rhine. 
 
 Bingen, September 13. — Our voyage has been very 
 agreeable all day, and that nothing might be lacking 
 to it, we can even join to it the description of a tempest 
 which was very nearly fatal to us, and which delayed 
 our arrival here until midnight. The banks of the 
 Rhine, from Coblentz to Bingen, are very pictur- 
 esque ; the greater part of the way they bristle with 
 rocks and very lofty mountains, on which may be 
 seen a large number of old castles. It is astonish- 
 ing that places which seem so wild could have been 
 inhabited by human creatures. Our attention was 
 called to a tower which rises in the middle of the 
 Rhine. The Palatine princesses were formerly 
 obliged to come and inhabit this tower when about 
 to become mothers. I do not know what could have 
 been the motive of this custom, for the tower seems 
 uninhabitable. It is called the Castle of the Mouse 
 
 court was at LunSville the day and hour of t.lie sanguinary execu- 
 tion of the Due d'Enghien. M. de Bourriennc has already rectified 
 in his Memoirs the error of which tlie Due de Vicenza lias too long 
 been the victim. We likewise make it a duty to protest here 
 
 against eveiy passage in the journal of Madame , which could 
 
 be construed injuriously against the memory of one of the most 
 honorable men of the Empire. — Note by the editor.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 297 
 
 (le chdteau de la Souris) and, in fact, I think no 
 other species of animal would make it their abode. 
 As we were passing Rhinsels and Bacareuch, some of 
 the inliabitants came in boats, accompanied by bands, 
 to offer us fruits. On reaching Bingen, the Rhine 
 contracts very greatly between the mountains, and 
 rolls its floods with fearful rapidity, which they tell 
 me is not always free from danger. The sky, which 
 had been very clear and serene all day, became over- 
 cast by clouds at evening, and we were surprised 
 by a frightful storm said some, a very fine one, 
 according to others ; for, in this world, nearly every- 
 thing is called by a new name, depending on the 
 impression of him who speaks of it. I shall say, 
 then, that a very fme storm came to light up 
 our navigation. Josephine and some other ladies, 
 who were somewhat frightened, shut themselves up 
 in the little cabin of the yacht, but I wanted to enjo}^ 
 a spectacle which was new to me. The lightning 
 flashes, which rapidly succeeded each other, allowed 
 us to see the other yacht, containing the women and 
 the suite of the Empress, which was following us. Its 
 large white sails, shaken by a violent wind, stood out 
 against the dark clouds which obscured the sky. 
 The noise of the waves and of the thunder which 
 made itself gently heard in the high mountains 
 between which the Rhine is straitened at this spot, 
 added a certain solemnity to the scene. Gradually 
 the storm lulled and we arrived at Bingen at mid- 
 night.
 
 298 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Mayence, September 14. — The banks of the Rhine, 
 from Bingen to Mayence, are much less picturesque 
 than those we saw yesterday. The country is more 
 open. "We arrived at three o'clock. We were 
 expected at eleven ; but Josephine, fatigued the 
 previous evening by the storm which had delayed her 
 arrival at Bingen, was not well, and could not leave 
 as soon as had been expected. Moreover, the relays 
 of horses which had been placed on the banks of the 
 Rhine to work up the yachts, having been badly 
 managed, we could not arrive sooner. 
 
 This circumstance, which seemed indifferent 
 enough, was not so to Bonaparte. As luck would 
 have it, the courier who announced him arrived pre- 
 cisely at the instant when the Empress's two yachts 
 were sighted. The entire population of Mayence 
 had been on the wharf since eleven o'clock. Young 
 girls dressed in white, and carrying baskets of flowers, 
 were stationed on both sides of a little bridge which 
 had been prepared for the disembarkation. Gen- 
 eral Lorges, commanding the division, the mayor, 
 and the prefect were there to receive Josephine, 
 when the courier who preceded the Emperor 
 announced his arrival. General Lorges, followed 
 merely by an aide-de-camp, went on horseback to 
 receive him. On entering Mayence, Napoleon was 
 disagreeably surprised to find all tlie houses closed, 
 not a single person on his passage, not a solitary cry 
 of Long live the Emperor! He seemed to be enter- 
 ing a tomb. It was simple enough that all the
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTyiNT 299 
 
 people who had gone to the wharf at eleven o'clock, 
 should not have left it the very moment the yachts 
 were perceived. The arrival of the Empress, who 
 was to listen to a speech, presented a more agreeable 
 sight than the carriage in which Napoleon was shut 
 up. It is not astonishing, then, that they should 
 have remained on the bank of the Rliine. It seems 
 that the Emperor was keenly wounded by this pref- 
 erence. Josephine's carriages arrived in the court 
 of the palace at the same time with his own. Na- 
 poleon, in passing in front of us, made a slight incli- 
 nation of the head with an ill-humored air; but as 
 that often happens, we paid little attention to it, 
 and went to our respective apartments. This even- 
 ing, the Emperor and Empress dining alone, we 
 were waiting- in Madame de La Rochefoucauld's 
 apartment for the signal usually given at seven 
 o'clock for us to go down into the salon ; but seven, 
 eight, nine o'clock struck, and no one came for us. 
 We were joking about the long tete-a-tete of Their 
 Majesties, when the summons came. On entering 
 the salon, we were surprised to find no one there. 
 In a short time, Bonaparte issued from Josephine's 
 chamber; he crossed the salon, greeting us again 
 with his little ill-lnimored nod, and retired to his 
 apartment, which he did not leave again that even- 
 ing. 
 
 The Empress remaining in her room, Madame do 
 La Rochefoucauld entered it and found her weep- 
 ing bitterly. Napoleon had made a frightful scene
 
 300 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 which had lasted until now. It was her fault that 
 the horses had had difficulty in working up the 
 Rhine; it was her fault that they started so late 
 from Bingen ; in his unjust anger I do not know 
 but what he laid to her charge the storm which had 
 incommoded him. According to him, she had 
 arranged and prepared ever3^thing so as to arrive at 
 the same hour as he did. He accused her of liking 
 to manceuvre for suffrages ; in a word, he had given 
 her the most violent, the most unreasonable, the 
 most unmerited scene that can be imagined. Ah! 
 that old adage which says that there are no heroes 
 for valets de chambre, is truer than people think. 
 We do not see him so close by as his valet does, and 
 yet what littleness we daily discover in him ! ^ 
 
 Mayence, September 16. — This morning the pres- 
 entations of the princes of Baden and that of the 
 elector archchancellor ^ were to take place. After 
 the presentation, these princes were to ask permis- 
 sion of the Empress to name to her some of the 
 officers of their household, and a nephew of the arch- 
 chancellor. 
 
 While receiving Napoleon's instructions on the 
 etiquette of this presentation, Josephine asked what 
 was to be done about her son ; because it was suit- 
 able that he should be presented to the princes. 
 
 1 I was the Emperor's valet de chambre for fifteen years, and 
 I am not of the opinion of the autlior of the journal. — Note by 
 Constant. 
 
