The Project Gutenberg Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte

B >> Bourrienne, Constant, and Stewarton >> The Project Gutenberg Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte


A short time after our reconciliation the First Consul said to me, in a
cajoling tone of which I was not the dupe, "My dear Bourrienne, you
cannot do everything. Business increases, and will continue to increase.
You know what Corvisart says. You have a family; therefore it is right
you should take care of your health. You must not kill yourself with
work; therefore some one must be got to assist you. Joseph tells me that
he can recommend a secretary, one of whom he speaks very highly. He
shall be under your direction; he can make out your copies, and do all
that can consistently be required of him. This, I think, will be a great
relief to you."--"I ask for nothing better," replied I, "than to have the
assistance of some one who, after becoming acquainted with the business,
may, some time or other, succeed me." Joseph sent M. de Meneval, a young
man who, to a good education, added the recommendations of industry and
prudence. I had every reason to be satisfied with him.

It was now that Napoleon employed all those devices and caresses which
always succeeded so well with him, and which yet again gained the day, to
put an end to the inconvenience caused to him by my retirement, and to
retain me. Here I call every one who knew me as witnesses that nothing
could equal my grief and despair to find myself obliged to again begin my
troublesome work. My health had suffered much from it. Corvisart was a
clever counsellor, but it was only during the night that I could carry
out his advice. To resume my duties was to renounce all hope of rest,
and even of health.

--[There is considerable truth in this statement about the effect on
his health. His successor, Meneval, without the same amount of
work, broke down and had to receive assistance (Meneval, tome i. p.
149).]--

I soon perceived the First Consul's anxiety to make M. de Meneval
acquainted with the routine of business, and accustomed to his manner.
Bonaparte had never pardoned me for having presumed to quit him after he
had attained so high a degree of power; he was only waiting for an
opportunity to punish me, and he seized upon an unfortunate circumstance
as an excuse for that separation which I had previously wished to bring
about.

I will explain this circumstance, which ought to have obtained for me the
consolation and assistance of the First Consul rather than the forfeiture
of his favour. My rupture with him has been the subject of various
misstatements, all of which I shall not take the trouble to correct;
I will merely notice what I have read in the Memoirs of the Duc de
Rovigo, in which it is stated that I was accused of peculation. M. de
Rovigo thus expresses himself:

Ever since the First Consul was invested with the supreme power his
life had been a continued scene of personal exertion. He had for
his private secretary M. de Bourrienne, a friend and companion of
his youth, whom he now made the sharer of all his labours. He
frequently sent for him in the dead of the night, and particularly
insisted upon his attending him every morning at seven. Bourrienne
was punctual in his attendance with the public papers, which he had
previously glanced over. The First Consul almost invariably read
their contents himself; he then despatched some business, and sat
down to table just as the clock struck nine. His breakfast, which
lasted six minutes, was no sooner over than he returned to his
cabinet, only left it for dinner, and resumed his close occupation
immediately after, until ten at night, which was his usual hour for
retiring to rest.

Bourrienne was gifted with a most wonderful memory; he could speak
and write many languages, and would make his pen follow as fast as
words were uttered. He possessed many other advantages; he was well
acquainted with the administrative departments, was versed in the
law of nations, and possessed a zeal and activity which rendered his
services quite indispensable to the First Consul. I have known the
several grounds upon which the unlimited confidence placed in him by
his chief rested, but am unable to speak with equal assurance of the
errors which occasioned his losing that confidence.

Bourrienne had many enemies; some were owing to his personal
character, a greater number to the situation which he held.
Others were jealous of the credit he enjoyed with the Head of the
Government; others, again, discontented at his not making that
credit subservient to their personal advantage. Some even imputed
to him the want of success that had attended their claims. It was
impossible to bring any charge against him on the score of
deficiency of talent or of indiscreet conduct; his personal habits
were watched--it was ascertained that he engaged in financial
speculations. An imputation could easily be founded on this
circumstance. Peculation was accordingly laid to his charge.

