Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume II
TextBernadotte having declined doing this, Buonaparte said – "I see you think you can count upon Moreau, Bournonville, and other generals. You will see them all come to me – Moreau himself;" and, speaking very fast, he named about thirty members of the Council of Ancients, whom Bernadotte had believed to be the greatest friends of the constitution of the year IV. "You don't know mankind," added he; "they promise much, and perform little."
Bernadotte having declared that he did not choose to be involved in a rebellion of this kind, nor to overturn a constitution which had cost the lives of a million of men, – "Well," said Buonaparte, "you will stay till I receive the decree of the Council of Ancients; for till then I am nothing." Bernadotte, raising his voice, said – "I am a man whom you may put to death, but whom you shall not detain against his will." – "Well, then!" said Buonaparte, softening his voice, "give me your word that you will do nothing against me." – "Yes, as a citizen; but if I am called upon by the Directory, or if the Legislative Body gives me the command of its guard, I shall oppose you, and you shall not have the upper hand." – "What do you mean by as a citizen?" – "I will not go to the barracks, nor places of public resort, to inflame the minds of the soldiers and the people."
"I am quite easy," answered Buonaparte; "I have taken my measures; you will receive no appointment; they are more afraid of your ambition than of mine. I wish merely to save the Republic; I want nothing for myself; I shall retire to Malmaison, after having brought about me a circle of friends. If you wish to be of the number, you shall be made very welcome." Bernadotte said in reply, as he was going away – "As to your being a good friend, that may be; but I am convinced that you will always be the worst of masters."
Bernadotte left the room; Buonaparte followed him into the lobby, and said to Joseph with an agitated voice – "Follow him." Bernadotte passed through a crowd of generals, officers of rank, and soldiers, who filled the court of the house, and a part of the street, making some impression upon them by his looks, which expressed his disapprobation of their conduct. Joseph followed Bernadotte, and came up to him in the court of the house. He asked him to go to his house, in the rue du Rocher, where he had assembled several members of the Legislative Body. When he arrived at Joseph's, he found a dozen of persons, among whom were several deputies devoted to Buonaparte, and particularly Salicetti. Breakfast was served. During the few moments they remained at table, they spoke of the resolutions which would be taken, and Joseph repeated that his brother wished for nothing but the consolidation of freedom, that he might then have it in his power to live like a philosopher at Malmaison.
Bernadotte went to the garden of the Tuileries, and passed along the front of the 79th demi-brigade. The officers having recognised him, though not in uniform, came up to him, and asked him for information as to what was going to happen. Bernadotte answered in general terms, expressing his wish that the public tranquillity might not be endangered by the movement about to take place. The soldiers, having in their turn recognised the general who had commanded them at the siege and taking of Maestricht, loudly expressed their astonishment at his not being along with the generals, who, said they, were then deciding, in the palace, the fate of France.
Bernadotte having observed what he might expect, in case of need, from this corps, and from some detachments before whom he had presented himself on the Boulevard and on the Pont de la Révolution, went to General Jourdan's, presuming that the Directory would send for him to take care of the safety of the government. He found at Jourdan's a good many members of the Council of Five Hundred, among others Augereau, afterwards Duke of Castiglione. He had scarcely arrived, when a great number of the members came to announce the communication of the decree of the Council of Ancients, which, in virtue of the 102d article of the Constitution, transferred the sitting of the Legislative Body to St. Cloud.
Bernadotte, on his return home, learned from his wife that the Adjutant-General Rapatel, attached to General Moreau's staff, had just been there, and that he had been sent by Buonaparte and Moreau, to persuade him to join them at the Tuileries. Buonaparte had said to him – "You have served under General Bernadotte. I know that he has confidence in you. Tell him that all his friends are assembled at the Tuileries, and that they are desirous of seeing him among them; add that they love their country as much as he, and that they strongly wish to see him appear among the number of those to whom she this day owes her safety."
