Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
the commencement of 1801 in preparing a Concordat with the Pope. It was
signed in the month of July in the same year. It required some time to
enable the parties to come to an understanding on the subject.
Cardinal Consalvi arrived, in the month of June 1801, at Paris, to
arrange matters on the part of the Pope. Cardinal Caprara and M. de
Spina also formed part of the embassy sent by the Holy Father. There
were, besides, several able theologians, among whom Doctor C---- was
distinguished.
--[The "Doctor C----" was Caselti, later Archbishop of Parma. Bonier
was green the Bishopric of Orleans, not Versailles; see Erreurs,
tome i, p. 276. The details of the surprise attempted at the last
moment by putting before Cardinal Consalvi for his signature an
altered copy of the Concordat should be read in his Memoirs (tome i.
p. 355), or in Lanfrey (tome ii. p. 267). As for Napoleon's
belief that part of the nation might become Protestant, Narbonne
probably put the matter truly when he said there was not religion
enough in France to stand a division. It should be noted that the
Concordat did not so much restore the Catholic Church as destroy the
old Gallican Church, with all its liberties, which might annoy
either Pope or Emperor. But on this point see The Gallican Church
and the Revolution, by Jervis: London, Began Paul, Trench and Co.,
1882. The clergy may, it is true, have shown wisdom in acceding to
any terms of restoration.]--
He was a member of the Pope's chancery; his knowledge gave him so much
influence over his colleagues that affairs advanced only as much as he
pleased. However, he was gained over by honours conferred on him, and
promises of money. Business then went on a little quicker. The Concordat
was signed on the 15th of July 1801, and made a law of the State in the
following April. The plenipotentiaries on the part of Bonaparte were
Joseph Bonaparte, Cretet, and the Abby Bernier, afterwards Bishop of
Versailles.--[Orleans not Versailles. D.W.]
A solemn Te Deum was chanted at the cathedral of Notre Dame on Sunday,
the 11th of April. The crowd was immense, and the greater part of those
present stood during the ceremony, which was splendid in the extreme;
but who would presume to say that the general feeling was in harmony
with all this pomp? Was, then, the time for this innovation not yet
arrived? Was it too abrupt a transition from the habits of the twelve
preceding years? It is unquestionably true that a great number of the
persons present at the ceremony expressed, in their countenances
and gestures, rather a feeling of impatience and displeasure than of
satisfaction or of reverence for the place in which they were. Here and
there murmurs arose expressive of discontent. The whispering, which I
might more properly call open conversation, often interrupted the divine
service, and sometimes observations were made which were far from being
moderate. Some would turn their heads aside on purpose to take a bit of
chocolate-cake, and biscuits were openly eaten by many who seemed to pay
no attention to what was passing.
The Consular Court was in general extremely irreligious; nor could it
be expected to be otherwise, being composed chiefly of those who had
assisted in the annihilation of all religious worship in France, and
of men who, having passed their lives in camps, had oftener entered a
church in Italy to carry off a painting than to hear the Mass. Those
who, without being imbued with any religious ideas, possessed that good
sense which induces men to pay respect to the belief of others, though
it be one in which they do not participate, did not blame the First
Consul for his conduct, and conducted themselves with some regard to
decency. But on the road from the Tuileries to Notre Dame, Lannes and
Augereau wanted to alight from the carriage as soon as they saw that
they were being driven to Mass, and it required an order from the First
Consul to prevent their doing so. They went therefore to Notre Dame, and
the next day Bonaparte asked Augereau what he thought of the ceremony.
"Oh! it was all very fine," replied the General; "there was nothing
wanting, except the million of men who have perished in the pulling
down of what you are setting up." Bonaparte was much displeased at this
remark.
--[This remark has been attributed elsewhere to General Delmas.
According to a gentleman who played a part in this empty pageantry,
Lannes at one moment did get out of the carriage, and Augereau kept
swearing in no low whisper during the whole of the chanted Mass.
Most of the military chiefs who sprang out of the Revolution had no
religion at all, but there were some who were Protestants, and who
were irritated by the restoration of Catholicism as the national
faith.--Editor of 1896 edition.]--
During the negotiations with the Holy Father Bonaparte one day said to
me, "In every country religion is useful to the Government, and those
who govern ought to avail themselves of it to influence mankind. I was
a Mahometan in Egypt; I am a Catholic in France. With relation to the
police of the religion of a state, it should be entirely in the hands
of the sovereign. Many persons have urged me to found a Gallican Church,
and make myself its head; but they do not know France. If they did, they
would know that the majority of the people would not like a rupture with
Rome. Before I can resolve on such a measure the Pope must push matters
to an extremity; but I believe he will not do so."--"You are right,
General, and you recall to my memory what Cardinal Consalvi said: 'The
Pope will do all the First Consul desires.'"--"That is the best course
for him. Let him not suppose that he has to do with an idiot. What do
you think is the point his negotiations put most forward? The salvation
of my soul! But with me immortality is the recollection one leaves
in the memory of man. That idea prompts to great actions. It would be
better for a man never to have lived than to leave behind him no traces
of his existence."
