Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
make him hear reason. I know not who takes pleasure in bearing tales to
him; but really I think there are persons busy everywhere in finding out
my debts, and telling him of them."
These complaints, so gently uttered by Josephine rendered less difficult
the preparatory mission with which I commenced the exercise of my
diplomatic functions. I acquainted Madame Bonaparte with all that the
Emperor had said to me. I reminded her of the affair of the 1,200,000
francs which we had settled with half that sum. I even dropped some
allusions to the promises she had made.
"How can I help it?" Said she. "Is it my fault?" Josephine uttered these
words in a tone of sincerity which was at once affecting and ludicrous.
"All sorts of beautiful things are brought to me," she continued; "they
are praised up; I buy them--I am not asked for the money, and all of
a sudden, when I have got none, they come upon me with demands for
payment. This reaches Napoleon's ears, and he gets angry. When I have
money, Bourrienne you know how I employ it. I give it principally to the
unfortunate who solicit my assistance, and to poor emigrants. But I will
try to be more economical in future. Tell him so if you see him again,
But is it not my duty to bestow as much in charity as I can?"--"Yes,
Madame; but permit me to say that nothing requires greater discernment
than the distribution of charity. If you had always sat upon a throne
you might have always supposed that your bounty always fall into the
hands of the deserving; but you cannot be ignorant that it oftener falls
to the lot of intrigue than to the meritorious needy. I cannot disguise
from you that the Emperor was very earnest when he spoke on this
subject; and he desired me to tell you so."--"Did he reproach me with
nothing else?"--"No Madame. You know the influence you have over
him with respect to everything but what relates to politics. Allow a
faithful and sincere friend to prevail upon you seriously not to vex him
on this point."--"Bourrienne, I give you my word. Adieu! my friend."
In communicating to Josephine what the Emperor had said to me I took
care not to touch a chord which would have awakened feelings far more
painful to her than even the Emperor's harsh reproof on account of her
extravagance. Poor Josephine! how I should have afflicted her had I
uttered a word of Bonaparte's regret at not having a child. She always
had a presentiment of the fate that one day awaited her. Besides,
Josephine told the truth in assuring me that it was not her fault that,
she spent as she did; at least all the time I was with both of them,
order and economy were no more compatible with her than moderation
and--patience with Napoleon. The sight of the least waste put him beside
himself, and that was a sensation his wife hardly ever spared him. He
saw with irritation the eagerness of his family to gain riches; the more
he gave, the more insatiable they appeared, with the exception of Louis,
whose inclinations were always upright, and his tastes moderate. As
for the other members of his family, they annoyed him so much by their
importunity that one day he said, "Really to listen to them it would be
thought that I had wasted the heritage of our father."
CHAPTER XXXI.
1805
Napoleon and Voltaire--Demands of the Holy See--Coolness between the
pope and the Emperor--Napoleon's departure for Italy--Last interview
between the Pope and the Emperor at Turin--Alessandria--The field of
Marengo--The last Doge of Genoa--Bonaparte's arrival at Milan--Union
of Genoa to the French Empire--Error in the Memorial of St. Helen--
Bonaparte and Madam Grassini--Symptoms of dissatisfaction on the
part of Austria and Russia--Napoleon's departure from Milan--
Monument to commemorate the battle of Marengo--Napoleon's arrival in
Paris and departure for Boulogne--Unfortunate result of a naval
engagement--My visit to Fouché's country seat--Sieyès, Barras, the
Bourbons, and Bonaparte--Observations respecting Josephine.
Voltaire says that it is very well to kiss the feet of Popes provided
their hands are tied. Notwithstanding the slight estimation in which
Bonaparte held Voltaire, he probably, without being aware of this
irreverent satire, put it into practice. The Court of Rome gave him
the opportunity of doing so shortly after his Coronation. The Pope, or
rather the Cardinals, his advisers' conceiving that so great an instance
of complaisance as the journey of His Holiness to Paris ought not to
go for nothing; demanded a compensation, which, had they been better
acquainted with Bonaparte's character and policy, they would never have
dreamed of soliciting. The Holy see demanded the restitution of Avignon,
Bologna, and some parts of the Italian territory which had formerly been
subject to the Pope's dominion. It may be imagined how such demands were
received by Napoleon, particularly after he had obtained all he wanted
from the Pope. It was, it must be confessed, a great mistake of the
Court of Rome, whose policy is usually so artful and adroit, not to make
this demand till after the Coronation. Had it been made the condition of
the Pope's journey to France perhaps Bonaparte would have consented to
give up, not Avignon, certainly, but the Italian territories, with the
intention of taking them back again. Be this as it may, these tardy
claims, which were peremptorily rejected, created an extreme coolness
between Napoleon and Pius VII. The public did not immediately perceive
it, but there is in the public an instinct of reason which the most able
politicians never can impose upon; and all eyes were opened when it was
known that the Pope, after having crowned Napoleon as Emperor of France,
refused to crown him as sovereign of the regenerated kingdom of Italy.
Napoleon left Paris on the 1st of April to take possession of the
Iron Crown at Milan. The Pope remained some time longer in the French
capital. The prolonged presence of His Holiness was not without its
influence on the religious feelings of the people, so great was the
respect inspired by the benign countenance and mild manners of the Pope.
When the period of his persecutions arrived it would have been well for
Bonaparte had Pius VII. never been seen in Paris, for it was impossible
to view in any other light than as a victim the man whose truly
evangelic meekness had been duly appreciated.
Bonaparte did not evince great impatience to seize the Crown of Italy,
which he well knew could not escape him. He stayed a considerable time
at Turin, where he resided in the Stupinis Palace, which may be
called the St. Cloud of the Kings of Sardinia. The Emperor cajoled the
Piedmontese. General Menou, who was made Governor of Piedmont, remained
there till Napoleon founded the general government of the Transalpine
departments in favour of his brother-in-law, the Prince Borghese, of
whom he would have, found it difficult to make anything else than a
Roman Prince. Napoleon was still at Turin when the Pope passed through
that city on his return to Rome. Napoleon had a final interview with
His Holiness to whom he now affected to show the greatest personal
deference. From Turin Bonaparte proceeded to Alessandria, where he
commenced those immense works on which such vast sums were expended. He
had many times spoken to me of his projects respecting Alessandria, as I
have already observed, all his great measures as Emperor were merely
the execution of projects conceived at a time when his future elevation
could have been only a dream of the imagination. He one day said to
Berthier, in my presence, during our sojurn at Milan after the battle of
Marengo, "With Alessandria in my possession I should always be master
of Italy. It might be made the strongest fortress in the world; it is
capable of containing a garrison of 40,000 men, with provisions for six
months. Should insurrection take place, should Austria send a formidable
force here, the French troops might retire to Alessandria, and stand a
six months' siege. Six months would be more than sufficient, wherever I
might be, to enable me to fall upon Italy, rout the Austrians, and raise
the siege of Alessandria!"
As he was so near the field of Marengo the Emperor did not fail to visit
it, and to add to this solemnity he reviewed on the field all the corps
of French troops which were in Italy. Rapp told me afterwards that the
Emperor had taken with him from Paris the dress and the hat which he
wore on the day of that memorable battle, with the intention of wearing
them on the field where it was fought. He afterwards proceeded by the
way of Casal to Milan.
There the most brilliant reception he had yet experienced awaited him.
His sojourn at Milan was not distinguished by outward demonstrations of
enthusiasm alone. M. Durszzo, the last Doge of Genoa, added another gem
to the Crown of Italy by supplicating the Emperor in the name of
the Republic, of which he was the representative, to permit Genoa to
exchange her independence for the honour of becoming a department of
France. This offer, as may be guessed, was merely a plan contrived
beforehand. It was accepted with an air of protecting kindness, and at
the same moment that the country of Andrea Doria was effaced from the
list of nations its last Doge was included among the number of French
Senators. Genoa, which formerly prided herself in her surname, the
Superb, became the chief station of the twenty-seventh military
division. The Emperor went to take possession of the city in person, and
slept in the Doria Palace, in the bed where Charles V. had lain. He left
M. le Brun at Genoa as Governor-General.
At Milan the Emperor occupied the Palace of Monza. The old Iron Crown
of the Kings of Lombardy was brought from the dust in which it had been
buried, and the new Coronation took place in the cathedral at Milan, the
largest in Italy, with the exception of St. Peter's at Rome. Napoleon
received the crown from the hands of the Archbishop of Milan, and placed
it on his head, exclaiming, "Dieu me l'a donnee, gare a qui la touche."
This became the motto of the Order of the Iron Crown, which the Emperor
founded in commemoration of his being crowned King of Italy.
Napoleon was crowned in the month of May 1805: and here I cannot avoid
correcting some gross and inconceivable errors into which Napoleon must
have voluntarily fallen at St. Helena. The Memorial states "that the
celebrated singer Madame Grasaini attracted his attention at the time of
the Coronation." Napoleon alleges that Madame Grassini on that occasion
said to him, "When I was in the prime of my beauty and talent all I
wished was that you would bestow a single look upon me. That wish was
not fulfilled, and now you notice me when I am no longer worthy your
attention."
I confess I am at a loss to conceive what could induce Napoleon to
invent such a story. He might have recollected his acquaintance with
Madame Grassini at Milan before the battle of Marengo. It was in 1800,
and not in 1805, that I was first introduced to her, and I know that
I several times took tea with her and Bonaparte in the General's
apartments I remember also another circumstance, which is, that on the
night when I awoke Bonaparte to announce to him the capitulation of
Genoa, Madame Grassini also awoke. Napoleon was charmed with Madame
Grasaini's delicious voice, and if his imperious duties had permitted it
he would have listened with ecstasy to her singing for hours together.
Whilst Napoleon was at Milan, priding himself on his double sovereignty,
some schemes were set on foot at Vienna and St. Petersburg which I shall
hereafter have occasion to notice. The Emperor, indeed, gave cause for
just complaint by the fact of annexing Genoa to the Empire within four