Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
order to come to Paris.
This wheedling wonderfully favoured Bonaparte's designs. His letter to
Aune could not fail to be circulated through the army. A sergeant called
my brave comrade by the First Consul--the First General of France! Who
but a thorough Republican, the stanch friend of equality, would have
done this? This was enough to wind up the enthusiasm of the army. At
the same time it must be confessed that Bonaparte began to find the
Luxembourg too little for him, and preparations were set on foot at the
Tuileries.
Still this great step towards the re-establishment of the monarchy was
to be cautiously prepared. It was important to do away with the idea
that none but a king could occupy the palace of our ancient kings. What
was to be done? A very fine bust of Brutus had been brought from Italy.
Brutus was the destroyer of tyrants! This was the very thing; and David
was commissioned to place it in a gallery of the Tuileries. Could there
be a greater proof of the Consul's horror of tyranny?
To sleep at the Tuileries, in the bedchamber of the kings of France, was
all that Bonaparte wanted; the rest would follow in due course. He was
willing to be satisfied with establishing a principle the consequences
of which were to be afterwards deduced. Hence the affectation of never
inserting in official acts the name of the Tuileries, but designating
that place as the Palace of the Government. The first preparations were
modest, for it did not become a good Republican to be fond of pomp.
Accordingly Lecomte, who was at that time architect of the Tuileries,
merely received orders to clean the Palace, an expression which might
bear more than one meaning, after the meetings which had been there. For
this purpose the sum of 500,000 francs was sufficient. Bonaparte's drift
was to conceal, as far as possible, the importance he attached to the
change of his Consular domicile. But little expense was requisite for
fitting up apartments for the First Consul. Simple ornaments, such as
marbles and statues, were to decorate the Palace of the Government.
Nothing escaped Bonaparte's consideration. Thus it was not merely at
hazard that he selected the statues of great men to adorn the gallery
of the Tuileries. Among the Greeks he made choice of Demosthenes and
Alexander, thus rendering homage at once to the genius of eloquence and
the genius of victory. The statue of Hannibal was intended to recall the
memory of Rome's most formidable enemy; and Rome herself was represented
in the Consular Palace by the statues of Scipio, Cicero, Cato, Brutus
and Caesar--the victor and the immolator being placed side by side.
Among the great men of modern times he gave the first place to Gustavus
Adolphus, and the next to Turenne and the great Condé, to Turenne in
honour of his military talent, and to Condé to prove that there was
nothing fearful in the recollection of a Bourbon. The remembrance of
the glorious days of the French navy was revived by the statue of Duguai
Trouin. Marlborough and Prince Eugène had also their places in the
gallery, as if to attest the disasters which marked the close of the
great reign; and Marshal Sage, to show that Louis XV.'s reign was
not without its glory. The statues of Frederick and Washington were
emblematic of false philosophy on a throne and true wisdom founding a
free state. Finally, the names of Dugommier, Dampierre, and Joubert were
intended to bear evidence of the high esteem which Bonaparte cherished
for his old comrades,--those illustrious victims to a cause which had
now ceased to be his.
The reader has already been informed of the attempts made by Bonaparte
to induce England and Austria to negotiate with the Consular Government,
which the King of Prussia was the first of the sovereigns of Europe to
recognise. These attempts having proved unavailing, it became necessary
to carry on the war with renewed vigour, and also to explain why the
peace, which had been promised at the beginning of the Consulate,
was still nothing but a promise. In fulfilment of these two objects
Bonaparte addressed an energetic proclamation to the armies, which was
remarkable for not being followed by the usual sacred words, "Vive la
République!"
At the same time Bonaparte completed the formation of the Council
of State, and divided it into five sections:--(1) The Interior; (2)
Finance; (3) Marine; (4) The War Department; (5) Legislation. He fixed
the salaries of the Councillors of the State at 25,000 francs, and that
of the Precedents of Sections at 30,000. He settled the costume of the
Consuls, the Ministers, and the different bodies of the State. This led
to the re-introduction of velvet, which had been banished with the
old regime, and the encouragement of the manufactures of Lyons was the
reason alleged for employing this un-republican article in the different
dresses, such as those of the Consuls and Ministers. It was Bonaparte's
constant aim to efface the Republic, even in the utmost trifles, and to
prepare matters so well that the customs and habits of monarchy being
restored, there should only then remain a word to be changed.
I never remember to have seen Bonaparte in the Consular dress, which he
detested, and which he wore only because duty required him to do so at
public ceremonies. The only dress he was fond of, and in which he felt
at ease, was that in which he subjugated the ancient Eridanus and the
Nile, namely, the uniform of the Guides, to which corps Bonaparte was
always sincerely attached.
The masquerade of official dresses was not the only one which Bonaparte
summoned to the aid of his policy. At that period of the year VIII.
which corresponded with the carnival of 1800, masques began to be
resumed at Paris. Disguises were all the fashion, and Bonaparte favoured
the revival of old amusements; first, because they were old, and next,
because they were the means of diverting the attention of the people:
for, as he had established the principle that on the field of battle it
is necessary to divide the enemy in order to beat him, he conceived
it no less advisable to divert the people in order to enslave them.
