Let’s have another look at Hortense’s Memoirs. If you want to read the book it is available for free at the side bar in English and French. Use the widget on the sidebar to translate the text below into pretty much any language.
In this excerpt, we see a glimpse into the impossible situation between Hortense, Napoleon and his brother Louis whom Napoleon had married to Hortense. The deeper I’ve gone into this story the more strange realities I’ve begun to perceive. Can you perceive them also?
Napoleon was someone very determined to have an heir and to found a dynasty and we also see that Hortense does whatever Napoleon wants her to do. She is extremely subordinated to his will. The only time we see this not happen is in the protection of her sons and even there she is still serving Napoleon’s long term aims. It is no coincidence, Hortense raised the one son left entirely to her influence to found a dynasty in the name of Napoleon. There really is something out of the ordinary going on between Napoleon and Hortense and this project is about showing this reality.
Hortense’s memoirs continues:
The Emperor had returned from Italy. The magnificent ceremony at which he distributed the crosses of the Legion of Honor and which I had witnessed had been held before his departure. He went to Boulogne to hold a second similar ceremony on his fête day in the presence of his assembled army.
He had appointed my husband general in the Reserve Corps and sent him a special message that he and I should come to the camp of Boulogne and bring our son Napoleon. My husband did not agree to go himself. But after considerable hesitation and after keeping me in suspense till the last moment, he did not dare refuse the Emperor's request for me and my son.
He finally gave me permission to be away eight days. I was delighted with the idea of having an opportunity of seeing those wonderful camps about which everyone was talking, and if I may admit the fact, I felt like a school-child out of sight of a stern teacher, as though I could breathe more freely when I was away from my husband.
The Emperor was living at a little country-place near Boulogne known as Pont-de-Briques. Caroline and Murat occupied another estate close by. I lived with them and we dined every day with the Emperor.
For the two preceding years our troops had been concentrated opposite England, and everyone expected an attack on England. The camps which surrounded Boulogne were placed beside the sea and resembled a city with long straight streets.
Each but had a little garden, flowers and birds. Near the Tour d'Odre stood the but intended for the Emperor and beside it the one for General Berthier. All the flat-bottomed boats were lying in the different harbors waiting for the starting signal.
One caught sight of England far in the distance. Her graceful ships, cruising up and down off the coast, seemed to form an unbreakable barrier. The scene as a whole conveyed an impression of grandeur and of an operation on a greater scale than anything similar that had ever been attempted. Everything stirred one's imagination. There was this immense ocean about to become a battle-field and perhaps swallow up the finest flower of two nations' manhood; there were our troops proud of never having known defeat, restless after two years of inactivity, aflame with bravery and valor, imagining that they were already landing on the opposite shores.
Their faith and their intrepidity made success seem possible, but an instant later the sight of the many obstacles which lay in their path, the fear of all the dangers through which they must pass to attain their goal, chilled the heart and disturbed the mind. The only thing this expedition needed was a favorable wind.
Of all the attentions a woman can receive those which soldiers offer her have a knightly quality about them that is particularly flattering. Never had there been, I believe, a more brilliant and imposing gathering of distinguished soldiers than this at which I found myself.
Consequently, it was the one time they really made an impression on me. The Emperor had appointed his equerry General Defrance as my escort. Whenever I went to visit a camp it would at once be turned out for me and its troops maneuver before me. I asked for the pardon of some officers who had been punished for breaches of discipline and I was received with the greatest enthusiasm.
Staff officers on horseback accompanied my carriage, and wherever I went brilliant music greeted my arrival. For the first time in my life I saw, at one of the reviews, an urn carried on a bandoleer by a soldier in one of the grenadier regiments. I was told that the Emperor, in order to honor the memory of a particularly brave soldier named La Tour d'Auvergne, had entrusted the latter's heart in a lead casket to the keeping of the oldest member of his former regiment. Whenever the roll-call took place the hero's name was called as if he were present, and the bearer of the casket replied: "Killed on the field of honor."
One day a luncheon was given for me at the camp at Ambleteuse. I wished to go there by sea in spite of the unfavorable wind. The Admiral took me. I saw the English vessels quite close at hand. The Dutch commanded by Admiral Ver Huell received me with loud cheers, but had no more idea than I had that a year later I should be their queen.
