Memoirs of the emperor Napoléon from Ajaccio to Waterloo : as soldier, emperor, husband

Front matter

PC

CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

Chap. II. — Napoleon as a young man — Life in Paris i6

Chap. III. — Death of Napoleon's father .in the Permon house . . 22 Chap. IV. — Sub-Lieutenant Bonaparte, his first appearance in uniform — Scene at Malmaison 28

Chap. V. — Popular ferment — Louis XVI. — Firing on the crowd . 34 Chap. VI. — Opening of the States-General — Mirabeau, his manner,

genius, and character 39

Chap. VII. — Revolutionary scenes — Louis XVI. at the Hotel de

Ville 48

Chap. VIII. — Murder of the Princess de Lamballe, the King, and

Madame Elizabeth 53

Chap. IX. — Arrest of General Bonaparte — His speech at Ajaccio —

Lieutenant Junot offers to come to his rescue 57

Chap. X. — Madame Pennon's return to Paris — Visit from General

Bonaparte — Reception at Madame Permon's . . ... 64 Chap. XI. — Destitute circumstances of General Bonaparte — His friend Lieutenant Junot — Junot's proposal for the hand of Pauline Bonaparte ... 70

Chap. XII. — The Convention — Salicetti in hiding — Inconvenient

visit of General Bonaparte 77

Chap. XIII. — Suicide of Romme, Goujon, and Duquesnoi ... 87 Chap. XIV. — A new " valet " — The escape of Salicetti — Penetration of Napoleon — Journey to the South of France 91

Chap. XV. — Suspicions of M. Permon — Bonaparte incorruptible . 97 Chap. XVI. — Atrocities in the South — General Bonaparte's kindness — The barricades — Death of M. Permon 103

Chap. XVII. — The Veuve Permon returns to Paris — General Bonaparte of great assistance — Furnishing a new house ^ . . .114 Chap. XVIII. — Proposals of marriage — General Bonaparte asks also for the hand of the Veuve Permon, and is refused — Dimo Stephanopoli's commission — Quarrel with General Bonaparte . 121 Chap. XIX. — M. de Geouffre— His marriage with Cecile Pennon

— Her early death — The Comte de Perigord — The younger Permon receives an appointment 129

Chap. XX. — Sketches of Parisian society — Madame de D

— Madame Tallien — Madame Bonaparte 141

(xiii)

xiv MEMOIRS OF MADAME JUNOT

PAGE

Chap. XXI. — Triumphs of the Army of Italy — Lucien and Christine Bonaparte — Albert Permon's escapade — Reception of Bonaparte in Paris 146

Chap. XXII. — A false alarm of Madame Permon's death, and its consequences .... ... 156

Chap. XXIII. — Joseph Bonaparte and his wife — Caroline Bonaparte ... 160

Chap. XXIV. — Madame Bonaparte's indiscretions — M. de Caulaincourt — Napoleon's conversation with Albert Permon . . . 167

Chap. XXV. — Colonel Junot — Junot at the Siege of Toulon — His attachment to Napoleon — Death of Muiron — Junot's gallantry to Madame de Brionne — " La Tempgte " 174

Chap. XXVI. — Junot appointed General — His services in Egypt — Duel with General Lanusse — Junot's ship taken by the English

— Admiral Nelson — Sir Sidney Smith's chivalry — He challenges Napoleon to a duel 189

Chap. XXVII. — Madame Bonaparte-Leclerc — Rudeness of Madame

de Contades — Madame Marmont 198

Chap. XXVIII. — General Hoche — Madame Tallien (Cabarrus) — La Citoyenne Bonaparte — Junot's flirtation with a pretty y<?;«- ■me de chambre 205

Chap. XXIX. — Generals Championnet and Joubert — General Suchet — General Bonaparte at z'/»_f^-?/-«« 211

Chap. XXX. — Madame Laetitia — Sudden return of Napoleon from Egypt — Family scandals 215

Chap. XXXI. — General Moreau — The crisis — Dangerous position of Bonaparte — Gohier and Moreau 220

Chap. XXXII. — Revolution of the 8th of November — The Council of Five Hundred — Lucien Bonaparte — The murder at the Chateau de Vitry 230

