heart wish him to be overthrown by cossacks? ...He must sign a
humiliating peace treaty and France must demand a representative
parliament. But while foreigners are still occupying the country,
should we be helping them? The Opposition here is of my opinion,
and you know how much I hate Napoleon. Think carefully about
what you are doing. It is possible to say everything in a great work
of literature; but to do so in a pamphlet, which is akin to an action,
it is necessary to choose the right moment. You must not speak ill
of the French when the Russians are at Langres. May God banish
me from France rather than allowing me to go back there with the
aid of foreigners!
(Letter to Constant of 23 January 1814^31 )She finished by telling Constant that she was as completely captivated by
reading the pamphlet as she would have been by reading a novel: ‘It’s
saying a lot when I am that impressed by ideas. I give myself as an
example of its likely effect on the masses.’
32
Reading such a letter to Constant—and it will always be a matter for regret that so few
survived subsequent destruction—one’s sympathies are with him. He had frequently been
inept in the conduct of his life and sometimes vain, but here was punishment indeed: to
be patronized with meagre praise—written in Germaine’s style at its most prolix and
illogical—for his best work yet, and then told that he should have written it differently or
not at all because he was being unpatriotic—this from a fellow Swiss, who was shortly to
arrive back in Paris in triumph alongside the conquering Allies.
Constant was now unable to look for any help or encouragement from Germaine de
Staël, even if he were to become submissive to her once again. To add to his humiliation
he made the mistake of reading her the awful burlesque epic poem of which he was so
inexplicably proud, Le Siège de Soissons, on 24 May and reported glumly in his diary:
Read my poem to Madame de Staël. It’s easy to see she no longer
loves me because she hardly had a word of praise for me. She only
praises people who are part of herself, the man she is currently
keeping [i.e. Rocca] for example. It’s a great weight lifted from my
life now that I’ve seen her. There is no uncertainty now about the
future, because there is no trace of any affection for me left in her.
Linon [i.e. Charlotte] is worth so much more than her. Why doesn’t
she come [to Paris]?^33Feeling abandoned and isolated, and chafing at the fact that for all his
talents he seemed destined for oblivion while Germaine could look
forward to enduring literary fame, Constant looked on helplessly as Louis
XVIII prepared to issue the Charter which was finally granted to the
Benjamin constant 222