Another time the Emperor had a little war game. The English, uneasy at seeing so many troops massed together, came in close to shore. They fired several shots, and the Emperor, always at the head of the French troops when they were in action, found himself between two fires.
As we had followed him, we were obliged to remain. My son was not the least frightened, and his uncle was delighted with him. But the generals trembled at seeing the Emperor expose himself in this manner.
The ramrod of a clumsy soldier might have proved as fatal as an enemy's cannon-ball. One thing impressed me particularly in the midst of this martial scene: the fact that these heroic troops, whose bravery terrified the foe when they went into battle, were as easy to control when in camp as a crowd of children and like children were amused at any little thing, any bird, any flower. The dashing warrior had been replaced by the mild-mannered schoolboy.
During the luncheon given me at Ambleteuse under canvas by the Marshal Davout, some grenadiers who had learned appropriate verses for the occasion came and sang them to me while we were at table. They were as shy as young girls would have been. I was the more surprised at their timid manner, their awkward air and embarrassed attitude when singing about the invasion of England, for if I remember correctly each verse ended with the phrase for crossing the Channel isn't quite as difficult as drinking up the sea.
From the Emperor's drawing-room we frequently caught sight of the soldiers on guard-duty, who would gather on the lawn that encircled the house. One of them would take a violin and give his comrades a dancing lesson. The beginners studied the steps and figures attentively while the more advanced pupils were able to complete the entire quadrille. We were much amused as we watched them from behind the blinds. The Emperor, who sometimes caught us unawares, would also laugh at the sight and seem to enjoy the innocent pastimes of his soldiers. Was a serious attack on England ever really planned to take place? Or did the Emperor by these immense preparations intend to distract the public's attention from other things and concentrate it on that one point? I cannot say.
This again is one of the questions which I shall not attempt to answer. Here as elsewhere in these memoirs I shall confine myself to telling what I saw. The wife of Marshal Ney gave a brilliant reception for me at Montreuil where her husband was in command.
The morning was spent in watching the evolutions of the troops maneuvering especially for my benefit. In the evening a ball took place, which was suddenly interrupted by the news that the Emperor had just embarked. Everyone was excited and bewailed the fact that they were at a dance when the crossing into England was taking place. A host of young officers who were present dashed off along the highway to Boulogne.
I followed them at full speed, always accompanied by General Defrance, who was consumed with impatience to rejoin the Emperor. I myself felt overcome with an inexpressible emotion at the idea that so momentous an event was taking place before my eyes. I already imagined that, standing at the Tour d'Odre, I was witnessing the naval battle and seeing our vessels plunge into the watery deep. I trembled at the thought. Finally, we arrived at our destination. I asked for the Emperor and learned that, as a matter of fact, he had superintended the embarkation of all the troops during the night but that he had just returned to the house.
I did not see him until dinner when he questioned Prince Joseph, who at that time was colonel in command of a regiment, as to his impressions of the embarkation, the manner in which it had been carried out and the time it had taken. Joseph stated that everyone believed it was the real departure from France and that the soldiers acting on this idea had sold their watches. The Emperor also inquired frequently if the semaphore had signaled the approach of a French squadron on board which was his aide-de-camp Lauriston.
He seemed quite as though he were expecting only the arrival of this squadron and a favorable wind to give orders for the departure of the flotilla of transports. The eight days allowed me by my husband were almost over. I hesitated to remain twenty-four hours longer. The Emperor, who wished me to witness some combat between his ships and the English vessels, was anxious for me to stay on. I resisted so energetically that he said crossly "Then you are free to go, madame, since you fear offending your husband more than you do displeasing me."
With these words he left me abruptly. I did not know what to do. To return under such conditions would have been most disagreeable. Joseph, who was present, told me that it was out of the question to leave the Emperor so annoyed. It was the first sign of impatience he had ever shown toward me, and I was much concerned over it. I decided to remain a day longer. When he saw me the next morning the Emperor, satisfied with my having yielded to him, spoke to me with a truly fatherly kindness, saying "You really are too afraid of your husband. He is only unreasonable in his demands because you allow him to take an unfair advantage of you. A good woman has always the rights which her virtue confers on her."
The original French is available below:
