Читать книгу The Life, Exile and Conversations with Napoleon - Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné Las Cases - Страница 33

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27th—31st. At daybreak on Sunday, 27th, we found ourselves among the Canaries, which we passed in the course of the day, sailing at the rate of ten or twelve knots an hour, without having perceived the famous Peak of Teneriffe—a circumstance the more extraordinary, since in clear weather it is visible at the distance of sixty leagues.

On the 29th we crossed the tropic, and observed many flying fish round the ship. On the 31st, at eleven at night, one of the sailors threw himself overboard; he was a negro who had got drunk, and was fearful of the flogging that awaited him. He had several times, in the course of the evening, attempted to jump overboard, and at last succeeded. He however soon repented, and uttered loud cries. He swam very well; but though a boat was immediately sent off, and every endeavour used to rescue him, he was lost. The cries of this man in the sea excited a powerful sensation on board the vessel. In a moment the crew were hurrying about in every direction: the noise was very great, and the agitation universal.

As I was descending from deck to the cabin, a midshipman, a youth between ten and twelve years of age, of an interesting countenance, thinking I was going to inform the Emperor of what had occurred, laid hold of my coat, and in a tone expressive of the tenderest interest exclaimed, “Ah, Sir, do not alarm him! Tell him the noise is nothing at all; that it is only a man fallen overboard.” Amiable and innocent youth! he expressed his sentiments rather than his thoughts!

In general the midshipmen, of whom there were several on board the ship, behaved with marked respect and attention to the Emperor. They every evening repeated a scene that made a deep impression on our feelings. Early in the morning the sailors carried up their hammocks, and put them in the large nettings at the sides of the ship; and about six in the evening they carried them away at the signal of a whistle. Those who were tardy in the performance of this duty received a certain punishment. On the signal being given, a great bustle ensued; and it was gratifying to see the midshipmen at this moment form a circle round the Emperor, whether he might be standing in the middle of the deck, or resting on his favourite gun. They watched his motions with an anxious eye, and either by signs or words directed the sailors to avoid incommoding him. The Emperor frequently observed this conduct, and remarked that youthful hearts were always inclined to enthusiasm.

I will now proceed with the details, which I collected at various times, respecting the early years of the Emperor’s life.

Napoleon was born about noon on the 15th of August (Assumption-day) in the year 1769. His mother, who was possessed of great bodily as well as mental vigour, and who had braved the dangers of war during her pregnancy, wished to attend mass on account of the solemnity of the day: she was, however, taken ill at church, and on her return home was delivered before she could be conveyed to her chamber. The child, as soon as it was born, was laid on the carpet, which was an old-fashioned one, representing at full length the heroes of fable, or, perhaps, of the Iliad. This child was Napoleon.

In his boyhood Napoleon was turbulent, adroit, lively and agile in the extreme. He had gained, he used to say, the most complete ascendancy over his elder brother Joseph. The latter was beaten and ill-treated; complaints were carried to the mother, and she would begin to scold before poor Joseph had even time to open his mouth.

At the age of ten, Napoleon was sent to the military school at Brienne. His name, which in his Corsican accent he pronounced as if written Napoilloné, from the similarity of the sound, procured for him, among his youthful companions, the nick-name of la paille au nez (straw in his nose). At this period a great change took place in Napoleon’s character. In contradiction to all the apocryphal histories, which contain anecdotes of his life, he was when at Brienne mild, quiet, and susceptible. One day the quarter master, who was a man of harsh disposition, and who never took the trouble of considering the physical and moral shades of character in each individual scholar, condemned Napoleon, by way of punishment, to wear the serge coat, and to take his dinner on his knees at the door of the refectory. Napoleon, who had a vast share of pride and self-conceit, was so mortified by this disgrace, that he was seized with a violent retching, and suffered a severe nervous attack. The head master of the school happening accidentally to pass by, relieved him from the punishment, reproving the quarter-master for his want of discernment; and Father Patrault, the professor of mathematics, was very indignant on finding that his first mathematician had been treated with so little respect.

14“On attaining the age of puberty, Napoleon’s temper became morose and reserved; his passion for reading was carried to excess; and he eagerly devoured the contents of every book that fell in his way. Pichegru was at this time his quarter-master and his tutor in the four rules of arithmetic.

“Pichegru was a native of Franche-Comté, where his family were farmers. The Minim monks of Champagne were appointed to superintend the military school of Brienne. Owing to their poverty, however, so few individuals were induced to enter their order that they found themselves inadequate to the task imposed on them; and they solicited the assistance of the Minim monks of Franche-Comté, of whom Father Patrault was one. An aunt of Pichegru’s, a nun of La Charité, followed Patrault, for the purpose of superintending the infirmary, and she was accompanied by her nephew, a youth who was admitted to the school to receive his education gratuitously. Pichegru, who was extremely clever, was, on his attaining a suitable age, made quarter-master and tutor under Father Patrault, who had taught him mathematics. He intended to become a monk, which was the sole object of his ambition and of his aunt’s wishes. But Father Patrault dissuaded him from this intention, assuring him that the profession was not suited to the age; and that he ought to look forward to something better: he prevailed on him to enlist in the artillery, where the Revolution found him a sub-officer. His military career is known:—he was the conqueror of Holland. Thus Father Patrault had the honour of counting among his pupils the two greatest generals of modern France.

“Father Patrault was subsequently secularized by M. de Brienne, Archbishop of Sens and Cardinal de Lomenie, who made him one of his grand vicars, and intrusted him with the management of his numerous benefices.

“At the time of the Revolution, Father Patrault, though his opinions were widely opposite to those of his patron, nevertheless exerted every endeavour to save him, and with this view applied to Danton, who was a native of the same part of France to which the Cardinal and himself belonged. But all was unavailing; and it is supposed that Patrault, after the manner of the ancients, rendered to the Cardinal the service of procuring for him a poisoned draught to save him from the scaffold.

“Madame de Lomenie, the Cardinal’s niece, before her life was sacrificed by the revolutionary tribunal, intrusted Father Patrault with the care of her two daughters, who were yet in their childhood. The moment of terror having passed away, their aunt Madame de Brienne, who had escaped the storm and preserved a considerable portion of her fortune, applied to Father Patrault for the children; but he refused to give them up, on the ground that their mother had directed him to withdraw them from the world and to devote them to the occupation of peasants. He had conceived the design of literally executing these figurative commands, and was on the point of uniting them to two of his own nephews. ‘I was then,’ said Napoleon, ‘General of the Army of the Interior, and I became the mediator for the restoration of the two children, an object which was not accomplished without difficulty. Patrault employed every possible means of resistance. These daughters of Madame de Lomenie were the two ladies whom you have since known by the names of Madame de Marnesia, and the beautiful Madame de Canisy, Duchess de Vicenza.'

“Father Patrault, having renewed his acquaintance with his old pupil, followed him and joined the Army of Italy, where he proved himself better able to calculate projectiles than to meet their effects. At Montenotte, Millesimo, and Dego, he evinced the most puerile cowardice. During the action he was occupied, not like Moses, in praying, but in weeping. The General-in-chief appointed him administrator of domains at Milan, from which he derived considerable profits. On Napoleon’s return from Egypt, he presented himself to him: he was no longer the little Minim monk of Champagne, but a corpulent financier, possessed of upwards of a million. Two years afterwards he again sought an interview with the First Consul at Malmaison: he now looked mean, dejected, and shabbily dressed. ‘How is this?’ inquired the Consul. ‘You see before you a ruined man,’ replied Patrault; ‘one who is reduced to beggary; the victim of severe misfortune.’ The First Consul determined to investigate the truth of this statement; he discovered that Father Patrault had commenced the trade of an usurer. The great calculator had lost his fortune through bankruptcies, in lending at great risk for a high interest. ‘I have already paid my debt,’ said the First Consul, at his next interview with him; ‘I can do no more for you; I cannot make a man’s fortune twice.’ He contented himself with granting Patrault a pension sufficient for his subsistence.

“Napoleon retained but a faint idea of Pichegru; he remembered that he was a tall man, rather red in the face. Pichegru, on the contrary, seems to have preserved a striking recollection of young Napoleon. When Pichegru joined the royalist party, he was asked whether it would not be possible to gain over the General-in-chief of the Army of Italy. ‘To attempt that would only be wasting time,’ said he: ‘from my knowledge of him when a boy, I am sure he must be a most inflexible character: he has formed his resolutions, and he will not change them.’”

The Emperor has often been much amused at the tales and anecdotes that are related of his boyhood, in the numerous little publications to which he had given rise: he acknowledges the accuracy of scarcely any of them. There is one, relative to his confirmation at the military school of Paris, which, however, he admitted to be true. It is as follows:—the archbishop who confirmed him, manifesting his astonishment at the name of Napoleon, said he did not know of any such saint, and that there was no such name in the calendar; the boy quickly replied, that that could be no rule, since there were an immense number of saints, and only 365 days.

Napoleon never observed his festival-day until after the Concordat: his patron saint was a stranger to the French Calendar, and even where his name is recorded the date of his festival is a matter of uncertainty. The Pope, however, fixed it for the 15th of August, which was at once the Emperor’s birth-day, and the day of the signing of the Concordat.

15“In 1783, Napoleon was one of the scholars who, at the usual competition at Brienne, were fixed upon to be sent to the military school at Paris, to finish their education. The choice was made annually by an inspector, who visited the twelve military schools. This office was filled by the Chevalier de Keralio, a general officer, and the author of a work on military tactics. He was also the tutor of the present (the late) King of Bavaria, who in his youth bore the title of Duke of Deux-Ponts. Keralio was an amiable old man and well qualified to discharge the duty of Inspector of the military schools. He was fond of the boys, played with them when they had finished their examinations, and permitted those who had acquitted themselves most to his satisfaction to dine with him at the table of the monks. He was particularly attached to young Napoleon, and took a pleasure in stimulating him to exertion. He singled him out to be sent to Paris, though it would appear he had not at that time attained the requisite age. The lad was not very far advanced in any branch of education except mathematics, and the monks suggested that it would be better to wait till the following year, to afford time for further improvement. But this the Chevalier de Keralio would by no means agree to; ‘I know what I am about,’ said he, ‘and if I am transgressing the rules, it is not on account of family influence:—I know nothing of the friends of this youth. I am actuated only by my own opinion of his merit. I perceive in him a spark of genius which cannot be too early fostered.’ The worthy chevalier died suddenly, before he had time to carry his determination into effect; but his successor, M. de Regnaud, who would not perhaps have evinced half his penetration, nevertheless fulfilled his intention, and young Napoleon was sent to Paris.”

At this period he began to develop qualities of a superior order: decision of character, profound reflection, and vigorous conceptions. It would appear, that from his earliest childhood his parents rested all their hopes on him. His father, when on his death-bed at Montpellier, though Joseph was beside him, spoke only of Napoleon, who was then at the military school. In the delirium with which he was seized in his last moments, he incessantly called Napoleon to come to his aid with his great sword. The grand uncle, Lucien, who on his death-bed was surrounded by all his relatives, said, addressing himself to Joseph, “You are the eldest of the family; but there is the head of it (pointing to Napoleon). Never lose sight of him.” The Emperor used to laugh and say, “This was a true disinheritance: it was the scene of Jacob and Esau.”

Having myself been educated at the military school of Paris, though at an earlier period than that at which Napoleon attended it, I was enabled, on returning from my emigration, to converse about the Emperor with the masters who had been common to us both.

M. de l’Eguille, our teacher of history, used to boast that the records of the military school contained proofs of his having foretold the great career which his pupil was destined to fill; and that he had frequently, in his notes, eulogised the depth of his reflection, and the shrewdness of his judgment. He informed me that the First Consul used often to invite him to breakfast at Malmaison, and that he always took pleasure in conversing about his old lessons.—“That which made the deepest impression on me,” said he, one day to M. de l’Eguille, “was the revolt of the Constable de Bourbon, though you did not present it to us precisely in its proper light. You made it appear that his great crime was his having fought against his king; which certainly was but a trifling fault, in those days of divided nobility and sovereignty; particularly considering the scandalous injustice of which he was the victim. His great, his real, his only crime, and that on which you did not sufficiently dwell, was his having joined with foreigners to attack his native country.”

M. Domairon, our professor of belles-lettres, informed me that he had always been struck with the singularity of Napoleon’s amplifications, which he said were like granite heated in a volcano.

Only one individual formed a mistaken idea of him; that was M. Bauer, the dull heavy German master. Young Napoleon never made much progress in the German language, which offended M. Bauer, who ranked German above all things, and he in consequence formed a most contemptible opinion of his pupil’s abilities. One day, Napoleon not being in his place, M. Bauer inquired where he was, and was told that he was attending his examination in the class of artillery. “What! does he know any thing?” said M. Bauer ironically. “Why, Sir, he is the best mathematician in the school,” was the reply. “Ah! I have always heard it remarked, and I have always believed, that none but a fool could learn mathematics.” “It would be curious,” said the Emperor, “to know whether M. Bauer lived long enough to see me rise in the world, and to enjoy the confirmation of his own judgment.”

Napoleon was scarcely eighteen years of age when the Abbé Raynal, struck with the extent of his acquirements, appreciated his merit so highly as to make him one of the ornaments of his scientific déjeûners. Finally, the celebrated Paoli, who, after having long inspired Napoleon with a sort of veneration, found the latter at the head of a party against him, the moment he shewed himself favourable to the English, was accustomed to say—“This young man is formed on the ancient model. He is one of Plutarch’s men.”

In 1785, Napoleon, who was appointed at once a cadet and an officer of artillery, quitted the military school to enter the regiment of la Fère with the rank of second lieutenant; from which he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in the regiment of Grenoble.

Napoleon, on quitting the military school, went to join his regiment at Valence. The first winter he spent there, his comrades at the mess-table were Lariboissière, whom, during the empire, he appointed inspector-general of the artillery; Sorbier, who succeeded Lariboissière in that post; d’Hedouville, junior, afterwards minister plenipotentiary at Frankfort; Mallet, brother of him who headed the tumult in Paris in 1813; an officer named Mabille, whom, on his return from emigration, the Emperor appointed to a situation in the post-office; Rolland de Villarceaux, afterwards prefect of Nismes; Desmazzis, junior, his companion at the military school, and the friend of his early years, who after Napoleon ascended the throne, became keeper of the Imperial wardrobe.

There were in the corps officers more or less easy in their circumstances; Napoleon ranked among the former. He received from his family 1200 francs a year, which was then the amount of an officer’s full pay. There were two individuals in the regiment who could afford to keep cabriolets, or carriages of some kind, and they were looked upon as very great men. Sorbier was one of these two: his companions got him to drive them about, and they repaid the obligation by jokes and puns. Sorbier was the son of a physician at Moulins.

At Valence, Napoleon obtained an early introduction to Madame du Columbier, a lady about fifty years of age, who was endowed with many rare and estimable qualities, and who was the most distinguished person in the town. She entertained a great regard for the young artillery-officer, and through her acquaintance he mingled in all the best company in Valence and its neighbourhood. She introduced him to the Abbé de Saint Rufe, an elderly man of property, who was frequently visited by the most distinguished persons in the country. Napoleon was indebted for the favour he enjoyed to his extensive information, joined to the facility and force with which he turned it to account. Madame du Colombier often foretold that he would be a distinguished man. The death of this lady happened about the time of the breaking out of the Revolution: it was an event in which she took great interest, and in her last moments was heard to say that, if no misfortune befel young Napoleon, he would infallibly play a distinguished part in the events of the time. The Emperor never spoke of Madame du Colombier but with expressions of the tenderest gratitude; and he did not hesitate to acknowledge that the valuable introductions and superior company in society which she procured for him had great influence over his destiny.

The gaiety which Napoleon enjoyed at this period of his life, excited great jealousy on the part of his fellow-officers. They were displeased at seeing him absent himself so frequently from among them, though his doing so could be no reasonable ground of offence to them. Fortunately the commandant, M. d’Urtubie, had formed a just estimate of his character: he shewed him great kindness, and afforded him the means of fulfilling his military duties, and at the same time of mingling in the pleasures of society.

Napoleon conceived an attachment for Mademoiselle du Colombier, who, on her part, was not insensible to his merits. It was the first love of both; and it was that kind of love which might be expected to arise at their age and with their education. “We were the most innocent creatures imaginable,” the Emperor used to say; “we contrived little meetings together: I well remember one which took place on a Midsummer morning, just as daylight began to dawn. It will scarcely be believed that all our happiness consisted in eating cherries together.”

