THE REYOLUTBON AND THE EMPIRE 
 
 . . BEING THE MEMOIRS OF . . . 
 
 CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 1789- 1810
 
 liic^ 
 
 i
 
 MEMOmS or CHANCELLOR PASQUIEE 
 
 VOLUME I
 
 ETIENNE-DENIS DUG PASQUIER 
 
 &hancell<n ofcrxance 
 
 ffmembet of the criench CtS,cademy 
 
 SBoxn S^ptil at t^6^ 2)ied July 5 1863
 
 A HISTORY OF MY TIME 
 
 MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 THE DUO D'AUDIFFRET-PASQUIER 
 TRANSLATED BY CHARLES E. ROCHE 
 
 THE REVOLUTION— THE CONSULATE -THE EMPIRE 
 Volume I 1789-1810 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS 
 
 LONDON 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 PATERlSrOSTER SQUARE 
 1893
 
 Copyright, 1893, by Charles Scribner's Sons, 
 for the United BUtes of America. 
 
 Printed by Berwick & Smith, 
 BoBton, Mass., U.S.A.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Afteb a perusal of all that I have written during the 
 last eight years, the first question I asked myself was what 
 title I should give to the voluminous product of my labor. 
 I next sought to form an idea of the judgment likely to be 
 passed upon it, should it see the light of publication. 
 
 At all events, that day will not come, if my wishes are 
 respected, until some time after my death. 
 
 The title of Memoirs is well worn; moreover, I do not 
 fill a sufficiently important place in this lengthy narra- 
 tive, and the events which I relate therein are of too 
 great a magnitiide for me to give myself undue promi- 
 nence. On the other hand, the title of History is somewhat 
 imposing, and, is my book on a level with so pretentious a 
 title, when I have remained silent about many matters, 
 and, at times, passed rapidly over important events? 
 
 If, on the one hand, I have sought to curtail the recital of 
 the well-known incidents of the Eevolution, I have entered 
 into fuller detail with regard to the Kestoration. It has 
 been my task to sketch the history of Europe's general 
 policy during a period when the facts were of the highest 
 importance, such as the revolutions in Spain, at Naples, 
 and in Piedmont. Greece, so rich in memories of a glori- 
 ous past, has laid the foundations of an apparently secure
 
 vi PREFACE 
 
 independence. Therein lie the germs of events which may 
 perchance make the nineteenth century memorable. 
 
 After pondering awhile over the best manner of charac- 
 terizing the contents of these pages, I have concluded that 
 the most appropriate title would be : A History of my Time. 
 
 A thing of more importance than the choice of a title for 
 the work, is for me to know how far I have succeeded in 
 filling in the frame of my picture, and, especially, what will 
 be the impression left on the mind of the reader concerning 
 the author himself. I beg my readers will kindly believe 
 that what has given me the least anxiety has been to lay 
 claim to and bring into relief whatever slight literary 
 merit it may possess. I am, without any reservation, pre- 
 pared to submit to any judgment, however severe. 
 
 It would avail me but little to plead that the small 
 amount of natural talent with which I may have been en- 
 dowed was not developed by serious studies in my early 
 days, and that subsequently the state of idleness and dis- 
 couragement into which I was thrown by the first ten years 
 of the Revolution completely diverted my attention from 
 such serious study as would have remedied this disadvan- 
 tage. 
 
 The whirlpool of events into which I found myself 
 dragged absorbed my attention in too high a degree to ren- 
 der it possible for me to regain lost time, and create unto 
 myseK what might be deservedly called a style ; but, such 
 an admission would not find acceptance; critical readers 
 might remark that the whole of the book has not been the 
 production of one single effort, and that a strict chronologi-
 
 PREFACE VU 
 
 cal order has not been observed. There will be others who 
 will object that the space given to the several parts of the 
 book is somewhat out of proportion to their actual impor- 
 tance. 
 
 I must crave indulgence on all these points. That 
 which gives me the greatest concern is the opinion likely to 
 be conceived as to the manner in which I have judged men 
 and things, especially as to the connection and harmony I 
 have given my impressions, and the spirit of sequence which 
 has presided over the judgments passed by me according to 
 the various circumstances of which I am the narrator. 
 
 I began writing in 1822, so it cannot be a matter for 
 doubt that my opinions about matters political had at that 
 date undergone considerable change since 1787, the time of 
 my entering the Parlement. My ideas, my sentiments had 
 travelled in an opposite direction from that in which the 
 mind commonly progresses. Youth's bent is almost ever 
 towards ideas of independence and liberty, and not unfre- 
 quently are these ideas absorbed with passionate fervor. 
 
 A riper age proves to youth that there are certain social 
 conditions which call for the expansion of authority, and 
 when old age makes its appearance, that authority generally 
 finds youth enrolled under its banner. 
 
 Like everybody else, I followed at the outset of my career 
 the inspirations of my youth; but the scenes of which I 
 was a spectator during the months of July and October, 
 1789, quickly brought me back to my first allegiance, a 
 royalty which, if not absolute, should at least be the pre- 
 ponderating element. 
 
 /
 
 Vlii PREFACE 
 
 The horrors of 1793 and 1794, the disgusting spectacle 
 presented by the government of the Directoire, could have 
 no other effect than to keep me in that frame of mind ; and, 
 as a natural consequence, the unlimited power of the chief 
 of the state both under the Consular and Imperial Govern- 
 ments, appeared to me at first sight merely in the light of 
 a guarantee of security without which social order could 
 not exist. 
 
 Then it was that I resolved to again take part in public 
 affairs. It was not long ere I was to look at things from 
 quite another standpoint. I soon saw the shoals upon 
 which absolute power was bound to wreck itself. 
 
 Further, I began to learn better to appreciate at their 
 real significance the consequences of the Revolution, to 
 better understand the actual situation, and consequently, 
 France's needs. Hence did I welcome the Restoration as 
 an era which was to bring France back to the form of gov- 
 ernment best suited to it, and that, a modified monarchical 
 system, such, in a word, as the Charter of Louis XVIII. 
 soon gave promise of. 
 
 Having once entered upon this line of thought, my judg- 
 ments and my actions have ever been in harmony with my 
 opinions. Thus is explained, in 1822, the date at which I 
 began writing, the state of mind which has dictated all my 
 words, and which has governed all my deeds. 
 
 "Was I to make all the judgments which have emanated 
 from my pen coincide with my present views of men and 
 events? 
 
 I might, with regard to each and every fact, and to each
 
 PREFACE IX 
 
 and every deed, award praise or condemnation, in conform- 
 ity witli those principles wliich have come to be mine own; 
 but, I have taken special pains to avoid so doing. Had I 
 acted thus, I should then have written history as those 
 alone can write it who have come into existence a long time 
 after the events which they narrate, and for whom those 
 events have never been a subject of either pain or joy. 
 On the contrary, I have thought that by reproducing my 
 opinions, my sentiments, and even, in so far as feasible, 
 my judgments on each epoch, without modification whatso- 
 ever, I would, in several instances, make known that which 
 too frequently remains unrevealed, viz. the actual frame 
 of mind of one's contemporaries, whether taken up and 
 studied in their entity, or as such and such a part more 
 or less important of the social order of which they consti- 
 tute the elements. 
 
 If viewed in this connection and accepted as an indica- 
 tion, even my doubts and my changes of mind may still 
 constitute history, and not the least instructive part of it 
 at that. 
 
 With this frank explanation, there now remains for me 
 but to take leave of my work, and resign myself to criti- 
 cism, strong in the justice that I can do myself of having 
 written about everything and everybody, without feeling, 
 without hatred, without envy; and that my sole aim has 
 been the truth, which I have told without subterfuge, with 
 the view of being of service to those who seek her and who 
 know how to extract from her those teachings with which 
 she abounds.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAOB 
 
 Chancellor Pasquier's childhood — His early education — Relations 
 existing between his mother and J. J. Rousseau, and between his 
 grandfather and Voltaire— He enters the College of Juilly con- 
 ducted by the Oratorians — His fellow-students, Mole, d'Etanipes, 
 Mezy, Arnauld, the author of Marius a Minturnes — His holidays 
 spent at the chateau de Coulans, near Le Mans, and at the chateau 
 of Tubeuf with Mme. Berryer, the mother of Mme. de Lamoignon 
 — Mgr. Grimaldi, Bishop of Le Mans — Mme. de La Chatre — The 
 part taken by the Chancellor's grandfather in the trials of M. de 
 Lally and of M. de Labarre — An answer to the diatribes of Vol- 
 taire and La Harpe — An unpublished letter of apology from 
 Voltaire — A young man's education under the old regime — In 
 the world of magistracy — The cultivation of science and letters 
 among the members of the Paris Parlement 1 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 
 Councillor Pasquier's entry into the Parlement — The Assembly of 
 Notables — The Ministry of M. de Calonne, then that of M. de 
 Fourqueux, and lastly M. de Brienne — The Parlement resists the 
 edicts — Composition of that assemblage — The grand' chambre — 
 The grand banc of the presidents a mortier — Messieurs de Saint- 
 Fargeau, d'Aligre, de Trudaine — The Parlement calls for the 
 States-General — The Due d'Orle'ans exiled — Imprisonment of 
 Councillors Sabattier and Freteau — Continuation of the war be- 
 tween the Parlement and the Court from 1787 to 1788 — Forcible 
 carrying off and arrest of Councillors d'^^pre'menil and Goislard 
 de Monsabert — The Edict summoning the States-General — Dis- 
 missal of M. de Brienne — Suicide of M. de Lamoignon — M. Necker 
 reappears in public affairs — The Abbe Sieyes — Opening of the 
 States-General — Thoughts on the re'gime which preceded the Rer- 
 
 xi
 
 xii CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 olution — France's happy state from 1783 to 1789 — Corruption 
 of the Court: excesses of luxury, looseness of manners, an irre- 
 ligious, critical, and Utopian spirit abroad 22 
 
 CHAPTER m 
 
 Councillor Pasquier at the taking of the Bastille, with Mile. Contat, 
 of the Come'die-Fran^aise — The theatre as the school of youth — 
 The " premiere " of Beaumarchais's Figaro — Gretry's successes 
 at the Opera-Comique— The day following the 6th of October 
 at the Tuileries; aspect presented by the king and queen — The 
 public state of mind in 1789 — Royalist tendencies of the National 
 Guard — The club de Valois^ Grievous futility of the first emi- 
 gration — The royal family's flight to Varennes — Fearful anxiety 
 caused in Paris by the king's departure — M. de Saint-Fargeau's 
 characteristics : his hatreds, his phlegm, his violence — Final dis- 
 solution of the Parlements — The new judiciary order — A protest 
 from the old magistracy — The death of the Constituent Assem- 
 bly — Decrees against the emigres, against the priests — The pil- 
 lage of the grocers' shops in Paris — The first appearance of the 
 Phrygian cap 55 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Aspect of the Palais-Royal, the centre of the revolutionary move- 
 ment: the cafes, the gambling houses, the dissolute women — 
 Louis XVI. 's mild protest against the outrage of the 20th of June 
 — M. de La Fayette's isolation — Renewed activity of the revolu- 
 tionary party — The fete of the Federation — The beautiful Mme. 
 Fontenay, afterwards Mme. Tallien — The Queen at the Italian 
 Opera — The attack on the Tuileries, August 10 — Anarchy's tri- 
 umph — The September massacres — The Prussians enter Cham- 
 pagne — Reasons for the sudden retreat of the Duke of Bruns- 
 wick — Affection for the monarchical system shown by the princes 
 upon the downfall of royalty — The trial of Louis XVI. — Popular 
 songs expressing pity for the king — The day of judgment and 
 sentence — The execution on January 21 — Councillor Pasquier at 
 the foot of the scaffold — Deep emotion of the crowd and public 
 grief — The murder of M. de Saint-Fargeau — Fury of the men of 
 the revolutionary party — The law affecting the suspects — Coun- 
 cillor Pasquier's marriage 78
 
 CONTENTS xm 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 PAGE 
 
 M. Pasquier, Senior, cast into jail — A prison looked upon as an asy- 
 lum — Certificates of residence and of good citizenship — Tribula- 
 tions of Councillor Pasquier, while seeking refuge at ^lontge, near 
 Juilly — Generous sentiments of the bourgeois class of Paris — 
 Mme. Tavaux — The citoyenne Mottei — Levasseur's gratitude — 
 Pen-picture of this eonventionnel — Citizen Felix, the brother of 
 Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau — Trial and execution of M. Pasquier, 
 Senior — Councillor Pasquier arrested at Amiens — Sent to Saint- 
 Lazare with Mme. Pasquier, on the 8th Thermidor — A prison 
 during the Reign of Terror — The 9th Thermidor — The prisoners 
 set at liberty — Fouquier-Tinville before the tribunal and on the 
 scaffold — Ovation to Tallien and Mme. Tallien at the Ode'on 
 theatre — France after Thermidor — The Vendeans — M. and Mme. 
 Pasquier's life at Croissy — Their intercourse with Jose'phine de 
 Beauharnais — Mme. de Beauharnais, Josephine's sister-in-law — 
 Exorbitant prices of provisions — Scarcity of food .... 99 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The 13th Vendemiaire — The Convention surrounded by 60,000 men 
 
 — General Bonaparte — Failure of the uprising owing to the lack 
 of a Royalist leader — The primary assemblies and the new elec- 
 tions — The daughter of Louis XVI. leaves the Temple — The reign 
 of the Directoire — Barras and Mme. Tallien — The kindliness of 
 Mme. de Beauharnais — The return of the emic/res — The need of 
 enjoyment felt — Mme. de Stael's salon — Benjamin Constant — 
 M. de Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs — The 18th Fructidor 
 
 — Transportation of fallen foes — General Pichegru — Uprisings in 
 Maine and in Brittany — The chouannerie — The Treaty of Cam- 
 po-Formio — General Bonaparte's plans and the Directoire's mis- 
 trust — The expedition to Egypt — The Republic of Geneva united 
 to France — Carnot's opinion in this matter — Italy occupied by 
 French troops — State of the finances in 1799 — Establishment of 
 the military conscription — The coalition between Austria, Eng- 
 land, and Russia — General Suvaroff in Italy — Retreat of the 
 French — An odious act of revenge performed by Barras — Bona- 
 parte's return to France — The men who took part in the 18th Bru- 
 maire — Constitution of the Consular Government — Attributes of 
 the three Consuls — Bonaparte's feelings towards the emigre's — 
 The infernal machine — Georges Cadoudal and Saint-Re j ant, his 
 emissary 130
 
 xiv CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Bonaparte's negotiations with the Holy See — Violent opposition in 
 the Army — Plot to assassinate the First Consul — Proclamation of 
 the Concordat at Notre-Dame — Advantages accruing to France 
 from the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 — Reconstruction of the Fi- 
 nances — Legislative work — The life consulate — Rupture between 
 England and France, and plots hatched by the British Cabinet — 
 Pichegru's conspiracy — Louis XVIII. 's rejoinder in this connec- 
 tion — Arrest of Cadoudal, Pichegru, Moreau, and the Polignacs — 
 Pichegru's suicide — Unfounded accusations brought against Bona- 
 parte in this respect — Kidnapping of the Due d'Enghien at Etten- 
 heim — M. de Caulaincourt's irresponsibility in the affair — The 
 ultimate fate of the Due d'Enghien discussed — Opinions of Fouche, 
 Talleyrand, Lebrun, and Cambace'res — The First Consul's final 
 determination — Light on the circumstances surrounding the event 
 
 — Illegality of the sentence passed on the Due d'Enghien — The 
 part played in this affair by Savary, Talleyrand, Murat, and Real 
 — Jose'phine's grief on hearing of the execution — Napoleon, in 
 spite of his remorse, never admits the injustice of the act — M. 
 d'Hauterive apostrophizes M. de Talleyrand, the instigator of the 
 crime — Fouche's famed saying 168 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Trial and sentence of Cadoudal, Moreau, and Polignac — Commuta- 
 tion of Moreau's penalty — The salons of Mme. Pastoret and of 
 Mme. de Beaumont — Charm of the social gatherings of the period 
 
 — M. de Chateaubriand and Mme. de Beaumont, the daughter of 
 M. de Montmorin — France falls into disfavor with the rest of 
 Europe through the execution of the Due d'Enghien — Advantages 
 derived therefrom by the British party — Bonaparte created Em- 
 peror — Motives inducing Pope Pius VII. to come to Paris to crown 
 Napoleon — The new power given legitimacy to by religion — The 
 third coalition against France — Admiral Villeneuve — M. Daru 
 
 — The camp at Boulogne raised, and the sudden moving of the 
 army into the heart of Germany — The Battle of Austerlitz — 
 France's state of enthusiasm — Entry of M. Pasquier as maitre 
 
 des requites into the Council of State 215 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 France's state at the birth of the Empire — Organization of the im- 
 perial regime — Absolutism dominant — The deliberative assem-
 
 CONTENTS XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 blies— The freedom of the press and the liberty of the subject 
 — Happy results abroad of the battle of Austerlitz — Negotiations 
 for a marriage between the Princess Amelie of Bavaria and Eu- 
 gene de Beauharnais — Confidential letter from M. de Talleyrand 
 to M. de Thiard regarding this union — Rapid elevation of the 
 members of the Emperor's family — Joseph, King of Naples — 
 Murat, Grand-Duke of Berg — Louis, King of Holland — Naval 
 engagement off Trafalgar — England's supremacy on the seas — 
 Devoted adherence of the clergy to the Imperial Crown — France's 
 new organization — The twofold legislation necessary towards con- 
 stituting society — Private influences welcomed by Napoleon — 
 Lebrun and Cambaceres — Fouche painted — M. de Talleyrand's 
 public and private life — M. Portalis, Senior — M. Maret, Due 
 de Bassano — M. de Laplace — M. Chaptal 239 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 The Corps legislatif — The rn6Mna« — Creation of the Council of 
 State and the nature of its work — The comity du contentieux — 
 Principal members of the Council of State — Messieurs Defermon 
 and Lacuee, presidents of committees — Messieurs Gaudin and 
 MoUien, Ministers — Councillors Regnaud, Treilhard, Berlier, 
 Merlin, and Real — Measures demanded against the Jews — An 
 assembly of prominent Jews called together in Paris — Messieurs 
 Mole, Portalis, and Pasquier, as Commissioners of the Emperor in 
 that Assembly — The "Portuguese" Jews — Declaration made by 
 the doctors and the rabbis — M. Furtado of Bordeaux — The in- 
 terest charged on money and usury — The practice of Jews among 
 themselves — Sacerdotal power of the rabbis — The Talmudists — 
 Convening by the Emperor of a great Sanhedrin and its meeting, 
 February 9, 1807 — Declaration of doctrine of the great Sanhedrin 
 on the civil and political duties of Israelites and the organization 
 of Jewish society in France 273 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 War with Prussia — France's enthusiasm after Jena — General desire 
 for a durable peace — Napoleon's threatening attitude at Berlin — 
 The continental blocjcade — Its hardships and prodigious results — 
 Matters leading up to war with Spain — Napoleon again prepares 
 for war — Napoleon's vast amount of correspondence — An aggres- 
 sive march made by the Russians — Battle of Eylau — An opinion
 
 XVI CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 of General Jomini — The siege of Dantzig — The victory of Fried- 
 land — The peace of Tilsit — Napoleon's influence over the Em- 
 peror Alexander — Prussia's humiliation — Gustavus IV., King of 
 Sweden, deprived of his crown — Denmark becomes France's ally . 309 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Napoleon's return to Paris — A Te Deum sung with great pomp at 
 Notre-Dame — Marriage of Je'rome, the new King of Westphalia, 
 with a daughter of the King of Wiirtemberg — Magnificence of 
 the ceremony — M. de Talleyrand appointed Vice-Grand Elector 
 — Strained relations between the Emperor and that diplomat — 
 M. Pasquier appointed procureur g^n^ral to the conseil du sceau 
 des litres — The methods of M. Decres, Minister of Marine — 
 Abuses of the Imperial administration and denials of justice — The 
 case of M. Pichou, ex-consul of France in America . . . 327 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Secret treaty concluded between Napoleon and Godoy, Prince of 
 Peace, and favorite of Charles IV. of Spain — Portugal invaded by 
 the French — Abdication of the old King of Spain — His throne 
 given to Joseph Bonaparte — Occupation of Rome by the French 
 troops — Pius VII. addresses a comminatory brief to Napoleon — 
 General uprising in Spain against the French, followed by the 
 insurrection of Portugal — Junot's retreat before the British army 
 
 — M. de Talleyrand once more comes upon the scene, on the occa- 
 sion of the interview agreed upon between Napoleon and the Em- 
 peror of Russia — The Congress of Erfurt — A study of the serious 
 political questions discussed at this meeting of the two sovereigns 
 
 — A letter from the Emperor Alexander to the Emperor Napoleon 
 
 — A scrutiny of the diplomatic action of M. de Talleyrand; his 
 astounding duplicity and the reasons of his complaisance towards 
 Austria — The Comedie-fran9aise, with Talma, at Erfurt . . 342 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 The Emperor's return — M. Pasquier entrusted with an investigation 
 between Metz and Mayence — Entry of Marshal Victor's army
 
 CONTENTS xvii 
 
 PAGK 
 
 corps into the latter city — A protest from Jean Bon Saint-Andre, 
 Prefect of Mayence, and former member of the Committee of 
 Public Safety — Organization of the new nobility of France — 
 The creation of majorats with endowments — Mme. de Montmo- 
 rency compelled to accept the title of countess against her will 
 — Unopposed re-establishment in France of hereditary distinc- 
 tions — The members of the conseil du sceau — Occupation of 
 Madrid by Napoleon — Retreat of the British army, driven by 
 Marshal Soult — Reasons governing the Emperor's hurried return 
 to Paris — Austria's fresh warlike preparations — Cessation of all 
 hostility between M. de Talleyrand and M. Fouche', Minister of 
 Police — Harmony existing between these two individuals in an- 
 ticipation of Napoleon's likely death — Murat chosen by them 
 as his successor — The discovery of this intrigue communicated 
 to the Emperor by M. de La Valette and Prince Eugene — Napo- 
 leon violently harangues M. de Talleyrand in the Throne-room — 
 Temporary falling into disgrace of this diplomat .... 364 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 War with Austria — Battle of Essling — Death of Marshal Lannes — 
 The Roman States united to the French Empire — Pius VII. 's 
 bull of excommunication — The Pope carried off by the French 
 authorities — Victory of Wagram — Napoleon's return and sojourn 
 at Fontainebleau — Dissolution of Napoleon's and Josephine's 
 marriage — The last evening spent at Fontainebleau by the dis- 
 carded Empress — M. Pasquier appointed Councillor of State — 
 Projected marriage between Napoleon and the Grand-Duchess 
 Anne, the Emperor of Russia's sister — Austria's alarm at this pro- 
 jected alliance — Overtures made by the Viennese cabinet, with the 
 object of tendering Najjoleon the baud of an archduchess of Aus- 
 tria — Reasons which governed the Emperor in preferring such 
 an alliance — Convocation of an extraordinary Council — Opinions 
 expressed at it by Fouche, Talleyrand, and Cambaceres — Arrival 
 of the future Empress at Compiegne — Celebration of the religious 
 wedding at the Louvre — Napoleon's anger at and reprisals against 
 the cardinals who absented themselves from the ceremony — Grand 
 public fete on the occasion of this union — A dinner given unex- 
 pectedly to M. de Metternich, and to the Czar's ambassador — 
 Strange and offensive explanations given to the Court of Russia to 
 justify Napoleon's renunciation of the hand of Alexander's sister . 384
 
 XVlll CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XVT 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Suffering endured by Holland consequent upon the continental block- 
 ade — Appointment of a commission of investigation presided over 
 by M. Pasquier — M. de Labouchere sent to London on the secret 
 initiative of King Louis, with the object of bringing about a gen- 
 eral peace — A like attempt made by M. Fouche, with M. Ouvrard 
 as agent — Complete failure of these overtures to the British Cab- 
 inet — These proceedings, taken unknown to the Emperor, arouse 
 his anger — M. Ouvrard arrested, and M. Fouche' sent to Rome as 
 Governor, his place as Minister of Police being taken by the Due 
 de Rovigo — M. d'Hauterive's report on this intrigue — M. de 
 Labouchere called to Paris by the Emperor — The King of Holland's 
 version of this attempted negotiation — A pen-portrait of Louis 
 Bonaparte — His faults and qualities — Queen Hortense — A con- 
 flict of policy between Louis and Napoleon — M. Decazes attached 
 to the cabinet of Madame mere — Amsterdam occupied by French 
 troops — King Louis's indignation at this— His abdication and 
 final departure — Holland united to the French Empire — Napo- 
 leon's characteristic speech to the son of King Louis — Personal 
 characteristics of the Bonapartes — Lucien, Prince of Canino — 
 Joseph Bonaparte — Je'rome Bonaparte — Napoleon's three sisters: 
 Elisa, Pauline, and Caroline — M. Fouche again incurs disgrace 
 — M. de Las Cases and M. Fie'vee in the Council of State — Details 
 regarding the appointment of M. Pasquier as Prefect of Police 412 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 The new Prefect of Police installed in office — Appointment, the same 
 day, of Cardinal Maury to the archbishopric of Paris — Pen-por- 
 trait of this prelate — Constituent elements of the Superior Coun- 
 cil of Police — M. Frochot, the Prefect of the Seine — A tour of 
 inspection through the prisons — Two of the prisoners at Bicetre : 
 M. Desol de Grisolles, a former Chouan, and M. Nervagot, the 
 precursor of false Dauphins — A prison registrar who had kept his 
 place at Saint-Lazare from the days of the Terror — The Emperor's 
 audiences: the grand lever and the petit lever — Daily reports sent 
 to the Emperor by the Minister and by the Prefect of Police — 
 Obstructions in the streets and boulevards of Paris — The farming 
 out of games of chance — The Emperor's five or six police systems 
 checking each other — The guard exercised by the police over 
 the Tuileries — Measures for the safety of the Emperor — The pry- 
 ing into the secrecy of correspondence 439
 
 CONTENTS XIX 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 PAGK 
 
 Official announcement of the pregnancy of the Empress Marie-Louise 
 
 — The Pope's refusal to grant bulls of installation to several bish- 
 ops — An ecclesiastical commission called together by Napoleon 
 to remedy the embarrassment thus created by the Holy See — Find- 
 ings of this commission with regard to apostolic bulls, to an appeal 
 to a general council, and to pontitical fulminations — New appoint- 
 ments made by the Emperor to the vacant sees of Paris and of 
 Nancy — Briefs issued by Pius VII. against these appointments — 
 Cardinal Fesch's opposition to Napoleon's wishes — The Paris 
 Chapter agitates against Cardinal Maury — Violent allocution by 
 the Emperor, on New Year's Day, 1811, to the Vicars-General, 
 and his apostrophe to the Abbe d'Astros, whose arrest is ordered 
 
 — Napoleon's violent outburst, at the Council of State, against 
 M. Portalis, the confidant of the Abbe d'Astros — This councillor 
 exiled, in spite of M. Pasquier's intercession — A search made in 
 the very closet of the Pope at Savona — Arrest of several prelates 
 and members of the Sacred College — The French clergy thrown 
 into a state of terror 460 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Inner administration of the Prefecture de Police — Singular use made 
 of confiscated books — The fate of political writings — Secret 
 agents of the Government — Inspector-General Veyrat — The clerk 
 Perlet — General Danican — Reforms and improvements brought 
 about by M. Pasquier — Measures coucerning domestic servants — 
 Personnel of the medical dispensary attached to the Prefecture — 
 The Fire Brigade reorganized on a military basis — The provision- 
 ing of Paris — The relations existing between the Prefect of Police 
 and his subordinate commissaires 480. 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Retreat in Spain of Massena, the greatest warrior after Napoleon — 
 Consequences of the dissensions between Ney and Massena — 
 Marmont in command — Marshal Suchet in Catalonia — Birth of 
 the King of Rome — Joy of Napoleon and the nation — Haughty 
 speech of the Emperor at the opening of the Corps legislatif — 
 Convocation of a National ecclesiastical council — A deputation of
 
 XX CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 bishops sent to Savona to wait upon the Pope — First sitting of 
 the council, in the Archiepiscopal Palace in Paris, on the 17th of 
 June — Serious difficulties between the Fathers of the Council and 
 Napoleon — Energetic opposition shown by the Archbishop of 
 Bordeaux and several bishops — Dissolution of the Council by a 
 decree dated the 10th of July — Arrest, and imprisonment at Vin- 
 cennes, of the Bishops of Tournay, Troyes, and Ghent — Deplor- 
 able effect produced by these deeds of coercion — Fears of a schism 
 — Negotiations to ward off such a danger — Fresh meeting of the 
 Council — A delegation of prelates again sent to the Pope, who 
 finally grants a brief of approval — The papal brief rejected by 
 the Council of State — Pius VII. refuses to make any furtner con- 
 cessions — The imprisoned bishops restored to freedom on condi- 
 tion of resigning — Impolitic conduct of Napoleon towards the 
 Church 494 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 The gambling-house lease — Accusations brought against M. de 
 Rovigo — A committee of investigation appointed in the matter 
 
 — New regulations governing gambling-houses — M. Pasquier 
 and the Due de Rovigo — The harvest of 1811 — System adopted 
 with regard to the distribution of bread — Necessity for protective 
 measures against the dishonesty of bakers and consumers — The 
 reserve stock of provisions placed under official control — Bread 
 becomes scarce — Gradual increase in the price of articles of food 
 
 — Napoleon's desire to re-establish a " maximum " law — His dis- 
 trust of merchants — M. Pasquier's propositions to the ComiU 
 des sw6sisfances — Official report of the proceedings of the ex- 
 traordinary council held at the Emperor's, with a view of warding 
 off distress — Riots and pillaging by famished bands — Severe 
 measures of repression — The price of wheat determined by law . 520 
 
 CHAPTER XXn 
 
 The draft of 1812 and the new organization of the National Guard — 
 Napoleon's grievances against Russia — Treaties of alliance be- 
 tween France, Prussia, and Austria — Sweden's political situation 
 under the pressure exercised over it by Napoleon — Negotiations 
 and final understanding of Bernadotte with Russia and England — 
 Fetes and magnificent balls during the winter of 1811-1812 —
 
 CONTENTS XXI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Secret societies formed by the students of Northern Germany — A 
 plot to assassinate Napoleon— A Leipsic student reaches Paris 
 with this object in view; his arrest and imprisonment — Treason 
 committed by an official of the War Office bribed by Russia — 
 Vidocq, the detective, discovers a counterfeiter — The manufac- 
 ture on an extended scale of counterfeit notes of the Bank of 
 Russia and of the Bank of Vienna, countenanced by the Emper- 
 or's police — Conversation between M. Pasquier and Napoleon, 
 on the eve of the latter's departure for the Russian campaign . 542
 
 MEMOmS or CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Chancellor Pasquier's childhood — His early education — Relations existing 
 between his mother and J. J. Rousseau, and between his grandfather 
 and Voltaire — He enters the College of Juilly conducted by the Ora- 
 torians — His fellow-students, Mole, d'Etampes, Mezy, Arnauld, the 
 author of Marias a Mlnturaes — His holidays spent at the chateau de 
 Coulans, near Le Mans, and at the chateau of Tubeuf with Mme. Berryer, 
 the mother of Mme. de Lamoignon — Mgr. Grimaldi, Bishop of Le Mans 
 — Mme. de La Chatre — The part taken by the Chancellor's grandfather 
 in the trials of M. de Lally and of M. de Labarre — An answer to the 
 diatribes of Voltaire and La Harpe — An unpublished letter of apology 
 from Voltaire — A young man's education under the old regime — In 
 the world of magistracy — The cultivation of science and letters among 
 the members of the Paris Parlement. 
 
 The old regime, the one preceding the Revolution of 1793, 
 was not a sealed book to me; I was already of this world 
 ere its downfall. 
 
 My memory, which has always served me pretty faith- 
 fully, still supplies me with details which may perhaps prove 
 not uninteresting to those desirous of becoming acquainted 
 with the habits, usages, and manners of a century from 
 which they are only separated by a little over fifty years, 
 but which, nevertheless, in consequence of the number of 
 stupendous events that have followed one another, are as 
 little known to the present generation as if two or three 
 hundred years had rolled by. 
 
 1
 
 2 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 This is especially the case with regard to the time of the 
 Empire, the ideas and manners of which are unknown. All 
 that one remembers of that period are its battles, and this, 
 but imperfectly. The Restoration, which is so near us, and 
 of which was born the constitutional regime, has barely left 
 behind the memory of the July ordinances, and of those 
 three days which brought about its downfall. Is it there- 
 fore a matter of surprise that the closing years of Louis XV. 
 and the whole reign of Louis XVI. should be so completely 
 unknown? 
 
 I saw the light of day in 1767, in the midst of surround- 
 ings which seemed to presage a peaceful life, and a large 
 fortune which never descended to me; my early education 
 was to feel the effects of the craze inspired by the methods 
 taught by Rousseau, and I accordingly suffered greatly there- 
 from. Under the pretence of hardening me to the inclem- 
 encies of the weather during a couple of severe winters (I 
 wa"fe then in my fourth and fifth years), I was taken to the 
 gardens of the Tuileries, while but lightly clad. There, 
 it was asserted, I should surely obtain warmth by taking 
 exercise. I was told to run about ; but the cold deprived 
 me of the necessary strength to obey, so the result of this 
 system was to make me one of the most chilly of mortals. 
 
 It was an all-powerful and doubtless excusable influence 
 which the passionate eloquence of the citizen of Geneva 
 exercised in those days over imaginations, especially over 
 those of women. I have learnt since then that my mother 
 had felt unable to resist the very natural desire of seeing 
 at short range that so celebrated, so extraordinary Jean- 
 Jacques. In order to meet him, she had availed herself of 
 the pretence, then in general vogue, of taking to him some 
 music for the purpose of having it copied. My mother was 
 a woman of bright intellect, and the charm of her conversa- 
 tion was potent enough to cause the alleged philosopher to
 
 HIS EARLY EDUCATION 3 
 
 express a desire of meeting her again. The exile into 
 which the Parlement went in 1771 put an end to this inter- 
 course. 
 
 I was vaccinated at a time when few people submitted to 
 this operation. An English physician, Horloch by name, 
 whose settling down in Paris preceded that of the Sutons, 
 was called in in the case of one of my mother's brothers, 
 who was ill with smallpox. No hope was entertained of 
 saving him, yet Horloch pulled him through. My mother, 
 while in a state of pregnancy, also became a victim of this 
 pitiless disease; her physician, the famed Bouvard, had 
 given as his opinion that my father must resign himself 
 to lose either wife or child. Horloch's services were once 
 more called into requisition, and he saved both lives. Fol- 
 lowing upon so pronounced a result, he proposed to vacci- 
 nate me. My father consented, but he was unable to obtain 
 my mother's consent to my sister's submitting to a like 
 operation. Shortly afterwards, my sister was very ill with 
 smallpox, and as a result, bore its marks all her life. 
 
 This opposition of my mother's would be difficult to 
 understand, were it not for the fact that in those days, 
 among truly religious people, and my mother was of the 
 number, there were many who thought that it was tempting 
 God to give to a human creature an ailment which might 
 perhaps not have come in the course of nature. Such was 
 also the opinion of a considerable portion of the clergy. 
 
 My bringing up was to bear the twofold imprint of the 
 old ideas, of the customs of a world which was about to 
 disappear, and of the essentially innovating spirit of irre- 
 ligion and of philosophy which had develoj)ed during the 
 last fifty years. That spirit met with but scanty recogni- 
 tion in the bosom of my family, wherein was deeply im- 
 planted the entirely opposite trend of ideas of the old 
 magistracy of which my grandfather, who died in 1783, 
 was the faithful representative.
 
 4 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 A fellow-student of Voltaire, with whom he had been in 
 the class of rhetorique, under the most famed of the professors 
 of the great Jesuits' College, Father Poree, he had not been 
 carried away by the teachings of the Voltairean and ency- 
 clopsedic school, whose influence came to nought in the face 
 of his sound reason and his firmly established principles in 
 the matter of religion. His sincere piety bore no trace of 
 exaggeration. He avoided argument over these matters, 
 and was content to testify to his belief by a faithful observ- 
 ance of its practices. I can recall a circumstance which 
 has since often presented itself to my mind. He was nearly 
 eighty years of age, and I was then about twelve, when I 
 went to spend my holidays with him at the chateau de 
 Coulans. At that time, he exercised a particularly watchful 
 care over my education. Every Sunday we heard mass in 
 one of the chapels of the chateau, and, one Sunda}^, the 
 server being absent, I saw my grandfather, after casting 
 a most significant glance at me, leave his seat, and kneel 
 down at the place of the server, who, fortunately, soon 
 arrived and relieved him of that fatiguing posture. 
 
 My early education was not fortunate as regards the 
 knowledge of things pertaining to man. Its most painful 
 stumbling-block was, at its outset, a strange peculiarity of 
 my memory. Although this faculty, in my case, is able, 
 in certain matters, to retain facts to an extended degree, 
 and has most faithfully served me during the course of my 
 career, it has always rebelled against keeping anything 
 word for word. My troubles in this respect began at an 
 early age. My mother, who enjoyed in the highest degree 
 the faculty which I lacked, could not understand how it was 
 that I should be deprived of it; hence, from my earliest 
 childhood, she sought to impose upon me tasks which I 
 could not possibly accomplish, with the result of my incur- 
 ring many a scolding, and punishments innumerable.
 
 AT COLLEGE AT JUILLY 6 
 
 The education of childreB, which is at present conducted 
 in so gentle a fashion, was then, on the part of the greater 
 number of parents, carried on with great severity. Just as 
 it is to-day, its fault was not to take sufficiently into account 
 a child's natural aptitudes, to exact of each and every 
 child the same things, the same efforts. It often arises 
 that by demanding of children certain work of which they 
 are incapable, one neglects faculties from which great benefit 
 might be derived. 
 
 Upon reaching the age of seven, I was given a tutor. 
 Two of them followed in succession; the first one fell 
 somewhat too much into my mother's mistake with regard 
 to the limitations of my memory; he was a learned man, 
 and very painstaking with me, but he was hard and severe. 
 He sought to obtain of me more than my delicate state of 
 health and the amount of attention I could give to study 
 would allow. His place was taken by the man who perhaps 
 resembled him the least. This scheme was not a fortunate 
 one, for both tutors failed to fulfil the expectations of my 
 parents. At the same time, it is hardly to be denied that 
 private tuition is seldom a success, not one of the least of 
 its defects being the changes of system to which the pupil 
 is exposed. 
 
 I must add, that, barring a few rare exceptions, such an 
 education is, to my mind, full of dangers, and that most 
 frequently its effects on health and character are most 
 disastrous. In the matter of health, the lack of exercise 
 is fatal to the development of physical strength, and gives 
 birth to that sense of being bored which, at all periods of 
 life, is so hard to endure. 
 
 I was eleven and a half years old when I was sent to 
 Juilly. In those years studies were gotten through at a 
 rapid rate, which makes it allowable to believe, with some 
 show of reason, that they were not of the most extended
 
 6 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 kind. The Juilly College was presided over by the Ora- 
 torians, and was the most renowned of their educational 
 institutions. 
 
 Father Petit, who was at that time the Father Superior, 
 enjoyed a well-deserved consideration; he had several clever 
 colleagues, among them Father Mandar, whose reputation 
 in the pulpit was sufficiently established for him to appear 
 on the list of preachers to the king. He was entrusted 
 with the duty of preparing the pupils for their first com- 
 munion, and I owe it to him that I performed this great 
 act of my life with the deepest assent of both heart and 
 reason. The impression left in my mind on that day was 
 as dear as it was solemn, and the recollection of it has 
 oftentimes come back to me full of charm. 
 
 It is well enough known that the Oratorians were more 
 in touch with Jansenism than with Molinism. To that was 
 due the selection made, by my mother, of a college under 
 their direction ; her profound devotion had gained her over 
 to Jansenism, whose doctrines and practices she followed. 
 This party's most prominent members, by their intellect 
 and by their knowledge, had grouped themselves about her ; 
 from their inspirations she derived not only the rules 
 governing her life, but the sense of duty with which she 
 sought to inspire her children. Father Mandar had not 
 made of me a doctor of divinity, but a neophyte full of 
 faith and of good resolutions. 
 
 Vacation time restored me to my family for a couple of 
 months. My mother questioned me as to my knowledge 
 of religion, and found me deplorably ignorant. In order 
 to remedy this state of affairs, she placed in my hands a 
 Naples catechism in three or four volumes, which I was 
 obliged to devour during my holidays. This catechism was 
 the text-book passionately adopted by all who were some- 
 body in the ranks of Jansenism. The compulsory study of
 
 VACATION DAYS AT COULANS AND TUBEUF 7 
 
 it was to me head splitting, and tlirougli it my mind became 
 so confused, that the calm and regularity of college life, 
 and especially the gentle simplicity of the teachings of the 
 Fathers alone restored it to its natural state. 
 
 It is difficult not to think that those who to-day maintain 
 that public education is nowadays conducted on as religious 
 a basis as ever it was, did not see with their own eyes what 
 was taking place during the epoch which they cite for 
 purposes of comparison, or do not preserve a right recol- 
 lection of it. The religious bodies were more particular 
 in this respect than were the secular colleges, but the 
 difference between them was a small one; even in the 
 institutions where philosophical ideas were dominant, out- 
 ward manifestations of devotion were too strictly exacted 
 for it to be possible to neglect them. 
 
 I had for school-fellows, JMole, d'Etampes, Mezy (the last 
 named remained my most intimate friend to the day of his 
 death), Arnauld, of the Academic fran^aise; his intellect 
 was then still undeveloped, and he was morose and melan- 
 choly. jSTo astonishment ever equalled mine, when, a few 
 years later, after the performance of Marius d, Minturnes, I 
 discovered that the playwright was no other than my old 
 schoolmate. His subsequent career is well known. 
 
 Our holidays were wont to take place at the time of the 
 adjournment of the Parlement. My grandfather Avould 
 take me with him to Coulans or to Tubeuf, to the house of 
 his oldest female friend, — Mme. Berryer. 
 
 Great used to be the joy of the old High Chamber coun- 
 cillor, to return home after the long mouths of his laborious 
 life. He would say farewell to his records as the schoolboy 
 said au revoir to his dictionaries. This peaceable and happy 
 life, following upon duties bravely grappled with, restored 
 the man to the softening joys of the family circle ; country 
 life and healthy enjoyments gave new vigor to his old age
 
 8 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 by making him experience once more the emotions of his 
 younger days. 
 
 The demesne of Coulans, which had been in the posses- 
 sion of my family for a long period, and which had been 
 created a barony in its favor, is situated at a distance of 
 three leagues from Le Mans, in a province which was 
 within the jurisdiction of the Paris Parlement, and this 
 circumstance was greatly responsible for the consideration 
 enjoyed by its occupants. The social life of members of 
 the Parlement, when their estates were far distant from 
 Paris and especially from Versailles, was on a grand scale, 
 and the highest of the nobility paid them great attentions. 
 
 Conveyancing and the settlement of estates gave rise to 
 numerous lawsuits. Their influence was often sought after; 
 the members of the many inferior governing bodies showed 
 much zeal in doing them homage. Everything conspired 
 towards securing for them, when they showed themselves 
 worthy of it, the most honored and envied existence. 
 
 My ancestors had done everything to deserve this, and so 
 it came that in the town of Le Mans, in the neighborhood 
 of their home, they had many friends, selected from among 
 the most distinguished people of the province. Le Mans, 
 although far from being a town of importance, could never- 
 theless produce the best elements of society, for, in the 
 ranks of the nobility, of the magistracy, of the haute bour- 
 geoisie, and landowners, there were to be found men of 
 worth, educated, distinguished in manner, women of bright 
 intellect, agreeable, fond of pleasure, and inspiring all their 
 circle with a taste for it. It was an easy-going and some- 
 what giddy society, whose faults, — and this illustrates the 
 manners of that epoch, — were overlooked with more than 
 indulgence by the higher clergy. 
 
 The bishopric of Le Mans was one of those most coveted. 
 Its revenues were considerable; the episcopal palace was a
 
 MGB. GBIMALDI 9 
 
 very fine one, whicli had, as a dependency, a charming 
 country-seat about one league distant from the town. This 
 see had for some time been occupied by prelates of high 
 birth, grave men who scrupulously fulfilled the duties of 
 their holy ministry. Upon its becoming vacant in the last 
 years of the reign of Louis XV., it was given to the Abb6 
 Grimaldi, a young ecclesiastic, the scion of a great house, 
 most agreeable as to his personality, his intellect, and his 
 remarkably graceful manner. A very pleasant companion, 
 he showed himself capable of a devoted friendship to those 
 whom he honored by counting them among his friends, and 
 he gave a proof of this in the choice of the vicars-general 
 with whom he saw fit to surround himself. They were, gen- 
 erally speaking, younger sons whom fortune had not favored 
 much, and who had entered the Church merely as a way to a 
 happier condition of affairs. While on terms of friendship 
 with them during the years he spent at the Seminary of 
 Saint-Sulpice, he had promised to summon them to be with 
 him, as soon as he should be a bishop. He made good his 
 promise, and on his arrival at Le Mans, he Avas accom- 
 panied by a flock of vicars-general, who quickly set the 
 bishopric on a footing entirely different from that to which 
 people had hitherto been accustomed. 
 
 They contracted acquaintances in the several social cir- 
 cles, becoming specially attached to those wherein they 
 could contract the most agreeable connections. The bishop 
 viewed this life of excitement, if not with a complacent, at 
 least with a very indulgent eye. His pastoral excursions 
 through his diocese were few and far between, and long did 
 he tarry in the chateaux where he found a society to his 
 taste. 
 
 The chateau de Coulans was one of those which he felt 
 pleasure in visiting. His visits began at the time the 
 Parlement was exiled by M. de Maupeou. The ready wit
 
 10 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 of my mother -was a source of infinite delight to him, and 
 the lectures she read him in no unsparing fashion were 
 always listened to with the best of temper. 
 
 Mgr. Grimaldi embellished his country-seat, and made a 
 delightful habitation of it; his garden was laid out in Eng- 
 lish fashion, doubtless a novelty in the province. He left 
 the bishopric of Le Mans to pass on to a higher see, that 
 of Noyon, when the Revolution drove him to England, 
 where, I believe, he ended his days. While in that country 
 not only was he strict in the observances of his religion, 
 but austere, and very intolerant towards the bishops, his 
 colleagues, and to the priests, who, in 1800, believed it to be 
 their duty not to refuse their support to France's government. 
 
 The regiment at that time stationed at Le Mans was the 
 dragons de Monsieur, commanded by M. de La Chatre. The 
 officers under his orders were most brilliant and distin- 
 guished, and belonged to the best families; they enjoyed 
 high favor at Court, and were all men of elegance and 
 fashion. 
 
 M. de La Chatre owned at a short distance from Le Mans 
 a somewhat fine demesne, and his chateau of Malicorne, to 
 which Mme. de La Chatre frequently came to play the part 
 of hostess, was the rendezvous of all the grand folks of the 
 province, it may be even added, to speak like Corneille, 
 the abode of gallantry. 
 
 Mme. de La Chatre's austerity was not of a very imposing 
 sort; a leader of fashion, she was ever in quest of all that 
 tended to give enjoyment to chateau life, and she sought 
 to bear with patience her separation from a man who had 
 shown her a most passionate attachment. It is not to be 
 wondered at that quarrels, duels, and scandals became of 
 frequent occurrence in a district formerly so peaceable, 
 several of them ending tragically. 
 
 We were in the habit of spending the last days of our
 
 MME. BERRY ER 11 
 
 vacation at Tubeuf, a spacious and fine chateau built of 
 brick, surrounded with a broad moat, standing in the midst 
 of an extensive park containing pine trees hundreds of years 
 old. A life of simplicity was passed within its walls, there 
 being none of that elegant display which had already made 
 such progress. The furniture had once been magnificent, 
 but was now out of fashion. I can still remember the 
 furniture of the drawing-room, the arm-chairs and hangings 
 of yellow satin brought from China forty years before, and 
 ornamented with silken knots, which Mme. Berryer's shuttle 
 had woven. According to the custom in olden days, there 
 was a large household; two or three old valets engaged in 
 working tapestry were always to be found in the ante- 
 chamber of the principal drawing-room. 
 
 Mme. Berryer, the widow of the M. Berryer who had in 
 succession filled several important official positions (he had 
 even been a cabinet minister under Louis XV.), was the 
 mother of Mme. de Lamoignon. She was the possessor of 
 a large fortune. The delicate state of her health bound her 
 down to the strictest of diets, and so she lived in the most 
 frugal manner, while her table was sumptuously supplied. 
 She clung to life by a mere thread, in spite of which, borne 
 up by a moral energy seldom met with, she lived to see the 
 first years of the new century. Endowed with an acute and 
 well-balanced mind, having spent her life among men 
 engaged in public affairs, having in consequence seen and 
 learnt much, she possessed in the highest degree the talent 
 to manage her salon, and to give to each member of it his 
 place, while always occupying the position which was hers. 
 
 This dignified social circle did not, however, set its face 
 against amusements of good taste, and of an intellectual 
 kind. Thalia had her stage in a little theatre set up in the 
 orangery. I can remember having, at the age of eleven or 
 twelve, played a part in one of those pieces which could
 
 12 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 certainly not give offence to the most severe sticklers for 
 propriety, as it was the work of one of the many clergymen 
 attached to the seigniory of Tubeuf. 
 
 The demesne of Tubeuf was one of those in France 
 wherein the seignior had the patronage of the greatest 
 number of livings, eleven or twelve, I think, all of them 
 richly endowed. The exercise of so extended a right 
 brought with it a great responsibility, which Mme. Ber- 
 ryer always fully recognized. In order therefore to lighten 
 the burden of it, she had taken all proper precautions, 
 and had surrounded herself with a sort of council which 
 enlightened her in regard to her appointments, a mat- 
 ter on which she was, moreover, in full accord with her 
 bishop. 
 
 The large family of M. de Lamoignon (he had three sons 
 and four daughters, of whom two, at the time whereof I 
 speak, were already married) was in the habit of spending 
 a few days at Tubeuf in the month of September, and then 
 returning to Basville, where M. de Lamoignon was working 
 out his ruin. 
 
 M. de Lamoignon's third daughter. Mile. Louise, had 
 been entrusted to the care of her grandmother, Mme. 
 Berryer. She was a charming creature, and I can still 
 remember, in spite of the sixty-six years which have since 
 elapsed, the gentle and sincere girl with whom I spent most 
 of my evenings, sitting by her side at a large harpsichord 
 whereon she practised the music taught to her by Balbatre, 
 then the teacher most in vogue. 
 
 The magnificent matrimonial alliance which Mile. Louise 
 de Lamoignon was shortly to contract was due to the con- 
 fidence inspired by the education which she had received 
 under the wing of her grandmother. It was doubtless 
 natural that the name of Lamoignon should ally itself with 
 that of Mole ; but the gravity that pervaded the manners of
 
 LALLY'S CASE 13 
 
 the hotel Mole and of the chateau of Champlatreux, would 
 have ill accommodated itself to a young girl educated amid 
 the noisy tumult of Basville. 
 
 I lost my grandfather in the winter of 1783. He did not 
 fall a victim to any properly defined malady ; on the day of 
 his death, his friend, Mme, Berryer, had parted from him 
 at one o'clock, after a lengthy conversation which had left 
 no apparent traces of fatigue ; at two o'clock he had passed 
 away. His end was a peaceful one. God had reserved 
 such an end for him, as a compensation for the work and 
 turmoil of his long career. The parliamentary struggles, in 
 the last years of the reign of Louis XV., had brought much 
 worry and work in their wake; they were brought to a 
 termination by the suppression of the Parlement, and by 
 the exile of all its members, during the ministry of M. de 
 Maupeou. 
 
 Among the cases in which my grandfather played an 
 important part, two had more especially caused him much 
 pain and trouble, viz. the trial of M. de Lally, at which he 
 was rapporteur, and that of Labarre, with regard to a 
 sacrilege committed at Abbeville. However violent might 
 be the criticisms to which the decisions in these two cases 
 gave birth, he had made it a law unto himself not to reply 
 to them, respecting in so doing the feeling which animated 
 the efforts of the son of M. de Lally, to obtain a reversal of 
 the judgment which had condemned his father to death. 
 Once only, provoked by the diatribes of M. de Voltaire, he 
 wrote to him, complaining of the unfairness of his attacks. 
 After his death, I found Voltaire's reply among his papers, 
 and it is still in my possession. 
 
 In 1801, the same calumnious statements were reproduced 
 in the Correspondence of La Harpe, which was being pub- 
 lished in the Journal cles Dehats. I thought it my duty to 
 reply as follows, while publishing Voltaire's letter: —
 
 14 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 As you have seen fit, Sir, to print in your journal the article of the 
 Correspondence of M. de La Ilarpe, having reference to the death of 
 M. de Voltaire, you will doubtluss not refuse to print also a letter of 
 Voltaire himself ; it will do duty as an answer to that article, in so 
 far as my grandfather is concerned. Keasons specially inherent to 
 the duties of his position, and, above all, the testimony of his con- 
 science to which he owed the bold contempt in which he ever held 
 calumny, were the cause that made him decide not to make public 
 tliis letter, even after the death of M. de Voltaire. His principles did 
 not allow him, contrariwise to the example shown since by so many 
 people, I will not say, to make bad use, but even to make use of every- 
 thing written to him in the intimacy of the closet, and in the freedom 
 of a confidential and private correspondence. He sought, doubtless, 
 for his own satisfaction, to draw from M. de Voltaire an avowal 
 which he felt sure the latter could not refuse, looking to the strength 
 and clearness of the evidence he would place before him, but he 
 stopped short at that, and considered himself sufficiently avenged. 
 It must have cost M. de Voltaire an effort to write that letter, and 
 to entrust to a man who had cause for complaint against him the 
 secret of his inconsistencies, and of his levity in matters so serious and 
 of so high an importance. 
 
 M. de Voltaire did not have any cause to repent having trusted 
 to the generosity of a character to which he felt bound to pay the 
 tribute of his sincere esteem, nay, even his reverence. 
 
 I do not know what it was that can have led M. de La Harpe to 
 introduce random assertions into a correspondence styled by him a 
 literary one. The indiscretion with which he allows himself to recall 
 memories which years long past and so many recent misfortunes had 
 effaced from the mind, to once more lay bare wounds which had had 
 time to heal, this indiscretion alone made me decide upon resenting 
 the ill-considered attack, which I had so little cause to expect. 
 
 Still I delayed doing so, as long as I sav/ the attack buried in the 
 numerous pages of four stout volumes ; but now that, standing out 
 by itself in the feuilleton of a journal of repute, it has necessarily 
 acquired greater publicity and more prominent notice, I should cer- 
 tainly fail in what I owe to the memory of an ancestor whom I have 
 so many reasons to cherish and to reverence, were I not to make use 
 of the means I hold to crush the calumny which relentlessly pursues 
 him twenty years after his demise. It is, as I believe, a sacred duty 
 for me to perform, and, if any one could be found to cast a doubt on
 
 A LETTER FROM VOLTAIRE 15 
 
 the lawfulness of my efforts, I should wish for no other judge than 
 M. de Lally-ToUendal himself, than that courageous son, who, in so 
 unfortunate a case, has known how to do so much for the memory of 
 his father, who received everybody's praise for it, and considerations 
 for whose feelings has caused me, for over the three months during 
 which this correspondence has been published, to preserve a silence 
 which I at last break only with the deepest regret. 
 
 M. DE Voltaire's Letter. 
 
 "Ferney, September 20th, 1776. 
 
 u Sir, — I have to acknowledge the receipt of the letter with which 
 you honor me. My eighty-year-old eyes experience much difficulty 
 in reading it, and my aged reason gives me to understand that I ought 
 never to have written. 
 
 "I can clearly see that the greed of a few publishers has imputed 
 to me several works which are not mine, and has tampered with those 
 of which I have unfortunately been the author. I have seen four 
 editions of the writing of which you speak, and those four editions 
 are absolutely dissimilar. 
 
 " If I might reasonably hope or fear to live a few years more, I 
 would bring out myself a correct edition which I would acknowledge, 
 and you would certainly not have any reason to be dissatisfied with it. 
 
 "My family. Sir, which has had the honor of frequently enjoying 
 your society, has taught me what is due to your personal merit, to 
 your eloquence and to your real goodness of heart, and 1 feel such 
 confidence in that goodness that I will frankly confess to you the way 
 in which the matters you refer to were brought about. 
 
 "It is the son of the brave, unfortunate, and indiscreet officer of 
 whom you speak, who, under the influence of the most legitimate, if 
 not the most excusable, despair, wrote the memoirs of which use has 
 been made, and you will no doubt find an excuse for a son who 
 seeks to vindicate his father. 
 
 "Since you encourage me. Sir, to make to you avowals of which 
 I feel sure that a man of your rank and years will not take unfair 
 advantage, I will, moreover, tell you that a most upright friend of an 
 unfortunate young man, who would have become one of France's best 
 officers, having escaped the terrible fate that overtook this young 
 friend of his, as imprudent as upright, spent two whole years with 
 me between France and Geneva.
 
 16 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 "This young man, who was treated as cruelly as his friend, has 
 become one of the best engineers in Europe. I was fortunate enough 
 to procure a situation for him from a great king who is cognizant of 
 and rewards his merit. I beg it as a favor that you will forgive him 
 also. And verily, all that we mast do at the age which you and I, 
 Sir, have reached, is to spend our last days in forgiving. When, on 
 the brink of the grave, one looks back upon all one has seen during 
 the course of one's life, one shudders at the thought of so many fear- 
 ful happenings. Happy he who can say with Horace : — 
 ' Senior ac meliorfit accidente senectd.' 
 
 "I wish you, Sir, abetter state of health than mine, a prolonged 
 enjoyment of the esteem in which you are held, of rest after all your 
 labors, and the indulgence so necessary in the case of mankind, whose 
 weakness and misery you ai'e familiar with. 
 
 "I have the honor to be, with great respect, sincere esteem, and 
 reverence, Sir. ..." 
 
 It is unnecessary to point out to you, Sir, or to those who will read 
 the foregoing letter of M. de Voltaire, that it does not constitute one 
 of those disclaimers which he so frequently indulged in in the periodi- 
 cals of the day with regard to works to which he did not dare affix his 
 name. Here it is, on the contrary, in a case wherein he had been 
 pleased to play an important part, wherein, far from having anything 
 to fear, he had seen nothing but the renown to be derived from it ; 
 it is on the simple but terrible provocative challenge of an honest 
 man to speak the truth that he becomes troubled, that his conscience 
 forces from him a private disavowal ; it is when he is unable to reply 
 to the reasons put before him, to the remonstrances addressed to him, 
 and that, quietly and without publicity, it is thus that he determines 
 upon making another shoulder the responsibility of a work in which 
 he gloried perhaps but a few minutes before, and upon begging on 
 behalf of another the forgiveness which he did not dare to hope for for 
 himself ; thus it is, I repeat, that when no other power than truth and 
 his conscience compel him to do so, he is lavish with the assurance of 
 his esteem, consideration, reverence, in the case of the man whom he 
 has so cruelly injured, and to whose honor he does not fear to entrust 
 testimony so damaging to himself. 
 
 People may now judge between Voltaire and my grandfather. 
 
 After leaving college, I took up the study of law without
 
 EDUCATION UNDER THE OLD REGIME 17 
 
 giving any great attention to it. With all the young men 
 of that period, it seemed to me that the best use to which I 
 could put my time was to ride, to fence, and to take lessons 
 in dancing. Earely did Christian de Lamoignon, de Mon- 
 breton, and I go and listen to the lectures of M. Sareste. 
 We did not lose much by this conduct, for the first work 
 which he put into our hands, and upon which he was wont 
 to comment for our benefit, was the Contrat social. This 
 incident fully illustrated the ruling spirit abroad in those 
 days. Things had greatly changed since the days when 
 clever jurists, the pride of both the French bar and bench, 
 trained themselves for the future. 
 
 How does it happen that from so imperfect an instruc- 
 tion, there should have sprung men who, in every walk of 
 life, especially in the magistracy, where a solid grounding 
 is necessary, filled important posts during difficult times, 
 with distinction? The reason therefor is a simple one. A 
 man's entry into public life began then much earlier than 
 it does now ; he entered upon his career at an earlier age ; 
 at the age of fifteen he went into the army; at fifteen into 
 the navy; and the officers of that body were considered to 
 be the best educated in Europe. It is true that a man had 
 to be somewhat older before joining the engineers ; at the 
 age of twenty, its officers were practically and theoretically 
 well versed in their duties ; the place they held in 1792 in 
 the French army proves the truth of this assertion. One 
 could enter the ranks of the magistracy at the age of 
 twenty; at twenty -five, one enjoyed a deliberative voice in 
 the councils. 
 
 The custom prevailing in the Parlements was followed 
 in the case of the inferior jurisdictions, and it is well known 
 how numerous they were. The same may be said with 
 regard to the Cour cles comptes, the Coin- des aides, etc. In 
 the civil service proper, i.e. in the department of all the
 
 / 
 
 18 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 fin.ancial bureaus, there was no rule governing the age of 
 admission, and, generally speaking, they were open to one 
 at a very precocious age. One could not exact of young 
 men who sought to enter the various public services condi- 
 tions for admission as severe as those set for those who 
 nowadays present themselves after a course of studies 
 which has brought them to their twenty-second or twenty- 
 third year. Was this for the better or for the worse? 
 With regard to the army and navy, I have already stated 
 that in regard to scientific attainments French officers were 
 superior to those of other nations. And yet, they did not 
 know the tenth part of what those who nowadays come out 
 of the preparatory schools are familiar with. 
 
 There is the fullest justification for saying that Vauban 
 himself could not have passed the examination in which a 
 candidate for admission to the Polytechnic School must 
 nowadays be successful. 
 
 Great store has ever been set on the special technical 
 education acquired at school, but that alone is not sufficient. 
 There remain physical and moral qualities to be acquired 
 elsewhere. There are two educations, the one supplement- 
 ing the other. The first is the result of special or of 
 classical studies; but, following upon it, comes the educa- 
 tion wliich is the result of the centre in which the young 
 man lives on leaving school, of the examples, of the 
 impressions, of the traditions which he gathers. Nowa- 
 days, this latter education has lost the better part of its 
 value and of its power. The young man who does not 
 begin to enter life till he is twenty-two or twenty-three 
 years old, thinks tliat there is nothing left for him to learn; 
 he entertains oftentimes the most absolute confidence in 
 himself, and the most profound disdain for all who do not 
 share the ideas, the opinions he has already conceived unto 
 himself.
 
 CHARACTER OF THE PARIS PARLEMENT 19 
 
 It was different under the preceding regime. 
 
 Youth, to whom the workl was open at so early an age, 
 entered it with diffidence, unable even to hide its short- 
 comings from itself. To this must be added the fact that 
 the world into which a young man had to make his way, 
 was full of intellect and distinction, solidly established on 
 the basis of an unchangeable hierarchy, consecrated by 
 time, and that in it one was born, one had to live, and one 
 was to die. 
 
 I Avill select as an example the world into which I was 
 admitted at the age of seventeen, that of the magistracy in 
 which the Paris Parlernent held so large a place. In spite 
 of the influence already at this date exercised over it by the 
 manners of the century, the daily habits preserved a some- 
 what serious demeanor, blended in the case of a goodly 
 number of families with a sufficiently elegant mode of 
 living, in the case of many with a pronounced taste for the 
 enjoyments of the mind, and in the case of a few with an 
 extensive acquaintance with the highest sciences. Thus 
 it was that the Parlement could boast of possessing within 
 its body President Sarron, the whole of whose leisure time 
 was devoted with much success to astronomical research, 
 and M. Dionis du Sejour, who followed d'Alembert closely 
 in the higher regions of geometry. Literature had like- 
 wise its votaries, for M. Perrand wrote tragedies, while 
 M. Pavier even allowed himself to produce comic operas, 
 but be it admitted, not under his name. That of Paul et 
 Virginie was one of his children. 
 
 Hence it was that more than thirty salo7is where there 
 was no lack of agreeable and solid conversations opened 
 their doors to me. These conversations took all the more 
 hold of one, because they were carried on, as a rule, among 
 persons who were in the habit of meeting frequently and 
 of exchanging ideas. Large assemblages were rare; no more
 
 20 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 than thirty or forty people were wont to be brought 
 together. 
 
 No sooner had I been admitted into this social circle 
 than I felt my ignorance and a strong desire to remedy 
 it. It was at that time that there came to me a taste for 
 assiduous and careful reading, a taste that has never since 
 left me. 
 
 I thereupon began to attend the classes of the newly- 
 established lyc4e. 
 
 The professors were M. de La Harpe, M. de Fourcroy, 
 M. Garat, M. de Parcieux, in fact, nearly all the men who 
 had made a reputation in the domains of science or of 
 letters. The best element of Parisian society flocked to 
 attend their lectures, deriving therefrom, in addition to a 
 deal of personal instruction, subjects for conversation. It 
 is difficult to form a conception nowadays of this intellec- 
 tual movement. 
 
 Previous to 1788, politics occupied but a small place in 
 it; but new works, theatrical plays, the heaviest as well as 
 the lightest productions of literature, were continually taken 
 up and reviewed, to become the objects of opinions and 
 controversies, wherein well-trained minds would display all 
 their resources. I seem to live over again the day on which 
 appeared the Voyage du jeune Anacharsis, a work which of 
 itself furnished material for a whole winter's conversations, 
 and, in fact, it would have been hard to supply more agree- 
 able subject matter. 
 
 As regards myself, that second education at the hands of 
 the world, the power of which I have noted, began from the 
 very moment that I returned to the paternal mansion. Not 
 a day passed there but that, either during or after dinner, 
 some conversation took place between my father and some 
 of his friends or colleagues, over such matters as had during 
 the day engaged the attention of the Palais, either in the
 
 INDIRECT EDUCATIONAL TRAINING 21 
 
 courts, or in the interior of the grand' cJiambre. In these 
 discussions, both sides of the questions were taken up, and 
 the merits of the advocates, of the rapporteurs, and of the 
 opinions emitted, were appreciated at their value. 
 
 These teachings left a strong impression on a mind 
 which could full well feel their value, and which ardently 
 desired to be some day in a condition to take part in them. 
 
 Once having entered the Parlement, and ere enjoying 
 deliberative voice in it, it was very instructive to be pres- 
 ent for five years, during all the debates. This novitiate 
 completed that second education, the value of which I have 
 tried to demonstrate.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Couucillor Pasquier's entry into the Parlement — The Assemhly of Nota- 
 bles—The Ministry of M. de Calonue, then that of M. de Fourqueux, 
 and lastly M. de Brienne — The Parlement resists the edicts — Composi- 
 tion of that assemblage — The yraiuV chambre — The grand banc of the 
 presidents a mortier — Messieurs de Saint-Fargeau, d'Aligre, de Trudaine 
 — The Parlement calls for the States-General — The Due d'Orleans 
 exiled — Imprisonment of Councillors Sabattier and Freteau — Contin- 
 uation of the war between the Parlement and the Court from 1787 to 
 1788 — Forcible carrying off and arrest of Councillors d'l^premenil and 
 Goislard de Monsabert — The Edict summoning the States-General — 
 Dismissal of M. de Brienne — Suicide of M. de Lamoignon — M. Necker 
 reappears in public affairs — The Abbe Sieyes — Opening of the States- 
 General — Thoughts on the re'gime which preceded the Revolution — 
 France's happy state from 1783 to 1789 — Corruption of the Court: 
 excesses of luxury, looseness of manners, an irreligious, critical, and 
 Utopian spirit abroad. 
 
 I BECAME a councillor of the Parlement of Paris in the 
 course of my twentieth year. It occurred in the month of 
 January, 1787, at a time when all minds were engrossed 
 with the proposed convocation of the assembly of notables. 
 
 M. de Calonne had required special powers from Chancery 
 to allow of his last loan of -eighty millions appearing on the 
 public ledger. He needed another sixty millions to meet 
 the expenditure of 1786, and, not daring to brave the Parle- 
 ment once more, he had conceived the idea of an assembly 
 of notables from whom he hoped to obtain, for his various 
 projects, a kind of national sanction which would inake 
 him independent of parliamentary resistance. He had the 
 intention of obtaining approval for the conversion of the 
 impdt lies vingtihnes into a tr-rritorial subvention to be 
 
 22
 
 PASQUIER ENTEBS THE PARLEMENT 23 
 
 derived in equal proportions from all properties, even those 
 of the clergy. He was desirous of seeing the customs' 
 barriers moved to the very limits of the kingdom, of finally 
 abolishing statute-labor, and of replacing it by a pecuniary 
 tax to be assessed on a just basis. 
 
 With a view of securing a better acceptance of these 
 changes, he proposed to create provincial assemblies in all 
 the provinces which did not possess legislative bodies of 
 their own. There was perhaps some good in these plans, 
 but M. de Calonne's levity of mind was an obstacle to his 
 taking such measures as were necessary for their adoption. 
 He had not given sufficient attention to the composition of 
 that assembly, and had, under a pressure which he knew 
 not how to resist, suffered men most likely to raise troubles 
 for him, to enter it. It was in that assembly that M. de La 
 Fayette made his debut. The ground chosen by him was 
 of a nature to conciliate popular favor. He prayed for the 
 suppression of the lettres de cachet and of state prisons. A 
 little later, he supplemented this prayer with one that 
 Protestants should have their civil status restored to them, 
 and with another calling for the immediate convocation of 
 the nation's representatives. 
 
 As to M. de Calonne, his plans were not completely 
 matured at the time of the opening of the assembly; uncer- 
 tainty still reigned with regard to certain of them, even at 
 this important moment. This was known, and necessarily 
 taken advantage of. Everybody knows how he was over- 
 thrown by the very notables whom he had called together; 
 how, after the short-lived ministry of M. de Fourqueux, the 
 intrigues of the Court, which had placed at the head of 
 affairs this remarkably incapable man, with the sole object 
 of finding time to get ready other batteries, were at last 
 successful, in spite of Louis XVI. 's personal repugnance, to 
 place M. de Brienne, archbishop of Toulouse, at the head of
 
 24 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 the ministry. He was at first entrusted only with the 
 administration of the Treasury, but it was not long ere he 
 was appointed Prime Minister. 
 
 The judge who held the position of Keeper of the Seal 
 was inclined to give him countenance in his mad enter- 
 prises. He bore one of the greatest names in the ranks of 
 the magistracy, and had succeeded in establishing for him- 
 self a reputation far in excess of his actual worth. M. de 
 Lamoignon had, during the last days of M. de Calonne's 
 administration, taken the place of M. de Miromesnil. He 
 had long cherished the hope of securing that important 
 position, which was to bring him that of chancellor, as the 
 advanced age of M. de Maupeou was liable to render this 
 post vacant at any moment. He reckoned also on this 
 windfall to once more establish on a good footing his for- 
 tune which was in a sad state, owing to a most imprudent 
 use of it. This extravagance may well be taken as mani- 
 fest proof of the decadence into which had fallen the spirit 
 of the magistracy, once so jealous of the high esteem secured 
 to it by the gravity of its manners and the regularity of its 
 private life. 
 
 For instance, how is it to be conceived that Mile, de 
 Lamoignon could not reconcile herself to having married 
 the sole inheritor of the name of d'Aguesseau, because this 
 alliance did not give her the opportunity of being presented 
 at Court? It was but too true that M. de Lamoignon would 
 never withhold his support from any measures tending to 
 render secure for him a post which he could not relinquish 
 without falling into an abyss. Hence he devoted all his 
 forces to the support of the archbishop, whom he gave to 
 understand that he could rely upon him to conquer, in case 
 of need, all parliamentary opposition, and, in particular 
 that of the Paris Parlement, where he believed he had 
 a powerful following at his back.
 
 COURT AND PAELEMENT 25 
 
 M. de Brienue, full of faith in this pledge, after having 
 provided for immediate requirements by the creation of 
 annuities to the extent of 60,000,000 livres, got rid of the 
 Assembly of Notables. Then, in order to meet his engage- 
 ments, as well as the ever-increasing calls for funds, he 
 seized upon all M. de Calonne's plans, and drew up the 
 edicts which he shortly afterwards laid before the Paris 
 Parlement. 
 
 No difficulties were encountered as regards the foundation 
 of the provincial assemblies, and a decree granting free 
 trade in the matter of cereals ; but the Stamp Acts and the 
 question of a territorial subvention were not so easily 
 disposed of. Then did the all-powerful opposition of the 
 Paris Parlement make itself felt. I had been a member of 
 that assembly for seven months, and I saw in that opposi- 
 tion the beginnings of the series of facts which were to lead 
 us without interruption to the Kevolution of 1789. 
 
 I do not intend to follow step by step the progress of the 
 disputes which arose at that time between the Court and 
 the magistracy. I do not wish to tell over again that which 
 is to be found in all the Memoirs of the time, and which is 
 set forth in a special and most detailed fashion in the work 
 of M. Sallier, like myself a former councillor in the Parle- 
 ment. I will merely present on this subject a few sum- 
 marized views which I think will prove of assistance to a 
 better understanding of events in their whole. 
 
 The Paris Parlement doubtless showed temerity in its 
 opposition, and especially in the means which it adopted to 
 render it effectual. It yielded too easily to a craving for 
 popularity, to which its natural importance should have 
 rendered it indifferent. Not only did it refuse to register 
 the taxes ; it also declared itself forever incompetent to 
 grant such registration, and in so doing committed the 
 greatest of mistakes, by disposing of a future that did not 
 belong to it.
 
 26 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 It was more than imprudent to call for the States-General 
 in a peremptory fashion, it was doing violence to royal 
 authority, and, in conformity with the principles of the 
 magistracy (I am here speaking the latter's language, and 
 viewing the matter from within its ordinary spirit), the 
 Parlement should never have allowed itself to countenance 
 such violence. I am certainly not blind to the faults of 
 this Parlement, of which I was a member; but, in thus 
 openly confessing them, I may claim the right of being no 
 less sincere with regard to those of the Court. I say the 
 Court advisedly, because that is where the seat of govern- 
 ment really was in those days. How many blunders, what 
 incapacity did its conduct not reveal! M. de Calonne took 
 the initiative of all innovations, set the pace, and then 
 refused to follow the movement to which it has given birth. 
 Yet this was the sole way to direct it. Instead of calling 
 diplomacy to his aid, he has recourse to force, while of all 
 the springs which he handles, precisely those fail him on 
 which he ought to have been able to place the greatest 
 dependence. 
 
 In the very first days, the Parlement escapes his control, 
 especially and almost solely because it is at one and the 
 same time a House of Peers. 
 
 To render this situation wholly intelligible, I must enter 
 upon a few details regarding the composition and the 
 internal economy of the Parlement in those days. 
 
 The head of that body, which was styled the high cham- 
 ber, did not have within itself any talent out of the 
 ordinary, and not one of its members was held in high 
 esteem. Its exile in 1771 had hastened the end, or had 
 brought about the withdrawal of many old magistrates. 
 Since then, men had entered the chamber between the ages 
 of forty and fifty, instead of from fifty to sixty as formerly. 
 The grand banc, that is the bench set apart for the presidents
 
 COMPOSITION OF THE PAELEMENT 27 
 
 d, mortier, Avas still occupied by men bearing the great names 
 of the magistracy, who set the example of a virtuous and 
 respected life ; but among them no man of prominent worth 
 was to be found, and especially no gifted speaker, except, 
 perhaps, M. de Saiut-Fargeau. Yet, whether owing to indo- 
 lence, from fear of committing himself, or from still other 
 motives, which the termination of his career explains, M. de 
 Fargeau hardly ever put that talent to any use. 
 
 The First President was M. d'Aligre, a man of parts, 
 a good enough judge, but whose authority had been lessened 
 by his passion for increasing his fortune. Owing to these 
 several reasons, the grancV chambre, and the magistrates 
 forming part of it, did not obtain from the rest of the House 
 the recognition which should have been theirs. 
 
 Youth had shaken off the yoke of its elders. Abandoned 
 to itself, in love with the new ideas, it had in its midst a 
 few fairly gifted men, several of whom might even be 
 considered good speakers, but who were almost to a man 
 dominated by the impetuosity of their imaginations. Not 
 having any other mentors, is it to be wondered at that this 
 youth should have been carried away by the seductive 
 examples cast in its path by the greatest names of France, 
 the La Rochefoucaulds, the d'Harcourts, the Luynes, the 
 d'Aumonts, the Luxembourgs, the Praslins, and so many 
 more? A peculiarity well worthy of notice in the constitu- 
 tion of that epoch consists in the various elements compos- 
 ing the Paris Parlement, as far as the Co^lr des pairs is 
 concerned. Out of one hundred and fifty magistrates, one 
 half at most belonged to families consecrated for years gone 
 by to the higher functions of the magistracy; the other half 
 owed its somewhat recent origin to magistrates of secondary 
 rank, and to men drawn from the high financial circles. 
 All were called upon, in the sittings of the House, to 
 share the functions of men invested with the highest digni- 
 ties of the state.
 
 28 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 In a debate, the vote of the least of the conseillers 
 (VenquHe counted as much as that of the oldest due et pair, 
 as that even of a prince of the blood, for the princes of the 
 blood had a seat in the Cour des pairs. Such an arrange- 
 ment, under a monarchj^, was undoubtedly the most popular 
 or the most liberal, to use the language of to-day, that could 
 be conceived. 
 
 Nevertheless, this apparent liberality could, and was, 
 oftentimes turned to good account on behalf of the royal 
 power, as the influence of the princes of the blood and of 
 the dues et pairs could not help making itself strongly felt in 
 a body so organized, and was as a matter of course exerted 
 in favor of the Crown, Was it perchance cast against the 
 Crown, the danger, it is true, became all the greater; but, 
 when this occurred, was not the government always to blame 
 for it? Its incapacity in that respect was manifested more 
 than once during the course of the eighteenth century. For 
 fifty years past one had witnessed the sight of dues et pairs, 
 of princes of the blood even, taking part in wretched dis- 
 putes engendered almost in every case by false measures, 
 and sometimes even by religious persecutions. In this 
 direction, the quarrels arising out of Jansenism and Molin- 
 ism were of a serious kind; for they, more than anything 
 else, fostered the spirit of resistance, and accustomed the 
 public mind to it daring the reign of Louis XV. The 
 unfortunate Louis XVI. was to succeed to this deplorable 
 inheritance. 
 
 In 1787, nearly all those who were of some prominence in 
 the peerage, nearly all those who with the magnificence of 
 that high rank combined a cultured and distinguished mind, 
 joined the ranks of tlie parliamentary opposition. I cannot 
 forget how powerfully the minds of the young magistrates 
 were affected by the attraction of following such leaders. 
 They found themselves of a sudden bound up by jjarty ties
 
 THE STATE S-GENEBAL 29 
 
 in these great names, in tlieee noble lives. Now everybody 
 knows how party spirit serves to bring together and even to 
 fuse social conditions. Heads were quickly turned by this 
 seductive and novel intimacy; it took little to win us over; 
 a kind word, a graceful show of setting value on our 
 opinion, soon settled all difficulties ; then, when we returned 
 to our homes, our minds were still exercised over the re- 
 membrance of all that had taken place during the sittings 
 of the Chamber. At the close of the sittings, some twenty 
 of us were in the habit of dining together, most frequently 
 at the table of our colleague, M. de Trudaine, whose head 
 was to fall on the scaffold. 
 
 Those who were more clever, or who had more advanced 
 ideas than the others, took care to fan the flames of our 
 effervescence. Thus, it was at one of those dinners, at 
 which M. d'Epremenil was present, that the Abbe Sabattier, 
 who was somewhat intimate with the Due d'Orleans, for the 
 first time breathed the word States-General. The word 
 surprised us at the outset, but it soon became current. 
 When repeated a few days later at a sitting of the Chamber, 
 it met with divided favor; but perhaps there was no banc 
 where it caused less astonishment than on that of the Peers. 
 The wise heads of the grcmcV chambre were thrown into a 
 state of perturbation by it. I cannot forget the words of 
 one of those old magistrates, who, on passing behind my 
 bench, and noticing that I was somewhat excited, stopped and 
 said: "Yoimg man, a similar idea was frequently broached 
 in the days of j^our grandfather, and this is what he then 
 always told us: 'Gentlemen, this is no child's play; when- 
 ever France sees the States-General for the first time, she 
 will also witness a terrible revolution.'" This and many 
 other warnings which were given to us by men whose 
 opinions were entitled to some weight, had the effect of 
 causing a goodly number of us to hesitate. The majority
 
 30 MEMOIRS OF CUANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 were led astray by the false move of a man of talent who, 
 on that day, began the series of blunders he has since com- 
 mitted. That man was M. Ferrand. He was a ready 
 speaker, was held in high regard, and possessed influence; 
 it was he who ordinarily drew up the remonstrances. In 
 order to get rid of the convocation of the States-General, 
 he hit upon the plan of showing how the power of the 
 Parlement would necessarily be lessened by that of the 
 States-General. 
 
 This idea, which might have had some weight with a few 
 calm and thoughtful minds, if, taking them aside, he had 
 presented it to them in an adroit fashion, produced on the 
 assembly as a mass an effect altogether contrary to that 
 which he had looked forward to. From the moment that 
 our interests were clearly at stake, we could see nothing 
 finer than to sacrifice them to what we looked upon as the 
 public weal. Our feelings of generosity got the better of 
 us, and there was no way of holding us back. On that day 
 did I begin a course of experience with large assemblies. I 
 was struck by what had just happened, and I was often to 
 bear it in mind in the future. 
 
 So the Parlement called the States-General, and declared 
 itself incompetent to vote any taxation. Its removal to 
 Troyes is a matter of history, as well as its return to Paris, 
 after having formed a regular coalition against all the other 
 Parlements of France. 
 
 Two months later, the ministry renewed the struggle. 
 At a time when it had derived so much benefit from 
 adopting a conciliatory policy, it saw fit, without a shadow 
 of necessity, and when it was least to be expected, to have 
 recourse to force and to coercion. Without previous warn- 
 ing, immediately after the vacation, when the members of 
 the Parlement had hardly had time to meet, it prevailed 
 upon the king to hold a royal sitting, at which were sub-
 
 THE DUC B' ORLEANS EXILED 31 
 
 mitted two edicts of the highest importance, the one gov- 
 erning the civil status of Protestants, and the other 
 providing for the issuing of a series of loans covering a 
 space of five years. These loans formed a grand total of 
 420,000,000 livres. The last-mentioned measure was cer- 
 tainly of the boldest. Its adoption would have presupposed 
 absolute confidence in the government, and this confidence 
 could only be established by a previous submitting of a 
 financial scheme conceived in the most clever fashion, and 
 for the carrying out of which perfect guarantees would be 
 presented. 
 
 It was apparently with the object of inspiring confidence 
 on this score that the edict — and herein lay another piece of 
 imprudence — embodied the promise of calling the States- 
 General together ere the five years would have expired. 
 The bait was too clumsily set and did not deceive anybody. 
 The king having allowed each one to freely express his 
 opinion, the edict met with strong opposition, but no divi- 
 sion took place on the question. Many have thought that 
 if it had been put to vote, it would have received a majority. 
 Such, however, is not my opinion. And so, after a debate, 
 in appearance unrestrained, the chancellor declared, by 
 order of the king, the registration of the loans, in the same 
 way as if a lit de justice had been held. 
 
 Then it was that the Due d' Orleans, protesting against 
 such coercion, asked that a note should be made on the 
 register to the effect that the measure had been passed by 
 the most express order of His Majesty. Such was his first 
 open act of opposition, and it was one of the most serious 
 import. Never had a government played so well into the 
 hands of its opponents. 
 
 This declaration of hostilities had great results outside, 
 while it considerably angered the Court circle. Next day, 
 the Due d'OrMans was exiled to Villers-Cotterets, and in
 
 32 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 order that nothing should be lacking to inflame the public, 
 two of the Parlement's councillors, Messieurs Sabattier and 
 Freteau were carried off and imprisoned in fortresses. Their 
 only offence consisted in having availed themselves of the 
 permission granted by the king of freely expressing their 
 opinion in his presence. I was present at this royal sitting, 
 and it is hardly necessary to dwell upon the deep impression 
 it left with me, and how indignant I felt over its results. 
 If I obtrude my impressions and feelings on this occasion, 
 it is for the reason that, as at that time I had no settled 
 political convictions, it is reasonable to infer that what I 
 felt must have been felt no less strongly by the mass of the 
 people. 
 
 Nevertheless, I cannot hide from myself that my young 
 mind Avas greatly shaken by the talent of our brilliant 
 speakers, and that I was specially intoxicated with that of 
 M. d'ifipremenil. He had surpassed himself during the royal 
 sitting, and had only escaped the outrageous treatment which 
 had befallen his two colleagues, owing to the impression 
 which he had made upon the king himself. Another mem- 
 ber of the Parlement was, with him, saved from the minis- 
 terial vengeance by the personal will of the king. This 
 was M. Robert de Saint-Vincent. This fact is worthy of 
 record, because it affords one more proof of the good faith 
 of Louis XVI. M. de Saint-Vincent had spoken with more 
 vehemence than any one, but his speech was couched in a 
 familiar and even trivial style, and the king thought he had 
 discerned in it a character of loyalty and of out-spokenness 
 which he could not find trace of in the honeyed utterances 
 of M. Freteau, and in the witty sentences of the Abb6 
 Sabattier. The latter was, moreover, reputed to be one of 
 the secret advisers of the Due d'Orleans. 
 
 The king himself defended M. de Saint- Vincent against 
 his ministers, to whose tender mercies he abandoned the
 
 THE PARLEMENT'S BEMONSTRANCES 33 
 
 two others. That unfortunate monarch had shown to little 
 advantage in this parliamentary drama. His uneasiness 
 during the speech of M. d'Epr^menil had only served to 
 demonstrate that he lacked courage to follow his own 
 impressions, and, at the moment when the Due d' Orleans 
 made his protest heard, he had hardly been able to utter a 
 few words to say that such was his will, and that hardly in 
 royal tones. 
 
 It became evident that the convocation of the States- 
 General, within a short time, was inevitable. 
 
 If, therefore, the government had been endowed with the 
 slightest foresight, it would have merely contented itself 
 with the means of bringing about this convocation without 
 too much jarring, and preserving sufficient power to be able 
 to weather the storms which this event might bring about. 
 M. d'Epremenil had, during the royal sitting, made a propo- 
 sition, which was with the foregoing object in view, the 
 best the Parlement could offer. He was in favor of grant- 
 ing the registration of the loans for the first two years, but 
 on condition that the king would promise formally to call 
 together the States in 1789. It was that proposition which 
 had shaken the king's mind. His ministers had noticed it, 
 and to the fear they experienced over it may perhaps be 
 attributed the eagerness with which they drove His Majesty 
 to measures which left no further chances open for negotia- 
 tions. 
 
 The war between Parlement and Court went on during 
 the end of 1787 and the first months of 1788. This war 
 was waged on the Parlement's side with a moderation of 
 manner and of speech which tended greatly to heighten the 
 advantage of the position it took in the eyes of the public. 
 Its personal quarrel did not prevent it from fulfilling its 
 duty towards the state, the monarch, and individuals, and 
 it did not once more fall into the mistake it had committed
 
 34 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 on former occasions of suspending the administration of 
 justice. Far from this being the case, the Parlement showed 
 an increased activity in order to meet all the demands made 
 upon it. After the royal sitting, it took up the edict on the 
 civil status of Protestants, and accomplished its duty with 
 a wisdom worthy of praise. Certain changes in the wording 
 of the edict having been found necessary, M. de Malesherbes, 
 the father of the edict, promptly endorsed the request for 
 them in the King's Council, and the edict was registered 
 on an almost unanimous vote. 
 
 This fact is really deserving of attention, the Paris Parle- 
 ment being perhaps at that time the assemblage of men 
 among whom religious principles held, sway more than 
 elsewhere, and among whom the greatest attachment to the 
 faith of our fathers was to be found. Profound knowledge 
 went together with these principles, and this makes it all 
 the more cause for regret that so priceless an advantage 
 should so soon have been disdained and rendered of no 
 value. 
 
 The setting at liberty and the return to the Parlement of 
 the kidnapped ministers was asked for unceasingly. The 
 king's answers, as inspired by his ministers, were not only 
 always couched in the sense of a refusal, but even in very 
 dry form. As a result, instead of an isolated matter being 
 debated, general questions were taken up. Remonstrances 
 were drawn up in the matter of compulsory registrations, 
 lettres de cachet, and the danger resulting from a power which 
 should be kept within bounds by its sole will. These 
 remonstrances, ever respectfully couched, nevertheless set 
 forth strong arguments in their support. Hence they acted 
 powerfully on the mind of the nation, and then it was 
 that the Parlement enjoyed in the highest deg'^^e public 
 esteem and popular favor. At an earlier date, when the 
 seat of this assemblage had been transferred to Troyes,
 
 THE GOVERNMENT'S EMBABBASSMENT 35 
 
 riotous demonstrations had occurred on the Pont-Neuf and 
 in the environs of Paris, In March and April, 1788, the 
 inner halls of the Palais became the scene of demonstrations 
 all the more dangerous that they did not have their origin 
 with the populace. It was no longer the basoche alone, i.e. 
 the young lawyers and 2ii'0cureurs^ clerks, but truly the 
 educated and best trained youth of the capital who sur- 
 rounded the locality wherein were held the meetings of the 
 Chamber, and who cheered the magistrates, whenever they 
 declared themselves in a more pronounced fashion for the 
 opinions most in favor for the time being. 
 
 I must fain confess that many of us were very grateful, 
 nay, more so than was proper, for these marks of approval, 
 and that some of us did not even stop at provoking them by 
 means of communications that were indiscreet, to say the 
 least of them. As a result of this, whereas, in the hall 
 wherein the sittings were held, one heard only a language 
 of independence contained within the limits of a decorum 
 which no member of the assemblage would have dared to 
 overstep, it was quite a different matter in the surrounding 
 halls, and notably in that of the Pas perdus. 
 
 There, the speechifying and the talk were more than 
 daring; they were seditious. However far I was carried 
 away in those agitated days, it was nevertheless difficult 
 for me not to entertain considerable anxiety with regard to 
 the consequences of what I witnessed. What I had read 
 about Cardinal de Retz would recur to me, and I could 
 readily perceive that our mode of acting resembled too 
 closely that of the Fronde. 
 
 One day in particular, having been struck more than 
 usually with this similarity, I was on the point of saying so 
 in the midst of the sitting of the Chamber, at the moment, 
 when, according to usage, the clerk of the House called out 
 my name, so that I should announce my opinion. I lacked
 
 36 MEMOIRS OF CUANCELLOIt PASQUIER 
 
 the necessary courage, and I contented myself, as usual, 
 with being of the same opinion as Mr. So and So or the 
 other. Had I yielded to my impulse, I should have created 
 no little scandal, yet the result of my temerity would have 
 been to show that I, while yet a very young man, had en- 
 joyed an amount of foresight lacking only in too many 
 others whom it suited better than me. 
 
 Yet, I must do my colleagues the justice of saying that 
 not one of them, even among those most carried away, would 
 not have thought of the Fronde without expressing a mortal 
 fright. The purity of our intentions gave us a feeling of 
 security; moreover, we placed in progress that silly confi- 
 dence which was destined to deceive so many of us; and 
 lastly, it must be confessed, we were very giddy, and some- 
 what thoughtless. Ours was the inexperience sprung from 
 a prolonged vacation; ours was the thoughtlessness born of 
 a craving for the enjoyments of life, from which the most 
 serious matters were powerless to turn us; our mornings 
 were spent in the Chamber, our evenings at the hal de 
 V Op&ra. 
 
 True it is that the youngest of us would there meet the 
 most sedate, the most august personages. One evening I 
 was approached by a masked person of great wit, who took 
 a pleasure in pointing out to me in piquant fashion the 
 points of resemblance between the pleasures of the ball and 
 those of the sitting of the Chamber at which he had seen 
 me in the morning. This masked person was no other than 
 Monsieur, who was to be Louis XVIII. When, in 1815, I 
 had the honor of being one of his ministers, he enjoyed 
 recalling the incident to my mind, a proof, among numerous 
 others, that His Majesty was in possession of one of the 
 most tenacious memories in his kingdom. 
 
 From day to day did the government embark upon a sea 
 of fresh troubles. No longer could one remain blind to the
 
 THE GOVERNMENT'S EMBARRASSMENT 37 
 
 impossibility of realizing tlie succeeding loans the registra- 
 tion of which had so unfortunately been imposed at the 
 royal sitting. This source of income must of necessity be 
 abandoned. The tax of the vingtihne, provided for at 
 Troyes, was collected in the provinces with the greatest 
 difficulty. The other Parlements, noticing the small amount 
 of success the complaisance of the Paris Parlement had 
 reaped, sought to throw every possible obstacle in the way 
 of that collection, several of them going so far as to refuse 
 the registration of the edict authorizing it. 
 
 There had been a series of removals and banishments, 
 and of summonings to Versailles. Then it was that, upon 
 the magistrates hurling the word despotism at the king's 
 ministers, the latter answered with the word aristocracy. 
 Nay, the word was embodied in an answer from royalty 
 itself. Thus did there originate from the king's very lips 
 the charge so often repeated by the revolutionary echoes. 
 Still, it was not by indulging in such recrimination that 
 the government could get out of the untenable position in 
 which it had gotten itself; remedies more drastic were 
 necessary. 
 
 They got no further in that respect than the celebrated 
 project of creating the Cour pUnih'e. M. de Lamoignon, 
 had, alone, not been able to plan the carrying out of this 
 conception. He had called upon several assistants (the 
 Abbe Maury was one), a few of whom showed apparently 
 but little discretion. The plans became known. On the 
 3d of May, 1788, the Paris Parlement, at a sitting at 
 which the Pairs were present, issued a decree, wherein, 
 after reciting the fundamental points of the monarchical 
 constitution of France, it revealed to the nation what was 
 being hatched in the King's Council against public rights, 
 and protesting beforehand against everything that should 
 be done. It may be said of this document, which was most
 
 38 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 cleverly devised, that it strangled the Cour iMni^re even 
 ere its birth. Those who had drawn it up had had cog- 
 nizance of the edicts which had been prepared. 
 
 No sooner had the foregoing decree come to the knowledge 
 of the ministers than it aroused their ire, and they immedi- 
 ately resolved upon casting into prison M. d'Epremenil, 
 who was looked upon as its principal author. With him 
 was coupled, it would be hard to say why, M. Goislard de 
 Monsabert, against whom there was no other grievance than 
 that he had, a few days before, denounced before a sitting 
 of the Chamber, a certain act of extortion committed by the 
 exchequer with regard to the collection of the vmgtiHies. 
 This gave the ministerial vengeance a childish character, 
 and it became to the last degree odious when Messieurs 
 d'Epremenil and Goislard having, to escape arrest, taken 
 refuge in the grancV cliamhre of the Palais, were forcibly 
 taken from the very midst of the assembly of the Chamber 
 by an officer of the gardes bearing orders from the king. 
 
 This abduction, the investing of the Palais which had 
 preceded it, the incidents of this so to speak siege, which 
 lasted some twenty-four hours, drew upon the heads of 
 those who had not feared having recourse to such means, 
 both hatred and contempt. It is hard to understand how, 
 on the point of dissolving the Parlement, the ministry had 
 not felt that it should abstain from a vengeance hence- 
 forward without object, and which could only increase the 
 predicament of its situation. Messieurs d'£prem6nil and 
 Goislard had been on the point of flying by the subter- 
 raneous passages of the Palais, which opened on the river. 
 I saw them in their disguise, but at the moment at which 
 they were preparing to carry out their escape, they were 
 well enough advised to abandon the idea. They were taken, 
 the one to Saint-Michel, the other to the isles of Hyeres. 
 
 On the 8th of May was held at Versailles the lit de
 
 THE ''LIT BE JUSTICE'' OF MAY 3 39 
 
 justice, at which we read and promulgated, to the number 
 of six, the laws which did away with the old magistracy, to 
 place in their stead the grands hailliages, which were to 
 render all forms of justice, and the Cour plenih'e, which was 
 to take the place of the Parlement Avith regard to the fram- 
 ing and recording of laws. In order that there should be 
 no lack of giving offence in bringing about these reforms, 
 the wrong was committed of giving to this act of royal 
 almightiness, the form of a private vengeance. 
 
 The king's speech began with these words: "Gentlemen, 
 there are no faults which my Parlement has not committed 
 during the past year." It was, therefore, to punish the 
 Paris Parlement, or, to speak more truly, a few of its mem- 
 bers of whom it was thought there was reason to complain, 
 that was compassed the destruction of that French magis- 
 tracy, so worthy of respect, which had rendered such great 
 services to the state, and whose roots were entwined with 
 the foundations of the monarchy? And the man who was 
 the principal author of that portentous measure was a de- 
 scendant of the illustrious house of Lamoignon, which 
 derived all its lustre from the Paris Parlement ! 
 
 In spite of so many errors, the lit de justice was not 
 disturbed by any act which might denote the slightest 
 resistance to the royal will. The reading of the king's will 
 was listened to with the most respectful silence. I wit- 
 nessed the scene, which made all the greater impression on 
 me, for the reason that during the whole of the time it 
 lasted, one might have thought oneself transported into the 
 midst of one of the Court festivities. 
 
 There was scarcely any place in the throne-room for the 
 members of the Parlement, so great was the number of 
 ladies who, in all the brilliancy of their finery, set off all 
 sides of the room. Hardly was the ceremony over, when 
 the vexations of the ministers began.
 
 40 MEMOIRS OF CnANCELLOE PASQUIER 
 
 The members of the grand' chamhre, who were to become 
 a part of the Cour pleni^re, and who had been ordered to 
 remain at Versailles, wrote to the king, to assure His 
 Majesty that it was impossible for them to assume the new 
 duties assigned to them. 
 
 On returning to Paris, the councillors of the other Cham- 
 bers sought to meet at the Palace, but it was guarded by 
 soldiery. After having met at the residences of the doyens, 
 they all wrote to the Keeper of the Seal, protesting individ- 
 ually against what had happened at the lit de justice. 
 
 At first, the ministers believed, or deluded themselves 
 into believing, in order to persuade the king of it, that this 
 resistance was a mere matter of form, and that it would die 
 a natural death. If this delusion was sincere, it must have 
 been of short duration, for, in a short time, it became 
 impossible for them to remain ignorant of the fact that the 
 demeanor of the magistracy had been the same throughout 
 the length and breadth of the kingdom, and that in several 
 large towns, the king's commissioners, intrusted with bring- 
 ing down the edicts for registration, had been spat upon, 
 and sometimes even ill-used. With but few exceptions, 
 the inferior magisterial bodies followed the Parlement's 
 lead. The Chdtelet de Paris was the most important of 
 these bodies, and upon no other's support had the Keeper 
 of the Seal counted so much. It was the one which 
 declared itself against him in the most uncompromising 
 manner. 
 
 In addition to the natural feelings which dictated this 
 resistance, an important lesson had been read at the very 
 outset of the reign of Louis XVI., and its ever-present 
 memory had sufficient power to maintain the courage of the 
 weakest. In spite of its four years' existence, the death of 
 the Maupeou Parlement was, at the time, hailed with 
 delight, and the return to power of the one so severely
 
 THE COURT'S DELUSION 41 
 
 proscribed in the preceding years, was saluted with cheers. 
 All the men composing it had, moreover, severely expiated 
 their mistaken obsequiousness toward those at the helm of 
 state, for, although twenty years had gone by since that 
 event had happened, public opinion still seemed to pursue 
 them with relentless animadversion. Now the work of 
 M. de Brienne and of M. de Lamoignon was assuredly not 
 of a nature to inspire greater confidence than that of M. de 
 Maupeou, and it could not be denied that the cause of the 
 Parlements, in 1788, was popular in a quite higher degree 
 than in 1771. 
 
 The Assembly of the Clergy united in a protest with the 
 nobility. It was in Brittany and in the Dauphine that the 
 nobility gave voice to its sentiments Avith the greatest force. 
 The example given by the gentilshommes of these provinces 
 was no less vigorously followed by those of Burgundy, 
 Franche-Comte, the Languedoc, and the Beam. 
 
 In vain did the king's commissioners and the military 
 commanders make a display in the provinces of all the 
 powers placed at their disposal ; in vain did lettres de cachet 
 rain upon the most recalcitrant; resistance went on increas- 
 ing from all quarters. In order to restore peace to the 
 public mind, the only resource left to the government was 
 to renew its pledge to call together the so ardently prayed- 
 for States-General. 
 
 On the 15th of July, the ministers made public an 
 edict in which they announced the convocation of the 
 States-General for the following month of May. They 
 called upon all bodies, as well as upon all individuals, to 
 express their ideas as to the best way of composing, of 
 constituting them. This was a useless display of weakness. 
 A month had hardly gone by, from the day of the publica- 
 tion of that edict, when the ministry, shorn of power and 
 of consideration, had to abandon the reins of government.
 
 42 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 The new order of judicature had failed to become an accom- 
 plished fact. 
 
 The dearth of funds in the Treasury had reached a point 
 which precluded meeting any obligations, or of making any 
 outlay on behalf of the public service, and it had become 
 necessary to suspend many payments. As a prelude to all 
 the ills which were to overwhelm France, a fearful hail- 
 storm had devastated the most productive provinces. A 
 fund was opened to meet the most pressing needs, but the 
 little money produced from it was quickly spent. M. de 
 Brienne had not feared to violate so sacred a trust. He had 
 to be sacrificed to public indignation, and his dismissal was 
 decided upon at the end of August. He went his way, 
 loaded the while with honors, dignities, with the promise 
 of a cardinal's hat, and in the enjoyment of the richest 
 benefices. 
 
 M. de Brienne's place could not be taken by any other 
 than M. Necker, whose personal credit had become indis- 
 pensable in order to meet the most pressing needs. 
 M. Necker was therefore called, and this, in the face of 
 the king's repugnance to him. 
 
 In vain did M. de Lamoignon make an effort to retain his 
 post in the new administration. He had to fall with M. de 
 Brienne, with whom he had shared all responsibility, and 
 he too withdrew from public life, bending under the load 
 of royal favors. He was promised a duchy for his eldest 
 son, while, in addition to the usual retiring pension, a sum 
 of 400,000 francs was granted to him by way of gratuity. 
 That amount was all that the Koyal Treasury could at the 
 moment dispose of. He demanded that one-half of it 
 should be paid down to him. This relief was not sufficient 
 to cover his debts; in despair he committed suicide in the 
 grounds of Basville. 
 
 The return of M. Necker at the head of affairs, under
 
 3L NECKER'S RET U UN TO POWER 43 
 
 circumstances so critical, was a veritable triumph. That 
 of the Parlement was no less brilliant. It was signalized 
 by bonfires, illuminations, in a word, by every sort of a 
 display of popular rejoicing, which, in some places, bore 
 too close a resemblance to the outbursts of a victorious 
 faction. 
 
 The foregoing ministry had been imprudent enough to 
 declare, as shown previously, that there was no regular form 
 for the convocation, composition, and constitution of the 
 States -General. It had called upon the whole of France to 
 express its opinion on that important matter. 
 
 The all-important question of the proportion in which the 
 three orders were to be represented took precedence over all 
 others. What is the Third Estate? asked the Abbe Sieyes 
 in a pamphlet which made a deep impression at the time. 
 After reading it, one discovered that the Third Estate meant 
 everything, or pretty nearly so. Did M. Sieyes himself have 
 the slightest glimpse of all that his pamphlet implied? 
 This may be doubted, when, so shortly afterwards, he was 
 to be seen taking up in so trenchant a fashion the defence 
 of the clergy's possessions. He had, nevertheless, put his 
 finger on the sore part of the social system, and touched 
 upon the great question of the age, both in France and 
 beyond its boundaries. 
 
 In the midst of all this effervescence, the Paris Parlement 
 thought that it belonged to it to determine the rules to be 
 followed. It rendered a decree stating that the methods 
 followed for the calling together of the States in 1614, the 
 last that had met, were still those which should prevail, if 
 one did not wish to run to innovations, the consequences of 
 which were not to be foreseen. 
 
 This decision, unfortunately for the Parlement, was not 
 in accord with the most general sentiment of the country, 
 nor especially with that of the leading minister, M. Keeker,
 
 44 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 who called the notables previously brought together by 
 M. de Calonue, and made the announcement by means of a 
 royal edict, that it was the intention of His Majesty to 
 consult them on this important point. 
 
 This led immediately to a struggle between the Parlement 
 and the ministry, of quite a different nature from those of 
 the preceding years. The result was to give men who were 
 better equipped the opportunity they had been waiting for 
 to destroy an influence, the direction of which they fully 
 saw would not become theirs. The effect of their manoeu- 
 vres was so rapid, that before the end of 1788, it was, 
 generally speaking, a well-established fact that the Parle- 
 ment was retracing its steps, that it was abandoning the 
 interests of the nation, and that it no longer desired the 
 calling of the States-General. 
 
 The truth of this charge lay in the fact that the Parle- 
 ment, left again to itself, felt the foreboding of a revolution, 
 and did not wish it to be believed that it was going to give 
 it any help. I have a perfect recollection of the discus- 
 sions which took place in this connection. They presented 
 an entirely novel aspect. No longer was there any excite- 
 ment, any enthusiasm, any attempted or marked eloquence. 
 Men reasoned coldly, and it seemed as if a veil of sombre 
 hue had been spread over the assembly. Its importance 
 was wiped out, no one gave it a thought, nobody was any 
 longer under its spell. The States-Ggneral loomed up in 
 too near a future for people's thoughts to turn to anything 
 else. 
 
 I took part in the ojiening of the States-General, and, in 
 spite of the pomp with which the royal power was still sur- 
 rounded, I there" saw the passing away of the old regime. 
 
 The regime which preceded '89, should, it seems to me, 
 be considered from a twofold aspect : the one, the general 
 condition of the country, and the other, the relations exist-
 
 FRANCE'S PROSPERITY FROM 1783 TO 1789 45 
 
 ing between the government and the country. With regard 
 to the former, I firmly believe that, from the earliest days 
 of the monarchy, France had at no period been happier than 
 she was then. She had not felt the effects of any great 
 misfortune since the crash which followed Law's system. 
 The long lasting ministry of Cardinal de Fleury, doubtless 
 inglorious, but wise and circumspect,, had made good the 
 losses and lightened the burdens imposed at the end of 
 the reign of Louis XV. If, since that time, several wars, 
 undertaken with little skill, and waged with still less, 
 had compromised the honor of her arms and the reputation 
 of her government; if they had even thrown her finances 
 into a somewhat alarming taste of disorder, it is but fair 
 to say that the confusion resulting therefrom had merely 
 affected the fortune of a few creditors, and had not tapped 
 the sources of public prosperity; on the contrary, what is 
 styled the public administration had made constant prog- 
 ress. If, on the one hand, the state had not been able to 
 boast of any great ministers, on the other, the provinces 
 could show many highly enlightened and clever intendants. 
 
 Eoads had been opened connecting numerous points, and 
 had been greatly improved in all directions. It should not 
 be forgotten that these benefits are principally due to the 
 reign of Louis XV. Their most important result had been 
 a progressive improvement in the condition of agriculture. 
 
 The reign of Louis XVI. had continued favoring this wise 
 policy, which had not been interrupted by the maritime 
 war undertaken on behalf of American independence. 
 Many cotton-mills had sprung up, while considerable prog- 
 ress had been made in the manufacture of printed cotton 
 fabrics, and of steel, and in the preparing of skins. 
 
 The progress made in the natural sciences, and the several 
 branches of mathematics, came greatly to the aid of these. 
 Chemistry was already giving people a glimpse of the assis-
 
 46 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PA8QUIER 
 
 tance it was very shortly to render to all useful arts. Men 
 like Lavoisier, Berthollet, Fourcroy, and their pupils, were 
 entering upon their career with giant strides. The Revolu- 
 tion took Lavoisier's life, but the training of his fellow- 
 workers who survived him, and who did good service like 
 his own, took place during the reign of Louis XVI., to 
 which they belonged. Great attention was paid to their 
 labor by this monarch, who also encouraged agriculture 
 by every means at his command. The importation of 
 merino sheep, that precious breed which has done so much 
 to bring wealth to the farmer and to the manufacturer of 
 woollens, must be placed to his credit. He had established 
 model farms, thus placing at the disposal of agriculturists 
 the resources of theory, and facilities for their application. 
 Large edifices were being erected in Paris, while considera- 
 ble building was taking place in the villages. Foreignei's 
 flocked to the capital where reigned a display of elegance 
 which has never been surpassed. 
 
 I saw the splendors of the Empire. Since the Resto- 
 ration I see daily new fortunes spring up and consoli- 
 date themselves; still, nothing so far has, in my eyes, 
 equalled the splendor of Paris during the years which 
 elapsed between 1783 and 1789. Magnificent residences 
 stood then in the Marais quarter and in the ile Saint-Louis. 
 What is the Faubourg Saint-Germain of to-day compared 
 with the Faubourg Saint-Germain of that period? And 
 then, with regard to outdoor luxury, for those who can re- 
 member a field-day, or a race-day at Longchamps, or merely 
 the appearance of the boulevard, did not the stream of 
 equipages with two, four, or six horses, all vying in mag- 
 nificence, and closely packed togetlier at these places of 
 rendezvous, leave far behind the string of private or livery 
 coaches, among which appear a few well-appointed turnouts, 
 that are to be seen in the same localities nowadays?
 
 FRANCE'S PROSPEROUS STATE FROM 17S3 TO 17S9 47 
 
 Far be it from me to shut my eyes to the reality of the 
 public prosperity which we are now enjoying. I am cog- 
 nizant of the improvement in the condition of the country 
 districts, and I am aware of the fact that all that rests on 
 this solid foundation, even though its appearance may be 
 somewhat more humble, is much to be preferred to a 
 grander exterior that might hide a less assured solidity. 
 I do not seek to disparage the present time — far from it. 
 I am ready to admit the advantages which have accrued, in 
 many respects, as the results of the Revolution; as, for 
 instance, the partition of landed property, so often assailed, 
 and which, so long as it does not go beyond certain limits, 
 tends to increase wealth, by introducing into many families 
 a well-being hitherto unknown to them. But, nevertheless, 
 when I question my reason and my conscience as to the 
 possible future of the France of 1789, if the Revolution had 
 not burst, if the ten years of destruction to which it gave 
 birth had not weighed heavily upon that beautiful country, 
 if Santo Domingo, for instance, had continued pouring its 
 treasures into it, if the successive betterments to which 
 I have alluded had not been checked by great catastrophes, 
 I am convinced that France, at the time I am writing, would 
 be richer and stronger than she is to-day. 
 I Unless I am mistaken, it is Rivarol who has said of 
 / nations in the situation which I have just depicted : They 
 I are a prey to the malady of prosperity. The idea could not 
 ( find better expression. He did not finish his picture with 
 showing, as he ought to have done, how that malady like- 
 wise invades governments in no less dangerous a fashion. 
 
 What was at that time France's form of government? It 
 was no longer that of the ancient feudal monarchy, under 
 which the throne, surrounded by its puissant vassals, kept 
 the nation at a great distance from its steps ; under which 
 the power emanating from this throne impressed the popu-
 
 48 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 lar masses, even the intervening classes, with a respect that 
 verged on superstition; under which the sovereign might 
 at times be exposed to the acts of rebellion of some of the 
 more turbulent among these high vassals ; under which such 
 acts of rebellion might give birth to the Ligue and to the 
 Fronde, but under which they ever ended with some treaty 
 benefiting those who had shown themselves the most to be 
 feared, the cost of such treaty coming as a matter of course 
 out of the pockets of the nation and of the country, 
 
 Eichelieu, and after him, Louis XIV., had got the upper 
 hand of these disturbances, and had broken down these 
 feudal potentates. The structure, of which they were the 
 component parts, and which they helped to support, had 
 been supplemented by one of pomp by a monarchy all for 
 show, if one may employ such an expression, wherein the 
 king alone had remained great and the cynosure of all 
 eyes. Louis XIV., by fashioning it to his measure, had 
 imparted to it something of his imposing air. In spite of 
 the reverses at the end of his reign, in spite of the acts of 
 littleness given by him to the public gaze during the closing 
 years of his life, it cannot be said that this proud air had 
 lost all its glamour at the time of his death. 
 
 The royal power, under the Regency, under Louis XV., 
 and under Louis XVL, passed through so many weak or 
 incapable hands; it was, moreover, subjected to so many 
 intrigues of the Court and even of the boudoir, that, as a 
 result, there was a considerable diminution of the prestige 
 with which the supreme power can dispense less, under a 
 monarchical government, than under any other. 
 
 It was the administration of the public departments 
 which had produced a state of prosperity; but it Avas, on 
 the other hand, the government which had given birth to 
 the Revolution under which it Avas to fall, and yet this 
 government was neither a hard nor a vexatious one. All
 
 THE '' LETTEES BE CACHET'' 49 
 
 things connected with it, whicli were not de jure tempered 
 by the laws, were so de facto by the usages and customs of 
 the day. The right of property was respected; for the 
 immense majority of Frenchmen there was almost complete 
 individual liberty. Still, this liberty was not inviolate, 
 since, in spite of repeated protests from the Parlement, the 
 power of arrest, imprisonment, of exile, was exercised by 
 means of lettres de cachet. 
 
 During the last years of the reign of Louis XV., the abuse 
 of this power had been all the more frequent and outra- 
 geous, for the reason that it had been had recourse to, not 
 only to obtain the triumph of such and such a religious 
 opinion, of itself hardly worthy of attention, but also to 
 gratify the hatred, the revenge, the caprices of one or the 
 other of the sovereign's mistresses, perhaps even of the 
 very ministers who had this terrible weapon at their dis- 
 posal. This odious scandal had ended with Louis XV. At 
 the accession of Louis XVL, M. de Malesherbes had been 
 instrumental in opening prison doors to prisoners of State ; 
 and, during the course of his reign, up to 1787, the use of 
 lettres de cachet had been moderate enough to be looked upon 
 rather as the violation of a principle, and an insult to 
 justice, than as any real injury to society. Moreover, the 
 lettres de cachet were, for the most part, hardly ever called 
 into use except at the urgent request of families desirous 
 of putting a stop to the follies of some of their members. 
 The famed Mirabeau had been imprisoned at Vincennes at 
 the request of his father. 
 
 Still, one cannot help recording a revolting abuse of this 
 power to carry off and imprison citizens arbitrarily, which 
 occurred in 1785. M. de Beaumarchais, while in the 
 midst of the triumph of the performances of his Figaro, 
 was having trouble with the lieutenant de police with regard 
 to a preface which he wished to insert in a published
 
 50 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 version of his play; he was also charged with having com- 
 posed a song, sharply satirizing a charge of the Archbishop 
 of Paris. He was arrested, and, by virtue of a lettre cle 
 cachet, imprisoned at Saint-Lazare. 
 
 The Paris Parlement had seen two of its members seized 
 during one of its sittings, and immediately cast into prisons 
 of the state, while several deputies from Brittany, who had 
 come to Paris to lay at the foot of the throne certain de- 
 mands of the body to which they belonged, had likewise 
 been incarcerated in the Bastille. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that, with the exception of a 
 few persons whose actions caused the government particular 
 irritation, the rest of the citizens practically enjoyed the 
 most complete liberty. One was free to speak, to write, to 
 act with the greatest independence, and one could even 
 defy the authorities in perfect security. De jure the press 
 was not free, yet anything and everything was printed, and 
 hawked about with audacity. The most sedate personages, 
 the magistrates themselves, who ought to have curbed this 
 licentiousness, actually encouraged it. Writings the most 
 dangerous, and the most fatal to authority, were to be 
 found in their possession. If, from time to time, some of 
 the most zealous and conscientious of them denounced any 
 flagrant case in the halls of the Parlement, their action was 
 almost treated as ridiculous, and oftenest led to no result. 
 Those who will not grant that this was liberty, must per- 
 force admit that it was license. 
 
 The influence of the local authorities, in their daily re- 
 lations with citizens, from which all of us have suffered so 
 frequently for the last thirty years, was not perceptible, — 
 it was unknown. What remained of the feudal power was 
 hardly more than a word bereft of its meaning. It had 
 become merged into that of the Crown. 
 
 There still remained certain pecuniary manorial rights ;
 
 EXCELLENCE OF POLITICAL CONDITIONS 51 
 
 but they constituted a form of property as good as any 
 other, and which could be held by a commoner as well as 
 by one of noble birth. The power of the seigniors over the 
 bodies of their vassals no longer had any existence except 
 in fiction ; about all that was left to the seigniors of the old 
 feudal power, was the shadowy obligation to protect these 
 same vassals. 
 
 At the time of his accession, Louis XVI. completely did 
 away with anything that might still be found oppressive 
 in the exercise of this power. Hence there was between 
 the nobility and the other citizens, just as there was be- 
 tween those citizens and the clergy, but one question in dis- 
 pute, that of pecuniary privileges, and of the one the two 
 first orders enjoyed of not being taxed as was the third 
 order, either in form or at fixed rates. 
 
 The influence of the clergy did not make itself felt any 
 more heavily on the individual than did that of the nobility. 
 The concessions just granted to Protestants, in the matter 
 of their civil status, had met with no obstruction on the part 
 of the ecclesiastical power. Nothing could illustrate better 
 how tolerant it had become. The higher clergy became 
 reconciled to the views known as the light of the century. 
 With regard to the cures who came into actual contact with 
 the people, they merely extended their paternal care of their 
 flocks, which also absorbed the better part of their income. 
 
 Whence came then that passion for reform, that desire 
 to change everything which made itself manifest at the 
 close of the eighteenth century? It was due rather to a 
 great stirring up of ideas than to actual sufferings; so much 
 had been written about these ideas, they had been so greatly 
 discussed, that doubt had been cast upon all things. The 
 sovereign authority had been in a more particular manner 
 broken in upon, and the Court of Louis XVI. had not known 
 how to restore the waning prestige of royal majesty, e,ven
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 in the matter of that exterior glamour, which oftentimes 
 suffices to insure the obedience of the masses. 
 
 The Court, sceptical and corrupt, was composed of the 
 descendants of the most noble families of France, but also, 
 on the other hand, of parvenus, in whose case favor had stood 
 in lieu of services. The arrogance of their pretensions was 
 in universe ratio to their merit, and their insolent haughti- 
 ness had rendered them odious. 
 
 An idle life and the need of money was the source of 
 many scandals; the Memoirs of the day are full of them; 
 so I need not say any more on this score. Unfortunately, 
 in a country like France, the Court cannot become corrupt 
 by itself. For some time past the intercourse between Paris 
 and the Court of Versailles had been too frequent, too 
 intimate, for the example of the one over the other not to 
 be all powerful. . 
 
 Shall I speak of the many cases in which ruin was brought 
 into families by the extravagant luxury which stalked 
 about in public places? Were I to rush into anecdotical 
 narrative, I should seem to be inditing a satire. It will 
 be sufficient for me to say, that when I made my entry into 
 the world of society, I was, so to speak, introduced in par- 
 allel fashion to the lawful spouses and the mistresses of 
 my kinsmen and of my family's friends, spending Monday 
 evening with one lady, Tuesday evening with the other, 
 and I was but eighteen years old, and born of a family of 
 the magistracy ! 
 
 The irreligious, critical, and philosophical spirit, the 
 inexplicable craze for all sorts of Utopian chimrerae, the 
 lowering of the moral standard, especially the loss of re- 
 spect for institutions consecrated by time, and for old 
 family traditions, all fostered the development of the pas- 
 sions which were soon and forever to sweep away the old 
 French society, the old regime.
 
 THE FIRST POPULAR UPRISINGS 63 
 
 The convocation of the States-General was preceded in 
 Paris, and then in other parts of the kingdom, by popular 
 uprisings, the origin of which could be traced to the par- 
 liamentary quarrels. They had been for two years tol- 
 erated by the magistrates who ought to have suppressed 
 them. 
 
 One of the most serious was that which took place in 
 the Faubourg Saint-Antoine against a paper manufacturer 
 named Reveillon, whose place of business was burnt down. 
 This popular demonstration merits our attention, for it 
 evidently served to get ready the means which shortly 
 afterwards secured the triumph of the insurrections of 
 the 14th of July. I saw it at close range; it came like a 
 surprise to the Parisian world of fashion in the midst of 
 the pleasures of a race which was taking place in the wood 
 of Vincennes. As soon as the occurrence was known there 
 everybody hasteiied back to Paris, taking good care to avoid 
 the terrible faubourg. One of the young fellows, in whose 
 company I was, determined to go through it.^ Two or three 
 of us resolved upon not letting him go alone. We were on 
 horseback, and we came safely out of our foolhardy under- 
 taking, owing to the fact that a like number of ragamuffins 
 jumped up behind us. These strange companions brought 
 us safely to the edge of the boulevard, where they left us. 
 This uprising was evidently an artificial one; the poor 
 wretches who took part in it knew neither what they 
 wanted nor what they did, and it was clear that their fury 
 was of the manufactured-to-order kind. 
 
 I was still going about the boulevards at five o'clock that 
 evening, when two or three companies of the Swiss Guards 
 and of the gardes frangaises passed that way, marching 
 
 1 This young man was M. d'Oilliamson, whose tragic end was remarka- 
 ble from the fact that he was the last emkjre shot in France for having 
 left the country.
 
 54 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 against the faubourg with three or four cannon and with 
 lighted fuses. They soon quelled the disturbance. This 
 was the first occasion on which a military force supported 
 with cannon had been seen in our time in the streets of 
 Paris. Such a display had a great effect. One hardly 
 foresaw then to what an extent one was to get accustomed 
 to it. It has been seen that the gardes frangaises were still 
 to be depended upon, but the sight of their loyalty became 
 a warning to the party which was working to bring about 
 the Revolution. It saw that the time had come to begin 
 tampering with the spirit of that body, and the result is but 
 too well known. 
 
 The States-General met, therefore, amid such fearful 
 preliminaries, and everything led one to foresee serious 
 troubles in no distant future. And, indeed, how could it 
 be supposed that the very men, who had not been able to 
 direct the public business with all the resources of an 
 authority for so long a time undisputed, would be more 
 fortunate or more skilful, in the presence of an assembly 
 of twelve hundred members, in which the most opposite 
 interests and ambitions were to join issue? 
 
 The only question upon which all were to agree was the 
 necessity of overthrowing everything that was in existence. 
 The first illusion to vanish was the one which had induced 
 people to put faith in the influence exercised by Necker. 
 I listened to the reading of a bulky memorandum, wherein 
 he believed he had outlined for the States-General their 
 course, and dictated the rules which were to govern them. 
 Hardly had the sitting been adjourned, when the memoran- 
 dum passed out of mind; no one referred to it.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Councillor Pasquier at the taking of the Bastille, with Mile. Contat, of the 
 Come'die-Fran9aise — The theatre as the school of youth — The "pre- 
 miere" of Beaumarchais's Figaro — Gretry's successes at the Ope'ra- 
 Coraique— The day following the 6th of Octoher at the Tuileries; 
 aspect presented hy the king and queen — The puhlic state of mind in 
 1789 — Royalist tendencies of the National Guard — The club de Valois 
 — Grievous futility of the first emigration — The royal family's flight to 
 Varennes — Fearful anxiety caused in Paris by the king's departure — 
 M. de Saint-Fargeau's characteristics: his hatreds, his phlegm, his 
 violence — Final dissolution of the Parlements — The new judiciary 
 order — A protest from the old magistracy — The death of the Con- 
 stituent Assembly — Decrees against the emigres, against the priests — 
 The pillage of the grocers' shops in Paris — The first appearance of the 
 Phrygian cap. 
 
