Книга - Joseph Bonaparte

Joseph Bonaparte
John Abbott




John S. C. Abbott

Joseph Bonaparte / Makers of History




PREFACE

The writer trusts that he may be pardoned for relating the following characteristic anecdote of President Lincoln, as it so fully illustrates the object in view in writing these histories. In a conversation which the writer had with the President just before his death, Mr. Lincoln said:

"I want to thank you and your brother for Abbotts' series of Histories. I have not education enough to appreciate the profound works of voluminous historians, and if I had, I have no time to read them. But your series of Histories gives me, in brief compass, just that knowledge of past men and events which I need. I have read them with the greatest interest. To them I am indebted for about all the historical knowledge I have."

It is for just this purpose that these Histories are written. Busy men, in this busy life, have now no time to wade through ponderous folios. And yet every one wishes to know the general character and achievements of the illustrious personages of past ages.

A few years ago there was published in Paris a life of King Joseph, in ten royal octavo volumes of nearly five hundred pages each. It was entitled "Mémoires et Correspondance, Politique et Militaire, du Roi Joseph, Publiés, Annotés et Mis en Ordre par A. du Casse, Aide-de-camp de S. A. I. Le Prince Jerome Napoleon." These volumes contained nearly all the correspondence which passed between Joseph and his brother Napoleon from their childhood until after the battle of Waterloo. Every historical statement is substantiated by unequivocal documentary evidence.

From this voluminous work, aided by other historical accounts of particular events, the author of this sketch has gathered all that would be of particular interest to the general reader at the present time. As all the facts contained in this narrative are substantiated by ample documentary proof, the writer can not doubt that this volume presents an accurate account of the momentous scenes which it describes, and that it gives the reader a correct idea of the social and political relations existing between those extraordinary men, Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte. It is not necessary that the historian should pronounce judgment upon every transaction. But he is bound to state every event exactly as it occurred.

No one can read this account of the struggle in Europe in favor of popular rights against the old dynasties of feudal oppression, without more highly appreciating the admirable institutions of our own glorious Republic. Neither can any intelligent and candid man carefully peruse this narrative, and not admit that Joseph Bonaparte was earnestly seeking the welfare of the people; that, surrounded by dynasties strong in standing armies, in pride of nobility, and which were venerable through a life of centuries, he was endeavoring to promote, under monarchical forms, which the posture of affairs seemed to render necessary, the abolition of aristocratic usurpation, and the establishment of equal rights for all men. Believing this, the writer sympathizes with him in all his struggles, and reveres his memory. The universal brotherhood of man, the fundamental principles of Christianity, should also be the fundamental principles in the State. Having spared no pains to be accurate, the writer will be grateful to any critic who will point out any incorrectness of statement or false coloring of facts, that he may make the correction in subsequent editions.

This volume will soon be followed by another, "The History of Queen Hortense," the daughter of Josephine, the wife of King Louis, the mother of Napoleon III.



    John S. C. Abbott.

Fair Haven, Conn.,

May, 1869.




CHAPTER I

Scenes in Early Life

1768-1793




Corsica.

Parentage.


The island of Corsica, in the Mediterranean Sea, sixty miles from the coast of Tuscany, is about half as large as the State of Massachusetts. In the year 1767 this island was one of the provinces of Italy. There was then residing, in the small town of Corté, in Corsica, a young lawyer nineteen years of age. He was the descendant of an illustrious race, which could be traced back, through a succession of distinguished men, far into the dark ages. Charles Bonaparte, the young man of whom we speak, was tall, handsome, and possessed strong native powers of mind, which he had highly cultivated. In the same place there was a young lady, Letitia Raniolini, remarkable for her beauty and her accomplishments. She also was of an ancient family. When but sixteen years of age Letitia was married to Charles Bonaparte, then but nineteen years old.



Birth of Joseph Bonaparte.


About a year after their marriage, on the 7th of January, 1768, they welcomed their first-born child, Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte. In nineteen months after the birth of Joseph, his world-renowned brother Napoleon was born. But in the mean time the island had been transferred to France. Thus while Joseph was by birth an Italian, his brother Napoleon was a Frenchman.



Journey to France.


Charles Bonaparte occupied high positions of trust and honor in the government of Corsica, and his family took rank with the most distinguished families in Italy and in France. Joseph passed the first twelve years of his life upon his native island. He was ever a boy of studious habits, and of singular amiability of character. When he was twelve years of age his father took him, with Napoleon and their elder sister Eliza, to France for their education. Leopold, the grand duke of Tuscany, gave Charles Bonaparte letters of introduction to Maria Antoinette, his sister, who was then the beautiful and admired Queen of France.



Fraternal Attachment.


Leaving Joseph at the college of Autun, in Burgundy, the father continued his journey to Paris, with Napoleon and Eliza. Eliza was placed in the celebrated boarding-school of St. Cyr, in the metropolis, and Napoleon was taken to the military school at Brienne, a few miles out from the city. The father was received as a guest in the gorgeous palace of Versailles. Joseph and Napoleon were very strongly attached to each other, and this attachment continued unabated through life. When the two lads parted at Autun both were much affected. Joseph, subsequently speaking of it, says:

"I shall never forget the moment of our separation. My eyes were flooded with tears. Napoleon shed but one tear, which he in vain endeavored to conceal. The abbé Simon, who witnessed our adieus, said to me, after Napoleon's departure, 'He shed only one tear; but that one testified to as deep grief in parting from you as all of yours.'"



Character of Joseph.


The two brothers kept up a very constant correspondence, informing each other minutely of their studies, and of the books in which they were interested. Joseph became one of the most distinguished scholars in the college of Autun, excelling in all the branches of polite literature. He was a very handsome young man, of polished manners, and of unblemished purity of life. His natural kindness of heart, combined with these attractions, rendered him a universal favorite.



Prince of Condé.


Autun was in the province of Burgundy, of which the Prince of Condé, grandfather of the celebrated Duke d'Enghien, was governor. The prince attended an exhibition at the college, to assist in the distribution of the prizes. Joseph acquitted himself with so much honor as to attract the attention of the prince, and he inquired of him what profession he intended to pursue.

Joseph, in the following words, describes this eventful incident:



Anecdote.


"The solemn day arrived. I performed my part to admiration, and when we afterward went to receive the crown, which the prince himself placed on our heads, I was the one whom he seemed most to have noticed. The Bishop of Autun's friendship for our family, and no doubt also the curiosity which a little barbarian, recently introduced into the centre of civilization inspired, contributed to attract the prince's attention. He caressed me, complimented me on my progress, and made particular inquiries as to the intentions of my family with respect to me. The Bishop of Autun said that I was destined for the Church, and that he had a living in reserve, which he would bestow upon me as soon as the time came.

"'And you, my lad,' said the prince, 'have you your own projects, and have you made up your mind as to what you wish?'

"'I wish,' said I, 'to serve the king.' Then seeing him disposed to listen favorably to me, I took courage to tell him that it was not at all my wish, though it was that of my family, that I should enter the Church, but that my dearest wish was to enter the army.

"The Bishop of Autun would have objected to my project, but the prince, who was colonel-general of the French infantry, saw with pleasure these warlike dispositions on my part, and encouraged me to ask for what I wanted. I then declared my desire to enter the artillery, and it was determined that I should. Imagine my joy. I was proud of the prince's caresses, and rejoiced more in his encouragement than I have since in the two crowns which I have worn.



Letter to Napoleon.


"I immediately wrote a long letter to my brother Napoleon, imparting my happiness to him, and relating in detail all that had passed; concluding by begging him, out of friendship for me, to give up the navy and devote himself to the artillery, that we might be in the same regiment, and pursue our career side by side. Napoleon immediately acceded to my proposal, abandoned from that moment all his naval projects, and replied that his mind was made up to dedicate himself, with me, to the artillery – with what success the world has since learned. Thus it was to this visit of the Prince of Condé that Napoleon owed his resolution of entering on a career which paved the way to all his honors."



Return to Corsica.

Death of his Father.


In 1784, Joseph, then sixteen years of age, returned to Corsica. During his absence he had entirely forgotten the Italian, his native language, and could neither speak it nor understand it. After a few months at home, during which time he very diligently prosecuted his studies, his father, whose health was declining, found it necessary to visit Paris to seek medical advice. He took his son Joseph with him. Arriving at Montpellier, after a tempestuous voyage, he became so ill as to be unable to proceed any farther. After a painful sickness of three months, he died of a cancer in the stomach, on the 24th of February, 1785. The dying father, who had perceived indications of the exalted powers and the lofty character of his son Napoleon, in the delirium of his last hours repeatedly cried out,

"Napoleon! Napoleon! come and rescue me from this dragon of death by whom I am devoured."



Letitia.


Upon his dying bed the father felt great solicitude for his wife, who was to be left, at the early age of thirty-five, a widow with eight children, six of whom were under thirteen years of age. Joseph willingly yielded to his father's earnest entreaties to relinquish the profession of arms and return to Corsica, that he might solace his bereaved mother and aid her in her arduous cares. Napoleon says of this noble mother:



Her Character.


"She had the head of a man on the shoulders of a woman. Left without a guide or protector, she was obliged to assume the management of affairs, but the burden did not overcome her. She administered every thing with a degree of sagacity not to be expected from her age or sex. Her tenderness was joined with severity. She punished, rewarded all alike. The good, the bad, nothing escaped her. Ah, what a woman! where shall we look for her equal? She watched over us with a solicitude unexampled. Every low sentiment, every ungenerous affection was discouraged and discarded. She suffered nothing but that which was grand and elevated to take root in our youthful understandings. She abhorred falsehood, and would not tolerate the slightest act of disobedience. None of our faults were overlooked. Losses, privations, fatigue had no effect upon her. She endured all, braved all. She had the energy of a man combined with the gentleness and delicacy of a woman."



Madame Permon.


Madame Permon, mother of the Duchess of Abrantes, a Corsican lady of fortune who resided at Montpellier, immediately after the death of Charles Bonaparte, took Joseph, the orphan boy, into her house. Madame Permon and Letitia Raniolini had been companions and intimate friends in their youthful days. "She was to me," says Joseph, "an angel of consolation; and she lavished upon me all the attentions I could have received from the most tender and affectionate of mothers."



Lucien.


Joseph soon returned to Corsica. Napoleon had just before been promoted to the military school in Paris, in which city Eliza still continued at school. Lucien, the next younger brother, had also now been taken to the Continent, where he was pursuing his education. The four remaining children were very young.

"My mother," says Joseph, "moderated the expression of her grief that she might not excite mine. Heroic and admirable woman! the model of mothers; how much thy children are indebted to thee for the example which thou hast given them!"



Habits of Napoleon.

Studies of the Brothers.

Mirabeau.


