One day at St. Cloud, at the grand audience which was held every Sunday, a Sub-prefect, or some other public officer of Piedmont, who was standing by my side, addressed the Emperor in a loud tone of voice and with the utmost emotion, calling for justice, asserting that he had been falsely accused, and unjustly condemned and dismissed from the service. “Apply to my ministers,” answered the Emperor. “No, Sire, I wish to be judged by you.” “That is impossible, my time is wholly absorbed with the general interests of the Empire, and my ministers are appointed to take into consideration the particular cases of individuals.” “But they will condemn me.” “For what reason?” “Because every body is against me.” “Why?” “Because I love you—to love you, Sire, is a sufficient motive to inspire every one with hatred.” All the bystanders were disconcerted at this answer, and red with confusion; but the Emperor replied, with the utmost calmness, “This is rather a strange assertion, sir, but I am willing to hope that you are mistaken,” and he passed on to the next person. On another occasion also, on the parade, a young officer stepped out of the ranks, in extreme agitation, to complain that he had been ill-used, slighted, and passed over, and that he had been five years a Lieutenant, without being able to obtain promotion. “Calm yourself,” said the Emperor, “I was seven years a Lieutenant, and yet you see that a man may push himself forward for all that.” Every body laughed, and the young officer, suddenly cooled by those few words, returned to his place. Nothing was more common than to see private individuals attack the Emperor, and hold out against him, and I have often seen him thus sharply and warmly disputed with, and unable to silence his opponent, give up the contest by addressing another person, or by turning the conversation to another subject.
It may be observed, as a general principle, that, however violent the Emperor’s actions might appear, they were always the result of calculation. “When one of my ministers,” said he, “or some other great personage had been guilty of a fault of so grave a nature that it became absolutely necessary for me to be very angry, I always took care in that case to have a third person present to witness the scene that was to ensue; for it was a general maxim, with me, that when I resolved to strike a blow it must be felt by many at the same time; the immediate object of my resentment did not feel more incensed against me on that account, and the bystander, whose embarrassed appearance was highly ludicrous, did not fail to run and circulate, most discreetly, as far as he could, all that he had seen and heard. A salutary terror ran thus from vein to vein through the body social: a new impulse was given to the march of affairs; I had less to punish, and a great deal of public good was obtained without inflicting much private hardship.”
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.”