Physical Advantages of Russia.—Her political Power.—Remarks on India.—Pitt and Fox.—Ideas on political Economy.—Companies, or Free Trade.—M. de Suffren.—The Emperor’s Remarks on the Navy.

6th.—The Emperor continued in a state of convalescence, and he received some visitors about the middle of the day.  I waited upon him, accompanied by Madame de Montholon.  He conversed a great deal about the society of Paris, and related several anecdotes of the Tuileries.

In the evening, the Emperor again resumed his geographical observations.  He dwelt particularly on Asia ;  on the situation of Russia, and the facility with which the latter power might make an attempt on India, or even on China, and the alarm which she might, therefore, justly excite in the English.  He calculated the number of troops that Russia might employ, their probable point of departure, the route they would be likely to pursue, and the wealth they would obtain in such an enterprise.  On all these subjects he made the most curious and valuable remarks.  I very much regret my inability to record them here, for my notes, in this instance, afford me only slight hints, and I cannot trust to the accuracy of my memory in filling up the details.

The Emperor next adverted to the superiority of Russia over the rest of Europe, in regard to the immense powers she might call up, for the purpose of invasion ;  together with the physical advantages of her situation under the pole, and backed by eternal bulwarks of ice, which, in case of need, would render her inaccessible.  Russia, he said, could only be attacked during one third or fourth of the year ;  while, on the contrary, she might throughout the whole twelve months, maintain attacks upon us :  her assailants would encounter the rigours and privations of a frigid climate, and a barren soil, while her troops pouring down upon us would enjoy the fertility and charms of our southern region.

To these physical circumstances, continued the Emperor, may be added the advantage of an immense population, brave, hardy, devoted and passive, including those numerous uncivilized hordes, to whom privation and wandering are the natural state of existence.  “Who can avoid shuddering,” said he, “at the thought of such a vast mass, unassailable either on the flanks or in the rear, descending upon us with impunity ;  if triumphant, overwhelming every thing in its course ;  or if defeated, retiring amidst the cold and desolation that may be called its forces of reserve ;  and possessing every facility of issuing forth again at a future opportunity.  Is not this the head of the Hydra, the Antoeus of fable, which can only be subdued by seizing it bodily, and stifling it in the embrace.  But where is the Hercules to be found ?  France alone could think of such an achievement, and it must be confessed we made but an awkward attempt at it.”

The Emperor was of opinion, that in the new political combination of Europe, the fate of that portion of the world depended entirely on the capacity and disposition of a single man.  “Should there arise,” said he, “an Emperor of Russia, valiant, impetuous and intelligent ;  in a word, a Czar with a beard on his chin, (this he pronounced very emphatically,) Europe is his own.  He may commence his operations on the German territory, at 100 leagues from the two capitals, Berlin and Vienna, whose sovereigns are his only obstacles.  He secures the alliance of the one by force, and with his aid subdues the other, by a single stroke.  He then finds himself in the heart of Germany, amidst the princes of the second rank, most of whom are either his relations or dependants.  In the meanwhile, he may, should he think it necessary, throw a few firebrands across the Alps, on the soil of Italy, ripe for explosion, and he may then march triumphantly to Paris to proclaim himself the new liberator.  I know if I were in such a situation, I would undertake to reach Calais in a given time, and by regular marching stations, there to become the master and arbiter of Europe....”  Then after a few moments’ silence, he added, “Perhaps, my dear Las Cases, you may be tempted to say, as the minister of Pyrrhus said to his master, ‘And after all, to what purpose ?’ My answer is, to establish a new state of society, and to avert great misfortunes.  This is a blessing which Europe expects and solicits.  The old system is ended, and the new one is not consolidated, and will not be so until after long and furious convulsions.”

The Emperor was again silent, and after measuring, with his compasses, the distances on the map, he observed, that Constantinople was, from her situation, calculated to be the centre and seat of universal dominion.

He then alluded to the English settlements in India, and asked me, whether I knew any thing of their history.  I told him what little I knew on this subject.

Queen Elizabeth created an East India Company by virtue of her royal prerogative.

A century later, the parliament created another.  However as these two companies were found to injure each other by their competitions, they were united under one charter.

In 1716, the Company obtained from the sovereigns of India, the famous firman or Indian charter, authorizing them to export or import free of all duty.

In 1741, the Company first commenced military interference in the affairs of India, in opposition to the French Company, who took the adverse side.  Since then, the two nations have constantly waged war in that distant land, whenever a contest arose between them in Europe.  The French had a short interval of success in the war of 1740, suffered severe defeats in 1755, maintained a footing of equality in 1779, and at length were utterly subdued during the revolutionary war.

The English East India Company now commands the whole peninsula, including a population of more than 60,000,000 of which 20,000,000 are its subjects, 20,000,000 its tributaries or allies, and the rest are involved in its system and obliged to go with it.^[1]

Such is the famous East India Company, which at once acts the part of merchant and sovereign ;  whose wealth is derived both from commercial profits, and territorial revenues.  Hence it results that the merchant is frequently actuated by the ambition of the sovereign, while the sovereign plans, directs, and executes with the cupidity of the merchant.  In these peculiar circumstances, in this two-fold character, we may trace the cause of the progress, measures, conflicts, contradictions, disorders, and clamours, that compose the history of this celebrated Company.

The English East India Company long reigned absolute and independent.  It was and still continues to be represented by a Court of Directors, chosen from among the proprietors.  These Directors delegate and direct in India, by despatches, a regency or council consisting of a governor and some assessors, who represent and exercise the sovereign authority.

In 1767, the crown for the first time set forward claims on the territory and revenues of India ;  but the Company purchased its desistance by a subsidy equivalent to ten or twelve millions of francs.

About the year 1773, the East India Company, finding its affairs extremely deranged, made application to Parliament, which took advantage of its embarrassment to secure its dependance.  The Company’s possessions were subjected to new political, judicial, and financial regulations, which, however, produced no very satisfactory result.  The Indian peninsula was thrown into the utmost degree of disorder ;  and the establishment of a Supreme Court of Justice, operating as a rival to the Sovereign Council, and appointed for the purpose of introducing English laws in the country, particularly excited the dissatisfaction and alarm of the natives.  The fury of parties and their reciprocal accusations and complaints, transmitted to us a picture of the odious measures, the boundless rapacity and atrocious tyranny of this stormy period, which is the least honourable in the history of the East India Company.

In 1783, with the view of providing a radical remedy for these evils, Mr. Fox, who was then prime minister, brought forward his famous bill, the failure of which, occasioned him to quit the ministry.  Mr. Pitt, who had been the opponent of this bill, in the following year introduced another, which laid the foundation of his celebrity, and which still continues to regulate the affairs of the East India Company.  Fox’s bill would, in fact, have been a judicial seizure ;  it would have placed all the Company’s property in the hands of a managing committee, who were to liquidate its debts, and dispose of all employments.  The members of this Committee, appointed by the King or by Parliament, were to be irremoveable, and were to sit until they should have established the affairs of the Company on a better footing.  A general outcry was raised against these propositions, which, it was said, would place important interests, vast patronage, and enormous influence in the hands of a few individuals.  It was said that the bill was calculated to introduce a fourth power in the state, and to set up a rival to the crown itself.  Mr. Fox was even accused of a wish to establish himself permanently in office, by creating a sort of concealed sovereignty, superior to that of the King ;  for Fox being at this time Minister, and having parliament under his control, he would have appointed and ruled the proposed Committee.  Through the influence of this Committee, he would have composed and governed parliament, and with the aid of parliament, he would have established and perpetuated the Committee ;  in short, there was no end to the power which he would thus have exercised.  A violent clamour arose, and the King made the business a personal matter.  He appealed to his own friends, to those individuals in the House of Peers who were sincerely attached to him, and regarded the measures proposed as an attack on his very existence.  The bill failed, and Fox quitted the ministry.