Joseph remained at home about a year, devoting himself to the care of the family, when Napoleon obtained leave of absence, and, to the great joy of his mother, returned to Corsica. He brought with him two trunks, a small one containing his clothing, and a large one filled with his books. Seven years had now passed since the two affectionate brothers had met. Napoleon had entirely forgotten the Italian language; but, much chagrined by the loss, he immediately devoted himself with great energy to its recovery. "His habits," says Joseph, "were those of a young man retiring and studious." For nearly a year the two brothers prosecuted their studies vigorously together, while consoling, with their filial love, their revered mother. After some months Napoleon left home again, to rejoin his regiment at Valence. During this brief residence on his native island, with his accustomed habits of industry, he employed the hours of vacation in writing a history of the revolutions in Corsica. At Marseilles he showed the manuscript to the abbé Raynal. The abbé was so much pleased with it that he sent it to Mirabeau. This distinguished man remarked that the essay indicated a genius of the first order.



Joseph studies Law.


Joseph decided, being the eldest brother, to remain at home with his mother, to study law, and commence its practice in Ajaccio, where his mother then resided. He accordingly went to Pisa to attend lectures in the law school connected with the celebrated university in that place. His rank and character secured for him a distinguished reception, and he was presented by the French minister to the grand duke. Here Joseph became deeply interested in the lectures of Lampredi, who boldly advocated the doctrine, then rarely heard in Europe, of the sovereignty of the people. There were many illustrious patriots at Pisa, and many ardent young men, whose minds were imbued with new ideas of political liberty. Freely and earnestly they discussed the themes of aristocratic usurpation, and of the equal rights of all men. Joseph, with enthusiasm, embraced the cause of popular freedom, and became the unrelenting foe of that feudal despotism which then domineered over all Europe. His associates were the most illustrious and cultivated men of the liberal party. At that early period Joseph published a pamphlet advocating the rights of the people.



Commences Practice.

Treatise of Napoleon.


Having finished his studies and taken his degree, Joseph returned to Corsica. He was admitted to the bar in 1788, being then twenty years of age, and commenced the practice of law in Ajaccio. Upon this his return to Corsica he met his brother Napoleon again, who, a few days before, had landed upon the island. Napoleon was then intensely occupied in writing a treatise upon the question, "What are the opinions and the feelings with which it is necessary to inspire men for the promotion of their happiness?"



Testimony of Joseph.


"This was the subject of our conversations," says Joseph, "in our daily walks, which were prolonged upon the banks of the sea; in sauntering along the shores of a gulf which was as beautiful as that of Naples, in a country fragrant with the exhalations of myrtles and oranges. We sometimes did not return home until night had closed over us. There will be found, in what remains of this essay, the opinions and the characteristic traits of Napoleon, who united in his character qualities which seemed to be contradictory – the calm of reason, illumined with the flashes of an Oriental imagination; kindliness of soul, exquisite sensibility; precious qualities which he subsequently deemed it his duty to conceal, under an artificial character which he studied to assume when he attained power, saying that men must be governed by one who is fair and just as law, and not by a prince whose amiability might be regarded as weakness, when that amiability is not controlled by the most inflexible justice.



Ambition of Napoleon.


"He had continually in view," continues Joseph, "the judgment of posterity. His heart throbbed at the idea of a grand and noble action which posterity could appreciate.

"'I would wish to be myself my posterity,' he said to me one day, 'that I may myself enjoy the sentiments which a great poet, like Corneille, would represent me as feeling and uttering. The sentiment of duty, the esteem of a small number of friends, who know us as we know ourselves, are not sufficient to inspire noble and conscientious actions. With such motives one can make sages, but not heroes. If the movement now commenced continue in France, she will draw upon herself the entire of Europe. She can only be defended by men passionate for glory, who will be willing to die to-day, that they may live eternally. It is for an end remote, indeterminate, of which no definite account is taken, that the inspired minority triumphs over the inert masses. Those are the motives which have guided the legislators, who have influenced the destinies of the world.'"



Foresight of Napoleon.


It is remarkable that at so early a period Napoleon so clearly foresaw that the opinions of political equality, then struggling for existence in Paris, and of which he subsequently became so illustrious an advocate, would, if successful, combine all the despots of Europe in a warfare against regenerated France. Joseph and Napoleon both warmly espoused the cause of popular liberty, which was even then upheaving the throne of the Bourbons.



Constituent Assembly.


At this time, June, 1789, the Constituent Assembly commenced its world-renowned session in Paris. As soon as the liberal constitution, which it adopted, was issued, Joseph, who was then president of the district in Ajaccio, published an elementary treatise upon the constitution both in French and Italian, for the benefit of the inhabitants of his native island. This work conferred upon him much honor, and greatly increased his influence.



Gratitude of Napoleon.

Anecdote.


The mayor of the city, Jean Jerome Levie, was a very noble man, and a particular friend of the Bonapartes. Very liberally he contributed of his large fortune to aid the poor. "Napoleon," says Joseph, "honored him at Saint Helena in his last hour, and left him a hundred thousand francs. This proves the truth of what I have often said of the kindness and tenderness of Napoleon's heart. It was this which led him in his last moments to remember the abbé Recco, Professor of the Royal College of Ajaccio, who in our early childhood, before our departure for the Continent, kindly admitted us to his class, and devoted to us his attention. I recall the incident when the pupils were arranged facing each other upon the opposite sides of the hall under an immense banner, one portion of which represented the flag of Rome, and the other that of Carthage. As the elder of the two children, the professor placed me by his side under the Roman flag.

"Napoleon, annoyed at finding himself beneath the flag of Carthage, which was not the conquering banner, could have no rest until he obtained a change of place with me, which I readily granted, and for which he was very grateful. And still, in his triumph, he was disquieted with the idea of having been unjust to his brother, and it required all the authority of our mother to tranquilize him. This abbé Recco was also remembered in his will."

On one occasion Napoleon accompanied Joseph on horseback to a remote part of the island, to attend a Convention, where Joseph was to address the assembly.



Tour in Corsica.

Characteristics.


"Napoleon was continually occupied," says Joseph, "in collecting heroic incidents of the ancient warriors of the country. I read to him my speech, to which he added several names of the ancient patriots. During the journey, which we made quite slowly, without a change of horses, his mind was incessantly employed in studying the positions which the troops of different nations had occupied, during the many years in which they had combatted against the inhabitants of the island. My thoughts ran in another direction. The singular beauty of the scenery interested me much more."

Louis Napoleon, in an article which he wrote while a prisoner at Ham, upon his uncle, King Joseph, just after his death, says:



Testimony of Louis Napoleon.


"Joseph was born to embellish the arts of peace, while the spirit of his brother found itself at ease only amid events which war introduces. From their earliest years this difference of capacity and of inclination was clearly manifested. Associated in the college at Autun with his brother, Joseph aided Napoleon in his Latin and Greek compositions, while Napoleon aided Joseph in all the problems of physics and mathematics. The one made verses, while the other studied Alexander and Cæsar."[1 - Quelques Mot sur Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte; Œuvres de Napoleon III., tome ii. p. 452.]



Death of Mirabeau.


During the meeting of the Convention at Bastia, above alluded to, the tidings came of the death of Mirabeau. By the request of the President, Joseph Bonaparte announced the event to the Convention in an appropriate eulogy. The two brothers had but just returned to Ajaccio when the grand-uncle of the Bonaparte children died. He had been a firm friend of the family, and was greatly revered by them all. A few moments before his death he assembled them around his dying bed, and took an affectionate leave of each one. Joseph was now a member of the Directory of the department. We have the testimony of Joseph that the dying uncle said to his sobbing niece,

"Letitia, do not weep. I am willing to die since I see you surrounded by your children. My life is no longer necessary to protect the family of Charles. Joseph is at the head of the administration of the country; he can therefore take care of the interests of the family. You, Napoleon, you will be a great man."



French Revolution.


The French Revolution was now in full career. Napoleon returned to Paris, and witnessed the awful scenes of the 10th of August, 1792, when the palace of the Tuileries was stormed, the royal family outraged, and the guard massacred. He wrote to Joseph,



Anecdote.


"If the king had shown himself on horseback at the head of his troops, he would have gained the victory; at least so it appeared to me, from the spirit which that morning seemed to animate the groups of the people.

"After the victory of the Marseillaise, I saw one of them upon the point of killing one of the body-guard; 'Man of the South,' said I, 'let us save the poor fellow.' 'Are you from the South?' said he. 'Yes,' I replied. 'Very well,' he rejoined, 'let him be saved then.'"



The Emigrants.

The Republicans.


The French monarchy was destroyed. France, delivered from the despotism of kings, was surrendered to the still greater despotism of irreligion and ignorance. Faction succeeded faction in ephemeral governments, and anarchy and terror rioted throughout the kingdom. Thousands of the nobles fled from France and joined the armies of the surrounding monarchies, which were on the march to replace the Bourbons on the throne. The true patriots of the nation, anxious for the overthrow of the intolerable despotism under which France had so long groaned, were struggling against the coalition of despots from abroad, while at the same time they were perilling their lives in the endeavor to resist the blind madness of the mob at home. With these two foes, equally formidable, pressing them from opposite quarters, they were making gigantic endeavors to establish republican institutions upon the basis of those then in successful operation in the United States. Joseph and his brother Napoleon with all zeal joined the Republican party. They were irreconcilably hostile to despotism on the one hand, and to Jacobinical anarchy upon the other. In devotion to the principles of republican liberty, they sacrificed their fortunes, and placed their lives in imminent jeopardy. Anxious as they both were to see the bulwarks of the old feudal aristocracy battered down, they were still more hostile to the domination of the mob.

"I frankly declare," said Napoleon, "that if I were compelled to choose between the old monarchy and Jacobin misrule, I should infinitely prefer the former."



Paoli.

His Appreciation of Napoleon.


General Paoli had been appointed by Louis XVI. lieutenant-general of Corsica. This illustrious man, disgusted with the lawless violence which was now dominant in Paris, and despairing of any salutary reform from the revolutionary influences which were running riot, through an error in judgment, which he afterward bitterly deplored, joined the coalition of foreign powers who, with fleets and armies, were approaching France to replace, by the bayonet, the rejected Bourbons upon the throne. Both Joseph and Napoleon were exceedingly attached to General Paoli. He was a family friend, and his lofty character had won their reverence. Paoli discerned the dawning greatness of Napoleon even in these early years, and on one occasion said to him,

"O Napoleon! you do not at all resemble the moderns. You belong only to the heroes of Plutarch."



Corsican Peasantry.


Paoli made every effort to induce the young Bonapartes to join his standard; but they, believing that popular rights would yet come out triumphant, resolutely refused. The peasantry of Corsica, unenlightened, and confiding in General Paoli, to whom they were enthusiastically attached, eagerly rallied around his banner. England was the soul of the coalition now formed against popular rights in France. Paoli, in loyalty to the Bourbons, and in treason to the French people, surrendered the island of Corsica to the British fleet.



