Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume II

449

"It was not like the return of a citizen to his country, or a general at the head of a victorious army, but like the triumph of a sovereign restored to his people." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 57.

450

"The news of his return caused a general delirium. Baudin, the deputy from Ardennes, who was really a worthy man, struck with the idea that Providence had at length sent the man for whom he and his party had so long searched in vain, died the very same night from excess of joy." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 59; Fouché, tom. i., p. 107.

451

"Having thus arrived in Paris quite unexpectedly, he was in his own house, in the Rue Chantereine, before any one knew of his being in the capital. Two hours afterwards, he presented himself to the Directory, and, being recognised by the soldiers on guard, was announced by shouts of gladness. All the members of the Directory appeared to share in the public joy." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 60.

452

See Mémoires de Gohier, tom. i., pp. 198-212.

453

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 65.

454

"Covers were laid for seven hundred. Napoleon remained at table but a short time: he appeared to be uneasy, and much preoccupied." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 63.

455

"Every one of the ministers wished to give him an entertainment, but he only accepted a dinner from the Minister of Justice (Cambacérès.) He requested that the principal lawyers of the Republic might be there. He was very cheerful at this dinner, conversed at large on the criminal code, to the great astonishment of Tronchet, Treilhard, Merlin, and Target, and expressed his desire to see persons and property placed under the guard of a simple code, suitable to an enlightened age." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 64.

456

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 67.

457

Hedouville was born at Laon in 1755. In 1801, Buonaparte appointed him ambassador to Petersburgh. On the restoration of the Bourbons he was made a peer of France, and died in 1825.

458

"On the 8th Brumaire (30th October,) Napoleon dined with Barras: a conversation took place after dinner. 'The Republic is falling,' said the director; 'things cannot go on; a change must take place, and Hedouville must be named president. As to you, general, you intend to rejoin the army; and, for my part, ill as I am, unpopular, and worn out, I am only fit to return to private life. Napoleon looked steadfastly at him without replying a word. Barras cast down his eyes, and remained silent. Thus the conversation ended." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 72; Thiers, tom. x., p. 359.

459

Thiers, tom. x., p. 363.

460

"Talleyrand availed himself of all the resources of a supple and insinuating address, in order to conciliate a person whose suffrage it was important to him to secure." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 66. – "It was he who disclosed to Buonaparte's views all the weak points of the government, and made him acquainted with the state of parties, and the bearings of each character." – Fouché, tom. i., p. 96.

461

"Napoleon effected the 18th of Brumaire without admitting Fouché into the secret." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 66. – "Buonaparte was too cunning to let me into the secret of his means of execution, and to place himself at the mercy of a single man; but he said enough to me to win my confidence, and to persuade me that the destinies of France were in his hands." – Fouché, tom. i., p. 98.

462

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 74.

463

"Moreau, who had been at the dinner of the Legislative Body, and with whom Napoleon had there, for the first time, become acquainted, having learned from public report that a change was in preparation, assured Napoleon that he placed himself at his disposal, that he had no wish to be admitted into any secret, and that he required but one hour's notice to prepare himself. Macdonald, who happened then to be at Paris, had made the same tenders of service." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 77.

464

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 78. For some curious historical notes on the 18th Brumaire, furnished to Sir Walter Scott by a distinguished authority, and of which great, although unacknowledged, use has since been made by M. Bourrienne, see Appendix to this volume, No. VIII.

465

Afterwards Third Consul, Arch-Treasurer, and Duke of Placentia.

466

Buonaparte afterwards made Cornet a member of the Conservative Senate and grand officer of the Legion of Honour. On the restoration of the Bourbons, he became a peer of France. – See his "Notice Historique," published in 1819.

467

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 78.

468

"The messenger found the avenues filled with officers: Napoleon had the folding doors opened; and his house being too small to contain so many persons, he came forward on the steps in front of it, received the compliments of the officers, harangued them, and told them that he relied upon them all for the salvation of France. Enthusiasm was at its height: all the officers drew their swords, and promised their services and fidelity." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 80.

469

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 85.

470

Lacretelle, tom. xiv., p. 413; Thiers, tom. x., p. 370; Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 264; Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 82.

471

Lacretelle, tom. xiv., p. 415.

472

"Then all at once concluding his harangue, in a calm tone he added, 'This state of things cannot last; it would lead us in three years to despotism.'" – Mad. de Staël, tom. ii., p. 224; Thiers, tom. x., p. 376; Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 265.

473

Letter to the Directory. – See Gourgaud, tom. i., Appendix, p. 336.

