CHAPTER XLIV. CHANGE OF RESIDENCE
That same day, the First Consul, left alone with Bourrienne, dictatedthe following order, addressed to the Consulate guard and to the army atlarge:
Washington is dead! That great man fought against tyranny. He consolidated the liberty of America. His memory will ever be dear to the French people, to all free men in both hemispheres, but especially to the French soldiers, who, like Washington and his soldiers, have fought for Liberty and Equality. Consequently, the First Consul orders that the flags and banners of the Republic shall be hung with crape for ten days.
But the First Consul did not intend to confine himself to this order ofthe day.
Among the means he took to facilitate his removal from the Luxembourg tothe Tuileries was one of those fetes by which he knew, none better, howto amuse the eyes and also direct the minds of the spectator. This fetewas to take place at the Invalides, or, as they said in those days, theTemple of Mars. A bust of Washington was to be crowned, and the flags ofAboukir were to be received from the hands of General Lannes.
It was one of those combinations which Bonaparte thoroughlyunderstood--a flash of lightning drawn from the contact of contrastingfacts. He presented the great man of the New World, and a great victoryof the old; young America coupled with the palms of Thebes and Memphis.
On the day fixed for the ceremony, six thousand cavalry were in linefrom the Luxembourg to the Invalides. At eight o'clock, Bonapartemounted his horse in the main courtyard of the Consular palace; issuingby the Rue de Tournon he took the line of the quays, accompanied by astaff of generals, none of whom were over thirty-five years of age.
Lannes headed the procession; behind him were sixty Guides bearing thesixty captured flags; then came Bonaparte about two horse's-lengthsahead of his staff.
The minister of war, Berthier, awaited the procession under the domeof the temple. He leaned against a statue of Mars at rest, and theministers and councillors of state were grouped around him. The flagsof Denain and Fontenoy, and those of the first campaign in Italy,were already suspended from the columns which supported the roof.Two centenarian "Invalids" who had fought beside Marechal Saxe werestanding, one to the right and one to the left of Berthier, likecaryatides of an ancient world, gazing across the centuries. To theright, on a raised platform, was the bust of Washington, which was nowto be draped with the flags of Aboukir. On another platform, opposite tothe former, stood Bonaparte's armchair.
On each side of the temple were tiers of seats in which was gathered allthe elegant society of Paris, or rather that portion of it which gaveits adhesion to the order of ideas then to be celebrated.
When the flags appeared, the trumpets blared, their metallic soundsechoing through the arches of the temple,
Lannes entered first. At a sign from him, the Guides mounted two bytwo the steps of the platform and placed the staffs of the flags in theholders prepared for them. During this time Bonaparte took his place inthe chair,
Then Lannes advanced to the minister of war, and, in that voice thatrang out so clearly on the battlefield, crying "Forward!" he said:
"Citizen minister, these are the flags of the Ottoman army, destroyedbefore your eyes at Aboukir. The army of Egypt, after crossing burningdeserts, surviving thirst and hunger, found itself before an enemy proudof his numbers and his victories, and believing that he saw an easy preyin our troops, exhausted by their march and incessant combats. He hadyet to learn that the French soldier is greater because he knows how tosuffer than because he knows how to vanquish, and that his courage risesand augments in danger. Three thousand Frenchmen, as you know, fellupon eighteen thousand barbarians, broke their ranks, forced themback, pressed them between our lines and the sea; and the terror of ourbayonets is such that the Mussulmans, driven to choose a death, rushedinto the depths of the Mediterranean.
"On that memorable day hung the destinies of Egypt, France and Europe,and they were saved by your courage,
"Allied Powers! if you dare to violate French territory, and if thegeneral who was given back to us by the victory of Aboukir makes anappeal to the nation--Allied Powers! I say to you, that your successeswould be more fatal to you than disasters! What Frenchman is there whowould not march to victory again under the banners of the First Consul,or serve his apprenticeship to fame with him?"
Then, addressing the "Invalids," for whom the whole lower gallery hadbeen reserved, he continued in a still more powerful voice:
"And you, brave veterans, honorable victims of the fate of battles, youwill not be the last to flock under the orders of him who knows yourmisfortunes and your glory, and who now delivers to your keeping thesetrophies won by your valor. Ah, I know you, veterans, you burn tosacrifice the half of your remaining lives to your country and itsfreedom!"
This specimen of the military eloquence of the conqueror of Montebellowas received with deafening applause. Three times the minister of warendeavored to make reply; and three times the bravos cut him short. Atlast, however, silence came, and Berthier expressed himself as follows:
"To raise on the banks of the Seine these trophies won on the banks ofthe Nile; to hang beneath the domes of our temples, beside the flags ofVienna, of Petersburg, of London, the banners blessed in the mosques ofByzantium and Cairo; to see them here, presented by the same warriors,young in years, old in glory, whom Victory has so often crowned--thesethings are granted only to Republican France.