Pitt was more adroit, and assumed the appearance of greater moderation.  In his bill, he merely contented himself with placing the Company under a sort of guardianship ;  submitting all its operations to a Committee appointed to revise and Countersign them.  He left to the Company the power of nomination to all employments ;  but reserved to the crown the appointment of the Governor General, and the veto on all other nominations.  This Committee, which was appointed by the King, formed a new branch in the administration.  Complaints were now raised against the vast increase of influence which this measure would afford to the royal authority, and which, it was affirmed, would infallibly break the constitutional equilibrium.  Fox had been reproached for having wished to keep this influence wholly apart from the King ;  and Pitt was accused of having placed it entirely in his hands.  All that the one had wished to do for the people, it was said, the other had done for the monarch.  Indeed, these two distinct characters, these two opposite evils, constituted the whole difference between the two bills, which produced a decisive battle between the Whigs and Tories.  Mr. Pitt gained the victory, and the Tories triumphed.

The faults of Fox’s bill still remain hypothetical, since they were never put to the test ;  but the evils that were predicted from Pitt’s measures, have been formally fulfilled.  The equilibrium of power has been broken, the true English constitution has ceased to exist, the royal authority daily augmented has encroached in every direction, and is now marching unimpeded on the high road to arbitrary and absolute power.

The Ministers command in Parliament a majority, which they have themselves created, which perpetuates their power and legalizes their arbitrary measures.  Thus, English liberty is daily more and more fettered by the very forms which were intended for its defence ;  and the future, instead of affording a prospect of remedy, appears to threaten greater misfortunes !  How could Fox’s plan have produced more fatal results ?  For it may truly be said, that all the great encroachments that have been made on the English constitution, have been occasioned by the interests of India.  Surely the weight which Fox wished to secure to the popular side, could not have been more disastrous to the cause of liberty, then that with which Pitt surcharged the royal prerogative !  Consequently, it is now often boldly asserted, that Fox was in the right, that he was wiser, and would not have been so mischievous as his rival.  The names of Pitt and Fox having been thus inroduced, the Emperor dwelt long on the characters, systems, and measures, of those two celebrated statesmen ;  and concluded with the following remarks, which had already fallen from him on several previous occasions :

“ Pitt,” said he, “was the master of European policy ;  he held in his hand the moral fate of nations ;  but he made an ill use of his power.  He kindled the fire of discord throughout the universe ;  and his name, like that of Erostratus, will be inscribed in history, amidst flames, lamentations, and tears !... The first sparks of our revolution, then the resistance that was opposed to the national will, and, finally, the horrid crimes that ensued, all were his work.  Twenty-five years of universal conflagration ;  the numerous coalitions that added fuel to the flame ;  the revolution and devastation of Europe ;  the bloodshed of nations ;  the frightful debt of England, by which all these horrors were maintained ;  the pestilential system of loans, by which the people of Europe are oppressed ;  the general discontent that now prevails ;— all must be attributed to Pitt.  Posterity will brand him as a scourge ;  and the man, so lauded in his own time, will hereafter be regarded as the genius of evil.  Not that I consider him to have been wilfully atrocious, or doubt his having entertained the conviction that he was acting right.  But St. Bartholomew had also its conscientious advocates ;  the Pope and Cardinals celebrated it by a te deum ;  and we have no reason to doubt their having done so in perfect sincerity.  Such is the weakness of human reason and judgment !  But that for which posterity will, above all, execrate the memory of Pitt, is the hateful school that he has left behind him, its insolent machiavelism, its profound immorality, its cold egotism, and its utter disregard of justice and human happiness.

“ Whether it be the effect of admiration and gratitude, or the result of mere instinct and sympathy, Pitt is, and will continue to be, the idol of the European aristocracy.  There was, in deed, a touch of the Sylla in his character.  His system has kept the popular cause in check, and brought about the triumph of the patricians.  As to Fox, one must not look for his model among the ancients.  He is himself a model, and his principles will sooner or later rule the world.”

The Emperor said a great deal about Fox, and expressed the great attachment he entertained for him.  He had had his bust put up at Malmaison, before he knew him personally.  He concluded with a remark, which he used often to make, at different times, and in various ways :

“ Certainly,” said he, “the death of Fox was one of the fatalities of my career.  Had his life been prolonged, affairs would have taken a totally different turn ;  the cause of the people would have triumphed, and we should have established a new order of things in Europe.”

Returning to the subject of the East India Company, the Emperor observed that the question respecting the comparative advantage of the monopoly of a company, or free trade for all, was important subject of consideration.  “A company,” said he, “places great advantages in the hands of a few individuals, who may attend very well to their own interests, while they neglect those of the mass.  Thus every company soon degenerates into an oligarchy :  it is always the friend of power, to which it is ready to lend every assistance.  In this point of view, companies were exclusively suited to old times and old systems.  Free trade, on the contrary, is favourable to the interests of all classes ;  it excites the imagination and rouses the activity of a people ;  it is identical with equality, and naturally leads to independence.  In this respect, it is most in unison with our modern system.”

The Emperor then discussed several points of political economy which are treated by Smith in his Wealth of Nations.  He admitted that they were true in principle ;  but proved them to be false in application.  Unfortunately, the scantiness of my notes here prevents me from entering into particulars.

“ Formerly,” said he, “only one kind of property was known, that which consisted in landed possessions ;  afterwards, a second kind rose up, that of industry or manufactures, which is now in opposition to the first ;  then arose a third, that which is derived from the burdens levied on the people, and which, distributed by the neutral and impartial hands of government, might obviate the evils of monopoly on the part of the two others, intervene between them, and prevent them from coming into actual conflict.”  This great contest of modern times, he called the war of the fields against the factories, of the castles against the counting-houses.

“ It is,” said he, “because men will not acknowledge this great revolution in property, because they persist in closing their eyes on these truths, that so many acts of folly are now committed, and that nations are exposed to so many disorders.  The world has sustained a great shock, and it now seeks to return to a settled state.  The whole cause of the universal agitation, that at present prevails, may be explained in a few words :  the ship’s cargo has been shifted, her ballast has been removed from the stem to the stern ;  hence are produced those violent oscillations which may occasion a wreck in the first storm, if obstinate efforts are made to work the vessel according to the usual method, and without obtaining a new balance.”

This day has been rich in materials for my Journal.  Besides the subjects to which I have already alluded, several others were introduced.  When speaking of India, and the English East India Company, the name of M. de Suffren was mentioned.

The Emperor had had no opportunity of forming a correct idea of the character of this officer :  he had heard of his having rendered important services to his country, and for that reason alone, he (Napoleon) had been very liberal to his family.  The Emperor questioned me respecting Suffren.  I had not known him personally, and therefore I could only report what I had heard of him from other individuals in the navy.  It was admitted that, since the time of Louis XIV., M. de Suffren was the only officer who bore a resemblance to the distinguished men of the brilliant period of our navy.

Suffren possessed genius, invention, ardour, ambition, and inflexible steadiness ;  he was one of those men, whom nature has rendered fit for any thing.  I have heard very shrewd and sensible persons say, that his death in the year 1789, might have been looked upon as a national calamity ;  that had he been admitted to the King’s Council in the critical moment, he might have brought matters to a very different result.  Suffren, who was harsh, capricious, egotistical, and a very unpleasant messmate, was loved by nobody, though he was valued and admired by all.

He was a man with whom no one could live on good terms.  He was impatient of control, fond of condemning every thing, and while he incessantly declaimed against the utility of tactics, he proved himself to be a perfect tactician.  In short, he evinced all the irritability and restlessness of genius and ambition deprived of elbowroom.

On obtaining the command of the Indian squadron, he went to take leave of the King, and one of the officers of the palace could with difficulty open a passage for him through the crowd.  “I thank you,” said he to the Usher, grunting and snorting in his usual way ;  “but when I come out Sir, you shall see that I know how to clear the way for myself.”  And he spoke truly.

On his arrival in India, he opened a new theatre for the arms of France, and performed prodigies, which perhaps have not been duly appreciated in Europe.  He set on foot measures and plans of command hitherto unknown :  taking every thing upon himself, hazarding all, inventing all, and foreseeing all.  He broke and created his officers as he thought proper ;  fitted out and manned ships that had long since been condemned ;  and found a wintering station on the spot, when, according to the old routine, the ships would have been obliged to sail to the Isle of France, a distance of twelve or fifteen leagues.  Finally, he broke through all rules, approached the coast, took on board troops who had been fighting the old enemy, and after they had assisted him in opposing the English squadron, he conveyed them back to their camp, to resume the contest by land.  Thus the French flag assumed a superiority that disconcerted the enemy.  “Oh,” exclaimed the Emperor, “why did not Suffren live till my time, or why did not I light on a man of his stamp ?  I would have made him our Nelson.  I was constantly seeking for a man qualified to raise the character of the French navy ;  but I could never find one.  There is in the navy a peculiarity, a technicality that impeded all my conceptions.  If I proposed a new idea, immediately Ganthaume, and the whole Marine Department, were up against me. —‘Sire, that cannot be.’— Why not ? —‘Sire the winds do not admit of it;’ then objections were started respecting calms and currents, and I was obliged to stop short.  How is it possible to maintain a discussion with those, whose language we do not comprehend ?  How often, in the Council of State, have I reproached naval officers with taking an undue advantage of this circumstance.  To hear them talk, one might have been led to suppose that it was necessary to be born in the navy to know any thing about it.  Yet I often told them, that had it been in my power to have performed a voyage to India with them, I should, on my return, have been as familiar with their profession as with the field of battle.  But they could not credit this.  They always repeated, that no man could be a good sailor unless he were brought up to it from his cradle ;  and they at length prevailed on me to adopt a plan, about which I long hesitated, namely, the enrolment of several thousands of children from six to eight years of age.

“ My resistance was vain ;  I was compelled to yield to the unanimous voice, while I assured those who urged me to this measure, that I left all the responsibility with them.  What was the result ?  It excited clamour and discontent on the part of the public, who turned the whole affair into ridicule, styling it the massacre of the innocents, &c.  Subsequently, De Winter, Verhuel, all the great naval commanders of the north, and others, assured me that from eighteen to twenty (the age for the conscription), was early enough to begin to learn the duties of a sailor.  The Danes and Swedes employ their soldiers in the navy.  With the Russians, the fleet is but a portion of the army ;  which affords the invaluable advantage of keeping up a standing army, and for a two-fold object.

“ I had myself,” added he, “ planned something of the kind, when I created my crews for men of war ;  but what obstacles had I to encounter ;  what prejudices had I to subdue ;  what perseverance was I obliged to exert, before I could succeed in clothing the sailors in uniform, forming them into regiments, and drilling them by military exercise.  I was told that I should ruin all.  And yet, can there be a greater advantage than for one country to possess both an army and a navy ?  The men, thus disciplined, were not worse sailors than the rest ;  while, at the same time, they were the best soldiers.  They were, in case of need, prepared to serve as sailors, soldiers, artillerymen, pontooneers, &c.  If, instead of being thus opposed by obstacles, I had found in the navy a man capable of entering into my views, and promoting my ideas, what importance might we not have obtained !  But, during my reign, I never found a naval officer who could depart from the old routine, and strike out a new course.  I was much attached to the navy ;  I admired the courage and patriotism of our seamen ;  but I never found between them and me an intermediate agent, who could have brought them into operation in the way wished.”

Napoleon’s Imperial System.—Prefects.—Auditors of the Council of State.—The Emperor’s Motives in granting lucrative Appointments.—His future Intentions.

7th.—Speaking of his imperial system, Napoleon observed that it had been the means of creating the most compact government, establishing the most rapid circulation in all its parts, and calling forth the most nervous efforts that had ever been witnessed.  “And nothing short of this,” said he, “would have enabled us to triumph over such numerous difficulties, and to achieve so many wonders.  The organization of the Prefectures, their operations, and the results they produced, were admirable.  One and the same impulse was simultaneously communicated to more than 40,000,000 of men ;  and, by the help of those centres of local activity, the movement was no less rapid and energetic at the extremities than in the heart itself.

“ Foreigners who visited France, and who were capable of observing and discerning, were filled with astonishment.  To this uniformity of action prevailing over an immense extent of territory, must be attributed those prodigious efforts and immense results, which were acknowledged to have been hitherto inconceivable.

“ The Prefects, with their local authority and resources, were themselves emperors on a small scale.  As their whole power proceeded from the main spring, of which they were only the communicating channels ;  as their influence was not personal, but was derived from their temporary functions ;  as they had no connexion with the district over which their jurisdiction extended ;  they presented all the advantages of the great absolute agents of the old system, without any of their disadvantages.  It was necessary to create this power,” continued the Emperor, “for the force of circumstances had placed me in the situation of a dictator.  It was requisite that all the filaments issuing from me, should be in harmony with the first cause, or my system would have failed in its result.  The network which I spread over the French territory, required a violent tension and prodigious power of elasticity, in order to make the terrible blows that were constantly levelled at us, rebound to distant points.  Thus most of the springs of my machinery were merely institutions connected with dictatorship, and measures for warlike defence.  When the moment should have arrived for slackening the reins, all my connecting filaments would have relaxed sympathetically, and we should then have proceeded to our peace establishment and local institutions.  If we yet possessed none of these, it was because circumstances did not admit of them.  Our immediate fall would have been the infallible consequence, had we been provided with them at the outset.  It must not be supposed that the nation was all at once prepared to make a proper use of her liberty.  Both with respect to education and character, the bulk of the people were imbued with too many of the prejudices of past times.  We were daily improving, but we had yet much to acquire.  At the time of the revolutionary explosion, the patriots, generally speaking, were such by nature and by instinct :  with them patriotism was an innate sentiment, a passion, a phrensy.  Hence the effervescence, the extravagance, the fury that marked the period.  But it is vain to attempt to naturalize and mature the modern system by blows or jumps.  It must be implanted with education, and must take root with reason and conviction ;  and this will infallibly take place in course of time, because modern principles are founded on natural truths.  But,” added he, “the men of our time were eager for the possession of power, which they exercised with a domineering spirit, to say no worse, while on the other hand they were ready to become the slaves of those who were above them !... We have always wavered between these two extremes.  In course of my journeys, I was often obliged to say to the high officers who were about my person :— pray let the Prefect speak for himself.  If I went to some sub-division of a department, I then found it necessary to say to the prefect :— let the sub-prefect or the mayor make his reply.  So eager were all to eclipse each other, and so little did they perceive the advantage that might arise from direct communication with me.  If I sent my great officers or ministers to preside at the electoral colleges, I always advised them not to get nominated as candidates for the Senate, as their seats were secured to them by other means, and I wished that they should resign the honour of the nomination to the principal individuals of the provinces :  but they never conformed with my wishes.”

This reminded me of a misunderstanding that once took place, between the Emperor and the Minister Deerès, on the subject here alluded to.  The Emperor having expressed displeasure at the nomination of the Minister :— “Sire,” replied the latter, “your influence is more powerful than your will.  I in vain resisted, and assured them that you wished these nominations to be made among themselves.  They insisted on shewing deference to your choice, and if you send me back, I shall only be nominated over again.”

