Napoleon's Letters To Josephine Part 81

_More women than men._--The Bishop of Evreux (Mgr. Bourlier) was the most welcome guest. He amused Josephine, and although eighty years of age, could play _trictrac_ and talk well on any subject. Madame de Remusat wrote her husband concerning him, "We understand each other very well, he and I."

_Keep well._--At Navarre Josephine lost her headaches, and put on flesh.

No. 2.

There is a full account of the birth of the King of Rome in Napoleon's letter to the Emperor of Austria on March 20 (No. 17,496). The letter of this date to Josephine is missing, but is referred to by D'Avrillon. It began, "My dear Josephine, I have a son. I am _au comble de bonheur_."

_Eugene._--Josephine much appreciated this allusion. "Is it possible,"

she said, "for any one to be kinder than the Emperor, and more anxious to mitigate whatever might be painful for me at the present moment, if I loved him less sincerely? This a.s.sociation of my son with his own is well worthy of him who, when he likes, is the most fascinating of all men." She gave a costly ring to the page who brought the letter.

On the previous day Eugene had arrived at Navarre,--sent by the Emperor. "You are going to see your mother, Eugene; tell her I am sure that she will rejoice more than any one at my happiness. I should have already written to her if I had not been absorbed by the pleasure of watching my boy. The moments I s.n.a.t.c.h from his side are only for matters of urgent necessity. This event, I shall acquit myself of the most pleasant of them all by writing to Josephine."

No. 4.

Written in November 1811.

_As fat as a good Normandy farmeress._--Madame d'Abrantes, who saw her about this time, writes: "I observed that Josephine had grown very stout[92] since the time of my departure for Spain. This change was at once for the better and the worse. It imparted a more youthful appearance to her face; but her slender and elegant figure, which had been one of her princ.i.p.al attractions, had entirely disappeared. She had now decided _embonpoint_, and her figure had a.s.sumed that matronly air which we find in the statues of Agrippina, Cornelia, &c. Still, however, she looked uncommonly well, and she wore a dress which became her admirably. Her judicious taste in these matters contributed to make her appear young much longer than she otherwise would. The best proof of the admirable taste of Josephine is the marked absence of elegance shown by Marie Louise, though both Empresses employed the same milliners and dressmakers, and Marie Louise had a large sum allotted for the expenses of her toilet."

St. Amand says that 1811 was for Josephine a happy year, compared to those which followed.

SERIES P

No. 1.

Written from Konigsberg (M. Ma.s.son, in _Josephine Repudiee_, says Dantzig; but on June 11th Napoleon writes to Eugene, "I shall be at Konigsberg to-morrow," where his correspondence is dated from henceforward). A day or two later he writes the King of Rome's governess that he trusts to hear soon that the fifteen months old child has cut his first four teeth.

No. 2.

_Gumbinnen, June 20th._--From this place and on this date goes forth the first bulletin of the _Grande Armee_. It gives a _resume_ of the causes of the war, dating from the end of 1810, when English influence again gained ascendency.

On July 29th he writes Hortense from Witepsk to congratulate her on her eldest son's recovery from an illness. A week later he writes his librarian for some amusing novels--new ones for choice, or old ones that he has not read--or good memoirs.

Josephine meanwhile has permission to go to Italy. Owing to her grandson's illness she defers starting till July 16th. Through frightful weather she reaches Milan _via_ Geneva on July 28th, and has a splendid reception. On the 29th she writes to Hortense: "I have found the three letters from Eugene, the last one dated the 13th; his health is excellent. He still pursues the Russians, without being able to overtake them. It is generally hoped the campaign may be a short one. May that hope be realised!" Two days later she announces the birth of Eugene's daughter Amelia, afterwards Empress of Brazil.

Towards the end of August Josephine goes to Aix and meets the Queen of Spain with her sister Desiree Bernadotte, the former "kind and amiable as usual," the latter "very gracious to me"--rather a new experience.

From Aix she goes to Pregny-la-Tour, on the Lake of Geneva, and shocks the good people in various ways, says M. Ma.s.son, especially by innuendoes against Napoleon; and he adds, "if one traces back to their source the worst calumnies against the morals of the Emperor, it is Josephine that one encounters there." She gets to Malmaison October 24th. Soon after his return from Moscow Napoleon pays her a visit, and about this time she begins to see the King of Rome, whose mother has always thought more of her daily music and drawing lessons than of whether she was making her son happy or not.