 T WAS present at the taking of the Bastille. What has 
 been styled the fight was not serious, for there was abso- 
 lutely no resistance shown. Within the hold's walls were 
 neither provisions nor ammunition. It was not even neces- 
 sary to invest it. 
 
 The regiment of gardes franc^aises which had led the 
 attack, presented itself under the walls on the rue Saint- 
 Antoine side, opposite the main entrance, which was barred 
 by a drawbridge. There was a discharge of a few musket 
 shots, to which no reply was made, and then four or live 
 discharges from the cannon. It has been claimed that the 
 latter broke the chains of the drawbridge. I did not notice 
 this, and yet I was standing close to the point of attack. 
 What I did see plainly was the action of the soldiers, 
 invalides, or others, grouped on the platform of the high 
 
 65
 
 56 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 tower, holding their muskets stock in air, and expressing 
 by all means employed under similar circumstances their 
 desire of surrendering. 
 
 The result of this so-called victory, which brought down 
 so many favors on the heads of the so-called victors, is 
 well-known. The truth is, that this great fight did not for 
 a moment frighten the numerous spectators who had flocked 
 to witness its result. Among them were many women of 
 fashion, who, in order to be closer to the scene, had left 
 their carriages some distance away. 
 
 I was leaning on the gate, which, on the place de la 
 Bastille side, opened into the garden of Beaumarchais's 
 house. On this gate he placed, a few days later, the 
 following inscription: This little garden teas planted in the 
 first year of liberty. By my side stood Mile. Contat, of the 
 Comedie-FrauQaise. We stayed together till the very end, 
 and then I gave her my arm back to her carriage, which 
 had waited in the place Royale. The prettiest woman imag- 
 inable. Mile. Contat united to the charms of her person, 
 to her admirable talent, one of the most brilliant of minds. 
 Mme. de Stael is the only one I have known who could 
 rival her in flashes of ready wit. 
 
 Mme. de Coigny, who deservedly enjoyed fame in this 
 respect, was certainly not her superior, and, I do not think, 
 even her equal. I do not recollect how it came about, but 
 there Avas a constant intercourse between them. They fre- 
 quently corresponded with each other, and, when they met 
 after the theatre, Mme. de Coigny never failed to seek 
 Mile. Contat, and to improve the opportunity by paying 
 her a few pleasing compliments. 
 
 Her dressing-room at the Comedie-Franqaise, which was 
 furnished with the greatest taste, was always besieged by 
 all the distinguished men in the house. The same happened 
 in her salon, of a night. To mention some of the members
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE STAGE 67 
 
 of the Court : M. de Narbonne, the Vicomte de Segiir, the 
 Marquis de Chauvelin, M. de Lauzun, M. de Saint-Blancar, 
 Archambaud de Perigord ; among men of letters, the Abbe 
 Delille, Chamfort, Beaumarchais, Collin d'HarlevillCjVig^e, 
 Defaucherais. 
 
 As ever under like circumstances, the women were not of 
 the same rank. Mile. Raucourt, and the leading actresses 
 of the Theatre-Franqais, would come sometimes, and also 
 the principal actors then in vogue: Mole, Fleury, d'Azin- 
 court, and lastly Talma, up to the time when he deserted 
 the Comedie-Franqaise to join the Palais-Royal troupe. 
 
 Mile. Contat made herself remarkable, in the midst 
 of this brilliant circle, by a perfect ease and correctness 
 of manner. Everything about her person was stamped 
 with an incontestable superiority. When seeing her so 
 thoroughly at home in the centre of this social circle, 
 wherein were to be met so many people of prominence, I 
 have often said to myself that there was no cause for 
 wonderment at the exquisite naturalness and the piquant 
 animation with which she impersonated Celimene. 
 
 The theatre held a great place in the social life of that 
 period. The masterpieces of the French style were per- 
 formed three times a week. Everybody that was anybody 
 at Court or in society fought for seats. During the 
 entrUictes, all met in the foyer. The habitues would 
 indulge in the most excited discussions and criticisms; old 
 traditions and new ideas had each their partisans ; it was 
 an excellent school for youth. 1 seldom missed a perform- 
 ance. In this way, while enjoying myself greatly, I went 
 through a two years' course of theatrical literature. 
 
 I was present at the first performance of Beaumarchais's 
 Figaro. Never was there a more brilliant one. The desire 
 to witness it was so great that several ladies of the highest 
 rank spent the previous night in the actresses' dressing-
 
 68 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASqUIER 
 
 rooms. The police had refused to license the production of 
 the play ; but this obstacle had been removed at the press- 
 ing request of the queen. The Court and the nobility were 
 about to present their breast to the most cruel and terrible 
 shafts of criticism. 
 
 The truth is, that the political portion of the work, — its 
 consequences so serious for the future, — were, at the out- 
 set, what least attracted attention. People were bent on 
 enjoyment. A perfect shower of wit, the play of the actors 
 (never perhaps has such a combination of talents been seen 
 together), the perfection of the staging, severally contrib- 
 uted to the unheard-of success which maintained itself for 
 over a hundred performances. 
 
 At the Opera-Comique, the success of the season Avas 
 Gretry's. Richard Coeur de lion drew all Paris, and the 
 romance of Blondel, "0 Richard, 6 mon Roi, I'univers 
 t'abandonne ! " became shortly afterwards the song of the 
 faithful servitors of a king more to be pitied than Richard, 
 and more worthy than him of their love, of their pity, and 
 of their devotion. But the time is fast approaching when 
 this pleasurable life is to cease. It is about to be brutally 
 crushed out by the Revolution, which is to sweep away 
 forever not only political organization consecrated by cen- 
 turies of glory, but a society whose manners, whose intel-. 
 lect, whose refinement had held such a sway over Europe. 
 
 The days of the month of October followed upon the 
 taking of the Bastille, and the horrible scenes which had 
 accompanied it. 
 
 Two days later, I was in the rue de Richelieu, which was 
 filled with a seething mob. Not knowing what had brought 
 this concourse of people together, and seeking to get away 
 from it, I nearly fell down, through having stumbled on the 
 body of M. Foulon, which lay in the gutter, and which I 
 had not noticed. The horde which dragged this corpse
 
 THE BAY FOLLOWING OCTOBER 6 59 
 
 about during part of the day was merely enjoying a rest. 
 Next day, I saw drive up the place de Greve the gig from 
 which the hood had been torn off, and which contained the 
 unfortunate Berthier, who, ten minutes later, had ceased 
 to exist. 
 
 And lastly, when the king made his entry into his capital, 
 I followed him from the city's gate to the dome of bayonets 
 and drawn swords under which he ascended the steps of the 
 Hotel de Ville. 
 
 Chance led me to the opening of the States, with a young 
 man whose name has become somewhat famous. This cir- 
 cumstance led to a certain amount of intercourse between 
 us, which was in the future to be of some importance. He 
 was the son of a rich merchant at Bordeaux; his name was 
 Ducos. In 1791 he became a member of the Legislative 
 Assembly, and subsequently one of the Convention. In 
 1789, he had been in Paris for a few months, after a long 
 residence in Holland, during which he had had plenty of 
 opportunity for watching the struggle which had ended in 
 the triumph of the Orange party over the republicans. 
 
 He had strongly sympathized with the defeated party, 
 and had imbibed its principles. I have known few men 
 possessed of a more brilliant intellect, of so vivid an im- 
 agination, and yet of so amiable a character. 
 
 Following upon our first coming together, and owing to 
 several bonds of union, we met pretty frequently during the 
 months which elapsed between the opening of the Assembly 
 and the 6th of October. The events which came under 
 our notice during this interval made a somewhat similar 
 impression on both of us. As the saying was then, they 
 made more of an aristocrat of me, and in spite of Ducos's 
 primary tendency, they almost did the same for him; but 
 he soon left for Bordeaux, found there connections which 
 brought him back to his first love, and he came back to 
 Paris what was called a j^atriot.
 
 60 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 The general impression left on my mind by the horrors of 
 the 6th of October was strengthened by the one I had felt 
 while performing a most melancholy duty. The day follow- 
 ing that upon which the royal family were dragged captives 
 to the Ti ileries, the Parlement was, according to custom, 
 called upon to go and present its respects to them. There 
 were but few of the members of that body in Paris, and I 
 was among the few of those whom the First President could 
 bring together about his person. The traces of violence 
 which met our eyes, the confusion existing in the palace, 
 the cast-down and disheartened appearance of the household, 
 the haughty and triumphant attitude of the individuals 
 who, under the orders of M. de La Fayette, had captured 
 the palace guards and through whose ranks we were com- 
 pelled to wend our way, had but feebly prepared us for the 
 heart-rending scene which awaited us as soon as we had been 
 brought into the presence of our unfortunate sovereigns. 
 It seemed that ten years had passed over their heads in the 
 space of ten days. 
 
 The king's face bore the imprint of resignation. He 
 understood that he had not reached the end of his misfor- 
 tunes. Indignation shone through the queen's grief, which 
 displayed somewhat more firmness. Her son was sitting in 
 her lap, and in spite of the courage of which she had given 
 so many heroic proofs during the past forty-eight hours, 
 one could not but feel that that son was for her a safeguard 
 to the protection of which she committed herself. When 
 she received us, it was plainly to be read in her eyes that 
 she clearly saw in ours to what an extent the sorrowful 
 congratulations which we brought were in contradiction 
 with the feelings of our innermost hearts, and how we 
 suffered at having to speak those meaningless sentences, 
 consecrated by usage in days of happiness, and at not being 
 able to speak others.
 
 STATE OF THE PUBLIC MIND IN 1789 61 
 
 The emotion which this scene filled me with was as deep 
 as lasting. All that in my mind and heart attracted me to 
 and inspired me with a taste for a wise and lawfully regu- 
 lated liberty faded away in the presence of the painful 
 spectacle which aroused my indignation. Each succeeding 
 da}^, indeed, witnessed the increasing of disasters, spolia- 
 tions, and crimes of all kinds. My sentiments were offended 
 by the lack of respect shown to all that I had accustomed 
 myself to hold in reverence. I was neither giddy enough 
 to divest my mind of this spectacle, nor enough of a stoic 
 to consider it as a necessary condition of the great destinies 
 which awaited regenerated France. 
 
 God forbid, however, that I should refuse to recognize 
 to-day the sincere and doubtless legitimate enthusiasm 
 which had in those days taken hold of many upright minds 
 and noble hearts. I must fain admit that that enthusiasm 
 must have had a great sway, as, in '89, '90, and '91, the 
 great majority of France undoubtedly testified to its adhe- 
 sion to the Revolution by its sentiments, indications, and 
 by its hopes. 
 
 The year 1789 witnessed the disappearance of the peace- 
 fulness of that social life which had so long been France's 
 charm. Political feuds, angry discussions, and passions 
 brought an element of disturbance into society, and were 
 not long in dispersing the elements of it. The manners of 
 the period would not be understood, if one did not take into 
 account the important part played by the fair sex in sharing 
 these emotions. Their empire over people generally made 
 itself manifest through the shades of cockades, through 
 their predominating tint. It was, above all, the uniform 
 of the ISTational Guard, the donning of it, or the refusal to 
 do so, which was the most characteristic symptom of a 
 man's opinion. 
 
 At the outset, the National Guard appeared to Royalists
 
 62 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 as merely an instrument of insurrection. The Paris Guard 
 had been taken to Versailles on the 6th of October by 
 M. de La Fayette, and although one could not lay to its 
 door the misdeeds of that dreadfully memorable night, for, 
 on the contrary, it had checked their career, it nevertheless 
 brought the king back to Paris in triumph, — such a tri- 
 umph! Hence it shared the odium which its commander 
 had incurred. Yet, such as I have found him since, I have 
 no hesitation in saying that had the command of those sol- 
 diers fallen to any other than M. de La Fayette, who was 
 ne^ier able to make anything out of them but an instrument 
 of parade, the instrument of his vanity, who never knew 
 how to j)ut it to a practical use until the moment when he 
 was about to abandon its command; that if, for instance, 
 M. de Bouille, or a man of his mould, had been at its head, 
 there was a time when it would have turned affairs into 
 another channel, and when it might even have rendered the 
 king independent of the insubordination of his army. 
 
 I have had the opportunity of forming an opinion con- 
 cerning that garde, although not a member of it. It was in 
 the following way: I had an uncle, as worthy a man as 
 ever breathed, and with no friendly feeling towards the 
 Ke volution. He was a postmaster, and had accepted the 
 command of the battalions of his quartier, which was also 
 mine. I am vmder the impression that M. d'Oigny, the 
 Postmaster-General, had conveyed to him the king's order 
 that he should take it. However this might be, he had 
 come latterly to take pleasure in his command, and, as he 
 dwelt in my family, the doors of our house Avere open to 
 all officers of high rank in his battalion. 
 
 I was therefore constantly in the company of these 
 gentlemen. We chatted together, had discussions, and even 
 angry disputes. At first, they were wroth with me for 
 declining to wear the grenadier's (private) busby, and for
 
 THE CLUB DE V ALOIS 63 
 
 even refusing to take command of a company ; but we ended 
 in being good friends none the less, and I must admit, that 
 at the expiration of six months they were, with but a slight 
 shade of difference, just as good Royalists as myself. They 
 gave proof of it afterwards at all times, and most particu- 
 larly on the 10th of August. As a result of this, the better 
 part of them lost their heads on the scaffold during the 
 Keign of Terror. 
 
 It remains to be pointed out that this battalion belonged 
 to one of the most commercial qxiartiers of Paris, and that 
 it represented perfectly the opinions of the bourgeoisie of 
 that city. Nearly all the other battalions were, towards 
 the end of 1790, of a like mind, and all, almost without 
 exception, would have been in the same frame of mind, if, 
 instead of continually turning the National Guard into 
 ridicule, it had been openly taken up; if, for instance, the 
 queen had been able to bring herself to show full faith in it. 
 
 In spite of my Royalist opinions, a certain amount of 
 easy-going inherent to my character, which has never failed 
 me, caused me to live in good enough harmony with a few 
 men whose opinions did not harmonize with mine, in spite 
 of the remonstrance which my conduct too often drew upon 
 me from my family and friends. I was in the habit of 
 meeting several of them at the club de Valois, the only one 
 perhaps where a similarity of opinion was not a siyie qua 
 non for the purposes of admission. To this circumstance 
 is it due that I studied a little more deeply both sides of 
 the question, read continuously the journals of all shades 
 of opinion, and thus I received, at that early date, a few 
 lessons of toleration in politics, for I came to understand 
 that a man of intellect, of honest feelings, and of respected 
 character might view matters political in a ditferent light 
 from myself, without being for that a scoundrel, or a man 
 fit only for the gibbet. From that very moment I also took
 
 64 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 a dislike to the coarse and even insulting jokes which too 
 often were the favorite pastime of us aristocrats. I could 
 oftentimes see how unjust they were, and always feel the 
 harm they did. 
 
 It must also be admitted, that while I was convinced that 
 we were defending the good cause, I could not help recog- 
 nizing that our adversaries managed their affairs much more 
 cleverly than we did. A large number of us had come to 
 the conclusion (I did not share their mistake) of believing 
 that in order to reach the best, the worst had to be waded 
 through. This mistaken notion governed the greater part 
 of the Right, in the Constituent Assembly. I frequently 
 attended its sittings, and but too often noticed the deplor- 
 able spectacle resulting therefrom. Everything, or nearly 
 everything, was done by the party opposed to the Revolution 
 in the excitement of the moment; nothing was the result of 
 reasoning. 
 
 Who, for instance, reasoned out the emigration? It has 
 oftentimes been asked how so extraordinary a resolution 
 came to be taken; how it had entered the minds of men 
 gifted with a certain amount of sense that there was any 
 advantage to be derived from abandoning all the posts 
 where they could still exercise power; of giving over to the 
 enemy the regiments they commanded, the localities over 
 which they had control ; of delivering up completely to the 
 teachings of the opposite party the peasantry, over whom, 
 in a goodly number of provinces, a valuable influence might 
 be exerted, and among whom they still had many friends ; 
 and all this, to return for the purpose of conquering, at the 
 sword's point, positions, a number of which at least could 
 be held without a fight. 
 
 No doubt it has been offered as an objection, that the 
 peasantry set fire to chateaux, that soldiers mutinied 
 against their officers. This was not the case at the time of
 
 THE FIRST EMIGRATION 65 
 
 what has been called the first emigration, and, at any rate, 
 such doings were not general; but does danger constitute 
 sufficient cause for abandoning an important post? Nay, 
 is it not even true that this very danger, which attained its 
 highest point at the outset, was on the wane at the very 
 moment when the emigration was at its height? What is 
 the answer to all this? Merely what follows. The vol- 
 untary going into exile of nearly the whole nobility of 
 France, of many magistrates who were never to unsheath a 
 sword, and lastly, of a large number of women and chil- 
 dren, — this resolve, without a precedent in history, was not 
 conceived and determined upon as a State measure; chance 
 brought it about. A few, in the first instance, followed the 
 princes who had been obliged, on the 14th of July, to seek 
 safety out of France, and others followed them. 
 
 At first, it was merely in the nature of a pleasant excur- 
 sion. Outside of France, they might freely enjoy saying 
 and believing anything and everything. Nothing prevented 
 them from hurling anathemas at the Revolution, for in al- 
 most all directions were to be found people who gave utter- 
 ance to like sentiments. The wealthiest were the first to 
 incur the expense of this trip, and a few brilliant and amia- 
 ble women of the Court circle did their share to render most 
 attractive the sojourn in a number of foreign towns close 
 to the frontier. 
 
 Gradually, the number of these small gatherings in- 
 creased, and it was then that the idea arose of deriving 
 advantage from them. It occurred to the minds of a few 
 men in the entoxtrage of the Comte d'Artois, and whose 
 moving spirit was M. de Calonne, that it would be an easy 
 matter for them to create a kingdom for their sovereign 
 outside of France, and that if they could not in this fash- 
 ion succeed in giving him provinces to reign over, he would 
 at least reign over subjects, and that this would serve to
 
 66 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 give him a standing in the eyes of foreign powers, and 
 determine them to espouse his cause. 
 
 The women talked duty and honor to the men, threatened 
 laggards with an undying ridicule, and derisively presented 
 them with distaffs. They went so far as to imagine that 
 they were followers of Saint Bernard, the preachers of a 
 new crusade. But the crusaders of Saint Bernard's day 
 sallied forth to conquer a foreign land, and did not go away 
 to come back and conquer their own. 
 
 Thus, in '89, '90, and '91, there were a few who were 
 compelled to fly from actual danger; a small number were 
 led away by a genuine feeling of enthusiasm; many felt 
 themselves bound to leave, owing to a point of honor which 
 they obeyed without reasoning it out ; the mass thought it 
 was the fashion, and that it looked well ; all, or almost all, 
 were carried away by expectations encouraged by the wild- 
 est of letters, and by the plotting of a few ambitious folk, 
 who were under the impression that they Avere building up 
 their fortunes. All these reasons acted upon this too confi- 
 dent mass so much to be pitied in the future. The greater 
 part of it honorably, courageously, and resignedly endured 
 its unhappy lot abroad; but its misfortunes nevertheless 
 constantly pressed on France, and are to the present day 
 the cause of its experiencing a sense of uneasiness, the 
 effects of which will be felt for a long time. 
 
 The king blamed the conduct of his brothers in leaving 
 France, in that they took with them so many persons upon 
 the support of whose devotion he could have reckoned. He 
 felt that their conduct increased the distrust of his enemies, 
 and consequently the pressing dangers which threatened 
 him. The emigration was doubtless repugnant to his 
 rectitude and to his reason. But, did he ever possess 
 sufficient strength to oppose it plainly? 
 
 The unfortunate ease with which he wavered in his reso-
 
 THE FLIGHT TO VABENNES 67 
 
 liitions, the spirit of contradiction so frequently manifested 
 in his words and his actions, was never better shown than on 
 the occasion of his unfortunately conceived flight to Va- 
 rennes. On leaving Paris, he had stated that he was no 
 longer free, that he could no longer tolerate a situation so 
 humiliating and so contrary to law, and two months later 
 we see him giving his sanction to the Constitution, with- 
 out having the courage to proclaim that this sanction, if he 
 granted it, was of no value, unless at least an appearance 
 of liberty were granted to him. He does not know sufli- 
 cient to derive any advantage from a situation which would 
 have considerably embarrassed his opponents. 
 
 I noticed, during the twenty-four hours which followed 
 the flight of the royal family, the effect produced by this 
 unexpected bit of news. At flrst, as no one entertained 
 any doubt as to the successful result of the undertaking, 
 the king was twelve hours in advance of any would-be pur- 
 suers. How could it be supposed that, whatever road he 
 took, steps had not been taken to insure the success of his 
 journey, whether, as was generally believed, he wished to 
 cross the frontier, or whether he intended to establish his 
 residence in some important town in the kingdom? In 
 either case, the citizens of Paris considered their position a 
 most critical one. They had always looked upon the pres- 
 ence of the king in their midst as a guarantee against the 
 danger and the acts of vengeance which might threaten 
 them. 
 
 Added to this feeling was the real attachment felt toward 
 the king's person and his family by the National Guard. 
 For the past two years, the National Guard had repeatedly 
 enjoyed the honor of coming into contact with them, an 
 honor of which every bourgeois of Paris still felt proud. 
 Herein lay, therefore, many stumbling-blocks in the way 
 of the men of the Revolution, and they hardly knew whom
 
 68 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 they could depend upon, or place confidence in. The army 
 was no less a source of anxiety to them. It would take so 
 little to change the minds of the soldiers, who, upon seeing 
 the king in the midst of them, might once more turn Royal- 
 ists, nay, even rabid Royalists.^ 
 
 I happened to dine that day with the President of the 
 Assembly, M. de Beauharnais, and Messieurs de Barnave, 
 Menou, Lameth, and lastly, M. de Saint- Fargeau. All of 
 them had sought refuge in a very small room, adjacent to 
 the club already spoken of. These gentlemen, freshly 
 arrived from the Assembly, felt the need of breathing 
 freely, and of divesting themselves for a while of the sol- 
 emn part which they had been compelled to act up to as 
 long as the sitting had lasted. They were not restrained 
 either by my presence or by that of several other habitues 
 with whom I was dining. Their conversation bore all the 
 characteristics of absolute discouragement. They did not 
 know which wa}^ to turn, and I saw plainly that they were 
 completely in the dark as to the road taken by the king. 
 Hence it is that I am convinced that M. de La Fayette, with 
 whom they were all on terms of intimacy, was equally 
 ignorant of it, and that all the surmises which have been 
 indulged in on this score, rest upon no foundation whatever. 
 
 One man only among these gentlemen astonished me. It 
 was M. de Saint- Fargeau, president d mortier and a member 
 of the Paris Parlement. On that day he gave vent, for the 
 
 1 An incident, the truth of which I can vouch for, shows what ex- 
 cellent grounds there were for this apprehension. The regiment of the 
 Couronne, garrisoned at Lille, had, for some days, been in a state of 
 mutiny toward its colonel, M. de Lameth, and had confined him to his 
 quarters. He was the eldest of four brothers, and the only one who was 
 an aristocrat. I have what follows from his own lips. The news reaches 
 Lille that the king has left Paris, and that he is at Metz, and in command 
 of its garrison. Three hours later, the regiment sends a deputation to its 
 colonel entreating him to place himself at its head, and to lead it to Metz 
 near the king's person, arguing tliat the regiment of the Couronne must 
 necessarily be one of the first to afford him protection.
 
 M. BE SAINT-FARGEAU 69 
 
 first time, to the feelings of hatred and violence which 
 dwelt in his innermost heart. His outward appearance 
 was cold, and stamped with the hereditary magisterial 
 phlegm of his family. He had asserted himself but little 
 at the sittings of the Assembly, and although he was a 
 gifted speaker, I do not think I have heard him utter three 
 consecutive sentences in the midst of that body. Upon 
 becoming a member of the States-General, he had stayed, 
 as long as the three orders had remained apart, in the ranks 
 of the nobility, that is, opposed to a fusion of the three 
 orders, and consequently to the alliance most necessary to 
 the progress of the Revolution. 
 
 By degrees, but ever without opening his lips, he went 
 over to the majority in the Constituent Assembly, in other 
 words, to the bosom of the party which was making the 
 Revolution, and voted constantly with them. But, beyond 
 this assent, he did not actively interfere with matters, 
 and would spend most of his evenings at the club, remain- 
 ing silent on all political topics, wholly engrossed in losing 
 considerable money at the game of billiards, and without 
 being disturbed by it. 
 
 On that evening, he broke his silence for the first time, 
 and upon Messieurs de Beauharnais and Menou admitting 
 that they were to blame for the too great pressure that had 
 been put upon the king, we were greatly surprised to hear 
 him break out into the most vehement invectives against 
 both king and queen. In vain did his colleagues try to 
 calm him down, and to bring to his comprehension that the 
 time for wisdom and moderation was at hand; their efforts 
 were fruitless. He rose from table and left the dining-room 
 with all the signs of a furious anger. Such was the man 
 who later on, not only voted the death of Louis XVI. but 
 who, through his zeal in securing votes to that end, contrib- 
 uted more than any other man towards compassing it. The
 
 70 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 day after the scene which I have described, he resumed his 
 phlegmatic appearance, and seemed to think of nothing but 
 his game of billiards. So he remained until the 10th of 
 August, 1792. From that date we never met again. 
 
 I have good grounds for coming to the conclusion, that, in 
 spite of the bold front shown by the leaders of the Constit- 
 uent Assembly, they were at least in a state of consterna- 
 tion. Everybody knows of the changed aspect of affairs 
 on the following day. 
 
 The captivity of the king inspired a few faithful Royal- 
 ists with the touching idea of offering hostages to take his 
 place in jail. It was undoubtedly madness to imagine that 
 such a proposition would be entertained; and yet, the 
 greater number made it in entire good faith. I knew sev- 
 eral of them, particularly one M. Bernard, President of the 
 Cou7' des aides, a man sixty years of age, and who enjoyed 
 a yearly income of at least 60,000 livres. Barely had 
 the letter conveying his offer gone on its way, when he 
 left his home which was near Chartres, and came to Paris. 
 He took pains to notify the mayor of his locality of his 
 dwelling-place, so that he might ever be found in case of 
 necessity, and hardly left his room from a fear of making 
 those who might come in quest of him wait. In spite of 
 his sixty years, he emigrated shortly afterwards, and en- 
 tered as a private a military company, recruited from the 
 nobility,- at Coblentz. He died in harness. When a man 
 thus sacrifices his life to his principles, he is entitled to the 
 respect even of those who do not share theirs with him. 
 Our Revolution produced more men of that stamp than is 
 generally believed. 
 
 One of the acts of the Constituent Assembly was to have 
 painful consequences for me. Although the annihilation 
 of the Parlements had been resolved, it had not proceeded 
 as rapidly as desired, because something had to be estab-
 
 THE CHAMBER DURING VACATION TERM 71 
 
 lished in their stead, and this could not be done without 
 much labor and some forethought. One of the first acts of 
 the Assembly was to decree that the chambers (courts) 
 sitting during the vacation term, and which were at work 
 in October, 1789, should be the only ones, until such time 
 as it should be otherwise ordained, to try and render judg- 
 ment upon all civil and criminal cases. Consequently, the 
 Parlement did not meet again in the following month of 
 October, and thus did it pass out of existence. 
 
 The Chamber sitting during the vacation term in Paris 
 was burdened with an immense amount of work, during the 
 time this kind of interregnum lasted, and it accomplished 
 its task in such a fashion as to reflect great honor upon its 
 members. 
 
 The Assembly had decreed that the preliminary judicial 
 investigation in the matter of crime should be- public. In 
 many respects this was an excellent thing, but it had until 
 then never been practised in France. The drawing up of 
 the first report in conformity with this system, fell to the 
 lot of my father. It was, I believe, a case of uttering forged 
 assignats (paper money), or documents of that kind. The 
 charge was brought against two brothers belonging to a 
 most respectable family in the ranks of the bourgeoisie, the 
 brothers Agasse. A few youthful follies had led them to 
 commit the deed, and one could not help becoming inter- 
 ested in their fate, and feeling deeply for their family. 
 They were condemned to death, and the sentence was carried 
 out. Their execution became the starting-point of a hot 
 struggle between the well-rooted opinion that a criminal 
 conviction reflected dishonor on a whole family, and the 
 principle laid down by the Assembly that criminal offences, 
 and the punishments that follow them, are entirely a per- 
 sonal matter. 
 
 It was a fortunate thing for this principle that the first
 
 72 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 who furnished the application of it should be members of 
 so honored a family. A large and remarkable amount of 
 practical sympathy was shown to it, and, in this particular 
 instance party lines were somewhat obliterated in the force 
 of so terrible a blow. This fact does honor to the kind- 
 liness of French character, and so I make mention of it. 
 There were, alas, in those days, so many occurrences of a 
 different nature. 
 
 Thus it came about that the principle triumphed, and the 
 Agasse family was allowed to hold up its head, and retain 
 its position in society. My father contributed in no small 
 degree towards such a result, owing to the way in which 
 he drew up his report, and in so doing, he found some 
 compensation for all that was painful in the duties which 
 he had to perform. They came to an end at last. The 
 new judiciary order was installed, and the chambre cles 
 vacations was dissolved. With it passed away the last ves- 
 tige of the Parlement. 
 
 The National Assembly, when pronouncing the dissolu- 
 tion of that chamber, could not help doing homage to its 
 conduct, and to the services which it had rendered. 
 
 But, ere they went their different ways, at a moment 
 when they were together for the last time, when they were 
 about, so to speak, to represent the funeral procession of 
 that old and honored French magistracy, were they to 
 silently steal away? The matter was discussed at the 
 house of M. de Rosambo, the President of the Chamber. 
 The advice of M. de Malesherbes, M. de Rosambo's father- 
 in-law, was sought. 
 
 The only question broached at first was a declaration, a 
 sort of fareAvell from the old magistracy of France to 
 Frenchmen, a kind of public testimonial it thought itself 
 entitled to render unto itself; that in surrendering into 
 other hands the sacred deposit of justice, it was handing it
 
 A PROTEST FROM THE OLD MAGISTRACY 73 
 
 over pure and unblemished, such as it had received it from 
 the sovereign power. It did not hesitate to express a hope, 
 in the interest of the public, that those to whom it was to be 
 entrusted in the future, should never make worse use of it. 
 
 This idea was put on paper in many shapes. I saw the 
 various drafts. Some of them were indeed grand. But, as 
 a result of being so many times drawn up, the declaration 
 lost its original character. It was thought that a protest 
 was more proper, even indispensable ; that one could not give 
 assent, without some reservation, to so stupendous an act as 
 that of the complete annihilation of those Parlements which 
 had for so long a period upheld, almost single-handed, the 
 rights of the citizens and the prerogatives of the Crown. 
 Was it not patent that this annihilation had for its princi- 
 pal object the breaking down of all barriers which might 
 still interpose between the throne and the man of new 
 ideas? 
 
 When such ideas are once given expression to, the 
 strength to resist them is generally lacking. A protest 
 was therefore drawn up and adopted without difficulty. 
 Then arose the question as to what was to be done with it. 
 My father was in favor of making it public, and I supported 
 him in this resolve as far as lay in my power. We argued 
 that there still existed the absolute freedom of printing 
 anything one saw fit. The journals of the day were filled 
 with protests of all kinds, and that these protests on which 
 we set so little store, could only acquire any value through 
 the effect produced by them on the public mind. We were 
 also agreed as to its being undignified for us to let our 
 protest see the light of day, in the case of the Parlement 
 being re-established, if we kept it hidden from view for the 
 nonce. Such a triumph, achieved as it would have been 
 without risk of danger, would have something childish about 
 it, to say the very least.
 
 74 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 My father, convinced of the soundness of these reasons, 
 spared no efforts in getting his colleagues to view matters 
 in the same light; but he was unable to bring them to his 
 way of thinking, and it was decided, by a large majority, 
 to preserve secret the protest. To M. de Rosambo was 
 entrusted the care of putting the document in a place of 
 safety. 
 
 Two years later, it was delivered up by the man who had 
 joined him in seeking to hide it, and it gave rise to the war 
 unto death which the Committee of Public Safety declared 
 against all the members of the chambre des vacations in the 
 first place, and, in the second, against all members of the 
 Parlement. It is possible, it is even probable, that had 
 this pretext not been afforded, others would have been 
 found ; but, after all, the one furnished by that unfortunate 
 document was as serviceable as any other. Had it been 
 published at the time of its drawing up, it would, like so 
 many others, have been forgotten the following day, 
 whereas, when it became known for the first time in the 
 last days of 1793, it almost constituted a new crime. 
 
 Having promulgated the Constitution, nothing remained 
 for the Constituent Assembly but to withdraw entirely from 
 the public scene. I was a witness of the spirit of joyous 
 hope which filled the breasts of the Royalists on seeing the 
 constituent deputies become ordinary citizens once more. 
 In vain did the daily returns of the elections, which were 
 taking place to provide for their successors, show that these 
 successors would prove much fiercer and more formidable 
 enemies; the warning note was not heeded. 
 
 I had a special opportunity to form an opinion of what 
 might be expected therefrom. M. Ducos, in whose company 
 I had, as I have already told, followed a portion of the 
 •events of 1789, came to Paris as a deputy from Bordeaux. 
 
 Although our intercourse had suffered an interruption of
 
 THE GIRONDINS 76 
 
 over a year, lie had hardly reached town, when he wrote 
 me a pressing note to call on him at his hotel, where he lay 
 tired and ill. I found him surrounded by the whole of that 
 deputation from the Gironde which played so important a 
 part in the Legislative Assembly, and during the early days 
 of the Convention, those men whose names were Vergniaud, 
 Guadet, Gensonne, Boyer-Fonfrede, and so on. He kept 
 me to breakfast with them, and in their company I spent 
 the whole of the morning. 
 
 All of them were intoxicated with visions of future suc- 
 cesses, and they did not take the trouble of hiding from me, 
 although I had been introduced to them as an out and out 
 Eoyalist, if not their plans, at least their ideas, which were 
 of the republican order. 1 was none the less struck with 
 their madness. The eloquence of Vergniaud made itself 
 felt even in the course of ordinary conversation, and it 
 seemed to me destined to become the most formidable 
 weapon of the party whose cause he was embracing. I 
 noticed with surprise the profound contempt which these 
 gentlemen professed for their predecessors, the Constituents, 
 and the manner in which they looked upon these narrow- 
 minded people, imbued with prejudice, who had never been 
 able to turn circumstances to any account. 
 
 What I heard at that breakfast convinced me that we 
 were about to encounter far greater perils than those which 
 had beset us for three years past. 
 
 A month afterwards I was compelled to forego the society 
 of Ducos and of his friends, as our paths were too divergent; 
 and, in truth, the march of events soon became more rapid. 
 The month of October was made memorable by the massa- 
 cres at Avignon, where the ice-house was packed with the 
 corpses of those charged with having opposed the reuniting 
 of this part of the country with France. Ere the year had 
 run out, a decree was issued requiring Monsieur to return
 
 76 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 to France within two months, failing which he was to be 
 deprived of his eventual right to the Regency. 
 
 A first decree had already been promulgated against the 
 imigres, and there was this to be noticed about it, namely, 
 that although the debate over it had been a lengthy one, 
 yet not a single voice had been raised against the injustice 
 of its measures. The only serious difficulties that had 
 arisen were with regard to the extent of the penalties to be 
 inflicted upon those who should prove refractory. 
 
 This decree was the first subject of open disagreement 
 between the Legislature and the king, who refused the royal 
 sanction to it. Shortly afterwards, he also vetoed a decree 
 directed against the clergy. This decree had for its object 
 to deprive of both stipend and pension all priests who 
 should decline to take the civic oath. 
 
 A few days later, Petion was elected mayor, and Maunel 
 procureur syndic of the commune of Paris. These two men 
 were the faithful tools of a committee of surveillance 
 established within the bosom of the Legislative Assembly. 
 Through them, the revolutionary party was master of Paris. 
 
 The first day of 1792 was signalized by a decree which 
 placed under arrest, should they appear in France, the 
 king's brothers, and also the leaders of the emigres, while 
 the High Court at Orleans was deputed to try them. 
 Another decree, bearing date February 9, placed all the 
 estates of the Emigres under the ban. 
 
 On the 23d and 24th of January, the grocers of Paris 
 were abandoned to the fury of the populace, which pillaged 
 all their shops with impunity. At as early a date as Feb- 
 ruary 11, I saw crossing the grounds of the Tuileries a 
 deputation of pillagers who were on their way to the As- 
 sembly, preceded by a red cap. It was the first public 
 appearance of this popular emblem. 
 
 The deputation was admitted, whereupon it complimented
 
 THE SUBSERVIENT ASSEMBLY 77 
 
 the legislators on the success of their work. The legislators 
 replied to these congratulations by allowing the mayor of 
 J^tampes to be butchered while in the exercise of his office, 
 and by passing a decree shielding from punishment the 
 leader of the Avignon assassins, Jourdan, nicknamed Coupe- 
 tete (chopper of heads), and by proclaiming an amnesty in 
 favor of all crimes and misdemeanors perpetrated as the 
 result of revolutionary action.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Aspect of the Palais-Royal, the centre of the revolutionary movement : the 
 cafes, the gambling houses, the dissolute women — Louis XVI. 's mild 
 protest against the outrage of the 20th of June — M. de La Fayette's iso- 
 lation — Renewed activity of the revolutionary party — The fete of the 
 Federation — The beautiful Mme. Fontenay, afterwards Mme. Tallien — 
 The Queen at the Italian Opera — The attack on the Tuileries, August 
 10 — Anarchy's triumph — The September massacres — The Prussians 
 enter Champagne — Reasons for the sudden retreat of the Duke of 
 Brunswick — Affection for the monarchical system shown by the princes 
 upon the downfall of royalty — The trial of Louis XVI. — Popular songs 
 expressing pity for the king — The day of judgment and sentence — 
 The execution on January 21 — Councillor Pasquier at the foot of the 
 scaffold — Deep emotion of the crowd and public grief — The murder of 
 M. de Saint-Fargeau — Fury of the men of the revolutionary party — 
 The law affecting the suspects — Councillor Pasquier's marriage. 
 
 The rapid progress of the Revolution was now plain to 
 all, and its power was about to be increased by a foreign 
 war. I spent my time at the club de Valois, wliich was 
 largely composed of men sharing my opinions, and we con- 
 fided to each other our melancholy apprehensions. This 
 social circle had its habitat in the Palais-Royal, for so long 
 a time the starting-point of all the mad acts and of all 
 the atrocities which occurred during the first years of the 
 Revolution. You knew nothing, you saw nothing, you were 
 behind the times, did you not go by the Palais-Royal at 
 least two or three times a day. 
 
 It was there that I saw Camille Desmoulins standing on 
 the historical chair from which, on the 14th of July, he 
 preached his crusade against the Bastille. On the 6th of 
 October, I witnessed the arrival of a procession of furies, 
 
 78
 
 TEE PALAIS-ROYAL 79 
 
 carrying on pikes the heads of the gardes du corps massa- 
 cred on the threshold of the king's and queen's apartments. 
 These were the same women who had preceded the escort of 
 the king and royal family, when he was brought back to 
 Paris "of his own free will." 
 
 There was a circus in the middle of the garden, the door 
 of which had an iron box with a slit. Into it were dropped, 
 unsigned, the crazy elucubrations which the authors did 
 not dare to openly acknowledge. The Abbe Fouche was 
 in the habit of delivering harangues there. It was not long 
 ere he was hurried away and dragged to the scaffold. Each 
 and every party came in turns to the Palais-Eoyal, in quest 
 of headquarters, and there all of them succumbed victims 
 to the party which had gained ascendancy the day before. 
 
 Thus, to refer to one of those incidents which made the 
 greatest impression on me, I saw M. d']^premenil, the object 
 of my admiration in 1787, who at that date stood in high 
 favor with the masses, whose name was breathed within the 
 precincts of the Palais-Royal as that of a hero, whose por- 
 trait was displayed in all shop-windows, dragged bleeding 
 through the streets, at the end of 1791. The National 
 Guard succeeded at last in rescuing him from the clutches 
 of the populace, and led him half dead to the hotel adjoining 
 the Tresorerie. It was there that to M. Petion, mayor of 
 Paris, who had hastened to his side, he spoke the following 
 prophetical words: "And I too, sir, have been carried in 
 triumph by the people ! " 
 
 Only one thing did the glory of the Palais -Royal of that 
 period lack, and that was to number among the clubs of all 
 kinds within its precincts, the club of the Jacobins and 
 later that of the Cordeliers; but, at all events, the most 
 active intercourse did not for a single day cease between its 
 cafes, its political groups, and these two powerful associa- 
 tions.
 
 80 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 But it is not merely in the respect of political or popular 
 scenes that the Palais-Royal afforded a spectacle, the like 
 of which would be with difficulty found in history, during 
 the whole of the time that the National Assembly, the 
 Legislative Assembly, and the Convention were in existence. 
 It was the scene of all that was disorderly and dissipated in 
 a society on the verge of dissolution. 
 
 Let the reader picture to himself one of the most infamous 
 resorts of the capital, enlarged so as to occupy the whole 
 space of the garden, of the galleries, and of the adjacent 
 buildings. Let him imagine the whole of that area invaded 
 in broad daylight, and as far into the night as the closing 
 of the gates would allow, by a swarm of disreputable women 
 whose effrontery knew no bounds ; certain little exhibitions 
 of the most disgusting kind, to which they were always 
 admitted free of charge, because they helped to attract 
 spectators ; public gambling-houses of all kinds, established 
 in a dozen different corners. At first these resorts flour- 
 ished with absolute impunity, and, when the law forbade 
 their existence, they placed iron gratings at the head of 
 every staircase, thus defying the representatives of the 
 law, who, with so many obstacles in their way, reached the 
 tables only to find them swept of everything. There 
 remains to be mentioned the numerous restaurants where 
 occurred the orgies that were a necessary prelude to plots, 
 pillagiugs, and uprisings. 
 
 We had in our club two party men who were entirely 
 opposite to each other. The one was the Vicomte de 
 Noailles, a deputy of the Constituent Assembly. He was 
 about to take service in the army which was to penetrate 
 into Belgium under the orders of General Dillon, and was 
 busily engaged getting all necessary military equipments. 
 The other was M. de La Briffe, an officer in the regiment 
 du Roi, who was returning to Coblentz, whence he had come
 
 THE KING'S MILD PROTEST 81 
 
 in quest of funds, and to provide himself with everything 
 that was requisite for going into campaign. They went 
 about together to look for the horses they needed, giving 
 each other the benefit of advice and of their mutual dis- 
 coveries. As for myself, I helped both of them in this 
 pursuit. It is a far cry from such almost knightly good- 
 fellowship to the sanguinary frenzy which, four months 
 later, required the shooting down of Emigres, when they 
 were taken sword in hand. 
 
 With regard to our club de Valois, composed as it was 
 of men of such opposed sentiments and opinions, there was 
 one remarkable thing about it, the memory of which is 
 worth preserving. During its four years' existence, sev- 
 eral very lively quarrels took place within its walls, and, 
 as a sequel, challenges followed out of which the parties 
 were easily talked; but neither' during its existence, nor 
 afterwards, did any deed emanate therefrom, which could 
 reflect dishonor on any of its members. Quarrelsome 
 arguments were indeed frequent, but as among gentlemen ; 
 and when, during the reign of the Committee of General 
 Safety, a list of the members was asked for, as likely to 
 furnish an excellent document from which to draw, in mak- 
 ing up the list of the suspects, the list could not be found, 
 nor could the memory of any of the servants of the estab- 
 lishment make good the deficiency. 
 
 Louis XVI. contented himself with protesting, by means 
 of a proclamation dated June 22, against all the outrages 
 heaped upon him, and with declaring that force would never 
 obtain his sanction for decrees which he judged inimical 
 to the public weal. This was deemed sufficient action in 
 defence of the monarchy, and yet the outrage committed 
 on the 20th of June was the most favorable opportunity 
 afforded for rallying about the throne a host of men only 
 too ready to come to its assistance.
 
 82 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 But a signal was necessary, and this signal could only 
 come from the throne. The throne made no sign. The 
 constitutional party of the Constituent Assembly alone 
 made a demonstration in the king's favor, but it had no 
 longer any actual weapon at its disposal. Its principal 
 leader, M. de La Fayette, was, it is true, at the head of an 
 army ; but it was not long ere it was discovered how little 
 that army was under his control. On the 16th of June he 
 wrote a very strong letter to the Assembly, and on the 28th, 
 he appeared at the bar of the House to ask, in behalf of 
 that army, that the authors of the outrage of the 20th of 
 June should be brought to punishment. His principal 
 hope, in risking this step, was based on the National Guard, 
 whose feelings he thought to stir up by the sight of its old 
 commander. He had apparently flattered himself that it 
 would close around him, and had no doubt that it would 
 help him, when the time came to lay down the law to the 
 factious elements. In that respect, the undertaking was an 
 excellent one; but it was badly conceived, and could only 
 have been successful by a concerted action with the king, 
 seconded by the ministry, and by the court. 
 
 Far from all this taking place, M. de La Fayette remained 
 completely isolated. The National Guard did not venture 
 to commit itself under a leader who was no longer in com- 
 mand of it, whom it saw only in passing fashion, and the 
 only result of his step, the most honorable perhaps of his 
 life, was the loss of the little influence which still clung 
 to him. 
 
 After the terrible day of June 20th, the revolutionary 
 and anarchical party became all the more active and ener- 
 getic as the weakness of the party which opposed it became 
 manifest. It contemptuously rejected the petitions which 
 reached it from the provinces, and disbanded not only the 
 staff of the Paris National Guard, but those of the National
 
 THE FETE OF THE FEDERATION 83 
 
 Guard in towns of fifty thousand inhabitants, knowing full 
 well that these staffs might be the nucleus of certain ele- 
 ments of resistance. It next proclaimed the country to be 
 in danger, and took part with Manuel and Petion against 
 the departmental administration of Paris, which had sus- 
 pended them, and ordered that they should be reinstated. 
 To crown all, it disarmed respectable people everywhere, 
 and gave arms to the dregs of the population. 
 
 It was expected that the 14th of July, the anniversary of 
 the renewal of the federation, would be marked by some 
 crisis, but nothing occurred. A few preparations were still 
 lacking, and the catastrophe was postponed. 
 
 I took part in that celebration. Accidentally I met there 
 the beautiful Mme. de Fontenay, afterwards famous as Mme. 
 de Tallien. She then shared all my fears regarding the pres- 
 ent, all my anxiety for the future. I have often recalled 
 this occasion, wherein we found ourselves in the enjoyment 
 of a sort of intimacy, and which was so close to the time 
 when our destinies were to carry us away by divergent 
 routes. Hers led her by way of the prison cells of the 
 Terror to a marriage with the Prince de Chimay, after shar- 
 ing the couches of Tallien, of Barras, and of Ouvrard. 
 
 Whatever may be said and thought of her private life, all 
 those to whom it befell to know her well, cannot, in addi- 
 tion to the homage due to her wonderful beauty, well deny 
 her a sincere recognition of her goodness of heart, and of 
 the happiness she ever experienced in helping people in the 
 most troublous and dangerous moments. 
 
 It was in such company that I saw Louis XVI. swear, for 
 the last time on the altar of the country, fidelity to the 
 Constitution. I still see Panis and Sergent, with their tri- 
 color sashes, riding about the Champ de Mars. They had 
 more power than their sovereign, and for them only did the 
 crowd of sans-culottes, who bore inscribed on their hats 
 " Long live Petion ! " respectfully open a way.
 
 84 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 With the king, the fMer^s took oath to respect the Con- 
 stitution, and three days later several of them appeared at 
 the bar of the Assembly, and boldly demanded the suspen- 
 sion of the executive power in the person of the king. 
 They also called for the impeachment of M. de La Fayette, 
 the punishing of the directorate of the Department of the 
 Seine, and the renewal of the judiciary. To all these 
 requests, the President, M. de Vaublanc, contented himself 
 with the answer that the public weal should not be de- 
 spaired of. 
 
 Similar demands were preferred during the following 
 days, and at last it became so evident that the factious 
 element was in possession, that the members of the direc- 
 torate of the Department of the Seine, the only administra- 
 tive power in the capital which was not in its hands, thought 
 it incumbent on them to resign. M. Roederer, the procureur- 
 syndic, alone remained at his post. 
 
 During the same period, massacres, which remained 
 unpunished, took place in several towns of Provence, 
 notably at Aries. They were the forerunners of the arrival 
 in Paris of that famous battalion of Marseillais, which 
 played so decisive a part on the 10th of August. 
 
 Never perhaps did any party proceed in so bold and open 
 a fashion at the greatest work of destruction ever entered 
 upon. Theories and empty phrases became a thing of the 
 past ; it was a mere question of going straight to the goal. 
 People were impatient to strike a blow ; they said so openly, 
 and the threat was quickly followed by the deed. 
 
 What could those whose mission it was to curb this 
 audacious activity do to oppose it? What means liad they 
 for resisting it? People were, alas, indulging in the wildest 
 illusions ! During those last months I saw our unfortunate 
 queen, at a performance of Italian opera, greeted with the 
 cheers of a society audience which was eager to give her
 
 THE TENTH OF AUGUST 85 
 
 such small consolation. I saw this audience go wild when 
 Mme. Dugazon sang with Mermier the Evenements imprevus 
 duo, which ends with the following words : " Oh, how I love 
 my master! Oh, how I love my mistress!" And, upon her 
 return to the Tuileries, there were those who did not 
 hesitate to tell her that she had just listened to a genuine 
 expression of the feelings of her subjects towards her. 
 
 Men most clever and dignified lost much precious time in 
 obscure and insignificant intrigues, and in seeking to bribe 
 a few deputies. 
 
 Because they had safely emerged from the events of the 
 10th of June in spite of their not having foreseen them, 
 they fondly imagined that if they but kept watch, scarcely 
 anything else was to be dreaded. So many, moreover, were 
 mad enough to think that it was all nothing more than a 
 temporary trouble which had to be gone through, and 
 depended upon the assistance promised by the Duke of 
 Brunswick, which they thought was close at hand. All 
 that was needed, they said, was a little patience ! 
 
 Yet, in the meanwhile, preparations were bravely and 
 faithfully being made, it must be admitted, to resist in case 
 of need, an attack upon the Tuileries. The king had still 
 at his disposal a regiment of the S wiss Guards, and a few 
 battalions of the National Guard, whose loyalty was un- 
 doubted. These ready means of defence were increased by 
 a number of devoted followers, to whom free access to the 
 chateau had been granted, and who had firmly resolved to 
 make a rampart of their bodies in defence of the royal 
 family. 
 
 Together with the Prince de Saint-Maurice, I resolved 
 upon joining this faithful band. On the morning of the 
 9th of August, we wrote to M. de Champcenetz to ask him 
 for cards of admission. They had not reached us by even- 
 ing, and during the night between the 9th and 10th of
 
 86 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 August, we made several vain attempts to get into the 
 chateau, which was then being threatened. If I make a 
 note of this fact, it is not because of its actual importance, 
 but because of a couple of circumstances pertaining thereto, 
 one of which was of a fatal nature, while the other was 
 fortunate to a singular degree. The card which I had asked 
 for on the 9th of August reached me by the local post two 
 days later, when all was over. How was it that it should 
 have been so long delayed in transmission, without being 
 intercepted? How was it, then, that it did not bring about 
 my arrest? It was a piece of good luck which I have never 
 been able to explain. Fate was not equally kind to the 
 Prince de Saint-Maurice. His readiness to serve the king 
 had had no other result than mine, with the exception that 
 his card did not reach him, and that he never discovered 
 any trace of it. He lost his head on the scaffold, under the 
 accusation of having been one of the defenders of the 
 Tuileries. 
 
 Both of us witnessed the whole scene. The king passed 
 us as he crossed the garden of the Tuileries, yielding to tlie 
 advice of going to the Assembly, in order to place himself 
 under its protection. As we left, cannon was being fired 
 across the garden. It was a short-lived fight, but its effect 
 was to destroy the most powerful and ancient dynasty 
 reigning in Europe. 
 
 The inevitable consequences of this event were a fearful 
 state of confusion, and an actual dissolution of society. No 
 longer did any one feel any security. ISTo one expected to 
 see the next day. ]\Iy own safety was most seriously com- 
 promised by an imprudent detail of costume. On the 
 morning of the 11th, I made the mistake of going out with 
 my hair trimmed and gathered up with a comb. I had 
 forgotten that this mode of wearing the hair formed part 
 of the uniform of the Swiss Guards. This slight indication
 
 A NABROW ESCAPE 87 
 
 was sufficient for two or three hundred angry men to pounce 
 upon me on the boulevard de la Madeleine. I was unable 
 to make myself heard, and so was dragged to the place 
 Vendome, where the mob was stringing up to lamp-posts 
 all the Swiss and other fugitives from the chateau they 
 could lay their hands on. 
 
 I was rescued by a little drummer of the precinct, who 
 recognized me. It was he who was in the habit of notify- 
 ing me when it was my turn to go on guard duty, and as I 
 never answered the call, I was in the habit of paying him 
 somewhat liberally for finding a substitute for me. He 
 fought his way into the midst of the raving horde, com- 
 manded silence by a vigorous beating of his drum, shouted 
 that I was not a Swiss, and gave my name and place of 
 residence. On the strength of his testimony I was escorted 
 home in triumph. I expressed my gratitude towards the 
 little drummer by bearing the expense of his outfit as a 
 volunteer. 
 
 The best thing to be done was to fly from the scene of 
 so many horrible things. My family resolved upon this 
 course, but the gates of the city were closed, and passports 
 were most difficult to obtain. I had for four or five days 
 tried to compass this end, when Ducos, whom I had not 
 seen for several months, heard of my efforts. I deeply 
 regret not having kept the note he wrote to me on the 
 occasion. It contained a few words of reproach delicately 
 expressed, and of sorrow at the fact that our differences of 
 opinion had kept us so much apart that I did not come to 
 him in my predicament. 
 
 I called on him, and he did all he could to procure for 
 me the necessary documents with which to leave Paris. 
 This gave me the opportunity of seeing him several times. 
 On each occasion I plied him with questions, and learned 
 with interest of the plottings which had brought about
 
 88 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 the sanguinary catastrophe we had just witnessed. In the 
 exultation of his triumph he revealed everything, and he 
 told me a thing which the Memoirs of Mme. Roland have 
 since confirmed, namely, the resolution reached at one of 
 their caucuses, to sacrifice one of their number, and to have 
 him murdered, in order to impute his assassination to the 
 Court, if no other means were forthcoming to excite the 
 people against it. 
 
 One Grangeneuve, I believe, had made the sacrifice of 
 his life, and was to be the victim. The room occupied by 
 Ducos looked out upon the place Vendome. One could see 
 from his window the men who were engaged in demolishing 
 the magnificent equestrian statue of Louis XIV. I did not 
 hesitate to appeal from such vandalism to his high-minded- 
 ness, even to his very pronounced taste for the fine arts. 
 He replied: "Fear not. Liberty erects a hundred times 
 more monuments than she levels. " In spite of this language 
 of the enthusiast, it was an easy matter for me to perceive 
 that the conquerors were not free from anxiety. Ducos 
 was one of those who during the course of the Revolution 
 brought about many occurrences which they did not wish to 
 see repeated the next day. 
 
 I was not able to leave Paris until the 29th. I had barely 
 reached Abbeville, where I had decided upon seeking an 
 asylum with my family, when I heard of the September 
 massacres. In the meanwhile, the Prussians were pouring 
 into Champagne. How was it that this invasion of foreign 
 troops, which must have been planned with so much care, 
 which was taking place under circumstances apparently so 
 favorable, was nevertheless so quickly checked? In those 
 days one hardly knew how to explain this phenomenon. 
 
 As is always the case when extraordinary things happen, 
 the words treachery and corruption were on many lips. 
 The revelations which were made later do not leave in
 
 THE PRUSSIANS IN CHAMPAGNE 89 
 
 doubt the case of the first check met with by the coalition, 
 the consequence of which made Europe a battle-field for 
 over twenty years. 
 
 The sovereigns had considered the enterprise upon which 
 they had entered as one so easy of accomplishment, that it 
 had never entered their minds to call a truce to their 
 rivalry. 
 
 Prussia and Austria were more intent upon the advan- 
 tages to be derived by each of them from the campaign, 
 than upon its success, the principal result of which seemed 
 to them assured. The French princes, and the emigres with 
 whom they had consulted, had inspired them with their 
 own confidence, and had constantly repeated to them that 
 they had but to show themselves, for the fortified towns to 
 open their gates to them, for the regiments to disband, even 
 if they did not, as soon as they saw them, come and flock 
 round the old French standard. 
 
 It so happened that Austria bestowed her attention above 
 all on the acquisitions she meditated making in Flanders, in 
 order to aggrandize her provinces in the Netherlands, and 
 that a gap opened in the centre of Champagne by an army 
 of 60,000 or 70,000 Austrians and Prussians under the Duke 
 of Brunswick was considered sufi&cient to cause a counter- 
 revolution to break out in France. 
 
 But when it was seen that the most important of the 
 fortified towns refused to answer a call to surrender, and 
 showed their intention of standing a siege, that the troops 
 of Dumouriez, after bearing the brunt of a first attack, 
 showed a bold front in lieu of disbanding, the Duke of 
 Brunswick began to ponder over matters. His army, which 
 had reached the heart of Champagne, was suffering greatly 
 from sickness engendered by a somewhat rainy autumn, and 
 was getting weaker every day. In the case of defeat, he 
 could see no road by which to retreat except the narrow gap
 
 90 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 he had opened, thus being compelled to pass once more 
 through a thoroughly exhausted district. He argued that 
 one could not, with an army of 60, 000 men, risk continuing 
 his advance on a capital of 800,000 souls, whose population 
 might be driven to a desperate defence, and which, more- 
 over, was covered by an army less to be despised than had 
 been thought. He had, moreover, to take into consideration 
 the displeasure of his sovereign, who was indignant at Aus- 
 tria's feeble co-operation. He therefore resolved on entering 
 upon a course of negotiation with the French general. Du- 
 mouriez did not throw many obstacles in the way of a retreat, 
 for which he prayed as earnestly as did his opponent. 
 
 I returned to Paris with my family in the course of 
 November. The information that I had gleaned in the 
 Northern Departments, those comprising the old provinces 
 of Normandy, Picardy, and Flanders, caused me to return 
 to Paris painfully convinced that if up to the night of the 
 10th of August the king could have been prevailed upon to 
 place himself at the head of the Swiss Guards, strengthened 
 by two or three battalions of the National Guard, and had 
 then made his way to that part of the country, he would 
 not have had to despair of his cause or of his life. 
 
 The aspect of these departments was all the more note- 
 worthy, from the fact that in spite of so many strange 
 events, it has changed little and remains about the same at 
 the time I write. It was not a royalism as ardent as that 
 of La Vendee, but it embodied a firm attachment to order, 
 to duty, and to the sanctity of an oath; it represented an 
 incarnate horror of any recourse to violence. Assuredly 
 the sentiment prevailing was in favor of the Constitution, 
 but the Constitution with royalty as a part of it, and 
 people were all the more prepared to defend the latter, 
 for the reason that they felt sure that its abolition would 
 bring about the downfall of the other.
 
 THE KING'S TRIAL 91 
 
 It is clearly demonstrated to me that at the time Louis 
 XVI. succumbed, he had many more partisans in France 
 than when, a year before, he retreated by way of Varennes. 
 Unfortunately, he was not informed as to his actual posi- 
 tion, and the national feeling was wrongly gauged at the 
 Tuileries. And so, through blunder after blunder, through 
 misfortune after misfortune, we found ourselves, at the 
 end of 1792, delivered up defenceless to the plans of the 
 victors of the 10th of August and of the assassins of the 
 month of September. 
 
 The trial of the king was the first thing to which they 
 devoted their attention. Must I speak of the agonizing 
 days which this trial made me go through? Yes, indeed; 
 for if ever this manuscript is published, if even it is merely 
 preserved in my family, I do not wish it to remain unknown 
 that my father and I contributed, in so far as lay in our 
 power, to the defence of our unfortunate king. My father, 
 who was particularly intimate with the family of M. de 
 Malesherbes, and had in his parliamentary career enjoyed 
 frequent intercourse with Messieurs Tronchet and De Seze, 
 advocates in the Paris Parlement, was, as a matter of 
 course, in a position to tender him every assistance that 
 lay within his power. He took part in their private delib- 
 erations, and during the course of the trial he occupied a 
 seat in the tribune set aside for the king's defenders, tak- 
 ing notes with them, and assisting them in their task.^ 
 
 During that time, I never left the public tribunes and the 
 hallways of the House, going about in quest of information, 
 gathering the slightest straws which showed how the wind 
 blew, and bringing them all to my father, who would com- 
 municate them to the other gentlemen. It was then, that 
 having seen with my own eyes the shameful manoeuvres of 
 
 1 In this connection, see p. 401, Vol. II., of the Histoire du proces de 
 Louis XVI., published in 1814 by Maurice Me'jean.
 
 92 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 M. de Saint-Fargeau, I became convinced that he, more than 
 any other man, brought about the death of the king. 
 
 For a short while people let themselves be lulled by- 
 illusions. The streets (who would believe it?) re-echoed 
 songs expressing pity for the fate of the king. There was 
 one written to the air of Pauvre Jacques. It closed with 
 these words : Louis n' cut ni favori ni maUresse (Louis 
 never had either favorite or mistress). But popular senti- 
 ment was not powerful enough to have any influence within 
 the precincts of the hall of the Convention. There it was 
 merely the pitiless taking of votes. 
 
 In the tribune of the king's defenders, the result was 
 being reckoned up, according to what was thought to be the 
 opinions of each member, according to certain promises that 
 had been made, and the result of these calculations pointed 
 to an acquittal. The noble soul of M. de Malesherbes, 
 especially, could not abandon the hope of which he so 
 needed the support. 
 
 I can still see him, the day the vote was taken, checking 
 off the votes on his note-book as they were recorded, and 
 passing from fear to hope, then from hope to despair. The 
 words he spoke at the bar of the House, when the vote was 
 finally recorded, sufficiently showed how up to the last 
 moment it had been impossible for him to realize the 
 perpetration of so great a deed of iniquity. 
 
 Louis XVI. was fated to die, environed as he was with 
 the hatred of many. But how different it would have been 
 had he fallen under the knife of a few assassins! The 
 crime could then have been laid only to the door of a few 
 disowned wretches, condemned even by those who had 
 incited them to the deed, and we should not have known 
 those regicide conventionnels, who, as long as their life lasted 
 did not want the Bourbons under any circumstances. 
 
 A few attempts which could and ought to have been made
 
 THE KING'S EXECUTION 93 
 
 to save the king were not attempted or were carried out too 
 late. In this respect, blame fairly attaches to all the 
 cabinets of Europe. A solitary man displayed some zeal. 
 It was M. Oscarit, the Spanish Minister. . He was without 
 instructions from his government, and no financial or other 
 resources were placed by it at his disposal. I saw him 
 frequently at the house of the Lecoulteux family, and I 
 was aware of his distress. He found help in that family, 
 which advanced a no inconsiderable sum to him. With it 
 he bought over a few votes, but there were bigger men than 
 those he secured to be bought over. It was necessary to 
 get at Danton, Santerre, and others of that calibre. For 
 this, several millions would have been necessary, and then 
 perhaps . . . ? 
 
 It remains for me to say that I saw the tragedy which 
 was enacted on the 21st of January. I lived in a house 
 which faced on the boulevard, at the corner of the church 
 of the Madeleine. My father and I sat opposite each other 
 all morning buried in our grief, and unable to utter a word. 
 We knew that the fatal procession was wending its way by 
 the boulevards. 
 
 Suddenly a somewhat loud clamor made itself heard. I 
 rushed out under the idea that perhaps an attempt was 
 being made to rescue the king. How could I do otherwise 
 than cherish such a hope to the very last? On reaching 
 the goal I discovered that what I had heard was merely the 
 howling of the raving madmen who surrounded the vehicle. 
 I found myself sucked in by the crowd which followed it, 
 and was dragged away by it, and, so to speak, carried and 
 set down at the scaffold's side. So it was that I endured 
 the horror of this awful spectacle. 
 
 Hardly had the crime been consummated when a cry of 
 " Long live the Nation! " arose from the foot of the scaffold, 
 and, repeated from man to man, was taken up by the whole
 
 94 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 of the vast concourse of people. This cry was followed by 
 the deepest and most gloomy silence. Shame, horror, and 
 terror were now hovering over the vast locality. I crossed 
 it once more, swept back by the flood which had brought me 
 thither. Each one walked along slowly, hardly daring to 
 look at another. The rest of the day was spent in a state 
 of profound stupor which spread a pall over the whole 
 city. Twice was I compelled to leave the house, and on 
 both occasions did I find the streets deserted and silent. 
 The assassins had lost their accustomed spirit of bravado. 
 Public grief made itself felt, and they were silent in the 
 face of it. They respected this sentiment at least during 
 the day of the execution ; but the truce was a short one, and 
 the murder of M. de Saint-Fargeau, by showing them the 
 imminence of personal danger, soon inspired their ferocity 
 with its accustomed energy. 
 
 I dragged along a weary existence in Paris from January 
 until May. In the latter month I left alone to go back to 
 Abbeville, a few days before the 31st of May. There were 
 a thousand reasons for my not escaping an already too 
 common fate, had I fallen into the hands of the commis- 
 sioners to whom was entrusted the duty of gathering in the 
 suspects. It was at that time that the prisons began to fill. 
 
 The fury of the men of the Eevolution was fed by a 
 multiplication of dangers. Within an interval of four 
 months they had experienced the defection of Dumouriez 
 and the rebellion of Lyons. The fortified town of Conde 
 had been carried by the coalition, whom this victory brought 
 within forty leagues of the capital. On the other hand, the 
 rising in La Vendee had reached a serious point, through 
 the capture of Saumur, and lastly, a departmental SLTvaj 
 was being organized, in the Calvados, by the efforts of the 
 suspects, who had escaped the proscription of the 31st of 
 ]\Iay. This army was preparing to march against the Con-
 
 FURY OF THE MEN OF THE REVOLUTION 95 
 
 vention, thus constituting the most important clanger 
 threatening it; but the peril was averted because people in 
 Brittany and in Normandy soon discovered that these 
 deputies were not seeking to re-establish royalty. This 
 discovery paralyzed the support which the susj^ects had at 
 first received. They have themselves admitted the truth 
 of the charge in the writings they have left. 
 
 In the month of March, the revolutionary tribunals were 
 organized, together with the Committees of General Police 
 and of Public Safety. The emigres, the aristocrats, and the 
 enemies of the Revolution were all outlawed, and a revolu- 
 tionary army was especially entrusted with hunting them 
 down. 
 
 The law of the suspects spread out a huge net from which 
 no one might hope to escape. Fresh prisons were opened 
 in all directions, and they could scarcely hold the number 
 of unfortunate people stowed away in them. The Conven- 
 tion let loose all over the country deputies chosen among 
 the most ferocious and vicious of the Mountain's member- 
 ship. France was handed over defenceless to these repre- 
 sentatives of the people, clothed with the most unlimited 
 powers, and disposing, at their own free will, of the liberty 
 and life of any individual whom it pleased them to call a 
 counter-revolutionist. 
 
 In every department, in every town, they found docile 
 executors of all their acts of savagery, — a score or so of 
 wretches, all or almost all sprung from the dregs of the 
 population, hardly able to write their names, but invested 
 with the title of members of the Revolutionary Committee. 
 For the purpose of having their orders carried out, they 
 called into requisition the help of the inert mass of citizens, 
 which knows only how to sigh and obey, and thus, during a 
 term of eighteen months, the very man who was to be 
 arrested on the following day, took part in the arrests of
 
 9G MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 the foregoing one. He who was to perish during the next 
 week, often escorted to the scaffokl, while shouldering a 
 pike, the victims of the current week. Officers, soldiers, 
 generals, officials, rich and poor, all stood alike in fear of 
 these modern proconsuls, and all fled who had the means of 
 flight at their disposal. But it was very hard to escape 
 their vigilance when one belonged to the proscribed class. 
 I had in the first instance found a pretty safe refuge at 
 Abbeville, owing to the generous and humane character of 
 the residents of that town and the people of the surrounding 
 districts. I soon had to leave, upon the arrival in those 
 parts of the representatives Lebon and Andre Dumont, to 
 whom was entrusted the care of extirpating from the 
 departments composing ancient Picardy, the bad spirit said 
 to be reigning therein. There was no room for hesitation; 
 I had to fly before them. 
 
 I returned to the environs of the capital, and hid myself 
 in the village of Champigny, three miles distant from it. 
 I occupied a room that had been secured for me by the 
 physician of the commune in the chateau of the former 
 seignior who had emigrated, and whose estates had been 
 confiscated to the nation. This chateau was occupied by a 
 number of peasants who, like myself, had made it their 
 home by renting from the municipality such rooms as could 
 still boast of doors and windows. 
 
 I occasionally left my place of retreat to go and pay a 
 visit to my family in Paris, where I was even compelled to 
 remain for several days in succession for the purpose of 
 getting ready for my marriage. When one ponders over 
 the events of that epoch, when one recalls the life one led, 
 the dangers which constantly surrounded one, everything in 
 a word which ought to have crushed the soul and rent the 
 heart, one finds it difficult to understand how it was possi- 
 ble to dream of anything else but one's dangers, that one
 
 THE COUNCILLOR'S MARRIAGE 97 
 
 dared to give a thought to entering upon a matrimonial 
 union. 
 
 Providence keeps in store for men many kinds of re- 
 lief proportionate to the trials to which it subjects them, 
 and the relief which it granted them during these terrible 
 days consisted especially in the faculty of stupefying one- 
 self in the matter of the most assured perils. This faculty 
 seemed to gain all the more power as these perils became 
 more formidable. It was certainly not resignation. That 
 would have been a virtue, and such a virtue is not at all 
 common. I did not hesitate to defy the dangers which were 
 then the adjuncts of a marriage. With the aid of some 
 influence derived from petty quarters, I was enabled to make 
 my appearance at the municipality at dawn and when there 
 were few people about. So, taking with me only some old 
 servants as witnesses, I emerged safely from this difficult 
 undertaking. 
 
 There was at the time but one municipality, whose sit- 
 tings took place in the Hotel de Ville, and before whom all 
 marriages took place. The wedding of a prisoner under 
 arrest as a suspect was to take place at the same time as my 
 own. He had been granted permission to leave the prison 
 in company with two guards, for the time necessary for the 
 ceremony. He probably had cogent reasons for being so 
 greatly desirous of plighting his troth, and the paramount 
 one was j)robably that he foresaw his coming doom. Al- 
 though we were not familiar with the particulars of his 
 situation, it was none the less a touching one, which 
 impressed us deeply. This ceremony was a dismal accom- 
 paniment to our union, which was, it will be seen, sur- 
 rounded with little pomp. We took as much pains to 
 conceal it as in normal times one took to hide a criminal 
 deed. 
 
 The nuptial benediction was given to us by the Abbe
 
 98 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Salamon, conseiller derc in the Paris Parlement. He hailed 
 from the comtat d' Avignon, and had secretly received from 
 Rome the powers of the nunciatura. He gave us the nec- 
 essary dispensation, in view of the degree of consanguinity 
 which already united us. I remained with my wife at 
 Champiguy, hiding as best we could our humble happiness.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 M. Pasquier, Senior, cast into jail — A prison looked upon as an asylum — 
 Certificates of residence and of good citizenship — Tribulations of Coun- 
 cillor Pasquier, while seeking refuge at Montge, near Juilly — Generous 
 sentiments of the bourgeois class of Paris — Mme. Tavaux — The citoy- 
 enne Mottei — Levasseur's gratitude — Pen-picture of this conventionnel 
 — Citizen Felix, the brother of Lepelletier de Saint-Fargeau — Trial 
 and execution of M. Pasquier, Senior — Councillor Pasquier arrested at 
 Amiens — Sent to Saint-Lazare with Mme. Pasquier, on the 8th Ther- 
 midor — A prison during the Reign of Terror — The 9th Thermidor — 
 The prisoners set at liberty — Fouquier-Tinville before the tribunal and 
 on the scaffold — Ovation to Tallien and Mme. Tallien at the Odeon 
 theatre — France after Thermidor — The Vendeans — M. and Mme. Pas- 
 quier's life at Croissy — Their intercourse with Josephine de Beau- 
 harnais — Mme. de Beauharnais, Josephine's sister-in-law — Exorbitant 
 prices of provisions — Scarcity of food. 
 
 The steps I had been compelled to take in connection 
 with my marriage had somewhat inured me to the dangers 
 incumbent upon a sojourn in the capital. I was in the habit 
 of going there to spend a day with my father. On one 
 occasion, while we were at dinner, the Abbe Salamon rushed 
 in to tell us that the protest drawn up by the chamhre des 
 vacations had been given up to the authorities by M, de 
 Rosambo's valet, and that the Committee of General Safety 
 had at once ordered the arrest of all the subscribers to that 
 document, and, at the same time, of several other councillors 
 of the Parlement. 
 
 M. Salamon thought I was among the latter. He was 
 about to hide himself, and had had the courage to go all 
 over the city to warn those of his brother councillors whom 
 
 99
 
 100 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 he knew to be still within its walls. This act of devotion 
 was all the more meritorious from the fact that no one 
 incurred greater danger than he, owing to the religious 
 functions which he had been practising secretly for several 
 months past, the discovery of which exercise could not but 
 fail to bring him to the scaffold at once. He urged us to 
 fly, and not to lose a moment in hiding ourselves. 
 
 My father and I therefore went in different directions, 
 after a fond embrace, and with hardly the strength of utter- 
 ing a single word. We were never to meet again. I 
 returned to Champigny. My father hid himself at La 
 Muette, where he had dwelt during the course of the pre- 
 ceding summer. Two days later, he gave himself up, fear- 
 ing that my mother might be arrested in his stead. Hardly 
 was he within the walls of his prison, wliich had as inmates 
 M. de Malesherbes, all the members of the Rosambo family, 
 and a large number of his friends, when he experienced a 
 feeling of relief, which, better than anything one might 
 say, depicts the horrors of the existence we had been com- 
 pelled to lead for over a year. Indeed, outside of prison, 
 one dared not meet, see, speak, nay, almost look at anybody, 
 so great was the fear of mutually betraying each other. 
 Relatives, and the most intimate friends, dwelt apart in the 
 most absolute isolation. A knock at the door, and one sup- 
 posed at once that the commissioners of the Revolutionary 
 Committee had come to take one away. When once behind 
 the bolts, it was different. One found oneself, in a certain 
 sense, once more enjoying social life, for one was in the 
 midst of one's relations, of one's friends, whom one could 
 see without hindrance, and with whom one could freely 
 converse. The great judicial massacres (I am speaking of 
 the month of January, 1794) had not yet taken place. Pew 
 days, however, went by without some victims; but the num- 
 ber of those behind the bars was so great that to each one
 
 THE COUNCILLOR SEEKS REFUGE AT MONTGE 101 
 
 of them all clanger seemed somewhat distant. And lastly, 
 no sooner were many of them in jail than they ended in 
 believing that they were safer there than out of doors. One 
 could no longer (so at least they imagined) accuse them of 
 conspiring; and, were the foreign armies to make great 
 progress, as there were good grounds for supposing, they 
 would, while in prison, be more out of the reach of popular 
 frenzy than elsewhere. 
 
 So powerful a hold did these impressions take on the 
 mind of my father, that having a few days later found the 
 means of reaching me by letter, he urged me to reflect upon 
 my situation, to well consider if the life that I was leading, 
 and which he knew from experience, was not a hundred 
 times worse than his own. Then, assuming that I would 
 determine to get myself arrested, he informed me of an 
 arrangement that he had entered into with the porter of the 
 prison to reserve for him alone, for a few days longer, the 
 room which he occupied, so that we could dwell together. 
 
 I demurred to this, and a few days afterwards I left 
 Champigny. In company with my wife I sought another 
 asylum at JNIontge, ten leagues from Paris, and near Juilly, 
 the old college of the Oratorians where I had been brought 
 up. I am not going to speak of all my tribulations during 
 the last part of that winter. They resemble those of 
 many others so often told elsewhere. 
 
 The respectable proprietor who gave me a shelter, and 
 had the courage to keep me in hiding, was a most humane 
 man, and of an excellent and good-natured character. A 
 patriot in 1789, he was still one in a small degree, while 
 abhorring the cruel deeds perpetrated daily. For the sake 
 of his peace of mind, it was necessary for him to believe in 
 them as little as possible, and to explain them away, even 
 to justify them. Hence, each time that the Moniteur would 
 bring us the list of those whose heads had fallen under the
 
 102 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 revolutionary knife, he would seek in their antecedents, in 
 the alleged motives of their sentence, some reason that 
 might make the crime of their death appear less odious. It 
 was always, according to him, some particular case which 
 did not bring with it any consequence to be feared by those 
 who were not / similarly situated. This kind of reasoning 
 would lead to the liveliest discussions between us; but it 
 did not prevent him from continuing to give a shelter to us, 
 as well as to another family whose position was in many 
 respects similar to our own, and which humored as little 
 as I did our host's weaknesses. 
 
 Fortunate, a thousand times fortunate would have been my 
 fate, if I had had only that painful contradiction to endure, 
 but the difficulties of my situation were daily increasing. 
 In order to render that of my father less dangerous, by 
 exposing him to be looked upon as the father of an emigri, 
 I was compelled to send to my mother, every three months, 
 certificates of residence, which she might produce in case 
 of need. Just then a law was passed which forced me to 
 procure a certificate of a new kind, and which had to go 
 back to 1790. In consequence of this, I had to return to 
 Paris. I was fortunate enough to come safely out of this 
 new ordeal, and to escape the clutches of the two Revolu- 
 tionary Committees. 
 
 It would ill become me to remain silent concerning all 
 the help and relief I received at the hands of that worthy 
 Parisian bourgeoisie class. As I could not without danger 
 take up my abode in my father's house, or in a lodging- 
 house, I was hidden in succession by several shop-keepers 
 in the streets in which I had dwelt, and particularly by a 
 Mme. Tavaux, a mercer, who lived close to the house which 
 my family had so long occupied in the rue Bourg-l'Abbe. 
 Her husband had been under arrest three months, and he 
 was greatly in jeopardy owing to his behavior on the 10th
 
 THE CITOYENNE MOTTEI 103 
 
 of June, while a member of the National Guard. This 
 did not prevent Mme. Tavaux, not only from giving me 
 an asylum for two or three nights, but from taking all 
 possible trouble to find for me the witnesses required in 
 order to procure my certificate. The greater number of 
 those whom she thus brought together had no acquaintance 
 with me whatever, and yet, on her mere word, they ventured 
 to compromise themselves in the most dangerous fashion, 
 so as to get me out of my difficulty. Thus did I reap the 
 fruit of a few slight services rendered by my people in 
 other days. 
 
 I had just secured one of the precious certificates of resi- 
 dence which I had so eagerly sought. It had been granted 
 to me by the General Assembly of the section, held in the 
 church of the Trinite. I was about to depart, when a little 
 man quietly approached me, and drew me aside under pre- 
 tence of saying a few words. I followed him without fear, 
 believing him one of the witnesses procured on mj behalf, 
 and whom I did not know. He turned out to be a member 
 of the Revolutionary Committee, and, without further ado, 
 he handed me over to a guard close by. The latter was 
 ordered to take me before the Committee, and I remained 
 in his custody until the members of it had assembled. No 
 sooner had I been questioned, than it became an easy mat- 
 ter for them to elicit the fact that I was an ex-councillor 
 of the Paris Parlement, and that my father was already 
 under arrest. There was consequently no room for doubt 
 that I was a good capture, and I was notified, in spite of 
 all my protestations, that I was to be taken to the Luxem- 
 bourg prison. 
 
 As it was necessary to make out a warrant for my arrest 
 and order of committal, I was, while this was being done, 
 taken into a room, where I was placed in custody of the 
 same guard. Fortune willed that a young and rather good-
 
 104 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 looking woman should come into it just about the same 
 time. She was in a gay mood, and seeing me look rather 
 disheartened, she could not resist the temptation of asking 
 me the reason for being so downcast. I had no difficulty 
 in enlightening her. As soon as I had told her my story, 
 she exclaimed : " What's that? There is no personal charge 
 against you, and they are going to send you to prison 
 because you are your father's son! What nonsense! Wait 
 a bit, I will go and talk to them." No sooner said than 
 she knocked at the door of the Committee, imperiously 
 demanded admittance, and walked in as if in her own 
 house. Now this woman was no less a person than the 
 citoyenne Mottei, the wife of the president of the Com- 
 mittee, and she exercised a powerful influence over her 
 husband, who, on his side, held absolute sway over his col- 
 leagues. I soon heard an animated discussion wherein the 
 voice of Mme. Mottei rose above all others. She came out 
 at last, told me that she had done her best, and that there 
 was a chance of my case taking a favorable turn, 
 
 I was indeed recalled by the Committee, and was exam- 
 ined anew, but much more carefully and more in detail. It 
 was then, fortunately for me, discovered that I had never 
 been a member of La Fayette's liberticide National Guard. 
 In conclusion, the president informed me that as there was 
 no personal charge against me, the Committee was inclined 
 to set me free, if I could find some genuine patriot who 
 would vouch for me. After thinking for a few moments, I 
 bethought myself of Levasseur, and I gave his name. The 
 mention of his name caused no little astonisliment. They 
 could not bring themselves to believe that I had such a 
 sponsor; but as I insisted upon such being the case, it was 
 settled that two members of the Committee should conduct 
 me the next morning into the presence of the people's 
 representative, and that meanwhile I should pass the night
 
 THE '' CONVENTIONNEL'' LEVASSEUR 105 
 
 in the violon. Sucli was the name given to the temporary 
 prison attached to each guard-room. I managed to write 
 from there to my mother and sister, telling them of my sor- 
 rowful plight, and of my determination to avail myself of 
 Levasseur's protection. By six o'clock next morning both 
 women were in his presence. 
 
 An excellent physician, but of unprepossessing appear- 
 ance, and of somewhat rough character, although not de- 
 ficient in many noble qualities, Levasseur, at the outset of 
 his career in Le Mans had met with but little success in 
 his practice. My father and mother, who appreciated him 
 better than did his fellow-citizens, did their best to get 
 him taken at his worth, and succeeded at last in establishing 
 his reputation. He was truly grateful, became one of the 
 habitues of the chateau de Coulans, and was associated with 
 my mother in the care she gave and caused to be given to 
 all the poor dwelling on her estate. His veneration for her, 
 and his attachment to my father, were shown from that day 
 on every opportunity. During a serious illness of my 
 father, he did not leave his bedside for over a month, and 
 very likely was instrumental in saving his life. When the 
 Kevolution broke out, he flung himself into it with a zeal 
 which doubtless greatly influenced his daily habits, and from 
 that time we saw a great deal less of him. 
 
 The turmoil which soon disturbed the province of Maine, 
 one of the most troubled provinces of the time, compelled 
 our family to leave it almost altogether during the course 
 of the years 1790, 1791, and 1792, We were in Paris at 
 the time of the meeting of the Convention, and, on our 
 return, Levasseur had already signalized himself by a viru- 
 lence which did not permit his holding the slightest inter- 
 course with us. Shortly after, he voted for the death of 
 Louis XVI., and his vote raised between us an unsurmount- 
 able barrier. He had been entrusted with several missions
 
 106 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 near the armies, and had acquitted himself thereof with an 
 amount of zeal and energy which had in special fashion 
 enhanced his revolutionary reputation. Such was the man 
 upon whom my mother and sister were about to call. He 
 was manifestly ill at ease in his reception of them. Then, 
 after uttering a few remarks on the difficulties attached to 
 their request he said, addressing my mother: "But there 
 remains something still more difficult, madam, and that is 
 for me to refuse you anything. I will do what I possibly 
 can." I was taken into his presence between eight and 
 nine o'clock in the forenoon. At first his greeting was 
 almost brutal. He scarcely seemed to know me again. 
 He inveighed violently against aristocrats, counter-revolu- 
 tionists, the execrable spirit of the old nobility, and 
 especially that of the ex-parliamentarians. My escort 
 augured badly for me from such beginning, and their coun- 
 tenances began to cloud. "But," he went on to say, "one 
 must treat everybody fairly, even such people as those, and, 
 as this man here, I can well recall that, when I was talking 
 with my friend, the martyr of liberty (Lepelletier de Saint- 
 Fargeau), two days before his assassination, precisely of 
 that detestable Paris Parlement, which he knew better than 
 did any other, he distinctly told me that among the 150 
 members composing it, there were not more than seven or 
 eight who were fit to understand him, and among these 
 seven or eight he named the citizen here present. Such 
 a tribute is a valuable one, but it is for you to appre- 
 ciate its worth." 
 
 Great was the surprise of the members of my Eevolu- 
 tionary Committee on liearing such a name mentioned, and 
 on having it invoked on my behalf. There was a little 
 brief parle3'ing, as the people's representative had much 
 business to attend to, and so we had to leave at short notice, 
 but it was already settled that I might be set at liberty.
 
 THE '' CITOTENNE'' LEPELLETIER 107 
 
 Still, I was not at the end of my troubles. Levasseur lived 
 in the rue Saint-Honore, close to the club of the Jacobins, 
 and, after leaving his house, as we were passing by the place 
 Vendome, it suddenly dawned on my two acolytes that con- 
 sidering that I had been so well thought of by liberty's 
 martyr, I must also be well acquainted with his brother, 
 the citizen Felix. It so happened that the citizen dwelt in 
 the place Vendome, and they suggested — a thing I did not 
 dare refuse to do — that I should go with them, and ask for 
 an invitation to breakfast. Happily for me he was out, for 
 no man was more my enemy. 
 
 Having escaped this danger, I imagined that nothing was 
 left for me to do but to go and receive my papers at the 
 hand of the Committee, to take leave of them, and return to 
 my place of refuge in the green fields. Alas, it was not to- 
 be so ! I was told that my papers would be returned to me 
 only on the following day. Some degree of suspicion still 
 prevailed against me, and it was resolved to obtain some 
 further information about me from citizen Felix. That 
 was the worst thing which could happen to me. After 
 much hesitation, I determined upon following the advice of 
 my mother and sister, and of calling upon him. I returned 
 to the place Vendome, and was told at the citizen's resi- 
 dence that he would probably not return home for the day, 
 but that if I was particularly desirous of seeing him, I 
 could find him at his niece's, in the rue Culture-Sainte- 
 Catherine, where he was in the habit of taking his dinner. 
 I lost no time in at once going to the other end of the city. 
 
 It here becomes necessary to give an idea of my costume, 
 which consisted of what was then styled a carmagnole, that 
 is, a short jacket and a pair of trousers of the same 
 material. The material of my clothes was of the coarsest, 
 viz. a heavy, dark brown, and shaggy swanskin. From the 
 fact that for the last three or four days I had been con-
 
 108 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 stantly going about the streets in the rain and in the mud, 
 I was bespattered up to ray knees. In this state I called 
 at the hotel of Mile. Lepelletier, rue Culture-Sainte- 
 Catherine. I asked to see her uncle. He had not arrived, 
 but it was thought that he would make his appearance ere 
 long. I begged permission, which was granted, of sitting 
 down by the stove in the porter's lodge, while awaiting his 
 arrival. I was sitting there very quietly, when after a 
 certain amount of going to and fro between tlie hotel and the 
 lodge, a young valet wearing a carmagnole, — but such a car- 
 magnole, the most elegant, the neatest, one could well 
 imagine, — came in and said to me : — 
 
 "Citizen, the citoyenne Lepelletier has just learned that 
 a sans-culotte was here awaiting the arrival of her uncle. 
 She cannot bear the thought of his remaining in this place, 
 and begs he will walk into the drawing-room." I asked to 
 be excused from such a courtesy, but on the message being 
 transmitted to me a second time, I was compelled to yield, 
 and I entered those large and magnificent rooms, in which I 
 had been so often in other days. 
 
 I found Mile. Lepelletier in one of the little rooms at the 
 end of a long suite. She was just out of childhood, but 
 seemed advanced for her years. By her side was a pleas- 
 antly mannered governess, who welcomed me most politely. 
 As can be imagined, the conversation was somewhat embar- 
 rassed. I remained two mortal hours. It was plain that 
 the citizen Felix would not dine there that day, so I took 
 leave, and was going away greatly disappointed, when the 
 governess followed me into one of the salons, and while 
 begging forgiveness for her indiscretion, told me that she 
 was greatly mistaken if she did not know me, that I might 
 possibly have something important to say to or ask of her 
 pupil's uncle, and that, if I was not afraid of trusting her, 
 she was willing to place herself at ray disposal. So kind
 
 DEPARTURE FOR MONTGE 109 
 
 an oifer could not be declined. I told her my name, where- 
 upon she had much to say in connection with her having all 
 along felt sure she had recognized me. She well remem- 
 bered having met me in this hotel with my grandfather and 
 my father. Then, upon being informed of what I had to 
 ask of the citizen Felix, she told me not to be alarmed, that 
 he would certainly come during the course of the evening, 
 that he could not refuse his niece anything, and that I should 
 be commended to him by her in such a way that he could 
 not but help doing what was right. 
 
 And indeed, next day, matters happened as I prayed for, 
 but without my learning any details. After a final consul- 
 tation, the Revolutionary Committee no longer hesitated to 
 restore to me my certificates of residence and my passport, 
 which it had seized, and to which it attached its visa. I 
 left next morning for Montge, with more reason than ever 
 for blessing Providence, which had once more saved me 
 from danger. 
 
 As I was desirous of thanking the courageous citizens who 
 had so generously been my witnesses, Mme. Tavaux directed 
 my attention to one of them, whose trade consisted in mak- 
 ing and selling cockades and bonnets de police (forage caps). 
 She advised me to purchase one. I, of course, did so, and 
 asked him to select for me the finest in his stock. He 
 handed me a superb bonnet de police, the top of which, lap- 
 ping over, formed a bonnet rouge (Phrygian cap) while its 
 blue border was ornamented on the one side with the like- 
 ness of Marat, and on the other with that of the martyr of 
 liberty. As a matter of course, I took great care not to 
 object to this selection. Having next day to go beyond 
 the city's gates by the Dammartin coach, and, as this trip 
 was not without its dangers, I thought it well to supple- 
 ment the protection afforded by my passport by donning 
 my magnificent bonnet.
 
 110 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 If it produced on the guards at the gate all the effect that 
 I could desire, it did not fail to terrify all my poor fellow- 
 travellers, who, for a league or two, believed that they had 
 in their midst at the very least a commissioner of the Com- 
 mittee of Public Safety. To their great relief, however, 
 their fright was dissipated, through a somewhat extraor- 
 dinary circumstance. Among the passengers was a member 
 of the Convention, and, who would believe it, one of the 
 best of men, one Bailly, a former Oratorian, under whom I 
 had pursued a part of my studies, and who had since then 
 got married and settled in Dammartin. He protected the 
 whole canton, and several of those who were in the diligence 
 lived literally under his wing. 
 
 It ended in mutual recognition, and when the others saw 
 that I was on a sort of footing of intimacy with him, a quite 
 different idea was formed as to my personality, and so the 
 journey came to an end under far better auspices than it 
 had begun. 
 
 I was to meet Levasseur again later on. In 1799 he 
 returned to his native city, poor, and burdened with a 
 family, having no other resource than his medical profes- 
 sion, for his honesty ever remained unsullied during the 
 revolutionary storm. He experienced great difficulty in 
 making a living, because he was shunned by all those classes 
 of society which could afford to pay decently for medical 
 attendance. I had returned to my father's estate, and as I 
 needed some care, I could hardly follow the lead of those 
 who judged Levasseur severely, after the service he had 
 rendered me. So I summoned him. He did not respond to 
 my call, but sent me another physician, whom he entrusted 
 with a message to the effect that it was better for both of 
 us not to meet again. 
 
 It would have been as he wished, according to all proba- 
 bilities, had it not been for the prefect whom Xapoleon sent
 
 DEATH OF THE SENIOR PASQUIER 111 
 
 into the Department of the Sarthe during the Hundred 
 Days. Levasseur was weak enough to accept some kind of 
 a position, the result of which was that one day I met him 
 in the hdtel of the prefecture. We simply exchanged a few 
 words of common politeness, and he took pains to cut this 
 mere act of courtesy short. Six months later, the law pro- 
 nouncing the banishment of all regicides forced him to go 
 to Belgium. While there his practice probably brought 
 him in a better income than it did in France. Ever true to 
 his inflexible character, he recently published some Me- 
 moirs, wherein is to be found for the first time the glorifica- 
 tion of the conduct of the conventionnels who, in 1793 and 
 1794, installed the Reign of Terror. 
 
 I need not say with what joy I found myself once more 
 in the village of Montge, the tranquil state of which was in 
 strong contrast with the agitation which reigned in Paris. 
 I was still dwelling in that peaceful village at Eastertide, 
 at which period occurred the execution of all the parlia- 
 mentarians who in 1789 and 1790 had composd the chambre 
 (les vacations in Paris, of M. de Malesherbes and of his 
 family. It was at Juilly, in the very spot where the days 
 of my childhood had run in so pleasant a course, that I 
 learnt of the blow that had struck me. The death of my 
 father was announced to me by the Oratorians, who still 
 occupied the college, of whom several had contributed to my 
 education, and through whom alone I still kept up some 
 intercourse with the outer world. The kindly interest they 
 showed me, the share which they took in helping me to 
 bear my misfortune, will never fade from my memory. 
 
 I have since gleaned a few details about the closing scenes 
 of my father's life. He was beloved in what is called the 
 "Palais," in other words, among the advocates, the pro- 
 cureurs, and the members of the magistracy of minor rank. 
 All these men had preserved some connection, not to say
 
 112 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 influence, with the new tribunals, hoAvever repellant they 
 might be to them ; at any rate they attended their sittings. 
 
 Fouquier-Tinville, the public prosecutor before the revo- 
 lutionary tribunal, had been a, procurer both at the Chatelet 
 and in the Parlement. Several of his former colleagues 
 still spoke to him occasionally, and one must do them the 
 justice of acknowledging that it was always in the hope of 
 helping some one in distress. One of them told me that on 
 the day of the sentencing to death of M. Dalleray, a former 
 lieutenant civil, he dared to ask Fouquier-Tinville, whom he 
 met on the Pont-ISTeuf, as he came out of court, if he had 
 ever known a more upright man than the one whose death 
 he had just compassed. "No," replied Fouquier, putting 
 his hand to his forehead, and immediately crossing to the 
 other side of the bridge. It was M. Dalleray who made the 
 following beautiful rejoinder to the tribunal. Upon being 
 asked if he was not aware that the law forbade the send- 
 ing of money to any Emigre, he replied : " I am cognizant of 
 such a law; but I know of one which takes precedence of 
 it, and which enjoins upon a father to feed his children." 
 
 The men of the Palais therefore joined in a concerted 
 action to save my father, and they extracted from Pouquier 
 and the president of the tribunal the promise that if there 
 was any possibility of separating his case from that of his 
 colleagues, if he himself could supply the means towards 
 this end, it should be so managed that his acquittal would 
 follow. My father was notified of this. His colleagues 
 had made choice of him to indite an address to be presented 
 in common to the tribunal, and he had already drawn it 
 up. I cannot say that he rejected the means of salvation 
 offered him, for he would not even listen to the proposition. 
 iSTevertheless, when he was before the tribunal, he was the 
 only one of all those indicted together to whom the presi- 
 dent gave freedom of speech, as a consequence of the agree-
 
 ACCOUNT OF M. MURAIRE 113 
 
 inent entered upon. He then read what he had written as 
 their common plea of justification, and obtained the reward 
 which he deserved, that of dying as he had lived. 
 
 I have since then frequently met a man who had taken 
 cognizance of that document, ere it was read. This was 
 M. Muraire, First President of the Cour de cassation under 
 the Empire, and who, in 1794, was confined in the same 
 prison as the members of the Paris Parlement. They were 
 of the opinion that it would be well to seek his advice in 
 the matter. Their confidence could not have been better 
 placed. Consequently M. de Rosambo and my father 
 obtained leave from the jailer to have an interview with 
 him, on the night preceding their removal to the Concier- 
 gerie, and they brought him their work. M. Muraire has 
 told me that it was remarkable for a noble candor, joined to 
 the highest expression of dignity, but what he could not 
 conceive was the faith that their knowledge as magistrates 
 had finally given them regarding the strength and justice 
 of their case. Once before a tribunal, they could not be 
 brought to believe but that justice and the judgment would 
 be one and the same thing. In spite of all they knew and 
 all they saw, they could not agree to look upon as mere 
 assassins the men sitting on the bench they had themselves 
 so long occupied. M. Muraire was never able to speak of 
 this scene without the tears welling up in his eyes. 
 
 I spent two months of fearful mental suffering in the 
 locality where I had received the awful news. It was, I 
 can never forget it, in the midst of some of the first days 
 of a beautiful spring. All these dreadful misdeeds were 
 being perpetrated with impunity under the rays of a most 
 glorious sun. Alone with my grief, I would often wander 
 for whole days through the wood and among the hills sur- 
 rounding our retreat. I looked up to Heaven, calling upon 
 it to avenge the crimes of the earth. Sometimes I thought
 
 114 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 that they could not go unpunished, that justice was due us, 
 and therefore it would be meted out. 
 
 During the course of the month of June, I was notified 
 that my hiding-place had been revealed by a man-servant 
 whom I had discharged eighteen months before. The Com- 
 mittee of General Safety had issued a warrant for my arrest 
 which was to be executed next day by the Commissioners 
 of the Eevolutionary Committee of Paris, to whom was 
 specially entrusted the hunting down of all members of the 
 Parlement. The Commissioners failed to find me, for dur- 
 ing the night I left with my wife for Picardy. I was still 
 able to find in that hospitable province many helpful people, 
 who were ready to give me the most generous assistance as 
 soon as I informed them of my dangerous predicament. 
 These people were proprietors of stage-coaches, innkeepers, 
 and farmers. During nearly a whole month I wandered 
 between Amiens and the frontier, trying to emigrate. This 
 was the only means left to me of escaping from danger. 
 
 The battle of Fleurus, won by the French, had extended 
 the frontier for a distance of twenty leagues, thus rendering 
 the execution of my plan altogether impracticable. The 
 news of this battle reached me at Abbeville, on the day 
 previous to the one I had selected for leaving France. I 
 was to have been taken in charge by some men who were 
 generally employed in helping the priests, who courageously 
 came from Belgium to bring religious ministration even to 
 Paris. 
 
 My plan of escape undone, I was compelled to return to 
 Amiens. Here I was met in an inn by members of the 
 Revolutionary Committee of Paris, whose duty it was to 
 arrest me. They had nevertheless lost trace of me, were 
 no longer thinking of me, and had come to Amiens on 
 another expedition. They arrested me, also my wife, and, 
 placing us in separate postchaises, brought us back to Paris,
 
 THE COUNCILLOR REARRESTED 116 
 
 each of us Laving for travelling companion one of their 
 odious selves. My companion was a little cripple, physi- 
 cally as hideous as his soul was perverse. He greatly 
 enjoyed telling me that he had known me since childhood, 
 and that he had leased chairs in our parish church. He 
 took pains to add that he would ever remember the gener- 
 osity of my grandfather and father who had often given 
 him a louis by way of a New Year's gift. He was a fervent 
 disciple of the new philosophy, and his memory was stuffed 
 with passages from the works of Voltaire and Jean -Jacques. 
 Then on passing a certain chateau, which was being demol- 
 ished, he remarked: "No chateau ever falls but one sees 
 twenty cottages arise in its stead." 
 
 On our passing through the village of Sarcelles, he gave 
 me a curious example of that regeneration of morals towards 
 which he and his compeers daily worked so zealously. On 
 my pointing out to him a country residence of somewhat 
 liner appearance, and better kept than those we had seen so 
 far, for everything, in those days, presented an appearance 
 of decay and neglect, he replied : " I should well think so. 
 It is the house of our friend Livry. We often visit him. 
 He still possesses, it is true, an annual income of 50,000 
 livres, but he is a first-class fellow. We have just married 
 him to the citoyenne Saulnier, with whom he had so long 
 cohabited. (She wsiS premih'e danseuse at the Opera.) Come 
 now, we said to him, it is time that this disgraceful state of 
 affairs should cease. To the winds with family prejudice! 
 The ci-devant marquis must marry the dancer. So he 
 married her, and did wisely, for he might otherwise have 
 already danced his last jig, or at the very least be rusti- 
 cating in the shade of the walls of the Luxembourg prison." 
 Happily, our two guards combined with the lofty sentiments 
 of which I have just given an idea, a passionate fondness 
 for money, and this was our salvation.
 
 116 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 In order to despoil me of the few assignats which I still 
 possessed, they confined us, on reaching our destination, in 
 a little house situated close to the committee's headquarters. 
 They kept us there about a week on condition that we 
 should pay our daily expenses at an extortionate rate. 
 Thus my entry into Saint-Lazare was delayed, and I was 
 taken thither only on the evening of the 8tli Therm idor. 
 Had I been imprisoned there two days earlier, I might pos- 
 sibly have been taken away in one of those carts which 
 during those two days carried over eighty people from the 
 prison to the foot of the scaffold. Every one connected 
 with the Paris Parlement, one of my brothers-in-law, and 
 several of my friends, perished on the day of my entering 
 prison. Had I arrived earlier, I could not have escaped 
 their fate. 
 
 In this prison were still two of my brothers-in-law and a 
 brother, hardly more than a child, but who had, in spite of 
 this, been a prisoner for eight months. What a sight that 
 prison presented ! Gone were the days when my father had 
 almost looked upon the prison of La Bourbe as a place of 
 refuge. Death had since then claimed so many victims that 
 no one could be deceived as to his impending fate. 
 
 In order to proceed more rapidly, a pretended belief in 
 conspiracies alleged to be hatching in the prisons, with the 
 object of overthrowing the Republic, was brought into play. 
 This principle once admitted, the consequences followed as 
 a matter of course; but what added to the horror of this 
 mendacious discovery, was the means employed for giving 
 practical effect to the principle. In every one of the large 
 prisons were a certain number of scoundrels, apparently 
 detained as prisoners like the others, but who were really 
 there to select and draw up a list of the victims. Several 
 of them had become known as spies, and incredible as it 
 may seem, their lives were spared by those in the midst of
 
 AT SAINT-LAZARE 117 
 
 whom they fulfilled their shameful duty. On the contrary, 
 the prisoners treated them gently and paid them court. I 
 had scarcely passed the first wicket, and was following the 
 jailer who was taking me to the room I was to occupy, when 
 I found myself face to face with M. de Montrou, already 
 notorious through a few somewhat scandalous intrigues, 
 and whose adventures have since created such a stir in 
 society. He came close to me, and without pretending to 
 notice me, whispered into my ear the following salutary bit 
 of advice: "While here, do not speak a word to anybody 
 whom you do not know thoroughly." 
 
 On reaching with Mme. Pasquier the lodging destined 
 for our use, and which had been vacated by the two victims 
 of the previous day, we were soon surrounded by our rela- 
 tions, and by a few friends who hastened to offer us all the 
 assistance they could. We were enjoying, as far as one can 
 enjoy anything when in a similar position, these proofs of 
 kindly interest and friendship, Avhen one of my brothers-in- 
 law, who was looking out of the window, exclaimed : " Ah, 
 here is Pepin Degrouettes about to take his daily walk. 
 We must go and show ourselves. Come along with us." — 
 "Why so?" I queried, whereupon I was told that he was- 
 the principal one among the rascals whose abominable role 
 I have described. They were designated by the name of 
 "moutons," a name consecrated by prison slang. Every 
 afternoon he would thus take a turn in the yard, and it was 
 for him the occasion of passing in review, so to speak, the 
 flock which he was gradually sending to the slaughter- 
 house. Woe unto him who seemed to hide, or to avoid his 
 look! Such a one was immediately noted, and he could be 
 sure that his turn would come next. Many a gallant man's 
 death became a settled thing, because he was a few minutes 
 late in coming down into the yard and passing under the 
 fellow's notice. The surrendering of oneself to liis discre-
 
 118 MEMOIRS OE CHANCELLOtt PASQUIER 
 
 tion was apparently a way of imploring mercy at his hands. 
 We went through the formality, and it constituted a scene 
 wliich I never can forget. I can still see him, a man four 
 feet seven inches, or four feet eight inches high, hump- 
 backed, of twisted form, bandy-legged, and as red-headed 
 as Judas. He was completely surrounded by prisoners, 
 some of whom walked backwards in his presence, earnestly 
 soliciting a look from him. 
 
 We were told a few days later, that when the last list 
 was made up, he and his acolytes had experienced a feeling 
 of pity for my young brother whose name was on it, and 
 that they had stricken it out. His lively, frank, and open 
 demeanor, and the habit of seeing him for so long (he was, 
 in spite of his youth, the doyen of the prison), had inspired 
 them with a kindly feeling of which they could not divest 
 themselves. To this must be attributed his not having 
 shared the fate of young Mailly, who was sent to the scaffold 
 for the offence they had committed in common, and which 
 consisted in throwing in the face of the concierge of the 
 prison some rotten herrings, telling him ironically that he 
 might feast on them. Young Mailly had not yet reached 
 the age at which the law sanctioned the infliction of the 
 death penalty. This was to be later on one of the crimes 
 with which Fouquier-Tinville was charged, and which 
 brought about his downfall. 
 
 The evening of our entry into Saint-Lazare and the fol- 
 lowing day were passed in exchanging painful confidences 
 with the members of our family, with whom we were once 
 more united, and we had much to tell each other. The kind 
 of isolation in which I had lived with Mme. Pasquier since 
 our arrest had left me ignorant of the atrocities of the past 
 week, and none had been more bloody. 
 
 We all considered ourselves doomed victims, and did not 
 think that there remained the slightest chance of salvation.
 
 THE NINTH THEBMIDOB 119 
 
 when the morning of the 9th Thermidor dawned. The day 
 passed without the slightest echo of what was happening 
 outside penetrating our prison walls. On the morning of 
 the 10th, a few of us were informed by turnkeys whom we 
 had remunerated for certain personal services, that Robes- 
 pierre had been brought to the prison during the night, and 
 that those who had him in custody sought to have him 
 incarcerated there, but the concierge refused to receive him. 
 This alone was a sufficient proof that a most important 
 event was taking place, and, during the course of the day 
 we succeeded in obtaining newspapers which told us all. 
 
 How great were our feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, and 
 anguish, during the next few days! Was not the tribune 
 of the Jacobins and that of the Convention still re-echoing 
 but too often words of violence, and were not the most 
 odious motions still being made? I can remember the day 
 when a powder-magazine exploded in the plain of Grenelle. 
 The concussion was terrible and half the windows in Paris 
 were broken, while the walls of Saint-Lazare actually 
 trembled. The wind blew from that quarter, and we were 
 soon enveloped in clouds of smoke. What thoughts did 
 not our imagination give rein to, ere we learnt the true 
 reason of this commotion ! For over an hour, nothing was 
 dreamt of but a new revolution and the massacres which 
 were to follow in its wake. 
 
 All these agonizing anxieties weighed more heavily on 
 me than on any one else, for I was still to remain in prison 
 for some length of time. It was then that I learnt that it 
 is easier to endure a situation bereft of all possible illu- 
 sions, than to face alternate feelings of hope and despair 
 about a final result which can never be fully grasped. 
 
 My wife and I had entered Saint-Lazare completely 
 resigned to our fate, and, in a measure, indifferent to it. 
 We had fought for ourselves courageously and persever-
 
 120 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ingly, but fate had conquered, and nothing remained for us 
 but to submit to the inevitable. When, at the end of a 
 month, the prison doors which had been thrown open to so 
 many remained closed to us, when we scarcely had as com- 
 panions of our captivity any others than the terrorists who 
 had come to take the places left vacant by their victims, a 
 profound feeling of melancholy took possession of us, and I 
 do not know how we could have fought against it, if our 
 freedom, which came to us at the end of three or four weeks, 
 had delayed much longer. Yet, many had been the efforts 
 made to obtain it, some of them through most influential 
 channels. Thus, Mme. de Fontenay, who shortly after 
 became Mme. Tallien, attempted to befriend us; but, so 
 long as the men who composed the Committee of General 
 Police previous to the famous day were in the ascendant, it 
 was found impossible to end our captivity. 
 
 Among these efforts one there is which has left a most 
 touching memory with me. It was taken spontaneously by 
 the inhabitants of the village of Montge, where I had 
 during several mouths found so precious a place of retreat. 
 They assured those whom it concerned, that during my stay 
 in their midst I had given them valuable aid in their 
 enforced manufacture of saltpetre, and that I had won their 
 friendship. So they prayed that I might be set free, "on 
 the grounds of being their friend." I found this document 
 a long while afterwards in the files of the Convention, at 
 the time when I was engaged in taking from them all 
 documents having reference to myself. I have kept it 
 preciously for twenty-five years, together with the official 
 report of my arrest. 
 
 When I left Saint-Lazare, I found that the march of 
 events had been rapid, and that their trend was more and 
 more pronounced in favor of order and justice. After 
 having been violently repressed, the more enlightened and
 
 RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL 121 
 
 the more respectable portion of the population was about 
 to enjoy once more the right of living openly. How can 
 I describe the joy of the friends and relations come back 
 to life from prisons, or from obscure hiding-places, who 
 had lost all hope of meeting again, who mentally inquired 
 as to the fate of beloved ones, and about those whom they 
 had lost. Their sweetest consolation was to be able to 
 weep together over those who had fallen under the revolu- 
 tionary scythe. The first use to which they put their 
 freedom was to make a public display of their grief and of 
 their lamentations. During the Terror, and especially dur- 
 ing the last six months of its reign, no one dared to wear 
 mourning for those who had perished on the scaffold. 
 Mingled with so many heart-rending recollections was the 
 joy felt over a deliverance which might more appropriately 
 be styled a resurrection. Assuredly, never did two more 
 contrary and equally powerful emotions ever contest for 
 the possession of the human heart. 
 
 None of the terrible laws made during the two past years 
 were abrogated, but this did not trouble people. The 
 greater part of the assassins, both leaders and hirelings, 
 were still in possession of their lives; they mingled unpun- 
 ished with their victims. Who was there to call them to 
 account for the blood which they had shed? Contempt 
 protected them against hatred, and so, escaping public ven- 
 geance, they vanished from sight. 
 
 A week after I left prison, I was called upon by the 
 wretch who had conducted me thither. He had taken 
 almost as much trouble to find my place of residence, as, 
 two months earlier, he had to discover my asylum. He 
 came to ask me to testify in writing to the kindly manner 
 in which he had treated me. This document might stand 
 him in good stead in case of need. I gave him a certificate 
 to that effect. All or nearly all of us were in the habit of
 
 122 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 doing the same thing. There is something lacking in one's 
 existence if one has not known the joys of such a revenge. 
 
 Fate led me to the Palais de Justice on one of the days of 
 Fouquier-Tinville's trial. I was unable to resist the desire 
 of seeing with my own eyes this great act of divine justice, 
 so I went in. The trial was taking place in the old grand' 
 chamhre of the Paris Parlement, in the very room in which 
 I had been admitted into the ranks of the magistracy, where 
 I had taken my first oath, and where the first scenes of the 
 Revolution had burst upon me. In that room had sat the 
 revolutionary tribunal. In it had come as prisoners, 
 the Queen, Mme. Elizabeth, M. de Malesherbes, the mem- 
 bers of the Paris Parlement, and lastly, my father. Thence, 
 all of them had started for the scaffold, in company of so 
 many more. And it was in that place that I saw sitting in 
 the dock, into which he had so long brought his victims, 
 the monster the mention of whose name had so often made 
 me shudder. 
 
 He answered coldly to all the criminal charges made 
 against him. He had, it has been said, a secret faith in a 
 revolutionary upheaval that was to burst a few days after, 
 and which was fortunately nipped in the bud. Sitting 
 below him were the obscure assassins designated under the 
 denomination of jurymen of the revolutionary tribunal. 
 They bowed their heads, and seemed completely cast down. 
 I certainly did not think I was to see that man again, yet 
 fate had it in store for me that certain business should 
 take me to the Hotel de Ville the day of his execution, and 
 I saw his head fall. He struggled against his doom like 
 the coward that he was. 
 
 The man to whom public opinion attributed the merit of 
 having brought about the reaction was Tallien. It was he 
 who overturned Robespierre, who caused the Reign of 
 Terror to cease, who tore down the scaffolds, who threw
 
 TALLIEN 123 
 
 open the prison doors. In the face of the vastness of this 
 public service, his past became obliterated, and France 
 forgot the cruel proconsul who played the tyrant in Bor- 
 deaux, one of the promoters of the September massacres, 
 and the regicide. There are sentiments which efface or 
 dominate all others, and such were the feelings of gratitude 
 experienced towards that man. 
 
 I saw him, after the rumor of a threatened assassination, 
 and after a few days' disappearance, the reason for which 
 was not thoroughly understood, reappear at the Odeon 
 Theatre. It was known that he was coming, and people 
 were awaiting his arrival. Never was a theatre so filled. 
 The body of the building could not hold the crowd; the 
 stairways were as packed with humanity as the parterre. 
 At last he came. What a welcome ! What cheering ! The 
 occupants of the boxes, of the parterre, men and women, 
 all climbed on top of their seats. They could not look at 
 him enough. He was young and rather good-looking, and 
 appeared calm and self-possessed. With him was Mme. 
 Tallien who shared his triumph. In her case, too, every- 
 thing had been forgotten, and public opinion seemed to 
 have lost all its severity towards her. 
 
 Similar demonstrations in their favor were repeated dur- 
 ing the whole of the latter part of that year. Never was 
 any service rendered, however great, so well appreciated, 
 and repaid with so lively and touching a gratitude. How 
 was it that such emotional outbursts could ever be for- 
 gotten? And yet, during the years preceding his demise 
 (he died in 1820), Tallien dragged along in the most remote 
 corner of a public promenade his melancholy and painful 
 existence. He was eaten up by physical disease, looked 
 hideous and repulsive, lived abandoned and disowned, 
 having, to keep his wretched life together, no one but an 
 old woman who had remained faithful to him, and a miser-
 
 124 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 able dole granted to him fol* pity's sake by the royal 
 government. The reason of all this is that at Quiberon, 
 and on the 13th Vendemiaire, he once more became the 
 Tallien of 1792 and 1793. He was nothing but an 
 unworthy instrument of which Providence had for once 
 deigned to make use for a good end, and which it had 
 allowed to drift back to its perverse nature. 
 
 He owed to the remembrance of the 9th Therniidor the 
 only means of subsistence which remained to him, and the 
 permission to reside in France, when all the other regicides 
 were made to leave it. Personally, I was enabled, shortly 
 before his death, to pay my debt of gratitude to him for the 
 good service he had rendered to me as well as to others, 
 and I found real enjoyment in so doing. The pecuniary 
 aid which had been granted to him was stopped, I know not 
 why. I heard of this, and so made good his loss, thus 
 rendering his last hours less painful. While on his death- 
 bed, he let me learn of his gratitude in a most touching 
 fashion. 
 
 While final efforts were being made at home to take the 
 power away from the men who had made so shameful a use 
 of it, abroad the state of things had undergone a complete 
 transformation. A new future was unrolling itself before 
 our eyes. It was no longer the nation of 1792, with an 
 army poorly inured to war, with hardly any soldiers. The 
 country's soil had given birth to soldiers. It had lacked 
 officers and generals. War had formed them. Great mili- 
 tary talents had sprung up side by side with heroes. 
 
 It was no longer an invaded France, with its capital 
 threatened by the enemy. Far from it : Belgium had been 
 subdued, Holland was about to be invaded, and French flags 
 fluttered already on the left bank of the Rhine. The war 
 was still in progress in Vendee. The first years of this 
 insurrection afford perhaps a spectacle unique in history,
 
 YEN BEANS AND CHOUANS 125 
 
 that of a blending of ancient virtues with modern social 
 ideas and Christian faitli. The Greeks of Leonidas, the 
 soldiers of the Theban legion, and the comrades of Bayard 
 seemed to be marching together under the same flags, in 
 that part of the country. There all was grand, noble, and 
 unsullied, both with regard to the aim in view and the 
 means employed to attain it. It was, in all its sincerity, a 
 war of indignation waged against crime by honor and reli- 
 gion. There, no feeling of personal interest was allowed to 
 make itself manifest. The only ambition known in the 
 camp of men like Bonchamp, Cathelineau, Lescure, and La 
 Eochejaquelein, was to secure the triumph of the most just 
 of causes, to die defending it, to die for country, king, and 
 God. 
 
 The victories and defeats of this insurrection have been 
 recorded. Every one has heard of the triumphs and dis- 
 asters of that heroic Vendee. At the time of which I speak, 
 she appeared to be rising from her ashes, in spite of the last 
 and greatest of her disasters. Her example had brought 
 about, under the form of chouannerie, the uprising of Brit- 
 tany and the surrounding provinces. In that quarter, 
 therefore, rested the hopes of the Royalists, for it was time 
 to abandon those based on the war which was being waged 
 against the stranger. 
 
 In the midst of the agitation produced by all these 
 events, we, who had so long been tempest-tossed, were 
 sighing for quiet. The termination of the Eeign of Terror, 
 which had given me my liberty, had not restored my prop- 
 erty, which had been confiscated under the sentence passed 
 on my father. My wife's fortune was not in a much better 
 condition, and the depreciation of the assignats left us 
 almost without resources. Under such circumstances, a 
 residence in Paris could not be thought of. I found a little 
 house at Croissy, near Saint-Germain, and there we settled
 
 126 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 down. A few months later, my sister joined us. My 
 mother no longer needed her tender care, for she had passed 
 away, her feeble thread of life having snapped under an 
 illness born of all the sorrows which had harrowed her 
 heart. From that time onwards, my sister remained our 
 faithful companion, and nothing was ever able to sepa- 
 rate us. 
 
 Happy in my home, I spent more than two years in a 
 kind of retreat, reduced to the strict necessaries of life, and 
 cultivating my garden, the produce of which helped us to 
 live. The village of Croissy had been spared the disturb- 
 ances brought about by the Kevolution. No great mis- 
 fortune had befallen its inhabitants during the time of the 
 Terror, and it owed its tranquil state to a married priest, 
 its former cure, who had become its mayor. He was really 
 an excellent man, but his morals were more than easy. 
 Unmindful of his ecclesiastical obligations, he had married, 
 but was trying to obtain the forgiveness of his sin by doing 
 all the good he could. His marriage had, during the most 
 perilous epoch, given him considerable influence. 
 
 He was active and courageous, and did not fear exposing 
 himself in order to render a service. His commune was 
 consequently a safe place of refuge for any one seeking it, 
 and he had not hesitated to take under his protection one 
 of the best known of clergymen, and consequently one of 
 those most threatened with danger. M. de Pancemont, the 
 former cu7'4 of Saint-Sulpice, who died bishop of Vannes, 
 lived hidden in a house in the village during the years 1793 
 and 1794. He was still there when I came. I have known 
 few men who were more saintly. The simplicity of his char- 
 acter would at times cause me to compare him with the well- 
 known character created by the Abbe Prevot, the doyen of 
 Kyllerine, whose physical ugliness he shared. In regard to 
 his behavior towards the married cure to whom he was under
 
 M. AND MME. PASQUIER AT CROISSY 127 
 
 SO great an obligation he displayed admirable delicacy and 
 consideration. He spared no efforts to bring him back 
 into the right path, but forgave him as much as possible, 
 educating his children whom he had baptized, and procuring 
 for them godfathers and godmothers who might take care 
 of them some day and bring them up in the right way. 
 Hence it is that Mme. Pasquier held one of them over the 
 baptismal font, together with M. de Channorier, the prin- 
 cipal landowner about Croissy. 
 
 The latter also was endowed with a kindliness out of the 
 common. He was well repaid for it by the affection and 
 gratitude of all the residents of the canton. He went 
 abroad for a short time, during which his possessions were 
 kept intact for him by the people and by the aire. 
 
 Our life was therefore cast in pleasant lines among such 
 people, especially after the severe trials through which we 
 had been. We had as a neighbor Mme. de Beauharnais, 
 whose high fortunes we were far from foreseeing. Her 
 house adjoined ours. She no longer came to it but once a 
 week, in order to do the honors of it to Barras, and the num- 
 ber of friends he was wont to bring with him. At early 
 morn we were in the habit of seeing the arrival of baskets 
 full of provisions, shortly afterwards followed by mounted 
 gendarmes patrolling the road from Nanterre to Croissy, 
 for the young directeur most frequently came on horseback. 
 
 The house of Mme. de Beauharnais displayed, as is some- 
 what the custom with Creoles, a kind of showy luxury. 
 Side by side with the superfluous, there was oftentimes a 
 lack of the most necessary articles. Poultry, game, and 
 rare fruits would be piled up in the kitchen (we were then 
 passing through a time when provisions were very scarce), 
 while, on the other hand, there were not enough saucepans, 
 glasses, or plates, and she borrowed these from our poor 
 little household.
 
 128 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Our intercourse was limited to these neighborly acts, 
 although Mme. Pasquier had met Mme. de Beauharnais 
 prior to the Revolution. We saw more of her sister-in- 
 law, the wife of the eldest of the Beauharnais, and the 
 mother of Mme. de La Valette, whose touching devotion 
 saved the life of her husband during the Revolution. She 
 was an exceedingly distinguished woman, both in intellect 
 and character, and in all respects the superior of her sister- 
 in-law. Her life had always been blameless, in spite of 
 the fickleness of her husband, and, when she was taken to 
 prison, she was one of those women whose noble and cour- 
 ageous attitude was most noticed. 
 
 Fate treated the two sisters-in-law in a very different 
 fashion, reserving all its favors for the one, all its slings 
 and arrows for the other. On leaving prison, Mme. de 
 Beauharnais senior, in order to recover a portion of her 
 property (her husband having emigrated), had obtained a 
 divorce, a thing which in those days presented no diffi- 
 culties for the wives of emigres. She was aided with most 
 touching devotion, in the numberless and difficult steps she 
 had to take in order to protect her interests, by a mulatto, 
 a member of the Convention, who resided in a house be- 
 longing to her. She fell in love with him, and committed 
 the folly of marrying him, thus breaking with her whole 
 family. 
 
 In later years General Bonaparte interested himself in 
 her daughter, and provided for her education in the estab- 
 lishment which was directed by Mme. Campan. Previous 
 to his departure for Egypt, he married her to his confi- 
 dential aide-de-camp, M. de La Valette. As to Mme. de 
 Beauharnais, she went to dwell with her husband in the 
 south of France, where she died in obscurity and abandoned 
 by all, a few days before the fall of the Empire. 
 