This was touching the most tender ground, for the First Consul held
nothing in greater abhorrence than unlawful gains. A solitary
voice, however, would have failed in an attempt to defame the
character of a man for whom he had so long felt esteem and
affection; other voices, therefore, were brought to bear against
him. Whether the accusations were well founded or otherwise, it is
beyond a doubt that all means were resorted to for bringing them to
the knowledge of the First Consul.

The most effectual course that suggested itself was the opening a
correspondence either with the accused party direct, or with those
with whom it was felt indispensable to bring him into contact; this
correspondence was carried on in a mysterious manner, and related to
the financial operations that had formed the grounds of a charge
against him.--Thus it is that, on more than one occasion, the very
channels intended for conveying truth to the knowledge of a
sovereign have been made available to the purpose of communicating
false intelligence to him. To give an instance.

Under the reign of Louis XV., and even under the Regency, the Post
Office was organized into a system of minute inspection, which did
not indeed extend to every letter, but was exercised over all such
as afforded grounds for suspicion. They were opened, and, when it
was not deemed safe to suppress them, copies were taken, and they
were returned to their proper channel without the least delay. Any
individual denouncing another may, by the help of such an
establishment, give great weight to his denunciation. It is
sufficient for his purpose that he should throw into the Post Office
any letter so worded as to confirm the impression which it is his
object to convey. The worthiest man may thus be committed by a
letter which he has never read, or the purport of which is wholly
unintelligible to him.

I am speaking from personal experience. It once happened that a
letter addressed to myself, relating to an alleged fact which had
never occurred, was opened. A copy of the letter so opened was also
forwarded to me, as it concerned the duties which I had to perform
at that time; but I was already in possession of the original,
transmitted through the ordinary channel. Summoned to reply to the
questions to which such productions had given rise, I took that
opportunity of pointing out the danger that would accrue from
placing a blind reliance upon intelligence derived from so hazardous
a source. Accordingly, little importance was afterwards attached to
this means of information; but the system was in operation at the
period when M. de Bourrienne was disgraced; his enemies took care to
avail themselves of it; they blackened his character with M. de
Barbe Marbois, who added to their accusations all the weight of his
unblemished character. The opinion entertained by this rigid public
functionary, and many other circumstances, induced the First Consul
to part with his secretary (tome i. p. 418).

Peculation is the crime of those who make a fraudulent use of the public
money. But as it was not in my power to meddle with the public money, no
part of which passed through my hands, I am at loss to conceive how I can
be charged with peculation! The Due de Rovigo is not the author, but
merely the echo, of this calumny; but the accusation to which his Memoirs
gave currency afforded M. de Barbe Marbois an opportunity of adding one
more to the many proofs he has given of his love of justice.

I had seen nothing of the Memoirs of the Due de Rovigo except their
announcement in the journals, when a letter from M. de Barbe Marbois was
transmitted to me from my family. It was as follows:

SIR--My attention has been called to the enclosed article in a
recent publication. The assertion it contains is not true, and I
conceive it to be a duty both to you and myself to declare that I
then was, and still am, ignorant of the causes of the separation in
question:--I am, etc.
(Signed) MARBOIS

I need say no more in my justification. This unsolicited testimony of M.
de Marbois is a sufficient contradiction to the charge of peculation
which has been raised against me in the absence of correct information
respecting the real causes of my rupture with the First Consul.

M. le Due de Rovigo also observes that my enemies were numerous. My
concealed adversaries were indeed all those who were interested that the
sovereign should not have about him, as his confidential companion, a man
devoted to his glory and not to his vanity. In expressing his
dissatisfaction with one of his ministers Bonaparte had said, in the
presence of several individuals, among whom was M. Maret, "If I could
find a second Bourrienne I would get rid of you all." This was
sufficient to raise against me the hatred of all who envied the
confidence of which I was in possession.

The failure of a firm in Paris in which I had invested a considerable sum
of money afforded an opportunity for envy and malignity to irritate the
First Consul against me. Bonaparte, who had not yet forgiven me for
wishing to leave him, at length determined to sacrifice my services to a
new fit of ill-humour.

A mercantile house, then one of the most respectable in Patna, had among
its speculations undertaken some army contracts. With the knowledge of
Berthier, with whom, indeed, the house had treated, I had invested some
money in this business. Unfortunately the principals were, unknown to
me, engaged in dangerous speculations in the Funds, which in a short time
so involved them as to occasion their failure for a heavy amount. This
caused a rumour that a slight fall of the Funds, which took place at that
period, was occasioned by the bankruptcy; and the First Consul, who never
could understand the nature of the Funds, gave credit to the report. He
was made to believe that the business of the Stock Exchange was ruined.
It was insinuated that I was accused of taking advantage of my situation
to produce variations in the Funds, though I was so unfortunate as to
lose not only my investment in the bankrupt house, but also a sum of
money for which I had become bound, by way of surety, to assist the house
in increasing its business. I incurred the violent displeasure of the
First Consul, who declared to me that he no longer required my services.
I might, perhaps have cooled his irritation by reminding him that he
could not blame me for purchasing an interest in a contract, since he
himself had stipulated for a gratuity of 1,500,000 francs for his brother
Joseph out of the contract for victualling the navy. But I saw that for
some time past M. de Meneval had begun to supersede me, and the First
Consul only wanted such an opportunity as this for coming to a rupture
with me.

Such is a true statement of the circumstances which led to my separation
from Bonaparte. I defy any one to adduce a single fact in support of the
charge of peculation, or any transaction of the kind; I fear no
investigation of my conduct. When in the service of Bonaparte I caused
many appointments to be made, and many names to be erased from the
emigrant list before the 'Senatus-consulte' of the 6th Floreal, year X.;
but I never counted upon gratitude, experience having taught me that it
was an empty word.

The Duc de Rovigo attributed my disgrace to certain intercepted letters
which injured me in the eyes of the First Consul. I did not know this at
the time, and though I was pretty well aware of the machinations of
Bonaparte's adulators, almost all of whom were my enemies, yet I did not
contemplate such an act of baseness. But a spontaneous letter from M. de
Barbe Marbois at length opened my eyes, and left little doubt on the
subject. The following is the postscript to that noble peer's letter:

I recollect that one Wednesday the First Consul, while presiding at
a Council of Ministers at St. Cloud, opened a note, and, without
informing us what it contained, hastily left the Board, apparently
much agitated. In a few minutes he returned and told us that your
functions had ceased.

Whether the sudden displeasure of the First Consul was excited by a false
representation of my concern in the transaction which proved so
unfortunate to me, or whether Bonaparte merely made that a pretence for
carrying into execution a resolution which I am convinced had been
previously adopted, I shall not stop to determine; but the Due de Rovigo
having mentioned the violation of the secrecy of letters in my case, I
shall take the opportunity of stating some particulars on that subject.

Before I wrote these Memoirs the existence in the Post Office of the
cabinet, which had obtained the epithet of black, had been denounced in
the chamber of deputies, and the answer was, that it no longer existed,
which of course amounted to an admission that it had existed. I may
therefore, without indiscretion, state what I know respecting it.

The "black cabinet" was established in the reign of Louis XV., merely for
the purpose of prying into the scandalous gossip of the Court and the
capital. The existence of this cabinet soon became generally known to
every one. The numerous postmasters who succeeded each other, especially
in latter times, the still more numerous Post Office clerks, and that
portion of the public who are ever on the watch for what is held up as
scandalous, soon banished all the secrecy of the affair, and none but
fools were taken in by it. All who did not wish to be committed by their
correspondence chose better channels of communication than the Post; but
those who wanted to ruin an enemy or benefit a friend long continued to
avail themselves of the black cabinet, which, at first intended merely to
amuse a monarch's idle hours, soon became a medium of intrigue, dangerous
from the abuse that might be made of it.

