Part 11

‘Paris, which I had known under so many different circumstances, and which I had originally known in times so very opposite to these. It is an observation of Thucydides that, in the country of which he was a native and of which he wrote, the traveller could not take a step without treading on historic ground. With equal truth may it be said that it is impossible to traverse Paris, without at each step being reminded of occurrences which are destined to become the materials of future history: occurrences which are the more striking, inasmuch as they have not been received by us on the faith of tradition obscured by the lapse of ages or gathered from the Annals of our ancestors, but have taken place within our own memories, have involved the fall of persons we ourselves have known, have overwhelmed institutions with which we have been personally conversant, and have already materially affected the destinies of the generation to which we belong.’

‘The most eloquent discourse cannot half so well illustrate the character of human passion, the vicissitudes of human fortune, the vanity of human pursuits, and the instability of human things, as the aspect of this metropolis.’

[Sidenote: THE INFERNAL MACHINE]

‘When we were within a few steps of the _Théâtre de la République_ we were surprised by an explosion resembling the report of a cannon.[173] On stepping out of the carriage I perceived a column of smoke making its way over the tops of the houses. In an instant the rattling of cavalry announced the approach of the First Consul, who drove by us with rapidity. We entered the theatre lost in conjecture as to the probable cause of so strange and sinister an incident. We had but little disposition to attend to the business of the drama, which was presently put a stop to by the account of that heinous atrocity which exhibits such a melancholy instance of the most deliberate depravity, and which had so nearly terminated the transcendent career of that illustrious man, whose fame will be more durable than the Pyramids he has visited, whose life is consumed in a succession of dangers, whose preservation should be dear not only to all good citizens, but to all good men, whose fortunes may be deemed inseparable from the fortunes of the Republic. The actor who came forward upon this occasion made the audience acquainted neither with extent or particulars of the misfortune which made it indecent to proceed. The theatre was immediately evacuated; guards were seen moving in various directions, and the measures of precaution were taken with a degree of calmness, quickness, precision, and intelligence which served to give me some idea of the perfection of the military system.

‘No one was able to tell what was the number of persons who had been killed and wounded; but it was understood that the disaster had originated in an attempt to destroy the First Consul in his way to the Opera. At the portico of the Opera, I heard that the performance was going on without interruption, and that Bonaparte, unmoved, was partaking of the entertainment, which was an Oratorio,[174] as if nothing unusual had happened. The next morning heard a few particulars; some of the manner in which the Chief Consul had conducted himself. He appears to have expressed a conviction that in his situation and at a period like the present, such an occurrence was not to be considered as being justly matter of surprise. He told those who had an opportunity of seeing him that when, a short time before, his life had been conspired against, he felt no particular solicitude in relation to the punishment of a crime which seemed to have him only for its object; but that now when the blow which was levelled at himself had fallen upon others, when the safety of a part of the population of the capital had been actually endangered, and when several individuals had become the innocent victims of so great an atrocity, he should not hesitate to demand a law authorising the immediate trial of those who might prove implicated in its guilt. That as to what regarded himself personally, he should die with as much glory at the head of the Legislature as he could do at the head of one of the armies of the Republic. To the Prefect of the Police[175] he expressed his dissatisfaction with an asperity which sufficiently proved that he imputed a defect of vigilance to that department.’...

[Sidenote: A REVIEW]