Siêyes and Roger Ducos had already joined Buonaparte at the Tuileries. The three Directors, Gohier the President, Moulins and Barras, remained at the Luxembourg. The secretary-general, Lagarde, was still faithful to the majority of the Directory. As General Bernadotte had foreseen, that majority cast their eyes on him for the ministry of war, and the general command of the troops, and of the national guards of the 17th division. The resignation of Barras, and the defection of the secretary-general, put a stop to this nomination. Buonaparte, having no longer any thing to fear, made a new division of the different commands, and assigned to Moreau, with an hundred horse, that of the Luxembourg, where Gohier and Moulins were detained.
Moreau, dissatisfied with the indifference with which he had been treated by Buonaparte, and acquainted with his intentions and projects, was already thinking of forsaking his cause, which he regarded as unjust and traitorous to the nation. He again desired Rapatel to go, towards evening, to Bernadotte's, to invite him, on the part of Moreau, to go to the Luxembourg, that they might consult together as to the measures to be taken for preventing Buonaparte from seizing the Dictatorship. Bernadotte's answer to these overtures was, that he was bound by the word of honour which he had given, not to undertake any thing as a citizen; but that he was free to act if called on or summoned to do so by a public man; that if Moreau would march out of the Luxembourg, at the head of the detachment which he commanded, present himself at his door, and summon him, in the name of the public good, to make common cause with him in the defence of liberty and of the constitution which had been sworn to, he, Bernadotte, would mount his horse with his aides-de-camp, put himself under Moreau's command, address the troops, and cause Buonaparte to be immediately arrested and tried as a deserter from the army of Egypt, and as having violated the constitution, by accepting a command given him by a mere fraction of the Legislative Body. Moreau, bound down by the duty of military discipline, according to which he was under the orders of General Buonaparte, did not agree to Bernadotte's proposal; and the latter, therefore, did not think himself at liberty to go to the Luxembourg.
Bernadotte, from seven o'clock till ten, had conferences with Salicetti, Augereau, Jourdan, Gareau, and a dozen of the most influential members of the Council of Five Hundred. It was decided, that, next morning, Bernadotte should be named commandant of the guard of the Legislative Body, and of all the troops in the capital, and they separated. Salicetti ran to the Tuileries to tell Buonaparte what had happened, and he, who dreaded so courageous an adversary as Bernadotte, charged Salicetti to be present next morning at five o'clock, at the preparatory meeting which was to take place before going to St. Cloud, and to tell every one of the deputies, that he, Buonaparte, had made the greatest efforts to prevent a decree of deportation being issued against the deputies who had formed the design of giving to Bernadotte the command of the armed force.
On the 19th, at seven o'clock in the morning, Generals Jourdan and Augereau, followed by eight or ten deputies of the Council of Five Hundred, (among whom were Gareau and Talot,) went to General Bernadotte's in the rue Cisalpine. They informed him that Salicetti had made them aware, on the part of Buonaparte, that Siêyes had proposed to arrest a number of the deputies of the two Councils, in order to prevent their appearing at St. Cloud. They asked Bernadotte what he thought of the events of the day. He saw nothing in the communication of Salicetti, but the desire of rendering these deputies favourable to Buonaparte. Some of these legislators seemed to feel grateful for the service which Buonaparte had done them the evening before. Bernadotte did not appreciate this act of generosity as they did; but he agreed in their opinion as to the conciliatory measures which they seemed to wish to adopt, and, entering into their views, he explained himself in these terms: – "Let one of you mount the tribune; let him describe succinctly the internal situation of France, and her successes abroad; let him say, that the departure of an army for Egypt, while it has involved us in war, has deprived us of an army of more than 30,000 veterans, and a great many experienced generals; that, nevertheless, the Republic is triumphant; that the coalition is broken up, since Suwarrow is returned to Russia; that the English, with a prince of the blood at their head, have left the Batavian republic and retired to England; that the line of defence is maintained between the Alps and the Ligurian Appenines; that 200,000 conscripts are hastening to arrange themselves into battalions to reinforce the armies, and 40,000 cavalry are raising; that the insurrection of the west is reduced to a few scattered bands, and that a royalist army in the Upper Garonne has been destroyed or dispersed; that, to obtain a peace quite as honourable as that of Campo Formio, it is only necessary for France to maintain this formidable attitude; that, in order to maintain it, union and mutual confidence are indispensable; that, although the Council of Ancients have violated the constitution, in naming Buonaparte general-in-chief of the 17th division, and in giving him the command of the national guard and the guard of the Directory, the Council of Five Hundred is not now engaged in deliberating on this violation of the constitution, but rather on the means of giving security to the French people, the two Councils, and the Government of the State; that, for this purpose, the Council of Five Hundred names General Bernadotte colleague to General Buonaparte; that these two generals shall understand each other in regard to the employment of the armed force, and the distribution of commands, in case of this force being employed; but that the tranquillity which prevails in Paris and the vicinity, renders it certain that there will be no occasion for this force being put in motion. Send me this decree; in twenty minutes after receiving it, I shall be in the midst of you with my aides-de-camp; I shall take the command of the corps that I shall find on my way, and we shall see what is to be done. If it is necessary to declare Buonaparte an outlaw, you will always have on your side a general, and a great proportion at least of the troops."
The deputies immediately set off for St. Cloud. The unhappy custom of delivering set speeches from the tribune, produced the loss of precious time. The debate became warm: and the taking individually the oath to the constitution caused a useless loss of more than an hour and a half. No other resolution was taken. Buonaparte made his appearance, and the events which then happened at St. Cloud are well known.
After having been repulsed from the Council of Five Hundred, Buonaparte, stammering with agitation, addressed the soldiers. "Are you for me?" – "We are for the Republic," said they – (It was at this time that Lucien, President of the Council, harangued the troops.) What would have become of him had Bernadotte been there? Buonaparte felt this himself; for he said, at this period – "I am not afraid of Bernadotte's consenting to my being assassinated; but he will harangue the troops, and that is what I have to fear."
Buonaparte was made aware, the same evening, of the language which Bernadotte had used to the deputies at his house in the rue Cisalpine. The expressions he had really made use of, though they must have been disagreeable enough to Buonaparte, particularly in so far as related to his escape from Egypt, and his ulterior designs against the liberty of France, were exaggerated, and represented to Buonaparte so as to indicate personal hatred.
Buonaparte, though he never found an opportunity of taking open revenge against Bernadotte, let slip no opportunity of injuring him, by placing him, as a general, in difficult situations, and leaving him, in the most perilous and delicate circumstances, without instructions or orders. The following occurrence, which took place soon afterwards, will give a correct idea of this conduct on the part of Buonaparte.
The measures for restoring tranquillity in the west of France, in the month of January 1800, had never been entirely completed; for, at the same moment that they were taken, several departments were put out of the pale of the constitution. The Chouans of these departments were organised as militia, and as guerillas, who plundered the diligences, and murdered the persons who became proprietors of the national domains. They were regularly paid, and had communications with the enemies of the Republic, by means of the English fleets which threatened the coasts. At this critical moment, Bernadotte was invested with the civil and military command of these departments. By his firm and prudent conduct, he repressed the seditious movements, and re-established good order and obedience to the laws. Many free corps, numbers of individuals belonging to which, for want of being properly employed, were in the pay of the Chouan chiefs, were organised as regular troops; and by this measure he furnished government with the means of drawing from these departments troops for the army of Italy. But when these troops were to begin their march to Dijon, a serious insurrection broke out at Vannes, on the 28th Fructidor, year VIII., (4th September 1800.) The 52d demi-brigade refused to march till they should receive their arrears of pay. The commandant and officers who wished to restore order among them were maltreated. Bernadotte being informed of this transaction, hastened to Vannes to quell the insurrection; but the corps had left the place. He gave orders to General Liebert, commanding the 22d military division, to assemble the 52d demi-brigade on its way to Tours; to come before it, followed by his staff and the council of war; to make the military penal code be read; to order the colonels to point out one or two men in each company who had made themselves most remarkable in the revolt of the 28th; to deliver these men to the council of war, and to have them tried on the spot, &c. &c.
Bernadotte's orders were executed on the 4th Vendemaire, (25th September,) when the 52d demi-brigade was drawn up on the parade at Tours, and the ringleaders of the revolt arrested in presence of a great number of spectators, without the smallest disturbance taking place.
Bernadotte made a report of this event to the First Consul, and to Carnot, the minister of war; but as the result of the measures he had taken was not yet known, the Consul put on the margin of the report: – "General Bernadotte has not done well in taking such severe measures against the 52d demi-brigade, not having sufficient means to bring them to order in the heart of a town where the garrison is not strong enough to repress mutiny."
The result was different. The soldiers returned to their duty, and themselves denounced the authors of the insurrection. The demi-brigade continued its route to Italy; and, two days afterwards, the Consul was profuse in his encomiums on the prudence, foresight, and firmness of the general whose conduct he had been so hasty in disapproving. – The letter which he wrote to Bernadotte on this subject, was in these terms: —
"Paris, 10th Vendemaire, year IX.
"I have read with interest, Citizen-general, the account of what you have done to restore order in the 52d, and also the report of General Liebert, of the 5th Vendemaire. Give this officer the assurance of the satisfaction of Government with his conduct. Your promotion of the colonel of brigade to the rank of general of brigade is confirmed. I desire that this brave officer may come to Paris. He has given an example of firmness and energy most honourable to a military man.
"I salute you,"Buonaparte."
All men, doubtless, are liable to err; but the eagerness of the Consul to attach blame to the conduct of a military and political commander, charged with the maintenance of discipline and obedience to the laws, appears evidently to have proceeded more from private hatred than from any duty which the government had to perform; for there was no occasion to give his judgment so precipitately, and he might have waited the final result of the measures he censured, more especially as the scene had taken place in a district agitated by faction and civil war. Bernadotte's friends, who were still in the ministry of war, and even frequented the saloons of the Consul, were anxious to make him acquainted with Buonaparte's evil intentions towards him. Every despatch which he received informed him that the police were forming secret intrigues and conspiracies; that agents were scattered among the Army of the West and the Army of the Rhine, to endeavour to make the staffs of those armies commit themselves, in order to have a pretext for disgracing the generals who commanded them. Reports were circulated among the members of these staffs; one day the Consul was dying; next day the population of Paris had risen, and the constitution of the year IV. was re-established, with the necessary modifications. The persons employed in raising these reports, watched the looks of the generals, and reported their slightest expressions. These snares roused the indignation of General Bernadotte, and the army he commanded; and it is not going too far to say, that it was in the Army of the West and the Army of the Rhine that plans for the preservation and security of constitutional freedom originated. Men who were obliged by profession and duty to yield to the force of military discipline, and who neither had, nor wished to have any thing to do with the intricacies of civil policy, were all at once inspired with a new spirit, and tacitly formed an association guided by their opinions; so much so, that, during the course of the year 1801, the Consul perceived, from the reserve and behaviour of many of the generals towards him, that a change had taken place in the confidence entertained as to his intentions on the subject of public liberty and individual security.
This reserve, the cause of which he penetrated, determined him to make a set of new creatures, and bring around him men from whom he was sure, as he said, to meet with no contradiction. His having laid down this principle of action, and his well-known system of degrading every thing, were the cause of the entry of foreign armies into France, and the fall of his dynasty.
END OF VOLUME SECOND
FOOTNOTES:
Dugommier was killed on the following November, by the bursting of a field-piece. Napoleon bequeathed to his descendant 100,000 francs, "as a testimonial of gratitude for the esteem, affection, and friendship of that brave and intrepid general."
"Britannia needs no bulwark,
No towers along the steep;
Her march is on the mountain-wave,
Her home is on the deep."
"Happily, he allowed himself to be directed entirely by the young Buonaparte." – Thiers, tom. vi., p. 288.
"Napoleon owed the appointment to the command of the army of Italy to his signal services under Dumerbion." – Jomini, tom. viii., p. 49.
First King. Here, take five guineas to these warlike men.
Second King. And here, five more, which makes the sum just ten.
Herald. We have not seen so much the Lord knows when! – S.
" – procul obscuros colles humilemque videmus
Italiam. Italiam! primus conclamat Achates;
Italiam! læto socii clamore salutant."
Virg. Æneid, Book III. – S.
