Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
establishment, give great weight to his denunciation. It is
sufficient for his purpose that he should throw into the Post Office
any letter so worded as to confirm the impression which it is his
object to convey. The worthiest man may thus be committed by a
letter which he has never read, or the purport of which is wholly
unintelligible to him.
I am speaking from personal experience. It once happened that a
letter addressed to myself, relating to an alleged fact which had
never occurred, was opened. A copy of the letter so opened was also
forwarded to me, as it concerned the duties which I had to perform
at that time; but I was already in possession of the original,
transmitted through the ordinary channel. Summoned to reply to the
questions to which such productions had given rise, I took that
opportunity of pointing out the danger that would accrue from
placing a blind reliance upon intelligence derived from so hazardous
a source. Accordingly, little importance was afterwards attached to
this means of information; but the system was in operation at the
period when M. de Bourrienne was disgraced; his enemies took care to
avail themselves of it; they blackened his character with M. de
Barbe Marbois, who added to their accusations all the weight of his
unblemished character. The opinion entertained by this rigid public
functionary, and many other circumstances, induced the First Consul
to part with his secretary (tome i. p. 418).
Peculation is the crime of those who make a fraudulent use of the public
money. But as it was not in my power to meddle with the public money,
no part of which passed through my hands, I am at loss to conceive how I
can be charged with peculation! The Duc de Rovigo is not the author,
but merely the echo, of this calumny; but the accusation to which his
Memoirs gave currency afforded M. de Barbe Marbois an opportunity of
adding one more to the many proofs he has given of his love of justice.
I had seen nothing of the Memoirs of the Duc de Rovigo except their
announcement in the journals, when a letter from M. de Barbe Marbois was
transmitted to me from my family. It was as follows:
SIR--My attention has been called to the enclosed article in a
recent publication. The assertion it contains is not true, and I
conceive it to be a duty both to you and myself to declare that I
then was, and still am, ignorant of the causes of the separation in
question:--I am, etc.
(Signed) MARBOIS
I need say no more in my justification. This unsolicited testimony of
M. de Marbois is a sufficient contradiction to the charge of peculation
which has been raised against me in the absence of correct information
respecting the real causes of my rupture with the First Consul.
M. le Duc de Rovigo also observes that my enemies were numerous. My
concealed adversaries were indeed all those who were interested that the
sovereign should not have about him, as his confidential companion,
a man devoted to his glory and not to his vanity. In expressing his
dissatisfaction with one of his ministers Bonaparte had said, in the
presence of several individuals, among whom was M. Maret, "If I
could find a second Bourrienne I would get rid of you all." This
was sufficient to raise against me the hatred of all who envied the
confidence of which I was in possession.
The failure of a firm in Paris in which I had invested a considerable
sum of money afforded an opportunity for envy and malignity to irritate
the First Consul against me. Bonaparte, who had not yet forgiven me for
wishing to leave him, at length determined to sacrifice my services to a
new fit of ill-humour.
A mercantile house, then one of the most respectable in Patna, had among
its speculations undertaken some army contracts. With the knowledge of
Berthier, with whom, indeed, the house had treated, I had invested some
money in this business. Unfortunately the principals were, unknown to
me, engaged in dangerous speculations in the Funds, which in a short
time so involved them as to occasion their failure for a heavy amount.
This caused a rumour that a slight fall of the Funds, which took place
at that period, was occasioned by the bankruptcy; and the First Consul,
who never could understand the nature of the Funds, gave credit to the
report. He was made to believe that the business of the Stock Exchange
was ruined. It was insinuated that I was accused of taking advantage
of my situation to produce variations in the Funds, though I was so
unfortunate as to lose not only my investment in the bankrupt house, but
also a sum of money for which I had become bound, by way of surety,
to assist the house in increasing its business. I incurred the violent
displeasure of the First Consul, who declared to me that he no longer
required my services. I might, perhaps have cooled his irritation by
reminding him that he could not blame me for purchasing an interest in
a contract, since he himself had stipulated for a gratuity of 1,500,000
francs for his brother Joseph out of the contract for victualling the
navy. But I saw that for some time past M. de Meneval had begun to
supersede me, and the First Consul only wanted such an opportunity as
this for coming to a rupture with me.
Such is a true statement of the circumstances which led to my separation
from Bonaparte. I defy any one to adduce a single fact in support of
the charge of peculation, or any transaction of the kind; I fear no
investigation of my conduct. When in the service of Bonaparte I caused
many appointments to be made, and many names to be erased from the
emigrant list before the 'Senatus-consulte' of the 6th Floréal, year X.;
but I never counted upon gratitude, experience having taught me that it
was an empty word.