 We suffered in our peaceful retreat from the dearth of
 
 FRANCE'S IMPOVERISHED CONDITION 129 
 
 provisions, the result, in the first place, of a poor harvest, 
 and especially from the depreciation of the assignats, and 
 the disastrous law of the maximum (fixing the highest 
 price at which provisions, etc., were to be sold). It is 
 hard to conceive such cares when one has not had to con- 
 tend with them. France resembled a fortified city after a 
 long siege, when there is a lack of everything at one and 
 the same time. The products of the soil and groceries 
 brought their weight in gold. Even soap was sold at 
 exorbitant prices, and then part of it was clay. The most 
 serious and hardest privation to endure was that of bread. 
 One must have suffered from it in order to conceive the 
 patience required of the unfortunate beings who neverthe- 
 less endured it with admirable fortitude. 
 
 I cannot pass in silence one of those deeds which, in the 
 course of my life, have been a source of deep and pleasur- 
 able emotion. When our distress was at its highest, in 
 spite of the difficulties of transportation, the insensate price 
 of wheat, the sequestration still in force on our Coulans 
 property, and the crushing taxes which our farmers were 
 compelled to pour into the state's coffers, these good people 
 set off with a cartload of the precious cereal. It reached 
 us without hindrance, owing to the numerous precautions 
 they took during the journey, to the care exercised in 
 entering Croissy, and in coming to my house in the dead of 
 the night. They left two hours later, after having, unknown 
 to anybody, piled up the sacks in a well-hidden shed. 
 Fortunately, I dwelt on the outskirts of the village.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The 13th Vendemiaire — The Convention surrounded by 60,000 men — 
 General Bonaparte — Failure of the uprising owing to the lack of a 
 Royalist leader — The ijrimary assemblies and the new elections — 
 The daughter of Louis XVI. leaves the Temple — The reign of the 
 Directoire — Barras and Mme. Tallien — The kindliness of Mme. de 
 Beauharnais — The return of the ^mi'ir^s — The need of enjoyment felt 
 
 — Mme. de Stael's salon — Benjamin Constant — M.de Talleyrand, Min- 
 ister of Foreign Affairs — The 18th Fructidor — Transportation of fallen 
 foes — General Pichegru — Uprisings in Maine and in Brittany — The 
 chouannerie — The Treaty of Campo-Formio — General Bonaparte's 
 plans and the Directoire's mistrust — The expedition to Egypt — The 
 Republic of Geneva united to France — Carnot's opinion in this matter — 
 Italy occupied by French troops — State of the finances in 1799 — Estab- 
 lishment of the military conscription — The coalition between Austria, 
 England, and Russia — General Suvaroff in Italy — Retreat of the French 
 
 — An odious act of revenge performed by Barras — Bonaparte's return 
 to France — The men who took part in the 18th Brumaire— Constitu- 
 tion of the Consular Government — Attributes of the three Consuls — 
 Bonapai'te's feelings towards the ^mic/r^s — The infernal machine — 
 Georges Cadoudal and Saint-Rejant, his emissary. 
 
 The 13th Vendemiaire came to trouble our peaceful 
 existence. Paris gave the signal, which was answered by 
 the whole of France. The Revolution was about to be 
 attacked in its stronghold, and to be defeated in the very- 
 city where it had found its principal force, where lay the 
 machinery of its government, and where a defeat spelt 
 absolute ruin. One victorious day in Paris would prove 
 more decisive than many battles on the banks of the Rhine. 
 
 I Avas in the thick of this upheaval of the 13th Vende- 
 miaire. I had thrown all my energies into the primary 
 
 130
 
 THE THIRTEENTH VENBEMIAIBE 131 
 
 assembly held at Le Pecq, I had invoked there the language 
 of independence and the principles of liberty, for we had 
 the advantage of having them on our side in fighting the 
 Convention. The question at issue was the carrying into 
 effect of the new constitution, called the Constitution of the 
 Year III. The Convention had decided that the renewal 
 of its membership should be carried out gradually, by the 
 going out and the coming in of a third of its members in 
 each succeeding year. It showed itself in that more astute 
 than the Constituent Assembly, which had sought to lay 
 down that none of its members should be again eligible. 
 
 The primary assembly at Le Pecq protested strongly 
 against this decision. This was partly my work, and so I 
 was entrusted with laying its wishes before the cantonal 
 assembly of Saint-Germain, and then before the sections of 
 Paris. This mission took me to town three days before the 
 light, and I left just after seeing it begin, in other words 
 lost, so short was its duration. I was never in a better 
 position to realize to what a degree the best and strongest 
 positions can become useless, when there is no one present 
 with sufficient brains to take advantage of them. I had 
 come to Paris, imbued, like so many others, with the con- 
 viction that a strong hand was directing the movement. 
 But what did we find? Nothing but a crowd animated by 
 the best and most courageous intentions, together with a 
 number of prattlers in the tribunes of the sections. All 
 were bestirring themselves, urged on by a common senti- 
 ment, each one asking of the other: "What must be done? 
 When are we to act? " 
 
 At least 60,000 men of the National Guard were provided 
 with arms. All the surrounding towns were prepared to 
 come to their rescue, but where was the general of this 
 army? What name inspiring authority could we bring 
 forward? If but a Bonchamp or a La Eochejaquelein had
 
 132 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 appeared on the scene! Had one even been sure of any 
 general who had served with distinction in the republican 
 army! Villot, for instance, would have more than sufficed, 
 and then, it would have been all over with the Convention. 
 But who turned up at the eleventh hour? A M. Danican, 
 who had sprung from nowhere, whose name had remained 
 unspoken up to that moment, whose public life began and 
 ended on that day. Who appointed him? I never could 
 understand nor find out. What I did see plainly was his 
 complete inaction and his deplorable incapacity. 
 
 During the morning of the 13th the Convention, sur- 
 rounded by 60,000 Parisian bayonets, no longer reigned 
 except over the chateau and the garden of the Tuileries, 
 Discord was in its ranks, and, moreover, we had in its midst 
 partisans, whose presence, although in a minority, was none 
 the less precious. At its disposal were only some three or 
 four thousand men, commanded, it is true, by General 
 Bonaparte, but at whose back, in spite of all contrary 
 belief, the rest of the French army did not stand. The 
 army was not taking any hand in the event, a fortunate 
 circumstance which was not repeated, for, from that day 
 and as a result of it, the army and its generals began to 
 take a part in home affairs, not to relinquish their inter- 
 ference for some time to come. 
 
 When to this circumstance is added the fact that the 
 greater number of interests which were later to render so 
 difficult the coming to any arrangement had not yet sprung 
 up; that the greater part of the possessions of the hnigr^s 
 had not been sold; that those which had been paid for Avith 
 assignats at the time of their greatest depreciation, were 
 still held by their original purchasers, it is hard to say 
 what must cause the most astonishment, the blindness, the 
 carelessness, or the incapacity which allowed so good an 
 opportunity to escape. At five o'clock in the evening, the
 
 PEOPLE AGAIN TERRIFIED 133 
 
 opportunity had slipped past. A few cannon shots fired 
 against the steps of Saint-Roch had been sufficient to settle 
 the question. 
 
 I left at six o'clock, and went to Saint-Germain, to bring 
 my friends the first news of the disaster. I met, when near 
 Courbevoie, the battalions of the National Guard of that 
 city going to the rescue of that of Paris. There was noth- 
 ing left for them but to turn back. People soon became as 
 terrified as they had been hopeful. They expected a re- 
 newal of the Reign of Terror, and their fears were only too 
 well justified by a step taken in the hour of danger, by the 
 ringleaders of the Convention. They opened the prison 
 doors to the most violent revolutionists, whom it had been 
 necessary to keep under lock and key for some months past, 
 in order to restrain their fury and render vain the plots 
 which they had on several occasions fomented. Yet, the 
 results of that day were not as serious as might have been 
 expected. The victors apparently scented the danger of 
 abusing their success. They could not help being struck 
 with the almost unanimous feeling which was revealed 
 against them. Besides, the new elections were close at 
 hand, and the electors chosen in the primary assemblies 
 left no room for doubting that at the very least a spirit of 
 moderation would animate the new third of the members. 
 
 Nothing, indeed, will better illustrate the spirit govern- 
 ing the electoral assemblies than the remarkable fact that 
 M. Boissy d'Anglas, the most important and honored mem- 
 ber of the party of moderation in the Convention, the man 
 who had distinguished himself by a motion to restore the 
 property of those who had been sentenced to death, was 
 re-elected by at least four-fifths of the departments. 
 
 The electoral college to which I belonged met at Ver- 
 sailles. It was three days before there were enough of 
 us present, and when the time came for us to choose our
 
 134 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 representatives, great was our embarrassment. No one 
 dared to present the names which had been put forward a 
 few days before. Had things taken a different course on 
 the 13th, I might probably have been among those elected. 
 In spite of this mishap, 1 was still in a position to exercise 
 a somewhat marked influence, of which I made use to bring 
 forward the names of men open to less suspicion than 
 myself, but who might nevertheless be of service in present- 
 ing our views. I contributed to the election of Messieurs 
 Lebrun and Tronqon-Ducoudray, and so was instrumental 
 in sending the one to die at Sinnamary, while I opened for 
 the other the road to honors, power, and riches. 
 
 After the 13th Vendemiaire and the disastrous expedition 
 of Quiberon, came the regime of the Directoire, such as 
 established by the new constitution. Many people saw in 
 the creation of two Councils a balance of power which would 
 prove a safeguard against the storms and excesses of a 
 solitary assembly. People were in so great a need of rest 
 that they hailed with joy anything that might resemble a 
 shelter. This taith was not deceived as cruelly as it 
 deserved to be. 
 
 The Directoire was installed on the 1st of November, 
 and on the 19th every heart that was truly French was 
 really gladdened. Negotiations long carried on came to a 
 happy conclusion. The daughter of Louis XVI. was allowed 
 to leave the Temple, and was escorted to the frontier, to be 
 exchanged against prisoners who in various ways had fallen 
 into the hands of Austria, which had kept them in strict 
 seclusion in some of its fortresses. They were the con- 
 ventionnels Le Camus, Quinette, Lamarque, and Bancal, 
 whom Dumouriez had handed over at the time of his defec- 
 tion; Messieurs de Semonville and Maret, arrested on the 
 borders of the Tyrol and of Italy, as they were proceeding 
 as ambassadors ot the French Republic, the one to Naples,
 
 THE DIRECTOIRE 135 
 
 the other to Constantinople. The exchange took place 
 at Bale. 
 
 Up to that time, the princess had not much reason to be 
 pleased with the behavior of her relations of the House of 
 Austria. When it came to taking leave of the persons who 
 had accompanied her from Paris, the idea of finding herself 
 handed completely over to strangers became painful to her, 
 and her heart, which had remained French, was painfully 
 rent with the idea that she was about to leave her own 
 country, probably forever. 
 
 This act of justice and humanity, which was so long in 
 coming, produced a good impression. But the Directoire 
 knew not how to persevere in the path which this happy 
 beginning seemed to open for it. It occasionally showed 
 itself cruel, and oftentimes ridiculous and corrupt. 
 
 Barras was its sovereign, while Mme. Tallien and several 
 other women did the honors of it. It was in the Salon of 
 the Directoire that Mme. de Beauharnais laid the foundation 
 of her high fortunes. There she met General Bonaparte. 
 It would not be fair not to admit that the choice he made 
 of that woman was a happy one. At the very outset of 
 her career, she showed herself, such as she was ever in 
 the future, gentle, kind, compassionate, and helpful. No 
 sooner did she have any influence, than she made use of 
 it to render aid to and to defend those who were in distress. 
 
 It was mostly the Emigres who were in the habit of avail- 
 ing themselves of her generosity and of her zeal, whether it 
 was that they sought to escape a military commission, or 
 help in their efforts to have their names erased from the 
 list of emigres, and have their estates restored to them. It 
 was the time when they began to flock home, having almost 
 all of them exhausted their resources, or being unable to 
 endure any longer their aversion of owing to strangers the 
 mainstay of their existence. The hope of still finding
 
 136 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 some slight remnants of their fortune, of securing some 
 inheritance, the desire of seeing their own people and their 
 country, made them run all the risks attendant on their 
 return. It is true that these dangers became less every 
 day, for there was a concerted union of efforts to put an 
 end to their pitiful and painful position. The flocking of 
 the Emigres to Paris was noticeable to a degree. The thirst 
 for pleasure which reigned then was one of the charac- 
 teristics of the time. I am far from justifying it, and yet 
 it entered perhaps into the natural order of things more 
 than is generally believed. It was not all improvidence 
 and giddiness; there existed also the necessity of a little of 
 that relaxation which it is absolutely necessary for human 
 beings to enjoy, especially after emerging from trials so 
 hard and of so long a duration. 
 
 Nothing to-day remains unknown or mysterious in con- 
 nection with the 18th Fructidor. It may nevertheless be 
 appropriate to devote some attention to the part played 
 therein by a certain number of liberty's friends to whom I 
 shall have to recur pretty frequently in the course of my 
 narrative. They deplored the aberration of which France 
 had been the victim since the 10th of August, but the 
 reaction which was inclining minds to the idea of arbitrary 
 power was to them a cause for alarm. In their eyes the 
 return of the regime which had preceded 1789 was fraught 
 with the greatest perils, and they enjoyed sufficient per- 
 spicacity to believe that such a return was among the 
 probabilities, should the party of moderation be in the 
 ascendant. 
 
 The hdtel of Mme. de Stael was the place of rendezvous 
 of those holding this opinion, whose most talented advocate 
 was M. Benjamin Constant, while it had as its prop in the 
 government M. de Talleyrand, who had just been appointed 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs through Mme. de Stael's influ-
 
 THE EIGHTEENTH FRUCTIDOR 137 
 
 ence over Barras. He was one of those who most feared 
 the return of the Bourbons, aware as he was that his past 
 precluded the idea of his ever being forgiven by them. 
 
 This little coterie (this gathering can hardly be dignified 
 with any other appellation) enjoyed a somewhat important 
 influence. It helped to spur the Directoire on, and to hasten 
 Its decisions. It is true that after the perpetration of the 
 18th Fructidor, it protested against its consequences. It 
 had prayed for the day, but not for what was to happen on 
 the one succeeding it. I must make an exception of M. de 
 Talleyrand in this connection. He was not the man to 
 indulge in such silly visions, and to believe that when one 
 had once trampled on sacred rights, one could place them 
 on a pedestal next day, and then defy their resurrection. 
 
 The Directoire proved itself more consistent than the 
 salon of Mme. de Stael. Yet, owing to the moderation then 
 prevailing in revolutionary methods, it transported its fallen 
 foes, instead of sending them to the scaffold, trusting to the 
 deserts of Sinnamary to put an end to their existence. 
 General Pichegru, the conqueror of Holland, was sent to 
 those inhospitable shores, together with his colleagues, to 
 expiate his mad confidence, and so he disappeared from the 
 scene of politics, to return to it only to meet with a tragic 
 end. No more painful recollection haunted him probably 
 during the term of his dreadful exile, than that of the 
 weakness of Moreau, who had succeeded him in the com- 
 mand of his army, and who, without any respect for his 
 own glory, was not ashamed, after the 18th Fructidor, to 
 disown his former chief, and to supply his enemies with 
 the proofs of his counter-revolutionary plans. They were 
 but too plainly set forth in a correspondence which had 
 been seized in the baggage-wagon of an Austrian general, 
 and which Moreau forwarded to the Directoire. 
 
 I was no longer in Paris, nor in its neighborhood, at the
 
 138 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 time of the 18th Fructidor. A month before I had left my 
 place of residence in Croissy to go and live in the province 
 in which were my estates, which had just been restored to 
 me. On quitting the capital, I left the different parties in 
 face of each other, but 1 did not carry away with me any 
 hope for the success of the Royalist party, to which 1 
 belonged. The faith of my friends had this time not proved 
 contagious, as it had at the time of the 13th Vendemiaire. 
 I could perceive only too clearly, in spite of a few seduc- 
 tive appearances, our positive weakness and the strength of 
 our enemies, and so I heard of the result without surprise. 
 
 This second period of the Directoire's regime proved 
 much harder for it to weather than the first. The Depart- 
 ment of the Sarthe, where I had come to dwell, and which 
 formed part of the former province of Maine, was one of 
 those which attained great importance through the civil 
 war of the West. The town of Le Mans had been the scene 
 of a pitched battle, which resulted in the almost total 
 destruction of the Vendean army, after it had crossed the 
 Loire. The country did not take any part in the insurrec- 
 tion, and the Vendeans gathered few partisans while pass- 
 ing through it. They met with the same reception 
 throughout nearly the whole of Brittany, which, like 
 Maine, was only to rise in insurrection six months later, 
 after these two provinces had allowed the Vendean army to 
 be crushed without in any way coming to its help. The 
 absolute lack of a common leadership was cause that the 
 Royalist party failed to gain any striking advantage, and 
 paralyzed the mpst courageous and the most generous efforts. 
 
 Moreover, the uprising of the Departments of Brittany 
 and of Maine was of an entirely different nature from that 
 of the Vendee. No large armed bodies ever came into 
 existence. There were merely a number of little bands 
 which would meet at a given signal, now in one direction,
 
 THE CHOUANNERIE 139 
 
 and again in another. Such a system could not engender 
 any decisive results ; but, on the other hand, it was hard to 
 overtake and to crush out the insurgents. These little 
 bands had each their own leaders, each one independent of 
 the other, and they were as hard to manage as to put to 
 fighting purposes. This is what has been designated as the 
 diouannerie. 
 
 Upon my arrival home, a patched-up peace was concluded 
 between the chouans and the Kepublic. The neighborhood 
 was still suffering from the presence of a few irregular 
 bands, which had taken to habits of brigandage, rather than 
 to fighting. They pretended not to have heard of any 
 conclusion of peace, and, from time to time, they would 
 attack stage-coaches, and spread terror in the rural districts. 
 
 A fresh importance was given to them by the 18th 
 Fructidor, and a secret undercurrent soon made itself felt. 
 It was an entirely novel spectacle, the one afforded by 
 that portion of France which dared to show a bold front 
 to the Revolution, which forced it to compromise in spite 
 of its victories, and where, as a result, people had contracted 
 and preserved a liberty of thought and speech unknown 
 elsewhere. It was in the nature of a surprise for all those, 
 who, like myself, had spent all the years of the Revolution 
 in Paris, and in localities where it had always been able to 
 enforce obedience. Here the conquered ones still showed 
 a noble pride and independence, and defeats were titles to 
 honor even in the eyes of the victors. How often did I 
 not listen with pleasure to the narrative of the battle of 
 Le Mans, and of the exploits of the brave and high-minded 
 La Rochejaquelein, whose name was on everybody's lips! 
 
 What a sight it was for me to look upon those country 
 districts which I had left in a state of peace, where no 
 fight had been waged up to that time for over two centuries, 
 and which I now saw covered with graves hardly closed!
 
 140 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 In all directions, even in my park, and in the farmyards, was 
 1 shown the resting-places of these Vendean peasants, who 
 proved such admirable models of a courage, of a fidelity, of 
 a resignation of which history cannot but ever preserve the 
 recollection. There is no doubt that the battle-fields of a 
 civil war inspire one with feelings hitherto unknown. The 
 lessons they inculcate are of a deeper and more solemn 
 nature than any others. The fallen ones whom one mourns 
 have in them something great, dark, and terrible. The 
 tears shed over them have a bitterness of their own, and 
 time can hardly wipe out these sorrowful impressions. 
 
 The country's state of exhaustion was indeed great. The 
 losses, especially of men of note capable of exercising great 
 influence and of commanding a following, had been numer- 
 ous, and of too recent occurrence to countenance the fear of 
 a new uprising of any strength, nor was such an uprising to 
 be desired, for it could not contribute to the success of the 
 Royalist cause, and would, of necessity, give birth to much 
 useless misery. 
 
 Not the slightest illusion could be indulged in after the 
 fatal results of the last appeal to arms made by Charette 
 and Stofiflet and after the Quiberon disaster. A few leaders 
 of minor rank still labored, if not to bring about an upris- 
 ing, at least to create a belief in one. They thus hoped 
 to increase their own importance. There was no lack of 
 encouragement from abroad, and secret communications 
 found their way from British shores, urging a renewal of 
 the civil war in the provinces of the West, a war to which 
 so little assistance had been furnished, and from which no 
 advantage had been derived, when so much might have 
 resulted from it. The Vendean and Breton peasantry, whom 
 there had been attempts to drive to insurrection from time 
 to time, and the unfortunate members of the gentry, which 
 the London cabinet sent for the fourth and fifth time on
 
 THE EMIGRES 141 
 
 the shores of Poitou or of Brittany, had deserved well 
 enough of the king's cause not to be so lightly sent to 
 slaughter. 
 
 These uprisings became a pretext for acts of coercion. 
 During the month following the 18th Fructidor, and upon 
 a rumor of Royalist movements in a certain number of 
 departments, the banishment of all the nobles and the con- 
 fiscation of their properties was resolved upon. In lieu of 
 the latter, they were to receive a peddler's bundle, with 
 which they were to be driven across the frontier. 
 
 Already were the emigres, who had returned in great 
 numbers during the preceding months, compelled to seek 
 safety in flight once more, under the penalty of seeing the 
 unrepealed blood laws affecting them enforced. Nothing 
 could be more insensate than this latest motion against the 
 nobility, and yet it emanated from a committee the prin- 
 cipal figure of which was the celebrated Abbe Sieyes. It 
 was he who, during the reign of the Constituent Assembly, 
 at the time of the seizure of the clergy's possessions, had 
 exclaimed: "They seek to become free, when they do not 
 even understand the meaning of equity!" Still, he had 
 not dared to undertake drawing up the report, so this duty 
 devolved upon M. Boulay, the newly elected representative 
 of the Department of the Meurthe. It was all the more 
 surprising to see him undertake such a mission, from the 
 fact that he had joined the Assembly with an honorable 
 reputation, and that he had not bound himself by any 
 engagement to the party of the Revolution. Great was the 
 fright caused thereby. 
 
 On being informed of what was about to happen, I went 
 to Paris, for the purpose of procuring some little funds, so 
 that if it became necessary for me to leave France, I should, 
 at least in the beginning, not feel the pangs of distress. 
 Three weeks later the motion was finally rejected.
 
 142 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEE 
 
 A great and fortunate event had happened across the 
 frontier. General Bonaparte had signed a treaty of peace 
 with Austria at Campo-Formio. Uniting in himself the 
 powers of both negotiator and general, he had made free 
 use of both, and had paid as little heed to the express 
 commands of the Directoire with regard to the bases and 
 terms of the treaty, as to its directions for the carrying out 
 of the campaign. 
 
 His mind had, for some time back, dwelt on the idea of 
 destroying the ancient Republic of Venice, and he had 
 taken from what remained of it sufficient to compensate 
 Austria for its final cession of the Netherlands to France, 
 and of the districts of Milan and Mantua, and the duchy of 
 Modena to the Cisalpine Republic, which was erected into 
 an independent State. Austria bound itself not to raise 
 any obstacles to France's frontier, which was to include 
 Mayence which she had not then occupied, being extended 
 to the banks of the Rhine. The last named agreement 
 could, however, only be ratified finally with the Germanic 
 Empire, and to that effect a congress was called at Rastadt 
 in Suabia. This was, with but one slight exception, almost 
 the conclusion of a continental peace, for England alone 
 remained in arms. The Directoire had so willed it, for it 
 had as early as the 18tli of September hastened to break off 
 the negotiations carried on for several months past at Lille 
 with Lord Malmesbury, England's plenipotentiary. 
 
 Bonaparte was appointed plenipotentiary to the Rastadt 
 congress, that he might bring to an issue the work of 
 pacification which he had wrought so far. He went there, 
 on leaving Italy, but hardly did more than put in an 
 appearance. The high and imperious position which he 
 had already taken, would not have allowed him to follow 
 with the necessary moderation, the painfully fastidious 
 discussions which were bound to occur in an assembly of
 
 BONAPARTE AND THE DIRECTOIRE 143 
 
 Germanic plenipotentiaries. He left his colleagues to do 
 the work, and hastened back to Paris. 
 
 The Directoire welcomed him with a gratitude that was 
 feigned, and did its best to dissemble, under the outward 
 appearance of the highest admiration, and of a confidence 
 without limits, the vexation so strong a position inspired it 
 with. Italy's conqueror was immediately assigned to the 
 command of the troops which were supposed to be gathering 
 by the ocean side, and the aggregation of which was to take 
 the name of "army against England." This constituted 
 the first recorded threat of landing troops on the British 
 coast, for the abortive expedition of General Hoche on the 
 Irish coast cannot be viewed from this standpoint. 
 
 The general was presented to the Directoire in the court- 
 yard of the Petit Luxembourg, where an autel de la patrie 
 had been erected. He was introduced to the five Directors 
 by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. de Talleyrand, who 
 took occasion to deliver a speech wherein, honoring in 
 Bonaparte "his undying love of country and of humanity," 
 he praised " his contempt for luxuriousness and pomp, this 
 miserable ambition of ordinary souls! The day was ap- 
 proaching when it would become necessary to entreat him 
 to tear himself away from the quiet peace of his studious 
 retreat," 
 
 It was noticed that General Bonaparte hardly partook of 
 any dish at the dinner which followed this ceremony. This 
 abstinence was attributed to his feeling unwell, but I learnt 
 since from his confidential aide-de-camp, M. de La Valette, 
 that Bonaparte had considered this precaution necessary in 
 the face of the dangers which he believed threatened his 
 existence. Whether or not his suspicions were based on 
 any foundation, one cannot but help recording them, for 
 they must have greatly affected the resolution he was about 
 to take.
 
 144 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Winter had hardly set in, when he abandoned the idea of 
 an expedition to England. The almost insurmountable 
 obstacles connected with it could not escape him. Never- 
 theless, he felt that he must not suffer the public enthusi- 
 asm, of which he was the object, to cool off. 
 
 The Directoire mistrusted and hated him. Of that, he 
 could not entertain any doubts. The Directoire was capable 
 of anything; he knew that also, so there was nothing better 
 for him to do but to remove himself, at least for a short 
 while. In view of his plans for the future, was he not 
 gaining a great advantage by abandoning this wretched 
 government to itself? The measure of its follies was not 
 yet full. So he again turned his thoughts towards an 
 expedition to Egypt. He had bethought himself of it 
 during the last months he spent in Italy. Of this, there 
 can be no doubt. He had, even in those days, secured 
 sufficient information as to the means for bringing it to a 
 successful issue, and he had, moreover, kept spies at work 
 in the island of Malta. No sooner had he fully made up 
 his mind, than it was an easy matter for him to get the 
 Directoire's consent to the expedition, for it was no less 
 ready to give him the opportunity of leaving, than he was 
 to grasp it. All things were therefore placed at his dis- 
 posal, preparations were made with a rapidity heretofore 
 without precedent, and with a secrecy one cannot too much 
 admire. 
 
 The times were favorable for finding men willing to run 
 great risks in foreign lands, so little was the security 
 promised at home by the government. 
 
 General Bonaparte left Toulon by the 19th of May. 
 Who was there, who, with the knowledge of the strength 
 of the English squadrons cruising about, would have dared 
 to say that there was any chance of his succeeding in cross- 
 ing the Mediterranean? Nelson, it is well known, twice
 
 RIOTING IN ROME 145 
 
 came very near meeting the expedition, and had he done so, 
 its destruction would have been certain. 
 
 War was still going on in Europe at the time General 
 Bonaparte was sailing away from the shores of Provence. 
 Riots which had occurred, or, rather, which had deliberately 
 been fomented in Rome, in the course of which the French 
 ambassadorial residence had been violated, and General 
 Duphot had fallen a victim to the popular frenzy, had 
 furnished the French troops with the impatiently waited 
 for opportunity of advancing on the capital of the Christian 
 world. They entered Rome on the 18th of January, and 
 established a hold on it by occupying the castle of San 
 Angelo. On the 15th of the following month, the Roman 
 Republic was proclaimed, and the Pope, forcibly removed 
 from the Vatican, was carried away into Tuscany, and 
 imprisoned in a chartreuse. 
 
 France interfered in Switzerland's affairs under the pre- 
 text of restoring a tranquillity which had been only dis- 
 turbed by an insurrection of the Vaudois against the 
 government of Berne, an insurrection clearly fomented by 
 the intrigues of the Directoire. The French troops invaded 
 the Vaud country on the 28th of February, the day in which 
 the union of Mulhouse with France was proclaimed. This 
 was a free city, which formed part of the Swiss Confedera- 
 tion. Fribourg was next taken, after a battle fought on the 
 2d of March. Berne was occupied on the 9th, after several 
 bloody engagements, and Switzerland's liberty and inde- 
 pendence fell together. 
 
 It was on this occasion that Carnot, in a pamphlet which 
 he published from the seclusion of his retreat in Germany, 
 wrote this so pithy sentence : " The Directoire sought for the 
 place where it could find the greatest number of free men 
 to kill, and so it pounced on Switzerland." On the 26th of 
 April, the Republic of Geneva became united to France.
 
 146 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 General Bonajjarte was not as foreign as might be 
 inferred to these deeds, the odium of which he preferred 
 to leave to the Directoire, but Avhich certainly chimed in 
 with his political views and his military combinations. At 
 the time of his passing through Switzerland, on his way to 
 Rastadt, he had spoken a few significant words, which had 
 not escaped his lips unadvisedly. He had expressed dis- 
 content with the conduct of the Swiss government during 
 his campaign in Italy. This discontent was the herald of 
 ulterior plans, and might, in case of need, serve as a reason 
 and as an excuse for putting them in execution. 
 
 In Italy, the king of Naples unwisely undertook to attack 
 the French troops occupying his kingdom. His army of 
 40,000 men, commanded by General Mack, was successful 
 for a few days only, during which, it is true, Rome fell 
 into its hands ; but it was soon driven out of the city, and 
 ere two months had elapsed French troops were under the 
 walls of Naples, and soon entered the city in triumph. 
 
 In northern Italy, the king of Sardinia, Charles Emman- 
 uel, had just succeeded his father Victor Amadeus. Less 
 resigned than his predecessor to France's rigorous methods, 
 he soon afforded the opportunity for suspecting that, 
 together with the king of Naples, he was ready to join the 
 coalition which was doubtless being negotiated between 
 Austria, England, and Russia. He had not long to wait 
 for his chastisement. War was declared against him on 
 the 5th of December, and on the 10th his capital was occu- 
 pied. Without any other resource left to him but to take 
 refuge at Cagliari, in the island of Sardinia, and wishing 
 to live there in peace, he accepted the terms imposed upon 
 him of ceding to France all his rights over Piedmont. 
 
 Thus, by the end of 1798, or in the first days of January, 
 1799, almost the whole of Italy, from Naples to the Alps, 
 was occupied by the French armies. Their number was not
 
 THE MILITARY CONSCRIPTION 147 
 
 in proportion with the weight of the burden which they had 
 to carry, nor with the dangers which were about to threaten 
 them unceasingly, for the coalition of which I have fore- 
 shadowed the existence could not but fail to act by the time 
 spring came around. Everybody coald foresee it, and the 
 Directoire, which had so plainly provoked the formation of 
 this coalition, had to provide the means for resisting it. 
 From a financial point of view, the Directoire's position was 
 exceedingly bad, for it had been compelled, at the beginning 
 of 1798, to have recourse to a forced loan of eighty millions, 
 alleging for that purpose the expenses to be incurred in 
 making preparations for the invasion of England. As 
 regards the military situation, the Directoire was not much 
 better off. The French army, composed exclusively of the 
 men the supply of whom had been furnished through the 
 requisitions of the Convention, had suffered considerable 
 losses during the bloody and lengthy wars it had been 
 through during the past six years. It was therefore greatly 
 diminished in numbers, and besides. General Bonaparte had 
 just taken with him the best part of it, what might be 
 considered its 4lite. Moreover, there was no regular method 
 of recruiting, and it was with the view of filling this void 
 in the legislation, that the establishment of a military con- 
 scription, such or almost such as existed to the end of the 
 Empire, was determined upon. 
 
 The law creating this institution was passed on the 
 report of General Jourdan. So it happened that the good 
 fortune of Bonaparte should will that the foundation of the 
 military power, which he was soon to raise to so high a 
 degree, should be laid in his absence without the primary 
 severity of the legislation, which was to give birth to it, 
 being laid to his door. 
 
 Austria began to act on the offensive during March, and 
 on the 25th of that month, the Archduke Charles won an
 
 148 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 important battle over General Jourdan, a short distance 
 from Constance. In order to guard against the consequences 
 of this defeat, the command of the army was given to 
 General Massena, whose forces joined those already in 
 Switzerland, and who took up his position in the neighbor- 
 hood of Zurich, maintaining himself in it, and defending it 
 with so much glory. Over in Italy, General Scherer allowed 
 himself to be beaten on the 25th and the 30th of March, 
 under the walls of Verona, by General Kray, who was at 
 the head of 60,000 soldiers. 
 
 A few days later. General Suvaroff, with 40,000 Rus- 
 sians, joined this army, and from that date he directed the 
 campaign on behalf of the coalition. He pursued it with 
 the vigor and activity characteristic of him. This first 
 appearance of a new force on the scene of war was one of 
 the most important happenings of the epoch. France had 
 repeatedly been threatened with it, without the threat hav- 
 ing been carried into effect, but it was now about to play a 
 most important part. 
 
 In face of such overwhelming odds, there was nothing 
 left for the French but to beat a retreat. It Avas accom- 
 plished with difficulty, but it proved less disastrous than it 
 might have been in view of existing conditions, had not 
 General Moreau, who was serving in a kind of volunteer 
 capacity, been with the army. No time was lost in turning 
 over the command to him. He could hardly make good the 
 mistakes of the incapable Scherer, but he succeeded in 
 lessening somewhat their consequences. 
 
 During the month of May, Sieyes, on his return from 
 Prussia, took the place of Rewbell in the Directoire; 
 Treilhard, Larevelliere-Lepeaux, and Merlin of Douay were 
 replaced by Roger-Ducos, an obscure conventionnel, by 
 Gohier, the least known of all the magistracy, and lastly, 
 by General ]\Ioulin. Barras alone remained out of the first
 
 THE DIRECTOIRE'S INCAPACITY 149 
 
 set. He had latterly signalized himself by an odious act of 
 revenge. There existed in the Palais-Royal a cafi, which 
 was the meeting-place of a number of young men who had 
 little fondness for the Directoire, and whose sarcastic 
 remarks disturbed its peace of mind, whenever they reached 
 its ears. Barras invited a few officers to dinner at his 
 house, and placed them under the orders of Colonel Four- 
 nier, one of the worst characters in the army. During the 
 course of the evening, they were led by him to the cafe 
 mentioned. They entered it with drawn swords, and at 
 once began slashing right and left. A number of the 
 habitues were wounded, and among them General Oudinot. 
 He was quietly partaking of ice-cream, and it was doubtless 
 intended that he should be struck. He complained pretty 
 loudly in the beginning against such an outrage, but the 
 affair was stifled, and the criminal deed remained unpun- 
 ished, for it originated from too high. Oudinot and several 
 of his friends had not lost the memory of it, when later on 
 they lielped to overthrow the Directoire. 
 
 Anxious to procure at any price the funds of which it 
 stood in pressing need, the Directoire had recourse once 
 more to a forced loan. With regard to the malcontents, 
 and especially the Royalists of the western departments, it 
 flattered itself with containing and repressing them, by 
 causing to be voted a law authorizing it to lay hands on 
 hostages in all localities wherein the slightest disturbance 
 should occur. I narrowly escaped becoming a victim of 
 this law, even before its promulgation. 
 
 A commissioner of the Executive had been assassinated 
 in the street of Le Mans by a few chouans, who had been 
 bold enough to enter the city. Thereupon the local authori- 
 ties sought fit to arrest a few landowners in the surrounding 
 country, who were supposed to favor in a special fashion 
 the Royalist party, with a vicAV of holding them as hostages'
 
 150 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 for their own safety. As these were signs that these tactics 
 were likely to be renewed frequently, I hastened to return 
 to Paris, happy to be back in it, for, in reality, one was 
 much safer there than anywhere else. This can easily be 
 accounted for. The secret of the weakness of the Directoire 
 was seen all the better at short range. At a distance, it 
 still looked imposing, and the provincial revolutionists did 
 not lack zeal in carrying out its behests. The Paris revo- 
 lutionists were wiser, and did not care to commit themselves 
 on its behalf. 
 
 The Councils (the two Chambers), in spite of the weeding 
 out to which they had been subjected, still contained the 
 elements of a party of moderation which was only seeking 
 an opportunity to shake off its shameful harness. To that 
 party was due the rejecting of the measure proposed by 
 Messieurs Sieyes and Boulay (of the Meurthe) against the 
 nobility. Hence was persecution less harsh in Paris, where 
 an amount of secret protection, which was not without its 
 effect, was to be obtained at times. Meanwhile an3,rchy 
 was spreading. 
 
 The triumphs of the coalition had been put an end to in 
 Switzerland by Massena, and by Brune in Holland. But, 
 although they had been able to defeat the foreigner, they 
 were not sufficiently strong to overturn the government. 
 To accomplish that end, it was necessary that General 
 Bonaparte should return to France. 
 
 Fate led me one evening to the theatre next to a box 
 occupied by two very pretty women who were unknown to 
 me. Djuring the performance a message was brought to 
 them. I noticed that it caused great and joyous commo- 
 tion. They left, and I soon afterwards learnt that they 
 were the sisters of Bonaparte, and that he had landed on 
 French soil. A courier had brought the news. The effect 
 produced on me by the knowledge of this fact, and on the
 
 BONAPABTE'S BETUBN 151 
 
 greater number of those who received it, simultaneously 
 with me, was in no way proportionate to the consequences 
 which were to follow. We did not at that early date place 
 much reliance upon the views and the intentions of Italy's 
 conqueror, and this was not to be wondered at. He had 
 come under our notice for the first time on the 13th Vende- 
 miaire. To him was greatly due the 18th Fructidor, and 
 the form of government which had come of it. 
 
 The expedition to Egypt, which has since spoken so 
 strongly to the imagination, was then hardly looked upon 
 as anything else but a mad undertaking. The destruction 
 of our fleet at Aboukir by Nelson, the siege of a paltry town 
 like St. Jean d'Acre, which he had been compelled to raise, 
 and the information which we had received by way of 
 England, had considerably shorn of their glory the effect of 
 the bulletins from the army of the East. People seemed 
 to see more braggadocio than earnestness in them, and the 
 adventurer apparently predominated over the great general. 
 
 What had especially struck people in these bulletins, was 
 a certain declaration of faith in favor of the Mahometan 
 creed, the effect of which, though it might be somewhat 
 great in Egypt, had, in France, only called forth ridicule. 
 I state all this, because a number of people, believing 
 apparently that they were adding to their hero's greatness, 
 have since sought to present him as ardently and impa- 
 tiently expected. I am of the opinion that they have not 
 spoken truly, while deceiving themselves with regard to 
 the effect which they have sought to produce. To my mind, 
 Bonaparte is far greater, when he is considered as arriving 
 when no one expects him or dreams of him, when he faces 
 the disadvantages of a return bearing resemblance to a 
 flight, when he triumphs over the prejudices which this 
 return raises against him, and when in the space of a month 
 he lays hand on every form of power. He is far greater.
 
 152 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 I maintain, when surrounded by all the obstacles he has 
 triumphed over, than when an attempt is made to present 
 him as the cynosure of all eyes, and having but to come 
 forward to become lord of all. 
 
 Owing to the very natural lack of resolve on the part of 
 the Directoire, to whom, moreover, little time was vouch- 
 safed wherein to come to any fixed purpose, Bonaparte 
 reached Pans at the same time as the news of his landing. 
 From that very moment his behavior showed prodigious 
 cleverness. In the first place he knew sufficiently how to 
 keep all the parties in so uncertain a state with regard to 
 his plans, that although something important was expected 
 to happen, everything connected with it remained unknown 
 up to the very last moment. 
 
 He put into application the method he so often made use 
 of afterwards, and which no one perhaps has ever better 
 put into practice, that of making the most opposite opinions 
 unite and march together to his own goal. Thus, with the 
 exception of the Royalists, none of whom had yet joined 
 forces with him, and a few Revolutionists who had been 
 abandoned by their principal leaders, all those who had 
 been prominent in public life since the death of the Constit- 
 uent Assembly helped to bring about the 18th Brumaire; 
 in other words, those who had made the 18th Fructidor, and 
 those who had submitted to it. The army of the Rhine 
 and the army of Italy, both so jealous of each other, 
 followed the same " road towards the goal and kept step 
 together. Generals Jourdan and Bernadotte, among those 
 whose names were known to fame, were the only ones who 
 held aloof. The former was held back by his republican 
 principles; the latter, by his personal ambitious views. 
 
 Sieyes came to the rescue, and with him Roger-Ducos, 
 of whom he could dispose as he saw fit. Sieyes was the 
 principal dupe on the eventful day. He did not see that
 
 THE EIGHTEENTH BRUM AIRE 153 
 
 his metaphysics were about to vanish in the presence of the 
 practical genius of the general. 
 
 The indecision of Barras, or rather Bonaparte's shrewd- 
 ness in creating and fostering it, ridded him of a man who 
 would have claimed first rank, but who had become so 
 debased that any contact with him was in itself compromis- 
 ing. Barras was allowed to keep the money he had stolen, 
 and it may be that more was given to him. He was fortu- 
 nate enough to lead a peaceful and obscure life, following 
 upon the highest position, and he apparently found in the 
 enjoyment of such an existence some compensation for the 
 power he had lost. In such a wise did this man live 
 through the consular and the imperial regime, which trans- 
 mitted him to the royal government such as it had found 
 him. 
 
 The men most taken into the confidence of General Bona- 
 parte, and who were best informed as to his plans during 
 the days preceding the 18th Brumaire, were, besides his 
 brother Lucien, Messieurs Koederer, Regnaud de Saint-Jean 
 d'Angely, Cambaceres, and Talleyrand. In addition to 
 these, some hundred and fifty men at least were initiated 
 into his secrets, to a higher or lesser degree. In spite of this, 
 the Directoire was taken unawares. The military guard of 
 the Directoire took sides against it, without its president 
 (Gohier) entertaining the least suspicion of this defection. 
 This guard, composed of an infantry regiment which had 
 belonged to the army of Italy, and of a cavalry regiment 
 commanded by the Corsican Sebastiani, formed the nucleus 
 of the military forces Bonaparte could dispose of, and 
 ensured the success of his enterprise. 
 
 General Lefevre, who was in command of the Paris gar- 
 rison, went over to him unreservedly. This service was 
 never forgotten, and the recollection of it is to be found 
 during the brilliant period when Napoleon distributed
 
 154 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 among his adherents so many of the batons of a Marshal of 
 France. Many accessions to fortune, among those which 
 occurred during the Consulate and the Empire, are to be 
 explained in the same fashion, and their foundations rest 
 upon claims to gratitude dating from the same epoch. 
 Whether as First Consul or as Emperor, Bonaparte ever 
 showed his gratitude in this respect. 
 
 It is unnecessary to dwell to any extent on the scenes of 
 the 18th and 19th Brumaire (November 10th and 11th, 1799). 
 They have been so often told, and no one can have forgotten 
 General Bonaparte's apostrophe, on the 18th, to the parti- 
 sans of the Directoire, as spoken to an emissary of Barras : 
 " What have you done with that land of France which I left 
 to your care in so magnificent a condition? I bequeathed 
 you peace, and on my return I find war. I left you the 
 memory of victories, and now I have come back to face 
 defeats. I left with you the millions I had gathered in 
 Italy, and to-day I see nothing in every direction but laws 
 despoiling the people, coupled with distress. What have 
 you done with the one hundred thousand French citizens, 
 my companions in glory, all of whom I knew? You have 
 sent them to their death. This state of things cannot last, 
 for it would lead us to despotism. We require liberty 
 reposing on the basis of equality." 
 
 It is a known fact, that on the 19th, at Saint-Cloud, the 
 firmness of General Bonaparte, so often tested in the battle- 
 field, was for a moment shaken by the vociferous yells with 
 which he was greeted by the Conseil des Cinq-Cents, and in 
 the face of which he deemed it prudent to beat a retreat. 
 His brother Lucien was the president of this Council, and 
 the firmness of the parliamentarian was in this instance 
 more enduring than that of the warrior. Lucien weathered 
 the storm, and prevented the passing of a decree of outlawry. 
 Bonaparte soon returned, supported by a military escort
 
 THE CONSULAR GOVEBNMENT 155 
 
 commanded by Generals Murat and Leclerc. The soldiers 
 had been electrified by a rumor that the life of Bonaparte 
 had been attempted in the chamber of the Council. The 
 appearance and the attitude of this faithful armed band 
 quickly cut the Gordian knot. The chamber was soon 
 evacuated, and many of the members of the Council, anx- 
 ious to take the shortest road, fled by the windows. 
 
 So Bonaparte remained master of the situation by means 
 of a method bearing some resemblance to that put in use by 
 Cromwell to rid himself of the Long Parliament. Still, the 
 French general preserved a greater respect for the appear- 
 ances than his forerunner, and he took care to shelter 
 himself behind a semblance of legality. 
 
 The Conseil des Anciens, which was, almost to a man, on 
 his side, and the remnants of the Council which the sight 
 of bayonets had sufficed to disperse, met at Saint-Cloud the 
 same night. The result of the deliberations of that night 
 in the two Councils was the abolition of the Directoire, the 
 expulsion of seventy-two members belonging to the over- 
 thrown party in the two Councils, the establishing of a pro- 
 visional government composed of three consuls, and, lastly, 
 the adjournment of the Councils till the 23d of January 
 following. A legislative commission of fifty members was 
 appointed to act ad interim. 
 
 The three provisional consuls were Sieyes and Koger- 
 Ducos of the Directoire, and General Bonaparte. This 
 provisional state of government lasted only six weeks, 
 during which the consuls and the Legislative Commission 
 prepared and drew up the France's Constitution. This was 
 the fourth in ten years. It was promulgated on the 24th 
 of December, and is known as the Constitution of the Year 
 VIII. Its result was to establish the consular government. 
 
 A new era dawned for France with this form of gov- 
 ernment. The face of things was entirely changed, and
 
 156 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 everything began to tend to a new goal. The powers of 
 the clubs, and of deliberative assemblies, was succeeded by 
 the most absolute authority placed in the hands of one man. 
 Thus, with but slight shades of distinction, will the march 
 of events ever progress henceforth, and one form of excess 
 will ever call forth its very opposite. 
 
 Nevertheless, absolute power, however much it was 
 prayed for, did not become firmly established without 
 encountering serious obstacles. Bonaparte's first footsteps 
 were remarkable for the prudence, the sagacity, and the 
 talent he displayed. At the outset, he merely devoted his 
 attention to indispensable matters, planting stakes along 
 the road he was to travel, and thus making it more secure. 
 
 His consular government was, in the first place, organ- 
 ized in such a fashion as to break up as much as possible 
 the revolutionary framework. His good fortune willed that 
 the ideology of Sieyes, which ever and ever gave birth to 
 new combinations, should render him most valuable aid 
 in this undertaking. Thus, the power of the deliberative 
 assemblies, already shorn of much of its strength by the 
 creation of the two Councils which had taken the place of 
 the Convention, was still more circumscribed by being 
 divided into three parts. The first was composed of life 
 members whose deliberations were held in secret. The 
 second, which was elective, and renewed in part every year, 
 was doomed to silence. The third was likewise elective, 
 but was allowed the mere freedom of speech and the making 
 public of its debates. It was free to give advice, but its 
 vote was never taken into consideration. It was evident 
 that this third branch was a mere hors-d'oeuvre, and that 
 when it should be in the way, it could be done away with, 
 without any indispensable component part of the machinery 
 being cut off. 
 
 A noteworthy fact is the so readily established accord
 
 RETIREMENT OF SIEVES 157 
 
 among all those who took a share in the organization of the 
 representative branch of the government. Nothing demon- 
 strates better to what a degree the excesses of these assem- 
 blies, notably the Legislative Assembly and the Convention, 
 had terrified the public mind, and how a return to such 
 excesses was dreaded. Equally unanimous was the resolve 
 to put a curb on popular elections. Nothing better could 
 be devised to that end than the primary assemblies, the can- 
 tonal assemblies, the electoral colleges in the departments 
 and in the arrondissements, whose power was limited to 
 designating a certain number of candidates, from which the 
 life body known as the Senat conservateur made a selection. 
 
 And so all this was conceived and adopted without 
 straining by Sieyes and by all the ardent friends of liberty. 
 The same was not to occur when it came to establishing the 
 basis of what was called the executive power. This was 
 the rock upon which Sieyes and Bonaparte split, but, as a 
 matter of course, the general gained his point. There was 
 not, as Sieyes wished for, either a great elector, or two or 
 three consuls placed on an equal footing. The result was, 
 after all, a first, a second, and a third consul, Bonaparte 
 naturally getting the highest rank. Sieyes having declared 
 that the position of second or third consul was not to his 
 liking, Bonaparte was little troubled at his repugnance, and 
 chose for himself two more practical and more accommodat- 
 ing colleagues. 
 
 The Abbe Sieyes therefore entered quietly into the Shiat 
 conservateur, and finally lost all importance and considera- 
 tion by his acceptance, as the price of his "valuable ser- 
 vices," of the national estate of Crosne, which gave rise to 
 the following rather merry lines : — 
 
 Sieyes a Bonaparte a fait present du trone, 
 Sous un pompeux debris croyant I'ensevelir ; 
 
 Bonaparte a Sieyes a fait present de Crosne 
 Pour le payer et Pavilir !
 
 158 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 The attributes of the three consuls were as follows: to 
 Cambaceres was given the direction of all legislative work, 
 while Lebrun took charge of the financial administration. 
 As to the First Consul, he scrupled not to declare openly 
 that he reserved unto himself everything proper to the 
 exercise of the executive power, all things relating to the 
 army and to war, adding thereto, as a necessary conse- 
 quence, he said, all things pertaining to foreign relations. 
 
 The formation and the organization of the Council of 
 State was next taken up, and Bonaparte succeeded in 
 embodying in it all those Avhose useful talents in every 
 direction, and especially in the civil service, had come to 
 the fore through the Revolution. This Council was the 
 mainspring of the administration of the First Consul and 
 of the Emperor. It contributed, in a powerful degree, to 
 France's home organization. Moreover, the methods and 
 ways of this branch of the administration, when set in 
 motion in the countries which the fortunes of war united 
 shortly afterwards to the Empire, had such happy results 
 in almost all localities wherein they were put into force, 
 that they oftentimes caused the ills following upon con- 
 quest to be forgotten. 
 
 Matters which since 1789 had been submitted to collective 
 deliberation, were left to the decision of a single individual. 
 Administration by department and by arrondissement be- 
 came administration by prefect and by sub-prefect. 
 
 The consequences of such a change were of great import. 
 The principle of unity of action in the midst of all terri- 
 torial divisions, responsibility well defined and reascending 
 up to the supreme head itself, promptly restored order in 
 the government. At first, this all-important result was far 
 from being grasped and appreciated as it should have been. 
 It was the democratic principle sapped at its very root, and, 
 from the outset, the undoing of the work of the Constit-
 
 WORK OF THE. NEW GOVERNMENT 159 
 
 uent Assembly. The Assembly's efforts had all tended 
 to diminish authority, to weaken supreme power, while, 
 under the new order of things, this power was actually 
 re-established. 
 
 What gave the greatest pleasure was the disappearance 
 of a number of petty officials, who were both worthless 
 and incapable, and at whose mercy the administration of 
 departments and arrondissements had been for the past ten 
 years. They were all the more inclined to make the 
 weight of their authority felt, because they had almost 
 all of them sprung from the lowliest strata of society. 
 People found it to their advantage to have to deal with 
 but a single representative of the central power, whose 
 interest it would be to possess the esteem of those he gov- 
 erned, in order to be able to retain his important position. 
 Moreover the creation of councils, for the departments and 
 for the arrondissements, had shown some consideration for 
 the collective needs of local interests, and this concession 
 was considered sufficient. 
 
 The new government did yet another thing, the grandest 
 perhaps under the circumstances surrounding it, the credit 
 for which belongs entirely to Bonaparte. It forgot the past, 
 and announced that its only enemies would be those who 
 were so of their own seeking. This resolve was carried out 
 in the choice of the men called upon to fill the numerous 
 offices which were at the government's disposal, those of pre- 
 fects, sub-prefects, prefectoral councillors, members of the 
 Trihunat, of the Corps Ugislatif, of the Council of State, 
 and of the Senat conservateur. 
 
 Bonaparte had a peace of his own to make with the 
 victims of Fructidor, and it cost him next to nothing. The 
 decrees of transportation were repealed, and those of the 
 exiles of Sinnamary who still survived were permitted to 
 see their native country once more. Had Pichegru's escape
 
 160 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 not taken place before the amnesty, he would doubtless have 
 been allowed to return with his comrades in misfortune, 
 with M. de Marbois, for instance, and he might have later 
 commanded an army in Germany at the very time M. de 
 Marbois was at the head of the Treasury Department. 
 
 The case of the emigres, owing to their devotion to the 
 House of Bourbon, was a harder one to dispose of than 
 that of the frudidorises. The First Consul felt no hatred 
 towards them, for he never experienced any hatred or affec- 
 tion not dictated to him by his self-interest, and his present 
 interest was plainly that of drying up this source of all in- 
 ternal dissensions, and of depriving the foreigner of aux- 
 iliaries who continually furnished him with more or less 
 dangerous communications and intelligence at home. 
 
 It had already been noticed that during his Italian cam- 
 paigns, he had shown no severity to the Emigres who had 
 fallen into his hands, and his friendly disposition towards 
 them could not have undergone any change. He gave proof 
 of this, lirst by causing all vexatious processes being carried 
 on against them to be stopped, and next by favoring the 
 erasure of their names from the proscribed list, and the 
 restitution of their estates to them, in cases where these 
 had not been sold. 
 
 Mme. Bonaparte showed herself from the outset an easily 
 approachable and active intermediary in the matter of peti- 
 tions of this kind. Her kind heart naturally inclined her 
 to this, and it well suited the policy of her husband that he 
 should appear as yielding to her influence in these matters. 
 
 It was for him a means of giving satisfaction to many 
 interests, of toning down many angry feelings, and of 
 acquiring friends throughout the length and breadth of 
 France. It was principally in the western provinces that 
 the satisfaction thus given became a powerful factor towards 
 definitely ensuring their pacification. Yet, side by side
 
 BONAPARTE AND THE CHURCH 161 
 
 with tl»e advantage to be derived from this conduct, Bona- 
 parte had to beware of disturbing the purchasers of estates 
 sold under the Kevolution. They were numerous, strong, 
 powerful, and otherwise to be feared than the emigres. 
 But if there was an art in which he excelled, it was that 
 of combining the measure of satisfaction to be granted to 
 each one, and of fairly balancing clashing interests. The 
 purchasers of estates found the safest of guarantees in the 
 numerous persons interested in defending them, and who 
 formed part of the government. 
 
 The most rabid revolutionists, the regicides themselves, 
 had their guarantee in the Council of State, by the presence 
 in it of men like Merlin, Berlier, Real, and Boulay, and 
 even in the Ministry, in the person of M. Fouche, Minister 
 of Police. 
 
 The presence of Second Consul Cambaceres instilled 
 confidence into the minds of the clever and laborious men 
 of business who had made their way during the Revolution 
 into the mind of the new magistracy, and also to some ex- 
 tent into that of the old, of which he had been a member, 
 and for whom he never disguised his esteem and even his 
 feelings of sympathy. 
 
 There remained, in these early days, but one interest con- 
 cerning which no one had so far pronounced any intentions, 
 the one affecting religious worship and the clergy. But 
 there could hardly be any doubt that the general, who by 
 his treaty of Tolentino with the Pope, had shown the im- 
 portance which he attached to spiritual influence, did not 
 still more bear it in mind at a time when it could be of 
 such material help to him. In nothing, after all, did his 
 prudence and cleverness so reveal themselves as in this 
 connection. 
 
 Over and above the political views which were soon to 
 direct his attention towards everything relating to ecclesi-
 
 162 MEMOIBS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 astical affairs, his mind was harboring secret aspirations. 
 His heart preserved in its recesses a few old feelings which 
 it had probably imbibed in the first years of his childhood, 
 which made themselves felt on several important occasions 
 in his career, and on which the last hours of his life shed 
 no uncertain light. 
 
 A few months after the treaty of Campo-Formio, his 
 sister Pauline, the wife of General Leclerc, and who since 
 became Princess Borghese, was confined at Milan, the chief 
 town of the Cisalpine Republic. The ceremony of register- 
 ing the birth of the child took place with great pomp at 
 Government House, but the christening had previously 
 taken place in a church belonging to members of the 
 Capuchin Order who had not sworn fidelity to the Republic. 
 The child had been taken there on the previous evening, 
 and with it went Messieurs de Semonville and Dufresne de 
 Saint-Leon, who had been chosen to act as witnesses. 
 Everything took place in accordance with the formal orders 
 of General Bonaparte, who sent them from Paris. 
 
 As .a matter of course the army became the object of his 
 most serious attention. One might have thought that it 
 would be content with having at last a general at the head 
 of the government, and yet it was in its ranks that was 
 to be found the greatest number of malcontents. It was 
 unavoidable that so elevated a fortune should not excite 
 the envy of the other generals, all inclined to believe them- 
 selves of equal merit with the fortunate First Consul. 
 General Moreau was in the first rank of the malcontents. 
 
 In spite of these hostile sentiments, more or less dis- 
 sembled, and in the midst of difiiculties without number, 
 Bonaparte had to set in motion all France's military 
 resources, in order to give back to its arms the superiority 
 which if, since his departure for Egypt, they had not 
 altogether lost, they had at any rate allowed to fall into
 
 BONAPARTE AND THE AR3IT 163 
 
 question. He soon made up his mind to undertake every- 
 thing to be able to take the offensive once more, and to 
 maintain his rights to the nation's confidence, by winning 
 fresh victories. The prestige of military glory had alone 
 elevated him to his present position, and was alone capable 
 of making it more secure. He gave out the various com- 
 mands with great sagacity, gave apparently to Moreau the 
 most important one of all, and soon after sho-wed, by 
 winning the battle of Marengo, that decisive events ever 
 occur where the superior man is in command. 
 
 What it least becomes me to do, is to write the history of 
 battles, so I do not dwell on this brilliant feat and on that 
 of Hohenlinden. 
 
 I saw Bonaparte's return to Paris after the battle of 
 Marengo. I was at the Tuileries an hour after his arrival, 
 at the very moment when he showed himself at the window 
 of his study to acknowledge the cheering. The day was 
 one of the finest of a dying-out spring. Enthusiasm was at 
 its height, and deservedly so. The results secured were so 
 great, and seemed to render our future secure. We could 
 now hope to see the completion of all the beneficial work 
 begun on the 18th Brumaire. What strength did not vic- 
 tory give to the man who had had but to show himself to 
 reconquer Italy in a day ! Who could henceforth stand in 
 the way of his will? 
 
 The battle of Hohenlinden won by Moreau within sixty 
 leagues of Vienna, after a campaign in which the talents of 
 that general had been made manifest in a brilliant fashion, 
 but completed the work accomplished at the battle of 
 Marengo, and Austria was glad to accept a peace on the 
 terms proposed, and which were signed at Luneville. 
 
 Meanwhile, the First Consul cleverly succeeded, by flat- 
 tering the self-love of the Emperor Paul, in separating him 
 from England, and thus transformed into an alliance to his
 
 164 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 advantage the enmity which had existed from the beginning 
 of the Revolution between France and the great northern 
 power. To crown all, he signed a concordat with the Holy 
 See, and, at home, foiled many schemes antagonistic to him. 
 But he also ran great dangers which his good fortune, if 
 not his shrewdness, saved him from. 
 
 The plots originating with the Jacobins were the least 
 formidable. They were, generally speaking, conceived by 
 the dregs of the revolutionary party, and could only have 
 met with success through some of the rabid members of the 
 party sacrificing their lives in the execution of a plot. If 
 I am not mistaken, there were two plots of this kind. They 
 rendered the First Consul good service in that they 
 increased his claims to the interest taken in him by all 
 citizens who desired a quiet existence, and who were all the 
 more induced to make his cause their own, when seeing 
 him threatened by men who inspired them with feelings of 
 the greatest terror. 
 
 The attempts of the Royalist party exposed him to far 
 more serious dangers. The government had come to terms 
 with the greater number of chiefs in Vendee proper, in 
 Poitou, Maine, and Normandy. Several of them held com- 
 munications with Fouche, the Minister of Police, and came 
 to Paris pretty frequently. Among those who held aloof 
 there remained only Georges Cadoudal and a few of his 
 more determined officers in the Department of Morbihan. 
 On the other hand, the arrangements entered into with the 
 Holy See, and the negotiations well on the way with the 
 important members of the old clergy, left no room for doubt 
 that by providing for its return the First Consul would soon 
 have at his command the most efficacious means for pacify- 
 ing the country districts with Royalist leanings, and for 
 again gaining their confidence. Georges decided upon risk- 
 ing everything to get the start of this event, and it was
 
 THE INFERNAL MACHINE 165 
 
 then that he sent to Paris the determined men who did not 
 hesitate in having recourse to an infernal machine. 
 
 When, ten years later, I Avas Prefect of Police, I discov- 
 ered, when going through the documents relating to this 
 affair, a paper which revealed to me the energetic character 
 of the man to whom Georges had entrusted the execution of 
 it. His name was Saint-Eejant. At the time when he was 
 arrested in a hiding-place, where he thought himself safe, 
 a letter which he was writing to Georges was found on his 
 person. He complained therein of several untoward cir- 
 cumstances, and especially of certain orders badly carried 
 out, which had caused the attempt to fail. But in spite of 
 the little success of his first undertaking, although badly 
 hurt by the explosion of the machine, and although he 
 could entertain no doubt that after such a demonstration 
 the police would become more vigilant than ever, he never- 
 theless announced his intention of making another attempt 
 very shortly, and expressed a hope of being successful. At 
 the same time, he complained greatly of a person whom he 
 sufficiently designated, but whom he did not name, and who 
 had apparently refused him assistance. 
 
 Several years after the Restoration I chanced to discover 
 who that person was, and I name him because, not without 
 some show of reason, it has been believed that he took an 
 active part in the plot. It was M. Limoelan, who is to-day 
 a missionary in the wilderness of Canada. He was in Paris 
 at the time of the attempt, and was entrusted with furnish- 
 ing funds to the conspirators. But the outrage, such as it 
 had been premeditated, had inspired him with horror, and 
 far from contributing to its perpetration, he had tried to 
 dissuade those who were to commit it. From that day, he , 
 began to separate himself from the party which he had until 
 then served most faithfully. 
 
 Both public and government had not hesitated in charg-
 
 166 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ing the Jacobins with the outrages. They had quite 
 recently engaged in a similar enterprise which had been 
 nipped in the bud. A pretty large number of the most 
 liery revolutionists were at once arrested. When the truth 
 was known they were nevertheless considered a good prize, 
 and, if I am not mistaken, were transported a short while 
 later. 
 
 But the truly important man, whom this mistake placed 
 in the most critical position for a few days, was M. Fouche. 
 His well-known and open connections with the Jacobin 
 party caused him to be suspected in so high a degree, that 
 it has been asserted that M. de Talleyrand, who was at that 
 time his enemy, suggested to the First Consul to have him 
 arrested and shot within twenty-four hours. This did not 
 prevent them, a few days later, from coming together, and 
 even becoming united by the closest bonds. 
 
 The real culprits having been discovered, the Royalist 
 party received therefrom the worst blow which could reach 
 it. The outrage estranged from it not only the government 
 and the First Consul, but the mass of the nation likewise. 
 The comprehensiveness of this reprobation was nevertheless 
 most unfair. The affair of the infernal machine was quite 
 at variance with the sentiments of the greater number of 
 the leaders, and even of the Vendean soldiers and chouans. 
 Search was made for all of them, and several were arrested. 
 
 Although having personally nothing to do with this 
 deplorable affair, I ran, for a few days, some danger of 
 being compromised through it in the following manner: I 
 had been begged by an intimate friend to give a shelter, for 
 two or three nights, to a leader of chouans, who was all the 
 more suspected, because he had so far refused to make his 
 peace, and had somewhat high-handedly broken off the 
 negotiations which had been begun. It was M. de Brulart, 
 one of the most zealous and most determined men of the
 
 M. BE BEULABT 167 
 
 party, whose armed bands he had commanded in Xor- 
 mandy. I was assured under oath that he was a stranger to 
 the infernal machine, and I consented to take him under 
 my roof. He came to my house during the dead of the 
 night. It was the seventh or eighth which he had passed 
 in various hiding-places. He carried about his person an 
 arsenal of pistols and poniards, ever prepared for a desper- 
 ate hand-to-hand fight. 
 
 He not only assured me once more that he had not been 
 concerned in the outrage perpetrated by Saint-Rejant, but, 
 from my house, he wrote a letter to the First Consul, in 
 which he explained matters away in the most express way, 
 and being particular to state, in order to give proof of his 
 truthfulness, that he had entered into another plot, that he 
 intended to attack him bodily, in the midst of his escort, 
 some day when he was on his way to Malmaison, when he 
 was to be killed during the struggle that ensued, if there 
 was otherwise no way of securing his person. This at least 
 was war above board. ^ M. de Brulart left my house after 
 having spent two nights in it. I believe it was about time, 
 as suspicion was getting aroused in the house, which I was 
 not the only person to occupy. He found means to escape 
 from Paris a few days afterwards, and I was not to see him 
 until after the Restoration. 
 
 1 This is probably the plot in which M. Hyde de Neuville, who ever pro- 
 tested against having participated in that of the infernal machine, during 
 the same period, took a part.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Bonaparte's negotiations with the Holy See — Violent opposition in the 
 Army — Plot to assassinate the First Consul — Proclamation of the Con- 
 cordat at Notre-Dame — Advantages accruing to France from the Treaty 
 of Amiens in 1802 — Reconstruction of the Finances — Legislative work 
 — The life consulate — Rupture between England and France, and plots 
 hatched by the British Cabinet — Pichegru's conspiracy — Louis XVIIL's 
 rejoinder in this connection — Arrest of Cadoudal, Pichegru, Moreau, 
 and the Polignacs — Pichegru's suicide — Unfounded accusations brought 
 against Bonaparte in this respect — Kidnapping of the Due d'Enghien 
 atEttenheim — M. de Caulaincourt's irresponsibility in the affair — The 
 ultimate fate of the Due d'Enghien discussed — Opinions of Fouche, 
 Talleyrand, Lebrun, and Cambaceres — The First Consul's final determi- 
 nation — Light on the circumstances surrounding the event — Illegality 
 of the sentence passed on the Due d'Enghien — The part played in this 
 affair by Savary, Talleyrand, Murat, and Real — Josephine's grief on 
 hearing of the execution — Napoleon, in spite of his remorse, never 
 admits the injustice of the act — M. d'Hauterive apostrophizes M. de 
 Talleyrand, the instigator of the crime — Fouche''8 famed saying. 
 
 The treaty with the Holy See was almost concluded. It 
 was, no doubt, an important step in the direction of a sin- 
 cere reconciliation with that part of France to which the 
 Revolution had done the greatest injury. But, at this 
 juncture, Bonaparte was threatened with another danger. 
 He met in the army an opposition which he had cause to 
 fear more than that from any other quarter, for in its midst 
 were found his most devoted partisans. 
 
 The signal for the explosion was given by the appearance 
 of a papal envoy, who was received at the Tuileries with 
 the honors due his rank. Such a spectacle could but have 
 the effect of inflaming the fury of the fanatics who, since 
 
 168
 
 PLOT TO ASSASSINATE BONAPARTE 169 
 
 1789, had made themselves noticeable by their hatred of the 
 Catholic religion. They argued that this reception was 
 tantamount to a return of clerical domination. Secret 
 meetings were soon held, at which many officers of high 
 rank were present, and among them, a few generals of 
 prominence. Moreau was no stranger to the matter, al- 
 though he abstained from attending. Things went so far 
 that the assassination of the First Consul was resolved 
 upon. When I was Prefect of Police, I received from the 
 Due de Eovigo, then Minister of Police, the details which 
 follow. 
 
 One Donnadieu, of inferior military rank, declared him- 
 self ready to strike the blow, so there was nothing more to 
 do but to find the opportunity. The resolution had been 
 taken, while General Oudinot, a man of honor, was present, 
 and it made him indignant. He considered it his duty to 
 call on General Davout, who commanded the Consul's body- 
 guard, and, at the outset, merely told him to exercise a 
 closer vigilance over the First Consul's safety. On being 
 closely questioned, Oudinot finally named Donnadieu as a 
 proper subject for surveillance. This intimation sufficed 
 for Davout, who at once arrested Donnadieu, who, upon 
 being taken to the Temple and placed in solitary confine- 
 ment, volunteered to reveal the plot, and named all those 
 who had been present at the meetings he had attended. 
 
 Steps were at once taken to disperse the conspirators, who 
 were sent away to a greater or lesser distance. Some of 
 them were placed under arrest, while others were sent into 
 exile. Among the latter was General Monnier, of the 
 Army of Italy, who up to that time had been entirely 
 loyal to Bonaparte. He commanded a brigade in Desaix's 
 division, and had powerfully contributed to the victory at 
 Marengo. Yet he was one of the most ardent promoters 
 of the plot. He did not again hold any command until the
 
 170 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 time of the Restoration, and then, as a matter of course, he 
 became as zealous a Royalist, as in 1800 he had been a 
 rabid revolutionist. During the Hundred Days, he at- 
 tached himself to the Due d'Angouleme, and was created a 
 peer at the second Restoration. I had known him in 1792. 
 A member of my family had obtained for him from M. ISTar- 
 bonne, then Minister of War, a company in some regiment 
 or other. He did not prove ungrateful. When I met him 
 in 1814, he did not seek to hide from me what had caused 
 his disgrace in 1800. 
 
 General Lecourbe likewise belonged to the Donnadieu 
 conspiracy. He left the Temple shortly afterwards, and 
 being somewhat fearful that his comrades might scent that 
 he had helped to betray them, he begged for an excuse 
 and means by which he might absent himself for a time. 
 Davout supplied him with funds, and helped him to cross 
 over to England, instructing him to pass himself off as an 
 escaped prisoner from the Temple, to pose as a malcontent, 
 and to find out what was going on in the party which was 
 still in England's pay. 
 
 He followed these instructions, spent several months in 
 England, and returned by way of Holland. On landing in 
 that country, he placed in the hands of the officer com- 
 manding the gendarmerie, a communication which was at 
 once forwarded to Paris to the Inspector-General of that 
 military body. This document was the first clue to the 
 great conspiracy, once more being woven by Georges, 
 wherein Moreau was implicated, and from which resulted 
 the fatal termination of the Due d'Enghien's life.^ 
 
 1 1 feel that I must say once more that all these particulars were fur- 
 nished me by the Due de Rovigo, at a time when he had no interest in dis- 
 torting the truth, and when such an intention could not be laid to him. 
 He went so far as to show me documents in support of the truth of his nar- 
 rative. A somewhat amusing anecdote in connection with this affair, 
 deserves, methinks, to find a place here. If I tell it. it is because main
 
 THE CONCOBDAT 171 
 
 I was present at the ceremony of the proclamation of the 
 Concordat at Notre -Dame. Never did Bonaparte appear 
 greater than on that day.^ It was the most signal triumph 
 that could be won over the revolutionary idea, and all 
 triumphs which came after it were merely — I make no ex- 
 ception — its natural consequences. 
 
 The joy of the overwhelming majority of France silenced 
 even the boldest malcontents. A number of people, who, 
 previous to this triumph, had not ventured to express their 
 feelings in the matter openly, no longer dissembled them ; 
 and it became patent that Bonaparte had, better than 
 those who surrounded him, seen into the depths of the 
 nation's heart. 
 
 He could have obtained from the Pope, so I was told in 
 the most positive fashion, far greater concessions than those 
 granted.^ Cardinal Consalvi had in this connection more 
 
 facts are never better coufirmed than by au acquaintance with their par- 
 ticulars. While Donnadieu was in the Temple, it was rumored that he 
 had died there, and, as a matter of course, a violent death. On hearing 
 of tliis, General Oudinot hastened to call upon General Davout, with the 
 object of reproaching him bitterly for permitting such a crime to be com- 
 mitted on the person of a man whose intentions had only been made known 
 through the warning which Oudinot had seen fit to give. He found Don- 
 nadieu engaged in a most confidential talk with Davout, who laughed at 
 his discomfiture. 
 
 1 It was noticed, at the time of this great triumph, that he saw fit to 
 gratify his self-love with a ceremony which could but appear futile to 
 those who did not see in it a shadow of his coming plans. As the Second 
 and Third Consuls were to accomi^any him during the ceremony, the clergy 
 had asked him whether the censer was to be waved in their case as well as 
 in his own. He answered, " No." This honor was therefore rendered to 
 him alone. It was known, moreover, in his intimate circle, that besides 
 saying no, he added the following derisive words : "The smoke of incense 
 is yet too strong for them." 
 
 2 Nevertheless, it is but fair to state that M. de Talleyrand, in all the 
 negotiations in which he was engaged, having for their object the bringing 
 about of a complete reconciliation with the Holy See, showed himself 
 animated by a sole desire of insuring their success. Was he, unknown 
 to himself, moved by the recollection of some of his former bonds to the 
 Church ? Was he merely yielding to a conviction of the extreme impor- 
 tance of a religious peace, which alone could make secure the power to
 
 172 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 extended powers than merely those of which he availed 
 himself, especially iu connection with the marriage and 
 divorce of priests. 
 
 The First Consul was so informed; but he replied to 
 those who told him of it, and who urged him to take ad- 
 vantage of it: "Do you wish me to have manufactured 
 a religion of caprice for my special use, a religion that 
 would be nobody's? I do not so understand matters. 
 What I want is the old Catholic religion, the only one 
 which is imbedded in every heart, and from which it has 
 never been torn. This religion alone can conciliate hearts 
 in my favor; it alone can smooth away all obstacles." It 
 will be seen further on how far he was right when he thus 
 spoke, and his mistakes become all the more striking as he 
 strays from the path which this language should have made 
 him follow to the end. 
 
 I left Paris after the conclusion of the Treaty of Lune- 
 ville with Austria, and the Concordat with the Holy See. 
 
 Negotiations had been entered upon with England, and 
 soon resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Amiens, on 
 March 25th, 1802. Spain and the Batavian Republic 
 joined in signing this treaty which brought complete peace 
 to Europe, and put an end to the war which the French 
 Revolution engendered, and which had lasted since 1792.^ 
 
 France emerged from it with happy results, surpassing 
 everything that the highest flights of fancy could ever have 
 
 which he had given himself up? Did he, at that early date, see the ad- 
 vantage he could derive therefrom for himself, and the kind of freedom it 
 would give back to him, a freedom the use of which some notice will have 
 to be taken hereafter? . . . History does not supply the means for sound- 
 ing the mysteries of the human heart. 
 
 1 If M. de Talleyrand is to be lielieved, this treaty of peace served the 
 First Consul beyond his desires, for on receiving news of it, he is credited 
 with having said to his Minister: "Well, well! What a beautiful fix we 
 are in now. Peace has been declared." The anecdote is a piquant one, 
 but all that I can guarantee is that it was told by M. de Talleyrand.
 
 THE TREATY OF AMIENS 173 
 
 conceived. She retained possession of the Austrian Nether- 
 lands and of Dutch Flanders. She controlled the naviga- 
 tion of the Scheldt and received a part of Dutch Brabant, 
 the whole of that part of Germany situated on the left bank 
 of the Rhine, the bishopric of Bale almost in its entirety, 
 Savoy, together with Geneva and Nice, Avignon, and with 
 it the Comtat. 
 
 She kept, over and above the territory recognized as her 
 own, the State of Parma, and all the continental posses- 
 sions of the king of Sardinia. She erected the Grand 
 Duchy of Tuscany into the Kingdom of Etruria, and made 
 a gift of it to the Duke of Parma. She administered the 
 affairs of the Italian Republic, and exercised a domination 
 over the Helvetic and Ligurian Republic, composed of the 
 territories of which Geneva was formerly the capital. 
 Lastly, she was mistress of Holland. The colonies, of 
 which she had been despoiled by England, were restored to 
 her. She added to the possession of the Erench portion of 
 San Domingo, the Spanish portion, previously ceded to 
 her by Spain. 
 
 . This peace was indeed purchased at Holland's expense, 
 the islands of Ceylon and of Trinidad remaining in Eng- 
 land's possession. 
 
 What was not the power of this chief, whose title was 
 yet so modest, and who, without Erance making the small- 
 est sacrifice, could obtain such valuable concessions from 
 his allies? 
 
 On leaving the capital, I returned to the Department of 
 the Sarthe, whence I had been driven, two years previous, 
 by the law relating to hostages. The situation had indeed 
 altered, and I was to enjoy the blessings of a life as calm 
 and happy as the one I had led there in years gone by had 
 been agitated and hard to bear. 
 
 After the Treaty of Amiens, Erance enjoyed at last the
 
 174 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 rest of which she stood in such need. During the too short 
 duration of these happy days, the attention of the govern- 
 ment was directed principally towards interior organization 
 and administration. This was the period when the work 
 of material restoration which the country so needed was 
 given an impetus which has not ceased at the present time. 
 
 It is impossible to conceive, if one had not been a witness 
 of it before and after the 18th Brumaire, of the widespread 
 ruin wrought by the Revolution. To the state of dilapi- 
 dation deliberately brought about, was to be added that 
 resulting from mere enforced neglect during a period of 
 ten years. As an instance, there were hardly two or three 
 main roads in a fit condition for traffic. Xot a single one 
 was there, perhaps, wherein was not found some obstacle 
 that could not be surmounted without peril. With regard 
 to the ways of internal communication, they had been in- 
 definitely suspended. The navigation of rivers and canals 
 was no longer feasible. 
 
 In all directions, public buildings, and those monuments 
 which represent the splendor of a state, were falling into 
 decay. It must fain be admitted that if the work of 
 destruction had been prodigious, that of restoration was no 
 less so. Everything was taken hold of at one and the same 
 time, and everything progressed with a like rapidity. Not 
 only was it resolved to restore all that required restoring in 
 various parts of the country, in all parts of the public 
 service, but new, grand, beautiful, and useful works were 
 decided upon, and many were brought to a happy termina- 
 tion. This certainly constitutes one of the most brilliant 
 sides of the consular and imperial regime. 
 
 It was necessary to put the financial system in order, 
 and to create a revenue proportionate with the expendi- 
 ture. A few upright and industrious men, among whom 
 the Minister of Finance, M. Gaudin, later Duke of Gaeta,
 
 BECONSTBUCTION OF THE FINANCES 175 
 
 had already rendered immense services to the state and / 
 to the chief of the government, M. Gaudin published, in ^|L 
 1818 or 1819; a work wherein he sets forth with scrupu- ' 
 lous exactness the state in which he found the Treasury, 
 and the footing on which he succeeded in placing it. It 
 would be hard to conceive a more interesting and a more 
 instructive tableau. And yet, they did not succeed in get- 
 ting rid of arrears, the liquidation of which extended over 
 the iirst ten years of the century. The result was an ill- 
 concealed state of bankruptcy, until the day when it 
 became an accomplished fact by means of a decree of 
 forfeiture to which it was not dared to give an official 
 publication. 
 
 Unstinted praise must be awarded to the legislative work 
 done by the Council of State at the very outset of its organ- 
 ization. It was accomplished under the direction of three 
 men of the highest merit. Messieurs Tronchet, Portalis, and 
 Cambaceres. They presided over the drawing up of the 
 civil code, several volumes of which made their appearance 
 annually, and the ensemble of which, in spite of a few weak 
 spots, still remains a monument of civil legislation, the 
 most perfect and comprehensive of modern times. 
 
 The First Consul was in the habit of taking an active 
 part in the discussions, and it is generally admitted that 
 his natural lights shone therein to quite a remarkable . 
 degree. He sought to introduce into the institutions and 
 customs of the country a spirit less removed from monarchi- 
 cal forms and ideas. But much remained for him to do in 
 order to carry out this intention. One of his happiest 
 conceptions in this vein was the creation of the Legion of 
 Honor. He gave offence to many republicans accustomed 
 to look upon as an infringement on equality all outward 
 mark of distinction, when not coupled with some official 
 position. The great results accomplished by the institu-
 
 176 ME3fOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 tion of this decoration are a sufficient refutation of all 
 adverse criticisms. 
 
 The First Consul took advantage of the state of peace, 
 to change his temporary consulship into a life one. This 
 change gave rise to an opposition somewhat loudly ex- 
 pressed on the part of those who adhered more closely to 
 the principles of the Revolution. Carnot was among those 
 who opposed it, and the opposition found the greater num- 
 ber of its mouthpieces in the Tribunal. 
 
 A falling out with England took place in May, 1803. 
 Bitterness of speech and violence in deed soon rose to the 
 highest pitch between the two countries. England, accord- 
 ing to her invariable custom, seized everything she could 
 on the high seas, — ships, merchandise, and individuals, — 
 and this before the breaking off of negotiations was com- 
 plete, even before it had fully taken place. 
 
 By way of reprisal, the First Consul caused all English- 
 men travelling in France to be arrested. This way of act- 
 ing was after all no more iniquitous than England's, except 
 that the latter's methods were consecrated by custom. But 
 a custom, however long it has been in vogue, does not con- 
 stitute a right. The most that could be said against the 
 mode of reprisal conceived by Bonaparte, was that it was 
 insignificant, and affected an interest too slight in England's 
 eyes, to induce the government of that country to return to 
 the paths of justice. It was consequently useless. 
 
 No means existed of striking a blow at Great Britain on 
 the seas, where her forces were too considerable to allow of 
 a protracted struggle being maintained, so it became neces- 
 sary to threaten her in another direction. This compelled 
 taking up once more the idea of landing an army on her 
 shores, an idea which had already been broached during 
 the months preceding the expedition to Egypt, and which 
 the First Consul had made pretence of recurring to during
 
 A FALLING OUT WITH ENGLAND 177 
 
 the interval which elapsed between the Treaty of Luneville 
 and that of Amiens; but this time it was taken up with 
 far greater ardor. The whole of France's resources were 
 set in motion. England, on her side, made such serious 
 preparations for defence that it may be concluded that she 
 did not consider the danger which threatened her as an 
 imaginary one. 
 
 The chances operating against the success of the expedi- 
 tion were doubtless in a majority, but a few favorable ones 
 existed. The hazards of the sea are so great! In order 
 that the French flotilla should be able to cross without 
 hindrance, it was sufficient that the English Channel should 
 be kept clear for five or six days. Now this might occur 
 either through a violent storm, which would compel the 
 British fleet to seek port, or by an engagement resulting 
 favorably, and the French navy was still in a position to 
 bring about such a consummation. 
 
 It then becomes possible to take into consideration the 
 landing of forty thousand French soldiers, at a point fifty- 
 six leagues distant from London, and to ponder over the 
 results, at a time when England was still without an army 
 hardened to war, while the prestige attached to the French 
 armies was yet so dazzling. 
 
 Yet another road to success presented itself; but its value 
 was not recognized, and it was disdainfully cast aside. 
 Fulton, an American, the inventor of steamboats, came over 
 and did the honors of his invention to the First Consul, 
 who peremptorily declined to have anything to do with it. 
 Never was he more badly served by his instinct. 
 
 What might he not have been able to accomplish, had he 
 been the first to avail himself of this new means of reach- 
 ing his most mortal enemy? But was the invention in so 
 advanced a state as to allow of its being put to such an 
 extended use as would have been necessary to secure the
 
 178 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 transportation of an army to England's shores? This may 
 be doubted. Moreover, almost insurmountable difficulties 
 stood in the way of the immense amount of manufacture 
 necessary to this end, the elements of which were lacking 
 in those days. But later, and during the prolonged strug- 
 gle which ended only with Napoleon's reign, how many 
 opportunities were there not for putting to use this wonder- 
 ful invention? Surprise will doubtless be felt that a genius, 
 such as that of the First Consul's, should not have at once 
 grasped the range of the offer made him by Fulton. 
 
 The perspective of so great a danger was doubtless cause 
 that the British Cabinet resolved upon giving all possible 
 encouragement to the attacks directed against the person of 
 its most formidable enemy. England thought it allowable 
 to act towards Bonaparte, as she would have blushed to do 
 with respect to the sovereign of Prussia or of Austria. In 
 a measure, she put him beyond the pale of the law of 
 nations. It was a perilous example to set to a man pos- 
 sessed of so great a power, who was certainly not over 
 scrupulous, and who might, moreover, be inclined to 
 believe that the legitimate right of self-protection placed 
 him above all laws. 
 
 Assuredly, the undertaking which had brought Pichegru, 
 Messieurs de Polignac and de Eiviere to Paris, and to 
 which Moreau was no stranger, was not to be put to execu- 
 tion with the aid of infernal machines. Georges was still 
 one of the principal agents in this undertaking. He had 
 directed the plot of the 3d Nivose, and the First Consul, 
 on discovering him in the midst of the new conspirators, 
 was certainly justified in believing what was in store for 
 him, from that whicli had already been attempted. 
 
 The undertaking, the principal agents of which I have 
 just named, was conceived and pursued with the consent of 
 the Comte d'Artois alone, for that of the king was never
 
 PICHEGRU'S CONSPIRACY 179 
 
 obtained, at least in any specific fashion. He was merely 
 content to give his reply in the following quotation : — 
 
 "... Et, pour etre approuves, 
 De semblables projets veulent etre acheves." 
 
 This way of answering will be readily believed by all who 
 were privileged to come in contact with Louis XVIII., and 
 who were acquainted with his habits. It came to me 
 through M. Eoyer-Collard, who had received it from the 
 Abbe Andre, at that time the king's private secretary. ^ 
 
 I was in Paris when the conspiracy was unearthed. All 
 I knew about it in those days was that which was known to 
 everybody ; but, when I was Prefect of Police, in 1810, I 
 had at ray disposal all the documents relating to it. They 
 were still in the files of the prefecture, and I went through 
 them carefully. Besides, the Due de Eovigo did not hide 
 from me many particulars personal to him, and I obtained 
 from M. Eeal, on several points, explanations which always 
 confirmed my other discoveries. 
 
 What I have previously said regarding the information 
 supplied by Donnadieu, as to an important plot which was 
 being hatched in London, had doubtless not been forgotten. 
 It would seem that the clue thus given did not lead to any 
 great discoveries. Later on, the spies scattered through 
 Germany called attention to certain goings on between the 
 emigres and England's agents, indicative of new and secret 
 
 1 This abbe, if be is to be beMeved, was the actual framer of Louis 
 XVIII.'s dignified answer to Bonaparte, wben the latter transmitted him 
 the offer of an establishment on a grand scale, of whatever nature he might 
 desire, if he but consented to abdicate his rights to the crown of France. 
 AYhat is certain, however, is that the abbe preserved a rough draft written 
 in the king's hand, wherein the answer was altogether diiTerent, and 
 which contained the ridiculous proposition of a duel. At the death of the 
 Abbe' Andre, the government made a careful search of bis papers, among 
 which it hoped to find this document as well as several other most impor- 
 tant ones, but he had apparently taken his precautions, for not a scrap was 
 found.
 
 180 MEMOIES OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 projects. But little importance was attached to this note 
 of warning. 
 
 In those clays, the Ministry of Police was combined with 
 that of justice, the portfolio of which was held by M. Reg- 
 nier, a good lawyer, but hardly capable of fulfilling the new 
 duties thrust upon him, for he lacked both activity and per- 
 spicacity. But the heads of departments, who had served 
 in the police under M. Fouche, and who were all accustomed 
 to follow up the slightest indications, finally succeeded in 
 inspiring him Avith the liveliest fears. A more frequent 
 intercourse had been noticed between the shores of England 
 and Brittany. Several individuals had been arrested on 
 landing, but nothing had been learned from them. They 
 claimed that they were former chouans, who, tired of liv- 
 ing in a foreign land, were returning to their native country. 
 
 M. Real, Councillor of State, and more especially in 
 charge of the political police in the northern departments 
 and in those of Brittany, was struck by the frequency 
 of these new arrivals, and, with his customary warmth, 
 made a private report of the fact to the First Consul. 
 Several of the men arrested were imprisoned in the Temple; 
 but in vain were they questioned, they would say nothing. 
 
 It then occurred to Bonaparte to select one of them at 
 haphazard, and to bring him before a military commission. 
 It was thought that the fear of death would make him 
 speak. This idea perhaps saved Bonaparte's life. Fate 
 willed it that the man chosen should be one Querelle, a 
 surgeon, an adherent of the chouan party, but possessing 
 less nerve than the others. Taken before a military com- 
 mission, sentenced to death, and led to the place of execu- 
 tion, he begged for his life at the very last moment, and 
 purchased it at the cost of most valuable revelations. He 
 made known that Georges was in Paris, together with sev- 
 eral of his trusted fellow-conspirators, and left no doubt
 
 GEORGES CADOUBAL AND HIS ACCOMPLICES 181 
 
 as to the existence of a formidable plot. Aided by bis 
 information, the police at once began hunting down the 
 conspirators, but Querelle knew only those who belonged to 
 the chouannerie. He merely knew that a landing was to be 
 made in Normandy, under the cliffs of Biville, and he 
 seemed convinced that a French prince was to form part of 
 the enterprise. 
 
 General Savary, later on Due de Rovigo, commanding 
 the picked corps of the gendarmerie, was immediately sent 
 to the coast to keep an eye on the landing. In order to 
 better fulfil his mission, he went there in disguise, taking 
 with him as guide an old chouan, who had been completely 
 won over by the police. 
 
 Everybody knows how Georges and his principal accom- 
 plices were arrested in Paris. The unfortunate Pichegru 
 was delivered up through an infamous act of treachery. 
 As the result of confessions extorted from several of those 
 arrested with him, it was learnt that he had seen Moreau 
 several times, and that he had come into contact with 
 Georges on at least one occasion. Something had there- 
 fore to be done with regard to Moreau. It might be that 
 he had seen Pichegru, his former comrade in arms, for 
 some very innocent purpose. He owed him the rise of his 
 fortunes, and had done him several wrongs, for which he 
 might wish to make reparation, or, at the very least, to 
 explain away. But with regard to the meetings with 
 Georges, how could they be otherwise accounted for except 
 by motives an explanation of which the government was 
 justified in demanding? Consequently Moreau was arrested, 
 and to M. Kegnier was entrusted the task of questioning 
 him. 
 
 It would appear (I have every reason to believe) that the 
 First Consul reckoned on the weakness of his character, 
 and that he intended granting him a pardon if he but
 
 182 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 « 
 
 obtained from him half a confession. When once impli- 
 cated in so serious a fashion, he was no longer to be feared, 
 whereas the trial of a man of such importance is always 
 a troublesome and embarrassing affair. M. Regnier's bad 
 management was the cause of the failure of this plan. He 
 gave the interrogatory a turn which compelled Moreau to 
 assume an attitude of firmness little in accord with his 
 habitual temperament. Nothing was therefore left but 
 to include him among those who were tried by the criminal 
 tribunal of the Seine sitting without a jury. A decree of 
 the Senate had just suspended for two years, but plainly in 
 view of the present occasion, the participation of jiiries in 
 trials relating to attempts made against the life of the First 
 Consul. 
 
 This measure was in itself of an odious character, and it 
 became all the more detestable when applied to so important 
 a personality as Moreau. At all events, the resolution come 
 to in his case had unfortunate results for Bonaparte. A 
 considerable portion of the army and all or almost all the 
 Bretons, hot-headed men, and accustomed to look upon 
 Moreau as an honor to the province, were led to take an 
 interest in the conspiracy, through the necessity of coming 
 to his defence. Moreover, the emotion of the Royalist 
 party could not help being great, when so many men of 
 note belonging to its ranks were implicated in the plot. 
 
 Just as the case was coming to trial, Pichegru was foimd 
 strangled to death in his cell at the Temple. As a matter 
 of course, his death was attributed to an assassination 
 ordered by Bonaparte, with the object of ridding himself 
 of a foe of firm and vigorous character, and who in defend- 
 ing himself might cause trouble. Such an idea was no 
 sooner conceived than the masses were ready to take it up 
 with eagerness. I have read with the greatest care all the 
 official reports connected with the case. I have spoken to
 
 PICHEGRU'S SUICIDE 183 
 
 tlie principal police officials of tliat time, and all the in- 
 formation which I have thus carefully gleaned agrees with 
 that obtained by me regarding this point from the Due de 
 Rovigo. I have, I believe, good grounds for declaring that 
 Pichegru committed suicide. He felt completely crushed 
 under the weight of the misfortunes which had pursued him 
 since the 18th Fructidor. His courage had deserted him. 
 The latest act of treachery, that of the man who had de- 
 livered him up, had deprived him of all nerve. He thought 
 the anxieties of a trial too great for him to endure. He 
 could but anticipate being found guilty, and of owing his 
 life to his greatest enemy, so he preferred death. 
 
 It has been argued that it was not possible for him to 
 strangle himself as he did. I have had proof to the con- 
 trary, for one Levaillant took his life in the same fasliion 
 in the prison attached to the prefecture of police, when I 
 dwelt there. Again, if one looks at the matter dispassion- 
 ately, what interest had Bonaparte to commit such a crime? 
 Pichegru had not any serious defence to present to the tri- 
 bunal. He had been arrested in flagrant conspiracy, with, 
 so to speak, the arms of a conspirator in hand. During the 
 course of the trial, the prosecution could recall the act of 
 treachery of which he had been suspected when last he 
 commanded an army, and which had led him to willingly 
 allow himself to be beaten, and to sacrifice the troops under 
 his orders. 
 
 If the fact was not sufficiently proven to call forth a 
 judicial investigation, it was at least easy to establish suffi- 
 cient presumptions for depriving the general of the Repub- 
 lic of the credit he might still enjoy with his former 
 comrades in arms, and to make him lose all claims to 
 respect. He was certain to be condemned to death, and 
 this placed him at the mercy of the First Consul, who had 
 everything to gain by waiting for so favorable an issue.
 
 184 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Assuredly, as between Pichegni and Moreau, it was 
 Moreaii whom it would have been advantageous to assas- 
 sinate. He had quite more powerful means of defence, and 
 much more influential partisans than Pichegru. It cannot 
 be denied that there were strong inferences to be deduced 
 from his conduct, but the trial proved that there were not 
 sufficient proofs against him to call for a sentence of death. 
 
 And yet, Moreau was not assassinated in his cell, al- 
 though it would not have been any more difficult to get rid 
 of him thus than of Pichegru. The naked truth is already 
 sad enough without making the picture any darker. It 
 must not be believed that I pretend to say that the First 
 Consul did not commit as grave a blunder in the case of 
 Pichegru as of Moreau. He could have caused the great- 
 est honor to reflect upon himself had he acted rightly in 
 their case. But, if he was possessed of a mind capable of 
 grasping everything, his heart was bare of that which could 
 enlighten it as to the advantage to be derived from gener- 
 ous impulses. If, on the arrest of Pichegru, Bonaparte had 
 remembered only the conqueror of Holland, and had rescued 
 him from despair by showing some consideration for his 
 misfortune; if, instead of handing over Moreau to the 
 rigors of a criminal prosecution, he had, in consideration of 
 the many services he had rendered, shown a noble forget- 
 fulness, and held out to him a friendly hand, such conduct 
 would have won all hearts. 
 
 This brings us to the most odious phase of this affair. 
 As will often happen, fatality may have begun the work 
 which political perversity carried to completion. This 
 becomes a certainty, if one gives unreserved credence to 
 what M. Real and the Due de Rovigo told me about the 
 case in 1811. 
 
 Their story is as follows : The servant of Georges, from 
 whom, as I have already stated, much information had been
 
 THE DUC D'ENGHIEN 185 
 
 obtained, had pointed out the place where the principal 
 leaders of the conspiracy were wont to assemble. It was 
 in a cul-de-sac near Saint-Roch. He had given the names of 
 all those who were present, with the exception of that of one 
 man who was unknown to him, whose name had never been 
 pronounced in his presence, but whose presence created the 
 greatest stir. He was in the habit of going in quest of 
 him, and bringing him to the place of meeting with the 
 greatest precautions. He furnished a description of him 
 which did not indicate in a positive fashion who he really 
 was. Nevertheless, after many useless conjectures as to 
 the identity of this important personage, the possibility of 
 his being one of the princes of the House of Bourbon was 
 entertained, and Bonaparte but too readily sprang at the 
 idea. 
 
 All police action in the matter was concentrated in the 
 hands of M. Eegnier. He prepared and did everything, 
 and he doubtless contributed, in no small measure, towards 
 aggravating the circumstances of this deplorable affair. I 
 have it from M. de Cambaceres that at one time he suc- 
 ceeded in thoroughly alarming the First Consul; in this, 
 he was admirably seconded by the secret communications 
 of M. Fouche, who was thus preparing his own elevation 
 to the Ministry of Police. 
 
 The supposition once entertained that the individual 
 could be no other than one of the princes of the House of 
 Bourbon, it remained to find out which one it could be. 
 The dwelling-place of the Due d'Angouleme was known 
 beyond doubt ; the Due de Berry was awaited on the coast 
 of Brittany. Thus, suspicion could not rest on either of 
 them. The conclusion naturally reached was that it must 
 be the Due d'Enghien. He generally dwelt at Ettenheim, 
 in Baden, at a very short distance from the French frontier. 
 
 For some time past it had been reported that the assem-
 
 186 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Wage of emigres in the environs of his residence was larger 
 than usual, and a fatal mistake iu a name had caused the 
 belief that Dumouriez, whose enterprising character was so 
 well established, formed part of the assemblage. Infor- 
 mation had been received from London that he was about 
 to leave that city to go to Berlin. It so happened that at 
 the time it was presumed he had reached his destination, 
 one Desmoutier, an emigre well known as a devoted adher- 
 ent of the House of Bourbon, and employed by it in many 
 negotiations, left Berlin for a town in the neighborhood of 
 Ettenheim. The spies of the French police had confounded 
 his name with that of Dumouriez, and so they reported that 
 he had arrived, or was about to arrive, on the banks of the 
 Rhine. 
 
 Under such serious circumstances, it was natural enough 
 to believe that a gathering thus constituted, and having at 
 its head, by the side of the prince, a man like Dumouriez, 
 did not exist without possessing some information as to 
 what was being concocted in Paris, and without prepara- 
 tions being made to take advantage of events. 
 
 Was there any cause for coupling with such a proba- 
 bility the circumstance, hard to credit, but not altogether 
 out of consideration, of a mysterious trip undertaken to 
 Paris by the prince, with a view of coming to an under- 
 standing with the conspirators, and giving them his coun- 
 tenance and support? This was a matter which had to be 
 verified. It was sought to do so, but this was not an easy 
 task. 
 
 General Moncey, later a Marshal of France, at that time 
 in chief command of the gendarmerie, and in this capacity 
 greatly in requisition in the case of inquiries, thought him- 
 self competent to solve this difficulty. There was in the 
 gendarmerie a non-commissioned officer, formerly employed 
 in the Conde family, and therefore acquainted with all its
 
 THE BUG D'ENGHIEN KIDNAPPED 187 
 
 servants. He claimed to be able to find out if tlie Due 
 d'Enghien had made any secret journey at the time 
 indicated. 
 
 The proposition was accepted, the officer went on his 
 mission, and returned with the information that the Due 
 d'Enghien had certainly made a very mysterious journey, 
 precisely during the days Avhen the secret councils of the 
 conspirators were being held in Paris. The fact was true; 
 but the motive of the prince's trip had been to call on Mile. 
 de Eohan, to whom he was believed to be secretly married. 
 
 Upon obtaining this clue, Bonaparte at once took the 
 necessary steps to secure the person of the Due d'Enghien 
 and that of the alleged Dumouriez, who was no other than 
 M. Desmoutier, also the other persons who were supposed 
 to be gathered at Ettenheim or in the neighborhood. It is 
 more than probable that he only set real importance on 
 getting the duke, and that he merely gave the order for the 
 other arrests as a pretext for that particular one, and to jus- 
 tify it by the importance it seemed to give the whole affair. 
 
 In order to carry out this act of kidnapping, it was neces- 
 sary to violate foreign territory ; but this obstacle was not 
 allowed to stand in the way. If the Due de Rovigo is to be 
 believed, the accommodating spirit shown on this occasion 
 by the Duke of Dalberg, at that time minister plenipo- 
 tentiary from the Grand Duke of Baden, was the source of 
 the favor he enjoyed with Bonaparte, and procured for him 
 the estates he was afterwards given in Germany, in com- 
 pensation for those which his family had lost. But why 
 should not these estates have been granted to him, in the 
 ordinary course, at the request of his uncle, the Prince 
 Primate, of whom Bonaparte was very fond, who was one 
 of his most faithful partisans in Germany, who had 
 entered into all his views, and who had countenanced all 
 his wishes?
 
 188 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 The assertions of tlie Due de Rovigo in this connection 
 liave always seemed to me to be lacking proof and verisi- 
 militude. The Duke of Dalberg published in 1824 three 
 documents from his correspondence with the Court of Baden 
 in those days, and they prove that he did not urge upon 
 that Court the granting of any concession. They reveal 
 some tardiness in keeping it informed of the march of 
 events, and the Due de Rovigo has maintained that such 
 tardiness was concerted with the French Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs; but it may also be attributed to the fact 
 that the Duke of Dalberg was himself but poorly informed. 
 There is nothing extraordinary in this, owing to the un- 
 importance of his position in Paris. 
 
 The particulars of the expedition to Ettenheim are too 
 well known to be here repeated. It was successful in so 
 far as the carrying off of the Due d'Enghien and the mem- 
 bers of his suite by General Ordener was concerned. It 
 was fruitless with regard to the persons whom General de 
 Caulaincourt was to arrest at Offenbourg. These two gen- 
 erals had been sent from Paris, bearing special orders from 
 the Minister of War. It was generally believed at the time 
 that M. de Caulaincourt, who enjoyed the special confidence 
 of the First Consul, had been deputed to preside over the 
 whole expedition, and that he was in a certain way its chief. 
 Everybody knows how, in 1814, he labored to destroy this 
 opinion. 
 
 It is impossible not to be convinced that M. de Caulain- 
 court had not the slightest conception of the terrible issue 
 of the kidnapping in which his mission gave him an ap- 
 pearance of co-operating. I am firmly convinced that if he 
 had but foreseen it, he would never have consented even to 
 this apparent connection with it. When on arriving from 
 Strasburg he learnt, on stopping at Malmaison, what had 
 taken place at Vincennes, great was his despair. I heard
 
 3f. BE CAULAINCOURT 189 
 
 this at the time from people who witnessed it. He ex- 
 pressed his indignation so forcibly that those present hardly 
 knew what countenance to assume. Unfortunately, he soon 
 after committed the mistake of accepting a high position at 
 Court near the man who had just compromised him, and 
 this weak subservience did him much harm, for it gave him 
 an appearance of complicity. 
 
 Such was the sentiment I heard expressed a few years 
 later by a man of honor truly devoted to Bonaparte, whose 
 creature he was, but who had none the less preserved a most 
 noble independence of spirit and character. It was M. de 
 La Valette, Postmaster-General, and as such better in- 
 formed than any one else with regard to the most secret 
 matters. "After so unfortunate an occurrence," he said to 
 me one day, towards the close of a conversation which was 
 all in defence of M. de Caulaincourt, " there remained but 
 one thing for him to do. He should have left at once and 
 gone back to the army, never again to leave it." 
 
 One cannot help regretting that such a stigma became 
 attached to the life of a man, who, during the rest of his 
 political career won so many claims to public esteem and 
 even gratitude.^ 
 
 1 Since I have written these pages, M. de Caulaincourt has published, 
 under the head of Examens des calomnies r6pandues sur M. de Caulain- 
 court, due de Vicence, a more conclusive justification of his couduct than 
 any hitherto known. As the result of setting side by side all the docu- 
 ments and the orders given, it appears that no direct and personal com- 
 mission was given him with regard to the Due d'Eughieu, and that one 
 may go so far as to say that he was ignorant of what was about to take 
 place. His personal conduct, in the undertaking which he directed, was 
 stamped with a marked generosity towards the emigres who were sur- 
 rounded by the troops under his command, and who, almost to a man, 
 owed him their liberty. This conduct, so much in conformity with the 
 sense of honor he showed on so many other occasions, proves in a most 
 conclusive fashion that he cannot have knowingly lent his assistance to the 
 outrage committed on the person of the Due d'Enghien. He is, therefore, 
 greatly to be pitied, for how can one prevent his name, after it has been 
 coupled with that catastrophe, and has remained bound up with it for such 
 a length of time, being separated from it to the extent required by justice? 
 (Note written in 18240
 
 190 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 The Due d'Engliien was carried off and brought to Paris. 
 The news of the success of the expedition was quickly 
 transmitted by the telegraph; but, to the honor of the 
 French character it must be stated, that if it caused general 
 anxiety, this anxiety did not go so far as to dwell on the 
 terrible catastrophe which was to follow. 
 
 I had personally received a warning which should have 
 prepared me for it. The very day on which the news of 
 his carrying off was received, a ball was given at the Hotel 
 de Luynes. M. de Talleyrand was present. Some one asked 
 him in a whisper : " But what are you going to do with the 
 Due d'Enghien? " He answered: "He is to be shot." A 
 lady who stood by heard both question and answer, and 
 reported them to me next morning. I thought her hearing 
 had deceived her, or that it was merely a mocking answer 
 given by M. de Talleyrand to an indiscreet question. It 
 was, in any case, said in consequence of a determination 
 already taken, and of which the world was ignorant. 
 
 The First Consul had discussed with his most intimate 
 councillors the question of what was to be done. This is 
 what really occurred, according to what 1 have been told 
 by those better situated to know. A council was held on 
 the 9th of March. It is almost certain that previous to 
 this council, which was a kind of official affair, a more 
 secret one had been held at the house of Joseph Bonaparte. 
 
 At the first council, to which were convened only a few 
 persons, all on a footing of family intimacy, it Avas dis- 
 cussed by order of the First Consul, what would be proper 
 to do with a prince of the House of Bourbon, in case one 
 should have him in one's power, and the decision reached 
 was that if he was captured on French territory, one had 
 the right to take his life, but not otherwise. 
 
 At the council held on the 9th, and which was composed 
 of the three Consuls, the Chief Justice, the Minister of
 
 THE DUC D'ENGHIEN'S FATE 191 
 
 Foreign Affairs, and M. Fouche, although the latter had 
 not then resumed the post of Minister of Police, the two 
 men who expressed contrary opinions were M. de Talley- 
 rand and M. de Cambaceres. 
 
 M, de Talleyrand declared that the prince should be sent 
 to his death. M. Lebrun, the Third Consul, contented him- 
 self with saying that such an event would have a terrible 
 echo throughout the world. M. de Cambaceres contended 
 earnestly that it would be sufficient to hold the prince as 
 hostage for the safety of the First Consul. The latter 
 sided with M. de Talleyrand, whose counsels then prevailed. 
 
 The discussion was a heated one, and when the meeting 
 of the council was over, M. de Cambaceres thought it his 
 duty to make a last attempt, so he followed Bonaparte into 
 his study, and laid before him with perhaps more strength 
 than might be expected from his character, the conse- 
 quences of the deed he was about to perpetrate, and the 
 universal horror it would excite. He told him that all 
 Europe might rise in arms against France, in the face of 
 this violation of the law of nations, of this shedding the 
 blood of kings, and that the First Consul, until then foreign 
 to the crimes of the Revolution, would be imitating them. 
 
 He spoke in vain. In the privacy of his study, Bona- 
 parte expressed himself even with greater violence than he 
 had done at the council. He answered that the death of the 
 duke would seem to the world but a just reprisal for what 
 was being attempted against him personally; that it was 
 necessary to teach the House of Bourbon that the blows 
 struck with its sanction were liable to recoil on its own 
 head; that this was the only way of compelling it to abstain 
 from its dastardly schemes, and lastly, that matters had 
 gone too far to retrace one's steps. M. de Talleyrand sup- 
 plied this last argument. 
 
 During this private talk, Bonaparte took care to let M.
 
 192 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 de Cambaceres see that he was desirous of making those 
 who attached themselves to his fortunes understand that 
 all ra2')prochement betAveen himself and the House of Bour- 
 bon was henceforth impossible. Nothing could have had 
 greater weight with the principal partisans of the Eevolu- 
 tion than this assurance, and it is well known that Bona- 
 parte still thought it best to consult the feelings of some of 
 them. 
 
 It has been said that in the fit of anger brought on by 
 the opposition of the Second Consul, Bonaparte so far for- 
 got himself as to say to him : " It ill becomes you to show 
 yourself so sparing of the blood of your kings, you who cast 
 a vote for the death of Louis XVI. ! " " Such is not the 
 case," is said to have been the Second Consul's rejoinder. 
 
 M. de Cambaceres, when relating with much detail this 
 terrible scene, would never admit the truth of this final 
 incident. Nevertheless, there are good grounds for believ- 
 ing that it was in connection with it that he drew up a 
 memorandum explaining his vote during the trial of the 
 king, which memorandum he handed to the First Consul, 
 and which he subsequently showed to those whose respect 
 he thought it worth while to preserve. I was one of those 
 he thus honored with his confidence. The memorandum 
 left the impression on my mind that M. de Cambaceres had 
 really intended to save the king, and that his contradictory 
 vote had been so contrived as to rally the timid men from 
 whom an open resistance could not be hoped for. At the 
 time of the Restoration, this memorandum was brought 
 to the king's notice, and later on, its author had to thank 
 the explanations it contained for being exempted from the 
 measures enforced against the regicides. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Due d'Enghien was nearing Paris, on his 
 way to Vincennes. 
 
 That which here follows is, in the first place, derived
 
 SAVABY'S MISSION 193 
 
 literally from the narrative of the Due cle Eovigo, two 
 years before the Restoration. 
 
 It will be recalled that General Savary had been sent to 
 the Normandy coast to watch the landing which had been 
 announced as about to take place. It did not occur. A 
 timely warning had been received at the seashore of what 
 had happened in Paris, and the ship, bearing several per- 
 sons, among others, it was supposed, the Due de Berry, 
 sailed away. 
 
 And yet the general had manoeuvred so as not only to 
 arrest the prince, should he land, but even to induce him 
 to do so. He had personally gone to the cliff at Biville, 
 made all the preconcerted signals, which were known to 
 him. The signals were seen and answered; but, fortu- 
 nately for the expedition, the wind was violent, and in the 
 wrong quarter for a couple of days, so that the landing 
 became an impossibility, and this delay was sufficient to 
 send to the captain of the brig a warning, which made him 
 go out to sea again. 
 
 The mission of General Savary (such was at that time 
 the name of the Due de Rovigo) had no longer any object. 
 He had been back in Paris for twenty-four hours, and had 
 gone to Malmaisou, either to report on this mission, or to 
 resume his duties as aide-de-camp, on the morn before the 
 night when sentence was pronounced and carried into exe- 
 cution. 
 
 The First Consul was closeted with M. de Talleyrand, 
 and Savary had to wait for the end of their conference ere 
 he could speak Avith him. On being admitted into Bona- 
 parte's presence, as soon as he was at leisure, he was 
 ordered to go and take command of a detachment of the 
 gendarmerie d'elite, which had already gone to Vincennes, 
 and of the entire garrison of the chateau. He was also 
 entrusted with a letter which he was to deliver to General
 
 194 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Murat on his way tliitlier, whicli letter contained more 
 explicit instructions as to what he was to do at Vincennes. 
 Thus, if the Due de Rovigo is to be believed, he did not 
 receive from the First Consul any direct order with regard 
 to the sentence or the execution of the Due d'Enghien. 
 
 On seeing General Murat, whom M. de Talleyrand was 
 leaving just as he arrived, he was informed by that general 
 that a military commission had been called together to try, 
 that very night, at Vincennes, the Due d'Enghien, and to 
 him, Savary, was entrusted the keeping guard over the 
 prisoner, and to carry into execution, without the slightest 
 delay, the sentence of the commission, whatever it might be. 
 
 Savary went to Vincennes, after these orders had been 
 several times repeated to him. The commission met im- 
 mediately afterwards. It was composed of a number of 
 unfortunate officers, who, with the exception of the presi- 
 dent and the judge -advocate, were only informed of what 
 was expected of them on entering the chateau. The presi- 
 dent himself has always asserted, but the fact is hard to 
 believe, that he was even ignorant of the name of the 
 prisoner whom he was to try. One thing is certain, and 
 that is, that great care had been exercised in order that the 
 officers selected should receive their orders too late for 
 them to take any concerted action, or to seek and obtain 
 advice. They all held the rank of colonel. It will be seen 
 later how they acted in connection Avith their finding. 
 
 The sentence, which was one of death, was immediately 
 carried out. Everything was over before seven o'clock in 
 the morning. Savary's duties, as commander of the gen- 
 darmerie at Vincennes, having apparently ended with this 
 execution, he at once left for Paris. This is the place to 
 record a fact, which, if true, has a rather important bearing 
 on the case. 
 
 Savary related it to me several times, in 1812, always in
 
 MEETING BETWEEN SAVABT AND REAL 195 
 
 the same words, and his narrative was, moreover, confirmed 
 to me in all its particulars, by M. Real. As already stated, 
 he was on his way to Paris to render an account of his 
 mission, when he met, at the gates of the capital, M. Real, 
 dressed as a Councillor of State, zvith white stockings, and 
 buckles to his shoes; such are the very words of the Due 
 de Rovigo. He was journeying towards Vincennes, and 
 seemed to be in a great hurry. " Well, and where are you 
 going?" called Savary to him, stopping his own carriage. 
 "I am going to Vincennes," said M. Real, bringing his own 
 alongside that of Savary, " and am going there by order of 
 the First Consul to question the Due d'Enghien." — " What 
 are you talking about? Is the First Consul not aware that 
 the Due d'Enghien's trial took place, as ordered, last night; 
 that he was sentenced to death, and that the sentence has 
 been carried into execution?" — "How can such a thing 
 have happened?" exclaimed M. Real. "I had so many 
 questions to ask the prince. So many things might have 
 been discovered by examining him ! One more opportunity 
 let slip. Now, nothing will be known. The First Consul 
 will be f virions ! " 
 
 There was nothing left for M. Real to do after this meet- 
 ing but to return home, while Savary proceeded on his 
 journey, to -report to Murat that he had faithfully executed 
 his orders. Then he went to Malmaison, to carry the same 
 news. Such is his narrative as repeated to me several 
 times in 1811, 1812, and 1813, faithfully reported. 
 
 I have now to recur to the more particular circumstances 
 of the sentence and of the execution. Concerning this 
 portion of my story, 1 have nothing to guide me but the 
 accounts given, in secret confidence, by the members of the 
 commission, by residents in the chateau of Vincennes, and 
 by soldiers forming part of the garrison. Generally speak- 
 ing, these accounts have been confirmed, since the Resto-
 
 196 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ration, by discoveries then made. Hence I believe that 
 credence can be attached to them. 
 
 As soon as the commission assembled, it was made ac- 
 quainted with the documents which supplied the grounds 
 of the accusation. They comprised several reports from 
 M. Real, a letter from the prefect of Strasburg, a report from 
 the officer of gendarmerie already mentioned as having been 
 sent to Ettenheim; a bundle of letters and papers belonging 
 to the prince, and seized at the time of his kidnapping; 
 and, lastly, copies of a proclamation destined, it was 
 alleged, to cause the garrisons in Alsace to rise. While 
 the members of the commission were taking cognizance of 
 all the documents, preliminary proceedings were already in 
 full swing, every step being taken with the most odious 
 haste, in order that the victim might not have the slightest 
 opportunity of collecting his thoughts, and enable him to 
 prepare his defence. 
 
 As an instance of this, the judge-advocate called on him 
 while he was still in bed, in order to question him for the 
 first time. Hardly had this examination been reduced to 
 writing, when it was laid before the commission. It con- 
 cluded with a formal request of the Duke that he be 
 brought before the First Consul, and for the suspension of 
 the preliminary investigation. It Avas therefore suggested 
 that the First Consul be written to, but the Due de Rovigo, 
 who was present, strongly opposed the idea. He argued 
 that such a step would run counter to the proposed goal ; 
 that it would greatly displease Bonaparte, and would be 
 more likely to call forth all his severity rather than his 
 indulgence; that duty must be performed before everything. 
 Such is, at any rate, the story told by Colonel Bazancourt. 
 
 After a somewhat lengthy discussion, the commission 
 unfortunately yielded to this almost peremptory order. It 
 tried to make itself believe that the knowledge it would
 
 THE JUDGMENT 197 
 
 acquire of the facts of tlie case would give greater strength- 
 to its intercession, for which better cause could then be 
 shown. The commission therefore proceeded with its task, 
 and the Due d'Enghien was brought before it, and subjected 
 to a second interrogatory. This interrogatory took place, 
 almost in its entirety, in the presence of the Due de Kovigo, 
 who sat behind the president's chair. 
 
 Colonels Barrois and Bazancourt, both on the commis- 
 sion, have moreover stated that they lost no opportunity to 
 impress the prince with the necessity of denying the facts 
 with which he was charged, and especially of his not con- 
 fessing to a fixed determination to bear arms against France 
 and to serve under the British flag. Their advice was not 
 heeded. The prince persisted with courageous frankness 
 in admitting that such was his intention, but indignantly 
 denied everything that might lead one to suppose that he 
 in the slightest degree gave his adhesion to any attempt at 
 murder. Together with this frank statement, he renewed 
 his request to be brought into the presence of the First 
 Consul, and, in this connection, his utterances were noble 
 and touching. 
 
 There is reason to believe that in reaching French soil 
 he had preferred a similar request. His examination over, 
 he was taken back to prison. According to custom, the 
 sitting was held with closed doors, and the judges were 
 asked by the president if the facts seemed to them proved. 
 They are to be seen such as they are recorded in the Moni- 
 teur of the 22d of March ; bl^t who can, after proceedings 
 so enveloped in darkness, guarantee that truth was respected 
 even in so solemn a publication? 
 
 The judges having declared the acts proven, they were 
 next asked by the president what punishment could be meted 
 out, in accordance with the Code. A lengthy discussion 
 ensued on this point. Colonels Barrois and Bazancourt
 
 198 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 were in favor of applying an article of the Code which 
 only provided for imprisonment. The other judges were 
 equally desirous that it should be so. Even then the 
 sentence would have been utterly unjust. In spite of this, 
 the conclusion was reached that the law clearly provided 
 for a sentence of death in the case of the facts that had 
 been proven. 
 
 There is every reason to suppose that the judges inclined 
 to this belief, owing to the prince's declaration that he was 
 firmly resolved to continue serving against the present 
 government of France. He had declared himself on this 
 point in the most energetic fashion, even adding " that he 
 had recently asked for a command in the English army, 
 and that as long as the usurping government existed, one 
 might expect to find him under the flags of the powers 
 ready to wage war against it. It was a duty imposed on 
 him by his rank, and by the blood which flowed in his 
 veins." 
 
 Such a declaration could have no other effect than to 
 create an unfavorable impression on the minds of military 
 men ; but, at any rate, it disposes of the fable, so carefully 
 spread by some of Bonaparte's agents, that the prince had 
 written to him asking him for a command in the French 
 army. 
 
 Assuredly there was nothing in this noble and coura- 
 geous avowal which could afford legal grounds for sentenc- 
 ing him. He was merely giving expression to an intention, 
 and when was an intention ever held to be a fact? Had 
 the prince been arrested sword in hand? Had he been 
 arrested on French soil? Could the sincerity of his lan- 
 guage leave the shadow of a doubt on his protest against 
 being even suspected of having participated in any attempt 
 at murder? 
 
 Attention must be paid to an important omission in
 
 THE JUDGMENT 199 
 
 the drawing up of the sentence. It is easy to find proof 
 thereof in the Moniteiir of the 22d of March, 1804, already- 
 quoted. It is that of the ordinary clause, the judge-advocate 
 loill cause the sentence to be carried out witliin twenty-four 
 Jiours. 
 
 The members of the commission which tried the Due 
 d'Enghien, and in particular Colonels Barrois and Bazan- 
 court, have always maintained that they had persisted in 
 their refusal to allow this order of execution to be inserted 
 in the sentence. Its place was consequently filled by 
 another injunction, for which there was no precedent, viz. : 
 The judge-advocate shall at once read the sentence to the con- 
 demned man in the presence of the guard under arms. Xot 
 to omit a single detail, it remains to be added that the Due 
 de Rovigo still contends that the text of the sentence, such 
 as printed in the Moniteur, was not the actual one; that it 
 was drawn up afterwards; and that the first copy of the 
 minutes of the sentence, minutes signed by all the members 
 of the commission, bore that the execidion loas to take place 
 immediately. 
 
 This document was subsequently found. It appears that 
 it was kept by General Hulin himself. How then can be 
 explained that the mention of this order for an immediate 
 execution is not to be found in the official portion of the 
 Moniteur? Might it not be for the reason that one could 
 not avoid seeing that such a prescription was not in sufli- 
 cient accord with the letter of the law, which sets forth 
 that no sentence passed by a military commission shall be 
 carried into effect without having been brought to the 
 knowledge of the divisional military commander, and 
 ordered by him? 
 
 The formal order, generally given to the judge-advocate 
 of a military commission, would thus have to be interpreted 
 to mean that the commission should refer the matter to the
 
 200 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 military commander, in order to obtain from him the 
 necessary orders. 
 
 On the other hand also, the formula — the judge-advocate 
 shall at once read the sentence to the condemned man, in pres- 
 ence of the guard under arms — was it not hit upon and sug- 
 gested as being equivalent to the order for an immediate 
 execution, and as a substitute for it? 
 
 The members of the commission have always protested 
 that the draft embracing the order for an immediate execu- 
 tion was not, in spite of their having subscribed to it, the 
 one which they intended to adopt finally, that it was to 
 have been destroyed, that it was preserved inadvertently, 
 and that the only authentic one, the only one filed in the 
 record, is the one, copy of which is to be found in the Moni- 
 teur. It still remains to be said, in order to make complete 
 this series of iniquities, that this record, which should have 
 been in the archives of the Ministry of War, was removed 
 therefrom, and no trace of it has been found. If the judges 
 are to be believed, they consequently felt certain that the 
 reading of the sentence, such as they pronounced* it, did not 
 carry with it the order for execution, which could only be 
 proceeded with, after a copy of it in due form should have 
 been delivered to the divisional military commander, whose 
 orders could alone cause the soldiery to take action. Thus, 
 by neglecting to deliver this copy to him immediately, they 
 believed they could gain the time necessary to take the 
 steps which their sense of honor and their conscience de- 
 manded of them. 
 
 As soon as they had pronounced sentence, they unani- 
 mously decided upon writing to the First Consul, in order 
 to lay before him the prince's request that he be brought 
 into his presence. They intended begging him to accede to 
 this request, and to end their letter with a strong appeal 
 to his clemency.
 
 THE SENTENCE AND THE EXECUTION 201 
 
 General Hulin proceeded without further delay to indite 
 such a letter ; but, while he was at work on it, the Due de 
 Rovigo, who had entered the court-room, asked what thej 
 were writing, pounced upon the general's pen, and tore it 
 from his hands, at the same time addressing the members 
 of the commission collectively in the following terms: 
 " Gentlemen, your occupation is gone. The rest concerns 
 me." Then, leaving the court-room hurriedly, and slam- 
 ming the door after him, he left the unfortunate judges 
 positively dumbfounded. 
 
 Nevertheless, they were about to renew their discussion 
 as to what they should do or attempt, and General Hulin 
 was leaving the building to step into his carriage, with the 
 intention of driving at once to Malmaison, Avhen he met 
 General Savary walking ahead of the Due d'Enghien, 
 whom he was leading down the stairway. 
 
