Napoleon

by Emil Ludwig

  But the mother had become completely estranged from him, and Napoleon soon ceased to have any serious thought of making the child his successor. Perhaps he thought that the boy came of a bad stock; maybe he had a foreboding that this half Napoleon would become a half criminal and an outright ne'er-do-well.

  All the more vigorously does this advance in years urge him towards a new marriage. There are long conversations between Napoleon and Josephine, between reason and sorrow ; and after them it is not Josephine alone in whom the servants note the traces of tears. " How terrible to die childless ! " he says on one

  Lucien 's Portrait of Napoleon

  occasion. Nevertheless his fondness for his helpmate in-creases. We know how difficult he found it to break with any of his collaborators ; and his temperamental conservatism makes him cling to this first companion of his rise. " If I were to divorce her," he says to Talleyrand, who advises him to take this step, " the witchery of my home would be gone. I should have to go to school again in order to understand the ways and fancies of a young wife. The empress adapts herself to me perfectly, and understands me so well. Besides, it would be very ungrateful to divorce a woman who has done so much for me." Such are the motives, tender and reasonable, respectable and convenient—in a word, thoroughly middle class —which make the man cleave to his wife.

  But the difficulties grow in number, and the need for a decisive step becomes more urgent. While he ponders the moral impression which his divorcing Josephine will make in France (where she inspires far more personal affection than he does), he, as his manner is, lays his plans deliberately, that, at last, he may make an advance which no one anticipates, and will enable him to fulfil two wishes at once. He arranges for an interview with a man whom he has long needed, and whom he may now need more than ever. His mother is always interceding with him on Lucien's behalf; now, Napoleon, who is travelling in Italy, sends for Lucien.

  The conversation between the brothers is the most interesting of all Napoleon's recorded conversations, and has been reported by Lucien with fidelity and picturesqueness. Napoleon is there portrayed to the life.

  XVIII

  Lucien was now just thirty-two. It was on a December evening when he had reached the castle of Mantua, after a journey during which the dread of imprisonment, aroused by his brother's summons, had been continually present to his mind.

  " Sire, Your Brother Lucien "

  On entering a room extravagantly lighted by numerous candelabra, he was blinded for a moment by the glare. Then he heard Rustam's voice announcing him : " Sire, your brother Lucien ! "

  The man to whom the announcement is made does not stir. He is seated at a large round table, which is covered by a huge map of Europe, the biggest Lucien has ever seen. Supporting his head on his left hand, with the other hand he is thrusting coloured pins into the map, pins which presumably represent army corps or whole armies. It is so many years since Lucien has seen his brother, and Napoleon has changed so much, that the visitor is not quite sure whether he is looking at the Emperor, and he remains motionless for several minutes. At length the man sits up, yawns, rubs his back against the chair, takes up a small bell from the table, and rings it with one strong movement. The visitor advances a step or two :

  " Sire, I am Lucien."

  The Emperor jumps up from his chair, dismisses the servant, and takes his brother by the hand affectionately, though with a certain amount of reserve. Lucien feels called upon to embrace Napoleon, who does not repel the advance, but accepts it with a passive coldness, as if no longer used to such intimacies. Then, taking the visitor by the hand once more, he pushes Lucien gently away to scrutinise him the better:

  " So it's you, is it ? How are you ? How is your family ? When did you leave Rome ? Have you had a pleasant journey ? What about the pope ? How is he ? Does he like you ? "

  Lucien notes the nervousness masked by this flood of questions, turns them off lightly, and says he is glad to find his brother in good health.

  " Yes, I'm very well." He pats his waistcoat, and adds : " I'm getting fat, and I'm afraid I shall get fatter still." He looks keenly at Lucien, takes a pinch of snuff, and says : " As for you ! Do you know that you are looking uncommonly well ?

  (Photograph by Braun, Paris and Dornach.)

  Bonaparte as First Consul. Painting by J. D. A. Ingres. Musee de Liege.

  Policy and Honour

  You used to be rather too thin. Now, you are almost handsome."

  " Your Majesty is good enough to make fun of me."

  " No, no, it's quite true. But let's sit down and have a talk." They seat themselves opposite the huge map, the Emperor fidgets with the pins, and Lucien waits for him to begin. But, since Napoleon does not open the ball, the younger man says, hesitatingly: " Sire . . ." At this moment, the Emperor sweeps all the pins flat, and says abruptly : " Well, what have you to say to me?"

  Lucien replies that he hopes his brother has forgiven him.

  " You can have my pardon soon enough. It depends entirely on yourself."

  Lucien expresses his willingness to do anything compatible with his honour.

  " Well and good, but what sort of things will square with your honour ? "

  Lucien speaks of nature and religion.

  " But politics, Sire ; do politics mean nothing to you ? "

  Lucien demurs, saying that he has retired into private life.

  " It rested entirely with yourself. You could have been a king just as well as your brothers."

  "Sire, my wife's honour, my children's position. ..."

  " You keep on speaking of your wife, when you know perfectly well that she has never been your wife. Is not, and never will be, for I shall never recognise her."

  " Ah, Sire ! "

  " No, never, though the heavens should fall! Since you are my brother, I can forgive the wrong you have done me. But upon her my curse will rest! " There is a long tirade, until at length Lucien intervenes, laughing nervously, and saying :

  " Moderate your words, Sire. There is a proverb : ' La pro-cessione torna, dove esce,' " and Lucien thinks it expedient to add a French translation. When Napoleon continues to talk of his brother's wife as a woman of bad reputation, and Lucien

  " Espouse My Cause!"

  shows signs of taking offence, the Emperor tries to mollify him by admitting that these reports may be calumnious, but adds that nothing will induce him to recognise her. Besides, it is now a fundamental law, as firmly fixed as the Salic law, that no marriage in the Emperor's family is valid without the Emperor's consent. Lucien reminds him of the date of the marriage, and Napoleon answers: " Yes, but the law was passed because of what you had done ! " This Napoleonic logic makes Lucien smile.

  " What are you laughing at ? I don't see anything laughable in it! I know what you and your wife and my enemies say about the matter. You choose your friends from among my enemies. But no good Frenchman approves of what you have done. The only way in which you can regain popular esteem is by espousing my cause, like Jerome."

  Lucien, who is in the Emperor's hands, has absolutely determined to let nothing affront him. But he is spurred into opposition, springs to his feet, and does not sit down again :

  " Your Majesty is mistaken! When your courtiers approve your attitude towards me as thanks for the services I was so happy to render you, they are only acting after their kind. On my side, too, my servants tell me that I am right ! "—At these words, Napoleon's brow is furrowed, his eyes flash, and his nostrils work, " an unmistakable sign of rage in members of our family." But Lucien has taken the bit between his teeth, and goes on : " What ought the nation to do for me ? What gratitude docs it owe me ? It ought to look upon me as the saviour of the man who has saved it. ... I am proud to think that it will rather be inclined to compare me with you than with Jerome. No, Sire, public opinion, which is mightier by far than all the kings in the world, assigns every one to his true place, whatever courtiers may say."

  Napoleon grows calmer. Instead of flying into a pa
ssion, as Lucien dreaded for a moment, he controls himself, and says quietly: "Talleyrand is right. You speak of the affair with an

  Corsicans

  ardour worthy of a political club. Such eloquence, Citoyen, is, believe me, long since out of fashion. I am well aware that you did me good service on the Nineteenth Brumaire ; but as for having been my ' saviour,' of that proof is lacking. This much I remember clearly, that you disputed with me the unity of power which I needed for the saving of France, and that I and Joseph spent half a night before we could get you to pledge yourself to silence when these questions should be touched upon. . . . Finally, after the victory, you were inclined to oppose my personal elevation, and this conduct on your part releases me from all obligation to show gratitude.

  " But you, do you owe me no gratitude ? When you ' saved ' me at Saint-Cloud, were not you yourself in mortal peril ? I sent my grenadiers to save you from the hands of assassins. And if you, a bad brother, an unnatural brother, had really allowed that vote of my outlawry to be taken, do you imagine that I should have been such a fool as to accept the decree unresistingly ? Had I not adherents enough, with God's aid, to defend this head that was destined to wear so many crowns ? " He goes on to speak for a whole hour of those days, and of Corsican compatriots who had helped him; suddenly gives the conversation an intimate turn; speaks of his generals and the extent of their devotion; refers to political conflicts in which the brothers had held divergent views, and shows how his view had been right. Then he changes the subject, saying abruptly :

  " Enough. That is all ancient history, like your great day of the Nineteenth Brumaire. I did not summon you that we might deliver lectures to one another." A long pause.

  " Listen to me, Lucien, and weigh my words carefully, for, above all, let us avoid getting heated. ... I am too powerful to have any desire to lose my temper. You have come to me trustfully. Corsican hospitality shall never be violated by the Emperor of the French. This virtue of our forefathers and fellow-countrymen is a guarantee for your absolute safety."

  Europe Too Small

  The Emperor strides up and down the hall for a long time, pulling himself together, and then turns to Lucien, whose hand he takes and presses :

  " We are alone here. You see ? We are alone. No one can overhear us. I am wrong about your marriage. . . . Knowing your wilfulness as I did, knowing your self-love—for everything, you know, depends on self-love, which regards itself as a virtue, just as we princes dignify by the name of policy everything which turns on our passions—I ought not to have interfered with your union. People slandered your wife to me, though some ventured to speak well of her, especially Mamma, who loves her, saying she makes you happy and is a good mother. . . . Lebrun, indeed, has sung her praises so often that Josephine once told the good fellow he must be in love with her himself. I was very much amused at my wife, who has more of a temper than people fancy. Still, I must say that Josephine never shows her claws to me ! Well, I have no disrespect for your wife, but I detest her because this passion of yours for her has robbed me of the most capable of my brothers. However, her beauty will pass ; you will be disillusioned ; then, returning to political life, you will oppose my policy, and I shall have to take measures against you whether I like it or not; for —let me say this to you—unless you are on my side, Europe is too small for the pair of us !

