Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
for some time, his hand lifted up, his eyes fixed on the Admiral,
who still retained his menacing attitude. At last the Emperor threw
his whip on the floor. M. Bruix took his hand off his sword, and
with uncovered head awaited in silence the result of the painful
scene. Rear-Admiral Magon was then ordered to see that the
Emperor's orders were instantly executed. "As for you, sir," said
the Emperor, fixing his eyes on Admiral Bruix, you leave Boulogne
within twenty-four hours and depart for Holland. Go!" M. Magon
ordered the fatal movement of the fleet on which the Emperor had
insisted. The first arrangements had scarcely been made when the
sea became very high. The black sky was pierced by lightning, the
thunder rolled and every moment the line of vessels was broken by
the wind, and shortly after, that which the Admiral had foreseen
came to pass, and the most frightful storm dispersed the vessels in
each a way that it seamed impossible to save them. With bent head,
arms crossed, and a sorrowful look in his face, the Emperor walked
up and down on the beach, when suddenly the most terrible cries were
heard. More than twenty gunboats filled with soldiers and sailors
were being driven towards the shore, and the unfortunate men were
vainly fighting against the furious waves, calling for help which
nobody could give them. Deeply touched by the spectacle and the
heart-rending cries and lamentations of the multitude which had
assembled on the beach, the Emperor, seeing his generals and
officers tremble with horror, attempted to set an example of
devotion, and, in spite of all efforts to keep him back, he threw
himself into a boat, saying, "Let me go! let me go! they must be
brought out of this." In a moment the boat was filled with water.
The waves poured over it again and again, and the Emperor was
drenched. One wave larger than the others almost threw him
overboard and his hat was carried sway. Inspired by so much
courage, officers, soldiers, seamen, and citizens tried to succour
the drowning, some in boats, some swimming. But, alas! only a small
number could be saved of the unfortunate men. The following day
more than 200 bodies were thrown ashore, and with them the hat of
the conqueror of Marengo. That sad day was one of desolation for
Boulogne and for the camp. The Emperor groaned under the burden of
an accident which he had to attribute solely to his own obstinacy.
Agents were despatched to all parts of the town to subdue with gold
the murmurs which were ready to break out into a tumult.]--
--ceased as if by enchantment. The flotilla entered the port safe and
sound and he went back to the camp, where the sports and amusements
prepared for the soldiers commenced, and in the evening the brilliant
fireworks which were let off rose in a luminous column, which was
distinctly seen from the English coast.--[It appears that Napoleon was
so well able to cover up this fiasco that not even Bourrienne ever heard
the true story. D.W.]
When he reviewed the troops he asked the officers, and often the
soldiers, in what battles they had been engaged, and to those who
had received serious wounds he gave the cross. Here, I think, I may
appropriately mention a singular piece of charlatanism to which the
Emperor had recourse, and which powerfully contributed to augment the
enthusiasm of his troops. He would say to one of his aides de camp,
"Ascertain from the colonel of such a regiment whether he has in his
corps a man who has served in the campaigns of Italy or the campaigns
of Egypt. Ascertain his name, where he was born, the particulars of his
family, and what he has done. Learn his number in the ranks, and to what
company he belongs, and furnish me with the information."
On the day of the review Bonaparte, at a single glance, could perceive
the man who had been described to him. He would go up to him as if he
recognised him, address him by his name, and say, "Oh! so you are here!
You are a brave fellow--I saw you at Aboukir--how is your old father?
What! have you not got the Cross? Stay, I will give it you." Then the
delighted soldiers would say to each other, "You see the Emperor knows
us all; he knows our families; he knows where we have served." What a
stimulus was this to soldiers, whom he succeeded in persuading that they
would all some time or other become Marshals of the Empire!
Lauriston told me, amongst other anecdotes relating to Napoleon's
sojourn at the camp at Boulogne, a remarkable instance of intrepidity on
the part of two English sailors. These men had been prisoners at Verdun,
which was the most considerable depot of English prisoners in France
at the rupture of the peace of Amiens. They effected their escape from
Verdun, and arrived at Boulogne without having been discovered on the
road, notwithstanding the vigilance with which all the English were
watched. They remained at Boulogne for some time, destitute of money,
and without being able to effect their escape. They had no hope of
getting aboard a boat, on account of the strict watch that was kept upon
vessels of every kind. These two sailors made a boat of little pieces
of wood, which they put together as well as they could, having no other
tools than their knives. They covered it with a piece of sail-cloth. It
was only three or four feet wide, and not much longer, and was so
light that a man could easily carry it on his shoulders,--so powerful a
passion is the love of home and liberty! Sure of being shot if they were
discovered, almost equally sure of being drowned if they effected their
escape, they, nevertheless, resolved to attempt crossing the Channel in
their fragile skiff. Perceiving an English frigate within sight of the
coast, they pushed off and endeavoured to reach her. They had not gone
a hundred toises from the shore when they were perceived by the
custom-house officers, who set out in pursuit of them, and brought them
back again. The news of this adventure spread through the camp, where
the extraordinary courage of the two sailors was the subject of general
remark. The circumstance reached the Emperor's ears. He wished to see
the men, and they were conducted to his presence, along with their
little boat. Napoleon, whose imagination was struck by everything
extraordinary, could not conceal his surprise at so bold a project,
undertaken with such feeble means of execution. "Is it really true,"
said the Emperor to them, "that you thought of crossing the sea in
this?"--"Sire," said they, "if you doubt it, give us leave to go, and
you shall see us depart."--"I will. You are bold and enterprising men--I
admire courage wherever I meet it. But you shall not hazard your lives.
You are at liberty; and more than that, I will cause you to be put on
board an English ship. When you return to London tell how I esteem brave
men, even when they are my enemies." Rapp, who with Lauriaton, Duroc,
and many others were present at this scene, were not a little astonished
at the Emperor's generosity. If the men had not been brought before him,
they would have been shot as spies, instead of which they obtained
their liberty, and Napoleon gave several pieces of gold to each. This
circumstance was one of those which made the strongest impression
on Napoleon, and he recollected it when at St. Helena, in one of his
conversations with M. de Las Casas.
No man was ever so fond of contrasts as Bonaparte. He liked, above
everything, to direct the affairs of war whilst seated in his easy
chair, in the cabinet of St. Cloud, and to dictate in the camp his
decrees relative to civil administration. Thus, at the camp of Boulogne,
he founded the decennial premiums, the first distribution of which he
intended should take place five years afterwards, on the anniversary of
the 18th Brumaire, which was an innocent compliment to the date of the
foundation of the Consular Republic. This measure also seemed to promise
to the Republican calendar a longevity which it did not attain. All
these little circumstances passed unobserved; but Bonaparte had so often
developed to me his theory of the art of deceiving mankind that I knew
their true value. It was likewise at the camp of Boulogne that, by a
decree emanating from his individual will, he destroyed the noblest
institution of the Republic, the Polytechnic School, by converting it
into a purely military academy. He knew that in that sanctuary of high
study a Republican spirit was fostered; and whilst I was with him he
had often told me it was necessary that all schools, colleges, and
establishments for public instruction should be subject to military
discipline. I frequently endeavoured to controvert this idea, but
without success.
It was arranged that Josephine and the Emperor should meet in Belgium.
He proceeded thither from the camp of Boulogne, to the astonishment of
those who believed that the moment for the invasion of England had at
length arrived. He joined the Empress at the Palace of Lacken, which
the Emperor had ordered to be repaired and newly furnished with great
magnificence.
The Emperor continued his journey by the towns bordering on the Rhine.
He stopped first in the town of Charlemagne, passed through the three
bishoprics,
--[There are two or three little circumstances in connection with
this journey that seem worth inserting here:
Mademoiselle Avrillion was the 'femme de chambre' of Josephine, and
was constantly about her person from the time of the first
Consulship to the death of the Empress in 1814. In all such matters
as we shall quote from them, her memoirs seem worthy of credit.
According to Mademoiselle, the Empress during her stay at Aix-la-
Chapelle, drank the waters with much eagerness and some hope. As
the theatre there was only supplied with some German singers who
were not to Josephine's taste, she had part of a French operatic
company sent to her from Paris. The amiable creole had always a
most royal disregard of expense. When Bonaparte joined her, he
renewed his old custom of visiting his wife now and then at her
toilet, and according to Mademoiselle Avrillion, he took great
interest in the subject of her dressing. She says, "It was a most
extraordinary thing for us to see the man whose head was filled with
such vast affairs enter into the most minute details of the female
toilet and of what dresses, what robes, and what jewels the Empress
should wear on such and such an occasion. One day he daubed her
dress with ink because he did not like it, and wanted her to put on
another. Whenever he looked into her wardrobe he was sure to throw
everything topsy-turvy."
This characteristic anecdote perfectly agrees with what we have
heard from other persons. When the Neapolitan Princess di----- was
at the Tuileries as 'dame d'honneur' to Bonaparte's sister Caroline
Murat, then Queen of Naples, on the grand occasion of the marriage
with Maria Louisa, the, Princess, to her astonishment, saw the
Emperor go up to a lady of the Court and address her thus: "This is
the same gown you wore the day before yesterday! What's the meaning
of this, madame? This is not right, madame!"
Josephine never gave him a similar cause of complaint, but even when
he was Emperor she often made him murmur at the profusion of her
expenditure under this head. The next anecdote will give some idea
of the quantity of dresses which she wore for a day or so, and then
gave away to her attendants, who appear to have carried on a very
active trade in them.
"While we were at Mayence the Palace was literally besieged by Jews,
who continually brought manufactured and other goods to show to the