part in public affairs only as an amateur, while waiting for the opening
of the session. I was deeply grieved to see the Government resort to
measures of severity to punish faults which it would have been better
policy to attribute only to the unfortunate circumstances of the times.
No consideration can ever make me cease to regret the memory of Ney, who
was the victim of the influence of foreigners. Their object, as Blücher
intimated to me at St. Cloud, was to disable France from engaging in
war for a long time to come, and they hoped to effect that object by
stirring up between the Royal Government and the army of the Loire that
spirit of discord which the sacrifice of Ney could not fail to produce.
I have no positive proofs of the fact, but in my opinion Ney's life was
a pledge of gratitude which Fouché thought he must offer to the foreign
influence which had made him Minister.
About this time I learned a fact which will create no surprise, as it
affords another proof of the chivalrous disinterestedness of Macdonald's
character. When in 1815 several Marshals claimed from the Allied powers
their endowments in foreign countries, Madame Moreau, to whom the King
had given the honorary title of 'Madame la Marechale', and who was the
friend of the Duke of Tarentum, wrote, without Macdonald's knowledge,
to M. de Blacas; our ambassador at Naples, begging him to endeavour to
preserve for the Marshal the endowment which had been given him in
the Kingdom of Naples. As soon as Macdonald was informed of this
circumstance he waited upon Madame Moreau, thanked her for her kind
intentions, but at the same time informed her that he should disavow all
knowledge of her letter, as the request it contained was entirely averse
to his principles. The Marshal did, in fact, write the following letter
to M. de Blacas:--"I hasten to inform you, sir, that it was not with my
consent that Madame Moreau wrote to you, and I beg you will take no
step that might expose me to a refusal. The King of Naples owes me no
recompense for having beaten his army, revolutionised his kingdom, and
forced him to retire to Sicily." Such conduct was well worthy of the man
who was the last to forsake Napoleon in, 1814, and the first to rejoin
him, and that without the desire of accepting any appointment in 1815.
M. de Blacas, who was himself much surprised at Macdonald's letter,
communicated it to the King of Naples, whose answer deserves to be
recorded. It was as follows:--"If I had not imposed a law upon myself
to acknowledge none of the French endowments, the conduct of Marshal
Macdonald would have induced me to make an exception in his favour." It
is gratifying to see princes such scrupulous observers of the laws they
make for themselves!
About the end of August 1815, as I was walking on the Boulevard des
Capucines, I had the pleasure of meeting Rapp, whom I had not seen for
a long time. He had just come out of the house of Lagrenee, the artist,
who was painting his portrait. I was on foot, and Rapp's carriage was
waiting, so we both stepped into it, and set off to take a drive in the
Bois de Boulogne. We had a great deal to say to each other, for we had
not met since the great events of the two Restorations. The reason of
this was, that in 1814 I passed a part of the year at Sens, and since
the occurrences of March 1815 Rapp himself had been absent from Paris.
I found him perfectly resigned to his change of condition, though
indulging in a few oaths against the foreigners. Rapp was not one of
those, generals who betrayed the King on the 20th of March. He told
me that he remained at the head of the division which he commanded at
Ecouen, under the orders of the Duc de Berry, and that he did not
resign it to the War Minister until after the King's departure. "How did
Napoleon receive you?" I inquired. "I waited till he sent for me. You
know what sort of fellow I am: I know nothing about politics; not I. I
had sworn fidelity to the King. I know my duty, and I would have fought
against the Emperor."--"Indeed!"--"Yes, certainly I would, and I told
him so myself."--"How! did you venture so far?"--"To be sure. I told him
that my resolution was definite. 'Pshaw! . . . replied he angrily. 'I
knew well that you were opposed to me. If we had come to an action I
should have sought you out on the field of battle. I would have shown
you the Medusa's head. Would you have dared to fire on me?'--'Without
doubt,' I replied. 'Ah! parbleu this is too much,' he said. 'But your
troops would not have obeyed you. They had preserved all their affection
for me.'--'What could I do?' resumed I. 'You abdicated, you left France,
you recommended us to serve the King--and then you return! Besides; I
tell you frankly, I do not augur well of what will happen. We shall have
war again. France has had enough of that.' Upon this," continued Rapp,
"he assured me that he had other thoughts; that he had no further desire
for war; that he wished to govern in peace, and devote himself solely to
the happiness of his people. When I hinted opposition on the part of the
Foreign Powers, he said that he had made alliances. He then spoke to me
of the King, and I said I had been much pleased with him; indeed, the
King gave me a very gratifying reception on my return from Kiew, and I
see no reason why I should complain, when I am so well used. During
the conversation the Emperor much extolled the conduct of the Duke of
Orleans. He then gave me some description of his passage from the Isle
of Elba and his journey to Paris. He complained of being accused of
ambition; and observing that I looked astonished and doubtful--'What?'