474

"Fouché made great professions of attachment and devotion. He had given directions for closing the barriers, and preventing the departure of couriers and coaches. 'Why, good God?' said the general to him, 'wherefore all these precautions? We go with the nation, and by its strength alone: let no citizen be disturbed, and let the triumph of opinion have nothing in common with the transactions of days in which a factious minority prevailed.'" – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 87.

475

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 86.

476

The women of lower rank who attended the debates of the Council, plying the task of knitting while they listened to politics, were so denominated. They were always zealous democrats, and might claim in one sense Shakspeare's description of

"The free maids who weave their thread with bones." – S.

477

"The recommendation was a wise one; but Napoleon thought himself too strong to need any such precaution. 'I swore in the morning,' said he, 'to protect the national representation; I will not this evening violate my oath.'" – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 87.

478

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 87.

479

Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 38; Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 267; Thiers, tom. x., p. 380; Lacretelle, tom. xiv., p. 424; Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 92.

480

"So late as two o'clock in the afternoon, the place assigned to the Council of Five Hundred was not ready. This delay of a few hours was very unfortunate. The deputies formed themselves into groups in the garden; their minds grew heated; they sounded one another, interchanged declarations of the state of their feelings, and organized their opposition." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 89.

481

"The Corsican Arena approached the general, and shook him violently by the collar of his coat. It has been supposed, but without reason, that he had a poniard to kill him." – Mad. de Staël, tom. ii., p 239.

482

"In the confusion, one of them, named Thomé, was slightly wounded by the thrust of a dagger, and the clothes of another were cut through." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 95.

483

Lacretelle, tom. xiv., p. 428; Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 91.

484

The Moniteur is anxious to exculpate Augereau from having taken any part in favour of the routed party on the nineteenth Brumaire. That officer, it says, did not join in the general oath of fidelity to the Constitution of the year Three. The same official paper adds, that on the evening of the nineteenth, being invited by some of the leading persons of the democratic faction, to take the military command of their partisans, he had asked them by way of reply, "Whether they supposed he would tarnish the reputation he had acquired in the army, by taking command of wretches like them?" Augereau, it may be remembered, was the general who was sent by Buonaparte to Paris to act as military chief on the part of the Directory in the revolution of the 18th Fructidor, in which the soldiery had willingly followed him. Buonaparte was probably well pleased to keep a man of his military reputation and resolved character out of the combat if possible. – S.

485

Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 56; Lacretelle, tom. xv., p. 430; Thiers, tom. x., p. 385; Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 271.

486

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 97.

487

"I have heard some of Arena's countrymen declare that he was incapable of attempting so rash an act. The contrary opinion was, however, so prevalent, that he was obliged to retire to Leghorn, where he made an appeal to the justice of the first consul; who gave him no reply: but I never heard him say that he had noticed the attitude attributed to Arena." – Savary, tom. i., p. 154.

488

"Metaphysicians have disputed, and will long dispute, whether we did not violate the laws, and whether we were not criminal; but these are mere abstractions, at best fit for books and tribunes, and which ought to disappear before imperious necessity: one might as well blame a sailor for waste and destruction, when he cuts away his masts to avoid being overset. The fact is, that had it not been for us the country must have been lost; and we saved it. The authors and chief agents of that memorable state transaction may, and ought, instead of denials or justifications, to answer their accusers proudly, like the Romans, 'We protest that we have saved our country, come with us and return thanks to the gods.'" – Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 331.

489

"Siêyes, during the most critical moments, had remained in his carriage at the gate of St. Cloud, ready to follow the march of the troops. His conduct during the danger was becoming: he evinced coolness, resolution, and intrepidity." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 100.

490

Gourgaud, tom. i., p 120.

491

Subsequently Duke of Gaëta, who had long occupied the place of chief clerk of finance. "He was a man of mild manners, and of inflexible probity; proceeding slowly, but surely. He never had to withdraw any of his measures, because his knowledge was practical and the fruit of long experience." – Napoleon, Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 109.

492

"In returning from Egypt, Napoleon had conversed a few minutes at Valence with Spina, the Pope's almoner: he then learnt that no funeral honours had been paid to the Pope, and that his corpse was laid in the sacristy of the cathedral. A decree of the consuls ordered that the customary honours should be rendered to his remains, and that a monument of marble should be raised upon his tomb." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 124.

493

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 125.

494

After the 18th Brumaire, Dubois de Crancé withdrew into Champagne. He died in June 1814.

495

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 108.

496

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 137.

