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Page 16
Whilst near the wells of Messoudiah, on the way to El-Arish, I one day
saw Bonaparte walking alone with Junot, as he was often in the habit of
doing. I stood at a little distance, and my eyes, I know not why, were
fixed on him during their conversation. The General's countenance, which
was always pale, had, without my being able to divine the cause, become
paler than usual. There was something convulsive in his features--a
wildness in his look, and he several times struck his head with his hand.
After conversing with Junot about a quarter of an hour he quitted him and
came towards me. I never saw him exhibit such an air of dissatisfaction,
or appear so much under the influence of some prepossession. I advanced
towards him, and as soon as we met, he exclaimed in an abrupt and angry
tone, "So! I find I cannot depend upon you.--These women!--Josephine!
--if you had loved me, you would before now have told me all I have heard
from Junot--he is a real friend--Josephine!--and I 600 leagues from her--
you ought to have told me.--That she should thus have deceived me!--'Woe
to them!--I will exterminate the whole race of fops and puppies!--As to
her--divorce!--yes, divorce! a public and open divorce!--I must write!
--I know all!--It is your fault--you ought to have told me!"
These energetic and broken exclamations, his disturbed countenance and
altered voice informed me but too well of the subject of his conversation
with Junot. I saw that Junot had been drawn into a culpable
indiscretion; and that, if Josephine had committed any faults, he had
cruelly exaggerated them. My situation was one of extreme delicacy.
However, I had the good fortune to retain my self-possession, and as soon
as some degree of calmness succeeded to this first burst, I replied that
I knew nothing of the reports which Junot might have communicated to him;
that even if such reports, often the offspring of calumny, had reached my
ear, and if I had considered it my duty to inform him of them,
I certainly would not have selected for that purpose the moment when he
was 600 leagues from France. I also did not conceal how blamable Junot's
conduct appeared to me, and how ungenerous I considered it thus rashly to
accuse a woman who was not present to justify or defend herself; that it
was no great proof of attachment to add domestic uneasiness to the
anxiety, already sufficiently great, which the situation of his brothers
in arms, at the commencement of a hazardous enterprise, occasioned him.
Notwithstanding these observations, which, however, he listened to with
some calmness, the word " divorce" still escaped his lips; and it is
necessary to be aware of the degree of irritation to which he was liable
when anything seriously vexed him, to be able to form an idea of what
Bonaparte was during this painful scene. However, I kept my ground.
I repeated what I had said. I begged of him to consider with what
facility tales were fabricated and circulated, and that gossip such as
that which had been repeated to him was only the amusement of idle
persons; and deserved the contempt of strong minds. I spoke of his
glory. "My glory!" cried he. "I know not what I would not give if that
which Junot has told me should be untrue; so much do I love Josephine!
If she be really guilty a divorce must separate us for ever. I will not
submit to be a laughing-stock for all the imbeciles in Paris. I will
write to Joseph; he will get the divorce declared."
Although his agitation continued long, intervals occurred in which he was
less excited. I seized one of these moments of comparative calm to
combat this idea of divorce which seemed to possess his mind.
I represented to him especially that it would be imprudent to write to
his brother with reference to a communication which was probably false.
"The letter might be intercepted; it would betray the feelings of
irritation which dictated it. As to a divorce, it would be time to think
of that hereafter, but advisedly."
These last words produced an effect on him which I could not have
ventured to hope for so speedily. He became tranquil, listened to me as
if he had suddenly felt the justice of my observations, dropped the
subject, and never returned to it; except that about a fortnight after,
when we were before St. Jean d'Acre, he expressed himself greatly
dissatisfied with Junot, and complained of the injury he had done him by
his indiscreet disclosures, which he began to regard as the inventions of
malignity. I perceived afterwards that he never pardoned Junot for this
indiscretion; and I can state, almost with certainty, that this was one
of the reasons why Junot was not created a marshal of France, like many
of, his comrades whom Bonaparte had loved less. It may be supposed that
Josephine, who was afterwards informed by Bonaparte of Junot's
conversation, did not feel particularly interested in his favour.
He died insane on the 27th of July 1813.
--[However indiscreet Junot might on this occasion have shown
himself in interfering in so delicate a matter, it is pretty certain
that his suspicions were breathed to no other ear than that of
Bonaparte himself. Madame Junot, in speaking of the ill-suppressed
enmity between her husband and Madame Bonaparte, says that he never
uttered a word even to her of the subject of his conversation with,
the General-in-Chief to Egypt. That Junot's testimony, however,
notwithstanding the countenance it obtained from Bonaparte's
relations, ought to be cautiously received, the following passage
from the Memoirs of the Duchesse d'Abrantes, vol. i. p. 250,
demonstrative of the feelings of irritation between the parties,
will show:
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