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Page 17
The words of Lauriston brought to my recollection the conversations I had
often had with Bonaparte respecting Madame de Stael, of whose advances
made to the First Consul, and even to the General of the Army of Italy,
I had frequently been witness. Bonaparte knew nothing at first of Madame
de Stael but that she was the daughter of M. Necker, a man for whom, as I
have already shown, he had very little esteem. Madame de Stael had not
been introduced to him, and knew nothing more of him than what fame had
published respecting the young conqueror of Italy, when she addressed to
him letters full of enthusiasm. Bonaparte read some passages of them to
me, and, laughing, said, "What do you think, Bourrienne, of these
extravagances. This woman is mad." I recollect that in one of her
letters Madame de Stael, among other things, told him that they certainly
were created for each other--that it was in consequence of an error in
human institutions that the quiet and gentle Josephine was united to his
fate--that nature seemed to have destined for the adoration of a hero
such as he, a soul of fire like her own. These extravagances disgusted
Bonaparte to a degree which I cannot describe. When he had finished
reading these fine epistles he used to throw them into the fire, or tear
them with marked ill-humour, and would say, "Well, here is a woman who
pretends to genius--a maker of sentiments, and she presumes to compare
herself to Josephine! Bourrienne, I shall not reply to such letters."
I had, however, the opportunity of seeing what the perseverance of a
woman of talent can effect. Notwithstanding Bonaparte's prejudices
against Madame de Stael, which he never abandoned, she succeeded in
getting herself introduced to him; and if anything could have disgusted
him with flattery it would have been the admiration, or, to speak more
properly, the worship, which she paid him; for she used to compare him to
a god descended on earth,--a kind of comparison which the clergy, I
thought, had reserved for their own use. But, unfortunately, to please
Madame de Stael it would have been necessary that her god had been
Plutua; for behind her eulogies lay a claim for two millions, which M.
Necker considered still due to him on account of his good and worthy
services. However, Bonaparte said on this occasion that whatever value
he might set on the suffrage of Madame de Stael, he did not think fit to
pay so dear for it with the money of the State. The conversion of Madame
de Stael's enthusiasm into hatred is well known, as are also the petty
vexations, unworthy of himself, with which the Emperor harassed her in
her retreat at Coppet.
Lauriston had arrived at Paris, where he made but a short stay, some days
before Caffarelli, who was sent on a mission to Rome to sound the Papal
Court, and to induce the Holy Father to come to Paris to consecrate
Bonaparte at his coronation. I have already described the nature of
Bonaparte's ideas on religion. His notions on the subject seemed to
amount to a sort of vague feeling rather than to any belief founded on
reflection. Nevertheless, he had a high opinion of the power of the
Church; but not because he considered it dangerous to Governments,
particularly to his own. Napoleon never could have conceived how it was
possible that a sovereign wearing a crown and a sword could have the
meanness to kneel to a Pope, or to humble his sceptre before the keys of
St. Peter. His spirit was too great to admit of such a thought. On the
contrary, he regarded the alliance between the Church and his power as a
happy means of influencing the opinions of the people, and as an
additional tie which was to attach them to a Government rendered
legitimate by the solemn sanction of the Papal authority. Bonaparte was
not deceived. In this, as well as in many other things, the perspicacity
of his genius enabled him to comprehend all the importance of a
consecration bestowed on him by the Pope; more especially as Louis
XVIII., without subjects, without territory, and wearing only an illusory
crown, had not received that sacred unction by which the descendants of
Hugh Capet become the eldest sons of the Church.
As soon as the Emperor was informed of the success of Caffarelli's
mission, and that the Pope, in compliance with his desire, was about to
repair to Paris to confirm in his hands the sceptre of Charlemagne,
nothing was thought of but preparations for that great event, which had
been preceded by the recognition of Napoleon as Emperor of the French on
the part of all the States of Europe, with the exception of England.
On the conclusion of the Concordat Bonaparte said to me, "I shall let the
Republican generals exclaim as much as they like against the Mass. I
know what I am about; I am working for posterity." He was now gathering
the fruits of his Concordat. He ordered that the Pope should be
everywhere treated in his journey through the French territory with the
highest distinction, and he proceeded to Fontainebleau to receive his
Holiness. This afforded an opportunity for Bonaparte to re-establish the
example of those journeys of the old Court, during which changes of
ministers used formerly to be made. The Palace of Fontainebleau, now
become Imperial, like all the old royal chateaux, had been newly
furnished with a luxury and taste corresponding to the progress of modern
art. The Emperor was proceeding on the road to Nemours when courtiers
informed him of the approach of Pius VII. Bonaparte's object was to
avoid the ceremony which had been previously settled. He had therefore
made the pretext of going on a hunting-party, and was in the way as it
were by chance when the Pope's carriage was arriving. He alighted from
horseback, and the Pope came out of his carriage. Rapp was with the
Emperor, and I think I yet hear him describing, in his original manner
and with his German accent, this grand interview, upon which, however, he
for his part looked with very little respect. Rapp, in fact, was among
the number of those who, notwithstanding his attachment to the Emperor,
preserved independence of character, and he knew he had no reason to
dissemble with me. "Fancy to yourself," said he, "the amusing comedy
that was played." After the Emperor and the Pope had well embraced they
went into the same carriage; and, in order that they might be upon a
footing of equality, they were to enter at the same time by opposite
doors. All that was settled; but at breakfast the Emperor had calculated
how he should manage, without appearing to assume anything, to get on the
righthand side of the Pope, and everything turned out as he wished. "As
to the Pope," said Rapp, "I must own that I never saw a man with a finer
countenance or more respectable appearance than Pius VII."
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