of both members, contented itself with naming one, it being the mutual condition, in return for favouring the Government candidate, that the Government party should not oppose the choice of the liberals. The liberal party selected M. Lemercier, but as they knew his former connection with Bonaparte had been broken off they wished first to ascertain that he would do nothing to commit their choice. Chénier was empowered to inquire whether M. Lemercier would. refuse to accompany them to the Tuileries when they repaired thither in a body, and whether, on his election, he would comply with the usual ceremony of being presented to the Emperor. M. Lemercier replied that he would do nothing contrary to the customs and usages of the body to which he might belong: he was accordingly elected. The Government candidate was M. Esménard, who was also elected. The two new members were presented to the Emperor on the same day. On this occasion upwards of 400 persons were present in the salon, from one of whom I received these details. When the Emperor saw M. Lemercier, for whom he had long pretended great friendship, he said to him in a kind tone, "Well, Lemercier, you are now installed." Lemercier respectfully bowed to the Emperor, but without uttering a word in reply. Napoleon was mortified at this silence, but without saying anything more to Lemercier he turned to Esménard, the member who should have been most acceptable to him, and vented upon him the whole weight of his indignation in a manner equally unfeeling and unjust. "Well, Esménard," said he, "do you still hold your place in the police ?" These words were spoken in so loud a

1 For the connection of Esménard with the police as editor, etc., see Savary (tome v. p. 15), who praises him highly, and boasts that it was he who got him, and later Chateaubriand, into the Academy. Lemercier, who had been a favoured friend of General Bonaparte, withdrew from the Court and sent back his cross of the Legion of Honour on the foundation of the Empire. His writings in the subsequent years were not very successful, even allowing for the restraints of the censorship. "He sent," says Merlet (tome i. p. 263), "his pieces to the censor as a general launches his soldiers to the assault. He thus had more than five great dramas killed under him." Preserving his hostility during the time of Napoleon's power Lemercier seems to have regretted the Restoration, or at least he might have said with Hoffman when then asked why he did not write against Napoleon, "Because I have never flattered him."

1811.

BIRTH OF THE KING OF ROME.

17

tone as to be heard by all present; and it was doubtless this cruel and ambiguous speech which furnished the enemies of Esménard with arms to attack his reputation as a man of honour, and to give an appearance of disgrace to those functions which he exercised with so much zeal and ability.

When, at the commencement of 1811, I left Paris I had ceased to delude myself respecting the brilliant career which seemed opening before me during the Consulate. I clearly perceived that since Bonaparte, instead of receiving me as I expected, had refused to see me at all, the calumnies of my enemies were triumphant, and that I had nothing to hope for from an absolute ruler, whose past injustice rendered him the more unjust. He now possessed what he had so long and ardently wished for, a son of his own, an inheritor of his name, his power, and his throne. I must take this opportunity of stating that the malevolent and infamous. rumours spread abroad respecting the birth of the King of Rome were wholly without foundation. My friend Corvisart, who did not for a single instant leave Maria Louisa during her long and painful labour, removed from my mind every doubt on the subject. It is as true that the young Prince, for whom the Emperor of Austria stood sponsor at the font, was the son of Napoleon and the Archduchess Maria Louisa as it is false that Bonaparte was the father of the first child of Hortense. The birth of the son of Napoleon was hailed with general enthusiasm.1 The Emperor was at

1 The reader will find some very interesting notices of this great event and the fêtes which followed, in the Memoirs of the Duchess of Abrantes, vol. iii. p. 279. It appears from Mademoiselle Avrillion's Memoirs that Napoleon was the first to announce to Josephine the birth of his son. In such circumstances," said mademoiselle, "all that passes in the breast of a woman is inexplicable: the Empress testified the greatest and the most sincere joy at an event which was considered by almost all Frenchmen as an immense happiness for the Empire. . . . She showed me, with a sort of pride, the letter the Emperor had written her with his own hand, and in which he added, after having said, My dear Josephine, I have a son,' these other words, 'I am at the summit of my happiness.' "Yes!' said the Empress Josephine to me with visible emotion, though without any sign of jealousy or ill-humour, 'Yes! he must be very happy!' and then, after drying some tears that escaped her, she continued, and I also -I too ought to be very happy at the happiness of the Emperor-happy to see the fulfilment of the wishes of all France-I now gather the fruits of my painful sacrifices, since they have secured the prosperity of France."

The little King of Rome, Napoleon Francis Bonaparte, was born on the 20th of March 1811.-Editor of 1836 edition.

