Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
of us?" . . . Josephine sobbed bitterly while she thus addressed Duroc.
Before I was acquainted with the singular demand which M. de Champagny
was instructed to make to me I requested Duroc to inquire of the Emperor
his reason for not wishing to see me. The Grand Marshal faithfully
executed my commission, but he received only the following answer:
"Do you think I have nothing better to do than to give Bourrienne an
audience? that would indeed furnish gossip for Paris and Hamburg. He
has always sided with the emigrants; he would be talking to me of past
times; he was for Josephine! My wife, Duroc, is near her confinement;
I shall have a son, I am sure!... Bourrienne is not a man of the day; I
have made giant strides since he left France; in short, I do not want to
see him. He is a grumbler by nature; and you know, my dear Duroc, I do
not like men of that sort."
I had not been above a week in Paris when Duroc related this speech to
me. Rapp was not in France at the time, to my great regret. Much against
his inclination he had been appointed to some duties connected with the
Imperial marriage ceremonies, but shortly after, having given offence
to Napoleon by some observation relating to the Faubourg St. Germain, he
had received orders to repair to Dantzic, of which place he had already
been Governor.
The Emperor's refusal to see me made my situation in Paris extremely
delicate; and I was at first in doubt whether I might seek an interview
with Josephine. Duroc, however, having assured me that Napoleon would
have no objection to it, I wrote requesting permission to wait upon
her. I received an answer the same day, and on the morrow I repaired
to Malmaison. I was ushered into the tent drawing-room, where I found
Josephine and Hortense. When I entered Josephine stretched out her hand
to me, saying, "Ah! my friend!" These words she pronounced with deep
emotion, and tears prevented her from continuing. She threw herself on
the ottoman on the left of the fireplace, and beckoned me to sit down
beside her. Hortense stood by the fireplace, endeavouring to conceal her
tears. Josephine took my hand, which she pressed in both her own;
and, after a struggle to overcome her feelings, she said, "My dear
Bourrienne, I have drained my cup of misery. He has cast me off!
forsaken me! He conferred upon me the vain title of Empress only to
render my fall the more marked. Ah! we judged him rightly! I knew
the destiny that awaited me; for what would he not sacrifice to his
ambition!" As she finished these words one of Queen Hortense's ladies
entered with a message to her; Hortense stayed a few moments, apparently
to recover from the emotion under which she was labouring, and then
withdrew, so that I was left alone with Josephine. She seemed to wish
for the relief of disclosing her sorrows, which I was curious to hear
from her own lips; women have such a striking way of telling their
distresses. Josephine confirmed what Duroc had told me respecting
the two apartments at Fontainebleau; then, coming to the period when
Bonaparte had declared to her the necessity of a separation, she said,
"My dear Bourrienne; during all the years you were with us you know I
made you the confidant of my thoughts, and kept you acquainted with my
sad forebodings. They are now cruelly fulfilled. I acted the part of a
good wife to the very last. I have suffered all, and I am resigned! . .
. What fortitude did it require latterly to endure my situation, when,
though no longer his wife, I was obliged to seem so in the eyes of the
world! With what eyes do courtiers look upon a repudiated wife! I was in
a state of vague uncertainty worse than death until the fatal day when
he at length avowed to me what I had long before read in his looks! On
the 30th of November 1809 we were dining together as usual, I had not
uttered a word during that sad dinner, and he had broken silence only
to ask one of the servants what o'clock it was. As soon as Bonaparte had
taken his coffee he dismissed all the attendants, and I remained alone
with him. I saw in the expression of his countenance what was passing in
his mind, and I knew that my hour was come. He stepped up to me--he was
trembling, and I shuddered; he took my hand, pressed it to his heart,
and after gazing at me for a few moments in silence he uttered these
fatal words: 'Josephine! my dear Josephine! You know how I have loved
you! . . . To you, to you alone, I owe the only moments of happiness
I have tasted in this world. But, Josephine, my destiny is not to be
controlled by my will. My dearest affections must yield to the interests
of France.'--'Say no more,' I exclaimed, 'I understand you; I expected
this, but the blow is not the less mortal.' I could not say another
word," continued Josephine; "I know not what happened after I seemed to
lose my reason; I became insensible, and when I recovered I found myself
in my chamber. Your friend Corvisart and my poor daughter were with me.
Bonaparte came to see me in the evening; and oh! Bourrienne, how can I
describe to you what I felt at the sight of him; even the interest he
evinced for me seemed an additional cruelty. Alas! I had good reason to
fear ever becoming an Empress!"
I knew not what consolation to offer: to Josephine; and knowing as I did
the natural lightness of her character, I should have been surprised to
find her grief so acute, after the lapse of a year, had I not been aware
that there are certain chords which, when struck, do not speedily cease
to vibrate in the heart of a woman. I sincerely pitied Josephine, and
among all the things I said to assuage her sorrow, the consolation
to which she appeared most sensible was the reprobation which public
opinion had pronounced on Bonaparte's divorce, and on this subject
I said nothing but the truth, for Josephine was generally beloved. I
reminded her of a prediction I had made under happier circumstances,
viz. on the day that she came to visit us in our little house at Ruel.
