Napoleon

by Emil Ludwig

  It is not surprising that such a man should in a trice be mastered by the seductions of the man of power; nor is it remarkable that subsequently the tsar should forsake the Emperor, for the surrender and the abandonment are both feminine. No one has ever given a better description of Alexander than Metternich : " A mingling of masculine merits with feminine defects ; favourite ideas, imperfectly thought out, initiate sudden impulses. As a result, sudden embarrassments. He gives his word too quickly, and then finds it very difficult to keep; not

  Cajoleries

  strong enough for ambition in the grand style, and not weak enough for mere vanity; the man of the world rather than ruler. There is a sort of periodicity in his enthusiasms and dis-enchantments, a periodicity of five-year terms during which an idea waxes and wanes. At the close of each cycle, a new one opens. To begin with, he is a liberal. Then he is filled with hatred for the Frenchman; then he passes under the Frenchman's influence."

  Five years hence, the new period will come to an end, and the friends of to-day will be at war again.

  Maybe Napoleon already foresees this in the splendid tent, where for two hours the emperors discuss the affairs of the world; certainly he foresees it during the long dinners and during the rides and drives together. Napoleon's handling of Alexander is masterly. At first, the Emperor assumes the role of the cavalier, who cannot sufficiently extol the heroism of the Russians ; then he conveys the implication that ere long he must surround himself with a bodyguard of his ministers, lest he should be carried away by the tsar's charm. At table, in order to dazzle Alexander, he talks of his good luck—a thing to which the man of destiny rarely alludes. He tells an anecdote, for which this is the only warrant, of an incident that had happened in Egypt. He had fallen asleep beneath an ancient wall, which had suddenly crumbled to pieces without injuring him. Awaking, he found in his hand something which at first he believed to be a stone, but which, on examination, he saw to be a wonderfully beautiful cameo of Augustus. Could any playwright invent a more marvellous scene than this one invented by the Emperor, in an after-dinner hour, to stir the imagination of the mystical idealist, his companion ?

  Enthralled, the tsar listens to the man of wonders. If he could only know all that Napoleon knows ! "I feel that I am not really emperor as you are, for I am dependent on my generals." He asks a hundred questions about the art of war. Naively, when

  Partition of Europe

  the two men are out walking together, the tsar asks : " What sort of position is this ? How would you defend it, and how would you attack it ? "—" I explained matters to him ; and I told him that, if I were ever again at war with Austria, he should lead an army corps of thirty thousand men under my orders, so that he could learn the art of war."

  Was ever woman in such humour wooed ? Soon an offensive and defensive alliance is concluded.

  " The lands between the Elbe and the Memel" (this is a secret note to the treaty), " are to form the barrier between the two great empires, a barrier to render harmless all the pinpricks which, in disputes between nations, are apt to precede the firing of the guns." In this treaty, each party to the alliance gives only in order to take ; and in a couple of words the tsar sacrifices Prussia, the Emperor Poland, although each of the two rulers has pledged a woman to maintain the integrity of her country. Almost grotesque is the calm with which, seated in a small room in an out-of-the-way and little known town hard by the shores of the Baltic, the two men pore over the map and cut pieces out of countries like Hotspur and Owen Glendower in the play. The Emperor gives Coburg, Mecklenburg, and Oldenburg, whose rulers have ties with the tsar, receiving the Ionian islands and Cattaro in return. Only when the tsar asks for the Bosphorus, does the Emperor demur. " Constantinople ? That carries world dominion with it! " In the thorny thicket of these negotiations, we have stumbled upon the decisive word that slumbers beneath the treaties and notes. It is plain that when two men are dividing the world between them, they will in the long run come to blows.

  The king of Prussia joins their company; and, since he lacks dignity and intelligence, he is ignored by both the emperors. Napoleon privately considers him a dullard, possessing neither talent nor character, and adversely criticises everything connected with him ; even his dress, which is the uniform of a hussar, headgear and all complete. Since the king is anxious about

  Louise, Queen of Prussia

  the very existence of Prussia, he leaves no stone unturned to secure the safety of his State, and summons the queen to Tilsit. The Emperor, curious to see his beautiful foe, intimates that he would be pleased to receive the lady there. He uses the neutral zone as a pretext for not setting out to meet her; but he has a charming residence prepared for her reception. Then, with a brilliant suite, though himself dressed in the simplest attire, he rides forth to visit her, and is received by the queen, who stands at the head of the flight of steps to welcome him.

  She is clad in white silk, adorned with ancient jewels, beautiful and bitter. With seemingly innocent words, Louise breaks down the unbearable constraint:

  " Sire, I hope you will excuse these narrow steps." " What would one not excuse to reach such a goal," he answers. But when he continues to speak in this complimentary tone, she says with dignity :

  " Sire, have we come here to speak of trifles ? " Then she pleads as spouse and mother, and appeals to his " magnanimous heart."

  " You will be glad to be back in Berlin ? " " Not in all circumstances. It depends upon you whether we return home without sorrow in our hearts." " Madame, I should be only too pleased. ..." When she moved to speak, he interjected : " Madame, how came Prussia to venture upon this war ? " " The fame of Frederick the Great deceived us as to our strength."

  " How many times have I offered peace ? Austria showed more wisdom after Austerlitz."

  " To-day, I beg you to establish a claim upon our gratitude." " Have you not, yourself, destroyed my friendship for Prussia ? "

  " Your heart is noble ; it unites with other fine qualities, the possession of a great character."

  Two Opinions

  " Unfortunately, general considerations often stand in the way of special wishes."

  " I do not understand questions of high politics ; yet I do not feel that I am foregoing any of my dignity as a woman if I assure you ..."

  He listens to her with growing interest. She notices " a kindly smile trembling at the corners of his mouth, which seemed to guarantee success,—when, at that moment, the king entered the room."

  The conversation has no political consequences, but the human appeal has been very great. " It was just as well that the king put in an appearance when he did," the Emperor says to the tsar with a spice of coquetry. " I might have made her promises. . . . An exquisite woman. Instead of depriving her of a crown, one is tempted to lay one at her feet." After another talk with Queen Louise, Napoleon writes to Josephine : " She is a bewitching woman, and is most amiable in her behaviour towards me. But you have no cause for jealousy. ... I should have to pay dearly for it were I to play the gallant here. . . . She has been punished for her love of domination; but she has displayed much character in the midst of her misfortunes. . . . One has to concede that she said many sensible things."

  Even more amazing is his effect upon her, who had once called him an infernal monster. She writes : " His head is shapely, his lineaments are those of a thinker, his whole appearance reminds one of a Roman emperor. When he smiles, his mouth assumes a kindly expression. ..."

  This is Napoleon's greatest victory. What other woman has, after a few weeks' acquaintance, been able to portray him more charmingly ? And yet she has reasons enough to detest him, for, in spite of the humility of her attitude, he is as unyielding as iron. Soon, however, she arouses his irritability. When, at last, everything has been signed, and the Emperor, " in consideration of his friendship for the tsar," has secured the kingdom of

  What Is Paris Saying?

  Prussia against dissolution (though monstrous cantles have been sliced off!
), she cannot refrain from making renewed attempts to soften him. Finally, he sees her into her carriage, and she seizes this opportunity to ask him, for the last time, why so mighty a man should have foregone the chance of earning her eternal gratitude. He throws courtesy to the winds, and answers with ironical bitterness :

  " What will you, Madame ? I am to be pitied, for this is obviously the work of my evil star ! "

  XVI

  What is Paris saying ?

  " Even were I ten thousand miles away from my homeland, I could not leave the field free for bad citizens to stir up my capital to strife ! " He has now been ten months absent—longer away than ever before or afterwards.

  He tightens up the home government all the more rigorously since he fears that his censorious Parisians are slipping out of his hands. This city, renowned for its biting wit, is not only venting its feelings in songs and jokes that are the delight of the boulevards ; it is now assuming a sceptical tone, and is more amused than impressed by his expeditions. Yes, he is right, these Parisians need to be ruled by "an iron hand in a velvet glove." Now they are to experience both again, only the velvet seems to have worn rather thin. Indeed, the whole tone of the capital has become lax and disorderly. Do they want to return to Directory days, when every one said and printed exactly what he pleased ?

  A new and more rigid censorship of newspapers and plays is introduced. Historical drama must deal only with matters of the remote past; and even Corneille, his ideal, is pruned of certain passages. Before every opera he must be consulted, not merely as to the general question of acceptance after it is written, but earlier, as to the choice of topic ; religious subjects are

  " God's Image on Earth"

  forbidden, and mythology is recommended. With lavish means, on the imperial scale, a university is founded, modelled after the Jesuit schools he detests ; the professors are exempt from military service, but to some extent celibacy is insisted on. Chateaubriand is attacked, and his " Mercure de France " is suppressed, because in opposition salons he has criticised the Emperor, and has quoted Tacitus the historian as having taken vengeance on Nero the tyrant.

  Madame de StaeTs new requests for permission to return to Paris are rejected, " for she is able to make people think, people who had never learned or had forgotten how to think." To the arch-chancellor he writes : " Summon Count R., and let him know that his wife's boudoir is the talk of Paris." To Fouche : " You are not policing Paris properly. Malicious gossip is ripe. Keep watch on the speeches that are being made at Citerni's restaurant and in the Cafe Foy." That young people may learn who pleases God, every child in France patters the following catechism : " We owe our Emperor Napoleon I. love, respect, obedience, loyalty, military service, . . . ardent prayers for his welfare, . . . because God has showered gifts on him in peace and war, and has made him God's image on earth."

  He has moved a long way. When the heir of countless generations believes such things of himself, others (or some of them) can believe them of him. But it is only three years since the Emperor, on the day of his coronation, had said that every fishwife would laugh in his face were he to declare himself the son of God. . . .

