Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
goods were introduced only by fraud; and I verily believe that the art
of smuggling and the schemes of smugglers were never before carried to
such perfection. Above 6000 persons of the lower orders went backwards
and forwards, about twenty times a day, from Altona to Hamburg, and they
carried on their contraband, trade by many ingenious stratagems, two of
which were so curious that they are worth mentioning here.
On the left of the road leading from Hamburg to Altona there was a piece
of ground where pits were dug for the purpose of procuring sand used
for building and for laying down in the streets. At this time it was
proposed to repair the great street of Hamburg leading to the gate of
Altona. The smugglers overnight filled the sandpit with brown sugar,
and the little carts which usually conveyed the sand into Hamburg were
filled with the sugar, care being taken to cover it with a layer of sand
about an inch thick. This trick was carried on for a length of time, but
no progress was made in repairing the street. I complained greatly of
the delay, even before I was aware of its cause, for the street led to
a country-house I had near Altona, whither I went daily. The officers of
the customs at length perceived that the work did not proceed, and one
fine morning the sugar-carts were stopped and seized. Another expedient
was then to be devised.
Between Hamburg and Altona there was a little suburb situated on the
right bank of the Elbe. This suburb was inhabited, by sailors, labourers
of the port, and landowners. The inhabitants were interred in the
cemetery of Hamburg. It was observed that funeral processions passed
this way more frequently than usual. The customhouse officers, amazed
at the sudden mortality of the worthy inhabitants of the little suburb,
insisted on searching one of the vehicles, and on opening the hearse it
was found to be filled with sugar, coffee, vanilla, indigo, etc. It was
necessary to abandon this expedient, but others were soon discovered.
Bonaparte was sensitive, in an extraordinary degree, to all that was
said and thought of him, and Heaven knows how many despatches I received
from headquarters during the campaign of Vienna directing me not only
to watch the vigilant execution of the custom-house laws, but to lay
an embargo on a thing which alarmed him more than the introduction of
British merchandise, viz. the publication of news. In conformity with
these reiterated instructions I directed especial attention to the
management of the 'Correspondant'. The importance of this journal, with
its 60,000 readers, may easily be perceived. I procured the insertion of
everything I thought desirable: all the bulletins, proclamations, acts
of the French Government, notes of the 'Moniteur', and the semi-official
articles of the French journals: these were all given 'in extenso'.
On the other hand, I often suppressed adverse news, which, though well
known, would have received additional weight from its insertion in so
widely circulated a paper. If by chance there crept in some Austrian
bulletin, extracted from the other German papers published in the States
of the Confederation of the Rhine, there was always given with it a
suitable antidote to destroy, or at least to mitigate, its ill effect.
But this was not all. The King of Wurtemberg having reproached the
'Correspondant', in a letter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, with
publishing whatever Austria wished should be made known, and being
conducted in a spirit hostile to the good cause, I answered these unjust
reproaches by making the Syndic censor prohibit the Hamburg papers from
inserting any Austrian order of the day, any Archduke's bulletins, any
letter from Prague; in short, anything which should be copied from the
other German journals unless those articles had been inserted in the
French journals.
My recollections of the year 1809 at Hamburg carry me back to the
celebration of Napoleon's fete, which was on the 15th of August, for he
had interpolated his patron saint in the Imperial calendar at the date
of his birth. The coincidence of this festival with the Assumption gave
rise to adulatory rodomontades of the most absurd description.
Certainly the Episcopal circulars under the Empire would form a curious
collection.
--[It will perhaps scarcely be believed that the following words
were actually delivered from the pulpit: "God in his mercy has
chosen Napoleon to be his representative on earth. The Queen of
Heaven has marked, by the most magnificent of presents, the
anniversary of the day which witnessed his glorious entrance into
her domains. Heavenly Virgin! as a special testimony of your love
for the French, and your all-powerful influence with your son, you
have connected the first of your solemnities with the birth of the
great Napoleon. Heaven ordained that the hero should spring from
your sepulchre."--Bourrienne.]--
Could anything be more revolting than the sycophancy of those Churchmen
who declared that "God chose Napoleon for his representative upon
earth, and that God created Bonaparte, and then rested; that he was more
fortunate than Augustus, more virtuous than Trajan; that he deserved
altars and temples to be raised to him!" etc.
Some time after the Festival of St. Napoleon the King of Westphalia made
a journey through his States. Of all Napoleon's brothers the King of
Westphalia was the one with whom I was least acquainted, and he, it
is pretty well known, was the most worthless of the family. His
correspondence with me is limited to two letters, one of which he wrote
while he commanded the 'Epervier', and another seven years after, dated
6th September 1809. In this latter he said:
"I shall be in Hannover on the 10th. If you can make it convenient
to come there and spend a day with me it will give me great
pleasure. I shall then be able to smooth all obstacles to the loan
I wish to contract in the Hanse Town. I flatter myself you will do
all in your power to forward that object, which at the present
crisis is very important to my States. More than ample security is
offered, but the money will be of no use to me if I cannot have it
at least for two years."