Every morning, for three years, I used to peruse the portfolio containing
the bulletins of the black cabinet, and I frankly confess that I never
could discover any real cause for the public indignation against it,
except inasmuch as it proved the channel of vile intrigue. Out of 30,000
letters, which daily left Paris to be distributed through France and all
parts of the world, ten or twelve, at most, were copied, and often only a
few lines of them.

Bonaparte at first proposed to send complete copies of intercepted
letters to the ministers whom their contents might concern; but a few
observations from me induced him to direct that only the important
passages should be extracted and sent. I made these extracts, and
transmitted them to their destinations, accompanied by the following
words: "The First Consul directs me to inform you that he has just
received the following information," etc. Whence the information came
was left to be guessed at.

The First Consul daily received through this channel about a dozen
pretended letters, the writers of which described their enemies as
opponents of the Government, or their friends as models of obedience and
fidelity to the constituted authorities. But the secret purpose of this
vile correspondence was soon discovered, and Bonaparte gave orders that
no more of it should be copied. I, however, suffered from it at the time
of my disgrace, and was well-nigh falling a victim to it at a subsequent
period.

The letter mentioned by M. de Marbois, and which was the occasion of this
digression on the violation of private correspondence, derived importance
from the circumstance that Wednesday, the 20th of October, when Bonaparte
received it, was the day on which I left the Consular palace.

I retired to a house which Bonaparte had advised me to purchase at St.
Cloud, and for the fitting up and furnishing of which he had promised to
pay. We shall see how he kept this promise! I immediately sent to
direct Landoire, the messenger of Bonaparte's cabinet, to place all
letters sent to me in the First Consul's portfolio, because many intended
for him came under cover for me. In consequence of this message I
received the following letter from M. de Meneval:

MY DEAR BOURRIENNE--I cannot believe that the First Consul would
wish that your letters should be presented to him. I presume you
allude only to those which may concern him, and which come addressed
under cover to you. The First Consul has written to citizens
Lavallette and Mollien directing them to address their packets to
him. I cannot allow Landoire to obey the order you sent.

The First Consul yesterday evening evinced great regret. He
repeatedly said, "How miserable I am! I have known that man since
he was seven years old." I cannot but believe that he will
reconsider his unfortunate decision. I have intimated to him that
the burden of the business is too much for me, and that he must be
extremely at a loss for the services of one to whom he was so much
accustomed, and whose situation, I am confident, nobody else can
satisfactorily fill. He went to bed very low-spirited. I am, etc.
(Signed) MENEVAL.

19 Vendemiaire, an X.
(21st October 1802.)

Next day I received another letter from M. Meneval as follows:--

I send you your letters. The First Consul prefers that you should
break them open, and send here those which are intended for him. I
enclose some German papers, which he begs you to translate.

Madame Bonaparte is much interested in your behalf; and I can assure
you that no one more heartily desires than the First Consul himself
to see you again at your old post, for which it would be difficult
to find a successor equal to you, either as regards fidelity or
fitness. I do not relinquish the hope of seeing you here again.

A whole week passed away in conflicts between the First Consul's
friendship and pride. The least desire he manifested to recall me was
opposed by his flatterers. On the fifth day of our separation he
directed me to come to him. He received me with the greatest kindness,
and after having good-humouredly told me that I often expressed myself
with too much freedom--a fault I was never solicitous to correct--he
added: "I regret your absence much. You were very useful to me. You are
neither too noble nor too plebeian, neither too aristocratic nor too
Jacobinical. You are discreet and laborious. You understand me better
than any one else; and, between ourselves be it said, we ought to
consider this a sort of Court. Look at Duroc, Bessieres, Maret.
However, I am very much inclined to take you back; but by so doing I
should confirm the report that I cannot do without you."

Madame Bonaparte informed me that she had heard persons to whom Bonaparte
expressed a desire to recall me observe, "What would you do? People will
say you cannot do without him. You have got rid of him now; therefore
think no more about him: and as for the English newspapers, he gave them
more importance than they really deserved: you will no longer be troubled
with them." This will bring to mind a scene--which occurred at Malmaison
on the receipt of some intelligence in the 'London Gazette'.

