Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812
famous Third Corps to be the first to enter Berlin the following day.
No. 8.
Written from Berlin, where he is from October 28th to November 25th.
_You do nothing but cry._--Josephine spent her evenings gauging
futurity with a card-pack, and although it announced Jena and
Auerstadt before the messenger, it may possibly, thinks M. Masson,
have been less propitious for the future--and behind all was the
sinister portion of the spae-wife's prophecy still unfulfilled.
No. 9A.
_Madame Tallien_ had been in her time, especially in the years
1795-99, one of the most beautiful and witty women in France. Madame
d'Abrantes calls her the Venus of the Capitol; and Lucien Bonaparte
speaks of the court of the voluptuous Director, Barras, where the
beautiful Tallien was the veritable Calypso. The people, however,
could not forget her second husband, Tallien, from whom she was
divorced in 1802 (having had three children born while he was in
Egypt, 1798-1802); and whilst they called Josephine "Notre Dame des
Victoires," they called Madame Tallien "Notre Dame de Septembre."
The latter was, however, celebrated both for her beauty and her
intrigues;[60] and when, in 1799, Bonaparte seized supreme power the
fair lady[61] invaded Barras in his bath to inform him of it; but
found her indolent Ulysses only capable of ejaculating, "What can be
done? that man has taken us all in!" Napoleon probably remembered
this, and may refer to her rather than to the Queen of Prussia in the
next letter, where he makes severe strictures on intriguing women.
Moreover, Napoleon in his early campaigns had played a ridiculous part
in some of Gillray's most indecent cartoons, where Mmes. Tallien and
Josephine took with Barras the leading roles; and as Madame Tallien
was not considered respectable in 1796, she was hardly a fit friend
for the Empress of the French ten years later. In the interval this
lady, divorced a second time, had married the Prince de Chimay
(Caraman). Napoleon knew also that she had been the mistress of
Ouvrard, the banker, who in his Spanish speculations a few months
earlier had involved the Bank of France to the tune of four millions
sterling, and forced Napoleon to make a premature peace after
Austerlitz. The Emperor had returned at white heat to Paris, and
wished he could build a gallows for Ouvrard high enough for him to be
on view throughout France. Madame Tallien's own father, M. de
Cabarrus, was a French banker in Spain, and probably in close relation
with Ouvrard.
No. 10.
Written from Berlin.
_The bad things I say about women._--Napoleon looked upon this as a
woman's war, and his temper occasionally gets the mastery of him. No
war had ever been so distasteful to him or so personal. Prussia, whose
alliance he had been courting for nearly ten years, was now worthless
to him, and all because of petticoat government at Berlin. In the
Fifteenth Bulletin (dated Wittenburg, October 23rd) he states that
the Queen had accused her husband of cowardice in order to bring about
the war. But it is doubtless the Sixteenth Bulletin (dated Potsdam,
October 25th) to which Josephine refers, and which refers to the oath
of alliance of the Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia in the
death chamber of Frederick the Great. "It is from this moment that the
Queen quitted the care of her domestic concerns and the serious
occupations of the toilet in order to meddle with the affairs of
State." He refers to a Berlin caricature of the scene which was at the
time in all the shops, "exciting even the laughter of clodhoppers."
The handsome Emperor of Russia was portrayed, by his side the Queen,
and on his other side the King of Prussia with his hand raised above
the tomb of the Great Frederick; the Queen herself, draped in a shawl
nearly as the London engravings represent Lady Hamilton, pressing her
hand on her heart, and apparently gazing upon the Emperor of Russia."
In the Eighteenth Bulletin (October 26th) it is said the Prussian
people did not want war, that a handful of women and young officers
had alone made this "tapage," and that the Queen, "formerly a timid
and modest woman looking after her domestic concerns," had become
turbulent and warlike, and had "conducted the monarchy within a few
days to the brink of the precipice."
As the Queen of Prussia was a beautiful woman, she has had nearly as
many partisans as Mary Stuart or Marie Antoinette, but with far less
cause. Napoleon, who was the incarnation of practical common sense,
saw in her the first cause of the war, and considered that so far as
verbal flagellation could punish her, she should have it. He had
neither time nor sympathy for the "Please you, do not hurt us"
attitude of a bellicose new woman, who, as Imogen or Ida, have played
with edged tools from the time of Shakespeare to that of Sullivan.
As an antidote, however, to his severe words against women he put,
perhaps somewhat ostentatiously, the Princess d'Hatzfeld episode in
his Twenty-second Bulletin (Berlin, October 29th). A year later
(November 26th, 1807), when his Old Guard return to Paris and free
performances are given at all the theatres, there is the "Triumph of
Trajan" at the Opera, where Trajan, burning with his own hand the
papers enclosing the secrets of a conspiracy, is a somewhat skilful
allusion to the present episode.
No. 11.
Magdeburg had surrendered on November 8th, with 20 generals, 800
officers and 22,000 men, 800 pieces of cannon, and immense stores.
_Lubeck._--This capitulation was that of Blucher, who had escaped
after Jena through a rather dishonourable ruse. It had taken three
army corps to hem him in.
No. 13.
Written from Berlin, but not included in the _Correspondence_.