  " " You are making fun of me."

  " No, I'm in earnest; friend or foe ! It is easier for you today than ever before. You need not be surprised : there has been a change in my family policy. You will see soon enough. Your children, which hitherto I have wanted to exclude, can now be of great use to me, but they must be dynastically recognised.The offspring of a marriage I do not recognise can have no right to the throne. Tell me, then, what would you do in my place ? "

  Lucien advises him to make the Senate pass a simple resolu-

  Growing Disquiet

  tion to the effect that the children come within the right of succession.

  " Of course I know that I can do that, but I must not. As you said just now, public opinion has to be conciliated. What would the family, the court, France, which all watch my slightest movements, say about such a step ? A recantation of that kind would do me more harm than the loss of a battle."

  Lucien points out that he cannot possibly ask pardon for a marriage which had been entered into long before Napoleon's accession to the throne. " Grant my request, Sire. You will have no more faithful servant than I. All the rest of my life will be an expression of my gratitude."

  The younger man goes on talking for a long time, and throughout his speech Napoleon is incessantly taking snuff, but spilling most of the tobacco, so nervous is he, growing more and more anxious ; in his perplexity exclaiming at length: " Good God, you press me hard, and I am weak. But I shall not be so weak as to move the Senate to pass the resolution you ask for. I cannot recognise your wife ! "

  Thereupon Lucien, who is now almost beside himself, says : " Well, then, Sire, what do you really want of me ? "

  " What do I want ? Simply that you should divorce your wife."

  " But you have always maintained that we are not married, so how can we get a divorce ? "

  " I expected you to say that. What do you think I can mean by asking you to procure a divorce ? Obviously, thereby I recognise your marriage, but not your wife. The divorce will be the best thing for the children, just like all that you have hitherto refused to do, all that I have so much wanted you to do: to annul the marriage and divorce her."

  " That would be a dishonour for me and my children, and I will never do it 1 "

  " Why is it, that with all your mother wit, you cannot see

  No Tragedies!

  the difference between my earlier proposals and my present ones ? In the former case, if your marriage had been declared null, your children would have become bastards ! "

  Lucien points out the difference between his children's dynastic rights and their civic rights. " You can bestow your thrones upon whom you will, Sire, for you won them at the point of the sword. But no one shall cheat my children out of their share in the modest heritage of Carlo Bonaparte, for they are as legitimate as any one else's both by canon law and by State law. The pope has even given one of my daughters the name of his mother! "

  " Calm yourself ! ... Of course the divorce I ask for implies the recognition of your marriage. Nor do I wish to force an actual separation from your wife. She shall be honoured in accordance with her merits if she will make this sacrifice to my policy and to the future interests of France. I would even pay her a visit. But if she refuses, you and she will both be blamed for having sacrificed the true greatness of your children to your own egoism, and your children will curse your memory ! "

  Lucien answers mournfully.

  " You are really incorrigible," rejoins Napoleon. " You take everything so tragically. I am not asking for any tragedies ! Think it over."

  After Lucien has again and again insisted upon his point of honour, and has several times wished to take leave, the Emperor once more brings up the distribution of the thrones. Eugene's position in Italy is merely provisional, and he would much rather see Lucien installed there. Napoleon complains about Hortense, too. None of them are satisfied. " Pauline is naturally the most reasonable in the matter of ambition, for she is the queen of fashion. Besides, she grows more lovely day by day. Josephine is ageing, and is greatly distressed about a divorce."

  Lucien pricks up his ears. Napoleon goes on as if he were talking at random :

  The True Aim

  " Can you believe it ? She always bursts into tears when her digestion is a little upset, for she fancies she is being poisoned by those who would like me to marry some one else. That is despicable. Still, in the end, I shall have to get a divorce. I ought to have taken the step long ago, and I should have had quite big children by now ; for, I may as well tell you "—he speaks earnestly—" people are wrong in thinking it is my fault we have no children. I have several. Two I kn
ow of for certain." He mentions, without naming her, Leon's mother; and then, wonder of wonders, the Polish countess. " She is an exquisite woman, an angel. . . . You laugh to see that I am in love. Yes, I really am ; but I never forget considerations of policy. She wants me to marry a princess. Of course, as far as feelings go, I would much rather raise my beloved to the throne. You, in your dealings with your wife, ought in like manner to be guided by considerations of policy ! "

  " Sire, I should act as you are doing if my wife were only my mistress."

  The Emperor grows more and more animated; speaks of a fixed intention to get a divorce; deplores having given the Bavarian princess to Eugene, who does not care for her and did not choose her for himself; remarks that he might long since have had Lucien's daughter betrothed to the prince of Asturia " or some other great prince, perhaps even a great emperor. . . . Your divorce would have to precede mine, or be simultaneous. Then there would be less chatter about my divorce ; for yours, in view of your obstinate refusal for so long previously, will certainly arouse more interest. Will you do me this service ? I think you really ought to."

  Lucien looks at him so quizzically that the Emperor is amazed, eyes his brother up and down, and says : " Why not ? "