Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
street shall be the finest in the world."
The palace of the King of Rome, which was to face the Pont de Jena and
the Champ de Mars, would have been in some measure isolated from Paris,
with which, however, it was to be connected by a line of palaces. These
were to extend along the quay, and were destined as splendid residences
for the Ambassadors of foreign sovereigns, at least as long as there
should be any sovereigns in Europe except Napoleon. The Temple of Glory,
too, which was to occupy the site of the Church of la Madeleine, was
never finished. If the plan of this monument proved the necessity, which
Bonaparte felt of constantly holding out stimulants to his soldiers,
its relinquishment was at least a proof of his wisdom. He who had
reestablished religious worship in France, and had restored to
its destination the church of the Invalides, which was for a time
metamorphosed into the Temple of Mars, foresaw that a Temple of Glory
would give birth to a sort of paganism incompatible with the ideas of
the age.
The recollection of the magnificent Necropolis of Cairo frequently
recurred to Bonaparte's mind. He had admired that city of the dead,
which he had partly contributed to people; and his design was to make,
at the four cardinal points of Paris, four vast cemeteries on the plan
of that at Cairo.
Bonaparte determined that all the new streets of Paris should be 40 feet
wide, and be provided with foot-pavements; in short, he thought nothing
too grand for the embellishment of the capital of a country which he
wished to make the first in the world. Next to war, he regarded
the embellishment of Paris as the source of his glory; and he never
considered a victory fully achieved until he had raised a monument to
transmit its memory to posterity. He, wanted glory, uninterrupted glory,
for France as well as for himself. How often, when talking over his
schemes, has he not said, "Bourrienne, it is for France I am doing all
this! All I wish, all I desire, the end of all my labours is, that my
name should be indissolubly connected with that of France!"
Paris is not the only city, nor is France the only kingdom, which bears
traces of Napoleon's passion for great and useful monuments. In Belgium,
in Holland, in Piedmont, in all Italy, he executed great improvements.
At Turin a splendid bridge was built over the Po, in lieu of an old
bridge which was falling in ruins.
How many things were undertaken and executed in Napoleon's short and
eventful reign! To obviate the difficulty of communication between
Metz and Mayence a magnificent road was made, as if by magic, across
impracticable marshes and vast forests. Mountains were cut through and
ravines filled up. He would not allow nature more than man to resist
him. One day when he was proceeding to Belgium by the way of Givet, he
was detained for a short time at Little Givet, on the right bank of the
Meuse, in consequence of an accident which happened to the ferry-boat.
He was within a gunshot of the fortress of Charlemont, on the left bank,
and in the vexation which the delay occasioned he dictated the following
decree: "A bridge shall be built over the Meuse to join Little Givet to
Great Givet. It shall be terminated during the ensuing campaign." It was
completed within the prescribed time. In the great work of bridges
and highways Bonaparte's chief object was to remove the obstacles and
barriers which nature had raised up as the limits of old France so as to
form a junction with the provinces which he successively annexed to the
Empire. Thus in Savoy a road, smooth as a garden-walk, superseded the
dangerous ascents and descents of the wood of Bramant; thus was the
passage of Mont Cenis a pleasant promenade at almost every season of the
year; thus did the Simplon bow his head, and Bonaparte might have said,
"There are now my Alps," with more reason than Louis XIV. said, "There
are now no Pyrenees."
--[Metternich (tome iv. p. 187) says on this subject, 'If you look
closely at the course of human affairs you will make strange
discoveries. For instance, that the Simplon Pass has contributed as
surely to Napoleon's immortality as the numerous works done in the
reign of the Emperor Francis will fail to add to his.]--
Such was the implicit confidence which Bonaparte reposed in me that I
was often alarmed at the responsibility it obliged me to incur.
--[Of this confidence the following instructions for me, which he
dictated to Duroc, afford sufficient proof:--
"1st. Citizen Bourrienne shall open all the letters addressed to
the First Consul, Vol, and present them to him three times a day, or
oftener in case of urgent business. The letters shall be deposited
in the cabinet when they are opened. Bourrienne is to analyse all
those which are of secondary interest, and write the First Consul's
decision on each letter. The hours for presenting the letters shall
be, first, when the Consul rises; second, a quarter of an hour
before dinner; and third, at eleven at night.
"2d. He is to have the superintendence of the Topographical office,
and of an office of Translation, in which there shall be a German
and an English clerk. Every day he shall present to the First
Consul, at the hours above mentioned the German and English
journals, together with a translation. With respect to the Italian
journals, it will only be necessary to mark what the First Consul is
to read.
"3d. He shall keep a register of appointments to offices under
Government; a second, for appointments to judicial posts; a third
for appointments to places abroad; and a fourth, for the situations
of receivers and great financial posts, where he is to inscribe the
names of all the individuals whom the First Consul may refer to him.
