CHARACTERISTIC TRAITS.
5th—8th. During these four days, the Emperor invariably rode out on horseback about six or seven in the morning, accompanied only by me and my son.
I am enabled to affirm that I never saw Napoleon swayed either by passion or prejudice, that is to say, I never knew him to pronounce a judgment on men and things that was not dictated by reason. Even when he displays what perhaps may be called anger, it is merely the effect of transitory feeling, and never influences his actions; but I can truly say that, during the eighteen years in which I have had the opportunity of observing his character, I never knew him to act in contradiction to reason.
Another fact which has come to my knowledge, and which I note down here because it recurs to my memory at this moment, is that, either from nature, calculation, or the habit of preserving dignity, he for the most part represses and conceals the painful sensations which he experiences, and still more, perhaps, the kind emotions of his heart. I have frequently observed him repressing feelings of sensibility, as if he thought that they compromised his character. Of this I shall hereafter adduce proofs. Meanwhile, the following characteristic trait so perfectly corresponds with the object of this journal, namely, that of showing the man as he really is, and seizing nature in the fact, that I cannot refrain from mentioning it.
For some days past, Napoleon seemed to have something deeply at heart. A domestic circumstance which had occurred vexed and ruffled him exceedingly. During the last three days, in our rides about the park, he several times alluded to this circumstance with considerable warmth, desiring me to keep close by his side, and ordering my son to ride on before. On one of these occasions the following observation escaped him:—"I know I am fallen. But to feel this among you!"... These words, the gesture, the tone that accompanied them, pierced my very heart. I was ready to throw myself at his feet, and embrace his knees. “I know,” continued he, “that man is frequently unreasonable and susceptible. Thus, when I am mistrustful of myself, I asked, should I have been treated so at the Tuileries? This is my sure test.”
He then spoke of himself, of us, of our reciprocal relations, of our situation in the island, and the influence which our individual circumstances might enable us to exercise. His reflections on these subjects were numerous, powerful, and just. In the emotion with which this conversation inspired me, I exclaimed: “Sire, permit me to take this affair upon myself. It certainly never could have been viewed in this light. If the matter were explained, I am sure it would excite deep sorrow and repentance! I only ask permission to say a single word.” The Emperor replied with dignity:—"No, sir; I forbid it. I have opened my heart to you. Nature has had her course. I shall forget it; and you must seem never to have known it."
On our return, we breakfasted all together in the garden, and the Emperor was more than usually cheerful. In the evening he dined in his own apartment.
POLITICS.—THE STATE OF EUROPE.—IRRESISTIBLE
ASCENDANCY OF LIBERAL OPINIONS.
9th-10th. On the 9th a ship arrived from England, bringing papers to the 21st of January. The Emperor continued his morning rides on horseback, and passed the rest of the day in examining the newspapers in his own chamber. The contents of these late papers were not less interesting than those which we had already examined. The agitation in France continued to increase; the King of Prussia had issued proclamations respecting secret societies; a misunderstanding had arisen between Austria and Bavaria; in England the persecution of the French Protestants, and the violence of the party which was gaining the ascendancy, agitated the public mind, and gave arms to the Opposition. Europe never presented a more violent fermentation.
On perusing the account of the deluge of evils and sanguinary events which overwhelmed all the French departments, the Emperor rose from his couch, and, stamping his foot violently on the ground, he exclaimed! “How unfortunate was I in not proceeding to America! From the other hemisphere I might have protected France against re-action! The dread of my re-appearance would have been a check on their violence and folly. My name would have sufficed to bridle their excesses, and to fill them with terror.”
Then, continuing the same subject, he said with a degree of warmth, bordering on inspiration, "the counter-revolution, even had it been suffered to proceed, must inevitably have been lost in the grand revolution. The atmosphere of modern ideas is sufficient to stifle the old feudalists; for henceforth nothing can destroy or efface the grand principles of our revolution. Those great and excellent truths can never cease to exist, so completely are they blended with our fame, our monuments, and our prodigies. We have washed away their first stains in the flood of glory, and they will henceforth be immortal. Created in the French tribune, cemented with the blood of battles, adorned with the laurels of victory, saluted with the acclamations of the people, sanctioned by the treaties and alliances of Sovereigns, and having become familiar to the ears as well as in the mouths of Kings, these principles can never again retrograde!