“ I granted,” said Napoleon, “enormous salaries to Prefects and others ;  but with regard to my liberality on this head, it is necessary to distinguish between what was systematic, and what was incidental.  The latter forced me to grant lucrative appointments ;  the former would ultimately have enabled me to obtain gratuitous services.  At the first outset, when the object was to conciliate individuals, and to re-establish some kind of society and morality, liberal salaries, absolute fortunes, were indispensable ;  but the result being obtained, and in course of time the natural order of things being restored, my intention, on the contrary, would have been to render almost all high public duties gratuitous.  I would have discarded those needy individuals, who cannot be their own masters, and whose urgent wants engender political immorality.  I would have wrought such a change in opinion, that public posts should have been sought after for the mere honour of filling them.  The functions of magistrate or justice of the peace would have been discharged by men of fortune, who being guided solely by duty, philanthropy, and honourable ambition, would have afforded the surest pledge of independence.  It is this that constitutes the dignity and majesty of a nation, that exalts her character, and establishes public morals.  Such a change had become indispensable in France, and the dislike of getting into place might have been considered the forerunner of our return to political morality.  I have been informed, that the mania of place-hunting has crossed the sea, and that the contagion has been communicated to our neighbours.  The English of former days were as much superior to this kind of meanness, as the people of the United States now are.  The love of place is the greatest check to public morals.  A man who solicits a public post, feels his independence sold beforehand.  In England, the greatest families, the whole peerage disdain not to hunt after places.  Their excuse is, that the enormous burdens of taxation deprive them of the means of living without additions to their income.  Pitiful pretence !  It is because their principles are more decayed than their fortunes.  When people of a certain rank stoop to solicit public posts for the sake of emolument, there is an end to all independence and dignity of national character.  In France, the shocks and commotions of our revolution might have afforded an apology for such conduct.  All had been unsettled, and all felt the necessity of re-establishing themselves.  To promote this object, with the least possible offence to delicacy of feeling, I was induced to attach considerable emolument and high honour to all public posts.  But in course of time, I intended to work a change by the mere force of opinion.  And this was by no means impossible.  Every thing must yield to the influence of power, when it is directed to objects truly just, honourable, and great.

“ I was preparing a happy reign for my son.  For his sake I was rearing in the new school, the numerous class of auditors of the Council of State.  Their education being completed, they would, on attaining the proper age, have filled all the public posts in the Empire ;  thus confirmed in modern principles, and improved by the example of their precursors.  They would all have been twelve or fifteen years older than my son, who would by this means have been placed between two generations, and all their advantages :  maturity, experience, and prudence above him ;  youth, promptitude, and activity below him.”

Here I could not refrain from expressing my astonishment, that the Emperor should never have thrown out a hint of the grand and important objects he had in contemplation.  “What would have been the use of promulgating my intentions,” said he ;  “I should have been styled a quack, accused of insinuation and subtilty, and have fallen into discredit.  Situated as I was, deprived of hereditary authority, and of the illusion called legitimacy, I was compelled to avoid entering the lists with my opponents ;  I was obliged to be bold, imperious, and decisive.  You have told me that in your Faubourg, they used to say, Why is he not legitimate ?  If I had been so, I certainly could not have done more than I did ;  but my conduct might have appeared more amiable.”

La Vendée.—Charette.—Lamarque.—Tragedies of Æschylus and Sophocles.—Real Tragedies among the Romans.—Seneca’s Medea.—Singular Fact.

8th.—To-day the Emperor dictated to one of his suite, by which we were very much gratified, for it was a proof that he felt himself better.

I attended him after dinner.  The exertion of dictating seemed to have roused his spirits.  He was in a very talkative mood ;  and we conversed together, walking backward and forward in his chamber.  The troubles of La Vendée, and the men who had been distinguished in them, formed the principal topics of discourse.

Charette was the only individual to whom the Emperor attached particular importance.  “I have read a history of La Vendée,” said he, “and if the details and portraits were correct, Charette was the only great character, the true hero of that remarkable episode of our revolution, which, if it presented great misfortunes, at least did not sacrifice our glory.  In the wars of La Vendée, Frenchmen destroyed each other ;  but they did not degrade themselves :  they received aid from foreigners ;  but they did not stoop to the disgrace of marching under their banners, and receiving daily pay for merely executing their commands.  Yes,” continued he, “Charette impressed me with the idea of a great character.  I observed, that he on several occasions acted with uncommon energy and intrepidity.  He betrayed genius.”  I mentioned, that I had known Charette very well in my youth ;  had been guards of the marine together at Brest, and for a long time we shared the same chamber, and messed at the same table.  The brilliant career and exploits of Charette, very much astonished all who had formerly been acquainted with him.  We looked upon him as a common-place sort of man, devoid of information, ill-tempered, and extremely indolent ;  and we all, with one accord, pronounced him to belong to the class of insignificant beings.  It is true that when he began to rise into celebrity, we recollected a circumstance which certainly indicated decision of character.  When Charette was first called into service, during the American war, and while yet a mere youth, he sailed out of Brest on board a cutter during the winter.  The cutter lost her mast ;  and to a vessel of that description, such an accident was equivalent to certain destruction.  The weather was very stormy.  Death seemed inevitable ;  and the sailors, throwing themselves on their knees, lost all presence of mind, and refused to make any effort to save themselves.  Charette, notwithstanding his extreme youth, killed one of the men, in order to compel the rest to make the necessary exertions.  This dreadful example had the desired effect, and the vessel was saved.  “You see,” said the Emperor, “true decision of character always developes itself in critical circumstances.  Here was the spark that distinguished the hero of La Vendée.  Men’s dispositions are often misunderstood.  There are sleepers whose waking is terrible.  Kleber was an habitual slumberer ;  but, at the needful moment, he never failed to awake like a lion.”  I added, that I had often heard Charette relate that, in a moment of extreme danger, the whole crew of the cutter, by a spontaneous impulse, made a vow to go in their shirts and barefooted, to carry, a taper to our Lady of Recouvrance at Brest, if she would vouchsafe to ensure their safety.  “And you may believe it or not as you please,” added Charette, with great simplicity ;  “but the fact is, they had no sooner uttered their prayer, than the wind suddenly abated, and from that moment we were inspired with the hope of preservation.”  On their return to land, the sailors, headed by their officers, devoutly fulfilled their vow.  This was not the only miraculous circumstance connected with the little cutter.  It was in the month of December, and the night was long and dark.  The vessel had got entangled among ridges, and being deprived of her mast and all nautical aid, she sailed on at hazard, and the crew had resigned themselves to the will of fate, when they unexpectedly heard the ringing of a bell.  They sounded, and finding but little depth of water, they cast anchor.  What was their surprise and joy, when they found themselves, at daybreak, at the mouth of the river of Landerneau !  The bell they had heard, was that of the neighbouring parish church.  The cutter had miraculously escaped the numerous sand banks that are dispersed about the entrance of Brest ;  she had been carried through the narrow inlet of the port, had passed three or four hundred ships that were lying in the roads, and had at length found a calm station at the mouth of a river.  “This,” said the Emperor, “shews the difference between the blindfold efforts of man, and the certain course of nature.  That at which you express so much surprise, must necessarily have happened.  It is very probable, that with the full power of exerting the utmost skill, the confusion and errors of the moment would have occasioned the wreck of the vessel ;  whereas, in spite of so many adverse chances, nature saved her.  She was borne onward by the tide ;  the force of the current carried her precisely through the middle of each channel, so that she could not possibly have been lost.”

Again alluding to the war of La Vendée, the Emperor mentioned that he had been withdrawn from the army of the Alps, for the purpose of being transferred to that of La Vendée ;  but, that he preferred resigning his commission, to entering a service where he conceived he should only be concurring in mischief, without the probability of obtaining any personal benefit.  He said, that one of the first acts of his Consulate had been to quell the troubles in La Vendée.  He did much for that unfortunate department, the inhabitants of which were very grateful to him ;  and when he passed through it, even the priests appeared to be sincerely favourable to him.  “Thus,” continued the Emperor, “the late insurrections did not present the same character as the first.  Their prominent feature was not blind fanaticism, but merely passive obedience to a ruling aristocracy.  Be this as it may, Lamarque, whom I sent to La Vendée at the height of the crisis, performed wonders, and even surpassed my hopes.”  What might not have been his influence in the great contest ;  for the most distinguished chiefs of Vendée, those who are doubtless at this moment enjoying the favours of the court, acknowledged, through Lamarque, Napoleon as Emperor, even after Waterloo, even after his abdication !  Was it that Lamarque was ignorant of the real state of things, or was it merely a whim on the part of the conqueror ?  At all events, Lamarque is in exile :  he is one of the thirty-eight ;  because it is easier to proscribe than to conquer.”

