Napoleon the Little Part 3

False keys well made--that's the whole story. When these things have been said, all has been said, except a phrase or two about "clemency;"

and yet no one extols the magnanimity of Mandrin, who, sometimes, did not take all the traveller's money, and of Jean l'Ecorcheur, who, sometimes, did not kill all travellers.

In endowing M. Bonaparte with twelve millions of francs, and four millions more for keeping up the chateaux, the Senate--endowed by M.

Bonaparte with a million--felicitated M. Bonaparte upon "having saved society," much as a character in a comedy congratulates another on having "saved the money-box."

For myself, I am still seeking in the glorification of M. Bonaparte by his most ardent apologists, any praise that would not exactly befit Cartouche or Poulailler, after a good stroke of business; and I blush sometimes for the French language, and for the name of Napoleon, at the terms, really over-raw, and too thinly veiled, and too appropriate to the facts, in which the magistracy and clergy felicitate this man on having stolen the power of the State by burglarising the Const.i.tution, and on having, by night, evaded his oath.

When all the burglaries and all the robberies which const.i.tute the success of his policy had been accomplished, he resumed his true name; every one then saw that this man was a Monseigneur. It was M.

Fortoul,[1]--to his honour be it said--who first made this discovery.

[1] The first report addressed to M. Bonaparte, and in which M. Bonaparte is called _Monseigneur_ is signed FORTOUL.

When one measures the man and finds him so small, and then measures his success, and finds it so enormous, it is impossible that the mind should not experience some surprise. One asks oneself: "How did he do it?" One dissects the adventure and the adventurer, and laying aside the advantage he derives from his name, and certain external facts, of which he made use in his escalade, one finds, as the basis of the man and his exploit, but two things,--cunning and cash.

As to cunning: we have already characterised this important quality of Louis Bonaparte; but it is desirable to dwell on the point.

On November 27, 1848, he said to his fellow-citizens in his manifesto: "I feel it inc.u.mbent on me to make known to you my sentiments and my principles. _There must be no equivocation between you and me. I am not ambitious...._ Brought up in _free_ countries, in the school of misfortune, _I shall ever remain faithful_ to the duties that shall be imposed on me by your suffrages, and the will of the a.s.sembly. _I shall make it a point of honour to leave, at the end of the four years, to my successor, power consolidated, liberty intact, and real progress accomplished._"

On December 31, 1849, in his first message to the a.s.sembly, he wrote: "It is my aspiration to be worthy of the confidence of the nation, by maintaining the Const.i.tution _which I have sworn to execute_." On November 12, 1850, in his second annual message to the a.s.sembly, he said: "If the Const.i.tution contains defects and dangers, you are free to make them known to the country; I alone, _bound by my oath_, confine myself within the strict limits which that Const.i.tution has traced."

On September 4, in the same year, at Caen, he said: "When, in all directions, prosperity seems reviving, he were, indeed, _a guilty man_ who should seek to check its progress by _changing that which now exists_." Some time before, on July 25, 1849, at the inauguration of the St. Quentin railway, he went to Ham, smote his breast at the recollection of Boulogne, and uttered these solemn words:

"Now that, elected by universal France, I am become the legitimate head of this great nation, I cannot pride myself on a captivity which was occasioned by _an attack upon a regular government_.

"When one has observed the enormous evils which even the most righteous revolutions bring in their train, one can scarcely comprehend one's _audacity in having chosen to take upon one's self the terrible responsibility of a change_; I do not, therefore, complain of having _expiated_ here, by an imprisonment of six years, my _rash defiance of the laws of my country_, and it is with joy that, in the very scene of my sufferings, I propose to you a toast in honour of those who, notwithstanding their convictions, are resolute to _respect the inst.i.tutions of their country_."

All the while he was saying this, he retained in the depths of his heart, as he has since proved, after his fashion, that thought which he had written in that same prison of Ham: "Great enterprises seldom succeed at the first attempt."[2]

[2] _Historical Fragments._

Towards the middle of November, 1851, Representative F----, a frequenter of the elysee, was dining with M. Bonaparte.

"What do they say in Paris, and in the a.s.sembly?" asked the President of the representative.

"Oh, prince!"

"Well?"

"They are still talking."

"About what?"

"About the _coup d'etat_."

"And the a.s.sembly believes in it?"

"A little, prince."

"And you?"

"I--oh, not at all."

Louis Bonaparte earnestly grasped M. F----'s hands, and said to him with feeling:

"I thank you, M. F----, you, at least, do not think me a scoundrel."

