Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume II

600

Las Cases, tom. i., p. 271; O'Meara's Napoleon in Exile, vol. i., p. 480; Fouché, tom. i., p. 154.

601

"The duchess breakfasted with Josephine at Malmaison; and the conversation turning on London, the emigrants, and the French princes, Madame de Guiche mentioned, that as she happened, a few days before, to be at the house of the Count d'Artois, she had heard some persons ask the prince what he intended to do for the first consul in the event of his restoring the Bourbons; and that the prince had replied, 'I would immediately make him constable of the kingdom, and every thing else he might choose. But even that would not be enough: we would raise on the Carrousel a lofty and magnificent column, surmounted with a statue of Buonaparte crowning the Bourbons.' As soon as the first consul entered, Josephine eagerly repeated to him the circumstance which the duchess had related. 'And did you not reply,' said her husband, 'that the corpse of the first consul would have made the pedestal of the column?' The duchess received orders that very night to quit Paris." – Las Cases, tom. i., p. 272.

602

The opinions of the royal family were nobly expressed in a letter written by the Prince of Condé to the Comte d'Artois, at a later period, 24th January, 1802, which will be hereafter quoted at length. – S.

603

It is said in the Memoirs of Fouché, (vol. i., p. 180,) that the infernal machine was the invention originally of a Jacobin named Chevalier, assisted by Veycer, one of the same party; that they even made an experiment of its power, by exploding an engine of the kind behind the Convent de la Saltpétrière; that this circumstance drew on them the attention of the police, and that they were arrested. It does not appear by what means the Royalists became privy to the Jacobin plot, nor is the story in all its parts very probable; yet it would seem it must be partly true, since the attempt by means of the infernal machine was at first charged upon the Jacobins, in consequence of Chevalier's being known to have had some scheme in agitation, to be executed by similar means in the course of the previous year. – S.

604

Las Cases, tom. i., p. 374.

605

"I was in the house when the first consul arrived. On entering his box, as usual, he took the front seat; and as all eyes were fixed upon him, he affected the greatest calm." – Bourrienne.

606

Las Cases, tom. i., p. 374; Fouché, tom. i., p. 184; Savary, tom. i., p. 227.

607

Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 414; Fouché, tom. i., p. 191.

608

Gourgaud, tom. i., p. 154.

609

Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 422; Fouché, tom. i., p. 196.

610

See ante, p. 296 (#Page_296), and vol. i., pp. 304, 305, notes.

611

"Bourrienne offered to inform me exactly of all the proceedings of Buonaparte for 25,000 francs per month. The proposal was accepted, and, on my side, I had reason to be satisfied with his dexterity and accuracy. This personage was replete with ability and talent, but his greediness of gain very shortly caused his disgrace." – Fouché, tom. i., p. 163.

612

"Josephine, in conformity to our conditions, cemented by a thousand francs per day, instructed me in all that passed in the interior of the castle." – Fouché, tom. i., p. 154.

613

Fouché, tom. i., p. 165.

614

"How," exclaims Fouché, "could I possibly reform the state, while the press had too much liberty? I therefore determined upon a decisive blow. At one stroke I suppressed eleven popular journals. I caused their presses to be seized, and arrested their editors, whom I accused of sowing dissension among the citizens, of blasting private character, misrepresenting motives, reanimating factions, and rekindling animosities." —Mémoires, tom. i., p. 81.

615

Considerations sur la Révolution Française, tom. ii., p. 301.

616

"Madame de Staël had not been banished; but she was ordered to a distance from the capital. She has, no doubt, been told, that Napoleon had, of his own accord, ordered her banishment; but this was by no means the case. I know in what manner the circumstance originated, and can safely assert, that when he forced her from her attachment to the world, and ordered her to retire into the country, he only yielded to the repeated entreaties, and the unfavourable reports made to him; for, it must be acknowledged, that he paid far too much deference to her notions of self-consequence, and to her work on Germany. She assumed the right to advise, foresee, and control, in matters in which the Emperor felt himself fully qualified to act upon his own judgment. To get rid of the annoyance, he sent her to distribute her advice at a distance from him." – Savary, tom. iii., p. 4.

617

For a copy of the treaty, see Annual Register, vol. xliii., p. 302.

618

The Pope's Brief to the Archbishops and Bishops of France. See Annual Register, vol. xliii., p. 308.

619

"One day he assured the prelates, that, in his opinion, there was no religion but the Catholic, which was truly founded on ancient tradition; and on this subject he usually displayed to them some erudition acquired the day before; then, when he was with the philosophers, he said to Cabanis, 'Do you know what this Concordat is which I have just signed? It is the vaccination of religion, and in fifty years there will be none in France.'" – Mad. de Staël, tom. ii., p. 275.

620

Jean-Etienne-Marie Portalis was born at Beausset in 1746. He died at Paris in 1807. A posthumous treatise, "Sur l'Usage et l'Abus de l'Esprit Philosophique, pendant le 18e Siècle," was published in 1820, by his son.

621

Fouché, tom. i., p. 225.

622

Mad. de Staël, tom. ii., p. 278; Montgaillard, tom. v., p. 443. – "On the way from the Tuileries to Notre Dame, Lannes and Augereau wished to get out of the carriage on finding that they were to be carried to mass; and would have done so, had not an order from Buonaparte prevented them. They went then to Notre Dame; but on the morrow, when the consul asked Augereau how he liked the ceremony, he replied, 'Oh, all was very fine; there only wanted the million of men who devoted themselves to death, in order to destroy what we are now establishing.' Buonaparte was much irritated at this observation." – Bourrienne.

623

Montholon, tom. i., p. 121.

624

"The Concordat was necessary to religion, to the Republic, to government: the temples were shut up, the priests were persecuted. The Concordat rebuilt the altars, put an end to disorders, commanded the faithful to pray for the republic, and dissipated all the scruples of the purchasers of national domains." – Napoleon, Montholon, tom. i., p. 120.