 His first idea was that the prince was merely being taken 
 to the court-room to have his sentence read to him. All 
 the same, he went back to his colleagues. He was hardly 
 by their side, and was giving them his impressions, when a 
 report of musketry fire was heard. The days of the august 
 victim had been cut off. Close upon this, Savary made his 
 appearance in the court-room once more, but this time pale 
 and disconcerted. He told them that all was over, adding : 
 " It must be admitted that he died like a brave man ; but 
 why was he against us?" To sum up, it will be seen that 
 in the first place the execution was carried out without any 
 formal order on the part of the commission, if, at least, one 
 is to believe the official copy of the sentence wherein no 
 mention is made of such an order, and next, without the 
 president having delivered a copy of the sentence, which, 
 according to law, should have been given to the judge- 
 advocate, and which, beyond doubt, should have been trans- 
 mitted by him to the military commander-in-chief.
 
 202 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 It must not be lost sight of that the law leaves to this 
 commanding officer alone the care of fixing the place and 
 hour of execution, and the number of men to take part in 
 it. Is it likely that such a duty could be imposed on him 
 without his holding some authentic document establishing 
 the fact that he was acting only by virtue of a legal requi- 
 sition, and that he was allowing the soldiery under his 
 orders to take part in an execution by virtue only of a 
 judgment rendered in due form? 
 
 There is no room for doubt that the copy of the judg- 
 ment was not signed by General Hulin before ten o'clock 
 on the morning of the execution; in other words, four 
 hours after it had taken place. I am as certain of this 
 incident as one can be of a thing which one's own eyes have 
 not witnessed. 
 
 What is singular and exceedingly strange in this unfort- 
 unate affair is that the men who seemed desirous of sav- 
 ing the prince, were precisely the judges who sent him to 
 his doom. From the very first they committed an error 
 which could not be retrieved, viz. the one of declaring 
 themselves incompetent to try a prisoner, over whom, set- 
 ting aside the privilege of his august blood, no tribunal in 
 France had any jurisdiction, as he was not arrested on 
 French territory. 
 
 It is evident that their deplorable weakness was to lead 
 them where it did from the moment they lacked the courage 
 to bear the loss of their rank, and suffer a three months' 
 imprisonment. According to their account, the measures 
 they took to give themselves time to intercede were com- 
 pletely set aside, first by the zeal of the judge-advocate, 
 evidently in harmony with Savary, who did not fear taking 
 upon himself to require the execution; next, by the haste 
 shown by Savary in obeying this requisition. 
 
 No doubt can exist that he received a peremptory order
 
 ILLEGALITY OF THE CONDEMNATION 203 
 
 to hasten tlie final issue. He certainly did not act on liis 
 personal responsibility, but carried out the order he had 
 received with the most fearful and culpable fidelity, for, as 
 shown, he trampled under foot, not only the custom in such 
 matters, but even the formalities and the most imperative 
 regulations. 
 
 Moreover, three hours were all that was necessary to 
 obtain from Malmaison an answer to the pressing request 
 made by so noble a victim, of being at least allowed to see 
 the man who held his life in his hands. 
 
 Savary did not see fit to grant this three hours' respite 
 to the last offspring of the family of the great Conde, and 
 it was a soldier who so coldly shed blood so thoroughly 
 French, and so illustrious! He even had the grave dug 
 several hours before sentence had been passed. He him- 
 self led the prince to execution, and lowered himself to 
 presiding over the details of the execution. He leant 
 against the parapet of the moat while it took place. It 
 was he who saw to it that all trace of it was removed, and 
 he came from it carrying the effects of the dead man; for, 
 unless I am mistaken, he reached Malmaison holding in his 
 hand the watch belonging to the prince, and a letter which 
 the latter had entrusted to the officer commanding his 
 guard, with the pressing request that he should see that it 
 was delivered to Mile, de Rohan. ^ This letter, a last token 
 of his affection, was accompanied by a lock of his hair. 
 
 All the foregoing particulars concerning the arrival of 
 the Due de Eovigo at Malmaison were given to me repeat- 
 edly, and always in the same words, by Mme. de Remusat, 
 who was then in attendance on Mme. Bonaparte. Their 
 truth, therefore, is indisputable. 
 
 1 Three days later, the letter and the parcel came back into the hands 
 of M. Re'al, through the president of the commission, General Hulin. How 
 had they travelled in this direction? I know not, nor do I know if they 
 ever reached their destination.
 
 204 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Such is then the part taken by the Due de Rovigo in this 
 bloody tragedy. He never felt either qualms of conscience 
 or worry over it. Everybody has read the pamphlet he 
 published in 1824 or 1825, wherein he repeats the admis- 
 sions previously made on a memorable occasion. While in 
 St. Petersburg, after the Treaty of Tilsit, being entrusted 
 with the mission of announcing the arrival in that city of 
 M. de Caulaincourt, Napoleon's ambassador, the following 
 is the manner in which he defended himself against the 
 imputations cast in that capital on the future ambassador, 
 in the matter of the death of the Due d'Enghien. " You 
 are mistaken," he said. "It is true that it was Caulain- 
 court who had him kidnapped ; but it was Murat who had 
 him tried, and I who had him executed." 
 
 Did this formal order, which he so punctually obeyed, 
 come to him from Murat, or did he receive it directly from 
 the First Consul? Did Murat take upon himself to give 
 such an order, or did he merely carry out the instructions 
 which reached him from Malmaison, and the confirmation 
 of which was once more brought to him by Savary him- 
 self? 
 
 If I am not misinformed, the letter of which he was the 
 bearer is still in the possession of Murat' s friends, and it 
 contains the most formal orders, not only to have the duke 
 tried and sentenced, but not to suffer any delay to occur in 
 his execution, and to anticipate all necessary preparations. 
 Considering that this letter exists, and I have strong rea- 
 sons for being sure of it, it will sooner or later see the 
 light of day.^ 
 
 It is hard to believe that Savary knew nothing of its con- 
 tents at the time of its being entrusted to him, and that he 
 did not at least receive some formal order from the First 
 
 1 It is probably in the possession of M. de Mosbourg, Murat's Minister 
 of Finance at Naples.
 
 THE PART TAKEN BY SAVABY AND BEAL 205 
 
 Consul. Would he have shown so much zeal to a mere in- 
 junction from Murat? Would he, after meeting M. Eeal, 
 have returned so full of confidence to Malmaison, had he 
 thought that the First Consul would feel displeased with 
 the news he brought? 
 
 Vfhoi is to be thought of and deduced from this mission 
 of M. Keal? It is impossible for me to doubt its existence. 
 At the time when I was informed of it by the Due de 
 Rovigo and M. Real, neither had any motive for deceiving 
 me. Neither of them were in the least concerned about the 
 part they had taken, and they consequently did not seek to 
 distort the facts. To them it was merely an historical fact 
 which they narrated naively, and from which they deduced 
 separate conclusions. 
 
 M. Re'al, ever ready to see plots in everything, inclined 
 seriously to the belief that great trouble had been taken to 
 prevent him from holding the interrogatory, by means of 
 which, he alleged, he could have obtained much information 
 that would have proved disagreeable for a good many people 
 of prominence ; and being an old friend of Fouche, and his 
 creature, his hatred for M. Talleyrand was great, and he 
 had brought himself to believe that there existed some 
 treachery on his part, some understanding between him and 
 the conspirators abroad, upon the track of which he might 
 have got, had the prince been heard. According to M. 
 Real, it was therefore quite natural that, in order to head 
 off this danger, M. de Talleyrand had contributed by his 
 councils and by secret manoeuvres to hasten the issue. 
 
 The Due de Rovigo maintained that M. de Talleyrand, 
 having provoked more than anybody else the kidnapping 
 and the trial of the prince, had been, above all things, 
 anxious to see him condemned and executed; that to the 
 last he feared some weakening on the part of the First 
 Consul, and that he had dreaded the influence of certain
 
 206 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 counsels contrary to his own, and receiving the support of 
 Josephine's entreaties. From that moment, persevering in 
 his object to render Bonaparte irreconcilable with the 
 House of Bourbon, he not only persuaded him to tolerate 
 no delay in the trial and the execution, but even forced 
 from him the orders sent to Murat, and personally called 
 on the latter to teach him his lesson, and to conquer the 
 scruples which his weakness of character ever gave reason 
 to dread. 
 
 Indeed, I have had given to me very positive informa- 
 tion concerning Murat's refusal to obey the first order 
 transmitted to him, regarding which he gave utterance to 
 the following words, in the presence of some of his intimate 
 friends: ''Are they seeking to soil my uniform? I will 
 not tolerate such a thing." 
 
 It was found impossible to obtain from him, in accordance 
 with this first order, that he should appoint the members 
 of the military commission and call it together, and Bona- 
 parte was compelled, a few hours later, to send to him from 
 Malmaison the names of the officers who were to form part 
 of it. The list of these names formed perhaps a part of 
 the dispatch brought to him by Savary. Perhaps also the 
 special object of M. de Talleyrand's visit had been to obtain 
 his signature, which he ended in giving.^ These several 
 incidents explain the two meetings of the Due de Rovigo 
 with M. de Talleyrand, at Malmaison and at Murat's, on 
 the day preceding the fatal night. 
 
 When the Due de Rovigo, in the course of conversations 
 with me, was thus throwing light on the conduct of M. de 
 Talleyrand, he in no wise intended to cast blame on him. 
 
 1 Mnrat was not, as it has generally been sought to make people believe, 
 present at the execution. I am, moreover, certain that he did not go to 
 Vincennes, and did not even leave his Paris residence. Besides, he was, 
 at the time, rather unwell, and confined to his room.
 
 JOSEPHINE'S GRIEF 207 
 
 The relations existing between them at the time were most 
 friendly, and M. de Talleyrand had then no more active and 
 zealous defender against the prejudice and mistrust of the 
 Emperor. What is then to be finally and fairly believed? 
 It is not possible to suppose that the First Consul was 
 foreign to the orders which Savary so hastily carried out. 
 He had certainly willed and ordered himself all that was 
 done. Not only did he will it, but he had not heeded re- 
 peated entreaties, asking him to listen to the voice of 
 mercy. 
 
 In order to be proof against yielding to these prayers, he 
 had closeted himself in his study during the greater part of 
 the day preceding the execution, and had given orders that 
 no one should be admitted. 
 
 However, his wife went in to see him, and I have it from 
 M. de Eemusat, who was acting as chamberlain on that 
 day, and whom she almost compelled by force to open the 
 door to her, that the most lively scene took place between 
 her and her husband. He vouchsafed no other answer to 
 her entreaties than the following one : " Begone ! You are 
 a mere child, and do not understand anything about politi- 
 cal exigencies." And again, on awaking at five o'clock in 
 the morning, he said to Mme. Bonaparte, who lay beside 
 him : "By this time the Due d'Enghien has ceased to live." 
 She became hysterical, and cried a great deal. All the 
 sympathy she got was: "Come, now, try and sleep; you 
 are childish." It is she, who at eight o'clock, furnished 
 these particulars to Mme. de Eemusat. 
 
 How can one admit, after all this, that the mission en- 
 trusted to M. R^al was sincerely meant? He was the 
 bearer of a four-page letter of instructions, dictated by the 
 First Consul himself. 
 
 This fact came to me, in the first place, although indi- 
 rectly, in a burst of confidence on the part of M. Maret
 
 208 MEMOIBS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEE 
 
 himself, and, since his death, I have been shown a letter 
 which he wrote to Murat on the night preceding the judg- 
 ment. In this letter, preserved by Murat's friends, M. 
 Maret informs him, in the most positive fashion, that he 
 has just sent, by order of the First Consul, M. Eeal, Coun- 
 cillor of State, with the necessary instructions to guide him 
 in his interrogatory of the Due d'Enghien, with which he 
 is commissioned. And yet, no time was allowed the man 
 who was to be subjected to this questioning to submit to it. 
 Bonaparte was in too great a hurry to await its taking 
 place, so anxious was he to end all, and in sending one 
 order post haste on top of the other, he rendered the com- 
 plete execution of some of them impossible. 
 
 Is it so very hard to realize the hesitation and the irreso- 
 lution which must have struggled together in the mind of 
 the man who finally came to so odious a determination? 
 There are certain deeds which must cause mental pertur- 
 bation, in spite of the most hardened policy. The per- 
 turbation felt by Bonaparte was, nevertheless, soon got rid 
 of. So far from any word escaping his lips, either at the 
 time, or during the following days, which might give to 
 understand that he had been served beyond his desire, he, 
 on the contrary, loaded with favors his principal advisers 
 and tools in the matter. It is, however, but fair to state 
 that those least well treated were the members of the mili- 
 tary commission. All, or nearly all, of them remained 
 stationary in their rank, and did not gain any promotion 
 until several years later, a sign that their behavior had not 
 given satisfaction. 
 
 The crime consummated, Bonaparte at once busied him- 
 self with devising means to derive advantage from it. 
 With the object of making it appear less odious, it was 
 necessary that it should be looked at in the light of an in- 
 dispensable measure for the protection of the State. His
 
 NAPOLEON DOES NOT BELIE HIMSELF 209 
 
 obstinacy in never belying himself in this respect is all the 
 more remarkable that it endured to the close of his life. 
 His will, wherein he speaks as follows, is a proof of it : — 
 
 "I had the Due d'Enghien arrested and tried, because it 
 was necessary to do so for the safety, and in the interests, 
 of the French people, at a time when the Comte d'Artois 
 openly admitted that he had sixty paid assassins in Paris. 
 I would do so again, in like circumstances." 
 
 And yet, in his later years, Napoleon never lost a chance of 
 throwing on M. de Talleyrand's shoulders the responsibility 
 of the influence he had exercised over him in the matter. 
 While at Elba, he charged him with the full weight of it, 
 in the presence of some Englishman or other, who has em- 
 bodied his remarks on the subject in an account he gave of 
 his visit to the island. 
 
 At Saint Helena, he spoke in a like sense to O'Meara, 
 with the object that O'Meara should commit his words to 
 writing. He almost dictated his explanation to M. de Las 
 Cases. It seems that he dictated it without reservation to 
 M. de Moutholon. Previous to this, at the time of his 
 rupture with M. de Talleyrand, when he took from him the 
 post of high chamberlain, in 1809, it is a fact that during 
 the violent scene that took place between them on this 
 occasion in the presence of several people, his advice to 
 kidnap the Due d'Enghien, and to send him to his death, 
 was one of the deeds of perfidy which he most furiously 
 cast in his face. 
 
 It is hard to judge of the worth of recriminations between 
 two men intimately associated for so long, whose rupture 
 was so marked, and one of whom ended in so severely 
 punishing the other. 
 
 Unfortunately for M. de Talleyrand, his letter to the 
 Minister of Baden is an anticipatory apology of the crime, 
 and if one may justly argue that the unfortunate officers
 
 210 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ordered to try the Due d'Engliien should have declared 
 themselves incompetent, how is it possible to concede that 
 M. de Talleyrand, that a man bearing such a name, and 
 holding such a position, should not have hesitated before 
 he wrote such a letter? 
 
 With regard to Bonaparte, I am convinced, in spite of 
 his words, that remorse for the deed haunted him. It fol- 
 lowed him to the brink of the grave, and it is the poignant 
 recollection of the crime which dictated to him, in his will, 
 the oft-quoted sentence wherein I can find nothing but an 
 obstinate determination to preserve to the end the attitude 
 enjoined upon him by his pride. 
 
 M. de Montholon has told me that this sentence was not 
 embodied in the will at first, and that Napoleon inserted it 
 two or three days before his death only. He then asked 
 for his will of its custodian, opened it, made this addition 
 to it, and carefully sealed up the will himself, without 
 permitting any one to get a sight of what he had just 
 added. 
 
 The desire of taking advantage of so solemn an opportu- 
 nity to make the Comte d'Artois bear the weight of the ac- 
 cusation contained in that sentence, the thought that this 
 accusation would prove the best possible excuse for his own 
 deed, would seem to be the motive governing this crowning 
 act of infamy. 
 
 What I can certify to is, that having gone to London in 
 1825, and having seen the will, I found in it the confirma- 
 tion of M. de Montholon's assertion. The sentence having 
 reference to the Due d'Enghien had evidently been inter- 
 polated subsequently to the first draft, between two other 
 sentences, and it had even been a matter of difficulty to 
 find space for it. 
 
 Nothing can equal the stupor which reigned at Malmai- 
 son during the days succeeding the calamity. Bonaparte
 
 STUPOR WHICH FOLLOWED THE CALAMITY 211 
 
 was at his wits' ends to dissipate it, and I have it from 
 Mme. de Remusat that it would be hard to conceive the 
 trouble he condescended to take, during the days following, 
 in order to make himself less repulsive. 
 
 It was all in vain. The deed was done, and it was to 
 strike further and deeper than he had anticipated.^ 
 
 1 A most remarkable fact was confided to me, shortly after its occur- 
 rence, which characterizes in a distinctly particular fashion the effect 
 always produced on the mind of the Emperor by the memory of the Due 
 d'Enghien's fate, whenever it was recalled to him. 
 
 It was during the Hundred Days. The Due d'Angouleme was being 
 held prisoner by M. de Grouchy, in spite of a formal capitulation. Gen- 
 eral Belliard came into the presence of the Emperor just as the news of 
 this reached him. The Emperor made all the greater haste to communi- 
 cate it to the general, as he was aware that the latter had on several occa- 
 sions expressed feelings of esteem and of attachment towards the Duke, 
 and that previous to the 20th of March, their intercourse had been pretty 
 frequent. 
 
 " So," said Bonaparte to him, " your friend the prince is under arrest, 
 and Grouchy is sending him to Paris." — " But there was a capitulation," 
 exclaimed Belliard. "Why is it being violated? And especially, why 
 should the prince be brought to Paris? It would be most unfortunate, 
 were this done, and I beg your Majesty M'ill countermand it. There is yet 
 time to do so. The Duke has announced his intention of going to live in 
 Spain, and there is no reason to prevent him." — " And why, Sir," replied 
 the Emperor, "should I not profit by the advantages which fall in my 
 way? Wherein do you see that it is so great a misfortune for me to keep 
 in my possession so precious an hostage? " — " In the first place, there is 
 the violation of a capitulation," answered Belliard, "and this constitutes 
 in itself a most unfortunate beginning for the re-establishment of your 
 government. And then, who knows what may happen? There is the 
 danger which the prince may incur while passing through France in the 
 present excited state of the popular mind. On the one hand, some would 
 venture all to rescue him, while others would be equally determined to 
 leave nothing undone towards preventing his gaining his freedom. And, 
 were he to perish in the struggle between the two parties, have you not 
 cause to dread such a death, recalling as it would that of the Due 
 d'Enghien?" 
 
 At these last words, the face of the Emperor underwent a complete 
 change, and assumed an expression terrible to behold. He paced up and 
 down his study several times, and then, coming to a halt in front of the 
 general, he angrily muttered the following words: "Yes; you are prob- 
 ably right. There is no objection to his going to Spain." Then came the 
 freezing " Good day, Sir," and the slight bow, which, when Napoleon was 
 in his worst moments, was the signal of dismissal.
 
 212 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 As too mucli cannot be done to clear up the truth with 
 regard to events of such magnitude, and the part taken by 
 each one in them, I subjected the man who seemed best 
 fitted to stand all tests, to one, and I must confess that he 
 did not come out of it to his credit. 
 
 In 1814, when M. de Caulaincourt, after the 30th of 
 March, published a defence of his co-operation in the arrest 
 of the Due d'Enghien, I ventured to blurt out to M. de 
 Talleyrand that I was still in the dark with regard to some 
 of the details of that unfortunate affair, although I had 
 obtained many important particulars from the lips of the 
 Due de Eovigo. I then referred to the fatal mistake caused 
 by the report of the man sent by Marshal Moncey to Etten- 
 heim. The impassible face of M. de Talleyrand thereupon 
 became contracted as I had never seen it before. He did 
 not answer a word, and, as a matter of course, I put a 
 timely stop to my questioning. 
 
 But, on the other hand, I have from M. d'Hauterive the 
 following, the truth of which he vouches for. According 
 to him, M. de Talleyrand is said to have furnished the Due 
 de Bourbon with a proof which satisfied the latter. Its 
 purport plainly established the fact that no sooner had it 
 been determined to arrest the Due d'Enghien, than he dis- 
 patched a messenger to Mile, de Rohan to inform her of 
 this decision, and to supply her with the means of saving 
 the prince. The messenger, it would seem, was delayed by 
 accident or by sickness at Strasburg, and thus reached his 
 destination too late. On the strength of such proof, — 
 I am still speaking according to M. d'Hauterive, — the Due 
 de Bourbon restored M. de Talleyrand to his good graces, 
 and the fact remains that he has since been frequently 
 invited by the prince. 
 
 And yet, the story of the messenger is not an impossible 
 one It may be, at all hazards, that in spite of so many
 
 M. D'BAUTERIVE AND TALLEYRAND 213 
 
 steps undertaken towards quite another goal, it entered 
 into the mind of a politician of that stamp, to have in 
 reserve a resource which might some future time prove 
 serviceable. This would not be the only occasion in his 
 life when he had recourse to a similar precaution. But 
 then, the illness of the messenger, this untoward accident, 
 can they be believed in? Was M. de Talleyrand the one 
 actually to incur so great a danger as the one likely to 
 result from so positive an act of treachery on the part 
 of a man in his position? A messenger does not travel 
 unnoticed. Messengers have frequently been intercepted, 
 and France's Minister of Foreign Affairs knew this better 
 than any one else. 
 
 In support of the likelihood of this episode, M. de Talley- 
 rand may claim that he never was cruel, and indeed no act 
 stamped with cruelty has ever been formally laid to his 
 door. It may be, therefore, that he experienced a feeling 
 of remorse, which caused him to take the step which he 
 subsequently knew how to turn to his advantage. 
 
 M. d'Hauterive, although anxious to shield him, could 
 not help acknowledging to me that on the day the Moniteur 
 informed France of the crime of Vincennes, the news it 
 contained filled all the officials of the Ministry of Foreign 
 Affairs with the most fearful consternation. None of 
 them, it would seem, had anticipated such an issue. M. 
 d'Hauterive was one of the higher officials of the depart- 
 ment. He went downstairs, Moniteur in hand, and asked 
 to see the Minister. His principal colleagues had done 
 likewise, and they met together at the entrance to M. de 
 Talleyrand's closet. 
 
 When the latter made his appearance a few minutes later, 
 it was impossible for him, upon entering the room where 
 he was being awaited, not to be struck with the painful 
 impression stamped on every face, and especially with the
 
 214 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 look of indignation he could read in M. d'Hauterive's eyes. 
 "What is the matter with you? Why are your eyes stand- 
 ing out of your head?" he said to^him quickly. "What is 
 the matter with me?" answered M. d'Hauterive. "Why, 
 the same as must be the matter with you, if you have read 
 the Moniteur. What an abomination ! " — " What then, what 
 then! " replied M. de Talleyrand. "Are you crazy? What 
 is there to make so much fuss about? A conspirator has 
 been arrested near the frontier, brought to Paris, and shot 
 dead. What is there so extraordinary in all this?" 
 
 I learnt the news, at the Comedie Franqaise, in the course 
 of the evening. I was strolling about the stage during an 
 entr'acte. Mile. Contat called me, led me to her dressing- 
 room, and there, letting herself drop into a chair, burst 
 into tears, saying: "The Due d'Enghien was shot this 
 morning. Hardly anybody knows of it yet, but I am sure 
 of it. Whither to fly, whither to hide oneself?" I could 
 not credit it. But M. de Talleyrand's answer at the ball 
 given by Mme. de Luynes at once sprang to my mind, and 
 I left hastily, in order to .procure further particulars. 
 
 Next morning, at eight o'clock, the news was being cried 
 in the streets. After an hour, the cries were silenced, by 
 order. Public indignation was seen to be rising as they 
 pursued their calling. "The death of the Due d'Enghien," 
 said Fouche, "is worse than a crime. It is a blunder."
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Trial and sentence of Cadoudal, Moreau, and Polignac— Commutation of 
 Moreau's penalty — The salons of Mme. Pastoret and of Mme. de Beau- 
 mont—Charm of the social gatherings of the period — M. de Chateau- 
 briand and Mme. de Beaumont, the daughter of M. de Montmorin — 
 France falls into disfavor with the rest of Europe through the execution 
 of the Due d'Enghien — Advantages derived therefrom by the British 
 party — Bonaparte created Emperor — Motives inducing Pope Pius VII. 
 to come to Paris to crown Napoleon — The new power given legitimacy 
 to by religion — The third coalition against France — Admiral Ville- 
 neuv3 — M. Daru — The camp at Boulogne raised, and the sudden mov- 
 ing of the army into the heart of Germany — The Battle of Austerlitz 
 — France's state of enthusiasm — Entry of M. Pasquier as maitre des 
 requites into the Council of State. 
 
 The first result of the outrage perpetrated at Vincennes 
 was to change, in a most marked fashion, public sentiment 
 with regard to the conspiracy of Georges, Pichegru, and 
 Moreau. At the time it was laid bare, all sympathy had 
 gone out to the First Consul, and the arrest of Georges was 
 considered a piece of good news. But, after the murder 
 of the Due d'Enghien, the horror inspired by the crime, 
 a horror increased by the suspicions which the death of 
 Pichegru gave rise to, public opinion quickly underwent 
 a change. It was no difficult matter to recognize this at 
 the time the great trial began. 
 
 The manner in which the trial was conducted brought 
 much sympathy to the greater number of the accused men. 
 All of them showed remarkable fortitude, and several of 
 them admirable devotion to the cause they served. The 
 youth of Messieurs de Polignac rendered this devotion all 
 
 215
 
 216 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 the more touching. Georges gave proof of great character. 
 There was something noble in the manner in which he 
 spared Moreau, whose waverings had, to all appearances, 
 caused the ruin of all, Moreau was greatly inferior to 
 Georges ; still, he rose to the situation on the last day of 
 the trial. He was ably defended. 
 
 Stringent precautions were taken by the police to prevent 
 within the precincts of the court, and about its approaches, 
 an explosion of popular feeling in favor of the accused men, 
 especially in the case of Moreau. The zeal of General 
 Savary once more broke forth on this occasion in a manner 
 only too prone, not only to excite more fully the feelings 
 of those who bore an attachment of some kind or the other 
 towards the accused men, but also of that great mass of 
 citizens which requires, as a first guarantee of its dearest 
 interests, that the authorities should at least show some 
 respect for the independence of the courts of law. 
 
 No sooner had the judgment been rendered, when a uni- 
 versal feeling of pity was shown for the condemned men. 
 In the case of General Moreau, it was but too clearly seen 
 that the penalty of imprisonment imposed on him was 
 merely a compromise between the desires of the First Con- 
 sul, who would have liked to have seen him sentenced to 
 death, leaving the right to pardon optional with himself, 
 and the conscience of the judges, who had found strong 
 presumptive evidence against the general, but who could 
 not discover sufficient proof to justify them in pronouncing 
 a sentence of death. 
 
 Nevertheless, men in government circles pretended to 
 believe that Moreau had escaped such a sentence merely 
 owing to the intrigues of his friends with the tribunal, 
 where their principal mainstay was the brother of the Gen- 
 eral Lecourbe I have previously spoken of in the matter of 
 the Concordat, as one of Bonaparte's most persistent foes.
 
 A PERIOD OF CALM 217 
 
 The First Consul commuted the penalty of imprison- 
 ment into one of banishment to America. Moreau, a free 
 man in America, was less to be feared by him than Moreau, 
 a prisoner in France. 
 
 The courageous efforts made by all those surrounding 
 Bonaparte to obtain the remission, or at least the mitigation, 
 of the penalties inflicted on the other prisoners cannot be 
 passed over in silence. Mme. Bonaparte, the ladies of her 
 household, Mme. Murat, the officers of the household, the 
 aides-de-camp^ the generals commanding the Guards, all 
 joined in this action. M. de Kiviere was spared, owing to 
 the entreaties of Mme. de Murat, while Messieurs de Polig- 
 nac owed the mitigation of their sentence to Mme. Bona- 
 parte, supported by Mme, de Kemusat. 
 
 It was, moreover, impossible for the First Consul to see 
 that a certain amount of indulgence was necessary in order 
 to calm the too patent exasperation aroused against him by 
 the events which had happened in the last four months. 
 Hence he showed himself, in the matter of pardons, as gen- 
 erous as it was compatible for him to be. It was thought 
 that even Georges might feel the benefits of his clemency; 
 but Bonaparte could not bring himself to furnish such a 
 weapon against himself to a man who had made such per- 
 severing and rabid attempts on his life. 
 
 The death of the Due d'Enghien completely changed the 
 disposition of many Eoyalists towards Bonaparte. 
 
 Previous to the crime perpetrated at Vincennes, many 
 among us were arguing that it was time for us to emerge 
 from the life of obscurity and idleness to which we had 
 been relegated for the past fifteen years. We had had time 
 to feel how dangerous it was to allow power being handed 
 over to those unfit to exercise it. The government had 
 been wise and sagacious enough to encourage these senti- 
 ments.
 
 218 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Generally speaking, the prefects of the departments had 
 shown great consideration towards the oldest and principal 
 landowners. The new methods of conducting elections; 
 these elections of presidents of cantons made from the 
 ranks of the most honorable men, whatever their ante- 
 cedents; a small quantity of concessions, albeit of little 
 importance in themselves, but bearing the sign of inten- 
 tions at variance with those which had for so long a time 
 governed matters, had contributed greatly towards leading 
 us into the new path thus opened. We entered upon it 
 by slow degrees, but still we entered upon it. 
 
 The presidency of my canton led me to the electoral 
 assembly of Le Mans, and I was nominated for the Corps 
 Ugislatif. This happened in the autumn preceding the con- 
 spiracy. I therefore went to Paris, if not resolved, at least 
 strongly tempted to have myself appointed by the Senate 
 a member of the Corps Ugislatif. It would have been an 
 easy matter for me to succeed. I had the support of a few 
 influential men, among others, Tronchet, one of the defend- 
 ers of Louis XVI. The Corps Ugislatif was presided over 
 by M. de Fontanes. 
 
 We met in a few Salons wherein the scattered elements 
 of French society were beginning to reassemble. For a 
 long time, the house of M. de I'Etang, whose fortune had 
 escaped all the measures of the Eevolution, was the only 
 meeting-place, even during the darkest days, of the surviv- 
 ors of the literary and learned world, and of the few for- 
 eigners who feared not the risk of coming to our distracted 
 country. Mme. de Pastoret did the honors of her uncle's 
 salon. She was endowed with much natural wit, in spite 
 of a sorely neglected education, and shone brilliantly in the 
 distinguished circle which was that of her husband and of 
 her uncle. Messieurs de Talleyrand, de Montesquiou, and 
 de Pange, were among those who most assiduously culti-
 
 THE SALONS ONCE 3I0RE OPEN THEIR DOOES 219 
 
 vated lier. She was in the habit of saying everything that 
 came to her mind, and in so original a fashion that one 
 forgave her everything. For a long time a faithful pupil 
 of E-ousseau, she had no other principles than those of the 
 philosophical school. Later on, after being admitted to 
 the society of the Duchesse d'Angouleme, the many exam- 
 ples of the highest virtues she there met with inspired her 
 with feelings of piety which clung to her till her demise. 
 
 At the time I first became a visitor to her house, her 
 husband, one of the fructidorises deputies, was abroad. I 
 met there M. Cuvier and M. de Humboldt, who had just 
 returned from America (he surprised people by his variety 
 of information, and his inexhaustible fund of speech, which 
 was doubtless admired, but of which one soon tired) ; M. 
 Suard, the worthy representative of the intellect of the old 
 Academic franqaise; M. de Vaisnes, one of the survivors 
 of the Due de Choiseul's social circle a^t Chanteloup; Mme. 
 de Stael, Mme. Cottin, Saint-Lambert, Mme. d'Houdetot, 
 and Mme. de La Briche, together with M. Mole, her son- 
 in-law. The latter was then but twenty years of age, but 
 he was remarkable by the elevation of his mind, to which 
 was added a fine and noble presence. 
 
 The return of the emigres, checked for a while by the 
 18th Fructidor, was resumed, owing to the feeling of secu- 
 rity inspired by the consular government. I met once more 
 many gentlewomen of fashion whom I had known pre- 
 vious to 1792, viz. the Duchesse de Montmorency, Mme. de 
 Caumont, Mme. de Contades, and the Princesse de Vaude- 
 mont, nee Montmorency. She had married a prince of the 
 House of Lorraine, and was allied to almost all the reigning 
 families of Europe. Passionately fond of society, she was 
 not very particular in the choice of her acquaintances, and 
 indulged in the belief that her long pedigree gave her a 
 right to impose all her whims. In her salon were to be
 
 220 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 met men of all parties, to wit, M. Fouche and M. de Talley- 
 rand, who guaranteed to her political immunity, M. de La 
 Valette, aide-de-camp to the Emperor, and the most un-. 
 compromising Royalists. 
 
 During the space of thirty-five years, all foreigners of dis- 
 tinction, all the members of the diplomatic corps, enjoyed 
 her intimacy. She knew every secret, but she never be- 
 trayed a confidence, and never was unfaithful to a friend. 
 Her faults and her caprices were those of the times, and 
 harmed only herself. 
 
 I came to make the acquaintance of Mme. de Beaumont 
 in the following way : I had let her have the apartments 
 which I occupied in the rue de Luxembourg. The charms 
 of her manner and her superior intellect soon drew me to 
 her. She was the daughter of M. de Montmorin, one of 
 the last ministers of Louis XVI. The regime of the 
 Terror had dealt her heavy blows, for her father, her 
 brothers, and her sisters had perished on the scaffold. 
 Alone of her family she had survived its horrors, hidden 
 in a cottage in the neighborhood of Montbard. On her re- 
 turn to Paris in quest of the remnants of her fortune, she 
 soon surrounded herself with a picked social circle. I must 
 name as its most shining light, Mme. de Vintimille, one of 
 the best educated and most intellectual of women. She 
 possessed, moreover, the most elevated and sound judicial 
 mind of any person I have ever come into contact with. Of 
 no one else's friendship have I done myself so proud, and 
 no other has ever formed so great a part of my life. Mme. 
 de Saussure would often come with Mme. de Stael, whose 
 life she has since written with so much talent, and with 
 the imprint of a sincere affection. M. de Fontanes was 
 another of the habitues, also M. Joubert, whose intimate 
 relations with Mme. Beaumont were of a touching and 
 devoted nature. He was a superior man, broad-minded, and
 
 MME. BE BEAUMONT 221 
 
 endowed with a natural originality, void of all affectation, 
 reserved, and never seeking to display himself. I must 
 likewise recall Messieurs Gueneau de Mussy, Chenedolle, 
 and Mole, among those who almost daily called between 
 seven and eleven o'clock of the evening at the rue de Lux- 
 embourg, Lastly, there was M. de Chateaubriand, who 
 was to fill so great a place in the life of Mme. de Beaumont. 
 
 The principal charms of these gatherings lay in the in- 
 dulgence and complete freedom presiding over them. The 
 joy of meeting once more smoothed aAvay all difficulties. 
 Shades of ojnnion and opposite views which would never 
 have been endured previous to 1791 were tolerated. All 
 quarrels, hatreds, and ill feelings, which were to live anew 
 during the Empire and the Kestoration were put on one side. 
 
 We enjoyed life in those days, free from such plagues 
 and without restraint, and could speak of everything with 
 no other curb to our words than that of respecting the sen- 
 timents of others. I know of hardly any subjects which 
 were not handled in this little salon: home and foreign 
 politics, past and present; the nature and the worth of the 
 several constitutions; the religious requirements of the 
 new society ; lastly, classical literature, the great masters 
 of the time of Louis XIV.; the literature, the renascence 
 of which was being heralded by Atala and by Le genie du 
 christianisme ; and, to crown all, lively discussions regard- 
 ing the respective merits of Mile. Georges and Mile. 
 Duchesnois. 
 
 I will here give a copy of one of Mme. de Beaumont's 
 letters, because it portrays the society which I am trying to 
 describe. 
 
 July 16. 
 
 I owe you an apology, Sir, for having so long delayed answering 
 you. Unfortunately, my excuses are but too good, as all my time 
 has been taken up with business and leave-takings.
 
 222 MEMOIBS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 M. Julieu and I are all that remain of the social circle in which 
 you found pleasure last winter, and we are forever saying to these 
 rooms which are so proud of their former visitors : " Deplorable Sion, 
 qu'as-tu fait de ta gloire ? " 
 
 They are soon to be deserted. In a few days I am going to take 
 the waters. I do not know what effect they will have on me, but 
 their virtues will indeed be great in my eyes if they succeed in getting 
 me out of the state in which I am. It is by faith ye shall be saved, 
 and so I must believe. I am trying to do so. M. Joubert left only 
 three days ago. He was in a pretty flourishing state of health. 
 
 I have at last breakfasted with Mile. Duchesnois, and am literally 
 charmed with her. I am unable to forgive those who find her stupid ; 
 she is simple, naive, and absent-minded ; but, if you once succeed in 
 attracting her attention, you quickly see her eyes sparkle, her face 
 become more beautiful, and she discourses pleasantly and with few 
 words. She grasps full well all things that are properly submitted to 
 her ; all that there is to do is to touch the right chord. She conducts 
 herself with the greatest dignity with men, and is very respectful to 
 women. Such behavior is certainly not that of a stupid person. I do 
 not expect to see her act again previous to my departure, and I had 
 so looked forward to seeing her as Ariane ! You may picture to your- 
 self my disappointment. 
 
 I hope that the formidable Geoffroy will not come and persecute 
 me as far as Mont-Dore. I shall find enough boresome and importu- 
 nate people there without him. You happily do not know. Sir, how 
 all these jaws down in Auvergne can wag. Had Samson come across 
 one of them, he would have done far better work, and the Philistiues 
 would never have been heard of any more. As long as I am not 
 compelled to frequent them, it is all I wish for. After the society I 
 am leaving, there remains nothing worth enjoying except solitude, for 
 it is a means of finding it again. 
 
 I must not conclude without thanking you for writing to me in 
 so vei-y beautiful a hand. I had no trouble in deciphering every word, 
 and no greater praise can I award to you. It goes once more to prove 
 that you have a reserve fund of compassion for your neighbor's 
 ignorance. 
 
 Adieu, Sir. I beg you will accept the assurance of my tender 
 feelings towards you. I shall be most happy if ever we are all once 
 more united. -^ „
 
 31. BE F0NTANE8 223 
 
 In spite of our all being in various ways sufferers from 
 the Revolution, although it was still the object of our 
 strongest reprobation, although we remained the devoted 
 adherents of the Eoyalist cause, we began to feel that the 
 time was fast approaching when it would become us to 
 stifle our feelings of distaste and aversion, in view of the 
 necessity of encouraging and helping any government 
 showing itself sincerely animated with the desire of re- 
 storing order in France, and bringing about a return to 
 those principles which could alone guarantee protection 
 to society. 
 
 It was impossible not to give the consular government 
 credit for its good intentions. We were all fairly well dis- 
 posed to take advantage of any opportunities that might be 
 offered us to emerge from our isolation. M. de Chateau- 
 briand accepted the post of first secretary of legation under 
 Cardinal Fesch, France's ambassador in Rome. Mme. de 
 Beaumont followed him to that city, after a brief sojourn 
 at the waters at Mont-Dore, whither she had gone to stay 
 the ravages of consumption, which was rapidly killing her. 
 She died in Eome, a few months later. 
 
 M. de Fontanes had called the First Consul's attention to 
 the talents of M. Mole ; as to myself, I felt disposed to take 
 his advice, and to take advantage of the interest which 
 both he and M. de Cambaceres showed me. 
 
 The death of the Due d'Enghien came and put an end to 
 all these good intentions. 
 
 IsTot only did I decide upon ceasing all advances, but I 
 begged all those whom I had approached in this connection 
 to forget that I had spoken to them about such matters. 
 M. de Fontanes, in spite of his anxiety to introduce into the 
 Chamber over which he presided men who shared his opin- 
 ions, and with whose sentiments he was in sympathy, could 
 but approve of my determination. He had himself just
 
 224 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 performed an act of courage, the memory of whicli deserves 
 to be preserved. Some one had taken the liberty of alter- 
 ing in the Moniteiir some of the words he had spoken in his 
 address to the First Consul, and to substitute others which 
 seemed to give his sanction to certain doings of the govern- 
 ment. On the following day, in spite of the entreaties of 
 his friends and relations, who trembled for his fortune, he 
 did not hesitate to demand of the editors of the journal the 
 insertion of an erratum stating what he had actually said. 
 The reward of so noble a behavior was everybody's respect. 
 Moreover, as ever happens in such cases, the man to whom 
 it gave most offence was compelled to bow to public sen- 
 timent, and to stomach the lesson without a word. 
 
 Shortly afterwards the Emperor, noticing that M. de Fon- 
 tanes looked downcast, said to him : " You are still thinking 
 on your Due d'Enghien, are you not? " — " So are you," was 
 his rejoinder. On yet another occasion, when the Emperor 
 was communicating to him the account given by his minis- 
 ter at Vienna of the report of a talk he had had with the 
 Emperor of Austria, and having added : " You see how he 
 judges the event." — "What does it prove?" said M. de 
 Fontanes. "Well then, what does it prove?" repeated 
 Bonaparte. " That you are going to be Emperor of Ger- 
 many within a year," quickly answered M. de Fontanes. 
 
 The same sentiments which dictated this language to M. 
 de Fontanes caused M. de Chateaubriand to resign the post 
 he was to fill at Sion, while M. INIole postponed the carry- 
 ing out of his plans. Thus we all went back to obscurity, 
 without our having taken any concerted action. 
 
 Throughout Europe, the impression created by the death 
 of the Due d'Enghien was profound. It was esi^ecially the 
 case at St. Petersburg. Paul I. had passed away, and his 
 demise had almost severed the somewhat narrow bonds, 
 which, in the last year of his life, had been formed between
 
 M. POETALIS 225 
 
 him and the First Consul. His successor resented without 
 restraint, and with all the indignation of a great soul, the 
 blow which had just been dealt all sovereign families. 
 
 Every cabinet had manifest cause to complain of this 
 violation of the law of nations. The Emperor Alexander 
 gave expression to his feelings in a particularly severe 
 fashion. It at once became evident that British policy 
 would soon find a new ally in this direction. Austria, 
 although less outspoken than Eussia, gave, nevertheless, 
 sign of an unfriendly disposition towards France. In 
 Prussia likewise, the death of the Due d'Enghien caused a 
 revolution in men's minds. 
 
 I have it from M. Portalis, then first secretary of the 
 French legation in Berlin, that never did he witness more 
 lively and more genuine joy than that shown by Frederick 
 William, when suddenly bursting in upon the queen, and 
 telling all who were present of the arrest of Georges in 
 Paris. The news had just been brought to him by a special 
 messenger. But the news of the outrage, which quickly 
 followed, gave quite another bent to his ideas. His indig- 
 nation, smothered by policy, did not burst forth like that 
 of the Emperor of Eussia, but it was none the less real. 
 
 The First Consul was compelled to take notice of this 
 indignation, the explosion of which was full of dangers. 
 Through M. de Talleyrand, he ordered his ministers in 
 foreign countries to send him faithful bulletins of public 
 feeling in their respective localities. 
 
 At Berlin, M. Portalis was entrusted by the ambassador 
 with the task of drawing up the bulletin, but the truths it 
 contained were so hard and unpalatable that the ambassa- 
 dor (M. de La Forest) entertained doubts as to the advisa- 
 bility of forwarding it to Paris. However, he finally made 
 up his mind to do so, but he abstained from signing it, 
 merely enclosing it as an annex to his dispatch.
 
 226 MEMOIRS OF CHAyCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 After a fortnight had gone by, M. de Talleyrand wrote to 
 him to cease sending these bulletins. Several months later, 
 after having been received by Bonaparte, who had become 
 Emperor (this took place at Mayence) the ambassador 
 thought he had the right to ask M. de Talleyrand why he 
 had been treated so coldly. The latter replied: "What 
 else can you expect? Those infernal bulletins of yours are 
 to blame, but I will make him listen to reason, and the 
 matter will blow over." 
 
 To return to Berlin. The British party had still a 
 stronghold in that city. It made good use of the new state 
 of feeling, and was powerfully seconded by the queen, 
 who had the support of almost all the important and dis- 
 tinguished men of the country. To say the very least, 
 Prussia was strongly wrought up, and Pitt was about to 
 renew the strongest and most formidable of coalitions. 
 The new Emperor was busily engaged at Boulogne in prep- 
 arations for the invasion of England, just as a terrible 
 storm was about to burst. 
 
 Feeling convinced that before entering upon so great a 
 struggle abroad, it was necessary to render more secure the 
 crown which he had just placed on his brow, Xapoleon 
 omitted nothing that would tend to enhance its prestige, 
 nor to create new interests which would be bound up with 
 its maintenance and defence. 
 
 It will be remembered that on assuming imperial dignity, 
 he had announced that the question of its becoming heredi- 
 tary would be submitted to an expression of the popular 
 will. Registers were opened in all directions for that pur- 
 pose. The result of such an appeal could not be open to 
 doubt. Strength was added to it by the Church's conse- 
 cration. It was on this occasion that he derived the great- 
 est benefit from the consideration he had shown for the 
 Holy See, from the Concordat which he had concluded with
 
 THE CONSECRATION OF THE EMPEROR 227 
 
 it, and from the credit he had given himself in the eyes of 
 the Holy Father of being the restorer of Catholicism in the 
 finest of his domains, the kingdom of France. 
 
 It was already noticed, at the time of his promotion, 
 that the archbishops were the first to tend him their con- 
 gratulations. He asked the Pope to come and consecrate 
 him in Paris. The request must have been the subject of 
 considerable debate in the Koman Council, and it is un- 
 necessary to say what were the thoughts that filled His 
 Holiness's mind at such a proposition. Still he had plenty 
 of precedents bequeathed to him by his predecessors. They 
 were of ancient date, it is true, but they were none the less 
 to the point in the eyes of the pontifical cabinet. 
 
 What assuredly guided Pius VII. 's decision, in spite of 
 his natural disinclination, were the advantages which he 
 believed the cause of religion would derive from so signal 
 an act of personal condescension. He did not know of any 
 duty more incumbent upon him than that of getting back 
 for the Church of France, as much as lay in his power, the 
 favors, the power, and the glory it had enjoyed in its 
 palmiest days. Ere he could attain this object, or even 
 come near doing so, he had much to ask for, much to ob- 
 tain. It became especially necessary for him to win over 
 the man who disposed of Italy's fate, whose legions were 
 within a ten days' march of the capital of Christendom, 
 and of whom a refusal might make an open foe, while a 
 consent might forever bind him to the holiest of causes. 
 These important considerations made away with the Pope's 
 reluctance. He came to Paris, and Bonaparte was conse- 
 crated in December, 1804. 
 
 As a matter of course, the Emperor had taken all possible 
 steps, in order that the pomp of his consecration should be 
 invested with the importance of a ceremony, the spectacle of 
 which had not been given for so many years to the nations 
 of the world.
 
 228 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 He set himself to giviug greater importance to all insti- 
 tutions surrounding him. He gave a more solemn conse- 
 cration to that of the Legion of Honor, and created posts, 
 titles, and ranks, with which to reward those who had up 
 to that date served him the most usefully and the most 
 faithfully. 
 
 He made Marshals of France of several of his officers. 
 This dignity, the memory of which was essentially monarch- 
 ical, seemed truly to be one of the necessary adjuncts of the 
 crown. The creation of this rank caused a great stir in 
 the army. Bringing, as it did, every ambition into play, 
 it gave the chief of the state an opportunity of showing, in 
 the selections he made, that merit, in order to reap the 
 highest reward, must be coupled with undoubted fidelity to 
 his person. 
 
 On the occasion of his consecration, he likewise organized 
 his Court with that imposing pomp which excited Europe's 
 wonder. He made renewed attempts to attract to it all the 
 bearers of illustrious names of old France whom he could 
 win over. 
 
 Never was there any ceremony more full of pomp, ^ nor 
 more extraordinary. The presence of the Sovereign Pon- 
 tiff and the Eoman clergy gave to it a character of grandeur. 
 Religion, only a short while ago persecuted and proscribed, 
 towered above all other powers, and was alone capable of 
 giving the triumpher whom it crowned a sort of legitimacy. 
 What a profound revolution in the course of ideas and in 
 
 1 Napoleon gave orders to commemorate by a magnificent work, embel- 
 lished with all that engraving and printing could produce in greatest per- 
 fection, the various incidents of this ceremony. The work was prosecuted 
 without respite, but so much care was bestowed on it that it was not com- 
 pleted at the time of his abdication. It is a remarkal)le fact that orders 
 liaving been given during the Hundred Days to resume work on it and to 
 hasten its completion, the whole edition came into the hands of the Royal 
 Government, in an entirely finished state, after the Second Restoration. 
 There had not even been time to begin the distribution of it.
 
 NAPOLEON A LEGITIMATE SOVEREIGN 229 
 
 the march of events! Where was the man who did not 
 believe that from that day on the alliance entered into 
 between the Imperial Crown of France and the Koman 
 Pontificate would endure for many long years? 
 
 And yet, on the day following Bonaparte's consecration, 
 there was a break in the state of harmony existing between 
 him and the Pope. It is a fact that the falling out became 
 a marked one at once, and that it continued to assume in- 
 creased proportions up to the time of the Pope's departure, 
 and this, to such a degree, that the presents intended for 
 him were never delivered. 
 
 In this respect, France was far from entering into the 
 sentiments of her new master. Profound veneration and 
 feelings of sincere attachment were shown the Sovereign 
 Pontiff. Crowds flocked into all the churches. There was 
 an immense concourse of people under the windows of his 
 apartments in the Tuileries; and, when he was returning 
 to his states, there was the same eagerness to see him, and 
 the same proofs of respect followed his parting steps to the 
 last. The sojourn of the head of the Church in France con- 
 tributed greatly to revive religious sentiment, and, in this 
 respect, left behind traces which have not been effaced. 
 
 The fruits derived by the Emperor from the papal conse- 
 cration proved of infinite value to him, and to the end of 
 his career he experienced its benefit. It silenced opposi- 
 tion, and justified submission to the state of things, by 
 enjoining it. What right had a Frenchman to understand 
 his duties differently from the head of the Catholic Church? 
 What could the Royalists say, who, up to that time, had 
 never separated the cause of royalty from the cause of 
 religion? 
 
 Whatever may have happened afterwards, whatever the 
 part I may have taken later, nothing will prevent me from 
 saying to-day that, after 1805, Bonaparte was the legiti-
 
 230 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 mate sovereign of France in the eyes of the nation taken 
 as a whole. 
 
 It is an easy matter to imagine the effect produced in 
 Europe by the consecration and the coronation. It is cer- 
 tain that the event seemed for a time to lessen the opposing 
 efforts of the enemies of Bonaparte, henceforth to be called 
 the Emperor Napoleon. But the clever intrigues of Mr. 
 Pitt and British gold triumphed over this hesitancy, and 
 while the new Emperor was having himself consecrated 
 King of Italy, while he was adding Genoa to the French 
 empire, while he was giving the principality of Lucca to one 
 of his sisters, and was organizing the state of Parma as a 
 dependency of France, Russia and England had already 
 entered into an alliance against him. Austria was soon to 
 join it. 
 
 Prussia still remained undecided, at least to all outward 
 appearance. This alliance constituted the third coalition 
 which France had to face. 
 
 The territorial increases which I have just enumerated, 
 were, it cannot be denied, justified by the repeated and 
 recent increases obtained by Austria, England, and Russia. 
 The matter is plainly and forcibly set forth in a memoran- 
 dum which I found in the files of the Ministry of Foreign 
 Affairs, and of which I will here give the text. Preceding 
 it is a letter enclosing the document. It is couched in the 
 following terms : — 
 
 Sir, the Emperor has dictated to me the enclosed memorandum, 
 which he has ordered me to transmit to you. 
 
 Signed: E. Meneval, private secretary. 
 Saint-Cloud, 10 Thermidor (June, 1805). 
 
 Memorandum for M. d^ Hauterive. 
 The Emperor desires that M. d'Hauterive should write a short 
 pamphlet entitled : Changes that have taken place in Europe during 
 the last twenty-five years, with the pui-pose of making knowu :
 
 TEE INVASION OF ENGLAND 231 
 
 England's gains, either by territory in India, or by commerce, or 
 again by its innovations in maritime legislation ; 
 
 That Sweden and Denmark no longer amount to anything ; 
 
 Russia's gains through the partition of Poland, in the Crimea, in 
 Georgia, at Corfu, through its influence in Wallachia, in Moldavia, in 
 the Morea, and through its occupation of the Phasis ; 
 
 That Prussia, in spite of vrhat it may say, has become a second- 
 rate power ; 
 
 Austria's gains through the partition of Poland, the concentration 
 of its forces, the acquisition of Venice, the annihilation of the Porte 
 against whom it was formerly compelled to keep a standing army, as 
 the Porte has no longer any power, and as the Georgians create a 
 diversion on its frontiers. 
 
 France's gains, its losses through the new doctrine which Eng- 
 land has caused to be adopted with regard to the navigation of the 
 high seas, the declaration of the Porte, its natural ally, and lastly the 
 loss of its possessions in India and of the fine colony of San Domingo, 
 this latter one almost lost to it forever. 
 
 When M. d'Hauterive has written this pamphlet, he is to come 
 and read it to the Emperor. 
 
 The pamphlet was begun, but not finished. Probably the 
 Emperor attached less importance to it in the turmoil of 
 events which were soon to lead him to the battle-field of 
 Austerlitz. 
 
 Bonaparte was at Boulogne, when he learnt at one and 
 the same time of the first setting in motion of the Austrian 
 army, and of the return to Ferrol of the French squadron 
 commanded by Admiral Villeneuve. This squadron, which 
 had left Toulon with all indications pointing to operations 
 against the British West Indies, and with the object of 
 getting itself followed, by deceiving them as to its destina- 
 tion, by the greater part of the British naval force, had fully 
 carried out the first part of its mission. It had retraced its 
 steps after a call at Martinique. It remained for it but to 
 rally the French and Spanish squadrons which lay in readi- 
 ness to follow it, in the ports of Ferrol, Rochefort, and
 
 232 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Brest. Thus strengthened, the squadron was to make a 
 sudden aj)pearance in the Straits of Dover, where it would 
 have found a British fleet greatly inferior to it in numbers. 
 It might, in consequence, if not overpower it, at any rate 
 so disable it, that the passage across the channel would have 
 been free for a few days. 
 
 The success of the landing would have thus been rendered 
 almost secure, and the arrival of this squadron was awaited 
 by the Emperor with the liveliest anxiety. Although most 
 cleverly conceived, this plan of campaign was thwarted by 
 a British squadron which intercepted Admiral Villeneuve 
 off Ferrol. 
 
 I was told what follows by M. Daru. The Emperor sent 
 for him the moment he received the bad news that his 
 admiral, on leaving Ferrol, had shaped his course towards 
 Cadiz, instead of toward Brest, as he had been instructed 
 to do. M. Daru was compelled to listen to the Emperor's 
 most bitter invectives against the incompetency and bad 
 management of the unfortunate Villeneuve, whom he was 
 probably blaming beyond what he deserved. 
 
 But, this first burst of anger having subsided, M. Daru 
 received orders to take a pen and get ready to write. 
 Thereupon, the great general, at once dismissing from his 
 mind the subject of his recent irritation, renouncing the 
 plans he had pondered over for a couple of years, and to 
 which he had devoted so much care, so many efforts, and 
 so large a sum of money, gave up his mind to an entirely 
 new order of ideas, and entering into the state of calmness 
 necessary for him to combine his plans, dictated at one 
 stroke all the orders necessary for transporting into the 
 heart of Germany the army whose camp could be seen from 
 the British shores. These orders embraced every detail, and 
 revealed wonderful forethought. The number of marches, 
 the locating of each and every corps, and their position on
 
 THE BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ 233 
 
 the vast battle-field which was to unroll itself to them, were 
 calculated with the utmost precision. Never, perhaps, did 
 the genius of military operations on a large scale, strength- 
 ened and animated by a force of character rising above all 
 events, manifest itself to a higher degree. M. Daru, when 
 telling me this, fifteen years later, was still dumbfounded 
 with admiration. 
 
 So great and rare a talent had its due reward, for never 
 was there a grander and more complete success than this 
 one. The camp at Boulogne was broken up, and the French 
 army was soon on the banks of the Danube. One might 
 think that the whole of Europe was, for that army, but an 
 enlarged parade ground. In less than three months from 
 the dictating of that letter, the surrender of Ulm, a series 
 of fights each one surpassing the other in its brilliant 
 results, the taking of Vienna, crowned by the battle of 
 Austerlitz, raised the glory of the French armies and of the 
 Emperor, to a degree surpassing anything seen heretofore. 
 
 Mr. Pitt was so overcome by so crushing a triumph, that 
 he conceived from it a feeling of despair to which was at- 
 tributed the illness which shortly afterwards ended his 
 career. Bonaparte was free to believe that the death of 
 this statesman, whose policy seemed to be the only one 
 capable of coping with his own, would deliver him from 
 his most formidable enemy. 
 
 The state of peace following upon the battle of Austerlitz 
 brought him to Paris in triumph. These were among the 
 most brilliant days of his career. It could no longer be 
 denied that he was the greatest general of modern times. 
 He had demonstrated that victory was even easier for him 
 in Germany than in Italy, and that he had left far away in 
 his rear the exploits of the Pichegrus and the Moreaus. 
 
 Yet I can remember that even in those days, an officer of 
 great merit. General Campredon, whispered into the ear of
 
 234 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 a few trusted friends that the position in which the army- 
 had been forced to give battle at Austerlitz, was the result 
 of a too rashly risked march, which victory did not wholly 
 justify. And it is a fact that Napoleon was dragged into 
 the fight, by a desire of supporting at all costs General 
 Murat, who, after crossing the Danube, had ventured for- 
 ward with the maddest rashness. And so, even in these 
 glorious days, a trained eye could distinguish at that early 
 date the weak side of this great military talent, and point 
 out in advance the evils of that blind confidence which was 
 one day to level the edifice of Napoleon's miraculous good 
 fortune. 
 
 The question also springs to one's mind Avhether Admiral 
 Villeneuve's defeat, which destroyed all Napoleon's hopes 
 of crossing over to England, and which, in spite of his 
 burning desire, kept him on French soil, does not consti- 
 tute one of those remarkable examples of the good luck 
 which, in those days, clung to all his steps. 
 
 And, indeed, what might not have happened to him, when 
 once landed on the British shore with the pick of his troops, 
 while master of the seas for necessarily but a short time? 
 What would have become of France if Austria's huge army, 
 under Prince Charles, emerging from Bavaria, had deployed 
 its forces on the banks of the Rhine, which it would proba- 
 bly have crossed, for one cannot discover the forces which 
 could have made any effectual resistance? 
 
 France would have been invaded, and, in the midst of 
 tliis terrible conflict, what would have become of its divided 
 parts? On which side would have lain the greatest dan- 
 ger? The only answer to be set against these questions is 
 the one he himself gave to several persons who took the 
 liberty of submitting the situation to him, viz.: "If my 
 landing had been crowned with success, the enthusiasm 
 aroused thereby in France would have been such that the
 
 THE COUNCIL OF STATE 235 
 
 women and children of Strasburg would have sufficed to 
 repulse the Austrians." Does not such a reply seem more 
 brilliant than sensible? 
 
 A sense of happiness and the intoxication of success took 
 hold of all France. People rushed from every corner of the 
 Empire to Paris, in order to see the conqueror and his new 
 Court, and to gaze with admiration upon its festivities. A 
 great social event, which deserves to be recalled, was a ball 
 given by the Marshals at the Opera on a grand scale, and 
 with much magnificence. All the most prominent people 
 of the capital were invited to this ball, no distinction being 
 made in favor of pedigrees. The Emperor honored the 
 ball with his presence, and showed particular attention at 
 this great reunion towards the element belonging to old 
 Erance, evidently seeking to win it over to him. He 
 labored to attract it to his Court, and was desirous of seeing 
 it accept the highest offices. 
 
 This Council of State served him well in this respect. 
 It was an excellent school. The ideas which the former 
 Royalists might bring into it were no disturbing element, 
 for its majority was devoted to the new ideas. The Em- 
 peror often presided over it and watched its doings. Dur- 
 ing the preceding year he had conceived and put into 
 execution the idea of auditeurs, which he in the first place 
 selected from young men belonging to the best families, 
 and who possessed both means and brains. M. Mole was 
 one of these. Through him I became familiar with the 
 nature of the work. 
 
 I felt that the duties of auditeur were hardly consistent 
 with my age, and with the rank which I had held in the 
 magistracy, so I was about to go and spend the summer 
 season on my estate (this was in June, 1806), when I learnt 
 of the coming creation of maltres des requetes. It did not 
 seem extraordinary, when viewed from the standpoint of our
 
 236 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 old magistracy's hierarchal ideas, for a councillor of the 
 Parlement to become a maltres des requetes, so I thought 
 that I could properly accept such a position. 
 
 Ever since the radiations, the erasure of the names of 
 the 4migr4s from the list of those proscribed, I had remained 
 on good terms with M. de Cambacer^s, who was now arch- 
 chancellor, and president of the Council of State. I 
 chanced to be invited to one of his dinners, and this gave 
 me an opportunity of broaching to him the subject of the 
 approaching creation of the maltres des requites. He 
 divined the mood I was in, urged upon me to take advan- 
 tage of the opportunity thus offered me of returning to 
 public life, pointed out to me the advantages to be derived 
 therefrom, and told me that he would see to it that my 
 request should be favorably entertained, were I to decide 
 upon preferring it. I begged him to allow me to think the 
 matter over for a few days, as I wished to consult with my 
 friends and relations. 
 
 The need which I had experienced two years earlier of 
 emerging from my state of idleness, and which a fearful 
 occurrence had caused to disappear, had made itself felt 
 once more. It was not, however, without great hesitation 
 that I determined upon taking this step. I feared the dis- 
 content of the society in which I lived, and in which were 
 many intolerant persons who would not bring themselves 
 to overlook the step I was going to take. But there were 
 so many strong reasons to oppose to their criticisms. Was 
 it possible to forget one of the hardest lessons taught us by 
 the Revolution? Had it not taught us that our reason 
 commanded us to sacrifice our repugnance in order to work, 
 with all our might, against the return of such calamities as 
 we had seen? Was not the best method, the only one per- 
 haps of attaining such a result, that of bringing back to the 
 fold of the government the men who could help it to resist
 
 M. PASQUIEB RE-ENTERS OFFICIAL LIFE 237 
 
 revolutionary ideas? Did wisdom consist in repelling the 
 advances made in this direction by the government, when 
 it showed that it felt the necessity of such a rapprochement ? 
 How to resist the desire of not frittering away one's whole 
 life in a state of absolute inaction? Were there not already 
 many examples worthy of imitation? 
 
 So I called on M. de Cambaceres, who undertook to pie- 
 sent my request, and I was appointed maitre des requetes 
 on the creation of the new institution. From that day, I 
 entered on a new path, and, without ever abandoning my 
 principles, facts have oftentimes presented themselves to 
 my mind in a light different from the one in which I had 
 been accustomed to look upon them till then. I have noth- 
 ing to dissemble in this connection, and, in the course of the 
 narrative which is to follow, I am going to pass judgment 
 on myself as sincerely as on others. But I am of opinion 
 that I should state that once having taken service under the 
 imperial government, and having made up my mind to do 
 so only after grave deliberation, and because it seemed to 
 me that I was acting as rightly and as serviceably towards 
 my country as towards myself, I served that government 
 in all sincerity and loyalty, and without any mental reser- 
 vation. 
 
 The cause of the House of Bourbon was the cause of mis- 
 fortune, and had received my first attachment. I belonged 
 to it by my birth, by my convictions, by the sacrifices I had 
 made. It was impossible for me not to preserve the pro- 
 f oundest sympathy for it ; but I had come to the conclusion 
 that if this cause should ever triumph again, it would be 
 at a very distant date, and after events which it was im- 
 possible to foresee. The best interests of my country 
 seemed to me, therefore, clearly to demand that every 
 means at one's disposal should be utilized towards better- 
 ing, by aid of one's support, the existing order of things,
 
 238 MEMOIBS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 and to bring it into the best possible harmony with the 
 principles of sound reason and eternal justice. 
 
 Such was the law I laid down to myself upon joining the 
 Emperor's Council of State, and I hope that I have never 
 wittingly deviated from it.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 France's state at the birth of the Empire — Organization of the imperial 
 re'gime — Absolutism dominant — The deliberative assemblies — The 
 freedom of the press and the liberty of the subject — Happy results 
 abroad of the battle of Austerlitz — Negotiations for a marriage 
 between the Princess Amelie of Bavaria and Eugene de Beauharnais — 
 Confidential letter from M. de Talleyrand to M. de Thiard regarding 
 this union — Rapid elevation of the members of the Emperor's family 
 — Joseph, King of Naples — Murat, Grand-Duke of Berg — Louis, 
 King of Holland — Naval engagement off Trafalgar — England's su- 
 premacy on the seas — Devoted adherence of the clergy to the Imperial 
 Crown — France's new organization — The twofold legislation necessary 
 towards constituting society — Private influences welcomed by Napo- 
 leon — Lebrun and Cambaceres — Fouche painted — M. de Talleyrand's 
 public and private life — M. Portalis, Senior — M. Maret, Due de 
 Bassano — M. de Laplace — M. Chaptal. 
 
 I CONSIDER it timely to throw a light on the general situ- 
 ation at the period when I began to take an active share in 
 public affairs. 
 
 For some time past, absolute power had been established 
 on a firm basis. Such had been the work of the Eevolu- 
 tion, as, for a long while public authority had been in the 
 hands of a few individuals, who had exercised it to the 
 vexation of the rest. At the period which we now reach, 
 this power was undoubtedly centred in one man. Napoleon 
 had finally succeeded in getting it into his hands, by 
 winning over some, by making playthings of others, and 
 subjugating all with his uncontested superiority. While 
 retaining the shibboleths of the Revolution, he had shown 
 his skill in partly destroying its work. Its promises were 
 no longer anything but mere words, yet, in spite of all his 
 
 239
 
 240 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 deceit, the country, instead of feeling angry with him, 
 daily showed him increased confidence. As an instance of 
 this, the deliberative assemblies, the Senate and the Corps 
 Ugislatif, continued to exist after the 18th Brumaire, pre- 
 serving the while their republican labels. Formerly, they 
 disposed of all things, and everybody bowed to their 
 mandates. Xow, they were nothing but the docile instru- 
 ments of the hand which governed them. A senatorial 
 commission existed, ostensibly for the purpose of securing 
 the freedom of the press ; while in reality the press was 
 never more muzzled. Another commission was supposed 
 to watch over the freedom of the subject, yet prisoners of 
 state were not unknown. True, the number of them was 
 not as great as one has been led to understand; yet they 
 were detained without trial, and were the victims of the 
 most arbitrary measures. There remained but one thing 
 of the inheritance handed over to him by the Eevolution, 
 which the new head of the government took over and 
 defended with the utmost sincerity, and that was the pri- 
 vate interests created by the Eevolution, the security of 
 which he guaranteed. 
 
 Thus, all positions and fortunes acquired during the past 
 thirty years were not only confirmed, but augmented, at 
 least those of such men as went over to him unreservedly. 
 It was in this fashion that he succeeded in laying hands on 
 everything, on the civil service, justice, army and navy, 
 and the public coffers. Peace reigned at home and glory 
 abroad by virtue of this concentration of power. 
 
 God forbid that I should become the apologist of such a 
 system, but France had been driven to take refuge under 
 its protecting wing. France's good fortune willed it that 
 the man whom she had permitted to seize upon so much 
 power was strong enough to shoulder the burden. Had, 
 for instance, Napoleon died on the battle-field of Austerlitz,
 
 THE IMPERIAL REGIME 241 
 
 or lost his life by one of the plots hatched against him, the 
 chaos of anarchy would once more have taken hold of 
 France, and anarchy may well be styled the worst of 
 despotisms. France would doubtless have become a victim 
 to internecine strife, and would have seen the outbreak of 
 rival ambitions, whose struggle would have led to fearful 
 results. 
 
 Most fortunately for the country, the life of this most 
 necessary man seemed at that time as safe abroad as it was 
 at home. Abroad, the results of the battle of Austerlitz 
 had greatly increased his power, which was looked upon as 
 being all the more firmly established from the fact that 
 he had, in making terms of peace, been shrewd enough to 
 secure important advantages for his allies, thus seeming to 
 credit them with a good-will which existed more on the 
 surface than in reality. He had thus gained, even in Ger- 
 many, the good-will of a puissant party on whom he might 
 depend for good and useful service. By enlarging Bavaria, 
 Wurtemberg, and the Duchy of Baden with a considerable 
 part of the territory he had wrested from Austria, he had 
 elevated the two former to the first rank among kingdoms. 
 
 The Elector of Bavaria had won this mark of high favor 
 in a special fashion, by consenting to the marriage of his 
 daughter, the Princess Amelie, with Eugene de Beauharnais, 
 Napoleon's adopted son. This matrimonial alliance was 
 the first of many which the members of his family were to 
 contract with the sovereign houses of Europe. It is worthy 
 of note that this union laid the foundations of the most solid 
 of fortunes which came to the new imperial house of 
 France, and which best withstood the reverses which hum- 
 bled its head in the dust. 
 
 An exceedingly curious document revealing the manner 
 in which this affair was managed, fell into my hands, and 
 so I subjoin it in a footnote. It is a letter written by
 
 242 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 M. de Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, to M. de Thi- 
 ard, charg4 d'affaires at the Court of the Elector of Bavaria. 
 The arrogance of style and the pretensions to be read be- 
 tween the lines of this document are too characteristically 
 significant for it not to deserve some attention. It will be 
 seen from it that negotiations in the matter began shortly 
 after the taking of Ulm, and previous to the occupation 
 of Vienna, which occurred on the 13th of November, and a 
 long time before the battle of Austerlitz, which was fought 
 on the 2d of December.^ 
 
 1 Paris, 17th Brumaire, Year XIV. 
 (October 8th, 1805.) 
 To M.de Thiard: 
 
 (This letter was written in cypher.) 
 
 I have to acknowledge, Sir, your two letters, of the 15th Vendemiaire, 
 and of the 2d Brumaire, having reference to the matter I spoke to you 
 about. From what you say to me it is plain that the special negotiation 
 you are engaged in is daily acquiring greater importance, and becoming 
 more and more pressing. It is time to reach the goal at once. 
 
 The stumbling-block you have found in its path is certainly of a nature 
 to inspire one with a fear of some kind of resistance which may have some 
 grounds for its being, or may be merely a pretext. But your suggestion, 
 that it be got rid of by appealing for that purpose to the Elector of Baden, 
 is not to be thought of. So indirect a proceeding cannot be taken into 
 account, as it is beneath the dignity of a Court like ours. 
 
 A successful intrigue in such matters cannot be acknowledged, while an 
 unsuccessful one would be difficult and even impossible to keep hidden. 
 The only becoming line of conduct to be followed is to broach the matter ' 
 to the Elector of Bavaria himself. You will ask a private interview of 
 him through M. de Montgelas, and you will then in plain terms propose to 
 him matrimonial alliance between his family and that of His Majesty. 
 The Emperor has given proof of his desire to protect the House of Bavaria, 
 and he can offer no better and no more lasting guarantee of his sentiments 
 towards the Elector. The Emperor has no marriageable prince in his own 
 family. Young Beauharnais can settle down to matrimony, and when this 
 occurs, His Majesty will do for him all that he would do for one bearing 
 his name. His Majesty has already made known his views with regard to 
 the succession to the tlirone. 
 
 The senatus-consultum having reference to the imperial accession has 
 made it plain to all Europe that the heir presumptive, in the princely 
 branch, is Louis. This disposal of the succession, so fully settled upon, 
 places the Prince de Beauharnais (I may even now give him this title) in a 
 particularly advantageous i)Osition. He is brother-in-law of our Imperial 
 Prince, uncle of the heir i^resuinptive, stepson of the reigning Emperor,
 
 THE EMPEROR'S FAMILY 243 
 
 It was not witliout some anxiety that thoughtful minds 
 watched the Emperor's persistent attempts to work at the 
 elevation of the members of his family, an elevation which 
 gave all the more cause for anxiety that, in order to main- 
 
 and only son of the Empress : so much for rank ; to all this are to be 
 added all the advantages to be derived from such a position. 
 
 As regards the Elector, his position will be made secure forever, and 
 strengthened with a most plausible prospect of all such progressive aggran- 
 dizement for which the future may afford opportunity. He will acquire a 
 powerful protection against the jealousy and ambitious designs of the 
 great Courts, of his rivals, and of his neighbors. As to the Princess, a 
 condition of life, which the most liberal sovereign in existence will be 
 pleased to create with a magnificence in harmony with his feelings of affec- 
 tion, and an establishment in regard to which her wishes and those of the 
 Elector shall be fully taken into consideration, as regards the shape it is to 
 take, its location, its extent, and lastly the benefit she will reap of coming 
 to Paris at a time when good taste, elegance, and dignity are calling back 
 the French nation to all the refined enjoyments of the mind, and of herself 
 selecting from a new Court the persons and means most fit to re-establish 
 its empire. Such is the light in which you are to present the successful 
 issue of the direct negotiation which you are hereby commissioned to trans- 
 act with the Elector. 
 
 The reverse aspect of the case is easily understood. A refusal, or a 
 show of repugnance, would be the hardest thing in the world to palliate or 
 repair. The most powerful prince in Europe, while a man of the highest 
 elevation of character and magnificent in the display of his affections, is 
 at the same time irreconcilable when contradicted, and he possesses in 
 common with the rest of mortals greater power to do harm than to do 
 good, and he does not admit of any obstacles. His strong will embodies 
 all the advantages and disadvantages which its possession bi-ings to man- 
 kind. There is no need for me to go into detail as to the consequences 
 emanating therefrom, and to point out their possible application, in order 
 to make my meaning perfectly clear to the Elector of Bavaria. But I have 
 particulai'ly to beg you will draw his attention to the inevitable conse- 
 quences of any indiscretion on his part, for this negotiation must ever 
 remain a secret, except in the case of its success. A refusal would be 
 tantamount to a misfortune which the Elector should seek to spare unto 
 himself. The making of it public would but have the effect of hastening 
 the evils which he then could not help calling down on his House. I do not 
 see any objection to M. de Montgelas' learning of the matter, so you may 
 tell him in detail of your doings, and consult with him as to whether it is 
 better he should speak with the Elector before or after you. It will give 
 the secret strength if he becomes a participant in it, for more than any one 
 else will he feel its importance. If my direct intercoui-se, which dates far 
 back with the Elector, and of which he is fond of showing me his recollec- 
 tion on every occasion, is liable to cause my personal opinion to intiuence
 
 244 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 tain it, France might constantly find herself engaged in 
 new wars, or at the very least embroiled in diplomatic diffi- 
 culties of the most troublous kind. For instance, the king- 
 dom of Naples had been wrested from the House of 
 Bourbon, by way of reprisal for the more than ill-consid- 
 ered attack which King Ferdinand had ventured to make 
 on the French troops in Italy, at the very time when he 
 had bound himself by treaty to remain neutral between 
 France and Austria. Following this conquest, which had 
 merely been a day's work, the crown of Naples had fallen 
 to the lot of the eldest of the Bonaparte family, the one 
 known as King Joseph. It was on this occasion, if I am 
 not mistaken, that for the first time the Emperor spoke 
 the haughty words: "The dynasty which occupied the 
 throne of Naples has ceased to reign." About the same 
 period, the Grand-Duchy of Berg was created in favor of 
 Murat, his brother-in-law; almost immediately afterwards 
 his brother Louis was proclaimed King of Holland, follow- 
 ing upon a treaty concluded with or rather forced upon 
 the Batavian government. These three important deeds 
 
 his decision in any degree, then make use of my name in any way you 
 may deem best. With regard to the obstacle which you have foreseen as 
 likely to come from the Court of Baden, it seems to me that the simplest 
 course is to suggest to the Elector of Bavaria that he give the hand of his 
 youngest daughter to the Elector of Baden. The respective ages of the 
 pair are not in contradiction with such a solution, and thus would all inter- 
 ests be reconciled. Were the Elector to offer you the hand of his youngest 
 daughter, your reply would be that the respective ages of the pair are not 
 in harmony, and you would not entertain the proposition. If you have the 
 opportunity of speaking to the young Princess, or of getting some one to 
 speak to her, get her on your side by encouraging her predilection for 
 what is French. M. de Moutgelas is to be informed of your steps, and 
 take action on his own account. Tell him that it would be within the 
 bounds of possibility to create the establishment of M. de Beauharnais 
 out of the former territory of the House of Bavaria on this side of the 
 
 Rhine. 
 
 I have the honor, etc. 
 
 Signed : Ch. M. Talleyrand.
 
 TRAFALGAR 245 
 
 undoubtedly went beyond all rules of prudence, not to 
 say those of a healthy policy. 
 
 A solitary enemy still remained, and that was England. 
 It Avas, moreover, to be expected that Russia, although dis- 
 sembling her intentions, would ere long become her ally. 
 
 Mr. Fox, who had succeeded Mr. Pitt, was soon to die, 
 and with him was buried all hope of peace. England had 
 lost within a year her two foremost statesmen, and was 
 witnessing the breaking up of the last coalition formed by 
 Mr. Pitt, but as a compensation for this check to her policy 
 she could boast of the destruction of the French and Spanish 
 naval forces at Trafalgar, The engagement had been 
 fought in sight of Cadiz, at about the same time as the 
 battle of Austerlitz, by Admiral Villeneuve, who had rallied 
 the Spanish squadron commanded by Admiral Gravina. 
 Moved to action by far too peremptory orders from M. 
 Decres, Minister of Marine, and anxious to retrieve his 
 defeat off Ferrol, the unfortunate Villeneuve persisted in 
 leaving the roadstead of Cadiz in spite of the presence 
 of the English squadron under Nelson, and had prevailed 
 upon the Spanish admiral to follow him. The engagement, 
 although fought by the French and Spaniards in a most 
 disadvantageous position, was a long and terrible one, and 
 great valor was displayed on both sides. Nelson was killed 
 in the hour of his triumph, Admiral Gravina succumbed to 
 his wounds, while Villeneuve, driven to despair, took his 
 own life a few months later. He had in vain sought death 
 on the day of the battle. There is no question that with 
 Trafalgar England's supremacy on the seas became and 
 remained undisputed. 
 
 Alone, England could not attain anything on the Con- 
 tinent. It was necessary that she should have allies, and 
 they were not to be found readily after so many disastrous 
 campaigns. Nevertheless, she kept up an active inter-
 
 246 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 course with Kussia; but, in order that it should bear fruit, 
 it was necessary to get Prussia to join them, for that coun- 
 try could alone furnish the battle-field. Prussia still 
 enjoyed the prestige of the military creations of Frederick 
 the Great. The campaign in Champagne had brought 
 Prussia little credit, but its failure was attributed rather 
 to bad political moves than to the unskilful handling 
 of her armies. 
 
 Since then, the Prussians had shown some talent in the 
 siege of Mayence ; their troops were in a fine state of effi- 
 ciency, yet officers versed in military affairs contended 
 that an army whose noted generals were men from sixty 
 to eighty years of age, and the greater part of whose young 
 officers had never been shot over, was in a poor condition 
 to cope with the young and virile army of France, which 
 army had for the past fourteen years slept on battle-fields, 
 and which had just surpassed itself in the campaign culmi- 
 nating in the victory of Austerlitz. Hence did the storm 
 gathering in that quarter cause but small alarm in France. 
 
 At home, every show of opposition had been crushed. 
 Bonaparte had inherited all the force and strength created 
 by the Kevolution, and was surrounded with a number of 
 eminent men who no longer had any ambition but to serve 
 him. The army was his beyond recall. Each day saw the 
 scions of the best families, of those who up to that time had 
 longest held aloof, enter the ranks. And indeed it was 
 hard for a young man to witness such a harvest of glory, 
 and not to wish to reap his share of it. 
 
 Positions in the civil service were beginning to be a 
 source of ambition for all classes. As to the clergy, with 
 the exception of a small number of dissentients, who might 
 still cause a few consciences some little trouble, but which 
 had no influence in the state, it certainly proved itself one 
 of the most devoted auxiliaries, and so, one of those most
 
 COMPLETE ADHESION OF THE CLERGY 247 
 
 precious to the imperial crown. The papal consecration 
 had, to its eyes, settled every question, and the charges 
 given out subsequent to that date all bear striking proof of 
 this. There is one of these which I have particular cause 
 to remember, emanating as it did from the pen of M. de 
 Broglie, Bishop of Ghent, at the opening of the Austerlitz 
 campaign. I can recall that while praising Napoleon to 
 excess, the noble prelate naively declared that he was an 
 enemy to all adulation. 
 
 This favorable mood of the clergy bore nowhere more 
 influence than in the western provinces, where the work of 
 pacification was complete and civil war had become alto- 
 gether extinct. Moreover, consequent upon the counsel 
 and preaching of the priests, the departments which had so 
 long fought the troops of the Kepublic supplied as quickly 
 as elsewhere their contingents to tlie Emperor's armies. 
 Great care was, moreover, bestowed in the administration of 
 these departments. New roads were opened, and the same 
 hand which restored the Place Bellecour in Lyons, built a 
 new town in La Vendee. 
 
 Old France had been destroyed, and new France needed 
 an organization. Everything was budding in the latter, 
 and elements were not lacking, but nothing was in its 
 proper place. It is easy to remark that the new chief of 
 the state had this advantage on his side, viz. that no 
 institution having taken root in France since the begin- 
 ning of the Revolution, there was nothing standing in his 
 way, and that he could therefore give free rein to his con- 
 ceptions; but I really think that he would have considered 
 himself more than fortunate had he been able to lay his 
 hand on some old institution, on some time-honored social 
 custom, even some national prejudice which had stood the 
 brunt of centuries, and upon which he could have laid the 
 foundations of an edifice.
 
 248 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 More than once, it must be said in justice to him, he 
 expressed his regrets to that effect, showing himself in this 
 respect far superior to the men of talent who surrounded 
 him, whose training had taken place during the Revolu- 
 tion, and who had derived from it their prejudices in favor 
 of a general levelling, thus rendering all building up an 
 impossibility. They were merely capable of destructive 
 work. 
 
 Two things are requisite to constitute and organize a 
 social system. It requires doubtless a written legislation 
 in harmony with its material position ; but, by the side of 
 such legislation, there must be found an entirely different 
 one composed of usages, customs, accepted ideas, and lastly, 
 of manners, and this latter one is the only one which gov- 
 erns social life in so many cases where the laws cannot 
 make themselves felt. Concerning written legislation, I 
 have already pointed out with what happy results the First 
 Consul had devoted his attention to it with the aid of his 
 Council of State. As Emperor he could but pursue his 
 work as First Consul, and it can be truly said that he never 
 ceased giving his best attention to it. At the time of my 
 entering the Council of State, the Civil Code and the Code 
 of Civil Procedure were completed, and the Commercial 
 Code was under discussion. The Penal Code and the Code 
 of Criminal Procedure were in course of preparation. 
 
 In a century where knowledge was widespread, at a time 
 where for a period of almost fifteen years, every idea and 
 principle of legislation had been publicly ventilated and 
 discussed, when advantage could be derived from experi- 
 ence, when the Council could boast of lawyers of the first 
 rank, such as Messieurs Tronchet, de Cambaceres, and 
 Portalis, it could not be considered a rash undertaking 
 nor one disproportionate to the means at hand to recast all 
 the country's legislation.
 
 FRANCE'S NEW ORGANIZATION 249 
 
 The principal and real merit of the Emperor lies in hav- 
 ing conceived the necessity of the undertaking, and in hav- 
 ing pushed it forward with the activity characterizing all 
 his doings, and which he had the faculty of communicating 
 to others. The stupendous amount of work which he got 
 out of his Council of State, during the first six or seven 
 years, is sufficient to frighten one's imagination. Nor can 
 it be denied that he knew so well how to apply his intel- 
 lect to matters which must have been completely foreign 
 to him, in such a manner that not only was his interfer- 
 ence not out of place, but that he often brought to them 
 most useful knowledge. 
 
 To turn to the other legislation, the need of which I have 
 also pointed out, the one that is not made with nor learnt 
 in books. With regard to this one, the difiiculties were far 
 greater, and, in the beginning, the Emperor stood almost 
 alone in his views regarding it. Not only was he badly 
 served, but barely understood by the majority of those 
 about him. Some of them were governed by a blind fear 
 of what was styled the old regime; the limited intellect of 
 others did not permit of their conceiving that there was a 
 mean to be preserved between this old regime, which their 
 thoughtless wishes would have recalled to life, and that of 
 the Eevolution, which they justly held in execration. 
 
 Nothing was more difficult than to make the men of the 
 Eevolution understand that the only way of consolidating, 
 and of securing against the vicissitude of events newly 
 acquired positions and fortunes, was to make class distinc- 
 tions de facto if not de jure, and to create within the higher 
 or lesser ranks of the social order a certain number of 
 those hereditary institutions by which a throne must of 
 necessity be surrounded, if it is itself to become hereditary. 
 
 Most extraordinary was the state of mind of the men of 
 the Revolution who had gone over to the Emperor. They
 
 250 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 had fully accepted the idea of an absolute power committed 
 to the hands of one man. The altitude of this power was 
 so prodigious that it no longer dazzled their eyes. More- 
 over, at the time of their consenting to serve under him 
 they had known enough to set a high price on their ser- 
 vices. But, in order that the throne should not be for them 
 a source of alarm, they would have liked to see it standing 
 by itself, and they were irritated by the ranks which in- 
 terposed themselves between them and the throne. But 
 the man who occupied it was too shrewd not to understand 
 that anything which stands alone and unsupported cannot 
 last long in this world. He therefore sought props in all 
 directions, securing them from the old as well as from the 
 new France, for he was not the man to believe that ten 
 long centuries had been actually wiped out by the events 
 that occurred in ten years. It therefore became necessary 
 and indispensable to bring about a fusion between the past 
 and the present, and until such a fusion took place, it could 
 rightly be said that the new work was not complete. 
 
 Among the men closest to the Emperor, and to whom 
 some influence in his decisions may be attributed, were his 
 consular colleagues. Messieurs Lebrun and de Cambaceres, 
 who, at the birth of the Empire, had become respectively 
 archtreasurer and archchancellor. It would be difl&cult to 
 find two men of such opposite characteristics. The first 
 named, a former secretary of Chancellor Maupeou, and the 
 author of the truly remarkable preamble to the Chancellor's 
 edicts of 1771, a distinguished man of letters, a charming 
 translator of Tasso and of Homer, was a devoted adherent of 
 all the philosophical principles of the eighteenth century, 
 and he had embraced the Eevolution of 1789 with all the 
 ardor and good faith of an adept. He had not played any 
 prominent part in it, although a member of the Constituent 
 Assembly. A gentle and humane man, and a foe to all deeds
 
 CONSUL LEBRUN 251 
 
 of violence, he deplored the evils which the Kevolution 
 brought in its train. He had a horror of its crimes, and 
 despised those who committed them. Still, he could not 
 help believing that the misery which these crimes engen- 
 dered were at the very least atoned for by the inestimable 
 benefit conferred by the abolition of all hereditary distinc- 
 tions and privileges, by the doing away with the old judi- 
 ciary, especially the Parlements, towards dispersing which 
 he had labored in 1791. He dreaded all religious power 
 and influence, and if his peace of mind was still liable to 
 be disturbed, it was from the fear of again seeing the 
 advent of such a state of affairs. Lastly, no one has ever 
 surpassed him in his dream of a state of perfect equality, 
 and hence it is that the slightest encroachment on this 
 equality in the matter of the division of an estate, seemed 
 to him a monstrous thing. He was the father of a large 
 family, and nothing could have induced him to give one 
 of his children the slightest advantage over the others.^ 
 Titles and honorary distinctions were in his eyes mere 
 playthings, and he could not help shrugging his shoulders 
 every time he would see any store set on them. 
 
 When the First Consul took him as a colleague he was, 
 since the 13th Vendemiaire, a member of the Conseil des 
 Cinq-Cents, where he had always ranked among its mod- 
 erate men. His line of conduct had been sufficiently cau- 
 tious to save him from being transported, in spite of his 
 intimate relations with several of the frudidorises, notably 
 M. de Marbois. 
 
 The selection of M. Lebrun as Third Consul was there- 
 fore looked upon as one of the pledges given by the Gen- 
 
 1 It was the greatest difficulty, at least during the last years of his life, 
 to induce him to consent to the settlement of a majorat, in order to secure 
 for his son his place in the pairie, as his successor. I am even inclined to 
 believe that this majorat was created by the son himself out of his own 
 resources.
 
 252 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 eral First Consul of the moderation of his intentions. It 
 was also a valuable acquisition to his government, as he 
 was highly educated, a good administrator, and possessed 
 of a rare talent for writing, which more than once was put 
 to good use. His most shining specialty was that of deal- 
 ing with financial matters, of which he had made a search- 
 ing study. It is true that his knowledge in this respect 
 had been acquired perhaps to too great an extent in the 
 purist school of economy, thus rendering its results less fit 
 for application. Nevertheless, while still making liberal 
 allowance for doctrinal exaggeration, there was still much 
 to be derived from what he knew about questions of tax- 
 ation, and especially about the public credit. Napoleon, 
 who knew how to do justice to his talents, appointed him 
 archtreasurer in the first days of the Empire. 
 
 M. de Cambaceres, Second Consul, and then archchan- 
 cellor, was the very opposite of M. Lebrun. A councillor 
 at the Cour des aides of Montpellier previous to 1789, he 
 had been a personage of some importance in that body, and 
 this importance would have been still greater, if to his pub- 
 lic worth had been joined somewhat more dignified man- 
 ners. A stranger to any system of philosophy, endowed 
 with one of the most positive minds that ever existed, he 
 had allowed himself to be carried away by the first waves 
 of the Revolution, rather than plunging into them. 
 
 The advantages he could derive therefrom were counter- 
 balanced by many dangers, which would doubtless have 
 held him back, had it not been that the party of the Revo- 
 lution was the strongest. His was a nature governed more 
 by prudence than by courage. Nevertheless, he did not 
 become a member either of the Constituent Assembly or 
 of the Legislative Assembly. Up to September, 1792, he 
 contented himself with filling, in the department of the 
 Herault, several judicial or administrative positions of
 
 CONSUL CAMBACERES 253 
 
 more or less importance. His political career really 
 began on the day he entered the Convention. He soon 
 made his mark by his remarkable aptitude for work, and 
 by his genuine acquaintance with all questions of jurispru- 
 dence. He became a member of several committees, but 
 it was the king's trial which drew public attention to him. 
 His behavior during this trial affords some strange contra- 
 dictions. 
 
 He began by declaring the king guilty, next denied the 
 Convention's right to try him. After this, he voted for 
 his imprisonment and even his death, but this latter alter- 
 native only in the case of a foreign invasion, and, to crown 
 all, he asked that the sentence, which was one of death, 
 should be carried out within twenty-four hours after it had 
 been pronounced. The explanation of all these inconsis- 
 tencies is to be found in the struggle of his mind between 
 his pusillanimity and his conscience. In them are to be 
 seen the vain efforts of a man of enlightened mind and 
 timid soul not to become accomplice in a crime which 
 caused him to shudder with fear, without too greatly en- 
 dangering his own safety. 
 
 Never daring to employ, in order to attain this object, 
 any other but indirect means, beginning with a concession 
 which he did not dare to refuse to the exigencies of the 
 party which was soon to win him over to its side, M. de 
 Cambaceres tried to group together 3,11 the timid souls 
 in sympathy with his own, and with this feeble support he 
 thought to check unbridled passions. Convinced too late 
 of the uselessness of this effort, he fell so low as to seek for- 
 giveness for his badly managed resistance, and purchased 
 this forgiveness at the cost of a cowardly desertion of the 
 august victim whom he no longer entertained a hope of 
 saving. 
 
 His obsequiousness towards the revolutionary party led
 
 254 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 him to the post of Minister of Justice, a post he still occu- 
 pied on the 18th Brumaire, and which caused him to be 
 raised to the consulate. But if on the one hand such was the 
 source of the high position he subsequently attained, there 
 is no doubt that the recollection of those early years con- 
 stantly poisoned all his enjoyments. The care he has taken 
 to wash his hands of the death of Louis XVI. sufficiently 
 shows that it has been the torture of his life. He has 
 ever been alive to the fact that the measure of indulgence 
 he stood in need of would not be readily granted to him by 
 the men on whose final judgment the verdict of posterity 
 will be based. M. de Cambaceres joined the consulate with 
 a lesser feeling of security than M. Lebrun. His appoint- 
 ment, it must be admitted, was a sop thrown by Bonaparte 
 to the revolutionary party, to the most odious and com- 
 promised men, and yet this man who attained power under 
 such auspices soon became one of the most zealous partisans 
 of a return to ideas of order and to monarchical principles 
 about the First Consul. The judicial occupations of his 
 youth, the study of law to which he had devoted himself, 
 made him well acquainted with these ideas and principles, 
 and his mind was imbued with them. Revolutionary life 
 had caused him to put them aside, but without effacing 
 them from his mind, and no sooner did the opportunity 
 present itself to take them up again, than he grasped it 
 with the prudent and discreet joy which constituted the 
 basis of his character. 
 
 When later on he reverted to ideas of religion, no sur- 
 prise was felt, even by those who had made him a study. 
 The deviations which his conscience reproached him with 
 were the cause of his hatred and detestation of the Revolu- 
 tion. His memory dwelt with pleasure on the times which 
 preceded it. When in his private circle, he enjoyed recall- 
 ing and extolling the advantages of the social organization
 
 CAMBACtBkS AS CONSUL 255 
 
 of those happy and tranquil days. The existence of the 
 old magistracy was especially a subject of perpetual regret 
 to him. In that, differing greatly from his colleague, M. 
 Lebrun, he did not admit of a monarchical state without a 
 nobility, without a clergy, without hereditary ranks and 
 dignities, and without an uncontested transmission by 
 right of primogeniture of an amount of wealth sufficient 
 to secure to families the preservation of the honorary 
 inheritance. 
 
 As these social combinations could not be borrowed from 
 the old regime on which his thoughts were forbidden to 
 dwell, he toiled diligently to have them emanate from the 
 consular or imperial power, engrafting as much as he could 
 the new creations on what remained of the old ones, fully 
 aware, moreover, that it was the only way of obtaining 
 perfect security for men in positions similar to his own. 
 On this point, consequently, his ideas chimed in with those 
 of Napoleon. 
 
 It must be said, moreover, that all the excellent reasons 
 suggested to him in favor of this system by the perspicuity 
 of his judgment and by his superior lights, derived addi- 
 tional strength from his pettiness of spirit, for he prized 
 social distinctions not only because of their political worth, 
 but also on account of the personal enjoyment he derived 
 from them. Never did titles, crosses, and ribands give 
 anybody more pleasure than they did him. His whole 
 delight lay in displaying them. He was in the habit of 
 parading with childish glee, not only in salons but even in 
 public places, his orders in gold, pearls, and diamonds; 
 yet, in spite of all this childishness, his was the best 
 equipped mind in the Imperial Council. He was all the 
 more a great lawyer in that his knowledge, although of con- 
 siderable extent, did not govern him in absolute fashion, 
 but obeyed the mandates of that exquisite understanding 
 and superior intellect which alone make the legislator.
 
 256 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 He enjoyed likewise the knowledge and perspicacity of 
 a statesman, but he was far from possessing the firmness 
 of character and will power which are the necessary at- 
 tributes of a legislator. The secondary role to which he 
 had been called did not indeed require these qualities. 
 Still, there is reason to believe that had he shown a little 
 more courage in expressing his thoughts, and more firm- 
 ness in defending his opinions, he would on many occasions 
 have induced the chief, to whose fortunes he had attached 
 himself, to come to many a valuable determination. He 
 rendered great service to him, and nobody ever deserved 
 better the confidence he enjoyed at his hands. 
 
 While repeatedly the chief depositary of his power, 
 albeit in so far only as that power could be delegated, during 
 Napoleon's frequent absences under the Consulate and the 
 Empire, he ever exercised it with the amount of cleverness 
 necessary for it not to suffer damage at his hands, at the 
 same time revealing to no small degree the caution required 
 so as not to give offence to the jealous touchiness of the 
 man who was the fountain of that power. 
 
 M. de Cambaceres showed himself kind and inclined to 
 be helpful in his intercourse with humanity, so far as his 
 natural timidity would permit. He was ever faithful to 
 his friendships, forgetful of injury, but never of services 
 done, in that vastly the superior of his colleague Lebrun, 
 who, egotistical and wrapped up in himself, had scarcely any 
 thoughts but for himself and his family. 
 
 Xext to M. de Cambaceres, two members of the ministry, 
 ^Messieurs Fouche and de Talleyrand shared or exploited 
 the confidence of the First Consul and of the Emperor. 
 The other ministers, although men of great importance 
 each in the sphere of administration assigned to him, never 
 exercised more than a restricted influence on great ques- 
 tions of state policy.
 
 M. FOUCHE 257 
 
 M. Fouche, one of tlie conventionnels who had voted for 
 the king's death, one of the most rabid proconsuls in the 
 days of the Eeign of Terror, was for a long time the verita- 
 ble representative of the Kevolution about Bonaparte. He 
 it was who spoke on its behalf, and he was fully entitled 
 to do so, for there were hardly any of its crimes in which 
 he had not participated. He had become its accomplice 
 coldly, dispassionately, and without any fixed object in 
 view, living from hand to mouth in the midst of all its 
 abominations, and never losing the presence of mind to see 
 everything, notice everything, and remember everything. 
 
 The diredeur Barras, with whom his relations had been 
 of a very intimate kind, took him out of the ranks of the 
 Jacobins, whom he had joined at the time of the commo- 
 tion of Prairial, Year III., and after having entrusted him 
 with several succeeding diplomatic missions, apparently 
 in order to give him time wherein to get rid of his bad 
 habits, finally made him Minister of Police. The 18th 
 Brumaire found him at this post, and although the work of 
 that day had been accomplished without his having a part 
 in it, and, in some respects, without his knowledge of it, 
 ever ready to be on the winning side, he had not hesitated 
 to offer his services to the lucky general. Bonaparte 
 showed just as little hesitation in accepting them, and in 
 retaining M. Fouche as Minister of Police, he at one and 
 the same time sought to give to the dethroned party the 
 guarantee promised to it, to secure to himself the means of 
 governing that party, by preserving a connection with it 
 that would keep him informed as to its inner workings, and 
 to obtain immunity from the attempts of the Eoyalist party 
 by having a vigilant watchdog whose zeal in such a cause 
 would be beyond doubt. 
 
 Nevertheless, Bonaparte's natural mistrust warned him 
 never to repose entire confidence in such a man, and that it
 
 258 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 would be necessary to set a watch on the man who was 
 about to be entrusted with the duty of watching others. It 
 was from that day that he began to employ several police 
 systems exercising a respective check on each other, always 
 trying to surpass each other in zeal, thus filling his mind, 
 one against the other, with prejudices, the consequences of 
 which were always serious. 
 
 M. Fouche's part was a difficult one, but it was the only 
 one for which he was fit. Void of any solid education, 
 incapable of conceiving two consecutive ideas and of dili- 
 gently applying himself to any task, he never could have 
 filled any other ministry than that of police, which is 
 more carried on by conversation than by the work of the 
 closet. It is sufficient to be acquainted with the intrigues 
 of the day and their ramifications. In those days, it was 
 specially necessary to be familiar with the names of many, 
 and principally those of men whose life in the past gave 
 cause to foresee what they might be capable of in the 
 future. In this connection, M. Fouche's antecedents gave 
 him all kinds of advantages. I have already stated that 
 he had seen everything, known everything. I add that 
 he cared seriously for nothing. Without affection for any- 
 body, of a duplicity and of a perfidy never equalled, capable 
 of sacrificing for the smallest interest the man who might 
 consider himself the day before his best friend; possessing 
 in the highest degree, if not the ability, at least the im- 
 pudence of a liar; gifted with a light, superficial mind, 
 often hapi^y in repartee, and maintaining always the out- 
 ward appearance of an imperturbable coolness, it cost him 
 nothing to betray all those who had dealings with him, 
 beginning Avith Bonaparte, though he had served him, in 
 the first period of his elevation, with a fidelity that had 
 all the appearance of devotion. 
 
 As the best way of retaining the good graces of so sus-
 
 M. FOUCHE 259 
 
 picious a master, and one so difficult to please, will ever be 
 to make oneself necessary or act so as to create such a belief 
 in one, it will be easy to form an idea of all the lying 
 reports and of all the perfidious hints with which M. 
 Fouche must have for so long, and especially during the 
 first years, thrust upon the First Consul. Hence, how 
 many fatal resolutions may there not be imputed to him, 
 and how numerous are the excellent measures the execution 
 of which he delayed, if he did not stifle them all together? 
 
 The man had not, it must be confessed, his equal in the 
 art of making dupes, and he never practised this art more 
 cynically than in the case of the Royalists and of the 
 imigres. For years I witnessed both parties, firmly con- 
 vinced that they were subjected to severe treatment in 
 spite of him, that it was the work of the chief of the state, 
 that Fouche was their sole defender; and when, in after 
 years, I was able to take cognizance of their reports 
 emanating from his closet, and of the orders he had given, 
 I discovered facts contradicting his assertions, in other 
 words, reports almost always couched so as to envenom 
 the simplest matters, orders of extreme severity, and all 
 this signed by himself. 
 
 In the very beginnings of the Consulate, M. Fouche had 
 met in the person of M. de Talleyrand a most formidable 
 antagonist, and this circumstance caused a marked in- 
 fluence on his behavior. He showed himself all the more 
 attached to the revolutionary party because his rival seemed 
 to be disposed to act independently of it. One may well 
 believe that in the case of two men of such calibre, it was 
 not a question between them of principles or even of opin- 
 ions. Long ago both of them had made up their minds to 
 know no others save those appropriate to circumstances. 
 The bone of contention between them was the possession of 
 influence in public affairs and with the chief of the govern-
 
 260 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ment ; the opportunity and means to govern him, to enmesh 
 him, and to get all they could out of him for their own 
 advantage. They had not yet had time to find out to what 
 a degree their scheme was studded with difficulties, not to 
 say impracticable. Of the two, M. Fouche took the longest 
 time to undeceive himself as to their common mistake, and 
 in that showed gross stupidity. With strange vanity, he 
 thought that the First Consul would never be anything 
 but a more firmly established directeur and Avith a more 
 solidly constituted power than that of his predecessors. 
 He was under the impression that the consular government 
 could never be anything else than the extension of the gov- 
 ernment of the Revolution, only better defined and better 
 carried out, and that the instruments called into use dur- 
 ing that Revolution were, with but a few exceptions, the 
 ones still to be employed. 
 
 M. Talleyrand's innate perspicacity, the advantage which 
 he derived from his previous condition of life, of having 
 seen things from a higher pinnacle, of penetrating their 
 significance, of judging them with a more practised eye, 
 had soon made him see that a victorious man of Bonaparte's 
 mould was not going to drag along in the ignoble tracks of 
 the men whose place he had taken; that he had higher 
 ambitions ; that although it might suit him to be the Revo- 
 lution's heir, it in no way suited him to continue its work. 
 His mind once settled on this point, the clever courtier, 
 for M. de Talleyrand again became one from that day, 
 neglected no opportunity of gaining the confidence of the 
 man whom he wished to charm and captivate. Entering 
 without effort, but never too brusquely, into what he might 
 know or divine of his most secret views, he made the road 
 easy to him, without appearing to trace it. This conduct 
 met with full success, and brought to him who practised it 
 an uncontested influence. The charm of his seduction was
 
 M. BE TALLEYRAND 261 
 
 all the more powerful for being clothed with manners which 
 were rare in those clays. Added to a natural wit, ever 
 stamped with a piquant originality, M, de Talleyrand 
 possessed the distinguished and easy manners of the court- 
 ier, of the grand seigneur of former days, and he greatly 
 contributed to the taste which his master was soon to 
 acquire for such manners. In this respect, he had the 
 merit of coming forward as the natural and easy connecting 
 link between old France and new France, between the old 
 and the new regime. One thing is certain, and that is he 
 could without danger be made use of for such a purpose, as 
 there was no fear of his ever going too far. It would have 
 been hard to meet with a man more on his guard than he 
 was against a return to the former order of things. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand might remain content with a First 
 Consul playing the part of Ceesar; but the throne of Bour- 
 bon was too formidable in his eyes, for him not to take good 
 and special care to drive away from the mind of the First 
 Consul everything liable to lead him to accej)t a part simi- 
 lar to the one which Monk had played on the opposite side 
 of the Channel. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered 
 him great facilities for warding off such a danger. It gave 
 him repeated opportunities for discussing the political 
 situation of France, the strength of that situation, and 
 what it might become when exploited by a genius so rare 
 as his and ever seconded by a victorious arm/ and as the 
 
 1 lu order to better conceive the art and the species of abandon, with 
 which M. de Talleyrand knew how to flatter Napoleon, it would be neces- 
 sary to read a letter which has just come under my notice, and which 
 he wrote on the occasion of Napoleon's birthday. It is dated from the 
 watering-place of Bourbonne, and its main subject is a journey which the 
 Emperor and the Empress had just made through the northern provinces 
 of France. In it he blamed the newspapers for having spoken of this 
 journey, the like of which, he argued, was not recorded in history, as they 
 would have spoken of Louis XVI.'s trip to Normandy. He censured them, 
 moreover, for having diverted public opinion from this important occur-
 
 262 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 art of conversation is one wherein he excels, as he knows 
 how to lead up to everything he is desirous of saying, I 
 have no doubt that with the object of avoiding the danger 
 which he dreaded in those days, he did not during the first 
 years do too much towards magnifying and extolling the 
 ambitious genius which he later on sought to control, and 
 Avhich laughed so cruelly at his impotent efforts. 
 
 At the time when I once more entered public life, Talley- 
 rand had not yet been awakened from his dream. The 
 fortunate Minister of Foreign Affairs had seen the days of 
 the Consulate pass by without his meeting with any diffi- 
 culties; he had contributed towards the establishment of 
 the Empire, and his name was attached to some of the 
 highest diplomatic negotiations. He witnessed the growth 
 of his reputation for talent and ability ; he had grown in 
 favor, and had left far behind him his colleague M. Fouche, 
 whose importance grew lesser as the unhappy times which 
 had given it existence rolled past. He was still at the 
 head of the Ministry of General Police; he had been re- 
 moved from his post for a few months, but the conspiracy 
 of Georges Cadoudal had restored it to him, and he was 
 indebted to that conspiracy for the return of an influence 
 all the more to be regretted in that it ever seemed to owe 
 its birth to public misfortunes. 
 
 It is not an easy task to paint the portrait of M. de 
 Talleyrand. How is one to reproduce such changing 
 colors? The more one studies his character, the less one 
 
 rence, by speaking of the tour of a few Councillors of State through the 
 departments, of the one, among others, which had been undertaken by M. 
 Regnaud, whose wife had accompanied him. " Oh 1 " he exclaimed in 
 this connection, " how much are not books and journals in need of a cen- 
 sorship I " The letter closes with the customary protestations of respect 
 and devotion, aud he begs leave to supplement them with the expression 
 of an attachment which he ventures to style tender. It is a license which 
 he allows himself on a day which seems to him to justify a little more 
 abandon in his language. (This footnote was written in October, 1829.)
 
 M. BE TALLEYRAND 263 
 
 fathoms it. The fact is, that it is actually difficult to find 
 in him anything settled and stable. Although endowed to 
 a remarkable degree with certain qualities of the mind, it 
 is hard to discover any quality of mind or heart that can 
 be ascribed to him. Capable of immoderate desires rather 
 than of violent passions, susceptible of receiving every kind 
 of impression, a prey to all sorts of tastes, even the most 
 despicable, no means was repugnant to him when the ques- 
 tion arose of gratifying his desires and contenting his 
 tastes. 
 
 The world has perhaps never produced a man lacking 
 more in delicacy of sentiment, and more incapable of being 
 influenced by any idea of morality. No one ever so made 
 sport of the world's opinion. He defied it constantly 
 both in his public and private life, in his morals as in his 
 political conduct. The desire of shaking off the restraints 
 of a condition of life which he had embraced regretfully, 
 and to which he had been condemned through a natal 
 deformity, and the need of an unbridled licentiousness 
 seemed to have thrown him into the arms of the Eevolu- 
 tion more than any of the liberal sentiments which he some- 
 times sought to parade, and which he far oftener trampled 
 under foot. A bishop and a grand seigneur in 1789, it cost 
 him little to be one of the earliest deserters from his caste 
 and from his vows of ordination, and no one followed this 
 path with a firmer step and carried his head higher, sacri- 
 ficing with equal readiness to the Eevolutiou, the goods and 
 chattels of the one, and the honors and privileges of the 
 other. But, if from amidst the ruins with which he sur- 
 rounded himself there survived in him a sentiment of any 
 kind, it was the sentiment of pride he derived from his 
 birth and from the rank which he had occupied in the 
 Church. Yet this did not prevent everything appertaining 
 to him, even his episcopal character, being placed at the
 
 264 MEMOIRS OF CnANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 disposal of the Revolution. Since 1789, the only use he 
 made of this sacred character was to transmit it, in viola- 
 tion of every right, to the new bishops who did not hesitate 
 to violate the rules of the old Church of France, and again 
 to celebrate on the Champ de Mars the Mass of the first 
 federation. 
 
 M. de La Fayette has recently told how the Bishop of 
 Autun, when mounting the steps of the altar with the 
 sacred vase in his hands, saw him there in command of the 
 National Guard, sword in hand, near the steps, and passing 
 as near him as possible, the Bishop whispered to him : " Do 
 not make me laugh." Such a trait needs no comment. 
 
 This worthy chaplain to all the immoralities of the Revo- 
 lution became, moreover, with the aid of the assignats, one 
 of the principal financiers of the Constituent Assembly, 
 leaving its halls only to go and gamble away these assignats 
 on the green baize of a gambling-house which was opened 
 in the pavilion de Hanovre by a M. de Castellane, who was 
 the first to give Paris the scandal of a public gambling 
 place. His fate willed it that during the existence of the 
 Legislative Assembly he should receive secretly a diplo- 
 matic mission which took him to England, where he 
 succeeded in putting himself on the footing of director and 
 overseer of M. de Chauvelin, the beardless ambassador 
 whom the French cabinet sent to England in those days. 
 
 Thus situated, his residence abroad saved him from the 
 perils and evils of all sorts which he had in so great a 
 measure helped to bring down on his country. He was in 
 Paris on the 10th of August, but he soon crossed the Straits 
 again, to be followed by a decree of accusation hurled 
 against him by the Convention. He was expelled from 
 England at the time of the declaration of war which fol- 
 lowed the execution of Louis XVI. He was the only 
 French citizen of any note then taking refuge in England,
 
 M. BE TALLEYEAND 265 
 
 against whom Mr. Pitt made use of the powers conferred 
 on him by the Alien Act. Thus, no other resource was 
 left to M. de Talleyrand than to make a journey to America. 
 He came back to France after the Terror, being guaranteed 
 immunity by a decree which his former friends wrested 
 from the Convention. Chenier was the principal mover in 
 the matter. The terms of the petition which he presented 
 to the Convention to obtain this favor, and the speeches 
 which were delivered in his praise by his friend would 
 make curious reading nowadays. 
 
 His life then became consecrated to obscure intrigues, 
 until the day when Mme. de Stael lifted him out of distress 
 by introducing him to the Directeur Barras, who shortly 
 afterwards gave him the portfolio of foreign affairs. He 
 ill repaid the service rendered to him by Mme. de Stael 
 when the day came for her to draw imperial anger to her- 
 self. Barras 's new minister was soon to join hands with 
 his protector in bringing about the 18th Brumaire, when 
 the men who had given him the warmest welcome on his 
 return to France were to be sacrificed. 
 
 It was about this time that he took a step the precise 
 date of which escapes me. He sent M. de Fontanes to the 
 king, Louis X.VIII., for the purpose of tendering him his 
 services. As sole reward he asked for the Duch}^ of P^ri- 
 gord, and to be made free of his ecclesiastical bonds. The 
 king granted him the first request wthout making any difii- 
 culty ; with regard to the second one, he replied that it was 
 a matter concerning the Pope. Negotiations were soon 
 broken off. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand did not allow his public post to stand 
 in the way of his private interests. A week after his 
 becoming minister, he had acquired five or six hundred 
 thousand francs. This talent for making money never 
 abandoned him ; he exercised it with a like good fortune on
 
 266 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 all occasions, and no treaty is known in the framing of 
 which he took a part which did not furnish him an oppor- 
 tunity. The Treaty of Luneville, wherein it was stipulated 
 that Austria would redeem the paper-money which she had 
 issued in Belgium, gave him the means of reaping enormous 
 benefits, for he bought up this paper-money ere anybody 
 knew of the stipulation. 
 
 Secularization in Germany, and the arrangements which 
 the new territorial partitions occasioned, became a fresh 
 source of profits, and a much greater one than the first. I 
 have heard them valued by well-informed people at four 
 millions at least. It must be said in justice to M. de 
 Talleyrand that he did not keep all to himself the fruits 
 of his venality. He felt it was necessary to allow many of 
 his co-workers a share in them, for it was a good way of 
 securing useful and faithful instruments. His gains must 
 have been immense, for they were sufficient to meet his 
 enormous expenses, and through them he built up the 
 fortune which he still enjoys. It may perhaps be said that 
 in nothing did he show himself wiser and more consistent. 
 What Avould he be to-day without that fortune? Let us 
 for a moment suppose him poor, and then try and form an 
 idea of his existence. It is more than likely that the 
 remainder of his days, would, like those of many hardly 
 less worthless than himself, be passed in oblivion and 
 neglect. 
 
 I have said that he was deficient in delicacy of sentiment. 
 He does not even possess the kind necessary to resent 
 offence for any length of time. The sentiment of an honest 
 pride which springs in the human breast from a sense of 
 offended dignity does not exist in him, and his entire moral 
 personality seems clothed with a hard and polished cover- 
 ing over which insults and contempt glide without penetrat- 
 ing it. Hence it is that there does not exist any affront
 
 M. BE TALLEYRAND 267 
 
 which he will not brush from his memory if he perceives 
 the slightest advantage in becoming reconciled with the 
 person who should be to him an object of resentment. 
 This seems so natural to him that his surprise is ever fresh 
 when he sees his advances rejected. In his eyes, he who 
 rejects them merely shows a lack of intelligence. But, if 
 he is deficient in this delicate organization of heart and 
 soul, there remains another to which he can lay claim, and 
 that is the delicacy of good taste. Many mots and phrases 
 are quoted from his lips which denote the most subtle and 
 surest tact. It is this which first gave him his reputation 
 in society. 
 
 I must therefore give him credit for this merit, while 
 confining it, however, to the occasions when he has been 
 able to prepare his language and his phrases; for, when 
 taken unawares through some irritating circumstance, or, 
 if he is not warned to keep a guard on his anger, it finds 
 vent in the coarsest words. 
 
 Numerous are the instances in which he has offended 
 every propriety. At the head of the list of his offences in 
 this line must stand his marriage, and it is at the same 
 time the most inexplicable of them all, for one cannot 
 imagine what the particular seduction was which led him 
 to it. To marry an old mistress, who has been the mistress 
 of twenty others ; to marry her when the last vestiges of 
 her good looks have almost vanished, when nothing remains 
 to her but a glaring and well-recognized stupidity, of a 
 nature to cover her with undying ridicule ! 
 
 It has been thought that this woman was the depositary 
 of his wealth, or the possessor of some secret of the highest 
 importance, and that the price of her secrecy was the return 
 she claimed as her just due. Some even go so far as to 
 believe that Bonaparte carried his Machiavelism to the 
 extent of compelling the man of whom he made use in his
 
 268 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 most important operations, but whose intrigues he dreaded, 
 to a deed which by discrediting liim completely, would put 
 it out of his power to be noxious. And indeed I know for 
 a fact that Mme. Grand went to Malmaison, in order to 
 throw herself at the feet of the First Consul, and implore 
 him to see to it that justice should be done her. I also 
 know that the First Consul remarked, on her leaving him, 
 that this woman had just shown him to what a high degree 
 the wish to gratify a passionate desire could impart elo- 
 quence even to the most stupid of women. 
 
 Without either adopting or rejecting any one of these 
 surmises, or even probable explanations, I must remark that 
 for him who knows M. de Talleyrand, it does not in any 
 way seem impossible to attribute the larger share of this 
 strange determination to the ascendant which importunity 
 exercises over weakness, to the desire of finding some little 
 amount of peace in a domestic arrangement, the habit of 
 which he did not know how to shake off; lastly, to a 
 supreme indifference to public opinion and that custom of 
 defying it which makes it a matter of course not to sacri- 
 fice anything to it. But, one thing is certain, and that is, 
 if there was a circumstance of his life on which M. de 
 Talleyrand never opened himself to anybody, on the sub- 
 ject of which he never allowed himself to be penetrated by 
 his friends, that is the one. I have heard it said by M. de 
 Choiseul-Gouflfier, one of his intimate acquaintances, that 
 he had employed all his acuteness (and he had much) in 
 trying to bring Talleyrand to make some explanation 
 on this subject, and he never succeeded. It remains to 
 be told that the marriage took place furtively at Epinay, 
 in the Valley of Montmorency. M. de Monville, a former 
 councillor of the Paris Parlement, who owned property in 
 the village, had arranged matters with the parish priest. 
 M. de Monville's kindness in the matter (it was, I believe
 
 M. BE TALLEYRAND 269 
 
 made easy by M. Louis) brought liim a peerage in 1815, 
 when M. de Talleyrand was President of the Council. 
 
 If it is asked how such a man came to play so important 
 a part for so many long years, the answer is that he ap- 
 peared at the right time for himself, in the midst of the 
 most troublous times, and of the most complete social dis- 
 organization. At any other time, his wit, in spite of its 
 brilliancy, would have merely brought him the ephemeral 
 successes Avhich the salons can give, and it would assuredly 
 not have placed him in a position of governing public affairs 
 in an order of things wherein sound and conscientious tal- 
 ents, and the respect of self and of public opinion would 
 have been the conditions requisite for any man holding an 
 important political position. 
 
 Added to this, this wit which I so readily grant him, 
 and the brilliancy of which I do not contest, has not been 
 strengthened by, and is not capable of serious study, and 
 could never bind itself doAvn to a work requiring persever- 
 ance and a continued attention. AVhile possessing in a 
 high degree the art of disjointed conversations, he would 
 not be capable of speaking consecutively in any public 
 assembly for a quarter of an hour, resembling in that his 
 colleague and rival, M. Fouche. But, he knows admirably 
 how to pounce upon an idea; whether it comes to him 
 spontaneously, or whether another has supplied him with 
 it, he takes possession of it, looks at every side of it, ex- 
 tracts from it all the brilliancy that it contains, and dis- 
 plays it under numerous and varied aspects ; it furnishes 
 him food for a long time, and he exhausts it unto satiety. 
 And the reason of this, I venture to say, is that his own 
 stock of ideas is much less rich than is generally believed. 
 By way of compensation, he possesses the faculty of ex- 
 ploiting with rare cleverness all who serve him, all who 
 are about him. People who are intimately acquainted with
 
 270 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 liiiii tell me tliat he employed the pens of others even for 
 the writing of certain part of his Memoirs. He thus makes 
 up very cleverly for the work which he does not do himself, 
 by substituting for it that which he causes to be done to 
 order, and his exquisite tact points out to him any word 
 which must be expunged, while teaching him to add the 
 right word. 
 
 He felt at home with the First Consul, with the Emperor, 
 for all that was required of him was to listen closely, to 
 grasp matters with discernment, and to combat with nicety 
 and caution Avhat might seem unusual and exaggerated in 
 the ideas presented. It was a struggle in which the clever 
 modes of expression, a thing in which he excelled,^ were 
 of great use to him. When, after having discussed matters 
 with the Emperor, he would receive the foreign ambassa- 
 dors, he had at his disposal a rich store to draw from. All 
 that remained for him to do was to tone down the too great 
 harshness of certain speeches by giving them a milder 
 form, and the charm of his conversation made it easy for 
 hira to dispose of this difiiculty. It was well known that 
 he had many occasions to surmount it, and people gave him 
 credit for the brilliant ease with which he acquitted himself 
 of the task. 
 
 Napoleon himself always appreciated his merits in this 
 connection, and he was still wont to say, after he had 
 parted company with him, that he was an excellent minis- 
 ter for parleys. Nothing better explains how his reputation 
 became so generally established, and how it gradually in- 
 creased for such a length of time. We shall see him later 
 on left to his own conceptions, and compelled to keep him- 
 
 1 1 have lieard a man of intellect (M. de Narboune) say, that if M. 
 de Talleyrand had on several occasions told some pretty plain truths to 
 the Emperor, this was to be attributed in a far lesser degree to a feeling 
 that they would prove serviceable, than to the pleasure he enjoyed in 
 seeing the Emperor permit such a liberty, owing to the way he put them 
 before him, and the happy way with which he gave expression to them.
 
 M. MABET AND M. PORTALIS 271 
 
 self up to the level of the greatest and of the most unex- 
 pected position. Then shall we be able to decide, with a 
 full acquaintance of the facts, if the judgment I here pass 
 on him is or is not based on sufficient grounds. 
 
 Next to the four personages whom I have made known 
 there remains about the First Consul and the Emperor 
 nothing but a few more or less able, devoted, and docile 
 instruments, whose services proved of great use, but to 
 whom it is not possible to attribute, except under special 
 and temporary circumstances, a lasting part in the direc- 
 tion of public affairs. 
 
 M. Maret, afterwards Due de Bassano, and at that time 
 Secretary of State, always held, from the first days of the 
 Consulate, a position of trust which derived all the appear- 
 ances of intimacy from the nature of its functions. His 
 services were appreciated, and his assiduous and almost 
 indefatigable ardor for work was of undoubted value. 
 Nevertheless, it is impossible not to admit, that up to a 
 period to be dwelt on later, his mind had not been con- 
 sidered capable of undertaking any heavier burden than the 
 one involved in executing to the letter orders given him, 
 and a rapid and facile putting into shape of such ideas as 
 had been agreed and settled upon. 
 
 On a much higher plane, M. Portalis, Senior, Councillor 
 of State, and later on Minister of Public Worship, had 
 exercised at the time of the concluding of the Concordat 
 an important and salutary influence on the manner in 
 which the clergy was reorganized. He also took a promi- 
 nent part in the framing of the Civil Code, of all monu- 
 ments of legislation of those times the one approaching 
 nearest to perfection. Here, therefore, we find a man who 
 gave potent aid on great occasions. Bonaparte thought a 
 good deal of his acquirements, and greatly admired his 
 natural, brilliant, and flowing eloquence. The art of 
 speech was ever a weapon in the eyes of this great con-
 
 272 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 queror, who often referred to it as such. Yet it cannot be 
 said that with all these endowments and in spite of so 
 many services of a special nature, M. Portalis enjoyed 
 a sustained influence in the direction of public aifairs. He 
 was one of those whom Bonaparte looked upon as too far 
 committed to a line of conduct which he was prepared to 
 enter upon and follow by degrees, but into which he did 
 not wish to be driven precipitately. He feared that he 
 might, in this respect, surrender too much of himself to the 
 seductive language of his Councillor of State or Minister. 
 
