Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812
Eugene, says Meneval, excelled in footman's parts.[56] Michot, from
the Theatre Francais, was stage manager; and Bonaparte provided what
Constant has called "the Malmaison Troupe," with their dresses and a
collection of dramas. He was always spurring them on to more ambitious
flights, and by complimenting Bourrienne on his prodigious memory,
would stimulate him to learn the longest parts. Lucien, who refused to
act, declares that Bonaparte quoted the saying of Louis XVI.
concerning Marie Antoinette and her company, that the performances
"were royally badly played." Junot, however, even in these days played
the part of a drunkard only too well (Jung, vol. ii. 256).
No. 4.
_The Sevres Manufactory._--After his visit, he wrote Duroc: "This
morning I gave, in the form of gratuity, a week's wages to the workmen
of the Sevres manufactory. Have the amount given to the director. It
should not exceed a thousand ecus."
No. 5.
_Your lover, who is tired of being alone._--So much so that he got up
at five o'clock in the morning to read his letters in a young bride's
bed-chamber. The story is brightly told by the lady in question,
Madame d'Abrantes (vol. ii. ch. 19). A few days before the Marly hunt,
mentioned in No. 3, the young wife of seventeen, whom Bonaparte had
known from infancy, and whose mother (Madame Permon) he had wished to
marry, found the First Consul seated by her bedside with a thick
packet of letters, which he was carefully opening and making marginal
notes upon. At six he went off singing, pinching the lady's foot
through the bed-clothes as he went. The next day the same thing
happened, and the third day she locked herself in, and prevented her
maid from finding the key. In vain--the unwelcome visitor fetched a
master-key. As a last resource, she wheedled her husband, General
Junot, into breaking orders and spending the night with her; and the
next day (June 22) Bonaparte came in to proclaim the hunting morning,
but by her side found his old comrade of Toulon, fast asleep. The
latter dreamily but good-humouredly asked, "Why, General, what are you
doing in a lady's chamber at this hour?" and the former replied, "I
came to awake Madame Junot for the chase, but I find her provided with
an alarum still earlier than myself. I might scold, for you are
contraband here, M. Junot." He then withdrew, after offering Junot a
horse for the hunt. The husband jumped up, exclaiming, "Faith! that is
an amiable man! What goodness! Instead of scolding, instead of sending
me sneaking back to my duty in Paris! Confess, my Laura, that he is
not only an admirable being, but above the sphere of human nature."
Laura, however, was still dubious. Later in the day she was taken to
task by the First Consul, who was astounded when she told him that his
action might compromise her. "I shall never forget," she says,
"Napoleon's expression of countenance at this moment; it displayed a
rapid succession of emotions, none of them evil." Josephine heard of
the affair, and was jealous for some little time to come.
_General Ney._--Bonaparte had instructed Josephine to find him a nice
wife, and she had chosen Mlle. Aglae-Louise Auguie, the intimate
friend and schoolfellow of Hortense, and daughter of a former
Receveur-General des Finances. To the latter Ney goes fortified with a
charming letter from Josephine, dated May 30--the month which the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ has erroneously given for that of the
marriage, which seems to have taken place at the end of July
(_Biographie Universelle, Michaud_, vol. xxx.). Napoleon (who stood
godfather to all the children of his generals) and Hortense were
sponsors for the firstborn of this union, Napoleon Joseph, born May 8,
1803. The Duchess d'Abrantes describes her first meeting with Madame
Ney at the Boulogne fete of August 15, 1802. Her simplicity and
timidity "were the more attractive inasmuch as they formed a contrast
to most of the ladies by whom she was surrounded at the court of
France.... The softness and benevolence of Madame Ney's smile,
together with the intelligent expression of her large dark eyes,
rendered her a very beautiful woman, and her lively manners and
accomplishments enhanced her personal graces" (vol. iii. 31). The
brave way in which she bore her husband's execution won the admiration
of Napoleon, who at St. Helena coupled her with Mdme. de Lavalette and
Mdme. Labedoyere.
FOOTNOTES
[51] She was, however, no mere amateur, and knew, says Mlle.
d'Avrillon, the names of all her plants, the family to which
they belonged, their native soil, and special properties.
[52] _Rueil, le chateau de Richelieu et la Malmaison_, by Jacquin and
Duesberg, p. 130; in Aubenas' _Josephine_, vol. i.
[53] Lucien declares that Napoleon said to his wife, in his presence
and that of Joseph, "Imitate Livia, and you will find me
Augustus."--(Jung, vol. ii. 206.) Lucien evidently suspects an
occult sinister allusion here, but Napoleon is only alluding to
the succession devolving on the first child of their joint
families. Lucien refused Hortense, but Louis was more amenable
to his brother's wishes. On her triumphal entry into Muehlberg
(November 1805), the Empress reads on a column a hundred feet
high--"Josephinae, Galliarum Augustae."
[54] Made Grand Huntsman in 1804.
[55] An anachronism; he was at this time First Consul.
[56] An euphuistic way of saying he could not learn longer ones. In
war time Napoleon had to insist on Eugene keeping his letters
with him and constantly re-reading them.
SERIES E
No. 1.
