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THE CORRESPONDENCE OF

NAPOLEON.

CHAPTER I.

THE YEAR 1810.

THE principal event of 1810 was undoubtedly the marriage of Napoleon with the Archduchess Marie Louise, and it is a curious fact that nearly all the documents connected with this brilliant matrimonial alliance have disappeared from the national archives. While reading the few letters bearing upon this remarkable event it will be well to bear in mind the following facts. Napoleon had long contemplated putting Josephine away: she had borne him no children, and he wished to found a dynasty. He would have been contented to leave the throne to the eldest son of Louis, but the "little Napoleon" died while the Emperor was campaigning in Poland. Shortly afterwards, at Erfurth, Napoleon sounded the Czar with regard to his sister the Grand Duchess Catherine. Alexander, while showing himself favourable to an alliance, said that his father Paul had left the Empress Mother absolute control in such matters, and that in all probability it would be difficult to vanquish her resistance. The Czar expressed himself highly flattered, and hoped that one day it might be possible to arrange this union. As for the Empress, she

VOL. III.

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declared that she would sooner see her daughter at the bottom of the Neva than the wife of Napoleon; and for fear the French Emperor might again press his suit she lost no time in wedding the Grand Duchess to the Duke of Oldenburg.

It was not until after the battle of Wagram that the question of a matrimonial alliance with Russia was again mooted. On the 28th December, 1809, Caulaincourt broached the subject of a marriage between the Grand Duchess Anne, the sister of the Grand Duchess Catherine, and Napoleon. Alexander was much surprised at this demand his mind was entirely filled at that moment with apprehensions concerning the re-establishment of Poland and the execution of the Treaty of Tilsit. The draft of a convention had just been drawn up between France and Russia upon the following bases :--1st. Reciprocal engagement never to permit the re-establishment of Poland; 2nd. The suppression of the words "Poland" and "Poles" in all public acts, &c. When the matrimonial demand was made Alexander perceived the price which he was expected to pay for the convention. The Czar was highly irritated, but still he disguised his wrath and promised to use his influence with his mother to obtain her consent, well knowing, after what had occurred, that that consent would never be given. On the 4th January, 1810, . Alexander having expressed his ability to remove the opposition of his mother, Caulaincourt at once signed the convention, being convinced that this important concession would decide matters. On his side the Czar dragged on negotiations with the Empress in hopes that Napoleon would ratify the convention before receiving a definite reply. On the 10th January Caulaincourt received orders to demand a positive reply within ten days. The effect of this ultimatum may be easily imagined. It took couriers from fifteen to twenty days to accomplish the distance between St. Petersburg and Paris. It was on the 28th December only that the first demand had been made, and Napoleon

GRAND DUCHESS AND ARCHDUCHESS.

3

had not had time to receive a despatch from Caulaincourt on the subject. Then why this ultimatum, which was equivalent to a rupture? The fact is that the perspective of another alliance more flattering in a dynastic point of view had presented itself, and that the Emperor had received assurances from several quarters that a demand addressed to Vienna would meet with a favourable reply. His vanity was intensely gratified, and he at once determined to break off negotiations with St. Petersburg.

On the 21st January, that is to say, a fortnight before the time had expired for receiving a reply from Russia, Napoleon assembled a privy council at the Tuileries to deliberate on the choice of an alliance. Five privy councillors voted in favour of an Austrian, two in favour of a Russian, and two in favour of a Saxon princess. Talleyrand was for an Archduchess, and Cambacérès for a Grand Duchess; because, as he said afterwards-"The Emperor is sure to make war against the Power to which he is not allied, and I dread a march to St. Petersburg more than a march to Vienna."

