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Page 32
The reader will recollect the curious question which the First Consul put
to me on the subject of the Bourbons when we were walking in the park of
Malmaison. To the reply which I made to him on that occasion I attribute
the secrecy he observed towards me respecting the letter just alluded to.
I am indeed inclined to regard that letter as the result of one of his
private conferences with Lucien; but I know nothing positive on the
subject, and merely mention this as a conjecture. However, I had an
opportunity of ascertaining the curious circumstances which took place at
Mittau, when Bonaparte's letter was delivered to Louis XVIII.
That Prince was already much irritated against Bonaparte by his delay in
answering his first letter, and also by the tenor of his tardy reply;
but on reading the First Consul's second letter the dethroned King
immediately sat down and traced a few lines forcibly expressing his
indignation at such a proposition. The note, hastily written by Louis
XVIII. in the first impulse of irritation, bore little resemblance to the
dignified and elegant letter which Bonaparte received, and which I shall
presently lay before the reader. This latter epistle closed very happily
with the beautiful device of Francis I., "All is lost but honour." But
the first letter was stamped with a more chivalrous tone of indignation.
The indignant sovereign wrote it with his hand supported on the hilt of
his sword; but the Abbe Andre, in whom Louis XVIII. reposed great
confidence, saw the note, and succeeded, not without some difficulty,
in soothing the anger of the King, and prevailing on him to write the
following letter:
I do not confound M. Bonaparte with those who have preceded him.
I esteem his courage and his military talents. I am grateful for
some acts of his government; for the benefits which are conferred on
my people will always be prized by me.
But he errs in supposing that he can induce me to renounce my
rights; so far from that, he would confirm them, if they could
possibly be doubtful, by the step he has now taken.
I am ignorant of the designs of Heaven respecting me and my
subjects; but I know the obligations which God has imposed upon me.
As a Christian, I will fulfil my duties to my last breath--as the
son of St. Louis, I would, like him, respect myself even in chains--
as the successor of Francis I., I say with him--'Tout est perdu fors
l'honneur'.
MITTAU, 1802. LOUIS.
Louis XVIII.'s letter having reached Paris, the Royalist committee
assembled, and were not a little embarrassed as to what should be done.
The meeting took place at Neuilly. After a long deliberation it was
suggested that the delivery of the letter should be entrusted to the
Third Consul, with whom the Abby de Montesqiou had kept up acquaintance
since the time of the Constituent Assembly. This suggestion was adopted.
The recollections of the commencement of his career, under Chancellor
Maupeou, had always caused M. Lebrun to be ranked in a distinct class by
the Royalists. For my part, I always looked upon him as a very honest
man, a warm advocate of equality, and anxious that it should be protected
even by despotism, which suited the views of the First Consul very well.
The Abbe de Montesquiou accordingly waited upon M. Lebrun, who undertook
to deliver the letter. Bonaparte received it with an air of
indifference; but whether that indifference were real or affected, I am
to this day unable to determine. He said very little to me about the ill
success of the negotiation with Louis XVIII. On this subject he dreaded,
above all, the interference of his brothers, who created around him a
sort of commotion which he knew was not without its influence, and which
on several occasions had excited his anger.
The letter of Louis XVIII. is certainly conceived in a tone of dignity
which cannot be too highly admired; and it may be said that Bonaparte on
this occasion rendered a real service to Louis by affording him the
opportunity of presenting to the world one of the finest pages in the
history of a dethroned King. This letter, the contents of which were
known in some circles of Paris, was the object of general approbation to
those who preserved the recollection of the Bourbons, and above all, to
the Royalist committee. The members of that committee, proud of the
noble spirit evinced by the unfortunate monarch, whose return they were
generously labouring to effect, replied to him by a sort of manifesto, to
which time has imparted interest, since subsequent events have fulfilled
the predictions it contained.
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