Bonaparte did not say 'panem et circenses', for I believe his knowledge
of Latin did not extend even to that well-known phrase of Juvenal, but
he put the maxim in practice. He accordingly authorised the revival
of balls at the opera, which they who lived during that period of the
Consulate know was an important event in Paris. Some gladly viewed it as
a little conquest in favour of the old regime; and others, who for that
very reason disapproved it, were too shallow to understand the influence
of little over great things. The women and the young men did not bestow
a thought on the subject, but yielded willingly to the attractions of
pleasure. Bonaparte, who was delighted at having provided a diversion
for the gossiping of the Parisian salons, said to me one day, "While
they are chatting about all this, they do not babble upon politics, and
that is what I want. Let them dance and amuse themselves as long as they
do not thrust their noses into the Councils of the Government; besides,
Bourrienne," added he, "I have other reasons for encouraging this, I see
other advantages in it. Trade is languishing; Fouché tells me that
there are great complaints. This will set a little money in circulation;
besides, I am on my guard about the Jacobins. Everything is not bad,
because it is not new. I prefer the opera-balls to the saturnalia of the
Goddess of Reason. I was never so enthusiastically applauded as at the
last parade."
A Consular decision of a different and more important nature had,
shortly before, namely, at the commencement of Nivôse, brought happiness
to many families. Bonaparte, as every one knows, had prepared the events
of the 18th Fructidor that he might have some plausible reasons for
overthrowing the Directors. The Directory being overthrown, he was
now anxious, at least in part, to undo what he had done on the 18th
Fructidor. He therefore ordered a report on the persons exiled to be
presented to him by the Minister of Police. In consequence of this
report he authorised forty of them to return to France, placing them
under the observation of the Police Minister, and assigning them their
place of residence. However, they did not long remain under these
restrictions, and many of them were soon called to fill high places in
the Government. It was indeed natural that Bonaparte, still wishing,
at least in appearance, to found his government on those principles of
moderate republicanism which had caused their exile, should invite them
to second his views.
Barrère wrote a justificatory letter to the First Consul, who, however,
took no notice of it, for he could not get so far as to favour Barrère.
Thus did Bonaparte receive into the Councils of the Consulate the men
who had been exiled by the Directory, just as he afterwards appointed
the emigrants and those exiles of the Revolution to high offices under
the Empire. The time and the men alone differed; the intention in both
cases was the same.
CHAPTER XXX
1800.
Bonaparte and Paul I.--Lord Whitworth--Baron Sprengporten's arrival
at Paris--Paul's admiration of Bonaparte--Their close connection and
correspondence--The royal challenge--General Mack--The road to
Malmaison--Attempts at assassination--Death of Washington--National
mourning--Ambitious calculation--M. de Fontanel, the skilful orator
--Fete at the Temple of Mars--Murat's marriage with Caroline
Bonaparte--Madame Bonaparte's pearls.
The first communications between Bonaparte and Paul I. commenced a short
time after his accession to the Consulate. Affairs then began to look
a little less unfavourable for France; already vague reports from
Switzerland and the banks of the Rhine indicated a coldness existing
between the Russians and the Austrians; and at the same time, symptoms
of a misunderstanding between the Courts of London and St. Petersburg
began to be perceptible. The First Consul, having in the meantime
discovered the chivalrous and somewhat eccentric character of Paul I.,
thought the moment a propitious one to attempt breaking the bonds
which united Russia and England. He was not the man to allow so fine
an opportunity to pass, and he took advantage of it with his usual
sagacity. The English had some time before refused to include in a
cartel for the exchange of prisoners 7000 Russians taken in Holland.
Bonaparte ordered them all to be armed, and clothed in new uniforms
appropriate to the corps to which they had belonged, and sent them back
to Russia, without ransom, without exchange, or any condition whatever.
This judicious munificence was not thrown away. Paul I. showed himself
deeply sensible of it, and closely allied as he had lately been with
England, he now, all at once, declared himself her enemy. This triumph
of policy delighted the First Consul.
Thenceforth the Consul and the Czar became the best friends possible.
They strove to outdo each other in professions of friendship; and it
may be believed that Bonaparte did not fail to turn this contest of
politeness to his own advantage. He so well worked upon the mind of Paul
that he succeeded in obtaining a direct influence over the Cabinet of
St. Petersburg.
Lord Whitworth, at that time the English ambassador in Russia, was
ordered to quit the capital without delay, and to retire to Riga, which
then became the focus of the intrigues of the north which ended in the
death of Paul. The English ships were seized in all the ports, and,
at the pressing instance of the Czar, a Prussian army menaced Hanover.
Bonaparte lost no time, and, profiting by the friendship manifested
towards him by the inheritor of Catherine's power, determined to make