The Dark Secret of Josephine

by Dennis Wheatley

Throwing his gold-laced hat down on a chair Buonaparte motioned Roger to another, shuffled through the papers, selected a bulky folder from among some others, sat down himself and said sharply: ‘Now, be good enough to give me your help by answering these questions to the best of your ability.’

  The interrogation, on the results of which Buonaparte made copious notes, lasted over three hours. It concerned not only forts, beaches and the approximate strength of garrisons along the part of the south coast that Roger admitted to knowing, but also on the ability of various areas to support men and horses, and the degree of sympathy for the principles of the Revolution which an ‘Army of Liberation’ might hope to find among the labouring population of the towns.

  In answer to the purely military questions Roger gave more or less truthful replies, as he knew they could, and would, be checked by minor spies. About the amounts of stored grain, fodder and other foodstuffs which were likely to be found by an invading army he could afford to be fairly pessimistic, and when it came to the question of support from the Methodists, Corresponding Societies, and other anti-monarchist bodies in Britain he was able, quite honestly, to pour an icy douche upon the General’s hopes.

  ‘You must not,’ he said, ‘judge these people by the amount of noise they make, and the fact that from time to time troops have to be called out to put down some local riot. They already enjoy a far greater degree of liberty than did our people here in France before ‘89. That there is a widespread agitation to bring about a more even distribution of wealth is true; but if it succeeds it will be mainly through gradually increasing pressure being brought to bear on Parliament by the many gentry, and others, who in recent years have shown a strong desire to better the lot of the masses. As for the idea that English sans-culottes in Southampton or Portsmouth would rise on the appearance of your troops and set about massacring their masters, pray disabuse your mind of it. They would not even lift a finger to help you. In fact all but a very few would instantly forget their grievances and, remembering only that they were Englishmen, rush to help in defending their country. I have addressed meetings of these men, and wasted much of my time endeavouring to incite them to more vigorous action; so in this you may rest assured that I know what I am talking about.’

  Buonaparte looked somewhat disappointed, but shrugged his narrow shoulders. ‘Ah well, that will make little difference. Victories are not gained by mobs but by superior numbers of well-disciplined troops; and we shall have that, for the British have practically denuded the island of regulars.’

  ‘You have got to get your troops there, and a great quantity of stores, to enable you to launch your first offensive. Are you not afraid that the British Navy will come upon and destroy your transports?’

  ‘No. We shall send a squadron of our oldest ships out from the Biscay ports to lure the Channel Fleet down towards Portugal. That will give us two or three clear days at least for our crossing. The main French Fleet will then offer battle to the British on their return.’

  ‘It could never hope to emerge victorious from such an encounter.’

  ‘I do not expect it to. It is to be sacrificed.’ ‘You mean that every ship will be ordered to fight to a finish.’

  ‘Yes; the loss of a score or so men-o’-war is a bagatelle to pay for the success of an operation of this magnitude. By their action they should so cripple the British Fleet that it will no longer be in any state either to blockade our ports effectively or protect more than a small part of the coast of England. Thus we shall be able to make subsidiary landings in other areas at an acceptable risk; and by the time the British have summoned their squadrons from the Mediterranean and the West Indies I shall be in London.’

  Roger shook his head. ‘The plan sounds feasible enough but, saving your presence, I doubt the ability of any man to carry it out. I have good reason to hate the English, but I know them well. It is seven hundred years since the island was conquered; so they have freedom in their blood, and will resist far more desperately than would the people of any Continental nation.’

  ‘I tell you it is entirely a matter of troops and their handling. We shall have more and better trained ones. Their generals, like those of the Austrians, are old and set in their ways. They will not stand a chance against me.’

  ‘The whole country will swarm with partisans. You will find a man with a shotgun behind every hedge, and every village will become a death trap.’

  Buonaparte laughed, but it was not a pleasant laugh. ‘Don’t worry! I shall find a means to subdue them. England is at the bottom of all our troubles, and sooner or later must be conquered. Until she is France will never enjoy her rightful place in the world; so it might as well be now. Once we get ashore there I’ll be in London in a fortnight, and if need be I’ll burn the capital to the ground unless these stubborn English submit to my will.’

  This, coupled with what had gone before, was evidence enough that Roger had been right in his assessment that the Corsican would set about matters with complete ruth-lessness, and having failed to damp his enthusiasm for the task it seemed pointless to produce further arguments against its chances of success; so he asked:

  ‘In what month do you intend to launch this great operation?’

  ‘That depends on several things. There is much yet to be done. Hundreds of ships and barges will have to be collected, and great quantities of stores sent to the ports for loading into them. I shall need the whole of General Hoche’s army. He favours the plan, but wishes himself to create a major diversion by leading a descent on Ireland, That would mean an unsound dispersal of our forces, so must be stopped. Then although the Directors are much interested in the project, they have not yet given a definite assent to my proceeding with the preparations.’

  ‘Should they finally decide against it, what then?’

  ‘Then they must give me one of the other Armies. I have no intention of remaining here to act as their pet policeman.’

  ‘You have been so successful at it that they may well insist upon your doing so.’

  Buonaparte’s dark eyes narrowed. ‘I do not think they will. They have failed to please every section of the people, even their own party. They are the pinnacle of a pyramid that has a hollow base. A single jolt would be enough to bring them tumbling down. They cannot afford to offend a man like myself.’

  ‘Yes, I think you are right about that,’ Roger agreed. ‘All the same, for your own reputation, I could wish that you were pressing them for some other employment than the conquest of England.’

  ‘I am, but they refuse it to me. England can wait. Her turn will come. First we should smash the Austrians in Italy. That is the task I covet beyond all else. I know something of that country already, and have made a special study of the rest. Look! I will show you how it should be done.’

  Jumping up, he began, with hands which Roger noted again were remarkable shapely, to point at place after place on a map of Northern Italy affixed to the wall. As he spoke his fine eyes dilated, and it was evident that every mountain chain and valley of the country stood out as sharply as an etching in his mind. From the rapidity with which he outlined his plan it was clear that he must have already endeavoured to persuade many people of its possibilities. It had boldness, vision and grandeur—involving no less than the seizure of the Lombardy Plain, a great turning movement through the Alps to join up with the Army of the Rhine and, finally, an advance direct upon Vienna.

  When he had done, Roger asked: ‘What had the Directors to say to this great plan of yours?’

  ‘Carnot approves it, and in such matters the others defer to his judgment. But for some reason they are averse to entrusting me with its execution. He has sent it to General Schérer; but so timid a man as he is certain to reject it.’

  ‘Then,’ smiled Roger, ‘you will have to content yourself with the conquest of Britain.’

  ‘As spring is near upon us they must soon give me a decision on that matter. If it proved favourable I should like to take you with me. Your knowledge of
these troublesome people may be of considerable use. Will you, as you did with Barras, accept the rank of Colonel on my staff?’

  Roger stood up and bowed. ‘I should be honoured, Citizen General. You have only to let me know when you have received consent to proceed, and I will place myself unreservedly at your disposal.’

  From this long interview Roger carried away only one fresh thought for comfort. The expedition had not yet been definitely decided upon. It was now for him to find out if the Directors really favoured the plan, and if so use his utmost endeavours to change their minds, or at least try to prevent their giving so competent a man as Buonaparte the direction of it.

  That evening he spent a long time thinking over all that the Corsican had said, and particularly of his references to the Directory. There could be no doubt that it was extremely unpopular. The upper strata of Paris was still a sink of glittering iniquity which offended all respectable citizens; the middle-classes groaned under every form of vexatious restriction, and the poor were nightly dying by the score from cold and hunger; yet the government appeared incapable of remedying any of these ills.