he continued, 'am I ambitious then?' And patting his belly with both his
hands, 'Can a man,' he asked, 'so fat as I am be ambitious?' I could not
for my soul help saying, 'Ah! Sire, your Majesty is surely joking.' He
pretended, however, to be serious, and after a few moments, noticing my
decorations, he began to banter me about the Cross of St. Louis and the
Cross of the Lily, which I still wore."
I asked Rapp whether all was true that had been said about the
enthusiasm which was manifested along the whole of Napoleon's route from
the Gulf of Juan to Paris. "Ma foi!" he replied, "I was not there any
more than you, but all those who accompanied him have assured me of the
truth of the details which have been published; but I recollect having
heard Bertrand say that on one occasion he was fearful for the safety
of the Emperor, in case any assassin should have presented himself. At
Fossard, where the Emperor stopped to breakfast on his way to Paris,
his escort was so fatigued as to be unable to follow, so that he was
for some time almost alone on the road, until a squadron which was
in garrison at Melun met him and escorted him to Fontainebleau. As to
anything else, from all I have heard, the Emperor was exposed to no
danger."
We then began to talk of our situation, and the singular chances of our
fortune. Rapp told me how, within a few days only, he had ceased to
be one of the discontented; for the condition of the generals who had
commanded army corps in the campaign of Waterloo was very different in
1815 from what it had been in 1814. "I had determined," he said, "to
live a quiet life, to meddle with nothing, and not even to wear my
uniform. I had, therefore, since the King's return never presented
myself at Court; when, a week ago, while riding on horseback two or
three hundred paces from this spot, I saw a group of horsemen on the
other side of the avenue, one of whom galloped towards me. I immediately
recognised the Duc de Berry, 'How, Monseigneur, is it you?' I exclaimed.
'It is, my dear General; and since you will not come to us, I must
come to you. Will you breakfast with me tomorrow morning?'--'Ma foi!"
continued Rapp, "what could I do? The tone of kindness in which he gave
this invitation quite charmed me. I went, and I was treated so well
that I shall go again. But I will ask for nothing: I only want these
Prussians and English rascals out of the way!" I complimented Rapp
on his conduct, and told him that it was impossible that so loyal and
honest a man as he should not, at some time or other, attract the King's
notice. I had the happiness to see this prediction accomplished. Since
that time I regularly saw Rapp whenever we both happened to be in Paris,
which was pretty often.
I have already mentioned that in the month of August the King named me
Councillor of State. On the 19th of the following month I was appointed
Minister of State and member of the Privy Council. I may close these
volumes by relating a circumstance very flattering to me, and connected
with the last-mentioned nomination. The King had directed M. de
Talleyrand to present to him, in his official character of President
of the Council of Ministers, a list of the persons who might be deemed
suitable as members of the Privy Council. The King having read the list,
said to his Minister, "But, M. de Talleyrand, I do not see here
the names of two of our best friends, Bourrienne and Alexis de
Noailles."--"Sire, I thought their nomination would seem more flattering
in coming directly from your Majesty." The King then added my name to
the list, and afterwards that of the Comte Alexis de Noailles, so that
both our names are written in Louis XVIII.'s own hand in the original
Ordinance.
I have now brought to a conclusion my narrative of the extraordinary
events in which I have taken part, either as a spectator or an actor,
during the course of a strangely diversified life, of which nothing now
remains but recollections.
--[I discharged the functions of Councillor of State until 1818, at
which time an Ordinance appeared declaring those functions
Incompatible with the title of Minister of State--Bourrienne.]--