Many endeavours were made to persuade the First Consul to perform in
public the duties imposed by the Catholic religion. An influential
example, it was urged, was required. He told me once that he had put an
end to that request by the following declaration: "Enough of this. Ask
me no more. You will not obtain your object. You shall never make a
hypocrite of me. Let us remain where we are."
I have read in a work remarkable on many accounts that it was on the
occasion of the Concordat of the 15th July 1801 that the First Consul
abolished the republican calendar and reestablished the Gregorian.
This is an error. He did not make the calendar a religious affair. The
'Senatus-consulte', which restored the use of the Gregorian calendar,
to commence in the French Empire from the 11th Nivôse, year XIV.
(1st January 1806), was adopted on the 22d Fructidor, year XIII.
(9th September 1805), more than four years after the Concordat. The
re-establishment of the ancient calendar had no other object than to
bring us into harmony with the rest of Europe on a point so closely
connected with daily transactions, which were much embarrassed by the
decadary calendar.
Bonaparte at length, however, consented to hear Mass, and St. Cloud was
the place where this ancient usage was first re-established. He directed
the ceremony to commence sooner than the hour announced in order that
those who would only make a scoff at it might not arrive until the
service was ended.
Whenever the First Consul determined to hear Mass publicly on Sundays in
the chapel of the Palace a small altar was prepared in a room near his
cabinet of business. This room had been Anne of Austria's oratory. A
small portable altar, placed on a platform one step high, restored it
to its original destination. During the rest of the week this chapel was
used as a bathing-room. On Sunday the door of communication was opened,
and we heard Mass sitting in our cabinet of business. The number of
persons there never exceeded three or four, and the First Consul seldom
failed to transact some business during the ceremony, which never lasted
longer than twelve minutes. Next day all the papers had the news that
the First Consul had heard Mass in his apartments. In the same way Louis
XVIII. has often heard it in his!
On the 19th of July 1801 a papal bull absolved Talleyrand from his vows.
He immediately married Madame Grandt, and the affair obtained little
notice at the time. This statement sufficiently proves how report has
perverted the fact. It has been said that Bonaparte on becoming Emperor
wished to restore that decorum which the Revolution had destroyed,
and therefore resolved to put an end to the improper intimacy which
subsisted between Talleyrand and Madame Grandt. It is alleged that the
Minister at first refused to marry the lady, but that he at last found
it necessary to obey the peremptory order of his master. This pretended
resurrection of morality by Bonaparte is excessively ridiculous. The
bull was not registered in the Council of State until the 19th of August
1802.
--[The First Consul had on several occasions urged M. de Talleyrand
to return to holy orders. He pointed out to him that that course
would be most becoming his age and high birth, and promised that he
should be made a cardinal, thus raising him to a par with Richelieu,
and giving additional lustre to his administration (Memoirs of the
Duke of Rovigo, vol. i. p. 426).
But M. de Talleyrand vindicated his choice, saying, "A clever wife
often compromises her husband; a stupid one only compromises
herself" (Historical Characters, p.122, Bulwer, Lord Dulling).]--
I will end this chapter by a story somewhat foreign to the preceding
transactions, but which personally concerns myself. On the 20th of July
1801 the First Consul, 'ex proprio motu', named me a Councillor of State
extraordinary. Madame Bonaparte kindly condescended to have an elegant
but somewhat ideal costume made for me. It pleased the First Consul,
however, and he had a similar one made for himself. He wore it a short
time and then left it off. Never had Bonaparte since his elevation shown
himself so amiable as on this occasion.
CHAPTER VI.
1802.
Last chapter on Egypt--Admiral Gantheaume--Way to please Bonaparte--
General Menou's flattery and his reward--Davoust--Bonaparte regrets
giving the command to Menou, who is defeated by Abercromby--Otto's
negotiation in London--Preliminaries of peace.
For the last time in these Memoirs I shall return to the affairs of
Egypt--to that episode which embraces so short a space of time and holds
so high a place in the life of Bonaparte. Of all his conquests he set
the highest value on Egypt, because it spread the glory of his name
throughout the East. Accordingly he left nothing unattempted for the
preservation of that colony. In a letter to General Kléber he said, "You
are as able as I am to understand how important is the possession of
Egypt to France. The Turkish Empire, in which the symptoms of decay are
everywhere discernible, is at present falling to pieces, and the evil of
the evacuation of Egypt by France would now be the greater, as we should
soon see that fine province pass into the possession of some other
European power." The selection of Gantheaume, however, to carry
assistance to Kléber was not judicious. Gantheaume had brought the First
Consul back from Egypt, and though the success of the passage could only
be attributed to Bonaparte's own plan, his determined character, and
superior judgment, yet he preserved towards Gantheaume that favourable
disposition which is naturally felt for one who has shared a great