Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
that friendship subservient to the execution of the vast plan which he
had long conceived: he meant to undertake an expedition by land against
the English colonies in the East Indies.
The arrival of Baron Sprengporten at Paris caused great satisfaction
among the partisans of the Consular Government, that is to say, almost
every one in Paris. M. Sprengporten was a native of Swedish Finland. He
had been appointed by Catherine chamberlain and lieutenant-general of
her forces, and he was not less in favour with Paul, who treated him
in the most distinguished manner. He came on an extraordinary mission,
being ostensibly clothed with the title of plenipotentiary, and at the
same time appointed confidential Minister to the Consul. Bonaparte was
extremely satisfied with the ambassador whom Paul had selected, and
with the manner in which he described the Emperor's gratitude for the
generous conduct of the First Consul. M. Sprengporten did not conceal
the extent of Paul's dissatisfaction with his allies. The bad issue, he
said, of the war with France had already disposed the Czar to connect
himself with that power, when the return of his troops at once
determined him.
We could easily perceive that Paul placed great confidence in M.
Sprengporten. As he had satisfactorily discharged the mission with which
he had been entrusted, Paul expressed pleasure at his conduct in several
friendly and flattering letters, which Sprengporten always allowed us
to read. No one could be fonder of France than he was, and he ardently
desired that his first negotiations might lead to a long alliance
between the Russian and French Governments. The autograph and very
frequent correspondence between Bonaparte and Paul passed through
his hands. I read all Paul's letters, which were remarkable for the
frankness with which his affection for Bonaparte was expressed. His
admiration of the First Consul was so great that no courtier could have
written in a more flattering manner.
This admiration was not feigned on the part of the Emperor of Russia:
it was no less sincere than ardent, and of this he soon gave proofs. The
violent hatred he had conceived towards the English Government induced
him to defy to single combat every monarch who would not declare war
against England and shut his ports against English ships. He inserted
a challenge to the King of Denmark in the St. Petersburg Court Gazette;
but not choosing to apply officially to the Senate of Hamburg to order
its insertion in the 'Correspondant', conducted by M. Stoves, he sent
the article, through Count Pahlen, to M. Schramm, a Hamburg merchant.
The Count told M. Schramm that the Emperor would be much pleased to
see the article of the St. Petersburg Court Gazette copied into the
Correspondant; and that if it should be inserted, he wished to have
a dozen copies of the paper printed on vellum, and sent to him by an
extraordinary courier. It was Paul's intention to send a copy to every
sovereign in Europe; but this piece of folly, after the manner of
Charles XII., led to no further results.
Bonaparte never felt greater satisfaction in the whole course of his
life than he experienced from Paul's enthusiasm for him. The friendship
of a sovereign seemed to him a step by which he was to become a
sovereign himself. At the same time the affairs of La Vendée began to
assume a better aspect, and he hoped soon to effect that pacification in
the interior which he so ardently desired.
It was during the First Consul's residence at the Luxembourg that the
first report on the civil code was made to the legislative body. It
was then, also, that the regulations for the management of the Bank of
France were adopted, and that establishment so necessary to France was
founded.
There was at this time in Paris a man who has acquired an unfortunate
celebrity, the most unlucky of modern generals--in a word, General
Mack. I should not notice that person here were it not for the prophetic
judgment which Bonaparte then pronounced on him. Mack had been obliged
to surrender himself at Championnet some time before our landing at
Fréjus. He was received as a prisoner of war, and the town of Dijon had
been appointed his place of residence, and there he remained until
after the 18th Brumaire. Bonaparte, now Consul, permitted him to come to
Paris, and to reside there on his parole. He applied for leave to go
to Vienna, pledging himself to return again a prisoner to France if the
Emperor Francis would not consent to exchange him for Generals Pérignon
and Grouchy, then prisoners in Austria. His request was not granted, but
his proposition was forwarded to Vienna. The Court of Vienna refused to
accede to it, not placing perhaps so much importance on the deliverance
of Mack as he had flattered himself it would.
Bonaparte speaking to me of him one day said, "Mack is a man of the
lowest mediocrity I ever saw in my life; he is full of self-sufficiency
and conceit, and believes himself equal to anything. He has no talent. I
should like to see him opposed some day to one of our good generals;
we should then see fine work. He is a boaster, and that is all. He is
really one of the most silly men existing; and, besides all that, he is
unlucky." Was not this opinion of Bonaparte, formed on the past, fully
verified by the future?
It was at Malmaison that Bonaparte thus spoke of General Mack. That
place was then far from resembling what it afterwards became, and the
road to it was neither pleasant nor sure. There was not a house on the
road; and in the evening, during the season when we were there, it was
not frequented all the way from St. Germain. Those numerous vehicles,
which the demands of luxury and an increasing population have created,
did not then, as now, pass along the roads in the environs of Paris.
Everywhere the road was solitary and dangerous; and I learned with
certainty that many schemes were laid for carrying off the First Consul
during one of his evening journeys. They were unsuccessful, and orders
were given to enclose the quarries, which were too near to the road.
