Joseph Bonaparte. Abbott John Stevens Cabot
to consent that any officers of the Church should be appointed by any voice which did not emanate from the Vatican. It was also an established decree of the Church that heresy was a crime, meriting the severest punishment, both civil and ecclesiastical. The Pope, therefore, could not consent that anywhere within his spiritual domain freedom of conscience should be tolerated. Under these circumstances, nothing could be more difficult than the accomplishment of the plan which Napoleon had proposed for the promotion of the peace and prosperity of France.
The eyes of the First Consul were immediately turned to his brother Joseph, as the most fitting man in France to conduct negotiations of so much delicacy and importance. He consequently was appointed, in conjunction with M. Cretet, Minister of the Interior, and the abbé Bernier, subsequently Bishop of Orleans, as commissioner on the part of France to a conference with the Holy See. The Pope sent, as his representatives, the cardinals Consalvi and Spina, and the father Caselli. Here again Joseph was entirely successful, and accomplished his mission by securing all those results which the First Consul so earnestly had desired.
The celebrated Concordat8 was signed July 15th, 1801, at the residence of Joseph in Paris, in the Rue Faubourg St. Honoré. It was two o'clock in the morning when the signatures of the several commissioners were affixed to this important document.
"At the same hour," writes Joseph, "I became the father of a third infant, whose birth was saluted by the congratulations of the plenipotentiaries of the two great powers, and whose prosperity was augured by the envoys of the vicar of Christ. Their prayers have not been granted. A widow at thirty years of age, separated from her father, proscribed, as has been all the rest of her family, there only remains to her the consolation of reflecting that she has not merited her misfortunes."9
The Re-establishment of Christianity.
Thus did Napoleon re-establish the Christian religion throughout the whole territory of France. In this measure he was strenuously opposed by many of his leading officers, and by the corrupt revolutionary circles of France, yet throughout all the rural districts the restoration of religion was received with boundless enthusiasm.
"The sound of the village bells," writes Alison, "again calling the faithful to the house of God, was hailed by millions as the dove with the olive-branch, which first pronounced peace to the green, undeluged earth. The thoughtful and religious everywhere justly considered the voluntary return of a great nation to the creed of its fathers, from the experienced impossibility of living without its precepts, as the most signal triumph which has occurred since it ascended the imperial throne under the banners of Constantine."
Nearly all the powers upon the Continent of Europe were now at peace with France. England alone still refused to sheathe the sword. But the people of England began to remonstrate so determinedly against this endless war, which was openly waged to force upon France a detested dynasty, that the English Government was compelled, though with much reluctance, to listen to proposals for peace.
Peace of Amiens.
The latter part of the year 1801, the plenipotentiaries of France and England met at Amiens, an intermediate point between London and Paris. England appointed, as her ambassador, Lord Cornwallis, a nobleman of exalted character, and whose lofty spirit of honor was superior to every temptation. "The First Consul," writes Thiers, "on this occasion made choice of his brother Joseph, for whom he had a very particular affection, and who, by the amenity of his manners, and mildness of his character, was singularly well adapted for a peace-maker, an office which had been constantly reserved for him."
Napoleon, who had nothing to gain by war, was exceedingly anxious for peace with all the world, that he might reconstruct French society from the chaos into which revolutionary anarchy had plunged it, and that he might develop the boundless resources of France. Lord Cornwallis was received in Paris, with the utmost cordiality by Napoleon. Joseph Bonaparte gave, in his honor, a magnificent entertainment, to which all the distinguished Englishmen in France were invited, and also such Frenchmen of note as he supposed Lord Cornwallis would be glad to meet.
La Fayette was not invited. Cornwallis had commanded an army in America, where he had met La Fayette on fields of blood, and where he subsequently, with his whole army, had been taken prisoner. Joseph thought that painful associations might be excited in the bosom of his English guest by meeting his successful antagonist. He therefore, from a sense of delicacy, avoided bringing them together. But Cornwallis was a man of generous nature. As he looked around upon the numerous guests assembled at the table, he said to Joseph,
Anecdote of Lord Cornwallis.