 M. de Laplace and M. Chaptal, both for a time entrusted 
 with the portfolio of the Ministry of the Interior, were 
 soon set aside. The mathematical rectitude of the former, 
 in spite of the superiority of his intellect, rendered him 
 utterly incapable for the work required of a public admin- 
 istrator. The latter knew and understood nothing but 
 what pertained to the useful arts combined with natural 
 sciences, and especially chemistry. Moreover, he lacked 
 in his private life, as well as in his behavior as a public 
 man, the sentiment of the proprieties, so necessary to the 
 intercourse which a ISIinister of the Interior is called upon 
 to preserve with all classes of society. 
 
 It is hardly worth while to speak of the trial that was 
 made of M. Lucien Bonaparte in the same position. His 
 independence of mind and character of which he was to 
 give so many proofs in the future, made him altogether 
 unfit for taking from and carrying out the orders of a 
 brother, whom he could not resign himself to see in a posi- 
 tion so superior to his own. 
 
 The disagreements between the Emperor and his family, 
 the difficulties which arose from these disagreements, and 
 the obstacles which they threw in the way of the establish- 
 ment and the keeping up of his power, constitute an im- 
 portant portion of his history.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 The Corps Idgislatif—The Tribunat— Creation of the Council of State and 
 the nature of its work — The comite du contentieux — Principal mem- 
 bers of the Council of State — Messieurs Defermon and Lacuee, presi- 
 dents of committees — Messieurs Gaudin and Mollien, Ministers — 
 Councillors Reguaud, Treilhard, Berlier, Merlin, and Re'al — Measures 
 demanded against the Jews — An assembly of prominent Jews called 
 together in Paris — Messieurs Mole, Portalis, and Pasquier, as Commis- 
 sioners of the Emperor in that Assembly — The "Portuguese" Jews — 
 Declaration made by the doctors and the rabbis — M. Furtado of Bor- 
 deaux — The interest charged on money and usury — The practice of 
 Jews among themselves — Sacerdotal power of the rabbis — The Tal- 
 mudists — Convening by the Emperor of a great Sanhedrin and itn 
 meeting, February 9, 1807 — Declaration of doctrine of the great San- 
 hedrin on the civil and political duties of Israelites and the organization 
 of Jewish society in France. 
 
 Among the members of the Council of State were a num- 
 ber of men, who, although they did not occupy prominent 
 positions, nevertheless rendered valuable services. The 
 great legislative and administrative work of the day was 
 elaborated in that body, and with it rested the general 
 supervision of all the branches of the administration. In 
 this respect, the part played by the Council of State was an 
 important one. In the course of the two successive organi- 
 zations of the Imperial government, the Council of State 
 was the only body really intrusted with supplementing the 
 altogether illusory action of the representative machinery 
 of government, for it alone was in a position to do so. 
 
 In a properly organized government by representation, 
 the three principal objects of the existence of deliberative 
 Chambers, are to impose taxation, to frame laws in a spirit 
 
 273
 
 274 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 best suited to the social state of the country, and to exercise 
 suj^ervision over the acts of the government. It is an un- 
 doubted fact that the organization of the Corps Ugislatif, 
 under the consular as well as under the Imperial regime, 
 was in no respect such as to allow of its fulfilling these 
 several attributes. Was it feasible to grant an enlarged 
 sphere of action to it, at a period so close to the stormy 
 days and evils of all kinds which had been drawn down on 
 France by the preceding assemblies, whose debates had been 
 public? Was there not good cause for dreading the being 
 exposed once more to similar perils? Such a fear must have 
 been a most natural one in those days, for the reason that 
 it was so generally felt. As I have already pointed out, 
 there was not to be found among the men who helped to 
 create the consular government, several of whom could be 
 looked upon as most liberal minded, a single one who hesi- 
 tated in the slightest degree Avith regard to what was the 
 right course to follow in this connection. 
 
 With regard to the creation of the Tribunal, which seemed 
 destined to afford a compensation for the silence imposed 
 on the Corps Ugislatif, the idea was altogether an unhappy 
 one, and in lieu of the good results anticipated from it being 
 realized, it often gave birth to serious difficulties. This 
 melancholy truth soon became apparent, and it needed, for 
 its manifestation, but a very short trial of a body which did 
 nothing but go on debating, while no final result was ob- 
 tained from all this talk. This body, on whom no respon- 
 sibility weighed, was certainly not one to be greatly feared. 
 Good and wise counsels might occasionally emanate from 
 it; but it was to be expected that they would be swept away 
 in a flood of useless, if not dangerous, speechifying. It 
 became necessary to go a step further. When everything 
 has to be created, when the time comes to renew in their 
 entirety the legislation and administration of a great state,
 
 THE CORPS LEGISLATIF AND THE TRIE UN AT 275 
 
 it cannot be expected that such an object is to be attained 
 by means of a large, deliberative assembl}^, with its public, 
 and oftentimes riotous, debates. Such debates must of 
 necessity bring passions into play, and it would be difficult 
 to get a sustained piece of work out of its naturally inco- 
 herent results. ( 
 
 Neither constitutions nor legislations have been the work 
 of the multitude. In modern as in olden times, when they 
 have not been the result of the manners and usages conse- 
 crated by centuries, they have issued from the brains of a 
 little group of men who have known how to impose their 
 acceptance on their fellow-creatures. Hence it would have ! 
 been, in my opinion, impossible to obtain from the Corjys 
 Ugislatif, such as constituted by the Charter of Louis 
 XVIII., the compiling of the Civil Code which Bonaparte 
 bequeathed to Trance. The truth of this is patent if one 
 will only consider the difficulties which would arise in 
 getting the Chambre des pairs and the Chambre des depxiUs 
 to come to an agreement on so many different subjects, and 
 to unite in spirit in a debate which would necessarily extend 
 over several years. 
 
 If I am right in what I say, it is easy to understand how 
 Bonaparte reaped from the discussions of his Council of 
 State far more important results than those he could have 
 derived from even the freest debates of his Corps Ugislatif. 
 
 Freed from all restraint, he obtained from his Council, in 
 the first place, quick work, a thiug of the highest impor- 
 tance, and in the second, a cohesion in the ideas and in the 
 application of principles which he would have vainly sought 
 elsewhere. It enabled him to entrust the principal direction 
 of the work relating to special subjects to men whom he 
 rightly looked upon as experts, and as eminently qualified 
 for the task. Such is the means he took, especially as 
 regards the Civil Code, and the results go to prove that this
 
 276 MEMOIRS OF CUANCELLOB PASQUIER 
 
 method was the best. When it came to the framing of the 
 other codes, several of these distinguished men had passed 
 away, and so it became necessary to divide the work among 
 a greater number of committees, and in spite of a general 
 discussion of the subjects in the Council, the results proved 
 less satisfactory. 
 
 Full freedom of speech reigned in the Council, which went 
 straight to the goal, and did not waste its time in idle talk. 
 Its discussions were undoubtedly governed by far different 
 rules from those which formerly prevailed in the Paris 
 Parlement, and yet, nothing has ever better recalled to my 
 mind, the solemnity, the wisdom, and the sound learning 
 of that famed body, and so I had great cause for congratu- 
 lating myself, when thrown among such entirely new sur- 
 roundings, upon being able to call to my assistance some 
 of the recollections of the body in which I had received my 
 first parliamentary training. 
 
 Previous to any law being officially presented, a confer- 
 ence was generally held between a number of Councillors 
 of State designated by the Emperor, and a like number of 
 commissioners taken from the Corps legislatif. The pur- 
 port of the law was set forth and discussed at these confer- 
 ences, wherein the number of the participants was never in 
 excess of the one considered sufficient for men of business 
 to explain themselves and to come to an agreement. Hence 
 it was that on many an occasion the preliminary draft of 
 a law underwent the most valuable modifications. 
 
 The services rendered by the Council of State in the 
 administration of civil affairs were of a most important 
 nature. The imposition of new taxes, their mode of assess- 
 ment, and especially the organizing of the entire system of 
 indirect taxation were tlie results of the most learned and 
 practical discussions. But it must not be thought that the 
 tax-payers' interests were unrepresented on such occasions;
 
 WORK DONE BT THE COUNCIL OF STATE 277 
 
 far from it, their part was always taken with zeal and talent, 
 and if the supreme chief was at times too greatly inclined to 
 listen to the inspirations of his all-powerful will, he never 
 could, when committing blunders, plead that he had not 
 been sufficiently enlightened and cautioned. It is only ren- 
 dering him justice to acknowledge that he allowed perfect 
 freedom of debate, that expression could be given to every 
 view, and that he listened to all that was said with attention 
 and patience, without seeming to take offence at what must 
 have displeased him, even in regard to matters in connec- 
 tion with which he could least afford to surrender his 
 absolute power. As an example, I mention the military 
 conscriptions, against the excessive number of which I have 
 often heard objections raised with noble independence, and 
 especially by M. Kegnaud. 
 
 Again, there are those numberless regulations governing 
 public administration, which placed on a new basis almost 
 everything that had been destroyed by the Revolution. 
 
 It but remains for me to show the wholesome check 
 exercised by the Council of State over the acts of the 
 Government, and how, in so doing, it undertook a duty 
 belonging by rights to the Corps Ugislatif. I do not, how- 
 ever, pretend to say that it fell to its lot to supplant 
 entirely the salutary watchfulness of public opinion, en- 
 lightened by the publicity of that body's acts and debates ; 
 but, in the absence of such a supervision, the following is 
 what occurred. With the exception of those cares apper- 
 taining in a direct fashion to the sphere of politics, and 
 especially politics affecting an invasion, such as the decrees 
 establishing the continental blockade, those relating to the 
 final repudiation of the national debt at the time of the 
 general liquidation, and several others of a like nature; 
 outside of such cases, I repeat, the ministers of the First 
 Consul or of the Emperor never presented to him for
 
 278 MEMOIBS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 signature any decree of importance, "without its liaving first 
 been submitted to the committee of the Council, whose 
 attributes it Avas to take cognizance of the subject-matter 
 of the decree. This happened in all matters affecting the 
 Ministers of Justice, Finance, of the Interior, of War, and 
 of the Navy. 
 
 Hence these committees exercised a rather troublesome 
 and sometimes very severe supervision over the ministers, 
 who submitted to it with ill-disguised annoyance. They 
 found in them opponents almost always as well informed as 
 themselves, who would sometimes entertain the idea that 
 they were at no distant time to be called upon to fill their 
 positions, and whom it always pleased greatly to make a 
 display of their ability, by showing care not to overlook 
 any errors or mistakes that came under their notice. 
 
 Did the Emperor receive any vigorous protests against 
 the doings of his ministers, against the administration of 
 his directors-general, or against his prefects, he would 
 transmit them to the Council of State, where they gave rise 
 to an investigation, oftentimes of the most severe kind. 
 This appeal to the Council became far more serious matter 
 for the ministers as well as for the administrators, when 
 placed within the reach of private individuals through the 
 comiU die contentieux (law committee to investigate disputes), 
 and this, independently of the matters referred to the 
 Council from the Emperor's closet. The creation of this 
 committee was an event in the history of the Imperial 
 government. Constituted as it was, under the presidency 
 of the chief justice, of those maUres de requHes, who were 
 of his making, the latter, having to show what they were 
 capable of, entered zealously upon the fulfilment of the 
 duties entrusted to them. Generally speaking, they were 
 governed by conscientious and strict equity, and, in addition 
 to righting many wrongs committed by the administration,
 
 THE '' COMITE DU CONTENTIEUX"' 279 
 
 they rendered not a few decisions from which private in- 
 dividuals derived great benefit, and the result of which was 
 to cause public officials to pay greater attention to avoiding 
 illegal acts. 
 
 But what signalized especially the institution of the 
 maltres cles reqicetes, was the putting an end to the abuse 
 which officialdom had acquired of encroaching upon the 
 jurisdiction of the tribunals, by extending beyond all limits 
 that of the prefectoral councils. Messieurs the prefects 
 were all the more inclined to endorse the action of these 
 councils that they showed themselves docile to their chief's 
 will. 
 
 The comite dti contentieux put an end to this irregularit}'', 
 and in a short time succeeded in clearly drawing a dividing 
 line between the administrative and judicial powers. The 
 ministers themselves were not exempt from the warnings of 
 the committee, which received the endorsement of the 
 Council of State, and many private individuals derived 
 most valuable support from it when seeking to obtain the 
 fulfilling of contracts they had entered into with the several 
 ministers. I do not pretend that everything was done 
 which should have been done in this comiection. The evil 
 was too deeply rooted to permit of its being disposed of 
 by the sole influence of the comite die contentieux, however 
 zealous it might be in the fulfilment of its duties. JSTor do 
 I pretend that side by side with the services it rendered, 
 the Council of State does not deserve blame for acts of 
 weakness and of favoritism, for I unfortunately witnessed 
 many an example of this; but I believe I may truly say 
 that, in spite of these blemishes, few congregations of men 
 are to be found, Avhich have given in their discussions, and 
 in the conclusions they reached, better proofs of an inde- 
 pendence which v\'as always enlightened, and oftentimes 
 stamped with great liberality.
 
 280 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 The Council was naturally so constituted that only the 
 firm hand of such a chief could create and maintain it, if 
 not in a perfect state of homogeneity, at least compel it to 
 accomplish a series of undertakings leading to a common 
 goal. During the first six years of its life, the Council 
 gathered into its bosom nearly everything that the Revolu- 
 tion had produced in the shape of men distinguished by 
 merits or talents which had most frequently shone in oppo- 
 site camps. It was necessary that these conflicting ele- 
 ments should amalgamate in the Council. 
 
 By way of example, the Constituent Assembly had given 
 to it M. Mounier, who was the first to plainly show himself 
 opposed to the Assembly's deeds of violence, and who had 
 fled from the scenes of the 14th of July and of the 6th of 
 October. Sitting with him were Messieurs Roederer and 
 Regnaud, who both had been reckoned among the most 
 ardent spirits of the revolutionary party. The Legislative 
 Assembly had supplied M. Franqais de Nantes, one of its 
 most fiery speakers ; M. Dumas, one of royalty's most zeal- 
 ous defenders during the days preceding the 10th of August ; 
 M. Bigot de Preameneu, who during the same period made 
 his reputation through the wisdom of his principles, and 
 M. Muraire, who expiated through a long imprisonment 
 during the Terror, the talent and the moderation he dis- 
 played in 1792. His seat adjoined that of M. Merlin, the 
 author of the law against the suspects; the Council received 
 from the Convention M. Defermon, one of those proscribed 
 on the 31st of May, and again, M. Berlier and M. Treilhard, 
 who both had voted the death of Louis XVI., and who both, 
 dating from the 31st of May, had perse veringly voted with 
 the extreme section of the Mountain. 
 
 The simon-pure Jacobins had contributed M. Real; the 
 king's defence, M. Tronchet; the Conseil des Anciens and 
 the Conseil des Cinq-Cents, M. Portalis and M. Simeon, both
 
 PRINCIPAL MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL 281 
 
 victims of the 18th Fructidor; M. Lacuee, who, although 
 deeply implicated, had escaped the disasters of that day, 
 and M. Boulay (de la Meurthe), one of the day's principal 
 artisans, that M. Boulay whose arrogance so contrasted 
 with the bearing of M. de Segur, who by the elegance of 
 his manners and the urbanity of his language, seemed to be 
 the representative of the graces of the old regime. I content 
 myself with mentioning merely the names the coupling of 
 Avhich together affords the greatest contrast. I must add 
 to this list of prominent civilians several most distinguished 
 soldiers, such as Generals Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Dejean, Des- 
 solle, Andreossy, and also Admiral Gantheaume. Lastly, 
 there were the several men called from foreign lands as the 
 territory of the Empire became extended, who introduced 
 ideas and customs entirely at variance with those of the 
 French people. They were for the most part chosen from 
 among the most prominent men of the annexed territories. 
 To name a few of many : M. de Saint-Marsan, who repre- 
 sented Piedmont; M. Corsini, Tuscany; M. Bartolocchi, 
 Eome; M. Alopeus, Holland, and others. At the time of 
 my entering the Council, death had removed from its midst 
 Messieurs Tronchet and Mounier. 
 
 The men called upon to fill the highest positions in the 
 various branches of the civil service and of the government 
 were most often taken from the Council. Nearly all the 
 ministers had sat in it; but, as a natural consequence, it 
 was recruited from those who showed talent in any branch 
 whatsoever of the public service. For instance. Messieurs 
 Beugnot, Montalivet, and others had entered it by way of 
 their prefectoral positions. Some there were who had made 
 themselves prominent and acquired greater importance than 
 others, the most prominent among these being Messieurs 
 Eegnaud, Defermon, Bigot de Preameneu, and Lacuee, 
 president of the committees, and Messieurs Berenger, Treil- 
 hard, Cretet, Boulay, and Beugnot.
 
 282 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 M. Regnaud enjoyed an uncontested superiority over his 
 colleagues, by virtue of his many varied acquirements, his 
 ready aptitude for work, and his fluency of speech. Un- 
 fortunately, his loose life, his extravagant tastes, and the 
 need of money which harassed him continually, in spite of 
 the repeated generosity of the Emperor, blocked the way to 
 his appointment as Minister of the Interior, a post which 
 otherwise would surely have fallen to his lot. Xo one 
 affected a greater freedom of expressing his opinions than 
 he did, and his cleverness of speech furnished him the 
 means of maintaining them without too greatly compromis- 
 ing himself; on certain occasions he would defend them, 
 with noble constancy, under most delicate circumstances. 
 He was the most sincere man in the Council in his liberal 
 mindedness, here taken in the truest sense of the word. 
 He knew not the feeling of envy, and ever showed himself 
 ready to recognize and to encourage merit wherever he 
 found it. The weak side of his mind was a childish dread 
 of priests and of religious power. This dread, which had 
 so little cause to be at the time when he was a prey to it, 
 plainly derived its origin from the prejudice which reigned 
 previous to the Revolution, and which had been one of its 
 principal causes. 
 
 M. Berenger, who was no less independent, likewise 
 enjoyed a great fluency of speech, but he was drier, less 
 agreeable to listen to, and ever ready to defend ideas which 
 were plainly pardoxical. His opposition to everything that 
 ran counter to his opinions and principles was all the more 
 appreciated because he was a member of the Finance com- 
 mittee, and it was in that committee that the blindest 
 devotion to the master's will was met with. 
 
 As the president of that committee, M. Defermon had 
 considerable influence. Possessing merely the knowledge 
 of the every-day practician (previous to the Revolution he
 
 M. DEFERMON 283 
 
 had been a procureur within the jurisdiction of the Eennes 
 Parlement), his language was of the most ordinary kind. 
 Still he had been greatly esteemed in the Convention, owing 
 to the fearlessness which he had displayed. He was a 
 Treasury Commissioner when Bonaparte called him to .the 
 Council, with the object, unfortunately, of placing hira in 
 charge of the liquidation of the national debt. In that 
 connection, his narrow mind dictated to him financial meas- 
 ures greatly to be deplored. In his private affairs a man 
 of admirable delicacy, whose honesty was beyond doubt, 
 ever excellent in his social intercourse, good, humane, and 
 charitable in spite of his limited means, he quickly became 
 unfair in his dealings with the creditors of the state. He 
 would never see in them anything but dishonesty, and as 
 he was ever prone to imagine that they reaped illegal 
 profits, nobody influenced Bonaparte more in his violation 
 of the engagements he had entered into. If M. Defermon 
 stood so well in the master's eyes, it was because Bonaparte 
 found in him so docile an instrument in carrying out his 
 mandates. 
 
 The presidency of the Finance Committee afforded many 
 opportunities for attaining a success of this kind, and yet, 
 the matters referred to it always came from the two best 
 governed ministries, those of Finance and of the Treasury. 
 Messieurs Gaudin and MoUien were, in every respect and by 
 every possible qualification, far superior to the man who 
 thought he was entitled to show them how to do their work. 
 How comes it that the Emperor did not at once discover 
 the immeasurable distance which separated them? It was 
 long ere he realized it. However, the time came when this 
 illusion was bound to vanish, and I chanced to learn how it 
 came about. If I here anticipate dates, it is in order to 
 better complete my pen-portrait. The liquidation of the 
 arrears having been accomplished, in other words, bank-
 
 284 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ruptcy having been declared, the Emperor thought himself 
 bound to reward the man who had so fully understood and 
 carried out his intentions, and so he made him comptroller 
 of the domaine extraordinaire, a position which carried with 
 it the prerogative of dealing directly with the Emperor. 
 This gave the latter the opportunity of seeing M. Defer- 
 mon actually engaged in an administrative work which 
 required a man to take everything unto himself, and where 
 there was no longer any question of merely being the 
 controller of others. Erom that moment, his incapacity 
 was quickly to make itself patent. As Prefect of Police, I 
 was in Napoleon's closet, one day, when he was giving vent 
 to his extreme dissatisfaction with M. Defermon's methods. 
 " And yet, this is the man who, had I not subjected him to 
 the present test, I would have chosen to fill the place of 
 M. Gaudin! How easy it is to be deceived by demonstra- 
 tions of clumsy zeal! " he said to me. 
 
 In spite of this wise reflection, the Emperor was, at the 
 time he uttered it, under the charm of a man who was 
 hardly worthier of his confidence than M. Defermon. This 
 was M. Lacu6e, the president of the War Committee, who 
 was soon to become, in addition to this, director of the 
 conscription. He had given proof of a zeal without limits, 
 and was to all appearance indifferent to the sacrifices 
 demanded of the country. I can never forget what he told 
 me on the day when, for the first time, he wore the grand 
 cordon of the Legion of Honor. This mark of favor intoxi- 
 cated him. Never did the Emperor appear so great to him, 
 and he woimd up his praise of him to me in the following 
 terms : " What can France not aspire to become under such 
 a man? To what a high degree of glory and happiness can- 
 not he raise her, provided, of course, we get yearly two 
 hundred thousand men out of the conscription, and, indeed, 
 considering the vastness of the Empire, this should be an 
 easy task ! "
 
 MESSIEURS LACUEE, TREILHARD, AND MERLIN 285 
 
 Among all those who had a voice in the Council, no man 
 existed whose methods, were more opposed to adulation than 
 M. Treilhard,. who, still under the influences of the Palais, 
 brought into all his speeches the severity of an inflexible 
 pleader. One cannot deny him great acquirements in 
 matters of jurisprudence; he had proved this in the days 
 of the Constituent Assembly ; but the conventionnel and the 
 former directeur occasionally made themselves manifest in 
 his opinions, as well as in those of M. Berlier, a man of far 
 greater intellect than himself, and especially endowed with 
 a rare talent for speaking. But it was impossible not to 
 detect in him a chronic feeling of uneasiness, and it was 
 plain that the recollection of certain events in his life, and 
 especially of the part he had taken in the death of Louis 
 XVI., made him feel constrained on many an occasion. I 
 always appreciated this feeling; it was a proof of regret 
 forced from him by his conscience. In this respect, he 
 differed greatly from his colleague, M. Treilhard, who never 
 seemed to have any recollection of the part he had played 
 in the tragedy. Nor was M. Merlin's memory troubled 
 with it. The latter deserves some further mention. 
 
 M. Merlin owed his appointment as procureur at the Cour 
 de cassation, as well as that of Councillor of State, to his 
 great knowledge in matters of jurisprudence. Having, 
 when a member of the Cour de cassation, no other duty but 
 to call for the application of laws already clearly defined, 
 and acquainted with them all down to their smallest details, 
 he was, it must be acknowledged, fully qualified for his 
 duties; but, in the Council, his usefulness was limited, as 
 everything he said could have been better and more readily 
 found in the book on which his reputation rested, his 
 Repertoire de jurisprudence. I never saw him contribute 
 any theory or any conclusive argument to any discussion. 
 His enunciation was labored and harsh. Not only had
 
 286 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 science not enlightened his mind, but it seemed to have 
 dried up his heart. I never knew a man who could less 
 distinguish between what was just or what was not. Every- 
 thing seemed to him well and good, so long as it was the 
 consequence of the letter of the law. It was ever with a 
 smile on his lips, with his face beaming with satisfaction, 
 that he would seek in his vast store of legal erudition the 
 text of the law which prescribed some rigorous measure or 
 sentence of some sort. It will be readily understood that 
 such conduct caused him to be generally shunned. He was 
 never on a footing of intimacy with anybody in the Council, 
 not even with M. Real, who generally occupied the seat 
 adjoining his. 
 
 The latter's character bore a stamp which Avas pre- 
 eminently its own. Never blushing over his former Jaco- 
 binism, proud even of recalling it, he had taken up the 
 Emperor in default of any revolutionary government, and 
 he quietly drifted along, serving him and defending him 
 with the same means which he had formerly placed at the 
 disposal of the one and indivisible Republic. Endowed 
 with much natural wit, and not so bad-hearted as one might 
 suppose from a kind of joviality which never abandoned 
 him, even when engaged in carrying out the harshest meas- 
 ures, he occasionally gave proof of generous sentiments 
 expressed with rather expansive feeling. He was better 
 than the life he had led, and the formerjdefender of Babeuf 
 had likewise defended a few Emigres whom he had succeeded 
 in saving. 
 
 A few months after my joining the Council of State, 
 M. Berthier de Sauvigny, one of my kinsmen, having been 
 arrested on a charge of conspiracy, and being implicated in 
 most serious fashion, the taking of preliminary proceedings 
 in the case fell to M. Real. I spoke to him frankly about 
 the case, and Avhile in no way seeking to palliate M.
 
 THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE 287 
 
 Berthier's actions, I begged him to save the unfortunate 
 man who was more thoughtless than guilty. He promised 
 me he would do so, adding that it afforded him pleasure to 
 do something for a new colleague, and he kept his word. 
 He was what we might call a thoroughly good fellow, and, 
 as such, one could not help feeling occasionally grateful to 
 him for the warmth with which he defended the still living 
 remnants of his former friends. He bewailed the unfortu- 
 nate condition of most of them, and the state of neglect in 
 which the government left them. 
 
 One will find in the four last pen-portraits which I have 
 drawn, an almost perfect picture of what the most stormy 
 times of the Revolution had bequeathed to the Council. 
 Outside of these men there was a long list of others who 
 had reached the goal after a life oftentimes hard, bringing 
 with them the tribute of their acquirements and talents, 
 and having nothing of their past to regret. Such were 
 M. Bigot de Preameneu, so pure, so learned, who did not 
 have a principle, who breathed not a sentiment which was 
 not worthy of praise; M. Daru, whose intellect was so 
 many-sided, and who enjoyed a facility for work never 
 surpassed; M. Muraire, M. Pelet de la Lozere, M. Faure, 
 M. de Sussy, M. d'Hauterive, and so many others, whose 
 work was always useful, when it was not brilliant. 
 
 The president, M. de Cambaceres, possessed in the highest 
 degree the talents required in so elevated a position, always 
 directing the debate without imposing restraint on it, inter- 
 fering only when it became absolutely necessary, and ever 
 in a manner most calculated to throw a light upon the 
 subject; sober of speech, for he never uttered a word with 
 the object of making his importance felt, he would sum up 
 and set forth matters with a lucidity compelling the least 
 enlightened mind to grasp and understand them. The 
 influence of such a president on the progress of an assembly
 
 288 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 is greater than can be expressed. We had an opportunity 
 of discovering this during a short absence which he was 
 allowed to enjoy. His place was taken by M. Lebrun. 
 With him, things soon got into a state of confusion, and 
 the Council was only able to accomplish one-half of what it 
 would have done with M. de Cambaceres. No sooner did 
 the latter return, than all difficulties seemed to vanish as 
 if owing to his mere presence. 
 
 The first occasion on which the Emperor showed the trust 
 he was inclined to repose in the maltres des requetes, was 
 that of a debate relating to the conditions of life of the 
 Jews, and to their methods in the provinces, where they 
 were to be met with in greater numbers. They were 
 charged, not without cause, with having for some years 
 past, and especially in Alsace, practised usury to such a 
 degree that had they been allowed to collect all that was 
 owing to them, they would have become the proprietors of 
 the better part of the lands of that province. Their repre- 
 hensible and traditional industry had been principally exer- 
 cised to the detriment of the farmers, and it had been 
 singularly fostered by the hard times through which the 
 little landowners had passed, and especially by the heavy 
 burdens which had weighed down on the departments bor- 
 dering on the Rhine as a result of succeeding wars. 
 
 An Imperial decree, bearing the date of May 30th, 1806, 
 had already suspended for a year the proceedings taken by 
 these merciless creditors; but this provisional measure had 
 been adopted merely to give time and means of pronouncing 
 as to the validity of the various claims, with a perfect 
 knowledge of all the facts. It was an arbitrary measure, 
 as, without granting a hearing to the interested parties, 
 each and every claim, of whatever nature, had been included 
 in a common reprobation, without separating the just from 
 the unjust ones, for the sole reason that they were made by
 
 MEASURES DEMANDED AGAINST THE JEWS 289 
 
 a certain class of French citizens, for how could one deny 
 the Jews citizenship? 
 
 It belonged to them by virtue of all the laws passed since 
 the Revolution. They bore all the burdens of citizenship, 
 and notably that of military service. They indeed sought 
 to avoid the conscription, taking advantage of the fact that 
 for a lengthy period, no regular registration had been made 
 of their births, and the greater number had neglected mak- 
 ing to the municipalities the declarations prescribed in this 
 respect. And lastly, the absence of patronymic names, 
 which are not in their customs, favored them marvellously, 
 when the time came to make up a miltary contingent. But 
 these difficulties had been overcome, at the time when the 
 Emperor determined upon suspending the enforcement of 
 their claims. 
 
 This measure became the subject of a hot debate in the 
 Council of State. The Committee of the Interior, which 
 was entrusted with the framing of the decree, was unfav- 
 orable to it; its president, M. Regnaud de Saint- Jean 
 d'Angely, had in a special fashion opposed it as contrary to 
 the principles of civil rights, and as infringing upon the 
 freedom of worship. And, indeed, was it not a manifest 
 violation of this freedom, to deprive a citizen, because he 
 was of the Jewish persuasion, of any one of the advan- 
 tages guaranteed by a law common to all? In the eyes of 
 M. Regnaud, to protect the Jews was not merely an act of 
 justice, but it was a safeguard against the Catholic priests, 
 the particular objects of his mistrust. 
 
 It so happened that, acting from an entirely different 
 standpoint, a young auditeur of the same committee, en- 
 trusted with the preliminary work in the matter, did not 
 hesitate to express himself with much warmth in favor of 
 the measures demanded against the Jews. The Emperor 
 became informed of this, and the good-will he bore towards
 
 290 MEMOmS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 this auditeur — it was M. Mole — increased considerably. 
 The day on which the matter was discussed in the Council, 
 he granted him the unusual favor of allowing him to speak ^ 
 and ordered that his report be printed. A decree suspend- 
 ing the pressing of the Jews' claims was thereupon drawn 
 up in conformity with the ideas embodied in the report; but 
 it was decreed in addition that an assembly of Jews, residing 
 on French territory, should be convened in Paris, on the 
 15th of July following. 
 
 The members of this assembly, whose number was speci- 
 fied in an appendix to the decree, were to be designated by 
 the prefects, and selected from among rabbis, men of prop- 
 erty, and other Jews most prominent through their ac- 
 quirements and reputation for honesty. The duties of the 
 members of this commission consisted in eliciting views 
 concerning the best means of bringing back the Jews to the 
 exercise of the various arts and useful professions, in order 
 that honest industry should take the place of the reprehen- 
 sible methods with which they had from father to son, for 
 many centuries, earned their living. 
 
 When shortly afterwards the question arose as to the 
 appointment of the commissioners, the Emperor bethought 
 himself at once of M. Mole, who had, as a matter of course, 
 acquired this mark of confidence by the part he had already 
 taken in connection with the matter at issue. Moreover, 
 in addition to what I have already told anent the report 
 which he had read before the Council, the Emperor had 
 commissioned him with the preparing of a work entitled 
 Inquiries into the Political and Religious Status of the Jews, 
 from the Days of Moses unto the Present Times. This essay 
 was promptly written, and was inserted in the Moniteur, 
 
 1 The auditors presented reports to the committees, and were allowed to 
 take a part in their discussions ; in the Council, they merely listened to the 
 debates, without enjoying the riglit of speech.
 
 APPOINTMENT OF A COMMISSION 291 
 
 eighteen columns of which it filled. It was really an 
 indictment of the Jewish nation. In it was set forth the 
 fact that usury did not owe its birth to the misfortunes of 
 the Jewish people, as so often maintained ; that it was not 
 only tolerated, but enjoined by the Mosaic law, and by the 
 principal doctors who had interpreted this law; that it had 
 been so prescribed by the Jewish legislator in order to 
 render more complete the separation between his people 
 and other nations ; that, in consequence of this, the vice of 
 usury was to be considered as inherent to the character of 
 every true Jew, and so implanted in him that no earthly 
 power could ever eradicate it from him. 
 
 The two other commissioners were chosen from among 
 the maitres des requHes: M. Portalis, the son of the Min- 
 ister of Public Worship, was the second commissioner, and 
 I, the third. When the time came for us to take cognizance 
 of our instructions (I am speaking of M. Portalis and 
 myself), we could not help believing that the whole drift of 
 the Emperor's idea had not been fully grasped, and that 
 M. Mole and the Council of State had failed to penetrate 
 his thoughts. It was plain that the Emperor's object was 
 to make a great political stroke out of what was being 
 merely looked upon as a measure of repression. In fact, 
 the question at issue, according to the documents submitted 
 to us, was to ascertain from the Jews themselves, if their 
 religion really permitted them to take up citizenship in 
 such countries as were ready to grant it to them ; whether 
 that religion did not embody prescriptions which rendered 
 impossible, or at the least very difficult, an entire submis- 
 sion to the laws; lastly, whether there was any way by 
 which it was possible to turn to the advantage of society as 
 a whole the talents of a population which so far had shown 
 itself its avowed enemy. 
 
 Matters being considered from this standpoint, it became
 
 292 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 necessary to subject the Jews to a questioning in due form : 
 first, with regard to what they believed they were permitted 
 to do; and next, as to what they considered forbidden to 
 them. Was it to be accepted as an absolute fact that the 
 Jews were allowed by the Mosaic law to practise usury 
 against all those who did not belong to their persuasion? 
 Was it allowable for them to renounce this faculty in coun- 
 tries wherein usury was prohibited by the laws? Gould 
 their doctors and their rabbis give any guarantee towards 
 their obeying such laws? Could military service be recon- 
 ciled with several of the observances of their religion, such 
 as that of the Sabbath, for instance, that of certain fasts, 
 and the abstinence from certain kinds of food? Might one 
 entertain the idea that they would consent sincerely to join 
 the ranks of the French army every time that the law should 
 call upon them to do so? 
 
 These two difficulties were the principal ones which had 
 to be solved, and they will give an idea of the benefit which 
 the Emperor sought to derive from an assembly, for which 
 there was no precedent in the annals of the world, since the 
 days of the dispersion of their tribes, after the taking of 
 Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple by Titus. 
 This assembly, which has passed away almost unnoticed, was 
 in reality a grand conception, and if the results were not in 
 proportion with the idea entertained of it, if it has not left 
 any deep marks of its existence, the fact must be attributed 
 principally to the rapid succession of events which absorbed 
 public attention. And yet, a most interesting spectacle 
 was afforded by the debates which took place in an assembly 
 of men eagerly devoted to a religion, the true spirit of 
 which is so little known, and animated with sentiments so 
 at variance with those governing Christian nations. They 
 were being asked to examine seriously up to what point 
 they could, while overcoming their most deeply implanted
 
 M. MOLE, THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMISSION 293 
 
 habits, take their place in the modern world, and partici- 
 pate, without wounding their conscience, in the advantages 
 of European civilization. 
 
 I threw myself with a good deal of zeal into the fulfil- 
 ment of the so unexpected task which devolved upon me. 
 As I write these lines, the recollection of this first step 
 towards acquiring a knowledge of the higher affairs of 
 humanity is still full of interest for me. The conqueror's 
 policy had certainly inspired Bonaparte in the matter of 
 this undertaking. While seeking, with the aid of all that 
 was most enlightened in the Jewish race, the means of lift- 
 ing it out of the abject condition wherein it had languished 
 for so many centuries, he had probably said to himself that 
 so great an act of kindness would forever attach that race 
 to his fortunes, and that he would find auxiliaries disposed 
 to second his plans, wherever the race was to be found in 
 numbers. He was about to undertake another invasion of 
 Germany, which invasion was to lead him through Poland 
 and the neighboring countries, where all business transac- 
 tions were almost exclusively conducted through the Jews. 
 It was therefore natural that he should believe that no other 
 auxiliaries could prove as useful, and that it was conse- 
 quently necessary to win them over to his side. 
 
 Such was doubtless his frame of mind, at the time of the 
 promulgation of the Imperial decrees, which, in the course 
 of 1808, had a bearing on the religious organization, and the 
 exercise of civil rights of the Jews throughout the whole 
 extent of the Empire. 
 
 Soon afterwards, however, it entered the mind of the 
 victorious general, that, while at the head of the French 
 nation and of the French army, he needed no other auxili- 
 aries than his sword, which was alone sufficient to dispose 
 of the fate of Europe, from the banks of the Neva to the 
 Columns of Hercules. The Jewish question had no longer 
 any interest for him.
 
 294 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 M. Mole being the first in the order of appointment was 
 unanimonsly elected president of the commission. The 
 speech which he delivered on the 29th of July, the day of 
 the first meeting of the assembly, revealed a marked hos- 
 tility towards the Jews, and was not of the kind to inspire 
 them with any confidence in the intentions of the govern- 
 ment. The selection of the members of the assembly, to 
 the number of one hundred and twelve, had been, as I have 
 already stated, left with the prefects of the dej)artments 
 wherein the Jews were sufficiently numerous for their 
 presence to have any real importance. This state of things 
 existed principally in the departments of the East and of 
 the South, especially in the one which had Avignon as its 
 chief town, then the department of the Seine, and lastly 
 that of the Gironde. 
 
 As was to be anticipated, the prefects had made choice 
 of such Israelites as enjoyed the highest reputation, and 
 also of those who were looked upon as likely to prove most 
 complaisant. It was especially among those hailing from 
 Bordeaux that it was expected to find the most enlighten- 
 ment and the means of influence which would prove of 
 greatest service. These Jews, generally styled " Portuguese 
 Jews," were reputed to be the descendants of a large 
 Jewish colony which had centuries ago settled by the 
 mouth of the Tagus. 
 
 One of the most prominent of these Jews was M. Furtado, 
 a highly respected merchant in the Gironde. He was 
 chosen as president of the assembly. It quickly became 
 patent that the Portuguese Jews were an object of suspicion 
 to all their co-religionists, who looked upon them as apos- 
 tates. President Furtado was more than any other viewed 
 with distrust. The Jews feigned to believe that he held 
 to his religion merely by the feeling which forbids a man 
 abandoning the religion in which he was born, unless led to
 
 THE PORTUGUESE JEWS 295 
 
 do so by the strongest convictions. As a matter of fact, 
 such was not the state of M. Furtado's mind; his opinions 
 were based on philosophical indifference. The rabbis of 
 Alsace, and those of the former comtat of Avignon, who 
 ranked the highest in the matter of science, were wont to 
 say of their presiding officer that it was an easy matter to 
 see that all he knew of the Bible Avas through Voltaire. His 
 influence was null over an assembly of men animated with 
 the deepest religious convictions. It had been generally 
 supposed that they were governed solely by their pecuniary 
 interests, that they adhered to their religion merely as a 
 matter of custom, and especially because it made their 
 consciences feel easy on the score of living at the expense 
 of all countries which harbored them or tolerated their 
 presence, but one found oneself face to face with men vastly 
 superior to the common herd with which, generally speak- 
 ing, public opinion classed them. Thoroughly conversant 
 with their religion and its principles, they were strengthened 
 in their attachment to it by the animadversion it drew upon 
 them, and their well-cultivated minds were replete with 
 every kind of knowledge. It was therefore no longer pos- 
 sible to ignore the existence of a Jewish nation, the dregs 
 of which had so far alone come under notice, and which, 
 owing to the care bestowed in selecting the members of the 
 assembly, spoke a language worthy of being listened to. 
 
 The questions submitted by the Emperor were gone 
 into with grave deliberation. This hesitancy of course 
 displeased him, and brought forth lively remonstrances on 
 the part of M. Mole. His action was thus running directly 
 counter to the object in view. A circumstance affecting 
 him personally added greatly to the disgust which the way 
 he had of expressing himself inspired in the minds of those 
 whom he was to conciliate. It was generally admitted to 
 be the fact that his great-grandmother, a daughter of Samuel
 
 296 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Bernard, the celebrated Jewish financier who flourished 
 towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV., was of Jewish 
 origin, and there was no doubt as to the large fortune of 
 his family having come to it almost in its entirety through 
 this kinship. It is true that he claimed that the Judaism 
 of Samuel Bernard was a pure fiction, based merely on a 
 chance baptismal name certainly more in use among Jews 
 than among Christians. 
 
 We had got no further after a few weeks' labor than on 
 the first day. In addition to the difficulties inherent to the 
 subject-matter, and while admitting on almost all points the 
 fairness of the propositions submitted to them, the most 
 enlightened and most influential members of the assembly 
 informed the commissioners that the declarations asked of 
 them not only embarrassed them, and were delicate matters 
 for their consciences, but that, according to all appearances, 
 they would prove utterly valueless ; that they were in no wise 
 qualified to exact obedience from their co-religionists; 
 that, from the very fact that they had been selected by the 
 government, it was not possible to consider them the repre- 
 sentatives of the Jewish nation, and as having the right to 
 make any stipulations in its name. 
 
 The name of the ancient assembly of doctors, known as 
 the Great Sanhedrin, was several times mentioned in their 
 utterances. This body, they contended, would alone have 
 been entitled to speak with authority in such matters, at a 
 time when the Jewish nation existed as a corporate body, 
 and it was still the only one qualified to take cognizance of 
 them. 
 
 No sooner had the commissioners laid these arguments 
 before the Emperor, than he at once seized upon the idea, 
 and it was soon given out that he would much like to see 
 the calling together in Paris of a Great Sanhedrin, to be 
 constituted as much as possible according to the rules and
 
 31. MOLE'S HOSTILITY TO THE JEWS 297 
 
 forms laid down by the Mosaic law. His intention was that 
 all the synagogues of his vast Empire and even for Europe 
 should be invited to send to this Sanhedrin doctors or dele- 
 gates who were to unite with the assembly already in exis- 
 tence, and whose labors should continue jointly with those 
 of the doctoral assembly. Thus, he argued, one could 
 flatter oneself with possessing the most legal representation 
 both of the Jewish religion and nation. This would be 
 tantamount to a resurrection of this nation, which could not 
 fail to see the importance of being worthy of so signal a 
 boon. 
 
 Special meetings were held to draw up the questions to 
 be submitted to the Great Sanhedrin; many were held, and 
 their sittings were long. A quantity of religious, histori- 
 cal, and political questions were discussed, several of the 
 rabbis displaying a large amount of knowledge, and at 
 times, in connection with matters pertaining to their faith, 
 an eloquence full of warmth and inspiration. The respec- 
 tive attitudes of the commissioners remained as heretofore : 
 M. Mole, ever threatening; M. Portalis and I trying to 
 reclaim, by means of more conciliatory forms, those which 
 our colleague did not cease to render refractory. M. 
 Portalis was already making his mark in these discussions 
 by his wise erudition based on the best authorities, and 
 characterized with a good faith of which he has since given 
 so many proofs. He produced an impression all the greater 
 on those whom it was necessary to persuade, that his posi- 
 tion, as son of the Minister of Public Worship, seemed to 
 add greater weight to his words. As for myself, the com- 
 missioners were, generally speaking, greatly moved by the 
 sight of my earnest attempts to bring about truly practical 
 results out of our decisions. 
 
 On one occasion the expression of their gratitude was so 
 effusive that it would be difficult for me to forget it. It
 
 298 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 followed upon one of those sittings Avlierein M. Mole liad 
 sho\vn himself more bitter than usual, and when I had 
 endeavored to destroy the evil effects of some of his words. 
 Several of them came to me next day, and not knowing how 
 to express their gratitude, ended in telling me that ere six 
 months had passed, all Jews, even to those in far-olf China, 
 should know how much all Jews owed me for the good I 
 was trying to do them, and for my kindly treatment of 
 them. 
 
 These words have always struck me as remarkable, 
 in that they go to prove to Avhat a degree these men, 
 scattered over the whole surface of the globe, separated by 
 such great distances, living under such various skies, and 
 amid manners and customs so dissimilar, keep up their 
 intercourse, identify themselves with their respective inter- 
 ests, and are animated with one and the same spirit. And 
 truly, if one compares the results of all ancient and modern 
 legislation with that of Moses, one is amazed on seeing how 
 great has been the strength of the religious and political 
 bonds, with which he knew how to knit his people together, 
 since a dispersion, lasting two thousand years, has been 
 unable to sever them. The uniformity of Jewish belief 
 manifested itself in the most striking fashion in the debates 
 concerning usury. On this point there was not the slight- 
 est difference of opinion among the doctors and rabbis. 
 Contrary to the opinion expressed in M. Mole's report, they 
 all agreed in looking upon the implication that usury prac- 
 tised against strangers was authorized by the Mosaic law as 
 an undeserved insult. "Usury," they said, "was born in 
 our midst, owing to our unfortunate position in the world, 
 and to the necessity to which we have been reduced since 
 our dispersion, of almost continually having to struggle to 
 save the fragments of a fortune of which one was ever seek- 
 ing to despoil us. Being thus at war with each and every
 
 USURY AND LEGAL INTEREST 299 
 
 societ}' among which our lot was cast, it is natural that we 
 should have sought to preserve everything that we could 
 conceal from our persecutors; that we should have taken 
 advantage of all the advantages afforded us by the needs of 
 those in whose midst we were living; but our political and 
 religious law is altogether foreign to the issue. Far from 
 it: it contains on that point a provision dictated by the 
 sentiment of fraternity which it has always sought to 
 engender among us. In order to be able to establish the 
 contrary, a wrong use has been made of a word which has 
 been misunderstood, and to which an interpretation has 
 been given which is all the more false, that it presupposes 
 the existence of a fact and of an idea unknown at the time 
 when this law was given to us. 
 
 *'In those days, what has since been styled legal interest 
 of money was yet unknown ; hence, the word usury was not 
 to be found in our language, as it would have been without 
 any meaning. Any kind of interest derived from money 
 lent was legal in an equal degree, whatever its rate; this 
 interest was merely a matter to be settled between borrower 
 and lender. Hence it is that in the Hebraic language there 
 is only one word signifying interest, but none signifying 
 usury. 
 
 "I^fow, what did the Mosaic law enjoin? It forbade the 
 Jews to charge any interest on money which they lent 
 among themselves, and allowed them to demand interest 
 only in the case of loans made by them to strangers. It 
 could not proceed to draw any distinction between interest 
 that was usurious and that which was not, for this distinc- 
 tion was unknown in those days. Hence it is not true that 
 it ever sanctioned the practice of usury in the case of stran- 
 gers, while forbidding it between Jew and Jew. What has 
 been said about usury is true only in the case of interest, 
 and the word signifying interest has been most unreasonably
 
 300 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 translated as meaning usury. The law which binds or 
 which should bind Jews together remains the same at the 
 present day. A conscientious Jew should charge no inter- 
 est on the money which he has lent to another Jew, and this 
 is in accordance with what is still taught by the strict 
 interpreters of the law. 
 
 "The commercial operations in which Jews have been 
 compelled to engage from one end of the world to the other, 
 have rendered difficult the strict application of this pre- 
 cept, and doubtless the toleration which the doctors could 
 not help showing in this connection, may have led the 
 greater number of Israelites to imagine that as the law 
 prescribed a different mode of acting towards the brother 
 and the stranger, this difference was the one existing 
 between interest and usury. A belief so accommodating to 
 their cupidity was doubtless accepted with readiness, and 
 took root no less easily; but, as it is contrary to the spirit 
 and to the letter of the law, it will always be the duty of 
 the doctors to fight it whenever appealed to on the subject." 
 
 It was impossible for us not to admit, in the face of all 
 the information supplied us, that the Jews, however keen 
 in their special industry, were ever most charitable among 
 themselves; that there was hardly any locality wherein one 
 could find any who were reduced to beg help of anybody 
 but their co-religionists; that, as regards everything not 
 strictly a commercial transaction, that is to say with regard 
 to all loans from Jew to Jew, it was almost the exception 
 that loans bore any interest, Avhen made to satisfy the 
 pressing necessaries of life of any one of them. Lastly, we 
 were informed in such a manner as to leave no doubt in our 
 minds, that when a Jew, possessing no personal resources, 
 was compelled to attend to some urgent business at a great 
 distance from his place of residence, he could call on the 
 rabbi, or on the most prominent member of the Jewish com-
 
 POWERS OF THE RABBIS 301 
 
 munity, and, on stating his case, he would receive a cer- 
 tificate with which he could go across Europe and reach the 
 extreme limits of Asia, welcomed and having his expenses 
 paid by the Jews who resided on the line of his journey, 
 and who everywhere treated him, not as a pauper to whom 
 alms are granted from a sentiment of pity, but as a brother 
 with whom one shares one's all. 
 
 We also acquired a new and correct idea of the nature 
 and extent of the powers of the rabbis. As we were laying 
 some stress on the extent of these powers, and on the use 
 which we urged them to make of them, persuaded as we 
 were that, having been given by God himself to his ser- 
 vants in the Temple, they must have considerable authority 
 in the minds of a people whose form of government could in 
 many respects be looked upon as theocratic, they told us 
 that this was a mistaken idea which it became necessary for 
 them to correct. They demonstrated in the most positive 
 fashion, and by means of authorities which could not be 
 rejected, that all filiation with the tribe of Levi had been 
 totally lost at the time of the last dispersion; hence, there 
 no longer existed among them any priesthood, for priesthood 
 was inherent to that tribe, and that in consequence all 
 sacredotal sovereignty was extinct in them. This doubtless 
 constitutes one of the most extraordinary facts in the his- 
 tory of this people so faithful to its traditions, so attached 
 to its civil and religious customs, this absolute loss of so 
 precious a filiation, the preservation of which should have 
 called forth all the more care, as it alone could render 
 possible in times to come, the exercise of the most sacred 
 ceremonies of the Jewish religion. 
 
 Let it be supposed for an instant that, in conformity 
 with the hopes of every good Israelite, the Temple of Jeru- 
 salem should ever be rebuilt, its sanctuary could never be 
 filled, the holy sacrifice could not take place in it, unless a
 
 302 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 miracle coming from tliat God who gave the law on Mount 
 Sinai should come and reveal the true descendants of that 
 tribe. 
 
 If there are no longer any Levites, priests, or pontiffs, 
 what are then the rabbis? Nothing else but doctors accepted 
 by their co-religionists to read prayers and to perform cer- 
 tain religious and occasionally judicial ceremonies, to per- 
 form which, in Judaea itself, and at a time when the law 
 was more strictly observed, the heads of families were 
 considered sufficient. If this view be taken of them, it is 
 easy to understand that the influence of these rabbis, based 
 merely on the respect in which they are held, inspire no 
 other authority than that which is derived from the confi- 
 dence felt in them, and hence how impossible it became for 
 us to get their counsels accepted as bearing the stamp of 
 authority. Such being the condition of things, it is suffi- 
 ciently explained why the rabbis considered themselves 
 compelled to preserve the attitude of reserve which was not 
 understood at the beginning. 
 
 This authority of the doctors, the only one in existence 
 among the Jews since the days of their dispersion, the only 
 bond which unites them in their faith, is a phenomenon 
 altogether worthy of attention. From this authority has 
 emanated a supplement to the Mosaic law, known by the 
 name of Talmud. It is a somewhat raw compilation of at 
 times random interpretations of the sacred text. It has in 
 times past given rise to many controversies, and still sup- 
 plies food for dispute, to which can be attributed to a great 
 extent the relaxation of the morals of the Jews. Generally 
 speaking, the rabbis made light of the Talmudists, and while 
 admitting the worth of some of them, seemed to look upon 
 them as most dangerous people. 
 
 Satisfactory answers to all the questions submitted were 
 at last obtained from the assembly. On the 18th of
 
 CONVOCATION OF THE GREAT SANHEDRIN 303 
 
 September, tlie Imperial commissioners informed the assem- 
 bly that His Imperial Majesty, being desirous that these 
 answers should acquire in the eyes of Jews of all countries 
 and for all time the greatest possible authority, had resolved 
 upon calling together a Great Sanhedrin, whose functions 
 were to consist in transforming into doctrinal decisions the 
 answers given by the provisional assembly, as well as those 
 which might result from a continuation of the assembly's 
 labors. 
 
 This message met with an enthusiastic reception, and 
 during the days ensuing its presentation, all the measures 
 requisite to carry out the new wish of the Emperor were 
 discussed, adopted, and carried out with both sincerity and 
 eagerness. In conformity with ancient practice, the ni\m- 
 ber of members of the Great Sanhedrin was fixed at seventy- 
 one, exclusive of its presiding officer. 
 
 All the rabbis already sitting in the assembly — they 
 numbered seventeen — were called upon to join it. Twenty- 
 nine others were taken from the synagogues of the Empire 
 and of the kingdom of Italy; lastly, twenty-six members to 
 be selected from among private individuals were chosen by 
 the assembly from among its membership by secret ballot. 
 The requisite letters and instructions were at once sent to 
 the French and Italian synagogues. 
 
 At the same time, the assembly sent to all its co-relig- 
 ionists throughout Europe a proclamation which informed 
 them of the wonderful event of the convening of a Great 
 Sanhedrin, and which invited them to come to an under- 
 standing, for the purpose of sending to Paris men known 
 by their wisdom, and by their love of truth and justice. 
 The effect of this proclamation was not such as had been 
 looked for, and it was almost null in the countries situated 
 beyond the boundaries of the French Empire, of the king- 
 dom of Italy, and of a few states which felt French 
 influence.
 
 304 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 There yet remained to be obtained from the assembly 
 that it should admit the necessity of an organization in the 
 practice of its worship, and it was necessary to secure its 
 co-operation towards such an organization. Now this was 
 the very thing most repugnant to it, for it was impossible 
 for it not to perceive that there was no matter in which it 
 would prove more difficult to obtain the acquiescence of its 
 co-religionists. And, indeed, was it not plain that the 
 government would not fail to take advantage of this op- 
 portunity to interfere more or less in the inner governing 
 of the synagogues, and to attribute to itself the right of 
 supervision over the rabbis? Xow, in the eyes of the 
 latter, this would be, to a certain extent, laying sacrilegious 
 hands on the Ark of the Covenant. 
 
 In spite of all these difficulties, which were increased by 
 the unfriendly methods of the president, a solution had to 
 be reached. We resolved, M. Portalis and I, to make an 
 experiment which was fully crowned with success. Taking 
 advantage of a day when M. Mole was away from Paris, we 
 called together the greatest possible number of influential 
 men at the house of M. Portalis, and there, after a session 
 which lasted over six hours, we succeeded, by sound argu- 
 ments and by kind words, in getting them to adopt a draft 
 of regulations as good as we had a right to expect. 
 
 The general assembly adopted these regulations a few 
 days later. A motion was also passed begging His Imperial 
 Majesty to give his assent to these regiilations, and to 
 contribute to the payment of the stipends of the rabbis. It 
 was moreover asked (a thing that could but be very agree- 
 able to him) that he should be pleased to inform the local 
 authorities of the Empire and of the kingdom of Italy, that 
 he desired that they should come to an understanding with 
 the consistories, in order to remove the aversion felt by the 
 Jewish youth for the ennobling military career, and thus 
 secure its perfect obedience to the conscription laws.
 
 MANIFESTO OF THE GREAT SANHEDRIN 305 
 
 The inaugural meeting of tlie Great Sanhedrin took place 
 on the 9th of February, 1807. The most prominent men 
 among the newly elect came almost all to a man from the 
 kingdom of Italy, and especially from the provinces which 
 were formerly a part of the old state of Venice. On the 
 9th of March, a proclamation was issued, whereby the 
 doctors of the laAv and the notables of Israel in congress 
 assembled made known that they had constituted them- 
 selves as a Great Sanhedrin, in order to find in its body the 
 means and the strength to promulgate religious ordinances 
 in conformity with the principles of their holy law, and 
 all which might serve as both precept and rule of conduct for 
 Israelites. They declared "that this law contains religious 
 clauses as well as political clauses; that the former are 
 absolute, whereas the latter, being intended to govern the 
 people of Israel in Palestine, are no longer applicable as 
 they do not form a corporate nation. Thus, poly gamy, which 
 was permitted by the Mosaic law, being nowadays merely 
 optional and out of usage in the West, is to be considered 
 as prohibited. In France the civil marriage ceremony shall 
 precede the religious one. No repudiation of a wife or 
 divorce is to take place, except according to the forms 
 prescribed by civil law. Marriage between Israelites and 
 Christians shall be considered valid. The Mosaic law 
 enjoining us to look upon as brothers all members of 
 nations believing in God the Creator, all Israelites shall 
 practise, daily and constantly, as an essentially religious 
 duty inherent to their creed, towards all men believing in 
 God the Creator, all acts of justice, and of charity prescribed 
 in the sacred books. 
 
 " Each and every Israelite, when treated by the laws as a 
 citizen, shall obey the laws of his country, and conform in 
 all transactions to the terms of the code in use in them. 
 When called upon to serve in the army, they to be dis-
 
 306 MEMOIBS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 pensed, while their term of service lasts, from all religious 
 observances which might not prove compatible with it. 
 Israelites should give the preference to the exercise of 
 mechanical and liberal professions, and acquire landed 
 property, as so many means of becoming attached to their 
 country, and of being held there in general esteem. 
 
 ''In conformity with the Mosaic law, usury shall be 
 indiscriminately forbidden, not only as between Hebrew 
 and Hebrew, and as between Hebrew and a fellow-citizen 
 professing another creed, but also in regard to strangers of 
 all nations, such practice being an iniquity abominated in 
 the eyes of the Lord." 
 
 It would have been a hard task for any lawyer or moralist 
 to expound this last prescription with more care and force. 
 This so energetically conceived declaration was unanimously 
 adopted. The general assembly promptly joined to this 
 declaration an address to the Emperor, and a resolution 
 intended to render secure and complete the effect of the dec- 
 laration. This led it, as a natural consequence, to express 
 a hope that His Majesty, thus assured of the happy results 
 which were to produce towards the repression of abuses, the 
 decisions just reached as a whole in so imposing a form, 
 Avould, in his great wisdom, be pleased to consider, if it 
 would not be advisable to put an end to the suspension of 
 proceedings taken for the recovery of mortgages, in the 
 departments affected by the decree of the 30th of May, and 
 that this should occur at the time of the expiration of the 
 delay laid down in that decree. 
 
 It therefore expressed a wish that His Majesty would be 
 pleased to take such measures as he would deem the most 
 efficient to prevent that it should in future become possible 
 for a small number of Israelites, by means of a few mort- 
 gages which they might get registered, to do injuries to 
 private fortunes such as had previously -given cause for
 
 JEWISH SOCIETY ORGANIZED 307 
 
 complaint, and the shame of and the punishment for which 
 had but too often fallen upon the whole body of their co- 
 religionists. Never were greater attempts made, with the 
 frankest and most sincere intentions, to obtain a reform 
 so long prayed for by all enlightened minds; and never 
 was such an opportunity tendered to the Jewish race since 
 its dispersion. Many centuries will perhaps roll by ere so 
 favorable an opportunity is again presented to them. 
 
 The Emperor, whose attention was diverted by political 
 matters from the undertaking which had so long occupied 
 his thoughts, neglected to take advantage of the overtures 
 made to him. The delay, which, by the decree of the 30th 
 of May, 1806, suspended the enforcing of Jewish claims, 
 was further extended. The notification of this, made by 
 simple ministerial circular, greatly disheartened the Jewish 
 population. 
 
 Pursuant to the orders which we had received, the Great 
 Sanhedrin was dissolved on the 6th of April, 1807, and the 
 draft of a decree was submitted for discussion to the 
 Council of State. The ideas of the Emperor had undergone 
 a change unfavorable to the Jews, doubtless in consequence 
 of the impression produced on him by the Jewish popula- 
 tions of Germany and of Poland. M. Mole's system was to 
 prevail, in spite of the efforts of M. Portalis and'of myself. 
 Yet we succeeded in getting sanctioned in their entirety the 
 regulations which we had taken so much trouble to get 
 adopted with regard to the organization of Jewish worship, 
 and for its inner government throughout the breadth of the 
 French Empire and of the kingdom of Italy, 
 
 Provisions of a law dealing with the effects of the 
 suspensory decree, sent after a lengthy delay from the 
 headquarters of the Emperor, were of such severity that I 
 do not hesitate to say that they violated all rules of equity. 
 
 This ends all I have to say about this singular and
 
 308 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 interesting episode of my debut in my political career. It 
 was most instructive, not only through the actual facts I 
 learnt, but also through the insight it gave me into how 
 affairs were carried on or brought to a termination under 
 the man whom destiny had placed so far above our heads. 
 It was for me a first warning that there existed more un- 
 certainty and instability than was generally believed in his 
 plans and in his determinations. And yet, as appertains 
 to genius alone, even his passing ideas left profound traces. 
 Two important results have remained of this great under- 
 taking, viz. the organization of Jewish society in France, 
 and the doctrinal manifesto of the Great Sanhedrin.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 War with Prussia — France's enthusiasm after Jena — General desire for a 
 durable peace — Napoleon's threatening attitude at Berlin — The con- 
 tinental blockade — Its hardships and prodigious results — Matters lead- 
 ing up to war with Spain — Napoleon again prepares for war — Napo- 
 leon's vast amount of correspondence — An aggressive march made by 
 the Russians — Battle of Eylau — An opinion of General Jomini — The 
 siege of Dantzig — The victory of Friedland — The peace of Tilsit — 
 Napoleon's influence over the Emperor Alexander — Prussia's humilia- 
 tion — GustavusIV., King of Sweden, deprived of his crown — Denmark 
 becomes France's ally. 
 
 At the time I joined the Imperial government, in June, 
 1806, Napoleon had reached the height of power and glory. 
 His authority, which had been established at home by the 
 ascendant of his genius and the splendor of his early vic- 
 tories, was still further strengthened by his recent triumphs; 
 but it was also at the mercy of the dangers which his too 
 great faith in his star was to draw down upon him. His 
 enemies well knew the many opportunities which the luck 
 of war brings even to those whom it has been cruel to for 
 so long a time. 
 
 It was therefore in order that coalitions should follow 
 each other unceasingly, and that the new Emperor should 
 defy them with the tenacity and haughtiness of his preten- 
 sions. Still, there was a perfect sense of security felt, not 
 only by those who were more or less associated with the 
 new government, but even by the greater and more notable 
 part of the nation. I shared in that feeling, although I 
 can understand its existence nowadays only by taking into 
 
 309
 
 310 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEtt 
 
 consideration the awful state of anarchy wherein we had 
 dwelt during the years preceding the Imperial regime. 
 With little anxiety, therefore, did I see the breaking out 
 of the war with Prussia, following close upon the one with 
 Austria. The spring of 1806 had been taken up with par- 
 leying and negotiations, and, it must fain be said, with 
 mutual trickeries which at last led up to the explosion. 
 Fox was perhaps at that time the only statesman in Europe 
 who sincerely desired peace. Every hope reposing on his 
 honest intentions was destroyed by his death, and the 
 ministry which succeeded him showed itself as ardently in 
 favor of war as Pitt had been. 
 
 As I have spoken of trickery, it behooves me to mention 
 the occupation of Hanover. Prussia was bent on war, and 
 her preparations during September left no doubt whatever 
 as to her intentions; but, her mind once made up, and in 
 spite of her confidence in her own strength, she was not 
 blind enough to hesitate calling upon Russia for help, and 
 upon England for subsidies and support. Nothing of all 
 this could be denied her, and she experienced no difficulty 
 in obtaining it; but the enemy with whom she had to deal 
 was not the one to give her time to avail herself of all these 
 resources. He was not one to allow himself to be fore- 
 stalled, and indeed he soon assumed the offensive. In the 
 twinkling of an eye his army was on the banks of the Saale, 
 at the gates of Saxony. This movement took place with no 
 less precision and rapidity, but with fewer obstacles to be 
 surmounted than in the campaign leading up to Austerlitz. 
 The result of the first engagements was at the very outset 
 disastrous for the Prussian army and royal family. Prince 
 Louis was killed in the first fight. He had been one of the 
 most ardent promoters of the war. In addition to his 
 remarkable bravery, he possessed all the qualities which 
 go towards making an idol of a prince in the eyes of his
 
 THE WAR WITH PRUSSIA 311 
 
 soldiers, and many hopes were centred 'in him. What 
 followed was in harmony with the beginning. I am not 
 going to dwell on this prodigious campaign, whose rapidity 
 had in it something of the supernatural, as I have already 
 stated that I intended to leave to others the care of dealing 
 with the military portion of the period during which I 
 lived. I will therefore only speak of battles, victories, and 
 defeats, for the purpose of showing the moral effect pro- 
 duced by them, and the political consequences arising 
 therefrom. 
 
 Prussia, which for about half a century had advanced step 
 by step to the first rank among military powers, was laid 
 low at the first clash of arms. What remained of the old 
 generals of the Great Frederick, the Duke of Brunswick, 
 General Mollendorf, and so many others, either lost their 
 lives on the battle-field of Jena, or as a result of the rout, 
 the remnants of their former military reputation. Seven- 
 teen days sufficed to place the French army in possession of 
 the Prussian capital, and the end of November saw it on 
 the opposite side of the Vistula, after taking Ciistrin, 
 Spandau, Liibeck, and Magdeburg, the last named reputed 
 to be the most strongly fortified town in the Prussian 
 kingdom, and occupying all the States belonging to it with 
 the exception of Silesia and the fortress of Colberg in 
 Pomerania. 
 
 Enthusiasm rose to the highest pitch in France. Nothing 
 now seemed impossible. Still, in the midst of this quite 
 natural intoxication, it was possible to notice the strength 
 acquired by a certain feeling, which from that date did not 
 cease growing, but which the victorious Emperor too greatly 
 ignored, and which will later on explain the errors of the 
 last days of his reign. 
 
 France was no doiibt proud of all these victories, but she 
 wished to reap the fruits of them, and, to her eyes, the first
 
 312 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 of them was peace, a glorious one, but especially a lasting 
 one. Moderation in the hour of triumph could alone ensure 
 such a result, and the French character, which is naturally 
 generous, indulged in thoughts of such a moderate use of 
 victory. So it was that people nourished the illusory idea 
 that the man who had risen so high could not be deficient 
 in the only quality liable to make his conquests secure. 
 At every battle won, at each town taken, the first impulse 
 was to suppose that this fresh success was the pledge of a 
 peace which would not be long in coming. 
 
 Was such a hope founded on reason? Did it, moreover, 
 harmonize with the character one might assume to be that 
 of the man who for the past ten years had not ceased taking 
 the most formidable chances, and who had always come out 
 of his ventures in so singularly fortunate a manner? There 
 are good reasons for doubting this, but still the illusion 
 must have been a most natural one, for few people were 
 without it, even among the men who seemed the most closely 
 initiated into the secrets of our political situation. In the 
 Council of State, the veterans of the Eevolution, whom long 
 experience should have rendered better advised, yielded to 
 the prevailing enthusiasm. It is so natural for the wish to 
 be father to the thought ! 
 
 No sooner was Napoleon in Berlin, than he not only 
 acted and spoke as an angry conqueror, but affected the 
 speech and the attitude of a sovereign giving commands to 
 his subjects. Loyalty to the prince who had fled at his 
 approach was treated as an act of rebellion, and, in his 
 indignation against the opposition of a portion of the 
 nobility which still held communication with the unfortu- 
 nate king, he exclaimed, in the very halls of the palace of 
 the Great Frederick : " I will so humble this Court nobility 
 that it shall be reduced to begging its bread." In his procla- 
 mations and bulletins he constantly coupled threats with
 
 THE EMPEROR AT BERLIN 313 
 
 insults. Misfortune, which should be sacred, was not even 
 respected in the person of the Queen of Prussia. This 
 conduct was far from affording any reassuring preliminaries 
 towards the peace so ardently prayed for. But all this was 
 nothing when compared with a measure taken in the hour 
 of the intoxication of victory, and which, by erecting a so 
 to speak insurmountable barrier between France and Eng- 
 land, condemned each of these two powers to entertain no 
 hopes of peace and rest until its rival was completely 
 destroyed. 
 
 I refer to the decree promulgated at Berlin on the 21st of 
 November, 1806, which laid the first foundations of what 
 the Emperor was to style, later on, the continental system. 
 The British Isles were declared in a state of blockade. All 
 correspondence and all commerce with them were pro- 
 hibited. Every British subject, whatever his station in 
 life, found in countries occupied by the French or by their 
 allies was to be made a prisoner of war. All merchandise 
 hailing from British sources, and of whatever kind, was 
 declared a lawful prize. 
 
 There is no doubt that such a determination was inspired 
 by the ardent desire of wreaking vengeance on an enemy 
 who might justly be considered as the soul and mainstay 
 of every coalition formed against France. It is also certain 
 that so extreme a measure was looked upon as merely a fair 
 reprisal for the blockading by England of all ports situated 
 in states with which she was at war. 
 
 Napoleon flattered himself with the idea of having found 
 the means to deal a blow at his most deadly opponent in 
 the matter nearest his heart. Seeing himself master of the 
 greater part of the European coast, at least enjoying a 
 domination over the mouths of the principal rivers of 
 Germany, he persuaded himself that it depended on him to 
 close all Europe's market to England, and thus compel her
 
 314 MEMOIES OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 to take from him peace at his own terms. The conception 
 was no doubt a grand one, and the measure was no more 
 iniquitous than England's; but the difference lay in the 
 fact that the latter, in her pretensions to a blockade, was 
 not undertaking anything beyond her strength, and did not 
 stand in need of any other nation's co-operation to carry it 
 out. 
 
 France, on the contrary, was entering upon an under- 
 taking which could not be put into execution without the 
 voluntary or enforced co-operation of all European powers. 
 It was therefore sufficient, in order to render it fruitless, 
 and the future went to prove this, that a single one of these 
 powers, unable to submit to the privations imposed on it, 
 should either announce its firm determination not to lend a 
 hand in the matter, or should be content with finding ways 
 of eluding it. Granted that it was feasible to coerce all 
 countries into co-operation, there still would remain unwill- 
 ing allies, who would need watching and checking. It 
 would become necessary to devise some remedy, or at least 
 some mitigation, in order that they might not weigh too 
 heavily, of the sacrifices to be endured under the regime of 
 privations about to be so universally imposed, and from 
 which the several contracting parties would have to suffer, 
 doubtless, to a various but very considerable extent. 
 
 Not only was England in a position to supply the Conti- 
 nent with the numerous products of her industry, but she 
 also controlled almost the entirety of all colonial wares and 
 provisions. Hence it would, in the first place, become 
 necessary to have recourse to all possible means calculated 
 to make continental industry supply that which English 
 industry would no longer furnish. Again, with regard to 
 colonial products, some of which, such as sugar and coffee, 
 were almost indispensable necessaries of life, and several 
 of which were the actual raw material on which depended
 
 THE CONTINENTAL BLOCKADE 315 
 
 the manufactures which it was proposed to create, it was 
 necessary to devise a means for allowing them the right of 
 entry, but in a proportion calculated on the strictest neces- 
 sity, and, if possible, by means of an exchange favorable to 
 the natural products of the Continent. 
 
 So it happened that, through the most persevering and at 
 times the most ingenious efforts, by the aid of a succession 
 of decrees, and with the help of that strange invention of 
 licenses which were nothing but organized smuggling, 
 continental industry, or rather French industry, backed up 
 with a million bayonets and with an auxiliary force of 
 coast guards, succeeded in meeting the demands of a vast 
 competition, and in deriving large profits. 
 
 In this respect, the results were prodigious, and as 
 happens not infrequently in the case of all the works of 
 genius, even in its vagaries, several of these results sur- 
 vived the force which created them. The consumer, it 
 must be admitted, dearly paid for the progress and the 
 consolidation of this industry. For several years he had 
 to suffer from the exorbitant rise in price of the most 
 necessary commodities. As an instance of this, he paid, 
 for six or seven years, six francs for a pound of sugar, and 
 in the meanwhile the product of the best vineyards in 
 France remained unsold. 
 
 Another most serious event had occurred in Europe 
 simultaneously with the opening of that memorable Prus- 
 sian campaign, but hardly any attention had been paid to 
 it. It contained the germ of that terrible Peninsular War, 
 which was the worm that ate its way into the power and 
 good fortune of Napoleon. Impatient to escape from the 
 ascendency of French power, the favorite who in those days 
 governed Spain thought he could discern in the new storm 
 which was breaking out in Northern Germany a good 
 opportunity for shaking off a yoke which pressed heavily
 
 316 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 on him. On the 5th of October he issued a proclamation, 
 wherein, making reference to dangers and glory, to an 
 enemy who remained nameless, and to acts of treachery 
 which he did not specify, he uttered a call to arms. This 
 outburst was plainly directed against the head of the French 
 government, but the latter showed himself sufficiently pru- 
 dent not to let it appear that he so understood it, and 
 postponing his vengeance, he feigned to believe that this 
 challenge, proceeding from an ally until then submissive, 
 could not be intended for himself. Nevertheless, one is 
 justified in assuming that from that day he vowed to 
 destroy the monarchy which thus dared to defy him, and 
 there can be no doubt that he was delighted with the pre- 
 text thus offered him of depriving the Bourbons of the 
 crown of Spain, as he had deprived them of their sovereignty 
 in Naples. 
 
 The months of October and November, replete with the 
 brilliant successes which had placed on such a pinnacle the 
 glory and fortunes of Napoleon, saw therefore the birth of 
 two events, the consequences of which were to compass his 
 downfall: the continental blockade and the Peninsular 
 War. 
 
 An ill-defined uneasiness took hold of our minds with 
 the advent of the end of December. No serious negotiation 
 for peace had been heard of. Saxony had alone lent a 
 willing ear to the overtures made to her, and which she was 
 not in a position to reject. She had completely abandoned 
 Prussia, and had entered into the Rhenish Confederation. 
 A decree issued at Berlin on the organization of the 
 National Guard in France seemed, moreover, to indicate 
 the intention of the chief of the state of securing at home 
 a reserve force which would allow him to dispose of his 
 active forces abroad, and shortly afterwards a levy of eighty 
 thousand conscripts, which was ordered to take place in
 
 FRESH PREPARATIONS OF WAR 317 
 
 1807, gave proof that he intended to derive every possible 
 benefit from his triumplis. * 
 
 And indeed, we were soon to learn that the Emperor had 
 determined upon remaining in the midst of his cantonments, 
 and was making Warsaw his headquarters. It was learnt 
 simultaneously that the last campaign had been a severe 
 one. Our troops had found themselves face to face with the 
 Russian army, and this had put an entirely new aspect on 
 the war. The right bank of the Vistula had been occupied 
 only as the result of bloody engagements; the fight at 
 Pultusk had been especially stubborn, and the French army 
 had there suffered heavy losses; for the first time it had 
 had to deal both with the cold weather and with the soldiers 
 of the North, and it had required all the vigor of Marshals 
 Lannes and Davout to win an advantage which merely 
 amounted to a retreat of the enemy, a retreat carried out 
 under the cover of night. 
 
 It became evident that the war was to become of an 
 entirely new kind, that we were about to face an adversary 
 whose temper was far stronger than that of the Prussian 
 battalions which had so easily been disposed of at Jena, 
 and that in the future victory would have to be dearly 
 purchased. 
 
 The Emperor, but recently seated on his throne, must 
 have enjoyed a most audacious confidence in his prestige, 
 to dare to establish himself at so great a distance from 
 his frontiers, at the furthest line of his operations, at five 
 hundred leagues from his capital, at a time of the year 
 when the ways of communication are of the slowest and 
 most difficult, exposed to the dangerous effect which a bit 
 of bad news, whether true or false, might produce on the 
 greater number of his newly acquired subjects. To take up 
 such a stand, it was necessary that he should feel assured 
 that his government would go on with as much regularity
 
 318 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 as if he were in the heart of his Empire, and solely engaged 
 in exercising supervision over its machinery. It was espe- 
 cially necessary that nothing should happen to interrupt or 
 to delay the levies of men he required, either for filling in 
 the gaps caused by war, or for occupying so vast an extent 
 of territory. 
 
 Success must in all respects have gone beyond his expec- 
 tations, for his confidence, however great, however exag- 
 gerated it may appear, was not deceived. 
 
 The clever fashion in which he svicceeded in causing it to 
 be believed, so to speak, that he was omnipresent, cannot 
 be too much dilated upon. Thus an uninterrupted com- 
 munication between his headquarters and his ministers was 
 established by a service of estafettes, just such as might 
 have existed between Paris and Eontainebleau. The arch- 
 chancellor, who in his absence presided over all the council 
 meetings, who had full authority in all matters, kept him 
 informed of the minutest details, and the Emperor answered 
 everything, even what seemed of the least importance. 
 
 As an example, the result of the work of the comite du 
 contentieux in the Council of State Avas laid before him every 
 Aveek by an aucUtew, who was at the same time entrusted 
 with the portfolios of all the ministries, and who returned 
 without delay with the necessary signatures. This was the 
 time when people began to get accustomed to these rapid 
 journeys, of which they had previously not entertained the 
 idea, and they came to regard as the most simple matter in 
 the world the terrible fatigue incurred in crossing the whole 
 of Europe from one end to another without any stoppages. 
 Gigantic things were coming in vogue. 
 
 At the time whereof I speak. Napoleon was always 
 accompanied in his campaigns by his Secretary of State, 
 M. Maret, and no man was ever endowed with more 
 indefatigable ardor for entering into the feelings and
 
 NAPOLEON'S IMMENSE CORRESPONDENCE 319 
 
 seconding the wishes of a master. His great facility for 
 putting matters into writing, joined with a constant obse- 
 quiousness, stood him in lieu of actual talent, and he ended 
 in acquiring an importance which more than once proved 
 fatal to the man he was serving in all sincerity of heart, 
 for no doubts were ever cast on his good faith. 
 
 If he praised or admired anything, it was because he 
 really thought it worthy of praise and admiration. Hence 
 it was that at headquarters it devolved upon him to have 
 charge of dealing with the work relating to the adminis- 
 tration of the Empire and to attend to the immense corre- 
 spondence which, in the midst of all his military and 
 political combinations, Napoleon kept up with so punctilious 
 a care concerning matters of all sorts, and in which he made 
 a show of giving his attention to the smallest details. One 
 cannot help pointing out that he often pushed this care to 
 the point of minuteness, or, to speak plainly, to that of 
 charlatanism. The numerous decrees on matters of small 
 moment which appeared in the Moniteur, dated from every 
 corner of Europe, bear out the truth of this assertion. 
 
 How could any one have allovv^ed himself to become in 
 the slightest degree neglectful, when the example of an 
 indefatigable activity was presented from so high? In this 
 respect the Council of State was beyond all reproach. In 
 addition to its current work, the extent of which I have 
 made known, it was at that time engaged in drafting the 
 Commercial Code, and the debates consequent upon this 
 work were pursued with unflagging attention in the teeth 
 of events the most likely to preoccupy the mind. These 
 debates have remained all the more deeply engraved upon 
 my memory in that they were the first of the kind which I 
 attended. I was even compelled to take part in them, in 
 spite of myself, for I was almost forced to do so by the 
 archchancellor.
 
 820 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 The maitres cles requetes could ask to be heard in all cases, 
 but up to that date, and owing to a timidity easily ex- 
 plained, they had availed themselves of this privilege only 
 in cases on which they had to present reports. M. de 
 Cambaceres gave us to understand that it was time that 
 we should cease maintaining this attitude of reserve. M. 
 Regnaud de Saint- Jean d'Angely, learning that I had drawn 
 up a few remarks concerning imprisonment for debt, and 
 that it was my intention to r^ad them, said to me : " What 
 is this? You have written something and you are going 
 to read it? If you do such a thing, you are dooming 
 yourself never to acquire any importance in the Council. 
 Follow my advice, and throw your piece of paper into the 
 fire, and make a long speech. You will speak poorly the 
 first time, and perhaps on a few more occasions, but you 
 will end in getting accustomed to speaking, and if you have 
 any intellectual resources, you will soon carve your way in 
 public affairs." I followed his advice, and thus acquired 
 the little talent which rendered secure my political exist- 
 ence. 
 
 Nevertheless, military operations were soon to be resumed 
 in all their activity. The month of January had seen only 
 a few isolated engagements between detached bodies of 
 troops; but, early in February, the Russian army having 
 made some ra.ther threatening movements, the object of 
 which was plainly to hurl the French army across the 
 Vistula, the Emperor thought the time opportune to advance 
 against the Russians with the greater part of his forces. 
 
 Having met with substantial successes in the first encoun- 
 ters, he did not hesitate advancing with a somewhat rash 
 rapidity up to Eylau, where he found himself opposed by 
 the principal army corps of the enemy, entrenched in a 
 strong position, and was compelled to enter into action with 
 a much too weak portion of his troops. For a long time
 
 THE BATTLE OF EYLAU 321 
 
 the result of the day remained in the balance; its bloody 
 details are a matter of history. He finally remained master 
 of the field of battle, but this was the only advantage to 
 set against a heavy loss of soldiers and even of distinguished 
 officers, a loss which was to be felt all the more in an army 
 so far distant from its principal base of support.^ 
 
 1 The uncertainty of the day's issue was such that on both sides the 
 retreat was ordered during the night. Marshal Davout, who was bivouack- 
 ing with the most advanced army corps, told a person, who shortly after- 
 wards repeated it to me, that just as he was about to begin a retrograde 
 movement, an officer came to him from the outposts to tell him that there 
 was plainly great commotion in the enemy's bivouac. Thereupon Davout 
 went as close as he could to the spot where the noise could be heard, and, 
 on lying with his ear to the ground, he heard distinctly the rolling away of 
 cannons and powder-carts, and as the rumbling gradually decreased he 
 became convinced that the enemy was in full retreat. He sent this informa- 
 tion to the Emperor, who at once gave orders to his troops to hold their 
 positions, and it was in this fashion that the French army remained in final 
 possession of the battle-field. 
 
 I may add to this particular, which I am convinced is based on truth, 
 another fact about which I feel equally certain. General Jomini, the author 
 of several excellent works on tactics, and of a pamphlet wherein he showed 
 that the position of the French army, if defeated at Austerlitz, would still 
 have had some resources left, was, at the time, owing to this pamphlet, 
 somewhat in high favor with the Emperor. He was on his staff, and was on 
 the plateau of Eylau when, towards the close of the day, a large mass of 
 troops was seen forming behind the advanced bodies of the Russian army. 
 Feeling sure that this mass was destined to make a last effort on the plateau, 
 and one that would prove irresistible, he let the following words escape from 
 his lips: "I would greatly enjoy being in Benningsen's place." But the 
 latter, instead of attempting this new effort which would have won him the 
 battle, allowed his attention to be diverted by the arrival of Davout's corps, 
 which threatened him on one flank, and it was against this corps that the 
 heavy mass which had attracted Jomini's attention had been brought 
 forward. 
 
 But his words were taken up, for next morning Marshal Duroc said 
 to him: " Well, Mr. Jomini, would you still enjoy being in Benningsen's 
 place? " " No," was the answer, " but in that of Prince Charles." These 
 two utterances of a man fully enlightened as to the conduct and chances of 
 great military operations make quite clear, not only the danger which the 
 Emperor ran at Eylau, but also his critical position beyond the Vistula, 
 after the battle, if Austria, whose hostility was not doubtful, had been 
 capable of a bold initiative. 
 
 Benningsen, who had missed so fine a chance of immortalizing himself, 
 fell into disgrace at the close of the campaign, and was compelled to seek
 
 322 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 The Russian army, on the other hand, beat a safe retreat 
 on Koenigsberg, the capital of Eastern Prussia, and the 
 centre of its resources and supplies, the French army not 
 being in a position to attack it. Nevertheless, owing to its 
 admirable organization, and the powerful will of its chief, 
 it was able to remain in cantonments at a short distance 
 from the battle-field, in spite of the severity of the season. 
 
 Napoleon's obstinacy in remaining in this position is one 
 of the stoutest deeds ever performed in any war, and it 
 greatly overawed the enemy. He established his head- 
 quarters in a little straggling village known as Osterode, 
 where he continued, with a tranquillity which nothing could 
 disturb, to engage in the customary labors of which I have 
 previously told. In order that nothing should be lacking 
 to characterize the calm state of his mind and the security 
 of his position, it was soon learnt that he had seen fit to 
 enjoy a pleasurable relaxation, by calling to him a Polish 
 gentlewoman of excellent birth, with whom he had con- 
 tracted a liaison while passing through Warsaw, and who, 
 as a consequence of this journey, had the honor of bearing 
 him a son. This is the only child, the fruit of his passing 
 amours, which can be attributed to him with certainty. 
 
 The news of the battle of Eylaia had in the meanwhile 
 given birth to varying impressions throughout Europe, and 
 those felt in Prance could not be otherwise than painful. 
 The Russians, it was said, were plainly of another stamp 
 than the Prussian and Austrian soldiers, and had not the 
 Emperor shown great rashness in seeking them in their 
 
 a retreat in Germany, in the environs of Hanover, tlie town of his birth. 
 M. Beugnot, at that time Minister to the King of Westphalia, often saw 
 him in those days. Benningsen would always bring back the conversation 
 to the day so fatal to him, and would attribute his abandonment of the 
 battle-field to the false and even treacherous reports brought to him to the 
 effect that the Emperor had received important reinforcements at night- 
 fall.
 
 THE BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND 323 
 
 very stronghold? I could plainly see anxiety invade the 
 minds of those who tried to show a bold front. And yet, 
 nothing had been neglected in the published reports to swell 
 the losses of the enemy and diminish our own, and to give 
 prominence to the courage and energy of our troops and the 
 skill of our generals. 
 
 The 64th bulletin had shown us the Emperor spending 
 several hours on the battle-field, on the morning after the 
 fight, " amid the dead and dying, who lay in heaps, all the 
 more brought into relief as they were spread out on a sheet 
 of snow. Such a spectacle is fit to inspire princes with a 
 love of peace and a horror of war." 
 
 The three months' sojourn at Osterode was not, it may 
 well be imagined, a three months' rest for the opposing 
 armies. If the two principal bodies remained during this 
 time in observation, and if they did not come to blows, 
 there was nevertheless continual fighting at the extremity 
 of the line of operations, and a number of engagements took 
 place which, at o her times, would have been considered as 
 battles, and would have sufficed to render famous the gen- 
 erals under whose orders they were fought. 
 
 The Russians were usually the aggressors in these engage- 
 ments, and they were always vigorously held in check or 
 repulsed. The French were besieging Dantzig. It was a 
 long and difficult operation. General Kalkreuth, who de- 
 fended the city, did not capitulate until after fifty days' 
 siege from open trenches. This old general was one of the 
 last pupils of the great Frederick, and was the only one in 
 those days to preserve the honor of that famed school. 
 
 Dantzig having fallen on the 24th of May, important 
 operations began immediately, which, cleverly conducted on 
 both sides, ended with the decisive battle of Friedland, 
 which Napoleon won on the 14th of June. It is a matter 
 of history how, following upon this success, negotiations
 
 324 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 were entered into beween him and the Emperor Alexander 
 at Tilsit, on the banks of the Xiemen, and how the former 
 secured there a victory greater, perhaps, than any of those 
 in which he took pride. It was not enough that he should, 
 through the ascendency of his military genius, triumph on 
 many a battle-field over the most formidable of his rivals, 
 but he must subjugate him in the matter of negotiations, by 
 his dexterity of mind, his brilliant conversational powers, 
 and the seductive coloring which he had the art of impart- 
 ing to the political combinations which he succeeded in 
 getting him to acquiesce in. 
 
 Thus not only did he extort from Alexander, under the 
 color of mediation, an alliance against England, and in 
 spite of the plainest interests of the Russian Empire, a 
 complete concurrence in the continental blockade, but he 
 was able to make him relinquish the role of generous ally 
 which so well suited his character, and cause him to take a 
 share in despoiling the unfortunate King of Prussia. In 
 vain did the latter beg as a favor that he should be 
 admitted to take part in their conferences; in vain did the 
 queen bring into play all the seductive arts of her mind and 
 beauty; they were compelled to submit to the law of the 
 conqueror in all its pitiless severity. 
 
 No one had suffered more from recent events than Gus- 
 tavus IV., King of Sweden. He had joined the British 
 alliance with Prussia and Russia. He was rash enough to 
 renew the hostilities on the rear of the French army, at the 
 very moment when negotiations were being opened at 
 Tilsit. The consequences of this rash deed were, in the 
 first place, the loss of Swedish Pomerania, of the important 
 stronghold of Stralsund, of the isle of Riigen, and, as to the 
 king himself, the loss of his crown. 
 
 As he, of all kings, had alone pronounced in favor of the 
 rights of the House of Bourbon, as he had on several occa-
 
 DENMARK 325 
 
 sions invoked them in his diplomatic correspondence with 
 Prussia and Kussia, there is little doubt that Xapoleon, who, 
 as a matter of course, was cognizant of this, took every care 
 to raise against him the opposition to which he finally 
 succumbed. 
 
 Denmark, although not having to reproach itself with 
 any of the imprudent acts of the King of Sweden, and in 
 spite of its cautious behavior, was destined to see, as early 
 as the month of September, a storm break out over it, which 
 dealt a fatal blow at its maritime power. The continental 
 blockade furnished the opportunity. All means of injuring 
 each other seemed good henceforth to France and England. 
 As Napoleon's troops were occupying Hamburg and Liibeck, 
 the English could scarcely entertain any doubt that they 
 were there with the intention of furnishing Denmark with 
 a pretext to close its doors to British commerce, so they 
 resolved upon forestalling this move. 
 
 They had for a long time vainly urged the Danish Court 
 to unite with them against France. Despairing of ever 
 attaining their object, they sent to Copenhagen an expedi- 
 tion under the command of Admiral Gambler and Lord 
 Cathcart. ' After some fruitless parleying, the bombardment 
 was begun, and in spite of the most vigorous reply from 
 the forts commanding the roadstead, and of the ships moored 
 there, all resistance became useless, when, after a three 
 days' fire, six hundred houses were burnt down, and a 
 capitulation became unavoidable. Admiral Gambler re- 
 mained in possession of the Danish fleet, which he quickly 
 towed into British ports, having previously loaded it with 
 all the naval stores which he found in the arsenal. 
 
 Denmark, deeply hurt at so unexpected an attack, which 
 was, moreover, so contrary to all the usages of nations, 
 quickly threw itself into France's arms, and concluded a 
 treaty of alliance with it. The outrage which the British
 
 326 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 government had perpetrated on a neutral power excited to 
 the highest degree the indignation of the Emperor Alex- 
 ander. Casting aside the role of mediator, he no longer 
 hesitated in breaking off all intercourse with that govern- 
 ment, and proclaimed anew the principles of armed neu- 
 trality. He declared, moreover, that no intercourse should 
 exist between Russia and England until Denmark had 
 received satisfaction, and as long as peace was not concluded 
 between France and England.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Napoleon's return to Paris — A Te Deum sung with great pomp at Notre- 
 Dame — Marriage of Jerome, the new King of Westphalia, with a 
 daughter of the King of Wiirtemberg — Magnificence of the ceremony 
 — M. de Talleyrand appointed Vice-Grand Elector — Strained relations 
 between the Emperor and that diplomat — M. Pasquier appointed pro- 
 cureur g^n^ral to the conseil du sceau des litres — The methods of 
 M. Decres, Minister of Marine — Abuses of the Imperial administration 
 and denials of justice — The case of M. Pichou, ex-consul of France in 
 America. 
 
 After so many battles fought, so many victories won, 
 and so many obstacles surmounted, after supplementing the 
 triumphs of the general with those of the diplomat, Napo- 
 leon was leaving behind him one-half of Germany occupied 
 by his army and was master of the mouths of the Weser, 
 the Elbe, and the Vistula, when, on the 27th of July, he 
 re-entered his capital. His absence had lasted no less than 
 ten months. Never had he been away for such a length of 
 time. 
 
 This return was celebrated with public fetes, which af- 
 forded an opportunity for the display of every kind of civil, 
 military, and religious ceremony. Of them all, I particu- 
 larly recall the Te Deum which was sung at Notre-Dame. I 
 was present at it with the other members of the Council of 
 State, and as I had a place in the choir, almost opposite the 
 throne, I studied the Emperor's physiognomy, in quest of 
 the impressions which it revealed. He was obviously 
 pleased with the religious sanction, which, in the eyes of 
 the people, consecrated his glory and his omnipotence j he 
 
 327
 
 328 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 set a price on it, all the greater from the fact that up to the 
 time of his coming it had been absolutely denied to all the 
 works of the Revolution, and that it distinguished him 
 from all that had preceded him. I am of the opinion that 
 at no moment of his career did he enjoy more completely, 
 or at least with more apparent security, the favors of for- 
 tune. Generally, in the midst of his greatest successes, he 
 affected an anxious air, as if he wished it to be understood 
 that his great designs were not yet accomplished, and that 
 people ought not to think that there remained nothing more 
 to do. The observation which I here record has been 
 repeatedly made by those who have come into close contact 
 with him, and who never found him less approachable than 
 at times when it was reasonable to suppose that some most 
 fortunate happening would open his soul to the sentiments 
 of a more expansive good-nature. 
 
 Generally speaking, it was better for any one having a 
 favor to ask of him to approach him in his moments of 
 worry, rather than on the days of his most brilliant suc- 
 cesses. His character did not err on the generous side. I 
 think I see him still, as he was on that day, dressed in his 
 state costume, which, though a little theatrical, was noble 
 and fine. His features, always calm and serious, recalled 
 the cameos which represent the Roman emperors. He was 
 small; still his whole person, in this imposing ceremony, 
 was in harmony with the part he was playing. A sword 
 glittering with precious stones was at his side, and the 
 famous diamond called the Regent formed its pommel. Its 
 brilliancy did not let us forget that this sword was the 
 sharpest and most victorious that the world had seen since 
 those of Alexander and Caesar. I remember that M. Beug- 
 not, who sat by me, gave utterance to this thought. Both 
 of us were then far from dreaming that less than seven 
 years would suffice to break it.
 
 JEEOME, king of WESTPHALIA 329 
 
 Early in September was celebrated the marriage of 
 Jerome, the new King of Westphalia, with a princess, the 
 daughter of the King of Wiirtemberg, and the grand- 
 daughter, by her mother, of the King of England. It is 
 true that the erecting of the Duchy of Wiirtemberg into a 
 kingdom was but the recent work of the Napoleonic power, 
 and this alliance might be considered as the wiping out of 
 debt by means of an act of gratitude; but the House of 
 Wiirtemberg was none the less one of the oldest sovereign 
 houses of Germany, and by this union the Bonaparte race 
 was becoming related to a large number of reigning families. 
 
 This king who gave his daughter to Jerome could not be 
 ignorant of the fact that he had contracted a first marriage 
 in America, with a person of a most honorable family, and 
 that this marriage had been consecrated after the forms and 
 laws of the country where it bad been accomplished. The 
 Emperor had declared this union null and illegal, since he, 
 as the chief of the family, had not given his consent to it ; 
 but could such a motive, borrowed from the customs of 
 certain sovereign families, be valid out of France, and 
 especially in America? 
 
 I was present at the ceremony, which took place in the 
 Tuileries, in the Gallery of Diana. All the magnificence 
 of the most sumptuous of Courts was exhibited on this 
 occasion. The quantity of pearls, diamonds, and precious 
 stones of all sorts, which added their brilliancy to the 
 ladies' attire, was really prodigious, and this was all the 
 greater a cause for surprise, when one remembered the dis- 
 tress of the end of the century. A few years had suflficed, 
 then, to bring back the most excessive use of them. 
 
 The members of the diplomatic corps and foreigners of 
 high degree, who witnessed this ceremony in large numbers, 
 did not tire of expressing their admiration of it. In order, 
 apparently, that nothing should be lacking to the magnifi-
 
 330 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 cence of the Imperial power, all eyes involuntarily turned 
 towards a person of rare beauty who appeared on that day 
 for the first time among the ladies of the Court. Slie was 
 a Genoese who had recently been appointed reader to the 
 Empress Josephine, and, at the close of the evening, every- 
 body told everybody else that she was, for the time being, 
 the object of Napoleon's preferences. 
 
 It is but fair to state that, amid the throng of courtiers 
 who surrounded the sovereigns with their most servile 
 homage, those most noticeable through their excessive 
 adulation were the patriots of 1793, who had given them- 
 selves up to the Imperial regime. 
 
 Nevertheless, no ceremonies, fetes, enjoyments, or any 
 amount of adulation were capable of diverting Napoleon's 
 attention from his political calculations and the cares of 
 his immense administration. As a judicious distribution 
 of favors was, to his mind, and with some show of reason, 
 one of the most powerful means of government, he took 
 care that it should occur among the men whose services 
 had been of most value to him. At the head of those he 
 affected to be most particularly pleased with was M. de 
 Talleyrand. Not only had his diplomatic talents stood the 
 test, but, at the most critical period of the campaign, he 
 had been left at Warsaw as quartermaster general. The 
 results of his zeal in fulfilling the duties of this important 
 post had evidently been considered priceless, for the Moniteur 
 had more than once informed the public of the Emperor's 
 satisfaction in this connection.^ 
 
 1 Since writing the foregoing, I have acquired the certainty that the 
 battle of Eylau caused M. de Talleyrand to seriously reflect on the little 
 solidity of an institution which reposed solely on a life which was forever 
 being risked in the most perilous enterprises. ' ' What should we have done, 
 had he been killed? Wliat should we do if this were to happen any fine 
 day?" he said to the Duke of Dall)erg, his principal confidant in those 
 days. And it was agreed that there was no otlier way out of it but to let 
 the succession devolve upon his brother Joseph, while at the same time
 
 31. BE TALLEYRAND, VICE-GliAND ELECTOR 331 
 
 M. de Talleyrand tlius seemed to liave reached tlie highest 
 degree of favor, and nobody was surprised that he should 
 aspire to climb to the highest rank in the hierarchy of 
 Imperial dignities. He was merely a minister, and as such 
 had to yield precedence to the great dignitaries. This 
 inferiority was no longer to his taste, and he found a way 
 out of it. 
 
 The functions of Grand Elector and of Archchancellor of 
 State no longer existed; the titles of these dignities were 
 still being held, the one by Napoleon's eldest brother, who 
 had become King of Naples, and the other by Prince 
 Eugene, Viceroy of Italy. M. de Talleyrand had himself 
 made Vice-Grand Elector, thus ranking with the Arch- 
 chancellor and the Archtreasurer. This promotion, in 
 appearance so natural, nevertheless involved important 
 consequences. It became incumbent upon him that he 
 should relinquish the portfolio of foreign affairs, an exi- 
 gency which did not seem very disagreeable to him, as it 
 ridded him of a mass of routine work which bore heavily 
 upon him. 
 
 Moreover, as he considered himself necessary and even 
 indispensable, he too easily persuaded himself that the 
 superiority of his talents and the pretence afforded by the 
 functions of Archchancellor of State, which he was about to 
 exercise, were a sufficient guarantee that his influence would 
 stand forever. The selection of his successor, to whicli 
 selection he believed he had powerfully contributed, served 
 to increase still further his sense of security. 
 
 M, de Champagny, Minister of the Interior, who was 
 
 notifying Europe that France would immediately and unconditionally con- 
 tent herself with the Rhine as her eastern frontier. From that date is 
 therefore to be dated the trend of M. de Talleyrand's ideas, which led him 
 to husband for future use resources of all sorts, and which consequently 
 made him enter almost immediately upon a line of treacherous conduct 
 towards the man he pretended to serve with such devoted zeal-
 
 332 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER, 
 
 chosen to succeed liim, was an able but timid man, and of 
 a weak character, and it is precisely for this reason that 
 Napoleon, tired with a minister to whom the public too 
 often attributed the success of his negotiations, had selected 
 him. He Avished people to be henceforth fully convinced 
 that he alone conceived all plans, alone came to a deter- 
 mination as to them, and alone presided over their execu- 
 tion. From the day, then, that the portfolio passed into the 
 hands of M. de Champagny, the Emperor worked ostensibly 
 with him alone, and, while showing much good-will towards 
 M. de Talleyrand, he no longer held with him any but the 
 most indispensable conversations, taking special care that 
 he should never be able to interfere in affairs unless by spe- 
 cial permission. He might therefore be consulted, but the 
 initiative was no longer his, and, if he secured it occasion- 
 ally, it could only be by dint of craftiness. This changed 
 condition of affairs, although somewhat sudden, was at first 
 noticed by a few persons only, but it was nevertheless 
 stronglj- resented by M. de Talleyrand, whose displeasure 
 soon vented itself in the sarcastic remarks which he on the 
 slightest pretence made about his successor. 
 
 On the other hand, the Emperor, when thus treating a 
 man who had so long enjoyed his closest intimacy, from 
 whom he had concealed nothing up to that time, knew full 
 well that he was deeply wounding his feelings. Hence he 
 conceived from that time a greater distrust of him, and 
 constantly lent a willing ear to any malevolent insinuations 
 which might reach him concerning M. de Talleyrand. He 
 was aware that he had few scruples ; doubts of him there- 
 fore found easy access to his mind, and he soon had more 
 reasons than one for entertaining them. On his side, M. de 
 Talleyrand must have searched carefully for the causes of a 
 coldness which was not sufficiently dissembled for him not 
 to notice it. Such was the origin of a falling out between
 
 M. PASQUIER'S POSITION 333 
 
 these two men, a falling out which ended by degenerating 
 into an enmity, the beginnings of which I am all the more 
 anxious to place on record for the reason that its conse- 
 quences bore the serious results with which everybody is 
 familiar. 
 
 My own position remained the same, and nothing made 
 me foresee that it was liable to change. I owed my easy 
 admission into the Council to a position far anterior, and 
 to the desire felt by the Emperor of bringing into his 
 Council of State a few of the names of the old magistracy; 
 but I was thirty-nine years of age, and had consequently 
 settled ideas on many subjects. A stranger to all the deeds 
 of the Eevolution, I had nothing to hide, nothing that 
 required forgetting. My fortune, although small, was suffi- 
 cient for me to enjoy a comfortable and honorable exist- 
 ence. I was therefore completely independent, and not to 
 be classed with the creatures of the Imperial power, ever 
 disposed to sacrifice all to the author of their fortunes. 
 
 Napoleon possessed an admirable instinct for discerning 
 and appreciating the dispositions which animated those by 
 whom he was environed. Hence it was that from the 
 beginning he looked upon me as a man from whom one 
 could expect good services might be derived, but who would 
 never belong to him as completely as he liked. It was 
 entirely different with M. Mole, who, endowed with a 
 greater fortune than mine, had entered the Council at the 
 age of twenty-five. His youth, his inexperience of every- 
 thing that had preceded the Revolution, of which he could 
 nevertheless recall the horrors, had led the Emperor to 
 hope that it would prove an easy matter, after completing 
 his political education, to get entire possession of him, and 
 to derive benefit from the advantages of an illustrious origin 
 and a most distinguished mind. 
 
 Hence it was that M. Mole, from the moment of his tak-
 
 334 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ing- part in public affairs, became the object of a marked 
 predilection, wliich was never withdrawn. As for myself, 
 during Napoleon's prolonged absence, and during his Prus- 
 sian and Russian campaigns, I managed, by dint of assidu- 
 ous work in the comiU clu contentieux, to attain an honorable 
 position in the Council, and to acquire some consideration. 
 
 My labors were fully appreciated by the Archchancellor, 
 and by the Chief Justice, who presided over the committee. 
 Both of them considered it their duty to bring my worth to 
 the notice of the master, immediately upon his return, but 
 this act of kindness had a contrary effect to the one antici- 
 pated. It was, in his eyes, wrong for me to seek to rise by 
 my own efforts, and to undertake to make my way, ere he 
 had given the signal for this, and with a backing other than 
 his own. From that time I was treated with most marked 
 reserve. I was not allowed any opportunity for a private 
 interview, and Avas kept at a distance. Still, I could not 
 complain of any distinctly unkind act, but merely that all 
 marks of favor fell to the lot of such of my colleagues as 
 had been appointed at the same time as myself, and all of 
 them my juniors. 
 
 At first I did not feel deeply over these promotions, 
 which consisted in appointments to prefectures, doubtless of 
 great importance, but which tempted me little, for such was 
 not the career I wished to follow. It became quite another 
 matter when I saw M. Portalis and M. Mole made Councillors 
 of State, and especially when the latter was at one and the 
 same time appointed director-general of the ponts et chaus- 
 s^es (bridges and highways). Tliis post was considered as 
 opening the door to the Ministry of the Interior. I could 
 now no longer conceal from myself the fact that whereas 
 these high favors were being distributed all around me, I 
 was still allowed to remain tied down to the comite clu 
 contentieux. Moreover, as my name was never the first
 
 ABUSES OF ABSOLUTE POWER 335 
 
 called, I was, generally speaking, presided over by a col- 
 league whose senior I was. He would undertake the draw- 
 ing up of the report, and thus get credit for the whole work. 
 
 It was not until during the third year that I was 
 appointed to a rather agreeable position, as it kept me in 
 Paris ; but it was one which could not have much impor- 
 tance in the Emperor's eyes, because it did not call for any 
 talent, and carried with it no real influence. It was the post 
 of procureur gen&ral to the conseil du sceau des litres. 1 
 owed it to the repeated requests of the Archchancellor, who 
 was the president of this council, and who wished to have 
 in it a man whose methods were known to him, and in whom 
 he might repose confidence. 
 
 Nevertheless, it behooves me to add, in order to throw a 
 better light on my personal affairs, that to the little favor 
 shown me for so long a time was due a greater independence 
 in my judgments and the possibility of viewing everything 
 that went on around me with a more observant eye. At the 
 same time, it must not be thought that my ill luck gave 
 birth in me to a feeling of hostility from which would have 
 issued the habit of disparaging everything. Far from it, I 
 still remained an admirer of the extent and power of the 
 genius which presided over our destinies. I still looked 
 upon Napoleon as the only possible and necessary man, as 
 our only security against the return of a revolution the 
 mournful remembrance of which was ever present. But my 
 eyes were closed neither to his faults, nor to his abuses of 
 power, nor to the fatal counsels of his flatterers, nor to 
 the excesses committed by the depositaries of his power. 
 My long connection with the comU4 du contentieiix, the 
 numerous complaints which had reached it, and which I 
 had been compelled to look into carefully, although I was 
 not always free to make the cause of justice triumph, had 
 sufficiently enlightened me concerning the dangers of a
 
 336 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 power as extended as was his own. A few examples will 
 suffice to illustrate tliis. 
 
 It had devolved upon M. Decres, on being appointed Min- 
 ister of Marine, to order the construction and the armament 
 of the Boulogne flotilla. A certain contractor of Eouen had 
 undertaken to build the necessary praams, and, by the terms 
 of his contract, he was to be paid in three instalments, as 
 progress was reported ; he duly received the first two-thirds 
 on the strength of official reports, establishing that two- 
 thirds of the praams had been finished ; but when they were 
 all built, there seemed to be no way of obtaining the pay- 
 ment of the remaining third from the Ministry of Marine. 
 It was evident that there was no other reason for this 
 denial of justice than that of the uselessness of the barges, 
 as the idea of an invasion of England had been abandoned. 
 The unfortunate contractor, after having exhausted every 
 proceeding to recover his due, and after having vainly 
 begged for it, laid the matter before the comite du con- 
 tentieux, and the Chief Justice, president of this committee, 
 having, according to custom, communicated the petition to 
 the Ministry of Marine, called for all papers filed in its 
 offices in connection with the case. No answer having been 
 vouchsafed to repeated requests in this connection, I, as 
 reporter in the case, was sent personally to demand these 
 papers of the Ministry of Marine. 
 
 I sought the chief clerk, M. Jaurier, a man of sterling 
 worth and of most honorable character. I wondered some- 
 what at his embarrassed mien and at the weakness of his 
 reasons for not handing over the papers to me, so I insisted 
 on seeing them. When he saw at last that it was impos- 
 sible for him to deny my request any longer, he said to me : 
 " You shall judge whether it is possible for me to lay before 
 you such a record." I was thereupon shown tlie requests 
 made by the contractor, together with the reports of the
 
 THE METHODS OF M. BECRES 337 
 
 department on his case, each one more favorable to him 
 than the other, but in the margin of which M. Decres had, 
 by way of decision, written the words: "Let him go and 
 hang himself." His initials had been placed with scrupu- 
 lous care at the end of this beautiful sentence. 
 
 I informed the Chief Justice of this strange method of 
 explaining how decisions were reached, so without preferring 
 any further requests to the Ministry of Marine, the com- 
 mittee rendered a decision favorable to the contractor's 
 claims. I then presented a report of the case to the Council 
 of State, which confirmed the committee's decision; but, 
 it will hardly be believed, the decree which required the 
 Emperor's signature, and which was sent to him in Ger- 
 many, was never returned. The minister, when informed 
 of the decision of the committee, which was that also of the 
 Council of State, found a way to neutralize its effect, and 
 thus an odious bankruptcy was finally consummated. 
 
 Owing to this affair, I fell out completely and openly 
 with M. Decres, who could not forgive me the warmth I 
 had shown in seeking to undo his injustice. For over three 
 years he never spoke nor even bowed to me, a line of con- 
 duct which I heartily reciprocated. One day at last, while 
 seated next to me at the house of some princess or other, 
 he suddenly addressed me as follows : " Well, really, it is 
 quite enough that we should have remained at odds for 
 three years over a silly trifle; for two men of brains like 
 we are, it is time this should come to an end." As for 
 brains, he assuredly had plenty of them. "Would it then 
 be agreeable to you that we should chat a little together? 
 It will serve to dispel the sense of being bored." Upon 
 my replying that all show of rancor had been on his part, 
 that he was free to put an end to the matter whenever it so 
 pleased him, he began talking with me on all kinds of 
 subjects, and from that day on he made a show of speaking
 
 333 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 with me more confidentially than with anybody else. A 
 most extraordinary example of this will be given further on. 
 
 The methods followed by M. Decres concerning the praam- 
 Ijuilder were also more than once successfully adopted by 
 M. Defermon, in connection with decisions reached by the 
 Council in opposition to his own and to the recommenda- 
 tions of the Finance Committee, over which he exercised 
 despotic sway. Among one of the many melancholy exam- 
 ples of the abuse he made of this power, may be quoted the 
 cancelling of the contract entered into with the parties to 
 whom the Canal du Centre had been farmed. They had 
 taken this canal in a state of complete dilapidation, and had 
 put it in good condition again. They had not hesitated in 
 incurring so heavy an expenditure, in consideration of the 
 long lease granted to them, I believe, for either twenty or 
 thirty years. Their profits had recently become consider- 
 able, the trade betAveen the North and South of France 
 having no longer any safe channel but the canal, owing to 
 the risks incurred by maritime navigation. It was there- 
 upon argued that as this chance had not been taken into 
 account in the contract, it constituted a reason for cancelling 
 it. There could not be any more flagrant and impolitic 
 violation of the good faith which should preside over 
 contracts. Nevertheless, the contract was cancelled, but 
 the Imperial decree sanctioning this act, stijxilated that the 
 farmers should be freed from all responsibilities and that 
 they should render a statement of account. 
 
 Such a statement of account was indeed filed, but most 
 unfortunately also it Avas subjected to the scrutiny of the 
 Finance Committee, Avhicli refused to alloAv the very high 
 interest claimed, and Avhich had to be paid at the rate 
 current Avhen money Avas borroAved for commencing the 
 Avork. In spite of the justice of these claims being clearly 
 proven, the committee persevered in its determination to 
 reduce the rate of interest to the legal one.
 
 THE CASE OF M. PIC HON 339 
 
 The greater part of the Council was opposed to this inter- 
 pretation, which M. Louis and myself fought with all our 
 might, but M. Defermon nevertheless carried the day, as 
 M. Pecres had done in the case of the barge-builder, by 
 means of a direct correspondence with the Emperor. A 
 short time after, the man principally interested in the lease, 
 seeing no possible means by which he could meet his 
 engagements, blew out his brains. He had first written 
 to the reporter of the Finance Committee a letter which 
 must have cost the latter some suffering, for in it the un- 
 fortunate man positively declared that his (the reporter's) 
 unjust treatment of him was alone cause of his having been 
 driven to so fearful an extremity. 
 
 As a last touch to the melancholy side of the picture of 
 the Imperial administration, which came within the juris- 
 diction of the Council of State, I must say a few words 
 about the case of M. Pichon, who had been a consul in 
 America, and from whom it was sought to recover very 
 large sums, or rather to whom the refunding of sundry dis- 
 bursements he had made, while in the United States, in 
 harboring the remnants of the expedition to Santo Domingo 
 were refused. The Finance Committee, with M. Defermon 
 ever at its head, persisted in not being able to find such 
 expenditure sufficiently justified or authorized, as if, in so 
 imperative a circumstance, it was possible to conform to 
 all the exigencies of red-tapeism, and to await instructions 
 which had to be sent across the Atlantic. 
 
 M. Pichon secured leave to come and plead his case 
 before the Council. He conducted it with rare ability and 
 with an imperturbable presence of mind. His defence took 
 up two sittings ; in my opinion, it was unanswerable. Yet the 
 decision went against him and on this occasion the majority 
 of the Council of State followed the committee's lead. The 
 Archchancellor contributed greatly to this result. Still, the
 
 340 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOE PASQUIER 
 
 question had been fully discussed; M. Eegnaud had not 
 spared himself in the matter, and the maitres des requetes, 
 who generally took but little part in the discussion of 
 matters which had not been brought under the notice of the 
 Coiincil by one of their number, had not hesitated in taking 
 part in the case in point. M. Louis spoke repeatedly in 
 opposition to the recommendation of the reporter, but our 
 efforts proved altogether fruitless, and it but remains to tell 
 here that in this instance the Council of State made itself 
 the instrument of Napoleon's revenge. He could not for- 
 give the consul for not having prevented the marriage of 
 his brother Jerome, the marriage he had since so despoti- 
 cally annulled, but which had nevertheless been the source 
 of much trouble to him. The reason governing the pro- 
 ceedings and the adverse decision was but too patent, and 
 it became all the more manifest when, shortly afterwards, 
 King Jerome felt himself in honor bound to make some 
 compensation to the unfortunate M. Pichon, who was ruined 
 almost completely by the decree rendered against him, 
 besides being deprived of a post which he had filled with 
 honor. He was called to Westphalia, where he received 
 the title and performed the functions of Councillor of 
 State. 
 
 These lapses from duty are not sufficient to make one 
 forget the services rendered by the Council of State and the 
 ability of its members. As long as the Imperial regime 
 lasted, it cannot be denied that the most talented men in 
 all branches were called to become a part of it. There is 
 no better proof of this than the one afforded by the number 
 of men which the Council supplied to the royal government 
 after the Restoration. 
 
 Thus, for instance, the maitres des requHes to which I 
 belonged furnished five ministers: Messieurs Louis, Mole, 
 Portal, Chabrol, and myself. The grand footing on which
 
 THE COUNCIL OF STATE 341 
 
 Napoleon had placed that council was such as to enlarge 
 the sphere of one's ideas and to give to one's faculties all 
 the development of which they were capable; and then 
 the highest legislative, administrative, and sometimes even 
 political matters were taken up in it. Did we not see, for 
 two consecutive winters, the sons of foreign sovereigns 
 come and complete their education in its midst? 
 
 These princes, one of whom was the hereditary prince of 
 Bavaria, and the other, the hereditary prince of Baden, 
 never missed a sitting at which the Emperor presided, and 
 sometimes even they attended when the Archchancellor 
 presided over the Council.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Secret treaty concluded between Napoleon and Godoy, Prince of Peace, and 
 favorite of Charles IV. of Spain — Portugal invaded by the Fi-ench — 
 Abdication of the old King of Spain — His throne given to Joseph Bona- 
 parte—Occupation of Rome by the French troops — Pius VII. addresses 
 a comminatory l)rief to Napoleon — General uprising in Spain against 
 the French, followed by the insurrection of Portugal — Junot's retreat 
 before the British army — M. de Talleyrand once more comes upon the 
 scene, on the occasion of the interview agreed uppn ))etween Napoleon 
 and the Emperor of Russia — The Congress of Erfurt — A study of the 
 serious political questions discussed at this meeting of the two sovereigns 
 — A letter from the Emperor Alexander to the Emi^eror Napoleon — A 
 scrutiny of the diplomatic action of M. de Talleyrand ; his astounding 
 duplicity and the reasons of his complaisance towards Austria — The 
 Comedie-fran9aise, with Talma, at Erfurt. 
 
 During the autumn and winter of 1807-1808 the Em- 
 peror's mind became absorbed Avith a twofold project: the 
 prosecution of the struggle against England, and the inva- 
 sion of Spain. The most natural reprisals for the burning 
 of Copenhagen were doubtless an attack directed against 
 Portugal, England's interests being intimately wrapped up 
 in those of that portion of the Peninsula; but, to reach 
 Portugal, it became necessary to cross Spain, a thing not to 
 be done Avithout the consent of that poAver; for if, in order 
 to march upon Lisbon, he once obtained a free passage 
 through Spain for his troops, this passage Avould be likely 
 to aiford him opportunities of which he Avould assuredly 
 avail himself. 
 
 Everything Avas brought into play to make Charles IV. 's 
 weak government fall into the trap. His all-poAverful 
 
 342
 
 THE SECRET TREATY 343 
 
 minister, the Prince of Peace, sorely needed forgiveness 
 for his imprudent proclamation of the foregoing year. By 
 employing as go-between an intriguer, by name Yzquierdo, 
 who, for some time past, had been the favorite's agent near 
 the French Cabinet, they succeeded in secretly concluding 
 with him the most extraordinary treaty which has perhaps 
 ever been drawn up. 
 
 French troops, to the number of at least forty thousand 
 men, were to enter Spain immediately, in order to co-oper- 
 ate with that country in the conquest of Portugal. The 
 King of Etruria was to surrender his kingdom to ISTapoleon, 
 and receive in exchange the Portuguese province of Entre- 
 Douro-e-Minho, assuming the title of King of Xorthern 
 Lusitania. The Algarves and Alemtejo were to be erected 
 into a principality in favor of Godoy, Prince of Peace. 
 The King of Northern Lusitania and the Prince of the 
 Algarves were to hold Charles IV. as their protector or 
 suzerain. The Emperor of the French bound himself to 
 recognize the King of Spain as Emperor of the two Amer- 
 icas. The remainder of Portugal was to remain in stattt, quo 
 until the advent of a general peace. 
 
 Hence the branch of the House of Bourbon which Nax^o- 
 leon had put on a throne in Italy, was to lose this throne, 
 to exchange it for a sovereignty, which was to be conquered, 
 in Portugal, and side by side with whicli Avas i:)laced the prin- 
 cipality of the guilty favorite, who scrupled not to deliver up, 
 together with the security of his country, that of a royal 
 family which had loaded him down with so many gifts ; while 
 the king, who still sat on the throne of Spain, was not 
 shrewd enough to read in the fate of the King of Etruria, 
 the one in store for himself. 
 
 What were Godoy's titles to so exalted a position? His 
 scandalous liaison with the queen. Combinations of siich 
 a character bear within themselves the principle of their
 
 344 ME2I0IRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ruin, and it may be said of the one in point that none was 
 ever more fatal to him Avho conceived it and to those who 
 were vile and rash enough to become his accomplices. In 
 this treaty, concluded at Fontainebleau on the 27th of 
 October, 1807, is written beforehand the history of all 
 Spain's misfortunes, of the disastrous war of which it was 
 the scene, and of the events which proved the commence- 
 ment of Napoleon's downfall. 
 
 Portugal was invaded by the forty thousand French, 
 whose safe passage through Spain had been guaranteed, 
 and, as a first consequence of this invasion, the King of 
 Portugal, his family, and his Court left for Brazil. Such 
 was the origin of the separation of the South American 
 colonies from their metropolis, for it was through giving 
 an asylum to their king flying from the approaching French 
 legions, that they learnt that their interests could be held 
 distinct from those of Europe. 
 
 Later on, it will again be their loyalty to the cause of 
 their legitimate sovereign which will lead the Spanish 
 colonies on the road to independence, and these great events 
 are ever to be the result of Napoleon's ambitious concep- 
 tions. 
 
 It was fated that the name of this man should be bound 
 up with the greatest events of the century. I was at Fon- 
 tainebleau, when the sudden departure of M. de Luna 
 warned us of the storm which was about to burst over 
 Portugal. He was hurrying away, in order to conjure it by 
 begging his sovereign to make certain concessions which 
 alone could stay the Emperor's hand. The first of these 
 was a complete renunciation of the British alliance and the 
 absolute closing of ports to English ships, and, in order to 
 ensure the execution of this measure, the admittance into 
 the kingdom of a French army, which would garrison all 
 important towns. It was impossible to believe that such
 
 FRENCH TROOPS ENTER ROME 345 
 
 conditions would be accepted, unless a complete state of 
 degradation were presupposed. No one expected, or, to 
 speak the truth, no one desired such a result in the Imperial 
 cabinet, for it might run counter to the carrying out of the 
 secret treaty. 
 
 It is not for me to relate the manoeuvres which brought 
 trouble and dissension to the royal family of Spain, setting 
 father, mother, favorite, and son at daggers drawn, nor the 
 happenings at Aranjuez, which led up to the abdication of 
 the old king and the departure of the royal family for 
 Bayonne; these matters are fully known. Everything was 
 consummated by June, 1808, and King Joseph left Naples 
 to come and occupy the throne of Spain, while the old king, 
 the queen, and the Prince of Peace went to live at Com- 
 piegne. 
 
 Towards the close of the year, it was the Pope's turn 
 to be subjected to Napoleon's imperious demands. Soon, 
 under the pretence that the Pope had refused to close the 
 ports of his States to England, and that he was tolerating 
 in Eome reunions of emissaries of powers hostile to France, 
 the French troops entered Eome. As an answer to this 
 deed of violence, Pius VII. addressed a comminatory brief 
 of excommunication to his spoliator. In this document, 
 Napoleon is still styled the consecrated and sivorn son, and 
 the enumeration of the Pope's grievances against him ends 
 with the following sentence, which is so little in harmony 
 with the ideas of the day : " You will compel us to make, 
 in the humility of our heart, a use of the power which 
 Almighty God has placed in our hands." 
 
