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Page 42
When from these general topics Bonaparte descended to the particular
interests of France, he still spoke like a sovereign; and I may truly say
that he showed himself more jealous than any sovereign ever was of the
dignity of France, of which he already considered himself the sole
representative. Having learned that a captain of the English navy had
visited the dockyard of Brest passing himself off as a merchant, whose
passport he had borrowed, he flew into a rage because no one had ventured
to arrest him.--[see James' Naval History for an account of Sir Sidney
Smith's daring exploit.]--Nothing was lost on Bonaparte, and he made
use of this fact to prove to the Council of State the necessity of
increasing the number of commissary-generals of police. At a meeting of
the Council he said, "If there had been a commissary of police at Brest
he would have arrested the English captain and sent him at once to Paris.
As he was acting the part of a spy I would have had him shot as such.
No Englishman, not even a nobleman, or the English Ambassador, should be
admitted into our dockyards. I will soon regulate all this." He
afterwards said to me, "There are plenty of wretches who are selling me
every day to the English without my being subjected to English spying."
--[During the short and hollow peace of Amiens Bonaparte sent over
to England as consuls and vice-consuls, a number of engineers and
military men, who were instructed to make plans of all the harbours
and coasts of the United Kingdom. They worked in secrecy, yet not
so secretly but that they were soon suspected: the facts were
proved, and they were sent out of the country without ceremony.--
Editor of 1836 edition.]--
He had on one occasion said before an assemblage of generals, senators,
and high officers of State, who were at an audience of the Diplomatic
Body, "The English think that I am afraid of war, but I am not." And
here the truth escaped him, in spite of himself. "My power will lose
nothing by war. In a very short time I can have 2,000,000 of men at my
disposal. What has been the result of the first war? The union of
Belgium and Piedmont to France. This is greatly to our advantage; it
will consolidate our system. France shall not be restrained by foreign
fetters. England has manifestly violated the treaties! It would be
better to render homage to the King of England, and crown him King of
France at Paris, than to submit to the insolent caprices of the English
Government. If, for the sake of preserving peace, at most for only two
months longer, I should yield on a single point, the English would become
the more treacherous and insolent, and would enact the more in proportion
as we yield. But they little know me! Were we to yield to England now,
she would next prohibit our navigation in certain parts of the world.
She would insist on the surrender of par ships. I know not what she
would not demand; but I am not the man to brook such indignities. Since
England wishes for war she shall have it, and that speedily!"
On the same day Bonaparte said a great deal more about the treachery of
England. The gross calumnies to which he was exposed in the London
newspapers powerfully contributed to increase his natural hatred of the
liberty of the press; and he was much astonished that such attacks could
be made upon him by English subjects when he was at peace with the
English Government.
I had one day a singular proof of the importance which Bonaparte attached
to the opinion of the English people respecting any misconduct that was
attributed to him. What I am about to state will afford another example
of Bonaparte's disposition to employ petty and roundabout means to gain
his ends. He gave a ball at Malmaison when Hortense was in the seventh
month of her pregnancy.
--[This refers to the first son of Louis and of Hortense, Napoleon
Charles, the intended successor of Napoleon, who was born 1802, died
1807, elder brother of Napoleon III.]--
I have already mentioned that he disliked to see women in that situation,
and above all could not endure to see them dance. Yet, in spite of this
antipathy, he himself asked Hortense to dance at the ball at Malmaison.
She at first declined, but Bonaparte was exceedingly importunate, and
said to her in a tone of good-humoured persuasion, "Do, I beg of you;
I particularly wish to see you dance. Come, stand up, to oblige me."
Hortense at last consented. The motive for this extraordinary request I
will now explain.
On the day after the ball one of the newspapers contained some verses on
Hortense's dancing. She was exceedingly annoyed at this, and when the
paper arrived at Malmaison she expressed, displeasure at it. Even
allowing for all the facility of our newspaper wits, she was nevertheless
at a loss to understand how the lines could have been written and printed
respecting a circumstance which only occurred the night before.
Bonaparte smiled, and gave her no distinct answer. When Hortense knew
that I was alone in the cabinet she came in and asked me to explain the
matter; and seeing no reason to conceal the truth, I told her that the
lines had been written by Bonaparte's direction before the ball took
place. I added, what indeed was the fact, that the ball had been
prepared for the verses, and that it was only for the appropriateness of
their application that the First Consul had pressed her to dance. He
adopted this strange contrivance for contradicting an article which
appeared in an English journal announcing that Hortense was delivered.
Bonaparte was highly indignant at that premature announcement, which he
clearly saw was made for the sole purpose of giving credit to the
scandalous rumours of his imputed connection with Hortense. Such were
the petty machinations which not unfrequently found their place in a mind
in which the grandest schemes were revolving.
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