Hortense de Beauharnais Bonaparte was someone who had always dreamed of having a husband who could love her sincerely. When she found herself in a marriage with an insecure man who competed with her and hurt her to spite Napoleon, she really didn’t want to live like that. She poured all of the affection that she wanted to give her husband, if he had been worthy, into her children and her brother Eugene.
Dear Eugene,
Saint-Amand, 19 Thermidor, Year XIII, August 7, 1805
I think your letter to Murat is really on point, my dear Eugene. There is no need to reply.
[Murat was angry to hear that Eugene was appointed Viceroy of Italy in the newspaper and Eugene tried to smooth it over with a letter.]
Murat is staying in Paris while the Emperor and all the soldiers are at Boulogne, as it seems. Everyone is preparing for the great expedition except the reserve corps that Louis commands which are staying put.
The reserves have not yet received any order. Maybe there won’t be any need of them.
Do not be sorry, I repeat to you, do not be sorry to be left out of this expedition. What you do now is more difficult for you and you will have all the more glory for doing it. I know this job is not your taste but what do you want? Out tastes are hardly consulted in this world. How many people envy our fate, and yet how "stupefied” they would be if they were in our place!
Without vanity, I believe that few people would have as much courage as I do in my situation. I am sometimes astonished to have so much, and I thank God for having given me that resignation which gives me a calm air, and which deceives everybody about how I really feel.
There was a moment when I thought that I would succumb to death. My health was really that bad. Would you believe that it was your appointment to Viceroy that saved me? The grief I felt gave me a great shock and this crisis was salutary. Since then, slowly, I started being able to eat again without feeling nauseous.
Since then, I have felt your sorrow more than mine. I must get better for your sake. When I think that you are far from all your family, that you have no one to whom you can open your heart.
However, my dear Eugene, you can live with hope. If the Emperor's project is executed [Eugene’s marriage to Auguste] you can hope to be happy in your home life. You can always think of your friends and love your wife. If it can be done, as it is said, to captivate a heart, think with pleasure of that moment.
See how beautiful it would be and you will not be so unhappy. Eglé came to spend a few days with me. We have have talked a lot. She returned to Montreuil. I think it will be only through her that we can get news of the coast, because you are not here to give me news and no one has replaced you and no one will ever replace you for me.
Farewell, my dear Eugene, my dear brother. When I think of you, I no longer find myself so unfortunate. You love me at least for myself alone. You have confidence in me, and I find all that in you also.
HORTENSE
Hortense’s Memoirs are available here.
Hortense and Josephine Bonaparte’s Letters can be found here.