These registers must be written by his own hand, and must be kept
entirely private.
"4th. Secret correspondence, and the different reports of
surveillance, are to be addressed directly to Bourrienne, and
transmitted by him to the hand of the First Consul, by whom they
will be returned without the intervention of any third party.
"6th. There shall be a register for all that relates to secret
extraordinary expenditure. Bourrienne shall write the whole with
his own hand, in order that the business may be kept from the
knowledge of any one.
"7th. He shall despatch all the business which may be referred to
him, either from Citizen Duroc, or from the cabinet of the First
Consul, taking care to arrange everything so as to secure secrecy.
"(Signed) "BONAPARTE, First Consul.
"Paris, 13th Germinal, year VIII.
"(3d. April 1800.)"]--
Official business was not the only labour that devolved upon me. I had
to write to the dictation of the First Consul during a great part of
the day, or to decipher his writing, which was always the most laborious
part of my duty. I was so closely employed that I scarcely ever went
out; and when by chance I dined in town, I could not arrive until the
very moment of dinner, and I was obliged to run away immediately after
it. Once a month, at most, I went without Bonaparte to the Comédie
Française, but I was obliged to return at nine o'clock, that being the
hour at which we resumed business. Corvisart, with whom I was intimately
acquainted, constantly expressed his apprehensions about my health; but
my zeal carried me through every difficulty, and during our stay at the
Tuileries I cannot express how happy I was in enjoying the unreserved
confidence of the man on whom the eyes of all Europe were filed. So
perfect was this confidence that Bonaparte, neither as General, Consul,
nor Emperor, ever gave me any fixed salary. In money matters we were
still comrades: I took from his funds what was necessary to defray my
expenses, and of this Bonaparte never once asked me for any account.
He often mentioned his wish to regenerate public education, which he
thought was ill managed. The central schools did not please him; but
he could not withhold his admiration from the Polytechnic School, the
finest establishment of education that was ever founded, but which he
afterwards spoiled by giving it a military organisation. In only one
college of Paris the old system of study was preserved: this was the
Louis-le-Grand, which had received the name of Pritanée. The First
Consul directed the Minister of the Interior to draw up a report on that
establishment; and he himself went to pay an unexpected visit to the
Pritanée, accompanied by M. Lebrun and Duroc. He remained there upwards
of an hour, and in the evening he spoke to me with much interest on the
subject of his visit. "Do you know, Bourrienne," said he, "that I have
been performing the duties of professor?"--"You, General!"--"Yes! and I
did not acquit myself badly. I examined the pupils in the mathematical
class; and I recollected enough of my Bezout to make some demonstrations
before them. I went everywhere, into the bedrooms and the dining-room. I
tasted the soup, which is better than we used to have at Brienne. I must
devote serious attention to public education and the management of
the colleges. The pupils must have a uniform. I observed some well and
others ill dressed. That will not do. At college, above all places,
there should be equality. But I was much pleased with the pupils of
the Pritanée. I wish to know the names of those I examined, and I have
desired Duroc to report them to me. I will give them rewards; that
stimulates young people. I will provide for some of them."
On this subject Bonaparte did not confine himself to an empty scheme.
After consulting with the headmaster of the Pritanée, he granted
pensions of 200 francs to seven or eight of the most distinguished
pupils of the establishment, and he placed three of them in the
department of Foreign Affairs, under the title of diplomatic pupils.
--[This institution of diplomatic pupils was originally suggested by
M. de Talleyrand.]--
What I have just said respecting the First Consul's visit to the
Pritanée reminds me of a very extraordinary circumstance which arose
out of it. Among the pupils at the Pritanée there was a son of General
Miackzinski, who died fighting under the banners of the Republic. Young
Miackzinski was then sixteen or seventeen years of age. He soon quitted
the college, entered the army as a volunteer, and was one of a corps
reviewed by Bonaparte, in the plain of Sablons. He was pointed out
to the First Consul, who said to him, "I knew your father. Follow his
example, and in six months you shall be an officer." Six months elapsed,
and Miackzinski wrote to the First Consul, reminding him of his promise.
No answer was returned, and the young man then wrote a second letter as
follows:
You desired me to prove myself worthy of my father; I have done so.
You promised that I should be an officer in six months; seven have
elapsed since that promise was made. When you receive this letter I
shall be no more. I cannot live under a Government the head of
which breaks his word.
Poor Miackzinski kept his word but too faithfully. After writing the
above letter to the First Consul he retired to his chamber and blew
out his brains with a pistol. A few days after this tragical event
Miackzinski's commission was transmitted to his corps, for Bonaparte
had not forgotten him. A delay in the War Office had caused the death
of this promising young man. Bonaparte was much affected at the
circumstance, and he said to me, "These Poles have such refined notions
of honour.... Poor Sulkowski, I am sure, would have done the same."
At the commencement of the Consulate it was gratifying to see how