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in conformity with this the child born on April 20th at 17 Rue Lafitte
(now the residence of the Turkish Ambassador), was inscribed on the
register of the Civil List destined for princes of the blood. His two
elder brothers had not been so honoured, but in due course the King of
Rome was entered thereon. Had Louis accepted the Crown of Spain which
Napoleon had in vain offered to him, and of which Hortense would have
made an ideal Queen, the chances are that Napoleon would never have
divorced Josephine. St. Amand shows at length that the future Napoleon
III. is truly the child of Louis, and neither of Admiral Verhuell nor
of the Duke Decazes. Louis and Hortense in the present case are
sufficiently agreed to insist that the father's name be preserved by
the child, who is called Charles Louis Napoleon, and not Charles
Napoleon, which was the Emperor's first choice. In either case the
name of the croup-stricken firstborn had been preserved. On April 23rd
Josephine had already two letters from Cambaceres respecting mother
and child, and on this day the Empress writes her daughter: "I know
that Napoleon is consoled for not having a sister."
_Arrive on the 27th._--Josephine, always wishful to humour her
husband's love of punctuality, duly arrived on the day fixed, and took
up her abode with her husband in the chateau of Marrac. Ferdinand
wrote to his uncle in Madrid to beware of the cursed Frenchmen,
telling him also that Josephine had been badly received at Bayonne.
The letter was intercepted, and Napoleon wrote Murat that the writer
was a liar, a fool, and a hypocrite. The Emperor, in fact, never
trusted the Prince henceforward. Bausset, who translated the letter,
tells how the Emperor could scarcely believe that the Prince would use
so strong an adjective, but was convinced on seeing the word
_maldittos_, which he remarked was almost the Italian--_maledetto_.
SERIES J
Leaving St. Cloud September 22nd, Napoleon is at Metz on the 23rd, at
Kaiserlautern on the 24th, where he sends a message to the Empress in
a letter to Cambaceres, and on the 27th is at Erfurt. On the 28th the
Emperors of France and Russia sign a Convention of Alliance. Napoleon
leaves Erfurt October 14th (the anniversary of Jena), travels
incognito, and arrives St. Cloud October 18th.
No. 1.
_I have rather a cold._--Napoleon had insisted on going to explore a
new road he had ordered between Metz and Mayence, and which no one had
ventured to say was not complete. The road was so bad that the
carriage of the _maitre des requetes_, who had been summoned to
account for the faulty work, was precipitated a hundred feet down a
ravine near Kaiserlautern.
_I am pleased with the Emperor and every one here._--Which included
what he had promised Talma for his audience--a _parterre_ of kings.
Besides the two Emperors, the King of Prussia was represented by his
brother Prince William, Austria by General Vincent, and there were
also the Kings of Saxony, Bavaria, Wuertemberg, Westphalia, and Naples,
the Prince Primate, the Princes of Anhalt, Coburg, Saxe-Weimar,
Darmstadt, Baden, and Nassau. Talleyrand, Champagny, Maret, Duroc,
Berthier, and Caulaincourt, with Generals Oudinot, Soult, and
Lauriston accompanied Napoleon. Literature was represented by Goethe,
Wieland, Mueller; and feminine attractions by the Duchess of
Saxe-Weimar and the wily Princess of Tour and Taxis, sister of the
Queen of Prussia. Pasquier and others have proved that at Erfurt
Talleyrand did far more harm than good to his master's cause, and in
fact intended to do so. On his arrival he spent his first evening with
the Princess of Tour and Taxis, in order to meet the Emperor
Alexander, and said: "Sire ... It is for you to save Europe, and the
only way of attaining this object is by resisting Napoleon. The French
people are civilised, their Emperor is not: the sovereign of Russia is
civilised, his people are not. It is therefore for the sovereign of
Russia to be the ally of the French people,"--of whom Talleyrand
declared himself to be the representative. By squaring Alexander this
transcendental (unfrocked) Vicar of Bray, "with an oar in every boat,"
is once more hedging, or, to use his own phrase, guaranteeing the
future, and at the same time securing the daughter of the Duchess of
Courland for his nephew, Edmond de Perigord. "The Arch-apostate"
carried his treason so far as to advise Alexander of Napoleon's
ulterior views, and thus enabled the former to forestall them--no easy
matter in conversations with Napoleon "lasting whole days" (see
Letter No. 3, this Series). Talleyrand had also a grievance. He had
been replaced as Foreign Minister by Champagny. He had accepted the
surrender of his portfolio gladly, as now, becoming Vice-Grand
Elector, he ranked with Cambaceres and Maret. But when he found that
Napoleon, who liked to have credit for his own diplomacy, seldom
consulted him, or allowed Champagny to do so, jealousy and ill-will
naturally resulted.
No. 2.
_Shooting over the battlefield of Jena._--The presence of the Emperor
Alexander on this occasion was considered a great affront to his
recent ally, the King of Prussia, and is severely commented on by Von
Moltke in one of his Essays. In fairness to Alexander, we must
remember that their host, the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, had married his
sister. Von Moltke, by the way, speaks of _hares_ forming the sport in
question, but Savary of a second battle of Jena fought against the
_partridges_. The fact seems to be that all kinds of game, including
stags and deer, were driven by the beaters to the royal sportsmen in
their huts, and the Emperor Alexander, albeit short-sighted, succeeded
in killing a stag, at eight feet distance, _at the first shot_.
_The Weimar ball._--This followed the Jena shoot, and the dancing
lasted all night. The Russian courtiers were scandalised at their
Emperor dancing, but while he was present the dancing was conventional
enough, consisting of promenading two and two to the strains of a
Polish march. "Imperial Waltz, imported from the Rhine," was already
the rage in Germany, and Napoleon, in order to be more worthy of his
Austrian princess, tried next year to master this new science of
tactics, but after a trial with the Princess Stephanie, the lady
declared that her pupil should always give lessons, and never receive
them. He was rather more successful at billiards, pursued under the
same praiseworthy incentive.
_A few trifling ailments._--Mainly a fearful nightmare; a new
experience, in which he imagines his vitals torn out by a bear.
"Significant of much!" As when also the Russian Emperor finds
himself without a sword and accepts that of Napoleon as a gift: and
when, on the last night, the latter orders his comedians to play
"Bajazet,"--little thinking the appointed Tamerlane was by his side.
No. 3.
_I am pleased with Alexander._--For the time being Josephine had most
reason to be pleased with Alexander, who failed to secure his sister's
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