 Disregarding this threat. Napoleon, by a decree dated the 
 2d of April, annexed to the Kingdom of Italy the legations 
 of Ancona, Urbino, Macerata, and Camerino. On the fol- 
 lowing day, the Pope's legate thought it behooved him to 
 leave Paris, and from that day up to the days preceding his
 
 346 2\1E3I0IRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQVIER 
 
 downfall, the Emperor lived in a permanent state of hos- 
 tility, not only with the Pope as temporal sovereign, but 
 Avith the pontiff, the visible head of the Catholic Church, 
 
 Not the least worthy of notice in his history is the fact, 
 and it is perhaps the one which best goes to show to what a 
 point he had succeeded in establishing his authority at 
 home, of the facility with which, in spite of this state of 
 hostility, he retained, not only the loyalty of the Catholics, 
 who composed the immense majority of his subjects, but 
 also that of the clergy which had gone over to him only 
 after receiving the permission or even the order of the 
 Sovereign Pontiff to that end. The documents published 
 in those days by Champagny, the Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs, to account for the invasion of Spain and the seizure 
 of the Papal States, would afford curious reading nowadays. 
 It would be seen, as an example, that the pretext seized 
 upon to justify the last-named deed is attributed to the 
 refusal of His Holiness to enter into an Italian league, the 
 object of which was to secure quiet to Italy. 
 
 " Such a refusal," said the French Minister, " is a sufficient 
 justilication of war; the first result of war is conquest, and 
 conquest's first result is a change of government." 
 
 Less than a year after the Treaty of Tilsit, the armies of 
 Napoleon invaded Portugal, and the House of Braganza was 
 reduced to seek an asylum in its American possessions. 
 The throne of Spain was given by him to one of his 
 brothers, while the Spanish branch of the House of Bour- 
 bon was more or less disguisedly a prisoner in France. 
 The members of the same family settled in Italy, were 
 expelled therefrom, and their states united to the French 
 Empire. The Kingdom of Italy was enlarged with the 
 Roman legations, the remainder of the Papal States was 
 occupied by the French troops, and the Pope himself was 
 to all intents and purposes a prisoner in his capital. Lastly,
 
 AFFAIRS IN SPAIN 347 
 
 the Kingdom of Naples was given to the Grand-Duke of 
 Berg, Murat. This left the Grand-Duchy at the disposal of 
 the Emperor. All this upsetting of the order of things, 
 and all this usurpation were, it was argued, consequent 
 upon the necessity of keeping up the struggle entered upon 
 with England. The effects of this policy were soon to make 
 themselves heavily felt. 
 
 Previous to Napoleon's departure from Bayonne, which 
 place he did not leave until he had the assurance that noth- 
 ing could prevent the entry of his brother Joseph into 
 Madrid, the uprising in Spain had assumed a threatening 
 aspect. It originated at Cadiz, where the insurgents got 
 possession of the French fleet, which had sought a refuge in 
 that port ever since the battle of Trafalgar. This fleet, 
 which still consisted of six men-of-war and a frigate, 
 carried crews numbering together four thousand men, who 
 thus became prisoners. 
 
 The insurrection, which spread from town to town, was 
 directed with great ability by a junta having its head- 
 quarters in Seville, and in spite of the eighty-four thousand 
 French soldiers scattered over the surface of the Peninsula, 
 and commanded by two marshals and Generals Duhesme 
 and Dupont, it could be truly said that the national resist- 
 ance showed its head in all directions. It had been neces- 
 sary for Bessieres to win the battle of Eio-Seco to enable 
 Joseph to reach Madrid. 
 
 The Emperor had left Spain, when he received the news 
 of the capitulation signed at Baylen by General Dupont. 
 This was the first serious reverse in Napoleon's military 
 career. In order that nothing should be wanting to the 
 effect which it was to prodvice on the public mind, the news 
 arrived simultaneously with that of the evacuation of 
 Madrid by King Joseph. The progress made by the insur- 
 rection had so frightened this prince that on the 20th of
 
 348 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 July he made up his mind to leave his capital, where he 
 had resided only a week. His retreat did not end until he 
 reached Vittoria. 
 
 The insurrection of Portugal was to follow that of Spain, 
 and the loss of the battle of Baylen had destroyed all hope 
 of any assistance being given to the French troops which 
 occupied Lisbon. Very soon an English army landed near 
 Oporto, and General Junot, after losing a battle, found 
 himself compelled to consent to a capitulation which sent 
 him and his army back to France. The terms of the 
 convention were at least honorable, and they were faithfully 
 carried out by the English, who with little delay landed the 
 capitulating troops on French shores. 
 
 On returning, the Emperor travelled slowly through the 
 provinces on the line of his journey. He was welcomed 
 everywhere with loud cheers, and there was no town of 
 importance where guards of honor did not form sponta- 
 neously, and fight for the favor of becoming his escort. 
 These guards of honor were, generally speaking, composed 
 of young men of fortune and of high social standing, and 
 the old nobility showed no repugnance to serve on them. 
 But what is deserving special notice is the way in which he 
 was received in the departments once the scene of the 
 Vendean war. There, the enthusiasm shown by the popu- 
 lation was greater than anywhere else. This Avas a tribute 
 to the man who had put an end to the disturbances and 
 crimes of the Revolution, and had re-established Catholic 
 worship. 
 
 No sooner had he reached his caj^ital, when came the 
 announcement of his departure for Germany. He had 
 agreed to meet the Emperor Alexander at Erfurt, and so 
 he started on the 23d of September. This meeting, which 
 had been prepared months ahead, had become daily more 
 and more urgent. An understanding must be come to with
 
 TALLEYRAND AGAIN UPON THE SCENE 849 
 
 regard to the new incidents which had occurred since the 
 signing of the Treaty of Tilsit; the consequences arising 
 therefrom had to be disposed of, and comj)lete harmony 
 Avith Eussia was all the more imperative from the fact that, 
 wishing to triumph over Spain's resistance, the necessity 
 of sending large reinforcements to that country had com- 
 pelled Napoleon to recall a considerable part of the troops 
 which occupied the North of Germany. These troops were 
 already homeward bound, and the heads of columns were 
 already beginning to march across France. 
 
 The Emperor, it is true, did not neglect anything that 
 could weaken the power whose enmity he must especially 
 provide against, and he imposed on Prussia a convention 
 whereby it consented to the occupation of the fortified towns 
 of Glogau, Stettin, and Custrin by French garrisons, and 
 bound itself to keep a standing army of only forty thousand 
 men. It is interesting to note the extent of the foresight 
 of this mind, which prosecuted so many plans at one and 
 the same time, without ever relinquishing its hold on any 
 one of them, however far back its conception dated, owing 
 to difficulties arising in the execution of the one latest 
 conceived. M. de Talleyrand formed part of the suite of 
 the Emperor, whom he had not accompanied to Bayonne. 
 The part he had taken in the Tilsit negotiations, as well as 
 in those which had been carried on in Germany for the past 
 ten years, apparently made it believed that there was some 
 advantage to be derived from his presence and from his 
 former connections. 
 
 This is the place to dwell once more on the strange 
 position of this man, who always seemed to enjoy the 
 greatest confidence, and this at the very time when in 
 reality he did not inspire any, and did not obtain it; who, 
 on his side, appeared animated with the most sincere zeal, 
 when it was impossible for those who had any intercourse
 
 350 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 with him to have any doubt as to his disconteut. I often 
 saw him in those days at the house of one of my rehitions, 
 a woman of intellect, who, for some montlis past, had 
 become very intimate with him, and in whose salon he 
 spent many of his evenings; her social circle was small, 
 and consequently no restraint was put upon him. Owing 
 to this kind of intimacy, his actual frame of mind was 
 readily penetrated, and I easily observed that, consumed as 
 he was with a desire for fault-finding, he considered himself 
 but little bound by any engagements, the result of his 
 former deeds and utterances. Thus the Spanish business 
 could hardly escape his criticism, which was in this case 
 but too well grounded. His more or less biting sarcasms 
 bore on the lack of ability and on the blunders of M. de 
 Champagny and M. Maret. They stopped short at the 
 manner in which affairs were being managed, but did not 
 attack the transaction in the main, and this reserve was all 
 the more incumbent upon him from the fact that the idea 
 of invading the Spanish kingdom, and of expelling the 
 House of Bourbon, was not only not foreign to him, and 
 had never been condemned by him, but, from all appear- 
 ances, it originally emanated from his brain. 
 
 There can indeed be no doubt that upon his arrival in 
 Poland, immediately after the insane warlike effusion of 
 the Prince of Peace, he was mainly instrumental in calling 
 the attention of the Emperor to the benefit that could some 
 day be reaped from it. 
 
 It was probably at that time that he gave utterance, while 
 in the Imperial tent, to a sentence which he was very proud 
 of, for I have heard him repeat it again and again. It ran 
 as follows: "The crown of Spain has, since Louis XIV., 
 belonged to the family reigning over France, and there is 
 no cause to regret the cost in money and blood of setting 
 Philip IV. on the throne, for he it was who alone rendered
 
 TALLEYRAND ON AFFAIRS IN SPAIN 351 
 
 secure France's preponderance in Europe. This crown is 
 therefore one of the finest gems of tlie inheritance of the 
 great king, and this inheritance must fall in its entirety to 
 the lot of the Emperor; he must not, he cannot, abate one 
 jot of his rights to it." I am likewise certain that this 
 phrase was oftentimes repeated by Napoleon himself. Both 
 of them then had equally adopted it, but with which of 
 them did it originate? Without speaking with certainty, it 
 may at least be said that it bears the earmarks of M. de 
 Talleyrand, and of his way of presenting svibjects. It was 
 therefore quite natural that he had not determined upon 
 what attitude he should take at the time of the Bayonne 
 events. When the Emperor left that town,^ to return to 
 Paris, M. de Talleyrand received an order to go and meet 
 His Majesty at Nantes, and this order gave him the liveliest 
 satisfaction. 
 
 As it was intended to make use of him at Erfurt, he was 
 warmly welcomed and made much of. On the occasion of 
 their first meeting. Napoleon even went so far as to make a 
 pretence of granting him a new lease of confidence, which 
 bore all the appearances of abandon. When I saw M. de 
 Talleyrand on his return from the interview, his physiog- 
 nomy beamed with contentment. I dined with him on the 
 
 1 Since this has been written I have seen (in 1829) the correspondence 
 which passed between M. de Talleyrand and Napoleon, during the latter's 
 stay at Bayonne. It follows therefrom, that not only did M. de Talleyrand, 
 at that time, not show the slightest objection to the policy adopted by Napo- 
 leon, but that, on the contrary, it met with his fullest approval. The way 
 in which Napoleon, in the course of this correspondence, traces the portraits 
 of all the members of the royal family of Spain is piquant in the extreme. 
 When informing M. de Talleyrand that he is sending Ferdinand to Valen^ay, 
 he enumerates with care all the precautions that are to be taken to prevent 
 his escape, and even goes so far as to busy himself with the distractions 
 which may be permitted him. And, bo it noted, the principal one thrown 
 in his way was given him by a yoitng person who lived at the time under 
 M. de Talleyrand's roof. This liaison, of which Ferdinand soon became 
 distrustful, did not last as long as it was desired to.
 
 852 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 very day of his arrival, with some of those who had 
 returned from Bayonne, among others, with the Abbe de 
 Pradt, the Duke de San Carlos, and Canon Escoi'quiz. 
 M. de Talleyrand did not cease extolling the talents of the 
 last named, and the services he had rendered. 
 
 The Duke of San Carlos and the Canon were indeed 
 credited with enjoying Ferdinand's confidence to a high 
 degree, and both had, while harboring no bad intentions, 
 caused him to fall into the trap at Bayonne. M. de Talley- 
 rand was at that time in so happy a frame of mind that he 
 seemed to look upon it as an honor that his fine chateau of 
 Valenqay should have been chosen as the residence of the 
 Spanish princes. He spoke much of Bessieres's great 
 victory at Rio-Seco, and, with the Emperor, compared it to 
 that of Marshal Berwick at Almanza. "Both these vic- 
 tories," he would say, "secured the crowns to the sover- 
 eigns on whose behalf they were won." 
 
 The Congress of Erfurt is one of the most important 
 events of this epoch. It afforded Europe the spectacle of 
 a reunion of sovereigns and of statesmen rarely met with, 
 and, in spite of the splendor of this reunion, in spite of the 
 many eyes opened wide to observe everything, to discover 
 everything, the determinations come to by the two Emperors 
 remained, with but slight exceptions, impenetrable. I am 
 able to some extent to rend asvmder the veil which was at 
 that time thrown over the most important stipulations. 
 
 It is first of all necessary to state that, for several months 
 past, very important negotiations had been going on, on 
 the one hand in St. Petersburg, between the Emperor Alex- 
 ander and M. de Cn.ulaincourt, the French ambassador; and, 
 on the other, in Paris, between Napoleon and M. de Roman- 
 zoff, the Russian ambassador. The object of these negotia- 
 tions was to bring to completion that which had been 
 treated only superficially at Tilsit, and which bore notably
 
 THE CONGRESS OF ERFURT 353 
 
 on the partition of Turkey, or at least on the sacrifices 
 which should be demanded of that empire, which was falling 
 into decay, and on the various contingencies which were 
 likely to arise from its disappearance. 
 
 Russia manifested great anxiety to make an end of the 
 Ottoman Empire. M. de Romanzoff especially displayed 
 all the more zeal in the matter, from the fact that he seemed 
 to attach to such an issue the crowning act of glory of his 
 name. Napoleon was, on the other hand, desirous of 
 delaying this and of gaining time. It did not suit his 
 purpose that this Eastern question should be seriously dealt 
 with, ere he had brought to a happy termination the one 
 which occupied him in Spain, and so he used all means 
 likely to embarrass and delay negotiations. 
 
 Thus, for example, as he fully felt that the Emperor 
 Alexander could hardly consent to Prussia being com- 
 pletely crushed, he required that in case Moldavia and 
 Wallachia should be finally incorporated with the Russian 
 Empire, Silesia should be ceded to him. What was he to 
 do with it? Was it his intention to add it to Poland, 
 and did it enter his thoughts that it afforded him the means 
 of placing Austria between two fires whenever he should 
 see fit to attack it, for it is a fact that this power was at 
 that time one of the principal objects of his animad- 
 version? He had good cause to look upon it as ever 
 ready to join England and to declare itself against him. 
 He had caused M. de Talleyrand to precede him by a few 
 days, and he himself arrived, on the 27th of September, 
 some few hours only before the Emperor Alexander. The 
 Kings of Saxony, Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, the King of 
 Westphalia (Jerome Bonaparte), the Grand-Duke Con- 
 stantine, the Emperor Alexander's brother. Prince William 
 of Prussia, the heirs presumptive of Bavaria, Baden, 
 and Darmstadt, the Dukes of Saxe-Weimar and of SaxQ-
 
 354 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Gotha, the Duke of Holstein-Oldenburg, and many other 
 princes arrived in succession. The ministers of the great 
 powers likewise went,. Austria sending M. de Vincent, 
 one of the men in whom it reposed full confidence. It 
 would even appear that the Emperor Francis had been 
 desirous of being present in person, but the overtures he 
 made to the effect to the Emperor Alexander having been 
 somewhat coldly entertained, he contented himself with 
 causing M. de Vincent to deliver to Napoleon a letter, the 
 object of which Avas to explain away, if possible, the war- 
 like preparations which had for some time past been going 
 on in his dominions, and at which the French cabinet had 
 already taken considerable umbrage. 
 
 Matters had even gone so far that as early as the 15th 
 of August, M. de Metternich, the Austrian ambassador, had 
 been subjected, at a public audience at the Tuileries, to one 
 of those violent harangues which the Emperor never denied 
 himself the pleasure of whenever he was annoyed. It 
 cannot be said that his foresight on this occasion rested 
 on a weak foundation, for it has been since shown, beyond 
 doubt, that at that very time England had already drawn 
 closer the bonds of an alliance with Austria, which alli- 
 ance was soon to become an offensive one on the part of 
 the latter. 
 
 It is also well to state that these warlike preparations, 
 the object of such suspicion to Napoleon, included the crea- 
 tion of a new body of militia to be known as the Landwehr. 
 This militia, Avhich bore some resemblance to the French 
 National Guard, was nevertheless much more soldier-like, 
 and seemed intended to correspond with the French military 
 conscription. It became the nucleus and the primary model 
 of those citizen levies, which later on rendered the upris- 
 ing of the Prussian states so easy. However this might be, 
 the Emperor Francis's letter seemed to attain its object,
 
 THE CONGRESS OF ERFURT 355 
 
 and the answer sent to it by Napoleon, althoiigli extremely 
 haughty, might lead one to suppose that he was satisfied 
 with the explanations he had received. 
 
 The reunion at Erfurt lasted until the 14th of October. 
 In addition to the interests of the King of Prussia, in whose 
 favor Alexander obtained some mitigation of the terms 
 previously imposed, three principal questions were dis- 
 cussed and settled, viz. : the new measures which policy 
 demanded should be adopted with regard to England; 
 Eussia's affairs with Sweden and Turkey; and lastly, the 
 recent increases of territory acquired by Napoleon both in 
 Italy and in the Spanish Peninsula. The acquisition of 
 Finland, and the projected union of Moldavia and Wallacliia 
 with the Russian Empire were to compensate for the 
 occupation of Spain in favor of King Joseph, as well as 
 for the Italian provinces which were occupied by the French 
 troops. The possession of Finland had for a number of 
 years been greatly coveted by the Russian cabinet, which 
 looked upon it as necessary to the safety of the capital and 
 of the Empire's northern frontier. Hence it spared no 
 sacrifice to obtain possession of it, and to secure for itself 
 the spoils of its most faithful ally during the campaign of 
 1807, a king, more generous than wise, whose only wrong 
 was to have persevered in a struggle which was beyond his 
 strength, but into which he had been drawn only by his 
 zeal for the common cause. 
 
 The Russian cabinet understood perfectly well that stipu- 
 lations of so odious a nature were to be revealed only at the 
 latest possible moment, but no difficulty was experienced in 
 getting the contracting parties to come to an understanding 
 in this respect. And everything that passed between them 
 with regard to the contingencies likely to arise from a com- 
 plete partition of Turkey must have been covered with a 
 deep veil of secrecy, for there is no doubt that the subject
 
 356 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 was broached. I possess a memorandum drawn up on this 
 subject by order of Napoleon previous to his departure for 
 the Congress, in which all the consequences of so serious 
 an event are carefully enumerated, set forth, and weighed. 
 It clearly proves what I have previously said, that the 
 question had already been taken up at the time of the Tilsit 
 parleys, and that it had again come to the fore at St. Peters- 
 burg, in conversations held between Napoleon's ambassador 
 and Alexander's ministers. The conclusion reached after 
 much circumlocution is that nothing must be done in haste, 
 and to rest content with determining upon a plan of par- 
 tition the execution of which is to be deferred until a 
 more favorable opportunity. This memorandum, which 
 was drawn up by M. d'Hauterive, must certainly have 
 been seen by M. de Talleyrand ere it was submitted to 
 the Emperor. 
 
 Nothing was published concerning the result of the con- 
 ferences but a letter addressed to the King of England by 
 Alexander and Napoleon, to invite him to enter into nego- 
 tiations liable to bring about that state of peace of which 
 the nations stood in so great a need. Following upon this 
 letter, the ministers of France and of Eussia wrote to Mr. 
 Canning, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 
 to notify him that plenipotentiaries had been appointed by 
 their respective sovereigns, and that they were prepared to 
 go to any town on the Continent where those of Great 
 Britain and her allies should be sent. If the idea may be 
 entertained that the Emperor Alexander deceived himself 
 as to the success of this step, it is at any rate beyond doubt 
 that Napoleon anticipated its complete futility. I may 
 state as a fact from evorytliing I have heard say, then 
 and since, by the men closest to him, that his political 
 aims would have been singularly disturbed, had it been 
 otherwise. England was, moreover, as little inclined as he
 
 ALEXANDER'S LETTER TO NAPOLEON 357 
 
 was to enter upon the paths of peace, and so found it an easy 
 matter to elude the proposition, by asking that the govern- 
 ment which acted in Spain, in the name of Ferdinand VII., 
 should be numbered among its allies, and should, as a 
 consequence, be represented by plenipotentiaries. This re- 
 quest promptly brought forth an answer from the Russian 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was in Paris at the time. 
 He declared peremptorily that it was totally inadmissible, 
 the Emperor, his master, having recognized Joseph Bona- 
 parte as King of Spain, and having resolved upon never 
 separating his interests from those of his ally Napoleon. 
 In this answer, the Spaniards fighting in the name of 
 Ferdinand VII. were styled insurgents. 
 
 The French minister, M. de Champagny, replied in iden- 
 tical terms, and the matter came to an end with a letter 
 of Mr. Canning's declaring that His Britannic Majesty was 
 determined not to desert the cause of the Spanish nation 
 and of the legitimate royalty of Spain, and that hence the 
 pretension to exclude from the negotiations the government 
 existing in the name of Ferdinand VII. rendered their 
 opening impossible. The complement of the stipulations 
 agreed upon at Erfurt by the two Emperors is contained 
 in two documents. The first is an agreement signed by 
 Napoleon and the Emperor of Russia on the 30th of Sep- 
 tember, 1808, while the second is a letter from the Emperor 
 Alexander to the Emperor Napoleon, dated the 14th of 
 October, 1808. 
 
 Letter from His Majesty the Emperor Alexander to the 
 
 Emperor Napoleon. 
 
 Sire and Brother, — Deeply sensible as I am to the friendship 
 which Your Majesty does not cease to show towards me on every 
 opportunity, it affords me much satisfaction, in order to furnish a 
 palpable proof of the friendship which I bear towards you, to declare 
 to Your Majesty that I am entirely disinterested in the execution of
 
 358 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 the conditional article of the Treaty of Tilsit relating to Hanover 
 (Art. 5), and that I am prepared to endorse everything Your Majesty 
 will decide concerning the kingdom of Etruria and the other Italian 
 States. 
 
 I hope Your Majesty vpill find in this a fresh proof of the feelings 
 I entertain towards you. And I pray God, Sire and Brother, to pre- 
 serve Your Imperial Majesty in his good and holy keeping. 
 
 Of Your Imperial Majesty, 
 
 The affectionate brother, 
 Signed: Alexander. 
 
 The contents of these documents do not need commenting 
 upon. They illustrate to what a degree ambitions can come 
 to an understanding when it is a matter of sacrificing what 
 belongs to other people; but, on the other hand, we shall 
 soon learn how far contideuce is to be relied upon when 
 granted to deeds conceived and subscribed to in such a 
 spirit. 
 
 Let us now inquire into the effectual part enacted by 
 M. de Talleyrand in the actions and final results of the 
 conferences. Such an investigation cannot be devoid of 
 interest. He has himself seen fit to narrate the interview 
 between the two sovereigns with whom he enjoyed such 
 close intercourse at the time. His narration is before me, 
 as I write. Without giving absolute credence to it, it is 
 nevertheless impossible for me not to be struck with the 
 naivete of certain acknowledgments, concerning which his 
 abandon is all the more complete, from the fact that when 
 he was reducing them to writing, he was placing among his 
 proudest titles to honor, and especially among his claims to 
 the gratitude of the Bourbons, the most extraordinary por- 
 tion of the revelations he saw fit to make. If, there- 
 fore, he is to be believed, he began at Erfurt already 
 to betray the Emperor Xapoleon and to enter with the 
 Emperor Alexander into relations which have since borne 
 .such important results.
 
 If. DE TALLETBAND'S INTBIGUES 359 
 
 The following is what is alleged to have happened. M. 
 de Talleyrand, entrusted by the Emperor with drawing up, 
 previous to his departure from Paris, the draft of the agree- 
 ment, submitted this draft to Napoleon, who, in spite of 
 his remonstrances, caused the adding thereto of several 
 measures to the detriment of Austria, whose ruin he was 
 evidently meditating. Upon their arrival at Erfurt, the 
 first days were spent in a round of calls and gaieties, which 
 did not leave any time for attending to business. Napoleon 
 did not wish to enter upon any transaction before feeling 
 sure that the prestige of which he so well knew how to 
 make a display, and from which he derived so much benefit 
 at Tilsit, should begin to produce its effect on the Emperor 
 Alexander. He had notified M. de Talleyrand that he did 
 not wish to have any intermediary betAveen him and his 
 august ally, and that all matters were to be debated and 
 acted upon by the two as between man and man. 
 
 This could not be to M. de Talleyrand's taste, as his most 
 ardent desire was to attain personal importance. Chance 
 gave him the opportunity he was seeking. Having gone 
 one day, after Napoleon had retired for the night, to the 
 house of the Princess of Thurn and Taxis, where he intended 
 to spend the rest of the evening, he met there the Emperor 
 Alexander, who had come there with the same intention. 
 This chance meeting was a happy one for both of them; 
 the conversation of the French courtier could not fail to be 
 most agreeable to the Russian sovereign. They soon con- 
 tracted the habit of meeting of an evening, and this habit 
 lasted as long as the conferences. 
 
 M. de Talleyrand had neglected nothing to convince 
 Napoleon of the fact that he was using to his advantage 
 only the facilities afforded to him by so precious a habit. 
 Yet, if one is to add faith to his own narrative, it served 
 him to caution the Emperor Alexander against the proposi-
 
 360 MEMOIRS OP CHANCELLOR PASqUlEU 
 
 tions made to him with a view of the abasement and subjec- 
 tion of Austria, whose existence, he would repeatedly point 
 out, was indispensable to the balance of power, which, one 
 way or the other, must be established in Europe. 
 
 Things at last reached such a stage, — I am still speaking 
 through M. de Talleyrand, — that when ISTapoleon handed to 
 Alexander the draft of the agreement which he was asking 
 him to sign, it was M. de Talleyrand who pointed out to 
 him the serious objections to it, and drafted for him the 
 memorandum which he (Alexander) handed to Napoleon, 
 the result of which was to bring the agreement back to the 
 terms previously related. As the price of so extraordinary 
 a service, M. de Talleyrand, on the occasion of his last 
 conversation with the Emperor Alexander, obtained from 
 him the promise not only to agree to a matrimonial union 
 between his nephew Edmond de Perigord and the youngest 
 daughter of the Duchess of Courland, but that he should 
 undertake to bring the matter to a happy issue. He pointed 
 out that one of the advantages of this union would lie in 
 the fact that the Duchess of Courland would become a safe 
 and handy go-between, and above all suspicion, for the 
 secret intercourse which he was desirous of continuing. 
 Thus, on his own admission, he clearly betrayed Napoleon 
 at Erfurt. 
 
 But can full reliance be placed on this narrative, and was 
 it not, after the Restoration, so adapted as to give its author 
 the oldest claims to the gratitude of those Avhose cause he 
 had finally embraced? It is allowable to harbor every kind 
 of suspicion concerning a man whom his conscience never 
 troubled greatly, and the ease of M. de Talleyrand priding 
 himself upon an act of treachery which he may, after all, 
 not have committed, if any advantage was to be derived 
 from such a thing being believed, does not present any too 
 extraordinary aspect. Nevertheless, I must concede that
 
 31. BE TALLETRAND AND AUSTRIA 361 
 
 in this instance I am inclined to believe him sincere. In 
 fact, I have no doubt of it, because I was, later on, in a 
 position to see that he entertained with the Emperor Alex- 
 ander relations dating some time back, on which his behavior 
 in 1814 found a support. In addition to the Duchess of Cour- 
 land, his constant intermediary with that sovereign was 
 M. de Nesselrode, from the day that the latter was sent to 
 Paris as first secretary of the Eussian embassy, under M. 
 de Tolstoi. I am positive that M. de Nesselrode came with 
 a letter accrediting him to M. de Talleyrand in a special 
 fashion. 
 
 But it will be asked how it happened that a personage 
 holding such high rank in Napoleon's government should 
 feel so great an interest on behalf of Austria, and why he 
 should have thought himself compelled to take its part so 
 warmly at Erfurt; for it would be too much simplicity to 
 believe that it was owing to his actual anxiety regarding 
 the balance of power in Europe. The following is, if I am 
 not mistaken, the real explanation of this singular conduct. 
 
 I have already stated that he wished over and above all 
 to again become necessary, even indispensable, and, with 
 this object in view, it was well that all opposition to plans 
 of invasion and to the ideas of domination which his sover- 
 eign nourished regarding Germany should not be conquered. 
 To this must be added the fact that the transactions in which 
 M. de Talleyrand had best succeeded had always been those 
 in which he had been engaged with Austria, that the treaties 
 from which he derived the most fruit for himself were 
 always those concluded with that power, that he owed to 
 them the greater portion of his fortune, for no cabinet knew 
 better than the Viennese one how to make the necessary 
 sacrifices when the time came to do so. From this twofold 
 standpoint, it was therefore necessary that Austria should 
 be kept standing at all costs, even were its existence to 
 lead up to another struggle.
 
 S62 MEMOtES OF" CHANCELLOR PASQTflER 
 
 M. de Talleyrand adds, in his narrative of Erfurt, that 
 M. de Vincent was enabled to carry back to his Court the 
 precious assurance that nothing really hurtful to its inter- 
 ests had been concluded between the Emperors. Napoleon's 
 resolve to take M. de Talleyrand with liim was a blunder. 
 He had no actual use for him, and it was showing far too 
 great a confidence to a man whose secret discontent he 
 could not be ignorant of, and whose dangerous character 
 was so well known to him. 
 
 None of the seductions of a nature to impress favorably 
 those whom it was necessary he should captivate had been 
 neglected. The members of the Comedie-Franqaise had 
 been ordered to Erfurt, where they played alternately com- 
 edy and tragedy, and so, for a fortnight, this little town 
 enjoyed French plays nearly every night. Extravagance 
 and magnificence could hardly go beyond this, and so, great 
 was the delight of all those invited to enjoy so unexpected 
 a treat. 
 
 Napoleon, when giving his orders to Talma, previous to 
 his departure from Paris, had promised him a parterre full 
 of kings, and it will be seen that he had kept his word. 
 He might have added that never would any parterre show 
 itself so well disposed. Among the actresses forming part 
 of the troupe were several pretty women, and if the Court 
 chroniclers are to be believed, this merit did not pass 
 unnoticed. Nay, it has even been stated that one of them 
 had for some little time engaged the attention of the most 
 eininent one of the personages among those whom Napoleon 
 wished to win over to his side. 
 
 Judging from all appearances, the happy result of his 
 efforts in this respect must have been undoubted, and it can 
 well be supposed that the seductions of Erfurt greatly sur- 
 passed those of Tilsit. It was at Erfurt that, during the 
 performance of CEdipe, the Emperor Alexander, by turning
 
 ALEXANDER AND NAPOLEON 363 
 
 towards Napoleon, gave so pointed an application of the 
 line : — 
 
 L'amiti^ d'un grand bomme est un present des dieux. 
 
 On the part of Alexander, this meant not only a complete 
 accord in political ideas, but a worship, and the devotion of 
 the strongest friendship. On his side, Napoleon admirably 
 exercised the art of deriving benefit from such demonstra- 
 tions. His efforts ever tended towards not abating one jot 
 of his pretensions to superiority, and he attained this object 
 by caressing in a delicate manner the self-love of his power- 
 ful and august ally. His efforts in this direction were all 
 the more constant from the fact that this superiority could 
 alone explain and render secure the most astounding and 
 most valuable of his triumphs. On no other occasion, 
 perhaps, did the suppleness and craftiness of his Italian 
 spirit shine to more brilliant advantage.^ 
 
 1 The fete given to Napoleon by the Duke of Saxe-Weimar during the 
 Erfurt conferences cannot be passed over, for It characterizes marvellously 
 well the incredible obsequiousness of those on whom the burden of his 
 omnipotence in Germany bore down. This duke conceived the idea of 
 giving him a hunting party on the very battle-field of Jena. The rout of 
 the stags and deer represented that of the Prussians, and the hecatombs 
 of denizens of the forest took the place of those of human victims.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 The Emperor's return — M. Pasquier entrusted with an investigation 
 between Metz and Mayence — Entry of Marshal Victor's army corps 
 into the latter city — A protest from Jean Bon Saint-Andre', Prefect of 
 Mayence, and former member of the Committee of Public Safety — 
 Organization of the new nobility of France — The creation of majorats 
 with endowments — Mme. de Montmorency compelled to accept the 
 title of countess against her will — Unopposed re-establishment in 
 France of hereditary distinctions — The members of the conseil du 
 sceau — Occupation of Madrid by Napoleon — Retreat of the British 
 army, driven by Marshal Soult — Reasons governing the Emperor's 
 hurried return to Paris — Austria's fresh warlike preparations — Cessa- 
 tion of all hostility between M. de Talleyrand and M. Fouche, Minister 
 of Police — Harmony existing between these two individuals in antici- 
 pation of Napoleon's likely death — Murat chosen by them as his 
 successor — The discovery of this intrigue communicated to the Em- 
 peror by M. de La Valette and Prince Eugene — Napoleon violently 
 harangues M. de Talleyrand in the Throne-room — Temporary falling 
 into disgrace of this diplomat. 
 
 With a complete feeling of security, did Napoleon return 
 to France in order to place himself at the head of the army 
 which had left Germany, and which was on its way to the 
 banks of the Ebro. 
 
 The marching of this army through Trance gave rise to a 
 succession of ovations of a nature to exalt the minds of the 
 soldiers. One incident in particular tended to convince 
 me that in regard to such enthusiasm, the departments fell 
 in no wise behind the capital. The Emperor, when going 
 to Erfurt, had wished to travel by a new road, which he 
 had ordered opened, for some months previous, between 
 Metz and Mayence. This road had not been completed, as 
 
 364
 
 THE ROAD FROM METZ TO MAYENCE 365 
 
 he expected it would be, and he experienced considerable 
 difficulty in getting past several bad spots. He had, in 
 his haste, not hesitated to believe that the administration 
 was greatly to blame for this state of things, and that it 
 had at the very least shown gross negligence. In conse- 
 quence of this he ordered the Archchancellor to dispatch at 
 once a maitre cles requHes, with instructions to go over the 
 whole line of the works, to become thoroughly acquainted 
 as to their condition, and to check every item of the 
 expenditure. The choice having fallen upon me, I was 
 compelled to set forth much against my will, for I was at 
 the time in pretty poor health, and, moreover, busily engaged 
 in learning the exact nature of my duties as procureur 
 general to the sceau des titres. 
 
 But I obeyed with the customary promptness, and, begin- 
 ning my enquiry in the vicinity of Kaiserslautern, contin- 
 ued it up to the gates of Mayence. I had excellent proof 
 that the road was in a vile state, as my carriage was 
 precipitated down a ravine at least a hundred feet deep. 
 The vehicle was completely wrecked, and I owed my life 
 to the fact that I had stepped out of it just a minute before 
 the accident. But I also became convinced that the admin- 
 istration and the contractors were altogether undeserving 
 of blame, that it was merely a question of insufficient time, 
 and that the only mistake made had been that of allowing 
 the Emperor to take that road, because no one had dared to 
 tell him that it was not yet fit for being opened to traffic. 
 
 Anyhow, he had learnt this through the Minister of the 
 Interior and the directors of the ponts et chaussees (bridges 
 and roads), even before my journey was over, and so the 
 latter proved a bootless errand; all that it accomplished 
 was to afford me the opportunity of passing through a 
 beautiful country, and of seeing the banks of the Khine. I 
 met on all sides regiments of all arms, which had just
 
 366 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 crossed the river, and in all directions I witnessed the 
 eagerness with which the populations went ont to meet 
 them. Triumphal arches, banquets, and balls awaited them 
 everywhere. 
 
 Marshal Victor's army corps was among those which 
 were crossing the Rhine into France, and it entered May- 
 ence on the same day as myself. It was known that this 
 corps, the worst disciplined in the army, was not in the 
 slightest degree held in hand by its commander, and it was 
 preceded by stories of the disorderly acts which had been 
 so plentiful during its march through Germany. Its arrival 
 was therefore looked upon with well-founded dread, for, an 
 hour after its entering the town, two men were killed. 
 
 I was at the house of the prefect when the news of the 
 murder was brought to him. He was one Jean Bon Saint- 
 Andre, a former member of the Committee of Public Safety, 
 and who, in the days when that committee flourished, had 
 more than once given proofs of a terrible energy. For 
 several years past at the head of his present prefecture, he 
 had drawn special attention to himself by the vigorous zeal 
 with which he protected those whom he governed, and who 
 suffered so cruelly from the continual passing of the mili- 
 tary. No sooner did M. Jean Bon learn of the misdeeds of 
 the soldiery, than he wrote to Marshal Victor a letter which 
 he showed to me, and wherein he demanded prompt and 
 exemplary justice. This letter remaining unanswered, he 
 went to the dwelling of the marshal, who was out, or who 
 kept himself secluded. The rest of the morning was spent, 
 with just as little success, in messages and visits to the 
 various barracks. "Do what he may, he is not going to 
 escape me," said the prefect to me, "and you shall see it." 
 And indeed, having followed the marshal into the theatre, 
 he invited me to accompany him right into his box, of 
 which he caused the door to be opened. Then, in the
 
 TBE NEW NOBILITY 867 
 
 presence of his staff, he addressed him in very plain terms 
 as follows: "You are not here in the enemy's country; 
 were it even so, the behavior of your soldiers would still be 
 odious, and your weakness in overlooking it would have no 
 excuse. I will this very night dispatch a messenger to the 
 Emperor, and give him an account of what has occurred." 
 The air and tone accompanying these words proved to me 
 that M. Jean Bon preserved a recollection of the part he 
 had enacted as a representative of the people, when with 
 the troops of the Eepublic. The marshal's attitude re- 
 sembled greatly that of a general of 1793, when in the 
 presence of one of the proconsuls of those days. He blurted 
 out a few words, promised to see that justice was done, and 
 begged earnestly that the messenger should not be sent. 
 The prefect made no promises, and I am ignorant as to 
 what he did, but I was told next morning that several 
 soldiers had been arrested, and similar occurrences were 
 not heard of again in the department. 
 
 On my return to Paris, I took hold of my new duties in 
 the conseil des sceaux et titres. It was a somewhat bold 
 conception, this attempt to give to France a new nobility, 
 and to dare set up this nobility in the face of the one, 
 which, although abolished by law, still lived in the memory 
 of all. 
 
 The elements were not lacking for the formation of the 
 new tables of nobility. Military glory is of all glories the 
 one which finds most ready acceptance of the titular honors 
 conferred on it, and the winners of battles have in all times 
 easily taken rank in the highest circles of society. They 
 have ever been the founders of the most illustrious families, 
 beginning with the reigning dynasties. But titles are noth- 
 ing when unaccompanied by wealth, and there is no amount 
 of illustriousness which can resist poverty for any length of 
 time. The faculty of creating " majorats " was greatly ham-
 
 368 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 pered by the necessity of conforming to the laws of succes- 
 sion, and, moreover, the number of large fortunes was too 
 limited to allow of this privilege being within the reach of 
 any great number of persons. 
 
 The domaine extraordinaire, the free disposal of which 
 the Emperor had preserved, and which was composed, be- 
 sides the domains set aside in the conquered provinces, of 
 monies derived from assessments on the enemy's land, 
 served as a fund for the endowments which the Emperor 
 distributed on so magnificent a scale among all the men 
 whom he wished to reward, in the first place, in his army, 
 from the marshals down to the officers ranking lowest, and 
 also in the different branches of the public administration 
 and the Court. ^ All these endowments, which were made 
 majorats by the conseil du sceau, were at the same time 
 coupled with a title, and reverted to the Crown in case of 
 the extinction of the male line of the holder. 
 
 The Emperor's idea was not only to create a new nobility, 
 but to fuse it with the old one, and, to that end, he gave to 
 all the bearers of ancient names who had rallied under his 
 government titles other than those which they had borne 
 previous to the Revolution, and, in spite of their repug- 
 nance, they were compelled to accept them. 
 
 Among those whom this method did not please was Mme. 
 de Montmorency, a lady-in-waiting on the Empress, whose 
 case caused much comment. Yet her request seemed a 
 
 1 Tliere were even endowments, and these deserve special mention, 
 in favor of soldiers who were memhers of the Legion of Honor and for 
 tliose who had lost limbs. These endowments, which were naturally of 
 a humbler kind, formed a separate fund, which was administered in 
 common, in order to l)('ttcr insure the obtaining of his due hy each bene- 
 ficiary. I liave not eimmerated all tlie sources from which the endowments 
 were derived ; I liave only pointed out tlie jirincipal ones. The amounts 
 obtained from tlie Mont de Milan (pawnbroking establishments), for in- 
 stance, provided much of the money belonging to the common fund of those 
 who had lost limbs.
 
 EFFECT OF THE NEW TITLES 369 
 
 modest one. She had been created a countess, and she 
 begged to be allowed to be a baroness only, the latter 
 title being the one she bore in 1789, and which had 
 always been the preferred one of the elder sons of the 
 Montmorency family, jealous as they were of preserving 
 the qualification of premier baron chretien, which had been 
 theirs from time immemorial. Napoleon remained deaf 
 to her repeated entreaties, and making allusion to certain 
 escapades of her youth said to her: "You are not a good 
 enough Christian for me to listen favorably to your claim." 
 
 To sum up, in spite of the jarrings inseparable from the 
 beginnings of an institution by which so many various 
 interests were affected, and which could, while satisfying 
 some, hardly fail to offend others, in spite of the ridicule 
 justly attached, it must be confessed, to the manner with 
 which some of the new titles were worn, even among those 
 of the highest rank, the new nobility was not long in secur- 
 ing recognition throughout the country, and it experienced 
 a still lesser difficulty in obtaining such recognition abroad, 
 where it presented itself with the prestige of military glory. 
 
 In France, military men especially set great value on 
 this new system of rewards, and showed themselves most 
 keenly alive to its advantages. Several of them, it is true, 
 failed fully to grasp its spirit and meaning, for I have held 
 a good many petitions for promotion in the ranks of the 
 nobility, couched in the same terms as though the peti- 
 tioners were asking for regimental promotion. 
 
 One thing is at any rate certain, and that is that the 
 creation of the new nobility accustomed France once more 
 to hereditary distinctions, and, at the time of the Restora- 
 tion, this essentially monarchical institution facilitated, in 
 a singular fashion, the reinstatement of the old nobility into 
 its titles. It was a source of satisfaction to be able to insert 
 in the Charter so conciliatory a clause as the following one :
 
 370 MEMOms OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 " The old nobility is to reassume its titles, the new nobility- 
 is to retain its own." 
 
 This happy alliance removed all obstacles, and thus 
 did the omnipotence of Bonaparte once more pave the 
 ■way in which royalty was to follow, and which it would 
 have experienced some difficulty in opening, if left to its 
 sole endeavors. This important service, rendered at the 
 time of the Restoration by the nobility which was of 
 Xapoleon's creation, has not prevented its importance 
 from since being considerably lessened by the cancella- 
 tion of the endowments, thus depriving it of the ad- 
 vantages of wealth, which more than ever, in the days 
 wherein we live, are indispensable for the keeping up of 
 social distinctions. 
 
 It remains only for me to speak of the persons composing 
 the conseil du sceau. Its president, M. de Cambaceres, laid 
 all the more stress on all its actions, for the reason that no 
 one was more than himself sensible to the gratifications of 
 vanity, and that, in this respect, everything seemed to him 
 a matter of importance. Three senators and two Council- 
 lors of State sat with him. Among these senators was M. 
 Garnier, a former X)rocureur, a great partisan of economic 
 doctrines, a man of intellect and worth, but whose ideas 
 had up to then been rather against than in favor of 
 nobiliary institutions. I am convinced that such is the 
 reason for his having been chosen, and that the Emperor's 
 object had been to begin with him the education of those 
 who were refractory. And soon indeed the title of count 
 Avhich was granted to him, sounded most agreeably to 
 his ears. 
 
 The second senator was M. de Saint-Martin, a Pied- 
 montese of high birth and very proud of his ancestry, 
 although he was looked upon as somewhat of a revolu- 
 tionary in his own country. It was necessary tliat he
 
 COMPOSING ARMORIAL SEARINGS 371 
 
 should receive an education differing greatly from that of 
 M. Garnier. The third, M. Colchen, was there merely to 
 complete the required number. 
 
 M. d'Hauterive, Councillor of State, former Oratorian, a 
 well-trained diplomat, seemed as fit as any one to undertake 
 the new duties which had devolved upon him. He was 
 content with bringing to them a kind of witty naivete which 
 always enabled him to see the good side of matters, to put 
 the best construction on them, but which did not always 
 allow him to estimate them at their just value. 
 
 His colleague, M. Portalis, who was endowed with more 
 positive and much more extended ideas, was, to speak the 
 truth, the only member of the council, who, with its presi- 
 dent, was in a position to understand the new institution, 
 and who, while able to notice its weak sides, saw from 
 the very first the benefit to be derived therefrom. He 
 was therefore selected by M. de Cambaceres, together with 
 myself, to draft all the rules which were to govern the 
 actions of the council in its creation of titles and especially 
 in its establishment of majorats. These rules and regula- 
 tions once laid down, the executive part of the business 
 could be carried on of itself, and offered hardly any serious 
 difficulties. 
 
 It became part of our duties to propose the shape and 
 composition of armorial bearings. I speak of this only to 
 illustrate an act of singular pettiness on the part of a man 
 like Napoleon. He would never consent, in accordance 
 with the practice generally in vogue throughout Europe, to 
 escutcheons being surmounted with crowns of various kinds 
 according to the denomination of the title. He seemed to 
 see in the possession and use of this distinguishing mark a 
 usurpation of his rights. His sensitiveness on this point 
 could never be conquered, and we were compelled, in order 
 to find a substitute for the crown, to hit upon the idea of
 
 372 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 panaches, the number of plumes of which varied from one 
 to seven, according to the elevation of the title. This did 
 not greatly please the Archchancellor, who thought that a 
 crown would have been the very thing for the panels of his 
 carriage. I was given the title of baron. I had no reason 
 to complain. It had evidently been forgotten that this 
 title belonged to my family previous to the Revolution. 
 
 On the 4th of December, Madrid was occupied by French 
 troops commanded by the Emperor himself. In order to 
 advance so rapidly, no less than three pitched battles had 
 to be won. The victories had been complete and weakly 
 contested, although the Spaniards had brought immense 
 masses of men into action, thus affording a positive proof 
 of the part which almost the entire population took in a 
 resistance the end of which did not then seem close at 
 hand. In Catalonia, for instance, it had required all the 
 military ability and all the energies of General Gouvion 
 Saint-Cyr to maintain his position and to get as far as 
 Barcelona. In Aragon, the town of Saragossa was prepar- 
 ing for that memorable defence which lasted over nine 
 months, and which was, after a lapse of more than twenty 
 centuries, to recall those of Numantium and Saguntum. 
 
 The British army, which had hastened to the assistance 
 of the Spanish insurrection, soon retreated to Corunna, 
 driven back by Marshal Soult, to whom the Emperor had 
 left the care of compelling it to leave the continent. Napo- 
 leon started for France, and was back at the Tuileries as 
 early as the 23d of January, 1809. We are not to see him 
 again on the other side of the Pyrenees, and during five 
 years of battles, Spaniards and French will be left to endure 
 to an equal degree, without his condescending to come to 
 their rescue, all the evils which the twofold curse of civil 
 and of foreign war can entail. 
 
 What was the reason which had been powerful enough to
 
 M. BE TALLEYRAND'S LANGUAGE 373 
 
 compel him, in January, 1809, to return so hastily to his 
 capital, when so much remained to be done in order to 
 subjugate Spain? In spite of the assurances he had received 
 from Austria at Erfurt, it was impossible for him to remain 
 ignorant any longer of the warlike preparations which this 
 power continued to make with an activity which announced 
 most serious plans. He learnt finally that, yielding to 
 England's instigations, Austria was about to take advan- 
 tage of his being so far away, to cross its borders, invade 
 Bavaria, carry the war to the banks of the Khine, and thus 
 effect the liberation of Germany. The opportunity was a 
 magnificent one for attempting such an undertaking. The 
 reduction in the number of the French forces in the German 
 provinces could not be doubted from the fact that the Em- 
 peror had been compelled to send the pick of his battalions 
 to the other side of the Pyrenees. And so everything was 
 on the move in Austria, when Napoleon hastened back to 
 cope with the new danger threatening him. This period of 
 his life is one of those when his mind must have been a 
 prey to the most profound perturbation. 
 
 Apart from this aggression, he had cause to entertain 
 the gravest suspicions concerning certain intrigues which 
 were being carried on in the very bosom of his government, 
 and which justified the belief that most mischievous inten- 
 tions were being harbored against him. I have stated what 
 had been the dispositions and the secret doings of M. de 
 Talleyrand during his stay at Erfurt. The part which he 
 had there been permitted to enact, although he had pre- 
 tended to be satisfied with it, had not given him any great 
 sense of security, for he had been able to perceive that the 
 great influence which had for so long been his over the affairs 
 and the line of conduct of Napoleon, was irrevocably gone. 
 
 Hardly had Napoleon crossed the Pyrenees and made a 
 few steps on the road to Madrid, when the bitterness and
 
 374 3fEM0lRS OF CHANCELLOn FASQUIER 
 
 discontent of M. de Talleyrand's mind came to tlie surface. 
 I could no longer have any doubt of this when I saw him 
 on my return from Mayence, at the house where I was in 
 the habit of meeting him. The most sinister predictions 
 were even then escaping from his lips, and he was among 
 those who seemed to believe that the Emperor himself 
 would experience difficulty in avoiding Spanish vengeance. 
 It was then that I heard him for the first time openly cen- 
 sure what had been done at Bayonne. However, he did 
 not at the time go so far, and this is a remarkable fact, as to 
 condemn the invasion of Spain, but merely the manner in 
 Avhich it had been carried out. Said he : " Nothing can be 
 more natural than that we should have driven the Bourbons 
 out of Spain; nothing perhaps was more imperative in order 
 to solidly establish the Napoleonic dynasty. But then, why 
 have recourse to so many ruses, to such deceit, to such 
 treachery? Why not have simply declared a war for which 
 so many reasons could have been found? In such a war, 
 the Spanish nation would have remained neutral to the end. 
 Intoxicated as this nation was at that time with Xapoleon's 
 renown, it would have seen, without the least regret, the 
 downfall of a worn-out dynasty, and, after a few fights which 
 would have received a poor support from the regular army, 
 the whole of the Peninsula would have gladly passed under 
 the sceptre of a family which, in France, was already tak- 
 ing the place so gloriously of the family which had given 
 Philip V. to Spain. In this fashion, it would have been an 
 easy matter to acquire the whole inheritance bequeathed by 
 Louis XIV." 
 
 This was undoubtedly very plausible language, and it 
 would have been a difficult matter to contest its accuracy; 
 but, for that very reason, it was bound to wound to the 
 quick the man whose conduct was being so severely judged, 
 and by whom? By his former minister, by one of the high
 
 INTRIGUES OF FOUCHE AND TALLEYRAND 375 
 
 dignitaries of his Empire.^ Had M. de Talleyrand un- 
 bosomed himself merely at the house of Mme. de Re . . . 
 and in the presence of the few whom he met there, the 
 dangers of such an indiscretion would not have been great, 
 but he was too excited and too trustful to confine the 
 expression of his daily thoughts within the limits of so 
 narrow a circle. He had a large number of acquaintances 
 composed of people of all kinds, many of whom should have 
 inspired him with distrust, and for cause. His thoughts 
 soon became known, and from that time they no longer 
 constituted a mystery in Paris for that crowd of persons 
 who get to know all matters that are whispered from ear 
 to ear. What was thus almost public property in the capi- 
 tal could not but help reaching the Emperor. He was 
 informed of it, even previous to his arrival at Madrid, and 
 he learnt, moreover, very shortly afterwards, of a circum- 
 
 1 Napoleon had all the less cause to expect such a sudden change, from 
 the fact that there was nothing that foreshadowed it in the correspondence 
 then being carried on between M. de Talleyrand and himself, and wherein 
 it was impossible to find the slightest trace of disapproval or even warn- 
 ing. So far from this being the case, I have recently seen (I am still 
 speaking in 1829) a letter from M. de Talleyrand, written on receipt of the 
 news of the fight at Somo-Sierra, and which Napoleon must have received 
 on his arrival at Madrid. In this letter M. de Talleyrand showed himself 
 profuse in his prognostications of success, and expressed no doubts that the 
 effect of the approaching entry of the Empei'or into the Spanish capital, fol- 
 lowing upon so many brilliant victories, would cause all Spaniards to lay 
 down their arms, and that, as a consequence, the establishment of the 
 Napoleonic dynasty on the throne of Spain would become an assured mat- 
 ter. A certain passage in this letter — and it is not the least remarkable 
 one — had reference to certain faults the Emjieror had had to find with the 
 Corps legislatif, and to which he had referred in writing to him. In it M. de 
 Talleyrand strongly doubted whether it would ever be possible to organize 
 in an entirely satisfactory fashion the existence of deliberative assemblies 
 to meet annually. The character of the nation seemed to him incompat- 
 ible with such an institution, and yet he thought it would be well not to 
 disturb for the present that which existed, with the exception, perhaps, of 
 finding during the course of the year some method of better accommodat- 
 ing it to the spirit and suitableness of a monarchical government. Now, 
 it was merely a dumb Coj-jjs legislatif which M. de Talleyrand considered 
 quite natural for Napoleon to feel himself hampered with.
 
 376 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 stance which must have led him to ponder seriously of what 
 might not be plotted in France during his absence. 
 
 The estrangement which had persistently and for so long 
 endured between M. de Talleyrand and Fouche, the Minis- 
 ter of Police, had suddenly come to an end. Both men had 
 apparently begun to look at matters from the same stand- 
 point, and losing all confidence in the fortunes of Napoleon, 
 had said to themselves that if he were to disappear from 
 the scene, they alone would be in a position to dispose of 
 the Empire, and that it was consequently necessary that 
 they should determine upon his successor to their mutual 
 and best advantage. But, in order to attain this object, it 
 was necessary to come to a mutual understanding, to unite 
 in the use of their respective means of action, and to forego 
 an enmity for which the time had gone by. They had each 
 met tlie other half way, and their final reconciliation had 
 been, if I am not mistaken, brought about by M. d'Haute- 
 rive, who was at the head of the department of the archives 
 of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and who, as an old 
 Oratorian, had always remained on good terms with M, 
 Fouche. M. d'Hauterive had assuredly not seen the bear- 
 ing of the work to which he was lending his co-operation, 
 and had merely yielded to the impulse, which he could 
 hardly ever resist, of taking a part in everything. He 
 believed he had done wonders in contributing to a peace- 
 making which seemed to him likely to set everybody at 
 ease and be most agreeable to the Emperor. 
 
 The most astounding spectacle presented by this unex- 
 pected accord was the open way in which two men who 
 should have been so prudent sought to glory in it openly. 
 It must either have been that they believed themselves very 
 powerful in their union, or that they felt pretty well satis- 
 fied of the downfall of the Emperor. I can still recall the 
 effect produced at a brilliant evening party given by M. de
 
 M. DE LA V ALETTE'S r6lE 377 
 
 Talleyrand, by the appearance of M. Fouclie, on the day 
 when he entered his former foe's drawing-room for the first 
 time. No one could believe his eyes, and the wonder was 
 far greater, when the affectation of harmony was carried to 
 the point of the two men linking arms and together walk- 
 ing from room to room during the whole course of the 
 evening. Among those in Paris, who kept an eye open to 
 everything likely to interest Napoleon and who were in 
 constant correspondence with him, was one of his former 
 aids-de-camp, M. de La Valette, to whom he had given the 
 hand of his niece, Mile, de Beauharnais, and whom he had 
 since appointed Postmaster-General. He was a man of 
 intellect and endowed with a rare sagacity. M. de La 
 Valette felt towards his old general and benefactor the 
 most sincere attachment, and judged of his position all the 
 better that, in spite of his admiration for his talents, he 
 was not blind to his errors. 
 
 It so happened that at that time he looked upon the Em- 
 peror's situation as a most critical one, and he must conse- 
 quently have set great importance on what was happening 
 under his eyes, between two men whom he considered capable 
 of anything, one of whom, M. de Talleyrand, had never, in 
 spite of his great reputation, inspired him with either respect 
 or confidence, and the other, M. Fouche, had always been the 
 object of his most pronounced aversion.^ So he wrote to the 
 
 1 M. de La Valette knew better than any one else the men who had 
 played any part during or after the Directoire. Although a good soldier, 
 Bonaparte had made use of him much more in regard to closet work than 
 in regard to military operations. Concerning the former, he had on sev- 
 eral occasions had the fullest trust reposed in him, and especially at the 
 time of the 18th Fructidor, when he had been sent to Paris to watch the 
 course of events, and with orders not to bind his general to anything 
 unless success appeared to him certain, and only in so far as might suit 
 him. He had thus at an early date been in a position to form his own 
 opinion of M. de Talleyrand, for the 18th Fructidor was principally of his 
 making. 
 
 The marriage of M. de La Valette with the niece of the Empress
 
 378 MEMOIES OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEE 
 
 Emperor, telling him all he thought of a friendship which 
 could only have been formed with some political object 
 greatly opposed to his interests, and the fears he gave 
 utterance to were soon confirmed by a fact which threw the 
 most searching light on the mysteries of this intrigue, and 
 clearly revealed its tendency. 
 
 I have not had in my own hands the proofs of this fact, 
 but what I gleaned later from the lips of M. de La Valette 
 and of the Due de Rovigo do not permit my entertaining 
 the least doubt about it. In the event of Xapoleon's death, 
 it was necessary to have at hand a man to take his place 
 immediately, whatever course might be determined upon in 
 the future. The two new friends cast eyes upon Murat, 
 who had just been made King of Naples, and whose insane 
 vanity had shown itself but little gratified by so great a 
 preferment, at a time when he was reckoning upon getting 
 the throne of Spain, which he thought himself alone fit to 
 occupy, and to which he considered he had a claim, as a 
 reward for the energy of his conduct at Madrid during the 
 Bayonne conferences. And indeed one cannot forget the 
 rebellion that he had stifled by such terrible methods, 
 which were to play so powerful a part in deciding the 
 uprising of the whole Peninsula. 
 
 M. Fouchd had always been on most intimate terms with 
 him, and prided himself upon being able to manage him. 
 M. de Talleyrand considered that it would be even easier to 
 overthrow him than to set him up, and he at all events felt 
 sure that his presence would nut long trouble him. As to 
 Mme. Murat, the Emperor's sister, her ambition was so 
 boundless that one could make her accept any and all terms. 
 
 Josephine had since then attached him, in the Imperial Court, to the 
 party of the Beauharnais family. He was on particularly friendly terms 
 with Eugene de Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy, who was an object of constant 
 jealousy on the part of tlie Bonaparte family, especially that of Murat and 
 his wife. This jealousy led to serious consequences later on.
 
 M. DE TALLEYRAND IN DISFAVOR 379 
 
 She was to give sufficient proof of this hereafter. No hesi- 
 tancy was felt in letting the new King of Naples know that 
 he was to hold himself in readiness to come to France at 
 the first call, in order to reap the high destinies which were 
 awaiting him. The letter, or the messenger bearing it, was 
 intercepted in Italy by Prince Eugene, who had no doubt 
 been warned by M. de La Valette to be on the lookout, and 
 to watch everything with scrupulous care. The prince did 
 not lose any time in sending to Spain the details of his 
 discovery, and this certainly contributed to hasten the 
 Emperor's return. It was indeed impossible to notice that 
 the rapidity with which he generally covered distances had 
 been much greater than was his wont, and that in spite of 
 the difficulties presented to the traveller. He had been 
 compelled to make several parts of the journey on horse- 
 back. 
 
 In the first hour of his arrival, everybody thought that 
 his presence was merely due to the condition of affairs in 
 Austria. His fury with regard to the intrigues of M. de 
 Talleyrand and M. Fouche did not find vent until five or six 
 days later. He had evidently been desirous of ascertaining 
 for himself the truth of the facts. Moreover, he dissembled 
 with the latter of these individuals, leaving him on one side, 
 and concentrating his attack on the former. It is always 
 difficult to remove the occupant of the Ministry of Police, 
 as the post naturally leaves many wires at the disposal of 
 the man who has held it for any length of time. Hence 
 Napoleon thought that it would be better for him not to 
 remove M. Fouche until such time as every precaution should 
 have been taken to make his resentment a thing no longer to 
 be dreaded. Moreover, he foresaw a coming campaign in 
 Germany, and he did not wish to disorganize any portion 
 of his home administration just as he was on the point of 
 entering upon its prosecution. He doubtless thought that
 
 380 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 as soon as he had triumphantly conquered this new peril, 
 nothing would then hinder him from meting out such justice 
 as was advisable. 
 
 As to M. de Talleyrand, who had no special functions, 
 and who consequently did not take any active part either in 
 the public services or in the government, he did not hesitate 
 to let him feel the full weight of his anger. The first 
 warning of the impending storm appeared in the Moniteur 
 of the 30th, which announced that the post of High Cham- 
 berlain had been given to M. de Montesquieu, and that 
 consequently it had been taken away from M. de Talley- 
 rand, who had held it from the time of the first organization 
 of the Imperial Court. In spite of the reason alleged for 
 this change being that since his promotion to the position 
 of Vice-Grand Chancellor, he had exercised the functions 
 of High Chamberlain only provisionally, his disgrace was 
 none the less patent, as so flimsy a pretext did not deceive 
 anybody. 
 
 Moreover, it was known almost simultaneously that this 
 action had been preceded by a most violent scene, in the 
 course of which, in the presence of several high officials 
 and of nearly all the ministers, the Emperor had treated 
 M. de Talleyrand as the lowest of men, and had hurled all 
 sorts of reproaches, one may even say insults, at him. I 
 was told this in the course of the evening by Mme, de 
 Rem . . ., who had received fromM. de Talleyrand himself 
 the account of all that he had been compelled to endure. This 
 terrible scene was again described to me several years later, 
 and in the same fashion, but much more in detail, by M. 
 Decres, one of the ministers who had witnessed it, and as 
 it is he whose conduct towards M. de Talleyrand was at the 
 time the most generous, as it was he who did not turn his 
 back upon him, his narrative is worthy of implicit belief. 
 What had more especially struck him, and which he could
 
 M. BE TALLEYRAND IN DISFAVOR 381 
 
 not understand, even after so long a period had intervened, 
 was the seeming indifference of the man who had to listen to 
 all this, and who for nearly a whole half -hour endured, with- 
 out flinching, a torrent of invectives for which there is prob- 
 ably no precedent among men in such high positions and in 
 such a place.-' 
 
 " You are a thief, a coward, a man without honor, you do 
 not believe in God ; you have all your life been a traitor to 
 your duties, you have deceived and betrayed everybody; 
 nothing is sacred to you; you would sell your own father. 
 I have loaded you down with gifts, and there is nothing 
 that you would not undertake against me. Thus, for the 
 past ten months, you have been shameless enovigh, because 
 you supposed, rightly or wrongty, that my affairs in Spain 
 were going astray, to say to all who would listen to you 
 that you always blamed my undertaking there, whereas it 
 was you yourself who first put it into my head, and who 
 persistently urged it. And that man, that unfortunate (he 
 was thus designating the Due d'Enghien), by Avhom was I 
 advised of the place of his residence? Who drove me to 
 deal cruelly with him? What then are you aiming at? 
 What do you wish for? What do you hope? Do you dare 
 to say? You deserve that I should smash you like a wine- 
 glass. I can do it, but I despise you too much to take the 
 trouble." 
 
 The foregoing is, in an abridged form, the substance of 
 what M. de Talleyrand was compelled to listen to during this 
 mortal half-hour, which must have been a frightful one for 
 him, if one is to judge of it by the suffering felt at it by 
 those present, none of whom ever subsequently referred to 
 it without shuddering at its recollection. And yet, this 
 
 1 The impassibility of M. de Talleyrand on this occasion was generally 
 known at the time, and there was no well-informed person who did not 
 hear it referred to.
 
 382 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 man, who was thus ignominiously treated, remained at 
 Court, and preserved his rank in the hierarchy of the 
 highest Imperial dignities. Although in less close connec- 
 tion to the Emperor than heretofore, he did not for that 
 reason become completely a stranger to affairs of state, 
 and we are soon to see him called upon once more to 
 give advice to his sovereign on an occasion of the highest 
 importance. 
 
 When thus insulting him, Napoleon must nevertheless 
 have felt that he was making an implacable foe, and hence 
 why is it that he did not completely crush him? Such an 
 inconsistency is only to be explained by his exceeding confi- 
 dence in his strength and fortunes, and also by his contempt 
 for the creature he was thus trampling under foot, of whom 
 he believed, very shortly afterwards, he could still at his 
 mere caprice make a useful and even docile instrument. It 
 is known, moreover, that it was part of his policy, and this 
 with some show of reason, never to dismiss any of the men 
 who had rendered him great services, who had, early in his 
 career, attached themselves to his fortunes, or who had 
 powerfully contributed to help him to reach the throne.^ 
 
 1 The Emperor had a short time previously given a striking example of 
 the care he exercised in not departing from this line of conduct. Ha^^ng, 
 during the foregoing month of November, created the Cour des co>y}ptes, 
 he had, contrary to general expectation, called to preside over it a man 
 who it was believed had fallen into the most complete disfavor. This was 
 M. de Barbe-Marbois. In spite of his many-sided worth, in spite of his 
 austere probity and of his honorable reputation, he had quite innocently 
 rendered the worst of services. While Minister of the Treasury during 
 the Austerlitz campaign, the funds in his hands had been so badly handled, 
 and so madly exposed to the speculations of M. Ouvrard, that the public 
 service had for a moment been on the point of coming to a standstill, and 
 that at a time when the consequences of such a misfortune would have 
 been most serious. 
 
 On his return to Paris, the Emperor had been compelled to dismiss his 
 minister. He even did so somewhat roughly, after an investigation of his 
 methods, which revealed the greatest incapacity for carrying out the 
 duties entrusted to him. But, on his return from Sinnamary, M. de Mar-
 
 M. DE TALLEYRAND IN DISFAVOR 383 
 
 All these considerations, all these combinations, were later 
 on cruelly foiled; but it must be admitted that it required 
 most serious events and chances which could not be reckoned 
 with beforehand to bring about the complete defection of 
 M. de Talleyrand, and that he showed patience enough to 
 bide his time for a long while, before giving free rein to 
 the feelings of hatred and revenge with which his heart 
 must have been overflowing. The history of his postpone- 
 ment in this respect is almost as curious as that of his final 
 determination, and, calling attention later on to one of the 
 precautionary measures with which he guarded himself till 
 the time came when he was to act, I shall have occasion to 
 show to what a degree it was difficult for him to make up 
 his mind, and how the fright which constantly held posses- 
 sion of him, even then drove him to have an excuse in store, 
 to present in case of need, to the man to whom he was going 
 to give the fatal blow. 
 
 I have shown some care in making known an incident 
 which remained a secret, but the consequences of which 
 were great. It is especially by throwing a light on such 
 facts that those who tell of what they have witnessed can 
 render real service to those who, wishing some day to write 
 history in a conscientious fashion, will take the trouble of 
 collecting and comparing the materials scattered through the 
 narratives of contemporaries. 
 
 bois had been one of the first of the men in that honorable group of the 
 Directoire's exiles to go over to Napoleon. He had served him unfortu- 
 nately, but with a rectitude of intention on which no doubt could be cast. 
 He had even at one time enjoyed a somewhat close intimacy with him ; for 
 Napoleon, in the first days of the Consulate, had more than once come 
 unattended to spend his evenings at the Treasury building, and it was 
 owing to M. de Marbois's teachings that he had become initiated into the 
 workings of that huge governmental machine. Nothing of all this was 
 forgotten, and the day for remembering it in the most favorable way came, 
 indeed, when last looked for.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 War with Austria — Battle of Essling — Death of Marshal Lannes — The 
 Roman States united to the French Empire — Pius VII. 's hull of ex- 
 communication — The Pope carried off hy the French authorities — 
 Victory of Wagram — Napoleon's return and sojourn at Fontainebleau 
 — Dissolution of Napoleon's and Josephine's marriage — The last even- 
 ing spent at Fontainebleau hy the discarded Empress — M. Pasquier 
 appointed Councillor of State — Projected marriage between Napoleon 
 and the Grand-Duchess Anne, the Emperor of Russia's sister — Austria's 
 alarm at this projected alliance — Overtures made hy the Viennese cabi- 
 net, Avith the object of tendering Napoleon the hand of an archduchess 
 of Austria — Reasons which governed the Emperor in preferring such 
 an alliance — Convocation of an extraordinary Council — Opinions ex- 
 pressed at it hy Fouche, Talleyrand, and Cambaceres — Arrival of the 
 future Empress at Compiegne — Celebration of the religious wedding 
 at the Louvre — Napoleon's anger at and reprisals against the cardinals 
 who absented themselves from the ceremony — Grand public fete on 
 the occasion of this union — A dinner given unexpectedly to M. de 
 Metternich, and to the Czar's ambassador — Strange and offensive ex- 
 planations given to the Court of Russia to justify Napoleon's renuncia- 
 tion of the hand of Alexander's sister. 
 
 Napoleox, by his victory at Eckmiihl, frustrated all Aus- 
 tria's plans. A noteworthy fact in connection with this 
 battle was that the triumphant army was composed princi- 
 pally of Bavarians and Wiirtembergers ; under his direction, 
 allies were as greatly to be feared as the French themselves. 
 Vienna was occupied, the strongest positions carried, and 
 the Army of Italy, under the orders of Prince Eugene, after 
 having routed the army corps commanded by one of the 
 archdukes, was advancing, in order to join the Grand Army, 
 of which it was to constitute the right wing. So that noth- 
 
 384
 
 THE BATTLE OF ESSLING 385 
 
 ing should be lacking to increase Austria's ill-luck, war was 
 declared against it by Russia, as an answer to its invasion 
 of the grand-duchy of Warsaw. 
 
 On the 21st and 22d of the same month was fought the 
 battle of Essling. The engagement began ere the crossing 
 of the river was completely accomplished. The pontoon 
 bridge built across the Danube parted, and the fortunes of 
 the Emperor were in the balance for a while. He lost the 
 pick of his old Guards, whose intrepidity gave the army time 
 to regain the island of Lobau. Among the many brave men 
 who fell in this disastrous encounter, there was one espe- 
 cially, Marshal Lannes, whose loss must have caused Napo- 
 leon most poignant grief. His shining valor, his recognized 
 ability, and his faculty of taking in everything at a glance 
 in the thickest of the danger, placed him in the highest 
 rank. No man inspired the soldiers with greater confidence. 
 He was one of those whose place is not to be filled. A 
 companion of the fortunes and glory of Napoleon from the 
 very beginnings of his career, he was also, perhaps, among 
 all those who had risen side by side with him, the man who 
 bore him the most sincere attachment. His loss therefore 
 added considerably to the magnitude of the check. I have 
 it from General Nansouty, that, as he was recrossing with 
 his cavalry division the bridge which united the island of 
 Lobau to the mainland, towards noon of the second day's 
 fighting, he found the Emperor stationed at the head of the 
 bridge, and on his having reported to him the sorry condi- 
 tion of affairs on the field of battle, he could extract no 
 other reply from him than the following one : " "What would 
 you have? Rivers have never been crossed except with 
 bridges." These words suffice to show the blame he was 
 laying to himself; but, if he was downcast momentarily, his 
 strength of character soon made him reassert himself, and, 
 just as after the battle of Eylau, he showed a prodigious
 
 386 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 firmness of attitude, and great vigor and prudence in his 
 resolves. The audacity shown by him in establishing his 
 camp in the island of Lobau was, if possible, more to be 
 admired than Avas his wintering on the banks of the 
 Vistula. 
 
 The Emperor, by a decree dated from Vienna, united the 
 Roman States to the French Empire. The Pope merely 
 retained the faculty of residing in Rome, receiving an 
 allowance of two millions. It was stated in the preamble 
 to this decree "that the spiritual influence exercised in 
 France by a foreign prince, is in opposition to the indepen- 
 dence of the state, derogatory to its honor, and a threat 
 against its safety; that the Emperor is merely recalling 
 the gifts made by Charlemagne, his illustrious predeces- 
 sor, to the bishops of Rome, and of which they had made 
 a bad use, to the detriment of their spiritual duties and of 
 the interests of the peoples placed under their authority." 
 What a far cry from the day wlien Pius VII. had come to 
 anoint Napoleon! This spoliation was an odious one. It 
 was indeed strength oppressing feebleness. It was stamped 
 with an ingratitude which gave offence to those most inclined 
 to admire and to approve of everything. It is due to the 
 Council of State to say that it showed its dissatisfaction 
 with the decree in a marked fashion. M. Regnaud de 
 Saint-Jean d'Angely himself, in spite of his customary 
 hostility to the ecclesiastical power, waxed very wroth 
 concerning a deed Avhich shocked his feelings of equity 
 and moderation. 
 
 On the 17th of May, Pius VII. replied with a bull of ex- 
 communication to the decree which robbed him of his states. 
 This bull, which, without naming anybody, was directed 
 at one and the same time against the authors, abettors, and 
 accomplices of the usurpation, revealed the indignation 
 whicli had dictated it, and was little in harmony with the
 
 PIUS VI VS BULL OF EXCOMMUNICATION 387 
 
 ideas of the century.^ Was it indeed wise to let the world 
 hear once more such rash words as the following : " Sover- 
 eigns must learn once more that they are, by the law of 
 Jesus Christ, subjects of our throne and of our commands, 
 for we also exercise a sovereignty, but a sovereignty far 
 more noble, unless one pretends that the mind must yield 
 precedence to the flesh, and the things of heaven to those 
 of earth." In spite of this act of imprudence, such a docu- 
 ment had still the power to cause great perturbation in the 
 minds of zealous Catholics, as well as in the consciences of 
 those ecclesiastics who had received their new powers at the 
 hands of the Pontiff who was making heard to them the 
 voice of his anger, and who called upon them to support 
 him in his retaliation. The greatest care was taken to pre- 
 vent the bull penetrating into any portion of France. But, 
 if its entry into France could be stopped, it was difficult to 
 prevent its being circulated throughout Italy, especially in 
 the Roman States, where so many people, and principally 
 the ecclesiastics, engaged in its propagation. 
 
 The papal fulmination was therefore quickly known, not 
 only in Eome, but in the surrounding provinces, and even 
 down in the Kingdom of Naples. The ferment it caused, 
 soon assumed an aspect which gave alarm to the new King 
 of Naples, Murat, and to the French authorities entrusted 
 with the administration of the Roman States. The latter, 
 without having received any instructions from the Emperor, 
 forcibly removed the Pope from his palace, and placing him 
 in a carriage under escort of a few gendarmes, carried him 
 
 1 The fact that no name was mentioned in the bull was of great impor- 
 tance, because, in order to make it applicable to any individual person, to 
 the Emperor himself, a new act of the ecclesiastical power became neces- 
 sary, and such an act could be suspended or stopped by a number of cir- 
 cumstances. It could therefore be said that the thunders of the bull once 
 hurled, Napoleon had incurred excommunication, but that he had so far 
 not been reached by it.
 
 388 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 with the utmost rapidity by way of the Alps to Grenoble, 
 where he was set down. One General Radet, who was in 
 command of the gendarmerie, was the principal agent in 
 this expedition. General Miollis was the commander-in- 
 chief of the French troops in Eome. He was a gentle, even 
 a timid man. I have never been able to understand how 
 such an outrage (for it is impossible to give any other name 
 to this violation of the most sacred rights of a man most 
 entitled to reverence) was ever perpetrated under his direc- 
 tion and with his co-operation. 
 
 In spite of all that has been told me, and the credibility 
 which seems due to the persons from whom I received my 
 information, I find it vevy difficult to be convinced that there 
 did not exist some most secret instructions which have not 
 yet seen the light of day, but which time must surely reveal. 
 Wliat strengthens my opinion in this respect is that not 
 only did neither Radet nor Miollis suffer any disgrace, but 
 that Miollis preserved his command to the end. The sole 
 disowning of their conduct is to be deduced from Pius VII. 's 
 rather prompt return to Italy. He was soon made to cross 
 the Alps once more, and Savona was assigned him as a 
 place of residence. It is well known how he was detained 
 there, in spite of a few honors rendered to his person and 
 dignity, in actual captivity, which endured until the day 
 when he was once more taken to France. 
 
 The stir caused throughout Europe by so unlooked for an 
 outrage was, happily for Napoleon, weakened by the victory 
 of Wagram. Once more the ability of the general, the vigor 
 of his lieutenants, the precision of the movements, and 
 France's shining valor had triumphed over all obstacles. 
 After two of the most bloody days' fighting of which history 
 preserves the recollection, the Archduke Charles, badly sup- 
 ported by his brother John, who, coming from Hungary at 
 the head of an important division which did not reach the
 
 NAPOLEON AT FONTAINEBLEAU 389 
 
 field of battle until the issue was decided, was driven back 
 to the Bohemian border. Yet, he retreated in good order, 
 and still presented so formidable a front that his conqueror 
 was glad to conclude an armistice with him. It was agreed 
 that negotiations for peace should be opened at once. 
 Peace was not concluded until the 18th of October, and in 
 order to secure it, Austria was forced to give up Trieste and 
 all her possessions on the shores of the Adriatic. In addi- 
 tion to this she had to cede a most valuable piece of terri- 
 tory to Bavaria, to enlarge the grand-duchy of Warsaw at 
 the expense of Galicia, and to give her consent to the 
 continental system. 
 
 As the price of her insignificant co-operation, Russia did 
 not blush to accept another 400,000 subjects who were taken 
 from the Polish provinces belonging to Austria. It was a 
 well settled part of Napoleon's policy to get Russia to 
 commit herself more and more in the eyes of the rest of 
 Europe. Nevertheless, and in spite of this astute combina- 
 tion, the object in view was- not attained, for the Emperor 
 Alexander soon showed himself more greatly alarmed at 
 the signs he saw of an intention to re-establish the kingdom 
 of Poland, than satisfied with an addition of territory to the 
 grand-duchy of Warsaw. It will later on be seen what a 
 degree of development was reached by this germ of discon- 
 tent, and the influence it bore on the decisions of the St. 
 Petersburg cabinet. 
 
 The Emperor did not return direct to Paris, but went to 
 Fontainebleau, where he remained until the middle of 
 November. To that place flocked in large numbers not 
 only all those whose duties compelled them to pay court, 
 but also all those who were desirous of doing homage to 
 him. As a member of the Council, I could hardly dispense 
 with putting in an appearance at Court, and it was there 
 that I witnessed the beginnings of all the manceuverings
 
 390 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 which were to bring about one of the greatest events of 
 the period, to wit, the dissohition of his marriage with 
 Josephine. 
 
 For some time past, the greater number of those about 
 him, and especially the members of his family, had been 
 urging him to repudiate a union which could not give him 
 an heir, and which precluded the idea of his dreaming of 
 certain most advantageous alliances.. As early as the time 
 of his consecration as Emperor, the greatest pressure had 
 been put upon him to prevent him from strengthening the 
 bonds uniting him to Josephine, by having her crowned by 
 his side; but all these endeavors had been neutralized by 
 the natural and potent ascendency of a woman full of charm 
 and grace, who had given herself to him at a time when 
 nothing gave any indication of his high destinies, whose 
 conciliatory spirit had often removed from his path difficul- 
 ties of a somewhat serious nature, and brought back to 
 him many embittered or hostile minds, who seemed to have 
 been constantly a kind of good genius, entrusted with the 
 care of watching over his destiny and of dispelling the 
 clouds which came to darken its horizon. 
 
 In the latter respect, there entered into the attachment 
 Napoleon felt for Josephine a superstitious instinct but too 
 well justified by future events. There occurred, at the time 
 of his coronation, a most extraordinary and generally un- 
 known circumstance, which goes to show how difficult it 
 was for him to oppose the Avishes of the clever and seductive 
 companion, who, in spite of so many mutual acts of infidel- 
 ity, still remained the first of his loves. His marriage to 
 her had been merely a civil one. The Pope insisted that it 
 receive the Church's consecration, as a ceremony of abso- 
 lute necessity, without which it would be impossible for him 
 to crown the Empress at the same time that he crowned the 
 Emperor, Napoleon refused almost up to the very last to
 
 NAPOLEON CONTEMPLATES A DIVORCE 391 
 
 accede to this request, either for the reason that he con- 
 sidered it as condemning his past life, or that it was repug- 
 nant to liim to render indissohible an engagement which 
 policy might some day make it advisable for him to break. 
 Perhaps even he suspected Josephine of having inspired the 
 Pope's demand. However this may be, he was compelled 
 to yield, and I have it as a fact, that on the night preceding 
 the consecration, he was married in his closet by Cardinal 
 Fesch and without witnesses. The Cardinal assured the 
 Pope that this ceremony had taken place. I cannot enter- 
 tain any doubts regarding these particulars, for I have them 
 from M. Portalis, Junior, whose father, at that time Minis- 
 ter of Public AVorship, acted as intermediary in the matter 
 of all negotiations and arrangements with His Holiness. 
 
 And yet, five years had gone by since the day of Jose- 
 phine's triumph, and if on the one hand this lengthy 
 possession of the highest rank seemed likely to greatly 
 confirm her rights to it, on the other hand also, the events 
 which had happened during that period had more than once 
 given birth to doubts and regrets in the mind of the 
 Emperor. For several months past especially, he was more 
 than ever shaken when considering the advantage to be 
 obtained by him through a matrimonial alliance with one of 
 the principal reigning families of Europe. Every political 
 alliance entered into by him so far had become disrupted 
 with terrible ease. Would such be the case with one 
 strengthened by a family bond? Eussia, for instance, which 
 had given him such half-hearted assistance in his latest 
 struggle, would it not have given him more active support 
 had he been the husband of a Russian grand-duchess? At 
 a time when he was despoiling the Bourbons of the last of 
 the states over which they held sway, did it not become 
 necessary for him to inspire the other dynasties with some 
 sense of security by showing the stress he set upon uniting
 
 392 MEMOIES OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 their ancient rights with those which fortune and victory 
 had given him? 
 
 The members of his family whom he had seated on 
 thrones, felt to a greater extent than he did himself the 
 need of entering into the great family of kings, among 
 which they were so far mere interlopers, so to speak. All 
 the ministers and high dignitaries shared these views. M. 
 Fouche and M. de Talleyrand came to the fore on this occa- 
 sion. M. Fouche took upon himself to approach Josephine 
 in the matter, and tried to persuade her to come forward and 
 herself suggest that which was expected of her. He failed 
 in his attempt, and so was disowned, but the first step had 
 been taken. 
 
 I was at Fontainebleau on that day, and the fact of such 
 a proposition having been made was soon revealed to me by 
 the state of agitation into which it threw the Court. I also 
 learnt, through my intercourse with several persons attached 
 to the Empress's household, that the scene between her and 
 Napoleon had been an affecting one, and that she still hoped 
 to defeat all the efforts made against her. I did not share 
 in her feeling of security, and, as I had experienced great 
 kindliness from her, at the time of the radiations (erasures 
 from the lists of proscribed Emigres), Avhen I was seeking to 
 obtain the benefit of them for several members of my family, 
 I could not help feeling deeply for her in regard to the 
 sorrows in store for her. I returned to Paris fully con- 
 vinced that her fate was irrevocably settled, and that M. 
 Fouche would not have taken such a part in the affair, had 
 he not felt certain of giving much satisfaction to the man in 
 whose name he had, in a certain measure, spoken. Indeed, 
 it was not long ere my previsions were realized. 
 
 Josephine's opposition was soon conquered, and, as early 
 as the 16th of December, a message was sent to the Senate, 
 announcing to that body the determination which Napoleon
 
 THE COURT OF ROME AND THE DIVORCE 393 
 
 and Josephine had jointly come to, of dissolving their 
 union. The sole reason given was that for the better 
 security and happiness of the Empire, Napoleon should 
 have direct heirs, whom he could no longer expect from his 
 present consort. The cruel duty imposed on Prince Eugene, 
 Josephine's son, deserves passing notice. He was like- 
 wise the Emperor's adopted son, nevertheless Napoleon 
 decided that he should join the Senate, and insisted upon 
 his taking his seat for the first time in that body, on the 
 very day when the decision was to occur, which was to make 
 so painful a change in his mother's status. Nay, he was 
 forced to provoke that decision, by adding to the endorse- 
 ment which it gave to the Emperor's plans, the weight of 
 his personal adhesion and that of his sister, the Queen of 
 Holland, whose consent he guaranteed. 
 
 It was an easy matter to obtain from the Senate the 
 senatus-consultum which was to pronounce the dissolution 
 of the marriage between Napoleon and Josephine. But this 
 did not end things. The civil bond was doubtless broken, 
 but the religious one still remained in all its strength, and, 
 in view of Napoleon's ulterior plans, it was absolutely 
 necessary that he should be freed from it. The public 
 learnt from the columns of the Moniteur of the 14th of 
 January, 1810, that the diocesan authorities, after having 
 heard witnesses, and consequent upon proceedings wherein 
 all the prescribed formalities had been observed, had, by 
 virtue of a decision rendered on the 9th, declared void the 
 spiritual bond uniting H. M. the Emperor Napoleon and 
 H. M. the Empress Josephine, and that this decision had 
 been confirmed by the metropolitan officialite (ecclesiastical 
 tribunal) on the 12th. It was learnt subsequently that the 
 ground on which this decision rested was, that the union 
 not having been contracted in the presence of witnesses, or 
 in the presence of the parish priest, was radically null, in 
 conformity with the decrees of the Council of Trent.
 
 394 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 The Pope has claimed that it appertained to himself alone 
 to pronounce in the matter of marriages of sovereigns. He 
 had indeed in his favor a famous precedent which did not 
 date so very far back in the history of the French monarchy, 
 in regard to what had been done in the matter of the disso- 
 lution of the marriage contracted between Queen Marguerite 
 de Valois and Henry IV. But it has never been possible to 
 adduce any act of the Church establishing the principle that 
 sovereigns are not under the jurisdiction for the judging of 
 their religious acts of the same spiritual tribunals as their 
 own subjects. If several of them have, under similar cir- 
 cumstances, seen fit to appeal to the Sovereign Pontiff, 
 political and not religious considerations have dictated this 
 course, and one cannot deduce therefrom anything against 
 the validity of the (Tommon law. 
 
 Never, perhaps, was there an occasion when courtiers 
 were more embarrassed as to the countenance they should 
 assume than on the present one. There was no alternative 
 but to signify approval of the master's resolve. The 
 household of the coming Empress would doubtless not be 
 the same as that of the discarded one, so here was a chance 
 for those who coveted positions in the new household. But 
 then, Josephine still occupied a high position. To cease 
 showing her attention was hardly honorable, and the Em- 
 peror, who preserved towards her undoubted feelings of 
 affection, might be offended by too great a display of eager- 
 ness to forsake her. 
 
 I can never forget the evening on which the discarded 
 Empress did the honors of her Court for the last time. It 
 was the day before the official dissolution. A great throng 
 was present, and supper was served, according to custom, in 
 the gallery of Diana, on a number of little tables. Jose- 
 phine sat at the centre one, and the men went round her, 
 waiting for that particularly graceful nod which she was
 
 M. PASQUIEE, COUNCILLOR OF STATE 395 
 
 in the habit of bestowing on those with whom she was 
 acquainted. I stood at a short distance from her for a few 
 minutes, and I could not help being struck with the perfec- 
 tion of her attitude in the presence of all these people who 
 still did her homage, while knowing full well that it was 
 for the last time ; that, in an hour, she would descend from 
 the throne, and leave the palace never to re-enter it. Only 
 women can rise superior to the difficulties of such a situa- 
 tion, but I have my doubts as to whether a second oae could 
 have been found to do it with such perfect grace and com- 
 posure. Napoleon did not show as bold a front as did his 
 victim. 
 
 I was appointed Councillor of State on the 8th of Febru- 
 ary. I have already stated that up to that date few favors 
 had fallen to my lot. I hoped nevertheless to obtain ere 
 long the promotion which I thought I was entitled to. 
 Great was therefore my disappointment, when, on the 6th of 
 February, I read in the Journal des Debats that M. Mounier, 
 auditeur and one of the Emperor's secretaries, was appointed 
 a maltre des requetes, while M. Alexandre de Lameth, the 
 prefect of Turin, was named a Councillor of State. Acting 
 on the impulse of my vexation, I called immediately on the 
 Archchancellor, resolved upon tendering my resignation. 
 He appeased me, and told me that he would call the 
 Emperor's attention to the matter. He thereupon went to 
 the Tuileries, and without of course raising any objection 
 to the appointments of which he had just heard, expressed 
 his sincere regret at not seeing at the same time that of 
 M. Pasquier, whose claims were not inferior to those of 
 M. de Lameth, adding that this omission would be sorely 
 felt by the entire Council. 
 
 " And who has told you, " replied Napoleon, " that I have 
 created a new Councillor of State? " — " The appointments," 
 rejoined M. de Cambaceres, " are announced in the Journal
 
 396 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 des Dihats which I have here." The Emperor thereupon 
 waxed wroth against M. Maret, Secretary of State, who had 
 received orders not to make public these appointments for 
 some days, and indeed there was no mention made of them 
 in the Moniteur, but M. Maret had not been able to resist 
 speaking of them to M. Laborie, who had inserted them in 
 his Journal des Debats. " Send for the draught of the de- 
 cree, " said Napoleon, and on its being brought to him, he 
 tore it up and flung it into the fire. 
 
 The same evening there was a Court gathering, and I 
 attended it. Towards the close of the evening, while stand- 
 ing in company of M. Portalis in one of the doorways, the 
 Emperor passed by us, stopped, and affected to look at me 
 in a mocking fashion, which we were at a loss to explain. 
 On my return home, I received in the middle of the night, 
 the decree appointing me a Councillor of State, and next 
 morning I learnt that M. Malouet had likewise been promoted 
 in a similar fashion. So honorable an association gave me 
 great pleasure. There was never to be any further mention 
 of M. Mounier for the post of mattre des requites, nor of 
 M. de Lameth for that of Councillor of State, and their 
 promotion was completely shelved; the one was still audi- 
 teur, and the other, mattre des requites, when the Empire 
 ceased to exist. 
 
 No sooner had the bonds uniting him to Josephine been 
 severed than the Emperor quickly began to pass in review 
 all the European states wherein he thought it feasible for 
 him to go in quest of a new consort. Saxony and Russia 
 were the only countries which he could hope would listen 
 favorably to his advances; but Saxony, in spite of the 
 antiquity of its reigning family, did not offer the advan- 
 tages he was seeking. That country was too much under 
 his dependence for its consent to appear as being freely 
 given.
 
 THE COURT OF BUSSIA 397 
 
 So Eussia became at once his objective point, and M. de 
 Caulaincourt, our ambassador at St. Petersburg, was in- 
 structed to sue for the hand of the Graud-Du chess Anne, 
 Alexander's sister. This negotiation seemed all the more 
 easy to carry on because, judging from all appearances, the 
 matter had already been slightly touched upon at Erfurt. 
 To this should be added the fact that M. de Caulaincourt 
 was in the best of positions to bring it to a happy issue. 
 He had established himself on the grandest and best footing 
 in Eussia, and had, in so doing, marvellously well seconded 
 the views of his master. The Emperor Alexander had con- 
 ceived a great liking for him. He was therefore listened to 
 with a favor which left no doubt, and which was all the 
 more necessary because from the very outset the proposition 
 met with a determined opposition on the part of the 
 Empress-mother, who, with almost the entire Court and 
 even the entire Imperial family, showed herself but little 
 satisfied with the prospect of such an alliance. Princess 
 Catherine, the eldest sister of the Grand-Duchess Anne, and 
 who enjoyed the greatest intimacy with the Emperor, her 
 brother, with him favored tiie proposition, which was finally 
 accepted, but only after a series of parleys. Eequests were 
 preferred for a certain amount of delay, and it was stipu- 
 lated that the Princess Anne should be married according 
 to the Greek rite, and should be free to remain a member of 
 the Orthodox Church. She was to have a Greek chapel 
 established for her at the Tuileries, or at least take with 
 her a priest of her religion. The Emperor Alexander cared 
 but little whether the grand-duchess should subsequently 
 embrace the religion of her husband, but he thought it due 
 to the attachment felt by the Eussian nation for the Greek 
 form of worship, not to place his sister under the obligation 
 of being compelled to forsake its practices at once. It 
 would hardly have been thought that this precaution on his
 
 398 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 part would be the cause of any serious difficulty, still, the 
 parleys which it led to, and the measures required to con- 
 quer the opposition of the Empress-mother caused no incon- 
 siderable loss of time at St. Petersburg. 
 
 The answer, which was in the shape of a despatch from 
 M. de Caulaincourt, dated January 21st, did not reach Paris 
 till the 5th of February. Now, much had happened in the 
 meanwhile, which had completely changed the aspect of 
 affairs. The Viennese cabinet, following in this the coun- 
 sels of M. de Metternich, who before the recent war had 
 been Austria's ambassador to France, and casting from it all 
 useless feelings of resentment, and imprudent and impolitic 
 touchiness, had come to see that an alliance between its 
 most formidable enemy and the Russian Imperial family 
 would be one of the greatest misfortunes for the House of 
 Austria; such a mishap might even have so far-reaching an 
 effect as to finally consummate its ruin, and the only way 
 of averting this danger was to offer ISTapoleon the hand of 
 an archduchess. Such a course was immediately resolved 
 upon, but how was Such a proposition to be brought for- 
 ward? "What were the means for securing its ready ac- 
 ceptance? The time was short, and every moment was 
 precious, for it was known that negotiations had already 
 been entered into at St. Petersburg. 
 
 A few words hinting at the matter were in the first place 
 spoken at Munich to ]M. de Narbonne, aide-de-camp to the 
 Emperor. This officer had been left behind in order to 
 watch at close range everything that was going on in 
 Austria, after the French army had been withdrawn from 
 it. Matters were not likely to make rapid enough progress 
 by this road. The following is the way in which the subject 
 was finally entered into on both sides. At the soiree where 
 Josephine was holding her Court for the last time, the First 
 Secretar3'- of the Austrian Legation found himself by the
 
 THE VIENNESE CABINET 399 
 
 side of Senator de Semonville, with whom he had been well 
 acquainted in Holland a few years before, and whose 
 intimacy with M. Maret was well known. 
 
 "Well, this is indeed the end of this one," said M. de 
 Floret to him, "but who is the coming woman? It is 
 reported that a messenger has arrived to-day from M. de 
 Caulaincourt, and that he bears the most favorable answers. 
 If this be true, the consequences of it may be very serious. 
 One may well tremble on seeing so much power and strength 
 about to become united in one hand." — "Nothing can be 
 more true," answered M. de Semonville; "but, after all, he 
 is acting his part skilfully, he is doing just the very thing 
 he ought to do, he prefers his request to the man who will 
 give him a hearing, and besides, what have you to complain 
 of, you who would not have had anything to do with him? " 
 — "Who says so?" immediately rejoined M. de Floret; 
 " it is quite the contrary." — " You are of course speaking as 
 M. de Floret, and not as the Secretary of the Austrian Lega- 
 tion; it is your personal opinion and not the intentions of 
 your Court that you are confiding to an old friend, feeling 
 sure that he will not take undue advantage of the confidence 
 you have reposed in him." — "You need be in no fear of 
 abusing my confidence. I know whereof I speak, and I am 
 quite sure that I cannot say too much. I am acquainted 
 with the intentions of the Emperor, my master. He and all 
 about him would be highly gratified to see his daughter, the 
 Archduchess Marie-Louise, become your Empress." 
 
 The whole of this conversation was repeated to M. Maret 
 before the stroke of midnight, and the Emperor was in- 
 formed of it next morning. Thereupon M. Maret was 
 ordered to find a suitable intermediary, whose goings on 
 would not aroiise too much attention, and who should speak 
 almost officially, bat without committing himself to any 
 extent, to the Ambassador of Austria, Prince von Schwar-
 
 400 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 zenberg, on the overture which M. de Floret had seen fit to 
 make. 
 
 M. Maret selected M. Alexandre de Laborde, who, while 
 an emigre, had served with distinction in the Austrian army. 
 He was a frequent visitor at the Austrian embassy and was 
 on good terms with all its personnel. The eagerness with 
 which his very first words were greeted, as soon as he made 
 clear the mission with which he was entrusted, left no doubt 
 as to the facility with which the matter could be concluded, 
 should Napoleon show a desire of entering into it frankly 
 and fully. There remained but for him to finally make up 
 his mind, and there was here food for serious thought. In 
 the beginning, he was swayed by the respective advantages 
 of the two combinations; nevertheless, it would seem that 
 his hesitancy did not endure for any length of time. 
 
 No doubt Russia would afford him a stronger alliance, and 
 one of greater weight in the scale of European politics, but 
 his principal object was to become a member of the family 
 of kings ; now, in this great family, the House of Eussia was 
 but a newcomer compared with that of Austria. By select- 
 ing an archduchess, he would unite himself to the oldest 
 sovereign race after that of France. He would be marrying 
 a granddaughter of Maria Theresa, whose daughter Louis 
 XVI. had married. There was no room for doubt that in 
 France so totally unexpected an alliance would strike the 
 public mind to a far greater extent than one with Eussia. 
 Hence Napoleon was not long in making a choice. 
 
 In order to preserve on so great an occasion all the 
 appearances of having come to a decision after careful 
 deliberation, he deemed it advisable to call together an 
 extraordinary council, to which he summoned the King of 
 Holland, the Viceroy of Italy, Cardinal Fesch, the great 
 dignitaries, the ministers, and the presidents of the Senate 
 and of the Corjys Ugislatif. The result of this conference
 
 AN EXTRAORDINARY COUNCIL 401 
 
 was favorable to the marriage with an archduchess ; but it 
 was learnt that opinions had been divided, and that the 
 Archchancellor and M. Fouche had expressed their prefer- 
 ence for the union with the Russian grand-duchess. It also 
 leaked out that M. de Talleyrand, who had declared himself 
 in favor of Austria, had played a most prominent part in 
 the debate. The reason for his decision was based princi- 
 pally on the stability of the methods and of the policy of 
 Austria. "This power," he had said, "is the only one in 
 Europe possessing a cabinet whose influence outlasts each 
 and every reign, and which is, as a consequence, in a posi- 
 tion to conceive, adopt, and carry out persistently any line 
 of action. Through the proposition which it makes to-day, 
 this cabinet gives proof that it wishes to associate itself 
 with the fortunes of the Imperial dynasty which reigns 
 to-day in France ; it recognizes the iniquity and folly of the 
 contrary system which it has followed for the past ten years, 
 and in pursuance of which it has made its last effort. Since 
 it has entered upon such a resolve, it will persist in it, if 
 this resolve meets with the reception to which it seems to 
 me entitled, and the Emperor Napoleon will bequeath to his 
 descendants all the advantages of the union into which 
 he is about to enter. I am fully aware that it will be 
 said in reply to this that Russia is of the same mind, but 
 here lies the difference. In that country, everything de- 
 pends on the will of a single man; all things come to an end 
 with his reign, and everything assumes a new face with his 
 successor. I will suppose, therefore, that the Emperor 
 Napoleon marries the grand-duchess, and that we are, in a 
 year's time from now, assembled in this room and at the 
 same table; the door is thrown open, the arrival of a mes- 
 senger is announced, and this messenger brings the news of 
 the death of the Emperor Alexander. As a result of this 
 death, the whole situation undergoes a complete change.
 
 402 ME2I0IRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 No longer are we sure of a Russian alliance. The influence 
 of Austria, Prussia, and England becomes paramount at St. 
 Petersburg, and all the advantageous results of the marriage 
 are a thing of the past. Let us assume the contrarj'- 
 hypothesis. The Emperor marries an archduchess, when, 
 after a year's time, news comes of the death of the Emperor 
 Francis ; it is nothing more than a case of family mourning. 
 The political interests of both countries are bound up 
 together and do not undergo any modification, and the 
 Austrian cabinet continues to be as anxious to preserve 
 intact the alliance as does the French one. This considera- 
 tion is so potent a one in my estimation that it does not 
 suffer me to hesitate as to the advice which I am now called 
 upon to give." 
 
 His advice was followed, and when the decision became 
 knovv^n to the people at large, it was welcomed all the more 
 for the reason that Avhat was most desired as a result of the 
 impending marriage, was the finding in it the pledge of a 
 long and firmly established peace. Hence it carried with it 
 the vote of the masses, as it had carried the vote at the 
 Emperor's council. Yet, was there nothing to be set against 
 this blind approval? The following is what happened to 
 me in this respect during the course of the following week. 
 Finding myself alone with the Archchancellor, while wait- 
 ing for the opening of the meeting of the conseil clu scemt, 
 I spoke to him about the all-pervading question Avhich had 
 kept all minds in suspense during the foregoing days, and I 
 ventured to express some astonishment with regard to the 
 advice which he was said to have tendered, but which had 
 not prevailed. Cambaceres answered : " The latter circum- 
 stance is not a cause for surprise. When a man has only 
 one good reason to advance, and when it is impossible to 
 give utterance to it, it is a very simple matter that he 
 should be beaten."
 
 THE COUNSEL OF CAMBACERES 403 
 
 I had to press him considerably in order to get him to tell 
 me this reason, and he agreed to do so only after I had 
 pledged my honor to keep it a profound secret. "Well, 
 then," he said, "you will see that my reason is so excellent 
 a one that a single sentence will be sufficient to make the 
 full strength of it understood. I am morally certain that 
 ere two years have gone by, we shall be engaged in a war 
 with the power whose daughter the Emperor will not have 
 married. Now, a war with Austria does not give one the 
 slightest anxiety, but I dread a war with Eussia, for its 
 consequences are not to be calculated." Subsequent events 
 showed but too well which of these two statesmen had 
 better understood the situation. In the discussion of the 
 marriage, M. de Talleyrand was not and could not possibly 
 be enlightened and guided by as sincere a motive as that 
 which animated M. de Cambaceres. 
 
 On leaving the council the issue of which I have just told, 
 Napoleon ordered the Prince Eugene to at once enter into 
 negotiations with Prince von Schwarzenberg. The latter 
 was away shooting, but he was sent for, and matters were 
 all but settled the same evening. In order to expedite the 
 affair, it was thought best on both sides to adopt the condi- 
 tions stipulated in connection with the marriage between 
 Louis XVI. and Marie-Antoinette. The agreement was 
 signed on the 7th of February by Prince von Schwarzenberg 
 and the Due de Cadore. There remained only Vienna's 
 ratification. It was not long in coming, and on the 27th of 
 February the Emperor was in a position to communicate to 
 his Senate the terms of his marriage contract. He simul- 
 taneously announced that the Prince de Neufchatel was 
 already on his way to sue for the hand of the Archduchess 
 Marie-Louise, the Emperor of Austria's daughter. As 
 early as the 25th, there appeared in the Moniteur the decree 
 a-ppointing the household of the future Empress. The
 
 404 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 manner in -which this household was formed is worthy of 
 notice, owing to the cleverness with which everybody's 
 feelings were taken into consideration, and the manner in 
 which all the proprieties were observed. The place of 
 Court Chaplain was given to an archbishop who bore the 
 name of Rohan, while a Beauharnais was appointed chevalier 
 cVhonneicr. Among the ladies-in-waiting such names as 
 ]Mortemart, de Montmorency, de Bouille, de Vintimille, and 
 de Canisy, were to be found side by side with those of 
 Bassano, de Eovigo, de Duchatel, and de Lauriston. 
 
 Newly created grandees were in this fashion considerably 
 set off by grandees of older date, and even Josephine's 
 household was represented. But, ranking over and above 
 all these ladies was one who had not entered into anybody's 
 calculations, and who had doubtless remained very quiet at 
 a time when so many ambitious people were bestirring 
 themselves to attain the rank of dame d'hoiineur (first lady- 
 in-waiting) which was set apart for her. This lady was the 
 Duchess de Montebello, the widow of Marshal Lannes, 
 killed at the battle of Essling. 
 
 Such a selection was the most striking testimony of grati- 
 tude which could possibly be given to the memory of one 
 of the bravest and perhaps the most regretted by Xapoleon 
 of all the generals which war had mowed down by his side. 
 This appointment was the greatest tribute he could pay his 
 army, and all pretensions were in duty bound to become 
 silent, stilled in the presence of a mark of favor so fully 
 justified. Moreover, it fell to a person of blameless con- 
 duct, whose outward appearance would not have been out of 
 place at any Court, and whose manners, in spite of the 
 lowliness of her origin, were stamped by a repose which 
 lacked neither grace nor nobility. She showed herself 
 endowed with the gift of becoming in the highest degree 
 agreeable to her sovereign princess.
 
 THE EMPRESS MARIE-LOUISE 405 
 
 The new Empress arrived at Compiegne on the 28th. The 
 Emperor awaited his second consort with no little anxiety. 
 Accustomed as he was to all the favors of fortune, he would 
 have liked that the princess, whom the fickle goddess 
 brought to him, should unite with the advantages of high 
 birth those of an outward appearance at least pleasing. 
 He set little store upon what had been told him in this 
 connection, or even upon the portraits sent him. I have 
 been informed by M. de Laborde, who accompanied the 
 Prince de Neufchatel to Vienna, and whose return preceded 
 by a short time the arrival of the Empress, that he had been 
 subjected to a somewhat detailed interrogatory in this re- 
 spect by the Emperor. This is how he summed up the case. 
 " Except for your first look at her. Sire, you will be a well- 
 contented husband." Her face was her weakest point; but 
 her figure was fine, although somewhat stiff. Her person- 
 ality was attractive, and she had very pretty feet and hands. 
 
 The Emperor went out to meet her, joined her at a dis- 
 tance of two leagues from Compiegne, entered her carriage, 
 and returned with her to the palace. They do say that on 
 the very same evening, he acted towards her as Henry IV. 
 had done towards Marie de M^dicis at Lyons, and she 
 doubtless experienced all the less difficulty in yielding to 
 his desires, in that this contingency had been foreseen, and 
 that at Vienna, where such matters are well understood, 
 good care had been taken to admonish her that she was to 
 consider herself as duly married. The civil marriage took 
 place at Saint-Cloud on the 1st of April, and the religious 
 ceremony was celebrated next day in one of the great halls 
 of the Louvre, the one adjoining the gallery, and which was 
 converted into a chapel. 
 
 We were struck, as the Emperor passed us, by the air of 
 triumph which permeated all his person. His physiognomy, 
 generally grave, was irradiated with happiness and joy.
 
 406 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 The ceremony, which was performed by Cardinal Fesch, the 
 Court Chaplain, was of short duration. But, what could 
 equal our astonishment, when we noticed that his face, but 
 a short while ago so radiant, had, on the return from the 
 ceremony, become clouded and threatening! What then 
 could have happened in so short an interval? 
 
 Seats of honor had been set apart for the religious cere- 
 mony at the Louvre for the cardinals, who from the time 
 that the Pope had been removed to Savona, resided in Paris. 
 The first thing that caught Xapoleon's eye, on his entering 
 the chapel, was that some of these seats had remained 
 vacant, thirteen cardinals not having responded to the invi- 
 tation. No insult could be felt more keenly by him, and it 
 was all the more serious from the fact that it assumed the 
 shape of a sort of protest against his new marriage, and an 
 accusation of illegality. 
 
 I must say that his anger in this connection was only too 
 well justified during the course of the year, by a brief 
 which the Pope found a way to send to the Metropolitan 
 Chapter of Florence, and the object of which was to forbid 
 it from granting to M. d' Osmond, Bishop of Nancy, who 
 had been appointed Archbishop of Florence, the power of 
 exercising his functions. In this brief. His Holiness set 
 forth among other grievances he had against the Emperor, 
 the dissolution of his first marriage by the Paris clergy, and 
 pointed out the irregularity of this action, in that it had 
 been accomplished in disregard of the rights of the Holy 
 See. It was difficult for a mind as suspicious as Napo- 
 leon's not to see in such an allegation, which was dragged 
 into an affair altogether foreign to the matters with which 
 it was incorporated, a premeditated intention of some day 
 contesting the legitimacy of his offspring, and consequently 
 their right to the throne. 
 
 With regard to the cardinals who had declined to be
 
 DISGRACE OF THE CARDINALS 407 
 
 present at the marriage, they were arrested two days after- 
 wards, and together with an order to leave for various towns 
 in the interior, they were forbidden to don the outward 
 signs of their dignity, and enjoined to be always clothed in 
 black. Their property was sequestrated, and the stipend 
 which they had enjoyed up to that date ceased to be paid to 
 them. In lieu of it they were offered two hundred and fifty 
 francs per month, as a dole, which was to be paid to them 
 at their place of exile. Two of them only accepted this 
 offer; the others lived by means of collections taken up 
 secretly on their behalf. 
 
 The absence of the cardinals was the only cloud which 
 darkened the magnificent day which saw the accomplishment 
 in all its pomp of Marie-Louise's marriage. The whole of 
 it was taken up with the most brilliant and varied scenes. 
 First came a kind of public presentation of his consort by 
 Napoleon to his people and to his army, by leading her on 
 to the balcony situated in the centre of the chateau of the 
 Tuileries, where she was greeted simultaneously with the 
 cheers of an immense throng of citizens and with those of 
 the Imperial Guard which marched past at her feet. Then 
 followed an Imperial banquet in the room generally used 
 for theatricals, which was converted into a banqueting hall ; 
 next, a concert given in an immense amphitheatre erected 
 between the gardens and the chateau, and lastly a display 
 of fireworks, the magnificence of which was on a scale with 
 the immensity of the preparations made for it several weeks 
 previous, and which embraced all public buildings, in every 
 section of the city. 
 
 I cannot refrain from giving a place amid these imposing 
 scenes to an incident to which chance gave a most piquant 
 character. It was difficult to ascertain where and when the 
 persons who had been present at the wedding ceremony, and 
 who did not wish to miss a single part of the programme,
 
 408 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 could dine. M. Regnaud, the president of the Committee of 
 the Interior in the Council of State, had foreseen this difl&- 
 culty, and, in order to overcome it, had caused a very fair 
 dinner to be brought into the chateau. He had the tables 
 laid in his committee room, and all the members were 
 invited to partake of it. 
 
 We were already at table, when M. de Metternich came 
 by, as he was promenading with several members of the 
 Austrian embassy in an open gallery situated between our 
 room and the garden. He appeared to have resigned him- 
 self in a somewhat melancholic fashion to the fact that he 
 was not to get any dinner that day, when M. Regnaud most 
 courteously invited him to join us. He made no difficulty 
 in accepting the invitation, and it thus happened that on so 
 memorable a day we were the only persons to whom it fell 
 to take charge of the foreigner who was most entitled to 
 consideration, to wit, Austria's Prime Minister, the man 
 who, to put it plainly, was henceforth destined to play so 
 important a part on so many occasions. During the whole 
 of the repast, he was in the best of spirits, and, as he was 
 about to rise from the table, he filled his glass, and advanc- 
 ing to a window opening out on the gallery which alone 
 separated us from the concourse of people which filled the 
 garden, drank aloud to the health of the Ki7ig of Rome. 
 
 This toast of good omen was welcomed with the most 
 lively and demonstrative exclamations of joy. Almost at 
 this very moment. Prince Kourakine, the Russian ambassa- 
 dor, accompanied by some of his suite, and who also seemed 
 to have renounced all hope of getting any dinner, passed 
 by. The remains of our dinner were liardly fit to be offered 
 to any one ; still, they were got together, and, such as they 
 were, we placed them at his disposal. Our previous guests 
 surrendered their seats to our new ones, who hurriedly 
 made the best dinner they could from what had been left by
 
 EXPLANATIONS GIVEN TO RUSSIA 409 
 
 those whose hunger had been appeased. This somewhat 
 strange scene bore unfortunately a striking analogy to the 
 respective situations of the ambassadors who had in succes- 
 sion partaken of our hospitality. 
 
 Two months earlier, the ambassador of Kussia, who had 
 just shown himself content to accept the leavings of the 
 ambassador of Austria, took precedence of him everywhere ; 
 every honor, every mark of consideration had been his, as 
 being the only ally and real friend of Prance. A private 
 box in the first rank was reserved to him at all Court enter- 
 tainments, and every means of pleasing him and showing 
 him attention was exhausted in his favor. How different 
 it was now ! The ambassador of Austria, at whom one then 
 looked askance, had become the family ambassador, and 
 enjoyed all the privileges of such a position, and all were 
 eager to render his position more agreeable and more 
 brilliant. 
 
 Small consideration had been shown to the justly outraged 
 feelings of the Russian Court. Negotiations had been 
 entered into in other directions, ere its reply had been 
 learnt, and it was two days after the receipt of a favor- 
 able one that the preference given to an Austrian arch- 
 duchess was made public. As it ever happens, the Emperor 
 Napoleon, in order to palliate the wrongs which were on 
 his side, did not hesitate to impute others to the sovereign 
 with whom he was breaking off. The letter which his 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. de Champagny, wrote on 
 the subject to M. de Caulaincourt, affords curious reading 
 now-a-days. The Minister, when informing the ambassador 
 that the extraordinary council which met on the night 
 between the 6th and the 7th, had voted almost unanimously 
 that the Emperor should marry the archduchess, was care- 
 ful to give the reasons for such a decision being reached, 
 and, among those presented as having caused him to renounce
 
 410 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 the hand of the grand-duchess, was the allegation that the 
 Emperor felt offended at the little eagerness shown by 
 Kussia, especially when he compared it with that shown by 
 Austria.^ 
 
 "What!" exclaims M. de Champagny, "the Emperor of 
 Russia receives the overture made to him of placing the 
 youngest of his sisters on the greatest throne in the world, 
 by giving her as a husband the man who is the cynosure of 
 the world, the man whom it would be as difficult as it is 
 useless to characterize, and yet repeated delays seem to 
 have been sought, in order to avoid giving an answer ! Was 
 not each and every postponement offensive, when it kept in 
 suspense the fulfilling of the expectations of forty millions 
 of men, and the happiness of the chief of the Empire and 
 of the arbiter of Europe ? Delays, under such circumstances, 
 may be justly held as worse than a refusal." 
 
 As to the deference which it was begged should be paid 
 to the religion of the grand-duchess, it was also dealt with 
 in this letter as raising the most serious questions. M. de 
 Champagny wrote on this point that "the clause having 
 reference to the Greek priest, who was to be allowed to 
 exercise his sacerdotal functions in the very palace of 
 France's sovereign, was to be looked upon as implying an 
 inferiority which was likely to offend the French nation." 
 It is hard to understand how this could be. He even went 
 so far as to characterize as a serious obstacle, the difference 
 existing between the Greek and the Gregorian calendar, and 
 he labored to make it appear that troublesome consequences 
 would arise therefrom. The best reason which could doubt- 
 less have been adduced to explain the preference granted to 
 an Austrian over a Russian princess, would have been the 
 youth of the latter. She was only fifteen years of age, and 
 
 1 This comparison is taken from another letter.
 
 EXPLANATIONS GIVEN TO BUS SI A 411 
 
 had only been marriageable a very short time. The hope of 
 her quickly bearing children was therefore more remote 
 than in the case of the archduchess, who had already 
 attained her eighteenth year. 
 
 The ultimate result of thus bringing to an end a matter 
 in which self-love naturally played an important part, was 
 to create a bitter feeling, the principal and probably most 
 fatal consequence of which was that Napoleon, judging the 
 feelings of others by his own, must have been led to sup- 
 pose that Alexander's mind harbored a resentment which 
 he himself would have experienced more than any other 
 man, and this conviction exercised from that day a great 
 influence on his policy.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Suffering endured by Holland consequent upon the continental blockade — 
 Appointment of a commission of investigation presided over by M. Pas- 
 quier — M. de Labouchere sent to London on the secret initiative of 
 King Louis, with the object of bringing about a general peace — A like 
 attempt made by M. Fouche', with M. Ouvrard as agent — Complete 
 failure of these overtures to the British Cabinet — These proceedings, 
 taken unknown to the Emperor, arouse his anger — M. Ouvrard 
 arrested, and M. Fouche' sent to Rome as Governor, his place as Minister 
 of Police being taken by the Due de Rovigo — ftL d'Hauterive's report 
 on this intrigue — M. de Labouchere called to Paris by the Emperor — The 
 King of Holland's version of this attempted negotiation — A pen-portrait 
 of Louis Bonaparte — His faults and qualities — Queen Hortense — A 
 conflict of policy between Louis and Xapoleon — M. Decazes attached 
 to the cabinet of Madame mere — Amsterdam occupied by French 
 troops — King Louis's indignation at this— His abdication and final 
 departure — Holland united to the French Empire — Napoleon's charac- 
 teristic speech to the son of Kiug Louis — Personal characteristics of 
 the Bonapartes — Lucien, Prince of Canino — Joseph Bonaparte — 
 Je'rome Bonaparte — Napoleon's three sisters: Elisa, Pauline, and Caro- 
 line — M. Fouche' again incurs disgrace — M. de Las Cases and M. 
 Fievee in the Council of State — Details regarding the appointment of 
 M. Pasquier as Prefect of Police. 
 
 Holland had suffered more than any other of the states 
 which had cause to complain of the hardships of the con- 
 tinental blockade. Its expostulations, its desire of being 
 freed from a legislation ruinous to it found vent in popular 
 riots which became daily more difficult to repress. The 
 Emperor, when determining upon a journey through the 
 Belgian and Dutch provinces, in company with the Empress, 
 secretly entertained a wish to judge for himself the state of 
 the public mind, and to see what were the steps necessary 
 
 412
 
 M. PASQUIER PEE SIDES OVER A COMMISSION 413 
 
 to keep in force measures which he would not renounce. 
 On the loth of May, he issued an ordinance dated from the 
 chateau of Laeken, by which he created a commission com- 
 prising eight members selected from among the men best 
 informed with regard to the administration and the interests 
 of the country. This commission, over which it fell to my 
 lot to preside, was to meet in Paris. 
 
 It was more especially instructed to supply such informa- 
 tion as might be required by the ministers, as to measures 
 relating to the establishment of taxes on landed property, 
 the paying off of the debts of cities, the determining of 
 their expenditure and revenues adjusting Customs^ regula- 
 tions with the requirements of shipping and other interests of 
 the country, and to all measures likely to do away with all 
 friction between the authorities and the interests while 
 passing from the old to the new system of administration. 
 The commission was free to present any suggestions it 
 should see fit regarding the subject matter, and was to 
 remain in session until the final organization for the year 
 1811 was decided upon and promulgated. So great a con- 
 sideration was not what one had been accustomed to, and 
 the reference to the Customs had been inserted with no 
 other object than to calm a feeling of alarm, the strength of 
 which required taking into consideration. 
 
 The selection of the members of the commission had been 
 an excellent one. They were all enlightened men and were 
 looked up to in their own country. I took all possible care 
 to assist them in their enquiries, and to give them every 
 information they stood in need of, and I was soon able to 
 observe how much the spirit of the Dutch nation, a nation 
 most industrious, and which seriously applies itself to busi- 
 ness matters, is so eminently qualified for it. No useless 
 and troublesome chicanery was to be expected from such 
 intelligent and sincere men. They always went straight to
 
 414 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 the fact, endeavored to overcome obstacles, and to devise a 
 mitigation of the evil of which they could not entirely get 
 rid, but they never became angered at the obstacles which 
 they considered could not be surmounted, and strove 
 patiently to make the best of an evidently bad situation. 
 
 In those extraordinary times, it was possible, without 
 leaving Paris, to study the characteristics of several nations, 
 and to grasp their varied idiosyncrasies ; for, with the excep- 
 tion of England, all European countries having important 
 business to transact or important interests to defend in 
 the capital of the French Empire, took care to send thither 
 their most able men. 
 
 The Council of State would of itself have sufficed to 
 enable one to indulge in such a study, for the ever-increasing 
 extent of the Empire daily brought us new colleagues, and 
 there was a great difference between the manners, customs, 
 and trend of ideas of a bourgeois of the Hanse Towns and 
 those of a subject of the Pope, of a Roman, or of a Eloren- 
 tine. 
 
 The commissioners and myself were constantly engaged 
 during the whole month of June with the work entrusted to 
 us. We had some hopes that a certain benefit would be 
 derived from it, when, in the first days of July, serious 
 events came to interrupt our labors. 
 
 More than ever was peace prayed for in France. The 
 obstacle, which above all others prevented this prayer being 
 heard, was England. Was there then no way of conquering 
 its stubbornness? The Emperor could see none other than 
 the most rigorous enforcement of his continental system. 
 Many others there were who thought that cleverly con- 
 ducted negotiations might convince a cabinet, which had 
 previously given its consent to the Treaty of Amiens, that 
 the present state of affairs was far more serious than that 
 existing in 1802, and that, if there still remained ways
 
 ENGLAND AN OBSTACLE TO PEACE 415 
 
 of raising obstacles in Napoleon's path, the undertaking 
 was nevertheless a more difficult and hazardous one than 
 ever. Among those whose thoughts were occupied with 
 this question, and whose opinion was of the greatest weight, 
 were M. de Talleyrand and M. Fouche. But M. de Talley- 
 rand had learnt to be prudent, and, if he took a part in the 
 proceedings into which his impetuous colleague entered, 
 nothing to this effect has ever been proven. Both men had 
 a powerful auxiliary in the King of Holland, who was per- 
 suaded that it was the intention of his brother to make 
 him, in a very short time, descend from the throne on which 
 he had seated him, and to unite the whole of Holland to his 
 empire. Peace with England could alone avert this unfor- 
 tunate contingency. King Louis felt sure, and with cause, 
 that the British cabinet had reason to fear above all, that 
 the whole of the Dutch shore-line might pass under the 
 direct sway of France. He therefore determined upon let- 
 ting England know that such a danger was imminent, and 
 that there was no other way of escaping it except by a 
 speedy and general peace, or at least by sincere overtures 
 for negotiations. 
 
 It was in the last days of January, 1810. King Louis, 
 much against his will, was detained in Paris, and more than 
 ever worried by the exigencies of Napoleon. He deter- 
 mined to send to his ministers in Holland an order to select 
 an able and discreet man, one who could safely be depended 
 upon, and to send him at once to London with instructions 
 based on the considerations I have just explained. Their 
 choice fell upon M. de Labouchere, a partner in the firm of 
 Hope, a Frenchman by birth and eminently qualified to 
 well carry out such a mission. 
 
 M. de Labouchere went to London, and had a talk with 
 the Marquis of Wellesley, the Minister of Foreign Affairs; 
 but in spite of the favorable dispositions shown him in the
 
 416 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 first instance, he was not long in discovering that the British 
 cabinet was in no wise disposed to be the first to deviate from 
 the measures adopted in the struggle of the continental 
 blockade; that, moreover, it did not see any great difference 
 between a formally declared union of Holland to the French 
 Empire, and the state of suzerainty into which it had fallen 
 by passing under the rule of a brother of the Emperor. 
 M. de Labouchere promptly informed those who had de- 
 spatched him of this sorry result, and shortly afterwards 
 made his way back to Holland. 
 
 During the same period, M. Fouche was making a similar 
 attempt, but through a much less happily chosen agent. 
 M. Ouvrard, who was still joining issue with the Emperor, 
 with regard to the suits being pressed against him to re- 
 cover from him the Treasury funds which he had lost 
 in speculations during the Austerlitz campaign, had just 
 been released from the prison of Sainte-Pelagie, where he 
 had been momentarily confined, pursuant to a decree which 
 declared him to be indebted to the state for several millions. 
 As he was desirous of making a trip to Holland, in order, 
 so he said, to settle his accounts with the banking firm of 
 Hope, he applied to M. Fouche for a passport. The letter 
 granted it on condition that he would undertake negotiations 
 for peace with England. Such is at any rate the story told 
 by M. Ouvrard in his Memoirs. But I have reason to 
 believe that he was thrown in M. Fouche's way by M. de 
 Talleyrand, with whom he had for a long time past had 
 dealings in connection with speculations on 'Change. How- 
 ever this may be, M. Ouvrard positively asserts that he 
 merely consented to try and " discover whether the state of 
 mind in England would allow the entertaining of any hope 
 of negotiating a peace." So he left Paris, but did not get 
 any further than one of the Dutch ports, where he met 
 M. de Labouchere, who was returning from England. He
 
 M. FOUCHE AND M. OUVBABD 417 
 
 soon learned of the unsuccessful endeavors of this negotia- 
 tor, whose secrets he in part obtained by entrusting him 
 with his own, and he wisely resolved upon returning to 
 Amsterdam. 
 
