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.
Hortense describes her meeting with the person who came up with the idea of calling Napoleon’s enemies the “Holy Alliance”, Madame de Krudener. While Hortense was trying to not make waves, Napoleon’s soldiers express their devotion to her.
Hortense’s memoirs continues:
I went to take the waters at Plombières accompanied by a single lady in waiting. The place was a melancholy one. The only people I knew there were Monsieur and Madame de Saint-Aulaire and General Delaborde and his wife. I had been expecting my brother for two weeks when I received word asking me to meet him at Baden.
The Grand Duchess of Baden also extended me an invitation. The waters there being about the same as at Plombières I did not hesitate to accept.
There were a great many foreigners at Baden just then. Among them were the Empress of Russia, the King and Queen of Bavaria, the dethroned Queen of Sweden, the Duchess of Hesse-Darmstadt, and the Margravine of Baden, the mother of all these princesses.
As soon as I arrived the King of Bavaria, as usual very kind to me, hastened to call. We exchanged visits with the other princesses and I had no reason not to be pleased with the way in which they received me.
It was evident that they were curious about me. The Emperor of Russia in his letters to his family had often spoken of me, as their friendly attitude showed.
I could not help being pleased with their attentions, which were both marked and affectionate. The Empress of Russia invited me to dinner with all the queens and princesses who happened to be there. She possessed a great dignity of bearing together with a savoir-parler that was truly royal.
Her features were distinguished, and it was evident that she must have been very beautiful. Her voice had an inexpressible charm, and her melancholy air made her particularly lovely.
The Queen of Bavaria, her sister, resembled her in many respects. I have always found her so kind and sympathetic toward me that I would not be speaking impartially if I expressed all my admiration for her.
The German princesses possess a certain affability, but in general they are not natural enough. After you have once met them you always find them exactly the same. Most of them are not aware that lofty rank demands simplicity, that kindliness is a ruler's greatest charm just as an active charity is his first duty.
Generally, they are too much overawed by the rules of etiquette. While of course a certain amount of formality and reserve is necessary at court, where lack of them would set a bad example, still in domestic circles all constraint should be abolished and greater familiarity be made the rule.
I received a visit from Madame de Krudener whom I had not seen since my trip to Baden in 1809. She now spent all her time taking care of the poor and the unfortunate. I found her still more high-strung than she had been before, exceedingly tender and sensitive in her religious beliefs, placing love before all else in the world.
Her voice had taken on a tone of prophecy and exhortation, her features an inspired expression. She communicated her feelings the more easily to others because she vibrated so intensely with them.
She persuaded people because she herself was so sincerely convinced. Indeed, it required a decidedly strong will to resist the lure of the marvelous visionary universe she described, a universe which her whole-hearted benevolence made still more attractive.
It was hard not to fall a victim to the powers of her imagination. She began by deploring in most moving terms the losses we had suffered, that of a devoted friend, a dearly loved mother, not to mention my lofty position ; and she urged me to bear all this without complaint as a form of trial, the reward of which I should receive in the life to come.
Her words fell on willing ears. I wept as I listened to her, and she mingled her tears with mine.
All at once she said to me in a mysterious tone, "If you wished to do so you could know what had become of those you loved." My sobs immediately ceased. I felt myself in the presence of a madwoman, and my surprise was so great I could not answer.
She noticed this and made no attempt to convince me. Changing the subject, she inquired what my plans were, and when I replied that I intended to stay in France she exclaimed: "Do not stay in France. You do not know the misfortunes that will overtake you. Go to Russia. Only the people who are there will be saved."
“But," I answered, "it was the Emperor of Russia himself who decided that I and my children should remain in France. Perhaps I should have done better to go and live with my brother.
“He has not yet received the territory that was promised him but will ask for it at the Congress of Vienna."
“Ah," she replied, "that congress will never end. Mark my words. Emperor Napoleon will leave Elba. He will become greater than ever, but those who have taken his side will be persecuted, pursued and scattered. They will not know where to lay their heads."
“What can I do?" I said. "I am his daughter and if he returns, I must cast my lot with his."
She left me, repeating, "Remember 1815." After all the very real misfortunes that had overtaken me the hallucinations of a mystic could not make much of an impression on me. I also met at the house of Grand Duchess of Baden, Prince Ypsilanti, son of the last hospodar of Wallachia.
He described vividly the sad lot of Greece enslaved under a foreign yoke, and spoke of his joy if he should ever be able to succeed in freeing it from its oppressors. I shared his enthusiasm. I also deplored the fact that instead of exhausting their strength by fighting among themselves the civilized nations did not unite to deliver such an unhappy race.
The generosity of the Prince's feelings pleased me. In accordance with my habit of distributing good-luck charms to those who were about to go into battle I gave him a talisman to protect him from the dangers upon which he seemed about to embark.
I was far from imagining that his dreams were so soon to become realities and that Fate had marked him for a gloomy death in a cell at Munkacs.
I left at the end of August to return to Saint-Leu. I again bade farewell to my brother, who was about to go to Vienna to claim vainly that position which the treaties had stipulated he was to receive, while I instead of enjoying the peace which I so desired was about to find myself again in the midst of intrigues, plots and dangers of every description.
I traveled both day and night. At six o'clock in the evening just as my horses were being changed at Saverne I caught sight of four French officers in a little carriage stopping outside the posting-house.
They exclaimed, "There is Queen Hortense. French officers could never fail to recognize Queen Hortense."
I sought to remain as inconspicuous as possible, for I had no reason to seek too flattering tokens of recognition, and I gave orders to leave immediately. The evening was so lovely that I had my carriage stop farther on at the foot of a hill in order to walk a little way.
To my astonishment I saw these young men follow me. They bowed, greeted me by name and expressed their pleasure at the opportunity of catching a glimpse of the daughter of their Emperor.
They offered to escort me as far as the top of the hill. I accepted, unwilling to repulse their politeness. One of them expressed his despair at seeing France in such a humiliating position. Another declared he would rather be in chains again, as he had been for a long time while a prisoner in England, than witness the disintegration of our army.
They spoke of the enforced abdication of the Emperor, of his anniversary, which they had just celebrated in spite of the rule forbidding such commemorations, and they swore never to rally to a dynasty which had been imposed by foreigners.
I sought to quiet them, insisting on the benefits of peace, the necessity of resigning oneself to circumstance and of resting after having accomplished so many heroic feats.
“No," they all replied, "we cannot live and feel ourselves humiliated. Remember us, if ever you have need of us. We shall always be utterly devoted to you. A word from you will be enough to make us undertake any enterprise. Here are our names and those of the regiments we belong to."
At that moment we arrived at the top of the hill on which stood a triumphal arch just erected for the Duc de Berry, who, so they told me, was expected shortly, but they added, "It is you who will be the first to pass beneath it."
Saying this and catching sight of the guards who were supposed to protect the arch they carried me toward it shouting as they did so, "Long live Queen Hortense!"
"What luck!" they added. "At least this one triumphal arch will have served some useful purpose."
I was anxious to reach the posting-house, and my expression must have been that of a criminal undergoing his punishment, for such a demonstration, particularly under existing conditions, was not at all to my liking.
When at Phalsbourg the officers saw I was keeping on traveling by night they wished to accompany me on horseback. Conscious of the fact that they did not care how far they compromised themselves, I had all the trouble in the world to make them understand that although such devotion touched me it could nevertheless do me a great deal of harm.
They finally left me and I was much relieved. I never saw them again and have never heard them mentioned, but, as my readers will readily understand, when later I heard that these regiments under Marshal Ney were advancing to meet the Emperor, I had no doubt which side they would take. I arrived at Saint-Leu without further incidents but only stayed there a few days.
The original French is available below:
