The Life, Exile and Conversations with Napoleon. Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné Las Cases
an insignificant man. His wife, who was an extremely pretty and fascinating woman, shared and even usurped his authority; she was a native of Versailles. Both husband and wife paid great attention to the General of artillery; they became extremely fond of him, and treated him in the handsomest manner. This was a great advantage to the young General, for, at that time, during the absence or the inefficiency of the laws, a representative of the people was a man of immense power.
The individual here alluded to was one of those who, in the Convention, most contributed to bring Napoleon into notice, at the crisis of Vendemiaire: this was the natural consequence of the deep impressions produced by the character and capacity of the young General.
The Emperor relates that, after he had ascended the throne, he again saw his old acquaintance the fair representative of Nice. She was so much altered as to be scarcely recognisable; her husband was dead, and she was reduced to extreme indigence. The Emperor readily granted every thing she solicited: “He realized,” he said, “all her dreams, and even went beyond them.” Although she lived at Versailles, many years had elapsed before she succeeded in gaining access to him. Letters, petitions, solicitations of every description had proved unavailing: “So difficult it is,” said the Emperor, “to reach the sovereign, even when he does not wish to deny himself.” At length, one day when he was on a hunting excursion at Versailles, Napoleon happened to mention this lady to Berthier, who was also a native of that place, and had known her in her youth; and he, who had never yet deigned to mention her, and still less to regard her petitions, on the following day presented her to the sovereign. “But why did you not get introduced to me through our mutual acquaintances in the Army of Nice?” inquired the Emperor: “many of them are now great men, and are on a constant footing of intimacy with me.” “Alas! sire,” replied she, “our acquaintance ceased when they became great, and I was overtaken by misfortune.”
The Emperor one day communicated to me some details respecting this old friendship:—“I was,” said he, “very young when I first knew this lady; I was proud of the favourable impression I had made on her, and seized every opportunity of shewing her all the attention in my power. I will mention one circumstance, to shew how authority is sometimes abused, and on what men’s fate may depend: for I am no worse than the rest. I was walking one day with the Representative’s wife, inspecting our positions in the vicinity of the Col di Tende, when I suddenly took it into my head to give her an idea of an engagement, and, for this purpose, ordered the attack of an advanced post. We were conquerors, it is true; but the affair could be attended by no advantage. The attack was a mere whim, and yet it cost the lives of several men. I have never failed to reproach myself whenever I look back on this affair.”
The events of Thermidor having produced a change in the Committees of the Convention, Aubry, formerly a captain of artillery, was appointed to direct the Committee of War, and he re-modelled the army. He did not forget himself; he promoted himself to the rank of general of artillery, and favoured several of his old comrades, to the injury of the inferior officers, whom he dismissed. Napoleon, who was at this time scarcely twenty-five years of age, became a general of infantry, and he was chosen for the service of La Vendée. This circumstance induced him to quit the Army of Italy, in order to protest earnestly against the change, which, on every account, was unsatisfactory to him. Finding Aubry inflexible, and even offended at his just representations, he gave in his resignation. Only a short time elapsed before he was again employed in the Topographical Committee, by which the movements of the army and the plans of the campaigns were arranged: he was thus engaged at the period of the 13th of Vendemiaire.
Napoleon’s expostulation with Aubry on the subject of his new appointment formed a perfect scene: he insisted vehemently, because he had facts to bear him out; Aubry was obstinate and bitter, because he had power in his hands. He told Napoleon that he was too young, and that he must let older men go before him; Napoleon replied that a soldier soon grew old on the field of battle, and that he had just come from it. Aubry had never been in any engagement. They came to very high words.
I informed the Emperor that, on returning from my emigration, I occupied for a considerable time, in the Rue Saint Florentin, the identical apartment in which this scene took place. I had frequently heard it spoken of; and though it was described by unfriendly tongues, each, nevertheless, took great interest in relating the details, and in trying to guess the part of the room in which any particular gesture was made, or any remarkable word spoken.
The history of the famous day of Vendemiaire, which had so important an influence on the fate of the Revolution and of Napoleon, will shew that he hesitated for some time before he undertook the defence of the Convention.
On the night succeeding that day, Napoleon presented himself to the Committee of Forty, which was established at the Tuileries. He wanted to procure mortars and ammunition from Meudon; but such was the circumspection of the President (Cambacéres) that, in spite of the dangers which had marked the day, he refused to sign the order; and merely, by way of accommodating the matter, requested that the guns and ammunition might be placed at the disposal of the General.
During his command of Paris, subsequently to the 13th of Vendemiaire, Napoleon had to encounter a great scarcity, which occasioned several popular commotions. One day when the usual distribution had not taken place, crowds of people collected round the bakers’ shops. Napoleon was parading about the city with a party of his staff to preserve public tranquillity. A crowd of persons, chiefly women, assembled round him, loudly calling for bread. The crowd augmented, the outcries increased, and the situation of Napoleon and his officers became critical. A woman, of monstrous size and corpulence, was particularly conspicuous by her gestures and exclamations. “Those fine epauletted fellows,” said she, pointing to the officers, “laugh at our distress: so long as they can eat and grow fat, they care not if the poor people die of hunger.” Napoleon turned to her, and said, “Good woman, look at me; which is fatter, you or I?” Napoleon was at that time extremely thin: “I was a mere slip of parchment,” said he. A general burst of laughter disarmed the fury of the populace, and the staff-officers continued their round.
The narrative of the thirteenth of Vendemiaire shews how Napoleon became acquainted with Madame de Beauharnais, and how he contracted the marriage which has been so greatly misrepresented in the accounts of the time. As soon as he got introduced to Madame de Beauharnais, he spent almost every evening at her house, which was frequented by the most agreeable company in Paris. When the majority of the party retired, there usually remained M. de Montesquiou, the father of the Grand Chamberlain; the Duke de Nivernois, so celebrated for the graces of his wit; and a few others. They used to look round to see that the doors were all shut, and they would then say, “Let us sit down and chat about the old court; let us make a tour to Versailles.”
The poverty of the treasury and the scarcity of specie were so great, during the Republic, that, on the departure of General Buonaparte for the army of Italy, all his efforts, joined to those of the Directory, could only succeed in raising 2000 louis, which he carried with him in his carriage. With this sum he set out to conquer Italy, and to march towards the empire of the world. The following is a curious fact: an order of the day was published, signed Berthier, directing the General-in-chief, on his arrival at the head-quarters at Nice, to distribute to the different generals, to enable them to enter on the campaign, the sum of four louis in specie. For a considerable time no such thing as specie had been seen. This order of the day displays the circumstances of the times more truly and faithfully than whole volumes written on the subject.
As soon as Napoleon joined the army, he proved himself to be a man born for command. From that moment he filled the theatre of the world;17 he occupied all Europe; he was a meteor blazing in the firmament; he concentrated all attention, riveted all thoughts, and formed the subject of all conversations. From that time every Gazette, every publication, every monument, became the record of his deeds. His name was inscribed in every page and in every line, and echoed from every mouth.
On his appearance in the command, a total revolution was observed in his manners, conduct, and language. Decrès has often told me that he was at Toulon when he first heard of Napoleon’s appointment to the command of the army of Italy. He had known him well in Paris, and thought himself on terms of perfect familiarity with him. “Thus,” said he, “when