Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
something for him.' He has again spoken in the same strain, and repeated
nearly the same expressions three days ago; and since he has commanded
your presence to-day, I have not a doubt but he has something in view
for your advantage."--"May I presume to inquire what it is?"--"I do
not yet know; but I would recommend to you, in the meantime, to be
more strictly on your guard than ever; he is so suspicious, and so well
informed of all that is done or said respecting himself. I have suffered
so much since I last saw you; never can I forget the unkind manner in
which he rejected my entreaties! For several days I laboured under a
depression of spirits which greatly irritated him, because he clearly
saw whence it proceeded. I am not dazzled by the title of Empress; I
dread some evil will result from this step to him, to my children, and
to myself. The miscreants ought to be satisfied; see to what they have
driven us! This death embitters every moment of my life. I need not say
to you, Bourrienne, that I speak this in confidence."--"You cannot doubt
my prudence."--"No, certainly not, Bourrienne. I do not doubt it. My
confidence in you is unbounded. Rest assured that I shall never
forget what you have done for me, under various circumstances, and the
devotedness you evinced to me on your return from Egypt.--Adieu, my
friend. Let me see you soon again."
It was on the 14th of June 1804 that I had this audience of the Emperor,
and afterwards attended the Empress.
On my return home I spent three hours in making notes of all that was
said to me by these two personages; and the substance of these notes I
have now given to the reader.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1804.
Curious disclosures of Fouché--Remarkable words of Bonaparte
respecting the protest of Louis XVIII--Secret document inserted in
the Moniteur--Announcement from Bonaparte to Regnier--Fouché
appointed Minister of Police--Error of Regnier respecting the
conspiracy of Georges--Undeserved praise bestowed on Fouché--
Indication of the return of the Bourbons--Variation between the
words and conduct of Bonaparte--The iron crown--Celebration of the
14th of July--Church festivals and loss of time--Grand ceremonial at
the Invalides--Recollections of the 18th Brumaire--New oath of the
Legion of Honour--General enthusiasm--Departure for Boulogne--Visits
to Josephine at St. Cloud and Malmaison--Josephine and Madame de
Rémusat--Pardons granted by the Emperor--Anniversary of the 14th of
July--Departure for the camp of Boulogne--General error respecting
Napoleon's designs--Caesar's Tower--Distribution of the crosses of
the Legion of Honour--The military throne--Bonaparte's charlatanism
--Intrepidity of two English sailors--The decennial prizes and the
Polytechnic School--Meeting of the Emperor and Empress--First
negotiation with the Holy Sea--The Prefect of Arras and Comte Louis
de Narbonne--Change in the French Ministry.
Louis XVIII., being at Warsaw when he was informed of the elevation of
Napoleon to the Imperial dignity, addressed to the sovereigns of Europe
a protest against that usurpation of his throne. Fouché, being the first
who heard of this protest, immediately communicated the circumstance to
the Emperor, observing that doubtless the copies would be multiplied and
distributed amongst the enemies of his Government, in the Faubourg St.
Germain, which might produce the worst effects, and that he therefore
deemed it his duty to inform him that orders might be given to Regnier
and Real to keep a strict watch over those engaged in distributing this
document.
"You may judge of my surprise," added Fouché, "you who know so well that
formerly the very mention of the Bourbons rendered Bonaparte furious,
when, after perusing the protest, he returned it to me, saying, 'Ah, ah,
so the Comte de Lille makes his protest! Well, well, all in good time.
I hold my right by the voice of the French nation, and while I wear a
sword I will maintain it! The Bourbons ought to know that I do not fear
them; let them, therefore, leave me in tranquillity. Did you say that
the fools of the Faubourg St. Germain would multiply the copies of this
protest of Comte de Lille? well, they shall read it at their ease. Send
it to the Moniteur, Fouché; and let it be inserted to-morrow morning.'"
This passed on the 30th of June, and the next day the protest of Louis
XVIII. did actually appear in that paper.
Fouché was wholly indifferent respecting the circulation of this
protest; he merely wished to show the Emperor that he was better
informed of passing events than Regnier, and to afford Napoleon another
proof of the inexperience and inability of the Grand Judge in police;
and Fouché was not long in receiving the reward which he expected from
this step. In fact, ten days after the publication of the protest, the
Emperor announced to Regnier the re-establishment of the Ministry of
General Police.
The formula, I Pray God to have you in His holy keeping, with which the
letter to Regnier closed, was another step of Napoleon in the knowledge
of ancient usages, with which he was not sufficiently familiar when he
wrote Cambacérès on the day succeeding his elevation to the Imperial
throne; at the same time it must be confessed that this formula assorted
awkwardly with the month of "Messidor," and the "twelfth year of the
Republic!"
The errors which Regnier had committed in the affair of Georges were the
cause which determined Bonaparte to re-establish the Ministry of Police,
and to bestow it on a man who had created a belief in the necessity of
that measure, by a monstrous accumulation of plots and intrigues. I am
also certain that the Emperor was swayed by the probability of a
war breaking out, which would force him to leave France; and that he
considered Fouché as the most proper person to maintain the public
tranquillity during his absence, and detect any cabala that might be
formed in favour of the Bourbons.
