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Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812

Emperor of the French Napoleon I

troops. This was kept a profound secret from France, and Napoleon even allowed Josephine to think that Corvisart had attended him (see Letter 22). No. 23. _October 14th._--Two days before, Stabs, the young Tugendbundist and an admirer of Joan of Arc, had attempted to assassinate Napoleon on parade with a carving-knife. The Emperor's letter to Fouche of the 12th October gives the most succinct account:-- "A youth of seventeen, son of a Lutheran minister of Erfurt, sought to approach me on parade to-day. He was arrested by the officers, and as the little man's agitation had been noticed, suspicion was aroused; he was searched, and a dagger found upon him. I had him brought before me, and the little wretch, who seemed to me fairly well educated, told me that he wished to assassinate me to deliver Austria from the presence of the French. I could distinguish in him neither religious nor political fanaticism. He did not appear to know exactly who or what Brutus was. The fever of excitement he was in prevented our knowing more. He will be examined when he has cooled down and fasted. It is possible that it will come to nothing. He will be arraigned before a military commission. "I wished to inform you of this circumstance in order that it may not be made out more important than it appears to be. I hope it will not leak out; if it does, we shall have to represent the fellow as a madman. If it is not spoken of at all, keep it to yourself. The whole affair made no disturbance at the parade; I myself saw nothing of it. "_P.S._--I repeat once more, and you understand clearly, that there is to be no discussion of this occurrence." Count Rapp saved the Emperor's life on this occasion, and he, Savary, and Constant, all give detailed accounts. Their narratives are a remarkable object-lesson of the carelessness of the average contemporary spectator in recording dates. Savary gives vaguely the end of September, Constant October 13th, and Count Rapp October 23rd. In the present case the date of this otherwise trivial incident is important, for careless historians assert that it influenced Napoleon in concluding peace. In any case it would have taken twenty such occurrences to affect Napoleon one hairbreadth, and in the present instance his letter of October 10th to the Russian Emperor proves that the Peace was already settled--all but the signing. No. 24. _Stuttgard._--General Rapp describes this journey as follows: "Peace was ratified. We left Nymphenburg and arrived at Stuttgard. Napoleon was received in a style of magnificence, and was lodged in the palace together with his suite. The King was laying out a spacious garden, and men who had been condemned to the galleys were employed to labour in it. The Emperor asked the King who the men were who worked in chains; he replied that they were for the most part rebels who had been taken in his new possessions. We set out on the following day. On the way Napoleon alluded to the unfortunate wretches whom he had seen at Stuttgard. 'The King of Wuertemberg,' said he, 'is a very harsh man; but he is very faithful. Of all the sovereigns in Europe he possesses the greatest share of understanding.' "We stopped for an hour at Rastadt, where the Princess of Baden and Princess Stephanie had arrived for the purpose of paying their respects to the Emperor. The Grand Duke and Duchess accompanied him as far as Strasburg. On his arrival in that city he received despatches which again excited his displeasure against the Faubourg St. Germain. We proceeded to Fontainebleau; no preparations had been made for the Emperor's reception; there was not even a guard on duty." This was on October 26th, at 10 A.M. Meneval asserts that Napoleon's subsequent bad temper was feigned. In any case, the meeting--that moment so impatiently awaited--was a very bad _quart d'heure_ for Josephine, accentuated doubtless by Fouche's report of bad conduct on the part of the ladies of St. Germain. FOOTNOTES [70] This Archduke was the "international man" at this juncture. Louis Bonaparte speaks of a society at Saragossa, of which the object was to make the Archduke Charles king of Spain. [71] These Adelphes or Philadelphes were the socialists or educated anarchists of that day. They wished for the _statu quo_ before Napoleon became supreme ruler. They had members in his army, and it seems quite probable that Bernadotte gave them passive support. General Oudet was their recognised head, and he died under suspicious circumstances after Wagram. The society was, unlike the Carbonari, anti-Catholic. [72] Pelet, vol. i. 127. [73] Pelet, vol. i. 282. [74] "Gaily asking his staff to breakfast with him" (Pelet). [75] Lejeune says "some hours afterwards." [76] Eugene's. [77] "What a loss for France and for me," groaned Napoleon, as he left his dead friend. SERIES M No. 1. According to the _Correspondence of Napoleon I._, No. 16,058, the date of this letter is December 17th. It seems, however, possible that it is the letter written immediately after his arrival at Trianon, referred to by Meneval, who was, in fact, responsible for it. Thiers, working from unpublished memoirs of Hortense and Cambaceres, gives a most interesting account of the family council, held at 9 P.M. on Friday, December 15th, at the Tuileries. Constant also describes the scene, but gives the Empress credit for showing the most self-command of those chiefly interested. The next day, 11 A.M., Count Lacepede introduced the resolutions of the family council to the Senatus-Consultus.