"Yet this is but a part of what he has done, that hero, in the flowerof his age covered with the laurels of Europe, he, who stood a victorbefore the Pyramids, from the summits of which forty centuries lookeddown upon him while, surrounded by his warriors and learned men, heemancipated the native soil of art and restored to it the lights ofcivilization.
"Soldiers, plant in this temple of the warrior virtues those ensignsof the Crescent, captured on the rocks of Canopus by three thousandFrenchmen from eighteen thousand Ottomans, as brave as they werebarbarous. Let them bear witness, not to the valor of the Frenchsoldier--the universe itself resounds to that--but to his unalterableconstancy, his sublime devotion. Let the sight of these banners consoleyou, veteran warriors, you, whose bodies, gloriously mutilated on thefield of honor, deprive your courage of other exercise than hope andprayer. Let them proclaim from that dome above us, to all the enemiesof France, the influence of genius, the value of the heroes who capturedthem; forewarning of the horrors of war all those who are deaf to ouroffers of peace. Yes, if they will have war, they shall have it--war,terrible and unrelenting!
"The nation, satisfied, regards the Army of the East with pride.
"That invincible army will learn with joy that the First Consul iswatchful of its glory. It is the object of the keenest solicitude on thepart of the Republic. It will hear with pride that we have honored itin our temples, while awaiting the moment when we shall imitate, if needbe, on the fields of Europe, the warlike virtues it has displayed on theburning sands of Africa and Asia.
"Come, in the name of that army, intrepid general, come in the name ofthose heroes among whom you now appear, and receive an embrace in tokenof the national gratitude.
"And in the moment when we again take up our arms in defence of ourindependence (if the blind fury of kings refuses the peace we offer),let us cast a branch of laurel on the ashes of Washington, that hero whofreed America from the yoke of our worst and most implacable enemy.Let his illustrious shade tell us of the glory which follows a nation'sliberator beyond the grave!"
Bonaparte now came down from his platform, and in the name of France wasembraced by Berthier.
M. de Fontanes, who was appointed to pronounce the eulogy on Washington,waited courteously until the echoes of the torrent of applause, whichseemed to fall in cascades through the vast amphitheatre, had died away.In the midst of these glorious individualities, M. de Fontanes was acuriosity, half political, half literary. After the 18th Fructidor hewas proscribed with Suard and Laharpe; but, being perfectly hidden in afriend's house, and never going out ex
cept at night, he managed to avoidleaving France. Nevertheless, an accident, impossible to foresee, hadbetrayed him. He was knocked down one night on the Place du Carrouselby a runaway horse, and was recognized by a policeman, who ran tohis assistance. But Fouche, who was at once informed, not only of hispresence in France, but also of his actual hiding-place, pretended toknow nothing of him.
A few days after the 18th Brumaire, Maret, who became later the Ducde Bassano, Laplace, who continued to be simply a man of science, andRegnault de Saint-Jean-d'Angely, who died mad, spoke to the First Consulof M. de Fontanes and of his presence in Paris,
"Present him to me," replied the First Consul simply.
M. de Fontanes was presented to Bonaparte, who, recognizing his supplenature and the unctuous flattery of his eloquence, chose him to deliverthe eulogy on Washington, and perhaps something of his own at the sametime.
M. de Fontanes' address was too long to be reported here; all that weshall say about it is, that it was precisely what Bonaparte desired.
That evening there was a grand reception at the Luxembourg. During theceremony a rumor was spread that the First Consul contemplated removingto the Tuileries. Persons who were either bold or curious ventured ona few words to Josephine. She, poor woman, who still saw before her thetumbrel and the scaffold of Marie Antoinette, had an instinctive horrorof all that might connect her with royalty; she therefore hesitated toreply and referred all questions to her husband.
Then another rumor began to be bruited about which served as acounterpoise to the former. Murat, it was said, had asked the hand ofMademoiselle Caroline Bonaparte in marriage. But this marriage was notwithout its obstacles; Bonaparte had had a quarrel, lasting over a year,with the man who aspired to the honor of becoming his brother-in-law.The cause of this quarrel will seem rather strange to our readers.
Murat, the lion of the army; Murat, whose courage had become proverbial;Murat, who might well have been taken by a sculptor as a model forthe god of war; Murat, on one occasion, when he must have slept ill orbreakfasted badly, had a moment of weakness.