"I know that the Marquis de la Fayette is one of your friends. It would have given me much pleasure to have met him here. I do not, however, complain of your diplomatic caution. I suppose that you did not wish to introduce to me at your table the general of Georgetown. I thank you for your kind intention, which I fully appreciate. But I hope that when we know each other better, we shall banish all reserve, and not act as diplomatists, but as men who sincerely desire to fulfill the wishes of their governments, and to arrive promptly at a solid peace. Moreover, the Marquis de la Fayette is one of those men whom we can not help loving. During his captivity I presented myself before the Emperor (of Germany) to implore his liberation, which I did not have the happiness of obtaining."
Cornwallis left Paris for Amiens. Joseph immediately after proceeded to the same place. As he alighted from his carriage in the court-yard of the hotel which had been prepared for him, one of the first persons whom he met was Lord Cornwallis. The English lord, disregarding the formalities of etiquette, advanced, and presenting his hand to Joseph, said,
"I hope that it is thus that you will deal with me, and that all our etiquette will not retard for a single hour the conclusion of peace. Such forms are not necessary where frankness and honest intentions rule. My Government would not have chosen me as an ambassador, if it had not been intended to restore peace to the world. The First Consul, in choosing his brother, has also proved his good intentions. The rest remains for us."
Anecdote.
Louis Napoleon gives the following rather amusing account of this incident. "When Joseph, plenipotentiary of the French Republic, journeyed with his colleagues toward Amiens, to conclude peace with England, in 1802, they were much occupied, he said, during the route, as to the ceremonial which should be observed with the English diplomatists. In the interests of their mission they desired not to fail in any proprieties. Still, being representatives of a republican state, they did not wish to show too much attention, prévenance, to the grand English lords with whom they were to treat.
"The French ambassadors were therefore much embarrassed in deciding to whom it belonged to make the first visit. Quite inexperienced, they were not aware that foreign diplomatists always conceal the inflexibility of their policy under the suppleness of forms. Thus they were promptly extricated from their embarrassment; for, to their great astonishment, they found, upon their arrival at Amiens, Lord Cornwallis waiting for them at the door of his hotel, and who, without any ceremony, himself opened for them the door of their carriage, giving them a cordial grasp of the hand."10
Hostility of the English Government.
Lord Cornwallis, however, found himself incessantly embarrassed by instructions he was receiving from the ministry at London. They were very reluctantly consenting to peace, being forced to it by the pressure of public opinion. They were, therefore, hoping that obstacles would arise which would enable them, with some plausibility, to renew the war. Napoleon continually wrote to his brother urging him to do every thing in his power to secure the signing of the treaty. In a letter on the 10th of March, he writes,
"The differences at Amiens are not worth making such a noise about. A letter from Amiens caused the alarm in London by asserting that I did not wish for peace. Under these circumstances delay will do real mischief, and may be of great consequence to our squadrons and our expeditions. Have the kindness, therefore, to send special couriers to inform me of what you are doing, and of what you hear; for it is clear to me that, if the terms of peace are not already signed, there is a change of plans in London."
Treaty
"I hold it for certain that in 1802 the Concordat was, on the part of Napoleon, an act of superior intelligence, much more than of a despotic spirit, and for the Christian religion in France an event as salutary as it was necessary. After the anarchy and the revolutionary orgies, the solemn recognition of Christianity by the State could alone give satisfaction to public sentiment, and assure to the Christian influence the dignity and the stability which it was needful that it should recover." – Meditations sur l'état Actuel de la Religion Chrétienne, par M. Guizot, p. 5.
This daughter subsequently married her cousin, the brother of the Emperor Napoleon III., the second son of Louis Bonaparte. He died at an early age, in a campaign for the liberation of Italy.
Œuvres de Napoleon III. tome ii. p. 456.