“Liberal ideas flourish in Great Britain, they enlighten America, and they are nationalized in France; and this may be called the tripod whence issues the light of the world! Liberal opinions will rule the universe. They will become the faith, the religion, the morality of all nations; and, in spite of all that may be advanced to the contrary, this memorable era will be inseparably connected with my name; for, after all, it cannot be denied that I kindled the torch and consecrated the principles; and now persecution renders me quite their Messiah. Friends and foes, all must acknowledge me to be their first soldier, their grand representative. Thus even when I shall be no more, I shall still continue to be the leading star of the nations....”[nations....”]
THE EMPEROR’S OPINION OF SEVERAL CELEBRATED MEN.—POZZO DI BORGO—METTERNICH—BASSANO—CLARKE—CAMBACÉRÈS—LEBRUN—FOUCHÉ, &C.
11th—12th. The Emperor took advantage of every fine morning to ride on horseback. He breakfasted in the garden; and the conversation was afterwards maintained with great freedom and interest on the events of his own private life, on public affairs, on the individuals who surrounded his person, and those who have played a conspicuous part in the other Courts of Europe.
The English lessons were no longer thought of; they were continued only in our rides or walks during the day time. What the Emperor thus lost in grammatical accuracy he gained in facility of expression.
About five o’clock on the 11th, we took our usual airing in the calash. In the evening we resumed our ministerial anecdotes and conversations on celebrated persons. Napoleon gave us the history of M. Pozzo di Borgo, his countryman, who had been a Member of the Legislative Body. It was he, it is said, who advised the Emperor Alexander to march upon Paris, even though Napoleon should have attacked his rear. “And thus,” said the Emperor, “he[“he] decided the fate of France, of European civilization, and the destinies of the whole world. He had acquired great influence in the Russian Cabinet."
He also gave us the history of M. Capo d’Istria. He then spoke of M. de Metternich.
The Emperor next spoke of his own Ministers; of Bassano, whom he believed to have been sincerely attached to him; Clarke, to whose character Time, he said, would do ample justice; C.... whom late events had shewn to have been worth but little. The Emperor had successively appointed him Ambassador to Vienna, Minister of the interior, and Minister for foreign affairs. Talleyrand, observed the Emperor, described his character in a word, when he said of him, with his usual point and ill-natured spirit, that he was a man who could make himself fit for any place on the day before his appointment to it.
The conversation next turned on M. Cambacérès, whom Napoleon called the man of abuses; observing that he had a decided inclination for the old regime. Lebrun, on the contrary, had a predilection to the opposite extreme. He, said the Emperor, was the man of idealisms. These two men, he observed, were the counterpoises between which the First Consul had placed himself, and he in his turn was humourously called the consolidated third.
Messrs. de T.... and Fouché were next spoken of. After saying a great deal respecting both, the Emperor proceeded to make some energetic remarks on the morality of individuals connected with the ministry in France, and generally of all functionaries or men in office; on their want of political faith, or national feeling, which led them to serve indifferently one person to-day, and another to-morrow. “This levity, this inconsistency,” said he, “has descended to us from antiquity. We still remain Gauls, and our character will never be complete, until we learn to substitute principles for turbulence, pride for vanity, and, above all, the love of institutions for the love of place.”
The Emperor concluded that, at the close of our late events, the Monarchs of Europe must necessarily have retained a retrospective feeling of scorn and contempt for the great people who had thus sported with Sovereignty. “But,” said he, “the excuse may perhaps be found in the nature of things, and in the power of circumstances. Democracy raises up Sovereignty, aristocracy preserves it. Mine had neither taken a root deep enough, nor acquired sufficient spirit. At the moment of the crisis it was still connected with democracy; and it mingled with the multitude instead of becoming the sheet-anchor to secure the people from the fury of the tempest, and to guide them in their blindness.”