Flight of the Bonapartes.

Their Arrival in France.


The Bonaparte family, in wealth, rank, and influence, was one of the most prominent upon the island. An exasperated mob surrounded their dwelling, and the family narrowly escaped with their lives. The house and furniture were almost entirely destroyed. At midnight Madame Bonaparte, with Joseph, Napoleon, and all the other children who were then upon the island, secretly entered a boat in a retired cove, and were rowed out to a small vessel which was anchored at a short distance from the shore. The sails were spread, and the exiled family, in friendlessness, poverty, and dejection, were landed upon the shores of France. Little did they then dream that their renown was soon to fill the world; and that each one of those children was to rise to grandeur, and experience reverses which will never cease to excite the sympathies of mankind.




CHAPTER II

Diplomatic Labors

1793-1797




The Allies.


It was the year 1793. On the 21st of January the unfortunate and guilty Louis XVI. had been led to the guillotine. The Royalists had surrendered Toulon to the British fleet. A Republican army was sent to regain the important port. Joseph Bonaparte was commissioned on the staff of the major-general in command, and was slightly wounded in the attack upon Cape Brun. All France was in a state of terrible excitement. Allied Europe was on the march to crush the revolution. The armies of Austria, gathered in Italy, were threatening to cross the Alps. The nobles in France, and all who were in favor of aristocratic domination, were watching for an opportunity to join the Allies, overwhelm the revolutionists, and replace the Bourbon family on the throne.



The National Assembly.

Commission of Napoleon.


The National Assembly, which had assumed the supreme command upon the dethronement of the king, was now giving place to another assembly gathered in Paris, called the National Convention. Napoleon was commissioned to obtain artillery and supplies for the troops composing the Army of Italy, who, few in numbers, quite undisciplined and feeble in the materials of war, were guarding the defiles of the Alps, to protect France from the threatened Austrian invasion in that quarter. He was soon after named general of brigade in the artillery, and was sent to aid the besieging army at Toulon. Madame Bonaparte and the younger children were at Marseilles, where Joseph and Napoleon, the natural guardians of the family, could more frequently visit them. On the last day of November of this year the British fleet was driven from the harbor of Toulon, and the city recaptured, as was universally admitted, by the genius of Napoleon.



Marriage of Joseph.


In the year 1794 Joseph married Julie Clary, daughter of one of the wealthiest capitalists of Marseilles. Her sister Eugenie, to whom Napoleon was at that time much attached, afterward married Bernadotte, subsequently King of Sweden. Of Julie Clary the Duchess of Abrantes says:



Madame Bonaparte.


"Madame Joseph Bonaparte is an angel of goodness. Pronounce her name, and all the indigent, all the unfortunate in Paris, Naples, and Madrid, will repeat it with blessings. Never did she hesitate a moment to set about what she conceived to be her duty. Accordingly she is adored by all about her, and especially by her own household. Her unalterable kindness, her active charity, gain her the love of every body."

The brothers kept up a very constant correspondence. These letters have been published unaltered. They attest the exalted and affectionate character of both the young men. Napoleon writes to Joseph on the 25th of June, 1795:



Letter from Napoleon.


"In whatever circumstances fortune may place you, you well know, my dear friend, that you can never have a better friend, one to whom you will be more dear, and who desires more sincerely your happiness. Life is but a transient dream, which is soon dissipated. If you go away, to be absent any length of time, send me your portrait. We have lived so much together, so closely united, that our hearts are blended. I feel, in tracing these lines, emotions which I have seldom experienced; I feel that it will be a long time before we shall meet again, and I can not continue my letter."

Again Napoleon writes on the 12th of August: "As for me, but little attached to life, I contemplate it without much anxiety, finding myself constantly in the mood of mind in which one finds himself on the eve of battle, convinced that when death comes in the midst to terminate all things, it is folly to indulge in solicitude."

In these letters we see gradually developed the supremacy of the mind of Napoleon, and that soon, almost instinctively, he is recognized as the head of the family. On the 6th of September he writes from Paris:



Louis Bonaparte.


"I am very well pleased with Louis.[2 - Napoleon's younger brother, father of Napoleon III.] He responds to my hopes, and to the expectations which I had formed for him. He is a fine fellow; ardor, vivacity, health, talent, exactness in business, kindness, he unites every thing. You know, my friend, that I live for the benefits which I can confer upon my family. If my hopes are favored by that good-fortune which has never abandoned my enterprises, I shall be able to render you happy, and to fulfill your desires. I feel keenly the absence of Louis. He was of great service to me. Never was a man more active, more skillful, more winning. He could do at Paris whatever he wished."



Louis Napoleon.

Anecdote.


None of the members of the Bonaparte family were ever ashamed to remind themselves of the days of their comparative poverty and obscurity. "One day," writes Louis Napoleon, now Napoleon III., "Joseph related that his brother Louis, for whom he had felt, from his infancy, all the cares and tenderness of a father, was about to leave Marseilles to go to school in Paris. Joseph accompanied him to the diligence. Just before the diligence started he perceived that it was quite cold, and that Louis had no overcoat. Not having then the means to purchase him one, and not wishing to expose his brother to the severity of the weather, he took off his own cloak and wrapped it around Louis. This action, which they mutually recalled when they were kings, had always remained engraved in the hearts of them both, as a tender souvenir of their constant intimacy."[3 - Œuvres de Napoleon III., tome deuxième, p. 451.]



Marriage of Napoleon.


On the 6th of March, 1796, Napoleon was married to Josephine Beauharnais. "Thus vanished," writes Joseph Bonaparte, "the hope which my wife and I had cherished, for several years, of seeing her younger sister Eugenie united in marriage with my brother Napoleon. Time and separation disposed of the event otherwise."



Carnot.


A few days after Napoleon's marriage he took command of the Army of Italy, and hastened across the Alps to the scene of conflict. After the victory of Mondovi, Napoleon, cherishing the hope of detaching the Italians from the Austrians, sent Joseph to Paris to urge upon the Directory the importance of making peace with the Court of Turin. General Junot accompanied Joseph, to present to the Directory the flags captured from the enemy. The astonishing victories which Napoleon had gained excited boundless enthusiasm in Paris. Carnot, one of the Directors, gave a brilliant entertainment in honor of the two ambassadors, Joseph and Junot. During the dinner he opened his waistcoat and showed the portrait of Napoleon, which was suspended near his heart. Turning to Joseph, he said,

"Say to your brother that I wear his miniature there, because I foresee that he will be the saviour of France. To accomplish this, it is necessary that he should know that there is no one in the Directory who is not his admirer and his friend."



Joseph an Ambassador.


The measures which Napoleon had suggested were most cordially approved by all the members of the Government. One of the most important members of the Cabinet proposed that Joseph Bonaparte should immediately, upon the ratification of peace, be appointed ambassador of the French Republic to the Court of Turin. Joseph, with characteristic modesty, replied, that though he was desirous of entering upon a diplomatic career, he did not feel qualified to assume at once so important a post. He was however prevailed upon to enter upon the office.

From this mission, so successfully accomplished, Joseph returned to his brother, and joined him at his head-quarters in Milan. Napoleon pressed forward in his triumphant career, drove the Austrians out of Italy, and soon effected peace with Naples and with Rome.



Reconquest of Corsica.


Having accomplished these results, Napoleon immediately fitted out an expedition for the reconquest of Corsica, his native island, which the British fleet still held. The expedition was placed under the command of General Gentili. The troops sailed from Leghorn, and disembarked at Bastia. Joseph accompanied them. Immediately upon landing, the Corsicans generally rose and joined their deliverers, and the English retired in haste from the island. Joseph gives the following account of his return to his parental home:



Reception in Corsica.


"I was received by the great majority of the population at the distance of a league from Ajaccio. I took up my residence in the mansion of Ornano, where I resided for several weeks, until our parental homestead, which had been devastated, was sufficiently repaired to be occupied. I could not detect the slightest trace of any unfriendly feelings toward our family. All the inhabitants, without any exception, hastened to greet me. In my turn, I reorganized the government without consulting any other voice than the public good. A commissioner from the Directory soon arrived, and he sanctioned, without any exception, all the measures which I had adopted.



Return to the Continent.


"Having thus fulfilled, according to my best judgment, the mission which fraternal kindness had intrusted to me, and leaving our native island tranquil and happy in finding itself again restored to the laws of France, I prepared to return to the Continent, having made a sojourn in Corsica of three months."



Joseph at Parma.


On the 27th of March, 1797, Joseph was appointed ambassador to the Court of Parma. He presented to the duke credentials from the Directory of the French Republic, containing the following sentiments:

"The desire which we have to maintain and to cherish the friendship and the kind relations happily established between the French Republic and the Duchy of Parma, has induced us to appoint Citizen Bonaparte to reside at the Court of your Royal Highness in quality of ambassador. The knowledge which we have of his principles and his sentiments is to us a sure guarantee that the choice which we have made of his person to fulfill that honorable mission will be agreeable to you, and we are well persuaded that he will do every thing in his power to justify the confidence we have placed in him. It is in that persuasion that we pray your Royal Highness to repose entire faith in every thing which he may say in our behalf, and particularly whenever he may renew the assurance of the friendship with which we cherish your Royal Highness."



The Duke and Duchess.

Anecdote.


The Duke of Parma had married an Austrian duchess, sister of Maria Antoinette. She was an energetic woman, and in conjunction with the ecclesiastics, who crowded the palace, had great control over her husband. But the spirit of the French Revolution already pervaded many minds in Parma. Not a few were restive under the old feudal domination of the duke and the arrogance of the Church. One day Joseph was walking through the gardens of the ducal palace with several of the dignitaries of the Court. He spoke with admiration of the architectural grandeur and symmetry of the regal mansion.

"That is true," one replied, "but turn your eyes to the neighboring convent; how far does it surpass in magnificence the palace of the sovereign! Unhappy is that country where things are so."



Eliza Bonaparte.


After the peace of Leoben Napoleon returned to Milan and established himself, for several months, at the chateau of Montebello. Joseph soon joined his brother there. In the mean time their eldest sister, Eliza, had been married to M. Bacciochi, a young officer of great distinction. He was afterward created a prince by Napoleon. He was a man of elegant manners, and had attained no little distinction in literary and artistic accomplishments.



"Napoleon Dynasty."