This happened a fortnight before December 2. At that time, and indeed, at that very moment, according to the admission of Maupas the confederate, Mazas was being made ready.

Cash: that is M. Bonaparte's other source of strength.

Let us take the facts, judicially proved by the trials at Strasburg and Boulogne.

At Strasburg, on October 30, 1836, Colonel Vaudrey, an accomplice of M.

Bonaparte, commissioned the quartermasters of the 4th Regiment of artillery, "to distribute among the cannoneers of each battery, two pieces of gold."

On the 5th of August, 1840, in the steamboat he had freighted, the _Ville d'Edimbourg_, while at sea, M. Bonaparte called about him the sixty poor devils, his domestics, whom he had deceived into accompanying him by telling them he was going to Hamburg on a pleasure excursion, harangued them from the roof of one of his carriages fastened on the deck, declared his project, tossed them their disguise as soldiers, gave each of them a hundred francs, and then set them drinking. A little drunkenness does not damage great enterprises. "I saw," said the witness Hobbs, the under-steward, before the Court of Peers,[3] "I saw in the cabin a great quant.i.ty of money. The pa.s.sengers appeared to me to be reading printed papers; they pa.s.sed all the night drinking and eating. I did nothing else but uncork bottles, and serve food." Next came the captain. The magistrate asked Captain Crow: "Did you see the pa.s.sengers drink?"--Crow: "To excess; I never saw anything like it."[4]

[3] Court of Peers, _Depositions of witnesses_, p. 94.

[4] Court of Peers, _Depositions of witnesses_, pp. 71, 81, 88, 94.

They landed, and were met by the custom-house officers of Vimereux. M.

Louis Bonaparte began proceedings, by offering the lieutenant of the guard a pension of 1,200 francs. The magistrate: "Did you not offer the commandant of the station a sum of money if he would march with you?"--The Prince: "I caused it to be offered him, but he refused it."[5]

[5] Court of Peers, _Cross examination of the accused_, p. 13.

They arrived at Boulogne. His aides-de-camp--he had some already--wore, hanging from their necks, tin cases full of gold pieces. Others came next with bags of small coins in their hands.[6] Then they threw money to the fishermen and the peasants, inviting them to cry: "Long live the Emperor!"--"Three hundred loud-mouthed knaves will do the thing," had written one of the conspirators.[7] Louis Bonaparte approached the 42nd, quartered at Boulogne.

[6] Court of Peers, _Depositions of witnesses_, pp. 103, 185, etc.

[7] The President: Prisoner Querelles, these children that cried out, are not they the three hundred loud-mouthed knaves that you asked for in your letter?--(Trial at Strasburg.)

He said to the voltigeur Georges Koehly: "_I am Napoleon_; you shall have promotion, decorations." He said to the voltigeur Antoine Gendre: "_I am the son of Napoleon_; we are going to the Hotel du Nord to order a dinner for you and me." He said to the voltigeur Jean Meyer: "_You shall be well paid._" He said to the voltigeur Joseph Meny: "_You must come to Paris; you shall be well paid._"[8]

[8] Court of Peers, _Depositions of witnesses_, pp. 142, 143, 155, 156, 158.

An officer at his side held in his hand his hat full of five-franc pieces, which he distributed among the lookers-on, saying: "_Shout, Long live the Emperor!_"

The grenadier Geoffroy, in his evidence, characterises in these words the attempt made on his mess by an officer and a sergeant who were in the plot: "The sergeant had a bottle in his hand, and the officer a sabre." In these few words is the whole 2nd of December.

Let us proceed:--

"Next day, June 17, the commandant, Mesonan, who I thought had gone, entered my room, announced by my aide-de-camp. I said to him, 'Commandant, I thought you were gone!'--'No, general, I am not gone. I have a letter to give you.'--'A letter? And from whom?'--'Read it, general.'

"I asked him to take a seat; I took the letter, but as I was opening it, I saw that the address was--_a M. le Commandant Mesonan_. I said to him: 'But, my dear Commandant, this is for you, not for me.'--'Read it, General!'--I opened the letter and read thus:--

"'My dear Commandant, it is most essential that you should immediately see the general in question; you know he is a man of resolution, on whom one may rely. You know also that he is a man whom I have put down to be one day a marshal of France. _You will offer him, from me, 100,000 francs_; and you will ask him into what banker's or notary's hands _I shall pay 300,000 francs_ for him, in the event of his losing his command.'

"I stopped here, overcome with indignation; I turned over the leaf, and I saw that the letter was signed, 'LOUIS NAPOLEON.'