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No. 1.
According to the _Correspondence of Napoleon I._, No. 16,058, the date
of this letter is December 17th. It seems, however, possible that it
is the letter written immediately after his arrival at Trianon,
referred to by Meneval, who was, in fact, responsible for it.
Thiers, working from unpublished memoirs of Hortense and Cambaceres,
gives a most interesting account of the family council, held at 9
P.M. on Friday, December 15th, at the Tuileries. Constant also
describes the scene, but gives the Empress credit for showing the
most self-command of those chiefly interested. The next day, 11 A.M.,
Count Lacepede introduced the resolutions of the family council to the
Senatus-Consultus.[78] "It is to-day that, more than ever before,
the Emperor has proved that he wishes to reign only to serve his
subjects, and that the Empress has merited that posterity should
associate her name with that of Napoleon." He pointed out that
thirteen of Napoleon's predecessors had broken the bonds of matrimony
in order to fulfil better those of sovereign, and that among these
were the most admired and beloved of French monarchs--Charlemagne,
Philip Augustus, Louis XII. and Henry IV. This speech and the Decrees
(carried by 76 votes to 7) are found in the _Moniteur_ of December
17th, which Napoleon considers sufficiently authentic to send to his
brother Joseph as a full account of what occurred, and with no
further comment of his own but that it was the step which he thought
it his duty to take. The Decrees of the Committee of the Senate
were:--"(1) The marriage contracted between the Emperor Napoleon and
the Empress Josephine is dissolved. (2) The Empress Josephine will
retain the titles and rank of a crowned Empress-Queen.[79] (3) Her
jointure is fixed at an annual revenue of L80,000 from the public
treasury.[80] (4) Every provision which may be made by the Emperor
in favour of the Empress Josephine, out of the funds of the Civil
List, shall be obligatory on his successors." They added separate
addresses to the Emperor and Empress, and that to the latter seems
worthy of quotation:--"Your Imperial and Royal Majesty is about
to make for France the greatest of sacrifices; history will preserve
the memory of it for ever. The august spouse of the greatest of
monarchs cannot be united to his immortal glory by more heroic
devotion. For long, Madame, the French people has revered your
virtues; it holds dear that loving kindness which inspires your every
word, as it directs your every action; it will admire your sublime
devotion; it will award for ever to your Majesty, Empress and
Queen, the homage of gratitude, respect, and love."
From a letter of Eugene's to his wife, quoted by Aubenas, it
appears that he, with his mother, arrived at Malmaison on Saturday
evening,[81] December 16th, and that it never ceased raining all
the next day, which added to the general depression, in spite of, or
because of, Eugene's bad puns. On the evening of the 16th Napoleon
was at Trianon, writing letters, and we cannot think that if the
Emperor had been to Malmaison on the Sunday,[82] Eugene would have
included this without comment in the "some visits" they had
received. The Emperor, as we see from the next letter, paid
Josephine a visit on the Monday.
No. 2.
The date of this is Tuesday, December 19th, while No. 3 is Wednesday
the 20th.
_Savary_, always unpopular with the Court ladies, has now nothing but
kind words for Josephine. "She quitted the Court, but the Court did
not quit her; it had always loved her, for never had any one been so
kind.... She never injured any one in the time of her power; she
protected even her enemies"--such as Fouche at this juncture, and
Lucien earlier. "During her stay at Malmaison, the highroad from Paris
to this chateau was only one long procession, in spite of the bad
weather; every one considered it a duty to present themselves at least
once a week." Later, Marie Louise became jealous of this, and poor
Josephine had to go to the chateau of Navarre, and finally to leave
France.
_Queen of Naples._--For some reason Napoleon had not wanted this
sister at Paris this winter, and had written her to this effect from
Schoenbrunn on October 15th. "If you were not so far off, and the
season so advanced, I would have asked Murat to spend two months in
Paris. But you cannot be there before December, which is a horrible
season, especially for a Neapolitan."[83] But sister Caroline, "with
the head of a Cromwell on the shoulders of a pretty woman," was not
easy to lead; and her husband had in consequence to bear the full
weight of the Emperor's displeasure. Murat's finances were in
disorder, and Napoleon wrote Champagny on December 30th to tell Murat
plainly that if the borrowed money was not returned to France, it
would be taken by main force.[84]
_The hunt._--In pouring rain, in the forest of St. Germain.
No. 4.
Thursday, December 21st, is the date.
_The weather is very damp._--Making Malmaison as unhealthy as its
very name warranted, and rendering more difficult the task which
Madame de Remusat had set herself of resting Josephine mentally by
tiring her physically. This typical toady--Napoleon's Eavesdropper
Extraordinary--had arrived at Malmaison on December 18th. She
writes on the Friday (December 22nd), beseeching her husband to
advise the Emperor to moderate the tone of his letters, especially
this one (Thursday, December 21st), which had upset Josephine
frightfully. Surely a more harmless letter was never penned. But
it is the Remusat all over; she lives in a chronic atmosphere of
suspicion that all her letters are read by the Emperor, and
therefore, like Stevenson's nursery rhymes, they are always written
with "one eye on the grown-up person"[85]--on the grown-up person
_par excellence_ of France and the century. The opening of letters by
the government was doubtless a blemish, which, however, Napoleon
tried to neutralise by entrusting the Post Office to his wife's
relative, Lavalette, a man whose ever-kind heart prevented this
necessary espionage degenerating into unnecessary interference
with individual rights.
No. 5.
Date probably Sunday, December 24th.
_King of Bavaria._--Eugene had gone to Meaux to meet his father-in-law,
who had put off the "dog's humour" which he had shown since the 16th.
No. 6.
Josephine had gone by special invitation to dine at the little Trianon
with Napoleon on Christmas Day, and Madame d'Avrillon says she had a
very happy day there. "On her return she told me how kind the Emperor
had been to her, that he had kept her all the evening, saying the
kindest things to her." Aubenas says, "The repast was eaten in silence
and gloom," but does not give his authority. Eugene, moreover,
confirms Madame d'Avrillon in his letter to his wife of December 26th:
"My dear Auguste, the Emperor came on Sunday to see the Empress.
Yesterday she went to Trianon to see him, and stayed to dinner. The
Emperor was very kind and amiable to her, an Previous Next |