It has been said that the mother wished to bring about this marriage, and that the father opposed it on the ground that they would ruin each other by their union; while each was separately destined to a fortunate career. But this story is untrue, as is likewise another anecdote relative to a marriage with Mademoiselle Clary, afterwards Madame Bernadotte, now Queen of Sweden.

In 1805, the Emperor, when about to be crowned King of Italy, on passing through Lyons, again saw Mademoiselle du Colombier, who had now changed her name to Madame de Bressieux. She gained access to him with some difficulty, surrounded as he was by the etiquette of royalty. Napoleon was happy to see her again; but he found her much altered for the worse. He did for her husband what she solicited, and placed her in the situation of lady of honour to one of his sisters.

Mademoiselles de Laurencin and Saint-Germain were at that time the reigning toasts in Valence, where they divided the general admiration. The latter married Monsieur de Montalivet, who was also known to the Emperor at that time, and who was afterwards made Minister of the Interior. “He was an honest fellow,” said Napoleon, “and one who, I believe, remained firmly attached to me.”

When about eighteen or twenty years of age, the Emperor was distinguished as a young man of extensive information, possessing a reflective turn of mind and strong reasoning powers. His reading had been very extensive, and he had profoundly meditated on the fund of knowledge thus acquired, much of which, he used to say, he had probably since lost. His sparkling and ready wit and energetic language distinguished him wherever he went: he was a favourite with every one, particularly with the fair sex, to whom he recommended himself by the elegance and novelty of his ideas, and the boldness of his arguments. As for the men, they were often afraid to engage with him in those discussions into which he was led by a natural confidence in his own powers.

Many individuals, who knew him at an early period of life, predicted his extraordinary career; and they viewed the events of his life without astonishment. At an early age he gained anonymously a prize at the Academy of Lyons, on the following question, proposed by Raynal:—“What are the principles and institutions calculated to advance mankind to the highest possible degree of happiness?” The anonymous memorial excited great attention: it was perfectly in unison with the ideas of the age. It began by enquiring in what happiness consisted; and the answer was, in the perfect enjoyment of life in the manner most conformable with our moral and physical organization. After he became Emperor, Napoleon was one day conversing on this subject with M. de Talleyrand: the latter, like a skilful courtier, shortly after presented to him the famous memorial, which he had procured from the archives of the Academy of Lyons. The Emperor took it, and, after reading a few pages, threw into the fire this first production of his youth. “We can never think of every thing,” said Napoleon: and M. de Talleyrand had not taken the precaution of having it copied.

The Prince de Condé one day visited the Artillery school at Auxonne; and the cadets considered it a high honour to be examined by that military prince. The commandant, in spite of the hierarchy, placed young Napoleon at the head of the polygon, in preference to others of superior rank. It happened that, on the day preceding the examination, all the cannons of the polygon were spiked: but Napoleon was too much on the alert to be caught by this trick of his comrades, or snare, perhaps, of the illustrious traveller.

It is generally believed that Napoleon, in his boyhood, was taciturn, sullen, and morose: on the contrary, he was of a very lively turn. He never appeared more delighted than when relating to us the various tricks he was accustomed to play when at the School of Artillery. In describing the joyous moments of his early youth, he seems to forget the misfortunes which hold him in captivity.

There was an old commandant, upwards of eighty years of age, for whom the cadets entertained a very high respect, notwithstanding the many jokes they played upon him. One day, while he was examining them in their cannon exercise, and watching every discharge with his eye-glass, he asserted they were far from hitting the mark, and asked those near him if they had seen the ball strike. Nobody had observed the youths’ slipping aside the ball every time they loaded. The old general was rather sharp; after five or six discharges, he took it into his head to count the balls. The trick was discovered. The general thought it a very good one; but nevertheless ordered all who had participated in it to be put under arrest.

