REFLECTIONS ON THE GOVERNOR.—EXPENSES OF THE EMPEROR’S HOUSEHOLD AT THE TUILERIES.—OF A GOOD SYSTEM OF FINANCE.—MESSRS. MOLLIEN AND LABOUILLERIE.
Sunday, 2nd.—The Emperor rode out on horseback at about eight o’clock; he had long since abstained from enjoying that exercise. In returning through the valley of the Company’s garden, he went into the house of one of the Company’s Adjutants, whose wife is a Catholic; he remained there a few minutes only, and was in high spirits. We next went to the house of Madame Bertrand, to whom the Emperor paid a long visit. He alluded, in the strongest terms, and with infinite humour, to the behaviour of the Governor towards us; to his paltry measures, his total want of consideration, the absurd manner in which he conducted the affairs of the government of the island, and his total ignorance of the business and manners of life. “We had certainly some reason to complain of the Admiral,” said the Emperor; “but he at least was an Englishman, and this man is nothing but an Italian Sbire. We have not the same manners,” added he, “we cannot understand each other; our feelings do not speak the same language. He probably cannot conceive, for instance, that heaps of diamonds would be insufficient to atone for the affront he has offered in causing one of my domestics to be arrested almost in my presence. Since that day all my household are in consternation.”
On returning from our ride, we breakfasted in the garden. In the evening, whilst we were taking an airing in the calash, and making what we called the double round, we beguiled the time in making an estimate of the expenses of a man possessing an income of 150,000 livres in Paris. The Emperor said that a sixth of that sum should go for the stables, a fourth for the table, &c. I have already said that he was fond of making such calculations, which he always had the art of placing in a new and unexpected light.
The conversation led us to some details worthy of remark on the civil list and the expenses of the Emperor’s household. The following are amongst those I have remembered:
One million was allowed for the table, and yet the expense of the Emperor’s own dinner did not exceed one hundred francs a day. It had never been found possible to manage to give him his dinner hot; for, when once engaged in his closet, it was impossible to know when he would leave it. Therefore, when the hour of dinner arrived, a fowl was put on the spit for him every half hour; and it has sometimes happened that dozens have been roasted before that which has finally been set before him.
The conversation now turned upon the advantages of a good administration of finances. The Emperor spoke highly of the talents of Messrs. de Mollien and Labouillerie, in that branch. M. de Mollien, in particular, had put the treasury on the footing of a simple banking-house; and the Emperor had continually under his eyes, in a small book for that purpose, a complete statement of the revenue, the receipt, expenditure, arrears, resources, &c.
The Emperor had in his cellars at the Tuileries, he added, as much as 400 millions in gold, which were entirely his own property; so much so indeed that no other account of it existed but in a small book in the hands of his private Treasurer. All this treasure disappeared by degrees, and was applied to the expenses of the Empire, particularly at the time of our disasters. “How could I think,” said he, “of keeping anything for myself! I had identified myself with the nation.” He further added that he had sent 2000 millions in specie into France, without reckoning what private individuals might have brought on their own account.
The Emperor said that he had been much hurt at the conduct of M. de Labouillerie, who, being at Orleans in 1814, in charge of several millions belonging to him (Napoleon), his own private property, had taken them to the Count d’Artois in Paris instead of carrying them to Fontainbleau, as he was in duty and in conscience bound to do. “And yet Labouillerie was not a bad man,” said the Emperor. “I had both loved him and esteemed him. On my return in 1815 he earnestly entreated me to see him and hear what he had to say in his own defence; he no doubt would have proved that his fault arose from his ignorance, and not from his heart. He knew me; he was aware that, if he could approach me, the affair would be settled with a few angry expressions on my part; but I also knew my own weakness, I was resolved not to take him into my service again, and therefore refused to admit him. It was the only way in which I could hope at that moment to hold out against him and several others. Esteve, the predecessor of Labouillerie, would not have acted in that manner; he was entirely devoted to my person; he would have brought my treasure to Fontainbleau at all hazards; or if he had failed in the attempt, he would have thrown it into a river, or distributed it in various places, rather than give it up.”
ON WOMEN, &C.—POLYGAMY.
Monday, 3rd.—The Emperor, after having been three hours in his bath, went out at about five o’clock, to take a walk in the garden. He was taciturn and dejected, and wore the appearance of suffering. We afterwards drove out in the calash, and by degrees he became more cheerful and talkative.