Chap. XXXIII. — General Massena at Genoa — The Battle of Marengo — General Kellennann — Death of Desaix 239

Chap. XXXIV. — Death of Madame Lucien Bonaparte — Grief of Lucien 246

Chap. XXXV. — Intended betrothal of Laura Permon — Return of , General Junot — His appointment as Governor of Paris — Othello — Madame Fourfes — 7"^°*'^ search for a wife — Madame Permon mistaken for the widow of Marshal Turenne . 349

Chap. XXXVI. — General Junot proposes for Laura Permon's hand

— His impatience — Conversation between Junot and the First Consul 258

Chap. XXXVII. — General Murat's marriage — His person and dress 267

Chap. XXXVIII. — General Junot's family — Conversation of the First Consul with Corvisart 273

Chap. XXXIX. — Anecdote of Fouch6 — Amusing predicament of General Berthier 378

Chap. XL. — Madame Permon goes to the opera and sees the First Consul arrive, after the attempt made to assassinate him — The conspiracy of Ceracchi and Ardna 386

CONTENTS XV

PAGE

Chap. XLI. — Illness of Madame Permon — Burglars in the house — The recital of the event to the Emperor in i8o6 301

Chap. XLII. — Lucien Bonaparte's views — Laura Permon's marriage contract — Albert Permon made Commissary General of Police — A civil marriage only intended, and objected to — Wedding presents 308

Chap. XLIII. — The civil marriage of General Junot and Mademoiselle Permon — The Abb6 Lusthier — The midnight marriage at the church of the Capuchins 320

Chap. XLIV. — General Junot's comrades-in-arms — Lannes — Duroc — Bessieres — Rapp — Berthier — Eugene Beauhamais — M. de Lavalette — Madame Bacciochi (Bonaparte) 326

Chap. XLV. — M. de Caulaincourt and Generals Rapp and Lannes — Tragi-comic scene 332

Chap. XLVI. — Presented at Court — The First Consul — Mademoiselle de Beauhamais 336

Chap. XLVII. — The wedding ball — Napoleon accepts an invitation

— The ball deferred 341

Chap. XLVIII. — The ball — The famous dancers — Conversation

with Napoleon 347

Chap. XLIX. — Lucien Bonaparte — Embarrassment of the First Consul 357

Chap. L. — Madame Bonaparte's apartments — The new Court — The Diplomatic Corps .... 362

Chap. LI. — Revival of public prosperity — A satirical picture — Popularity of Napoleon 371

Chap. LIL — Napoleon's liaison with Pauline Foures — Gallantry of Kleber 375

Chap. LIII. — Junot's work in Paris — Chevalier's conspiracy — The Chouans 382

Chap. LIV. — Napoleon at the opera — The infernal machine — General alarm 386

Chap. LV. — The First Consul condemns the emigrants — Madame Murat 396

Chap. LVI. — Breakfast with Madame Bonaparte — Visit to the lions 402

Chap. LVII. — Madame Junot's receptions — Cambac6res — Bon-mot of Bonaparte — General Mortier 407

Chap. LVIII. — A petitioner is rewarded by Napoleon — The Governor of the Bastile and the pension — General Charbonnier. 419

Chap. LIX. — M. Charles — His friendship for the Empress Josephine — A divorce 431

Chap. LX. — Kl^ber's tribute to Napoleon — Affairs in Egjypt — Dislike of Tallien 436

Chap. LXI. — Lucien's embassy to Madrid — Reduction of Egypt

— The Queen's sister 440

Chap. LXII. — Malmaison — Insincerity of the Empress Josephine. 446 Chap. LXIII. — Theatricals at Malmaison — A curious scene — A

night alarm 450

PREFATORY REMARKS

THE DUCHESSE D'ABRANTES.

As THE "Commentaries" of Caesar, the military "Memoirs'* of Marshal Villars, the « Reveries " of Marshal Saxe, etc., relate solely to militar}' affairs, — sieges, battles, etc., — so, I think, should contemporary memoirs render a faithful account of those incidents which are passing immediately around the author at the period of which he is treating, for the benefit of those who come after him. Every object should take its proper form and coloring, and that coloring should arouse in the mind of the reader a vivid impression of the event and its attendant circumstances; not the ball only should be described, but the ball-dress.

