Part 19

THE END OF THE YEAR, 1807.

While the court was still at Fontainebleau, the Empress received a piece of news, which had been kept back from her for some days, and which added materially to her sorrows. Her widowed mother, Madame Tascher de la Pagerie, whom she had not seen since September, 1790, had died June 2, 1807, at the age of seventy, in her home at Martinique. Josephine, who was much attached to her mother, had done her best to persuade her to come to France, where she would have been sure of the warmest welcome. But that venerable lady had perhaps chosen more wisely in preferring her modest and quiet home to all the splendor and excitement of an Imperial palace. From afar she thought of her daughter at the summit of human happiness; near her, she would often have seen her sad and downcast. By not approaching the throne which, at a distance, appears like a magic seat, but, to use the Emperor's expression, is in fact only an armchair covered with velvet, Napoleon's mother-in-law was spared the sight of much misery, and she died, as she had lived, in peace.

The Emperor left for Italy November 16. 1807, and this departure was for Josephine, already so afflicted, another source of anxiety and sadness, She would gladly have gone with him, and have seen once more Eugene and her granddaughter, who was named after her; but Napoleon had decided otherwise. He was no longer unable to live without his wife, and he no longer thought with La Fontaine that absence was the greatest of evils. He alleged as reason, the inclemency of the winter, said that he should be back early in December--in fact, he did not return to the Tuileries till January 1--and to the Empress's great despair set off without her, leaving her the prey of the liveliest anxiety, the cruelest fears.

In Italy Napoleon received the same ardent flattery as in France. He reached Milan November 22, before Prince Eugene had had time to ride out to meet him. After ovations, reviews, religious ceremonies at the Cathedral, grand performances at the Scala, he went to Venice. Here he was received with all the luxury that used to be displayed at the majestic marriage of the doge and the Adriatic. When he reached Fusina, he entered a gondola rowed by men in satin coats embroidered with gold. He entered the grand canal beneath an arch of triumph between a double line of boats adorned with festoons and garlands. At the Venice theatre he saw a grand performance representing Olympus, and then was played, amid applause, the popular air, Napoleone it grande. He had with him in Venice his brother Joseph, King of Naples; his sister, Elisa Bacciochi, Princess of Lucca; his step-son, Prince Eugene, Viceroy of Italy; the King and Queen of Bavaria, the father-in-law and mother-in-law of this Prince; Murat, Grand Duke of Berg, and Berthier, Prince of Neufchâtel. He left Venice December 8, dining at Treviso. The 11th he was at Udine, and the 14th at Mantua.

It was in this city that he had a secret interview with his brother Lucien, with whom he wished to be reconciled, but on one absolute condition, sine qua non. It will be remembered that Lucien, against the First Consul's wishes, had married Alexandrine de Bleschamps, widow of M. Jouberthon; who, after being a broker in Paris, had died in Saint Domingo, whither he had followed the French expedition. Napoleon, who was anxious to marry Lucien with Queen Marie Louise, daughter of Charles IV. of Spain, and widow of Louis I., King of Etruria, wished to annul this marriage. But this brilliant offer had been peremptorily declined by the man who preferred a woman's love to a crown. In the spring of 1804 Lucien had voluntarily left France to seek in Rome an asylum from his brother's incessant reproaches and demands. His mother, Madame Letitia, who thoroughly approved of him, had followed him to Rome, and the Emperor had met with some difficulty in persuading her to return to Paris, which she only did after the coronation. M. de Méneval went by night to fetch Lucien from the inn where he was staying, and led him mysteriously to the palace which the Emperor occupied. Laden, instead of falling in his brother's arms, greeted him coldly, with dignified reserve.

Stanislas de Girardia, in his interesting "Journal," has recounted the interview of the two brothers, as he heard it from Lucien himself. They said very much what follows:--

"Well, sir, do you still told to Madame Jouberthon and her son?"

"Madame Jouberthon is my wife, and her son is my son."

"No, no, since it is a marriage which I do not recognize, and consequently null."

"I contracted it lawfully, as citizen and as Christian."

"The civil act was illegal, and it is known that you gave a priest twenty- five louis-d'or to persuade him to marry you."

"Doubtless Your Majesty, when he invited me here, did not do so for the purpose of paining me; if that is his intention, I withdraw,"

"I have conquered Europe, and certainly I should not flinch before you. You owe your peaceful life in Rome to my kindness; but you are acquiring there a consideration which displeases me, and in time you will annoy me; I will order you to go away, and I will make you leave Europe."

"And if I should not obey?" "I will have you arrested."

"And then?"

"I shall have you sent to Bicêtre and then if--"

"I should defy you to commit a crime!"

"Don't speak to me in that way; don't imagine you can impose on me, I repeat, I have not conquered Europe to flinch before you. Leave the room."

Lucien did not leave, and Napoleon, after a few violent words, became a little calmer. Lucien then renewed the stormy discussion, trying to pacify his brother.

"I had no intention of displeasing Your Majesty by saying what should show the high opinion I have of the greatness of his soul."

"Never mind that; cast your eyes on the map of the world then. Join us, Lucien, and take your share; it will be a fine one, I promise you. The throne of Portugal is empty; I have declared that the King shall cease to reign. I will give it to you; take command of the army destined to make an easy conquest of it, and I will make you a French Prince and my lieutenant. The daughters of your first wife shall be my nieces; I will establish them in life. I will marry the eldest to the Prince of the Asturias; the King of Spain asks it of me as a favor; I can prove it by this letter."

"My eldest daughter, Sire, is not yet thirteen; she is not old enough to be married."

"I thought she was older."

"In a year or two, I will gladly let you dispose of her."

"Then there are no difficulties about the children of your first wife. You have daughters by your second wife, I will adopt them; you have a boy too; I shall not recognize him; his mother will have an important duchy, and he can be her heir. As for you, go to Lisbon, leave your wife and your son in Rome; I will look after them. Your ties are broken. I will find a way."

"That can only be by divorce."

"And why not? That is a frank and positive way which perfectly suits me. I want to be reconciled with you, and you know the price attached to the Portuguese crown."

"I see that to get it I should have to consent to make my wife a concubine, my son a bastard. Your Majesty knows me ill if he has been able to believe that the offer of a crown could tempt me to a dishonorable action."