Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
in the Rue de la Montagne St. Genevieve, and on the evening of the
9th of March he had just left his lodging to go, it was said, to a
perfumer's named Caron. It is difficult to suppose that the circumstance
of the police being on the spot was the mere effect of chance. The
fruiterer's daughter was putting into the cabriolet a parcel belonging
to Georges at the moment of his arrest. Georges, seeing the officers
advance to seize him, desired the girl to get out of the way, fearing
lest he should shoot her when he fired on the officers. She ran into a
neighbouring house, taking the parcel along with her. The police, it
may readily be supposed, were soon after her. The master of the house in
which she had taken refuge, curious to know what the parcel contained,
had opened it, and discovered, among other things, a bag containing
1000 Dutch sovereigns, from which he acknowledged he had abstracted a
considerable sum. He and his wife, as well as the fruiterer's daughter,
were all arrested; as to Georges, he was taken that same evening to the
Temple, where he remained until his removal to the Conciergerie when the
trial commenced.
During the whole of the legal proceedings Georges and the other
important prisoners were kept in solitary confinement. Immediately on
Pichegru's death the prisoners were informed of the circumstance. As
they were all acquainted with the general, and none believed the fact of
his reported suicide, it may easily be conceived what consternation and
horror the tragical event excited among them. I learned, and I was sorry
to hear of it, that Louis Bonaparte, who was an excellent man, and,
beyond all comparison, the best of the family, had the cruel curiosity
to see Georges in his prison a few days after the death of Pichegru, and
when the sensation of horror excited by that event in the interior of
the Temple was at its height, Louis repaired to the prison, accompanied
by a brilliant escort of staff-officers, and General Savary introduced
him to the prisoners. When Louis arrived, Georges was lying on his bed
with his hands strongly bound by manacles. Lauriston, who accompanied
Louis, related to me some of the particulars of this visit, which, in
spite of his sincere devotedness to the first Consul, he assured me had
been very painful to him.
After the arrest of Georges there were still some individuals marked out
as accomplices in the conspiracy who had found means to elude the search
of the police. The persons last arrested were, I think, Villeneuve, one
of the principal confidants of Georges, Burban Malabre, who went by the
name of Barco, and Charles d'Hozier. They were not taken till five
days after the arrest of the Duc d'Enghien. The famous Commissioner
Comminges, accompanied by an inspector and a detachment of gendarmes
d'Elite, found Villeneuve and Burban Malabre in the house of a man named
Dubuisson, in the Rue Jean Robert.
This Dubuisson and his wife had sheltered some of the principal persons
proscribed by the police. The Messieurs de Polignac and M. de Riviere
had lodged with them. When the police came to arrest Villeneuve and
Burban Malabre the people with whom they lodged declared that they had
gone away in the morning. The officers, however, searched the house, and
discovered a secret door within a closet. They called, and receiving no
answer, the gendarmerie had recourse to one of those expedients which
were, unfortunately, too familiar to them. They fired a pistol through
the door. Villeneuve, who went by the name of Joyau, was wounded in the
arm, which obliged him and his companion to come from the place of their
concealment, and they were then made prisoners.
Moreau was not treated with the degree of rigour observed towards the
other prisoners. Indeed, it would not have been safe so to treat him,
for even in his prison he received the homage and respect of all the
military, not excepting even those who were his guards. Many of these
soldiers had served under him, and it could not be forgotten how much
he was beloved by the troops he had commanded. He did not possess
that irresistible charm which in Bonaparte excited attachment, but his
mildness of temper and excellent character inspired love and respect. It
was the general opinion in Paris that a single word from Moreau to the
soldiers in whose custody he was placed would in a moment have converted
the gaoler-guard into a guard of honour, ready to execute all that might
be required for the safety of the conqueror of Hohenlinden. Perhaps the
respect with which he was treated and the indulgence of daily seeing his
wife and child were but artful calculations for keeping him within the
limits of his usual character. Besides, Moreau was so confident of
the injustice of the charge brought against him that he was calm and
resigned, and showed no disposition to rouse the anger of an enemy who
would have been happy to have some real accusation against him. To these
causes combined I always attributed the resignation; and I may say the
indifference, of Moreau while he was in prison and on his trial.
When the legal preparations for the trial were ended the prisoners of
the Temple were permitted to communicate with each other, and, viewing
their fate with that indifference which youth, misfortune, and courage
inspired, they amused themselves with some of those games which usually
serve for boyish recreation. While they were thus engaged the order
arrived for their removal to the Conciergerie. The firmness of all
remained unshaken, and they made their preparations for departure as
if they were going about any ordinary business. This fortitude was
particularly remarkable in Georges, in whose manner a change had taken
place which was remarked by all his companions in misfortune.