"We have often been amused," say the authors of the "Napoleon Dynasty," "to see British writers, some of whom doubtless never passed beyond the Channel, speak depreciatingly of the manners and refinement of these new-made princes and nobles of Napoleon's Empire. Those who are familiar with the elegant manners of the refined Italians read such slurs with a smile. Whatever may be the crimes of the Italians, they have never been accused, by those who know them, of coarseness of manner, or lack of refinement of mind and taste. Eliza is said to have possessed more of her brother's genius than any other one of the sisters. Chateaubriand, La Harpe, Fontanes, and many other of the most illustrious men of France sought her society, and have expressed their admiration of her talents."



Pauline Bonaparte.


At Montebello the second sister, Pauline, was married to General Leclerc. Pauline was pronounced by Canova to be the most peerless model of grace and beauty in all Europe. The same envenomed pen of slander which has dared to calumniate even the immaculate Josephine has also been busy in traducing the character of Pauline. We here again quote from the "Napoleon Dynasty," by the Berkeley men:



Undeserved Reproach.

The Slandered defended.


"No satisfactory evidence has ever been adduced, in any quarter, that Pauline was not a virtuous woman. Those who were mainly instrumental in originating and circulating these slanders at the time about her, were the very persons who had endeavored to load the name of Josephine with obloquy. Those who saw her could not withhold their admiration. But the blood of Madame Mère was in her veins, and the Bonapartes, especially the women of the family, have always been too proud and haughty to degrade themselves. Even had they lacked what is technically called moral character, their virtue has been intrenched behind their ancestry, and the achievements of their own family; nor was there at any time an instant when any one of the Bonapartes could have overstepped, by a hair's breadth, the bounds of decency without being exposed. None of them pursued the noiseless tenor of their way along the vale of obscurity. They were walking in the clear sunshine, on the topmost summits of the earth, and millions of enemies were watching every step they took.

"The highest genius of historians, the bitterest satire of dramatists, the meanest and most malignant pens of the journalists have assailed them for more than half a century. We have written these words because a Republican is the only one likely to speak well even of the good things of the Bonaparte family. It was, and is, and will be, the dynasty of the people standing there from 1804 a fearful antagonism against the feudal age, and its souvenirs of oppression and crime."



Joseph at Rome.

The Allies.


On the 7th of May, 1797, Joseph was promoted to the post of minister from the French Republic to the Court at Rome. He received instructions from his Government to make every effort to maintain friendly relations with that spiritual power, which exerted so vast an influence over the masses of Europe. Pope Pius VI. gave him a very cordial reception, and seemed well disposed to employ all his means of persuasion and authority to induce the Vendeans in France to accept the French Republic. The Vendeans, enthusiastic Catholics, and devoted to the Bourbons, were still, with amazing energy, perpetuating civil war in France. The Allies, ready to make use of any instrumentality whatever to crush republicanism, were doing every thing in their power to encourage the Vendeans in their rebellion. The Austrian ambassador at the Papal Court was unwearied in his endeavors to circumvent the peaceful mission of Joseph.



The Pope.


Though the Pope himself and his Secretary of State were inclined to amicable relations with the French Government, his Cabinet, the Sacred College, composed exclusively of ecclesiastics, was intent upon the restoration of the Bourbons, by which restoration alone the Catholic religion could be reinstated with exclusive power in France.



General Provera.


By the intrigues of Austria, General Provera, an Austrian officer, was placed in command of all the Papal forces. Joseph immediately communicated this fact to the Directory in Paris, and also to his brother. This Austrian officer had been fighting against the French in Italy, and had three times been taken prisoner by the French troops.



Letter from Napoleon.


Napoleon, who had lost all confidence in the French Directory, and who, by virtue of his victories, had assumed the control of Italian diplomacy, immediately wrote as follows to Joseph:



    "Milan, Dec. 14, 1797.

"I shared your indignation, citizen ambassador, when you informed me of the arrival of General Provera. You may declare positively to the Court of Rome that if it receive into its service any officer known to have been in the service of the Emperor of Austria, all good understanding between France and Rome will cease from that hour, and war will be already declared.

"You will let it be known, by a special note to the Pope, which you will address to him in person, that although peace may be made with his majesty the Emperor, the French Republic will not consent that the Pope should accept among his troops any officer or agent belonging to the Emperor of any denomination, except the usual diplomatic agents. You will require the departure of M. Provera from the Roman territory within twenty-four hours, in default whereof you will declare that you quit Rome."



Republicans in Rome.


The spirit of the French Revolution at this time pervaded to a greater or less degree all the kingdoms of Europe. In Rome there was a very active party of Republicans anxious for a change of government. Napoleon did not wish to encourage this party in an insurrection. By so doing, he would exasperate still more the monarchs of Europe, who were already combined in deadly hostility against republican France; neither did he think the Republican party in Rome sufficiently strong to maintain their cause, or the people sufficiently enlightened for self-government. Thus he was not at all disposed to favor any insurrectionary movements in Rome; neither was he disposed to render any aid whatever to the Papal Government in opposing those who were struggling for greater political liberty. He only demanded that France should be left by the other governments in Europe in entire liberty to choose her own institutions. And he did not wish that France should interfere, in any way whatever, with the internal affairs of other nations.



Policy of Joseph.

Intrigues of the Allies.

The revolutionary Spirit.


While Joseph was officiating as ambassador at Rome, endeavoring to promote friendly relations between the Papal See and the new French Republic, he was much embarrassed by the operations of two opposite and hostile parties of intriguants at that court. The Austrians, and all the other European cabinets, were endeavoring to influence the Pope to give his powerful moral support against the French Revolution. On the other hand there was a party of active revolutionists, both native and foreign, in Rome, struggling to rouse the populace to an insurrection against the Government, to overthrow the Papal power entirely, as France had overthrown the Bourbon power, and to establish a republic. These men hoped for the countenance and support of France. But Joseph Bonaparte could lend them no countenance. He was received as a friendly ambassador at that court, and could not without ignominy take part with conspirators to overthrow the Government. He was also bound to watch with the utmost care, and thwart, if possible, the efforts of the Austrians, and other advocates of the old régime.



Anecdote.


On the 27th of December three members of the revolutionary party called upon Joseph and informed him that during the night a revolution was to break out, and they wished to communicate the fact to him, that he might not be taken by surprise. Joseph reproved them, stating that he did not think it right for him, an ambassador at the Court of Rome, to listen to such a communication; and moreover he assured them that the movement was ill-timed, and that it could not prove successful.



Joseph in Rome.


They replied that they came to him for advice, for they hoped that republican France would protect them in their revolution as soon as it was accomplished. Joseph informed them that, as an impartial spectator, he should give an account to his Government of whatever scenes might occur, but that he could give them no encouragement whatever; that France was anxious to promote a general peace on the Continent, and would look with regret upon any occurrences which might retard that peace. He also repeated his assurance that the revolutionary party in Rome had by no means sufficient strength to attain their end, and he entreated them to desist from their purpose.



The Revolutionists.


The committee were evidently impressed by his representations. They departed declaring that every thing should remain quiet for the present, and the night passed away in tranquillity. On the evening of the next day one of the Government party called, and confidentially informed Joseph that the blunderheads were ridiculously contemplating a movement which would only involve them in ruin. The Papal Government, by means of spies, was not only informed of all the movements contemplated, but through these spies, as pretended revolutionists, the Government was actually aiding in getting up the insurrection, which it would promptly crush with a bloody hand.



Conflict with the dragoons.


At 4 o'clock the next morning Joseph was aroused from sleep by a messenger who informed him that about a hundred of the revolutionists had assembled at the villa Medici, where they were surrounded by the troops of the Pope. Joseph, who had given the revolutionists good advice in vain, turned upon his pillow and fell asleep again. In the morning he learned that there had been a slight conflict, that two of the Pope's dragoons had been killed, and that the insurgents had been put to flight; several of them having been arrested. These insurgents had assumed the French national cockade, implying that they were acting, in some degree of co-operation, with revolutionary France.



Prudence of Joseph.

Duphot's contemplated Marriage.


Joseph immediately called upon the Secretary of State, and informed him that far from complaining of the arrest of persons who had assumed the French cockade, he came to make the definite request that he would arrest all such persons who were not in the service of the French legation. He also informed the secretary that six individuals had taken refuge within his jurisdiction. At Rome the residences of the foreign ambassadors enjoyed the privilege of sanctuary in common with most of the churches. Joseph informed the secretary, that if those who had taken refuge in his palace were of the insurgents, they should be given up. As he returned to his residence he found General Duphot, a very distinguished French officer, who the next day was to be married to Joseph's wife's sister, and several other French gentlemen, eagerly conversing upon the folly of the past night. Just as they were sitting down to dinner, the porter informed him that some twenty persons were endeavoring to enter the palace, and that they were distributing French cockades to the passers-by, and were shouting "Live the Republic." One of these revolutionists, a French artist, burst like a maniac into the presence of the ambassador, exclaiming "We are free, and have come to demand the support of France."

Joseph sternly reproved him for his senseless conduct, and ordered him to retire immediately from the protection of the Embassy, and to take his comrades with him, or severe measures would be resorted to. One of the officers said to the artist scornfully, "Where would your pretended liberty be, should the governor of the city open fire upon you?"



Invasion of the Palace.


The artist retired in confusion. But the tumult around the palace increased. Joseph's friends saw, in the midst of the mob, well-known spies of the Government urging them on, shouting Vive la Republique, and scattering money with a liberal hand. The insurgents were availing themselves of the palace of the French ambassador as their place of rendezvous, and where, if need be, they hoped to find a sanctuary. Joseph took the insignia of his office, and calling upon the officers of his household to follow him, descended into the court, intending to address the mob, as he spoke their language. In leaving the cabinet, they heard a prolonged discharge of fire-arms. It was from the troops of the Government; a picket of cavalry, in violation of the established usages of national courtesy, had invaded the jurisdiction of the French ambassador, which, protected by his flag, was regarded as the soil of France, and, without consulting the ambassador, were discharging volleys of musketry through the three vast arches of the palace. Many dropped dead; others fell wounded and bleeding. The terrified crowd precipitated itself into the courts and on the stairs, pursued by the avenging bullets of the Government. Joseph and his friends, as they boldly forced their way through the flying multitude, encountered the dying and the dead, and not a few Government spies, who they knew were paid to excite the insurrection and then to denounce the movement to the authorities.



Account of the Insurrection.


Just as they were stepping out of the vestibule they met a company of fusileers who had followed the cavalry. At the sight of the French ambassador they stopped. Joseph demanded the commander. He, conscious of the lawlessness of his proceedings, had concealed himself in the ranks, and could not be distinguished. He then demanded of the troops by whose order they entered upon the jurisdiction of France, and commanded them to retire. A scene of confusion ensued, some advancing, others retiring. Joseph then facing them, said, in a very decisive tone, "that the first one who should attempt to pass the middle of the court would encounter trouble."

