Napoleon had sent for the most distinguished performers of the French Theatre. A celebrated actress, Mademoiselle B——, attracted the attention of his guest, who had a momentary fancy to get acquainted with her. He asked his companion whether any inconvenience was likely to be the result. “None,” answered the latter; “only,” added he, intentionally, “it is a certain and rapid mode of making yourself known to all Paris. After to-morrow, post-day, the most minute details will be dispatched, and in a short time, not a statuary at Paris but will be qualified to give a model of your person from head to foot.” The danger of such a kind of publicity appeased the monarch’s rising passion; “for,” observed Napoleon, “he was very circumspect with regard to that point, and he recollected no doubt the old adage, When the mask falls, the hero disappears.”
The Emperor assured us that, had it been his wish, Alexander would certainly have given him his sister in marriage; his politics would have dictated the match, even had his inclination been against it. He was petrified when he heard of the marriage with Austria, and exclaimed—"This consigns me to my native forests." If he seemed to shuffle at first, it was because some time was necessary to enable him to come to a decision. His sister was very young, and the consent of his mother was requisite. This was settled by Paul’s will, and the Empress-mother was one of Napoleon’s bitterest enemies. She believed all the absurdities, all the ridiculous stories, which had been circulated concerning him. “How,” she exclaimed, "can I give my daughter to a man who is unfit to be any woman’s husband? Shall another man take possession of my daughter’s bed, if it be necessary, that she should have children? She is not formed for such a fate."—"Mother," said Alexander, “can you be so credulous as to believe the calumnies of London and the insinuations of the saloons of Paris? If that be the only difficulty, if it be that alone which gives you pain, I answer for him, and many others have it in their power to answer for him with me.”
"If Alexander’s affection for me was sincere," said the Emperor, “it was alienated from me by the force of intrigue. Certain persons, M——, or others, at the instigation of T——, lost no seasonable opportunity of mentioning instances of my turning him into ridicule, and they assured him, that at Tilsit and Erfurt, he no sooner turned his back than I took the opportunity of laughing at his expense. Alexander is very susceptible, and they must have easily soured his mind. It is certain, that he made bitter complaints of it at Vienna during the congress, and yet nothing was more false; he pleased me, and I loved him.”
S——, one of Napoleon’s aides-de-camp, was sent immediately after the treaty of Tilsit to Alexander at Petersburg, and was loaded with favours. The efforts and liberality of Alexander were inexhaustible to render himself agreeable to his new ally.
This same aide-de-camp became afterwards minister of the police, and in 1814, soon after the restoration, he is said to have made a striking allusion to his mission in Russia. A person deeply in the confidence of the King, addressing him at the Tuileries, in a manner altogether careless and unreserved, said, “Now that all is over, you may speak out; pray, who was your agent at Hartwell?” (This was, as every one knows, the residence of Louis XVIII. in England.) S——, astonished at the want of delicacy evinced by M. de B——, answered with dignity:—"M. le Comte, the Emperor considered the asylum of kings as an inviolable sanctuary. It was a principle which he impressed upon his police and we adhered to it. We have since learnt, that the same conduct was not observed with respect to him. But you, Sir, should entertain less doubt upon the subject than any other person. When I arrived at Petersburg, you were there on the part of the king. The Emperor Alexander, in the first warmth of his reconciliation, acquainted me with every thing that concerned you, and asked me whether it was the wish of my government that you should be ordered to leave his dominions. I had received no instructions upon that head. I wrote for them to the Emperor. His answer was, by return of courier, that he was satisfied with the sincere friendship of Alexander; that he would never interfere in his private arrangements; that he entertained no personal hatred against the Bourbons; and that, if he believed it were possible for them to accept it, he would offer them an asylum in France, and any royal residence, which might be agreeable to them. If you were then ignorant of these instructions, you will, no doubt, find them among the papers of the foreign office."
ARRIVAL OF THE FOREIGN COMMISSIONERS.—FORCED ETIQUETTE OF NAPOLEON.—ANECDOTES.—COUNCIL OF STATE; DETAILS RESPECTING THE PLACE OF MEETING, CUSTOMS, &C.—NOTICE OF SOME SITTINGS; DIGRESSION.—GASSENDI.—THE CROAT REGIMENT.—AMBASSADORS.—THE NATIONAL GUARD.—THE UNIVERSITY, &C.
17th of June.—The Emperor went out early in the morning. He ordered his calash for the purpose of taking a ride before breakfast. When he was stepping into it, we were informed, that the Newcastle man of war and the Orontes frigate were tacking to enter the port. These two vessels had overshot the island in the night, and were obliged to work to windward. They sailed from England on the 23rd of April and brought the bill respecting the Emperor’s detention. The English legislature had sanctioned by law the determination of ministers on that subject. The Commissioners of Austria, France and Russia were on board these vessels.
In the course of the day, the Emperor, speaking of the forms and costumes which he had established, and of the etiquette which he had introduced, said,[said,] “I found it a very difficult thing to give myself up to my own inclinations. I started into public notice from the multitude. Necessity compelled me to observe a degree of state; to adopt a certain system of solemnity; in a word, to establish an etiquette. I should otherwise have been every day liable to be slapped upon the shoulder. In France, we are naturally inclined to a misplaced familiarity, and I had to guard myself particularly against those who had at once, without any preparatory study, become men of education. We become courtiers very easily; we are very obsequious in the outset, and addicted to flattery and adulation: but unless it be repressed, a certain familiarity soon takes place, which might with great facility be carried as far as influence. It is well known that our kings were not exempt from this inconvenience.” Here the Emperor alluded to a very characteristic anecdote of the time of Louis XIV.—that of the courtier, of the number of whose children that prince enquired at his levee. “Four, Sire,” was the reply. The king, having occasion to speak to him two or three times in public during the day, put precisely the same question to him, “Pray, Sir, how many children have you?” The answer was uniformly the same; “Four, Sire.” At length, as the King was at play in the evening, he repeated the usual question. “How many children have you?”—“Six, Sire.” “How[“How] the plague can that be?” said the king, “for if I recollect right, you told me you had but four.”—“Really, Sire, I was afraid of fatiguing you with the constant repetition of the same thing.”
"“Sire,” observed one of the company to the Emperor, "I can mention an anecdote of a neighbouring country, worthy of that which we have just heard, and which may enable us to compare the gratuitous insolence of an absolute monarch’s courtier with the open resentment of a man, who has nothing to fear from his constitutional sovereign.
"A person moving in the circles of high life in London, had to complain of a great personage, by whom he had been very ill-used, and pledged himself to his friends to have ostensible satisfaction. Having learnt that the great personage was to honour a very brilliant party with his presence, he attended himself at an early hour and placed himself near the lady of the house. The great personage had paid his respects to the lady, and, after the customary compliments, being about to join the rest of the company, he had scarcely turned round, before the offended person, leaning carelessly towards her, said, with a loud voice, “Who is your fat friend?” The lady reddened, touched him with her elbow, and whispered; "Hold your tongue, I beg, don’t you see it is the Prince?" The gentleman replied, in a higher tone than before;—"How, the Prince!—Well, upon my honour, he is grown as fat as a pig."