Hortense’s devotion to Napoleon always seems boundless to me. She lives to produce just the heirs he wanted.
English translation.
The previous text from this book is here.
open. No matter how, we will serve it! This is what filled all their letters. I was far from sharing their hopes. Since the fall of the Emperor, the liberty of writing, so necessary then to defend the rights of the people, had also been used to distort all the acts of his reign. The man who thought himself the most impartial, to convey a eulogy, advanced an insult or a criticism.
Youth, educated at this school, while still enjoying institutions established by the Emperor, scarcely admitted the superiority of his genius and they were not taught to judge him accurately. They did not learn that the name of Napoleon bore with it the principle of equality, order, and national independence.
He had, it was said, jeopardized liberty. The party of the Bourbons could, it is true, complain he had for the 13th of Vendemiaire and the 18th of Fructidor showed the secret of his strength and of its hopes. But for the patriots this reproach - would be an injustice - freedom during wars would have suited the interests of the privileged and the enemies of France.
The people, weary of civil discords, seemed no longer disposed to support an emancipation, the benefits of which they longed to experience. Another reproach addressed to the Emperor was that he restored the old nobility, yet the most fatal blow to him came from the creation of the new nobility, which anyone could attain.
The old nobility had no right to take back their titles, for it was Louis XVIII who gave them back. But the persecutions which were the thing during the revolution succeeded in turning benevolence to hatred. The old habit of honoring these historical names reappeared, and it made them seem interesting which they turned to their advantage. In spite of the esteem due to our new nobility, the old families still received the homage of French society as well as that from abroad, and they had but one step to go in order to find . . .
To be continued.
The memoirs so far are available here.
Hortense’s explanation why she broke the law is here.