He drew his sword, and Generals Duphot and Sherlock and two other officers of his escort, armed with swords or pistols and poniards, ranged themselves at his side to resist their advance. The musketeers retired just beyond pistol-shot, and then deliberately fired a general discharge in the direction of Joseph and his friends. None of the party immediately surrounding the ambassador were struck, but several were killed in their rear.

Joseph, with General Duphot, boldly advanced as the soldiers were reloading their muskets, and ordered them to retire from the jurisdiction of France, saying that the ambassador would charge himself with the punishment of the insurgents, and that he would immediately send one of his own officers to the Vatican or to the Governor of Rome, and that the affair would thus be settled. The soldiers seemed to pay no regard to this, and continued loading their muskets. General Duphot, one of the most brave and impetuous of men, leaped forward into the midst of the bayonets of the soldiers, prevented one from loading and struck up the gun of another, who was just upon the point of firing. Joseph and General Sherlock, as by instinct, followed him.



Death of Duphot.


Some of the soldiers seized General Duphot, dragged him rudely beyond the sacred precincts of the ambassador's palace and the flag of France, and then a soldier discharged a musket into his bosom. The heroic general fell, and immediately painfully rose, leaning upon his sabre. Joseph, who witnessed it all, in the midst of this scene of indescribable confusion called out to his friend, who the next day was to be his brother-in-law, to return. General Duphot attempted it, when a second shot prostrated him upon the pavement. More than fifty shots were then discharged into his lifeless body.



Peril of Joseph.


The soldiers now directed their fire upon Joseph and General Sherlock. Fortunately there was a door through which they escaped into the garden of the palace, where they were for a moment sheltered from the bullets of the assassins. Another company of Government troops had now arrived, and was firing from the other side of the street. Two French officers, from whom Joseph had been separated, now joined him and General Sherlock in the garden. There was nothing to prevent the soldiers from entering the palace, where Joseph's wife and her sister, who the next day was to have become the wife of General Duphot, were trembling in terror. Joseph and his friends regained the palace by the side of the garden. The court was now filled with the soldiers, and with the insurgents who had so foolishly and ignominiously caused this horrible scene. Twenty of the insurgents lay dead upon the pavement.



Note to Talleyrand.


"I entered the palace," Joseph writes in his dispatch to Talleyrand; "the walks were covered with blood, with the dying, dragging themselves along, and with the wounded, loudly groaning. We closed the three gates fronting upon the street. The lamentations of the betrothed of Duphot, that young hero who, constantly in the advance-guard of the armies of the Pyrenees and of Italy, had always been victorious, butchered by cowardly brigands; the absence of her mother and of her brother, whom curiosity had drawn from the palace to see the monuments of Rome; the fusillade which continued in the streets, and against the gates of the palace; the outer apartments of the vast palace of Corsini, which I inhabited, thronged with people of whose intentions we were ignorant: these circumstances and many others rendered the scene inconceivably cruel."

Joseph immediately summoned the servants of the household around him. Three had been wounded. The French officers, impelled by an instinct of national pride, heroically emerged from the palace, with the aid of these domestics, to rescue the body of their unfortunate general. Taking a circuitous route, notwithstanding the fusillade which was still continued, they succeeded in reaching the spot of his cowardly assassination. There they found the remains of this truly noble young man, despoiled, pierced with bullets, clotted with blood, and covered with stones which had been thrown upon him.



Imbecility of the Papal Government.


It was six o'clock in the evening. Two hours had elapsed since the assassination of Duphot; and yet not a member of the Roman Government had appeared at the palace to bring protection or to restore order. Joseph was, properly, very indignant, and resolved at once to call for his passports and leave the city. He wrote a brief note to the Secretary of State, and sent it by a faithful domestic, who succeeded in the darkness in passing through the crowd of soldiers. As the firing was still continued, Joseph and his friends anxiously watched the messenger from the attic windows of the palace till he was lost from sight.



The Ministers of Tuscany and Spain.


An hour passed, and some one was heard knocking at the gate with repeated blows. They supposed that it was certainly the governor or some Roman officer of commanding authority. It proved to be Chevalier Angiolini, minister from Tuscany, the envoy of a prince who was in friendly alliance with the French Republic. As he passed through the soldiery they stopped his carriage, and sarcastically asked him "if he were in search of dangers and bullet-wounds." He courageously and reproachfully replied, "There can be no such dangers in Rome within the jurisdiction of the ambassador of France." This was a severe reproach against the officers of a nation who were indebted to the moderation of the French Republic for their continued political existence. The minister of Spain soon also presented himself, braving all the dangers of the street, which were truly very great. They were both astonished that no public officer had arrived, and expressed much indignation in view of the violation of the rights of the Embassy.

Ten o'clock arrived, and still no public officer had made his appearance. Joseph wrote a second letter to the cardinal. An answer now came, which was soon followed by an officer and about forty men, who said that they had been sent to protect the ambassador's communications with the Secretary of State. But they had no authority or power to rescue the palace from the insurgents, who were crowded into one part of it, and from the Government troops, who occupied another part. No attention had been paid to Joseph's reiterated demands for the liberation of the palace from the dominion of the insurgents and the troops.

Joseph then wrote to the secretary, demanding immediately his passport. It was sent to him two hours after midnight. At six o'clock in the morning, fourteen hours after the assassination of General Duphot, the investment of the palace by the troops and the massacre of the people who had crowded into it, not a single Roman officer had made his appearance charged by the Government to investigate the state of affairs.



Joseph leaves Rome.


Joseph, after having secured the safety of the few French remaining at Rome, left for Tuscany, and in a dispatch to the French Government minutely detailed the events which had occurred. In the conclusion of his dispatch he wrote:

"This Government is not inconsistent with itself. Crafty and rash in perpetrating crime, cowardly and fawning when it has been committed, it is to-day upon its knees before the minister Azara, that he may go to Florence and induce me to return to Rome. So writes to me that generous friend of France, worthy of dwelling in a land where his virtues and his noble loyalty may be better appreciated."



Letter of Talleyrand.


In reply to this dispatch the French minister, Talleyrand, wrote to Joseph, "I have received, citizen, the heart-rending letter which you have written me upon the frightful events which transpired at Rome on the 28th of December. Notwithstanding the care which you have taken to conceal every thing personal to yourself during that horrible day, you have not been able to conceal from me that you have manifested, in the highest degree, courage, coolness, and that intelligence which nothing can escape; and that you have sustained with magnanimity the honor of the French name. The Directory charges me to express to you, in the strongest and most impressive terms, its extreme satisfaction with your whole conduct. You will readily believe, I trust, that I am happy to be the organ of these sentiments."




CHAPTER III

JOSEPH THE PEACE-MAKER

1798-1802




Elected to the Council of Five Hundred.


Joseph, after a short tarry at Florence, returned to Paris, where he again met his brother. Napoleon was much disappointed with the result of the embassy to Rome, for he had ardently hoped to cultivate the most friendly relations with that power. Joseph was favored with a long interview with the Directory, by whom he was received with great cordiality. In testimony of their satisfaction, they offered him the embassy to Berlin. He, however, declined the appointment, as he preferred to enter the Council of Five Hundred, to which office he had been nominated by the Electoral College of one of the departments. The Government of France then consisted of an Executive of five Directors, a Senate, called the Council of Ancients, and a House of Representatives, called the Council of Five Hundred.

Preparations were now making for the expedition to Egypt. The command was offered to Napoleon. For some time he hesitated before accepting it. One day he said to his brother Joseph,



Remarks of Napoleon.


"The Directory see me here with uneasiness, notwithstanding all my efforts to throw myself into the shade. Neither the Directory nor I can do any thing to oppose that tendency to a more centralized government, which is so manifestly inevitable. Our dreams of a republic were the illusions of youth. Since the ninth Thermidor,[4 - 9th Thermidor, 28th of July, 1794. This was the date of the overthrow of Robespierre, and of the termination of the Reign of Terror. The enormous atrocities perpetrated under the name of the Republic had excited general distrust of republican institutions.] the Republican instinct has grown weaker every day. The efforts of the Bourbons, of foreigners, sustained by the remembrance of the year 1793, had re-united against the Republican system an imposing majority. But for the thirteenth Vendemiaire[5 - 13th Vendemiaire, 5th of October, 1795, when Napoleon quelled the insurgent sections.] and the eighteenth Fructidor,[6 - 18th Fructidor, 4th of September, 1797. On this day the majority of the French Directory overthrew the minority, who were in favor of monarchical institutions. Sixty-three Deputies were banished for conspiring to introduce monarchy. Both councils renewed their oath of hatred against royalty.] this majority would have triumphed a long time ago. The feebleness, the dissensions of the Directory, have done the rest. It is upon me that all eyes are fixed to-day. To-morrow they will be fixed upon some one else. While waiting for that other one to appear, if he is to appear, my interest tells me that no violence should be done to fortune. We must leave to fortune an open field.

"Many persons hope still in the Republic. Perhaps they have reason. I leave for the East, with all means for success. If my country has need of me – if the number of those who think with Talleyrand, Siéyes, and Roederer should increase, should war be resumed, and prove unfriendly to the arms of France, I shall return more sure of the opinion of the nation. If, on the contrary, the war should be favorable to the Republic, if a military statesman like myself should rise and gather around him the wishes of the people, very well, I shall render, perhaps, still greater services to the world in the East than he can do. I shall probably overthrow English domination, and shall arrive more surely at a maritime peace, than by the demonstrations which the Directory makes upon the shores of the Channel.

"The system of France must become that of Europe in order to be durable. We see thus very evidently what is required. I wish what the nation wishes. Truly I do not know what it wishes to-day, but we shall know better hereafter. Till then let us study its wishes and its necessities. I do not wish to usurp any thing. I shall, at all events, find renown in the East; and if that renown can be made serviceable to my country, I will return with it. I will then endeavor to secure the stability of the happiness of France in securing, if it is possible, the prosperity of Europe, and extending our free principles into neighboring states, who may be made friends if they can profit from our misfortunes."



Napoleon's Patriotism.


"Such," says Joseph, "were the habitual thoughts of General Bonaparte. His happiness was not to depend merely upon the possession of power. He wished to merit the gratitude of his country and of posterity by his deeds, and to conform his life to duty, sure that it was by such renown alone that his name could pass down to future ages."

Joseph was now a member of the Council of Five Hundred. His brother Lucien, though he was still very young, had also been elected a member of the same body. The brilliant achievements of the young conqueror in the East roused the enthusiasm of France. The conquest of Malta, the landing at Alexandria, the battle of the Pyramids, and the entrance into Cairo, had been reported through France, rousing in every hill and valley shouts of exultation. Napoleon was rapidly gaining that renown which would enable him to control and to guide his countrymen.



The Directory.