1812 closed in gloom, but 1813 was in itself terribly ominous to so superst.i.tious a woman as Josephine. Thirteen is always unlucky, and moreover the numbers of 1813 add up to 13; also the doom-dealing year began on a Friday. Every one felt the hour approaching. As Napoleon said at St. Helena: "The star grew pale; I felt the reins slipping from my hand, and I could do no more. A thunderbolt could alone have saved us, and every day, by some new fatality or other, our chances diminished. Sinister designs began to creep in among us; fatigue and discouragement had won over the majority; my lieutenants became lax, clumsy, careless, and consequently unfortunate; they were no longer the men of the commencement of the Revolution, nor even of the time of my good fortune. The chief generals were sick of the war; I had gorged them too much with my high esteem, with too many honours and too much wealth. They had drunk from the cup of pleasure, and wished to enjoy peace at any price. _The sacred fire was quenched._"

Up to August Fortune had smiled again upon her favourite. With conscripts for infantry and without cavalry he had won Lutzen, Bautzen, and Dresden; and even so late as September Byron was writing that "bar epilepsy and the elements he would back Napoleon against the field." But treachery and incompetence had undermined the Empire, and Leipsic (that battle of giants, where 110,000 soldiers were killed and wounded) made final success hopeless. In 1814 his brothers Lucien and Louis rallied to him, and Hortense was for the only time proud of her husband. She thinks if he had shown less suspicion and she less pride they might have been happy after all. "My husband is a good Frenchman ... he is an honest man." Meanwhile, Talleyrand is watching to guide the _coup de grace_. Napoleon makes a dash for Lorraine to gather his garrisons and cut off the enemy's supplies. The Allies hesitate and are about to follow him, as per the rules of war. Talleyrand, the only man who could ever divine Napoleon, sends them the message, "You can do everything, and you dare nothing; dare therefore _once_!" Hortense is the only _man_ left in Paris, and in vain she tries to keep Marie Louise, whose presence would have stimulated the Parisians to hold the Allies at bay. It is in vain. Unlike Prussia or Austria who fought for months, or Spain who fought for years, after their capitals were taken:--

"Like Nineveh, Carthage, Babylon and Rome, France yields to the conqueror, vanquished at home."

After Marmont's betrayal Napoleon attempts suicide, and when he believes death imminent sends a last message to Josephine by Caulaincourt, "You will tell Josephine that my thoughts were of her before life departed."

It was on Monday, May 23rd, that Josephine's illness commenced, after receiving at dinner the King of Prussia and his sons (one afterwards Wilhelm der Greise, first Emperor of Germany). Whether the sore throat which killed her was a quinsy or diphtheria[93] is difficult to prove, but the latter seems the more probable. Corvisart, who was himself ill and unable to attend, told Napoleon that she died of grief and worry.

Before leaving for the Waterloo campaign Napoleon visited Malmaison, and there, as Lord Rosebery reminds us, allowed his only oblique reproach to Marie Louise to escape him: "Poor Josephine. Her death, of which the news took me by surprise at Elba, was one of the most acute griefs of that fatal year, 1814. She had her failings, of course; _but she, at any rate, would never have abandoned me_."

FOOTNOTES

[92] Mlle. d'Avrillon says that during the Swiss voyage Josephine found it desirable, for the first time, to "wear whalebone in her corsets."

[93] The same question may be asked respecting the death of Montaigne.

APPENDIX (1)

A REPUTED POEM BY NAPOLEON I.

LE CHIEN, LE LAPIN, ET LE CHa.s.sEUR.

FABLE.--_Composee a l'age de 13 ans, par_ NAPOLEON I.

Cesar, chien d'arret renomme, Mais trop enfle de son merite, Tennait arrete dans son gite Un malheureux lapin de peur inanime.

"Rends-toi!" lui cria-t-il, d'une voix de tonerre Qui fit au loin trembler les peuplades des bois.

"Je suis Cesar, connu par ses exploits, Et dont le nom remplit toute la terre."

A ce grand nom, Jeannot Lapin, Recommandant a Dieu son ame penitente, Demande d'une voix tremblante: "Tres-serenissime matin, Si je me rends quel sera mon destin?"

"Tu mourras." "Je mourrai!" dit la bete innocente.

"Et si je fuis?" "Ton trepas est certain."

"Quoi!" reprit l'animal qui se nourrit de thym, "Des deux cotes je dois perdre la vie!

Que votre auguste seigneurie Veuille me pardonner, puisqu'il me faut mourir, Si j'ose tenter de m'enfuir."

Il dit, et fuit en heros de garenne.

Caton l'aurait blame; je dis qu'il n'eut pas tort.

Car le cha.s.seur le voit a peine Qu'il l'ajuste, le tire--et le chien tombe mort Que dirait de ceci notre bon La Fontaine?

Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera.

I'approuve fort cette methode-la.

APPENDIX (2)

GENEALOGY OF THE BONAPARTE FAMILY

Many more or less fict.i.tious genealogies of the Bonapartes have been published, some going back to mythical times. The first reliable record, however, seems to be that of a certain Bonaparte of Sarzana, in Northern Italy, an imperial notary, who was living towards the end of the thirteenth century, and from whom both the Corsican and the Trevisan or Florentine Bonapartes claim their origin. From him in direct line was descended Francois de Sarzana, who was sent to Corsica in 1509 to fight for the Republic of Genoa. His son Gabriel, having sold his patrimony in Italy, settled in Ajaccio, where he bore the honourable t.i.tle of Messire, and where, being left a widower, he a.s.sumed the tonsure and died Canon of the cathedral.

From him an unbroken line of Bonapartes, all of whom in turn were elected to the dignity of Elder of Ajaccio, brings us to Charles Bonaparte Napoleon, father of the Emperor.