The following are some fresh particulars respecting M. de T—— and M. Fouché, whose names have so frequently been mentioned. I endeavour as much as possible to avoid repetitions.
“M. de T——” said the Emperor, “waited two days and nights at Vienna for full powers to treat for peace in my name; but I should have been ashamed to have thus prostituted my policy; and yet, perhaps, my conduct in this instance has purchased my exile to St. Helena; for I cannot but allow that T—— is a man of singular talent, and capable at all times of throwing great weight into the scale.
“T——” continued he, “was always in a state treason; but it was in partnership with fortune. His circumspection was extreme; he treated his friends as if they might in future become his enemies; and he behaved to his enemies as if they might some time or other become his friends. M. de T—— had always been, in my opinion, hostile to the Faubourg St. Germain. In the affair of the divorce, he was for the Empress Josephine. It was he who urged the war with Spain, though in public he had the art to appear averse to it.” Thus it was from a kind of spite that Napoleon made choice of Valencey as the residence of Ferdinand. “In short,” said the Emperor, “T—— was the principal instrument and the active cause of the death of the Duke d’Enghien.”
Ch. Maurice de Talleyrand
Engraved by Thomson, from the Original Painting by F. Gérard
Napoleon observed that a celebrated actress (Mademoiselle Raucourt) had described him with great truth. “If you ask him a question,” said she, “he is an iron chest, whence you cannot extract a syllable; but if you ask him nothing, you will soon be unable to stop his mouth—he will become a regular gossip.”
This was a foible which, at the outset, destroyed the confidence of the Emperor, and made him waver in his opinion of T——. “I had entrusted him,” said Napoleon, "with a very important affair, and, a few hours afterwards, Josephine related it to me word for word. I instantly sent for the Minister, to inform him that I had just learned from the Empress a circumstance which I had told in confidence to himself alone. The story had already passed through four or five intermediate channels.
"T——’s countenance," added the Emperor, “is so immoveable that nothing can ever be read in it. Lannes and Murat used jokingly to say of him that if, while he was speaking to you, some one should come behind him and give him a kick, his countenance would betray no indication of the affront.”
M. de T—— is mild and even endearing in his domestic habits. His servants, and the persons in his employment, are attached and devoted to him. Among his intimate friends he willingly and good-humouredly speaks of his ecclesiastical profession. He one day expressed his dislike of a tune which was hummed in his hearing. He said he had a great horror of it; it reminded him of the time when he was obliged to practise church-music, and to sing at the desk. On another occasion, one of his intimate friends was telling a story during supper, while M. de T—— was engaged in thought, and seemed inattentive to the conversation. In the course of the story, the speaker happened to say in a lively manner of some one whom he had named, “That fellow is a comical rogue; he is a married priest.” T——, roused by these words, seized a spoon, plunged it hastily into the dish before him, and with a threatening aspect called out to him, “Mr. Such-a-one, will you have some spinach?” The person who was telling the story was confounded, and all the party burst into a fit of laughter, M. de T—— as well as the rest.
The Emperor, at the time of the Concordat, wished to have made M. de T.... a Cardinal, and to have placed him at the head of ecclesiastical affairs. He told him that his proper destiny was to return to the bosom of the Church, to refresh his memory, and to stop the mouths of the declaimers. T——, however, would never agree to this; his aversion to the ecclesiastical profession was insurmountable.
Napoleon was very near appointing him Ambassador to Warsaw, a dignity which he subsequently conferred on the Abbé de Pradt; but his dirty stock-jobbing tricks, as the Emperor called them, occasioned this intention to be abandoned. The Emperor was induced by the same reasons, and at the instance of several sovereigns of Germany, to deprive him of the portfolio of Foreign Affairs.