The Directory still nominally governed France, though the affairs of the nation, under their inefficiency and misrule, were passing rapidly to ruin. The Directors contemplated with alarm the rising celebrity which Napoleon was acquiring in the East. They made a formidable attack upon him, through a committee, in the Council of Five Hundred. Joseph defended his absent brother with so much eloquence and power, as to confound his accusers, and he obtained a unanimous verdict in his favor.



State of France.


The state of things in France was now very deplorable. The Allies with vigor had renewed the war. The Austrian armies had again overrun Italy, and were threatening to scale the Alps, and to rush down upon the plains of France. The British fleet, the most powerful military arm the world has ever known, had swept the commerce of France from all seas, had captured many of her colonies, and was bombarding, with shot and shell, every city of the Republic within reach of its broadsides. The five Directors were quarrelling among themselves, some favoring monarchy, others republicanism. The two councils, that of the Ancients and that of the Five Hundred, were at antagonism. Many formidable conspiracies were formed, some for the support of the Allies and the restoration of the Bourbons, others for the re-introduction of the Jacobinical Reign of Terror.



Anarchy.

Joseph sends to Napoleon.


France was in a state of general anarchy. There was no man of sufficient celebrity to gain the confidence of the people, so that he could assume the office of leader, and bring order out of chaos. The once mighty monarchy of France was in the condition of a mob, without a head, careering this way and that way, in tumultuous and inextricable confusion. Joseph sent a special messenger, a Greek by the name of Bourbaki, to Jean d'Acre, to communicate to Napoleon the state of affairs.



Return of Napoleon.


Informed of these facts, at this momentous crisis Napoleon, having attained renown which caused every eye in France to be fixed upon him, landed at Frejus, and was borne along, with the acclamations of the multitude, to Paris. Immediately upon the young general's arrival, General Moreau hastened to his humble residence in the Rue de la Victoire, and earnestly said to him,



Remarks of Moreau.


"Disgusted with the government of the lawyers, who have ruined the Republic, I come to offer you my aid to save the country."

A number of the most distinguished men of France crowded the small parlors of General Bonaparte. As he was speaking, with that genius which ever commanded attention and assent, of the political condition and wants of France, Moreau interrupted him, saying,

"I only desire to unite my efforts with yours to save France. I am convinced that you only have the power. The generals and the officers who have served under me are now in Paris, and are ready to co-operate with you." The little saloon was crowded. General Macdonald was present. Generals Jourdan and Augereau had conversed with Salicetti, and reported that Bernadotte and a majority of the Council of Five Hundred were in favor of the movement.

Joseph co-operated diligently with Napoleon in the measures now set on foot to rescue France from destruction. Joseph dined with Siéyes. At the table Siéyes said to his guests,

"I wish to unite with General Bonaparte, for of all the military men he is the most of a statesman."



18th Brumaire.


On the 18th Brumaire[7 - 18th Brumaire, Nov. 9th, 1799.] the Directory was overthrown, and, without one drop of blood being shed, a new government was organized, and Napoleon was made consul. The world is divided, and perhaps may forever remain divided, in its judgment of this event. Some call Napoleon a usurper. France then called him, and still calls him, the saviour of his country.

In the midst of these tumultuary scenes, when it was uncertain whether Napoleon would gain his ends or fall upon the scaffold, General Augereau came, in great alarm, to St. Cloud, and informed Napoleon that his enemies in the two councils were proposing to vote him an outlaw.

"Very well," said Napoleon calmly, "you and I, General Augereau, have long been acquainted with each other. Say to your friends the cork is drawn, we must now drink the wine."



Character of Joseph.


Joseph Bonaparte, who a little before these events had withdrawn from the Council of Five Hundred, was with his brother constantly through these momentous scenes. Immediately after the establishment of the new government he was appointed a member of the legislative body, and soon after of the Council of State. Joseph had become a very wealthy man, having acquired a large fortune by his marriage. He owned a very beautiful estate at Mortfontaine, but a few leagues from Paris. Both Joseph and his wife were extremely fond of the quiet, domestic pleasures of rural life. Neither of them had any taste for the excitement and the splendors of state. But France, in her condition of peril, assailed by the allied despotism of Europe without, and agitated by conspiracies within, demanded the energies of every patriotic arm. Joseph was thus constrained to sacrifice his inclinations to his sense of duty. He rendered his brother invaluable assistance by the energy and the conciliatory manners with which he endeavored to carry out the plans of the First Consul. Lucien Bonaparte, eight years younger than Joseph, accepted the post of Minister of the Interior.



Plans and Measures of Napoleon.


Before the overthrow of the Directory mob law had reigned triumphant in Paris. Napoleon, as first consul, immediately took up his residence in the palace of the Tuileries. It was proposed to him that he should close the gates of the garden of the Tuileries, that it might no longer be a place of public resort. Joseph strenuously opposed the measure, and it was renounced. The great object Napoleon aimed at was to ascertain the wishes of the people, that he might be the executor of their will. His only power consisted in having cordially with him the masses of the population. He was untiring in his endeavors to ascertain public sentiment, and endeavored to adopt those measures which should, from their manifest wisdom and justice, secure public approbation. In this service Joseph was invaluable to his brother. He gave brilliant entertainments at his chateau at Mortfontaine; and being a man of remarkably amiable spirit and polished manners, he secured the confidence of all parties, and exerted a very powerful influence in healing the wounds of past strife. At these entertainments Joseph made it his constant object to study the wishes and the opinions of the different classes of society.



Joseph an Ambassador.


The Directory had involved the public in serious difficulties with the United States. Napoleon immediately appointed Joseph, with two associates, to adjust all the differences between the two countries. As both parties were disposed to friendly relations, all difficulties were speedily terminated, and a treaty was signed on the 30th of September, 1800, at Joseph's mansion at Mortfontaine.



Peace of Luneville.


England and Austria, with great vigor, still pressed the war upon France, notwithstanding the earnest appeals of Napoleon to the King of England and the Emperor of Austria in behalf of peace. This refusal to sheathe the sword rendered the campaign of Marengo a necessity. Napoleon crossed the Alps, and upon the plains of Marengo almost demolished the armies of Austria. The haughty Emperor was compelled to sue for that peace which he had so scornfully rejected. The commissioners of the two powers met at Luneville. Napoleon, highly gratified at the skill which Joseph had displayed in adjusting the difficulties in the United States, appointed him as the ambassador from France to secure a treaty with Austria. The two brothers were in daily, and sometimes in hourly conference in reference to the questions of vast national importance which this treaty involved. But Joseph was again entirely successful. On the 9th of February, 1801, the peace of Luneville was concluded, to the great satisfaction of the Emperor, and to the great gratification of France. Napoleon says, in the conclusion of a letter which he wrote to Joseph upon this subject, "The nation is satisfied with the treaty, and I am exceedingly pleased with it."



Hostility of England.


France was now at peace with all the Continent. England alone implacably continued the war. But England was inaccessible to any blows which France could strike without making efforts more gigantic than nation ever attempted before. Napoleon resolved to make these efforts to attain peace. He prepared almost to bridge the Channel with his fleet and gun-boats, that he might pour an army of invasion upon the shores of the belligerent isle, and thus compel the British to sheathe the sword. While these immense preparations were going on, the First Consul devoted his energies to the reconstruction of society in France.



Religious Reaction.


Revolutionary fury had swept all the institutions of the past into chaotic ruin. The good and the bad had been alike demolished. Christianity had been entirely overthrown, her churches destroyed, and her priesthood either slaughtered upon the guillotine, or driven from the realm. France presented the revolting aspect of a mighty nation without morality, without religion, and without a God. The masses of the people, particularly in the rural districts of France, had become disgusted with the reign of vice and misery. They longed to enjoy again the quietude of the Sabbath morning, the tones of the Sabbath bell, the gathering of the congregations in the churches, and all those ministrations of religion which cheer the joyous hours of the bridal, and which convey solace to the chamber of death. The overwhelming majority of the people of France were Roman Catholics. Among the millions who peopled the extensive realm there were but a few thousands who were Protestants. Napoleon had not the power, even had he wished it, of establishing Protestantism as the national religion.

He therefore, in accordance with his policy of adopting those measures which were in accordance with the wishes of the people, resolved to recognize the Catholic religion as the religion of France, while at the same time he enforced perfect liberty of conscience for all other religious sects. He also determined that all the high dignitaries of the Church should be appointed by the French Government, and not by the Pope. He deemed it not befitting the dignity of France, or in accordance with her interests, that a foreign potentate, by having the appointment of all the places of ecclesiastical power, should wield so immense an influence over the French people.



The Concordat.


But to re-establish the Catholic religion, and to invest it with the supremacy which it had gained over the imaginations of men, it was necessary to bring the system under the paternal jurisdiction of the Pope, who throughout all Europe was the recognized father and head of the Church.

But the Pope was jealous of his power. He would be slow to consent that any officers of the Church should be appointed by any voice which did not emanate from the Vatican. It was also an established decree of the Church that heresy was a crime, meriting the severest punishment, both civil and ecclesiastical. The Pope, therefore, could not consent that anywhere within his spiritual domain freedom of conscience should be tolerated. Under these circumstances, nothing could be more difficult than the accomplishment of the plan which Napoleon had proposed for the promotion of the peace and prosperity of France.

The eyes of the First Consul were immediately turned to his brother Joseph, as the most fitting man in France to conduct negotiations of so much delicacy and importance. He consequently was appointed, in conjunction with M. Cretet, Minister of the Interior, and the abbé Bernier, subsequently Bishop of Orleans, as commissioner on the part of France to a conference with the Holy See. The Pope sent, as his representatives, the cardinals Consalvi and Spina, and the father Caselli. Here again Joseph was entirely successful, and accomplished his mission by securing all those results which the First Consul so earnestly had desired.

The celebrated Concordat[8 - "I hold it for certain that in 1802 the Concordat was, on the part of Napoleon, an act of superior intelligence, much more than of a despotic spirit, and for the Christian religion in France an event as salutary as it was necessary. After the anarchy and the revolutionary orgies, the solemn recognition of Christianity by the State could alone give satisfaction to public sentiment, and assure to the Christian influence the dignity and the stability which it was needful that it should recover." – Meditations sur l'état Actuel de la Religion Chrétienne, par M. Guizot, p. 5.] was signed July 15th, 1801, at the residence of Joseph in Paris, in the Rue Faubourg St. Honoré. It was two o'clock in the morning when the signatures of the several commissioners were affixed to this important document.

"At the same hour," writes Joseph, "I became the father of a third infant, whose birth was saluted by the congratulations of the plenipotentiaries of the two great powers, and whose prosperity was augured by the envoys of the vicar of Christ. Their prayers have not been granted. A widow at thirty years of age, separated from her father, proscribed, as has been all the rest of her family, there only remains to her the consolation of reflecting that she has not merited her misfortunes."[9 - This daughter subsequently married her cousin, the brother of the Emperor Napoleon III., the second son of Louis Bonaparte. He died at an early age, in a campaign for the liberation of Italy.]