Jerome wanted to contract at Hamburg a loan of 3,000,000 francs.
However, the people did not seem to think like his Westphalian Majesty,
that the contract presented more than ample security. No one was found
willing to draw his purse-strings, and the loan was never raised.
Though I would not, without the Emperor's authority, exert the influence
of my situation to further the success of Jerome's negotiation, yet I
did my best to assist him. I succeeded in prevailing on the Senate to
advance one loan of 100,000 francs to pay a portion of the arrears due
to his troops, and a second of 200,000 francs to provide clothing for
his army, etc. This scanty supply will cease to be wondered at when it
is considered to what a state of desolation the whole of Germany was
reduced at the time, as much in the allied States as in those of the
enemies of France. I learnt at the time that the King of Bavaria said to
an officer of the Emperor's household in whom he had great confidence,
"If this continues we shall have to give up, and put the key under the
door." These were his very words.
As for Jerome, he returned to Cassel quite disheartened at the
unsuccessful issue of his loan. Some days after his return to his
capital I received from him a snuffbox with his portrait set in
diamonds, accompanied by a letter of thanks for the service I had
rendered him. I never imagined that a token of remembrance from a
crowned head could possibly be declined. Napoleon, however, thought
otherwise. I had not, it is true, written to acquaint our Government
with the King of Westphalia's loan, but in a letter, which I addressed
to the Minister for Foreign Affairs on the 22d of September, I mentioned
the present Jerome had sent me. Why Napoleon should have been offended
at this I know not, but I received orders to return Jerome's present
immediately, and these orders were accompanied with bitter reproaches
for my having accepted it without the Emperor's authority. I sent back
the diamonds, but kept the portrait. Knowing Bonaparte's distrustful
disposition, I thought he must have suspected that Jerome had employed
threats, or at any rate, that he had used some illegal influence to
facilitate the success of his loan. At last, after much correspondence,
Napoleon saw clearly that everything was perfectly regular; in a word,
that the business had been transacted as between two private persons. As
to the 300,000 francs which the Senate had lent to Jerome, the fact is,
that but little scruple was made about it, for this simple reason, that
it was the means of removing from Hamburg the Westphalian division,
whose presence occasioned a much greater expense than the loan.
CHAPTER XX.
1809.
Visit to the field of Wagram.--Marshal Macdonald--Union of the Papal
States with the Empire--The battle of Talavera--Sir Arthur
Wellesley--English expedition to Holland--Attempt to assassinate the
Emperor at Schoenbrunn--Staps Interrogated by Napoleon--Pardon
offered and rejected--Fanaticism and patriotism--Corvisart's
examination of Staps--Second interrogatory--Tirade against the
illuminati--Accusation of the Courts of Berlin and Weimar--Firmness
and resignation of Staps--Particulars respecting his death--
Influence of the attempt of Staps on the conclusion of peace--
M. de Champagny.
Napoleon went to inspect all the corps of his army and the field of
Wagram, which a short time before had been the scene of one of those
great battles in which victory was the more glorious in proportion as it
had been valiantly contested.
--[The great battle of Wagram was fought on the 6th of July 1809.
The Austrians, who committed a mistake in over-extending their line,
lost 20,000 men as prisoners, besides a large number in killed and
wounded. There was no day, perhaps, on which Napoleon showed more
military genius or more personal courage. He was in the hottest of
the fight, and for a long time exposed to showers of grapeshot.--
Editor of 1836 edition.]--
On that day [the type] of French honour, Macdonald, who, after achieving
a succession of prodigies, led the army of Italy into the heart of the
Austrian States, was made a marshal on the field of battle. Napoleon
said to him, "With us it is for life and for death." The general opinion
was that the elevation of Macdonald added less to the marshal's military
reputation than it redounded to the honour of the Emperor. Five days
after the bombardment of Vienna, namely, on the 17th of May, the Emperor
had published a decree, by virtue of which the Papal States were united
to the French Empire, and Rome was declared an Imperial City. I will not
stop to inquire whether this was good or bad in point of policy, but it
was a mean usurpation on the part of Napoleon, for the time was passed
when a Julius II. laid down the keys of St. Peter and took up the sword
of St. Paul. It was, besides, an injustice, and, considering the Pope's
condescension to Napoleon, an act of ingratitude. The decree of union
did not deprive the Pope of his residence, but he was only the First
Bishop of Christendom, with a revenue of 2,000,000.
Napoleon while at Vienna heard of the affair of Talavera de la Reyna. I
was informed, by a letter from headquarters, that he was much affected
at the news, and did not conceal his vexation. I verily believe that
he was bent on the conquest of Spain, precisely on account of the
difficulties he had to surmount. At Talavera commenced the celebrity of
a man who, perhaps, would not have been without some glory even if