  Carnot was the only Director for whom anyone had the least respect, and he, as ever, concerned himself solely with the high direction of the war. The harmless military engineer Letourneur had, quite naturally, dropped into place as his assistant. It was said that the two always voted together, but on civil questions were always outvoted by the three rogues they had for colleagues.

  Barras, resting on the great prestige he had earned on 9th Thermidor and 13th Vendémiaire, apart from making an occasional brief, trenchant pronouncement, devoted himself entirely to his scandalous pleasure. Larevellière-Lépeaux was a crank of the first order. As the leading light of a sect called the Theophilanthropists, which was a hotchpotch of Nature worship and the teachings of numerous philosophers, he gave all his endeavours to fighting the open return of Christianity. Rewbell, meanwhile, did the work and dominated the other four; but on account of his coarseness, brutality, cynicism and tyranny was the most hated man in the country.

  There being no hope of buying Buonaparte, Roger again considered the posssibility of trying to buy one or more of the Directors; but all the old arguments decided him that such an attempt would be hopeless. An alternative was to try to get them turned out, in the hope that among a new set there might be men elected who would be more amenable to his purpose. Buonaparte had implied that should they get up against him he would do the job, but to incite him to it would be a dangerous game to play. It did not take Roger long to decide against risking such a move; for his interview that day had convinced him that the little Corsican might easily become a greater menace than any other man in France, and that somehow or other his guns must be spiked before he got more power than he had already. On that thought he went to bed.

  The following day he succeeded in securing an interview with Barras. Once they were closeted together, he wasted no time in beating about the bush, but said straight out:

  ‘Tell me, is Le Directoire really giving serious consideration to this plan for allowing Buonaparte to invade England?’

  ‘Well, more or less,’ Barras admitted cautiously. ‘It started by our instructing him to investigate the possibilities, simply to keep that active mind of his out of mischief. But he has produced such cogent arguments in support of its practical application that we are much tempted to let him have his way. Hoche is in favour of it, but he differs from the little Corsican in wishing to make a simultaneous landing in Ireland.’

  ‘Of that I am aware. I spent about three hours yesterday discussing the project with Buonaparte.’

  ‘And what is your opinion of it?’

  ‘That it cannot possibly succeed. He knows nothing whatever about England or the British people. I, on the other hand, as you may know, was sent there as a child and spent most of my youth there; so I am in a much better position to judge what a hornets’ nest the place would be become did we stick a finger into it.’

  ‘Apart from your misadventures after 9th Thermidor I did not know that you had lived there for any length of time; although I was aware that you acted as Paris correspondent for several English papers during the early years of the Revolution. So you do not approve the plan?’

  ‘I am convinced that it would be suicidal.’

  Barras made face. ‘It would open with mass suicide anyway; for Buonaparte declares it essential that we should sacrifice the whole of the Fleet. That is the major reason why Carnot hesitates to give the plan his support.’

  ‘You may take it from me that in addition to losing the Fleet you will lose an Army. Buonaparte must have hypnotised you all, or you would not give another thought to this madness.’

  ‘His personal magnetism is, I admit, quite extraordinary; but it is not that alone which has led us to being near giving him his head. You may perhaps have remarked that he has grown in stature since 13th Vendémiaire.’

  ‘He certainly has. I see the situation now. You are afraid of him?’

  ‘I am not personally. After all, he is my protégé. I made him what he is; so he will never do me any harm. But Le Directoire as a whole feel that he is a man who can no longer lightly be crossed.’

  ‘In other words they fear that if he is not promoted he will promote himself?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘They are right in that. He said as much to me yesterday, He is as avid for glory as a pirate for loot. Unless he is given the command of an Army in the field I rate him capable of overturning the Government.’

  ‘I agree. That is why we are contemplating letting him go off to England.’

  ‘Surely to lose the Fleet and fifty thousand men is an expensive way to placate him?’