"My dear friend," said she, "I have not forgotten it, and I have often
thought of all you then said. For my part, I knew he was lost from the
day he made himself Emperor. Adieu! Bourrienne, come and see me soon
again; come often, for we have a great deal to talk about; you know how
happy I always am to see you." Such was, to the best of my recollection,
what passed at my first interview with Josephine after my return from
Hamburg.
CHAPTER XXIV
1811
Arrest of La Sahla--My visit to him--His confinement at Vincennes--
Subsequent history of La Sahla--His second journey to France--
Detonating powder--Plot hatched against me by the Prince of Eckmuhl
--Friendly offices of the Duc de Rovigo--Bugbears of the police--
Savary, Minister of Police.
I had been in Paris about two months when a young man of the name of
La Sahla was arrested on the suspicion of having come from Saxony to
attempt the life of the Emperor. La Sahla informed the Duc de Rovigo,
then Minister of the Police, that he wished to see me, assigning as
a reason for this the reputation I had left behind me in Germany. The
Emperor, I presume, had no objection to the interview, for I received an
invitation to visit the prisoner. I accordingly repaired to the branch
office of the Minister of the Police, in the Rue des St. Peres, where
I was introduced to a young man between seventeen and eighteen years of
age.
My conversation with the young man, whose uncle was, I believe,
Minister to the King of Saxony, interested me greatly in his behalf; I
determined, if possible, to save La Sahla, and I succeeded. I proceeded
immediately to the Duc de Rovigo, and I convinced him that under the
circumstances of the case it was important to make it be believed that
the young man was insane. I observed that if he were brought before a
court he would repeat all that he had stated to me, and probably enter
into disclosures which might instigate fresh attempts at assassination.
Perhaps an avenger of La Sahla might rise up amongst the students of
Leipzig, at which university he had spent his youth. These reasons,
together with others, had the success I hoped for. The Emperor
afterwards acknowledged the prudent course which had been adopted
respecting La Sahla; when speaking at St. Helena of the conspiracies
against his life he said, "I carefully concealed all that I could."
In conformity with my advice La Sahla was sent to Vincennes, where he
remained until the end of March 1814, He was then removed to the castle
of Saumur, from which he was liberated at the beginning of April. I had
heard nothing of him for three years, when one day, shortly after the
Restoration, whilst sitting at breakfast with my family at my house in
the Rue Hauteville, I heard an extraordinary noise in the antechamber,
and before I had time to ascertain its cause I found myself in the arms.
of a young man, who embraced me with extraordinary ardour. It was La
Sahla. He was in a transport of gratitude and joy at his liberation, and
at the accomplishment of the events which he had wished to accelerate by
assassination. La Sahla returned to Saxony and I saw no more of him, but
while I was in Hamburg in 1815, whither I was seat by Louis XVIII., I
learned that on the 5th of June a violent explosion was heard in the
Chamber of Representatives at Paris, which was at first supposed to be
a clap of thunder, but was soon ascertained to have been occasioned by
a young Samson having fallen with a packet of detonating powder in his
pocket.
On receiving this intelligence I imagined, I know not why, that this
young Saxon was La Sahla, and that he had probably intended to blow up
Napoleon and even the Legislative Body; but I have since ascertained
that I was under a mistake as to his intentions. My knowledge of La
Sahla's candour induces me to believe the truth of his declarations
to the police; and if there be any inaccuracies in the report of these
declarations I do not hesitate to attribute them to the police itself,
of which Fouché was the head at the period in question.
It is the latter part of the report which induced me to observe above,
that if there were any inaccuracies in the statement they were more
likely to proceed from Fouché's police than the false representations
of young La Sahla. It is difficult to give credit without proof to such
accusations. However, I decide nothing; but I consider it my duty to
express doubts of the truth of these charges brought against the
two Prussian ministers, of whom the Prince of Wittgenstein, a man of
undoubted honour, has always spoken to me in the best of terms.
There is nothing to prove that La Sahla returned to France the second
time with the same intentions as before. This project, however, is a
mystery to me, and his detonating powder gives rise to many conjectures.
I had scarcely left Hamburg when the Prince of Eckmuhl (Marshal Davoust)
was appointed Governor-General of that place on the union of the Hanse
Towns with the Empire. From that period I was constantly occupied in
contending against the persecutions and denunciations which he
racked his imagination to invent. I cannot help attributing to those
persecutions the Emperor's coolness towards me on my arrival in Paris.
But as Davoust's calumnies were devoid of proof, he resorted to a scheme
by which a certain appearance of probability might supply the place
of truth. When I arrived in Paris, at the commencement of 1811, I was
informed by an excellent friend I had left at Hamburg, M. Bouvier, an
emigrant, and one of the hostages of Louis XVI., that in a few days
I would receive a letter which would commit me, and likewise M. de
Talleyrand and General Rapp. I had never had any connection on matters
of business, with either of these individuals, for whom I entertained