‘No one was able to tell what was the number of persons who had been killed and wounded; but it was understood that the disaster had originated in an attempt to destroy the First Consul in his way to the Opera. At the portico of the Opera, I heard that the performance was going on without interruption, and that Bonaparte, unmoved, was partaking of the entertainment, which was an Oratorio,[174] as if nothing unusual had happened. The next morning heard a few particulars; some of the manner in which the Chief Consul had conducted himself. He appears to have expressed a conviction that in his situation and at a period like the present, such an occurrence was not to be considered as being justly matter of surprise. He told those who had an opportunity of seeing him that when, a short time before, his life had been conspired against, he felt no particular solicitude in relation to the punishment of a crime which seemed to have him only for its object; but that now when the blow which was levelled at himself had fallen upon others, when the safety of a part of the population of the capital had been actually endangered, and when several individuals had become the innocent victims of so great an atrocity, he should not hesitate to demand a law authorising the immediate trial of those who might prove implicated in its guilt. That as to what regarded himself personally, he should die with as much glory at the head of the Legislature as he could do at the head of one of the armies of the Republic. To the Prefect of the Police[175] he expressed his dissatisfaction with an asperity which sufficiently proved that he imputed a defect of vigilance to that department.’...
A REVIEW
‘Went to the Review. In front of the Thuilleries were drawn up the Grenadiers of the Consular Guard, who had followed Bonaparte to Marengo, and had from their conduct in that memorable battle been compared by Berthier to a redoubt of granite. On ye remaining sides of the square were drawn up other troops. In the centre of the place were stationed the officers of the État Major on horseback, whose uniforms and accoutrements were splendid to the greatest degree. A beautiful cream-coloured Spanish horse, adorned with crimson velvet, magnificently embroidered in gold, was held in readiness for Bonaparte. A sudden burst of martial music, issuing from a profusion of instruments, proclaimed his descent from the Palace. He wears no plume. He is distinguished by the quietness of his deportment, the pensiveness of his aspect, and by the paleness of his countenance, which thought and watchfulness have worn. He was attended by his Mameluke. Mounted on his docile charger, he galloped thro’ the ranks. The air resounded with acclamations of applause, to which he seemed insensible. His attention was confined to the troops. When he passed the colours he saluted with a singular propriety of manner. After having rapidly inspected the difft. corps, he rode to the centre of the ground, where he prescribed the evolutions of the day, which took up very little time. Nothing can exceed the precision and intelligence with which the whole manœuvre is conducted. I particularly remarked the fine appearance of the Pioneers, who, as well as the Grenadiers, seem to be picked men. The flying Artillery is much to be admired, but the horses of the Dragoons, altho’ active, were inferior in beauty to those which are commonly purchased for the English Cavalry.’...
‘One of the party had been in the society of the First Consul, where General Lannes was present, subsequent to the villainous attempt made in the Rue Nicaise. B. observed that when the circumstance took place he was a great way off in imagination, that the explosion had been heard by him without reflection, and that he was first excited to attend by Lannes, who was with him. General Lannes explained by saying that he thought at the time, by the breaking of the glasses, that musketry might be firing at them. ‘Lannes,’ said B., ‘you are not of the Institute; if you were, you would have known that it was the air contained within my carriage which broke the windows of it.’