 M. Fouche had at the time another agent in London. He 
 was an English colonel, a prisoner of war whom he had 
 restored to liberty, on condition that he would serve him. 
 M. Ouvrard does not mention this agent. He merely states 
 that he found a way of entering into a correspondence with 
 the Marquis of Wellesley from Amsterdam, and that the 
 intermediary in this case was, in London, the banking house 
 of Mr. Francis Baring. The documents which reached him 
 from this source were, he goes on to say, at once transmitted 
 to M. Fouche, and, if he is to be believed, it would not have 
 been a difficult matter, according to the tenor of these docu- 
 ments, to reach a basis of negotiation which would not have 
 differed greatly from one resting on the ^lti possidetis 
 formula. It is probable that M. Fouche shared this confi- 
 dence, for he thereupon proposed to M. de Labouchere to 
 return to London. M. de Labouchere declined, convinced as 
 he was that there was then nothing to do. The Emperor 
 had thereupon reached Belgium, and it was there that he 
 learnt for the first time of the steps which had been taken 
 unknown to him. 
 
 The King of Holland, undismayed by the failure of M. de 
 Labouchere's attempts, took advantage of the presence of 
 his brother in Antwerp, and ventured to confide to him what 
 he had undertaken, what was still being done in the matter, 
 and tried by all possible means to convince him that, this 
 door still remaining open, it was to his interest not to allow 
 it to close ; that on the contrary, he should take advantage 
 of it to definitely set on foot a negotiation from which the 
 best of results were to be expected. 
 
 There is no doubt that King Louis had acted most
 
 418 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 thoughtlessly and that he strangely misunderstood Napo- 
 leon's character, although he must have been pretty well 
 acquainted with it. However this may be, great was the 
 Emperor's fury as soon as he became aware that anybody 
 had been found audacious enough to interfere in a matter 
 of such paramount importance without any orders from 
 himself, and that none had feared exposing him to seeing 
 rejected with contempt overtures to which it would never 
 be believed he was a total stranger. During the whole of 
 the remainder of his journey, his mind was filled with the 
 painful discovery he had just made and with the care of 
 collecting every fact likely to throw fresh light on it. On 
 reaching Saint-Cloud, he commanded M. Fouche to deliver 
 to him all the documents transmitted by M. Ouvrard, and 
 then handed them over, together with those already in his 
 possession, to M. d'Hauterive, Councillor of State and the 
 custodian of the foreign archives, ordering him to examine 
 them minutely, and to present to him in the shortest possi- 
 ble time a report on the conduct of the persons who had 
 had a share in the intrigue. 
 
 Without waiting for this report, he did not hesitate in 
 making M. Fouche feel the full weight of his discontent, 
 on the occasion of the first council held at Saint-Cloud. 
 Among other rebukes with which he overwhelmed him, the 
 one particularly noticed was that he had come to an under- 
 standing with M. de Talleyrand towards the carrying out of 
 these guilty manoeuvres. Then adding irony to rebuke: 
 "You think yourself very deep," he said, "but in truth you 
 are nothing of the kind; it is Talleyrand who is deep, and 
 on this occasion he has made sport of you as he would of a 
 child. You have been nothing but his tool." M. Fouche 
 did not flinch from taking all the blame upon his shoulders, 
 and declared that he had been solely inspired by his ardent 
 desire to be of use to the Emperor and to his country, and
 
 M. FOUCHE ONCE MORE IN DISGRACE 419 
 
 by tlie conviction that he could render them the greatest of 
 services. While the council was in session, the Due de 
 Kovigo, aide-de-camp to the Emperor, and in command of 
 the picked corps of gendarmerie, was ordered to arrest M. 
 Ouvrard, who it was known had returned to Paris a few 
 days before. In order to lay hands on him, a proposition 
 was made to Mme. Hamelin, an intriguing woman of easy 
 virtue, with whom both men were intimate, that she should 
 arrange for a meeting at her house, under the pretence of 
 settling the differences which had arisen between General 
 Eapp and his wife, a daughter of M. Yanderberg, a former 
 partner of M. Ouvrard. The latter allowed himself to be 
 thus entrapped, and he had hardly entered Mme. Hamelin' s 
 residence, when he was surrounded by gendarmes who con- 
 ducted him to the Abbaye. On the following day M. de 
 Eovigo was appointed Minister of Police, and M. Fouche, 
 Due d'Otrante, Governor of Eome. 
 
 The Emperor had shown much hesitation concerning the 
 selection of this new minister, and M. de Semonville had 
 had cause to believe he had the preference. It was even 
 known that having come to Saint-Cloud to dine with M. 
 Maret, who showed activity in pressing his claims to the 
 position, he had, in the expectation of being sworn in 
 before the day was over, brought his senator's uniform with 
 him. But Napoleon's resolutions had changed in the course 
 of the morning. He had sent for the Due de Eovigo and 
 had announced his appointment to him, at the same time 
 forbidding him to breathe it to anybody. He too dined 
 on that day with the Secretary of State, where he met M. de 
 Semonville. The same evening it became the unpleasant 
 duty of M. Maret to draw up the decree which ignored his 
 friend, and it was the Due de Eovigo who was sworn in in 
 his stead. Napoleon had evidently dreaded the sharpness 
 and the wily ways of M. de Semonville, whom he had learnt
 
 420 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 to know of old. He had feared to find in him a minister 
 whom he would, under other circumstances, have to distrust 
 almost as much as M. Fouche, and wanting as he did a man 
 who on all occasions would be nothing but a docile instru- 
 ment, he had settled upon the aide-de-camp of whose fidelity 
 he had had repeated proofs. 
 
 When the selection became known, great was everybody's 
 astonishment. The Due de Eovigo was generally looked 
 upon as ever ready to carry out the wishes of his master on 
 the merest hint, however hard they might be in their results. 
 People whispered that such a master would have needed, on 
 the contrary, to find in the man called upon to render ser- 
 vices of such a nature as those demanded of the Minister of 
 Police, dispositions which would incline him to moderation. 
 
 M. d'Hauterive was soon ready with the report expected 
 of him. He conclusively established that the measures 
 taken by M. Ouvrard, in pursuance of M. Fouche's orders, 
 revealed the worst form of imprudence, and one which might 
 entail for the man who had been guilty of it the loss of all 
 confidence, might in all justice be looked upon as criminal, 
 in case there should appear the slightest semblance of bad 
 intentions. He declared at the same time that it had been 
 impossible for him to discover such a semblance, adding that 
 nothing had indicated to him, in a way worthy of the 
 slightest belief, that M. de Talleyrand had connived at the 
 matter with the Minister of Police. In coming to such a 
 conclusion, he had evidently spoken merely from the docu- 
 ments submitted to his examination, and had set aside what 
 he knew personally, for I have it from his own lips, that a 
 few days previously he had seen in the hands of M. de 
 Talleyrand one of the documents, which M. Fouche had 
 since been compelled to deliver to the Emperor. The latter 
 was so little pleased with M. d'Hauterive's report, that his 
 discontent broke forth as the latter was reading it to him.
 
 THE DUC BE ROVIGO MINISTER OF POLICE 421 
 
 and that he tore the paper from his hands telling him that 
 it was no use continuing, and that he had not understood 
 anything about the matter. 
 
 If M. d'Hauterive is to be believed, for I have all these 
 particulars from himself, he showed on this occasion more 
 firmness than usuallj^ credited to him. He insisted on being 
 listened to, took back his report, and continued reading it. 
 Finally, Napoleon calmed down, and seeing full well that it 
 would be impossible for him to obtain any more light on the 
 matter, gave vent to his anger against M. Ouvrard, declaring 
 that now that he had him under lock and key he would so 
 keep him for a long while. "This scoundrel," he added, 
 "has already cost me two ministers." The regret thus 
 expressed might be sincere in so far as M. de Marbois was 
 concerned, whom he had been compelled to dismiss for all 
 his unfortunate financial combinations during the Austerlitz 
 campaign,^ but it could certainly not be so as regards 
 M. Fouche, of whom for over a year past he had wished to 
 rid himself,^ and against whom he entertained strong feel- 
 ings of resentment. 
 
 iM. de Marbois, the Minister of the Treasury during the Austerlitz 
 campaign, had been deceived to such a degree, and knew so little in regard 
 to the state of his affairs, that I have it from his successor, M. Mollien, 
 that the statement of them such as he received it bore the name of M. 
 Ouvrard as indebted to the Treasury for a sura of forty millions. The 
 commission appointed to look into this particular account found that this 
 indebtedness amounted to sixty millions, an amount which M. Ouvrard 
 did not repudiate ; but M. Mollien, on having himself looked at the figures 
 and checked them, increased the amount of the debt to over one hundred 
 millions, to one hundred and thirty millions, if I am not mistaken. Nor 
 did M. Ouvrard take exception to this amount. 
 
 2 M. d'Hauterive likewise told me that on leaving the Emperor's 
 closet after that scene, with M. de Champagny, who had been a spectator 
 of it, he could not help saying to him: " Great heavens! What a man your 
 Emperor is! The honor of working with him is pretty dearly bought! " 
 " You are hard to please," replied M. de Champagny, " if you are not satis- 
 fied with the way in which things passed off. In our case, the beginnings 
 are often as bad, and it is seldom that matters end so well."
 
 422 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 While this investigation was being proceeded with as to 
 M. Ouvrard, the Emperor caused a letter to be written sum- 
 moning M. de Labouchere to his presence, as he was desir- 
 ous of having him clear up certain matters of which he 
 alone was cognizant. Moreover, I was told by M. de 
 Labouchere, that the King of Holland, when notifying him 
 of Xapoleon's commands, gave him full liberty in regard to 
 obeying them, pointing out to him that a journey to Paris 
 under such circumstances might not be unattended with 
 danger, and that perchance it might end in his being con- 
 fined in the chateau of Vincennes, from which he, although 
 king, and in spite of the protection he owed his subjects, 
 would have no power to release him. 
 
 It is rather difficult to reconcile this warning with the 
 passage of his Memoirs where King Louis asserts that in 
 February he had opened the negotiation with which M. de 
 Labouchere had been entrusted only by the express com- 
 mands of Xapoleon, who had been desirous of trying this 
 indirect way. M. de Labouchere has told me positively 
 that this allegation was at variance with the truth, and that 
 his trip to England had been undertaken without the 
 Emperor's knowledge. If indeed the assertion of King 
 Louis is accurate, how could he have feared for the safety 
 of the man who had done nothing but execute a plan thus 
 conceived? What oj^inion then could he hold of his 
 brother, if he could anticipate so odious an outrage? 
 
 M. de Labouchere, strong in the knowledge of his inno- 
 cence, did not allow himself to be intimidated, went to 
 Paris, and immediately upon his arrival called upon M. de 
 Champagny, and had a long talk with this minister, when 
 he held back nothing of what he had been entrusted with 
 and of what he had had occasion to do and say. The 
 Emperor, on his side, on receiving an account of this con- 
 versation, recognized that M. de Labouchere in merely exe-
 
 CHARACTER OF LOUIS BONAPARTE 423 
 
 cuting tlie orders of his sovereign, was completely blameless, 
 and M. de Champagny received orders to treat him with 
 every consideration and even with distinction. 
 
 This is the time to state that an ever-growing misunder- 
 standing had gone on between Napoleon and his brother 
 from the moment that the latter had ascended the throne, 
 and it was impossible that it should not sooner or later 
 bring about the most serious consequences. The character 
 of Louis Bonaparte is one of the oddities of the period, and 
 it deserves passing mention. The man possessed, it must 
 be admitted, some estimable qualities. In him were united 
 a sense of rectitude combined with sound morality, but he 
 was mistrustful and extremely touchy, and these elements 
 were increased by the sufferings inherent to a sickly 
 constitution. He had married Josephine's daughter, and 
 the naturally jealous bent of his mind soon led him to 
 conceive the most insulting suspicions concerning his wife, 
 which suspicions were soon justified by the far too easy 
 manners of the woman to whom he was mated. Violent 
 scenes repeatedly occurred between him and Hortense, and, 
 if there was anything which could make him insensible to 
 the misfortune of ascending a throne and attaining a posi- 
 tion of which he foresaw all the bitter disadvantages, it was 
 the opportunity afforded him of removing his wife from the 
 far too loose Court of his brother and the hope that he 
 could, when in Holland, compel her to conform to a mode 
 of life more in harmony with his tastes and ideas. 
 
 He fared no better with royalty than with the married 
 state, his life being more taken up with its duties than with 
 its pleasures. He became Dutch, devoted himself to his 
 subjects, and defended their interests, heedless as to whether 
 he could do so with any chance of succeeding. Napoleon 
 had sent him to reign at Amsterdam in order to render it 
 sure that Holland would persistently remain obedient to his
 
 424 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 will, and that his orders would be obeyed there as implicitly 
 as if the country formed one of his own provinces. King 
 Louis, on the other hand, sought to be an ally of France, 
 but an ally whose interests should be looked upon and 
 reckoned with as having an importance of their own. The 
 two brothers were bound to join issue in a very short while. 
 Napoleon waxed all the more wroth when he saw that his 
 brother made himself daily more agreeable and dearer to 
 the Dutch, whereas he, as a natural consequence, was becom- 
 ing more and more disliked by them. 
 
 The documents relating to this untoward wrangling be- 
 tween the two brothers, and the particulars of it, as told in 
 the Memoirs of the King of Holland, deserve to be read. 
 On being called to Paris towards the end of 1809, the King 
 had yielded only with the greatest repugnance to an invita- 
 tion which resembled a command. He was fully alive to 
 the unpleasantness in store for him, and to the abuse he 
 would have to endure. His firmness was sorely tried. The 
 negotiation between himself and Napoleon was not a mere 
 diplomatic discussion, it was a family affair, and it assumed 
 all the bitterness inherent to domestic dissensions. Madame 
 m^re oftentimes interposed between her two sons, and it 
 was in this connection that there appeared on the scene of 
 politics for the first time, a man who since then has often 
 played a brilliant part in it. It was M. Decazes, who, 
 attached to the cabinet of Madame, had more than once 
 been sent by her to Holland to deliver oral messages to the 
 King, and his success in the exercises of his missions had 
 obtained for him the appointment of private secretary to 
 that sovereign. It would appear that he succeeded in mak- 
 ing himself useful and agreeable to both parties. In the 
 end, the unfortunate Louis was compelled to subscribe to 
 the treaty which deprived him of a portion of his states, 
 and by which, he bound himself to maintain a French gar-
 
 ABDICATION OF THE KING OF HOLLAND 425 
 
 rison in the part wliich he was permitted to retain, which 
 garrison was to see that he remained faithful to the engage- 
 ment he had entered into of preventing all commercial 
 intercourse between Holland and England. Kow, it was 
 impossible to carry this out, especially if it was pretended 
 to execute it in all its severity. 
 
 King Louis had flattered himself, at any rate so he claims, 
 though one can hardly see why, that extreme measures 
 would be avoided. It turned out to the contrary. The 
 French troops which had entered the kingdom to defend it 
 at the time of the English invasion, not only showed no 
 hurry to evacuate it, but tightened their circle more and 
 more about the capital, which, so to speak, they invested, 
 and into which it was daily expected to see them enter. An 
 army of French coastguards likewise co-operated in this 
 blockade. 
 
 The ambassador's place was taken by a simple charge 
 d'affaires. The King of Holland received from his brother 
 a letter in which were the following sentences : " / ivill no 
 longer have a Dutch ambassador in Paris. Itvill not let you 
 send a minister to Austria. Neither tvill I alloio you to dis- 
 miss Frenchmen at present in your employ. I do not want 
 any more of your stock phrases. You have satiated me 
 with them for the past three years, and every hour shows 
 me their emptiness. This is the last letter of my life to you.'' 
 
 At last, as King Louis, in this, faithful to his engage- 
 ments, was at Haarlem, busy looking after the preparations, 
 which he was at that time making against England, and the 
 armament of the fleet, which, according to the terms of the 
 treaty just concluded he was bound to equip, he heard of 
 the demand made by the commander of the French troops to 
 occupy Amsterdam. His indignation knew no bounds, and, 
 if he is to be credited, his first impulse was to defend his 
 capital to the last extremity. But when he saw that there
 
 426 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 was not the slightest hope of his rash resolve receiving any 
 support, he determined upon abdicating, and of putting his 
 son in his place. He then took his departure during the 
 night of the 1st of July, en route for Austria, and went to 
 take the waters at Toplitz in Bohemia. His behavior on 
 this occasion was, it must be admitted, generous and dis- 
 interested. Previous to leaving, he sold a small estate 
 which he owned near Utrecht, and carried away with a sum 
 of 10,000 francs in gold only a few diamonds which were 
 his own. He left, in order to meet the most pressing needs 
 of the regency, the untouched revenues for the month of 
 June. The Queen, his consort, was then in France, at the 
 baths of Plorabieres. She never went back to him. 
 
 Napoleon's mind was soon made up. He sent an aide-de- 
 camp to Holland to bring to him the young prince, his 
 nephew, created him Grand-Duke of Berg, and deprived him 
 definitely of the kingdom of Holland, which he added by a 
 decree to the French Empire. Sufl&cient notice has not been 
 taken of the admonition he addressed to the child when he 
 was brought into his presence at Saint-Cloud, and which the 
 Moniteur did not fail to publish : " You are never to forget, 
 in whatever position you may be placed by my policy and 
 the interests of my empire, that your first duty is to me, 
 your next, to France. Every other kind of duties, even 
 those towards the people whom I might entrust to your care, 
 come afterwards." These words, spoken to the son, em- 
 bodied the explanation of and the commentary on the line 
 of conduct which he had pursued with the father, but they 
 likewise embodied the latter's fullest justification. Louis 
 protested from Toplitz, where he still was, against the act 
 which despoiled his son. Shortly afterwards he personally 
 handed this protest to the Emperor of Austria, saw that it 
 came to the notice of the Emperor of Russia, and finally 
 sent it to the French Senate.
 
 NAPOLEON'S BROTHERS AND SISTERS 427 
 
 In spite of the vigor and defiance shown by such action, 
 every possible means was resorted to to induce him to 
 re-enter French territory and there take up his abode. 
 The French ambassador in Vienna, M. Otto, who received 
 orders to even give a threatening color to these requests, 
 informed him in writing, and in the Emperor's name, that, 
 as a French prince and a high dignitary of the Empire, he 
 was to return to France at latest by the coming 1st of 
 December, under penalty of being considered as violating 
 the constitution of the Empire, and being dealt with accord- 
 ingly. M. Decazes was twice sent to him to obtain from 
 him by the use of gentler methods, the submission which 
 his brother so earnestly desired. It was all in vain. He 
 dared threats and remained obdurate to all entreaties. 
 Meanwhile he was reduced to the greatest isolation. The 
 persons who had accompanied him on his departure from 
 Holland left him one after the other; he was ill and alone 
 at Gratz in Styria, when he rejected for the last time the 
 propositions brouglit to him by M. Decazes. The Bona- 
 partes, it must be admitted, were of no common mould; 
 their good qualities and their defects, their vices and their 
 virtues are not to be measured by the ordinary standards, 
 and bear the stamp of characteristics peculiarly their own. 
 What especially distinguishes them is an obstinacy of will, 
 and an inflexibility of purpose. 
 
 The Emperor had four brothers and three sisters. That 
 indomitable stubbornness just referred to had already 
 removed from his controlling power two of his brothers. 
 The one known as Lucien, and afterwards as Prince de 
 Canino, a title given to him by the Pope, had a fiery soul. 
 He was ambitious and greedily fond of money. Public 
 affairs had all the more attraction for him, in that he had 
 played an important part in them on the 18th Brumaire, 
 and he could lay the flattering unction to liimself that his
 
 428 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASqUIER 
 
 firmness on that day so frauglit with peril, had greatly con- 
 tributed to its success. He deserted the Court at the time 
 his brother reached the summit of grandeur, and when he 
 was in a position to promise the highest destinies to all the 
 members of his family. On his becoming a widower, it 
 was impossible to cause him to renounce his matrimonial 
 views with a divorcee, who had been his mistress for some 
 time past, and, sooner than yield, he went into a voluntary 
 exile from which he was not to return until after many 
 trials, which finally led him to England, at the time of 
 the misfortunes of 1815. During his stay in Italy, he 
 seemed to make it a point of honor of showing his loyalty 
 and devotion to the Pontifical Government, whose subject 
 he had become. 
 
 Joseph, the eldest of the family, had ascended the throne 
 of Spain after having occupied that of Naples. Witty, 
 voluptuous, effeminate although courageous, nothing in his 
 incredible fortunes was to him a cause for surprise. I 
 heard him, in January, 1814, make the extraordinary claim 
 that if his brother had not interfered with his affairs, after 
 his second entry into Madrid, he would be still governing 
 Spain. This is explained by another striking trait of the 
 character of the Bonapartes. No sooner had they set their 
 feet on the path leading to royal honors, than those most 
 intimate with them were never to see them for a single 
 instant belie the seriousness with which they took the 
 highest positions; they even ended in believing that they 
 had been called to them as a matter of course. They had 
 the instinct of their greatness. Joseph displays, at the 
 very outset of the elevation of his brother, such impatience 
 to see himself in possession of a rank worthy of him, that 
 Napoleon was wont to say laughingly : "I do believe that 
 Joseph is sometimes tempted to think that I have robbed 
 my eldest brother of the inheritance of the King our father."
 
 NAPOLEON'S BROTHEBS AND SISTERS 429 
 
 As regards Jerome, his brother had, at the time he left 
 college, already made great strides towards omnipotence; 
 consequently, he considered himself born on the steps of 
 the throne. This illusion was sufficient to give him in a 
 large measure the faults which are too often the result of 
 the way in which princes are educated. He had hardly 
 more than the time necessary for him to become notorious 
 by the extraordinary audacity of his fits of debauchery, and 
 he still managed to preserve attached to his fortunes and to 
 his person the princess with whom fate had mated him. 
 
 Of the three sisters, the eldest almost reigned in Tuscany 
 under the title of grand-duchess. She made herself beloved 
 there, and this fortunate province owed to her a gentle treat- 
 ment denied all other countries then united with France. 
 She has left a pleasant memory behind her, in spite of the 
 irregularities of her private life, which she did not take 
 sufficient care to conceal. The Princess Pauline, wife of 
 Prince Borghese, was perhaps the most beautiful woman of 
 her time, and she hardly dreamt of giving prominence to 
 any other advantage than this one. She had been to Santo 
 Domingo with her first husband. General Leclerc. The 
 sun of the tropics had, they do say, been astonished at the 
 ardor of her dissipation. The fatigue consequent upon 
 such an existence shattered her health, and for a long time 
 she was carried about in a litter. In spite of her poor 
 health, she was none the less beautiful. 
 
 It remains for me to speak of Caroline, the wife of Murat, 
 and Queen of Naples, who bore a great resemblance to the 
 Emperor. Less beautiful than Pauline, although endowed 
 with more seductive charms, she possessed the art, without 
 being any more scrupulous than her sisters, of showing a 
 greater respect for the proprieties; besides, all her tastes 
 vanished in presence of her ambition. She had found the 
 Naples crown somewhat too small for her head, and greatly
 
 430 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 coveted the Spanish one, but in the end she became resigned 
 to her fate, and wore with good grace the one which had 
 fallen to her lot; it may even be said that she did so with 
 no little amount of dignity. She was insane enough to 
 believe that her fortune could withstand the catastrophe 
 which swept away that of Napoleon. In that extraordinary 
 race, the most sacred engagements, the deepest affections 
 went for nothing as soon as political combinations seemed 
 to advise it; nevertheless, each one of its members pos- 
 sessed to the highest degree the family spirit. Caroline 
 took a hand in bringing about the downfall of her brother 
 to whom she owed all her grandeur. It is perhaps she who 
 dealt him the final blow. 
 
 There can exist no doubt that the resentment harbored by 
 Napoleon over the negotiations undertaken with England by 
 his brother, the King of Holland, was the principal cause 
 for the breaking off of their intercourse and of the impor- 
 tant consequences which this rupture brought in its wake. 
 
 The disgrace of M. Fouche had been, at the outset, if not 
 masked, at least toned down by his appointment as Gover- 
 nor of Rome, but it soon assumed a far graver character. 
 The Emperor ordered him to retvirn all private letters 
 written by himself or dictated by him, and which had been 
 sent to him during the time of his two ministries. Fouche 
 refused to obey, or rather alleged that he had burnt them. 
 Such an allegation was not admissible, and the motives 
 governing it were readily understood. 
 
 As he had gone to live for a few days on his estate of 
 Pontcarre, near Paris, the Prince de Neufchatel, M. Real 
 and M. Dubois were sent there to renew the request and to 
 search for the letters. They returned without obtaining 
 anything from him; their search was also fruitless. Napo- 
 leon's anger thereupon rose to the highest pitch, and yet, 
 such was his situation in regard to that mau that he was
 
 M. DE LAS CASES 431 
 
 compelled to confine his vengeance to recalling his appoint- 
 ment as Governor of Kome, and to an order of exile, the 
 place of which was fixed at Aix in Provence, the chief town 
 of his senatorial district. 
 
 M. Fouche left at once with his family and with a rather 
 large following; but, changing unexpectedly the objective 
 point of his journey, he continued his road right into 
 Tuscany, in order to place himself under the protection of 
 the grand-duchess, who was under many obligations to him. 
 
 In a very short time, this place did not seem to afford 
 him a sufficiently secure asylum, and he resolved upon 
 embarking secretly on a ship that was to carry him to 
 America. In his fright, he left behind him his family and 
 his riches, but his determination was conquered by the 
 qualms of seasickness. He therefore had himself put 
 ashore, and shortly afterwards entered into a negotiation, 
 through the grand-duchess, which resulted in his returning 
 the correspondence he had persisted in declaring he had 
 burnt, and in return for this he obtained a sort of immunity 
 against any enquiry into the acts of his administration. He 
 thereupon considered it safe to return to Aix, where he 
 remained about two years. The determination he finally 
 came to was perhaps the wisest, for he was never troubled 
 thereafter, and, at a critical moment, he saw himself once 
 more called into the cabinet of the man between whom and 
 himself he had sought to place the ocean. We shall find 
 him more than once in our pathway, and his presence will 
 never cease being of ill omen. 
 
 During the course of the summer, we were to see two men 
 destined to acquire a certain celebrity join the Council of 
 State; the one was M. Fievee, and the other, M. de Las 
 Cases, who were appointed maitres des requetes. 
 
 I had, a few years before, on his return from England, 
 known M. de Las Cases. At that time, he was the 4migr4
 
 432 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 who held the most rabid views about everything which had 
 any connection with the Eevolution. He went so far in 
 this respect, that his friends thought him crazy and consid- 
 ered it their duty to advise him to show some little pru- 
 dence. Then, as in the future, one could not help giving 
 him credit for the manner in which he had endured poverty 
 abroad, where he had lived by the sweat of his brow, and 
 published an historical work, known as the Atlas Lesage. I 
 do not know how his sentiments had of late entered on so 
 different a course, but he joined the Council after a two 
 years' service as Chamberlain. 
 
 M. Fievee, who first became known through some very 
 light literary work, and later, by a confinement in the 
 Temple, which secured to him connections outside France 
 with the party of Louis XVIII., had, on leaving prison, 
 made his peace with Bonaparte. Sent to England upon the 
 Treaty of Amiens, he had, on his return, published letters 
 on that country which must have afforded great pleasure to 
 the man who had defrayed the expenses of his journey, and 
 it was known that from that time a regular correspondence 
 had passed betAveen him and the Emperor, and it was 
 equally well known that this correspondence was pretty 
 well remunerated. 
 
 M. Fievee, not having any independent means, and living 
 as he did by his pen, was liable to be influenced. His entry 
 into the Council produced a somewhat bad effect, and his 
 haughty, not to say arrogant demeanor, contributed much 
 towards turning against him, those who did not view his 
 presence with pleasure. It was said among us that we were 
 about to have in our midst an officious individual who would 
 jot down our every word, who would report it, and that the 
 sense of security, which, in spite of our varied opinions, had 
 always been felt by all of us, owing to the esprit de corps 
 which is so natural to men exercising the same functions.
 
 M. FIEVEE 433 
 
 would be a thing of the past. As a result of this impres- 
 sion, and without there being any concerted action in the 
 matter, each one of us was as distant as possible to M. Fievee, 
 and his position bade fair to be an unpleasant one ; but, this 
 did not happen after all, and he had greatly to thank me 
 for it. I possessed concerning him certain information 
 communicated to me by M. de La Valette, the Postmaster- 
 General. M. Fievee's correspondence with the Emperor 
 passed through his hands, and he had often had the oppor- 
 tunity of taking cognizance of it. He told me that it was 
 not of the nature generally reputed; that, so far from this 
 being the case, it often contained important and boldly 
 expressed truths, and that it was greatly to be desired that 
 many persons should speak to the Emperor in the way 
 M. Fievee wrote to him. I placed the most implicit confi- 
 dence in M. de La Valette's veracity, and so, on the strength 
 of his testimony, I did not hesitate to welcome M. Fievee, 
 to whom I had never spoken, more warmly than did my 
 colleagues. 
 
 In those days, I enjoyed no little credit in the Council of 
 State. Free from any of those personal responsibilities 
 which are ever so difficult to bear, I had plenty of work, 
 and that of a kind which was agreeable to me. The sub- 
 jects taken up by the Council were generally full of attrac- 
 tion for me. During the course of that year, they were of 
 a very important nature. In addition to the laws and 
 decrees I have already mentioned, we had had to prepare 
 the draft of a mining law, which gave rise to important and 
 most instructive discussions; then there was the organiza- 
 tions of the Imperial courts of justice, and lastly, questions 
 which daily arose on various subjects. 
 
 I enjoyed as contented an existence as could be. I did 
 not aspire to anything, as I still believed that I was not 
 looked upon favorably by the Emperor, and I formed my
 
 434 iMEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 opinion as to this from his liaving taken from me the place 
 of procicreur general du sceau. I also came to the conclu- 
 sion that I would be suffered to remain quietly in the body 
 of the Council, and that I would not be detached from it, to 
 be sent on one of those distant missions, which were then so 
 frequent, and for which I had no liking whatever. It suited 
 me better to retain the honorable position I had reached, 
 and, as I was a member of the Committee of the Interior, 
 if there was anything that I might envy, it would have been 
 the presidency over that committee, when M. Regnaud 
 should give it up through fatigue, or to take possession of 
 a higher position. He had himself on several occasions 
 given me to understand that he did not think there was 
 anybody but myself able to fill his place. I was therefore 
 leading this pleasant existence, when I saw it change in the 
 most unexpected fashion, and one the farthest from my 
 thoughts. 
 
 I have already told to what a degree the appointment of 
 the Due de Rovigo to the Ministry of Police had been badly 
 received, especially in Paris. The position of Prefect of 
 Police was occupied by M. Dubois, who had held it from the 
 first days of the consular regime; he was a man of small 
 intellect; he was not wicked, but had no settled principles 
 as to anything. Absolvitisin could not have found a more 
 docile and faithful instrument. Occupied exclusively with 
 the idea of retaining his position and of increasing his for- 
 tune, he was not very scrupulous as to the choice of the 
 means liable to secure for him this twofold advantage. He 
 had emerged from the law office of a procureur, where he 
 had finished his education; his manners and ways were 
 common, not to say vulgar, and in his liaisons was reflected 
 the bad taste which characterized his entire personality. 
 He had recently married the daugliter of a chambermaid, 
 with whom he was known to have lived for many years in
 
 REMOVAL OF THE PBEFECT OF POLICE 435 
 
 a most scandalous intimacy. This marriage had served to 
 increase the discredit in which he was held, and people 
 foimd it hard to understand how such a man could for so 
 long a time keep a position of such importance. The 
 explanation of it lies in the enmity which existed between 
 him and M. Fouche. 
 
 The Emperor, who lived in a constant state of distrust of 
 the latter, found it useful and convenient to keep in close 
 proximity to him, and at a post which afforded easy means 
 of watching his doings, the man who would most enjoy the 
 pleasure of finding him at fault. When M. Fouche was 
 dismissed, M. Dubois doubtless considered this occurrence 
 as fortunate for himself, but it was the cause of his down- 
 fall. From the moment that Napoleon found in the Due 
 de Rovigo a minister whose loyalty was undoubted, the 
 prefect's supervision over that minister became totally use- 
 less, and he consequently became all the more struck by 
 the unpleasant features connected with M. Dubois. He was 
 likewise under the impression that his removal from office 
 would give a happy and just satisfaction to the city of Paris, 
 and thus compensate for the fright caused by the appoint- 
 ment of the Due de Rovigo. 
 
 In the midst of all this occurred the fire at a ball given 
 by the Austrian ambassador. The Emperor had been dis- 
 satisfied, on this occasion, both with the work of the fire- 
 brigade, and with the absence of the Prefect of Police during 
 the whole of the night. The dismissal of M. Dubois was 
 thereupon resolved upon, but his successor had to be found. 
 Nearly all the members of the Council, whose means and 
 activity would have been able to cope with the difficulties 
 of the position, were already engaged in duties from which 
 it would have been unadvisable to take them. It was 
 requisite to have a man who understood Paris life, and 
 whose name ensured respect with the citizens.
 
 436 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 The Emperor was desirous that the new Prefect of Police 
 should prove quite acceptable to the city of Paris. He cast 
 about for a long time, and assuredly his first thoughts did 
 not dwell upon me. I believe that M. Maret, between whom 
 and myself there was nevertheless no intercourse at the 
 time, had something to do with instilling such an idea into 
 his mind. M. de Cambaceres (so at any rate he himself 
 told me) was informed only at the last moment that my 
 name was being mentioned in connection with the post. As 
 for myself, I had not the slightest suspicion of what was 
 taking place. 
 
 The Court was at Fontainebleau, and I had gone thither 
 on Sunday, the 14th of October. I was walking in the 
 gallery, awaiting the passing of the Emperor on his way 
 to hear mass, when M. de Semonville said to me : " You are 
 Prefect of Police! " My first impulse was to laugh at this, 
 but soon I was seized with trembling, on beginning to think 
 that after all it might be true. A moment later, M. de 
 Cambaceres, who went by in the Emperor's suite, notified 
 me that he wished to speak to me after mass, and indeed, 
 in the course of a short talk I had with him, he told me I 
 was about to be summoned to the Emperor's closet, to be 
 sworn in as Prefect of Police. I replied that I could not 
 accept such functions, that they in no wise suited me, and 
 that I should be completely out of place. Whereupon he 
 gave me to understand that to refuse such an appointment 
 would result in arousing with good cause the suspicions of 
 the Emperor as to my lack of zeal for his service, and to my 
 little attachment towards himself. He pointed out to me 
 that if I was not suited for the place, the Emperor would 
 soon find it out, and would make use of me in a way more 
 in conformity with my tastes. He assured me, moreover, 
 that I was not to worry about the kind of service that would 
 be required of me. Everything of a strictly private and
 
 M. PASQUIER SWORN IN 437 
 
 intimate nature, or of a kind which I would not care for, 
 would always be reserved for the Due de Rovigo. 
 
 To end the matter, he pleaded so successfully with me 
 that I entered the Emperor's closet, without having fully 
 made up my mind to refuse the appointment. I intended to 
 decide according to the turn the conversation would take. 
 There have been printed, since the Restoration, several pam- 
 phlets the titles of which escape me, asserting that Napo- 
 leon, wishing to put me to the test, had asked me, after 
 informing me of the new fate he had in store for me, how 
 I would act in case a prince of the House of Bourbon were 
 discovered in Paris, and whether I would have him arrested, 
 a question which I am alleged to have at once answered by 
 saying that I would do my duty. M. de Las Cases, improv- 
 ing on this story, has given, in the second volume of the 
 Memorial de Sainte-ReUne, a somewhat lengthy account of . 
 the incident. He not only makes the Emperor ask me if I 
 would cause the arrest of the Comte de Lille, in case he 
 should be discovered in Paris, but if I would find him 
 guilty, were I appointed a member of a commission to try 
 him. According to M. de Las Cases, I am represented as 
 having answered both points in the affirmative, and, more- 
 over, in extraordinary terms ! It did not dawn on him that 
 this odious fabrication degraded his hero as much as it 
 insulted me. Never did any allegation have less ground to 
 rest upon, and I absolutely deny the whole story. 
 
 Napoleon was alone, when I was shown into his closet, 
 and, to the end, there was no witness to our conversation. 
 Not only did he not subject me to any test, but he did not 
 even say a word that might cause me to think he wished to 
 do so. He himself set my mind at rest with regard to such 
 things as were likely to cause me to feel any qualms. I 
 pointed out to him that being foreign to the men and to the 
 intrigues of the Revolution, I was little fit for functions
 
 438 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 which presiipposed a thorough knowledge of such ante- 
 cedents. 
 
 Just as M. de Cambaceres had previously told me, he 
 answered that this would concern the Due de Kovigo, that 
 what he required and expected of me was to once more put 
 the prefecttire de police on the footing of a magistrature, such 
 as it was at the time of Sartines and Lenoir. " You were 
 once in the magistracy yourself," he went on to say, "and 
 it is my reason for selecting you. The man whose place 
 you are about to take has left you much to do in order to 
 reach this consummation, and much besides that must be 
 undone. You are to make a clean sweep of the present 
 police system. I will not refer to the dirty methods of 
 making money, which have disgraced M. Dubois. It would 
 be insulting you to put you on your guard against such 
 methods ; but, where the chief has shown so little delicacy, 
 it is fair to assume that his subalterns have fallen into the 
 habit of not letting a chance go by, and you will have to 
 keep a close watch on them. As for the rest, I place full 
 confidence in you, and I am sure you will ever be deserving 
 of such confidence." 
 
 It would have been difficult to hold back after listening 
 to words like these, uttered moreover by such a man, and 
 so, an hour later, I took the required oath. Moreover, 
 Napoleon was particularly anxious that it should become 
 known that it was as a magistrat that he had made choice 
 of me, and that he had determined upon converting the 
 prefecture de piolice into an actual magistrature, for so he told 
 several persons in the course of the day, among others, 
 M. Mollien and M. Daru, who more than once have repeated 
 it to me.
 
 ETIENNE-DENIS BARON PASQUIER 
 
 &ouncUloz of<i^tate, Stefect of Police 
 (8tO
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 The new Prefect of Police installed in office — Appointment, the same day, 
 of Cardinal Maury to the archbishopric of Paris — Pen-portrait of this 
 prelate — Constituent elements of the Superior Council of Police — M. 
 Frochot, the Prefect of the Seine — A tour of inspection through the 
 prisons — Two of the prisoners at Bicetre: M. Desol de GrisoUes, a 
 former Chouan, and M. Nervagot, the precursor of false Dauphins — 
 A prison registrar who had kept his place at Saint-Lazare from the days 
 of the Terror — The Emperor's audiences : the grand lever and the petit 
 lever — Daily reports sent to the Emperor by the Minister and by the 
 Prefect of Police — Obstructions in the streets and boulevards of Paris 
 — The farming out of games of chance — The Emperor's five or six police 
 systems checking each other — The guard exercised by the police over 
 the Tuileries — Measures for the safety of the Emperor— The prying 
 into the secrecy of correspondence. 
 
 I WAS now Prefect of Police. This great change in my 
 condition surprised no one more than myself; nay, it did 
 more than surprise me, for it filled me with dread. The 
 most painful thoughts came uppermost in my mind. Still, 
 I received much encouragement, for everybody was glad to 
 see the police taken out of the hands of the man I had 
 succeeded. My ability might justly be put in doubt, but I 
 got full credit for my good intentions, and of the various 
 things liable to reconcile me to my fate, there was nothing 
 I could set greater store upon. 
 
 I did not disguise from myself that a few old social links 
 were about to snap. Friends, whose sentiments and opin- 
 ions I had shared, would not forgive me for entering on so 
 close a footing with an order of things to which they had 
 not given their complete adhesion. There are in the life 
 of a public man few more painful circumstances than those 
 
 439
 
 440 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 which bring such changes into his private relations. How- 
 ever, I did not experience too much cause for complaint; 
 for, with but few exceptions, I retained the friendships 
 which were dear to me. It was especially for my wife that 
 I dreaded society's marks of displeasure and disgust. I 
 also felt no little anxiety with regard to the impression 
 likely to be produced on her by this novel situation, so out 
 of the trend of her ideas. Her superior mind soon rose 
 above all secondary considerations. She thought only of 
 all the good she would be in a position to do, and the world, 
 which is not always unjust and ungrateful, soon did her 
 justice and gave her the place to which she was entitled. 
 
 I dined with the Minister of Police, the Due de Eovigo, 
 at the house of the Due de Bassano. I did not feel drawn 
 towards him, nor did he particularly care for me. During 
 the dinner, we exchanged the first words we had ever spoken 
 to each other. By him I was informed of the Emperor's 
 wish that I should be installed in office without delay. 
 This was to take place on the following day, at six o'clock 
 in the morning. I had to leave for Paris at once. I arrived 
 there at midnight, and at six, I met the Due de Eovigo at 
 the prefecture de police. M. Dubois was told that he must 
 hand over to me all the documents of the office. An hour 
 later he gave me all the keys belonging to the service, and 
 my work began. Men and things were equally unknown to 
 me, and I could not place any reliance on the information 
 supplied to me by my predecessor. He was in a disagree- 
 able mood, and he plainly let me see that he was convinced 
 that I would never succeed in a line of business for which 
 I had so little preliminary training. Nevertheless, I showed 
 him all the courtesy I could reconcile with my duty. 
 
 I have always considered that it showed a want of delicacy 
 and a small mind to seek to puff oneself up at the expense 
 of the man wliose successor one becomes. It is indeed nee-
 
 M. PASQUIER INSTALLED IN OFFICE 441 
 
 essary to find out his mistakes, in order to avoid falling 
 into them, but it is always best to remain silent about them. 
 A few days were sufficient for me to reconnoitre the field, 
 and I soon acquired the happy conviction that the ensemble 
 of the personnel of the office was much better than I had 
 imagined. All the men who had made so sorry a mark 
 during the worst days of the Eevolution, had already 
 resigned, and, if it had been possible for me to be ridded 
 of M. Veyrat, the inspector-general, and his son, two of the 
 worst rascals ever met with anywhere, I could have trusted 
 the rest of my staff. I soon learnt that it was useless for 
 me to indulge in such a hope, as this M. Veyrat was a 
 power, and that through his intimacy with Constant, the 
 Emperor's head valet, he was in the daily habit of sending 
 through him a report, the object of which was for purposes 
 of comparison with the one sent by the prefect. I could 
 not flatter myself that the Emperor would abandon for my 
 benefit a mode of surveillance which entered into his habits. 
 The clerical staff of the jjrefecture cle police was good, 
 because its methods sprang from the days of the lieiitenance 
 de police and from the municipal administration of the city ; 
 they had retained the good traditions, and also the old ways. 
 At the time of my arrival, there still remained some of the 
 employes who had served under M. Lenoir, among others, 
 one Henri, a valuable man, who showed great ability and 
 who was at the head of the detective branch. The employes 
 of t\iQ prefecture de police, differing greatly in this particular 
 from those of the prefecture of the Seine, were therefore not 
 of recent creation ; hence, great was the difference existing 
 between them in the matter of acquirements, their manner 
 of carrying out their work, and even as regards scrupulous 
 honesty, for the disgraceful goings on during the time of 
 M. Dubois's incumbency must not, generally speaking, be 
 laid to the door of those employed in the offices ; they are
 
 442 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 almost invariably to be credited to the outdoor service, the 
 greater part of which was under M. Vey rat's control. It is 
 this branch of the service which gave me the most trouble, 
 and in spite of all that I did to improve and purify it, I had 
 not accomplished all I wished to do in that respect, when 
 the time came for me to relinquish my position. 
 
 On the day that I was appointed to the ^jre/ec^itre de 
 police, Cardinal Maury was appointed Archbishop of Paris, 
 Cardinal Fesch having positively refused to take charge of 
 that archdiocese. The new archbishop has created too great 
 a stir for me not to say something about him. He was as 
 happy at his elevation as I was unhappy at mine. I used 
 to meet him in the chateau of Fontainebleau, and I was on 
 every occasion annoyed by the boisterous expression of his 
 
 joy- 
 He would constantly repeat the following sentence to me : 
 
 "The Emperor has just done justice to the two greatest 
 needs of his capital. With a good police and a good clergy 
 he can always rest assured of the public peace, for an arch- 
 bishop is also a prefect of police." Such a juxtaposition 
 coming from archiepiscopal lips seemed to me in very bad 
 taste, but the fact is that in spite of his eminent intellect, 
 few men have shown less tact than he, and less of that 
 sentiment of the proprieties which is not to be dispensed 
 with when a man reaches the highest dignities, especially 
 those of the Church. Such as he showed himself in the 
 beginning, such he remained during the whole of the time 
 he occupied the Paris see. It cannot be said that he did 
 not do commendable things. His instructions to his flock 
 especially were nearly always conceived in an excellent 
 spirit. He knew full well what could, in those days, be 
 required from religious sentiment, and he did not seek to 
 obtain from it over and above what it could produce; but 
 his habits were common, nay, vulgar. His athletic build
 
 CARDINAL MAURY 443 
 
 was of the kind which is only to be found in the lowliest 
 class of the population. His love of hearty living had 
 something vulgar about it, and in private conversation his 
 language was far too free, while his greed for money Avas 
 carried to a ridiculous degree. This last-named fault, 
 which, from time immemorial, had not been met with in 
 an Archbishop of Paris, could not fail to do him much 
 harm. His faculties had already become very weak. The ser- 
 mons which he preached, his pastorals wherein praise of the 
 Emperor transcended all limits, and the speech he delivered 
 on being admitted to the Academic franqaise, all recalled 
 to mind the last homilies of the Archbishop of Granada. 
 
 The Prefect of Police had the assistance of a council which 
 was composed of the Minister of Police, who presided over 
 it, the Prefect of Police, and two Councillors of State, Mes- 
 sieurs Eeal and Pelet de la Lozere, who were especially 
 entrusted with the supervision of the general police of the 
 Empire, which was divided into two districts, these, how- 
 ever, not including Italy, which of itself constituted a third 
 district, the supervision of which belonged to M. Angles, a 
 maltre des requetes, who was a member of the Council of 
 State, also M. Saulnier, the General Secretary of the Min- 
 istry of Police. M. Real was the only one who could be 
 considered in touch with the Revolution. 
 
 The Due de Rovigo knew no other law and rule than his 
 blind devotion to Napoleon, and had little thought for any- 
 thing that was not connected with military glory. The men 
 who had belonged to deliberative assemblies were the objects 
 of his contempt. He did not like the men of the Revolu- 
 tion, and it was always from among the Royalists that he 
 would willingly have sought recruits for the Imperial ser- 
 vice. His marriage with Mile, de Fodoas, by giving him 
 family connections in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, had 
 greatly added to his natural inclination in this respect.
 
 444 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 M. Pelet, who was a Protestant, having, in all the assem- 
 blies whereof he had been a member, come out most honor- 
 ably from very trying situations, was, by character and 
 principle, altogether opposed to rigorous methods. Hence, 
 the district under his charge always remained exempt from 
 those denunciations of people and those grievous scenes 
 which too often rendered miserable the district of his 
 colleague M. Real. 
 
 Italy could congratulate itself upon having fallen under 
 the sway of M. Angles, who, possessing the same principles 
 as M. Pelet, had, owing to his youth, the advantage over 
 him of not being hampered or restrained by any of the 
 memories of the Revolution. A certain sluggishness of 
 mind, and too nonchalant habits, nevertheless prevented 
 him from doing all the good he intended. The clergy and 
 the Roman nobility have to thank him for many acts of 
 consideration, and, in this respect, he and M. de Tournon, 
 the Prefect of Rome, acted together in thorough harmony. 
 
 M. Saulnier, the General Secretary of the Minister of 
 Police, and the last in the hierarchy of the members of the 
 council, had previously been the prefect of a department, on 
 which the gentle ways of his administration had left their 
 mark. A straightforward man not deficient in ability, 
 he was, by nature, opposed to all useless measures of 
 severity. 
 
 The police council was wont to meet at least once, and, 
 occasionally, twice a week. Each member of it would give 
 an account of what had occurred in his district. Each and 
 every arrest made by any one of us, had, in order to remain 
 in force, to be approved by the minister, who then assumed 
 the responsibility of it. The Prefect of Police was more 
 frequently in the habit of seeking this approval than any 
 other, as the police of so large a city as Paris necessarily 
 brought with it a number of arrests which were not always
 
 THE PBEFECTOBAL COUNCIL 445 
 
 necessarily turned over to the tribunals. This necessity 
 was at that time somewhat embarrassing, owing to the 
 arbitrary power resting with the government. After the 
 Restoration, it became somewhat difficult to reconcile it 
 with the methods of a government which respected legality, 
 and it then fell to me, as Minister of Justice, to make 
 individual rights harmonize with the needs of society in 
 this respect. 
 
 The existence of the police council, such as I have 
 described it, was doubtless a useful safeguard against the 
 abuses of authority ever too readily indulged in, when one 
 disposes of a power as formidable as the one entrusted to 
 us; and, with the dispositions animating the greater number 
 of the members of this council, there can be no doubt that 
 they often threw obstacles in the way of useless acts of 
 severity, or mitigated those which it was not in their power 
 to prevent. 
 
 I was, to put it plainly, among all the members the one 
 whose actions were freest from control, for the reason that 
 the number of cases which I presented were too numerous 
 for them to be all gone into seriously ; but I may do myself 
 the justice of saying that I never failed to draw attention to 
 those which appeared to me to be of a delicate nature. 
 
 Among my attributes there was one which did not come 
 within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Police, and in 
 connection with which I was immediately subordinate to 
 and under the orders of the Ministry of the Interior. I 
 have reference to the municipal police proper, in which must 
 be included the lighting up and the cleaning of the city, the 
 provisioning of the markets, the determining of the price of 
 bread, and the duty of making or enforcing a number of 
 regulations that are indispensable in order that the residents 
 of a large city should find all their needs and enjoyments 
 supplied. This portion of my functions, although over-
 
 446 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 burdened with details and alone taking up a considerable 
 portion of my time, was nevertheless the one which I most 
 enjoyed, as it afforded me the opportunity of learning and 
 undertaking many useful things, and did not demand the 
 exercise of acts of severity, which are always painful. But 
 I had to show some firmness, for there were many abuses 
 which I had to put an end to. It had been in this quarter 
 especially that the disgraceful dealings had occurred which 
 had sullied the administration of my predecessor. 
 
 Another duty which from the outset claimed all the atten- 
 tion I could give it, was the inspection of the jails. I was 
 responsible for their good order and for the security of the 
 prisoners. The concierges (door-keepers) and the jailers 
 were under my orders, but, owing to a strange division of 
 authority, all material matters, such as the feeding and 
 clothing of prisoners, and the keeping of the buildings in a 
 proper state of repair, came within the jurisdiction of the 
 Prefect of the Seine. Hence perpetual wranglings, recrimi- 
 nations, and disputes ensued between the two offices, to the 
 detriment not only of the authorities, but also of the pris- 
 oners. On entering upon my duties as Prefect of Police, 
 I fovmd that correspondence was being carried on with 
 the Prefect of the Seine in a tone of deplorable bitter- 
 ness. My earliest care was to put it on a better footing, 
 for I was convinced that a mutual good feeling between two 
 services which are to co-operate towards a common goal, is 
 the first condition necessary to ensure success. M. Frochot, 
 it cannot be denied, was one of the best of men with whom 
 to have any dealings ; he promptly responded to my over- 
 tures, and we were ever after on the most friendly footing. 
 
 In the early days of my incumbency, I resolved upon in- 
 specting the jails. It was a painful task, and made a deep 
 impression on me, especially in the case of my visit to 
 Bicetre. I discovered there a man whose misfortunes and
 
 INSPECTION OF THE PRISONS 447 
 
 • 
 
 force of character moved me too deeply for me not to make 
 mention of him at this juncture. It was M. Desol de Gri- 
 solles, who had been arrested as a Chouan, having partici- 
 pated in Georges Cadoudal's plot. It was considered cer- 
 tain that Georges had travelled from the coast to Paris 
 under his guidance, but proof having been lacking either to 
 bring him to trial or to establish his guilt, the Minister of 
 Police, on the suggestion of M. Real, had sent him to 
 Bicetre. The selection of this place of detention was, in 
 his case, an act of great injustice. A prisoner of state, he 
 should have been detained in a state prison, and not huddled 
 together with the common herd of criminals. However, 
 M. Eeal and M. Demarest pretended to know that nobody 
 had been more determined and eager to assassinate the 
 Emperor, or to have him assassinated, and so they had come 
 to the conclusion that he deserved the treatment of an assas- 
 sin, who should consider himself only too fortunate in being 
 allowed to live. This idea had so completely taken hold 
 of the minds of the Emperor, M. Fouche, and the Due de 
 Rovigo, that in spite of all I could say and do for three 
 and a half years, it was impossible for me to obtain his 
 transfer to Vincennes, whither he persistently begged to 
 be sent. 
 
 The first time I saw him, he was confined in a cell on the 
 ground-floor, and this was at his formal request, not wish- 
 ing, as he said, to live and be herded with the scoundrels 
 of which the jail was full. The place was a damp one, 
 and, as a result, his eyes were in a frightful state. I 
 pointed out to him that he might lose his eyesight, if he 
 continued to remain in so wretched an habitation, and I 
 offered to send him to the infirmary, where he could be 
 treated for his eyes. "No," he replied, "I should meet 
 there the same scoundrels. I beg you will have me trans- 
 ferred to some otlier jail. It is the only favor I ask. I
 
 448 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 • 
 will not accept any other." I gave him to understand that 
 
 this was beyond my power, as he was not detained in cus- 
 tody by my orders. For still another year, he persisted 
 in remaining in that unhealthy place, and it was only at 
 the end of that time that I succeeded in prevailing upon 
 him to move into a little room at the end of a corridor, at 
 the top of the building. When the other prisoners had 
 been locked up in their cells, he was allowed, in conformity 
 with my orders, to stroll about the corridor. The Restora- 
 tion alone gave him his freedom. During the Hundred 
 Days, he commanded a body of Royalists in the Morbihan, 
 when he attracted notice by a moderation which was more 
 commendable in him than in anybody else. He was in the 
 end appointed Governor of the Castle of Pau, where he at 
 last found some little rest.-' 
 
 This Bicetre jail contained another most extraordinary 
 individual; he, however, did not inspire me with any feel- 
 ings of compassion. He was a young man, the son of a 
 tailor in some little town or other in Normandy. His 
 name was Nervagot, and he had conceived the idea of pos- 
 ing as the Dauphin, the son of Louis XVI. He had, he 
 said, escaped from the Temple, and for a long time re- 
 mained hidden in Brittany. As the Dauphin, he had wan- 
 dered through Poitou and Anjou, where he had made many 
 dupes. No doubt could be entertained as to his origin, for 
 his father had come and identified him; this, however, did 
 not prevent him from persisting in his falsehood, which he 
 maintained with effrontery to my very face. He died at 
 Bicetre, and was thus, it will be seen, the precursor of that 
 other false Dauphin, whose claims were quickly disposed of 
 by the courts of Rouen, in 1818. This latter one succeeded 
 
 1 The Revolution of July deprived him of this asylum, and he took 
 refuge at Bordeaux. I do not know what his means of existence are in 
 that place, but I think he lives in very poor circumstances.
 
 INSPECTION OF THE PRISONS 449 
 
 in imposing upon those who should have been most on their 
 guard against so gross an imposture ; but the human mind is 
 so constituted, that it revels in the marvellous, and readily 
 accepts the most absurd things, when lacking anything 
 better. 
 
 During my inspection of Saint-Lazare, a house of deten- 
 tion for females on whom sentence has been passed, and 
 which boasted of some very fine workshops, I was followed 
 everywhere, in addition to the concierge, by a little man 
 who filled the position of greffier (registrar), and who 
 seemed to be able to answer every question I could put to 
 him. He remained all the time close to me, and seemed 
 desirous of attracting my attention. I was about to leave, 
 when, no longer able to control himself, he addressed me 
 as follows : " Monsieur le prefet does not seem to know me 
 again, and yet it was I who had the honor of welcoming 
 him here in 1794." I had, it will be recalled, been an 
 inmate of Saint-Lazare, into which the Terror thrust so 
 many of its victims, at that time, and I was one of those 
 doomed to a certain death. Robespierre's death had alone 
 saved me. It was doubtless an irony of fate which brought 
 me back, clothed with so great an authority, to the place 
 where I had been so cruelly oppressed, and this little man, 
 who had, while at the same post, passed through such vary- 
 ing times and regimes, and was almost proud of it, who, to 
 call attention to himself, feared not to mention the position 
 of trust he had held during the Terror, what was he, after 
 all, but a faithful servant, having never seen in his occu- 
 pation anything than a duty, and having never had any 
 care but to faithfully do the work which gave him his 
 daily bread? Hence, is it not wrong to ask of the common 
 run of mortals any other merit than this? 
 
 It was impossible not to notice, if one had cast no more 
 than a glance into the prisons of Paris prior to the Revolu-
 
 450 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 tion,^ that there had since then been a remarkable improve- 
 ment in their condition, especially in connection with sani- 
 tary matters. But how much there still remained to do! 
 And, how much more, by the way, had the condition of 
 affairs in the hospitals progressed in comparison with that 
 of jails! To what causes could this difference be attrib- 
 uted, if not to the fact that the hospitals are subject to a 
 voluntary and altogether beneficent management, solely 
 inspired by the desire of doing good? Would it then be 
 impossible to extend to the jails the benefit of this charita- 
 ble and voluntary administration? I do not think so. The 
 need of measures of safety which must be rigorously ad- 
 hered to in their case would not allow the leaving to an 
 administration of such a kind the latitude of power granted 
 to it in the matter of hospitals; but it would be an easy 
 matter to take a leaf out of its book, and even such a con- 
 cession would still play a most important part. 
 
 After the prisons, I had to visit the hospitals. They 
 were not under my immediate supervision, but yet my 
 branch of the service had with them certain regular points 
 of contact and bore certain relations to them, which made 
 it necessary that I should become well acquainted with 
 their management. Moreover, I was, as Prefect of Police, 
 a member of the general Hospital Board, and I was desir- 
 ous of taking my seat at this Board as often as I could with 
 convenience to myself do so. 
 
 My predecessor in office had never attended it, because 
 he would have been presided over by the Prefect of the 
 Seine, a thing he considered beneath his dignity. I set 
 aside this point of etiquette, which seemed to me all the 
 
 1 The Parlement of Paris every year sent three of its members to inspect 
 the prisons and to receive any complaints that the prisoners might have to 
 make. In 1788 I had accompanied my father during this visit. It was not 
 done in a thorough fashion, but it sufficed for me never to lose the memory 
 of the melancholy spectacle which theu afflicted my sight.
 
 AN INSPECTION OF THE HOSPITALS 451 
 
 more oiit of place in that the issue at stake was a work of 
 charity in which I found myself associated with men of 
 the highest respectability. They showed themselves much 
 gratified by the eagerness I displayed to co-operate with 
 them in their efforts to do some good, a thing which they 
 really accomplished, for, owing to their care, the hospitals 
 of Paris are doubtless in a better condition than all those 
 of which one has any knowledge in Europe. 
 
 The part which I was able to take in their labors, and 
 the services which I was placed in a position to render 
 them, contributed greatly towards the good feeling which 
 I was fortunate enough to obtain, and of which the bour- 
 geoisie of Paris has given me proofs on more than one occa- 
 sion. This class, if I may be permitted to make passing 
 mention of it, is one of the most worthy of respect that 
 is to be found in any capital city. I have always found it 
 a friend of order, very conscientious, and prepared to en- 
 dure every sacrifice which public welfare requires. Its 
 morals are, generally speaking, good. One thing in partic- 
 ular has always been a cause of surprise to me, and this is 
 the absolute chastity of a number of young girls who live 
 and sometimes grow up in close proximity to dens of 
 infamy. 
 
 The Due de Rovigo had not been greatly pleased at my 
 appointment. It was not long ere I was to receive numer- 
 ous proofs of his malevolent sentiments towards me. I 
 was in daily receipt of memoranda issuing from his closet, 
 which ever contained warnings or complaints about what 
 was being done in my office. He was in the habit of lend- 
 ing an ear to these complaints, encoiiraged them, and took 
 upon himself to interfere in everything, and to exercise a 
 control over everything. Feeling strong in the little amount 
 of confidence with which M. Dubois had inspired the Em- 
 peror, he had taken advantage of it to secure unto himself
 
 452 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 the right of appointment to all important positions in the 
 outdoor service of the prefecture. These officials, no longer 
 holding their positions from the chief to whom they owed 
 obedience, showed as a matter of course less deference to 
 him. I was fully determined not to allow him this claim, 
 and I would have tendered my resignation, had not the Due 
 de Eovigo himself, through a fortunate combination of cir- 
 cumstances, been brought to see that this right of making 
 appointments ought to be limited, in so far as he was con- 
 cerned, to a mere matter of form, and that my recommen- 
 dations, barring a few instances which could be foreseen 
 with difficulty, were always to be acted on. The Due de 
 Rovigo was surrounded by a crowd of flatterers of small 
 estate. It was an easy matter to turn the head of a minis- 
 ter who, although of an intelligent nature, was completely 
 without education. He was in the habit of welcoming to 
 his breakfast table the editors of a few journals which he 
 liberally subsidized. It was at these breakfasts that were 
 generally started the number of complaints without basis 
 or measure with which I was worried. Once or twice I 
 was present. The eagerness to invite me had been all the 
 greater in that it would have given great pleasure to have 
 me commit myself out of my own mouth, and thus entrap 
 me. This reunion so inspired me with disgust, that in 
 order to remain absent from it, I quickly alleged the but 
 too well grounded excuse of my numerous occupations. 
 
 My most dangerous enemy in that evilly disposed circle 
 was invariably M. Demarest. He seemed tQ have set him- 
 self particularly the task of watching me, of playing the 
 spy on me, and of finding me in fault. His reports were of 
 a nature to increase the Due de Rovigo's prejudices against 
 me. Fortunately for me, I had on my side M. Maret, Due 
 de Bassano, who always did me justice. He had, as I have 
 already stated, contributed in a certain degree to my being
 
 J/. PASQUIER AND THE DUG BE ROVIGO 453 
 
 appointed. I went to see him immediately on his return to 
 Fontainebleau, and he invited me to call on him frequently. 
 He did not like the Due de Rovigo, who was at that time 
 rather in bad odor with his colleagues. He entertained a 
 poor opinion of his ability, and he was, moreover, anxious 
 that this newcomer into the ministry should not make too 
 rapid steps in the master's confidence, a confidence which 
 he would have liked to be the only one to enjoy. His wife, 
 who had a great influence over his mind, detested the 
 Duchesse de Eovigo. Thus, everything was in my favor 
 in that quarter. 
 
 M. de Semonville, my former friend in the Parlement, 
 and M. Maret's close friend, also helped to well establish 
 me in his mind, and I soon came to be on such a footing 
 that I spent most of my evenings, from ten o'clock to mid- 
 night, at the Ministry of State ; I would sometimes remain 
 there till one o'clock in the morning. While there, I 
 always had an opportunity, while chatting and playing bill- 
 iards with the Minister, of telling him what I thought it 
 well that the Emperor should know, and that which seemed 
 to me .most likely to baffle the worries to which I was 
 subjected. 
 
 I was also in the habit of asking advice of the Archchan- 
 cellor on every occasion when he would permit me to do so, 
 for his prudence had caused him to recommend my show- 
 ing great reserve in this respect. This fact is characteris- 
 tic of the fears for their position from which the men who 
 occupied the highest posts under iSTapoleon were not exempt. 
 The first time that I saw M. de Cambaceres, after being 
 installed in the prefecture de police, he hastened to let me 
 know that I must henceforth see less of him than in the 
 past. "It would not be proper for me," he said to me, 
 "liable as I am to be in possession of most important 
 secrets which must remain confined to the Emperor and
 
 454 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 myself, to preserve too intimate an intercourse with any- 
 body, as this intercourse would naturally inspire fears as to 
 my discretion." The danger was never a great one, because 
 most fortunately what he had himself told me at Fontaine- 
 bleau, was constantly realized, Napoleon's confidence in me 
 never having led him to submit me to dangerous and diffi- 
 cult ordeals. Nevertheless, as Prefect of Police, I was 
 admitted every time I presented myself at the audience 
 which he was wont to give after rising, and there I met 
 those persons who enjoyed his intimacy to the greatest 
 extent. These were the marshals, the generals commanding 
 the Imperial Guard, men who had just returned from some 
 important mission, or others who came to receive his final 
 orders previous to assuming some important command. 
 
 Preceding this audience, which was known as the grand 
 lever, there was the petit lever, to which were admitted only 
 the servants of the bedchamber, and the household service, 
 at the head of which was the grand marshal of the palace, 
 Duroc. The Abbe de Pradt, Archbishop of Mechlin, had, 
 as chaplain, the right to attend the pe^if lever, and he fre- 
 quently availed himself of his privilege. We were always 
 made aware of his presence by the length of his conver- 
 sations with the Emperor, for it was with him that the 
 Emperor was more frequently in the habit of discussing 
 the affairs of the clergy. 
 
 The gatherings at the grand lever were often most inter- 
 esting. The merest words of the master were seized upon 
 with avidity. It was seldom that he did not speak to every- 
 body, addressing to each one some question which had ref- 
 erence to his functions. Generally speaking, his satisfac- 
 tion was reflected in his looks and by a certain affability of 
 manner, rather than expressed by words. His discontent 
 would find vent in dry, not to say harsh, remarks. When 
 one required to tell him something necessitating an inter-
 
 THE AUDIENCES OF TEE EMPEROR 455 
 
 view with him in private, it was the custom to beg the favor 
 of him through the gentleman-in -waiting who was on duty, 
 and he seldom refused it. I availed myself but little of 
 this favor, and never, I believe, during the first year of 
 my incumbency. 
 
 The few words which in those days passed between Napo- 
 leon and myself were limited to questions as to certain de- 
 tails of my service, which questions I well knew must be 
 answered in an exact fashion. As an instance, he was fond 
 of asking me : " How many boats carrying wine are now on 
 the river? How many bags of wheat are there in the grain 
 market," etc.? And I always had to give him the exact 
 figures, as mere guess work would never have been to his 
 taste. It so happened that my memory was precisely of 
 the kind less qualified to give him such satisfaction, and 
 the difficulty I experienced in giving him exact answers led 
 me to make out a little note-book which I generally carried 
 with me, and which contained the principal and most inter- 
 esting statistics of my service. I showed this note-book 
 to the Ministers of the Interior and of the Police, and to 
 the Prefect of the Department of the Seine. All of them 
 were struck with its usefulness. The Prefect resolved upon 
 doing the same with regard to his service, and such was 
 the origin of the statistics of the Department of the Seine, 
 a work brought to so high a state of perfection by M. Cha- 
 brol, and which is to-day a standard for all men who study 
 political economy 
 
 It was customary for the Prefect of Police to send every 
 evening to the Emperor a memorandum of the events which 
 had occurred during the day and which were worthy of 
 some attention, such as the number of arrests made, and 
 for what causes during the past twenty -four hours, and the 
 amount of provisions in the markets. The Prefect was 
 free to send under the same cover any comments which he
 
 456 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 saw fit to submit to him, and it was, according to the cir- 
 cumstance, a potent way of influencing his mind. My 
 predecessor had frequently had recourse to this method, 
 but I made use of it only on very rare occasions, being 
 quite content to abandon such a way of increasing one's 
 importance to the Minister of Police, who, like myself, used 
 to send in his report every night. As a result of the care 
 I took of thus confining myself in the most narrow circle 
 of my attributes, I never was taken into the intimate confi- 
 dence of the Emperor, and especially on familiar terms 
 with him. He never granted me any of the marked favors 
 which he lavishly showered upon the men whom he be- 
 lieved to belong soul and body to him. But, on the other 
 hand, I never had to endure from him any of those rebuffs, 
 nor any of those disagreeable words from which he did not 
 spare any of them. I always kept my place, and, if his 
 esteem, which I think I won, did not procure any great 
 advantage for me, it ever sheltered me from his outbursts 
 of harsh words. 
 
 I had hardly entered upon my new duties, when I was sub- 
 mitted to a somewhat severe test as regards the activity 
 they called for. I was to enforce, at the earliest moment, 
 the execution of a decree which ordered the clearing of the 
 streets, the open spaces, and the boulcA'ards of Paris, of 
 the building materials which obstructed them, and lay in 
 every direction, consequent upon the erection of build- 
 ings of all kinds which were being put up from one end of 
 the capital to the other. This encumbrance had reached a 
 point which could no longer be tolerated, and had afforded 
 the opportunity of a rather piquant answer from the King 
 of Wiirtemberg, who, on being asked by the Emperor what 
 he thought of the city of Paris, which he had just most 
 carefully surveyed, said: "Well, it is a very fine city for 
 one which has just been stormed by architects ! "
 
 THE FARMING OUT OF GAMES OF CHANCE 457 
 
 This jest did not fall on barren soil, and the decree order- 
 ing the clearing of the streets, soon made its appearance. 
 It was generally considered certain that it would be impos- 
 sible to enforce it. 
 
 The architects especially, even the Emperor's, M. Fon- 
 taine, the most sensible and intelligent of them all, de- 
 clared the thing impossible. And indeed, from the Place 
 de la Bastille to the Place Louis XVI. inclusively, blocks 
 of stone filled so much space on the boulevards that three 
 vehicles could not pass abreast, while, in some places, it 
 was difficult for even two to do so. A worse state of affairs 
 existed on the quays. The Place des Victoires and the 
 Place du Carrousel were both covered with an immense pile 
 of these same blocks, through which streets had been opened 
 just wide enough for the traffic that was indispensable. I 
 first made an inspection of the various localities, and then 
 I designated the places other than the public roadway 
 where sheds and places of storage could be located, and I 
 next issued an ordinance showing how the matter could be 
 disposed of. Besides this measure, I repeatedly saw to it 
 myself, by going over the city in all directions, and, in the 
 course of a few weeks, the streets were completely cleared. 
 
 Towards the end of my first month at the prefecture de 
 police, the individual to whom were farmed the games of 
 chance called on me. He brought me a sum of five thou- 
 sand francs, which he told me it was customary to pay M. 
 Dubois every month, I enquired of him for what purpose. 
 He replied that it was a voluntary gratuity, but which 
 should be considered as one of the perquisites of my office. 
 I told him to keep his money until further orders; but, as 
 this disbursement had naturally been included in his calcu- 
 lations of expenses, at the time he had entered into negotia- 
 tions for his lease, I did not think it right that I should let 
 him enjoy the benefit of this item, and so, when rendering
 
 458 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 an account of the case to the Minister of Police, to whom 
 was paid the amount agreed upon as the price of this odious 
 business, I begged him to get the Emperor's orders with 
 regard to the use to be made of this bribe. I at the same 
 time took care to lay the matter before the Archchancellor 
 and M. Maret, as I felt little confidence in the report which 
 the Due de Eovigo might make. However, he made just 
 the one I could desire. "I was well aware," said the Em- 
 peror, after hearing the story, "that dear old Dubois got 
 monej^ from every possible source, and it is the reason why, 
 in spite of his repeated entreaties, I would never place his 
 salary on the same footing as that of the Prefect of the 
 Seine." Some days afterwards, the Emperor instructed the 
 Minister of Police to accept the amount together with 
 the rest of the rental, and to add it to my salary. 
 
 One of the greatest difficulties I had to overcome resulted 
 from the perpetual check exercised by the five or six police 
 systems, several of which exercised their functions and 
 acted in a spirit of rivalry to one another. Thus, besides 
 the prefecture de police, there was that of the Minister, that 
 of the military commander of the division and Governor 
 of Paris, that of the Grand ^Marshal of the Palace Duroc, 
 and that of the commandant of the day of the Imperial 
 Guard. When at times this command fell to Marshal 
 Davout, one hardly knew to whom to listen. It was noth- 
 ing but a continual series of complaints and denunciations. 
 To crown all, there was the police of the commander-general 
 of the gendarmerie. The narrow and finical mind of Mar- 
 shal Moncey had full play by means of this one, forever 
 unearthing new subjects of worry and trouble. Again, one 
 had to be on his guard against private reports and informa- 
 tion supplied by secret letters, the full number of which 
 has never been revealed. 
 
 The Emperor's distrustful mind has often been alluded
 
 TEE EMPEROR'S SEVERAL POLICE SYSTE3IS 459 
 
 to, and indeed he was suspicious to an extraordinary extent ; 
 but, it may freely be said that it required an enormous 
 strength of character not to allow himself to give way to 
 this failing more than he did. Grand Marshal Duroc's 
 superior and often very judicial mind enabled him, better 
 than all others, to set a correct estimate on things, and with 
 no one were my official relations more pleasant. The man- 
 ner in which he had arranged the household service, the 
 way in which he kept the palace in order, and the appropri- 
 ate measures he took to ensure the Emperor's safety, were 
 truly to be commended. Hardly any guards on watch, 
 scarcely any visible measures of caution, and never the 
 slightest appearance of disorder or confusion. Every one 
 had his duty set, and remained within its limits. With 
 seven or eight sentries in the interior of the palace, two 
 guard-rooms, one in the court and the other at the foot of 
 the main stairway, and two or three purveyors (for the 
 table), everything was provided for. 
 
 I believe I can therefore truly say that no sovereign was 
 ever better protected than Napoleon. It must indeed be 
 remarked that the Grand Marshal had shown the wise pre- 
 caution of insisting that very few people should dwell in 
 the chateau. Only those whose duties were in constant 
 demand had rooms there. 
 
 One of the most important matters among the several 
 measures which served to enlighten the police, was the 
 secret prying into letters. This could only be done at the 
 General Post Office, and the care of it was entrusted to a 
 man of honor and delicate sentiments. I make bold to say 
 that M. de La Valette never went further in the exercise of 
 this duty than was strictly required of him by the exigencies 
 of his position, that he never allowed himself to gratify a 
 mere idle curiosity, or to gain favor by furnishing food to 
 the animosities of his master.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Official announcement of the pregnancy of the Empress Marie-Louise — 
 The Pope's refusal to grant bulls of installation to several bishops — An 
 ecclesiastical commission called together by Napoleon to remedy the 
 embarrassment thus created by the Holy See — Findings of this commis- 
 sion with regard to apostolic bulls, to an appeal to a general council, 
 and to pontifical f ulminations — New appointments made by the Emperor 
 to the vacant sees of Paris and of Nancy — Briefs issued by Pius VII. 
 against these appointments — Cardinal Fesch's opposition to Napoleon's 
 wishes — The Paris Chapter agitates against Cardinal Maury — Violent 
 allocution by the Emperor, on New Year's Day, 1811, to the Vicars- 
 General, and his apostrophe to the Abbe' d'Astros, whose arrest is 
 ordered — Napoleon's violent outburst, at the Council of State, against 
 M. Portalis, the confidant of the Abbe d'Astros — This councillor ex- 
 iled, in spite of M. Pasquier's intercession — A search made in the very 
 closet of the Pope at Savona — Arrest of several prelates and members 
 of the Sacred College — The French clergy thrown into a state of 
 terror. 
 
 The pregnancy of the Empress had already become 
 known during the stay of the Court at Fontainebleau, and 
 it was officially announced to the Senate early in Novem- 
 ber. A circular was simultaneously sent to the archbishops 
 and bishops to inform them of this happy event. It can 
 be said that the news of it gave general satisfaction, as it 
 Avas the presage of the best of guarantees towards the tran- 
 quil state which was the most ardent hope of the people of 
 that great empire, but . . . 
 
 There appeared, in the first days of November, a decree 
 ordering that the archiepiscopal buildings of Paris should 
 immediately be put in a condition such as to render them 
 suitable to serve as a palace for the Pope. New troubles, 
 
 460
 
 DIFFICULTIES WITH THE HOLT SEE 461 
 
 new anxieties, could therefore be expected. I have spoken 
 of the Holy Father's enforced residence at Savona and the 
 state of confinement in which he was kept, deprived of his 
 habitual and necessary councillors. I have also told what 
 happened in connection with the absence of the cardinals 
 from the wedding ceremony. Since that time, trouble had 
 arisen with regard to the bulls of installation asked for for 
 several bishops. Matters soon reached such a climax that 
 it was refused to grant a single one. 
 
 This necessitated turning over the governing of the dio- 
 ceses, whereof the sees became vacant, to administrators 
 appointed by the Chapters. The precedent for this had 
 been set by Henry IV. , and had been followed during the 
 quarrels of Louis XIV. with the Court of Eome. But the 
 times were altogether different. France possessed in those 
 days a clergy of a high degree, as remarkable for its learn- 
 ing as for its illustrious birth. The Galilean episcopate, 
 honored and reverenced throughout the Catholic world, was 
 a power in the state as well as in the Church. Moreover, 
 Louis XIV. was opposed to unquiet or exaggerated preten- 
 sions, he merely became the attacking party for purposes 
 of self-defence, and his religious sentiments could not be 
 suspected. Napoleon, although not possessing all these 
 advantages, had nevertheless thought that it would be an 
 easy matter for him to take up his position on the same 
 battle-ground, and relying on the declaration of the clergy 
 in 1682 and the four articles drawn up by Bossuet, he per- 
 suaded himself that he was to find in the tenets of the Gal- 
 ilean Church and in the ancient uses of the Church, an 
 assured way of emerging triumphantly from the perplexi- 
 ties into which he had become involved through his repeated 
 acts of rashness and outrageous treatment of the Holy 
 Father. 
 
 He had already, towards the end of 1809, called together
 
 462 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 an ecclesiastical commission, with the object of finding a 
 way to provide for the needs of the Church. Its members 
 were Cardinals Fesch and Maury, the Archbishop of Tours, 
 the bishops of Nantes, Treves, Evreux, and Vercelli, of 
 Father Fontana, the former Superior-General of the Barna- 
 bites, and the Abb^ Emery, the Superior of Saint-Sulpice. 
 These selections were, generally speaking, of a nature to 
 inspire the consciences of the faithful with confidence. 
 
 Cardinal Fesch, already favorably known through the 
 zeal with which he had on several occasions taken up the 
 defence of the rights of the Church, of the episcopate, and 
 even of the Holy Apostolic See, could boast of many things 
 to his credit, on this occasion. Owing to his relationship 
 to Napoleon, he never had any difficulty in approaching 
 him, and was enabled to give to his words an energetic 
 plainness which few people would have ventured on. The 
 bishop of Nantes, M. Duvoisin, a former professor at the 
 Sorbonne, and the author of a work on the principal truths 
 of Christianity, inspired a large amount of confidence. M. 
 Emery, the Superior of the Seminary of Saint-Sulpice, 
 enjoyed a high reputation of learning and piety; he was 
 the oracle of the French clergy. Lastly, Father Fontana 
 passed for being well versed in ecclesiastical matters, and 
 at the same time was strongly attached to the Holy See. 
 
 Several questions having been submitted to this commis- 
 sion, the answers showed wisdom and ability, and were in 
 conformity with the ancient tenets of the Gallican Church. 
 Kegarding the principal matter at issue, which was the in- 
 stitution of bishops, the commission had contented itself 
 with stating that if the terms of the Concordat were posi- 
 tively not going to be executed except by one of the parties 
 in it, and if it became, as a consequence of this, necessary 
 to proceed with another method of institution, it would 
 above all become necessary to ensure the Church's adhe-
 
 THE ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION 463 
 
 sioii to it; that a law repealed is no longer a law, and can- 
 not again assume the shape of one except from the power 
 having repealed it previously. 
 
 Starting from this principle, the members of the commis- 
 sion took the stand that no thought could be entertained of 
 re-establishing the Pragmatic Sanction, as seemed to be the 
 wish of the chief of the state, except on condition that the 
 ecclesiastical power should take a part in its establishment. 
 But how was its co-operation to be obtained? The commis- 
 sion formally declared itself incompetent in this regard, 
 believing that in so delicate a matter, the wisest thing and 
 the one most in conformity with the established rules was 
 to call together a mutual council, in which the clergy of 
 the Empire would look into the proposed question, and 
 would determine such methods as it should consider proper 
 to meet the inconveniences arising from the papal bulls 
 being withheld. Such had been, in a similar circumstance, 
 the method proposed to Louis XIV., in 1688, by the Paris 
 Parlement. Napoleon was not svifficiently satisfied with 
 this answer. What he wished to know was whether the 
 national council would for a certainty possess in itself the 
 necessary authority to supplant the apostolic bulls, or 
 whether there would still have to be an appeal to his supe- 
 rior power. The commission questioned anew, and thus 
 driven to its last intrenchments, was then brought to state 
 that it did not appertain to it to forejudge what the national 
 council would consider advisable and proper to do within 
 the limits of its powers ; that it was to be presumed that 
 the national council would address respectful remonstrances 
 to the Holy Father, and might induce His Holiness to enter 
 into an arrangement the usefulness of which would lie in 
 the good of the Church; that, should this hope be deceived, 
 the council might possibly consider itself empowered to 
 draw up a provisional measure to regulate the matter, while
 
 464 MEMOIBS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 declaring, however, that the Church of France would not 
 cease demanding the observation of the Concordat, and that 
 it would ever be ready to return to it, as soon as the Holy- 
 Father or his successors would consent to execute it in so 
 far as it concerned the Holy See. In the contrary event, 
 there would remain as a resource of having recourse to a 
 general council, the only authority in the Church above 
 the Pope; but it might become impossible to get such a 
 council to assemble, either through His Holiness's refusal 
 to recognize it, or owing to a quantity of political circum- 
 titances which it was easy enough to foresee. "What would 
 then remain to be done? This was the knot of the ques- 
 tion, and Xapoleon wanted it cut in the most absolute way. 
 The commission finally gave as its reply " that after hav- 
 ing proclaimed its constant faithfulness to the Holy See 
 and to the person of the Holy Father, after having insisted 
 that the discipline in force should be respected, the national 
 council might possibly declare that, owing to the impossi- 
 bility of having recourse to an oecumenical council, and 
 owing to the immense danger which threatened the Church 
 of France, the institution given by the Metropolitan in 
 virtue of the powers delegated unto him by the council to 
 his suffragans, or by the oldest of them to the Metropolitan 
 himself, should take the place of papal bulls, until such 
 times as the Pope or his successors were prepared to con- 
 sent to the execution of the Concordat." Such a provi- 
 sional return to a part of the old ecclesiastical law seemed 
 sufficiently justified in the eyes of the commission by the 
 first of all laws, the law of necessity, which, it said, the 
 Pope had himself recognized, when, in order to restore 
 unity in the Church of France, he had risen superior to 
 ordinary rules, in suppressing by an unprecedented exer- 
 cise of his authority the old ecclesiastical divisions, in 
 order to create new ones. The expedient indicated by the
 
 BRIEFS ISSUED BY PIUS VII. 466 
 
 last part of the council's answer, was precisely the one 
 Napoleon was anxious to resort to. 
 
 Concerning the bull of excommunication, the commission, 
 after a most able debate as to the facts and principles in- 
 volved, had no hesitation in declaring that " the censures 
 and excommunications contained in the bull of the 10th of 
 June were null, both in form and in fond, and that they 
 could not bind or compel consciences." The commission 
 had looked upon the question from a high standpoint, and, 
 since the bull of excommunication had been issued with 
 regard to the invasion of the Pope's temporal sovereignty, 
 it had taken pains to prove that as faith and discipline 
 did not rest essentially on that sovereignty, the resorting 
 to pontifical fulminations had, on this occasion, not been 
 justified. They had, in this connection, not been afraid to 
 point out that, under Louis XIV. and Louis XV., Avignon 
 had been occupied by French troops, and that the Pope had 
 then abstained from hurling thunderbolts of excommuni- 
 cation. 
 
 Napoleon still continued making appointments to sees 
 that had become vacant. Among many others, he ventured 
 to appoint M. d'Osmond, Bishop of Nancy, to the Florence 
 see, and Cardinal Maury to the Paris one. 
 
 The appointment of M. d'Osmond called forth a brief to 
 which I have already referred, and which must have con- 
 siderably irritated the Emperor, as it stigmatized as irreg- 
 ular the dissolution of his first marriage by the Parisian 
 clergy, and thus seemed to give his enemies the most pow- 
 erful weapon with which to combat the legitimacy of the 
 children who might be born of his new union. Further 
 briefs were issued protesting against the occupation of the 
 Paris see by Cardinal Maury, and against his pretensions 
 to having the administration of the diocese delegated to 
 him by the Chapter. One of these briefs was addressed to
 
 466 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 the Cardinal himself, for the Pope considered himself all 
 the more entitled to intimate his orders to that prelate 
 for the reason that, as a member of the Sacred College 
 and as Bishop of Montefiascone, he was certainly bound to 
 the Holy See by very close ties. 
 
 Albeit, the Cardinal did not pay any heed to the papal 
 injunction, and neglected nothing in order to secure pos- 
 session of the administration of the Paris diocese, but he 
 encountered many difficulties, and met, on the part of the 
 Chapter, with many obstacles which at first caused some 
 surprise, the Chapter having, up to that time, shown itself 
 most docile. Yet, it would have been easy enough to ex- 
 plain this opposition, had one but turned one's thoughts to 
 the potent influence which could have been, nay, which 
 must have been exercised on the minds of the canons, by 
 the example of Cardinal Fesch, who, on being appointed to 
 the same archbishopric previous to Cardinal Maury, had, 
 in spite of being invited to it by the Chapter, denied him- 
 self all spiritual ministrations. This example Avas even 
 referred to by the Pope in his brief to the new archbishop. 
 
 Not one of the least singular things in the history of 
 Napoleon is the opposition which he was always to encoun- 
 ter in the execution of his designs regarding the clergy and 
 the Holy See, from the man who it seemed should have 
 been most devoted to him, from the one whom he had pro- 
 moted to so high a dignity only because of the idea that he 
 Avould always find in him a ready and docile instrument; 
 and indeed, when one merely looked at the past of that 
 man, his elevation to the cardinalate might be deemed a 
 scandal; but, there was in his character something of the 
 Bonaparte family, and, when once called upon to play the 
 part of a prelate and of an Eminence, he entered upon his 
 part as seriously and no less conscientiously than his nephew 
 Louis in the task wliich royalty had imposed on him. In
 
 CARDINAL FESCB 467 
 
 vain did the Emperor lay siege to him with every means at 
 his command and in every possible form of speech, even 
 those of the most cruel pleasantries, making allusions to 
 the immorality of his youth and to his behavior during the 
 days preceding his return to the practices of his religion,^ 
 he always remained immovable, warded off arguments, and 
 disposed of duties by alleging his duties, and intrenching 
 himself behind the profound conviction to which he had 
 had the happiness to return. His conduct, which was 
 always strictly proper, was, under all circumstances, as cir- 
 cumspect as firm; and, while never failing in the outward 
 regard which he owed to his sovereign and to the author of 
 his fortune, it can be said that he was ever at the head of 
 the religious opposition which the Emperor continually 
 found in his path, to the end of his reign. 
 
 By dint of defending the interests and the just rights of 
 the Pope, Cardinal Fesch was led to adopt principles far 
 too ultramontane, and made it a practice to show favor to 
 ecclesiastics and laymen who even in secret professed such 
 principles. Thus it was that he became the patron of the 
 Jesuits, whom he unfortunately bequeathed to France, 
 when departing from French territory. 
 
 The agitation in the Paris Chapter consequent upon the 
 pretensions of Cardinal Maury began to manifest itself in 
 a more marked fashion during the course of November. I 
 knew of it, but I was not in any way compelled to take 
 notice of it. M. Portalis, the comptroller and censor of 
 the book -trade, with whom I was on intimate terms, called 
 on me in the middle of December, and told me that he 
 knew as a fact that a papal brief enjoining the Chapter 
 
 1 1 have heard from people who had witnessed it the account of a scene 
 of this kind, which had taken place at Fontainebleau, in the very drawing- 
 room of the Empress, and while some thirty persons were present. The 
 Emperor's sarcasms had reached the point of coarseness, but the counte- 
 nance of the Cardinal remained unmoved.
 
 468 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 from conferring powers of administration on Cardinal 
 Maury, and declaring null and void everything he might 
 do by virtue of any powers delegated to him by the Chapter, 
 had reached Paris. The Government had indeed heard of 
 the brief addressed to the Cardinal ; but, as no one was more 
 interested than himself in keeping it a secret, he could not 
 be suspected of indiscretion in this connection. Hence if 
 it was that one to which jSI. Portalis had reference, it must 
 of necessity have been forwarded to some other person in 
 Paris. As a matter of fact, in spite of the close watch set 
 upon the Pope at Savona, not only this brief, but yet an- 
 other couched in much stronger terms, had reached Paris 
 through an ecclesiastic to whom His Holiness had sent it 
 direct. 
 
 M. Portalis, when telling me of this, added that he could 
 not reveal to me how the knowledge of so important a fact 
 had come to him, but he would say that, if proper meas- 
 ures were not taken, the brief would, within the next few 
 days, go the rounds of Paris; he thought it most desirable 
 that this should be prevented; that, if the Minister of 
 Police saw fit to send for such and such ecclesiastics whose 
 names he gave me, and tell them that he was aware of the 
 existence of the brief, and that his mind was made up, in 
 case it was made public, to hold them formally responsible 
 for such publication, one might rest assured that they 
 would find a way to prevent its contents being divulged. 
 As a matter of course, M. Portalis allowed me to go and 
 carry this piece of news to the Minister, and I hastened to 
 do so. The Minister seemed well pleased, told me that he 
 would profit by the information, and I was entitled to be- 
 lieve that he had followed out the advice I had given him, 
 for, by the end of December, nothing had been heard of the 
 brief. 
 
 Meanwhile the discord between the Cardinal and his
 
 THE ABBE D'ASTMOS 469 
 
 Chapter went on increasing. At the head of the recalci- 
 trants was the Abbe d' Astros, a canon and vicar-general, 
 and closely related to M. Portalis, He had previously made 
 himself prominent by his opposition to the intention en- 
 tertained by the Chapter of granting powers to Cardinal 
 Fesch, and there had, at the time, been some talk of send- 
 ing him into exile. But the Cardinal, who would none of 
 these powers, and who was only too glad that he should be 
 spared the embarrassing trouble of making his refusal pub- 
 lic, had obtained the repeal of the order. 
 
 In pursuance of the line of conduct I had set myself of 
 never interfering with matters not within my jurisdiction, 
 and as I did not seek for opportunities to talk privately 
 with the Emperor, I had exercised the greatest care of 
 action or word which might have implicated me any further 
 in the affair, when once I had delivered to the Minister of 
 Police the message entrusted to me by M. Portalis. 
 
 On New Year's Day, 1811, Cardinal Maury having ap- 
 peared at the head of his Chapter to pay the chief of the 
 state the usual compliments of the season, Kapoleon 
 grasped the opportunity to express his displeasure, and, 
 addressing himself particularly to the vicars-general, he 
 said: "Above all, sirs, you must be French; it is the way 
 of being at the same time good Christians. The doctrine 
 of Bossuet is the only sure guide; with it no one can go 
 astray. What I am now saying (pointing to the Abbe 
 d' Astros) is principally for your benefit, reverend sir. I 
 know that you are opposed to the measures dictated by my 
 policy, that you do not cease indulging in underhand prac- 
 tices to neutralize its effect; but your designs are known to 
 me, and I will take care to thwart them." 
 
 After such an allocution, made in the presence of so 
 many witnesses, it was impossible not to expect some act of 
 severity. Xo sooner was the audience over, than the Car-
 
 470 MEMOIRS OF CnANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 diual, going up to M. d'Astros, asked him to accompany 
 him to the Minister of Police, who was desirous of discuss- 
 ing certain matters with him. Had the Cardinal been 
 endowed with ever so little tact, or even with the least sen- 
 timent of propriety, he would have perceived all the inde- 
 cency and indelicacy of appealing to such an interference 
 between himself and his subordinate ; at the most, he should 
 have referred the matter to the Minister of Public Worship. 
 The Minister, assisted by M. Real, in the first place ques- 
 tioned the abbe as to the motives governing his opposition, 
 and regarding the correspondence he was doubtless keep- 
 ing up with Savona. M. d'Astros having replied in the 
 negative, or evasively, to all questions put to him, the 
 Minister finally asked him for his resignation, which M. 
 d'Astros declined to give. This refusal was the determin- 
 ing cause of his arrest; but, ere he was taken to Vincennes, 
 he was taken to his domicile, in order that he should be 
 present whilst his papers were being searched. Nothing 
 escaped this search, which Avas carried out so minutely that 
 the linings of his clothes were felt, and upon taking out 
 that of his hat, the unfortunate brief of which M. Portalis 
 had spoken to me was found. I think it was the one the 
 first copy of which had been sent to Cardinal Maury ; the 
 second copy was not discovered till later. When asked as 
 to the use he had made of this brief and to whom he had 
 imparted its contents, M. d'Astros, with inconceivable 
 v>^eakness, mentioned three : M. de Calprade, a canon of 
 the Cathedral, the Abbe Guairard, the chief official of the 
 book-trade department, and JVL Portalis, who was at its 
 head. What did he expect to obtain by this confession? 
 Perhaps it was that he wished to give a proof of his good 
 faith, and prove that he had not acted with any bad inten- 
 tions by showing that he had limited his confidence to so 
 small a number of persons.
 
 VIOLENT APOSTROPHE TO M. PORTALIS 471 
 
 I was totally ignorant of the discovery that had been 
 made and of the confessions of M. d'Astros, when on stop- 
 ping at the residence of the Minister of Police, next morn- 
 ing, on my way to the Council of State, I was greatly sur- 
 prised to have him speak to me in the following terms : " If 
 you come across M. Portalis going to the Council, be care- 
 ful not to advise him not to pursue his journey." I asked 
 him why he made this request, but I could obtain no ex- 
 planation from him. On reaching the Council, I found M. 
 Portalis already at his place. ISTapoleon presided. Hardly 
 was he seated, when began a scene, which I could not help 
 thinking had been prearranged, as I recalled the words 
 which the Due de Eovigo had suffered to escape his lips. 
 Nevertheless, nothing was missing to give it the appearance 
 of an outburst of anger which could not be kept within 
 bounds. 
 
 Having first asked if M. Portalis were present, the Em- 
 peror immediately asked him in the harshest terms " how 
 he dared to present himself in the body of the Council, 
 after the act of treason of which he had been guilty." 
 Then, going into the details of this act of treason, which 
 consisted in having fostered and been cognizant of a rebel- 
 lious correspondence with the Pope, with a foreign poten- 
 tate, he declared that " there never had been seen more per- 
 fidious treachery, that in the course of his life he had never 
 experienced any which had caused him greater disgust, and 
 this infamy proceeded from a man in whom he had reposed 
 the utmost confidence. He could not find words to express 
 his indignation." 
 
 What I am telling here in a few lines, was, in his mouth, 
 the subject matter of a philippic which it took him over 
 a quarter of an hour to deliver. His voice, his gestures, 
 his face, assumed the most fearful aspect as he progressed, 
 and, when he came to an end, everybody remained dumb
 
 472 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 with horror and stupefaction. M. Portalis, overwhelmed 
 and crushed, could only stammer out a few words, in which 
 he expressed his conviction that he had not failed in any 
 of his duties, in not betraying a relative and friend of his 
 youth, and whom he had sought, moreover, to hold back 
 in the dangerous paths upon which he saw him entering. 
 
 These few words had hardly been spoken, when the Em- 
 peror resumed with fresh vehemence his terrible allocution, 
 finding means to give vent to his fury in still more biting 
 terms. I considered that it no longer became me to remain 
 silent, and taking advantage of the first lull in the conver- 
 sation, I stated that it was my duty to complete M. Por- 
 talis's defence, and to supplement that to which his state 
 of emotion had not permitted him to give utterance. I con- 
 sequently went on to narrate what had taken place between 
 us towards the middle of the foregoing month, and told of 
 the notification I had, on his recommendation, sent to the 
 Minister of Police. I added that the Minister had doubt- 
 less made good use of the information, as the brief would 
 have remained enveloped in the utmost secrecy and would 
 still have been undiscovered, had it not been found at the 
 place of residence of M. d' Astros, who had not dared to 
 make use of it. I concluded by setting forth that the con- 
 fidential communication made to me by M. Portalis should 
 be sufficient to remove all suspicion of treason from him, 
 and that it would be more plausible to make me appear 
 guilty rather than he, by arguing that I had not made 
 all the use of the warning which it was possible for me to 
 get out of it. 
 
 This extremely short plea, which put an entirely new 
 face on the question, and seemed to arouse the interest of 
 the Council to the highest degree, brought an expres- 
 sion of intense feeling of annoyance to the face of the 
 Emperor. After an instant's silence, he began afresh.
 
 PAINFUL SCENE IN THE COUNCIL OF STATE 473 
 
 seemingly paying no attention to my words, and continued 
 overwhelming M. Portalis with his reproaches. I was 
 desirous of asking to be heard once more, but was stopped 
 by my neighbor, M. de La Valette, who begged me to desist, 
 assuring me that at this stage I would be rather injuring 
 than mending matters. And truly, what hope was there 
 of prevailing with a character cast in such a mould, when 
 it had gone so far? The scene ended with the following 
 words: "Leave, sir, and let me never see you again." 
 
 M. Portalis having thereupon left the Chamber, the 
 entire Council remained silent for some minutes. The 
 silence was at last broken by Napoleon, who, in much gen- 
 tler tones, expressed the deepest grief at having met what 
 he still persisted in calling treason in a body where he had, 
 up to the present, found nothing but loyalty and devotion 
 to his person, and which had consequently always received 
 the highest proofs of his confidence, and in the midst of 
 which he was in the habit of speaking and unbosoming 
 himself with entire freedom. The unfortunate occurrence 
 which had just taken place would doubtless be felt by all 
 the members of the Council as by himself, and he would do 
 them the justice of believing that they were deeply grieved 
 over it. " The Prefect of Police," he added, " has neverthe- 
 less seen fit to come to the defence of M. Portalis, but he is 
 his friend, and some allowance is to be made for the feel- 
 ing which prompted him to undertake the talk." '^• 
 
 Thus, he did not give utterance to any formal expression 
 of doubt as to the facts which I had presented, and it is 
 evident that he had employed the time during which he had 
 remained silent, to make up his mind as to what course he 
 should adopt with regard to me. The trouble, should he 
 sacrifice me, of having to go in quest of a new Prefect 
 of Police, and perchance, the idea that it would be too con- 
 temptible to punish an act of conscience and sincerity,
 
 474 MEMOIBS OF CHANCELLOB PASQUIEB 
 
 doubtless determined him in sparing me. Yet, in spite of 
 this considerate treatment, and the graciousness of his 
 closing words to the Council, the harm had been done, and 
 all of us. Councillors of State, maitres des requites, and 
 auditeurs, felt an impression of wretchedness and fear which 
 it was not in his power to remove. The sight of omnipo- 
 tence thus crushing its victim, without allowing him either 
 time or means for defence, has in it something dishearten- 
 ing. It wounds to the quick one's feelings of self-respect, 
 and shocks the most submissive consciences. 
 
 M. Eegnaud alone took upon himself to utter a few words, 
 the somewhat obscure drift of which did not please any- 
 body, not even the Emperor, who interrupted him rather 
 abruptly, by taking up one of the orders of the day. Yet 
 this is the scene which M. de Las Cases, in his Mimorial 
 de Sainte-Helhie, has undertaken to present as one that was 
 entirely paternal and affecting. As a mattre des requites 
 he was a witness of it, and on these grounds he lays a 
 claim to the credibility which is granted to a truthful and 
 conscientious witness. Unfortunately for him, more than 
 eighty persons were present during the occurrence, and I 
 challenge him to find any two who will look at it in the 
 same light as he has done.^ But he was desirous of setting 
 his hero above all blame. Everything that I said and did 
 at that sitting has been passed in silence. 
 
 On my return home, I sat down to write to the Emperor, 
 and implored his clemency in terms I thought most likely 
 to make some impression on him. I repeated that if any 
 blame could be attached to anybody, it was to myself. I 
 therefore begged His Majesty to return to fairer sentiments 
 
 1 On the following day, M. de Cambac(?res, who was nevertheless accus- 
 tomed to the outbursts of imperial fury, said to M. d'Hauterive, who had 
 been too unwell to be present: " You are indeed fortunate. I am still ill 
 over it."
 
 M. POBTALIS EXILED 475 
 
 towards a man who was at heart devoted to him, and who 
 was more unfortunate than guilty. I added this letter to 
 my police report, and it went to its destination at eight. ^ 
 
 Having performed this duty, I called on M. Portalis, 
 whom I found writing to Napoleon, but somewhat embar- 
 rassed as to the way in which he could make his letter reach 
 the Emperor without delay. I took charge of the matter, 
 and carried it to M. Maret, who made no difficulty in con- 
 senting to hand it to the Emperor, the same evening, be- 
 tween 10 and 11 o'clock, the time at which he sat down to 
 work. He told me to call on him again next day, after 11 
 o'clock, and that he would let me know the result of his 
 undertaking. I also told him of the letter I had written, 
 and I must do him the justice to say that he showed him- 
 self deeply moved and greatly pained over what had hap- 
 pened at the Council that morning. On all occasions, 
 moreover, I found M. Maret to be a most kind-hearted 
 man. On my returning to see him at the appointed hour, 
 he told me that he had seen to it that the Emperor would 
 read M. Portalis's letter, as well as my own, which had not 
 been opened at the time he arrived. " It is most unfortu- 
 nate," he went on to say, "that I did not enter the Em- 
 peror's study until after the Minister of Police, who was 
 leaving as I went in. He was taking away an order of 
 exile, which I failed to get recalled, and which, I am fully 
 convinced, would not have been issued, had the two letters 
 been read previously." 
 
 I returned home with this painful information, and had 
 already retired for the night when I received a despatch 
 from the Minister of Police, enclosing this order of exile, 
 with the injunction to see that effect was given to it the 
 same night. On the first impulse I felt wroth at the Due 
 
 1 This letter is to be found among tlie Archives.
 
 476 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 de Eovigo for this affectation of entrusting to me a duty 
 which he might very well have left to one of the agents 
 directly under him — to his inspector-general, for instance, 
 of whom he was in the habit of making use on like occa- 
 sions. On second thoughts, it struck me that perhaps it 
 was better that so painful a mission should be given to me 
 rather than to any other, as I might mitigate its form, and 
 it would enable me, while taking leave of my friend, to 
 receive his final instructions with regard to all the interests 
 he was leaving behind him in Paris. Matters passed off 
 as I had anticipated, and I gave him all assurances that I 
 could which were likely to console him. He left at 5 
 o'clock in the morning, on his way to Aix, in Provence, 
 where his family had long been known, and where his 
 father had left the most honorable memories. 
 
 The same day, I took care to be present at the lever, 
 where all eyes were turned towards me, for everybody was 
 anxious to see what kind of a reception I was to meet with. 
 The Emperor, on coming to me, merely remarked: "I am 
 afraid, sir, that you do not possess very clear notions of the 
 duties of a Councillor of State." — *'In this respect, as in 
 every other. Sire, I believe that a man does not risk making 
 many mistakes, if he but listens to the dictates of his con- 
 science." 
 
 Such was literally my reply. He passed on without add- 
 ing another word, and never since did he in conversation 
 with me refer to that wretched business. The words I 
 have just recorded are, moreover, the only ones which he 
 ever spoke to me in the way of reproach, during the whole 
 time that I came into contact with him. I have always 
 been convinced, together with M. Maret, that the Emperor, 
 who had been wrongly guided in this matter by the Due de 
 Rovigo's first reports, had very soon come to regret the ill- 
 temper into which he had allowed himself to be carried
 
 M. PASQUIEE DEFINES HIS POSITION 477 
 
 away. One thing remains certain, and is that although 
 he must have known that I was in constant correspondence 
 with M. Portalis, he never let me know that he felt any 
 displeasure over it, and when, three years later, the Comte 
 Mole, at that time Minister of Justice, suggested to him to 
 appoint as First President of the Imperial Court of Angers, 
 the man whom he so loudly proclaimed a traitor, he made 
 not the slightest objection, and signed his appointment 
 without any hesitation. 
 
 I had accomplished with firmness a duty enjoined on me 
 both by my conscience and my personal feelings. My 
 status became all the better from it, not only in the Coun- 
 cil, but in the midst of everything composing the govern- 
 ment, even of all that surrounded the Emperor. From that 
 moment, people were willing to see in the new Prefect of 
 Police a man who, under difiicult circumstances, would have 
 the courage to speak the truth and to stand up in defence 
 of what was worthy of being defended. 
 
 The ministers showed me special consideration, and the 
 Due de Kovigo himself understood that I Avas a man who 
 had to be reckoned with, and that after having defied the 
 wrath of the Emperor, I would not much longer suffer myself 
 to be oppressed by him, so his methods towards me under- 
 went a notable change. It became more and more established 
 in his mind, as well as in that of the Emperor, that no idea 
 was to be entertained of calling upon me for the carrying 
 out of the combinations and operations of higher police 
 duty. Hence, I never had cause to complain in this re- 
 spect. In matters affecting the clergy, for instance (they 
 are those which gave rise to the most coercive measures), 
 my services were never called into requisition. If the 
 Minister occasionally sent to the prSfecture dej^olice in order 
 that they should be detained in a set of rather comfortable 
 rooms, known collectively as the salle Saint-Martin, prison-
 
 478 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 ers whom he did not see fit to send at once to Vincennes, I 
 was always left free to treat them with proper consider- 
 ation. 
 
 It is thus that I have had confided to my care Mme. de 
 Quinsonas and that worthy Dame de Soyecourt, who has 
 since devoted the better part of her income to found, in the 
 former Carmelite convent a community of nuns whose mis- 
 sion is to offer up to God unceasing prayers in the place 
 consecrated by the blood of the priests who were butchered 
 in the month of September, 1792. I had her placed in a 
 room in the part of the building wherein I resided myself, 
 and she took a daily walk in my garden, but always under 
 the eye of a police agent. If I mention this daily prome- 
 nade, it is because it gave some anxiety to M. Demarest, 
 who got the Due de Eovigo to mention the matter to me as 
 an act of leniency which might lead up to the lady's escape. 
 This occurred in the early days of my incumbency. I 
 replied that I assumed the responsibility of such a contin- 
 gency. 
 
 The exiling of M. Portalis was immediately followed by 
 the arrest of M. de Calprade and of the Abbe Guairard. 
 Orders were at the same time sent to Savona, by telegraph 
 from Turin, that the strictest search should be made in the 
 Pope's very closet. It took place while he was taking his 
 usual walk in the garden of the Archbishop's palace, and 
 resulted in the discovery of a first brief conferring extraor- 
 dinary powers upon Cardinal di Pietro, and of a second one 
 commissioning Father Fontana, a member of the ecclesi- 
 astical commission, and M. Gregorio, a Koman prelate, to 
 notify Cardinal Maury of the contents of the one which 
 concerned him. 
 
 This discovery resulted in a renewal of several measures 
 against the Pope, whose household was entirely broken up, 
 and who, from that time, remained alone with his physi-
 
 RENEWED SEVERITY AGAINST THE CLERGY 479 
 
 cian, and a few servants who were in the pay of the French 
 government. It also brought about the arrest of Father 
 Fontana, of M. Gregorio, of Cardinal di Pietro, and two 
 other members of the Sacred College, Cardinals Gabrielli 
 and Oppisoni, who were already in exile at Saumur. They 
 were all brought to the Vincennes keep, and remained in 
 the strictest confinement, together with the Abbe d' Astros, 
 who, it was reported, was soon to be brought to trial. 
 
 It could in truth be said that terror was at that moment 
 hovering over the clergy of France, especially over that of 
 Paris, for there was talk of including in the trial of the 
 Abbe d'Astros, all those who, directly or indirectly, had 
 participated in circulating the brief. Cardinal Maury took 
 advantage of the opportunity to persuade the Chapter that 
 the only way of saving the Abbe d'Astros was to deprive 
 him of the powers with which he had been invested, and to 
 present to the Emperor an address embodying a satisfac- 
 tory declaration of faith regarding capitulary administra- 
 tion. He experienced some difficulty in obtaining such a 
 result, but, in the end, everything was settled just as the 
 Emperor and himself wished it. The address of the Chap- 
 ter was drawn up ; it was well received, and was forwarded 
 to all the bishops in France and Italy, with a request that 
 they should concur in it. It met with all the success the 
 Government could expect, as, for some time, the columns 
 of the Moniteur were filled with declarations of adhesion 
 which poured in from every quarter.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Inner administration of the Prefecture de Police — Singular use made of 
 confiscated books — The fate of political writings — Secret agents of 
 the Government — Insi^ector-General Veyrat — The clerk Perlet — Gen- 
 eral Dauican — Reforms and improvements brought about by M. Pasquier 
 — Measures concerning domestic servants — Personnel of the medical dis- 
 pensary attached to the Pre'fecture — The Fire Brigade reorganized on 
 a military basis — The provisioning of Paris — The relations existing 
 between the Prefect of Police and his subordinate commissaires. 
 
 I "WILL leave aside for a moment general politics, and 
 give a few details on the inner workings of the Prefecture 
 de Police. 
 
 I had discovered, among other settled abuses, what be- 
 came of obscene books. When seized by the police, they 
 were never destroyed, but merely stored in a room on the 
 second floor of the prefecture. M. Veyrat, the inspector- 
 general, and perhaps a few others, had the keys to this 
 store-room, and were not in the least backward in making 
 presents of the books to their friends. M. Dubois did like- 
 wise. I have been told that on several occasions, when 
 giving a dinner to his colleagues, he had conceived the 
 idea of presenting each one of them, by way of a courtesy, 
 with a packet containing the most interesting specimens of 
 that kind of literature. But, this was not the most repre- 
 hensible part of the affair, for a certain quantity of the 
 confiscated books always ended in being returned to the 
 booksellers or to the hawkers from whom they had been 
 taken, in consideration of a handsome figure paid either to 
 M. Veyrat or his agents, thus constituting a most lucrative 
 
 480
 
 M. PERLET AND M. FAUCHE-BOBEL 481 
 
 branch of trade. There was but one way of ending the 
 matter, and that was to destroy the books. I so ordered 
 it, and had them destroyed in my presence. 
 
 I decided that everything that was in that store-room 
 should be burned in the courtyard of the prefecture. Cer- 
 tain precautions were necessary to guard against the con- 
 suming of so great a quantity of paper endangering the 
 safety of the surrounding buildings. I remembered a large 
 iron gridiron which had served to burn up assigiiats in the 
 courtyard of the Treasury. It was still in existence, and 
 so I asked for the loan of it, and the operation was accom- 
 plished without trouble in the space of three hours. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact that books seized on political 
 grounds were always carefully reduced to pulp immediately 
 after their seizure. Two or three copies were kept to be used, 
 in case of need, as documentary evidence, or for purposes 
 of comparison. Hence it was that I found in the store- 
 room the only two copies extant of M. de Bonald's first 
 work entitled La Tli^orie du pouvoir. It is perhaps the 
 most remarkable of all those which came from his pen. 
 The author himself did not possess a single copy of it, so 
 I let him have one, while the other, I must fain confess, 
 found a place on my own bookshelves. This was slightly 
 swerving from the path of duty, but I hardly consider my 
 action worthy of blame. 
 
 I was, during the course of my incumbency, to make a 
 still sadder discovery, but of an entirely different nature. 
 M. Fievee told me one day, at a meeting of the Council of 
 State, that I had on my staff a most unfortunate individ- 
 ual, whom he commended to me in a more special fashion 
 for the reason that he was connected with him by ties of 
 blood. This man was a M. Perlet, his brother-in-law, a 
 clerk in the secretary's office at the Prefecture de Police. 
 He had been transported, on the 18th Fructidor, together
 
 482 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 with Messieurs de Marbois, Pichegru, and many other vic- 
 tims of note. This transportation had been the cause of 
 his ruin, as it had been fatal to the existence of a journal 
 of which he was at the time both editor and proprietor. 
 On returning to France after the 18th Bruraaire, he had 
 tried every possible means of retrieving his fallen fortunes, 
 but nothing had succeeded with him, and he had been only 
 too glad to obtain a clerkship in the offices of the prefect- 
 ure. "It is true," added M. Fievee, "that his conduct 
 since his return to France has not been altogether blame- 
 less, and I do not pretend to say that he is all that he 
 should be, but some indulgence must be shown to an 
 unfortunate fellow who has been so sorely tried by circum- 
 stances." I replied that my opinion on this point coin- 
 cided with his own, and that if I found the opportunity 
 of doing anything for his brother-in-law, I would eagerly 
 seize it. 
 
 I sent the very next day for M. Perlet to come to my pri- 
 vate office, informed him of my promise to M. Fievde, and 
 of my intention to act up to it. I was surprised at the 
 warmth of his thanks, which I could not help seeing were 
 stamped with a fulsomeness and an air of humility which 
 greatly displeased me, and almost made me regret the 
 kindly way in which I had spoken to him. This unfortu- 
 nate impression was confirmed by a letter which I received 
 from him two days later. He informed me that, taking 
 advantage of certain connections which his transportation 
 had given him with men devoted to the Royalist cause, he 
 had become the secret agent of the Imperial Government, 
 and had, under the dictation of M. Demarest and M. Dubois, 
 kept up a correspondence in England with one of the best 
 known agents of the pretender to the French throne, M. 
 Fauche-Borel. The object of this correspondence was to 
 discover the secrets of the Eoyalist party, and more partic-
 
 M. VEYRAT 483 
 
 ularly to learn who were the men whom it occasionally 
 sent across to France, and to be punctually informed of 
 their landing. He stated that he had discovered a way of 
 causing it to be believed that there was in Paris a Royalist 
 committee, whose organ he was, and in whose name he 
 always spoke. Finally, he had been sent to England, as 
 he said, "to become acquainted with the resources and 
 hopes of the Bourbons, and to finish discrediting with the 
 British Government, Messieurs de Puisaye and d'En- 
 traigues. The former was to be feared, as he enjoyed 
 potent means for fomenting dissensions and for sending 
 agents into France." He added: " I have succeeded in my 
 mission beyond expectation, and you will find proof of this 
 in the original letters which are on file in the pigeon-holes 
 of the prefecture." 
 
 Once set on the track by M. Perlet himself, it was easy 
 for me to glean a great deal more about the matter than he 
 had told me. I interrogated the chief clerk in the secre- 
 tary's office, and the chief of the first division of police, 
 both of them most worthy men, whom I could trust. They 
 both spoke to me of this wretch in terms of disgust, informed 
 me that he was a Genevese, and as such a fellow-country- 
 man of M. Veyrat, who had been the means of his entering 
 the secret police, and had introduced him to M. Dubois. 
 On his returning from England, M. Fauche-Borel, in order 
 to keep up the connection cemented with him in London, 
 had sent to him one of his nephews, one Vitel, who had 
 just arrived from India. The latter had no secrets from his 
 uncle's friend, Perlet, and went so far as to inform him 
 that his instructions were secreted in the hollow of his 
 walking-stick, which was of hazel, and hardly liable to 
 attract attention. After Perlet had got out of the young 
 man all he wanted to know, he had him arrested by his 
 friend Veyrat, who promptly examined the walking-stick
 
 484 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 containing the incriminating documents, and the unfortu- 
 nate Vitel was handed over to a military commission, sen- 
 tenced to death, and shot on the plain of Grenelle. 
 
 Ever since that time a state of discord had existed be- 
 tween the two wretches, at least to outward appearances, 
 and it did not call for any great effort of prudence on ray 
 part not to believe in it. I learnt from the chief of the first 
 division that all the minutes of the correspondence were in 
 the possession of M. Veyrat, who was the depositary of a 
 vocabulary, written on a number of cards, and which served 
 to disguise the identity of the names used in that correspond- 
 ence. I summoned M. Veyrat, at the very moment he 
 least expected it, and ordered him to bring me at once the 
 portfolios containing the minutes and the vocabulary. I 
 entertained the hope of thus taking away from him every 
 means of following, unknown to me, so odious a machina- 
 tion; and indeed I did not hear another word about the 
 matter until the day came when the Due de Eovigo had 
 M, Perlet arrested, because he had detained for several 
 days, without communicating them to M. Demarest, two 
 letters which he had received from London. It thus be- 
 came demonstrated to me that my precautionary measure 
 had availed but little, as, according to all appearances, M. 
 Demarest possessed a duplicate of the words agreed upon. 
 It was a pleasure for me to be thus rid of this wretch. 
 
 Among the documents which I made M. Veyrat deliver 
 up to me, were two whereof I must say something. One 
 was the minute of a letter written by Perlet, on the 3d of 
 August, 180G, to Fauche-Borel. This letter was the joint 
 work of M. Demarest, Perlet, and M. Dubois. This docu- 
 ment was keenly interesting to me, for the reason that, 
 written as it was at the time of my being appointed a maUre 
 des requites, M. Dubois had made use of the opportunity to 
 make some enquiries about me, in order to find out whether
 
 BEFOEMS AND IMPROVEMENTS 485 
 
 M. Mol^ and myself did not keep up some relations with 
 the princes of the House of Bourbon. The passage having 
 reference to us was entirely in M. Dubois's handwriting, 
 and couched in most adroit terms. 
 
 The second document was a lengthy memorandum in M. 
 Perlet's handwriting, but drawn up by General Danican, 
 an Emigre, who resided in London. This memorandum 
 contained some rather interesting particulars on the life 
 led in England by all the French princes, their followers, 
 and also about the principal persons of note who at the 
 time were in communication with the British Ministry. 
 These persons were, as a general rule, spoken of disparag- 
 ingly, especially M. de Puisaye and M. d'Entraigues. It 
 is probable that the memorandum was the joint production 
 of Danican and Perlet, as part of the latter's mission, and 
 that it must have doubtless been laid before some member of 
 the British Cabinet. When we thus find M. Danican, com- 
 bining forces with M. Perlet and aiding him in his plans, 
 it would be a hard matter not to recall his temporary ap- 
 pearance, as commanding officer of the National Guard of 
 Paris, on the 13th Vendemiaire, and it is difficult not to see 
 in this the confirmation of the doubts engendered about 
 him owing to his behavior at that period. 
 
 One sees in all its shamefacedness, in the account given 
 by Perlet of his trip, the role that he played as concerns 
 Louis XVIII. , who had greeted him with the most affecting 
 kindliness. I was to come across this man once more. On 
 emerging from prison, in 1814, he had the audacity to 
 present himself at the Tuileries, and to request an audience 
 of the king. I heard of it, and made it my duty to prevent 
 His Majesty being imposed on in so shameful a fashion. 
 Perlet was shown the door. 
 
 The agents of the Prefecture de Police had retained habits 
 and methods recalling those of the Revolution. In vain
 
 486 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEB 
 
 had the Consulate and the Empire succeeded to the Kepub- 
 lic and to the Directoire; in vain had the central ofl&ce, 
 composed of men of low degree, been merged into M. 
 Dubois, Prefect of Police, then M. Dubois, Councillor of 
 State, then M. le comte Dubois ; the public was, in some of 
 the departments of his administration, treated almost as 
 highhandedly as in the days of happy equality. By plac- 
 ing all individuals on the same level, one had at the same 
 time assumed the right of treating them all with equal 
 brutality. This mode of procedure had nevertheless be- 
 come, it must be confessed, somewhat of an anomaly in a 
 country where dignities, titles, and decorations of all sorts 
 had ended in resuming their place and potency. It is hard 
 to realize how deeply the population of Paris was exercised 
 over these methods, and how grateful it felt towards me for 
 bringing them to an end. 
 
 The next matter to which I gave my attention was in 
 regard to the many domestic servants dwelling in the capi- 
 tal, over whose conduct it was necessary to be able to easily 
 exercise supervision, in the interests of society as a whole, 
 and in those of their masters especially. A number of thefts 
 had been committed of late. It struck me that a remedy 
 to this would be the creation of livrets (pass-books) for 
 servants such as those given to workmen, in which should 
 be recorded their names and the character given to them 
 by their masters, each time they left a situation. It would 
 thus become impossible for them to conceal anything affect- 
 ing their behavior, and all who took them into their employ- 
 ment would always be able to obtain such information about 
 them as was found necessary. On the other hand, the 
 police would thus be enabled to ascertain, when they came 
 to get their livret, if some one of them had not been previ- 
 ously guilty of some misdeed, or had not previously in- 
 curred judicial punishment. The police could thus give
 
 THE DISPENSARY OF THE PREFECTUEE 487 
 
 useful warnings to men who would set great store by such 
 information, sucli as notaries, cashiers, bankers, in a 
 word, to those who, more than others, had reason to fear 
 being robbed by their servants. Nevertheless, the greatest 
 obstacles to the execution of a measure which they were so 
 interested in countenancing came from the masters' side. 
 They feared that this would afford the police an opportu- 
 nity of prying into their homes. Hence it is that the 
 measure adopted by me was never fully carried out, and 
 this also explains the readiness with which the use of the 
 livrets was abandoned. 
 
 Nothing must be left undone in the administration of a 
 big city. There is a certain matter which may justly be 
 styled infamous, but in which important services may still 
 be rendered. The existence of Jilles puhliques is a neces- 
 sary, perhaps an indispensable evil, in order to avoid 
 greater licentiousness ; but these unfortunate creatures must 
 at least have some supervision exercised over them, and 
 their health must be the object of a care all the greater in 
 that it affects to a high degree the health of the youth. 
 
 The Paris police, which had generally been so careful 
 prior to the Kevolution, had nevertheless always shown 
 in this matter a carelessness which it is difficult to explain. 
 It is true that jilles publiques who were known to be suffer- 
 ing from some disease were taken to a hospital; but it be- 
 came necessary, in order that one should hear of a case, 
 for it to have already done widespread injury and given rise 
 to many complaints. My predecessor in office had con- 
 ceived the happy idea of establishing a medical staff whose 
 duty it was to visit them, to examine them at their place 
 of residence, to supply them with the necessary treatment, 
 and to notify the police when it was necessary to seques- 
 trate them. Unfortunately, this idea had been deprived of 
 its efficacy by the most revolting abuses. Each and every
 
 488 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 fille publique was compelled to pay a monthly tax destined to 
 pay the police agents, the physicians of the board, and the 
 physic. The total of this tax amounted to about 30,000 
 francs ; it was more than sufficient to meet all needs, but it 
 was put to a totally different use. A surgeon, who was an 
 old college mate of M. Dubois, was placed at the head of 
 the board, and he alone received a salary of 10 to 12,000 
 francs, which did not prevent him from turning his posi- 
 tion into a thorough sinecure. Must I tell it? The mother- 
 in-law and the wife of M. Dubois were not ashamed 
 to receive, each one of them, 2000 or 3000 francs out 
 of this fund, as an addition to their pin-money; the re- 
 mainder was distributed among some subordinate agents, 
 who, as no supervision was exercised over them, neglected 
 their duties, or found in them an easy opportunity of leyj- 
 ing ransom on the poor creatures, by making them pay for 
 their silence. 
 