To be exact in such matters is a duty, for if the author be not expected to paint like Tacitus the vices of governments, corrupt, despotic, or declining, his pencil should trace the general outline of all that he has seen. In this picture the daily scenes of the drawing-room should especially have their place; to speak of them is to portray them. To dress the personages in the coat or the gown they wore on the occasion under review, if one be fortunate enough to remember it, is to lay on those fresh and lively colors which give to the whole the charm of reality.

This appears to me to be the grand attraction of the Memoirs of Madame de Motteville, of Mademoiselle ! They are almost always badly written, frequently guilty of the grossest faults of style, yet what truth in their descriptions ! We become acquainted with the individuals we read of; and when Madame de Motteville speaks of the cambric sheets of Queen Anne, and the violet robe embroidered with pearls which she wore on the day I (I)

2 PREFATORY REMARKS

when she sat in Council for the registering the edicts of toleration; and when Mademoiselle describes the form of her own shoes on the day when, according to the expression of M. de Luxembourg, she established the fortune of a cadet of good family, I imagine myself in the Parliament of 1649 with the Queen, M. de Beaufort, M. the Coadjutor, and all the great men of the Fronde, or I fancy myself in the orangery of Versailles with Mademoiselle, in her white satin robe trimmed with carnation ribands and tassels of rubies.

The writer of memoirs must give life to the scenes he represents, and that excess of detail which would destroy any other work can alone produce the desired effect in this. Therefore it is that I have given a catalogue of my corbeille and trousseau. We should rejoice in these days to find in Philip de Comines a description of a corbeille of the time of Louis XI. or Philip the Good; happily, he gives us better things.

THE

TO T H E

ORIGINAL EDITION.

EVERYBODY nowadays publishes Memoirs; everyone has recollections vv^hich they think worthy of recording. Following the example of many others, I might long ago have taken a retrospective view of the past; I might have revealed a number of curious and unknown facts respecting a period which has riveted the interest of the world; but the truth is, I was not, until recently, infected with the mania which is so universal of memoir writing, yet I felt a certain degree of vexation whenever I observed an announcement of new memoirs.

I commenced my life at a period fertile in remarkable events, and I lived in habits of daily intimacy with the actors of the great political drama which has engrossed the attention of Europe for thirty-five years.

I have witnessed, or have taken part in, many of the exciting scenes which occurred during an epoch of wonder and horror; and though I was at the time very young, every incident remains indelibly engraven on my memory. The importance of events on which the fate of a great nation depended could not fail to influence the bent of my mind. This influence, I imagine, must have been felt by all women who have been my contemporaries. With regard to myself, at least, I can confidently affirm that I retain no recollection of the joys of early childhood — of the light-heartedness which at that period of life annihilates sorrow, and leaves behind an imperishable impression.

No sooner did my understanding begin to develop itself than I was required to employ it in guarding all my

4 AQTHOR'S INTRODUCTION

words and gestures; for at the period to which I allude, the veriest trifle might become the subject of serious investigation. Even the sports and games of childhood were rigorously watched, and I shall never forget that a domiciliary visit was made to our house at Toulouse, and my father was on the point of being arrested because, while playing at the game called La Tour, prends garde! I said to a little boy of five years old, " You shall be Monsieur le Dauphin." Continual danger imposed on every individual the obligation of not only guarding his own conduct, but observing that of others. Nothing, however trifling, was a matter of indifference to the heads of families and those who surrounded them ; and the child of ten years old became an observer.

It was in the midst of these anxieties that my lirst years were passed: later on our lives resumed their normal course, and a mother of a family ceased to tremble for the fate of a father and a husband. At the period to which I refer, the misfortunes of France were at their height. The impressions which I then imbibed are perhaps the strongest I ever experienced.

The private interests of my family became linked with public events. Between my mother and the Bonaparte family the closest friendship subsisted. He who afterward became the master of the world lived long on a footing of intimacy with us. He used to frequent my father's house when I was yet a child, and he scarcely a young man. I may almost say that I have witnessed every scene of his life ; for being married to one of those men who were devotedly attached to him, and constantly with him, what I did not myself see I was accurately informed of. I may, therefore, fearlessly affirm that of all the individuals who have written about Napoleon, few are so competent as myself to give a detailed account of him. My mother, who was the friend of Lsetitia Bonaparte, knew him from his earliest youth. She rocked him in his cradle, and, when he quitted Brienne and came to Paris, she guided and protected his younger days.

Not only Napoleon, but his brothers and sisters formed part of our family. I shall presently speak of the friendship which arose between myself and Napoleon's sisters, a friendship which one of them has entirely forgotten.

When my mother qviitted Corsica to follow my father to France, the friendly relations which subsisted between her and the Bonaparte family suffered no change by absence or distance. The conduct of my parents toward Bonaparte, the father, when he came to Montpellier with his son and his brother-in-law, to die far from his country and all that was dear to him, shovild never be forgotten by either of the two families. It should be remembered by the one with gratitude, and by the other with that feeling of satisfaction which the performance of a good action creates.

The other members of the Bonaparte family were also favorites of my mother. Lucien found in her more than a common friend. When he formed that strange union with Mademoiselle Boyer my mother received his wife as her own daughter. Of our intimacy with Madame Joseph Bonaparte and Madame Leclerc the details of which I shall enter into in the course of these volumes will afford an accurate idea. My husband's connection with Bonaparte commenced with the siege of Toulon, and from that time they continued united until Junot's death. Thus, I may say that, without having been always near Bonaparte, I possessed the most authentic means of being accurately informed of every action, private or public.

It will be understood by what I have here stated that while I profess to be the only person who perfectly well knew every particularity of Napoleon, it is not mere presumption that prompts me to say so ; the details which will be found in the following pages I derive from other sources than those which usually feed biographical sketches.

In preparing these Memoirs how many past recollections have revived! How many dormant griefs have awakened! In spite of the general fidelity of my memory, I occasionally met with dates and facts the remembrance of which, though not effaced, had faded by the course of time. They were speedily restored ; but I must confess that my task has been a laborious and painful one; and nothing could have urged me forward to its execution but the conviction that it must be done. It may, perhaps, be alleged that I could have answered in a pamphlet of fifty pages all that has been said in the attacks directed from hostile quarters against my husband and mvself. I at first thought of doing so, but I found this impracticable. In taking up the pen my object was to make a complete, not a summary, refutation of the untruths that have been advanced. This could not be done in a few lines. It is not my intention to criminate anyone ; I shall merely state facts, and all shall be supported by written evidence.

The autograph documents which I have deposited in the hands of my publisher will be open to those who may wish to examine them.

Among the attacks aimed at the Due d'Abrant^s, there is one of a very absurd nature. The assailant's memory betrayed him, and by a fortunate chance a letter in his own handwriting falsifies what he has said in his book: there is, perhaps, nothing more venomous than the sting of ridicule.

With regard to what concerns me and my family in the " Memorial de Saint e Hdline, " I conceive myself in duty bound to reply to it. I have always viewed as the height of absurdity that pride which is founded on an origin more or less illustrious. But if that pride be ridiculous, the usurpation of a great name, a false pretension to noble descent, is the extreme of baseness. Such being my opinion, it will readily be conceived that I am not inclined to pass over in silence that chapter in the " Memorial de Sainte Hdine " which treats of the family of my mother. My grandfather and my uncles, far from setting up false claims to family greatness, wished, on the contrary, to extinguish a noble name, which, when stripped of the splendor with which it ought to be surrounded, becomes to its possessors a source of annoyance and humiliation. Such was the intention of my grandfather, the last privileged chief of the Greek colony in Italy, a shadow of sovereignty and a toy with which he wished to have no more concern.

He had but one daughter, my mother, and he made her promise never to reassume her family name, a vow which I am sure my mother would have religiously kept to this day had she lived. My grandfather died a young man. He was captain of cavalry in the French service (in the regiment de Vallifere), a noble Corsican and not a FARMER, as the "■ Memorial de Sainte H^lhie " asserts. As to obtaining an acknowledgment of the dignity of the Comnena family, he entertained no such idea. My grandfather died in 1768, and the family was acknowledged in 1782; the letters patent are dated 1783 and 1784.