_Madame._--Napoleon became Emperor on May 18th, and this was the first
letter to his wife since Imperial etiquette had become _de rigueur_,
and the first letter to Josephine signed Napoleon. Meneval gives a
somewhat amusing description of the fine gradations of instructions he
received on this head from his master. This would seem to be a reason
for this uncommon form of salutation; but, _per contra_, Las Cases
(vol. i. 276) mentions some so-called letters beginning _Madame et
chere epouse_, which Napoleon declares to be spurious.
_Pont de Bricques_, a little village about a mile from Boulogne. On
his first visit to the latter he was met by a deputation of farmers,
of whom one read out the following address: "General, here we are,
twenty farmers, and we offer you a score of big, sturdy lads, who are,
and always shall be, at your service. Take them along with you,
General; they will help you to give England a good thrashing. As for
ourselves, we have another duty to fulfil: with our arms we will till
the ground, so that bread be not wanting to the brave fellows who are
destined to destroy the English." Napoleon thanked the honest yeomen,
and determined to make the only habitable dwelling there his
headquarters. The place is called from the foundations of bricks found
there--the remains of one of Caesar's camps.
_The wind having considerably freshened._--Constant tells a good story
of the Emperor's obstinacy, but also of his bravery, a few days later.
Napoleon had ordered a review of his ships, which Admiral Bruix had
ignored, seeing a storm imminent. Napoleon sends off Bruix to Holland
in disgrace, and orders the review to take place; but when, amid the
wild storm, he sees "more than twenty gunboats run aground," and no
succour vouchsafed to the drowning men, he springs into the nearest
lifeboat, crying, "We must save them somehow." A wave breaks over the
boat; he is drenched and nearly carried overboard, losing the hat he
had worn at Marengo. Such pluck begets enthusiasm; but, in spite of
all they could do, two hundred lives were lost. This is Constant's
version; probably his loss is exaggerated. The Emperor, writing
Talleyrand on August 1st, speaks only of three or four ships lost, and
"une quinzaine d'hommes."
No. 2.
_The waters._--Mlle. d'Avrillon describes them and their effect--the
sulphur baths giving erysipelas to people in poor health. Corvisart
had accompanied the Empress, to superintend their effect, which was as
usual nil.
_All the vexations._--Constant (vol. i. 230, &c., 1896) is of use to
explain what these were--having obtained possession of a diary of the
tour by one of Josephine's ladies-in-waiting, which had fallen into
Napoleon's hands. In the first place, the roads (where there were
any[57]) were frightful, especially in the Ardennes forest, and the
diary for August 1st concludes by stating "that some of the carriages
were so battered that they had to be bound together with ropes. One
ought not to expect women to travel about like a lot of dragoons." The
writer of the diary, however, preferred to stay in the carriage, and
let Josephine and the rest get wet feet, thinking the risk she ran the
least. Another vexation to Josephine was the published report of her
gift to the Mayoress of Rheims of a malachite medallion set in
brilliants, and of her saying as she did so, "It is the colour of
Hope." Although she had really used this expression, it was the last
thing she would like to see in print, taking into consideration the
reason for her yearly peregrinations to Plombieres, and now to Aix,
and their invariable inefficiency. Under the date August 14th, the
writer of the diary gives a severe criticism of Josephine. "She is
exactly like a ten-year-old child--good-natured, frivolous,
impressionable; in tears at one moment, and comforted the next.... She
has just wit enough not to be an utter idiot. Ignorant--as are most
Creoles--she has learned nothing, or next to nothing, except by
conversation; but, having passed her life in good society, she has got
good manners, grace, and a mastery of that sort of jargon which, in
society, sometimes passes for wit. Social events constitute the canvas
which she embroiders, which she arranges, and which give her a subject
for conversation. She is witty for quite a whole quarter of an hour
every day.... Her diffidence is charming ... her temper very sweet and
even; it is impossible not to be fond of her. I fear that ... this
need of unbosoming, of communicating all her thoughts and impressions,
of telling all that passes between herself and the Emperor, keeps the
latter from taking her into his confidence.... She told me this
morning that, during all the years she had spent with him, never once
had she seen him let himself go."
_Eugene has started for Blois_, where he became the head of the
electoral college of Loir et Cher, having just been made Colonel-General
of the Chasseurs by Napoleon. The Beauharnais family were originally
natives of Blois.
No. 3.
_Aix-la-Chapelle._--In this, the first Imperial pilgrimage to take the
waters, great preparations had been made, forty-seven horses bought at
an average cost of L60 apiece; and eight carriages, which are not dear
at L1000 for the lot, with L400 additional for harness and fittings.
At Aix they had fox-hunting and hare-coursing so called, but probably
the final tragedy was consummated with a gun. Lord Rosebery reminds us
that at St. Helena the Emperor actually shot a cow! They explored coal
mines, and examined all the local manufactories, including the relics
of Charlemagne--of which great warrior and statesman Josephine refused
an arm, as having a still more puissant one ever at hand for her
protection.
When tidings come that the Emperor will arrive on September 2, and
prolong their stay from Paris, there is general lamentation among
Josephine's womenkind, especially on the part of that perennial wet
blanket and busybody, Madame de Larochefoucauld, who will make herself
a still greater nuisance at Mayence two years later.
No. 4.
_During the past week._--As a matter of fact he only reached Ostend on