For some time past the agents of Government throughout France had been
instructed to solicit the First Consul to grant for the people what the
people did not want, but what Bonaparte wished to take while he appeared
to yield to the general will, namely, unlimited sovereign authority,
free from any subterfuge of denomination. The opportunity of the great
conspiracy just discovered, and in which Bonaparte had not incurred a
moment's danger, as he did at the time of the infernal machine, was
not suffered to escape; that opportunity was, on the contrary, eagerly
seized by the authorities of every rank, civil, ecclesiastical, and
military, and a torrent of addresses, congratulations, and thanksgivings
inundated the Tuileries. Most of the authors of these addressee did not
confine themselves to mere congratulations; they entreated Bonaparte to
consolidate his work, the true meaning of which was that it was time he
should make himself Emperor and establish hereditary succession. Those
who on other occasions had shown an officious readiness to execute
Bonaparte's commands did not now fear to risk his displeasure by
opposing the opinion he had expressed in the Council of State on the
discussion of the question of the Consulate for life. Bonaparte then
said, "Hereditary succession is absurd. It is irreconcilable with the
principle of the sovereignty of the people, and impossible in France."
In this scene of the grand drama Bonaparte played his part with his
accustomed talent, keeping himself in the background and leaving to
others the task of preparing the catastrophe. The Senate, who took the
lead in the way of insinuation, did not fail, while congratulating the
First Consul on his escape from the plots of foreigners, or, as they
were officially styled, the daggers of England, to conjure him not to
delay the completion of his work. Six days after the death of the Duc
d'Enghien the Senate first expressed this wish. Either because Bonaparte
began to repent of a useless crime, and felt the ill effect it must
produce on the public mind, or because he found the language of the
Senate somewhat vague, he left the address nearly a month unanswered,
and then only replied by the request that the intention of the address
might be more completely expressed. These negotiations between the
Senate and the Head of the Government were not immediately published.
Bonaparte did not like publicity except for what had arrived at a
result; but to attain the result which was the object of his ambition
it was necessary that the project which he was maturing should be
introduced in the Tribunate, and the tribune Curee had the honour to
be the first to propose officially, on the 30th of April 1804, the
conversion of the Consular Republic into an Empire, and the elevation
of Bonaparte to the title of Emperor; with the rights of hereditary
succession.
If any doubts could exist respecting the complaisant part which Curee
acted on this occasion one circumstance would suffice to remove them;
that is, that ten days before the development of his proposition
Bonaparte had caused the question of founding the Empire and
establishing hereditary succession in his family to be secretly
discussed in the Council of State. I learned from one of the Councillors
of State all that passed on that occasion, and I may remark that
Cambacérès showed himself particularly eager in the Council of State, as
well as afterwards in the Senate, to become the exalted subject of him
who had been his first colleague in the Consulate.
About the middle of April, the Council of State being assembled as for
an ordinary sitting, the First Consul, who was frequently present at the
sittings, did not appear. Cambacérès arrived and took the Presidency in
his quality of Second Consul, and it was remarked that his air was more
solemn than usual, though he at all times affected gravity.
The partisans of hereditary succession were the majority, and resolved
to present an address to the First Consul. Those of the Councillors who
opposed this determined on their part to send a counter-address; and to
avoid this clashing of opinions Bonaparte signified his wish that each
member of the Council should send him his opinion individually, with his
signature affixed. By a singular accident it happened to be Berlier's
task to present to the First Consul the separate opinions of the
Council. Out of the twenty-seven Councillors present only seven opposed
the question. Bonaparte received them all most graciously, and told
them, among other things, that he wished for hereditary power only for
the benefit of France; that the citizens would never be his subjects,
and that the French people would never be his people. Such were the
preliminaries to the official proposition of Curee to the Tribunate, and
upon reflection it was decided that, as all opposition would be useless
and perhaps dangerous to the opposing party, the minority should join
the majority. This was accordingly done.
The Tribunate having adopted the proposition of Curee, there was no
longer any motive for concealing the overtures of the Senate. Its
address to the First Consul was therefore published forty days after its
date: the pear was then ripe. This period is so important that I must
not omit putting together the most remarkable facts which either came
within my own observation, or which I have learned since respecting the
foundation of the Empire.
Bonaparte had a long time before spoken to me of the title of Emperor
as being the most appropriate for the new sovereignty which he wished
to found in France. This, he observed, was not restoring the old system
entirely, and he dwelt much on its being the title which Caesar had
borne. He often said, "One may be the Emperor of a republic, but not the
King of a republic, those two terms are incongruous."
In its first address the Senate had taken as a test the documents it had
received from the Government in relation to the intrigues of Drake, who
had been sent from England to Munich. That text afforded the opportunity