Napoleon the Third; the romance of an emperor

Foreword

NEARLY fifty years have elapsed since the death of Napoleon the Third at Chislehurst in January 1873, and it seems as though the time had now arrived for an unprejudiced story of his career. After the catastrophe of Sedan, there was a violent reaction in France from the Napoleonic idolatry of the Second Empire. Condemnation ran to as great an extreme as worship had gone before. The Napoleonic legend was torn to tatters, and the central figure of its revival was held responsible for all the misfortunes of "Tannee terrible." From an over-rated hero. Napoleon the Third was transformed into an equally impossible demon. Time has now checked the reaction, and softened the rage of the iconoclasts. The wrong of the Peace of Frankfort has been undone, and the glorious tricolor of the Empire and the Republic once more floats over the "lost provinces" of Alsace and Lorraine.

While Napoleon the Third possessed but little of the administrative ability, and none of the military genius, of the Great Emperor, he certainly was far from deserving the title of "Napoleon the Little" bestowed upon him by Victor Hugo. Compared with the leaders of public opinion in other countries during his time, with Cavour in Italy, with Disraeli and Gladstone in England, even with Bismarck in Prussia, he cannot be considered inferior. Time has shown the "Iron

FOREWORD

Chancellor '* of Germany in his true proportions. The German propaganda is better understood now than it was a few years ago. In his memoirs Bismarck has related cynically, and even vauntingly, the story of the falsified Ems dispatch, which precipitated the Franco- Prussian war, the whole blame for which at the time, and for years afterwards, was laid at the door of France.

In the days of disaster which followed, with equal injustice, all the misfortunes of France were attributed to the Imperial regime. The Nation, which had refused to provide for adequate military preparedness, threw the whole blame upon the Emperor. If the French eagles had been borne in triumph to Berlin, as after Jena in 1806, Napoleon the Third would have been acclaimed by all the world as the worthy successor of Napoleon the Great. Because, prematurely old, and already suffering from a mortal malady, he failed, the world united to decry and belittle him.

But, whatever the final verdict of History may be, upon these controverted points, there can be no doubt as to the fact that Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the dominating personalities of the great Nineteenth Century, and one of the most interesting characters in history. The story of his life reads like the pages of a great historical novel, and may well be called The Romance of an Emperor.

Walter Geer

New York, August, 1920

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Chapter One 1804-1808

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Louis Bonaparte — Hoftense de Beauharnals — The Empress Josephine — Marriage of Louis and Hortense — Birth of Napoleon Charles — The Problem of Succession — Birth of Napoleon Louis — The King and Queen of Holland — Death of Napoleon Charles — The Baths of Cauterets — The Verhuell Calumny 3

Chapter Two 1808-1815

Birth of Louis Napoleon — Holland Annexed to the Empire — Separation of Louis and Hortense — Flahaut and Morny — The Hundred Days — Departure of Napoleon — Josephine's Estate — Malmaison and Saint-Leu. — Hortense in Exile 16

Chapter Three 1815-1831

Exile at Constance — The Chateau of Arenenberg — Character of Hortense — Education of a Prince — At Augsburg and Thun — Death of Eugene — The July Revolu-

PAGE tion — The Italian Insurrection — Death of Napoleon Louis — Flight from Ancona to Paris — Louis Philippe — First Visit to England — Return to Arenenberg 28

Chapter Four 1831-1836

Life at Arenenberg — Death of the Duke of Reichstadt — Louis Napoleon Head of His Party — Captain Bonaparte at Thun — Political Activity — Visitors at the Chateau — Interview with La Fayette 48

Chapter Five 1836-1837

Revival of the Napoleonic Legend — The July Monarchy

— Persigny at Arenenberg — Preparations at Baden

— Eleonore Brault — Precedent of the Return from Elba — The Meeting at Strasbourg — The Thirtieth October — End of the Great Adventure — Hortense Rushes to Paris — Clemency of the King — Banishment to America — Days in New York — Return to Arenenberg — Death of Hortense 59

Chapter Six 1837-1840

Last Days at Arenenberg — Maxims and Will of Hortense

— Departure from Switzerland — Residence in London

— Preparations for Boulogne — The Napoleonic Propa-

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PAGE ganda — Departure of the Expedition — Landing in France — The Second Fiasco — Arrest, of the Conspirators — Trial by the Chamber of Peers — Sentenced to Perpetual Imprisonment — The Remains of Napoleon Brought Home from Saint Helena 78

Chapter Seven 1840-1846

The Chateau of Ham — Life in Prison — Literary Pastimes — A Prison Romance — The Crazy Duke of Brunswick — The Escape from Ham — Second Residence in London — The Affair with Miss Howard — The Princesse Marie de Bade — Death of King Louis. 95

Chapter Eight 1846-1848

Awaiting the Call of Destiny — Government of Louis Philippe — The Mehemet Ali AiFair — Ministry of Guizot — The February Revolution — Flight of the King — The Provisional Government — The June Riots — Louis Napoleon at Paris — Elected to the Assembly — A Crucial Moment — The New Constitution — Candidate for the Presidency — Triumphant Election — Inaugurated as President of the Republic . . 113

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Chapter Nine 1848-1852

PAGE

The Elysee Palace — The Prince Plans a Coup d'Etat — Strength of the Monarchial Party — The June Insurrection — Franchise Law of 1850 — The President and the Assembly — Removal of General Cfiangarnier — The Coup d'Etat — The Second of December — The Two Following Days — Verdict of the Nation — The New Constitution — Old Debts Paid — Last Year of the Republic — The Plebescite — The Empire Proclaimed 126

Chapter Ten

First Year of the Empire — Napoleon the Third and the Great Powers — Lord Cowley's Anecdote — Final Recognition of His Title — The Question of the Succession — Matrimonial Ventures of Louis Napoleon — Eugenie de Montijo — The Imperial Marriage — The Bonapartes Return — Splendor of the Court — Character of Napoleon — The Napoleonic Ideas — Political Institutions of the Empire — The Emperor's Policy ... 146

Chapter Eleven 1854-1855

Prosperity of the Empire — Obligations of a Warlike Heritage — The Famous Speech at Bordeaux — Causes of the Russian War — The Sick Man of Europe — The

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Holy Places — Russia Invades the Danubean Principalities — The Anglo-French Alliance — First Year of the War — Battles in the Crimea — Siege and Fall of Sebastopol — Treaty of Paris — Results of the War — Visit to England — Birth of the Prince Imperial — Royal Visitors to Paris — The Exhibition of 1855 — Visit of Queen Victoria 158

Chapter Twelve

Count Cavour — Piedmont in the Crimean War — The Congress of Paris — The Comtesse de Castiglione — The Orsini Conspiracy — The Pact of Plombieres — The Austrian Ultimatum — The Campaign in Lombardy — Victories of Magenta and Solferino — The Peace of Villafranca — Explanation of Napoleon's Action — Resignation of Cavour — Savoy and Nice Annexed to France 175

Chapter Thirteen

New Year's Day at Rome — Resignation of Walewski — • The Speech from the Throne — Monsieur Thouvenel

— The Italian Question — Nice and Savoy — The Great Powers — Treaty of Turin — Napoleon and Pius Ninth — General Lamoriciere — The Pontifical Army — Journey of the French Sovereigns — The Piedmontese Invasion — Castelfidardo and Ancona — Kingdom of Naples — Diplomatic Protests

— The Interview of Warsaw — Victor Emmanuel at Naples — End of the Year i860 189

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Chapter Fourteen 1855-1867

PAGE Two Great Military Reviews — Death of the Grand Duchess Stephanie — The Baden Interview — The Visit to Corsica — The Reconstruction of Paris — Home Life in the Tuileries — The Exhibition of 1867 . . 206

Chapter Fifteen 1860-1870

Effect of the Italian War — Damage to the Emperor's Prestige — The English Treaty of Commerce — Opposition of the Protectionists — Religious Agitation

— Foundation of the Liberal Empire — Change in the French Navigation Laws — Further Concessions to the Liberals — Growing Strength of the Opposition — Death of Morny — Rise of the Third Party — ^Wavering Policy of the Emperor — Final Adoption of the Liberal Plan — The Ollivier Ministry — The Nation Approves the Liberal Reforms — Satisfaction of the Emperor 222

CHAPTER SIXTEEN The Syrian Massacres — Napoleon's Letter to Palmerston

— Limited Results of the Expedition — The Chinese War — The French and English Forces — Battle of Palikao — Destruction of the Summer Palace — Treaty of Pekin — The Mexican War — Ulterior Plans of

PAGE Napoleon — The Mexican Empire — Maximilian and Carlotta — Withdrawal of the French Army — Execution of Maximilian — Blow to Napoleon's Prestige — Plans for German Unity — Rise of Bismarck — The Schleswig-Holstein Question — The Biarritz Conference — The Italian Alliance — The Seven Weeks* War — Victory of Sadowa — North German Confederation 234

Chapter Seventeen 1860-1870

Incapacity of the Government in External Affairs — The Peace of Villafranca — The Mexican War — The Rise of Prussia — Alienation of the Church of Rome — Meddling of the Empress — The Affair of Schleswig- Holstein — The Seven Weeks' War — Army Reorganization — Napoleon's Lassitude — His Poor Health — Reasons for the Constitutional Changes — The Popular Approval — Negative Votes of the Army — The HohenzoUern Candidature — The Famous Ems Dispatch — Bismarck's Duplicity — France Declares War 250

Chapter Eighteen

Effect of the Ems Dispatch — Declaration of War — Enthusiasm of the Parisians — Isolation of France — Disorganization of the Army — Perfect Preparation of Prussia — Advance of the Three German Armies — MacMahon Defeated at Worth — Despair of the Emperor — Bazaine in Command — Attempt to C xiii 3

PAGE

Retreat on Verdun Checked at Borny — Night Visit to Napoleon — The Emperor Goes to Gravelotte — Final Interview with Bazaine — Battles of Vionville and Gravelotte — Siege of Metz Begun — Napoleon at Chalons — A Council of War — Veto of the Empress — MacMahon Decides to March on Metz — Further Indecision — The March Resumed — Position of the Germans — They Follow the French Army — Further Defeats of the French — Retreat to Sedan — The French Position — MacMahon Wounded — Wimpffen in Command — Misery of the Emperor — Desperate Position of the Army — The White Flag Hoisted — Napoleon's Letter — 27a

Chapter Nineteen 1871-1873

The Surrender at Sedan — The Emperor's Last Meeting with Bismarck — His Interviev/ with King William — Prisoner in Germany — The Chateau of Wilhelmshohe — Visit of the Empress — End of the War — Final Exile in England — Life at Camden Place — Failing Health of the Emperor — Operation of the Second January — Death on the Ninth — Funeral at Chislehurst 287

Chapter Twenty 1856-1879

His First Public Appearance — The Baptism of Fire — His Wanderings During the War — Chislehurst and Woolwich — Service in South Africa — Killed by the Zulus Cxiv]

PAGE

— Prince Victor Head of the Family — His Marriage with Clementine — Birth of Louis Napoleon — The American Bonapartes — The Empress at Farnborough Hill — Her Visits to Paris and Cap Martin — Her Death — The Fate of the Tuileries 298

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 1808-1873 CHARACTER OF NAPOLEON THE THIRD His Mission — His Heredity — His Youth and Education

— His Mother's Influence — His Personal Attraction

— His Excellence in Sports — His Powers as a Linguist

— His Efforts to Improve France — His Personality

— His Entourage — His Dignity — His Affability — His Tenacity — His Lack of Decision — His Love of Startling Effects — His Impassibility — His Personal Appearance — His Place in History 3 13

THE BONAPARTES

GENEALOGICAL TABLE 327

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 328

CHRONOLOGY 332

BIBLIOGRAPHY 334

INDEX • • 337

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ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Napoleon the Third Frontispiece y

Napoleon 20^

Josephine 24*^

Louis, King of Holland 3^*^

Queen Hortense 48

Le Chateau of Ham 96^

President Louis Napoleon 112^

Eugenie I44^

La Princesse Mathilde 160*'^

La Comtesse de Castiglione , 176

Le Comte Walewski 192

Le Due de Morny 208^

The Tuileries 288^^

Le Prince Imperial 304*^

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NAPOLEON THE THIRD THE ROMANCE OF AN EMPEROR

NAPOLEON THE THIRD THE ROMANCE OF AN EMPEROR

Chapter One 1804-1808

Louis Bonaparte — Hortense de Beauharnais — The Empress Josephine — Marriage of Louis and Hortense — Birth of Napoleon Charles — The Problem of Succession — Birth of Napoleon Louis — The King and Queen of Holland — Death of Napoleon Charles — The Baths of Cauterets — The Verhuell Calumny

IN all history there are few personaHties more interesting than that of Napoleon the Third. The story of his life reads Hke a romance. His adventures unroll before the eyes with all the attraction of a moving picture, with all the enthralling Interest of a melodrama. The student of his career finds It difficult to avoid the Impression that he Is In the presence of a hero of fiction or of the drama, beside whom all other characters of romance seem Insignificant.

At the time of his birth, his father Louis Bonaparte was King of Holland. His mother was the fascinating Hortense, daughter of the Empress Josephine by her first marriage with the VIcomte de Beauharnais, who was guillotined during the French Revolution. He was therefore at the same time the nephew and the grandson by marriage of the Great Emperor.

Louis Bonaparte was the favorite brother of Napoleon, who carefully supervised his education and treated him almost like an adopted son. In 1795 he procured for him admission to the mihtary school at Chalons. At that time he wrote of him as follows:

"Je suis tres content de Louis, il repond a mes esperances et a I'attente que j'avais congue de lui; c'est un bon sujet; mais aussi c*est de ma fa^on: chaleur, esprit, sante, talent, commerce exact, bonte, il reunit tout."

In this letter we find a tenderness, almost a paternal blindness, which one would hardly look for in Napoleon.

During the first Italian campaign Louis acted as aide de camp of Napoleon. He was his messmate, his private secretary, his man of confidence. During this period he gave proofs of a strong constitution, was always gay, and showed himself to be an amiable companion and a bon vivant. Later he had an attack of rheumatic gout which in a short time seemed to change both his physical temperament and his moral character. For the rest of his life he was sickly, morose, melancholic, constantly occupied with his health, and persuaded that he was doomed.

At the time no one suspected this transformation in his character. Napoleon least of all.

After the return from Egypt, where Louis again acted as aide de camp of his brother, this young man, without merit, without experience, without military taste, without glorious achievement, was rapidly advanced by Napoleon to the grade of general of brigade. After this appointment in January 1800, when he was only twenty-two years of age, Louis resided at Paris, where he occupied himself with nearly everything except his military duties.

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After Marengo, the First Consul began seriously to consider the question of his heir. It was then that Josephine conceived the idea of a marriage between her daughter Hortense and Louis.

At that time Hortense was only seventeen years of age, or five years younger than her future husband. She was not at all pretty, but was singularly attractive from the beauty of her form and the grace of her movements. Except for her blond hair she would have been considered rather plain. Her nose was large and her mouth homely, with bad teeth even in her youth. Her eyes, of a blue violet color, at times gave an expression of exquisite tenderness and vivacity to her face. The tout ensemble was one which attracted and fascinated everybody. She had been educated at the famous school of Madame Campan and possessed all the accomplishments of a young lady of good family. She danced well, she embroidered, she sang, she played the harp and the piano, she excelled in all the little tasks of the salon, she was quite literary in her tastes. In character she was sweet, loving, vivacious, and very amiable if not crossed, when she became very obstinate. She was a fine horsewoman, and took a prominent part in the sports and pastimes of the chateau life. Her finest trait was her Hfe-long adoration of her mother.

Josephine, it must be confessed, was little worthy of the love which both her children always gave her. In spite of her many amiable qualities she was selfishness personified and never really loved anybody but herself. She was fond of her position as the wife of the head of the State, and the many worldly advantages which this brought her, but she never really loved Napoleon the man, and never showed much affection for her children. She was one of those rare characters who seem to possess the natural gift of attracting others without themselves giving anything in return. Her memory has been crowned with a halo which it little deserved.

All the memoirs of her time are in accord in attributing to Josephine great affability and social tact. All are equally unanimous in saying she had very little intellect. The depths of her selfishness were concealed by an appearance of affability and tenderness. As a woman she had no instruction, no belief, no rule of morality, but she possessed in the highest degree the gift of social tact, of savoir faire, of always saying and doing the right thing at the right time, of winning all hearts. Intelligent or not, she was successful for fourteen years in keeping the love of a husband six years her junior against all the attacks and all the conspiracies of the whole Bonaparte family. Hortense, with much more Intelligence, possessed all the attractive qualities of her mother, with few, if any, of her faults. Josephine, in considering the different partis who presented them^selves for Hortense, never regarded them from the point of view of the happiness of her daughter but only from that of her own personal Interest.

Finally matters were brought to a head by the attempt on the life of the First Consul the night of 24 December 1800, when he was on his way to the opera. His life was spared almost by a miracle, and Josephine and Hortense, who followed in another

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carriage, owed their safety to a short delay in starting occasioned by an accident of toilette. Every one was impressed as never before with the necessity for the safety of the State of having an heir for Napoleon. Josephine was now firmly resolved upon the marriage between her daughter and Louis, but it was nearly a year before she succeeded in carrying out her plans.

In September 1801 Louis came to Malmaison to make a visit to his brother and sister-in-law and it was the evening of a ball there that after a decisive interview with Hortense the marriage was finally arranged. According to Masson, who is the latest and best authority on the subject of "Napoleon et sa Famille," there was little if any foundation for the re-iterated affirmations of Louis in later years that the marriage was forced upon him. Three months elapsed between the ball at Malmaison and the ceremony. During this period Louis showed himself very much in love, while Hortense, if not very enthusiastic, was at least resigned to her lot. The 3 January, 1802, the marriage contract was signed in the presence of nearly the entire Bonaparte family, and the following day the civil marriage itself took place, followed the same evening by a religious ceremxOny, at the Bonaparte hotel in the Rue de la Victoire.

This function terminated. General Murat approached the cardinal-legate, Caprara, and said that his marriage with Caroline Bonaparte had only been a civil ceremony, and requested him to unite them by the rites of the Church. Caprara immediately performed the ceremony, with the same witnesses who had attested the marriage of Hortense and Louis.

Thus was realized the ardent wish of Josephine, who now felt that her position was not only assured for the present, but was certain to be stronger in the future. Her only daughter was the wife of the favorite brother of Napoleon, and the only one whom he was likely to accept as his heir.

Louis was married only a few days, and hardly settled in the little hotel loaned them by Napoleon in the Rue de la Victoire, before trouble began between the young couple. The cause of the quarrel was over Josephine, whom Louis both disliked and distrusted, and whom he wished so far as possible to keep separated from her daughter. He soon left his young wife, and except for a short appearance in April was absent all summer. Abandoned by her husband the second month of her marriage, Hortense passed most of her time with Napoleon and Josephine either at the Tuileries or at Malmaison where she spent the summer and fall. During the three weeks that her mother went to Plombieres to take the waters, Hortense did the honors of the Chateau. The prolonged absence of her husband after so short a period of marriage and the intimacy into which she was necessarily thrown with her young stepfather, who was only fourteen years older than herself, soon gave occasion for scandal. The hatred of Josephine by Napoleon's brothers, and the jealousy of his sisters towards Hortense, served to fan the flame. When these reports reached the ears of Napoleon, he thought it better for Hortense not to continue to live at the Tuileries, and as the little hotel which he had loaned them in Rue de la Victoire was too small, the last of July 1802 he bought for about 180,000 francs, in the name of Louis and Hortense, and presented to them, a little palace at number 16 in the same street. Here on 10 October 1802 was born a son who was called Napoleon Charles. Louis, in response to a formal order from his brother, had returned to Paris just in time to be present on the interesting occasion.

Napoleon Charles was the first male child born in the Bonaparte family in Napoleon's generation. Joseph had only one daughter; Lucien, two. In a way, the feeling of Napoleon towards him was that of a grandfather. He was the child of Louis, who was almost like a son to him, and of Hortense, who was his daughter by marriage, and by adoption in his heart. The months before his birth Hortense had passed with Napoleon and Josephine during the absence of her husband. The child strongly resembled his uncle in the shape of his head and the form of his features, but was blond like his mother.

The scandal-mongers, of whom the latest and meanest and most mendacious of all was the so-called "Baron d'Ambes," who claimed to be the "life-long and intimate friend of Napoleon the Third," have endeavored to establish the fact that King Louis was not the father of any of his reputed children ! Ambes, in his "Intimate Memoirs," of which an English translation was published here in 1912, writes, "Napoleon, too, insisted on the marriage, and so peremptorily, he must have had a pressing motive. We can guess what it was ! . . . The case was urgent — these four words sufficiently reveal the predicament."

Now for the facts in the case, which Monsieur

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"d'Ambes" carefully ignores. In the first place, the marriage did not take place until over three months after it was first arranged, as we have already seen. So much for the urgency! In the second place, the First Consul left Paris for Lyon the night of the eighth of January, only four days after the marriage, and did not return until the first of February. During these four days Hortense was with her husband in their Paris house and did not once visit Saint-Cloud. Napoleon Charles was born the tenth of October. The reader can make his own calculations and deductions. To be sure, the eldest son of Hortense strangely resembled Napoleon. But the striking family resemblance of the Bonapartes has often been remarked. Jerome Bonaparte of Baltimore, the son of Napoleon's youngest brother Jerome by his first marriage with Elizabeth Patterson, and Prince Napoleon, his son by his second wife the Princess Catherine of Wiirtemberg, in personal appearance both bore an extraordinary resemblance to the First Napoleon. On the other hand. Prince Victor, the elder son of Prince Napoleon, and the present head of the Bonaparte family, strongly resembles his Italian mother, the Princess Clotilde, daughter of King Victor Emmanuel, as Napoleon the Third strongly resembled his mother Queen Hortense.

Returning to Paris just in time for the birth of his son, Louis decided to live for the present in his new mansion, and a kind of reconciliation, to be only too brief, was arranged between the young couple. Before many months had passed, Louis again left Paris, where Hortense remained with her child, and did not

nio3 return until the month of September 1803. Then for a short time he and his wife were again united, at Compiegne, where his brigade was stationed.

In the spring of 1804, the question of the succession again came up, and was discussed in many familycouncils, and with the chief dignitaries of the State. Napoleon had decided to assume the title of Emperor of the French, and it was necessary to arrange the matter of the heredity of the Imperial crown. After eight years of marriage, Napoleon had given up all hope of a direct heir. His eldest brother, Joseph, had no sons. Both Lucien and Jerome had married contrary to his wishes, and could not be considered. Louis was thought to be unfitted mentally and physically for the honor. The law, as finally adopted in May 1804, gave Napoleon the power to adopt any child or grandchild of his brothers who had reached the age of eighteen years, provided at the time of such adoption he himself had no male child. His brothers Joseph and Louis, and their male descendants, were placed next in order of succession. This law of adoption was expressly restricted to Napoleon himself and did not extend to his successors. So at last the great question of heredity was settled — to the satisfaction of nobody. Of the four brothers, two, Lucien and Jerome, were excluded from the line of succession because of their marriages, and two, Joseph and Louis, were wounded to the quick by the law of adoption.

About this time, Louis, who had always detested the mansion in the Rue de la Victoire, which his wife had selected during his absence, proceeded without consulting Hortense to exchange it for a large hotel in the Rue Cerutti, now Rue Laffitte, for which he paid an additional sum of 300,000 francs. This mansion had previously been the residence of four different men of finance, and later was to pass from Hortense to still another, a member of the Rothschild family. It was a most pretentious, but very gloomy house, without a ray of sunlight. At the same time, Louis purchased at Saint-Leu, about twelve miles from Paris, for the sum of 464,000 francs, two beautiful adjoining properties for a country residence. Here Hortense passed the summer, Louis being absent as usual. The 10 October 1804 she returned to her Paris residence, where on the following day was born her second son Napoleon Louis. The 24 March following, in the presence of the whole Imperial family, he was baptized at the palace of Saint-Cloud by the Pope himself, who had not yet left Paris after the coronation of the Emperor in December. Such exceptional honors had never been accorded before even to a dauphin of France. But it was not without a definite political end in view, that the Emperor had acted on this occasion. He had thus affirmed before his family and his Court the intention of adoption which he later expected to carry out.

The 2 August 1805 Louis was appointed Governor of Paris. During the campaign of Austerlitz, in the absence of the Emperor, Louis showed such zeal and activity in his new post as to win the enthusiastic approval of his brother.

After the great victory of Austerlitz, 2 December 1805, Napoleon began to carry out his plan of forming a ring of states surrounding and in close alliance with the French Empire, and the 5 June 1806 he proclaimed Louis King of Holland. Almost from the start, Louis was in trouble with his brother because he wished to govern his Kingdom in the interests of Holland rather than of the French Empire, entirelyignoring the fact that he was neither the hereditary sovereign of the country, nor the elective choice of its people, but only the representative on the throne of his brother the Emperor of the French.

Hortense accompanied Louis to The Hague, when he went there to take up the reins of his new government. For a short period, peace reigned once more in the family. Then the quarrels began again. In July 1806 Hortense went with her husband to Aix-la- Chapelle, but did not go back to The Hague with him on his return the last of September. The campaign of Jena was just commencing and the Emperor directed Hortense to join her mother at Mayence, where the Empress was to be with her court. She did not return to her capital until seven months later at the end of January 1807, and then only upon the express order of the Emperor. She was no sooner back than a new quarrel began. This time it was Hortense who took it into her head to be jealous and caused the dismissal of a lady of the court.