Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
servility, fear, every motive capable of influencing them, had been
used: even their humane scruples were employed" (Lanfrey tome iii.
p. 193, who goes on to say that the judges were urged to sentence
Moreau to death in order that the Emperor might fully pardon him).]
But however this may be, prudence led me to discontinue visiting M.
Desmaisons, with whom I was in habits of the strictest friendship.
About this period I paid a visit which occupies an important place in
my recollections. On the 14th of June 1804, four days after the
condemnation of Georges and his accomplices, I received a summons to
attend the Emperor at St. Cloud. It was Thursday, and as I thought
on the great events and tragic scenes about to be acted, I was rather
uneasy respecting his intentions.
But I was fortunate enough to find my friend Rapp in waiting, who said
to me as I entered, "Be not alarmed; he is in the best of humours at
present, and wishes to have some conversation with you."
Rapp then announced me to the Emperor, and I was immediately admitted to
his presence. After pinching my ear and asking his usual questions, such
as, "What does the world say? How are your children? What are you about?
etc.," he said to me, "By the by, have you attended the proceedings
against Moreau?"--"Yes, Sire, I have not been absent during one of the
sittings."--"Well, Bourrienne, are you of the opinion that Moreau is
innocent?"--"Yes, Sire; at least I am certain that nothing has come out
in the course of the trial tending to criminate him; I am even surprised
how he came to be implicated in this conspiracy, since nothing has
appeared against him which has the most remote connexion with the
affair."--"I know your opinion on this subject; Duroc related to me the
conversation you held with him at the Tuileries; experience has shown
that you were correct; but how could I act otherwise? You know that
Bouvet de Lozier hanged himself in prison, and was only saved by
accident. Real hurried to the Temple in order to interrogate him, and in
his first confessions he criminated Moreau, affirming that he had held
repeated conferences with Pichegru. Real immediately reported to me this
fact, and proposed that Moreau should be arrested, since the rumours
against him seemed to be well founded; he had previously made the same
proposition. I at first refused my sanction to this measure; but
after the charge made against him by Bouvet de Lozier, how could I act
otherwise than I did? Could I suffer such open conspiracies against the
Government? Could I doubt the truth of Bouvet de Lozier's declaration,
under the circumstances in which it was made? Could I foresee that he
would deny his first declaration when brought before the Court? There
was a chain of circumstances which human sagacity could not penetrate,
and I consented to the arrest of Moreau when it was proved that he was
in league with Pichegru. Has not England sent assassins?"--"Sire," said
I, "permit me to call to your recollection the conversation you had in
my presence with Mr. Fox, after which you said to me, 'Bourrienne, I am
very happy at having heard from the mouth of a man of honour that the
British Government is incapable of seeking my life; I always wish to
esteem my enemies."--"Bah! you are a fool! Parbleu! I did not say that
the English Minister sent over an assassin, and that he said to him,
'Here is gold and a poniard; go and kill the First Consul.' No, I
did not believe that; but it cannot be denied that all those foreign
conspirators against my Government were serving England, and receiving
pay from that power. Have I agents in London to disturb the Government
of Great Britain? I have waged with it honourable warfare; I have not
attempted to awaken a remembrance of the Stuarts amongst their old
partisans. Is not Wright, who landed Georges and his accomplices at
Dieppe, a captain in the British navy? But rest assured that, with the
exception of a few babblers, whom I can easily silence, the hearts
of the French people are with me; everywhere public opinion has been
declared in my favour, so that I have nothing to apprehend from giving
the greatest publicity to these plots, and bringing the accused to a
solemn trial. The greater number of those gentlemen wished me to bring
the prisoners before a military commission, that summary judgment might
be obtained; but I refused my consent to this measure. It might have
been said that I dreaded public opinion; and I fear it not. People may
talk as much as they please, well and good, I am not obliged to hear
them; but I do not like those who are attached to my person to blame
what I have done."
As I could not wholly conceal an involuntary emotion, in which the
Emperor saw something more than mere surprise, he paused, took me by
the ear, and, smiling in the most affectionate manner, said, "I had no
reference to you in what I said, but I have to complain of Lacuee. Could
you believe that during the trial he went about clamouring in behalf
of Moreau? He, my aide de camp--a man who owes everything to me! As for
you, I have said that you acted very well in this affair."--"I know not,
Sire, what has either been done or said by Lacuee,--whom I have not seen
for a long time; what I said to Duroc is what history teaches in every
page."--"By the by," resumed the Emperor, after a short silence, "do
you know that it was I myself who discovered that Pichegru was in Paris.
Everyone said to me, Pichegru is in Paris; Fouché, Real, harped on the
same string, but could give me no proof of their assertion. 'What a fool
you are,' said I to Real, when in an instant you may ascertain the fact.