It happened before Mantua, in which city Wurmser, after the battle ofRivoli, was forced to shut himself up with twenty-eight thousand men;General Miollis, with four thousand only, was investing the place.During a sortie attempted by the Austrians, Murat, at the head of fivehundred men, received an order to charge three thousand. Murat charged,but feebly. Bonaparte, whose aide-de-camp he then was, was so irritatedthat he would not suffer him to remain about him. This was a great blowto Murat, all the more because he was at that time desirous of becomingthe general's brother-in-law; he was deeply in love with CarolineBonaparte.
How had that love come about? It can be told in two words. Perhapsthose who read our books singly are surprised that we sometimes dwell oncertain details which seem somewhat long drawn out for the book in whichthey appear. The fact is, we are not writing isolated books, but, as wehave already said, we are filling, or trying to fill, an immense frame.To us, the presence of our characters is not limited to their appearancein one book. The man you meet in one book may be a king in a secondvolume, and exiled or shot in a third.
Balzac did a great and noble work with a hundred aspects, and hecalled it the "Comedie Humaine." Our work, begun at the same time ashis--although, be it understood, we do not praise it--may fitly becalled "The Drama of France."
Now, let us return to Murat, and tell how this love, which had soglorious and, possibly, so fatal an influence on his destiny, came tohim.
In 1796, Murat was sent to Paris, charged with the duty of presentingto the Directory the flags and banners taken by the French army at thebattles of Dego and Mondovi. During this voyage he made the acquaintanceof Madame Bonaparte and Madame Tallien. At Madame Bonaparte's house heagain met Mademoiselle Caroline Bonaparte. We say _again_, for that wasnot the first time he had met the woman who was to share the crown ofNaples with him. They had met in Rome, at her brother's house, and, inspite of the rivalry of a young and handsome Roman prince, she had shownhim a marked preference.
The three women combined to obtain for him the rank of general ofbrigade from the Directory. Murat returned to the Army of Italy, more inlove than ever, and, in spite of his new rank, he solicited and obtainedthe favor of remaining with the general-in-chief as aide-de-camp.Unhappily, the fatal sortie took place soon after, in consequence ofwhich he fell in disgrace with Bonaparte. This disgrace had for awhileall the characteristics of actual enmity. Bonaparte dismissed him fromhis service as aide-de-camp, and transferred him to Neille's division,and then to that of Baraguey-d'Hilliers. The result was, that whenBonaparte returned to Paris after the treaty of Tolentino, Murat did notaccompany him.
This did not at all suit the female triumvirate, who had taken the younggeneral under its direction. The beautiful intriguers entered intothe campaign, and as the expedition to Egypt was then preparing, theyinduced the minister of war to send Murat with it. He embarked in thesame ship as Bonaparte, namely the "Orient," but the latter did notaddress a single word to him during the voyage. After they reachedAlexandria, Murat was at first unable to break the icy barrier opposedto him by the general, who, more to put him at a distance from hisown person than to give him an opportunity to distinguish himself,confronted him with Mourad Bey. But, during that campaign, Muratperformed such prodigies of valor that he effaced, by such bravery, thememory of that momentary weakness; he charged so intrepidly, so madly atAboukir, that Bonaparte had not the heart to bear him further malice.
Consequently Murat had returned to France with Bonaparte. He hadpowerfully co-operated with him on the 18th and especially on the 19thBrumaire. He was, therefore, restored to full favor, and, as a proof ofthat favor, had received the command of the Consular guard.
He thought this the moment to declare his love, a love alreadywell-known to Josephine, who favored it; for which she had two reasons.In the first place, she was a woman in the most charming acceptationof the word; that is to say, all the gentler passions of women wereattractive to her. Joachim loved Caroline, Caroline loved Joachim; thatwas enough to make her wish to protect their love. In the second place,Bonaparte's brothers detested Josephine; Joseph and Lucien were herbitterest enemies, and she was not sorry to make herself two ardentfriends in Caroline and Murat. She therefore encouraged the latter toapproach Bonaparte on the subject.
Three days before the ceremony we have just described, Murat had enteredBonaparte's study, and, after endless hesitation and circumlocution, hadproffered his request.
It is probable that the love of the young pair was no news to Bonaparte,who, however, received it with stern gravity, and contented himselfwith replying that he would think it over. The matter, in fact, requiredthinking over. Bonaparte came of a noble family, Murat was the son of aninnkeeper. The alliance at such a moment might have great significance.Was the First Consul, in spite of his noble birth, in spite of theexalted rank to which he had raised himself, not only sufficientlyrepublican, but also sufficiently democratic to mingle his blood withthat of the common people.
He did not reflect long; his strong, good sense, and his logical mind,told him that he had every interest in allowing the marriage, and hegave his consent to it the same day.