_Madame L----_, _i.e._ Madame de la Rochefoucauld, a third or fourth
cousin (by her first marriage) of Josephine, and her chief lady of
honour. She was an incorrigible Royalist, and hated Napoleon; but as
she had been useful at the Tuileries in establishing the Court,
Napoleon, as usual, could not make up his mind to cause her dismissal.
In 1806, however, she made Josephine miserable and Mayence unbearable.
She foretold that the Prussians would win every battle, and even after
Jena she (to use an expression of M. Masson), "continued her music on
the sly" (_en sourdine_). See Letters 19 and 26 of this Series.
No. 17.
_December 2_, the anniversary of Austerlitz (1805) and of Napoleon's
coronation (1804). He now announces to his soldiers the Polish
campaign.
No. 18.
Not in the _Correspondence_.
_Jealousy._--If Josephine's letters and conduct had been a little more
worthy of her position, she might have saved herself. Madame Walewski,
who had not yet appeared on the scene.
No. 19.
_Desir de femme est un feu qui devore._--The quotation is given in
Jung's "Memoirs of Lucien" (vol. ii. 62). "Ce qu'une femme desire est
un feu qui consume, celui d'une reine un vulcan qui devore."
No. 23.
_I am dependent on events._--He says the same at St. Helena.
"Throughout my whole reign I was the keystone of an edifice entirely
new, and resting on the most slender foundations. Its duration
depended on the issue of my battles. I was never, in truth, master of
my own movements; I was never at my own disposal."
No. 26.
_The fair ones of Great Poland._--If Berthier and other regular
correspondents of Josephine were like Savary in their enthusiasm, no
wonder the Mayence coterie began to stir up jealousy. Here is the
description of the Duke of Rovigo (vol. ii. 17): "The stay at Warsaw
had for us something of witchery; even with regard to amusements it
was practically the same life as at Paris: the Emperor had his concert
twice a week, at the end of which he held a reception, where many of
the leading people met. A great number of ladies from the best
families were admired alike for the brilliancy of their beauty, and
for their wonderful amiability. One may rightly say that the Polish
ladies inspired with jealousy the charming women of every other
civilised clime. They united, for the most part, to the manners of
good society a fund of information which is not commonly found even
among Frenchwomen, and is very far above anything we see in towns,
where the custom of meeting in public has become a necessity. It
seemed to us that the Polish ladies, compelled to spend the greater
part of the year in their country-houses, applied themselves there to
reading as well as to the cultivation of their talents, and it was
thus that in the chief towns, where they went to pass the winter, they
appeared successful over all their rivals." St. Amand says: "In the
intoxication of their enthusiasm and admiration, the most beautiful
among them--and Poland is the country of beauty--lavished on him,
like sirens, their most seducing smiles...." Josephine was right to be
jealous, for, as the artist Baron Lejeune adds, "They were, moreover,
as graceful as the Creole women so often are."
_A wretched barn_, reached over still more wretched roads. The Emperor
and his horse had nearly been lost in the mud, and Marshal Duroc had a
shoulder put out by his carriage being upset.
_Such things become common property._--So was another event, much to
Josephine's chagrin. On this date Napoleon heard of a son (Leon) born
to him by Eleanore, a former schoolfellow of Madame Murat. M. Masson
thinks this event epoch-making in the life of Napoleon. "Henceforth
the charm is broken, and the Emperor assured of having an heir of his
own blood."
No. 27.
_Warsaw, January 3._--On his way from Pultusk on January 1, he had
received a Polish ovation at Bronie, where he first met Madame
Walewski. The whole story is well told by M. Masson in _Napoleon et
les Femmes_; but here we must content ourselves with the mere facts,
and first, for the sake of comparison, cite his love-letters to the
lady in question:--(1.) "I have seen only you, I have admired only
you, I desire only you. A very prompt answer to calm the impatient
ardour of N." (2.) "Have I displeased you? I have still the right to
hope the contrary. Have I been mistaken? Your eagerness diminishes,
while mine augments. You take away my rest! Oh, give a little joy, a
little happiness to a poor heart all ready to worship you. Is it so
difficult to get a reply? You owe me one.--N." (3.) "There are moments
when too high rank is a burden, and that is what I feel. How can I
satisfy the needs of a heart hopelessly in love, which would fling
itself at your feet, and which finds itself stopped by the weight of
lofty considerations paralysing the most lively desires? Oh, if you
would! Only you could remove the obstacles that lie between us. My
friend Duroc will clear the way. Oh, come! come! All your wishes shall
be gratified. Your native land will be dearer to me when you have had
pity on my poor heart,--N." (4.) "Marie, my sweet Marie! My first
thought is for you, my first desire to see you again. You will come
again, will you not? You promised me to do so. If not, the eagle will
fly to you. I shall see you at dinner, a friend tells me. Deign, then,
to accept this bouquet; let it become a mysterious link which shall
establish between us a secret union in the midst of the crowd
surrounding us. Exposed to the glances of the crowd, we shall still
understand each other. When my hand presses my heart, you will know
that it is full of thoughts of you; and in answer you will press
closer your bouquet. Love me, my bonny Marie, and never let your hand
leave your bouquet.--N." In this letter, in which he has substituted
_tu_ for _vous_, there is more passion than we have seen since 1796.
The fair lady now leaves her decrepit old husband, nearly fifty years
her senior, and takes up her abode in Finckenstein Castle, for nearly