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the height of his power from the period of the birth of his son until the reverse he experienced after the battle of the Moskowa. The Empire, including the States possessed by the Imperial family, contained nearly 57,000,000 of inhabitants; but the period was fast approaching when this power, unparalleled in modern times, was to collapse under its own weight.

1811.

19

CHAPTER II.

1811.

My return to Hamburg-Government Committee established there-Anecdote of the Comte de Chaban-Napoleon's misunderstanding with the Pope-Cardinal Fesch-Convention of a Council-Declaration required from the Bishops -Spain in 1811-Certainty of war with Russia-Lauriston supersedes Caulaincourt at St. Petersburg-The war in Spain neglected-Troops of all nations at the disposal of Bonaparte-Levy of National Guard-Treaties with Prussia and Austria-Capitulation renewed with Switzerland-Intrigues with Czernischeff-Attacks of my enemies-Memorial to the EmperorOgier de la Saussaye and the mysterious box-Removal of the Pope to Fontainebleau-Anecdote of His Holiness and M. Denon-Departure of Napoleon and Maria Louisa for Dresden-Situation of affairs in Spain and Portugal-Kapp's account of the Emperor's journey to Dantzic - Mutual wish for war on the part of Napoleon and Alexander-Sweden and Turkey -Napoleon's vain attempt to detach Sweden from her alliance with Russia. As I took the most lively interest in all that concerned the Hanse Towns, my first care on returning to Hamburg was to collect information from the most respectable sources concerning the influential members of the new Government.1 Davoust was at its head. On his arrival he had established in the Duchy of Mecklenburg, in Swedish Pomerania, and in Stralsund, the capital of that province, military posts and custom-houses, and that in a time of profound peace with those countries, and without any previous declaration. The omnipotence of Napoleon, and the terror inspired by the

1 Bourrienne took an interest in Hamburg which it is difficult to explain unless he was, as his enemies asserted, engaged in Royalist plots and in underhand business there. In 1813 Davoust complained to the Emperor of his intrigues, and Napoleon replied that Bourrienne had been ordered to cease all correspondence with Hamburg, and declared that he would arrest him if he still wrote there. Even then, 30th June 1813, Napoleon urged Davoust to try to discover Bourrienne's robberies in order that he might be made to disgorge (Erreurs, tome ii. p. 241).

name of Davoust, overcame all obstacles which might have opposed those iniquitous usurpations. The weak were forced to yield to the strong.

At Hamburg a Government Committee was formed, consisting of the Prince of Eckmuhl as President, Comte de Chaban, Councillor of State, who superintended the departments of the Interior and Finance, and of M. Faure, Councillor of State, who was appointed to form and regulate the Courts of Law. I had sometimes met M. de Chaban at Malmaison. He was distantly related to Josephine, and had formerly been an officer in the French Guards. He was compelled to emigrate, having been subjected to every species of persecution during the Revolution.1

M. de Chaban was among the first of the emigrants who returned to France after the 18th Brumaire. He was at first made Sub-Prefect of Vendôme, but on the union of Tuscany with France Napoleon created him a member of the Junta appointed to regulate the affairs of Tuscany. He next became Prefect of Coblentz and Brussels, was made a Count by Bonaparte, and was afterwards chosen a member of the Government Committee at Hamburg. M. de Chaban was a man of upright principles, and he discharged his various functions in a way that commanded esteem and attachment.2

The Hanseatic Towns, united to the Grand Empire professedly for their welfare, soon felt the blessings of the new

1 I recollect an anecdote which but too well depicts those disastrous times. The Comte de Chaban, being obliged to cross France during the Reign of Terror, was compelled to assume a disguise. He accordingly provided himself with a smockfrock, a cart and horses, and a load of corn. In this manner he journeyed from place to place till he reached the frontiers. He stopped at Rochambeau, in the Vendômais, where he was recognised by the Marshal de Rochambeau, who, to guard against exciting any suspicion among his servants, treated him as if he had really been a carman, and said to him, "You may dine in the kitchen."Bourrienne.

2 If," says the Comte Alexandre de Puymaigre (p. 129), who was employed under Chaban in 1811 at Hamburg, "any one could soften these dispositions (of Marshal Davoust), not by his very limited means, but by the influence given by a patriarchal and reproachless life, true moderation, and undoubted honesty, it was the Comte de Chaban, Councillor of State, charged with the finances of the Northern Departments, lately annexed. He was loved and esteemed at Hamburg, where he often succeeded in reducing the burdens and in rendering the position less painful." Chaban died of typhus at Hamburg in 1812.