I am convinced that if Bonaparte had been left to himself he would have
recalled me, and this conviction is warranted by the interval which
elapsed between his determination to part with me and the formal
announcement of my dismissal. Our rupture took place on the 20th of
October, and on the 8th of November following the First Consul sent me
the following letter:

CITIZEN BOURRIENNE, MINISTER OF STATE--I am satisfied with the
services which you have rendered me during the time you have been
with me; but henceforth they are no longer necessary. I wish you to
relinquish, from this time, the functions and title of my private
secretary. I shall seize an early opportunity of providing for you
in a way suited to your activity and talents, and conducive to the
public service.
(Signed)BONAPARTE.

If any proof of the First Consul's malignity were wanting it would be
furnished by the following fact:--A few days after the receipt of the
letter which announced my dismissal I received a note from Duroc; but,
to afford an idea of the petty revenge of him who caused it to be
written, it will be necessary first to relate a few preceding
circumstances.

When, with the view of preserving a little freedom, I declined the offer
of apartments which Madame Bonaparte had prepared at Malmaison for myself
and my family, I purchased a small house at Ruel: the First Consul had
given orders for the furnishing of this house, as well as one which I
possessed in Paris. From the manner in which the orders were given I had
not the slightest doubt but that Bonaparte intended to make me a present
of the furniture. However, when I left his service he applied to have it
returned. As at first I paid no attention to his demand, as far as it
concerned the furniture at Ruel, he directed Duroc to write the following
letter to me:

The First Consul, my dear Bourrienne, has just ordered me to send
him this evening the keys of your residence in Paris, from which the
furniture is not to be removed.

He also directs me to put into a warehouse whatever furniture you
may have at Ruel or elsewhere which you have obtained from
Government.

I beg of you to send me an answer, so as to assist me in the
execution of these orders. You promised me to have everything
settled before the First Consul's return. I must excuse myself in
the best way I can.
(Signed) DUROC.

24 Brumaire, an X.
(15th November 1802.)

Believing myself to be master of my own actions, I had formed the design
of visiting England, whither I was called by some private business.
However, I was fully aware of the peculiarity of my situation, and I was
resolved to take no step that should in any way justify a reproach.

On the 11th of January I therefore wrote to Duroc:

My affairs require my presence in England for some time. I beg of
you, my dear Duroc, to mention my intended journey to the First
Consul, as I do not wish to do anything inconsistent with his views.
I would rather sacrifice my own interest than displease him. I rely
on your friendship for an early answer to this, for uncertainty
would be fatal to me in many respects.

The answer, which speedily arrived, was as follows:--

MY DEAR BOURRIENNE--I have presented to the First Consul the letter
I just received from you. He read it, and said, "No!"

That is the only answer I can give you. (Signed) DUROC.

This monosyllable was expressive. It proved to me that Bonaparte was
conscious how ill he had treated me; and, suspecting that I was actuated
by the desire of vengeance, he was afraid of my going to England, lest I
should there take advantage of that liberty of the press which he had so
effectually put down in France. He probably imagined that my object was
to publish statements which would more effectually have enlightened the
public respecting his government and designs than all the scandalous
anecdotes, atrocious calumnies, and ridiculous fabrications of Pelletier,
the editor of the 'Ambigu'. But Bonaparte was much deceived in this
supposition; and if there can remain any doubt on that subject, it will
be removed on referring to the date of these Memoirs, and observing the
time at which I consented to publish them.

I was not deceived as to the reasons of Bonaparte's unceremonious refusal
of my application; and as I well knew his inquisitorial character,
I thought it prudent to conceal my notes. I acted differently from
Camoens. He contended with the sea to preserve his manuscripts; I made
the earth the depository of mine. I carefully enclosed my most valuable
notes and papers in a tin box, which I buried under ground. A yellow
tinge, the commencement of decay, has in some places almost obliterated
the writing.

It will be seen in the sequel that my precaution was not useless, and
that I was right in anticipating the persecution of Bonaparte, provoked
by the malice of my enemies. On the 20th of April Duroc sent me the
following note: