THE EMPEROR’S COURT AT THE TUILERIES.—THE PRESENTATION OF THE LADIES.—ON WOMEN’S AGES.—MANUSCRIPT OF THE ISLAND OF ELBA.
8th.—The Emperor sent for me very early: he was just finishing his toilet. He had had no sleep during the night, and he seemed much fatigued. The weather had become somewhat tolerable, and he desired to have his breakfast under the tent. While it was preparing, he took a few turns about the garden, and resumed the conversation he had had with me on the preceding night.
He invited Madame de Montholon to breakfast, and afterwards we took a drive in the calash, of which the Emperor had made no use for a considerable time. He had scarcely breathed the fresh air for several days.
The conversation once more turned on the subject of the Emperor’s Court at the Tuileries, the multitude of persons composing it, the spirit and address with which Napoleon went through the ceremony of the presentations, &c. I pass over many of the observations that were made, for the sake of avoiding repetition.
“It is more difficult than is generally supposed,” said the Emperor, “to speak to every body in a crowded assemblage, and yet say nothing to any one; to seem to know a multitude of people, nine-tenths of whom are total strangers to one.”
Again, when alluding to the period when he was in the plentitude of his power, he observed that it was at once easy and difficult to approach him, to communicate with him, and to be appreciated by him; and that it depended on the merest chance in the world whether his courtiers made or missed their fortune. “Now that I am myself entirely out of the question,” said he, “now that I am a mere private individual, and can reflect philosophically on the time when I was called to execute the designs of Providence, without, however, ceasing to be a man, I see how much the fate of those I governed really depended upon chance; and how often favour and credit were purely accidental. Intrigue is so dexterous, and merit often so awkward, and these extremes approximate so closely to each other that, with the best intentions in the world, I find that my benefits were distributed like prizes in a lottery. And yet could I have done better? “Was I faulty in my intentions, or remiss in my exertions? Have other sovereigns done better than I did? It is only thus that I can be judged. The fault was in the nature of my situation, and in the force of things.”
We then spoke of the presentation of the ladies at Court, their embarrassment, and the plans, views, and hopes that were formed by some of them. Madame de Montholon revealed the secrets of several of her acquaintance, by which it appeared that if in the saloons of Paris some were heard to exclaim against the Emperor’s coarseness of manners, harshness of expression, and ugliness of person, others, who were better disposed, better informed, and differently affected, extolled the sweetness of his voice, the grace of his manners, the delicacy of his smile, and above all, his famous hand, which was said to be ridiculously handsome.
These advantages, it was observed, combined with great power and still greater glory, were naturally calculated to excite and to give rise to certain romantic stories. Thus at the Tuileries how many endeavoured to render themselves pleasing to the sovereign! How many sought to inspire a sentiment which it is probable they themselves really felt!
The Emperor smiled at our remarks and conjectures; and he confessed that, notwithstanding the mass of business and the cloud of flattery in which he was enveloped, he had oftener than once observed the sentiments to which we alluded. A few of the least timid among his admirers had, he said, even solicited and obtained interviews. We now laughed in our turn, and said that, at the time, these stories had been the subject of a great deal of mirth. But the Emperor seriously protested that they were void of foundation. In a more private conversation at the Briars, during one of our walks by moonlight, the Emperor, as I have stated in a former part of my Journal, made the same assertion, and contradicted every report of this nature, except one.
Our next subject of conversation was the repugnance of women to let their age be known. The Emperor made some very lively and entertaining remarks. An instance was mentioned of a woman who preferred losing an important law-suit to confessing her age. The case would have been decided in her favour, had she produced the register of her baptism, but this she could not be prevailed on to do.
Another anecdote of the same kind was mentioned. A certain lady was much attached to a gentleman, and was convinced that her union with him would render her happy; but she could not marry without proving the date of her birth, and she preferred remaining single.
The Emperor informed us that a distinguished lady, at the time of her marriage, had deceived her husband, and represented herself to be five or six years younger than she really was, by producing the baptismal register of her younger sister, who had been dead some time.
“However,” said the Emperor, “in so doing, poor Josephine exposed herself to some risk. This might really have proved a case of nullity of marriage.” These words furnished us with the key to certain dates, which, at the Tuileries, were the subject of jesting and ridicule, and which we then attributed wholly to the gallantry and extreme complaisance of the Imperial Almanack.
About four o’clock the Emperor took a short walk. I did not accompany him. On his return, he informed us that he had visited the Company’s garden, where he had met several very pretty women. “But I had not my interpreter with me,” he added, pointing to me. “The rogue left me, and nothing could be more provoking, for I never felt more inclined to avail myself of his assistance.” This little walk, however, did the Emperor no good, for he was presently seized with a severe tooth-ache.
A vessel, which had come from the Cape some time ago, sailed for Europe this day. Several English military officers, who were passengers in this ship, had not been permitted to wait on the Emperor, in spite of their repeated solicitations. This was a new instance of the Governor’s spite. These officers were men of distinction, and their reports on their return home might have had some influence. The Governor, in defiance of all truth, informed them that Napoleon had determined to receive no one.
The Emperor some time ago analyzed to us a subject which he said he intended to dictate in fourteen chapters, and which had forcibly struck me by its truth, its force, its just reasoning, and its dignity. I frequently alluded to it when I happened[happened] to be alone with him; and he laughed more than once at the perseverance I shewed, which, he said, was not usual with me. To-day he informed me that he had at length produced something, though not in fourteen chapters, nor on the promised subject; but that I must be content with it. I have read it, and it is certainly a very remarkable fragment. I do not believe that the Revolution has produced any thing more comprehensive and energetic on the governments of the last twenty-five years in France, namely, the Republic, the Consulate, and the Empire.
The exposition and development of the ten chapters which compose this work may be regarded as a perfect outline of the subject. The style is remarkably simple and nervous. Each chapter is full and forcible, and the whole, which consists of fifty pages, is struck off and finished with a masterly hand. I have understood that the substance of these ideas was to have formed the Emperor’s manifesto at the time of his landing from Elba.
Since my return to Europe, this little work has been published, under the title of Manuscrit de l’Ile d’Elbe; though I have reason to believe that at first another title was intended for it. Be this as it may, since the work is but little known, and as those who have read it may be ignorant of its real origin, I here transcribe almost literally several chapters, which will serve to prove its source and its authenticity.