T. P. O'Connor

“ They fight for victory, for glory, for the French eagles, and for the little cold man who, they know, stands on the height behind them, whose eye follows every single man, who sees all and forgets nothing; but today they have an enemy who is not easy to deal with. They stand where they stand, these Englishmen, and if they are forced to step backwards, they regain their position the next moment. They have no eagles and no Emperor, and when they fight they think neither of military glory nor of revenge ”

“ In walking through the streets of Paris, it seems to me, the features even of the lowest and most miserable class of people do not present to the eye anything like ferociousness, or the meanest passions in all their hideous energy. Can those passions alter the features so as to deprive them of all likeness to humanity? or does the terror inspired by the sight of a guilty wretch give him the semblance of a wild beast? These madmen, dancing in the mire and covered with mud, surrounded the King's coach. ”

“ Surround yourself with a square!' Cousin Hans stood for a moment bewildered; but presently he understood the captain's meaning. He hastily drew a square of deep strokes around him on the sand. 'Right!' cried the captain, beaming. 'Now the Frenchmen cut into the square; the ranks break, but join again; the cavalry wheels away and gathers for a fresh attack. Wellington has every moment to surround himself with a new square. The French cavalry fight like lions; the proud memories of the Emperor's campaigns fill them with that confidence of victory which made his armies invincible. ”

“ She will appear then lofty, almost like a goddess, in her great robes, heavy with diamonds, surrounded by a procession of ladies-in-waiting, officials—seen from afar off by the people like an idol. Thus does he gild the cage and adorn the prison; thus does he take precautions for keeping her still a child by amusing her with toys; thus does he regulate minutely her whole life in order that she may pass without any shock from the state of the captive Archduchess at Schonbrunn to the state of the captive Empress at Paris. ”

“ I had met men worthy of respect, and had likewise met men of ferocious character; but nothing in the impression which Bonaparte produced on me reminded me of either. . . . A being like him, wholly unlike anybody else, could neither feel nor excite sympathy; he was both more and less than a man; his figure, intellect, and language bore the impress of a foreign nationality. . . . Far from being reassured on seeing Bonaparte oftener, he intimidated one more and more every day. . . . He regards a human being as a fact, an object, and not as a fellow-creature. ”

“ Let us, therefore, take men and things as we find them. Can Barras be useful to us in his position? Undoubtedly he can, and to good purpose. Let us, therefore, get all we can out of him, and never mind the rest!' 'Oh,' exclaimed Bonaparte with enthusiasm, 'if he will but give me the command of the Army of Italy I will forgive everything. I will be the first to show myself the most grateful of men; I will do honour to the appointment, and our affairs will prosper; I guarantee that ere long we shall be rolling in gold.' Later on, taking a higher stand-point, Bonaparte has called this glory. ”

“ La Malmaison presented a sad spectacle that day. I can still remember the silence which reigned that evening in Madame Bonaparte's drawing-room. The First Consul stood with his back against the mantelpiece, whilst Madame de Fontanes read from some book, of which I have forgotten the name. Josephine, with a melancholy look and moist eyes, was seated at the far end of a couch; the persons in attendance, very few in number at the time, had withdrawn into the neighbouring gallery, where they conversed in whispers on the topic which absorbed all minds. ”

“ Here already we see the final philosophy of Napoleon. His view of human nature is low; self-interest is the one guiding motive―unchecked, uncrossed, unmixed by other and higher impulses; the people, when they attack constituted authorities, are rabble to be shot down, and the one art of government is to rule men through their base passions. After all, the sternest critic of Napoleon is himself; the portrait he draws with his own hand, is very like that of M. Taine. M. Levy―if he wanted to make his hero a saint―should have omitted his hero's own letters. ”

“ What are the people? What is a King?' The other, with a contrite air, a nasal voice, and winding himself about like a harlequin, answered: 'God is nature; the people are the poor; a king is a lion, a tiger, an elephant, who tears to pieces, devours, and crushes the poor people to death.' It was not possible to resist this. Astonishment, shouts, enthusiasm, were carried to the highest pitch. ”

“ Imprecations increased, and the unfortunate Princess could not even find a support in the King, for his presence did but augment the fury of the multitude. At last preparations for departure did more towards appeasing them than promises could have done, and by twelve o'clock the frightful procession set off. I hope such a scene will never be witnessed again. I have often asked myself how the metropolis of a nation so celebrated for urbanity and elegance of manners, how the brilliant city of Paris could contain the savage hordes I that day beheld, and who so long reigned over it! ”

