Napoleon's Letters To Josephine Part 79

The coronation ceremony was waiting, and the Pope, secretly solicited by Josephine, insisted on a religious marriage first and foremost. The Pope suffered forthwith, but the other bill of costs was not exacted till five years after date.

No. 12.

Wednesday, January 12th.

_King of Westphalia._--Madame Durand (_Napoleon and Marie Louise_) says that, forced to abandon his wife (the beautiful and energetic Miss Paterson) and child, Jerome "had vowed he would never have any relations with a wife who had been thus forced upon him." For three years he lavished his attentions upon almost all the beauties of the Westphalian court. The queen, an eye-witness of this conduct, bore it with mild and forbearing dignity; she seemed to see and hear nothing; in short, her demeanour was perfect. The king, touched by her goodness, weary of his conquests, and repentant of his behaviour, was only anxious for an opportunity of altering the state of things.

Happily the propitious moment presented itself. The right wing of the palace of Ca.s.sel, in which the queen's apartments were situated, took fire; alarmed by the screams of her women the queen awoke and sprang out of her bed, to be caught in the arms of the king and carried to a place of safety. From that time forth the royal couple were united and happy.

No. 13.

Sat.u.r.day, January 13th.

_Sensible._--This was now possible after a month's mourning. In the early days, according to Madame Remusat, her mind often wandered, But Napoleon himself encouraged the Court to visit her, and the road to Malmaison was soon a crowded one. As the days pa.s.sed, however, life became sadly monotonous. Reading palled on Josephine, as did whist and the daily feeding of her golden pheasants and guinea-fowls. Remained "Patience"! Was it the "General" she played or the "Emperor," or did she find distraction in the "Demon"?

No. 14.

_D'Audenarde._--Napoleon's handsome equerry, whom Mlle. d'Avrillon calls "un homme superbe." His mother was Josephine's favourite _dame du palais_. Madame Lalaing, Viscountess d'Audenarde, _nee_ Peyrac, was one of the old regime who had been ruined by the Revolution.

No. 16.

Tuesday, January 23rd.

On January 21st a Privy Council was summoned to approve of Marie Louise as their "choice of a consort, who may give an heir to the throne" (Thiers). Cambaceres, Fouche, and Murat wished for the Russian princess; Lebrun, Cardinal Fesch, and King Louis for a Saxon one; but Talleyrand, Champagny, Maret, Berthier, Fontanes were for Austria.

No. 17.

Sunday, January 28th.

No. 18.

Josephine had heard she was to be banished from Paris, and so had asked to come to the elysee to prove the truth or otherwise of the rumour.

_L'elysee._--St. Amand gives the following interesting _precis_: "Built by the Count d'Evreux in 1718, it had belonged in succession to the Marchioness de Pompadour, to the financier Beaujon, a Croesus of the eighteenth century, and to the d.u.c.h.esse de Bourbon. Having, under the Revolution, become national property, it had been hired by the caterers of public entertainments, who gave it the name of L'elysee.

In 1803 it became the property of Murat, who, becoming King of Naples, ceded it to Napoleon in 1808. Here Napoleon signed his second abdication, here resided Alexander I. in 1815, and here Josephine's grandson effected the _Coup d'etat_ (1851). When the Senatus-Consultus fixed the revenue of Josephine, Napoleon not only gave her whatever rights he had in Malmaison, viz., at least 90 per cent. of the total cost, but the palace of the elysee, its gardens and dependencies, with the furniture then in use." The latter residence was, however, for her life only.

No. 19.

February 3rd is the date.

_L'elysee._--After the first receptions the place is far worse than Malmaison. Schwartzenberg, Talleyrand, the Princess Pauline, Berthier, even her old friend Cambaceres are giving b.a.l.l.s,[86] while the Emperor goes nearly every night to a theatre. The carriages pa.s.s by the elysee, but do not stop. "It is as if the palace were in quarantine, with the yellow flag floating."

No. 20.

_Bessieres' country-house._--M. Ma.s.son says Grignon, but unless this house is called after the chateau of that name in Provence, he must be mistaken.

No. 21.

_Rambouillet._--He had taken the Court with him, and was there from February 19th to the 23rd, the date of this letter. While there he had been in the best of humours. On his return he finds it necessary to write his future wife and to her father--and to pen a legible letter to the latter gives him far more trouble than winning a battle against the Austrians, if not a.s.sisted by General Danube.

_Adieu._--Sick and weary, Josephine returns to Malmaison, Friday, March 9th, and even this is not long to be hers, for the new Empress is almost already on her way. The marriage at Vienna took place on March 11th, with her uncle Charles,[87] the hero of Essling, for Napoleon's proxy; on the 13th she leaves Vienna, and on the 23rd reaches Strasbourg. On the 27th she meets Napoleon at Compiegne, spends three days with him in the chateau there, and arrives at St.

Cloud on April 1st, where the civil marriage is renewed, followed by the triumphal entry into Paris, and the religious ceremony on April 2nd. This day Josephine reaches the chateau of Navarre.

FOOTNOTES

[78] By here subordinating himself to the Senate, the Emperor was preparing a rod for his own back hereafter.

[79] This clause gives considerable trouble to Lacepede and Regnauld.

They cannot even find a precedent whether, if they met, Josephine or Marie Louise would take precedence of the other.

[80] In addition to this, Napoleon gives her 40,000 a year from his privy purse, but keeps most of it back for the first two years to pay her 120 creditors. (For interesting details see Ma.s.son, _Josephine Repudiee_.)

[81] Which agrees with Madame d'Avrillon, who says they left the Tuileries at 2.30. Meneval says Napoleon left for Trianon a few hours later. Savary writes erroneously that they left the following morning.

[82] M. Ma.s.son seems to indicate a visit on December 16th, but does not give his authority (_Josephine Repudiee_, 114).

[83] _Correspondence of Napoleon I._, No. 15,952.

[84] _New Letters of Napoleon_, 1898.

[85] Canon Ainger's comparison.

[86] See Baron Lejeune for an interesting account of a chess quadrille at a dance given by the Italian Minister, Marescalchi.

SERIES N

_Navarre_, on the site of an old dwelling of Rollo the Sea-King, was built by Jeanne of France, Queen of Navarre, Countess of Evreux. At the time of the Revolution it belonged to the Dukes of Bouillon, and was confiscated. In February 1810, Napoleon determined to purchase it, and on March 10th instructed his secretary of state, Maret, to confer the Duchy of Navarre, purchased by letters patent, on Josephine and her heirs male. The old square building was, however, utterly unfit to be inhabited: not a window would shut, there was neither paper nor tapestry, all the wainscoting was rotten, draughts and damp everywhere, and no heating apparatus.[88] What solace to know its beautiful situation, its capabilities? No wonder if her household, banished to such a place, sixty-five miles from the "capital of capitals," should rebel, and secessions headed by Madame Ney become for a time general. Whist and piquet soon grow stale in such a house and with such surroundings, and even _trictrac_ with the old bishop of Evreux becomes tedious. Eugene as usual brings suns.h.i.+ne in his path, and helps to dispel the gloom caused by the idle gossip imported from Paris--that Josephine is not to return to Malmaison, and the like.

No. 1.

This was Josephine's second letter, says D'Avrillon, the first being answered _viva voce_ by Eugene.

_To Malmaison._--Napoleon had promised Josephine permission to return to Malmaison, and would not recant: his new wife was, however, very jealous of Josephine, and very much hurt at her presence at Malmaison.

Napoleon managed to be away from Paris for six weeks after Josephine's arrival at Malmaison.