[78] "It is to-day that, more than ever before, the Emperor has proved that he wishes to reign only to serve his subjects, and that the Empress has merited that posterity should associate her name with that of Napoleon." He pointed out that thirteen of Napoleon's predecessors had broken the bonds of matrimony in order to fulfil better those of sovereign, and that among these were the most admired and beloved of French monarchs--Charlemagne, Philip Augustus, Louis XII. and Henry IV. This speech and the Decrees (carried by 76 votes to 7) are found in the _Moniteur_ of December 17th, which Napoleon considers sufficiently authentic to send to his brother Joseph as a full account of what occurred, and with no further comment of his own but that it was the step which he thought it his duty to take. The Decrees of the Committee of the Senate were:--"(1) The marriage contracted between the Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Josephine is dissolved. (2) The Empress Josephine will retain the titles and rank of a crowned Empress-Queen.[79] (3) Her jointure is fixed at an annual revenue of L80,000 from the public treasury.[80] (4) Every provision which may be made by the Emperor in favour of the Empress Josephine, out of the funds of the Civil List, shall be obligatory on his successors." They added separate addresses to the Emperor and Empress, and that to the latter seems worthy of quotation:--"Your Imperial and Royal Majesty is about to make for France the greatest of sacrifices; history will preserve the memory of it for ever. The august spouse of the greatest of monarchs cannot be united to his immortal glory by more heroic devotion. For long, Madame, the French people has revered your virtues; it holds dear that loving kindness which inspires your every word, as it directs your every action; it will admire your sublime devotion; it will award for ever to your Majesty, Empress and Queen, the homage of gratitude, respect, and love." From a letter of Eugene's to his wife, quoted by Aubenas, it appears that he, with his mother, arrived at Malmaison on Saturday evening,[81] December 16th, and that it never ceased raining all the next day, which added to the general depression, in spite of, or because of, Eugene's bad puns. On the evening of the 16th Napoleon was at Trianon, writing letters, and we cannot think that if the Emperor had been to Malmaison on the Sunday,[82] Eugene would have included this without comment in the "some visits" they had received. The Emperor, as we see from the next letter, paid Josephine a visit on the Monday. No. 2. The date of this is Tuesday, December 19th, while No. 3 is Wednesday the 20th. _Savary_, always unpopular with the Court ladies, has now nothing but kind words for Josephine. "She quitted the Court, but the Court did not quit her; it had always loved her, for never had any one been so kind.... She never injured any one in the time of her power; she protected even her enemies"--such as Fouche at this juncture, and Lucien earlier. "During her stay at Malmaison, the highroad from Paris to this chateau was only one long procession, in spite of the bad weather; every one considered it a duty to present themselves at least once a week." Later, Marie Louise became jealous of this, and poor Josephine had to go to the chateau of Navarre, and finally to leave France. _Queen of Naples._--For some reason Napoleon had not wanted this sister at Paris this winter, and had written her to this effect from Schoenbrunn on October 15th. "If you were not so far off, and the season so advanced, I would have asked Murat to spend two months in Paris. But you cannot be there before December, which is a horrible season, especially for a Neapolitan."[83] But sister Caroline, "with the head of a Cromwell on the shoulders of a pretty woman," was not easy to lead; and her husband had in consequence to bear the full weight of the Emperor's displeasure. Murat's finances were in disorder, and Napoleon wrote Champagny on December 30th to tell Murat plainly that if the borrowed money was not returned to France, it would be taken by main force.[84] _The hunt._--In pouring rain, in the forest of St. Germain. No. 4. Thursday, December 21st, is the date. _The weather is very damp._--Making Malmaison as unhealthy as its very name warranted, and rendering more difficult the task which Madame de Remusat had set herself of resting Josephine mentally by tiring her physically. This typical toady--Napoleon's Eavesdropper Extraordinary--had arrived at Malmaison on December 18th. She writes on the Friday (December 22nd), beseeching her husband to advise the Emperor to moderate the tone of his letters, especially this one (Thursday, December 21st), which had upset Josephine frightfully. Surely a more harmless letter was never penned. But it is the Remusat all over; she lives in a chronic atmosphere of suspicion that all her letters are read by the Emperor, and therefore, like Stevenson's nursery rhymes, they are always written with "one eye on the grown-up person"[85]--on the grown-up person _par excellence_ of France and the century. The opening of letters by the government was doubtless a blemish, which, however, Napoleon tried to neutralise by entrusting the Post Office to his wife's relative, Lavalette, a man whose ever-kind heart prevented this necessary espionage degenerating into unnecessary interference with individual rights. No. 5. Date probably Sunday, December 24th. _King of Bavaria._--Eugene had gone to Meaux to meet his father-in-law, who had put off the "dog's humour" which he had shown since the 16th. No. 6. Josephine had gone by special invitation to dine at the little Trianon with Napoleon on Christmas Day, and Madame d'Avrillon says she had a very happy day there. "On her return she told me how kind the Emperor had been to her, that he had kept her all the evening, saying the kindest things to her." Aubenas says, "The repast was eaten in silence and gloom," but does not give his authority. Eugene, moreover, confirms Madame d'Avrillon in his letter to his wife of December 26th: