CHAPTER XI.

1797

Effect of the 18th Fructidor on the peace--The standard of the army

of Italy--Honours rendered to the memory of General Hoche and of

Virgil at Mantua--Remarkable letter--In passing through Switzerland

Bonaparte visits the field of Morat--Arrival at Rastadt--Letter from

the Directory calling Bonaparte to Paris--Intrigues against

Josephine--Grand ceremony on the reception of Bonaparte by the

Directory--The theatres--Modesty of Bonaparte--An assassination--

Bonaparte's opinion of the Parisians--His election to the National

Institute--Letter to Camus--Projects--Reflections.

The day of the 18th Fructidor had, without any doubt, mainly contributed

to the conclusion of peace at Campo Formio. On the one hand, the

Directory, hitherto not very pacifically inclined, after having

effected a 'coup d'etat', at length saw the necessity of appeasing the

discontented by giving peace to France. On the other hand, the Cabinet

of Vienna, observing the complete failure of all the royalist plots in

the interior, thought it high time to conclude with the French Republic

a treaty which, notwithstanding all the defeats Austria had sustained,

still left her a preponderating influence over Italy.

Besides, the campaign of Italy, so fertile in glorious achievements

of arms, had not been productive of glory alone. Something of greater

importance followed these conquests. Public affairs had assumed a

somewhat unusual aspect, and a grand moral influence, the effect

of victories and of peace, had begun to extend all over France.

Republicanism was no longer so sanguinary and fierce as it had been some

years before. Bonaparte, negotiating with princes and their ministers

on a footing of equality, but still with all that superiority to which

victory and his genius entitled him, gradually taught foreign courts to

be familiar with Republican France, and the Republic to cease regarding

all States governed by Kings as of necessity enemies.

In these circumstances the General-in-Chief's departure and his expected

visit to Paris excited general attention. The feeble Directory was

prepared to submit to the presence of the conqueror of Italy in the

capital.

It was for the purpose of acting as head of the French legation at

the Congress of Rastadt that Bonaparte quitted Milan on the 17th of

November. But before his departure he sent to the Directory one of those

monuments, the inscriptions on which may generally be considered as

fabulous, but which, in this case, were nothing but the truth. This

monument was the "flag of the Army of Italy," and to General Joubert

was assigned the honourable duty of presenting it to the members of the

Executive Government.

On one side of the flag were the words "To the Army of Italy, the

grateful country." The other contained an enumeration of the battles

fought and places taken, and presented, in the following inscriptions, a

simple but striking abridgment of the history of the Italian campaign.

150,000 PRISONERS; 170 STANDARDS; 550 PIECES OF SIEGE ARTILLERY;

600 PIECES OF FIELD ARTILLERY; FIVE PONTOON EQUIPAGES; NINE 64-GUN

SHIPS; TWELVE 32-GUN FRIGATES; 12 CORVETTES; 18 GALLEYS; ARMISTICE

WITH THE KING OF SARDINIA; CONVENTION WITH GENOA; ARMISTICE WITH THE

DUKE OF PARMA; ARMISTICE WITH THE KING OF NAPLES; ARMISTICE WITH THE

POPE; PRELIMINARIES OF LEOBEN; CONVENTION OF MONTEBELLO WITH THE

REPUBLIC OF GENOA; TREATY OF PEACE WITH THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY AT

CAMPO-FORMIO.

LIBERTY GIVEN TO THE PEOPLE OF BOLOGNA, FERRARA, MODENA,

MASSA-CARRARA, LA ROMAGNA, LOMBARD, BRESCIA, BERGAMO, MANTUA, CREMONA.

PART OF THE VERONESE, CHIAVENA, BORMIO, THE VALTELINE, THE GENOESE,

THE IMPERIAL FIEFS, THE PEOPLE OF THE DEPARTMENTS OF CORCYRA, OF THE

AEGEAN SEA, AND OF ITHACA.

SENT TO PARIS ALL THE MASTERPIECES OF MICHAEL ANGELO, OF GVERCINO,

OF TITIAN, OF PAUL VERONESE, OF CORREGGIO, OF ALBANA, OF THE

CARRACCI, OF RAPHAEL, AND OF LEONARDO DA VINCI.

Thus were recapitulated on a flag, destined to decorate the Hall of the

Public Sittings of the Directory, the military deeds of the campaign in

Italy, its political results, and the conquest of the monuments of art.

Most of the Italian cities looked upon their conqueror as a

liberator--such was the magic of the word liberty, which resounded from

the Alps to the Apennines. On his way to Mantua the General took up his

residence in the palace of the ancient dukes. Bonaparte promised the

authorities of Mantua that their department should be one of the most

extensive; impressed on them the necessity of promptly organising

a local militia, and of putting in execution the plans of Mari,

the mathematician, for the navigation of the Mincio from Mantua to

Peschiera.

He stopped two days at Mantua, and the morrow of his arrival was devoted

to the celebration of a military funeral solemnity, in honour of General

Hoche, who had just died. His next object was to hasten the execution

of the monument which was erecting to the memory of Virgil. Thus, in one

day, he paid honour to France and Italy, to modern and to ancient glory,

to the laurels of war and to the laurels of poetry.

A person who saw Bonaparte on this occasion for the first time thus

described him in a letter he wrote to Paris:--"With lively interest

and extreme attention I have observed this extraordinary man, who has

performed such great deeds, and about whom there is something which

seems to indicate that his career is not yet terminated. I found him

very like his portraits--little, thin, pale, with an air of fatigue,

but not of ill-health, as has been reported of him. He appears to me

to listen with more abstraction than interest, and that he was more

occupied with what he was thinking of than with what was said to him.

There is great intelligence in his countenance, along with which may be

marked an air of habitual meditation, which reveals nothing of what

is passing within. In that thinking head, in that bold mind, it is

impossible not to believe that some daring designs are engendering which

will have their influence an the destinies of Europe."

From the last phrase, in particular, of this letter, one might suspect

that it was written after Bonaparte had made his name feared throughout

Europe; but it really appeared in a journal in the month of December

1797, a little before his arrival in Paris.

There exists a sort of analogy between celebrated men and celebrated

places; it was not, therefore, an uninteresting spectacle to see

Bonaparte surveying the field of Morat, where, in 1476, Charles the

Bold, Duke of Burgundy, daring like himself, fell with his powerful army

under the effects of Helvetian valour. Bonaparte slept during the

night at Maudon, where, as in every place through which he passed, the

greatest honours were paid him. In the morning, his carriage having

broken down, we continued our journey an foot, accompanied only by some

officers and an escort of dragoons of the country. Bonaparte stopped

near the Ossuary, and desired to be shown the spot where the battle of

Morat was fought. A plain in front of the chapel was pointed out to him.

An officer who had served in France was present, and explained to him

how the Swiss, descending from the neighbouring mountains, were enabled,

under cover of a wood, to turn the Burgundian army and put it to the

rout. "What was the force of that army?" asked Bonaparte.--"Sixty

thousand men."--"Sixty thousand men!" he exclaimed: "they ought to have

completely covered these mountains!"--"The French fight better now,"

said Lannes, who was one of the officers of his suite. "At that

time," observed Bonaparte, interrupting him, "the Burgundians were not

Frenchmen."

Bonaparte's journey through Switzerland was not without utility; and his

presence served to calm more than one inquietude. He proceeded on his

journey to Rastadt by Aix in Savoy, Berne, and Bale. On arriving at

Berne during night we passed through a double file of well-lighted

equipages, filled with beautiful women, all of whom raised the cry of

"Long live, Bonaparte!--long live the Pacificator!" To have a proper

idea of this genuine enthusiasm it is necessary to have seen it.

The position in society to which his services had raised him rendered

it unfit to address him in the second person singular and the familiar

manner sometimes used by his old schoolfellows of Brienne. I thought,

this very natural.

M. de Cominges, one of those who went with him to the military school at

Paris, and who had emigrated, was at Bale. Having learned our arrival,

he presented himself without ceremony, with great indecorum, and with a

complete disregard of the respect due to a man who had rendered himself

so illustrious. General Bonaparte, offended at this behaviour, refused

to receive him again, and expressed himself to me with much warmth on

the occasion of this visit. All my efforts to remove his displeasure

were unavailing, this impression always continued, and he never did for

M. de Cominges what his means and the old ties of boyhood might well

have warranted.

On arriving at Rastadt

--[The conference for the formal peace with the Empire of Germany

was held there. The peace of Leoben was only one made with

Austria.]--

Bonaparte found a letter from the Directory summoning him to Paris. He

eagerly obeyed this invitation, which drew him from a place where he

could act only an insignificant part, and which he had determined to

leave soon, never again to return. Some time after his arrival in Paris,

on the ground that his presence was necessary for the execution of

different orders, and the general despatch of business, he required that

authority should be given to a part of his household, which he had left

at Rastadt, to return.

How could it ever be said that the Directory "kept General Bonaparte

away from the great interests which were under discussion at Rastadt"?

Quite the contrary! The Directory would have been delighted to see him

return there, as they would then have been relieved from his presence

in Paris; but nothing was so disagreeable to Bonaparte as long and

seemingly interminable negotiations. Such tedious work did not suit

his character, and he had been sufficiently disgusted with similar

proceedings at Campo-Formio.

On our arrival at Rastadt I soon found that General Bonaparte was

determined to stay there only a short time. I therefore expressed to

him my decided desire to remain in Germany. I was then ignorant that my

erasure from the emigrant list had been ordered on the 11th of November,

as the decree did not reach the commissary of the Executive Directory at

Auxerre until the 17th of November, the day of our departure from Milan.

The silly pretext of difficulties by which my erasure, notwithstanding

the reiterated solicitations of the victorious General, was so long

delayed made me apprehensive of a renewal, under a weak and jealous

pentarchy, of the horrible scenes of 1796. Bonaparte said to me, in

atone of indignation, "Come, pass the Rhine; they will not dare to seize

you while near me. I answer for your safety." On reaching Paris I found

that my erasure had taken place. It was at this period only that General

Bonaparte's applications in my favour were tardily crowned with success.

Sotin, the Minister of General Police, notified the fact to Bonaparte;

but his letter gave a reason for my erasure very different from that

stated in the decree. The Minister said that the Government did not

wish to leave among the names of traitors to their country the name of a

citizen who was attached to the person of the conqueror of Italy; while

the decree itself stated as the motive for removing my name from the

list that I never had emigrated.

At St. Helena it seems Bonaparte said that he did not return from Italy

with more than 300,000 francs; but I assert that he had at that time in

his possession something more than 3,000,000.

--[Joseph says that Napoleon, when he exiled for Egypt, left with

him all his fortune, and that it was much nearer 300,000 francs than

3,000,000. (See Erreurs, tome i. pp. 243, 259)]--

How could he with 300,000 francs have been able to provide for the

extensive repairs, the embellishment, and the furnishing of his house

in the Rue Chantereine? How could he have supported the establishment

he did with only 15,000 francs of income and the emoluments of his rank?

The excursion which he made along the coast, of which I have yet to

speak, of itself cost near 12,000 francs in gold, which he transferred

to me to defray the expense of the journey; and I do not think that this

sum was ever repaid him. Besides, what did it signify, for any object

he might have in disguising his fortune, whether he brought 3,000,000

or 300,000 francs with him from Italy? No one will accuse him of

peculation. He was an inflexible administrator. He was always irritated

at the discovery of fraud, and pursued those guilty of it with all the

vigour of his character. He wished to be independent, which he well knew

that no one could be without fortune. He has often said to me, "I am no

Capuchin, not I." But after having been allowed only 300,000 francs on

his arrival from the rich Italy, where fortune never abandoned him,

it has been printed that he had 20,000,000 (some have even doubled the

amount) on his return from Egypt, which is a very poor country, where

money is scarce, and where reverses followed close upon his victories.

All these reports are false. What he brought from Italy has just been

stated, and it will be seen when we come to Egypt what treasure he

carried away from the country of the Pharaohs.

Bonaparte's brothers, desirous of obtaining complete dominion over his

mind, strenuously endeavoured to lessen the influence which Josephine

possessed from the love of her husband. They tried to excite his

jealousy, and took advantage of her stay at Milan after our departure,

which had been authorised by Bonaparte himself. My intimacy with both

the husband and the wife fortunately afforded me an opportunity of

averting or lessening a good deal of mischief. If Josephine still lived

she would allow me this merit. I never took part against her but once,

and that unwillingly. It was on the subject of the marriage of her

daughter Hortense. Josephine had never as yet spoken to me on the

subject. Bonaparte wished to give his stepdaughter to Duroc, and his

brothers were eager to promote the marriage, because they wished to

separate Josephine from Hortense, for whom Bonaparte felt the tenderest

affection. Josephine, on the other hand, wished Hortense to marry Louis

Bonaparte. Her motives, as may easily be divined, were to, gain support

in a family where she experienced nothing but enmity, and she carried

her point.

--[Previous to her marriage with Louis, Hortense cherished an

attachment for Duroc, who was at that time a handsome man about

thirty, and a great favourite of Bonaparte. However, the

indifference with which Duroc regarded the marriage of Louis

Bonaparte sufficiently proves that the regard with which he had

inspired Hortense was not very ardently returned. It is certain

that Duroc might have become the husband of Mademoiselle de

Beauharnais had he been willing to accede to the conditions on which

the First Consul offered him his step-daughter's hand. But Duroc

looked forward to something better, and his ordinary prudence

forsook him at a moment when he might easily have beheld a

perspective calculated to gratify even a more towering ambition than

his. He declined the proposed marriage; and the union of Hortense

and Louis, which Madame Bonaparte, to conciliate the favour of her

brothers-in-law, had endeavoured to bring about, was immediately

determined on (Memoires de Constant).

In allusion to the alleged unfriendly feeling of Napoleon's brothers

towards Josephine, the following observation occurs in Joseph

Bonaparte's Notes on Bourrienne:

"None of Napoleon's brothers," he says, "were near him from the time

of his departure for Italy except Louis who cannot be suspected of

having intrigued against Josephine, whose daughter he married.

These calumnies are without foundation" (Erreurs, tome i. p. 244)]--

On his arrival from Rastadt the most magnificent preparations were made

at the Luxembourg for the reception of Bonaparte. The grand court of the

Palace was elegantly ornamented; and at its farther end, close to

the Palace, a large amphitheatre was erected for the accommodation

of official persons. Curiosity, as on all like occasions, attracted

multitudes, and the court was filled. Opposite to the principal

vestibule stood the altar of the country, surrounded by the statues

of Liberty, Equality, and Peace. When Bonaparte entered every head was

uncovered. The windows were full of young and beautiful females. But

notwithstanding this great preparation an icy coldness characterized

the ceremony. Every one seemed to be present only for the purpose of

beholding a sight, and curiosity was the prevailing expression rather

than joy or gratitude. It is but right to say, however, that an

unfortunate event contributed to the general indifference. The right

wing of the Palace was not occupied, but great preparations had been

making there, and an officer had been directed to prevent anyone from

ascending. One of the clerks of the Directory, however, contrived to

get upon the scaffolding, but had scarcely placed his foot on the first

plank when it tilted up, and the imprudent man fell the whole height

into the court. This accident created a general stupor. Ladies fainted,

and the windows were nearly deserted.

However, the Directory displayed all the Republican splendour of which

they were so prodigal on similar occasions. Speeches were far from

being scarce. Talleyrand, who was then Minister for Foreign Affairs,

on introducing Bonaparte to the Directory, made a long oration, in the

course of which he hinted that the personal greatness of the General

ought not to excite uneasiness, even in a rising Republic. "Far from

apprehending anything from his ambition, I believe that we shall one day

be obliged to solicit him to tear himself from the pleasures of studious

retirement. All France will be free, but perhaps he never will; such is

his destiny."

Talleyrand was listened to with impatience, so anxious was every one to

hear Bonaparte. The conqueror of Italy then rose, and pronounced with

a modest air, but in a firm voice, a short address of congratulation on

the improved position of the nation.

Barras, at that time President of the Directory, replied to Bonaparte

with so much prolixity as to weary everyone; and as soon as he had

finished speaking he threw himself into the arms of the General, who was

not much pleased with such affected displays, and gave him what was

then called the fraternal embrace. The other members of the Directory,

following the example of the President, surrounded Bonaparte and pressed

him in their arms; each acted, to the best of his ability, his part in

the sentimental comedy.

Chenier composed for this occasion a hymn, which Mehul set to music. A

few days after an opera was produced, bearing the title of the 'Fall of

Carthage', which was meant as an allusion to the anticipated exploits of

the conqueror of Italy, recently appointed to the command of the "Army

of England." The poets were all employed in praising him; and Lebrun,

with but little of the Pindaric fire in his soul, composed the following

distich, which certainly is not worth much:

"Heros, cher a la paix, aux arts, a la victoire--

Il conquit en deux ans mille siecles de gloire."

The two councils were not disposed to be behind the Directory in the

manifestation of joy. A few days after they gave a banquet to the

General in the gallery of the Louvre, which had recently been enriched

by the masterpieces of painting conquered in Italy.

At this time Bonaparte displayed great modesty in all his transactions

in Paris. The administrators of the department of the Seine having sent

a deputation to him to inquire what hour and day he would allow them

to wait on him, he carried himself his answer to the department,

accompanied by General Berthier. It was also remarked that the judge of

the peace of the arrondissement where the General lived having called on

him on the 6th of December, the evening of his arrival, he returned the

visit next morning. These attentions, trifling as they may appear, were

not without their effect on the minds of the Parisians.

In consequence of General Bonaparte's victories, the peace he had

effected, and the brilliant reception of which he had been the object,

the business of Vendemiaire was in some measure forgotten. Every one was

eager to get a sight of the young hero whose career had commenced with

so much 'eclat'. He lived very retiredly, yet went often to the theatre.

He desired me, one day, to go and request the representation of two

of the best pieces of the time, in which Elleviou, Mesdames St. Aubin,

Phillis, and other distinguished performers played. His message was,

that he only wished these two pieces on the same night, if that were

possible. The manager told me that nothing that the conqueror of Italy

wished for was impossible, for he had long ago erased that word from the

dictionary. Bonaparte laughed heartily at the manager's answer. When we

went to the theatre he seated himself, as usual, in the back of the box,

behind Madame Bonaparte, making me sit by her side. The pit and boxes,

however, soon found out that he was in the house, and loudly called for

him. Several times an earnest desire to see him was manifested, but all

in vain, for he never showed himself.

Some days after, being at the Theatre des Arts, at the second

representation of 'Horatius Cocles', although he was sitting at the back

of a box in the second tier, the audience discovered that he was in the

house. Immediately acclamations arose from all quarters; but he kept

himself concealed as much as possible, and said to a person in the next

box, "Had I known that the boxes were so exposed, I should not have

come."

During Bonaparte's stay at Paris a woman sent a messenger to warn him

that his life would be attempted, and that poison was to be employed for

that purpose. Bonaparte had the bearer of this information arrested, who

went, accompanied by the judge of the peace, to the woman's house, where

she was found extended on the floor, and bathed in her blood. The men

whose plot she had overheard, having discovered that she had revealed

their secret, murdered her. The poor woman was dreadfully mangled: her

throat was cut; and, not satisfied with that, the assassins had also

hacked her body with sharp instruments.

On the night of the 10th of Nivôse the Rue Chantereine, in which

Bonaparte had a small house (No. 6), received, in pursuance of a decree

of the department, the name of Rue de la Victoire. The cries of "Vive

Bonaparte!" and the incense prodigally offered up to him, did not

however seduce him from his retired habits. Lately the conqueror and

ruler of Italy, and now under men for whom he had no respect, and who

saw in him a formidable rival, he said to me one day, "The people

of Paris do not remember anything. Were I to remain here long, doing

nothing, I should be lost. In this great Babylon one reputation

displaces another. Let me be seen but three times at the theatre and I

shall no longer excite attention; so I shall go there but seldom." When

he went he occupied a box shaded with curtains. The manager of the opera

wished to get up a special performance in his honour; but he declined

the offer. When I observed that it must be agreeable to him to see his

fellow-citizens so eagerly running after him, he replied, "Bah! the

people would crowd as fast to see me if I were going to the scaffold."

--[A similar remark made to William III. on his lending at Brixham

elicited the comment, "Like the Jews, who cried one day 'Hosanna!'

and the next 'Crucify Him! crucify Him!'"]--

On the 28th of December Bonaparte was named a member of the Institute,

in the class of the Sciences and arts.

--[Napoleon seems to have really considered this nomination as a

great honour. He was fond of using the title in his proclamations;

and to the last the allowance attached to the appointment figured in

the Imperial accounts. He replaced Carnot, the exiled Director.]--

He showed a deep sense of this honour, and wrote the following letter to

Camus; the president of the class:

CITIZEN PRESIDENT--The suffrage of the distinguished men who compose

the institute confers a high honour on me. I feel well assured

that, before I can be their equal, I must long be their scholar. If

there were any way more expressive than another of making known my

esteem for you, I should be glad to employ it. True conquests--the

only ones which leave no regret behind them--are those which are

made over ignorance. The most honourable, as well as the most

useful, occupation for nations is the contributing to the extension

of human knowledge. The true power of the French Republic should

henceforth be made to consist in not allowing a single new idea to

exist without making it part of its property.

BONAPARTE.

The General now renewed, though unsuccessfully, the attempt he had made

before the 18th Fructidor to obtain a dispensation of the age necessary

for becoming a Director. Perceiving that the time was not yet favourable

for such a purpose, he said to me, on the 29th of January 1798,

"Bourrienne, I do not wish to remain here; there is nothing to do. They

are unwilling to listen to anything. I see that if I linger here, I

shall soon lose myself. Everything wears out here; my glory has already

disappeared. This little Europe does not supply enough of it for me. I

must seek it in the East, the fountain of glory. However, I wish first

to make a tour along the coast, to ascertain by my own observation what

may be attempted. I will take you, Lannes, and Sulkowsky, with me. If

the success of a descent on England appear doubtful, as I suspect it

will, the army of England shall become the army of the East, and I will

go to Egypt."

This and other conversations give a correct insight into his

character. He always considered war and conquest as the most noble and

inexhaustible source of that glory which was the constant object of his

desire. He revolted at the idea of languishing in idleness at Paris,

while fresh laurels were growing for him in distant climes. His

imagination inscribed, in anticipation, his name on those gigantic

monuments which alone, perhaps, of all the creations of man, have the

character of eternity. Already proclaimed the most illustrious of living

generals, he sought to efface the rival names of antiquity by his

own. If Caesar fought fifty battles, he longed to fight a hundred--if

Alexander left Macedon to penetrate to the Temple of Ammon, he wished to

leave Paris to travel to the Cataracts of the Nile. While he was thus to

run a race with fame, events would, in his opinion, so proceed in France

as to render his return necessary and opportune. His place would be

ready for him, and he should not come to claim it a forgotten or unknown

man.