Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume III. Walter Scott

redoutaitCe que le monde entier à pleins vœux souhaitait:Et s'il vous a donné ces craintes trop subtiles,Qui m'ôtent tout le fruit de nos guerres civiles,Où l'honneur seul m'engage, et que pour terminerJe ne veux que celui de vaincre et pardonner;Où mes plus dangereux et plus grands adversaires,Sitôt qu'ils sont vaincus, ne sont plus que mes frères;Et mon ambition ne va qu'à les forcer,Ayant domté leur haine, à vivre et m'embrasser.Oh! combien d'allegresse une si triste guerreAurait-elle laisée dessus toute la terre,Si l'on voyait marcher dessus un même char,Vainqueurs de leur discorde, et Pompée et César.'"Joseph Buonaparte.

58

See Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 269.

59

See Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 271.

60

See, in the Appendix to this volume, No. II., "Further Particulars concerning the Arrest, Trial, and Death of the Duke d'Enghien."

61

"I was not the person who hesitated to express himself with the least restraint, respecting this violence against the rights of nations and humanity. 'It is more than a crime,' I said, 'it is a political blunder;' words which I record, because they have been repeated and attributed to others." – Fouché, tom. i., p. 266.

62

"I deplore as much as any man can possibly do, the catastrophe of the Duke d'Enghien; but as Napoleon has himself spoken of it, it does not become me to add another word. I shall only observe, that this affair is far from having been cleared up – that it was impossible that my brother should have brought the prince to Paris to be immolated – that he who established a Bourbon in Tuscany, had quite a contrary design, and one which could but be favourable; else why cause so distinguished a prince to make a journey to Paris, when his presence in traversing France could but be dangerous? If it be asked, why the commendable design attributed to Napoleon was not followed up, and was so cruelly changed, I cannot explain: but I am persuaded that impartial history will one day reveal this secret." – Louis Buonaparte, p. 40.

63

"M. de Bourrienne does not scruple to charge with a frightful crime the man whom he calls the friend of his youth, in whose service he had been for years, and by whom he sought to be again employed, as long as fortune was on his side. In my conscience, I believe there never existed a man less capable of committing such a crime than Napoleon; yet it is he whom the schoolfellow of Brienne dares to accuse. On the morning of Pichegru's death, I was in the first consul's cabinet in the Tuileries, searching for some papers, when Savary was announced, and I heard him detail the particulars of the suicide, precisely as they were afterwards published. I read on Napoleon's countenance the surprise which the event created, and little imagined that there were men so base as to charge him with so detestable and uncalled-for a murder; for the meeting between Pichegru and Moreau had been fully established." – Joseph Buonaparte. – "What advantage could accrue to me from Pichegru's assassination? – a man who was evidently guilty, against whom every proof was ready, and whose condemnation was certain. The fact is, that he found himself in a hopeless situation; his high mind could not bear to contemplate the infamy of a public execution, he despaired of my clemency, or disdained to appeal to it, and put an end to his existence." – Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 258.

64

See Napoleon in Exile, vol. ii., p. 215.

65

"When, as minister of the police, the sources of information were open to me, I ascertained that Wright cut his throat in despair, after reading the account of the capitulation of the Austrian general, Mack, at Ulm, that is, while Napoleon was engaged in the campaign of Austerlitz. Can any one, in fact, without alike insulting common sense and glory, admit that the Emperor had attached so much importance to the destruction of a scurvy lieutenant of the English navy, as to send from one of his most glorious fields of battle the order for his destruction? It has been added, that it was I who received from him this commission: now I never quitted him for a single day during the whole campaign, from his departure from Paris till his return." – Savary, tom. ii., p. 61.

66

Mémoires de Fouché, tom. i., p. 267.

67

"I was the person whom the first consul sent to him in the Temple to communicate his consent, and to make arrangements with him for his departure. I gave him my own carriage, and the first consul paid all the expenses of his journey to Barcelona. The general expressed a wish to see Madame Moreau; I went myself to fetch her, and brought her to the Temple." – Savary, tom. ii., p. 66.

68

See Annual Register, vol. xlvi., pp. 642-656.

69

For the First and Second Reports of the Grand Judge to the First Consul, on the alleged Conspiracies against him, see Annual Register, vol. xlvi., pp. 619, 622.

70

This account is abstracted from the full details which Lord Elgin did us the honour to communicate in an authenticated manuscript. – S.

71

Now Earl of Carlisle.

72

See Parliamentary Debates, April 16, 1804, vol. ii., p. 131.

73

"I advised Buonaparte to make himself master of the crisis, and cause himself to be proclaimed Emperor, in order to terminate all our uncertainties, by the foundation of his dynasty. I knew that his resolution was taken. Would it not have been absurd, on the part of the men of the Revolution, to compromise every thing, in order to defend our principles, while we had nothing further to do but enjoy the reality?" – Fouché, tom. i., p. 268.

74

Curée was born at St. André, near Lodève, in 1756. When, in 1807, the Tribunate was dissolved, he was appointed a member of the Conservative Senate. In 1808, Napoleon bestowed on him the title of Count de Labédissières.

75

Moniteur, No. 222, An. xii.; Montgaillard, Hist. de France, tom. vi., p. 57.

76

Montgaillard, tom. vi., p. 76; Moniteur, No. 222, An. xii.

77

"When a member of the Tribunate, Carnot spoke and voted against the establishment of the empire; but his conduct, open and manly, gave no uneasiness to the administration." – Napoleon, Las Cases, tom. iv., p. 141.

78

For the decree, passed the Tribunate on the 3d of May, and carried up to the Conservative Senate on the following day, see Annual Register, vol. xlvi., p. 658.

79

See Organic Senatus Consultum, May 18, Annual Register, vol. xlvi., p. 664.

80

Montgaillard, tom. vi., p. 103; Annual Register, vol. xlvi., p. 663.

81

"In the army the proposed change went down of itself; this is easily accounted for. The dragoons gave the first impulsion. They sent an address to the first consul, in which they alleged that their efforts would be of no service if wicked men should succeed in taking away his life; that the best way to thwart their designs, and to fix their resolute, was to put the imperial crown on his head, and to fix that dignity in his family. After the dragoons came the cuirassiers, then all the corps of infantry, and then the seamen; and lastly, those of the civil orders who wished for the change, followed the example of the army. The spirit spread in an instant to the smallest parishes; the first consul received carriages full of such addresses. A register for the reception of votes was opened in every parish in France. It was the summary of all these votes, laid before the senate, that formed the basis of the procès-verbal of inauguration of the Buonaparte family to the imperial dignity." – Savary, tom. ii., p. 69.

82

"Napoleon's elevation to the imperial dignity met, from all quarters, with the most chilling reception; there were public fêtes without animation, and without joy." – Fouché, tom. i., p. 272.

83

Fouché, tom. ii., p. 280.

84

"The Emperor went to meet the Pope on the road to Nemours. To avoid ceremony, the pretext of a hunting party was assumed: the attendants, with his equipages, were in the forest. The Emperor came on horseback, and in a hunting dress, with