On our return, he continued to walk for some time; and in order to engage in a playful warfare with one of the ladies present, he affected to declaim against women. “We men of the West,” said he, winking aside to us at the same time, to let us know that he was jesting, “know nothing at all about the matter, we have acted most unwisely in treating women too well; we have imprudently allowed them to rank almost as our equals. In the East they have more sense and judgment; there women are pronounced to be the actual property of man; and so indeed they are. Nature has made them our slaves, and it is only by presuming upon our folly that they can aspire to govern us, and by abusing the advantages which they possess, that they succeed in fascinating us and establishing their dominion over us. For one woman that inspires us with proper sentiments, there are a hundred who lead us into errors.” He then went on to express his approbation of the maxims of the oriental nations, highly commended the practice of polygamy, which he considered to be that pointed out by nature, and displayed considerable ingenuity and fertility of invention in the choice and number of arguments which he adduced in support of his opinion. “Woman,” said he, "is given to man to bear children to him; but one woman cannot suffice to one man for that purpose, for a woman cannot fulfil the duties of a wife during the period of her gestation, whilst she suckles her child, or when she is ill: and she ceases altogether to be a wife when she is no longer able to bear children. To man, on the contrary, nature has opposed no such obstacles at any period of his existence; a man should therefore have several wives.
“After all,” continued he, smiling significantly, “what have you to complain of, ladies? have we not acknowledged that you possess a soul? though certain philosophers, you know, have entertained doubts on this point. You aim at equality, but that is madness: woman is our property, we are not hers; for it is she that gives us children, and not we to her; she is therefore the property of man, in the same manner as the fruit-tree is the property of the gardener. If the husband is unfaithful to his wife, and he confesses his fault and repents of it, there is an end of the matter; no trace of it is left: the wife is angry, forgives, or becomes reconciled; and not unfrequently is a gainer on the occasion. But the case is widely different when the wife is unmindful of the marriage vow; it is of no avail for her to repent; the consequences of her guilt are incalculable, the mischief irreparable, she must never, she can never, confess it. You will therefore agree with me, Ladies, that it can only be an error of judgment, the want of education, or the preponderance of vulgar notions, that can prompt a wife to believe herself the equal, in every respect, of her husband. There is, however, nothing disparaging in the inequality; each sex has its attributes and its duties; your attributes, Ladies, are beauty, grace, fascination; your duties, submission, and dependance, &c.”[&c.”]
After dinner, the Emperor desired my son to bring him the Memoirs of the Chevalier de Grammont and a volume of Voltaire’s plays. Having, as he said, imposed on himself the task of remaining up till eleven o’clock, the Emperor read for some time the Memoirs, observing that a very little could be rendered amusing when seasoned with genuine wit. He afterwards turned over Mahomet, Semiramis, and other plays of Voltaire’s, pointing out their faults and blemishes, and concluding, as he generally did, that Voltaire had no knowledge either of affairs, men, or the real passions of human nature.
THE EMPEROR RESUMES THE DICTATION OF HIS
MEMOIRS, &C.
Tuesday, 4th.—The Emperor sent for me at about four o’clock to take a ride in the calash. He told me he had at last been dictating again, and that what had been done would not be found devoid of interest. He added that he had been during the whole morning very much out of humour: that he had at first attempted to go out at about one o’clock, but that he had found himself compelled to return into the house, pursued by disgust and ennui; and that, not knowing what to do with himself, he had thought of resuming his dictations.
The Emperor had long since ceased to apply himself regularly to this occupation. Several months had already elapsed since my Campaigns of Italy were finished; the Campaign of Egypt which he had dictated to General Bertrand, was also completed; and General Gourgaud had been very ill. All these circumstances had concurred to cause interruptions, which had engendered disgust; the Emperor had not proceeded further, and could not summon courage to begin again.
I took advantage of what he had just said, to represent to him that to dictate was, for him, the surest, the only remedy against ennui, the only way in which he could beguile the tedious hours: and for us, the means of obtaining the inestimable advantage of being put in possession of treasures, in the existence of which the honour and glory of France were equally interested. I urged, that it was of paramount importance that he should continue to write his own history. “Each of us,” said I, "would willingly give his life to obtain it; it was due to his memory, to his family, to us. Where would his son find the events of his father’s life faithfully recorded? What pen could be found equal to the task of retracing them in a manner worthy of the subject? and yet, without such invaluable documents, how many events would be buried with Napoleon, and remain for ever unknown! We who surrounded him formerly, what did we then know? how much had we not learnt here," &c. &c. The Emperor replied that he would continue his Memoirs, and consulted me as to the plan to be followed in digesting them; should they appear as a history? or as annals? He discussed the point for a long time, but without coming to any conclusion.
At dinner he said, “I have to-day been severely reprimanded on account of my idleness; I am therefore going to take to my task again, and embrace several periods at the same time: each of you shall have his share. Did not Herodotus,” said he, looking at me, “give to his books the names of the muses? I intend that each of mine shall bear the name of one of you. Even little Emmanuel shall give his to one of them. I will begin the history of the Consulate with Montholon, Gourgaud shall record the events of some other period, or detached battles; and little Emmanuel shall prepare the documents and materials of the epoch of the coronation.”