Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume II

614

"How," exclaims Fouché, "could I possibly reform the state, while the press had too much liberty? I therefore determined upon a decisive blow. At one stroke I suppressed eleven popular journals. I caused their presses to be seized, and arrested their editors, whom I accused of sowing dissension among the citizens, of blasting private character, misrepresenting motives, reanimating factions, and rekindling animosities." —Mémoires, tom. i., p. 81.

615

Considerations sur la Révolution Française, tom. ii., p. 301.

616

"Madame de Staël had not been banished; but she was ordered to a distance from the capital. She has, no doubt, been told, that Napoleon had, of his own accord, ordered her banishment; but this was by no means the case. I know in what manner the circumstance originated, and can safely assert, that when he forced her from her attachment to the world, and ordered her to retire into the country, he only yielded to the repeated entreaties, and the unfavourable reports made to him; for, it must be acknowledged, that he paid far too much deference to her notions of self-consequence, and to her work on Germany. She assumed the right to advise, foresee, and control, in matters in which the Emperor felt himself fully qualified to act upon his own judgment. To get rid of the annoyance, he sent her to distribute her advice at a distance from him." – Savary, tom. iii., p. 4.

617

For a copy of the treaty, see Annual Register, vol. xliii., p. 302.

618

The Pope's Brief to the Archbishops and Bishops of France. See Annual Register, vol. xliii., p. 308.

619

"One day he assured the prelates, that, in his opinion, there was no religion but the Catholic, which was truly founded on ancient tradition; and on this subject he usually displayed to them some erudition acquired the day before; then, when he was with the philosophers, he said to Cabanis, 'Do you know what this Concordat is which I have just signed? It is the vaccination of religion, and in fifty years there will be none in France.'" – Mad. de Staël, tom. ii., p. 275.

620

Jean-Etienne-Marie Portalis was born at Beausset in 1746. He died at Paris in 1807. A posthumous treatise, "Sur l'Usage et l'Abus de l'Esprit Philosophique, pendant le 18e Siècle," was published in 1820, by his son.

621

Fouché, tom. i., p. 225.

622

Mad. de Staël, tom. ii., p. 278; Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 443. – "On the way from the Tuileries to Notre Dame, Lannes and Augereau wished to get out of the carriage on finding that they were to be carried to mass; and would have done so, had not an order from Buonaparte prevented them. They went then to Notre Dame; but on the morrow, when the consul asked Augereau how he liked the ceremony, he replied, 'Oh, all was very fine; there only wanted the million of men who devoted themselves to death, in order to destroy what we are now establishing.' Buonaparte was much irritated at this observation." – Bourrienne.

623

Montholon, tom. i., p. 121.

624

"The Concordat was necessary to religion, to the Republic, to government: the temples were shut up, the priests were persecuted. The Concordat rebuilt the altars, put an end to disorders, commanded the faithful to pray for the republic, and dissipated all the scruples of the purchasers of national domains." – Napoleon, Montholon, tom. i., p. 120.

625

Tronchet was a lawyer of great celebrity, and was one of Louis Sixteenth's counsel. See ante, vol. i., p. 243. He died in 1806, and was buried in the Pantheon.

626

Bigot de Préameneu was born in Brittany about the year 1750. In 1808, he succeeded Portalis as minister of public worship, but was removed from office on the restoration of the Bourbons. He died at Paris in 1825.

627

Jacques de Maleville was born at Domme in 1741. In 1804-5, he published "Analyse raisonnée de la Discussion du Code Civile au Conseil-d'état." He was created a peer by Louis XVIII. in 1814, and died in 1825.

628

"At one time I intended to form a mass or a syndicate of all the unsold property of the emigrants, and on their return, to distribute it in certain proportions among them. But when I came to grant property to individuals, I soon found that I was creating too many wealthy men, and that they repaid my favours with insolence." – Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. iii., p. 213.

629

Fouché, tom. i., p. 226; Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 464.

630

"One of my grand objects was to render education accessible to every one. I caused every institution to be formed upon a plan which offered instruction to the public, either gratis, or at a rate so moderate, as not to be beyond the means of the peasant. The museums were thrown open to the canaille. My canaille would have become the best educated in the world. All my exertions were directed to illuminate the mass of the nation, instead of brutifying them by ignorance and superstition." – Napoleon, O'Meara, vol. ii., p. 385.

631

"At the time of my downfall, the state prisons contained two hundred and fifty individuals, and I found nine thousand in them, when I became consul." – Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. v., p. 56.