The cadets would occasionally take a pique at some of their captains, or determine to revenge themselves on others to whom they owed a grudge. They then resolved to banish them from society, and to reduce them to the necessity of putting themselves under a sort of arrest. Four or five of the cadets undertook to execute the design. They fastened on their victim; pursued him into every company, and he was not suffered to open his mouth without being methodically and logically contradicted, though always with a strict regard to politeness: at length the poor fellow found that retirement was his only alternative.

“On another occasion,” Napoleon used to relate, “one of my comrades who lodged above me unluckily took a fancy to learn to play the horn, and made such a hideous noise as completely disturbed the studies of those who were within hearing. We met each other one day on the stairs; ‘Are you not tired of practising the horn?’ said I. ‘Not at all,’ he replied. ‘At any rate, you tire other people.’ ‘I am sorry for it.’ ‘It would be better if you went to practise elsewhere.’ ‘I am master of my own apartment.’ ‘Perhaps you may be taught to entertain a doubt on that point.’ ‘I scarcely think any one will be bold enough to attempt to teach me that.’” A challenge ensued; but before the antagonists met, the affair was submitted to the consideration of a council of the cadets, and it was determined that the one should practise the horn at a greater distance, and that the other should be more accommodating.

In the campaign of 1814, the Emperor again met his horn-player in the neighbourhood of Soissons or Laon: he was residing on his estate, and gave some important information respecting the enemy’s position. The Emperor made him one of his aides-de-camp; this officer was Colonel Bussy.

When attached to his artillery-regiment, Napoleon seized every opportunity of mingling in company, where he invariably made an agreeable impression. Women at that time attached a high value to wit in the other sex; it was a quality which never failed to win their good graces. Napoleon, at this period, performed what he termed his Sentimental Journey from Valence to Mont-Cenis in Burgundy, and he intended to write an account of it after the manner of Sterne. The faithful Desmazzis was of the party: he was constantly with him, and his narrative of Napoleon’s private life, if combined with the details of his public career, would form a perfect history of the Emperor. It would then be seen that, however extraordinary his life might be with respect to its incidents, yet nothing could be more simple or natural than its course.

Circumstances and reflection have considerably modified his character. Even his style of expression, now so concise and laconic, was in his youth diffuse and emphatic. At the time of the Legislative Assembly, Napoleon assumed a serious and severe demeanour, and became less communicative than before. The army of Italy also marked another epoch in his character. His extreme youth, when he went to take the command of the army, rendered it necessary that he should evince great reserve, and the utmost strictness of morals. “This was indispensably necessary,” said he, “to enable me to command men so much above me in point of age. I pursued a line of conduct truly irreproachable and exemplary. I proved myself a sort of Cato. I must have appeared such in the eyes of all. I was a philosopher and a sage.” In this character he appeared on the theatre of the world.

Napoleon was in garrison at Valence when the Revolution broke out. At that time it was made a point of particular importance to induce the artillery-officers to emigrate; and the officers, on their part, were very much divided in opinion. Napoleon, who was thoroughly imbued with the notions of the age, possessing a natural instinct for great actions and a passion for national glory, espoused the cause of the Revolution; and his example influenced the majority of the regiment. He was an ardent patriot under the Constituent Assembly; but the Legislative Assembly marked a new period in his ideas and opinions.

He was at Paris on the 21st of June, 1792, and witnessed the insurrection of the people of the Faubourgs, who traversed the garden of the Tuileries, and forced the palace. There were but 6000 men; a mere disorderly mob, whose language and dress proved them to belong to the very lowest class of society.

Napoleon was also a witness of the events of the 10th of August, in which the assailants were neither higher in rank nor more formidable in number.

In 1793, Napoleon was in Corsica, where he had a command in the National Guards. He opposed Paoli, as soon as he was led to suspect that the veteran, to whom he had hitherto been so much attached, entertained the design of betraying the island to the English. Therefore it is not true, as it has been generally reported, that Napoleon, or one of his family, was at one time in England, proposing to raise a Corsican regiment for the English service.

The English and Paoli subdued the Corsican patriots, and burnt Ajaccio. The house of the Buonapartes was destroyed in the general conflagration, and the family was obliged to fly to the Continent. They fixed their abode at Marseilles, whence Napoleon proceeded to Paris. He arrived just at the moment when the federalists of Marseilles had surrendered Toulon to the English.