In 1815, after the restoration, as I was conversing with M. Bertrand de Molleville, formerly Minister of the Marine under Louis XVI., a man of great abilities, and who has distinguished himself in more ways than one, he said:—"Your Bonaparte, your Napoleon, was a very extraordinary man, it must be confessed. How little did we know him on the other side of the water! We could not but yield to the conviction of his victories and his invasions, it is true; but Genseric, Attila, and Alaric, were as victorious as he. Thus he produced on me an impression of terror rather than of admiration. But, since I have been here, I have taken the trouble to look over the debates on the civil code, and I have ever since been filled with profound veneration for him. But where in the world did he collect all his knowledge?... I discover something new every day. Ah! Sir, what a man you had at the head of your government. Really, he was nothing less than a prodigy!..."
About five o’clock the Emperor received Captain Bowen, of the Salsette frigate, which is to sail to-morrow. He behaved very condescendingly to him. In the course of conversation the name of Lord St. Vincent, who the Captain said was his patron, happened to be mentioned, on which the Emperor remarked: “You will see him on your return to England, and I commission you to present my compliments to him, as to a good sailor, a brave and worthy veteran.”
About 7 o’clock the Emperor took a bath. He sent for me, and we conversed for a long time, first on the events of the day, then on literary subjects, and lastly on geography. He expressed his astonishment that we possessed no certain knowledge of the interior of Africa. I told him that I had entertained the idea, some years ago, of presenting to his Minister of Marine a plan of a journey into the interior of Africa; not a secret and adventurous excursion, but a regular military expedition, in every respect worthy of the age and of the Emperor. The Minister laughed in my face when I first conversed with him on the subject, and looked upon the idea as an absurdity.
My plan was to have entered Africa at once on the north, south, east, and west, and to have formed a junction in the centre; or, if starting only from the east and west, I proposed that the two divisions of the expedition should meet in the centre, separate again and proceed, one to the north, the other to the south. I thought it probable that, after obtaining from the Court of Portugal all the information that could be procured, it would be found that there already existed a communication from east to west, or that at all events very little was wanting to effect it. The state of public feeling at the time, our enthusiasm, our enterprizes, our prodigies, would have rendered it easy to procure 5 or 600 good soldiers, with the requisite number of surgeons, physicians, botanists, chymists, astronomers, and naturalists, all willing to embark in the enterprize, and we should undoubtedly have accomplished something worthy of the age.
The necessary supply of beasts of burthen, small leathern boats for crossing rivers, skins for conveying water through the deserts, and light manageable field-pieces, would have rendered the execution of the enterprize easy and complete.
“No doubt,” said the Emperor, “your idea would have pleased me. I should have taken it up, submitted it to the consideration of a committee, and brought it to a result.”
He said that he very much regretted his not having had time, during his stay in Egypt, to accomplish something of this sort. He had troops suited in every respect to brave the dangers of the desert. He had received presents from the Queen of Darfour, and had sent her some in return. Had he remained longer, he intended to have carried to a great extent our geographical investigations in the northern district of Africa, and that too by the simplest means, merely by placing in each caravan some intelligent officers, for whom he would have procured hostages.
The conversation then turned on the marine department. The Emperor entered very deeply into the subject. He could not say that he was satisfied with Decrès; and he even thought that the confidence he reposed in him was not altogether irreproachable. The difficulty of finding persons better qualified maintained him in his post; for, after all, the Emperor said, Decrès was the best he could find. Ganteaume was merely a sailor, and destitute of every other talent. Cafarelli, he said, had forfeited his good opinion, because he had been informed that his wife intrigued in political affairs, which he regarded as an unpardonable offence. Missiessi was not a man to be depended on; for his family had been one of those who surrendered Toulon. The Emperor had, for a moment, cast his eye on Emériau; but, on consideration, he did not think that he possessed adequate capabilities. He had asked himself whether T...... might not have filled the post; but he decided that he was not qualified for it. He was a good man of business, it is true; but he had plunged very deeply into the affairs of the revolution; and what had confirmed the Emperor in his disapproval of him was that he had subsequently seen some of his private letters, by which it was evident that he still adhered to his old jacobinical sentiments.
“I had,” observed the Emperor, “rendered the duties of all my ministerial posts so easy that almost any one was capable of discharging them, if he possessed only fidelity, zeal, and activity. I must however except the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which it was frequently necessary to exercise a ready talent for persuasion. In fact,” continued he, “in the marine department but little was required, and Decrès was perhaps, after all, the best man I could have found. He possessed authority; and he discharged the business of his office scrupulously and honestly. He was endowed with a good share of understanding, but this was evinced only in his conversation and private conduct. He never conceived any plan of his own, and was incapable of executing the ideas of others on a grand scale; he could walk, but he could never be made to run. He ought to have passed one-half of his time in the sea-ports, or on board the exercising squadrons. He would have lost none of my favour by so doing. But, as a courtier, he was afraid to quit his portfolio. This shews how little he knew me. He would not have been the less protected by removing from my Court: his absence would have been a powerful circumstance in his favour.”
The Emperor said he very much regretted Latouche-Tréville, whom he regarded as a man of real talent. He was of opinion that that Admiral would have given a different impulse to affairs. The attack on India and the invasion of England would by him have been at least attempted, and perhaps accomplished.