figure of 6oo,ooo francs. For the sake of his prestige he ordered the sum
paid. Bourrienne then persuaded the various tradesmen to accept half; he
pointed out that if they sued and the affair became public, Napoleon
might be forced from office and they would receive nothing. Reluctantly
the duped milliners and haberdashers settled.
Almost at his wits' end with his wife's extravagance, Napoleon tried to
persuade her to live a quiet life at Malmaison, where he encouraged her
to entertain lavishly. Josephine was always a talented hostess, charming,
kind, tactful, with a remarkable memory for names and faces. Malmaison
symbolized part of Napoleon's new bearing. He had moved there from
the rue de Ia Victoire on zr November 1799, just after Brumaire. Three
months later, on 19 February r8oo he made the transition from the quasi
republican to the quasi-imperial even more obvious by moving his official
residence from the Luxembourg to the Tuileries, and spent his first night
there occupying the bed last slept in by Louis XVI.
By one of those curious twists for which the psychologist Carl Jung
invented the term 'synchronicity', the very next day a letter arrived from
Louis XVI's younger brother, Louis Stanislas Xavier, the future Louis
XVIII. Louis assumed, as did so many Frenchmen at the time, that
Napoleon's consulate was a brief interregnum before the inevitable
restoration of the Bourbons; Napoleon, in short, was thought to be a kind
of General Monk making straight the ways for a return of the monarchy.
Louis wrote de haut en bas: 'You are taking a long time to give me back
my throne; there is a danger that you may miss the opportunity. Without
me you cannot make France happy, while without you I can do nothing
for France. So be quick and let me know what positions and dignities will
satisfy you and your friends.'
Napoleon's prompt reply was devastatingly brief: 'I have received your
letter. I thank you for your kind remarks about myself. You must give up
any hope of returning to France: you would have to pass over roo,ooo
dead bodies. Sacrifice your private interests to the peace and happiness of
France. History will not forget. I am not untouched by the misfortunes of
your family. I will gladly do what I can to make your retirement pleasant
and undisturbed.' Three years later he suggested that Louis face facts and
give up his claims to the French throne. Trusting to his star, the
stubborn Bourbon refused.
The perception that Napoleon intended to restore the Bourbons in
r8oo was odd, for by his vigorous suppression of the Vendee revolt he
surely served notice of his intentions. The Vendee rebels were the
military arm of Bourbon royalism and, as soon as he was confirmed as
First Consul, Napoleon dealt harshly with them. Rejecting all overtures
marcin
(Marcin)
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