The Emperor remarked that Fouché was the T—— of the clubs, and that T—— was the Fouché of the drawing-rooms. “Intrigue,” he said, "was to Fouché a necessary of life. He intrigued at all times, in all places, in all ways, and with all persons. Nothing ever came to light but he was found to have had a hand in it. He made it his sole business to look out for something that he might be meddling with. His mania was to wish to be concerned in every thing...! Always in every body’s shoes." This the Emperor would often repeat.
At the time of the conspiracy of Georges, when Moreau was arrested, Fouché was no longer at the head of the Police, and he endeavoured to make himself very much regretted. “What stupidity!” said he, “they have arrested Moreau when he was returning to Paris from his country residence, a circumstance which at least appeared like the confidence of innocence. On the contrary, he should have been seized when he went to Gros-Bois, for then he was evidently running away.”
The remark which he made, or which is attributed to him on the affair of the Duke d’Enghien, is well known; “It is more than a crime, it is a fault,” said he. Such traits as these paint the character of a man better than whole volumes.
The Emperor knew Fouché well, and never became his dupe. He has been much blamed for having employed him in 1815, when indeed Fouché basely betrayed him. Napoleon was not ignorant of his disposition; but he also knew that the danger depended more on the circumstances than on the individual. “If I had been victorious,” said he, “Fouché would have been faithful. He took great care, it is true, to hold himself in readiness for whatever might happen. I ought to have conquered!”
The Emperor, however, was acquainted with his underhand dealings, and he did not spare him.[him.] After Napoleon’s return in 1815, one of the first bankers of Paris presented himself at the Elysée, to inform him that, a few days previously, a person just arrived from Vienna had waited upon him with letters of credit, and had made enquiries respecting the means by which he could meet with Fouché. Whether from reflection or presentiment, the banker conceived some doubts respecting this individual, and accordingly came to communicate them in person to the Emperor, who was astonished that Fouché had concealed the matter from his knowledge. In the course of a few hours Réal found the person in question, and immediately brought him to the Elysée, where he was shut up in a small room by himself. The Emperor ordered him to be brought into the garden. “Do you know me?” said he to the man. This commencement, and the feelings which the Emperor’s presence inspired, greatly startled the stranger. “I am acquainted with all your proceedings,” continued Napoleon, in a tone of severity: “if you this moment confess all you know, I may pardon you; if not, you will be taken from this garden to be shot.”—"I will tell all," said the man. “I am sent hither by M. de Metternich to the Duke of Otranto, to propose that he will despatch a messenger to Bâle, who will there meet the messenger sent by M. de Metternich from Vienna. These,” continued he, delivering some papers, “are the marks of recognition which they are to possess.”—"Have you executed your mission to Fouché?" enquired the Emperor.—"Yes."—"Has he despatched his messenger?"—"I do not know." The man was put under confinement, and within an hour a confidential person (M. F——) was on the road to Bâle. He introduced himself to the Austrian messenger, and even held four conferences with him.
Meanwhile Fouché, who was uneasy at the non-appearance of his Vienna messenger, one day waited on the Emperor, and attempted with an air of gaiety and cheerfulness to conceal his extreme embarrassment. “There were several looking-glasses,” said the Emperor, “in the apartment, and I was much amused in studying him by stealth; the expression of his countenance was hideous; he did not know how to enter upon the subject which interested him so deeply.”—"Sire," said he at length, "a circumstance["a circumstance] occurred to me four or five days ago, which I fear I was wrong in not communicating to your Majesty.... But I have so much business on my hands——I am surrounded with so many reports, so many intrigues——. A man came to me from Vienna with most ridiculous propositions,——and he is now no where to be found!"—"M. Fouché," said the Emperor, “you may injure yourself, if you take me for a fool. I have secured the man you speak of, and I have known the whole intrigue for several days. Have you sent to Bâle?”—"No, Sire."—"That is fortunate for you. If it be otherwise, and I obtain proofs of it, it may cost you your life."
Subsequent events have proved that this would have been but justice. It appears, however, that Fouché had not sent, and here the business ended.