Memoirs of Napoleon, vol 6 | Page 9

reports and insinuations against
Bernadotte. I recollect one day, when there was to be a grand public
levee, seeing Bonaparte so much out of temper that I asked him the
cause of it. "I can bear it no longer," he replied impetuously. "I have

resolved to have a scene with Bernadotte to-day. He will probably be
here. I will open the fire, let what will come of it. He may do what he
pleases. We shall see! It is time there should be an end of this."
I had never before observed the First Consul so violently irritated. He
was in a terrible passion, and I dreaded the moment when the levee was
to open. When he left me to go down to the salon I availed myself of
the opportunity to get there before him, which I could easily do, as the
salon was not twenty steps from the cabinet. By good luck Bernadotte
was the first person I saw. He was standing in the recess of a window
which looked on the square of the Carrousel. To cross the salon and
reach the General was the work of a moment. "General!" said I, "trust
me and retire!--I have good reasons for advising it!" Bernadotte, seeing
my extreme anxiety, and aware of the sincere sentiments of esteem end
friendship which I entertained for him, consented to retire, and I
regarded this as a triumph; for, knowing Bernadotte's frankness of
character and his nice sense of honour, I was quite certain that he
would not submit to the harsh observations which Bonaparte intended
to address to him. My stratagem had all the success I could desire. The
First Consul suspected nothing, and remarked only one thing, which
was that his victim was absent. When the levee was over he said to me,
"What do you think of it, Bourrienne?---Bernadotte did not
come."--"So much the better for him, General," was my reply. Nothing
further happened. The First Consul on returning from Josephine found
me in the cabinet, and consequently could suspect nothing, and my
communication with Bernadotte did not occupy five minutes.
Bernadotte always expressed himself much gratified with the proof of
friendship I gave him at this delicate conjuncture. The fact is, that from
a disposition of my mind, which I could not myself account for, the
more Bonaparte'a unjust hatred of Bernadotte increased the more
sympathy and admiration I felt for the noble character of the latter.
The event in question occurred in the spring of 1802. It was at this
period that Bonaparte first occupied St. Cloud, which he was much
pleased with, because he found himself more at liberty there than at the
Tuileries; which palace is really only a prison for royalty, as there a
sovereign cannot even take the air at a window without immediately

being the object of the curiosity of the public, who collect in large
crowds. At St. Cloud, on the contrary, Bonaparte could walk out from
his cabinet and prolong his promenade without being annoyed by
petitioners. One of his first steps was to repair the cross road leading
from St. Cloud to Malmaison, between which places Bonaparte rode in
a quarter of an hour. This proximity to the country, which he liked,
made staying at St. Cloud yet pleasanter to him. It was at St. Cloud that
the First Consul made, if I may so express it, his first rehearsals of the
grand drama of the Empire. It was there he began to introduce, in
external forms, the habits and etiquette which brought to mind the
ceremonies of sovereignty. He soon perceived the influence which
pomp of ceremony, brilliancy of appearance, and richness of costume,
exercise over the mass of mankind. "Men," he remarked to me a this
period, "well deserve the contempt I feel for them. I have only to put
some gold lace on the coats of my virtuous republicans and they
immediately become just what I wish them."
I remember one day, after one of his frequent sallies of contempt for
human kind, I observed to him that although baubles might excite
vulgar admiration, there were some distinguished men who did not
permit themselves to be fascinated by their allurements; and I
mentioned the celebrated Fox by way of example, who, previous to the
conclusion of the peace of Amiens, visited Paris, where he was
remarked for his extreme simplicity. The First Consul said, "Ah! you
are right with respect to him. Mr. Fox is a truly great man, and pleases
me much."
In fact, Bonaparte always received Mr. Fox's visits with the greatest
satisfaction; and after every conversation they had together he never
failed to express to me the pleasure which he experienced in
discoursing with a man every way worthy of the great celebrity he had
attained.