The Emperor dined with us to-day, for the first time since his illness, that is to say, for the space of sixteen days.  Our dinner was therefore a sort of fête ;  but we could not help remarking, with regret, the change in the Emperor’s countenance, which presented obvious traces of the ill effects of his long confinement.

After dinner we resumed our readings, which had been so long suspended.  The Emperor read the Agamemnon of Æschylus, which he very much admired for its great force and simplicity.  We were particularly struck with the graduation of terror which characterizes the productions of this father of tragedy.  It was observed that this was the first spark to which the light of the modern drama may be traced.

Agamemnon being ended, the Emperor asked for the Ædipus of Sophocles, which also interested us exceedingly ;  and the Emperor expressed his regret at not having had it performed at St. Cloud.

Talma had always opposed the idea ;  but the Emperor was sorry that he had relinquished it.  “Not,” said he ;  “that I wished to correct our drama by antique models.  Heaven forbid !  But I merely wished to have opportunity of judging how far ancient composition would have harmonized with modern notions.”  He said he was convinced that such a performance would have afforded pleasure ;  and he made several remarks on the impression that was likely to be produced on modern taste, by the Greek chorusses, Coryphæi, &c.

He next turned to Voltaire’s Ædipus, on which he bestowed high commendation.  This piece, he said, contained the finest scene in the French drama.  As to its faults, the absurd passion of Philoctetes for example, they must not, he said, be attributed to the poet, but to the manners of the age, and the great actresses of the day, to whose laws a dramatic writer is obliged to submit.

This eulogium of Voltaire rather surprised us :  it was something novel and singular in the mouth of the Emperor.

At eleven o’clock, after the Emperor had retired to bed, he sent for me, and resumed his conversation on the ancient and modern drama ;  on which he made many curious remarks.

In the first place, he expressed his surprise that the Romans should have had no tragedies ;  but then again, he observed, that tragedy, in dramatic representation, would have been ill calculated to rouse the feelings of the Romans, since they performed real tragedy in their circusses.  “The combats of the gladiators,” said he, “the sight of men consigned to the fury of wild beasts, were far more terrible than all our dramatic horrors put together.  These, in fact, were the only tragedies suited to the iron nerves of the Romans.”

However, it was observed, that the Romans possessed some dramatic essays, produced by Seneca.  By the bye, it is a curious fact, that in Seneca’s Medea, the chorus distinctly predicts the discovery of America, which took place 1,400 years after that drama was written.  In the passage here alluded to, it is said, “A new Tiphys, a son of the earth, will, in ages to come, discover remote regions towards the west, and Thule will no longer be the extremity of the universe.”^[2]

The Emperor considerably better.—Infernal Machine Story.—Madame Regnault de St. Jean d’Angély.—The two Empresses.—Josephine’s Extravagance.—Characteristic Anecdotes of the Emperor.

9th.—To-day the Emperor felt himself infinitely better.  He was surrounded by all his suite, and he began to talk of the prodigies of his early career, which, he said, must have produced a great impression in the world.  “So great an impression,” said an individual present, “that some were induced to regard them as supernatural.”  On this subject, the following anecdote was related :  At the time of the explosion of the infernal machine, a person, who had just heard the news, called at a house in a certain quarter of the capital, and hastily entering the drawing-room, in which a party was assembled, he informed the company that Napoleon was no more ;  and after giving an account of the event that had just taken place ;  he concluded by saying :  “He is fairly blown up !  He blown up !” exclaimed an old Austrian officer, who had eagerly listened to all that was said, and who had been a witness to many of the dangers which the young General of the army of Italy had so miraculously escaped ;  “he blown up !  Ah ! you know a great deal about it.  I venture to say that he is, at this very moment, as well as any of us.  I know him and all his tricks of old !”

The name of Madame Regnault de St. Jean d’Angély having been mentioned, an individual present informed the Emperor how much attachment she had evinced for him during his stay at the Isle of Elba.  “How ! She ?” exclaimed the Emperor, with mingled surprise and satisfaction. —“Yes, Sire.”— “Poor lady !” said he, in a tone of deep regret ;  “and yet how ill I treated her !  Well ! this at least repays me for the ingratitude of those renegades, on whom I lavished so many favours...!”  Then, after a few moments’ silence, he said, significantly, “It is very certain, that one can never know people’s characters and sentiments until after great trials.”

At dinner, the Emperor was very good humoured and cheerful.  He congratulated himself on having got through his late illness, without having recourse to medicine, without paying tribute to the Doctor.  At this, he said, the latter had been very much vexed.  He would have been content with ever so little, with the slightest acknowledgment ;  he only asked for compliance with the form, like a priest in confession.  The Emperor laughed, and added, that out of mere complaisance, he had made trial of a gargle, but that its strong acidity had disagreed with him.—This led him to observe that mild medicines were best suited to his constitution.  “Gentle remedies, whether physical or moral,” said he, “are the only ones that take effect on me.”

In the course of conversation, the Emperor spoke of the Empresses Josephine and Maria Louisa, of whom he related some very interesting details, and concluded with his usual observation, that the one was the model of the graces, with all their facinations ;  and that the other was the emblem of innocence, with all its charms.

The Emperor estimated the expenses of Malmaison to have been three or 400,000 francs ;  that is to say, all that he was at that time possessed of.  He then calculated the amount of the sums which the Empress Josephine must have received from him, and added, that with a little order and regularity, she might, probably, have left behind her fifty or 60,000,000 of francs.  “Her extravagance,” said the Emperor, “vexed me beyond measure.  Calculator as I am, I would, of course, rather have given away a million of francs, than have seen 100,000 squandered away.”  He informed us that having one day unexpectedly broken in upon Josephine’s morning circle, he found a celebrated milliner, whom he had expressly forbidden to go near the Empress, as she was raining her by extravagant demands.  “My unlooked for entrance occasioned great dismay in the academic sitting.  I gave some orders unperceived to the individuals who were in attendance, and on the lady’s departure, she was seized and conducted to Bicetre.  A great outcry was raised among the higher circles in Paris ;  it was said, that my conduct was disgraceful.  It soon became the fashion to visit the milliner in her confinement, and there was daily a file of carriages at the gate of the prison.  The police informed me of these facts.  All the better, said I ;  but I hope she is not treated with severity ;  not confined in a dungeon ? —‘No, Sire, she has a suite of apartments, and a drawing room.’ Oh, well ! let her be.  If this measure is pronounced to be tyrannical, so much the better ;  it will be a diapason stroke for a great many others.  Very little will serve to shew that I can do more.”  He also mentioned a celebrated man milliner, who, he remarked, was the most insolent fellow he had ever met with in the whole course of his life.  “I was one day,” said the Emperor, “speaking to him respecting a trousseau that he had furnished, when he had the presumption to call my conduct in question.  He did what no man in France, except himself, would have ventured to do ;  he began, with great volubility, to prove to me that I did not grant a sufficient allowance to the Empress Josephine ;  and that it was impossible she could pay for her clothes out of such a sum.  I soon put an end to his impertinent eloquence ;  I stopped him short with a look, and left him transfixed.”

When the Emperor had retired to his chamber, he sent for me, and after he had gone to bed, he continued to converse very cheerfully, on various subjects.  He said he found himself much better, and that he felt a pleasure in chatting.  However, he was very much troubled with a cough, and this had forced him to rise from table earlier than he otherwise would have done.  “I unthinkingly took too much snuff,” said he, “my attention having been absorbed in the conversation of the moment.  In such a case you should always take away my snuff-box :  that is the way to serve those one loves.”

War on great Roads.—Dumouriez more daring than Napoleon.—Princess Charlotte of Wales and the Prince of Saxe Cobourg.

10th.—For some days past, the Emperor has been reading works an war, fortifications, artillery, &c.  He has examined Vauban, an Account of Campaigns during the Revolution, Gassendi’s Dictionary, and Geubert’s Tactics ;  with all of which he is much pleased.  These subjects have led him to speak of several Generals, who have already been frequently noticed in the course of this journal.  “They could only carry on war on great roads,” said he, “and within range of cannon, when their field of battle should have extended over a whole country.”

During dinner, he spoke of the campaign of Dumouriez in Champagne, which he had just been reading.  He thought little of the Duke of Brunswick, who, with a plan of offensive operations, had advanced only eighteen leagues in forty days.  But, on the other hand, he very much blamed Dumouriez, whose position, he said, was far too hazardous.  “For me, this is saying a great deal,” added he ;  “for I consider myself to have been the most venturous man in war that perhaps ever lived.  Yet I should certainly have been afraid to keep the position that Dumouriez retained ;  so numerous were the dangers it presented.  I could only explain his manoeuvre, on the supposition that he could not venture to retire ;  he would probably have encountered greater risks in retreating, than in staying where he was.  Wellington was placed in the same situation at Waterloo.

“ The French are the bravest troops in the world.  They will fight in whatever position they may be attacked ;  but they cannot retreat before a victorious enemy.  If they experience the least check, they lose all presence of mind and discipline ;  they slip through your fingers, as it were.  Dumouriez, I suppose, calculated on this ;  or perhaps he might have been influenced by some secret negotiation of which we are ignorant.”

The newspapers which we perused to-day, mentioned the marriage of Prince Leopold of Saxe Cobourg, to Princess Charlotte of Wales.

“ Prince Leopold,” said the Emperor, “once had a chance of becoming my aide-de-camp.  He solicited the appointment, and I don’t know what prevented his obtaining it.  However, it was lucky for him that his application proved unsuccessful :  had it been otherwise, his present marriage would never have taken place.  Who can pretend to say what is fortunate or unfortunate in the events of human life !...”

Princess Charlotte of Wales next became the subject of conversation.  Some one observed, that she was exceedingly popular in England, and that she had given many unequivocal proofs of energy of character.  The English were of opinion, that she would be another Elizabeth, and she herself seemed to cherish that idea.  The individual who made these remarks, said, that he happened to be in London in 1814, at the time when the young Princess, indignant at the ill treatment of her mother, escaped from the Prince Regent’s palace, and stepping into the first hackney coach she met with in the street, drove to the residence of her mother, to whom she was fondly attached.  On this occasion, the natural severity of the English relaxed into indulgence ;  and all were inclined to pardon the breach of decorum, in consideration of the amiable sentiment that had occasioned it.  The young Princess would not leave her mother, until the Duke of York, or another of her uncles, and, as it was said, the Lord Chancellor, prevailed on her to go back to her father’s palace, by assuring her, that to persist in the course she had adopted, would endanger her mother’s happiness, perhaps even her life.

Princess Charlotte had already given a proof of decision of character, in refusing to marry the Prince of Orange.  Her reason for rejecting this alliance was, that it would have obliged her occasionally to reside out of England ;  and this truly national sentiment contributed to render her the more dear to the English people.

The English who are at St. Helena, assure us that her union with the Prince of Saxe Cobourg, was perfectly in unison with her own wishes, and that she publicly declared she looked forward to happiness, because in her choice she had been guided purely by sentiment.  She was said to he much attached to Prince Leopold.— “I readily believe it,” said the Emperor :  “I recollect him very well ;  and when he appeared at the Tuileries, I thought him one of the handsomest young men I ever saw.”  Within these few days, the English who are here have related an incident which they regard as a proof of high spirit and dignity of feeling on the part of their future Queen.  Previously to her marriage, one of the Ministers waited upon her for the purpose of settling some domestic details ;  and having submitted to her some propositions which she did not conceive to be sufficiently liberal,— “My Lord,” said she, “I am heiress to the throne of Great Britain ;  and my mind has risen to a level with the exalted station I am destined to fill.  Therefore, I must be provided for accordingly.  Do not imagine that in marrying Prince Leopold, I ever can or will sink to the rank of Mistress Cobourg.  Entertain no such idea, I beg of you.”

The young Princess is the idol of the English people, who look forward to her reign as affording the prospect of future happiness.

The Emperor, again alluding to Prince Leopold, and the chance he had of becoming his aide-de-camp, said :  “ A crowd of German Princes solicited the same favour.  When I established the Confederation of the Rhine, the sovereigns who were included in it, took it for granted that I intended to revive in my person the etiquette and forms of the Holy Roman Empire ;  and all, even Kings themselves, were eager to join my retinue.  One wished to be appointed my cup-bearer, another my grand butler, &c.  At this period, the Princes of Germany literally invaded the Tuileries ;  they crowded the saloons, and modestly mingled with the officers of my household.  It was the same with the Italians, Spaniards, and Portuguese ;  in short, all the most exalted individuals in Europe were assembled at the Tuileries..... The fact is,” added the Emperor, “that during my reign, Paris was in itself a nation, and the first in the world !...”

Remarks of several important Subjects.—Napoleon’s debut in Diplomacy.—Concentration of the Nations of Europe.—Conquest of Spain.—Danger of Russia.—Bernadotte.

11th.—The Emperor did not leave his chamber to-day.  I spent nearly the whole of the day with him ;  for I only left him to go to dinner.

The conversations of the day were diffuse and interesting, for the Emperor was exceedingly chatty.  He discussed numerous subjects perfectly heterogeneous in their nature, though they were naturally introduced one by another.  His conversation abounded with ideas and facts totally new to me.  But the number and importance of the Emperor’s remarks, rendered it impossible for me to seize them all.  My eagerness to note down the past observation, sometimes occasioned the present one to escape me ;  but, for this very reason, I can with the greater confidence vouch for the accuracy of what I have preserved.

Speaking of the elements of society, the Emperor said :

“ Democracy may be furious ;  but it has some heart, it may be moved.  As to aristocracy, it is always cold and unforgiving.”

At another time, after some preliminary observations, he said :—

All human institutions present two opposite points of view ;  all have their advantages and disadvantages :  for example, both republican and monarchical government may be defended and opposed.  Doubtless, it is easy to prove in theory that both are equally good, and very good ;  but this is not quite so easy in application.”

He remarked, that the extreme boundary of the government of many was anarchy ;  and that the extreme boundary of the government of a single one was despotism ;  that a just medium between both was unquestionably the best, were it in the power of wisdom steadily to pursue such a course.  He added, these truths had been repeated, until they had become absolutely commonplace, without producing any good result ;  that on this subject many volumes had been written, and many would still be written without effect.

The Emperor at another moment said :

“ Despotism is not absolute ;  but merely relative ;  man cannot with impunity absorb all power within himself.  If a Sultan strike off the heads of his subjects, according to the whim of the moment ;  he incurs the risk of losing his own by the same sort of caprice.  Excess will always incline either to one side or the other.  What the sea gains by encroachment in one direction, it loses elsewhere.  When I was in Egypt, a conqueror, an absolute ruler and master, dictating laws to the people by mere orders of the day, I could not have presumed to search the houses, and it would have been out of my power to have prevented the inhabitants from speaking freely in their coffee-houses, where liberty and independence prevailed even in a greater degree than in Paris.  The people yielded like slaves in all other places ;  but they resolved to enjoy full liberty in their coffee-houses, which were absolutely the citadels of freedom, the bazaars of public opinion.  Here they loudly declaimed and passed judgment on the measures of the day :  it would have been impossible to close their mouths.  If I happened to enter these places, all bowed before me, it is true ;  but this was a mark of esteem to me personally.  No such homage was shown to any lieutenants.

“ Be this as it may,” said he, alluding to another topic, “ France, when subject to the opposing influences of many, was on the point of falling beneath the blows of combined Europe ;  but she placed the helm in the hands of one, and immediately, the First Consul, laid down the law to Europe.  Such is the power of unity and concentration ;  these are facts which must be convincing to the meanest understandings.

“ It was curious to observe, that the old cabinets of Europe were unable to conceive the importance of this change, and that they continued to treat with unity and concentration, in the same manner as they had done with the multitude and dispersion.  It is no less remarkable, that the Emperor Paul, who was looked upon as a fool, was the first to appreciate this difference ;  while the English Ministers, reputed to be so skilful and experienced, were the very last.  ‘I set aside the abstractions of your revolution,’ Paul wrote to me, ‘I confine myself to a fact :  in my eyes you are a government, and I address myself to you, because we can understand each other, and, I can treat with you.’

“ With regard to the English Ministry, I was ever obliged to conquer and force peace, and absolutely to detach England from the rest of Europe, before I could get them to listen to me ;  and even when they opened negotiations, with me, they followed all the traces of the old routine.  They tried to divert away my attention by delays, protocols, forms, ceremonies, precedents, and I know not what.  But I felt myself so powerful, that I could afford to laugh at all this !  A new state of things required a new line of conduct ;  but the English Ministers seemed to have no idea of the age, or of the men and things belonging to it.  My manner quite disconcerted them.  I commenced in diplomacy, as I had already commenced in arms.  These are my propositions, said I, to the English Ministry :—we are masters of Holland and Switzerland ;  but I am ready to resign both, in return for the restitutions that you may make to us or our allies.  We are also masters of Italy, of which I will surrender up one portion and retain the other, for the purpose of guaranteeing the existence of all.  These are my bases ;  you are free to build round them as much as you please ;  I care not for that ;  but the object and result must remain as I have specified.  I will not yield a hair’s breadth of my determination.  My object is not to purchase concessions from you ;  but to enter into reasonable, honourable, and lasting engagements.  This is the circle I have traced out.  It appears to me, that you have formed no notion of our respective situations or resources.  I fear not your refusal, your efforts, nor any difficulties you may throw in my way.  I have a strong arm, and I only want a weight to lift.

“ This unusual language,” continued the Emperor, “ produced the desired effect.  In the negotiations of Amiens, they had intended merely to divert us ;  but they now began to treat seriously.  Not knowing at what point I was vulnerable, they offered to make me King of France.  This was a good idea !  King, by the grace of foreigners, when I was already Sovereign by the will of the people !...

“ Such was the ascendency I had acquired, that even while the negotiations were pending, I got myself elected President of the Italian Republic ;  and this circumstance, which, in the ordinary course of European diplomacy, would naturally have created so many obstacles, occasioned no interruption of the proceedings.  Matters were brought to a conclusion ;  and I gained my point by plain dealing, better than if I had fallen into all the usual diplomatic subtleties.  Many libellous pamphlets, and manifestoes of no better character, accused me of perfidy, and of breach of faith in my negotiations ;  but I never merited these charges, which, on the contrary, might always have been justly applied to the other cabinets of Europe.

“ At Amiens, I sincerely thought the fate of France and Europe, and my own destiny, were permanently fixed ;  I hoped that war was at an end.  However, the English Cabinet again kindled the flame.  England is alone responsible for all the miseries by which Europe has since been assailed.  For my part, I intended to have devoted myself wholly to the internal interests of France ;  and I am confident I should have wrought miracles.  I should have lost nothing in the scale of glory ;  and I should have gained much in the scale of happiness.  I should then have achieved the moral conquest of Europe, which I was afterwards on the point of accomplishing by force of arms.  Of how much glory was I thus deprived !

“ My enemies always spoke of my love of war ;  but was I not constantly engaged in self-defence ?  After every victory I gained, did I not immediately make proposals for peace ?

“ The truth is, I never was master of my own actions.  I never was entirely myself.  I might have conceived many plans ;  but I never had it in my power to execute any.  I held the helm with a vigorous hand ;  but the fury of the waves was greater than any force I could exert in resisting them ;  and I prudently yielded, rather than incur the risk of sinking through stubborn opposition.  I never was truly my own master ;  but was always controlled by circumstances.  Thus, at the commencement of my rise, during the Consulate, my sincere friends and warm partisans, frequently asked me, with the best intentions, and as a guide for their own conduct, what point I was driving at ? and I always answered that I did not know.  They were surprised, probably dissatisfied, and yet I spoke the truth.  Subsequently, during the Empire, when there was less familiarity, many faces seemed to put the same question to me ;  and I might still have given the same reply.  In fact, I was not master of my actions, because I was not fool enough to attempt to twist events into conformity with my system.  On the contrary, I moulded my system according to the unforeseen succession of events.  This often appeared like unsteadiness and inconsistency, and of these faults I was sometimes unjustly accused ? ”

After alluding to some other subjects, the Emperor said,

“ One of my great plans was the rejoining, the concentration of those same geographical nations which have been disunited and parcelled out by revolution and policy.  There are dispersed in Europe, upwards of 30,000,000 of French, 15,000,000 of Spaniards, 15,000,000 of Italians, and 30,000,000 of Germans ;  and it was my intention to incorporate these people each into one nation.  It would have been a noble thing to have advanced into posterity with such a train ;  and attended by the blessings of future ages.  I felt myself worthy of this glory !

“ After this summary simplification, it would have been possible to indulge the chimera of the beau ideal of civilization.  In this state of things, there would have been some chance of establishing, in every country, a unity of codes, principles, opinions, sentiments, views, and interests.  Then, perhaps, by the help of the universal diffusion of knowledge, one might have thought of attempting, in the great European family, the application of the American Congress, or the Amphictyons of Greece.  What a perspective of power, grandeur, happiness, and prosperity, would thus have appeared !...

“ The concentration of thirty or 40,000,000 of Frenchmen was completed and perfected ;  and that of 15,000,000 of Spaniards was nearly accomplished ;  for nothing is more common than to convert accident into principle.  Because I did not subdue the Spaniards, it will henceforth be argued that they were invincible.  But the fact is, that they were actually conquered, and at the very moment when they escaped me, the Cortes of Cadiz were secretly in treaty with me.  They were not delivered either by their own resistance, or the efforts of the English, but by the reverses which I sustained at distant points ;  and above all, by the error I committed in transferring my whole forces to the distance of a thousand leagues from them.  Had it not been for this, the Spanish Government would shortly have been consolidated ;  the public mind would have been tranquillized ;  and hostile parties would have rallied together.  Three or four years would have restored the Spaniards to profound peace and brilliant prosperity :  they would have become a compact nation, and I should have well deserved their gratitude ;  for I should have saved them from the tyranny by which they are now oppressed, and the terrible agitations that await them.

“ With regard to the 15,000,000 of Italians, their concentration was already far advanced :  it only wanted maturity.  The people were daily becoming more firmly established in the unity of principles and legislation ;  and also in the unity of thought and feeling, that certain and infallible cement of human concentration.  The union of Piedmont to France, and the junction of Parma, Tuscany and Rome, were, in my mind, only temporary measures, intended merely to guarantee and promote the national education of the Italians.^[3]  You may judge of the correctness of my views, and of the influence of common laws.  The portions of Italy that were united to France, though that union might have been regarded as the insult of invasion on our part, were, in spite of their Italian patriotism, the very places that continued most attached to us.  Now that they are restored to themselves, they conceive that they have been invaded and disinherited ;  and so they certainly have been !...

“ All the South of Europe therefore, would soon have been rendered compact in point of locality, views, opinions, sentiments, and interests.  In this state of things, what would have been the weight of all the nations of the north ?  What human efforts could have broken through so strong a barrier ?

“ The concentration of the Germans must have been effected more gradually ;  and therefore I had done no more than simplify their monstrous complication.  Not that they were unprepared for concentralization ;  on the contrary, they were too well prepared for it, and they might have blindly risen in reaction against us, before they had comprehended our designs.  How happens it, that no German Prince has yet formed a just notion of the spirit of his nation, and turned it to good account ?  Certainly, if heaven had made me a Prince of Germany, amidst the many critical events of our times, I should, infallibly, have governed the 30,000,000 of Germans combined ;  and from what I know of them, I think I may venture to affirm, that, if they had once elected and proclaimed me, they would not have forsaken me, and I should never have been at St. Helena.....”

Then, after some melancholy details and comparisons, resuming the previous subject, he said,

“ At all events, this concentration will be brought about, sooner or later, by the very force of events.  The impulse is given ;  and I think, that since my fall, and the destruction of my system, no grand equilibrium can possibly be established in Europe, except by the concentration and confederation of the principal nations.  The sovereign, who, in the first great conflict, shall sincerely embrace the cause of the people, will find himself at the head of all Europe, and may attempt whatever he pleases.

“ It will perhaps be asked why I did not suffer these ideas to transpire ?  why I did not submit them to public discussion ;  since they would, doubtless, have become popular, and popularity would have been an immense reinforcement to me ?  My answer is, that malevolence is ever more active than good intention ;  that, at the present day, the power of wit overrules good sense, and obscures the clearest points at will ;  and that, to have submitted these important subjects to public discussion, would have been to consign them to the mercy of party spirit, passion, intrigue, and gossiping, while the infallible result would have been discredit and opposition.  I conceived, therefore, that secrecy was the most advisable course.  I surrounded myself with that halo of mystery, which pleases and interests the multitude ;  gives birth to speculations, which occupy the public mind ;  and, finally, affords opportunities for those sudden and brilliant disclosures, which exercise such important influence.  It was this very principle that accelerated my unfortunate march to Moscow.  Had I been more deliberate, I might have averted every evil ;  but I could not delay, and afford time for comment.  With my career already traced out, with my ideas formed for the future, it was necessary that my movement and my success should seem, as it were, supernatural.”

The Emperor here adverted to the Russian expedition, repeating many of the observations which I have already recorded elsewhere.  I now note down only what I conceive to be new.

“ I will name another occasion,” said he, “ on which accident was taken for principle.  I failed in my expedition against the Russians ;  and they, therefore, consider themselves invincible.  But can any thing be more erroneous ?  Ask men of sense and reflection among them !  Ask Alexander himself, and let him recollect the opinions he entertained at the time !  Was I defeated by the efforts of the Russians ?  No !  my failure must be attributed to pure accident, to absolute fatality.  First, a capital was burnt to the ground by foreign intriguers, and in defiance of its inhabitants ;  second, the frost set in with such unusual suddenness and severity, that it was regarded as a kind of phenomenon.  To these disasters must be added a mass of false reports, silly intrigues, treachery, stupidity, and in short, many things that will perhaps one day come to light, and which will excuse or justify the two great errors I committed in diplomacy and war ;  namely, to have undertaken such an enterprise, leaving on my flanks, which soon became my rear, two cabinets of which I was not master, and two allied armies, who, on the least check would become my enemies.  But to come to a conclusion, and to annul with a word every charge that can be brought against me, I may say that this famous war, this bold enterprise, were perfectly involuntary on my part.  I did not wish to give battle ;  neither did Alexander ;—but being once in presence, circumstances urged us on, and fate accomplished the rest.”

After a few moments’ silence, and as if waking from a reverie, the Emperor added :—

“ A Frenchman had in his hands the fate of the world !  If he had possessed judgment and spirit equal to the exalted situation in which he was placed, if he had been a good Swede as he pretended he was, he might have restored the glory and power of his adopted country, have retaken Finland, and arrived at St. Petersburgh before I reached Moscow.  But he was swayed by personal considerations, silly vanity, and all sorts of mean passions.  His head was turned, when he saw that he, an old Jacobin, was courted and flattered by legitimates ;  when he found himself face to face, holding political and friendly conferences with an Emperor of all the Russias, who took great pains to cajole him.  It is affirmed, that hints were even thrown out to him of the possibility of his obtaining the hand of one of the sisters of the Russian Emperor, by divorcing his wife ;  and, in a letter addressed to him by a French Prince, the writer remarked, with complacency, that Bearn was the cradle of both their houses !  The house of B........ forsooth !

“ Dazzled by his rise of fortune, he sacrificed both his adopted and his mother country, his own glory, his true power, the cause of the people, and the welfare of Europe !  For this he will pay dearly !  No sooner had he accomplished all that was expected of him, than he began to feel what awaited him.  It is said that he has repented of his conduct ;  but he has not yet expiated it.  He is now the only upstart sovereign in Europe.  The scandal cannot remain unpunished ;  it would be too dangerous an example.”

1 This was written in 1816, before those events took place in India, by which the subjection of the whole peninsula seems to have been accomplished.

2 ................ venient annis
Sæcula seris, quibus Oceanus
Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens
Pateat tellus, Tiphysque novos
Detegat orbes, nec sit terris ultima Thule.
End of the Chorus of the 2d Act of
Seneca’s Medea.

3 So important a determination, as that of the future abandonment of Italy, thus pronounced for the first time, and in a manner so indifferent, without the development of any object, or the support of any proof, would be, I confess, entitled to no higher consideration, than the assertions that are so frequently hazarded and excused in the warmth of conversation.  But time and intimacy have taught me, that every declaration made by Napoleon, under such circumstances, carried along with it its full, whole, and literal meaning, I have always found this to be the case, whenever I have had the means of verification.  I make this observation, lest the reader should also be led to doubt, too hastily, without obtaining, or, at least, without seeking for proof.

I now find, for example, in vol. i, of Napoleon’s Memoires, dictated to Count Montholon, so complete and satisfactory a confirmation of the remark which I collected from the Emperor’s conversation at St. Helena, that I cannot refrain from transcribing it.

The passage is as follows :—

“ It was Napoleon’s desire to raise up the Italian Nation, and to re-unite the Venetians, Milanese, Piedmontese, Genoese, Tuscans, Parmesans, Modenese, Romans, Neapolitans, Sicilians, and Sardinians, in one independent nation, bounded by the Alps, and the Adriatic, Ionian, and Mediterranean seas :  such was the immortal trophy he was raising to his glory !  This great and powerful kingdom would have been, by land, a check to the House of Austria ;  whilst, by sea, its fleets, combined with those of Toulon, would have ruled the Mediterranean, and protected the old course of trade to India, by the Red Sea and Suez.  Rome, the capital of this state, was the eternal city ;  covered by the three barriers of the Alps, the Po, and the Apennines ;  nearer than any other to the three great Islands.  But Napoleon had many obstacles to surmount.  He said, at the Council of Lyons, It will take me twenty years to re-establish the Italian Nation.

“ There were three impediments to this grand design ;  first, the possessions of Foreign Powers in Italy ;  second, the influence of locality ;  and, third, the residence of the Popes at Rome.

“ Scarcely ten years had elapsed, from the date of the Consultum of Lyons, before the first obstacle was entirely removed.  Foreign Powers no longer possessed any portion of Italy ;  which was entirely under the immediate influence of the Emperor.  The abrogation of the Republic of Venice, the deposition of the King of Sardinia and of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, the annexation of Saint Peter’s patrimony to the Empire, had set aside the second obstacle.  As founders, who have to transform several guns of small calibre, into one forty-eight pounder, first throw them all into the furnace to reduce them to a state of fusion, so the small States had been united to Austria and France, that they might be reduced to an elementary state, freed of their old recollections and pretensions, and thus prepared for recasting.  The Venetians having been annexed to the Austrian Monarchy, had for several years experienced the bitterness of subjection to the Germans.  When these people were restored to an Italian Government, they cared little whether their city was to be the capital of Italy, or whether their Government was to be more or less aristocratic.  A similar change took place in Piedmont, Genoa, and Rome, which had all been disorganized by the change of the French Empire.

“ There were now no Venetians, Piedmontese, or Tuscans the inhabitants of the whole Peninsula were only Italians.  All was prepared for forming the great Italian Nation.  The Grand Duchy of Berg was vacant for the dynasty which, for the time, occupied the throne of Naples.  The Emperor impatiently awaited the birth of his second son, to crown him King of Italy ;  and to proclaim the independence of the beautiful Peninsula, under the Regency of Prince Eugene.”