‘Went to the Review. In front of the Thuilleries were drawn up the Grenadiers of the Consular Guard, who had followed Bonaparte to Marengo, and had from their conduct in that memorable battle been compared by Berthier to a redoubt of granite. On ye remaining sides of the square were drawn up other troops. In the centre of the _place_ were stationed the officers of the _État Major_ on horseback, whose uniforms and accoutrements were splendid to the greatest degree. A beautiful cream-coloured Spanish horse, adorned with crimson velvet, magnificently embroidered in gold, was held in readiness for Bonaparte. A sudden burst of martial music, issuing from a profusion of instruments, proclaimed his descent from the Palace. He wears no plume. He is distinguished by the quietness of his deportment, the pensiveness of his aspect, and by the paleness of his countenance, which thought and watchfulness have worn. He was attended by his Mameluke. Mounted on his docile charger, he galloped thro’ the ranks. The air resounded with acclamations of applause, to which he seemed insensible. His attention was confined to the troops. When he passed the colours he saluted with a singular propriety of manner. After having rapidly inspected the difft. corps, he rode to the centre of the ground, where he prescribed the evolutions of the day, which took up very little time. Nothing can exceed the precision and intelligence with which the whole manœuvre is conducted. I particularly remarked the fine appearance of the Pioneers, who, as well as the Grenadiers, seem to be picked men. The flying Artillery is much to be admired, but the horses of the Dragoons, altho’ active, were inferior in beauty to those which are commonly purchased for the English Cavalry.’...

‘One of the party had been in the society of the First Consul, where General Lannes was present, subsequent to the villainous attempt made in the Rue Nicaise. B. observed that when the circumstance took place he was a great way off in imagination, that the explosion had been heard by him without reflection, and that he was first excited to attend by Lannes, who was with him. General Lannes explained by saying that he thought at the time, by the breaking of the glasses, that musketry might be firing at them. ‘Lannes,’ said B., ‘you are not of the Institute; if you were, you would have known that it was the air contained within my carriage which broke the windows of it.’

On 16th May, 1801, I dined at Mrs. Sharp’s, in the City, on Irish Hill, to meet Horne Tooke. He was ill, and in all probability would not have kept his engagement, had he not been aware that the dinner was expressly made to give me an opportunity of seeing him, and wise as he is, he is not free from the frailty of the weak (and oftentimes of the wise, as in this instance), in possessing a considerable portion of vanity, for he was gratified at knowing he was sought as a _sight_. He is an infirm, exhausted old man, with a mild, placid countenance, a small penetrating eye, and a flat, broad forehead. His manners are those of a remarkably high-bred, old-fashioned man of quality; his sentences are precise, clear, and short. His language obsolete and affectedly so, but often productive of a happy and singular effect, witty and brief. He so evidently laboured under the pressure of bodily pain that he only _flashed_, but from those scintillations I could easily perceive what he must have been in his days of vigour, when his mind, unfettered by physical infirmity, could give itself full scope. His praises of Mr. Fox were extravagant. He said: ‘God Almighty has made that man to show his omnipotence.’ He said to Ld. H.: ‘You see, my Lord, how your uncle has kicked me in the dirt!’ The answer was puzzling, as it was difficult to know to what he alluded, but he explained by adding: ‘He makes me despise myself. He, whom I have abused from the commencement of his political life, has been the first and only person who stood manfully forth in my defence.’[176]

_17th Nov., 1801._--Indisposition and indolence have combined to prevent my either writing, reading, or thinking for three several months back--after our return from Worthing. We stayed here about a month, during which period we went to Ld. King’s at Ockham, to Roehampton, and dined at Chiswick, and at Dss. of Leinster’s at Wimbledon. Went to Brighthelmstone, September 15th; stayed there till October 21st. During that interval passed 6 days at Ld. Robert Spencer’s at Woolbeding. I _called_ at Goodwood, D. of Richmond’s, on our way back to Brighton; returned here October 22nd. Sleep occasionally at a house we have taken in Albemarle Street for the play-nights and the late nights in H. of Lords.

[Sidenote: MINISTERIAL NEGOTIATIONS]

Peace has been made. Pitt continues supporting Ministers; the Grenvilles are in open opposition.[177] A negotiation has just broken off between Grey and Ld. St. Vincent, the purport of which was to bring in G., the Duke of Bedford, and Ld. Moira into the Cabinet. Grey gave up Fox with a quibble; the others excluded Sheridan, Lauderdale, and Lansdown; insisted upon maintaining Ld. Clare in Ireland, and Ld. Hardwick. G. said, if he is kept, we must have a Ld.-Lt.; they would not agree. Ld. Moira objected to D. of Portland; King could not be made to give him up. The arrangement, when they came to terms, could not take place. G. used the D. of B.’s name further than he was warranted, I suspect. It is all over now; only Tierney remains with Addington.

