Part 4 (1/2)
Nowhere, indeed, were bribery and corruption carried to a greater extent, or practised with more effrontery, than at Mentz Madame Napoleon had as much her fixed price for every favourable word she spoke, as Talleyrand had for every line he wrote Even the attendants of the former, and the clerks of the latter, demanded, or rather extorted, douceurs from the exhausted and almost ruined German petitioners; who in the end were rewarded for all their meanness and for all their expenses with promises at best; as the new plan of supplementary indeement, postponed by the desire of the E delay could no more be foreseen by the Empress than by the Minister, who, in return for their presents and money almost overpowered the Gerret at their disappointments Nor was Madame Bonaparte less sorry or less civil She sent her chaular compliments of condolence to every Prince who had enjoyed her protection They returned to their homes, therefore, if not wealthier, at least happier; flattered by assurances and condescensions, confiding in hope as in certainties Within three ly have disposed both of promises and expectations at a loss of fifty per cent
By the cupidity and selfishness of these and other German Princes, and their want of patriotism, Talleyrand was become perfectly acquainted with the value and production of every principality, bishopric, county, abbey, barony, convent, and even village in the Gerh most national property in France was disposed of at one or two years'
purchase, he required five years' purchase-money for all the estates and lands on the other side of the Rhine, of which, under the naratify the ah price has cooled the claims of the bidders, and the plan of the supplementary indemnities is still suspended, and probably will continue so until our Minister lowers his terms A combination is supposed to have been entered into by the chief demanders of indemnities, by which they have bound themselves to resist all farther extortions They do not, however, know the man they have to deal with; he will, perhaps, find out some to lay claim to their own private and hereditary property whom he will produce and support, and who certainly will have the sae them as they had to the spoils of others
It was reported in our fashi+onable circles last autumn, and smiled at by Talleyrand, that he promised the Comtesse de L------ an abbey, and the Baroness de S-----z a convent, for certain personal favours, and that he offered a bishopric to the Princesse of Hon----- the same terms, but this lady answered that ”she would think of his offers after he had put her husband in possession of the bishopric” It is not necessary to observe that both the Countess and the Baroness are yet waiting to enjoy his liberal donations, and to be indemnified for their prostitution
Napoleon Bonaparte was attacked by a fit of jealousy at Mentz The young nephew of the Elector Arch-Chancellor, Coe, was very assiduous about the Empress, who, herself, at first mistook the motive
Her confidential secretary, Deschamps, however, afterwards informed her that this nobleman wanted to purchase the place of a coadjutor to his uncle, so as to be certain of succeeding him He obtained, therefore, several private audiences, no doubt to regulate the price, when Napoleon put a stop to this secret negotiation by having the Count carried by gendarreat politeness, to the other side of the Rhine When convinced of his error, Bonaparte asked his hat suave her an order on his Minister of the Treasury (Marbois) for the amount This was an act of justice, and a reparation worthy of a good and tender husband; but when, the very next day, he recalled this order, threw it into the fire before her eyes, and confined her for six hours in her bedroom; because she was not dressed in time to take a ith him on the ramparts, one is apt to believe that military despotism has erased from his bosom all connubial affection, and that a enerosity can but little alleviate the frequent pangs caused by repeated insults and oppression Fortunately, Madaainst rudeness as well as against brutality If what her friend and consoler, Madaerated, her tranquillity is not much disturbed nor her happiness affected by these explosions of passionate authority, and she prefers ad, in undisturbed solitude, her diareeable company; and she inspects with more pleasure in confinement, her rich wardrobe, her beautiful china, and her heavy plate, than she would find satisfaction, surrounded with crowds, in co Nature, even in its utmost perfection ”The paradise of Madahted by the lustre of brilliants, else she would decline it for a hell and accept Lucifer hiold flowed in his infernal doh she were even to be scorched by its heat”
LETTER XIV
LETTER XIV
PARIS, August, 1805
MY LORD:--I believe that I have land, that I was an old acquaintance of Madame Napoleon, and a visitor at the house of her first husband When introduced to her after so which fortune had treated us very differently, she received me with more civility than I was prepared to expect, and would, perhaps, have spoken to me more than she did, had not a look of her husband silenced her Mada, and recalled to otten how often she had been seated, when a child, on my lap, and played on my knees with her doll
Thus they behaved to me when I saw them for the first time in their present elevation; I found the-rooms or at their routs and parties, e did not htest pretension to their acquaintance who had not troubled them for employment or borrowed their lect and their breach of promises I continued, however, as much as etiquette and decency required, assiduous, but never familiar: if they addressed me, I answered with respect, but not with servility; if not, I bowed in silence when they passed They ht easily perceive that I did not intend to become an intruder, nor to y or a reason for applying for present favours A lady, on intimate terms with Madame Napoleon, and once our common friend, informed hien, that she had been asked whether she knew anything that could be done fora place in the Legislative Body or in the Tribunate? I answered as I thought, that were I fit for a public life nothing could behitherto declined all eht restrain that independence to which I had accustomed myself from my youth, I was now too old to enter upon a new career I added that, though the Revolution had reduced my circumstances, it had not entirely ruined me I was still independent, because my means were the boundaries of my wants
A week after this conversation General Murat, the governor of this capital, and Bonaparte's favourite-brother-in-law, invited me to a conversation in a note delivered to me by an aide-de-camp, who told me that he was ordered to wait for my coht ofhich to reproachdeposited with a friend, whom none of the Imperial functionaries could suspect, I entered a hackney coach without any fear or apprehension; and we drove to the governor's hotel
From the manner in which Murat addressed me, I was soon convinced that if I had been accused of any error or indiscretion, the accusation could not be very grave in his eyes He entered with me into his closet and inquired whether I had any enee
”Is the Police Minister and Senator, Fouche, your friend?” continued he
”Fouche,” said I, ”has bought an estate that fored to me; may he enjoy it with the same peace of mind as I have lost it I have never spoken to him in my life”
”Have you not complained at Madahien, and agreed with the otherfor him?”
”I have never been at the house of that lady since the death of the Prince, nor more than once inlast Saturday?”--”At the hotel, and in the assembly of Princesse Louis Bonaparte”
”Did she see you?”
”I believe that she did, because she returnedtiratulate you You have in her a generous protectress But for her you would now have been on the way to Cayenne Here you see the list of persons condemned yesterday, upon the report of Fouche, to transportation Your na an agent of the Bourbons, but of having intrigued to becoht have so much the better opportunity to serve them Fortunately for you, the Emperor remembered that the Princesse Louis had demanded such a favour for you, and he inforht forward your innocence, because it was discovered that, instead of asking for, you had declined the offer she had h the Empress Write the Princess a letter of thanks You have, indeed, had a narrow escape, but it has been so far useful to you, that Govern some secret ene you”
In quitting General Murat, I could not help deploring the fate of a despot, even while I abhorred his unnatural power The curses, the complaints, and reproaches for all the crimes, all the violence, all the oppression perpetrated in his name, are entirely thrown upon hi and hearing everything and everybody hi to the report of an inity, or vengeance of culpable individuals; and to sacrifice innocence to gratify the vile passions of his vilest slave I have not so bad an opinion of Bonaparte as to think hi any person to death or transportation, of whose innocence he was convinced, provided that person stood not in the way of his interest and ambition; but suspicion and tyranny are inseparable coeny The unfortunate beings on the long list General Murat showed me were, I dare say, most of them as innocent as myself, and all certainly condemned unheard But suppose, even, that they had been indiscreet enough to put on s, did their imprudence deserve the saer, or the housebreaker? and, indeed, it was more severe than what our laws inflict on such criminals, who are only condemned to transportation for some few years, after a public trial and conviction; while the exile of these unconvicted, untried, and es as unknown to themselves as their destiny and residence reland! where no one is condemned unheard, and no one dares attempt to make the laws subservient to his passions or caprice