 2 Since Grand Duke of Frankfort.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 301 
 
 Bonaparte, who had not thought of this, and who is 
 always vexed when he is taken unawares on any sub- 
 ject whatever, responded crossly that her son would 
 not be presented ; that he saw no necessity for it. 
 Very kind, very easy, very feeble even in nearly all 
 circumstances, Josephine is extremely courageous 
 and firm in all that concerns her children. She 
 represented to the Emperor that for both herself and 
 him it would be incongruous that the son of the 
 Empress should be made of no account; that she 
 had never asked an3'thing for herself; and she had 
 the courage to add that she had not cried to be a 
 princess ; ^ but that as her son was to dine with her 
 in company with the princes, he ought to be pre- 
 sented to them ; also that under the old regime, if 
 M. de Beauharnais (although not presented at the 
 court of France) had travelled in Germany^ he 
 would have been admitted everywhere. These last 
 words inflamed Napoleon's anger to an excessive 
 degree. He said to her that she was always citing 
 her impertinent old regime (that is the expression he 
 used) ; and that, after all, her son could not dine 
 with her that evening.^ 
 
 1 This was in allusion to the sisters of Bonaparte, who had not 
 been thought of when the Empire was first created, and who came 
 the next day to torment their brother for the titles they desired, 
 thus occasioning many pleasantries on the subject. 
 
 - This ridiculous scene shows to what an extent Bonaparte was 
 the slave of etiquette and miserable trivialities, since on such an 
 occasion he could allow himself to be so far carried away by anger 
 as to say things to Josephine that were very hard on both herself
 
 802 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 He went out after these words, leaving Josephine 
 very little inclined to appear in the salon for the 
 presentation. During the half hour she spent there, 
 while awaiting the princes, she was constantly wip- 
 ing her eyes, which were still swollen with tears 
 when they appeared. While she was having this 
 scene with the Emperor, M. de Talleyrand, who was 
 entitled b}^ his position to designate the great officers 
 of the crown who were to go and meet the princes 
 at the door of their carriages, and who never neg- 
 lects a chance to vex Josephine, said to her son that 
 he was appointed to receive the princes. Eugene, 
 who has a perfect sense of decorum, and who 
 thought it ridiculous that the son of the Empress 
 should be mixed up with the cortege of the princes 
 who were to be presented to her, replied with that 
 dignified simplicity which characterizes him, that he 
 would be there if it were demonstrated to him that 
 he ought to be. He came to tell his mother of this 
 little specimen of M. de Talleyrand's malevolence, 
 and it was agreed between them that he should 
 not accompany the princes, but should enter the 
 salon a little before six o'clock, when Josephine 
 would be there to present him. It all went off 
 very well ; Bonaparte did not enter the salon 
 until after six, just as they were about sitting 
 
 and her son. Yet he loved Prince Eugfenc as much as he was 
 capable of loving, and shortly after he gave a proof of it, as every 
 one knows.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 303 
 
 down to table ; he did not inquire whether the 
 presentation had taken place ; his anger had cooled 
 down. 
 
 When there are princes to dinner, the lady of 
 honor must be there with one or two ladies of the 
 jDalace. I was designated for to-day. The princes 
 of Nassau-Weilbourg, d'Issembourg, and Nassau- 
 Usingen came to the drawing-room this evening, 
 which was very brilliant. 
 
 Mayence, September 17. — Madame de La Roche- 
 foucauld and I remarked a very extraordinary thing 
 this evening, namel}^, the eager cordiality of M. de 
 Caulaincourt toward the princes of Baden. ^ He 
 thought it incumbent on him to do them the hon- 
 ors of the salon. When I knew that these princes 
 were to be here, I "was very curious to observe their 
 first interview with him. I sujoposed that, not hav- 
 ing seen them since he abducted the Due d'Enghien 
 from their dominions, and this abduction having had 
 such fatal consequences, he would, by keeping him- 
 self at a distance, and not recalling by the sight of 
 him the bitter affront he had offered them, silently 
 prove by his countenance that when he executed this 
 order he was far from foreseeing its horrible results. 
 But I was very much deceived ; he went up to them 
 with a gaiety which seemed very natural. As soon 
 as the princes arrived, he was at their side; he took 
 absolute possession of them; it seemed as if the 
 
 1 See above the editor's note on the Due de Vicenza.
 
 304 ifEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 acquaintance he had made with them in so dismal 
 a manner ought to entitle him to their good will. 
 This conduct confounds me. One must be devoid of 
 tact, of the slightest sentiment of what is befitting, 
 in order to act thus. The father, who is already old, 
 timid, as people are at that age, alwa3-s trembling 
 lest he should see the almighty hand of the Emperor 
 erase him from the list of sovereigns, displayed almost 
 no external sign on beholding M. de Caulaincourt; 
 the countenance of his grandson, ^ the hereditary 
 prince, who has as yet no character, and, I believe, 
 very little intelligence, was no better an indication 
 of what was going on within; but with regard to 
 Prince Louis, ^ I noticed that whenever M. de Cau- 
 laincourt approached them, he drew back behind his 
 father and his nephew, and that as far as possible 
 he avoided speaking with hira; but this reserve 
 detracted nothing from M. de Caulaincourt's ease. 
 When I say ease, I mean relatively ; for no one has 
 less than he. He might be mistaken for a Prussian 
 rather than a French officer; even his phrases have a 
 German turn; for in speaking to the Emperor or 
 the Empress, he never fails to say i/es, or ?io, Your 
 Majesty. It is extraordinary that M. de Caulain- 
 
 1 Afterwards Grand Duke of Baden. 
 
 2 We have demonstrated above that the princes of Baden had 
 nothing to testify exteriorly to M. do Caulaincourt, and that the 
 latter's ease could astonish nobody but a person already prejudiced 
 against him by too much confidence in an imputation materially 
 false. — Note by the editor.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 305 
 
 court, whose parents were at court, should not know 
 its usages better.^ 
 
 September 18. — I think the Emperor greatly re- 
 sembles the man who, bored by the arguments which 
 a wise person adduced in proof of his opinion, 
 exclaimed: ^^JSey! sir, I doii't ivant people to prove 
 things to we." He was greatly tempted to say as 
 much this evening. The prince archchancellor, who 
 is specially gifted with that analytical spirit which 
 decomposes an idea to its utmost principle, discussed 
 with him a metaphysical question of Kant; but the 
 Emperor settled the question by saying that Kant 
 was obscure, and that he did not like him ; then he 
 rudely left the prince, who came and sat down near 
 me. For an observer, there was a very amusing com- 
 bat going on between the determination of the prince 
 courtier to admire everything in the Emperor and the 
 little dissatisfaction at having been cut short in the 
 midst of his discussion on his dear philosopher; for 
 he is a great partisan of Kant. He remarked to me, 
 as a general thesis, that people often disparage works 
 of pure reasoning, solely on account of the trouble 
 they must take to comprehend them; tliat people 
 consider nothing well thought but what they can 
 
 1 Every one to his trade. It was in camps that M. de Caulain- 
 court made his apprenticeship as a courtier, hence he might well 
 have been less inured to it than were his parents, xcho belonged to 
 the old court. For the rest, we have often heard quite different 
 things said, and we have been able to judge for ourselves of the 
 manners of the Due de Viceuza. — Note by the editor. 
 
 VOL. I. X
 
 306 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 understand without trouble, but that it is with a 
 profound idea as it is with water, the depth of which 
 destroys its limpidity; that nothing is easier, with 
 the help of intermediary ideas, than to elevate minds 
 (even the most mediocre) to the loftiest concep- 
 tions ; that nothing is required for this but to perfect 
 analysis and to decompose a question; and that, if 
 the foundation of it is true, it can always be reduced 
 to a single point. I profited by his little annoy- 
 ance with the Emperor (an annoyance he would not 
 have owned to for all the world), and found great 
 pleasure in chatting with him. 
 