“ It is, indeed, the revolt of a corrupt, vicious, laughter-loving man of the world against saintly austerities, that is in action in the fight between Barras and Robespierre; but whatever the faults and crimes of Barras, posterity shares the joy of his contemporaries at his victory over the Sea-green Incorruptible, for it was, after all, the victory of humanity over the pitiless cruelty of a fanatic. ”

“ I cannot read these Memoirs—indiscriminate in their praise, partial, uncritical, not very luminous—I cannot read them without feeling that Méneval was a downright good fellow. To Méneval Napoleon is always the hero; always right, always high-minded, always unselfish, always wronged. I need scarcely say that this is not the view of Napoleon's character which even the most benevolent student of his career can adopt; but do you suppose I am going to find fault with our good Méneval for this? There are some people who forgive anything to intellect; my tendency is to forgive anything to heart. ”

“ When one has loved a man like you, Barras, can one ever know another attachment?' 'How about Hoche?' I replied with very little emotion, and almost laughing; 'you loved him above all others, and yet there was the aide-de-camp, Vanakre, e tutti quanti! . . . Come now, you are a mighty fine cajoler.' This was the mildest and truest word that could be spoken to her; to cajole all who came in contact with her was the trade of Madame Beauharnais, a veritable chevalier d'industrie, so to speak, in town and at Court, from the day she had been imported from her island of Martinique into France. ”

“ Look at the army! Our successes just obtained, our triumphs have already brought out the true character of the French soldier. I am all for him. Let the Directory deprive me of the cockade and it will see who is master. The nation needs a chief, one who is famous through his exploits, and not theories of Government, phrases, and speeches by ideologists, which Frenchmen do not comprehend.'"
And when he is recommended to make peace and end the war in Italy, he says:
"'It is not for my interest to make peace. You see what I am, what I can do in Italy. ”

“ To those who are fearless realists like Taine, there is a sombre joy in penetrating through trappings and robes to the naked animal beneath. Reflect for a moment that behind the flowing Imperial robes at the High Altar in Nôtre Dame, there is a nature, which in other circumstances would be clothed in the garment of a violent convict; that these beautiful, delicate, richly-bedizened women, whom Napoleon and chance have placed on thrones, are of the same mould as that brawling drab who is being haled to the prison, or lies, broken and beaten, in the bed of a hospital! ”

“ There was a picture that stands out in the memory for ever, and that reveals war in a flash, as a black sky shows its battlements and turrets, its banks and seas of cloud when lightning bursts forth and opens up its darkness. There is no such passage in all Marbot. There are scenes, some of them very vividly described; and there are plenty of good stories; but somehow or other inspiration is wanting, and you do not feel that you have got inside Napoleon one bit more than you have done before. ”

“ To love you only, to render you happy, to do nothing that can annoy you, that is my destiny, and the object of my life. Be happy, do not reproach me, care nothing about the fidelity of a man who lives only through you; enjoy only your own pleasures and your own happiness. In asking for a love equal to mine, I was wrong. How can I expect lace to weigh as heavily as gold? In sacrificing to you all my desires, all my thoughts, every instant of my life, I simply yield to the ascendency that your charms, your character, and your whole heart have obtained over my unhappy heart. ”

“ So it was that I endured the horror of this awful spectacle.
"Hardly had the crime been consummated when a cry of 'Long live the nation!' arose from the foot of the scaffold, and, repeated from man to man, was taken up by the whole of the vast concourse of people. The cry was followed by the deepest and most gloomy silence; shame, horror, and terror were now hovering over the vast locality. I crossed it once more, swept back by the flood which had brought me thither. Each one walked along slowly, hardly daring to look at another. ”

“ When he passed in front of the grenadiers in the Tuileries gardens, the boy would call out: "Long live grandpapa, the soldier!" "It used to be," says Mademoiselle Avrillon, "a real holiday for the Emperor when Queen Hortense came to see her mother, bringing her two children. Napoleon would take them in his arms, caress them, often tease them, and burst into laughter, as if he had been their own age, when, according to his custom, he had smeared their faces with cream or jam." ”

“ I find it thrilling and convincing to read an account such as he gives—dry, unpretentious, matter-of-fact—of some of the wildest and most terrible scenes of the Revolution—notably of that day of days when he and Robespierre were in the death-grip. And indeed, I find something else in the absence of all grace from these accounts. Napoleon used to say that he was always on his guard against generals who made pictures to their imaginations. He wanted the man who saw what was right in front of him without haze or illusion, or thoughts coloured by wishes. Barras made no pictures to his imagination. ”

“ Catherine of Russia had wondrous charm in addition to her vast gifts of courage, resolve, clear vision—and yet Catherine, as her biographer tells us, was as much deceived by the various men on whom she bestowed so profusely the riches of her own nature and of her Empire, as the veriest grisette. And, similarly, Napoleon—the god of his own time, the god of so many successive generations of men—Napoleon never succeeded until it was too late in winning the devotion of his own wife. And to make the tragedy the more grotesque, a Hippolyte Charles was his successful rival. ”

“ This Bonaparte was new ground, a savage to tame, the lion of the day to show about in her chains. For the woman, already beginning to age, this ardour of passion, these kisses, as under the Equator, prove to her that she is still beautiful, and that she will always please. Good enough as a lover, but what of a husband? ”

“ Napoleon played with men without mixing with them. He desired to put me entirely at my ease with him, from the very first days of my service, and, in consequence, from the very first I felt no embarrassment in his presence. Doubtless he impressed me to some extent, but I was no longer afraid of him. I was fortified in this state of mind by all that I saw of his pleasant and affectionate ways with Josephine, the assiduous devotion of his officers, the kindliness of his relations with the Consuls and the Ministers, and his familiarity with the soldiers. ”

“ The thing which was the most memorable to Marie Louise—that which afforded her the greatest break in the routine of life—was an occasional flight before a French invasion; discipline then lost something of its regularity, and her tasks were somewhat slackened. Therefore it is not a woman whom they deliver to Napoleon, it is a child bent to a control so severe, so uniform, and so narrow, that any discipline will be sweet in comparison, and even the least pleasure will be new. ”

“ I am thus designating Fouquier-Tinville; I would have called him the soul of it, could one believe such monsters possessed a soul. 'Come now, citizen Fouquier,' I exclaimed in a loud but cold, imperious voice, 'the National Convention have commissioned me to see its orders carried out; I give you the one to proceed without further delay with the fulfilment of your mandate. This is the day to show oneself a patriot by sending the guilty ones forthwith to the scaffold awaiting them.' Fouquier did not require a second warning. ”

“ To my mind, Bonaparte is far greater when he is considered as arriving when no one expects him or dreams of him, when he faces the disadvantages of a return bearing resemblance to a flight, when he triumphs over the prejudices which this return raises against him, and when in the space of a month he lays hand on every form of power. ”

“ I am convinced that any physiognomist in the world who was asked to say which was the cruel monster and which the kindly and genial nature, would at once reverse the verdict of history, and see in Robespierre the hero of mercy, and in Barras the embodiment of cruelty. There is the distinction of the aristocrat about Barras. He appears tall, shapely, erect; a haughty and hard self-confidence in his attitude. And then, that face! The mouth is large, well-shaped, as tight as a rat-trap; the nose is long, regular, distinguished ”

“ Self-mutilation became common; desertion still commoner. It had taken a long time; but Napoleon had at length exhausted France.
But Napoleon held out still; uncowed, unmoved by these awful catastrophes.
"'What do they want of me?' said he to M. de Metternich. 'Do they want me to dishonour myself? Never! I can die, but never will yield an inch of territory! Your sovereigns born on the throne may be beaten twenty times over and yet return to their capitals. ”

“ I put down all this not merely to the insatiable love of power, but to profound, unfathomable contempt for mankind, which made it delightful to the imagination of Napoleon to think of their grovelling in their folly before him long after he had gone. Here is a further example of this spirit:
"'I come too late; there is no longer anything great to accomplish. I admit that my career is brilliant, and that I have made my way successfully. ”

“ I love you to distraction. All is well. Wurmser has been defeated at Mantua. Nothing is wanting to your husband's happiness save the love of Josephine."
And three days after this letter, when he comes to Milan to join his wife, his love gets a shock greater than her silence and the coldness of her letters. The Palazzo where he had expected to find her is empty, Josephine has gone to Genoa; and then Napoleon, unable to control his grief, disappointment, the wound inflicted on his love and self-love, pours forth his feelings in two letters eloquent in their grief. ”

“ I reach Milan, I rush to your room; I have quitted all to see you, to press you in my arms. You were not there; you are travelling about in search of amusement; you put distance between us as soon as I arrive; you care nothing for your Napoleon. A caprice made you love him, inconstancy renders him indifferent to you. ”

“ For the infidelities, the coldness, the neglect with which she afflicted Napoleon when he was a raw young soldier, and for the first time knew the graces and charms of a pretty woman, she had to pay the penalty of years of misery, helpless jealousy, sometimes even violence. By a process which is not uncommon in married life, and especially among those whose fortunes have undergone considerable modification, the woman's love grew as the man's waned. ”