"Now every star before Aurora flies,
Whose glowing blushes streak the purple skies;
When the dim hills of Italy we view'd,
That peep'd by turns, and dived beneath the flood,
Lo! Italy appears, Achates cries,
And, Italy! with shouts the crowd replies."
Dryden.
"Soldiers! you have rushed like a torrent from the top of the Apennines: you have overthrown, dispersed, all that opposed your march. Piedmont, delivered from Austrian tyranny, indulges her natural sentiments of peace and friendship towards France. Milan is yours; and the republican flag waves throughout Lombardy. The Dukes of Parma and Modena are indebted for their political existence only to your generosity. The army which so proudly threatened you, can now find no barrier to protect it against your courage: neither the Po, the Ticino, nor the Adda, could stop you a single day: those vaunted bulwarks of Italy opposed you in vain; you passed them as rapidly as the Apennines. These great successes have filled the heart of your country with joy; your representatives have ordered a festival to commemorate your victories, which has been held in every commune of the republic. There your fathers, your mothers, your wives, sisters, and mistresses, rejoiced in your victories, and proudly boasted of belonging to you. Yes, soldiers! you have done much. – But remains there nothing more to perform? Shall it be said of us, that we know how to conquer, but not how to make use of victory? Shall posterity reproach us with having found our Capua in Lombardy? – But I see you already hasten to arms; an effeminate repose is tedious to you; the days which are lost to glory, are lost to your happiness. Well, then! let us set forth; we have still forced marches to make, enemies to subdue, laurels to gather, injuries to avenge! Let those who have sharpened the daggers of civil war in France, who have basely murdered our ministers, and burnt our ships at Toulon, tremble! The hour of vengeance has struck. But let the people of all countries be free from apprehension; we are the friends of the people everywhere, and more particularly of the descendants of Brutus and Scipio, and the great men whom we have taken for our models. To restore the capitol, to replace there the statues of the heroes who rendered it illustrious, with suitable honours, to awaken the Roman people, stupified by several ages of slavery – such is the fruit of our victories. They will form an historical era for posterity: yours will be the immortal glory of having changed the face of the finest part of Europe. The French people, free, respected by the whole world, will give to Europe a glorious peace, which will indemnify her for the sacrifices of every kind, which, for the last six years, she has been making. You will then return to your homes; and your countrymen will say, as they point you out – 'He belonged to the army of Italy.'" —Moniteur, No. 254, June 2.
On reading over this proclamation one day at St. Helena, the Emperor exclaimed – "And yet they have the folly to say I could not write!" – Las Cases, tom. iii., p. 86.
"Pavia," said the Emperor, "is the only place I ever gave up to pillage. I had promised it to the soldiers for twenty-four hours; but after three hours I could bear it no longer, and put an end to it. Policy and morality are equally opposed to the system. Nothing is so certain to disorganize and completely ruin an army." – Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 326. See also Botta, tom. v., p. 465; Jomini, tom. viii., p. 137; and Lacretelle, tom. xiii., p. 199.
Mattei was born at Rome in 1744. Compelled, in 1810, to repair to France with his colleagues, he was banished by Napoleon to Rhetel, for refusing to be present at his marriage with Maria Louisa. The cardinal died in 1820.
"After the battle of Arcola, the active French army amounted to 36,380 while 10,230 formed the blockade of Mantua." – Jomini, tom. ix., p. 262.
"Arma diu sênior desueta trementibus ævo
Circumdat nequicquam humeris, et inutile ferrum
Cingitur" —
Æneid, Lib. II.
"He – when he saw his regal town on fire,
His ruin'd palace, and his entering foes,
On every side inevitable woes;
In arms disused invests his limbs, decay'd,
Like them, with age; a late and useless aid."
Dryden.
Spiegò quel crudo il seno, e'l manto scosse,
Ed a guerra mortal, disse, vi sfido:
E'l disse in atto si feroce ed empio
Che parve aprir di Giano il chiuso tempio.
La Gerusalemme Liberata, Canto II.– S.
His lap he open'd and spread forth his cloke,
To mortal wars, he saies, I you defie —
And this he uttered with fell rage and hate
And seem'd of Janus' church t' undoe the gate.
Fairfax.
"The capture of Malta had been secured before Buonaparte left Toulon, by the intrigues and largesses of Poussielque. These have been laid open by the Bailli Teignie, and others, and made the subject of a formal accusation against the Grand-master Hompesch, by the knights who had taken refuge in Germany, Russia," &c. —Intercepted Correspondence, part i., preface, p. vi.
"The sum awarded to the grand-master for his baseness was 600,000 francs. On quitting the island which he had not had the courage to defend, he further disgraced himself by kissing the hand of the conqueror who had despoiled him of his dominions." – Thibaudeau, tom. iv., p. 96.
"'The people, among whom you are going to live, are Mahometans. The first article of their faith is "There is no other God but God, and Mahomet is his prophet." Do not contradict them. Act with them as you did with the Jews and with the Italians. Treat their muftis and their imans with respect, as you did the rabbis and the bishops. You must act with the same spirit of toleration towards the ceremonies prescribed by the Koran, that you did to the synagogues and the convents, to the religions of Moses and of Jesus Christ. The Roman legions protected all religions. You will find here customs which differ from those of Europe: you must accustom yourselves to them.
"'The people among whom we are going, treat women differently from us; but in every country, he who violates them is a monster. Pillage enriches but a very few men: it dishonours us, it destroys our resources, and it renders those our enemies whom it is our interest to have for friends. The first city we shall arrive at was built by Alexander, and every step we take we shall meet with objects capable of exciting emulation.'"
"I send you the proclamation to the inhabitants of the country. It has produced an effect altogether astonishing. The Bedouins, enemies of the Mameloucs, and who, properly speaking, are neither more nor less than intrepid robbers, sent us back, as soon as they had read it, thirty of our people whom they had made prisoners, with an offer of their services against the Mameloucs." – Louis Buonaparte; Intercepted Correspondence, part i., p. 7
"People of Cairo! I am satisfied with your conduct. You have done right not to take any part against me: I am come to destroy the race of the Mamelukes, and to protect the trade and the natives of the country. Let all those who are under any fear be composed; and let those who have quitted their houses return to them. Let prayers be offered up to-day, as usual, for I wish that they may be always continued. Entertain no fear for your families, your houses, your property, and, above all, the religion of your Prophet, whom I love."
"Your husband has been killed by a cannon-shot, while fighting on his deck. He died without pain, and by the best death, and that which is thought by soldiers most enviable. I am keenly sensible to your grief. The moment which severs us from the object we love is terrible; it insulates us from all the earth; it inflicts on the body the agonies of death; the faculties of the soul are annihilated, and its relations with the universe subsist only through the medium of a horrible dream, which alters every thing. Mankind appear colder and more selfish than they really are. In this situation we feel that, if nothing obliged us to live, it would be much best to die; but when, after this first thought, we press our children to our hearts, tears and tender feelings revive the sentiments of our nature, and we live for our offspring; yes, madam, see in this very moment, how they open your heart to melancholy: you will weep with them, you will bring them up from infancy – you will talk to them of their father, of your sorrow, of the loss which you and the Republic have sustained. After having once more attached your mind to the world by filial and maternal love, set some value on the friendship and lively regard which I shall always feel for the wife of my friend. Believe that there are a few men who deserve to be the hope of the afflicted, because they understand the poignancy of mental sufferings."
"L'Orient blew up about eleven in the evening. The whole horizon seemed on fire, the earth shook, and the smoke which proceeded from the vessel ascended heavily in a mass, like an immense black balloon. It then brightened up, and exhibited the objects of all descriptions, which had been precipitated on the scene of conflict. What a terrible moment of fear and desolation for the French, who witnessed this awful catastrophe!" – Louis Buonaparte.
'Les Français sont las de chercher désormais
Des climats que pour eux le destin n'a point faits,
Ils n'abandonnent point leur fertile patrie
Pour languir aux deserts de l'aride Arabie.'
When the men found themselves in the midst of the Desert, surrounded by the boundless ocean of sand, they began to question the generosity of their general; they thought he had observed singular moderation in having promised each of them only seven acres – 'The rogue,' said they, 'might with safety give us as much as he pleases; we should not abuse his good-nature.'" – Las Cases, tom. i., p. 210.