632

Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 131.

633

Las Cases, tom. iii., p. 248; O'Meara, vol. i., p. 381.

634

"Mais enfin, que voulez vous? C'est une mode de destitution propre à ce pais-là!" – S. – "I told him, that whatever might be the mode of deposition practised in Russia, luckily the south of Europe was a stranger to such treacherous habits and attempts; but my arguments could not convince him; he gave vent to his passion in ejaculations, stampings of the foot, and short fits of rage. I never beheld so striking a scene." – Fouché, tom. i., p. 205.

635

The remains of Kleber were interred with great pomp, and a monument was raised to his memory. Buonaparte evinced sincere regret at the loss of this excellent officer, and caused a medal to be struck upon the occasion, with the words "General Kleber, born in 1753, assassinated at Cairo, the 14th of June, 1800;" and on the reverse, "Surnamed, from his stature and intrepidity, the French Hercules; he braved death a thousand times in the field, and fell under the dagger of an assassin." Kleber and Desaix were Napoleon's favourite lieutenants. "Both," he said, "possessed great and rare virtues, though their characters were very dissimilar. Kleber's was the talent of nature: Desaix's was entirely the result of education and assiduity: Kleber was an irreparable loss to France; he was a man of the brightest talents and the greatest bravery."

636

His body was embalmed and brought by the French savans from Egypt, to be deposited in the museum of natural history at Paris.

637

Montholon, tom. i., p. 78; Memoirs of the Duke of Rovigo, vol. i., p. 243; Las Cases, tom. i., p. 226.

638

Henry Dundas, created in 1802, Baron Duneira and Viscount Melville, died in May, 1811.

639

At an after period, the good King made the following acknowledgment of his mistake. When Lord Melville was out of power, his majesty did him the honour to visit him at Wimbledon, and partook of some refreshment. On that occasion the King took an opportunity to fill a glass of wine, and having made the company do the same, he gave as his toast, "The health of the courageous minister, who, against the opinion of many of his colleagues, and even the remonstrances of his king, had dared to conceive and carry through the Egyptian expedition." – S.

640

For a copy of the Convention, see Annual Register, vol. xliii., p. 221.

641

"Napoleon never ceased to repeat, that Egypt ought to have remained in the possession of the French, which, he said, would infallibly have been the case, had the country been defended by Kleber or Desaix." – Las Cases, tom. i., p. 230. – "However great was the displeasure of the first consul at what had taken place, not an expression of ill-humour escaped him against any one. He showed at all times a marked preference for those who formed a part of the army of Egypt, with the exception of a few officers who had made themselves conspicuous by their bad spirit and ingratitude; and the only revenge he took on these was to forget them altogether." – Duke of Rovigo, vol. i., p. 251.

642

General Law of Lauriston was born at Pondicherry in 1768. He died at Paris in 1828.

643

Montgaillard, tom. v., pp. 470, 476; Jomini, tom. xv., p. 17. "For six weeks," says Fouché, "the ministry was busily engaged in collecting and transcribing the registers in which the suffrages for the consulship for life were inscribed. Got up by a special committee, the report presented 3,568,185 votes in the affirmative, and only 9074 in the negative. On the 2d August, a senatus consultum, called organic, conferred the perpetual power on the First Consul Buonaparte; and on the 15th, the anniversary of his birth, solemn prayers were offered up to God for having, in his ineffable bounty, granted to France a man who had deigned to consent to bear the burden of supreme power for his whole life." – Tom. i., p. 236.

644

"Thrice happy Britain, from the kingdoms rent, To sit the Guardian of the Continent."

Addison. – S.

645

– "penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos."

Virgil. – S.

646

See Annual Register, vol. xliv., p. 608.

647

Jomini, tom. xv., p. 25; Annual Register, vol. xliv., p. 640.

648

Annual Register, vol. xliii., p. 273.

649

"In the conviction, that for a forced and unfortunate marriage, divorce is the only reasonable remedy, and that Helvetia and ourselves cannot recover repose and content, except by the rupture of this forced tie, we are firmly resolved to labour at that separation with all possible activity."

650

"The first consul instructed Ney to enter Switzerland with a corps of troops, and caused Reding, the instigator of the disturbances, to be arrested; and he despatched Rapp, in all haste, who providentially arrived at the moment when the parties were coming to blows. Rapp, with a rare presence of mind, alighted from his carriage, placed himself between the two armies, loudly declaring, in the German language, that he was authorised to denounce, as an enemy of the French nation, whichever of the two parties should commence firing, and that he was ordered to introduce a fresh body of French troops into the Swiss territory. His firmness produced the greater effect, as both parties had the same consequences to apprehend, from a second invasion." – Savary, tom. i., p. 301.