The double news of this marriage and of the removal to the Tuileries waslaunched on the public at the same time; the one was to counterpoisethe other. The First Consul was about to occupy the palace of the formerkings, to sleep in the bed of the Bourbons, as they said at that time,but he gave his sister to the son of an innkeeper!
And now, it may be asked, what dowry did the future Queen of Naplesbring to the hero of Aboukir? Thirty thousand francs and a diamondnecklace, which the First Consul took from his wife, being too poor tobuy one. Josephine, who was very fond of her necklace, pouted a little;but the gift, thus obtained, was a triumphant reply to those who claimedthat Bonaparte had made a fortune in Italy; besides, why had she takenthe interests of the young couple so to heart? She had insisted onmarrying them, and she ought to contribute
to the dowry.
The result of this clever combination was that on the day when theConsuls left the Luxembourg for the "palace of the government," escortedby the _son of an innkeeper_, soon to be Bonaparte's brother-in-law, itdid not occur to those who saw the procession pass to do otherwise thanadmire and applaud. And, in truth, what could be more admirable andworthy of applause than those processions, which had at their head suchmen as Murat, Moreau, Junot, Duroc, Augereau, and Massena?
A grand review had been ordered to take place that same day in thesquare of the Carrousel. Madame Bonaparte was to be present--not, to besure, in the balcony of the clock-tower, that being evidently too royal,but at the window of Lebrun's apartment in the Pavilion of Flora.
Bonaparte started at one o'clock precisely from the Luxembourg, escortedby three thousand picked men, among them the splendid regiment of theGuides, created three years earlier as a bodyguard to Bonaparte duringthe Italian campaign, in consequence of a great danger he had escapedon one occasion. He was resting in a small chateau, after the exhaustionattendant upon the passage of the Mincio, and was preparing to take abath, when a retreating Austrian detachment, losing its way, invadedthe chateau, which had no other guard than the sentries. Bonaparte hadbarely time to escape in his shirt.
A curious difficulty, which deserves to be recorded, arose on themorning of this removal, which took place the 30th Pluviose, yearVIII. The generals, of course, had their horses and the ministers theircarriages, but the other functionaries had not yet judged it expedientto go to such an expense. Carriages were therefore lacking. They weresupplied from the hackney coach-stands, and slips of paper of the samecolor as the carriages were pasted over their numbers.
The carriage of the First Consul alone was harnessed with six whitehorses, but as the three consuls were in the same carriage, Bonaparteand Cambaceres on the front seat, and Lebrun on the back, it was, afterall, but two horses apiece. Besides, were not these six white horsesgiven to the commander-in-chief by the Emperor Francis himself, afterthe treaty of Campo-Formio, a trophy in themselves?
The carriage crossed a part of Paris, following the Rue de Thionville,the Quai Voltaire, and the Pont-Royal. From the archway of the Carrouselto the great portal of the Tuileries the Consular guard lined the way.As Bonaparte passed through the archway, he raised his head and read theinscription it bore. That inscription was as follows:
AUGUST 10, 1792. ROYALTY IS ABOLISHED IN FRANCE AND SHALL NEVER RISE AGAIN.
An almost imperceptible smile flickered on the First Consul's lips.
At the door of the Tuileries, Bonaparte left the carriage and spranginto the saddle to review the troops. When he appeared on his war-horsethe applause burst forth wildly on all sides.
After the review was over, he placed himself in front of theclock-tower, with Murat on his right, Lannes at his left, and theglorious staff of the Army of Italy behind him. Then began the marchpast.
And now it was that one of those inspirations came to him which engravethemselves forever on the hearts of soldiers. As the flags of the 30th,the 96th, and the 33d demi-brigades were borne past him, and he sawthat, of those banners, there remained but a stick and a few rags,riddled with balls and blackened with powder, he took his hat from hishead and bowed.
Then, when the march was over, he dismounted from his horse, and, witha firm step, he walked up the grand stairway of the Valois and theBourbons.
That night, when he was alone with Bourrienne, the latter asked: "Well,general, are you satisfied?"
"Yes," replied Bonaparte, dreamily, "everything went off nicely, didn'tit?"
"Wonderfully well."
"I saw you standing near Madame Bonaparte at the ground-floor window ofthe Pavilion of Flora."
"I saw you, too, general; you were reading the inscription on the archof the Carrousel."
"Yes," said Bonaparte, "'August 10,1792. Royalty is abolished in France,and shall never rise again.'"
"Shall I have it removed?" asked Bourrienne.
"Useless," replied the First Consul, "it will fall of itself." Then,with a sigh, he added: "Bourrienne, do you know whom I missed to-day?"
"No, general."
"Roland. What the devil is he doing that he doesn't give me any news ofhimself?"
We are about to see what Roland was doing.