I consider the publication of these Memoirs to be a duty to my family, and, above all, to the memory of my husband. Often during political storms a veil is thrown over some part of an illustrious life: the arm of Junot, which for twenty-two years defended his country, is nov/ in the grave, and cannot now remove the veil with which jealousy and envy would envelop his fame. It remains, therefore, for me, the mother of his children, to fulfill that sacred duty, and to furnish the materials which can permit him to be fairly judged.

Laure Junot.

CHAPTER I.

Place and Date of My Birth — Calomeros and Bonaparte — My Father's Departure for America — Intimacy between My Mother and Madame Lsetitia — Bonaparte's Boyhood — The Basket of Grapes and the Flogging — Saveria and the Bonaparte Family — My Father's Return — My Birth and My Mother's Illness.

I WAS born at Montpellier on the 6th of November, 1784. My family was then temporarily established at Languedoc, to enable my father the more easily to exercise the duties of an official appointment which he had obtained on his return from America. My mother, like myself, was born beneath the tent which her parents had pitched in a foreign land. From the shores of the Bosphorus her family had emigrated to the solitudes of the Taygetes, which they quitted to inhabit the mountains of Corsica.

When Constantine Comnenus landed in Corsica in 1676 at the head of the Greek colony, he had with him several sons, one of whom was named Calomeros. This son he sent to Florence, on a mission to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Constantine dying before the return of his son, the Grand Duke prevailed on the young Greek to renounce Corsica and fix his abode in Tuscany. After some interval of time, an individual named Calomeros came from Italy — indeed, from Tuscany, and fixed his abode in Corsica, where his descendants formed the family of Buonaparte ; for the name Calomeros, literally Italianized, signified buona parte or bella parte* The only question is, whether the Calomeros who left Corsica, and the Calomeros who came there, have a direct filiation.

•Napoleon omitted the u in Buonaparte while General-in-Chief in May, 1796.

lo MEMOIRS OF MADAME JUNOT

Two facts, however, are certain, namely, the departure of the one, and the arrival of the other.

It is a singular circumstance that the Comneni, in speaking of the Bonaparte family, always designate them by the names Calomeros, Calomeri, or Calomeriani, according as they allude to one individual or several collectively. Both families were united by the most intimate friendship.

When the Greeks were obliged to abandon Paomia to escape the persecutions of the insurgent Corsicans, they established themselves temporarily in towns which remained faithful to the republic of Genoa. When, at a subsequent period, Cargesa was granted to the Greeks for the purpose of forming a new establishment, a few Greek families continued to reside at Ajaccio. Among these was the family of the privileged chief; and my mother lived alternately at Ajaccio and Cargesa.

At this time she contracted a friendship with Laetitia Ramolini, the mother of Napoleon. They were about the same age, and both extremely beautiful. Their beauty, however, was of so different a character, that no feeling of jealousy could arise between them. Madame Laetitia Bonaparte was graceful and pretty; but without any filial vanity I may truly say that I never in all my life saw so fine a woman as my mother. At fourteen she was the gayest and most sprightly young girl in the whole colony, and it might be said in the whole island, but for Laetitia Ramolini.

Laetitia was indeed a handsome woman. Those who knew her in advanced life thought her countenance somewhat harsh; but that expression, instead of being caused by any austerity of disposition, seemed on the contrary to have been produced by timidity. She was a woman who evinced very superior qualities in all the circumstances in which she was placed, in bad as well as good fortune. Her son rendered her justice, though somewhat tardily. He himself helped to keep up an erroneous opinion respecting her; and though he corrected it, yet the impression was given and received

Previously to entering into negotiation with the Republic of Genoa, France supplied troops for the purpose of reducing the Corsicans to obedience. Among the French who were connected with the army there was a

DUCHESS OF ABRANTES ii

young man of twenty, possessing an agreeable person. He fenced like the celebrated Saint George, was a delightful performer on the violin, and though distinguished by the elegant manners of a man of rank, he was nevertheless only a commoner.

He had said, "I will risk my fortune, and will advance myself in the world " ; and he had said it with that sort of determination which nothing can resist, because it overcomes everything. On his arrival in Corsica he had already an honorable fortune to offer to the lady whom he might wish to make his wife. He fixed his choice on the pearl of the island. He sought and obtained the hand of my mother. This gentleman was M. de Permon, my father.

My parents left Corsica and came to France, where my father's affairs demanded his presence. Some years after he obtained an important appointment in America, whither he proceeded, taking with him my brother, then only eight years of age. My mother, with the rest of her young family, repaired to Corsica, to reside with my grandmother, until my father's return. This was before my birth. It was on my mother's return to Corsica that she first saw Napoleon. He was then a child, and she has often carried him in her arms. He was the playmate of an elder sister of mine, who died a melancholy death. Napoleon recollected her perfectly, and used to speak of her after he came to Paris.

He was fond of conversing about Corsica, and often, after having dined at our family table, he would sit before the fireplace, his arms crossed before him, and would say : * Come, Signora Panoria, let us talk about Corsica and Signora Laetitia." This was the name he always gave his mother when he was speaking of her to persons with whom he was intimate. " How is Signora Lsetitia ? » he used to say to me — or, when addressing her, he would say: "Well, Signora Laetitia, how do you like the Court? You do not like it, I see. That is because you do not receive company enough. I have given you a handsome palace, a fine estate, and a million a year, and yet you live like a citizen's wife of the Rue Saint Denis. Come, come, you must see more company; but company of another kind from the C s and

My mother and my uncles have a thousand times assured me that Napoleon in his boyhood had none of that singularity of character which has often been attributed to him. He had good health, and was in other respects like other boys.

Madame Bonaparte had brought with her to France a nurse named Saveria. It was curious to hear this woman speak of the family she had brought up, each member of which was seated on a throne. She related a number of curious anecdotes respecting them, and I used to be very fond of conversing with her. I observed that she was less attached to some members of the family than to others, and I asked her the reason of this. As I know not whether she may yet be living, I will say nothing to compromise her with persons to whom her preference might be offensive. All I shall say is, that she adored the Emperor and Lucien.

She one day described to me several little scenes connected with the boyhood of Napoleon, who remained in Corsica until he was nine years of age; and she confirmed to me one fact, which I had frequently heard from his mother, viz, that when he was reprimanded for any fault he seldom cried. In Corsica, the practice of beating children is common in all classes of society. When Napoleon happened to be beaten, he would sometimes shed a few tears, but they were soon over; and he would never utter a word in the way of begging pardon. On this subject, I will relate an anecdote which I heard from himself. He told it me to give me an example of moderation.

He was one day accused by one of his sisters of having eaten a basketful of grapes, figs, and citrons, which had come from the garden of his uncle the Canon. None but those who are acquainted with the Bonaparte family can form any idea of the enormity of this offense. To eat fruit belonging to the uncle the Canon was infinitely more criminal than to eat grapes and figs which might be claimed by anybody else.

An inquiry took place. Napoleon denied the fact, and was whipped. He was told that if he would beg pardon he should be forgiven. He protested that he was innocent, but he was not believed. If I recollect rightly, his mother was at the time on a visit to M. de Marbeuf, or some other friend. The result of Napoleon's obstinacy was that he was kept three whole days upon bread and cheese, and that cheese was not broccio* However, he would not cry; he was dull, but not sulky.

At length on the fourth day of his punishment, a little friend of Marianne Bonaparte returned from the country, and on hearing of Napoleon's disgrace she confessed that she and Marianne had eaten the fruit. It was now Marianne's turn to be punished. When Napoleon was asked why he had not accused his sister, he replied that though he suspected that she was guilty, yet out of consideration to her little friend, who had no share in the falsehood, he had said nothing. He was then only seven years of age.

This fact, which would have been nothing extraordinary in any other child, appeared to me worthy of a place among recollections which are connected with the whole life of Napoleon. It is somewhat characteristic of the MAN. I ought to add that the affair was never forgotten by Napoleon. Of this I observed a proof in 1801, at a fSte given by Madame Bacciochi (formerly Marianne Bonaparte) at Neuilly, where she resided with Lucien.

The nurse Saveria told me that Napoleon was never a pretty boy, as Joseph had been ; his head always appeared too large for his body, a defect common to the Bonaparte family. When Napoleon grew up, the peculiar charm of his countenance lay in his eyes, especially in the mild expression they assumed in his moments of kindness. His anger, to be sure, was frightful, and though I am no coward, I never could look at him in his fits of rage without shuddering. Though his smile was captivating, yet the expression of his mouth when disdainful or angry could scarcely be seen without terror.