 Mayence, September 19. — The Princess of Hesse- 
 Darmstadt, her son the hereditary prince, and the 
 young Princess Wilhelmine of Baden, whom he has 
 just married, will arrive to-morrow. Josephine can- 
 not conceal her lively curiosity to see this young 
 woman. M. de Talleyrand used to speak of her 
 to the Emperor as the prettiest person in Europe, 
 when he was lately urging him to be divorced. 
 This evening I heard Josephine asking her brother, 
 the hereditary prince, a multitude of questions about 
 his sister. One can see that, although reassured 
 about the divorce, she would be annoyed if the sight 
 of her could occasion the Emperor any regrets. 
 
 September 20. — At last we have seen this much 
 vaunted princess ! and never was there such a general 
 surprise. One cannot imagine how any charm could 
 be discovered in her. She is of, I will not say a 
 height, but a length beyond measure. There is not
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 307 
 
 the least proportion in her figure, which is much too 
 thin, and utterly wanting in grace. Iler eyes are 
 small, her face long and without expression. Her 
 skin is very white, with little color. It is possible 
 that, in some years, when she is formed, she may be 
 a good enough looking woman, but at present she is 
 not at all attractive. I was charmed that Josephine 
 should have had this little triumph, which she has 
 so well enjoyed. Never, perhaps, has she displayed 
 such grace as she put into this reception. As a gen- 
 eral thing, one is so benevolent, so gracious, when 
 one is happy. One could see that she was delighted 
 to find the Princess so little agreeable, and so differ- 
 ent from what Napoleon had been told. The princess- 
 mother must have been charming; she has the most 
 sprightly and agreeable countenance. She has much 
 vivacity and wit. She entirely governs her little 
 dominions and her husband. Her son, the heredi- 
 tary prince, is very tall and handsome ; but I think 
 that when one has said that, one has said all. 
 
 September 21. — The Prince of Nassau-Weilbourg 
 having left his yacht here at Josephine's orders for 
 all the time that she remains, we made use of it this 
 mornino* to g-o and breakfast on an island of the Rhine, 
 near Mayence, where the elector's country seat, the 
 Favorite, used to be. No trace of it remains ; it has 
 been demolished. This island, as well as the envi- 
 rons of Mayence, offers a very sad picture of the results 
 of war. Not a tree is to be seen. When we arrived, 
 we found the breakfast ready. While we were at
 
 308 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 table, the Emperor perceived a poor woman who, not 
 daring to advance, was looking from a distance at 
 this spectacle so new to her; he sent her word to 
 come near. When she was close to the table, he had 
 her asked in German (for she did not understand 
 French) if she had ever dreamed that she was rich, 
 and if so, what she had believed herself to possess. 
 The poor woman found it difficult to understand this 
 question, and still more so to answer it. At last, 
 she said that she thought a person who had five hun- 
 dred florins would be the richest person in the world. 
 "Her dream is a little dear," said the Emperor, "but 
 no matter, it must be realized." At once these gen- 
 tlemen took all the money they had with them, and 
 this sum was counted out to her. The astonishment 
 and joy of this woman was the most touching thing ; 
 her hands let fall the gold pieces which they could 
 not contain; all eyes were moistened with tears of 
 emotion on beholding the surprise and happiness of 
 the poor creature. I was looking at the Emperor at 
 this moment; I thought he must be so happy! No, 
 his physiognomy expressed nothing, absolutely noth- 
 ing . . . but a little ill-humor. " I have asked the 
 same thing twice before," said he, "but their dreams 
 were more moderate ; this good woman is ambitious." 
 At that moment he had no other sensation than that 
 of regret that she had asked so much. How wretched 
 this man is ! Of what use is his immense power to 
 him, if he cannot enjoy the happiness he might dif- 
 fuse? . . . After breakfast we scattered around the
 
 MEMOIES OF CONSTANT 309 
 
 island for a walk. The Empress, accompanied only 
 by me and two other persons, met a young woman 
 who was suckling her infant. Her situation was 
 not fortunate. Josephine had nothing about her but 
 five twenty-franc pieces ; she gave these to the woman 
 without display, without ostentation, and a tear of 
 pity fell on the infant, which she had taken in her 
 arms, and which was caressing her with its little 
 hands, as if it felt the good she had just been doing 
 to its mother, and wished to thank her. On our 
 return to Mayence, the Emperor chatted a good deal, 
 or rather, he talked, because he never chats. I shall 
 never forget while I live the singular definition he 
 gave us of happiness and unhappiness. "There is 
 neither happiness nor unhappiness in the world," 
 said he; "the only difference is that the life of a 
 happy man is a picture with a silver background and 
 some black stars, and the life of an unhappy man is 
 a black background with some silver stars." If any 
 one else comprehends this definition, I do not; and 
 I have not the resource of applying the precept of the 
 archchancellor, who claims that the most obscure 
 metaphysical question (providing it rests upon a 
 true idea) may always be understood by the aid of 
 analysis. Here, I decompose, I analyze and I find 
 . . . zero. 
 
 Mayence, September 22, 1804. — Yesterday, the 
 two princesses of Hesse-Darmstadt, who were to leave 
 Mayence to-day, were at dinner. In the evening they 
 went to the theatre. These ladies had no shawls,
 
 310 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 and Josephine, fearing lest they should be cold, sent 
 for two to lend them. This morning, on going 
 away, the princess mother wrote a very witty, very 
 amiable note to the Empress, to say that they would 
 keep the shawls as a souvenir. The billet was very 
 neatly worded, but I thought I saw that it did not 
 console Josephine for the loss of her two shawls, 
 which she thought the two most beautiful of all 
 her white shawls. She would have liked it better if 
 these women had chosen others. 
 
 Maj^ence, September 24. — Yesterday, on quitting 
 the salon, Madame de La Rochefoucauld and I set off 
 for Frankfort.^ 
 
 We hoped that this rapid excursion might remain 
 unknown to the Emperor. We spent the morning 
 in visiting the city and buying some English goods 
 which Josephine had asked us to fetch her; for she 
 was in our confidence. We left Frankfort at three 
 in the afternoon, with the intention of arriving in 
 Mayence at six. Having been designated for dinner 
 yesterda}^, I did not expect to be so again to-da}^, and 
 I thought I should have all the time needed to rest 
 myself, dress, and appear in the salon at eight o'clock. 
 As to Madame de La Rochefoucauld, her health is so 
 poor that she counted on excusing herself this even- 
 ing on the ground of being indisposed. But all this 
 
 1 At this epoch when the Rhine confederation was formed, 
 Frankfort did not as yet form part of it, and Bonaparte was very 
 ill-disposed toward this city, which was the general depot for 
 English goods.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 311 
 
 arrangement was brought to naught, at least so far as 
 I was concerned. On arriving, I found a billet from 
 the first chamberlain, which designated me for the 
 dinner. It wanted ten minutes of six; at five min- 
 utes past six I was at table. I had tried to make up 
 for the precipitation of my toilet by selecting a very 
 beautiful dress. I was felicitating myself, while eat- 
 ing my soup, on having arrived soon enough not to 
 betray the secret of our journey, when the Emperor, 
 with a rather sarcastic smile, said to me that my dress 
 was very fine, and asked whether I had brought it 
 back from Frankfort. There was no way of denying 
 our trip; it was necessary to laugh and make a joke 
 of the affair, so that the Emperor should not be 
 angr^j-, and that is what I did. He asked if we had 
 brought much English merchandise; but as nothing 
 seems to have annoyed him to-day, he was only half 
 displeased. 
 
