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Page 39
Citizen First Consul, I know not what this means! I am utterly
ignorant of the matter. I solemnly declare to you that this charge
is a most infamous calumny. It is one more to be added to the
number of those malicious charges which have been invented for the
purpose of destroying any influence I might possess with you.
I am in General Duroc's apartment, where I await your orders.
Duroc carried my note to the First Consul as soon as it was written. He
speedily returned. "All's right!" said he. "He has directed me to say
it was entirely a mistake!--that he is now convinced he was deceived!
that he is sorry for the business, and hopes no more will be said about
it."
The base flatterers who surrounded Bonaparte wished him to renew his
Egyptian extortions upon me; but they should have recollected that the
fusillade employed in Egypt for the purpose of raising money was no
longer the fashion in France, and that the days were gone by when it was
the custom to 'grease the wheels of the revolutionary car.'
CHAPTER XVII.
1803.
The First Consul's presentiments respecting the duration of peace--
England's uneasiness at the prosperity of France--Bonaparte's real
wish for war--Concourse of foreigners in Paris--Bad faith of
England--Bonaparte and Lord Whitworth--Relative position of France
and England-Bonaparte's journey to the seaboard departments--
Breakfast at Compiegne--Father Berton--Irritation excited by the
presence of Bouquet--Father Berton's derangement and death--Rapp
ordered to send for me--Order countermanded.
The First Consul never anticipated a long peace with England. He wished
for peace merely because, knowing it to be ardently desired by the
people, after ten years of war he thought it would increase his
popularity and afford him the opportunity of laying the foundation of his
government. Peace was as necessary to enable him to conquer the throne
of France as war was essential to secure it, and to enlarge its base at
the expense of the other thrones of Europe. This was the secret of the
peace of Amiens, and of the rupture which so suddenly followed, though
that rupture certainly took place sooner than the First Consul wished.
On the great questions of peace and war Bonaparte entertained elevated
ideas; but in discussions on the subject he always declared himself in
favour of war. When told of the necessities of the people, of the
advantages of peace, its influence on trade, the arts, national industry,
and every branch of public prosperity, he did not attempt to deny the
argument; indeed, he concurred in it; but he remarked, that all those
advantages were only conditional, so long as England was able to throw
the weight of her navy into the scale of the world, and to exercise the
influence of her gold in all the Cabinets of Europe. Peace must be
broken; since it was evident that England was determined to break it.
Why not anticipate her? Why allow her to have all the advantages of the
first step? We must astonish Europe! We must thwart the policy of the
Continent! We must strike a great and unexpected blow. Thus reasoned
the First Consul, and every one may judge whether his actions agreed with
his sentiments.
The conduct of England too well justified the foresight of Bonaparte's
policy; or rather England, by neglecting to execute her treaties, played
into Bonaparte's hand, favoured his love for war, and justified the
prompt declaration of hostilities in the eyes of the French nation, whom
he wished to persuade that if peace were broken it would be against his
wishes. England was already at work with the powerful machinery of her
subsidies, and the veil beneath which she attempted to conceal her
negotiations was still sufficiently transparent for the lynx eye of the
First Consul. It was in the midst of peace that all those plots were
hatched, while millions who had no knowledge of their existence were
securely looking forward to uninterrupted repose.
Since the Revolution Paris had never presented such a spectacle as during
the winter of 1802-3. At that time the concourse of foreigners in the
French capital was immense. Everything wore the appearance of
satisfaction, and the external signs of public prosperity. The visible
regeneration in French society exceedingly annoyed the British Ministry.
The English who flocked to the Continent discovered France to be very
different from what she was described to be by the English papers. This
caused serious alarm on the other side of the Channel, and the English
Government endeavoured by unjust complaints to divert attention from just
dissatisfaction, which its own secret intrigues excited. The King of
England sent a message to Parliament, in which he spoke of armaments
preparing in the ports of France, and of the necessity of adopting
precautions against meditated aggressions. This instance of bad faith
highly irritated the First Consul, who one day, in a fit of displeasure,
thus addressed Lord Whitworth in the salon, where all the foreign
Ambassadors were assembled:
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