On the 6th February despatches from Caulaincourt arrived announcing that the Court of St. Petersburg had not come to a decision. The fact is that the Empress had declared that a Russian princess was not to be wooed and won in a week, and that her daughter, who was only sixteen, was too young to be married before three years. She had lost two daughters by marrying them at too early an age, and she would not sacrifice a third. Then, according to the Greek rite, the Grand Duchess could not marry a man who had divorced his first wife. The Czar did not absolutely reject the alliance, but he insisted that, in the event of a marriage, his sister should be allowed the free exercise of her religion. On the reception of this despatch Napoleon at once wrote to Caulaincourt saying that he considered himself disengaged. The very same day he had his marriage contract with Marie Louise drawn out on the model of that between Louis XVI. and Marie

Antoinette, and this contract was immediately signed by the Austrian ambassador, Prince Schwartzenberg, who a few months before had been sent to St. Petersburg to demand the hand of a Russian Grand Duchess for an Austrian Archduke. The rapidity with which this contract was concluded naturally proved that negotiations had been going on with Austria and with Russia at the same time, although Napoleon afterwards denied this. Prince Metternich says in his Memoirs that he was puzzled in which negotiations to put faith; in those openly carried on with Russia, or in those secretly carried on with Austria. With any one else but Napoleon he would not have hesitated about believing in the secret negotiation.

The diplomatists who were opposed to the Austrian marriage urged that no alliance with the Court of Austria could be sincere. That Austria had suffered too much at the hands of France for the wounds to be healed by a matrimonial arrangement; that she would never be able to forget and forgive the loss of Lombardy, Venice, the Tyrol, Suabia, Dalmatia, Illyria, Galicia, and Belgium, and the Imperial Crown of Germany, while Tuscany had been taken from one of the Archdukes and finally handed over to Napoleon's sister Eliza. However, the Court of Vienna accepted the proffered alliance without hesitation. The fact is that it had learned with terror that negotiations had been opened with St. Petersburg, whereas its policy, before and after Wagram, had been to sow dissension between the two Powers which threatened the existence of Austria. It was for this reason that she had offered Galicia to Napoleon, foreseeing the irritation which Russia would feel upon finding France at her frontier and a co-partner of Poland. She caught eagerly at the suggestion of a matrimonial alliance, which would save her from the perils with which she was menaced; and the overtures once commenced ran smoothly, especially as Austria nobly declared that this marriage was not to form the subject of any bargaining. The alliance was accepted unconditionally, but at the same

NAPOLEON'S FIRST MARRIAGE.

5

time it was hoped that it would give Austria time to recover from her reverses, and that it would prevent a schism in the Church by healing the breach between the Emperor and the Pope. It was to further the latter object that Josephine exerted her influence in favour of the Austrian alliance.

On the day that Napoleon received Caulaincourt's despatch (6th February) he refused to ratify the convention with regard to Poland. As soon as the marriage with Marie Louise was arranged the Emperor set to work to procure the dissolution of the religious tie which either bound him, or was supposed to bind him, to Josephine. There had been no difficulty in having the civil marriage annulled. Mutual consent was sufficient for that. But before wedding the daughter of his most apostolical majesty of Austria it was necessary for his most Christian majesty the eldest son of the Church to procure a divorce. Strange to say, it is still a matter of doubt whether Napoleon and Josephine were ever married at the altar. There is not a scrap of documentary evidence to prove it. The official account relates that on the eve of the coronation the Pope refused to officiate unless the Emperor made Josephine his wife, the Church not recognising the civil marriage. To avoid a scandal Napoleon consented, and the religious ceremony was secretly performed at the Tuileries by Cardinal Fesch, with the consent of the Pope, and in presence of Duroc, Berthier, and Talleyrand, on the night of the 1st December, 1804. M. Thiers, in his History, says that no one heard a word about this religious ceremony until the divorce was applied for. Is it possible that so important a matter could have been kept secret for more than five years? M. Thiers says that the Pope and Cardinal Consalvi were bound to secrecy by the seal of confession. But this was not the case with Cardinal Fesch, nor with the witnesses, nor with Madame de Rémusat, who says that Josephine told all about the wedding the day after it was performed; nor with Prince Eugene, to whom

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