Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte — Complete

by Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne

—[Metternich (tome iv. p. 187) says on this subject, 'If you look
closely at the course of human affairs you will make strange
discoveries. For instance, that the Simplon Pass has contributed as
surely to Napoleon's immortality as the numerous works done in the
reign of the Emperor Francis will fail to add to his.]—

Such was the implicit confidence which Bonaparte reposed in me that I was often alarmed at the responsibility it obliged me to incur.

—[Of this confidence the following instructions for me, which he
dictated to Duroc, afford sufficient proof:—
"1st. Citizen Bourrienne shall open all the letters addressed to
the First Consul, Vol, and present them to him three times a day, or
oftener in case of urgent business. The letters shall be deposited
in the cabinet when they are opened. Bourrienne is to analyse all
those which are of secondary interest, and write the First Consul's
decision on each letter. The hours for presenting the letters shall
be, first, when the Consul rises; second, a quarter of an hour
before dinner; and third, at eleven at night.
"2d. He is to have the superintendence of the Topographical office,
and of an office of Translation, in which there shall be a German
and an English clerk. Every day he shall present to the First
Consul, at the hours above mentioned the German and English
journals, together with a translation. With respect to the Italian
journals, it will only be necessary to mark what the First Consul is
to read.
"3d. He shall keep a register of appointments to offices under
Government; a second, for appointments to judicial posts; a third
for appointments to places abroad; and a fourth, for the situations
of receivers and great financial posts, where he is to inscribe the
names of all the individuals whom the First Consul may refer to him.
These registers must be written by his own hand, and must be kept
entirely private.
"4th. Secret correspondence, and the different reports of
surveillance, are to be addressed directly to Bourrienne, and
transmitted by him to the hand of the First Consul, by whom they
will be returned without the intervention of any third party.
"6th. There shall be a register for all that relates to secret
extraordinary expenditure. Bourrienne shall write the whole with
his own hand, in order that the business may be kept from the
knowledge of any one.
"7th. He shall despatch all the business which may be referred to
him, either from Citizen Duroc, or from the cabinet of the First
Consul, taking care to arrange everything so as to secure secrecy.
"(Signed) "BONAPARTE, First Consul.
"Paris, 13th Germinal, year VIII.
"(3d. April 1800.)">[—

Official business was not the only labour that devolved upon me. I had to write to the dictation of the First Consul during a great part of the day, or to decipher his writing, which was always the most laborious part of my duty. I was so closely employed that I scarcely ever went out; and when by chance I dined in town, I could not arrive until the very moment of dinner, and I was obliged to run away immediately after it. Once a month, at most, I went without Bonaparte to the Comédie Française, but I was obliged to return at nine o'clock, that being the hour at which we resumed business. Corvisart, with whom I was intimately acquainted, constantly expressed his apprehensions about my health; but my zeal carried me through every difficulty, and during our stay at the Tuileries I cannot express how happy I was in enjoying the unreserved confidence of the man on whom the eyes of all Europe were filed. So perfect was this confidence that Bonaparte, neither as General, Consul, nor Emperor, ever gave me any fixed salary. In money matters we were still comrades: I took from his funds what was necessary to defray my expenses, and of this Bonaparte never once asked me for any account.

He often mentioned his wish to regenerate public education, which he thought was ill managed. The central schools did not please him; but he could not withhold his admiration from the Polytechnic School, the finest establishment of education that was ever founded, but which he afterwards spoiled by giving it a military organisation. In only one college of Paris the old system of study was preserved: this was the Louis-le-Grand, which had received the name of Pritanée. The First Consul directed the Minister of the Interior to draw up a report on that establishment; and he himself went to pay an unexpected visit to the Pritanée, accompanied by M. Lebrun and Duroc. He remained there upwards of an hour, and in the evening he spoke to me with much interest on the subject of his visit. "Do you know, Bourrienne," said he, "that I have been performing the duties of professor?"—"You, General!"—"Yes! and I did not acquit myself badly. I examined the pupils in the mathematical class; and I recollected enough of my Bezout to make some demonstrations before them. I went everywhere, into the bedrooms and the dining-room. I tasted the soup, which is better than we used to have at Brienne. I must devote serious attention to public education and the management of the colleges. The pupils must have a uniform. I observed some well and others ill dressed. That will not do. At college, above all places, there should be equality. But I was much pleased with the pupils of the Pritanée. I wish to know the names of those I examined, and I have desired Duroc to report them to me. I will give them rewards; that stimulates young people. I will provide for some of them."

On this subject Bonaparte did not confine himself to an empty scheme. After consulting with the headmaster of the Pritanée, he granted pensions of 200 francs to seven or eight of the most distinguished pupils of the establishment, and he placed three of them in the department of Foreign Affairs, under the title of diplomatic pupils.

—[This institution of diplomatic pupils was originally suggested by
M. de Talleyrand.]—

What I have just said respecting the First Consul's visit to the Pritanée reminds me of a very extraordinary circumstance which arose out of it. Among the pupils at the Pritanée there was a son of General Miackzinski, who died fighting under the banners of the Republic. Young Miackzinski was then sixteen or seventeen years of age. He soon quitted the college, entered the army as a volunteer, and was one of a corps reviewed by Bonaparte, in the plain of Sablons. He was pointed out to the First Consul, who said to him, "I knew your father. Follow his example, and in six months you shall be an officer." Six months elapsed, and Miackzinski wrote to the First Consul, reminding him of his promise. No answer was returned, and the young man then wrote a second letter as follows:

You desired me to prove myself worthy of my father; I have done so.
You promised that I should be an officer in six months; seven have
elapsed since that promise was made. When you receive this letter I
shall be no more. I cannot live under a Government the head of
which breaks his word.

Poor Miackzinski kept his word but too faithfully. After writing the above letter to the First Consul he retired to his chamber and blew out his brains with a pistol. A few days after this tragical event Miackzinski's commission was transmitted to his corps, for Bonaparte had not forgotten him. A delay in the War Office had caused the death of this promising young man. Bonaparte was much affected at the circumstance, and he said to me, "These Poles have such refined notions of honour.... Poor Sulkowski, I am sure, would have done the same."