  Is he no longer the same man ? As of old, in personal matters he renounces display. He will not have money lavished on his study. Here, apart from the great writing table, there are only a small settee (on which he lounges when he is dictating, unless he wanders about the room), two tall bookcases, a couple of chandeliers, and the bust of Frederick the Great; in another simply furnished study, he has a bust of Csesar. Looking through some bills, he says : " I was charged much less when I

  Thrift

  was lieutenant. Why should I pay more than any one else ? " When the private theatre of the palace is to be done up, he remarks : " There must still be a lot of upholstered benches and candelabras that were supplied at great expense for my coronation. No doubt they are stored away somewhere."

  When Remusat exceeds the Emperor's wardrobe allowance of twenty thousand francs, he is dismissed, and his successor is handed a long inventory of requirements, a list personally drafted by the Emperor : "I think we can make a few more savings even than this. See to it that the tailor does his work properly. Lay the new clothes out for my inspection and approval on the day of delivery, and then put them away at once in my drawers." In the case of uniform coats which are to be delivered every quarter, he remarks : " This coat must last three years. ... In addition, forty-eight pairs of white breeches and waistcoats, at eighty francs a suit = frs. 3840. One pair of breeches and one waistcoat must be delivered every week, and they must last three years. . . . Also twenty-four pairs of shoes, to be delivered a pair every fortnight, must last two years = frs. 312." Shirts are the only things he orders in large quantities, to be delivered a dozen every week, must last six years.

  Here, in his intimate life, he is the same man as before ; just as, when he is campaigning, he is the old Bonaparte—a man of few enjoyments. But upon the formalities of majesty, upon court ceremonial, upon all the outworn display of the world whose power he has broken, he will squander, not money alone, but, more precious, time, and, more precious still, human dignity and his own freedom.

  He no longer laughs sarcastically when those who dwell in the aristocratic quarter frequent his court; he is genuinely pleased. His mood is difficult to understand. The men of birth who had mortified him in his cadet days by making fun of his poverty, now throng the court of this same Corsican, and their shadows on the shining parquet floor seem to mock the humility

  False to His Own Principles

  of their gestures. They are all back in the Tuileries now, the Montmorencys, the Montesquieus, the Radziwills, the Noailles, the Narbonnes, the Turennes, who for years had sworn the death of the upstart. The princes of the Confederation of the Rhine clank through the halls in their German uniforms ; the Mecklenburger pays his court to the empress ; the heirs apparent of Baden and Bavaria are privileged to hear the discussions at the Council of State. To the old nobility this was a pastime; to the Emperor it was policy, for he wished to make sure of the allegiance of their class.

  But now there happens something which should never have happened. Napoleon, the man who counts his coats as he counts his soldiers ; the man who in the army gives promotion only for good service, and will never make an inefficient soldier a lieutenant merely because he is some one's son or nephew; the man who sits contentedly in a barn among his officers, or by the camp-fire among his grenadiers ; the man who has expunged the privileges of birth from his legal code ; the man who has contraposed the new idea of individual ability to the old idea of hereditary dignity, and has thus turned a whole continent upside down—this same Bonaparte, in the autumn of the year 1807, founds a new nobility, " because it is a part of human nature that a man should wish to hand down to his children, not property alone, but also tokens of esteem." Counts and princes, dukes and majorats, were created, not, as before, in order to bestow a supreme dignity upon the bravest marshals, the ablest senators and ministers, but that the sons and grandsons of these new nobles, ne'er-do-wells, wealthy Parisian idlers, and degenerates, might enjoy the privileges which the men of a whole decade had fought and bled to abolish!

  Even the Legion of Honour was now desecrated by its own creator, for these appointed knights, every one of whom had done good service to his country, were to be entitled to bequeath the semblance of this service as well as their property ; and the great dignitaries were to bequeath their princely rank and appellation. Certainly, the bequest did not

  Hereditary Titles

  carry with it any special civic privileges, but none the less the new institution conflicted with the spirit of the Code Napoleon. " Liberty," he wrote with too much truth in a private letter at the time of the issue of this decree, " liberty is only the need of the few whom nature has endowed with exceptional talent; and there is no danger in restricting it. The crowd loves equality. I do not injure the many when I distribute titles without raising the old question of birth; they
are bourgeois crowns, which any one can win. Clever men impart their own movement to those whom they rule. My movement is an upward one, and therefore the nation must move upwards. ... I know that these dukes whom I am endowing so richly that I make them independent of me, will endeavour to elude me, and that they are relying on what they call the caste spirit. But I can run quicker than they, and shall soon overtake them."

  Rarely has a great error had so grand a foundation. Not many months before, in his letters, he had positively cudgelled his brother for having founded a nobility in Holland ; and, speaking of his own intention to do the same thing, had excused himself by saying that the Dutch were a trading people, and that in the militarist French Empire matters were on an altogether different footing. But in the very fact that he himself had transformed France into a militarist State, lay the first danger; and the second danger was the imperial crown, which, with inexorable logic, was now diffusing its ancient symbolical power athwart his realm.

  Before, when he had been Consul, he could with impunity bestow civic crowns, gather honour and glory into a Legion, and transmit the stupendous momentum of his flywheel to the strongest of the lesser wheels in his country. But when he granted estates to the best among his followers, he had to supply titles to go with their estates, titles which were necessarily inheritable ; and when to the second and third best he now gave titles without lands, the recipients naturally begged that the