Fox was given up shamefully. For if ever one man was bound to follow the bad and good fortunes of another, it is surely Grey, whose vehement and rash judgment drove the other out of the high post he occupied; and yet he is the first to negotiate and give him up. Fie, fie, for such patriots, when they are not true to their friends as private men. However, Grey is perfectly honest, only violent and irresolute, and easily swayed by sudden impressions. Pelham[178] is Secretary of State for the Home Department: he is married to Lady Mary Osborne, the Duke of Leeds’s sister, an amiable person, who will no doubt make him happy.

_H. House, 18th Nov., 1801._--General Fitzpatrick told us yesterday of a curious circumstance about a copy of Gibbon’s works, which belonged to Mr. Fox. As a marginal note Fox wrote in the beginning of the book, ‘This gentleman, on such a day, told me that the country could not be saved unless the heads of three or four of the Cabinet Ministers were laid upon the table of the House of Commons. On such a day, about a week after he delivered that opinion, he was made a Lord of Trade by those very men.’ Topham Beauclerk, who was a _friend_ of Gibbon’s, offered him anything for the book, saying: ‘I must soon die, and my books will be sold after my death by public auction, so Gibbon’s shabbiness will be notorious and perpetuated.’ Some time after, an execution was put into Mr. Fox’s house, and his goods were seized, but, having been assigned over to Mr. Moore, their seizure was resisted. There was, in consequence, a trial in the Court of King’s Bench, and one of the opposite counsel handed up this very book to Ld. Loughborough, to prove to him that Mr. Fox must have considered the book as his own, and not as Mr. Moore’s, by the marginal notes, and that if necessary they should be read in court. Ld. L., who was a more cautious friend than Topham Beauclerk, gave the book back, saying it was unnecessary to read them to the court. Ye General was a party to the bond, and was in court himself when this passed.

* * * * *

Some months, passed in anxiety and grief, have elapsed since I even thought of this Journal. The winter had nearly proved fatal to Charles. Illnesses and relapses succeeded each other so rapidly, that his strength was almost exhausted, and in February we almost ceased expecting that he could recover. He did, but to avoid the danger of a return, we are to pass the ensuing winter in a warm climate.

[Sidenote: DUKE OF BEDFORD’S DEATH]

The death of the D. of Bedford followed. What did not that calamity cost me! In him I lost the truest and best friend I possessed. His society was amongst the greatest of my pleasures. I loved and respected him, and was proud to see intimately the man on whom the eyes of the public were turned with approbation and confidence. He died as he had lived, an example to all who saw him. At the close of a medical consultation about Charles, on ye 28th of Feb., Dr. Vaughan wished me joy of the success of the operation which had been performed the eve. before upon the D. of B. Frightened at this I asked an explanation, and heard from Mr. Knight, the surgeon (who was here for Charles), the nature of the disease.

* * * * *

We left H. H. on the 8th of July (1802), with the following persons belonging to us, ourselves, Charles, Henry Edward,[179] Mr. Allen, Mr. Howard, and little Marsh, for Paris.

We had apartments taken for us some time before we came; they are very spacious and convenient, the whole _rez-de-chaussée_ of the Hotel Beauveau, Faubourg St. Honoré. The next day we went to Maret,[180] the Minister, to see the parade. The Carrousel has been considerably extended, and 15,000 troops can manœuvre in it. The explosion of the infernal machine, by destroying some houses, rendered it more easy to enlarge the court. The Brazen Horses from Venice are placed upon the Grille which runs across the Carrousel; they stand separate, and produce a very poor effect.[181]

Nothing can be more splendid than the uniforms of the officers, and the housings of the horses. The Consul rides a fine white Arabian. He is known amidst his officers by the plainness of his dress and unlaced black hat. The corps of Mamelukes appeared for the first time; their sudden and uncombined evolutions give a wildness to their appearance that shows a little what they must be when attacking in reality. The town was illuminated in the evening, and as carriages were prohibited in the streets, we walked, and saw everything with the greatest ease and facility. There were public dinners given by the Government to some hundreds of the soldiers at each public garden.

When I first came, I saw much of Madame de Coigny, but latterly less; she is inquisitive and talkative.

On the 15th of Fructidor, Mr. Fox was presented to Bonaparte, who seems to have studied how to receive him in a distinguished manner. He addressed him in a speech evidently got by heart and of course highly complimentary. The purport was that he was the greatest man of one of the greatest countries, and that his voice had always been exerted on the side of humanity and justice, and that to its influence the world owed the blessings of peace.

[Sidenote: ST. CLOUD]

On Saturday, the 21st August, 1802, we went with the General,[182] Ld. Robert,[183] and Frederick,[184] and we took Charles to St. Cloud. It was a palace belonging formerly to the Dukes of Orleans, but poor Marie Antoinette liked it, and is accused of having exerted her royal influence to compel the late Duke to sell it, which he did most reluctantly. She was so partial to its beauties that she was profuse in her expense to decorate it. In each taste the First Consul imitates her, as he is so impatient to take possession that the surveyors are obliged to make the men work all night; and he likes it so much that no expense is spared to render it a fit residence for the Sovereign of France. The gallery remains as it was finished by Gaston, Duke of Orleans, Louis XIII’s brother; only on the panels some of the plunder of Italy, which was in the Museum of the Louvre, has been placed, much to their disadvantage, as the gaudy ceiling and rich gilding kills the colouring of the pictures. They are capital; some of my old acquaintances out of the Palais Pitti. The apartments that are fitted up are done in _le goût sévère_, which, in other words, means a dark and dingy style. The walls are hung with cloth, and draperies of cloth edged with magnificent deep parti-coloured fringes are festooned over it. The colours being generally dark green and brown produce a solemn effect, and the whole has a sombre military appearance; the rods of the curtains are finely polished spears. Where the Queen’s apartments have been preserved, I admire them far beyond those in the _goût sévère_, and prefer bright gilding to the heavy mahogany, and a well-stuffed sofa to a small, hard one. In short, the exchange is a bad one, _les ris et les amours_ please me, broad cloth and sphinxes do not. The Library is very pretty, and the books placed in very appropriate cases, plain and simple, but at the same time rich and decorated. The gardens are insignificant, but if the Consul continues to like living there, I doubt not he will find means to extend them, tho’ as yet I only look upon St. Cloud as a halt on the road to Versailles.

On Sunday, ye next day, we went with a large party to Versailles, where we expected to see the _Eaux_ play, but we had been misled. We dined at _Le petit Trianon_, formerly a favourite little palace of the Queen’s, with a garden _à l’Anglaise_; but what I did admire indeed is _Le grand Trianon_, a most noble palace. The centre, instead of a _corps-de-logis_, is a peristyle composed of a double row of large marble columns; the front to the garden is very large and grand, only a _rez-de-chaussée_. The garden is thoroughly in the French style, broad and spacious walks, fountains, alleys, _cabinets de verdure_; in short, just what a garden should be near a large house.

We went from thence to Versailles. What a change from former days! We walked along the Terrace, and so to the _Orangerie_, where there are trees in tubs as large as any I ever saw growing either at Nice or Naples in the common ground. One old tree they call _François Premier_, and they add that it is 400 years old. It is satisfactorily proved by a _procès verbal_ that it belonged to the Constable of Bourbon, and was confiscated with the rest of his property, and so came to François I. Our party was numerous: Mr. and Mrs. Fox, Ld. Robert, the General, Mr. Allen, Frederick Ponsonby, Miss Adair, Heathcote, St. John, Trotter,[185] Smith (the Petrarch of Carolina’s brother), Green.