497

The Senate of Hamburgh lost no time in addressing a long letter to Napoleon, to testify their repentance. He replied to them thus: – "I have received your letter, gentlemen; it does not justify you. Courage and virtue are the preservers of states; cowardice and crime are their ruin. You have violated the laws of hospitality, a thing which never happened among the most savage hordes of the Desert. Your fellow-citizens will for ever reproach you with it. The two unfortunate men whom you have given up, die with glory; but their blood will bring more evil upon their persecutors than it would be in the power of an army to do." A solemn deputation from the Senate arrived at the Tuileries to make public apologies to Napoleon. He again testified his indignation, and when the envoys urged their weakness, he said to them, "Well! and had you not the resource of weak states? was it not in your power to let them escape?" – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 128; Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 169.

498

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 107; Fouché, tom. i., p. 128.

499

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 140.

500

The committee met in Napoleon's apartment, from nine in the evening until three in the morning. – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 141.

501

"Siêyes affected silence. I was commissioned to penetrate his mystery. I employed Réal, who, using much address with an appearance of great good-nature, discovered the basis of Siêyes's project, by getting Chenier, one of his confidants, to chatter, upon rising from dinner, at which wines and other intoxicating liquors had not been spared. Upon this information, a secret council was held, at which the conduct to be pursued by Buonaparte in the general conferences was discussed." – Fouché, tom. i., p. 138.

502

"Napoleon now began, he said, to laugh in Siêyes's face, and to cut up all his metaphysical nonsense without mercy. 'You take,' he said, 'the abuse for the principle, the shadow for the body. And how can you imagine, M. Siêyes, that a man of any talent, or the least honour, will resign himself to act the part of a pig fattening on a few millions.' After this sally, which made those who were present laugh immoderately, Siêyes remained overwhelmed." – Napoleon, Las Cases, tom, iv., p. 335.

503

Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 333.

504

"Upon the occasion of this gift, the following sorry rhymes were in every one's mouth: —

"Buonaparte à Siêyes a fait présent de Crôsne, Siêyes à Buonaparte a fait présent du Trône." – Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 318.

505

"Siêyes was the most unfit man in the world for power, but his perceptions were often luminous, and of the highest importance. He was fond of money; but of strict integrity." – Napoleon, Gourgaud, tom. iv., p. 152.

506

"The grand elector, if he confine himself entirely to the functions you assign him, will be the shadow, but the mere fleshless shadow, of a roi fainéant. Can you point out a man base enough to humble himself to such mockery? Such a government would be a monstrous creation, composed of heterogeneous parts, presenting nothing rational. It is a great mistake to suppose that the shadow of a thing can be of the same use as the thing itself." – Napoleon, Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 148.

507

Consid. sur la Rév. Française, tom. ii., p. 248.

508

Mémoires de Fouché, tom. i., p. 104. – S.

509

The constitution of the year VIII, so impatiently expected by all ranks of citizens, was published and submitted to the sanction of the people on the 13th of December, and proclaimed on the 24th of the same; the provisional government having lasted forty-three days. The Legislative Body and the Tribunate entered on their functions the 1st day of January, 1800.

510

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 118.

511

Out of 3,012,569 votes, 1562 rejected the new constitution; 3,011,007 accepted it. – See Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 117.

512

"Cambacérès was of an honourable family in Languedoc; he was fifty years old; he had been a member of the Convention, and had conducted himself with moderation: he was generally esteemed, and had a just claim to the reputation which he enjoyed of being one of the ablest lawyers of the republic." – Napoleon, Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 153.

513

"Lebrun was sixty years of age, and came from Normandy. He was one of the best writers in France, a man of inflexible integrity; and he approved of the changes of the Revolution only in consideration of the advantages which resulted from them to the mass of the people, for his own family were all of the class of peasantry." —Ibid., p. 153.

514

Consid. sur la Rév. Française, tom. ii., p. 255.

515

Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 115; Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 115.

516

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 116.

517

"When Cambacérès afterwards vacated the office, Buonaparte appointed M. d'Abrial, who died in 1828, a peer of France. On remitting the folio to the new minister, the First Consul addressed him thus: 'M. d'Abrial, I know you not, but am informed you are the most upright man in the magistracy; it is on that account I name you minister of justice.'" – Bourrienne, tom. ii., p. 118.

518

"Laplace, a geometrician of the first rank, soon proved himself below mediocrity as a minister. On his very first essay, the consuls found that they had been mistaken; not a question did Laplace seize in its true point of view: he sought for subtleties in every thing; had none but problematical ideas, and carried the doctrine of infinite littleness into the business of administration." – Napoleon, Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 116.

519

"Forfait, a native of Normandy, had the reputation of being a naval architect of first-rate talent, but he was a mere projector, and did not answer the expectations formed of him." – Napoleon, Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 115.

520

Moniteur, 31st Dec. 1799.

521

Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 337.

