Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete
Madame Murat gave a grand fete in honour of Bonaparte at her residence
at Neuilly. At dinner Bonaparte sat opposite Madame Murat at the
principal table, which was appropriated to the ladies. He ate fast,
and talked but little. However, when the dessert was served, he put a
question to each lady. This question was to inquire their respective
ages. When Madame Bourrienne's turn came he said to her, "Oh! I know
yours." This was a great deal for his gallantry, and the other ladies
were far from being pleased at it.
Next day, while walking with me in his favourite alley at Malmaison,
he received one of those stupid reports of the police which were so
frequently addressed to him. It mentioned the observations which had
been made in Paris about a green livery he had lately adopted. Some said
that green had been chosen because it was the colour of the House
of Artois. On reading that a slight sneer was observable in his
countenance, and he said, "What are these idiots dreaming of? They must
be joking, surely. Am I no better than M. d'Artois? They shall soon see
the difference."
Until the middle of the year 1801 the erasures from the emigrant list
had always been proposed by the Minister of Police. The First Consul
having been informed that intrigue and even bribery had been employed
to obtain them, determined that in future erasures should be part of the
business of his cabinet. But other affairs took up his attention, and a
dozen or fifteen erasures a week were the most that were made. After Te
Deum had been chanted at Malmaison for the Concordat and the peace, I
took advantage of that moment of general joy to propose to Bonaparte
the return of the whole body of emigrants. "You have," said I in a
half-joking way, "reconciled Frenchmen to God--now reconcile them to
each other. There have never been any real emigrants, only absentees;
and the proof of this is, that erasures from the list have always been,
and will always be, made daily." He immediately seized the idea. "We
shall see," said he; "but I must except a thousand persons belonging
to high families, especially those who are or have been connected with
royalty or the Court."
I said in the Chamber of Deputies, and I feel pleasure in repeating
here, that the plan of the 'Senatus-consults', which Bonaparte dictated
to me, excepted from restitution only such mansions as were used for
public establishments. These he would neither surrender nor pay rent
for. With those exceptions he was willing to restore almost all that was
possessed by the State and had not been sold.
The First Consul, as soon as he had finished this plan of a decree,
convoked a Grand Council to submit it to their consideration. I was in
an adjoining room to that in which they met, and as the deliberations
were carried on with great warmth, the members talking very loudly,
sometimes even vociferating, I heard all that passed. The revolutionary
party rejected all propositions of restitution. They were willing to
call back their victims, but they would not part with the spoil.
When the First Consul returned to his cabinet, dissatisfied with the ill
success of his project, I took the liberty of saying to him, "you cannot
but perceive, General, that your object has been defeated, and your
project unsuccessful. The refusal to restore to the emigrants all that
the State possesses takes from the recall all its generosity and dignity
of character. I wonder how you could yield to such an unreasonable and
selfish opposition."--"The revolutionary party," replied he, "had the
majority in the Council. What could I do? Am I strong enough to overcome
all those obstacles?"--"General, you can revive the question again, and
oppose the party you speak of."--"That would be difficult," he said;
"they still have a high hand in these matters. Time is required.
However, nothing is definitively arranged. We shall see what can be
done." The 'Senatus-consulte', published on the 6th Floréal, year X.
(26th of April 1802), a fortnight after the above conversation took
place, is well known. Bonaparte was then obliged to yield to the
revolutionary party, or he would have adhered to his first proposition.
--[The Senatus-consulte retained the woods and forests of the
emigrants, and made their recall an "amnesty." In the end this
retention of the forests was used by Napoleon with great dexterity
as a means of placing them under personal obligation to him for
restoring this species of property. See Thiers tome iii, p. 458,
livre xiv.]--
Napoleon referred to this matter at St. Helena. He himself says that
he "would have been able" (he should have said that he wished) to grant
everything, that for a moment he thought of doing so, and that it was a
mistake not to do so. "This limitation on my part," he adds, "destroyed
all the good effect of the return of the emigrants. The mistake was
the greater since I thought of doing it, but I was alone, surrounded by
oppositions and by spies: all were against your party, you cannot easily
picture the matter to yourself, but important affairs hurried me, time
pressed, and I was obliged to act differently." Afterwards he speaks of
a syndicate he wished to form, but I have never heard a word of that.
I have said how things really happened, and what has been just read
confirms this.
--[This was by no means the only time that Napoleon's wishes were
opposed successfully in his Council of State. On such occasions he
used to describe himself as "repulsed with losses." See the
interesting work of St. Hilaire, Napoleon au Conseil d'Etat.]--
The Royalists, dissatisfied with the state of political affairs, were
not better pleased with the illiberal conditions of the recall of the
emigrants. The friends of public liberty, on the other hand, were far
from being satisfied with the other acts of the First Consul, or with
the conduct of the different public authorities, who were always ready
to make concessions to him. Thus all parties were dissatisfied.
Bonaparte was much pleased with General Sebastiani's conduct when he was
sent to Constantinople, after the peace of Amiens, to induce the Grand
Seignior to renew amicable relations with France.
At the period here alluded to, namely, before the news of the evacuation
of Egypt, that country greatly occupied Bonaparte's attention. He
thought that to send a man like Sebastiani travelling through Northern
Africa, Egypt, and Syria might inspire the sovereigns of those countries
with a more favourable idea of France than they now entertained, and
might remove the ill impressions which England was endeavouring to
produce. On this mission Sebastiani was accordingly despatched. He
visited all the Barbary States, Egypt, Palestine, and the Ionian Isles.
Everywhere he drew a highly-coloured picture of the power of Bonaparte,
and depreciated the glory of England.
--[This General, or Count Sebastian, was afterwards ambassador for
Louis Philippe at our Court.]--
He strengthened old connections, and contracted new ones with the chiefs
of each country. He declared to the authorities of the Ionian Isles that
they might rely on the powerful protection of France. Bonaparte, in
my opinion, expected too much from the labours of a single individual
furnished with but vague instructions. Still Sebastiani did all that
could be done. The interesting details of his proceedings were published
in the 'Moniteur'. The secret information respecting the means of
successfully attacking the English establishments in India was very
curious, though not affording the hope of speedy success.
The published abstract of General Sebastiani's report was full of
expressions hostile to England. Among other things it was stated that
Egypt might be conquered with 6000 men, and that the Ionian Isles where
disposed to throw off the yoke. There can be little doubt that this
publication hastened the rupture of the treaty of Amiens.
England suspended all discussions respecting Malta, and declared that
she would not resume them till the King of Great Britain should receive
satisfaction for what was called an act of hostility. This was always
put forward as a justification, good or bad, for breaking the treaty of
Amiens, which England had never shown herself very ready to execute.
Bonaparte, waiving the usual forma of etiquette, expressed his wish
to have a private conference with Lord Whitworth, the ambassador
from London to Paris, and who had been the English ambassador at St.
Petersburg previous to the rupture which preceded the death of Paul
I. Bonaparte counted much on the effect he might produce by that
captivating manner which he so well knew how to assume in conversation;
but all was in vain. In signing the treaty of Amiens the British
Minister was well aware that he would be the first to break it.
About the commencement of the year 1802 Napoleon began to feel acute
pains in his right side. I have often seen him at Malmaison, when
sitting up at night, lean against the right arm of his chair, and
unbuttoning his coat and waistcoat exclaim,--"What pain I feel!" I would
then accompany him to his bedchamber, and have often been obliged to
support him on the little staircase which led from his cabinet to the
corridor. He frequently used to say at this time, "I fear that when I
am forty I shall become a great eater: I have a foreboding that I shall
grow very corpulent." This fear of obesity, though it annoyed him very
much, did not appear to have the least foundation, judging from his
habitual temperance and spare habit of body. He asked me who was
my physician. I told him M. Corvisart, whom his brother Louis had
recommended to me. A few days after he called in Corvisart, who three
years later was appointed first physician to the Emperor. He appeared to
derive much benefit from the prescriptions of Corvisart, whose open and
good-humoured countenance at once made a favourable impression on him.
The pain which the First Consul felt at this time increased his
irritability. Perhaps many of the sets of this epoch of his life should
be attributed to this illness. At the time in question his ideas were
not the same in the evening as they had been in the morning; and often
in the morning he would tear up, even without the least remark, notes
he had dictated to me at night and which he had considered excellent. At
other times I took on myself not to send to the Moniteur, as he wished
me to do, notes which, dictated by annoyance and irascibility, might
have produced a bad effect in Europe. When the next day he did not see
the article, I attributed this to the note being too late, or to the
late arrival of the courier. But I told him it was no loss, for it would
be inserted the next day. He did not answer at once, but a quarter of
an hour afterwards he said to me, "Do not send my note to the 'Moniteur'
without showing it to me." He took it and reread it. Sometimes he was
astonished at what he had dictated to me, and amused himself by saying
that I had not understood him properly. "That is not much good, is it?
"--"'Pon my word, I don't quite know."--"Oh no, it is worthless; what
say you?" Then he bowed his head a little, and tore up the paper. Once
when we were at the Tuileries he sent me at two o'clock in the morning
a small note in his own writing, in which was, "To Bourrienne. Write
to Maret to make him erase from the note which Fleurieu has read to the
Tribunate the phrase (spelt frase) concerning Costaz, and to soften as
much as possible what concerns the reporter of the Tribunate."
This change, after time for reflection, arose, as often happened with
him, from observations I had made to him, and which he had at first
angrily repulsed.
After the peace of Amiens the First Consul, wishing to send an