At this period, when Bonaparte had given the finishing blow to the
Republic, which had only been a shadow since the 19th Brumaire, it was
not difficult to foresee that the Bourbons would one day remount the
throne of their ancestors; and this presentiment was not, perhaps,
without its influence in rendering the majority greater in favour of the
foundation of the Empire than for the establishment of a Consulate for
life. The reestablishment of the throne was a most important step in
favour of the Bourbons, for that was the thing most difficult to be
done. But Bonaparte undertook the task; and, as if by the aid of a magic
rod, the ancient order of things was restored in the twinkling of
an eye. The distinctions of rank--orders--titles, the
noblesse--decorations--all the baubles of vanity--in short, all
the burlesque tattooing which the vulgar regard as an indispensable
attribute of royalty, reappeared in an instant. The question no longer
regarded the form of government, but the individual who should be placed
at its head. By restoring the ancient order of things, the Republicans
had themselves decided the question, and it could no longer be doubted
that when an occasion presented itself the majority of the nation would
prefer the ancient royal family, to whom France owed her civilisation,
her greatness, and her power, and who had exalted her to such a high
degree of glory and prosperity.
It was not one of the least singular traits in Napoleon's character that
during the first year of his reign he retained the fete of the 14th of
July. It was not indeed strictly a Republican fate, but it recalled the
recollection of two great popular triumphs,--the taking of the Bastille
and the first Federation. This year the 14th of July fell on a Saturday,
and the Emperor ordered its celebration to be delayed till the following
day, because it was Sunday; which was in conformity with the sentiments
he delivered respecting the Concordat. "What renders me," he said, "most
hostile to the re-establishment of the Catholic worship is the number of
festivals formerly observed. A saint's day is a day of indolence, and I
wish not for that; the people must labour in order to live. I consent to
four holidays in the year, but no more; if the gentlemen from Rome are
not satisfied with this, they may take their departure."
The loss of time seemed to him so great a calamity that he seldom
failed to order an indispensable solemnity to be held on the succeeding
holiday. Thus he postponed the Corpus Christi to the following Sunday.
On Sunday, the 15th of July 1804, the Emperor appeared for the first
time before the Parisians surrounded by all the pomp of royalty. The
members of the Legion of Honour, then in Paris, took the oath prescribed
by the new Constitution, and on this occasion the Emperor and Empress
appeared attended for the first time by a separate and numerous retinue.
The carriages in the train of the Empress crossed the garden of the
Tuileries, hitherto exclusively appropriated to the public; then
followed the cavalcade of the Emperor, who appeared on horseback,
surrounded by his principal generals, whom he had created Marshals
of the Empire. M. de Segur, who held the office of Grand Master of
Ceremonies, had the direction of the ceremonial to be observed on this
occasion, and with, the Governor received the Emperor on the threshold
of the Hotel des Invalides. They conducted the Empress to a tribune
prepared for her reception, opposite the Imperial throne which Napoleon
alone occupied, to the right of the altar. I was present at this
ceremony, notwithstanding the repugnance I have to such brilliant
exhibitions; but as Duroc had two days before presented me with tickets,
I deemed it prudent to attend on the occasion, lest the keen eye of
Bonaparte should have remarked my absence if Duroc had acted by his
order.
I spent about an hour contemplating the proud and sometimes almost
ludicrous demeanour of the new grandees of the Empire; I marked the
manoeuvring of the clergy, who, with Cardinal Belloy at their head,
proceeded to receive the Emperor on his entrance into the church. What a
singular train of ideas was called up to my mind when I beheld my
former comrade at the school of Brienne seated upon an elevated
throne, surrounded by his brilliant staff, the great dignitaries of his
Empire--his Ministers and Marshals! I involuntarily recurred to the
19th Brumaire, and all this splendid scene vanished; when I thought of
Bonaparte stammering to such a degree that I was obliged to pull the
skirt of his coat to induce him to withdraw.
It was neither a feeling of animosity nor of jealousy which called up
such reflections; at no period of our career would I have exchanged my
situation for his; but whoever can reflect, whoever has witnessed the
unexpected elevation of a former equal, may perhaps be able to conceive
the strange thoughts that assailed my mind, for the first time, on this
occasion.
When the religious part of the ceremony terminated, the church assumed,
in some measure, the appearance of a profane temple. The congregation
displayed more devotion to the Emperor than towards the God of the
Christians,--more enthusiasm than fervour. The mass had been heard
with little attention; but when M. de Lacepede, Grand Chancellor of the
Legion of Honour, after pronouncing a flattering discourse, finished the
call of the Grand Officers of the Legion, Bonaparte covered, as did
the ancient kings of France when they held a bed of justice. A profound
silence, a sort of religious awe, then reigned throughout the assembly,
and Napoleon, who did not now stammer as in the Council of the Five
Hundred, said in a firm voice:
"Commanders, officers, legionaries, citizens, soldiers; swear upon