Pichegru has a brother, an aged ecclesiastic, who resides in Paris; let
his dwelling be searched, and should he be absent, it will warrant a
suspicion that Pichegru is here; if, on the contrary, his brother should
be at home, let him be arrested: he is a simple-minded man, and in the
first moments of agitation will betray the truth. Everything happened as
I had foreseen, for no sooner was he arrested than, without waiting
to be questioned, he inquired if it was a crime to have received his
brother into his house. Thus every doubt was removed, and a miscreant
in the house in which Pichegru lodged betrayed him to the police. What
horrid degradation to betray a friend for the sake of gold."
Then reverting to Moreau, the Emperor talked a great deal respecting
that general. "Moreau," he said, "possesses many good qualities;
his bravery is undoubted; but he has more courage than energy; he is
indolent and effeminate. When with the army he lived like a pasha;
he smoked, was almost constantly in bed, and gave himself up to the
pleasures of the table. His dispositions are naturally good; but he is
too indolent for study; he does not read, and since he has been tied to
his wife's apronstrings is fit for nothing. He sees only with the eyes
of his wife and her mother, who have had a hand in all these late plots;
and then, Bourrienne, is it not very strange that it was by my advice
that he entered into this union? I was told that Mademoiselle Hulot was
a creole, and I believed that he would find in her a second Josephine;
how greatly was I mistaken! It is these women who have estranged us from
each other, and I regret that he should have acted so unworthily. You
must remember my observing to you more than two years ago that Moreau
would one day run his head against the gate of the Tuileries; that he
has done so was no fault of mine, for you know how much I did to secure
his attachment. You cannot have forgotten the reception I gave him at
Malmaison. On the 18th Brumaire I conferred on him the charge of the
Luxembourg, and in that situation he fully justified my choice.
But since that period he has behaved towards me with the utmost
ingratitude--entered into all the silly cabala against me, blamed all my
measures, and turned into ridicule the Legion of Honour. Have not some
of the intriguers put it into his head that I regard him with jealousy?
You must be aware of that. You must also know as well as I how anxious
the members of the Directory were to exalt the reputation of Moreau.
Alarmed at my success in Italy, they wished to have in the armies a
general to serve as a counterpoise to my renown. I have ascended the
throne and he is the inmate of a prison! You are aware of the incessant
clamouring raised against me by the whole family, at which I confess I
was very much displeased; coming from those whom I had treated so well!
Had he attached himself to me, I would doubtless have conferred on
him the title of First Marshal of the Empire; but what could I do? He
constantly depreciated my campaigns and my government. From discontent
to revolt there is frequently only one step, especially when a man of a
weak character becomes the tool of popular clubs; and therefore when
I was first informed that Moreau was implicated in the conspiracy of
Georges I believed him to be guilty, but hesitated to issue an order
for his arrest till I had taken the opinion of my Council. The members
having assembled, I ordered the different documents to be laid before
them, with an injunction to examine them with the utmost care, since
they related to an affair of importance, and I urged them candidly to
inform me whether, in their opinion, any of the charges against Moreau
were sufficiently strong to endanger his life. The fools! their reply
was in the affirmative; I believe they were even unanimous! Then I had
no alternative but to suffer the proceedings to take their course. It is
unnecessary to affirm to you, Bourrienne, that Moreau never should have
perished on a scaffold! Most assuredly I would have pardoned him; but
with the sentence of death hanging over his head he could no longer have
proved dangerous; and his name would have ceased to be a rallying-point
for disaffected Republicans or imbecile Royalists. Had the Council
expressed any doubts respecting his guilt I would have intimated to him
that the suspicions against him were so strong as to render any further
connection between us impossible; and that the best course he could
pursue would be to leave France for three years, under the pretext of
visiting some of the places rendered celebrated during the late wars;
but that if he preferred a diplomatic mission I would make a suitable
provision for his expenses; and the great innovator, Time, might effect
great changes during the period of his absence. But my foolish Council
affirmed to me that his guilt, as a principal, being evident, it was
absolutely necessary to bring him to trial; and now his sentence is only
that of a pickpocket. What think you I ought to do? Detain him? He might
still prove a rallying-point. No. Let him sell his property and quit?
Can I confine him in the Temple? It is full enough without him. Still,
if this had been the only great error they had led me to commit--"
"Sire, how greatly you have been deceived."
"Oh yes, I have been so; but I cannot see everything with my own eyes."
At this part of our conversation, of which I have suppressed my own
share as much as possible, I conceived that the last words of Bonaparte
alluded to the death of the Duc d'Enghien; and I fancied he was about to
mention that event but he again spoke of Moreau.
"He is very much mistaken," resumed the Emperor, "if he conceives I
bore any ill-will towards him. After his arrest I sent Lauriston to
the Temple, whom I chose because he was of an amiable and conciliating
disposition; I charged him to tell Moreau to confess he had only seen
Pichegru, and I would cause the proceedings against him to be suspended.
Instead of receiving this act of generosity as he ought to have done,
he replied to it with great haughtiness, so much was he elated that