On Saturday evening Bonaparte left the Luxembourg, and afterwards the
Tuileries, to go to Malmaison, and I cannot better express the joy he
then appeared to experience than by comparing it to the delight of a
school-boy on getting a holiday.
Before removing from the Luxembourg to the Tuileries Bonaparte
determined to dazzle the eyes of the Parisians by a splendid ceremony.
He had appointed it to take place on the 'decadi', Pluviôse 20 (9th
February 1800), that is to say, ten days before his final departure from
the old Directorial palace. These kinds of fetes did not resemble what
they afterwards became; their attraction consisted in the splendour of
military dress: and Bonaparte was always sure that whenever he mounted
his horse, surrounded by a brilliant staff from which he was to be
distinguished by the simplicity of his costume, his path would be
crowded and himself greeted with acclamations by the people of Paris.
The object of this fete was at first only to present to the 'Hôtel des
Invalides', then called the Temple of Mars, seventy-two flags taken from
the Turks in the battle of Aboukir and brought from Egypt to Paris; but
intelligence of Washington's death, who expired on the 14th of December
1799, having reached Bonaparte, he eagerly took advantage of that event
to produce more effect, and mixed the mourning cypress with the laurels
he had collected in Egypt.
Bonaparte did not feel much concerned at the death of Washington, that
noble founder of rational freedom in the new world; but it afforded him
an opportunity to mask his ambitious projects under the appearance of
a love of liberty. In thus rendering honour to the memory of Washington
everybody would suppose that Bonaparte intended to imitate his example,
and that their two names would pass in conjunction from mouth to mouth.
A clever orator might be employed, who, while pronouncing a eulogium on
the dead, would contrive to bestow some praise on the living; and when
the people were applauding his love of liberty he would find himself one
step nearer the throne, on which his eyes were constantly fixed. When
the proper time arrived, he would not fail to seize the crown; and would
still cry, if necessary, "Vive la Liberté!" while placing it on his
imperial head.
The skilful orator was found. M. de Fontanes
--[L. de Fontanes (1767-1821) became president of the Corps
Legislatif, Senator, and Grand Master of the University. He was the
centre of the literary group of the Empire,]--
was commissioned to pronounce the funeral eulogium on Washington, and
the flowers of eloquence which he scattered about did not all fall on
the hero of America.
Lannes was entrusted by Bonaparte with the presentation of the flags;
and on the 20th Pluviôse he proceeded, accompanied by strong detachments
of the cavalry then in Paris, to the council-hall of the Invalides,
where he was met by the Minister of War, who received the colours. All
the Ministers, the councillors of State, and generals were summoned
to the presentation. Lannes pronounced a discourse, to which Berthier
replied, and M. de Fontanes added his well-managed eloquence to the
plain military oratory of the two generals. In the interior of this
military temple a statue of Mars sleeping had been placed, and from the
pillars and roof were suspended the trophies of Denain, Fontenoy, and
the campaign of Italy, which would still have decorated that edifice had
not the demon of conquest possessed Bonaparte. Two Invalides, each said
to be a hundred years old, stood beside the Minister of War; and the
bust of the emancipator of America was placed under the trophy composed
of the flags of Aboukir. In a word, recourse was had to every sort
of charlatanism usual on such occasions. In the evening there was a
numerous assembly at the Luxembourg, and Bonaparte took much credit to
himself for the effect produced on this remarkable day. He had only to
wait ten days for his removal to the Tuileries, and precisely on that
day the national mourning for Washington was to cease, for which a
general mourning for freedom might well have been substituted.
I have said very little about Murat in the course of these Memoirs
except mentioning the brilliant part he performed in several battles.
Having now arrived at the period of his marriage with one of Napoleon's
sisters I take the opportunity of returning to the interesting events
which preceded that alliance.
His fine and well-proportioned form, his great physical strength and
somewhat refined elegance of manner,--the fire of his eye, and his
fierce courage in battle, gave to Murat rather the character of one of
those 'preux chevaliers' so well described by Ariosto and Taro, than
that a Republican soldier. The nobleness of his look soon made the
lowness of his birth be forgotten. He was affable, polished, gallant;
and in the field of battle twenty men headed by Murat were worth a whole
regiment. Once only he showed himself under the influence of fear, and
the reader shall see in what circumstance it was that he ceased to be
himself.
--[Marshal Lannes, so brave and brilliant in war and so well able to
appreciate courage, one day sharply rebuked a colonel for having
punished a young officer just arrived from school at Fontainebleau
because he gave evidence of fear in his first engagement. "Know,
colonel," said he, "none but a poltroon (the term was even more
strong) will boast that he never was afraid."--Bourrienne.]--
When Bonaparte in his first Italian campaign had forced Wurmser to
retreat into Mantua with 28,000 men, he directed Miollis, with only
4000 men, to oppose any sortie that might be attempted by the Austrian