The Re-establishment of Christianity.


Thus did Napoleon re-establish the Christian religion throughout the whole territory of France. In this measure he was strenuously opposed by many of his leading officers, and by the corrupt revolutionary circles of France, yet throughout all the rural districts the restoration of religion was received with boundless enthusiasm.

"The sound of the village bells," writes Alison, "again calling the faithful to the house of God, was hailed by millions as the dove with the olive-branch, which first pronounced peace to the green, undeluged earth. The thoughtful and religious everywhere justly considered the voluntary return of a great nation to the creed of its fathers, from the experienced impossibility of living without its precepts, as the most signal triumph which has occurred since it ascended the imperial throne under the banners of Constantine."

Nearly all the powers upon the Continent of Europe were now at peace with France. England alone still refused to sheathe the sword. But the people of England began to remonstrate so determinedly against this endless war, which was openly waged to force upon France a detested dynasty, that the English Government was compelled, though with much reluctance, to listen to proposals for peace.



Peace of Amiens.


The latter part of the year 1801, the plenipotentiaries of France and England met at Amiens, an intermediate point between London and Paris. England appointed, as her ambassador, Lord Cornwallis, a nobleman of exalted character, and whose lofty spirit of honor was superior to every temptation. "The First Consul," writes Thiers, "on this occasion made choice of his brother Joseph, for whom he had a very particular affection, and who, by the amenity of his manners, and mildness of his character, was singularly well adapted for a peace-maker, an office which had been constantly reserved for him."

Napoleon, who had nothing to gain by war, was exceedingly anxious for peace with all the world, that he might reconstruct French society from the chaos into which revolutionary anarchy had plunged it, and that he might develop the boundless resources of France. Lord Cornwallis was received in Paris, with the utmost cordiality by Napoleon. Joseph Bonaparte gave, in his honor, a magnificent entertainment, to which all the distinguished Englishmen in France were invited, and also such Frenchmen of note as he supposed Lord Cornwallis would be glad to meet.

La Fayette was not invited. Cornwallis had commanded an army in America, where he had met La Fayette on fields of blood, and where he subsequently, with his whole army, had been taken prisoner. Joseph thought that painful associations might be excited in the bosom of his English guest by meeting his successful antagonist. He therefore, from a sense of delicacy, avoided bringing them together. But Cornwallis was a man of generous nature. As he looked around upon the numerous guests assembled at the table, he said to Joseph,



Anecdote of Lord Cornwallis.


"I know that the Marquis de la Fayette is one of your friends. It would have given me much pleasure to have met him here. I do not, however, complain of your diplomatic caution. I suppose that you did not wish to introduce to me at your table the general of Georgetown. I thank you for your kind intention, which I fully appreciate. But I hope that when we know each other better, we shall banish all reserve, and not act as diplomatists, but as men who sincerely desire to fulfill the wishes of their governments, and to arrive promptly at a solid peace. Moreover, the Marquis de la Fayette is one of those men whom we can not help loving. During his captivity I presented myself before the Emperor (of Germany) to implore his liberation, which I did not have the happiness of obtaining."

Cornwallis left Paris for Amiens. Joseph immediately after proceeded to the same place. As he alighted from his carriage in the court-yard of the hotel which had been prepared for him, one of the first persons whom he met was Lord Cornwallis. The English lord, disregarding the formalities of etiquette, advanced, and presenting his hand to Joseph, said,

"I hope that it is thus that you will deal with me, and that all our etiquette will not retard for a single hour the conclusion of peace. Such forms are not necessary where frankness and honest intentions rule. My Government would not have chosen me as an ambassador, if it had not been intended to restore peace to the world. The First Consul, in choosing his brother, has also proved his good intentions. The rest remains for us."



Anecdote.


Louis Napoleon gives the following rather amusing account of this incident. "When Joseph, plenipotentiary of the French Republic, journeyed with his colleagues toward Amiens, to conclude peace with England, in 1802, they were much occupied, he said, during the route, as to the ceremonial which should be observed with the English diplomatists. In the interests of their mission they desired not to fail in any proprieties. Still, being representatives of a republican state, they did not wish to show too much attention, prévenance, to the grand English lords with whom they were to treat.

"The French ambassadors were therefore much embarrassed in deciding to whom it belonged to make the first visit. Quite inexperienced, they were not aware that foreign diplomatists always conceal the inflexibility of their policy under the suppleness of forms. Thus they were promptly extricated from their embarrassment; for, to their great astonishment, they found, upon their arrival at Amiens, Lord Cornwallis waiting for them at the door of his hotel, and who, without any ceremony, himself opened for them the door of their carriage, giving them a cordial grasp of the hand."[10 - Œuvres de Napoleon III. tome ii. p. 456.]



Hostility of the English Government.


Lord Cornwallis, however, found himself incessantly embarrassed by instructions he was receiving from the ministry at London. They were very reluctantly consenting to peace, being forced to it by the pressure of public opinion. They were, therefore, hoping that obstacles would arise which would enable them, with some plausibility, to renew the war. Napoleon continually wrote to his brother urging him to do every thing in his power to secure the signing of the treaty. In a letter on the 10th of March, he writes,

"The differences at Amiens are not worth making such a noise about. A letter from Amiens caused the alarm in London by asserting that I did not wish for peace. Under these circumstances delay will do real mischief, and may be of great consequence to our squadrons and our expeditions. Have the kindness, therefore, to send special couriers to inform me of what you are doing, and of what you hear; for it is clear to me that, if the terms of peace are not already signed, there is a change of plans in London."



Treaty of Amiens Concluded.


The treaty was signed on the 25th of March, 1802. Joseph immediately prepared to return to Paris. Lord Cornwallis, in taking leave of Joseph, said,

"I must go as soon as possible to London, in order to allay the storm which will there be gathering against me."

"When I arrived in Paris," writes Joseph, "the First Consul was at the opera; he caused me to enter into his box, and presented me to the public in announcing the conclusion of the peace. One can easily imagine the emotions which agitated me, and also him, for he was as tender a friend, and as kind a brother, as he was prodigious as a man and great as a sovereign."

Bernardin de St. Pierre, in his preface to "Paul and Virginia," renders the following homage to the character of Joseph at this time:



Bernardin de St. Pierre.


"About a year and a half ago I was invited by one of the subscribers to the fine edition of Paul and Virginia to come and see him at his country-house. He was a young father of a family, whose physiognomy announced the qualities of his mind. He united in himself every thing which distinguishes as a son, a brother, a husband, a father, and a friend to humanity. He took me in private, and said, 'My fortune, which I owe to the nation, affords me the means of being useful. Add to my happiness by giving me an opportunity of contributing to your own.' This philosopher, so worthy of a throne, if any throne were worthy of him, was Prince Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte."



Talleyrand.


While the treaty of Amiens was under discussion, Talleyrand wrote to Joseph: "Your lot will indeed be a happy one if you are able to secure for your brother that peace which alone his enemies fear. I embrace you, and I love you. I think that this affair will kill me unless it is closed as we desire."

At the conclusion of the treaty, Talleyrand again wrote: "My dear Joseph, – Citizen Dupuis has just arrived. He has been received by the First Consul as the bearer of such good, grand, glorious news as you have just sent by him should be received. Your brother is perfectly satisfied (parfaitement content").



Madame de Staël.


Madame de Staël wrote to Joseph: "Peace with England is the joy of the world. It adds to my joy that it is you who have promoted it, and that every year you have some new occasion to make the whole nation love and applaud you. You have terminated the most important negotiation in the history of France. That glory will be without any alloy."




CHAPTER IV

JOSEPH KING OF NAPLES

1803-1807




Rupture of the Peace of Amiens.


The peace of Amiens was of short duration. In May, 1803 – but fourteen months after the signing of the treaty – England again renewed hostilities without even a declaration of war. This was the signal for new scenes of blood and woe. Napoleon now resolved to assail his implacable foe by carrying his armies into the heart of England. Enormous preparations were made upon the French coast to transport a resistless force across the Channel. Joseph Bonaparte was placed in command of a regiment of the line, which had recently returned, with great renown, from the fields of Italy.

In the midst of these preparations, which excited fearful apprehensions in England, the British Government succeeded in organizing another coalition with Austria and Russia, to fall upon France in the rear. The armies of these gigantic Northern powers commenced their march toward the Rhine. Napoleon broke up the camp of Boulogne and advanced to meet them. The immortal campaigns of Ulm and Austerlitz were the result. Incredible as it may seem, England represented this as an unprovoked invasion of Germany by Napoleon. This incessant assault of the Allies upon France was a great grief to the Emperor. In the midst of all the distractions which preceded this triumphant march, he wrote to his Minister of Finance:

"I am distressed beyond measure at the necessities of my situation, which, by compelling me to live in camps, and engage in distant expeditions, withdraw my attention from what would otherwise be the chief object of my anxiety, and the first wish of my heart – a good and solid organization of all which concerns the interests of banks, manufactures, and commerce."

While Napoleon was absent upon this campaign, Joseph was left in Paris, to attend to the administration of home affairs. This he did, much to the satisfaction of Napoleon, and with great honor to himself. Napoleon was now Emperor of France, and the Senate and the people had declared Joseph and his children heirs of the throne, on failure of Napoleon's issue.



Conspiracy to assassinate Napoleon.


A gigantic conspiracy was formed in England by Count d'Artois, subsequently Charles X., and other French emigrants, for the assassination of Napoleon. The plan was for a hundred resolute men, led by the desperate George Cadoudal, to waylay Napoleon when passing, as was his wont, with merely a small guard of ten outriders, from the Tuileries to Malmaison. The conspirators flattered themselves that this would be considered war, not assassination. The Bourbons were then to raise their banner in France, and the emigrants, lingering upon the frontiers, were to rush into the empire with the Allied armies, and re-establish the throne of the old régime. The Princes of Condé grandfather, son, and grandson, were then in the service and pay of Great Britain, fighting against their native land, and, by the laws of France traitors, exposed to the penalty of death. The grandson, the Duke d'Enghien, was on the French frontier, in the duchy of Baden, waiting for the signal to enter France arms in hand.

It was supposed that he was actively engaged in the conspiracy for the assassination, as he was known frequently to enter France by night and in disguise. But it afterward appeared that these journeys were to visit a young lady to whom the duke was much attached.



Arrest of the Duke d'Enghien.


Napoleon, supposing that the duke was involved in the conspiracy, and indignant in view of these repeated plots, in which the Bourbons seemed to regard him but as a wild beast whom they could shoot down at their pleasure, resolved to teach them that he was not thus to be assailed with impunity. A detachment of soldiers was sent across the border, who arrested the duke in his bed, brought him to Vincennes, where he was tried by court-martial, condemned as a traitor waging war against his native country, and, by a series of accidents, was shot before Napoleon had time to extend that pardon which he intended to grant. The friends of Napoleon do not severely censure him for this deed. His enemies call it wanton murder. Joseph thus speaks of this event:

"The catastrophe of the Duke d'Enghien requires of me some details too honorable to the memory of Napoleon for me to pass them by in silence. Upon the arrival of the duke at Vincennes, I was in my home at Mortfontaine. I was sent for to Malmaison. Scarcely had I arrived at the gate when Josephine came to meet me, very much agitated, to announce the event of the day. Napoleon had consulted Cambaceres and Berthier, who were in favor of the prisoner; but she greatly feared the influence of Talleyrand, who had already made the tour of the park with Napoleon.

"'Your brother,' said she, 'has called for you several times. Hasten to interrupt this long interview; that lame man makes me tremble.'



Joseph's Interview with Napoleon.


"When I arrived at the door of the saloon, the First Consul took leave of M. de Talleyrand, and called me. He expressed his astonishment at the great diversity of opinion of the two last persons whom he had consulted, and demanded mine. I recalled to him his political principles, which were to govern all the factions by taking part with none. I recalled to him the circumstance of his entry into the artillery in consequence of the encouragement which the Prince of Condé had given me to commence a military career. I still remembered the quatrain of the verses composed by the abbé Simon:

"'Condé! quel nom, l'univers le vénère;
A ce pays il est cher à jamais;
Mars l'honore pendant la guerre,
Et Minerve pendant la paix.'[11 - "Condé! what a name! the universe reveres it;To this country it is ever dear;Mars honors it during war,And Minerva during peace."]



Conflicting Views.


"Little did we then think that we should ever be deliberating upon the fate of his grandson. Tears moistened the eyes of Napoleon. With a nervous gesture, which always with him accompanied a generous thought, he said, 'His pardon is in my heart, since it is in my power to pardon him. But that is not enough for me. I wish that the grandson of Condé should serve in our armies. I feel myself sufficiently strong for that.'



Madame de Staël.


"With these impressions I returned to Mortfontaine. The family were at the dinner-table. I took a seat by the side of Madame de Staël, who had at her left M. Mathieu de Montmorency. Madame de Staël, with the assurance which I gave her of the intention of the First Consul to pardon a descendant of the great Condé, exclaimed in characteristic language,

"'Ah! that is right; if it were not so, we should not see here M. Mathieu de Montmorency.'

"But another nobleman present, who had not emigrated, said to me, on the contrary: 'Will it then be permitted to the Bourbons to conspire with impunity? The First Consul is deceived if he think that the nobles who have not emigrated, and particularly the historic nobility, take any deep interest in the Bourbons.' Several others present expressed the same views.



Execution of the Duke d'Enghien.


"The next day, upon my return to Malmaison, I found Napoleon very indignant against Count Real; whose motives he accused, reproaching him with having employed in his government certain men too much compromised in the great excesses of the Revolution. The Duke d'Enghien had been condemned and executed even before the announcement of his trial had been communicated to Napoleon.

"Subsequently he was convinced of the innocence of Real, and of the strange fatality which had caused him for a moment to appear culpable in his eyes. In the mean time, resuming self-control, he said to me, 'Another opportunity has been lost. It would have been admirable to have had, as aid-de-camp, the grandson of the great Condé. But of that there can be no more question. The blow is irremediable. Yes; I was sufficiently strong to allow a descendant of the great Condé to serve in our armies. But we must seek consolation. Undoubtedly, if I had been assassinated by the agents of the family, he would have been the first to have shown himself in France, arms in his hands. I must take the responsibility of the deed. To cast it upon others, even with truth, would have too much the appearance of cowardice, for me to be willing to do it.'



Statement of Joseph Bonaparte.


"Napoleon," continues Joseph, "has never appeared with greater éclat than under these sad and calamitous circumstances. I only learned, several years afterward, in the United States, from Count Real himself, the details of that which passed at the time of the death of the Duke d'Enghien. It was at New York, in the year 1825, at Washington Hall, where we met, by an arrangement with M. Le Ray de Chaumont, the proprietor of some lands, a portion of which he had sold to me and to M. Real, that he informed me how a simple emotion of impatience on his part had very involuntarily the effect of preventing the kindly feeling which the First Consul cherished in favor of the Duke d'Enghien.

"M. Real, one of the four counsellors of state charged with the police of France, had charge of the arrondissement of Paris and of Vincennes. A dispatch was sent to him in the night, informing him of the condemnation of the prince. The police clerk, attending in the chamber which opened into his apartment, had already awoke him twice for reasons of but little importance, which had quite annoyed M. Real. The third dispatch was therefore placed upon his chimney, and did not meet his eye until a late hour in the morning.



Statement of Count Real.


"Opening it, he hastened to Malmaison, where he was preceded by an officer of the gendarmerie, who brought information of the condemnation and execution of the prince. The commission had judged, from the silence of the Government, that he was not to be pardoned. I need not dwell upon the regret, the impatience, the indignation of Napoleon."

The crown of Lombardy was, about this time, offered to Joseph, which he declined, as he did not wish to separate himself from France. The kingdom of Naples was now influenced by England to make an attack upon Napoleon. The King of Naples supposed that France could be easily vanquished, with England, Russia, Austria, and Naples making a simultaneous attack upon her. But the great victory of Austerlitz, which compelled Austria and Russia to withdraw from the coalition, struck the perfidious King of Naples with dismay. France had done him no wrong, and the only apology the Neapolitan Court had for commencing hostilities was, that if the French were permitted to dethrone the Bourbons and to choose their own rulers, the Neapolitan might claim the same privilege.



Expulsion of the English.


A few days after the battle of Austerlitz Joseph received orders from his brother to hasten to the Italian Peninsula, and take command of the Army of Italy, and march upon Naples. The King of Naples had, in addition to his own troops, fourteen thousand Russians and several thousand English auxiliaries. Joseph placed himself at the head of forty thousand French troops, and in February, 1806, entered the kingdom of Naples. The Neapolitans could make no effectual resistance. Joseph soon arrived before Capua, a fortified town about fifteen miles north of the metropolis of the kingdom. Eight thousand of the Neapolitan troops took refuge in the citadel, and made some show of resistance. They soon, however, were compelled to surrender.



Conquest of Naples.


The Neapolitan Court was in a state of consternation. The English precipitately embarked in their ships and fled to Sicily. The Russians escaped to Corfu. The Court, having emptied the public coffers, and even the vaults of the bank, took refuge in Palermo, on the island of Sicily. The prince royal, with a few troops of the Neapolitan army, who adhered to the old monarchy, retreated two or three hundred miles south, to the mountains of Calabria. On the 15th of February, Joseph, at the head of his troops, marched triumphantly into Naples. He not only encountered no resistance, but the population, regarding him as a liberator, received him with acclamations of joy.

On the 30th of March, 1806, Napoleon issued a decree, declaring Joseph king of Naples. The decret was as follows:

"Napoleon, by the grace of God and the constitutions, Emperor of the French and King of Italy, to all those to whom these presents come, salutation.

"The interests of our people, the honor of our crown, and the tranquillity of the Continent of Europe requiring that we should assure, in a stable and definite manner, the lot of the people of Naples and of Sicily, who have fallen into our power by the right of conquest, and who constitute a part of the grand empire, we declare that we recognize, as King of Naples and of Sicily, our well-beloved brother, Joseph Napoleon, Grand Elector of France. This crown will be hereditary, by order of primogeniture, in his descendants masculine, legitimate, and natural," etc.



Debasement of the Neapolitans under the Old Régime.

Debasement of Naples.


The former Government of Naples was detested by the whole people. The warmest advocates of the Allies have never yet ventured to utter a word in its defense. Even the grandees of the realm were heartily glad to be rid of their dissolute, contemptible, and tyrannical queen, who regarded the inhabitants of the kingdom but as her slaves, and the wealth of the kingdom but as her personal dowry, to be squandered for the gratification of herself and her favorites. With great energy Joseph immediately commenced a reform in all the administrative departments. He carefully sought out Neapolitan citizens of integrity, intelligence, and influence, to occupy the important public stations. Accompanied by a guard of chosen men, he made a tour of the country; thus informing himself, by personal observation, of the character of the inhabitants, and of the wants and capabilities of the kingdom. It was indeed a gloomy prospect of indolence and poverty which presented itself to his eye, though the climate was enchanting, with its genial temperature, its brilliant skies, and its fertile soil. The landscape combined all the elements of sublimity and of beauty, with towering mountains and lovely meadows, streams and lakes watering the interior, and harbors inviting the commerce of the world. But the condition of the populace was wretched in the extreme. The Government, despotic and corrupt, seized all the earnings of the people, and consigned nearly the whole population to penury and rags. King Ferdinand and his dissolute queen, Louisa, made an effort to rouse the people to resist the French. Their efforts were, however, entirely in vain. Joseph issued the following proclamation to the Neapolitans, which they read with great satisfaction:





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notes



1


Quelques Mot sur Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte; Œuvres de Napoleon III., tome ii. p. 452.




2


Napoleon's younger brother, father of Napoleon III.




3


Œuvres de Napoleon III., tome deuxième, p. 451.




4


9th Thermidor, 28th of July, 1794. This was the date of the overthrow of Robespierre, and of the termination of the Reign of Terror. The enormous atrocities perpetrated under the name of the Republic had excited general distrust of republican institutions.




5


13th Vendemiaire, 5th of October, 1795, when Napoleon quelled the insurgent sections.




6


18th Fructidor, 4th of September, 1797. On this day the majority of the French Directory overthrew the minority, who were in favor of monarchical institutions. Sixty-three Deputies were banished for conspiring to introduce monarchy. Both councils renewed their oath of hatred against royalty.




7


18th Brumaire, Nov. 9th, 1799.




8


"I hold it for certain that in 1802 the Concordat was, on the part of Napoleon, an act of superior intelligence, much more than of a despotic spirit, and for the Christian religion in France an event as salutary as it was necessary. After the anarchy and the revolutionary orgies, the solemn recognition of Christianity by the State could alone give satisfaction to public sentiment, and assure to the Christian influence the dignity and the stability which it was needful that it should recover." – Meditations sur l'état Actuel de la Religion Chrétienne, par M. Guizot, p. 5.




9


This daughter subsequently married her cousin, the brother of the Emperor Napoleon III., the second son of Louis Bonaparte. He died at an early age, in a campaign for the liberation of Italy.




10


Œuvres de Napoleon III. tome ii. p. 456.




11


"Condé! what a name! the universe reveres it;
To this country it is ever dear;
Mars honors it during war,
And Minerva during peace."