 Mayence, September 25. — The city of Mayence 
 gave a grand ball to the Empress to-day; but, being 
 very much indisposed, it seemed impossible for her 
 to attend it; she was in her bed at five o'clock, per- 
 spiring profusely with fever. Napoleon came into her 
 room and told her she must get up and go to this 
 ball. Josephine having explained to him that she 
 was suffering, and the danger of throwing oft" her 
 coverings, as she had an eruption on her skin, Bon- 
 aparte took her by the arm, pulled her out of bed, 
 and forced her to dress. Madame de La Rochefou- 
 cauld, who witnessed this brutal action, told me of
 
 312 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 it with tears in her eyes ; Josephine, with her touch- 
 ing sweetness and submission, dressed herself, and 
 appeared at the ball for half an hour. 
 
 Mayence, September 26. — I suffered incredibly on 
 hearing Napoleon call the princesses of Nassau, who 
 were at the drawing-room, mesdemoiselles. However 
 little attraction this court may have for me, it is none 
 the less true that I form part of it at present ; and, 
 as a Frenchwoman, I feel humiliated that the sover- 
 eign in whose suite I find myself should be so little 
 accustomed to the usages of courts. How can he be 
 ignorant that princes, among themselves, give each 
 other their respective titles, without thereby derogat- 
 ing from their authority? But Bonaparte would 
 think he was compromising his own entirely if he 
 did so. He never fails to say Mr. Elector to the 
 prince archchancellor, and mademoiselle to all the 
 princesses ; I have seen more than one slightly iron- 
 ical smile at it. 
 
 Mayence, September 27. — The Empress crossed 
 the Rhine this morning, to pay a visit to the Prince 
 and Princess of Nassau, at the chateau of Biberich, 
 near Mayence. The troops of the Prince were under 
 arms, all the officers of his little court in full dress. 
 A very elegant breakfast was served in a hall from 
 which the Rhine could be seen for a great distance, 
 affording a magnificent view. It is a grand and 
 superb habitation. On returning to Mayence, the 
 troops of the Prince accompanied the Empress as far 
 as the bank of the Rhine.
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 313 
 
 Mayence, September 28. — Napoleon said to-day, 
 before forty persons, to Madame Lorges, whose hus- 
 band commands the division: "Ah! Madame, what 
 a horrible dress you have on ! it is exactly like an 
 old curtain. That's German taste, surely!" (Ma- 
 dame Lorges is German.) I do not know whether 
 the dress is in German taste, but what I do know is 
 that this compliment Avas not in French taste. 
 
 Mayence, September 29. — This evening, as I was 
 chatting with two persons in a corner of the salon, I 
 do not know how the conversation led me to mention 
 that Emperor of China who asked Confucius how 
 people talked about him and his government. " No- 
 body talks," the 2:)hilosopher told him; "every one 
 keeps silence." "That is what I want," replied the 
 Emperor. Napoleon, who was not far from me, chat- 
 ting with Prince d'Issembourg, turned round quickly. 
 If I live a thousand years, I shall never forget the 
 threatening glance he darted at me. I did not disturb 
 myself about it; I continued my conversation, and 
 added that this Emperor of China resembled a good 
 many others, who are like the little owls, which 
 scream when a light is brought to their nest. I do 
 not know whether Napoleon seized the meaning of 
 this last phrase, but he probably felt that he had 
 made a mistake in seeming to make a personal appli- 
 cation of this story about the Chinese Emperor; for 
 his countenance resumed that immobility, that total 
 lack of expression w^hich he knows how to give him- 
 self at will.
 
 314 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Mayence, October 1, 1804. — We left Mayence 
 yesterday, in order to return to Paris, where we shall 
 be in a few daj^s. The authorities of all the coun- 
 tries we pass through give themselves incredible pains 
 to compose harangues ; but, in truth, it is lost labor, 
 for I notice that they are all alike. From that of the 
 mayor of a petty German village to that of the pres- 
 ident of the Senate, they might all be translated by 
 that fable in which the fox says to the lion : 
 
 "You honor them, my lord, 
 Too much in crunchins: them."
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Portrait of the Emperor — Fleury and Michelot in the role of 
 Frederick the Great — Constant's Memoirs consulted by authors 
 and artists — Bonaparte on returning from Egypt — His portrait 
 by M. Horace Vernet — Bonaparte's forehead — His liair — 
 Color and expression of his eyes — His mouth, lips, and teeth 
 
 — Form of his nose — His entire figure — His extreme meagre- 
 ness — Circumference and form of his head — Necessity of 
 wadding and breaking-in his hats — Form of his ears — Ex- 
 cessive delicacy — The Emperor's figure — His neck — His 
 shoulders — His chest — His leg and foot — His feet — Beauty 
 of his hand and his coquetry about it — His habit of gnawing 
 his nails a little — His stoutness came with the Empire — 
 The Emperor's complexion — Singular tic — Remax'kable pecul- 
 iarity about the Emperor's heart — Length of his dinner — Wise 
 precaution of Prince Eugene — The Emperor's breakfast — His 
 manner of eating — Accommodating guests — The Emperor's 
 favorite dishes — Poulet a la Marengo — Use of coffee — Vulgar 
 error on this point — Conjugal attention of both empresses 
 
 — Use of wine — Anecdote concerning Marshal Augereau — 
 Josephine and Constant the Emperor's sick-nurses — The 
 Emperor a bad invalid — Tenderness, cares, and courage of 
 Josephine — The Emperor's maladies — Tenacity of a disease 
 acquired at the siege of Toulon — Colonel Bonaparte and the 
 rammer — The Emperor's wounds — The bayonet thrust and 
 the ball of the Tyrolese rifleman — Repugnance for medicines 
 
 — Precaution recommended by Doctor Corvisart — The Em- 
 peror's hour for rising — His familiarity with Constant — Con- 
 versations with Doctors Corvisart and Ivan — Tea on rising — 
 The Emperor's bath — Reading the journals — First task with 
 the secretary — Winter and summer dressing-gowns — Night 
 and bathing caps — The ceremony of shaving — Ablution, fric- 
 tions, toilet, etc. — Costume — Napoleon born to have valets 
 de chambre — The toilet of etiquette not re-established — The 
 
 316
 
 316 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 Emperor's hour for going to bed — His expeditious manner of 
 undressing — How he called Constant — The warming-pan — 
 The night lamp — The Empress Josephine his favorite reader 
 — The perfume burners — Napoleon very sensitive to cold — 
 His passion for the bath — Night work — Beverages of the Em- 
 peror during the night — Excessive economy of the Emperor in 
 his family — Constant's New Year's gifts — Ear-pinching — Im- 
 perial caresses and familiarities — Prince de Neufchatel. 
 
 "VTOTHING is to be contemned in what relates to 
 -^^ great men. Posterity sllo^YS itself eager to 
 know their manner of life in its most minute cir- 
 cumstances, their inclinations, their slightest habits. 
 Whenever I happened to go to the theatre, either in 
 my brief moments of leisure, or in the suite of His 
 Majesty, I remarked how much the spectators liked 
 to see some great historical person represented on the 
 stage with his costume, his gestures, his attitudes, 
 and even his infirmities and his defects, such as they 
 have been transmitted in the descriptions of his 
 contemporaries. I have myself always taken the 
 greatest pleasure in seeing these living portraits of 
 celebrated men. I remember very well that I never 
 enjoyed the theatre so much as on the day when I 
 saw played for the first time that charming piece, 
 the Two Pages, Fleury, who took the part of Fred- 
 erick the Great, rendered so perfectly the slow gait, 
 the abrupt speech, the brusque movements, and even 
 the shortsightedness of that monarch, that from the 
 time when he came on the stage, the whole theatre 
 resounded with applause. According to the opinion 
 of people who were qualified to judge, it was the
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 317 
 
 most perfect and most faithful imitation. For me, 
 I could not say whether the resemblance was exact, 
 but I felt that necessarily it must be. Michelot, 
 whom I have since seen in the same part, has given 
 me no less pleasure than his predecessor. No doubt 
 these two clever actors must have drawn from good 
 sources in order to know and reproduce in this way 
 the manners of their model. I confess that I experi- 
 ence some pride in thinking that these Memoirs may 
 impart to their readers something similar to the 
 pleasure I have here essayed to describe ; and that, 
 in a doubtless remote future, yet one which cannot 
 fail to arrive, the artist who shall seek to revivify 
 and present before spectators the greatest man of the 
 age, will be obliged, if he desires to be a faithful 
 imitator, to rule himself in accordance with the por- 
 trait which I, better than any one else, can delineate 
 from nature. I think, moreover, that no one has 
 done it as yet, at least with so much detail. 
 
 On his return from Eg}^Dt, the Emperor was very 
 meagre and very yellow, his complexion coppery, his 
 eyes sunken, his shape perfect although rather slen- 
 der then. I think the portrait made by M. Horace 
 Vernet in his picture, Une revue du 'premier consul 
 sur la place du Carrousel, is very like him. His 
 forehead was very high and open ; he had not much 
 hair, especially on tlie temples, but it was very fine 
 and soft. It was of a chestnut color, and his eyes 
 were a beautiful blue, which depicted in an incred- 
 ible manner the different emotions which agitated
 
 318 MEMOIRS OF COIiSTANT 
 
 him, sometimes extremely soft and caressing, and 
 again severe and hard. His mouth was very beau- 
 tiful, the lips smooth and somewhat contracted, 
 especially in ill-humor. His teeth, without being 
 very regular, were very white and very good; he 
 never complained of them. His nose, Grecian in 
 form, was irreproachable, and his sense of smell 
 exceedingly keen. In fine, the ensemble of his face 
 was regularly handsome. Nevertheless, at this epoch 
 his extreme meagreness prevented his beauty of feat- 
 ure from being discerned, and gave his whole physi- 
 ognomy a somewhat disagreeable effect. It would 
 have been necessary to go over his features one by 
 one and then recombine them in order to comprehend 
 the perfect regularity and beauty of all. His head 
 was large, being twenty-two inches in circumfer- 
 ence; it was a little longer than it was wide, and 
 consequently a trifle flattened on the temples ; it was 
 extremel}' sensitive, so that I had to wad his hats, 
 and I took care to Avear them several days in my own 
 room, so as to break them in. His ears were small, 
 perfectly shaped, and well placed. The Emperor's 
 feet were also extremely sensitive ; I had his shoes 
 worn by a wardrobe boy named Joseph, whose foot 
 was just like that of the Emperor. 
 
 His figure was five feet two inches three lines in 
 height ; his neck was rather short, his shoulders 
 thrown back, his chest large and very slightly hairy, 
 and his thigh and leg well moulded ; his foot was 
 small, with regular toes, and completely exempt from
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 319 
 
 corns and callosities. Ilis arras were well made and 
 well attached ; his hands admirable, and his nails did 
 not disfigure them ; hence he was very careful of 
 them, as indeed of his entire person, but without 
 being finical. He often bit his nails, but lightly ; 
 this was a sign of impatience or preoccupation. 
 
 Later he put on a good deal of flesh, but without 
 losing the beauty of his figure ; on the contrary, 
 he looked better under the Empire than under the 
 Consulate ; his skin became very white and his color 
 animated. 
 
 In his moments, or rather in his long hours of 
 work and meditation, the Eraperor had a particular 
 tic which seemed to be a nervous movement, and 
 which he retained throughout his life ; it consisted 
 in a frequent and rapid elevation of the right shoul- 
 der, which persons who did not know this habit some- 
 times construed into a gesture of discontent and dis- 
 approbation, and began anxiously to wonder how 
 and in what they could have displeased him. He 
 never thought of it for his own part, and kept on 
 repeating the same movement without being aware 
 of it. 
 
 A very remarkable peculiarity is that the Emperor 
 never felt his heart beat. He has often said so both 
 to M. Corvisart and to me, and more than once he 
 had us pass our hands over his breast, so that we 
 could make trial of this singular exception ; we never 
 felt any pulsation. 
 
 The Emperor ate very fast ; he scarcely remained
 
 320 ME3I0IRS OF COA'STANT 
 
 a dozen minutes at table. When he had finished 
 dining, he rose and went into the family sitting-room ; 
 but the Empress Josephine remained, and signalled 
 the guests to do likewise ; sometimes, however, she 
 followed His Majesty, and then the ladies of the pal- 
 ace doubtless indemnified themselves in their apart- 
 ments, where they were served with whatever they 
 desired. 
 
 One day when Prince Eugene rose from the table 
 immediately after the Emperor, the latter turned and 
 said : " But you have not had time to dine, Eugene ? " 
 " Pardon me," replied the Prince, " I dined before- 
 hand." The other guests probably thought it was 
 not a useless precaution. It was before the Consulate 
 that things took place in this way; for afterwards 
 the Emperor, even while he was only first consul, 
 dined tete-a-tete with the Empress, unless he invited 
 some member of his household to his table, sometimes 
 one and sometimes another, and all received this 
 favor with joy. He had already a court at this epoch. 
 
 Most frequently, the Emperor breakfasted alone, 
 on a round mahogany stand, and without a napkin. 
 This repast, still shorter than the other, lasted from 
 eight to ten minutes. 
 
 I shall say presently what disastrous effects this 
 bad habit of eating quickly often produced upon the 
 Emperor's health. In addition to this habit and even 
 as a first result of his haste, the Emperor by no means 
 ate in a cleanly manner. He preferred to use his 
 fingers instead of a fork, or even a spoon ; we were
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 321 
 
 careful to put the dish he liked Lest within his 
 reach. He drew it to him, in tlie fashion I have 
 just described, dipping his bread in the sauce and 
 and the gravy, — which did not prevent the dish from 
 circulating ; any one ate of it who could, and there 
 were few guests who could not. I have even seen 
 some who seemed to consider this singular act of 
 courage as a means of making their court. I am will- 
 inof to believe also that in several their admiration for 
 His Majesty silenced all repugnance, just as one does 
 not scruple to eat from the plate and drink from the 
 glass of a person one loves, even were it not wholly 
 immaculate as to cleanliness ; which one does not see, 
 because passion is blind. 
 