651

Annual Register, vol. xliv., p. 671.

652

Annual Register, vol. xliv., p. 678.

653

Aloys Reding was born in 1755. After being confined several months in the castle of Aarsbourg, he was liberated, and being in 1803 elected landemann of the canton of Schweitz, he assisted, in that capacity, at the diet of Fribourg, in 1809. He died at Schweitz in 1819.

654

"Never did Buonaparte less abuse his vast preponderance; and Switzerland is, without contradiction, of all states, near or distant, over which he has exerted his influence, that which he has spared the most, during the fifteen years of his ascendency and glory. In order to pay a proper tribute to truth, I will add, that the act of mediation was impregnated, as much as possible, with the conciliatory and characteristically moderate spirit of Barthélemi." – Fouché, tom. i., p. 254.

655

Montgaillard, tom. vi., p. 5; Jomini, Vie Politique et Militaire de Napoleon, tom. i., p. 532; Savary, vol. i., p. 302.

656

"The deputies, pleased with the result of their mission, requested the first consul to retain the title of Mediator which had been conferred upon him. The country was restored to its wonted tranquillity without the effusion of blood; and the celebrated M. de la Harpe (formerly tutor to the Emperor Alexander,) who had governed it under the title of Director, came to fix his residence in Paris." – Savary, tom. i., p. 302.

657

For Lord Hawkesbury's note-verbal to M. Otto, Oct. 10, 1802, together with his lordship's directions to Mr. Moore, and Mr. Moore's reply, see Annual Register, vol. xliv., pp. 674-678.

658

"That which Sir Walter Scott here advances concerning the blameable policy of Napoleon with respect to the Swiss, when he gave them this act of mediation, is not correct, and I will prove it to be so. I was in Switzerland in 1814, after the invasion of the allies, and certainly this was the period of the greatest enmity towards my brother; it was the epoch of the calumniators and libellers; nay, there existed those who carried their effrontery so far, as to declare that the name of Napoleon was not his own, and that he was called Nicholas. Nevertheless, even at this period, some of the deputies of the Diet, and the landemanns of the different cantons, and the principal Swiss, who frequented the baths of Baden, near Zurich, where I then was, did not refrain from openly declaring, that they could not complain of the Emperor Napoleon, that he had put an end to their difficulties, and that they could feel nothing but gratitude towards him." – Louis Buonaparte, p. 38.

659

M. Necker.

660

Clement Paoli, elder brother of the general, a good soldier, an excellent citizen, a real philosopher. At the beginning of an action he could not bring himself to engage in personal combat; he gave his orders with the sang froid which characterises the good officer. But he no sooner saw his men begin to fall, than he seized his arms with a convulsive movement of indignation, and made use of them, exclaiming – "Unjust men! why break down the barriers of nature? why must you be enemies of your country?" Austere in his manners, simple in his habits, he has always lived retired. It was only in great emergencies that he came forward to give his opinion, which was very seldom departed from. – S.

661

A small town in the department of Vaucluse, four leagues east of Avignon, having resisted Cartaux's army, was carried by assault, 26th July, 1793. – S.

662

"Les notes historiques, qui sont inserees comme appendice à la fin du dernier volume de la Vie de Napoleon, sont attribées au General Bernadotte, actuellement Roi de Suède, mais qu'il faut plutôt regarder comme l'ouvrage d'un ami indiscret. C'est pourtant dans ces notes que, sans les citer jamais, Bourrienne a évidemment puisé à pleines mains." —Observations sur le 18 Brumaire de M. de Bourrienne, par M. Boulay de la Meurthe, Ancien Ministre d'Etat.

663

When Bernadotte came into the ministry, it became a question whether Buonaparte should not be sent for from Egypt. – "It is the army you mean," said the minister, – "for as to the general, you know he has an eye to the dictatorship; and sending vessels to bring him to France, would just be giving it to him."

A French fleet was at that time cruizing in the Mediterranean, – the minister insisted that it should be ordered to Toulon.

664

It was by no means from friendship that Buonaparte went to Bernadotte's on this occasion; but really to render the Directory and the friends of the Republic suspicious as to that general's intentions.