On 16th May, 1801, I dined at Mrs. Sharp’s, in the City, on Irish Hill, to meet Horne Tooke. He was ill, and in all probability would not have kept his engagement, had he not been aware that the dinner was expressly made to give me an opportunity of seeing him, and wise as he is, he is not free from the frailty of the weak (and oftentimes of the wise, as in this instance), in possessing a considerable portion of vanity, for he was gratified at knowing he was sought as a sight. He is an infirm, exhausted old man, with a mild, placid countenance, a small penetrating eye, and a flat, broad forehead. His manners are those of a remarkably high-bred, old-fashioned man of quality; his sentences are precise, clear, and short. His language obsolete and affectedly so, but often productive of a happy and singular effect, witty and brief. He so evidently laboured under the pressure of bodily pain that he only flashed, but from those scintillations I could easily perceive what he must have been in his days of vigour, when his mind, unfettered by physical infirmity, could give itself full scope. His praises of Mr. Fox were extravagant. He said: ‘God Almighty has made that man to show his omnipotence.’ He said to Ld. H.: ‘You see, my Lord, how your uncle has kicked me in the dirt!’ The answer was puzzling, as it was difficult to know to what he alluded, but he explained by adding: ‘He makes me despise myself. He, whom I have abused from the commencement of his political life, has been the first and only person who stood manfully forth in my defence.’[176]
17th Nov., 1801.—Indisposition and indolence have combined to prevent my either writing, reading, or thinking for three several months back—after our return from Worthing. We stayed here about a month, during which period we went to Ld. King’s at Ockham, to Roehampton, and dined at Chiswick, and at Dss. of Leinster’s at Wimbledon. Went to Brighthelmstone, September 15th; stayed there till October 21st. During that interval passed 6 days at Ld. Robert Spencer’s at Woolbeding. I called at Goodwood, D. of Richmond’s, on our way back to Brighton; returned here October 22nd. Sleep occasionally at a house we have taken in Albemarle Street for the play-nights and the late nights in H. of Lords.
MINISTERIAL NEGOTIATIONS
Peace has been made. Pitt continues supporting Ministers; the Grenvilles are in open opposition.[177] A negotiation has just broken off between Grey and Ld. St. Vincent, the purport of which was to bring in G., the Duke of Bedford, and Ld. Moira into the Cabinet. Grey gave up Fox with a quibble; the others excluded Sheridan, Lauderdale, and Lansdown; insisted upon maintaining Ld. Clare in Ireland, and Ld. Hardwick. G. said, if he is kept, we must have a Ld.-Lt.; they would not agree. Ld. Moira objected to D. of Portland; King could not be made to give him up. The arrangement, when they came to terms, could not take place. G. used the D. of B.’s name further than he was warranted, I suspect. It is all over now; only Tierney remains with Addington.
Fox was given up shamefully. For if ever one man was bound to follow the bad and good fortunes of another, it is surely Grey, whose vehement and rash judgment drove the other out of the high post he occupied; and yet he is the first to negotiate and give him up. Fie, fie, for such patriots, when they are not true to their friends as private men. However, Grey is perfectly honest, only violent and irresolute, and easily swayed by sudden impressions. Pelham[178] is Secretary of State for the Home Department: he is married to Lady Mary Osborne, the Duke of Leeds’s sister, an amiable person, who will no doubt make him happy.
H. House, 18th Nov., 1801.—General Fitzpatrick told us yesterday of a curious circumstance about a copy of Gibbon’s works, which belonged to Mr. Fox. As a marginal note Fox wrote in the beginning of the book, ‘This gentleman, on such a day, told me that the country could not be saved unless the heads of three or four of the Cabinet Ministers were laid upon the table of the House of Commons. On such a day, about a week after he delivered that opinion, he was made a Lord of Trade by those very men.’ Topham Beauclerk, who was a friend of Gibbon’s, offered him anything for the book, saying: ‘I must soon die, and my books will be sold after my death by public auction, so Gibbon’s shabbiness will be notorious and perpetuated.’ Some time after, an execution was put into Mr. Fox’s house, and his goods were seized, but, having been assigned over to Mr. Moore, their seizure was resisted. There was, in consequence, a trial in the Court of King’s Bench, and one of the opposite counsel handed up this very book to Ld. Loughborough, to prove to him that Mr. Fox must have considered the book as his own, and not as Mr. Moore’s, by the marginal notes, and that if necessary they should be read in court. Ld. L., who was a more cautious friend than Topham Beauclerk, gave the book back, saying it was unnecessary to read them to the court. Ye General was a party to the bond, and was in court himself when this passed.