* * * * *

The following is a list of those who dined with us at Paris in July, August, and part of September, 1802.

[Sidenote: LA FAYETTE]

_La Fayette_, who is indebted to Bonaparte for his liberty, has, since his return to his native country, resided chiefly upon the small estate the Revolution has not deprived him of at La Grange. Bonaparte affected to consult the nation whether he should be Consul for life; was answered by La Fayette, who wrote a gentle but able remonstrance upon the subject. Bonaparte was little enough, when an army promotion took place, to pass over La Fayette’s son and nephew; he has, however, promoted them since. His son was educated in Washington’s house, appears very amiable; he was just married.[186]

_Andréossy_[187] is the son of an obscure man of Italian origin, employed by Riquet in the Languedoc Canal. He was born at Castelnaudary, educated at Sorèze, and served under the _ancien régime_ as an engineer. He made some campaigns in Italy, went to Egypt, was there employed upon an expedition to ye Lake Menzalah, and returned in the vessel which brought the First Consul to France. He has since been named to ye Embassy of England. He lived very much with us. He is a plain _Militaire_ in his manner, and if he offends it will be unintentional, as he is disposed to maintain peace and amity between the two countries.

_Caffarelli_,[188] brother of a general of the same name killed before Acre. He is a fellow townsman and school companion of Andréossy, and like him descended from an Italian family brought by Riquet to work at the Canal. He is a remarkably displeasing person in his manner, a sycophant and court echo of the ante-chamber of Bonaparte; from love of order and morality always proclaiming that the First Consul and his wife sleep in the same bed, and that the domestic virtues of a warrior are more important than his heroic deeds. In short, from him one collects the disgusting cant which is to be employed by the present Governt. as a counterpoise to the wild extravagant opinions of atheism and immorality set afloat under the first constitution of the Republic.

_Valence_,[189] a general who served in the first campaigns under Dumouriez, a good-humoured, boasting, bluff Papa.

_Mde. de V._, daughter of Mde. de Sillery, a beauty on the wane, pleasing and clever.

_Abbé St. Fard_, a son of the Duke of Orleans, father to the unfortunate _Égalité_; remarkably obliging, and, tho’ not distinguished for talents, very popular, and a person one cannot but like.

_Duc de Duras_,[190] a _ci-devant Duc_ returned, but not reconciled to the changes in his country.

[Sidenote: LALLY TOLLENDAL]

_Lally Tollendal_,[191] the epitome of sentiment. By some inconceivable freak imagined himself to be the son of Count Lally, executed for the surrender of Pondicherry. Whilst at college he heard the story; his birth was obscure and even mysterious. A flight into the region of fancy made him imagine himself the son of the state culprit (but not till after his execution); he then pleaded for him. He is returned to France after an absence of many years, but, like many who were distinguished at first, he returns but to see his insignificance and the indifference of the Governt. to these, many of whom conceived themselves to be of the utmost importance.

_Psse. d’Hesnin_ [_sic_], an excellent woman, formerly about the Queen, attached for many years to Lally.

_Mde. Flahaut._[192] A volume would not suffice. An agreeable adventuress, who after failing in various projects, both upon English and French, at last has closed her tempestuous career by marrying Souza, ye Portuguese Minister. She has written some pretty novels; her conversation consists more in a narrative of the good things she has said than in those she actually does say. Her son, a fine, open young man. He is handsome and uncommonly engaging in his manners and countenance.

_Girardin_,[193] an _élève_ of Jean Jacques, and proprietor of Ermenonville. He was eager in the beginning of Revolution; emigrated for a short time; is now a Tribune, and intimate friend of Joseph Bonaparte’s. He is not an _Emile_, but good-natured. His love of independence and the naked truth for the sake of truth will never expose him to the straits a patriot must undergo. He will shift in time.