 The dish the Emperor liked best was that species 
 of chicken fricassee which has been called poulet d 
 la 3Iarengo on account of this preference of the con- 
 queror of Italy. He also liked to eat beans, lentils, 
 roast breast of mutton, and roast chicken. The sim- 
 plest dishes were those he preferred ; but he was not 
 easy to please in the quality of his bread. It is not 
 true that the Emperor made, as has been affirmed, an 
 immoderate use of coffee. He took merely half a cup 
 after his breakfast and another after his dinner. Still 
 it sometimes happened, when he was preoccupied, 
 that he took two cups in succession without noticing 
 it. But coffee, drunk in such a quantity, disturbed 
 and prevented the Emperor from sleeping. Often, 
 too, he would chance to take it cold, or without 
 sugar, or with too much. To remedy these incon- 
 
 VOL. I. — T
 
 322 3fEM0IES OF CONSTANT 
 
 veniences, the Empress Josephine took charge of 
 pouring the Emperor his coffee, and the Empress 
 Marie-Louise likewise adopted this custom. When 
 the Emperor rose from table and passed into the lit- 
 tle salon, a page followed him, carrying a silver-gilt 
 tray on which were a coffee-pot, a sugar-bowl, and a 
 cup. Her ]\Iajesty the Empress poured the coffee 
 herself, sugared it, swallowed a few drops to taste 
 it, and offered it to the Emperor. 
 
 The Emperor drank nothing but Chambertin, and 
 rarely pure. He did not like wine much, and was 
 no judge of it. That reminds me that one day at 
 the camp of Boulogne, having invited several officers 
 to his table. His Majesty sent soine of his wine to 
 Marshal Augereau, and asked him with a certain air 
 of satisfaction how he found it. The INfarshal tasted 
 it for awhile, clacking his tongue against the roof of 
 his mouth, and ended by saying : " There is some 
 that is better,'^ in not the most insinuating tone. 
 The Emperor, although he had expected a different 
 reply, smiled, like the rest of the guests, at the 
 Marshal's frankness. 
 
 Everybody must have heard that His Majesty took 
 the greatest precautions against being poisoned. 
 That is a story to be put along with that of the ball- 
 and-poniard-proof cuirass. On the contrary, the 
 Emperor pushed his confidence much too far: his 
 breakfast was brought every day into an antecham- 
 ber open to all to whom he had accorded a private 
 audience, and they were sometimes waiting there
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 323 
 
 for hours together. His Majesty's breakfast also 
 waited for a long time ; the dishes were kept as 
 warm as possible until he came out of his cabinet to 
 sit down at table. Their Majesties' dinner was car- 
 ried from the kitchen to the upper apartments in 
 covered baskets ; but it would not have been diffi- 
 cult to slip poison into them ; nevertheless no at- 
 tempt of the kind ever occurred to the minds of the 
 servants, whose devotion and fidelity to the Emperor, 
 even that of the lowest of them, surpassed all I 
 could say about it. 
 
 The habit of eating precipitately often occasioned 
 the Emperor violent pains in the stomach, which 
 nearly always ended in vomiting. One day, one of 
 the valets on duty came in a great hurry to notify 
 me that the Emperor was urgently calling for me ; 
 that his dinner had disagreed with him and he was 
 suffering very much. I ran to His Majesty's cham- 
 ber and found him stretched at full length on the 
 carpet ; it was his habit when he felt indisposed. 
 The Empress Josephine was sitting beside him, with 
 his head upon her lap. He whined and stormed by 
 turns, for the Emperor supported this sort of pain 
 worse than the thousand more serious accidents inci- 
 dent to camp life ; and the hero of Areola, whose 
 life had been risked in a hundred battles, and else- 
 where than in combats, without his courage being 
 taken unawares, showed himself more than effemi- 
 nate for a trifling hurt, a bobo. Her Majesty the 
 Empress was consoling and encouraging him as best
 
 324 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 she could ; courageous herself when suffering from 
 headaches so violent as to amount to real illness, 
 she would willingly, had that been possible, have 
 assumed her husband's malady, the sight of which 
 perhaps made her suffer more than he did. " Con- 
 stant," she said as soon as I entered, " come quickly, 
 the Emperor needs you ; make him some tea and do 
 not leave him until he is better." His Majesty had 
 hardly taken three cups when his pain diminished; 
 he still kept his head on the knees of the Empress, 
 who caressed his forehead with her white, plump 
 hand, and also rubbed his chest. " Do you feel bet- 
 ter? Will you lie down a little? I will stay by 
 your bed with Constant." Was not this tenderness 
 very touching? especially in so lofty a rank? The 
 nature of my duties often gave me opportunities of 
 enjoying this picture of happy family life. 
 
 While I am on the subject of the Emperor's mala- 
 dies, I will say a few words of his most serious one, 
 if we except that which caused his death. 
 
 At the siege of Toulon, in 1793, when the Emperor 
 was still only a colonel of artillery, a gunner was 
 killed at his piece. Colonel Bonaparte seized the 
 rammer and fired several discharges himself. The un- 
 fortunate artillery-man had, or rather had had, an itch 
 of the most malignant description, and the Emperor 
 was infected by it. It was years before he could be 
 cured, and the doctors thought that this badly 
 treated malady Avas the cause of the extreme meagre- 
 ness and the bilious hue which he long retained. At
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 326 
 
 the Tuileiies he used sulphur baths, and for some 
 time wore a blister. Until then he had always 
 refused, saying that he had no time to nurse himself. 
 M. Corvisart had strongly insisted on a cautery. 
 But the Emperor, who was bent on preserving the 
 shape of his arm intact, declined this remedy. 
 
 It was at the same siege that he had been pro- 
 moted from the rank of chief of battalion to that of 
 colonel, at the close of a brilliant affair against the 
 English, in which he had received a baj^onet thrust 
 in his right thigh, tlie scar of which he often showed 
 me. The w^ound he received in the foot at the 
 battle of Ratisbonne left no trace, and yet when the 
 Emperor got it the whole army was alarmed. 
 
 We were about twelve hundred feet from Ratis- 
 bonne, when the Emperor, seeing the Austrians flying 
 in all directions, thought the affair was ended. His 
 canteen breakfast had been made ready in the place 
 the Emperor had designated. He Avas walking 
 toward this spot, when, turning to Marshal Berthier, 
 he exclaimed: "I am wounded." The blow had 
 been so forcible that the Emperor had fallen into a 
 sitting posture ; he had, in fact, just received a ball 
 in the heel. The calibre of this ball showed that it 
 had been fired by a Tyrolese rifleman, whose weapon 
 usually carries as far as we were from the city. It 
 may readily be believed that such an event soon 
 spread trouble and alarm throughout the staff. An 
 aide-de-camp came to look for me, and when I 
 arrived, I found M. Ivan engaged in cutting off
 
 326 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 His Majesty's boot, and I assisted in dressing the 
 wound. 
 
 Although the pain was still very keen, the Emperor 
 would not even wait to have his boot put on again, 
 but to give the enemy his change and reassure the 
 army, he mounted a horse and set off at a gallop, 
 with all his staff, and went through all the lines. 
 On that day, as one may imagine, nobody break- 
 fasted, and everybody went to Ratisbonne for dinner. 
 
 His Majesty had an invincible repugnance for all 
 medicaments, and when he took any, which very 
 seldom happened, it was some broth of chicken or 
 of chicory, and salts of tartar. M. Corvisart had 
 advised him to reject any drink which had an acrid 
 and disagreeable taste ; I think it was through fear 
 that some one might try to poison him. 
 
 No matter at what hour the Emperor might have 
 gone to bed, I entered his chamber between seven 
 and eight o'clock in the morning. I have said 
 already that his first questions invariably related to 
 the time and the weather. Sometimes he complained 
 to me of looking badly. When that was true, I 
 agreed to it, as I said no when I did not think so. 
 In this case he would pull my ears, call me laugh- 
 ingly a great stupid, ask for a mirror, and often own 
 that he had wanted to deceive me, and that he was 
 very well. He took his newspapers, asked the names 
 of those who were in the waiting-room, said whom he 
 would see, and chatted with one or another. When 
 M. Corvisart came, he entered without waiting for
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 327 
 
 an order. The Emperor liked to tease him by talk- 
 ing about medicine, saying tliat it was only a con- 
 jectural art, that doctors were charlatans, and giving 
 proofs of this, especially from his own experience. 
 The doctor never gave in when he believed himself 
 in the right. 
 
 During these conversations the Emperor was shav- 
 ing himself, for I had at last succeeded in inducing 
 him to take this matter solely into his own hands. 
 He often forgot that he had shaved only one side. 
 I apprised him of it; he Avould laugh and finish 
 his work. M. Ivan, ordinary surgeon, had, like M. 
 Corvisart, his full share of criticisms and hard say- 
 ings against his art. These discussions were most 
 amusing ; the Emperor at such times was very gay 
 and talkative, and I think that when he had no con- 
 venient example to cite in support of his arguments, 
 he did not scruple to invent one. Nor did these 
 gentlemen believe themselves always on their parole. 
 One day. His Majesty, following his singular habit, 
 took the notion to pull the ears of one of his 
 physicians (M. Hall^, I think). The physician drew 
 back quickly, exclaiming : " Sire, you hurt me ! " 
 Perhaps the remark was seasoned with a spice of ill- 
 humor, and perhaps also the doctor was right. How- 
 ever that might be, his ears were never in danger 
 from that day. 
 
 Sometimes, before my duties began. His Majesty 
 would question me on what I had done the day 
 before. He would ask if I had dined in the city,
 
 328 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 and with whom, if they had received me well, and ' 
 what we had for dinner. Sometimes, too, he wanted 
 to know what such or such a part of my clothes cost 
 me. I would tell him, and then the Emperor would 
 exclaim at the price, and say that, wlien he was a sub- 
 lieutenant, everything was a good deal cheaper, and 
 that he had often dined at Rose's, a restaurant keeper 
 of that day, and that he dined there very well for 
 forty sous. Several times he talked to me about my 
 family, of my sister, who was a nun before the 
 Revolution, and who had been forced to leave her 
 convent. One day he asked me if she had a pension, 
 and how much it was. I told him, and added that 
 it was not sufficient for her needs, and that I gave 
 her a pension myself, and to my mother also. His 
 Majesty told me to address myself to the Due de 
 Bassano, that he might make his report on the sub- 
 ject, as he wished to benefit my family. I did not 
 profit by this good intention of His Majesty ; for at 
 that time I was so happy as to be able to aid ray 
 relatives. I did not think of the future, which it 
 seemed to me could change nothing in my lot, and 
 I scrupled at putting my family, so to say, at the 
 expense of the State. I own that I have since been 
 more than once disposed to repent of this excess of 
 delicacy, the example of which I have seen few per- 
 sons, whether above or below my position, willing 
 either to give or take. 
 
 On rising, tlie Emperor usually took a cup of tea 
 or of orange-water ; if he took a bath, it was
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 329 
 
 immediately on leaving liis bed, and while in it he 
 had his despatches and journals read to him by a 
 secretary (by M. de Bourrienne until 1804) ; Avhen he 
 did not take a bath, he sat down by the fire for the 
 same purpose, unless he read his papers liimself, as 
 he often did. He dictated to his secretary his re- 
 sponses and the observations suggested to him by 
 what he saw in the journals. As fast as he ran 
 through them, he threw them on the floor in a dis- 
 orderly heap. The secretary afterwards gathered 
 them up, put them in order, and carried them into 
 the private cabinet. 
 
 Before making his toilet. His Majesty put on in 
 summer a pair of white piqud trousers and a white 
 dressing-gown of the same material ; in winter these 
 were replaced by others of a soft woollen goods 
 called moUeton. On his head he wore a bandana 
 handkerchief, knotted over the forehead, the two 
 ends of which fell down to his neck behind. The 
 Emperor himself put on this elegant coiffure in the 
 evening. When he left the bath, another bandana 
 was handed him, because that he had on was always 
 wet, as he was constantly turning in the water. The 
 bath over or the despatches read, he began his toi- 
 let. I shaved him before I had taught him to shave 
 himself. Wlien the Emperor first acquired this habit, 
 he availed himself, like everybody else, of a mirror 
 attached to the window ; but he came so near it, and 
 besmeared himself so recklessly with soap, that the 
 glass, the window panes, the curtains, and his own
 
 330 MEMOmS OF CONSTANT 
 
 dress were covered with it. To remedy this incon- 
 venience, a council of attendants was summoned, and 
 it was resolved that Roustan should hold the mirror 
 for His Majesty- When the Emperor had shaved 
 one side, he turned the other to the light and made 
 Roustan go from left to right or from right to left, 
 accordinof to the side on which he had beo'un. The 
 toilet-table was transferred in like manner. His 
 shaving over, the Emperor washed his face and hands, 
 and carefully attended to his nails ; afterwards I took 
 off his flannel waistcoat and his shirt, and rubbed the 
 whole chest with an extremely soft silk brush. I 
 rubbed him afterwards with Cologne water, a great 
 deal of which he consumed in this manner; for he 
 was brushed and arranged in this way every day. It 
 was in the Orient that he had acquired this hygienic 
 habit, which he found very good, and which is, in 
 fact, excellent. All these preparatives being termi- 
 nated, I put a pair of light flannel or cashmere socks 
 on his feet, and over them white silk stockings (he 
 never wore any others), drawers of very fine linen or 
 twilled cotton, and sometimes of white cashmere with 
 soft riding-boots, and sometimes tights of the same 
 stuff and color, with little English boots which 
 reached to the middle of his calf. They were pro- 
 vided with small silver spurs, not more than six lines 
 long. All his boots were spurred in this way. Then 
 I put on his flannel waistcoat and his shirt, a very 
 fine muslin cravat, and above it a black silk stock ; 
 finally a short vest of white piqu*^, and either a riding-
 
 MEJilOIES OF CONSTANT 331 
 
 coat or that of a grenadier, but more frequently the 
 former. His toilet finished, his handkerchief, his 
 snuffbox, and a little shell box filled with licorice 
 flavored with aniseed and cut very fine, were handed 
 to him. It is plain, from all this, that the Emperor 
 had himself dressed from head to foot; he never put 
 a hand to anything, but let himself be treated like a 
 child, and during this process he occupied himself 
 with his affairs. 
 
 I forgot to say that for his teeth he used a wooden 
 toothpick and a brush dipped in an opiate. 
 
 The Emperor was born, one might say, to be 
 waited on by valets de chambre. While yet a general 
 he had three, and he was served with as much luxury 
 as when in the highest station ; from that period he 
 received all the attentions which I have just described, 
 and which it was almost impossible for him to dispense 
 with. Etiquette changed nothing in this respect ; it 
 augmented the number of his attendants, decorated 
 them with new titles, but it could not surround him 
 with more attentions. He very rarely submitted to 
 the grand etiquette of royalty; never, for example, 
 did the grand chamberlain put on his shirt for him ; 
 once onl}^, at the repast which the city of Paris 
 offered him at the time of his coronation, the 
 grand marshal held the basin for him to wash his 
 hands. I shall describe his toilet on the corona- 
 tion day, and it will be seen that even then His 
 Majesty the Emperor of the French required no 
 other ceremonial than that to which General Bona-
 
 332 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 
 
 parte and the First Consul of the Republic had been 
 accustomed. 
 
 The Emperor had no fixed hour for retiring; some- 
 times he went to bed at ten or eleven o'clock in the 
 evening, but more frequently he sat up until two, 
 three, or four in the morning. He was veiy quickly 
 undressed, for it was his habit, on entering his cham- 
 ber, to throw each piece of his apparel in every direc- 
 tion ; his coat on the floor, his grand cordon on the 
 carpet, his watch flying on the bed, his hat to a dis- 
 tance on a chair, and thus with all his garments, one 
 after another. When he was in a good humor he 
 called me in a loud voice with this sort of cry: " Ohe ! 
 oh! oh!^^ At other times, when he was dissatisfied, 
 it was: '■'■ Monsieur ! Monsieur Constant!'''' At all 
 seasons it was necessary to Avarm his bed ; he never 
 dispensed with this except in the greatest heats. His 
 habit of undressing liimsclf in haste sometimes gave 
 me nothing to do on coming in but to present him 
 with his bandana; afterwards I lighted his night 
 lamp, which was in silver-gilt, and shaded, so as to 
 give less light. When he did not go to sleep at once, 
 he had one of his secretaries called, or else the Em- 
 press Josephine, to read to him ; no one could per- 
 form this office better than Her Majesty, and the 
 Emperor preferred her to any otlier reader ; she read 
 with that especial charm wliich blended with all her 
 actions. By the Emperor's orders, we burned in his 
 chamber, in little silver-gilt vessels, either aloo-wood 
 or else sugar or vinegar. It was necessary to have
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 333 
 
 fire in all his apartments nearly all the year; he 
 was habitually very sensitive to cold. When he 
 was ready to sleep, I re-entered, took his light, and 
 went lip to my own room, which was directly above 
 that of His ^Majesty. Roustan and a valet de chambre 
 on duty slept in the little salon adjoining the Em- 
 peror's chamber. If he needed me in the night, a 
 wardrobe boy, who slept close by, in the antechamber, 
 came to look for me. Day and night water was kept 
 hot for his bath ; for often, at any hour of the day or 
 night, he took a notion to have one. M. Ivan made 
 his appearance every night and morning at the 
 couchee and levee of His Majesty. 
 
 It is known that the Emperor often had his secre- 
 taries and even his ministers summoned during the 
 night. During his stay in Warsaw, in 1806, Prince 
 de Talleyrand once received a message after mid- 
 night ; he came at once and talked for a long time 
 with the Emperor ; the work was prolonged far into 
 the night, and His Majesty, fatigued, at last fell into 
 a profound sleep. The Prince de Benevento, who 
 feared that if he went out he would awaken the 
 Emperor, and perhaps be called back to continue the 
 conversation, looked around him and perceiving a 
 convenient sofa, stretched himself upon it and Avent to 
 sleep. M. de Menneval, His Majesty's secretary, was 
 unwilling to go to bed until after ]\I. de Talleyrand 
 should have withdrawn, as the Emperor might need 
 him after the minister's departure ; hence he was 
 very impatient at this long audience. Nor was I
 
 834 MEMOIBS OF CONSTANT 
 
 in a better humor; for it was impossible for me to 
 go to bed until I had taken away His Majesty's 
 light. ]\I. de Meiineval came to me ten times to 
 ask whether Prince de Talleyrand was gone. " He 
 is still there," said I, " I am sure of it, and yet I hear 
 nothing." At last I begged him to stay in the room 
 where I was, and on which the entrance door opened, 
 while I would go and stand sentry in a private 
 cabinet into which the Emperor's chamber had 
 another exit; and it was agreed that whichever of 
 the two should see the Prince go out, should notify 
 the other. Two o'clock struck, then three, then 
 four; no one appeared; not the slightest movement 
 in the chamber of His Majesty. Losing patience at 
 last, I pushed the door ajar as softly as possible ; but 
 the Emperor, who was always a light sleeper, awoke 
 with a start and loudly demanded: "Who is there? 
 who goes there? who is it?" I replied that, think- 
 ing that the Prince de Benevento had gone out, I 
 had come to take the light. " Talleyrand ! Talley- 
 rand ! " His Majesty exclaimed quickly ; " where is 
 he then? " and seeing him wake up : " Well, I believe 
 he fell asleep ! How, you rascal, you sleep in my 
 house ! ah ! ah ! " I went away without taking the 
 light; they began talking again, and M. de Menne- 
 val and I waited the end of the tete-a-tete until five 
 o'clock in the morning. 
 
 The Emperor had been accustomed to take coffee 
 with cream, or else chocolate when working at night; 
 but he had abandoned the habit, and under the Empire
 
 MEMOIRS OF CONSTANT 335 
 
 he no longer took anything, unless at times, but very 
 rarely, either some j^unch almost as weak as lemon- 
 ade, or an infusion of orange flowers or tea. 
 
 The Emperor, who endowed the majority of his 
 generals so magnificently, who was so liberal to his 
 armies, and to whom, on the other hand, France owes 
 so many fine monuments, was not at all generous^ 
 but, if I must say it, a little miserly in his house- 
 hold. Perhaps he somewhat resembled those rich 
 vain persons who economize very closely at home in 
 order to shine more brilliantly abroad. He made 
 very few, not to say no presents, to his attendants. 
 Even New Year's day passed without unloosening 
 his purse-strings. " Well, Monsieur Constant," said 
 he to me, pinching my ear, " what are you going to 
 give me for New Year's ? " The first time he asked 
 this question, I replied that I would give him what- 
 ever he liked, but I confess that I greatly hoped that 
 on the next day it would not be I who would give 
 presents. It seems that the idea never occurred to 
 him; for no one was called on to thank him for his 
 gifts, and never afterwards did he depart from this 
 rule of domestic economy. Apropos of this ear- 
 pinching to which I return so many times, because 
 His Majesty himself returned to it so often, I must 
 say while I think of it, and to be done with it, that 
 it would be a great mistake to suppose that he con- 
 tented himself with lightly touching the part exposed 
 to his marks of favor; he squeezed very roughl}-, to 
 the contrary, and I have remarked that he pinched
 
 336 ME3I0IES OF CONSTANT 
 
 hardest when he was in the best humor. Sometimes, 
 as I was entering his room to dress him, he would 
 rush at me like a madman, and while saluting me 
 with his favorite greeting: "^A hien, monsieur h 
 (7;'o^e I"' would pinch both ears at once in a way to 
 make me cry out; it was not even rare for him to 
 add to these soft caresses one or two slaps very well 
 laid on ; I Avas sure then of finding him in a charm- 
 ing humor all the rest of the day, and full of benev- 
 olence, as I have so often seen him. Roustan, and 
 even Marshal Berthier, Prince de Neufchatel, re- 
 ceived their own good share of these imperial marks 
 of affection ; I have frequently seen them with their 
 cheeks all red and their eyes almost weeping. 
 
 END OF VOLUME I 
 
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