The Duc de Rovigo attributed my disgrace to certain intercepted letters
which injured me in the eyes of the First Consul. I did not know this
at the time, and though I was pretty well aware of the machinations of
Bonaparte's adulators, almost all of whom were my enemies, yet I did not
contemplate such an act of baseness. But a spontaneous letter from M.
de Barbe Marbois at length opened my eyes, and left little doubt on the
subject. The following is the postscript to that noble peer's letter:
I recollect that one Wednesday the First Consul, while presiding at
a Council of Ministers at St. Cloud, opened a note, and, without
informing us what it contained, hastily left the Board, apparently
much agitated. In a few minutes he returned and told us that your
functions had ceased.
Whether the sudden displeasure of the First Consul was excited by a
false representation of my concern in the transaction which proved so
unfortunate to me, or whether Bonaparte merely made that a pretence
for carrying into execution a resolution which I am convinced had been
previously adopted, I shall not stop to determine; but the Duc de Rovigo
having mentioned the violation of the secrecy of letters in my case, I
shall take the opportunity of stating some particulars on that subject.
Before I wrote these Memoirs the existence in the Post Office of the
cabinet, which had obtained the epithet of black, had been denounced in
the chamber of deputies, and the answer was, that it no longer existed,
which of course amounted to an admission that it had existed. I may
therefore, without indiscretion, state what I know respecting it.
The "black cabinet" was established in the reign of Louis XV., merely
for the purpose of prying into the scandalous gossip of the Court and
the capital. The existence of this cabinet soon became generally
known to every one. The numerous postmasters who succeeded each other,
especially in latter times, the still more numerous Post Office clerks,
and that portion of the public who are ever on the watch for what is
held up as scandalous, soon banished all the secrecy of the affair, and
none but fools were taken in by it. All who did not wish to be committed
by their correspondence chose better channels of communication than the
Post; but those who wanted to ruin an enemy or benefit a friend long
continued to avail themselves of the black cabinet, which, at first
intended merely to amuse a monarch's idle hours, soon became a medium of
intrigue, dangerous from the abuse that might be made of it.
Every morning, for three years, I used to peruse the portfolio
containing the bulletins of the black cabinet, and I frankly confess
that I never could discover any real cause for the public indignation
against it, except inasmuch as it proved the channel of vile intrigue.
Out of 30,000 letters, which daily left Paris to be distributed through
France and all parts of the world, ten or twelve, at most, were copied,
and often only a few lines of them.
Bonaparte at first proposed to send complete copies of intercepted
letters to the ministers whom their contents might concern; but a few
observations from me induced him to direct that only the important
passages should be extracted and sent. I made these extracts, and
transmitted them to their destinations, accompanied by the following
words: "The First Consul directs me to inform you that he has just
received the following information," etc. Whence the information came
was left to be guessed at.
The First Consul daily received through this channel about a dozen
pretended letters, the writers of which described their enemies as
opponents of the Government, or their friends as models of obedience and
fidelity to the constituted authorities. But the secret purpose of this
vile correspondence was soon discovered, and Bonaparte gave orders that
no more of it should be copied. I, however, suffered from it at the time
of my disgrace, and was well-nigh falling a victim to it at a subsequent
period.
The letter mentioned by M. de Marbois, and which was the occasion of
this digression on the violation of private correspondence, derived
importance from the circumstance that Wednesday, the 20th of October,
when Bonaparte received it, was the day on which I left the Consular
palace.
I retired to a house which Bonaparte had advised me to purchase at St.
Cloud, and for the fitting up and furnishing of which he had promised to
pay. We shall see how he kept this promise! I immediately sent to direct
Landoire, the messenger of Bonaparte's cabinet, to place all letters
sent to me in the First Consul's portfolio, because many intended for
him came under cover for me. In consequence of this message I received
the following letter from M. de Meneval:
MY DEAR BOURRIENNE--I cannot believe that the First Consul would
wish that your letters should be presented to him. I presume you
allude only to those which may concern him, and which come addressed
under cover to you. The First Consul has written to citizens
Lavallette and Mollien directing them to address their packets to
him. I cannot allow Landoire to obey the order you sent.
The First Consul yesterday evening evinced great regret. He
repeatedly said, "How miserable I am! I have known that man since
he was seven years old." I cannot but believe that he will
reconsider his unfortunate decision. I have intimated to him that
the burden of the business is too much for me, and that he must be
extremely at a loss for the services of one to whom he was so much
accustomed, and whose situation, I am confident, nobody else can
satisfactorily fill. He went to bed very low-spirited. I am, etc.
(Signed) MENEVAL.
19 Vendemiaire, an X.
(21st October 1802.)
Next day I received another letter from M. Meneval as follows:--
I send you your letters. The First Consul prefers that you should