 It was some time before I became aware of this disgrace- 
 ful state of affairs. The surgeon, M. Dubois's friend, was 
 soon sent about his business. I then placed at the head of 
 the dispensary a physician and a surgeon who were worthy 
 of confidence. I gave them the power of engaging such 
 assistants as they were in need of, and I announced that 
 all monies derived from the tax, left over after paying 
 regular salaries, would be distributed as bonuses to such 
 officials or surgeons who should bestow the most care, pay 
 the most visits, and accomplish the most cures. In noth- 
 ing did I ever obtain more satisfactory results. Formerly, 
 out of eight filles puhliqu-is, there was one ill; when I left 
 the prefecture, the average had been reduced to one out of 
 every twenty-seven. 
 
 During the same period, it fell to my lot to carry out a 
 reorganization on which the city of Paris set great store. 
 The fire brigade, which had so long been famed for its ex-
 
 BEOBGANIZATION OF THE FIRE BRIGADE 489 
 
 cellent work, had, during the past few years, completely 
 fallen from its high state. When the Austrian ambassa- 
 dor's ballroom was destroyed by lire, the Emperor had ex- 
 pressed the greatest discontent at the manner in which the 
 brigade had behaved. Hence, one of the first things he 
 enjoined upon me, on my becoming Prefect of Police, was 
 to busy myself in a serious fashion with the care of once 
 more bringing the brigade to a high standard. There was 
 a great difficulty in the way of accomplishing this. The 
 brigade, while being under me in all matters concerning 
 its active duties, defended in regard to its cost and organi- 
 zation, and in the matter of the appointment of its officers 
 of the Prefecture of the Seine. The recruiting officers had 
 allowed many young men who had influence at their backs, 
 and some of whom had paid pretty dearly for the privilege, 
 to become members of the brigade. Once their names 
 were entered on the muster-roll, these young men, in order 
 to spare themselves the boredom and fatigue of active duty, 
 had fallen into the habit of getting old firemen to go on 
 and do watch in their stead, for a pecuniary consideration, 
 while the veterans approved of a regime which brought 
 them in a pretty good income. Owing to this, the new fire- 
 men did not learn anything about their business, so that 
 when a fire broke out, they were unable to be of any great 
 assistance, and it took some time ere they could be mus- 
 tered. Added to this, the chief of the brigade was a drunk- 
 ard, and the greater number of officers ought to have been at 
 the Invalides. On the other hand, M. Frochot, the Prefect 
 of the Seine, a most trustworthy man, and most enlightened 
 in matters of theory, showed such indifference, and placed 
 such exaggerated trust in all who had anything to do with 
 him, that it was impossible that abuses should not multi- 
 ply in his administration. He must indeed have been 
 the most good-natured of men, for no one perhaps has more
 
 490 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 than in3'self opposed him in important matters, and yet, as 
 he could not charge me with seeking to do him injury, we 
 always lived on the best of terms. 
 
 Up to the time whereof I speak, the firemen had been 
 selected among bourgeois working at some trade on their 
 own account, when their services were not required; they 
 were not quartered in barracks, and merely under the obliga- 
 tion of reporting at the guard-rooms on certain days. In 
 order to get information to guide me in making the neces- 
 sary reforms, I had several talks with competent men, 
 especially with one Morat, the real organizer of the brigade 
 before the Revolution. He was the only one who had been 
 able to get any good out of it, and this had brought him 
 somewhat high renown^. He was a very old man, and was 
 very tenacious of his old habits and the free and semi- 
 
 1 It is, generally speaking, too readily supposed that institutions admitted 
 to be good and useful have always existed. In the matter of the public 
 service, it must nevertheless be conceded that, regarding some of the most 
 important matters, the benefits derived from them, generally speaking, 
 were not enjoyed until quite recent times. The progress made in this 
 respect has been slow, and the most important improvements do not often 
 date any further back than the latter half of the last century. Thus the 
 lighting up of the streets of Paris by means of lanterns placed at stated 
 intervals and giving a light of some intensity, did not occur until from 
 1760 to 1770. The fire brigade was not established on a firm basis by M. 
 Morat until from 1770 to 1780. Previous to that time, the principal assist- 
 ance was given at fires by the mendicant orders; it was the Capuchin 
 monks who climbed on the roofs, rescued from the flames those who were 
 in danger of death, and saved the most precious chattels just as they were 
 about to be consumed. The first fire-pumps belonged to these religious 
 communities, who themselves dragged them to the place of danger. Lastly, 
 no better idea can be gi%'cn of the carelessness existing in regard to this 
 matter than by relating the following fact of which I am able to guarantee 
 the authenticity : — 
 
 In spite of the trouble which M. Morat took for ten years, in spite of a 
 few enlightened protectors who came to his assistance, at the time of the 
 fire which destroyed the Opdra in 1780 or 1781, this house had neither a 
 reservoir nor any pumps of its own. For several months previous, M. Morat 
 had earnestly endeavored to obtain the necessary funds from the civic 
 authorities, upon whom devolved all expenditure connected with the Opera, 
 but, under one pretext or the other, the granting of his petition had always 
 been rejected or adjourned.
 
 THE MILITARY FORM ADOPTED 491 
 
 bourgeoise organization with which he had obtained such 
 good results, but times had changed. 
 
 I therefore came to the conclusion that an entirely mili- 
 tary organization was the one to be preferred. Such an 
 organization would necessarily involve quartering the men 
 in barracks, and would at the outset call for a somewhat 
 heavy outlay of money, but it would also present the ad- 
 vantage of holding forever at the disposal of the city a 
 picked corps, to which might also be entrusted the guard 
 over several of the large public institutions, thus afford- 
 ing relief to the ordinary garrison already so overbur- 
 dened with the number of guards it had to furnish. I 
 experienced some trouble in getting this idea adopted, but 
 it finally triumphed. The matter was discussed in the 
 Council of State, on a report from the Minister of the 
 Interior, and finally the Emperor approved of a decree 
 drawn up in conformity with my views, but he never 
 would consent to give any of his conscripts towards the 
 primary formation of the corps, not for its annual recruit- 
 ing. He dreaded, above all things, to lay hands on the con- 
 scription land. In spite of these obstacles, I succeeded ere 
 very long in establishing an organization on a good basis. 
 
 Following a first unfortunate selection, the general in 
 command of the Paris garrison suggested to me as the chief 
 of the new corps, an officer of Engineers, M. de Plazanet, 
 who had served his country with great honor to himself, 
 especially at the siege of Saragossa, where he had received 
 wounds completely invaliding him. It is to him that is 
 due the excellent footing on which was placed the Fire 
 Brigade, which he still commands, and which has never 
 given any cause for complaint. 
 
 I spent the spring and summer of 1811 in visiting the 
 public institutions and the several places which required 
 my special scrutiny. This tour of inspection was attended
 
 492 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 by good results, and enabled me to put an end to many 
 abuses. 
 
 I discovered many. As an instance, the trade in wood, 
 coal, and butcher's meat was in the hands of monopolies 
 equally detrimental to the interests of the consumer and 
 the producer. I attempted to reorganize the caisse (cattle 
 exchange) of Poissy according to a less vexatious and more 
 truly useful system. Was this caisse really indispensable? 
 I thought so for a long while, but I have my doubts about 
 it nowadays. It sometimes happens that institutions of 
 this kind, well conceived in their origin, continue to exist 
 long after their utility has become a thing of the past, and 
 nothing remains but their objectionable features. 
 
 In a general way, the following observations may be 
 made concerning the regulations governing the provision- 
 ing of the capital. Their existence dates from before the 
 Revolution, which swept them away in 1789. At first, 
 this doing away with them was the cause of much confu- 
 sion, which might have been remedied with the aid of a 
 little time and a lull in the stormy political horizon; but, 
 the assignats, popular disturbances, the Terror, then the 
 '' maximum " law, and a general state of distress supervened 
 simultaneously. Then the scarcity of provisions reached 
 its extreme limit; one lacked everything, even things of 
 primary necessity. As soon as order was re-established, 
 after the 18th Brumaire, and wlien everything had to be 
 re-organized, the simplest way was found to be a return to 
 the methods in vogue prior to the Revolution. 
 
 The consequences of the absolute liberty allowed in 
 1789 to those who saw to the provisioning of the capital, 
 have been wrongly confounded with those which brought 
 about the Terror, the " maximum " law, and the lack of 
 capital, which latter was caused by the excessive use of 
 paper money. Hence it happened that regulations, which
 
 THE PROVISIONING OF PARIS 493 
 
 should have been put in force temporarily only, were 
 adopted as a final measure. I feel convinced that the 
 defects of this system will in the end be realized, and that 
 it will be understood by degrees that the benefits of com- 
 petition are to be sought for above all; this is what the 
 present administration has already attempted to do, on a 
 pretty large scale, for the meat trade, and I am of opinion 
 that it has entered on the right path. 
 
 I devoted much care to establishing frequent intercourse 
 between the forty-eight commissaires de police and myself. 
 I met them in conference every week, questioned them 
 about all kinds of matters, made them speak openly, and 
 even chat confidentially, and I was thus enabled to ascer- 
 tain what their abilities were and to find out which of 
 these men were most worthy of my esteem and confidence, 
 I also acquired in this fashion a number of particulars 
 which would otherwise have escaped my attention. I must 
 be forgiven if I dwell so much on the past, and I would 
 like it to be of as much interest to the reader as to myself. 
 It is twenty -two years since I entered public affairs ; I have 
 held many positions, I have under difiicult circumstances 
 rendered perhaps real services to my country, but the 
 satisfaction of having done good and prevented evil, in so 
 far as lay in my power, has never been felt by me to a 
 greater extent than when fulfilling the duties of Prefect 
 of Police. It is therefore natural that my thoughts should 
 once more delight in dwelling with no little complacency 
 on those days.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Eetreat in Spain of Massena, the greatest warrior after Napoleon — Conse- 
 quences of the dissensions between Ney and Massena — Marmont in 
 command — Marshal Suchet in Catalonia — Birth of the King of Rome — 
 Joy of Napoleon and the nation — Haughty speech of the Emperor at 
 the opening of the Corps legislatif — Convocation of a National ecclesi- 
 astical council — A deputation of bishops sent to Savona to wait upon 
 the Pope — First sitting of the council, in the Archiepiscopal Palace in 
 Paris, on the 17th of June — Serious difficulties between the Fathers of 
 the Council and Napoleon — Energetic opposition shown by the Arch- 
 bishop of Bordeaux and several bishops — Dissolution of the Council by 
 a decree dated the 10th of July — Arrest, and imprisonment at Vin- 
 cennes, of the Bishops of Tournay, Troyes, and Ghent — Deplorable 
 effect produced by these deeds of coercion — Fears of a schism — Nego- 
 tiations to ward off such a danger — Fresh meeting of the Council — 
 A delegation of prelates again sent to the Pope, who finally grants a 
 brief of approval — The papal brief rejected by the Council of State — 
 Pius VII. refuses to make any further concessions — The imprisoned 
 bishops restored to freedom on condition of resigning — Impolitic con- 
 duct of Napoleon towards the Church. 
 
 The period comprised between the end of 1810 and the 
 middle of 1812, was the calmest through which we passed 
 since the days of the Consulate. We did not run any of 
 those terrible risks to which the Prussian, Russian, and 
 Austrian campaigns had accustomed us, and which we were 
 to once more experience, but in more terrible form, during 
 the next three years. Since the end of 1809, the Spanish 
 peninsula remained the only battle-field where our soldiers 
 were struggling. The losses consequent upon this war were 
 enormous, but they were not fully known until such time 
 as other and far greater disasters rendered it imperative to 
 bring together all the military resources of the state. 
 
 494
 
 MASSENA AND MARSHAL NET 495 
 
 Each and every month of the year 1811 was made memo- 
 rable, both in Spain and Portugal, by some engagement, or 
 by the storming or besieging of some city. I have already 
 spoken of the little success attending the siege of Cadiz, 
 and the failure of the expedition into Portugal. The 
 retreat of Massena occurred towards the beginning of 
 March ; it was the termination of the military career of that 
 great captain. Prance's first military commander after 
 iN'apoleon. Picliegru, Moreau, Kleber, Desaix, and Lannes 
 are rivals above whom it may seem audacious to place any- 
 body. I have met them all, with the exception of Desaix, 
 but none of them has given me as completely as Massena, 
 the idea of a born warrior, possessing a genius for war, and 
 endowed with all the qualities which render victory cer- 
 tain. His eagle eye seemed made to scan a field of battle. 
 One could understand, on seeing him, that the soldier 
 under his command never believed it was possible to retreat. 
 The battle of Zurich, the defence of Genoa, and that of the 
 village of Essling, are military feats which may be equalled, 
 but not surpassed. 
 
 The absolute lack of subordination on the part of Marshal 
 Ney, who was placed under his orders in the Portuguese 
 campaign,^ and the delay incurred in sending the reinforce- 
 
 1 The dissensions existing between the two marshals, both previous to 
 and after the retreat, reached such a point that Massena, towards tlie end 
 of the movement, determined upon depriving Ney of his command. It was 
 believed for a while that Ney would resist this degradation, but he finally 
 submitted to it. I heard, at the time, many interesting particulars con- 
 cerning this state of discord and its fatal consequences. They were fur- 
 nished to me by M. Lagarde, a man of parts, who was at headquarters as 
 general commissary of police. He was to exercise the functions appertain- 
 ing to his post, as soon as the army had entered Lisbon. He was, more- 
 over, a kind of supervisor whom it had been considered proper to place 
 near the military commanders, the necessity of such surveillance having 
 doubtless made itself felt owing to the strange undertaking attempted by 
 Marshal Soult, at the time of the preceding expedition. It is kno^vn that 
 Soult had pretended to have himself proclaimed king, under the title of 
 'Nicholas I. M. Lagarde, in his narratives, attributed all the wrongs of 
 tli3 aftair to Marshal Ney.
 
 496 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ments which had been promised him, were the principal 
 causes of the failure of this campaign, which was at any 
 rate undertaken with far too few troops. His energy met 
 with almost insuperable obstacles ; the retreat was effected 
 across a country that had been laid waste, and in the face 
 •of superior forces, without a single man being left behind, 
 or one of his guns abandoned. During this retreat, the 
 soul of Massena became possessed with a kind of disheart- 
 ened feeling, which made him leave to Marshal Ney the 
 care of repulsing the attacks directed against his rear- 
 guard. He was also blamed, with some show of cause, of 
 having, when re-entering Spain, let slip a magnificent 
 opportunity of wiping out the army of the Duke of Wel- 
 lington. All these combined circumstances broke the heart 
 of the old warrior, and I do not entertain any doubt but 
 that all the mortification he had to endure contributed 
 greatly towards accelerating the disease of the lungs which 
 carried him off, and which rendered him unfit to serve in 
 the following campaigns. This was another irreparable 
 loss to Napoleon. 
 
 Had Massena and Lannes, during the Saxon campaigns, 
 respectively been in command of one of the large army corps 
 left behind in Silesia, or one whose destination was Berlin, 
 no one can say what might not have happened, and, without 
 wishing to cast any reflection on the men chosen in prefer- 
 ence to them, it is allowable to think that the issue of the 
 battles would have been different. I often met Marshal 
 Massena, after his return from Portugal, and his conversa- 
 tion always had infinite attraction for me. He had an 
 acute, quick, and sagacious understandiug. 
 
 Marshal Marmont was placed at the head of the troops, 
 whose command Massdna and Ney were relinquishing, and 
 the name of Army of Portugal was retained, in order to 
 fully establish the fact that the plan of conquering that 
 kingdom had not been given up.
 
 MARSHALS MAEMONT AND SUCHET 497 
 
 Yet, its frontiers were never, from that time on, to be 
 crossed by the French troops, and Portugal remained a kind 
 of fortress from which the British troops, led by the Duke 
 of Wellington, invaded Spain on several occasions. 
 
 During this time, Catalonia was the scene of the efforts 
 and triumphs of Marshal Suchet, the only one of all the 
 generals employed in this war who was constantly fortu- 
 nate. His victory under the walls of Saguntum, his taking 
 of that city and Tarragona, gave him, in 1811, the baton of 
 a marshal. He had deserved it by the vigor of his opera- 
 tions and the excellent order he had maintained in the 
 army corps under his command, and in the provinces he 
 had succeeded in conquering. 
 
 The rivalries which had proved so fatal to the direction 
 of military operations, induced the king to try the result 
 of a journey to Paris, in the course of the month of May. 
 He would have liked to obtain from his brother absolute 
 power over all the Prench troops occupying his kingdom. 
 Joseph had good grounds for complaint, but he seriously 
 deceived himself if he ventured to flatter himself with the 
 idea that his brother would consent to cede to him the ab- 
 solute command he was asking for. There was nothing on 
 earth that Napoleon was less disposed to yield to another. 
 His army was the basis and the primary instrument of his 
 grandeur. The safety of his crown rested on the strength 
 and loyalty of that army, and he could not entertain the 
 idea that it should for even a single day, even the smallest 
 part of it, be withdrawn from his command, or that it 
 should give battle pursuant to orders emanating from any 
 other authority than his own. Moreover, did he himself 
 know what the march of events would lead him to do with 
 regard to the fate of Spain? Joseph therefore met with a 
 somewhat cool welcome; some few concessions were made 
 to his pride, but none of them bore on his heart's desire.
 
 498 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 and, after his return to Spain, matters went on as before, 
 with bnt slight difference. 
 
 The birth of the King of Eome took place on the 20th of 
 March. The whole of the Court, and all who held posi- 
 tions of any importance, had been summoned on the preced- 
 ing evening, and spent the night in the rooms adjoining 
 those of the Empress. For the greater part of those pres- 
 ent, the birth of an heir to the Empire was, in a measure, a 
 matter of personal interest, as it would give stability to the 
 order of things in which their fortunes were bound up. At 
 six o'clock in the morning, we were informed that labor had 
 become suspended, that it was not known when the Em- 
 press would give birth to a child, and that Ave might all 
 retire. The Empress was in actual danger, and she was 
 nearing the point when it sometimes becomes necessary, in 
 order to save the life of either mother or child, to sacrifice 
 one of them. M. Dubois, an eminent surgeon, who had 
 charge of the accouchement, had not concealed this fact 
 from the Emperor. History must render Napoleon the jus- 
 tice of recording his answer, which became known at the 
 time. "Behave, sir, as you would in the case of a peas- 
 ant's wife." 
 
 Hardly an hour had elapsed from the time of my return 
 to the prefecture, when I heard the first report of the can- 
 non announcing that the Empress had been safely delivered 
 of a child. When the twenty-second report was heard, the 
 public joy revealed itself in the most lively and expansive 
 fashion wherever the people congregated. A loud cry of 
 "Long live the Emperor, the Empress, and the King of 
 Rome! " arose in all directions. We therefore did not de- 
 ceive the Emperor, when, on returning to the chateau, we 
 conveyed to him the assurance that the happiness he felt 
 was reciprocated by the inhabitants of the city of Paris. 
 
 From all I saw, Napoleon probably never experienced a
 
 BIRTH OF THE KING OF ROME 499 
 
 more happy day in this life. His physiognomy was irradi- 
 ated with joy. He himself carried the child into the room 
 wherein were assembled the most important members of 
 his Conrt and Government. There was something touching 
 and affectionate in his expression, which was not generally 
 to be found there. The Emperor, it was plain, had given 
 way to the father. Why did this victory of nature not 
 endure longer? 
 
 The infant's baptism was set for June. In the interval, 
 no event of any importance happened excepting the return 
 of M. de Caulaincourt to France. He was leaving his post 
 as ambassador at St. Petersburg, and as he had been a per- 
 sonal favorite with Alexander, his recall, or, to speak more 
 in accordance with the language of the day, the leave of 
 absence which had been granted him, was a sufficient indi- 
 cation that there was daily a little less anxiety to culti- 
 vate a good understanding between the two cabinets. It 
 was patent to any one who could see beneath the surface 
 of things, that the part the ambassador of France to Russia 
 was henceforth destined to play, was to be one not at all 
 in harmony with the one performed by the Due de Vicence. 
 His personal character was, moreover, too sincere and 
 unbending for any hope to be entertained that the new 
 attitude and language required could be obtained from it. 
 
 About the same period, M. Maret, Due de Bassano, took 
 the place, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of M. de 
 Champagny, Due de Cadore, who was appointed Minister 
 without portfolio. M. de Bassano, while endowed with no 
 less sincere zeal than his predecessor, felt positively en- 
 thusiastic over the genius of the master whom he served. 
 It could be said of him that he had the same faith in Xapo- 
 leon as the most fervent Catholic can have in the infallibil- 
 ity of the Church. To this impassioned devotion must be 
 added a comprehensive intellect and a great aptitude for
 
 500 MEMOIES OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 work. So it is that no one ever constantly stood in such 
 high favor, and, if his services were not always useful, they 
 never for a single day ceased being agreeable. 
 
 M. Daru took his place as Minister of State. These 
 changes, although they did not seem likely to affect me, 
 had nevertheless a marked influence on my present status 
 and the one to come. My very frequent intercourse with 
 the Due de Bassano did not suffer any interruption, and 
 so, when visiting him at his official residence, I became 
 acquainted with an entirely new set of people. I was in 
 the habit of meeting there the principal personages of the 
 Diplomatic Corps, I got a far better insight into the mys- 
 teries of the imperial policy, and I began to judge of it with 
 more clear-sightedness, and, in consequence, with increased 
 doubts and fears. 
 
 Far from taking any hold of me, the enthusiasm of the 
 Due de Bassano made me distrustful, for I perceived that 
 owing to his ardent admiration of all his master's actions, 
 he could no longer judge of matters correctl3^ The mar- 
 riage of the Emperor with the Archduchess had dazzled him. 
 He could no longer see any danger that could possibly 
 threaten the fortunes of Napoleon. This was the wrong 
 frame of mind for the man Avho ought to have made it his 
 duty to collect and convey to his master every scrap of 
 information likely to enlighten him, to have heard every- 
 thing, to have listened to everything, for the man, finally, 
 who was called upon to carry on the correspondence with 
 the cabinet of St. Petersburg. 
 
 Few there were who could resist the prestige of the sov- 
 ereign whose every action was crowned with success. I 
 can only name two men in the following of M. Maret who 
 did not share his illusions. One was M. de Semonville, 
 an old friend of j\I. Maret, and the other, Comte Louis de 
 Xarbonne, a returned emigi'i, one of the wittiest and most
 
 M. DE BASSANO AND THOSE ABOUT HIM 501 
 
 brilliant members of the Court of Louis XVI., whose Minis- 
 ter he had been for a few months, in the opening days of 
 the AssemhUe Ugislative. He had, in his youth, been a 
 somewhat close friend of M. de Talleyrand, and after having 
 at the outset of the Revolution drifted into almost the same 
 line of opinion, Comte Louis, on his return to France, had 
 not received from his former friend the help he had ex- 
 pected, so he was compelled to make his own way to the 
 Emperor. He had known how to make himself most agree- 
 able, and had become his aide-de-camp. Napoleon en- 
 trusted him with several diplomatic missions. All this 
 combined had, while increasing the distance which sepa- 
 rated him from M. de Talleyrand, brought him into some- 
 what close intimacy with M. Maret. This was equivalent 
 to falling out with the former, for great was the opposition, 
 not to say the hostility, between the former and present 
 Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the world knows to what 
 an extent the Due de Bassano was persistently harassed by 
 the sarcasms of the Prince of Benevento. 
 
 My former relations with M. de Semonville (we had both 
 been councillors in the Parlement) soon brought about an 
 interchange of our thoughts and premonitions. His own 
 were of a more sombre nature than mine, and I occasion- 
 ally considered them rash, although I could hardly dispute 
 their accuracy. The three of us then formed a small* and 
 intimate group in the salons of the Minister; we listened to 
 and observed everything, and as we felt a sincere desire 
 that matters should not reach a disastrous climax, we seized 
 every opportunity to let the Due de Bassano know the truth 
 about things. But, he was so greatly under the sway of his 
 illusions that there was no way of getting him to under- 
 stand anything that was of a nature to weaken them. 
 
 Brilliant fetes in connection with the christening of the 
 King of Rome took place in Paris and at Saint-Cloud.
 
 502 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 The Emperor had wished that they should coincide with 
 the opening of the Corps legislatif, an event which took 
 place on the 16th of June. His speech on this occasion 
 deserves notice, for he seldom had delivered a more haughty 
 one, and never were his audacious encroachments more out- 
 spokenly avowed. 
 
 The reunion to the Empire of the Papal States, of Hol- 
 land, of the Hanseatic provinces, and of the Valais was re- 
 ferred to in this speech as the consequent result of the 
 necessity he found increasing his maritime resources, and 
 separating the affairs of the Church from those of the 
 Empire. ''I have granted to the Popes," he said, with 
 most derisive coolness, " palaces in Rome and in Paris. If 
 they have the interests of religion at heart, they will often 
 come and reside at the centre of affairs, and follow the ex- 
 ample of Saint Peter, who preferred living in Rome to liv- 
 ing in Holy Land." His speech concluded with a state- 
 ment of the condition of affairs in Spain, where the 
 insurgents had been defeated in a number of pitched bat- 
 tles, and where English blood had at last flown in a number 
 of actions which reflected glory on the French armies. 
 "When England is exhausted," he went on to say, ''when 
 she shall at last have been made to experience all the ills 
 which she has for tAventy years past inflicted on continental 
 nations, when one half of her families will be in mourning, 
 a bolt out of the skies will come and settle the Peninsular 
 War, the fate of her armies, and avenge Europe and Asia, 
 by ending this Second Punic War." 
 
 The history of those days, and especially of that extraor- 
 dinary man, is nowhere better written than in these sol- 
 emnly delivered words which read so strongly a few years 
 later. If this language imposed on the greater number, 
 what irritation and indignation must it not have aroused 
 abroad among those who were not yet completely crushed.
 
 THE NATIONAL ECCLESIASTICAL COUNCIL 503 
 
 and who felt that they were still able to show him some 
 resistance? Hence is it to be wondered at that renewed 
 efforts were finally made, with one common accord, from 
 one end of Europe to the other, as soon as the day came 
 when the possibility of overthrowing the conqueror began 
 to be seen, and as soon as it became plain that fortune was 
 deserting him? 
 
 This same month of June, in which the promulgation 
 of which I have just given an extract appeared, witnessed 
 several other events that I cannot pass in silence. Napo- 
 leon had made up his mind, following the result of the de- 
 bates of the ecclesiastical commission and the answers he 
 had received from it, to call together a national council. 
 Letters of convocation had been sent out as early as the 
 25th of April, addressed to the French and Italian bishops. 
 A deputation composed of the Bishops of Tours, Nantes, 
 and Treves, had started simultaneously to wait on the Pope, 
 at Savona ; its object was to announce this convocation, and 
 to notify him that the Concordat of 1801 was no longer in 
 force, owing to his refusal to conform to its essential 
 clauses. They were to add that in future the bishops 
 would be installed as previous to the Concordat, according 
 to forms to be determined by the forthcoming council, and 
 approved by the Emperor. 
 
 Still, if the delegates found the Pope in a conciliatory 
 mood, they were authorized to treat with him, in which 
 case two treaties would have to be agreed upon, each inde- 
 pendent of the other. The first was to have reference to 
 episcopal installation, and On this point the Emperor was 
 willing to revert to the Concordat of 1801, but on two con- 
 ditions, the first of these being that the Pope would install 
 such bishops already appointed to sees, and the second, that 
 in future the appointments should be submitted to the Pope 
 in the usual form, for the purpose of obtaining canonical
 
 504 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 installation ; that, in case at the end of these three months, 
 it had not been granted by His Holiness, the appointment 
 was to be submitted to the Metropolitan, who was to install 
 his suffragan, who in turn would equally have the power 
 to install, even in the case of an archbishop. 
 
 The purport of the second agreement was the settlement 
 of matters generally, and if, following upon this, the Pope 
 consented to observe all the conditions mutually agreed 
 upon, he might at will return to Kome or reside at Avig- 
 non, with full power to administer spiritual matters, and 
 to even have about him resident representatives of the 
 Christian powers. He would receive two millions for his 
 maintenance, all of this, moreover, consequent upon his 
 binding himself to exercise in the Empire no power that 
 was contrary to the four articles of 1682. These points 
 once settled, it was expected that many minor difficulties 
 would soon be disposed of. 
 
 The delegates were also commanded to inform His Holi- 
 ness, that under no circumstances would he again enter 
 into temporal possession of Eome. They were also to warn 
 him, that in case of his refusing to agree to the proposed 
 arrangements, the Church of France in National Council 
 assembled, would be free to act in conformity with the 
 precedents established in bygone days, and inspired by the 
 necessity of providing for the salvation of souls and the 
 good of religion. 
 
 In order to be better accredited, the three bishops had 
 armed themselves with a letter signed by several other 
 bishops at a meeting held at the residence of Cardinal 
 Fesch, and also with a private letter from this Cardinal. 
 In their letter, the bishops entreated the Pope to place full 
 confidence in the three delegates sent him, and the Cardinal 
 entered into a rather detailed expose of all the advantages 
 which would accrue from his compliance with all the prop-
 
 DEPUTATION OF BISHOPS SENT TO THE POPE 505 
 
 ositions which were to be submitted to him. He dwelt 
 in particular fashion on those which would be of benefit to 
 religion, and be experienced by the Churches of France and 
 of Italy, viz. : The freedom and independence of the head 
 of the Church, the return of the cardinals to the Court of 
 His Holiness, a satisfactory revenue derived from landed 
 property, the re-establishment of foreign missions, the pres- 
 ence of the Ministers of the several powers at the Court of 
 His Holiness, an increase in the number of bishops, many 
 increased facilities for the exercise of worship, and lastly, 
 a liberal stipend for the ministers of religion. 
 
 The above were the precious benefits to which His Emi- 
 nence called the attention of the Sovereign Pontiff, if he 
 complied with Napoleon's propositions. Several other car- 
 dinals, archbishops, and bishops who were temporarily in 
 Paris, also wrote privately to the Pope. 
 
 The delegates were under orders to return by the 1st of 
 June. I will not enter into a detailed account of the nego- 
 tiations which took place between them and the Pope at 
 Savona. They found him angered, and were on the point 
 of failing absolutely in their mission. But Pius VII. was 
 moved with compassion for the sufferings of the Church. 
 The letter of Cardinal Fesch had made a great impression 
 on him, and, when everything seemed broken off, he decided 
 on giving an oral approval to a memorandum of which he 
 kept a duplicate, and which contained the following con- 
 ventions : — 
 
 "Taking into consideration the needs and desires of the 
 Churches of France and of Italy, etc., he would grant 
 canonical installation to Napoleon's appointees, according 
 to the forms prescribed at the time of the concordats of 
 France and of the Kingdom of Italy. He was prepared to 
 extend by means of a new concordat, the same conditions 
 to the Churches of Tuscany, Parma, and Piacenza. He
 
 506 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 consented to the insertion into the concordats of a clause 
 by which he bound himself to deliver bulls of installation 
 to the bishops appointed by the Emperor or by the King, 
 within a period to be determined, which period was not to 
 be less than six months, and in case such installation was 
 withheld for longer than six months, for other reasons than 
 the personal unworthiness of the appointees, he would in- 
 vest with the power of delivering bulls in his name the 
 Metropolitan of the vacant see, and failing him, the senior 
 Metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province. However, he 
 had only determined to make these concessions in the hope 
 which the bishops had led him to entertain, that they would 
 pave the way to arrangements which would re-establish 
 peace and order in the Church, and would restore to the 
 Holy See the independence and dignity appertaining to it. 
 The various arrangements having relation to Church disci- 
 pline and the exercise of pontifical authority were to form 
 the subjects of special treaty for the negotiation of which 
 His Holiness was disposed to entertain propositions, as soon 
 as his freedom and his counsellors were restored to him." 
 
 It was on the 19th of May that this memorandum was 
 accepted as satisfactory by the episcopal delegates, who, re- 
 joicing at so unexpected a success, hastened to return to 
 Napoleon, whom they flattered themselves they could pre- 
 vail upon to feel the advantage there would be in remaining 
 content with that convention, the frank acceptance of which 
 might render the holding of the council unnecessary. But 
 matters had progressed too far, as the bishops convoked had 
 already come together. Besides, the Pope's consent was 
 merely a verbal one, he had not signed any document, and 
 the Emperor indulged in the hope of obtaining from the 
 council decrees which would provide a remedy for his em- 
 barrassments in a much more certain fashion. He also 
 enjoyed the idea that the holding of a council was a conspic-
 
 THE OPENING OF THE COUNCIL 507 
 
 uous event whicli should not be lacking to his reign, and 
 he doubtless fondly imagined that it would not be much 
 more difficult to direct and govern such an assembly than 
 his Corps legislatif. 
 
 The opening of the council took place in the archiepisco- 
 pal palace of Paris, on the 17th of June. Cardinal Fesch 
 claimed the presidency over it, as the privilege of his archi- 
 episcopal see of Lyons, and as Primate of all Gaul. There 
 was much to be said against this, and there were well- 
 founded objections to this claim, which was finally allowed. 
 The Fathers of the council, to the number of eighty-seven, 
 of whom thirty -one were Italians,^ went in procession to 
 Notre-Dame, and there heard mass, which was celebrated 
 by Cardinal Fesch with great pomp. 
 
 The Bishop of Troyes, Abbe of Boulogne, preached the 
 sermon ; the Bishop of Kantes announced the decree open- 
 ing the council, from the pulpit, and read the declaration 
 of faith of the Council of Trent. The president then re- 
 peated aloud the oath prescribed in 1564 by the bull of Pius 
 IV., and the other prelates took the same oath at his hands. 
 These proceedings greatly displeased the Emperor. He was 
 considerably displeased with the sermon, in which the 
 Bishop of Troyes had spoken far too much of the Roman 
 Church, "the mother and sovereign of all Churches, etc." 
 The oath also was very distasteful to him, as it began with 
 the words " I swear and promise faithful obedience to the 
 Roman Pontiff, etc." However, he was given to under- 
 stand that this was a matter of form which need not cause 
 
 1 Thirty-three Italian bishops had not been convoked, either because 
 they were in prison or in exile, or owing to their old age and their infirmi- 
 ties. Of the Roman bishops but one had been summoned ; in France, there 
 was only one who had not been summoned, and that was the Bishop of 
 Seez. The Emperor, who was dissatisfied with his principles, had com- 
 pelled him to resign and to live out of his diocese ; yet it could not be denied 
 that he remained the titular l)ishop, his resignation not having been accepted 
 by the Pope, and as such, he had tlie right to be jiresent at the council.
 
 508 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 him any annoyance. But fresh difficulties soon made their 
 appearance. Napoleon sent his Minister of Public Worship 
 to read to the council a decree whereby he approved of Car- 
 dinal Fesch as its president, and which enacted that a com- 
 mittee should be created for the purpose of regulating the 
 proceedings of the assembly, of which bureau the Ministers 
 of Public Worship of Prance and Italy were to be members. 
 
 The unexpected apparition of the Minister and the claims 
 arising out of the decree of which he was the bearer, caused 
 great perturbation. In the early centuries, the Christian 
 Emperors were indeed in the habit of sending to the coun- 
 cils one or two commissioners with the object of preserving 
 order; but, for ages past, the care of this had exclusively 
 been left to those who presided over them. When attempt- 
 ing to revive such a usage, the Emperor was but too plainly 
 making manifest his desire of influencing the decisions, 
 and it was not a good means of reaching the object he had 
 in view. 
 
 Cardinal Fesch moved that the prelates whom he had 
 previously commissioned to police the assembly should con- 
 stitute the bureau, but his motion failed to find acceptance, 
 so, at the request of the Bishop of Ghent, M. de Broglie, 
 the council proceeded with making a fresh selection of 
 prelates. The Minister of Public Worship next read a 
 message from Napoleon, who complained bitterly of the 
 Pope's refusal to grant bulls of installation to the bishops 
 he (the Emperor) had appointed, of the briefs issued by 
 him against installations by the Chapters, of the bull of 
 excommunication which His Holiness had issued, and of 
 certain extraordinary powers granted to Cardinal di Pietro, 
 and wherein he declared that the Concordat having been 
 violated and no longer extant, a new method must be found 
 for canonical installations, and that the council was the 
 l)roper body to determine upon the one most suitable.
 
 THE FATHERS OF THE COUNCIL AND NAPOLEON 509 
 
 This message created consternation among the Fathers 
 of the council, who had, up to that time, lioped to bring 
 about a reconciliation between the two parties, and who 
 were most anxious to see this hope realized. From that 
 moment, discouragement and a sentiment of distrust reigned 
 among them. Those prelates who passed as being more 
 particularly attached to the Emperor, became, from the mere 
 fact, objects of suspicion to their colleagues, and whatever 
 might be the rectitude of their intentions, they lost almost 
 all consideration. This feeling of hostility was directed in 
 a particular fashion against the man who by his virtues, 
 his lights, and talents, was best in a position to render 
 valuable services, the Bishop of Nantes, M. Duvoisin. He 
 endeavored, on the following day, to read in reply to the 
 message, an address wherein was dealt with at length the 
 question of excommunication. Its tenor was attacked by 
 the Bishop of Ghent, and the part having reference to the 
 excommunication underwent a change. In lieu of dealing 
 with the particular issue, it was agreed that one should 
 remain content with laying down general principles. Cer- 
 tain passages relating to the four articles of 1682 and the 
 liberties of the Galilean Church met with strenuous opposi- 
 tion at the hands of the Italian prelates, which went so far 
 as to take the shape of a protest which was presented by 
 the Bishop of Brescia, and signed by several of his col- 
 leagues. The Bishop of Chambery moved that the council 
 should proceed in a body to Saint-Cloud, and demand the 
 freedom of the Holy Father. This proposition was at first 
 welcomed with the liveliest enthusiasm, and was on the 
 point of being adopted, when the majority drew back before 
 the fear of entering into a discussion with Napoleon, and 
 rejected a measure which would have honored the council 
 in the eyes of the man himself to whom it would have most 
 given offence.
 
 510 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 In the end, the address was adopted, after everything 
 had been eliminated from it which had reference to the ex- 
 communication. Napoleon declined to receive it in its 
 modified form, and ordered that the bishops were to give 
 their attention at once to the object for which they had 
 been convened, i.e. the methods to be substituted for the 
 papal bulls with regard to the installation of bishops. 
 
 I do not believe that Napoleon, in any circumstance of 
 his life, so little understood the position and character of 
 the men with whom he had to deal. It was evident that 
 in those days he found himself without such counsellors as 
 were able to correct the false ideas which swayed his mind 
 in this connection. The Minister of Public Worship, M. 
 Bigot de Preameneu, a worthy man, but weak and timid, 
 was incapable of taking any stand and firmly defending his 
 position. At the time of the conclusion of the Concordat, 
 M. Portalis, who then was Minister of Public Worship, 
 possessed all the general knowledge and talents necessary 
 to exercise a salutary influence, and it was also the time 
 when M. de Talleyrand still exercised great influence. 
 There is no cause, therefore, for surprise if matters were 
 conducted differently in 1801 and in 1811. 
 
 It was nevertheless necessary that the council should 
 pronounce itself on the question last set by the Government. 
 The Archbishop of Tours read the report drawn up in this 
 connection, at the end of the preceding year by the ecclesi- 
 astical commission, and concluded by giving some particu- 
 lars of what had recently occurred at Savona. He sub- 
 mitted the memorandum orally approved of by the Pope, 
 and which up to that time had been studiously kept in the 
 background. The absence of any signature to it was 
 quickly noticed, and it was agreed that this memorandum, 
 in that it did not bear any character of authenticity, could 
 not be taken into consideration. It was in vain that Car-
 
 DICTATION OF NAPOLEON 511 
 
 dinal Fesch produced a letter from the Pope, "wherein His 
 Holiness highly praised the behavior of the delegates, and 
 begged the Cardinal to place faith in what they might say 
 on his behalf, the majority of the council steadfastly per- 
 sisted in looking upon the memorandum as forced from the 
 Holy Father's good nature, and containing, not conceptions 
 irrevocably granted, but the mere bases of an under- 
 standing. 
 
 In order to bring the discussion to an end, Cardinal Fesch 
 made a proposition which met with a unanimous reception. 
 This motion was to the effect that previous to rendering any 
 decision with regard to the questions submitted to them, it 
 should beg leave of His Majesty to send a deputation to the 
 Pope, with the object of laying before him the deplorable 
 condition of the Churches, and of conferring with him as 
 to the best remedial measures to be adopted. On hearing 
 of this resolve, Napoleon was on the point of immediately 
 dissolving the council. He had made up his mind to 
 have a decree issued which would compel Metropolitans 
 to install bishops. But he was dissuaded from this coup 
 d'JEtat by the Bishop of Nantes, and he contented himself 
 with a decree which was to be promulgated by the council 
 itself (he having dictated it), and which should be couched 
 in the following terms : — 
 
 "1. — Under all circumstances, no episcopal see shall re- 
 main vacant for over a year. The appointment, installa- 
 tion, and consecration shall take place within that time; 
 2. — The Emperor shall appoint to all vacant sees, in con- 
 formity with the terms of the Concordat ; 3. — The Pope 
 shall grant canonical installation six months after the ap- 
 pointment; 4. — At the expiration of these six months, the 
 Metropolitan shall become invested by the very fact of 
 the concession made by the Pope, and shall proceed with the 
 canonical installation and the consecration ; 5. — The pres-
 
 512 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ent decree will be submitted to the approval of the Em- 
 peror, and incorporated with the laws of the state ; 6. — The 
 council will beg His Majesty to permit a deputation of 
 bishops to visit the Pope, to thank him for having by his 
 concessions put an end to the evils of the Church." 
 
 The angry passions aroused in the council by the reading 
 of this decree assumed a violent character which nobody 
 had anticipated. At first, the Bishop of Nantes succeeded 
 in getting it almost unanimously adopted by the committee; 
 but, on the following morning, a lively opposition mani- 
 fested itself in the same committee ; there were many with- 
 draAvals, and in the end the proposed measure was adopted 
 on the express condition that " the decree, before becoming 
 law, should have the sanction of the Sovereign Pontiff." 
 Matters became more strained when the report of the com- 
 mittee was read by the Bishop of Tournay to the council. 
 The Bishop of Xantes and the Archbishop of Tours had 
 declined to take charge of the matter. 
 
 Great was the confusion which followed this reading. 
 Debate was thereupon resumed as to the jurisdiction of the 
 council, and the extent of the powers appertaining to the 
 Pope. Some there were who argued that he had exceeded 
 his powers when issuing the bull of excommunication. At 
 these words, the Archbishop of Bordeaux, casting on the 
 table a copy of the decisions of the Council of Trent, open 
 at the particular passage giving Popes the right to excom- 
 municate sovereigns, of whatever rank, in case of their lay- 
 ing hands on the rights and privileges of the Church, 
 exclaimed : " Condemn the Church at once ! " This action 
 produced the greatest excitement, and it was difficult to 
 foresee what might happen next, when Cardinal Fesch 
 adjourned the sitting, alleging as a reason for so doing that 
 time should be given each one to think over so serious a 
 matter. The same evening, Napoleon decreed the dissolu-
 
 NAPOLEON DISSOLVES THE COUNCIL 513 
 
 tion of the council. This was on the 10th of July. In 
 vain did Cardinal Fesch point out to him in every con- 
 ceivable way the bad effect which such a measure would 
 produce; he was not listened to, nay, more, he was accused 
 by his nephew of secretly favoring the plans of the oppo- 
 sition. 
 
 The Emperor was not satisfied with this display of his 
 authority. He had flattered himself that the council would 
 help him to do without the Pope. Deceived in this ex- 
 pectation, and attributing this failure to a great extent to 
 the Bishops of Tournay and of Troyes, and to M. de Broglie, 
 Bishop of Ghent, who was also one of his chaplains, he 
 gave orders to the Due de Rovigo to arrest them and to 
 confine them in a state prison, which orders were carried 
 out the very same night. 
 
 I received, on this important occasion, the fullest con- 
 firmation of the assurance given to me that political police 
 operations should be left entirely in the hands of the Min- 
 ister of Police. In fact, I did not know of the present one 
 until next day when it had been completely carried out. 
 The Due de Rovigo had sent at midnight for inspector- 
 general Veyrat, who, with two officers chosen by him and 
 belonging to the Ministry of Police, had arrested the three 
 bishops, and conveyed them to Vincennes. On my being 
 informed next morning that M. Veyrat had been absent for 
 the greater part of the night, I asked him to give an account 
 of himself, whereupon he told me in most naive fashion all 
 the particulars of his expedition. In spite of his natural 
 roughness, he had not been able to remain unmoved, when 
 called upon to lay hands, so to speak, on such venerable 
 personages, and his narrative still bore traces of his emo- 
 tion. Two of the prelates, the Bishops of Tournay and of 
 Ghent, had impressed him with the dignity of their de- 
 meanor and the calmness of their resignation.
 
 514 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 Although I was at that time far from being on an inti- 
 mate footing with the Minister of Police, I was neverthe- 
 less beginning to feel more at ease with him, and I could 
 not resist telling him that such violent measures seemed to 
 me likely to produce an unpleasant effect. He almost 
 admitted as much, and the proof of it must have been very- 
 great to extort such an admission from him. He gave me 
 to understand that he had prevented others being included 
 in this measure of coercion, and that he had personally res- 
 cued the Archbishop of Bordeaux from a like fate, a fact of 
 which I have since received confirmation. This was the 
 first time that I realized that the Due de Kovigo was not 
 altogether insensible to councils of prudence and modera- 
 tion. Moreover, it would have been difficult to discover, 
 even among those most devoted to the Emperor, many who 
 approved of what he had just done. 
 
 It was considered outrageous that prelates called upon to 
 express their opinion, should be arrested for availing them- 
 selves of the faculty granted them. Fears of a schism 
 began to be entertained, especially when it became known 
 that it was the intention of Napoleon to have the Corps 
 legislatif pass a law which would determine the methods 
 governing episcopal installation. Those prelates who were 
 most attached to him, and those who enjoyed his confidence 
 to some extent, were not among those least alarmed, so thej- 
 set everything in motion to ward off so great a peril. The 
 members of the recently dissolved council were, at their 
 suggestion, summoned in succession into the presence of 
 the Minister of Public Worshij), who gave them to under- 
 stand that the steps just taken might be recalled, if they 
 would give their adhesion to the proposed decree. Some 
 of them remained unshaken; the others, to the number of 
 about eighty, promised their acceptance of it, if, as was 
 promised them, the Emperor would on his part consent to 
 submit the decree to the approval of the Pope,
 
 REASSEMBLING OF THE COUNCIL. 515 
 
 After many parleys and negotiations, the decree of dis- 
 solution was finally declared null and void, and the council 
 met once more on the 5th of August just as though it had 
 never been dissolved. Nevertheless, the bishops who had 
 been arrested were still behind bolts and bars,^ and several 
 others had taken their departure. In faith, what could 
 henceforth be the character of the decisions of an assembly 
 so harrassed and so mutilated? Could it be expected that 
 its actions would have any great or real authority? How- 
 ever this might be, following upon a few more animated 
 discussions, wherein the Archbishop of Bordeaux persisted 
 in his opposition, the council rendered two decrees, the one 
 to the effect that the council was competent to enact a law 
 with regard to the installation of bishops, in cases of neces- 
 sity ; the second bore reference to the same installation, and 
 differed little from the projected law of the Emperor, the 
 only exception being its last article, which was couched as 
 follows: "The first decree shall be submitted to the ap- 
 proval of the Pope." To that end, the Emperor is "to be 
 begged to allow a deputation of six members to wait upon 
 His Holiness, to obtain the confirmation of a decree which 
 alone can put an end to the evils afflicting the Churches of 
 France and Italy." 
 
 The delegates reached Savona towards the end of August. 
 
 M. de Pradt, the appointed Archbishop of Mechlin, was 
 one of them. In order to inspire the Pope with a little 
 more confidence in him. Napoleon had consented to five car- 
 dinals and an archbishop in partihus, who was his chap- 
 
 1 In order to weaken the bad effect produced by the arrest of the bishops, 
 and the fact that they were still kept in close confinement, it was noised 
 abroad that they had not been arrested on account of the opinions they had 
 expressed, but for reasons not germane to the matters submitted to the 
 council. This falsehood, which did not deceive anybody, has nevertheless 
 been reproduced by M. de Las Cases, in the Memorial de Sainte-Helene . 
 It is sufficient contradiction of it to point out that the cloture of the council 
 and the arrests were ordered to take place at one and the sanie time.
 
 516 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PA.SQUIER 
 
 lain in ordinary, to go on this visit. It was therefore in 
 their presence, and assisted by their counsels that the Holy 
 Father entered into a series of conferences with the dele- 
 gated bishops. These conferences lasted about three weeks, 
 and on the 20th of September he finally consented to grant 
 a brief by which he confirmed the decree of the council, but 
 without mentioning the council by name, merely contenting 
 himself with adopting, "as in conformity Avith his views 
 and his desires, the articles agreed upon by the bishops 
 assembled in Paris," which articles were quoted in their 
 entirety. The brief opened with congratulations addressed 
 to these assembled bishops on their attachment to the Chair 
 of St. Peter. They were specially commended for their 
 filial submission, and their genuine obedience to the Holy 
 See and to the Eoman Church, the mother and sovereign of 
 all others. Then came a final exhortation that they should 
 always seek advice of the Holy See, as the centre of Cath- 
 olic unity, and ever remain submissive and invisibly 
 attached to it. 
 
 The brief having been settled, the delegation took advan- 
 tage of the apparently conciliatory frame of mind of His 
 Holiness, to beg him to make certain alterations with 
 regard to points which had so far prevented their being 
 made public, in the bulls already granted to the Arch- 
 bishop of Mechlin. They likewise begged him to grant the 
 necessary bulls of installation to save the bishops recently 
 appointed. . The alterations were made as they wished 
 them, and bulls were forwarded to four of the appointed 
 bishops. 
 
 The Holy Father wrote an autograph letter to Napoleon. 
 This letter was couched in terms of the greatest moderation. 
 Thereupon, the delegates, firm in the belief that they could 
 congratulate themselves upon the success of their mission, 
 feeling confident that the captivity of the Pope was about
 
 FRUITLESS NEGOTIATIONS AT SAVONA 517 
 
 to cease, and with it all the ills of the Church, hastened 
 to write to Paris to inform the Government of so happy a 
 result. And, indeed, everything seemed settled satisfacto- 
 rily, and they were authorized to return, but this order was 
 almost immediately countermanded. Several of them had 
 already left Savona, when the second messenger reached 
 the place. The Archbishop of Tours, and the Bishops of 
 Nantes and of Treves, who were still at a short distance 
 from the city, hastened to return to it. The Archbishop 
 of Mechlin and the Bishop of Evreux could not be caught 
 up with, and reached Paris, where, in lieu of the congratu- 
 lations to which they had looked forward, they had to listen 
 to reprimands. The reason of this change is the following 
 one. A committee of the Council of State, entrusted with 
 the examination of the brief concerning the decree of the 
 council, had been of the opinion that it should be rejected, 
 its decision being based on the fact that as the Pope did not 
 mention the council by name in his brief, he thus appeared 
 as ignoring its authority, and also for the reason that he 
 had not expressed himself in a formal fashion with regard 
 to the bishoprics of the Kingdom of Italy and those of the 
 various countries already forming part and those likely to 
 form part of the Empire. 
 
 Napoleon, strvick by these remarks, came to the conclu- 
 sion that the delegates had completely ignored their in- 
 structions, and expressed his liveliest displeasure in this 
 connection to the two delegates who had returned. Still, 
 he did not see fit to send them back to Savona, but conclud- 
 ing not to make any use of the brief, he enjoined those who 
 had remained with or returned to the Pope, to make fresh 
 efforts to have the brief altered in conformity with the 
 instructions which they had received in the first instance. 
 
 The whole winter was consumed in fruitless endeavors 
 to obtain these fresh concessions from His Holiness, who
 
 518 MEMOIBS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 remained firm in his resolve not to alter the brief in any 
 form ; and, at the end of several months, the delegates con- 
 sidered themselves fortunate in at last obtaining permission 
 to return to Paris. Thus was the result derived from the 
 council rendered altogether fruitless, after it had been 
 brought into existence with so much ostentation. Napo- 
 leon, wanting everything or nothing, would not even permit 
 any use to be made of the bulls which the appointed bishops 
 had received, forbade them to have themselves consecrated, 
 yet nevertheless compelled them to take up their residences 
 in their dioceses, and to govern them as administrators by 
 virtue of powers conferred upon them as such by the Chap- 
 ters, thus placing them in a most difficult and false position. 
 
 I must not omit stating that some four months after the 
 arrest of the Bishops of Tournay, Ghent, and Troyes, they 
 had been asked, while confined at Vincennes, to tender 
 their resignations, as the price of which their prison doors 
 were to be unlocked, and it would merely be required of 
 them that they should reside under police supervision, in 
 such cities of the Empire which they might select, provided 
 the}^ were at a distance of forty leagues from the city. All 
 three accepted this proposition, resigned, and were sent to 
 the towns they had chosen. 
 
 I have given all the more space to presenting as a whole 
 the facts and incidents connected with the council of 1811, 
 for the reason that, in spite of its extreme interest, the 
 events which followed have diverted attention from it. Sel- 
 dom has it happened "that so much infatuation has been 
 shown in recognizing that there are limits beyond which 
 even absolution cannot go. Taking it for granted that all 
 men and all assemblies could be governed in the same 
 fashion, by wishing to carry everything in a high-handed 
 way and stop short at nothing, the Emperor did not profit 
 by positive advantages which had been obtained against
 
 • BARREN RESULT OF THE COUNCIL 519 
 
 all probability. Following upon his rough methods in his 
 treatment of the council, and after being powerless to ex- 
 tort anything from it by force or fear, what more unheard- 
 of piece of good fortune than that of having obtained from 
 the Pope the brief having reference to episcopal installa- 
 tion? No one before him could boast of such a concession. 
 It was all that was needed to render secure the proper gov- 
 ernment of dioceses, and completely marked the dividing 
 line between the spiritual and temporal power. Even ad- 
 mitting, which was very likely, that the Pope would some 
 day wish to recall his concession, it was sufficient that it 
 had existed and that it had been profited by for a period of 
 time, to make this recall very difiicult for him. AVas it 
 not likewise plain that it would not be an easy matter to 
 deny the Italian dioceses that which had been granted to 
 the French ones? 
 
 Napoleon's line of action on this occasion was impolitic. 
 The restorer of Catholic worship in France, the Church 
 owed to him that it had risen from its ruins, and asked for 
 nothing better than to be allowed to go over to him com- 
 pletely. From the Pope, down to the least important mem- 
 bers of the clergy, all, with very few exceptions, accepted 
 his dynasty without any mental reservation, and all of 
 them believed it lay in his power to do more for them than 
 could anybody else. Everything combines to convince me 
 that had he adopted a less violent line of action, it would 
 have been an easy matter for him to find in religion the 
 most useful and powerful ally. He sought to guard and 
 even to exaggerate the liberties of the Galilean Church, 
 and this attempt had the same result as the one to increase 
 beyond all bounds the limits of the Empire. He ended 
 with not being able to secure to France her old frontiers, 
 and he delivered us almost defenceless over to the ultra- 
 montane spirit, and the encroachments of the papal power.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 The gambling-house lease — Accusations brought against M. de Rovigo — 
 A committee of investigation appointed in the matter — New regu- 
 lations governing gambling-houses — M. Pasquier and the Due de 
 Rovigo — The harvest of 1811 — System adopted with regard to the 
 distribution of bread — Necessity for protective measures against the 
 dishonesty of bakers and consumers — The reserve stock of provisions 
 placed under official control — Bread becomes scarce — Gradual increase 
 in the price of articles of food — Napoleon's desire to re-establish a 
 "maximum" law — His distrust of merchants — M. Pasquier's propo- 
 sitions to the Comity des stibsistances — OSacial report of the proceed- 
 ings of the extraordinary council held at the Emperor's, with a view of 
 warding off distress — Riots and pilla.ging by famished bands — Severe 
 measures of repression — The price of wheat determined by law. 
 
 In the last months of 1811, I became involved in a case 
 which created no little stir. I can the less remain silent 
 about it because it affected an important question of public 
 morals and order, and that it almost compromised the posi- 
 tion of the Due de Rovigo. 
 
 The lease of the games of chance, after running for some 
 years, had expired several months before ; it had been re- 
 newed, but for a year only, on the same terms as in the 
 past, the Minister of Police wishing for time to consider 
 the bases of the new agreement he would be called upon to 
 sign. Convinced as I was of the harm done by the gam- 
 bling-tables of Paris, I thought it my duty to call the 
 Emperor's attention to the matter, so I sent to him, in 
 September, the subjoined memorandum. I give it in its 
 entirety because it shows the matter in its full light : — 
 
 520
 
 MEMORANDUM ON GAMBLING-HOUSES 521 
 
 The love of gambling is a moral disease, and requires treating in 
 the same way as physical ailments, which there is no hope of conquer- 
 ing, but the effects of which one seeks as much as possible to curtail, 
 and which one labors especially to prevent from becoming contagious. 
 Now, this is not the course that has been pursued for the past fifteen 
 years. During this period, we have started from a principle which, to 
 say the least, is very specious. It is impossible, it has been argued, 
 to extirpate the passion for gambling, hence it becomes necessary to 
 induce those who are a prey to it, to gamble in a quasi public resort, 
 under the eyes of the authorities who can exercise a supervision over 
 their actions, restrain them in their wildest follies, and even turn aside 
 men whose means do not allow them to indulge in such a passion, 
 without its entailing upon them the most fearful consequences. 
 
 To attain this object, two, three, or at most four houses would have 
 been sufficient, but as many as fourteen, including the salon des etran- 
 gers,^ have been opened, owing to the fact that no sooner did the 
 profit derived therefrom become openly recognized as a source of reve- 
 nue, than it was treated in the same way as others. As it seemed 
 that there was nothing better to do than to increase this profit the 
 moment it decreased through this tax being levied on a certain class 
 of men only, the attempt has been made to induce another class to 
 contribute towards it. 
 
 So it has come about that for a certain time, society's idlers, con- 
 tractors, generals, and all men who had become enriched during the 
 Revolution, alone frequented the gambling-houses. Little by little 
 these individuals were ruined, or saw the sources of their odious for- 
 tune dry up, or, held back from a certain sense of decency arising from 
 the regular habits rigorously demanded by His Majesty of men called 
 upon to serve him or to come into contact with him. Gambling- 
 houses were therefore opened for merchants, clerks, for the masses, 
 and for servants. Instead of stakes in ecus, louis, and bank-notes, 
 came stakes of forty and even fifteen sous. Gambling-houses were 
 opened in all directions, in parts of the town where none had pre- 
 viously existed, as for instance in the very centre of trade, in the rue 
 Saint-Martin. This crime was indeed a productive one, but then what 
 are not the evils which have resulted from it ! The disease, which 
 was previously confined to one class of society, has invaded the mass 
 of the population; a fearful amount of corruption has invaded the 
 
 1 There remain but eleven of them nowadays.
 
 522 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 domain of morality, and the number of crimes has sensibly increased. 
 Gambling is so much the source of these troubles, that when a 
 theft of any importance is committed in a dwelling-house, the first 
 care of the police is to enquire if there resides in it any individual 
 frequenting gambling-houses, and if it discovers a single one so situ- 
 ated, it seldom errs in laying hands on him. 
 
 What other remedy is there for so appalling an evil but to revert 
 to a system which should have never been abandoned? Three or four 
 gambling-houses are more than sufficient for society's idlers, who, if 
 they did not gamble in public resorts, would do so in private houses and 
 perhaps at greater risk, and for the foreigners, who are, almost to a 
 man, consumed with the gambling mania, and who thus become con- 
 fined to a single house, to the great convenience of the police, which 
 has to exercise supervision over them. 
 
 It is all the more necessary to have such an outlet, which, if blocked, 
 would drive the votaries of the green cloth into society, where they 
 would quickly propagate their fatal malady. And, this is the place 
 to confess to a strange truth : gambling-houses, which have developed 
 the gambling mania in the middle and iu the lower classes, have been 
 the means of checking it among respectable people. The reason for 
 this is plain. Gambling does not go on in private houses, because 
 there are public gambling-houses wherein a willing partner is always at 
 hand and on the other hand, people blush somewhat at the idea of en- 
 tering these. A man occupying a judicial position would not dare to be 
 seen in such places, while a military man, when entering them, goes so 
 far as to remove his Cross of Honor. Hence there is no objection, nay, 
 it is even beneficial, to license three or four gambling-houses of a high 
 order; but, this concession made, all others must be absolutely closed. 
 
 It may safely be stated that nothing would prove more acceptable 
 to the respectable portion of Parisians, and the adoption of the fore- 
 going system would not be liable to the objection already mentioned. 
 Tradespeople are not in the habit of gambling in their own circle, and 
 they will cease gambling, when they will no longer have any gambling- 
 houses at their very doors. This is still more true with regard to the 
 masses. Should they be desirous of gambling after the houses to 
 which they now resort are closed, they coi;ld indulge in their mania 
 only in resorts which the police is ever watching, i.e. in pot-houses 
 and in rooms hired for the occasion, and so forth. 
 
 The rich have salons into which it is difficult to gain admittance; 
 but supervision can always be exercised with ease over the poor, for
 
 M. DAVELOUIS AND TEE DUG BE ROVIGO 523 
 
 their places of meeting are necessarily public resorts. The Prefect of 
 Police, should the idea which he now submits be carried out, has no 
 hesitancy in guaranteeing that ere three months had elapsed, there 
 would no longer be any gambling among the lower classes, and but 
 very little of it among the bourgeoisie (middle class). Such a result 
 would be most beneficial to the Parisian population. Doubtless the 
 money derived from the lease will be considerably less; but, if it 
 became necessary to substitute some tax to compensate for the loss of 
 this source of revenue, which is the tax which would not be prefer- 
 able ? Is there a tax, the collecting of which is more expensive ? 
 Does any exist, the consequences of which afford greater cause for 
 dread? 
 
 I was still in ignorance regarding the effect produced on 
 the Emperor by the foregoing memorandum, when an inci- 
 dent occurred which gave increased importance to it. One 
 Davelouis, who had repeatedly been a lessee of games of 
 chance, sent in a tender to the Due de Eovigo, the highest 
 of all those received. But, for all that, the Minister 
 seemed to favor the one made by one Perrin, the latest 
 lessee, and it was said that a verbal understanding had 
 been come to. Angered at seeing himself ousted, M. Dave- 
 louis at once attributed the preference granted to his com- 
 petitor to dishonorable personal motives, and, with the aid 
 of one Thurot, formerly a police secretary under M. Fouche, 
 and a man of great intelligence, but at the same time 
 hardly worthy of confidence, he had drawn up a memoran- 
 dum for the eye of the Emperor, wherein were revealed 
 all the infamies attendant upon the farming out of the 
 games of chance; it embodied besides the most serious 
 accusations against the Due de Eovigo. 
 
 The latter, on hearing of this, sought to get possession of 
 the memorandum and to arrest its author, so at least Da- 
 velouis has stated; but having, he claims, received timely 
 warning, he made good his escape just as the Minister's 
 officers were knocking at his door. It was at night. He
 
 524 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 immediately fled to Saint-Cloud, spent the night in the 
 park, and at daybreak called upon the Secretary of State, 
 M. Daru, to whom he stated his case, requesting him to lay 
 it before the Emperor. M. Daru consented to do so, and 
 was instructed to send Davelouis back to Paris, with the 
 order to produce his memorandum within forty-eight hours. 
 The Due de Rovigo was peremptorily forbidden from inter- 
 fering with his freedom. This was hard for the Minister 
 of Police to endure. In addition to this, he had to listen to 
 the cruel expressions of an anger which hardly knew what 
 control meant. 
 
 The Emperor, after reading the report of Davelouis, 
 appointed a committee to investigate the facts, and to de- 
 liver an opinion on the following points: 1. — Is it proper 
 and advisable to authorize games of chance in the city of 
 Paris, or are they to be suppressed, and Paris placed, in 
 this respect, on the same footing as other towns in France? 
 2. — Have the measures taken in various towns of France to 
 suppress gambling been successful? What is the state of 
 affairs in this connection? The committee was composed 
 of the five presidents of committees of the Council of State, 
 the Prefect of the Seine, and the Prefect of Police. At 
 its first sitting, I was entrusted with the preliminaries and 
 selected to be its reporter. The Due de Eovigo could not 
 help feeling alarmed at this selection; he did not think 
 I entertained any friendly sentiments towards him, and 
 feared that I might still bear the recollection of all the 
 annoyances he had up to that time subjected me to. 
 
 The suppression of games of chance was what was upper- 
 most in my mind, and so I gave little thought to private 
 bickerings. I placed before the commission the result of 
 my enquiries as to the great progress and of games of 
 chance in the capital, and the consequences of this deplora- 
 ble encroachment. I also demonstrated how the two most
 
 THREE GAMBLING-HOUSES SUPPRESSED 625 
 
 important cities of France, Lyons and Bordeaux, had pre- 
 served themselves from this evil, and how much cause they 
 had to congratulate themselves over having done so; then, 
 referring to the concluding remarks of my memorandum to 
 the Emperor, I ended by proving the absolute necessity of 
 suppressing all gambling-houses whose avowed object was 
 to draw the middle and lower classes. 
 
 With regard to the personal grievances of M. Davelouis, 
 and to the alleged infringements of his rights, I called 
 attention to the fact that the Emperor had, when ordering 
 a searching investigation, insisted on the profound secrecy 
 of our doings. Now, this second command necessarily 
 did away with the first, as such an investigation would 
 necessitate the taking of testimony, and an inspection of 
 the books having reference to the farming of the games of 
 chance. In conclusion, I dwelt on the little importance 
 of this private quarrel by the side of the all-important 
 question engaging our attention. 
 
 The committee, impressed with the documentary evi- 
 dence I laid before it, ended by unanimously demanding 
 the total suppression of gambling in Paris. I drew up my 
 report, and presented it in person to the Emperor, who kept 
 it by him for some length of time, without announcing 
 what action he would take. 
 
 I have no doubt that at first Napoleon was in favor of the 
 sweeping change recommended by the committee, but the 
 dread of losing an important source of revenue soon filled 
 his thoughts, disinterestedness not being his dominant 
 quality. Nevertheless, I persist in believing that if the 
 committee had gone no further than my first conclusions, 
 it would have been difficult for him not to adopt them; but 
 the proposition of an absolute suppression led him to tem- 
 porize, and, after a while, he gave orders that an experiment 
 should be made. The Due de Kovigo was instructed to
 
 526 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 grant a lease to Perrin, the actual lessee, but for one 
 year only. Three houses were closed, instead of three only 
 being left open, as I had expressed the desire. Those most 
 dangerous, those in the trade centre, were suppressed. The 
 hours of the forenoon during which gambling was permitted 
 were curtailed one half, and the houses were compelled to 
 close somewhat earlier at night. After a year's trial, the 
 new system apparently gave such satisfaction that it was 
 resolved to let it remain in force. The Emperor was at the 
 time absorbed with the war against Russia, and had no 
 time to give any attention to such a matter. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Due de Rovigo had been consumed with 
 anxiety. He had become a Minister far too recently to be 
 in a position to treat with contempt so grave an accusation 
 as the one preferred by Davelouis. Many persons among 
 those approaching the Emperor, were only too favorably 
 inclined to place faith in it; he had few friends, and many 
 enemies. Had the committee paid any attention to the 
 imputations laid before it, it is very likely that the Em- 
 peror would have dismissed him, and would have given him 
 a far-off army command. But, what would have been 
 gained by this, and who can tell what kind of a man his 
 successor would have been? Newcomers are always to be 
 dreaded in a position such as he occupied, because they 
 may safely be credited with a most natural eagerness to 
 give proofs of a zeal the effects of which are always some- 
 what roughly felt. In the case of the Due de Rovigo, he 
 had passed that period; it was therefore good policy not to 
 seek to crush him. We all of us on this committee under- 
 stood this perfectly, without there being any necessity for 
 us to exchange a word over the matter, and the report was 
 drawn up in consequence. Having once escaped this dan- 
 ger, it is fair to say that the Due de Rovigo showed him- 
 self truly grateful to those who had rescued him from it,
 
 THE DVC DE BOVIGO 527 
 
 and this feeling was particularly shown to me, to whom he 
 believed himself to be more particularly indebted. From 
 that time, his manner towards me underwent a total change, 
 and there was no longer any friction between us. In the 
 course of a conversation I had with him, he did not conceal 
 that he fully appreciated my behavior in the matter. " You 
 can see very well now," I remarked, "that I do not aspire 
 to become Minister of Police, and you may rest assured that 
 nothing could ever induce me to accept the post. You may 
 therefore act in consequence, for you will seldom meet with 
 a Prefect of Police in the same frame of mind." 
 
 A few days later, I let him know how disagreeable were 
 to me the visits which M. Demarest was continually paying 
 me, as I could not look upon them as anything else but a 
 means of espionage employed against me and those who 
 frequented my house. These visits ceased at once, and 
 were never renewed. My influence on the mind of the 
 Due de Rovigo went on apace from that time, and I may 
 say that this influence had something to do with the moder- 
 ation of which he gave proof during the last two years in 
 which he held office. He must be given his due. He lacked 
 neither intelligence nor genius, but he never would allow, 
 when aide-de-camp to Bonaparte, any objection to be raised 
 to the will of the sovereign whose every step he followed 
 and in whose atmosphere he breathed. When he became 
 Minister of Police, his habits had to undergo a change. He 
 only came into contact with Napoleon as did other minis- 
 ters; he no longer went with him on his journeys, and 
 worked much less frequently with him. Compelled to see 
 a new set of people, and to keep house on a grand scale, 
 having now to read letters in which truth was necessarily 
 to be found occasionally, he reached much quicker than 
 could be expected of him the conclusion that there were 
 at times objections to and changes to be made in the com-
 
 528 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 mands of his master. Enlightened as to the faults of the 
 one whom he had until then looked upon as infallible, the 
 forced confidant of the hatreds which he was arousing, his 
 duties as Minister of Police, as they gradually revealed 
 themselves to him to their fullest extent, opened his eyes. 
 He understood that there was no longer anything to be 
 gained by him in playing the part of agent of the misdeeds 
 of another, which he had enacted so far. He began to 
 argue with himself that there might be some danger in de- 
 fying for too long a time the feelings of resentment which 
 could not fail to break out against him, if ever the hand 
 that upheld him began to lose its strength. He was there- 
 fore glad that a feeling of confidence had sprung up be- 
 tween us in succession to the distrust of former days. We 
 were about to pass through difficult times. 
 
 The harvest of 1811 had bid fair to be a plentiful one, 
 and as late as June, the best hopes had been entertained. 
 The system adopted with regard to the sale of bread was 
 based on its price being kept at a reasonable figure, so that it 
 should always be within the means of the poorest consumer. 
 When the price of cereals rose, the administration had to 
 come to the bakers' assistance, either by supplying them 
 with flour at a price in proportion with that of bread, or 
 with money sufficient to make good the difference. 
 
 The burden was a very heavy one for the administration. 
 If it had no stocks laid by, it was compelled to make pur- 
 chases at the highest figures, and resell at a low price ; and, 
 by this transaction, it necessarily helped in raising the 
 price, a thing with which it had nevertheless to contend. 
 
 At all events, the expense of meeting so great a consump- 
 tion was enormous, and, in order that it should increase 
 beyond bounds, it became imperative to guard against dis- 
 honest practices, especially those of the bakers tliemselves. 
 Did they receive the quantity of flour they required, they
 
 THE RESERVE PROVISIONING 629 
 
 would seek to get more than this, and then dispose of this 
 surplus at current rates 5 did they receive a pecuniary com- 
 pensation, this last method was objectionable in that it ren- 
 dered them altogether indifferent as to the price they paid 
 for flour, and that often they even succeeded, by coming to 
 an understanding with the sellers, to give it a fictitious 
 rise, in order to obtain then a more considerable compensa- 
 tion. 
 
 Next to the dishonest practices of the bakers were those 
 of the consumers, ever a prey to the fear of want, and 
 asking for over and above their needs, sometimes even sup- 
 plying with the overplus which they succeeded in obtain- 
 ing the villages in the neighborhood of the capital, thus 
 carrying on a most lucrative trade at the expense of the 
 administration. Again, the administration had to protect 
 itself against the many persons who daily flocked into the 
 capital, especially against those who brought provisions to 
 meet the other needs of the capital; it was necessary in so 
 far as possible, and this was not an easy matter, to prevent 
 them taking away in return not only the bread necessary 
 for their own consumption, but also that with which they 
 intended to supply to some extent the villages and towns 
 to which they were going back. 
 
 The fine appearance presented by the crops quickly faded 
 away in many of the provinces. Yet, in those nearest to 
 the capital, those of Brie, Beauce, of nearly the whole of 
 Picardy, the harvest was still a good one; but what was 
 needed was that the surplus of this yield should make good 
 the deficit in the Northern and in the Southern provinces, 
 where the harvest was a very poor one. 
 
 No sooner was this state of things known, than the de- 
 partments most favored by a good harvest made large 
 calls, and these departments were precisely those from 
 which the provisioning of the city is generally drawn, and.
 
 530 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 as early as the month of August, I was compelled to call 
 the attention of the Minister of the Interior, M. de Mon- 
 talivet, to a condition of things which was daily growing 
 worse. At the beginning of September, he took the wise 
 precaution of forming a comiU de subsistances (committee 
 on food supplies), which was to consider the measures best 
 to adopt. I was appointed on this committee together with 
 M. Frochot, M. Real, and M. Maret, Councillor of State. 
 The last named had for some length of time past had charge 
 of the provisioning of the army in time of war, and since 
 about eighteen months, the Emperor had entrusted him 
 with the reserve provisioning belonging to the city of Paris. 
 
 What was at that time the amount of that reserve stock? 
 A contract had been entered into in 1807 with a firm styled 
 the " Compagnie Paulet " ; the principal member of it was, 
 I believe, one M. Vanlenbergh, a prominent and able corn 
 factor. This firm, which was compelled to always have in 
 stock 300,000 quintaux metriques of wheat, had to co-operate 
 with the trade in provisioning the city of Paris. It was 
 bound to send to market, on a requisition from the prefect, 
 and to sell at current rates, all the grain and flour demanded 
 by such requisition. On such occasions, it was bound to 
 replace in its depots the quantities just sold, and to do it 
 by means of purchases made beyond a radius of thirty 
 leagues about the capital, or abroad, when feasible. 
 
 Out of the reserve stock thus organized, were supplied 
 the hospitals, the prisons, and the charitable institutions. 
 This furnished an outlet and use for its grain and flour, as 
 the need of a renewal of the stock gradually made itself 
 felt. It would seem that of recent years the market had 
 been all on the side of the contractors. The Emperor 
 always fell into the error of considering that large returns 
 were a kind of robbery of the state, and he never ceased 
 laboring to curtail them. It is thus that he saw fit to do
 
 BREAD BECOMES SCARCE 531 
 
 on this occasion with the Compagnie Paulet, whose con- 
 tract was cancelled by a degree dated April, 1810. The 
 undertaking carried on by them was supplanted by a 
 bureau, at the head of which was placed M. Maret. But 
 it became necessary to take over the management of the 
 depots, and, as a matter of course, he declined to take them 
 over until they had been inspected as to quantities and con- 
 dition. This verifying gave rise to many difficulties, and 
 M. Maret did not take final charge of the stores until the 
 beginning of November. 
 
 During these six months, the demands of the hospitals, 
 prisons, and charitable establishments had been duly met, 
 but no stores had taken the place of those going out. The 
 prices were then not very favorable to the purchaser, and 
 M. Maret was therefore in no haste to give orders for any 
 purchases. He was not, like the Compagnie Paulet, subject 
 to the supervision of the Prefect of Police, so he was free 
 to act as he pleased. When troublous times came, there 
 remained in the reserve depots 115,000 quintaux metriques 
 of wheat, instead of 300,000, and 11,000 sacks of flour in- 
 stead of 30,000. With such weak resources, the distribu- 
 tion of this reserve had to be carried on very cautiously. 
 M. Maret did not care to take any risks before once more 
 bringing his stock to the proper figure, and so he began to 
 make purchases, and in spite of the assurances of his agents 
 to the contrary, he made some of them in the radius set 
 aside for provisioning the city. 
 
 Since the 15th of September, the bakers had been clam- 
 oring for an increase in the selling price of bread; it had 
 already reached 14 sols, and no attention was paid to 
 their demands, as the Emperor was greatly opposed to this 
 price being exceeded. The bakers were informed that the 
 large profits they had made for so long past rendered them 
 able to endure a temporary loss.
 
 632 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 As a result of this refusal to raise the price of bread, 
 bread became scarce iu the markets, in the suburbs, and in 
 the thickly peopled quarters, by the end of September. 
 The alarm went on increasing, and the price of cereals rose 
 as a consequence. Towards the end of October, it was 
 resolved upon to grant the bakers a premium of 5 francs 
 on each sack of flour, the purchase of which they could 
 show cause for. This measure was in vain; bread became 
 more and more scarce; the doors of the bakers were be- 
 sieged by crowds at early morn, and by nine o'clock their 
 shops had been emptied. All articles of food which can 
 take the place of bread increased in price in the same ratio 
 as flour, which was then being sold at 76 francs per sack, 
 which would bring the price of a four-pound loaf to about 
 16 sous. 
 
 At the beginning of November, it was decided, in the 
 hope of bringing about a falling of prices, to have a few 
 sales made in the public market from the reserve stock. 
 The amount of this stock was at the time of only 98,000 
 quintaux mStriques of wheat, and of only 24,000 bags of 
 flour. M. Maret had given orders for considerable pur- 
 chases at Hamburg and on the banks of the Rhine, where 
 the harvest had been a fair one ; but these purchases merely 
 represented a distant relief, owing to the difficulties and 
 length of time attendant upon the deliveries, the blockade 
 of all ports being strictly enforced by England, thus render- 
 ing transportation by sea almost impossible. 
 
 We suffered greatly on this occasion from the lack of 
 intelligence with which the administration dealt with these 
 matters. This was due to the state of hostility, or at least 
 of distrust, in which the Emperor persisted in remaining 
 towards the trade. He remained stubborn in his decision 
 not to entrust anything to it, so firmly he was convinced 
 that one could not avoid being duped by it, and so he willed
 
 EFFECTS OF IGNORING THE MEECHANTS 533 
 
 that all transactions sliould take place through official- 
 dom and by the agents of his government. Thus it was 
 that M. Maret, in the matter of his purchases at Hamburg, 
 Liibeck, and later even at Dantzig, sent his own men to 
 seek, buy, and forward the provisions. The loss of time 
 was, in the first place, considerable; again, the ability of 
 the men thus employed was oftentimes rather mediocre, 
 and finally, the results of their most zealous endeavors 
 could never equal the intelligent activity of the merchants, 
 whose correspondences and commercial relations are estab- 
 lished beforehand, and who are always stimulated in carry- 
 ing out the business transactions which they vmdertake by 
 the vision of future profits. The mania of doing every- 
 thing oneself was carried to the extent, in order to ensure 
 'the transportation carried out under the supervision of the 
 administration from the Baltic to Paris, to locate at inter- 
 vals, on this long line of canals and roads, a certain number 
 of auditeurs, whose duty it was to prevent delays. Now, 
 there was certainly nothing for which their education had 
 less fitted them. 
 
 The general administration of the food supplies of the 
 Empire changed hands by the appointment of a Minister of 
 Commerce, and it was taken from M. de Montalivet to be 
 given to M. de Sussy. We had no reason to cavil at the 
 change. M. de Sussy, for a long time Director of Customs, 
 had a better conception than M. de Montalivet of the nature 
 of the transactions which were required. Moreover, he 
 was more independent of spirit, and knew better how to 
 oppose the wrong ideas of the Emperor in this connection. 
 
 By the first of February, the trade price of flour had 
 reached 92 francs per sack, and the supply of the capi- 
 tal could not be met under the price of bread, such as it 
 stood at the time, except by means of deliveries from the 
 reserve stock which furnished daily, at 79 or 80 francs.
 
 534 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIEM 
 
 up to 1300 sacks which it bought from all quarters 
 at the price current. Thereupon the Emperor called 
 to him the committee of food supply, which hence- 
 forth was often to meet in his presence. Our discussions 
 soon acquired an importance all the greater from the fact 
 that we had to combat the idea of the Emperor, who wished 
 to place a general price on grain, in a word, a maximum. 
 His habit of seeing everything bend before his will, per- 
 suaded him that such a measure would certainly encounter 
 some degree of opposition, but that it would end in being 
 carried out like any other, and he saw in it an end to all 
 perplexities. AVith the exception of M. de Montalivet and 
 M. Maret, who were always backward in giving expression 
 to their opinions, all the other members of the council 
 loudly proclaimed their opposition to such a measure. 
 Especially did M. Eegnaud spare nothing to make patent 
 the extent of the dangers which would surely be incurred, 
 if one entered on so wrong a path, and I seconded him with 
 all my might and main. 
 
 I endeavored to show that there were only two remedies 
 for the evil : the one, to bring into the city as much wheat 
 as could be obtained from outside sources, and, to that end 
 to avail oneself of the services of all who were willing to 
 co-operate; then maintain and encourage its free circula- 
 tion at home, and especially to render the public markets 
 safe enough for no one to fear bringing his produce for 
 sale to them. Although these vicAvs did not alwaj^s har- 
 monize with the absolute ideas of the Emperor, I must do 
 him the justice of saying that he never rejected them with 
 any show of displeasure, but that he even gave me credit 
 for the firmness of my opinions. As at the same time, 
 fortunately for me, no great state of disorder broke out in 
 the capital; owing to the vigilance and efficiency of the 
 police, this period was the one wherein I incontestably
 
 MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL 535 
 
 most enjoyed his consideration, and wherein he seemed to 
 lay the greatest stress on my services. 
 
 The price of a sack of flour soon reached 111 francs, and, 
 by the 1st of April it reached 125 francs ; on the 15th it was 
 as high as 150 francs, and wheat sold proportionately all 
 the dearer. Alarm then turned to terror. Purchasers out- 
 bid the sellers themselves, however high their pretensions 
 might be, and everything sold in the market felt the effects 
 of this frenzy. Vegetables and small grains became price- 
 less, and the crowd besieged the grocers' shops to get rice 
 and vermicelli. The same effervescence prevailed in all 
 suburban markets ; in some even, the people forcibly took 
 grain and proceeded to divide it. On the other hand, an 
 enormous quantity of bread was being taken from Paris 
 into the surrounding country, and, if this continued, it 
 would be necessary to feed from the government's store, 
 not only Paris, but those dwelling within a radius of ten 
 leagues of the capital. In view of this state of affairs, the 
 Emperor decided upon holding an extraordinary council of 
 supply. He summoned to take part in it, in addition to the 
 usual members, Comte Defermon, President of the Finance 
 Committee, M. Pelet, Councillor of State, and M. Dubois, 
 the former Prefect of Police.^ I have found among my 
 papers the minutes of the official report of the sitting held 
 at the Emperor's on this occasion, and I think I ought to 
 give it in full, as it may give an accurate insight of the 
 manner in which matters were worked on, looked at, and 
 solved in those days : — 
 
 His Majesty ordains the following measures : — 
 
 During the course of the night, the Prefect of Police shall send for 
 the forty or fifty persons, who, in Paris and vicinity, are in the flour 
 and grain trade. He shall demand of them to state the amount of 
 
 1 The Emperor evidently thought he would find in M. Defermon and in 
 M. Dubois the endorsement of his maximum system.
 
 536 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 their purchases, and the stocks of wheat and flour they have in stock. 
 He shall verify their statements by an inspection of their ledgers, which 
 he shall initial. He shall then enquire of them what was to be the 
 destination of this wheat and flour, and shall bind them to take them 
 to the Paris market. 
 
 To-morrow morning, the Prefect of Police shall give an account to 
 the Emperor, at the sitting of the council on supplies, of the quantity 
 of wheat or flour revealed by such statement, and which can be 
 secured by this means, as well as the intended destination of these 
 commodities. His Majesty will thereupon decide as to where they 
 are to be forwarded. 
 
 The arrival of a large quantity of wheat or flour on the public mar- 
 ket cannot fail to produce a favorable effect on the popular anxiety 
 and on the prices. 
 
 The prefect shall make known to these speculators and to others 
 whom it may concern, that it is not proper to deprive the city of its 
 provisioning and to engage in usurious speculations, for those who 
 make purchases at a price exceeding 100 francs for sack, can be 
 looked at in no other light than genuine regular monopolists. A 
 show of display of severity will make people understand that this 
 speculating on a rise in prices must cease, and that such speculation 
 is a dangerous policy. The prefect shall warn coach proprietors 
 and proprietors of public vehicles not to carry any bread out of 
 Paris. 
 
 To-morrow morning one hundred sacks of flour shall be distributed 
 in the arrondissement of Paris, on a basis of 18 sols as the price 
 of the four-pound loaf. These one hundred sacks, which are to be 
 delivered to-morrow, shall be for Friday, the following day's con- 
 sumption, and this system is to be followed until further order. 
 
 This concession shall furnish the grounds on which to justify the 
 prohibition of the exportation of bread. 
 
 To-morrow, at half -past four of the afternoon, the mayors of the 
 suburban villages shall be notified that in consequence of the re- 
 serve stock having provided* for the wants of the rural communes, 
 no bread shall be allowed to leave Paris, beginning the day after to- 
 morrow. 
 
 The officials on duty at the city gates shall be instructed to carry 
 out this order with all possible discretion, and care shall be exercised 
 not to allow anythhig to appear in the journals or to be printed, having 
 any reference to this measure.
 
 MINUTES OF THE COUNCIL 537 
 
 His Majesty will hold a council on supplies at two o'clock to-morrow, 
 and will decide upon future measures in conformity with the state- 
 ments laid before him. 
 
 The foregoing are the measures which are to he taken, beginning 
 to-morrow. 
 
 His Majesty considers that the environs of Paris having this year 
 enjoyed a good harvest, the scarcity with which they seem to be 
 threatened must be in part the result merely of the fears of the con- 
 sumers, and that it cannot become an actual fact except through the 
 exportation of articles of food, as the administration has taken meas- 
 ures to provide for the food supply of the city of Paris. 
 
 There doubtless exists in the departments adjoining the capital a 
 quantity of commodities which it is only fair that they should retain 
 in order to provide for the wants of their population. 
 
 This circumstance must not give rise to any ostensible measure 
 enforced to interfere with their distribution circulation, which it is 
 not intended to prohibit, but it must furnish the basis of a discretion- 
 ary measure which the oflScials are to take. 
 
 Its object shall be : — 
 
 1. — To keep in each ari'ondissement the necessary quantity of com- 
 modities; 
 
 2. — To have these commodities sent to market; 
 
 3. — To ensure that this wheat and flour shall be sold there at a fair 
 price, and one not beyond the means of the consumer. 
 
 In order to attain this object, the best way seems to be to call 
 together the principal farmers and holders of stocks of grain and flour 
 of each arrondissement, and ask them to retain for local consumption 
 the requisite quantity, and to gradually place them on the market at 
 a reasonable figure. 
 
 On the other hand, people who speculate in grain and flour are to 
 be notified that this kind of speculation will not be tolerated during 
 such hard times; that the government, which protects them against 
 public obloquy, will not allow them to abuse such protection, and that 
 it consequently behooves them to cease engaging in this kind of specu- 
 lation. 
 
 It is not a question of impeding the free circulation, but to induce 
 the holders of cereals to bind themselves to keep in the locality the 
 quantity determined upon as being necessary for the wants of the 
 arrondissement. The result will be that each department will have 
 the assurance that a quantity of cereals sufficient to meet home con-
 
 538 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 sumption will come into the market gradually, and as required. The 
 overplus will continue being put in circulation. 
 
 The prices will have to be established on such a basis as not to 
 injure the consumer, while on the other hand, not to produce too 
 wide a margin between the price of wheat sold on the local market, 
 and that put into circulation. 
 
 The stock of cereals at present in the hands of speculators is to 
 remain in their possession; but, from this on, it is left to them on 
 condition that it find its way to the market. 
 
 The Minister of Industry and Commerce shall summon to Paris 
 the prefects of Versailles, Chartres, Melun, Beauvais, and Laon, to 
 meet him to-morrow at two o'clock. If by that time the prefect of 
 Laon has not made his appearance, he shall summon the sub-prefect 
 of Soissons, who is reported to be in Paris. He shall read to them 
 the circular the draft of which is to be submitted to-morrow to His 
 Majesty in council. This circular shall enjoin upon them to summon 
 the principal farmers and holders of cereals of their department, during 
 the course of next Saturday, and shall make this assemblage serve the 
 purpose of a jury which is to determine what is the quantity of cereals 
 or of flour which each one of the principal farmers or possessors can 
 put on the markets. They shall be made to sign an agreement to fur- 
 nish the quantity of wheat necessary to supply the wants of the 
 department, by conveying it to the markets. This done, and a state- 
 ment having been obtained of what each one shall have bound himself 
 to supply, the prefect shall inform them that they would give the 
 Emperor pleasure, if they would agree in no case to sell flour above 
 100 francs per bag. 
 
 It will be an easy matter to get them to understand that inde- 
 pendently of their thus performing an act of patriotism, this request 
 is nothing more than fair, as the price of wheat must at all events 
 have a limit, and that it is impossible for the people to pay more than 
 100 francs. 
 
 This agreement to deliver at 100 francs will merely bear on the 
 wheat which is to go to the markets of the department, so it will be 
 so to speak, of a voluntary nature. The influence of this measure 
 would have a most beneficial effect on the public mind if only one 
 fourth of the farmers in each department would set the example 
 of faithfully and gracefully giving their co-operation to it. 
 
 The knowledge that imparted to them that Paris is provisioned, 
 and that the reserve does not need their assistance, will no doubt be
 
 BISINGS AND PILLAGINGS 539 
 
 the means of more promptly deciding them to the acceptance of this 
 reduction of the price. 
 
 If any one of the prefects believes that the executing of this meas- 
 ure is likely to be carried out more quickly in his own department, 
 and will meet with less obstacles, the initiative might be left to him 
 with the object of stimulating the other departments to a like action. 
 
 A correct copy, 
 The Minister, Secretary of State. 
 
 Signed: le comte Daru. 
 
 It was seven o'clock in the evening, -when the sitting of 
 the committee on food supplies ended at Saint-Cloud, and 
 the tenor of the orders given to the Prefect of Police and 
 to the Minister of Commerce are those which have just 
 been read. Both of them were to render an account of 
 their execution next day at two o'clock. At other times, 
 and under a less powerful master, these two oificials might 
 have asked for twice twenty -four hours wherein to report; 
 but, in those days, one set to work at once to do every- 
 thing, to attempt everything, in order to obey the com- 
 mands received. The present commands were executed 
 within the specified time, and next day, at two o'clock, 
 we Avere at Saint-Cloud, bringing with us the results of 
 our labors. 
 
 The generally widespread knowledge that the Emperor 
 was desirous of becoming acquainted with the extent of 
 the evil and was seeking to remedy it, brought some peace 
 of mind with it. Dating from that time, the gates of 
 Paris were closed to all exportation of bread, and the hun- 
 dred bags of flour distributed among the surrounding com- 
 munes compensated for the severity of this measure. 
 
 The distress was increasing; in some departments it was 
 fearful. In Normandy, where bands of hungry mendicants 
 were marching through the country, the people were be- 
 ginning to be stirred up in a dangerous fashion; in the
 
 540 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 vicinity of Caen, there was a riot followed by pillage, and 
 several flour mills were burnt down. On such occasions 
 the blind madness of the masses rushes in and destroys that 
 which they should most zealously defend. This riot was 
 not quelled until after the arrival of a regiment of the 
 Imperial Guard sent post haste by coach. Its repression 
 was attended with great severity, for, in the executions 
 which followed as a consequence of it, women were not 
 spared. This is doubtless a sad extremity to resort to, but 
 who will deny that it is also the only means of averting 
 greater misfortunes. 
 
 Towards the end of April, one or two councils on food 
 supply were held, at which the Emperor dwelt more strongly 
 than usual on the necessity of taking some stringent meas- 
 ure to secure the food supply of the people in the teeth of 
 the greediness of the holders of cereals and the monopo- 
 lists, so it was proposed by him that the price of wheat 
 should be determined by law. In vain did we once more 
 point out to him the dangers and the uselessness of such a 
 measure. On tlie 12th of May there appeared in the Moni- 
 teur a decree dated the 8th, issued without the council on 
 food supply having had any participation in its drawing up, 
 or even any knowledge of it, and which fixed in a defini- 
 tive form the price of wheat in the six departments which 
 alone, at that time, supplied the trade. They were the 
 departments of the Seine, Seine-et-Oise, Seine-et-Marne, 
 Aisne, Oise, and Eure-et-Loir. The price of the hectolitre 
 of wheat was fixed, for those departments, at 33 francs. 
 It was allowable to add to this price, in the departments 
 which drew their supplies outside of this territory, the 
 amount of the cost of transportation which was determined 
 by the prefect, pursuant to the instructions of the Minister 
 of Commerce, and taking into account the distance to be 
 travelled, and the legitimate profits of trade.
 
 NAPOLEON PROVIDES FOR HIS ABSENCE 541 
 
 Napoleon Avas just on the point of leaving, to take com- 
 mand of his army. It was therefore a kind of farewell 
 which he saw fit to say to the most needy portion of his 
 subjects. He hoped he would thus ensure their tranquil- 
 lity during his absence.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 The draft of 1812 and the new organization of the National Guard — 
 Napoleon's grievances against Russia — Treaties of alliance between 
 France, Prussia, and Austria — Sweden's political situation under the 
 pressure exercised over it by Napoleon — Negotiations and final under- 
 standing of Bernadotte with Russia and England — Fetes and magnifi- 
 cent balls during the winter of 1811-1812 — Secret societies formed by 
 the students of Northern Germany — A plot to assassinate Napoleon — 
 A Leipsic student reaches Paris with this object in view; his arrest and 
 imprisonment — Treason committed by an official of the War Office 
 bribed by Russia — Vidocq, the detective, discovers a counterfeiter — 
 The manufacture on an extended scale of counterfeit notes of the Bank 
 of Russia and of the Bank of Vienna, countenanced by the Emperor's 
 police — Conversation between M. Pasquier and Napoleon, on the eve 
 of the latter's departure for the Russian campaign. 
 
 At the beginning of the year 1812, the Emperor called 
 for a draft of two hundred thousand conscripts. This draft 
 was a little later on followed by the organization of the 
 National Guard into three bans (levies), in which were com- 
 prised all able-bodied men from the ages of twenty to sixty. 
 The first ban was composed of young men from the ages 
 of twenty to twenty-six. It was divided into coliortes 
 of one thousand men. This organization was nothing 
 else than a new means devised to raise another hundred 
 thousand men, by getting back all those the conscription 
 had spared during the past six years. The cohortes of 
 the first ban were immediately placed at the disposal of the 
 Minister of War, It is true that they were merely em- 
 ployed in guarding the frontiers, preserving peace at home, 
 and garrisoning fortified towns and arsenals. But the 
 
 542
 
 NAPOLEON AND EUSSIA 543 
 
 frontiers extended to the shores of the Baltic, and, even if 
 the condition of not having to do duty beyond them were 
 strictly observed, it afforded this advantage, viz., that the 
 regular army could be disposed of in its entirety for foreign 
 service. I make more particular mention of these two 
 levies made at one and the same time, not only on account 
 of their enormous size, but because to the eyes of an observer 
 situated as favorably as I was to see and hear everything, 
 it was for the first time noticeable that if they did not ex- 
 cite a feeling of discontent akin to rebellion, they at least 
 were the cause of general and deep dissatisfaction. No 
 one could any longer feel safe, if men who considered them- 
 selves totally exempt from military service were to be called 
 out. 
 
 Napoleon could not fail to know of the bad effect produced 
 by this measure. I have not to reproach myself with having 
 concealed from him all that was being said in the bou7'- 
 geoisie as well as in the lower classes, but nothing could 
 restrain him. The diplomatic intercourse between his 
 Minister and the Kussian ambassador was daily becoming 
 more unpleasant. Napoleon entertained three grievances 
 against Russia: 1. — A ukase issued towards the end of 
 1810 by which the ports of the Russian Empire were opened 
 to all English vessels loaded with colonial wares, provided 
 they sailed under a foreign flag. This practically amounted 
 to breaking the Treaty of Tilsit and the subsequent agree- 
 ments ; 2. — A protest on the part of the Emperor Alex- 
 ander against the union of the Duchy of Oldenburg to 
 France, as if Russia had the slightest right to interfere 
 with the affairs of a prince of the Rhine Confederation ; 3. 
 — The warlike preparations which the Emperor Alexander 
 had begun early in 1811, in sending to the borders of the 
 Duchy of Warsaw five divisions of the army of Moldavia. 
 
 Then it was that, casting aside the reserve of the forego-
 
 544 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ing month of August, the Emperor resolved at last to listen 
 to the overtures made by Prussia, After much parleying 
 between the Due de Bassano and the Minister of that power, 
 a treaty of alliance was signed between it and France in 
 Paris in the month of February. The open clauses of this 
 treaty did not contain anything that might seem directed 
 against Russia, but the secret clauses were positive in this 
 direction, and they were strengthened by several special 
 agreements. The most important of them all was the one, 
 which, in the case of a war breaking out between France 
 and Russia, contained the engagement to furnish a contin- 
 gent of twenty thousand men and sixty guns, independently 
 of the garrisons which were to occupy a number of fortiiied 
 towns which were mentioned. 
 
 Shortly afterwards, a definitive alliance was signed in 
 Paris between France and Austria. Following upon the 
 customary stipulations, the object of which was to effect 
 a mutual guarantee of their respective territories, the two 
 powers bound themselves mutually, in case of an attack, to 
 supply a help of thirty thousand men and sixty guns. They 
 also guaranteed, and this is noteworthy, the integrity of 
 the Ottoman Empire, and recognized the rights of naviga- 
 tion of neutrals such as laid down and confirmed by the 
 Treaty of Utrecht. Several secret articles were appended 
 to this treaty. One of them excepted as cas^ts foederis 
 France's war with England, and the one in the Peninsula 
 beyond the Pyrenees, but it included in explicit terms 
 one that might break out between France and Russia. 
 What could then be the Emperor's plans? Whither was 
 his ambition to lead him? Fortune, in becoming unfaithful 
 to him, has not allowed one to know in a precise manner. 
 
 If, as cannot be doubted, he meditated a fresh v\'ar with 
 Russia, the most elementary notions of politics seemed to 
 demand that France should neglect nothing to maintain and
 
 SWEDEN'S POLITICAL CONDITION 545 
 
 render more efficient an alliance with the Swedish mon- 
 archy. Unfortunately, the Emperor had entered on a 
 totally different path. Unable to reconcile himself to the 
 idea of recognizing the full independence of the sovereign 
 who had emerged from the ranks of his army, and who had 
 required his permission to mount the steps of his throne, 
 he would have liked to consider this sovereign as merely 
 one of his lieutenants, who would consent to sacrifice the 
 most evident interests of his new subjects to the combina- 
 tions of his policy. 
 
 Hardly taking into consideration Sweden's poverty, which 
 the rash enterprises of the preceding reign had considerably 
 aggravated, Napoleon had not only ordered that country to 
 break off all alliance with England, but he had exacted that 
 it should at all risks, whatever it might have to endure, 
 declare itself the enemy of that power. Sweden had 
 obeyed, and, yielding to the impulse which had already led 
 it to place the inheritance of its crown on the head of a 
 French general,^ it had, towards the end of 1810, declared 
 war against England. The sacrifice was a great one, and 
 the Stockholm cabinet doubtless expected the poor compen- 
 sation of a subsidy. This was a habit it had acquired from 
 the days of Cardinal de Eichelieu to 1789, but Xapoleon 
 thought such methods of influence beneath his dignity. He 
 had, at that time, become extremely thrifty; the Spanish 
 war had already made considerable inroad on his private 
 list, and he was desirous of husbanding all his resources 
 in view of the great undertakings he was planning. 
 
 Not content with refusing Sweden what that country 
 thought itself entitled to, he did not hesitate to multiply 
 
 1 1 must here say, once for all, that Bernadotte, Prince Royal of Sweden, 
 did not finally mount the throne until 1818, at the time of the death of 
 Charles XIII., but he nevertheless governed the country immediately on 
 his arrival, and nothing was done except by his orders and in conformity 
 with his views.
 
 546 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 his demands, and sought first to obtain a certain number of 
 Swedish sailors to man his fleet, but this was denied him. 
 He then attempted to introduce into Sweden his Customs' 
 tariff, and demanded that French Customs' officials should 
 be established at Gothenburg. He next conceived the idea 
 of forming a Confederation of the North, akin to that of 
 the Ehine, and which was to include Sweden, Denmark, 
 and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. All these propositions 
 having been rejected, he experienced thereat considerable 
 displeasure which was increased by the consideration which 
 England showed towards Swedish commerce. It thereupon 
 became evident that England regarded Sweden as a friend, 
 for the time being compelled to yield to the inexorable, 
 but which could not but return to it. Furious at what he 
 at once styled a culpable connivance, Napoleon authorized 
 his privateers to capture Swedish vessels, under the pretence 
 that they had no license register, or that it was an English 
 one. The smallest Swedish coasters were seized, even 
 those loading in German ports, and the Swedish sailors 
 were treated as prizes and prisoners of war; several sailors 
 were conveyed to Antwerp and to Toulon, and compelled 
 to serve on French ships. 
 
 Sweden was desirous of uniting Norway to its posses- 
 sions. This proposition was not listened to. The occupa- 
 tion of Swedish Pomerania and of the Island of Riigen took 
 place very shortly afterwards, in the course of January, 
 1812. 
 
 The terms imposed on Sweden being such as could not be 
 accepted, this power had turned towards Eussia, and had 
 entered into negotiations with Great Britain. As early as 
 the end of March, a treaty was concluded, whereby Russia 
 bound itself to bring Norway under the sway of Sweden, 
 either by way of negotiations or by force of arms. Sweden, 
 on its part, bound itself in case of a war between France
 
 BEENABOTTE 547 
 
 and Kiissia, to make a diversion on whatever point in Ger- 
 many should be judged convenient. Twenty-five or thirty 
 thousand Swedes were to be united with that object to fif- 
 teen or twenty thousand Eussians. The charg6 d'affaires 
 in Paris at the same time handed to the Due de Bassano a 
 note wherein he protested against the occupation of Pome- 
 rania, and informed him that his sovereign would hencefor- 
 ward remain neutral between France and England. Dur- 
 ing the course of the following summer, Sweden came to a 
 complete understanding with England, and the friendly 
 intercourse and trade relations were placed on the same 
 footing as they were on the first of January, 1791, and the 
 London cabinet bound itself to supply all the necessary 
 support to maintain the independence and security of its 
 ally in the event of its being attacked by any power what- 
 soever. Immediately after this agreement having been 
 entered into, all Swedish ports were opened to ships of all 
 nations, for the import and export of foreign and Swedish 
 products. 
 
 Never did Napoleon more abuse his power than in the 
 case of Sweden. Was he seeking revenge for an elevation 
 which was not of his doing, and which perhaps bore the 
 resemblance of a parody on his own? 
 
 On the part of Bernadotte there was the need of justify- 
 ing, in the eyes of the Swedish nation, the favor done him 
 at its hands. He considered himself but little indebted to 
 his former chief, and resisting the latter's will, placed him 
 on a footing of equality which must have particularly flat- 
 tered his ridiculously vain character. He must indeed have 
 been a happy man if his heart never reproached him with 
 the injury he did to his fatherland ! 
 
 There was no longer any room for illusions. Europe was 
 about to become the theatre of a more serious struggle than 
 any it had previously witnessed. On the one side, France
 
 548 MEMOIBS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 dragged after it Prussia and Austria; on the other, Kussia 
 had the support of England and Sweden. Who could pre- 
 dict the issue of the conflict? It is interesting to follow 
 the Emperor's doings during the few days of calm still 
 remaining to him. He relied on no one for the direction 
 of the negotiations in which he was engaged from Savona 
 to St. Petersburg, and in this connection his ministers did 
 not write a line that he did not dictate. "Worried with the 
 troubles caused by a scarcity of food, which could not have 
 made its appearance at a worse time, giving to the details 
 of the higher administration of his Empire the attention 
 lie never denied them, he in nowise neglected the arranging 
 of the magnificent fetes which he apparently considered as 
 the necessary adjuncts of sovereignty. Hence, Court theat- 
 ricals, social gatherings, fetes, and balls were never more 
 numerous than during the winter of 1811-1812. 
 
 Among all these fetes, I must particularly notice the 
 masked balls, the giving of which had become a custom 
 with Napoleon during the past two or three years, and from 
 which he seemed to derive much pleasure. He enjoyed 
 them all the more in that there was a certain foolhardiness 
 in braving the inconveniences and dangers attendant upon 
 them. The carnival was nearing its end, the Archchancel- 
 lor and the Prince de Neufchatel had given their masked 
 balls, and the last one of the season took place at M. de 
 Marescalchi's, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
 He had caused a large ballroom to be built of wood and 
 canvass in the garden attached to the somewhat small house 
 which he occupied in the Avenue des Champs-Elysees. 
 Fears had been entertained of the danger of a fire, and I 
 had had to take extraordinary precautions to guard against 
 it, but another danger threatened, which was unlocked for, 
 and which only became known after it had been passed. 
 
 The students in North Germany chafed with a feeling of
 
 THE STUDENTS OF NORTHEEN GERMANY 549 
 
 restlessness whicli daily grew under the yoke to which they 
 were subjected, and indignant at the frequent vexations 
 which they had to endure, were seeking to free the German 
 fatherland by means of secret societies. Towards the end 
 of 1809, a member of these societies had been on the point 
 of assassinating Napoleon while he was attending a parade 
 and surrounded by his Guard, at Schonbrunn. The daring 
 shown in this youth's admissions, the courage with which 
 he had faced his doom, the declaration he made ihat if 
 his life was spared he would renew his attempt, attracted 
 great attention. One affected to consider this attempt as 
 an isolated fact, and as the result of a diseased brain. But 
 far from this being the case, this frenzy was contagious. 
 
 Two youths, belonging to the best families in Saxony, 
 left Leipsic at the beginning of 1812, fully determined 
 upon bringing to an issue che attempt which had been 
 unattended with success at Schonbrunn. One of them 
 renounced his part in the undertaking, just as he was about 
 to set foot on French soil, and returned to Saxony. The 
 other, whose name was La Sala, continued on his way, and 
 at Strasburg met with a commissary, who, quite inno- 
 cently, gave him a seat in his carriage, and brought him to 
 Paris. Fortunately, he had spent some time in Strasburg. 
 His comrade, on his return to Dresden, had become a prey 
 to remorse, and thought it his duty to inform M. de Snefi, 
 the Saxon Minister of Foreign Affairs, of the plot which 
 was still to be carried into execution without him. M. de 
 Sneff had immediately dispatched a courier to Paris. At 
 midnight, he was with the Due de Bassano, who laid the 
 dispatch before me, thus putting me in possession of the 
 name and physical characteristics of the youth, and ena- 
 bling me to give the necessary instructions for discovering 
 him. The detective who received his orders directly from 
 me was a very intelligent man, whose worth became known.
 
 550 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 on this occasion; his name was Foudras. Later on, I ap- 
 pointed him an inspector-general. The very next morning, 
 he found M. de La Sala in a furnished lodging, and arrested 
 him before noon. The young man was well provided with 
 pistols and poniards. Moreover, he did not seek to excuse 
 himself; feeling that he had been betrayed, he made a full 
 confession. He expressed but one regret, and that was 
 that he had not arrived two days sooner, thus missing the 
 opportunity offered him by M. de Marescalchi's masked 
 ball. His fate had to be decided upon. I laid down in my 
 report that the best action to take was not to give any 
 prominence to the incident, but to bury it in the deepest 
 secrecy, as there was nothing more fatal than to accustom 
 the public mind to the thought that such outrages could be 
 easily planned and carried out. Nothing was to be gained 
 by bringing this young man to trial and having him shot; 
 it was better to treat him as a visionary. My opinion was 
 found good. La Sala was taken to Vincennes, whence he 
 emerged, together with other prisoners of state, at the time 
 of the Restoration. 
 
 Very soon afterwards, another very serious discovery was 
 made, and this one had a more tragic issue. For some time 
 past, the Russian Embassy had been the object of a most 
 active surveillance. The Due de Bassano had asked me to 
 lend him a trustworthy man, who was to report direct. 
 The man whom I sent him was the same detective whose 
 activity had given me so much satisfaction in La Sala's 
 aif air. Matters had been arranged, when, for some reason 
 or the other, a Russian courier was arrested on the fron- 
 tier. Upon searching his papers, he was found to be the 
 bearer of packages which were being sent to St. Petersburg 
 by M. de Czernicheff, aide-de-camp to the Emperor of 
 Russia, and who had been sent to Paris on a special mis- 
 sion. These packages contained the most detailed statis-
 
 AN EMPLOYE'S TBEACRERT 551 
 
 tics as to the position and strength of all bodies of French 
 troops in Germany. Now, these statistics, originally drawn 
 up for the Emperor's personal use, could only have fallen 
 into the hands of the Russian envoy through a most culpa- 
 ble breach of trust, the author of which had not been dis- 
 covered, when on the day of M. de Czernicheff's departure, 
 the detective who was watching his hotel, conceived the 
 idea of inspecting the room he had just left, and thoroughly 
 searching it. The Eussian envoy had spent the night in 
 burning papers, the ashes of which filled the fireplace. 
 When stirring up these ashes, the detective pulled away a 
 little hearth-rug under which was found a note, which he 
 had doubtless intended to cast into the flames with the 
 others, but which had found its way under the hearth-rug. 
 This note plainly came from the man who had supplied the 
 statistics. 
 
 The note was brought to the Minister of Police, then to 
 the Minister of War, who at once summoned all the heads 
 of departments, but none of them could recognize the hand- 
 writing. It was then decided to take the document to the 
 Prince de Neufchatel, to whom, as Major-General of the 
 Army, the statistics were sent, and where they might con- 
 sequently have been copied. The prince having submitted 
 the matter to his chief secretary, the handwriting was rec- 
 ognized as that of a clerk who had in days gone by worked 
 with him in the War Office, and who was still employed in 
 its bureau of statistics. An hour afterwards, the clerk was 
 brought into the presence of the Minister of Police, and 
 confessed that he had carried on this guilty practice for 
 some eight or ten years. Every Russian ambassador in 
 Paris had in turn confided to his successor the secret of this 
 profitable corruption. The unfortunate clerk soon paid 
 with his life for a crime for which there was no forgive- 
 ness. No government shows any mercy to such treacher-
 
 552 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 ous deeds, yet every government does not fail to encourage 
 them, whenever it find it in its interest to do so. Napoleon 
 made pretence of being very wroth at a piece of treachery 
 which had been pursued, he said, at the very time of his 
 greatest intimacy with the Emperor Alexander. 
 
 During the same period, a singular discovery was made 
 at the Banque de France, where several counterfeit notes 
 had been presented to be exchanged for specie. As in 
 matters of this kind, it is always a wise plan to avoid 
 trouble, the money had been promptly paid over, and the 
 notes had been brought to the prefecture de police. On a 
 close examination of them, I found that they were not all 
 identically the same, and that they were not struck off 
 from copperplates. Indian ink had been used, and they 
 had been made by hand; hence the danger of their multi- 
 plying was far less, as their manufacture by such a process 
 must of necessity be somewhat limited, but at the same 
 time harder to discover. A strict watch was set on the 
 banks of gambling-houses, and, a fortnight later, a man 
 was seen to lay a counterfeit note on the cloth. The man 
 was a miniature painter. It was not sufficient to know that 
 he had uttered a counterfeit note, there remained to learn 
 whether he had done so wittingly, and whether the note 
 was his handiwork. The chief detective took good care not 
 to have the artist's domicile searched, for he wished to 
 allow him sufficient time to manufacture another note. 
 Several days were therefore allowed to elapse, then, just as 
 he was entering his domicile, the police entered with him 
 and made a lengthy search. At first, it was all in vain. 
 Just as the detectives were about to retire, one of them^ 
 caught a look that the artist had cast towards a stove 
 
 1 This detective was one Vidocq, -Nvhom the chief of detectives, M. Henri, 
 had, with my ijerraission, taken out of the prison of Bicetre, where he was 
 held consequent upon two or three escapes from the penal establishments
 
 COUNTERFEIT BANK-NOTES 553 
 
 which stood in the middle of the room. On raising its lid, 
 there was found a note begun, together with the one used 
 as a model. The unfortunate man was generally in the 
 habit of making one every three weeks, using tracing paper 
 to do his work. As he did not have any accomplice, he 
 might have eluded discovery for a considerable length of 
 time, if he had contented himself with changing his notes 
 at shop-counters, and he might perhaps never have been 
 found out, if he had not changed them at a gambler's 
 bank. Strange to relate, there hung above the table at 
 which he worked a small framed engraving in a frame 
 representing the sentence and execution of a counterfeiter 
 of assiguats. It was feared that were he brought to trial, 
 the publicity thus given to the case would be the cause of 
 spreading the knowledge of so easy a method of counter- 
 feiting. The Banque de France itself drew attention to the 
 fact. He was consequently treated as a prisoner of state, 
 and taken to Vincennes. 
 
 This case of counterfeit notes leads me to speak of an- 
 other similar enterprise, but one on a much larger scale 
 and in which the Imperial Government was implicated. It 
 followed the one I have mentioned, and came to my knowl- 
 
 of Brest and Toulon, whither he had been sent for forgery. He had 
 already, while at Bicetre, rendered rather important services to the police, 
 which had been indebted to him for several useful warnings based on the 
 intercourse which thieves who are under lock and key always manage to 
 keep up with those of the outer world. Hence M. Henri had believed that 
 if his freedom were granted him, he might assist in making some impor- 
 tant discoveries in Paris, nor had he been mistaken. Few detectives have 
 proved so useful; in the end, under the regime of M. Delaveau, he has been 
 allowed to assume a recognized and open position, and to become at the 
 prefecture de police the chief of a branch of the outdoor service, and in 
 truth, this was hardly the right thing. It is even said that he works 
 directly under that official. In my day, he would have never been allowed 
 to cross the step of my antechamber, and he came into contact only with 
 the chief of the department who made use of his services. Such confidence 
 shown publicly and with so much abandon to a convict has had a bad 
 effect, and has on several occasions contributed to discredit the police.
 
 554 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 edge in the most extraordinary manner, towards the begin- 
 ning of the expedition to Russia. The commissaire de 
 police and the assistant, who together exercised a more direct 
 supervision over the printing establishments, informed me 
 one day that they had acquired positive proof that a num- 
 ber of workmen were engaged, with the greatest secrecy, 
 for some night-work for which they were being very highly 
 remunerated. He had caused several of them to be shad- 
 owed who went at dusk to an isolated house situated beyond 
 the city gates, in the plain of Montrouge. All the windows 
 on the ground floor of this house, which the police had 
 minutely examined, were protected with exceedingly strong 
 iron railings, and the doors were so built that it would 
 be a difficult matter to break them open. 
 
 I at once ordered that the house be surrounded in the 
 dead of the night, and I delivered a search-warrant in order 
 that the police could demand that the doors be opened to 
 them at early dawn, in conformity with the terms of the 
 law. The police agents, foreseeing resistance, asked to be 
 reinforced by gendarmes taken from a new corps which was 
 at my disposal. As anticipated, a show of resistance was 
 made, it became necessary to batter in the doors, and there 
 were a few men wounded on either side. As a result, there 
 was discovered the manufacture, organized on a large scale, 
 of counterfeit bank-notes. 
 
 This time, indeed, it was not the Banque de Erance, but 
 the Imperial Bank of Russia and even the Bank of Vienna, 
 which was affected, which goes to show in a positive man- 
 ner that all this was taking place at the outset of the cam- 
 paign of 1813. The counterfeit notes, plates, and graving 
 tools were all seized and brought to the prefecture de police; 
 but hardly was this expedition over, when the Due de 
 Rovigo hurriedly called on me in a state of actual conster- 
 nation. The whole of this pretty undertaking was being
 
 COUNTERFEITING BY GOVERNMENT 565 
 
 carried on by the orders and under the direction of M. 
 Desmarest by a printer named Fain, whose brother was at 
 that time one of the Emperor's private secretaries. It then 
 became necessary to inform me that such a plan had been 
 hit upon in order to pay for the purchases of supplies made 
 by the French army in Russia. 
 
 Preparations were making for resorting to the same 
 methods when the war against Austria was entered upon. 
 I could not help saying to the Due de Rovigo that I had to 
 thank him greatly for having up to this time spared me the 
 knowledge of this, but that prudence should have at least 
 dictated to him to warn me that such and such a house 
 belonged to him, and that I might in consequence dispense 
 with finding out what was being done in it. He agreed with 
 me on the latter point, but with regard to the nature of the 
 thing itself, he told me that the Emperor was merely follow- 
 ing the example set him by England. The alleged orders 
 he had received were of a kind not to be disregarded, con- 
 sequently everything that had been brought to the i^rifecture 
 was taken away to the Ministry of Police, and he disposed 
 of the things as he saw fit. I have since learnt in a posi- 
 tive fashion that these counterfeit notes were never of any 
 practical utility. A very small number of them were put 
 into circulation during the Russian campaign, and, at the 
 time of the retreat, a large quantity which was then worth- 
 less were hurriedly cast to the flames. 
 
 But, do what one may, these ugly transactions always get 
 to the knowledge of the public, and, after the Restoration, 
 the one just spoken of became public property through the 
 claims preferred by a Hamburg firm against the Due de 
 Rovigo. This firm had formerly and by his orders re- 
 ceived a large payment made with these counterfeit notes. 
 It claimed to hold him personally responsible for this, and, 
 if he managed to escape the disagreeable consequences of
 
 556. MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 this claim, the whole of the business and the part he had 
 in it were exposed to the view of the public. As to the 
 counterfeit notes of the Bank of Vienna, the rapid and 
 unfortunate result of the Saxon campaign did not allow 
 of a single one being put into circulation. The only result, 
 therefore, of the affair was a number of troublesome com- 
 plications. 
 
 During the two months preceding the Emperor's depart- 
 ure, I spent most of my evenings at the house of M. de 
 Bassano. I witnessed all his illusions. His faith was 
 based on the Austrian alliance. He had come to look upon 
 Napoleon's marriage to the Archduchess as flattering to the 
 highest degree the pride of the Austrian Imperial family. 
 Again, he attached to this conjugal bond all such ideas of 
 intimacy as generally became established between simple 
 middle class families, which, so to speak, become one by a 
 marriage. The actions of the Austrian ambassador were 
 of a nature to confirm such a view ; no one ever made such 
 a display of constant and more minute attentions than did 
 the Prince von Schwarzenberg. He hardly absented him- 
 self from the official residence of the Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs, or from the country-house which the Duke had 
 rented near Saint-Cloud, while his gallantry towards the 
 Duchess was indefatigable. He was not an intellectual 
 man, far from it; but his great name, his brilliant mode 
 of living, and his kindly and courteous ways made up for 
 wha.t he lacked. He succeeded in inspiring so great a 
 confidence that Napoleon laid much stress on the com- 
 mand of the auxiliary Austrian corps being entrusted to 
 him, thus under the impression that he would so obtain 
 the best guarantee for a faithful execution of the treaty of 
 alliance. 
 
 All this went on under my very eyes, and indeed I de- 
 served some credit in guarding myself in the midst of not
 
 A CONVERSATION WITH THE EMPEROR 557 
 
 prejudiced surroundings, against being carried away by the 
 enthusiasm to which nearly all those about me gave way 
 to. It is nevertheless a fact that my fears for the Emper- 
 or's future date from that period, I was singularly struck 
 by all the uncertainties which that future presented. 
 
 I had, on the eve of his departure, a very short conversa- 
 tion with the Emperor, but it was not one of a nature to 
 dissipate my apprehensions. It took place after the audi- 
 ence of the lever; he had detained me, and, after a few 
 insignificant remarks with regard to the matters of my 
 administration in general, and to the more particular atten- 
 tion I should bestow upon them during his absence, he 
 broached the question of the food supply. True to his 
 habit of looking upon as established facts those things which 
 he desired to have one believe with him, he remarked: "As 
 to the scarcity of food, that is a thing of the past; harvest- 
 ing time will shortly be here, and, in a fortnight, you will 
 see the end of all your troubles." I told him that such was 
 not my view of the case ; that the crop, as regards the dis- 
 trict about Paris, was never gathered before the middle 
 and often only at the end of July, and that, as a conse- 
 quence, its product would not enter into consumption until 
 towards mid August; hence there were still three months 
 to be passed before this period was reached, and those three 
 months might be the hardest to tide over, as the stock of 
 provisions was ever diminishing. I added that it did not 
 avail concealing the fact that his absence would render the 
 situation more dangerous, because the action of the gov- 
 ernment would necessarily lose a little of its strength. 
 
 "As an instance of this," I urged, "on the occasion of the 
 rioting in the vicinity of Caen, Your Majesty himself gave 
 the necessary orders for sending to the spot with instruc- 
 tions to act a regiment of the Guard. These commands 
 were executed Avith a rapidity and a vigor which might not
 
 558 MEMOIRS OF CHANCELLOR PASQUIER 
 
 be found in so high a degree, when the Emperor will be 
 four hundred leagues away from his capital. Should, un- 
 fortunately, a somewhat extended insurrectionary move- 
 ment break out, is it not to be feared that it might produce 
 fatal consequences both at home and abroad? It is my 
 duty not to conceal from Your Majesty the dangers of which 
 I see the probability." 
 
 Napoleon appeared struck by these few remarks. When 
 I had ended speaking, he remained silent, and pacing to 
 and fro between the window and the fireplace, his arms 
 crossed behind his back, like a man who is pondering 
 deeply. I followed in his steps, when, facing me suddenly, 
 he uttered the words which follow : " Yes, there is doubt- 
 less some truth in what you tell me; it is one more difficulty 
 added to the many I have to face in tJie greatest, the most 
 difficult undertaking I have ever attempted; but I must fain 
 bring to a termination what I have begun. Farewell, mon- 
 sieur le prefet." 
 
 He knew, therefore, of the perils into which he was about 
 to fling himself. It may be that this conversation and the 
 few words I spoke to him as to the possibility of an insur- 
 rectionary movement during his absence, may have contrib- 
 uted, greatly against my intention, to the resolution he 
 took of leaving behind him the decree governing prices. It 
 is a most remarkable thing that he did not say a word 
 about it to me. 
 
 He left Paris on the 9th of May, and reached Dresden 
 very shortly afterwards. He remained in that city till the 
 end of the month; the Empress followed him there almost 
 immediately. The narrative of the campaign which fol- 
 lowed his departure from Dresden, and which found its 
 termination in the disasters of a retreat in the midst of 
 which the finest and most valorous of armies was reduced 
 to nothing, has been written by the men most able to give
 
 THE RETREAT FROM RUSSIA 559 
 
 an account of it and to pass a just opinion on it, by men 
 who shared in its glories and its sufferings. I shall not, 
 therefore, attempt to tell what they have related a hundred 
 times better than I could do. I shall merely attempt to 
 render the impressions felt by those about me and which I 
 myself experienced. 
 
 END OF VOL. I 
 
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