“ If she has a soul, or a heart, Napoleon either does not know or care for their existence. To him at least they have no reality. Has this woman affections? She has, as a matter of fact, plenty of affection, for it is related of her that she sends to her father, her stepmother, and her brothers and sister everything she can extract out of all those brilliant presents which her husband is showering upon her—articles of toilet, furniture, books, precious bits of china—amounting in value, it is said, to two hundred thousand francs a year. ”

“ Finally, his desire to rule the whole world brings Napoleon to his fall. He has been such a scourge to humanity that humanity rises up in revolt against him. He has taken Spanish, Italian, Austrian, Prussian, Swiss, Bavarian, Saxon, Dutch, as well as French lives; the nations hate him as much as their monarchs.
"Unquestionably with such a character nobody can live; his genius is too vast, too mischievous, and all the more so because it is so vast. War will last as long as he reigns; it is in vain to reduce him, to confine him at home, to drive him back within the ancient frontier of France ”

“ It shows a strange lack somewhere in Napoleon's character and mind that he was always blind to consequences, which the commonest and the dullest man around him could see. I suppose that this is one of the penalties which men of inflexible and resistless wills have to pay for their great powers—the same fearlessness, the same tenacity, the same determination to succeed which make them, are also the very qualities which finally mar them. ”

“ Méneval is most interesting when he describes Napoleon in his study. There it was that the two saw most of each other; there Méneval is supreme as an authority. When Méneval speaks about general politics, he is nothing but a blind partisan; he retains throughout the curious misunderstanding of the English character and the English policy which created the master passion and the master mistake of Napoleon's mind and career; and all our poor Méneval has to say on these subjects may be skipped and dismissed. ”

“ This abnegation of his grandeur, his simple and dignified manners, the pleasing ways and gracious familiarity of Madame Bonaparte had a great charm for me."
"There was a harp in her apartment on which he used to play for want of anything better to do, and it was always the same tune that she played." What a delightful picture of this strange, empty-headed, frivolous, attractive creature! I suppose when Napoleon at twenty-six was paying court to her, this harp did duty as an evidence of her numerous accomplishments. Poor Josephine! She made the most of herself; but why not? ”

“ As will be gathered from what I have already said, he is a cool, unimpassioned observer, had military instinct from his whole temperament; and any description, therefore, which he gives of the doings of the mob in that strange period, is free from any enthusiasm, and rather censorious than otherwise. Thus, when he describes what he saw at the taking of the Bastille, you can clearly perceive that if he had been in command and such a monarch as Napoleon had been on the throne, the history of that event and of the whole world would have been very different. ”

“ A veritable civil war will rage for half a century over the vast Empire of the Continent of Europe."
In 1811, "Everybody is convinced that on the disappearance of Napoleon, the master in whose hands all power is concentrated, the first inevitable consequence will be a revolution," At home in France, at this same date, his own subjects begin to comprehend that his dominion is merely temporary, that the Empire is ephemeral and will not last during his life; for he is constantly raising his edifice higher and higher, while all that his building gains in elevation it loses in stability. ”

“ Suddenly I heard loud cries proceeding from the Emperor's drawing-room, and emitted by the Empress Josephine. The usher, thinking she was ill, was about to open the door, but I prevented him, saying that the Emperor would call for help if he thought right. I was standing near the door when Napoleon opened it, and, perceiving me, said hastily: 'Come in, Bausset, and shut the door.' I entered the drawing-room and saw the Empress lying on the floor uttering piercing cries. 'I shall not survive it,' she kept repeating. ”

“ M. Lévy, of course, has no difficulty in seeing in it a sublime generosity; it may have been the cynical indifference which made Napoleon finally regard Josephine as merely a pretty woman—not to be cast off because of her prettiness—to be simply used and despised. There is much more respect to a woman in a jealousy that will not be appeased than in a reconciliation which has its roots in the senses and in contempt.
And now there comes the second epoch in the lives of Napoleon and Josephine. As married people go, they got on pretty well together. ”

“ As Napoleon trusts to no principle in his Ministers but fear and self-interest, he takes elaborate precautions against their ever becoming independent of him. In this respect he shows a delight in the degradation of human nature that sometimes almost appals one―it is as though the hideous sneer of Mephistopheles were transferred from the pages of the poet to the more moving drama of human life. Take, for instance, Napoleon's treatment of his Marshals. ”

“ Napoleon is interested and flattered by the request of the lad, grants it quite cordially, and a few days afterwards a lady comes to offer him her thanks—it is Josephine de Beauharnais, the mother of the boy.
For the first time this rustic of twenty-six years, who knows only the revolutionary armies, to whom no woman has ever paid any particular attention, sees before him one of those beautiful, elegant, and attractive women whom hitherto he has only seen from the distance of the pit of a theatre, and he finds himself in the position which most flatters his pride—that of offering protection ”