  ‘We might not lose them, but gain a great triumph over our enemies.’

  ‘You might be crowned Paul I of France in Rheims Cathedral, but that is equally unlikely. Why not give him another Army? Give him the Army of Italy. It is that after which he really hankers.’

  ‘No.’ Barras shook his head. ‘To do so would be too dangerous. You cannot have forgotten the lessons that the Romans taught us. In a dozen instances their victorious Generals turned their legions about and marched on Rome. If we gave Buonaparte the Army of Italy or the Rhine that is the risk we should run. At any time he might decide to oust us and make himself First Magistrate. But the Army of England would be a different matter. If he succeeded in conquering the island we would make him Proconsul of it. That would keep him busy for a long time to come, and we should have nought to worry about.’

  ‘You will if you adopt his plan. When he has lost his Army and the Fleet, it is you and your colleagues who will be called to account for it. You’ll be lucky if you get as far as the guillotine. ’Tis more likely that the people will tear you all limb from limb.’

  ‘It is a Government’s business to take such risks. All decisions which may lead to major victories or defeats are gambles.’

  ‘One does not gamble sous against louis d’or. Ask some of the émigrés who have lived for several years in England if I am not right. Those stubborn islanders will fight to the last ditch. If you could land a quarter of a million men in a week the thing might be done; but that is utterly impossible. Again, Buonaparte’s pet theory is that given anything near equal numbers the side which uses its artillery more skilfully will always win a battle. Within three days of landing he’ll have run out of shot.’

  ‘No. He plans to seize the arsenal and cannon foundry at Portsmouth.’

  Roger gave a contemptuous laugh. That cannot be done overnight. He must land on beaches out of range of the forts. To reach the Hampshire coast his men must be conveyed over near a hundred miles of sea. Nine tenths of them will stagger ashore helpless as children from seasickness. They’ll be hard put to it to defend themselves even from the local militia for the first twenty-four hours; so the garrison at Portsmouth will have ample time to set its house in order. Should the port appear likely to fall, you may be sure that they will b
low up the arsenal and the foundry before Buonaparte can capture them. And what then? Within a week every man in Southern England will have armed himself and be on the march. Like a countless pack of wolves they will fall upon our troops, and from sheer weight of numbers drive them back into the sea.’

  ‘It is a grim picture that you paint; but I think you over pessimistic. In any case, this enfant terrible must be given active employment of some kind; and what alternative have we?’

  ‘Give him the Army of Italy, which he so much desires.’

  ‘I have already told you that Le Directoire are averse to doing so, and their reason.’

  During the lengthy consideration that Roger had given to the whole subject the previous evening, he had foreseen that the Directors might be afraid of entrusting Buonaparte with an Army which could be turned against them; so he had thought out a scheme which would, perhaps, overcome their objections. Having, he felt, got Barras into the right frame of mind to consider his idea seriously, he said:

  ‘I think there is a way in which you could make reasonably sure of Buonaparte’s fidelity.’

  ‘I should be much interested to hear it.’

  ‘You will be aware that for the past year he has been subject to a most powerful urge to get married?’

  ‘Yes. He has now set his heart upon Josephine de Beau-harnais, and is wooing her with the impetuosity that he displays in everything.’

  ‘Exactly; and she is a chèramie of yours. Everyone knows that she is greatly indebted to you, and it is even said that the house in which she lives is your property. How far would you trust her?’

  ‘To almost any length. She is a sweet natured and honest creature. Out of gratitude for all I have done for her, I feel confident that she will ever use such influence as she may have in my interests.’

  ‘From what I know of her myself, and all I have heard, I supposed as much. I suggest that you should bind her still more strongly to you by persuading her to make what can hardly fail to turn out a brilliant marriage. Give her as a dowry the command of the Army of Italy for Buonaparte. Then he will be bound to her, and you will have someone in the closest possible relation to him who will put a curb on his ambitions should they threaten the authority of the Directory.’