522

"The choice of this residence was a stroke of policy. It was there that the King of France was accustomed to be seen; circumstances connected with that monarchy were there presented to every eye; and the very influence of the walls on the minds of spectators was, if we may say so, sufficient for the restoration of regal power." – Mad. de Staël, tom. ii., p. 256.

523

"French Republic – Sovereignty of the People – Liberty – Equality.

"Buonaparte, First Consul of the Republic, to his Majesty the King of Great Britain and Ireland.

"Paris, 5th Nivose, 8th year of the Republic, (25th Dec. 1799.)

"Called by the wishes of the French nation to occupy the first magistracy of the Republic, I think it proper, on entering into office, to make a direct communication of it to your Majesty. The war, which for eight years has ravaged the four quarters of the world, must it be eternal? Are there no means of coming to an understanding? How can the two most enlightened nations of Europe, powerful and strong beyond what their safety and independence require, sacrifice to ideas of vain greatness the benefits of commerce, internal prosperity, and the happiness of families? How is it that they do not feel that peace is the first necessity as well as the first glory? These sentiments cannot be foreign to the heart of your Majesty, who reign over a free nation, and with the sole view of rendering it happy. Your Majesty will only see, in this overture, my sincere desire to contribute efficaciously, for the second time, to a general pacification, by a proceeding prompt, entirely confidential, and disengaged from those forms which, necessary perhaps to disguise the dependence of weak States, prove only in the case of the strong the mutual desire of deceiving each other. France and England, by the abuse of their strength, may still, for a long time, for the misfortune of all nations, retard the period of their being exhausted. But I will venture to say, the fate of all civilized nations is attached to the termination of a war which involves the whole world.

"Buonaparte."

524

See Moniteur, 23 Pluviose, 10th February 1800; and Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 194.

525

Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 182; Jomini, tom. xiii., p. 16, 24.

526

These disorders gave rise to many general orders from Napoleon; in one of them he said – "The first quality of a soldier is patient endurance of fatigue and privation; valour is but a secondary virtue. Several corps have quitted their positions; they have been deaf to the voice of their officers. Are, then, the heroes of Castiglione, of Rivoli, of Neumark no more? They would rather have perished than have deserted their colours. Soldiers, do you complain that your rations have not been regularly distributed? What would you have done, if, like the fourth and twenty second light demi-brigades, you had found yourselves in the midst of the desert, without bread or water, subsisting on horses and camels? Victory will give us bread, said they; and you – you desert your colours! Soldiers of Italy, a new general commands you; he was always in the foremost ranks, in the moments of your brightest glory; place your confidence in him; he will bring back victory to your colours." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 160.

527

In a proclamation issued to the armies, he said – "Soldiers! it is no longer the frontiers that you are called on to defend, the countries of your enemies are to be invaded. At a fit season I will be in the midst of you, and Europe shall be made to remember that you belong to a valiant race." – Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 162.

528

Jomini, tom. xiii., p. 35, 43; Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 182-6: Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 163.

529

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 167.

530

"Moreau did not know the value of time; he always passed the day after a battle in total indecision." – Napoleon, Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 174.

531

For the terms of the armistice, see Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 185.

532

Jomini, tom. xiii., p. 355, 369; Thibaudeau, tom. i., p. 342.

533

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 261.

534

"Europe was full of caricatures. One of them represented a boy of twelve years of age, and an invalid with a wooden leg; underneath which was written 'Buonaparte's army of reserve.'" – Napoleon, Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 262.

535

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 263.

536

"The famous Necker solicited the honour of being presented to the first consul. In all he said he suffered it to appear, that he wished and hoped to have the management of the finances. The first consul was but indifferently pleased with him." – Napoleon, Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 264. "During this conversation, the first consul made a rather agreeable impression on my father, by the confidential way in which he spoke to him of his future plans." – Mad. De Staël, tom. ii., p. 281.

537

Thibaudeau, tom. vi., p. 260; Jomini, tom. xiii., p. 176.

538

Jomini, tom. xiii., p. 177.

539

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 260.

540

Jomini, tom. xiii., p. 184; Thibaudeau, tom. vi., p. 264; Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 267; Dumas, tom. ii.

541

Apparently the guide who conducted him from the Grand Chartreux found the Chief Consul in better humour, for Buonaparte says, he conversed freely with him, and expressed some wishes with respect to a little farm, &c. which he was able to gratify. [Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 268.] To his guide from Martigny to St. Pierre, he was also liberal; but the only specimen of his conversation which the latter remembered, was, when shaking the rain water from his hat, he exclaimed, "There! see what I have done in your mountains – spoiled my new hat. Pshaw, I will find another on the other side." For these and other interesting anecdotes, see Mr. Tennant's "Tour through the Netherlands, Holland, Germany, Switzerland," &c. – S.