NAPOLEON AND MARIE WALEWSKA
There are four women who may be said to have deeply influenced the lifeof Napoleon. These four are the only ones who need to be taken intoaccount by the student of his imperial career. The great emperor wassusceptible to feminine charms at all times; but just as it used to besaid of him that "his smile never rose above his eyes," so it might astruly be said that in most instances the throbbing of his heart did notaffect his actions.
Women to him were the creatures of the moment, although he might seem tocare for them and to show his affection in extravagant ways, as in hisaffair with Mlle. Georges, the beautiful but rather tiresome actress.As for Mme. de Stael, she bored him to distraction by her assumptionof wisdom. That was not the kind of woman that Napoleon cared for. Hepreferred that a woman should be womanly, and not a sort of owl to sitand talk with him about the theory of government.
When it came to married women they interested him only because ofthe children they might bear to grow up as recruits for his insatiatearmies. At the public balls given at the Tuileries he would walk aboutthe gorgeous drawing-rooms, and when a lady was presented to him hewould snap out, sharply:
"How many children have you?"
If she were able to answer that she had several the emperor would lookpleased and would pay her some compliment; but if she said that she hadnone he would turn upon her sharply and say:
"Then go home and have some!"
Of the four women who influenced his life, first must come Josephine,because she secured him his earliest chance of advancement. She met himthrough Barras, with whom she was said to be rather intimate. The youngsoldier was fascinated by her--the more because she was older than heand possessed all the practised arts of the creole and the woman of theworld. When she married him she brought him as her dowry the command ofthe army of Italy, where in a few months he made the tri-color, borne byragged troops, triumphant over the splendidly equipped hosts of Austria.
She was his first love, and his knowledge of her perfidy gave him thegreatest shock and horror of his whole life; yet she might have held himto the end if she had borne an heir to the imperial throne. It was herfailure to do so that led Napoleon to divorce Josephine and marry thethick-lipped Marie Louise of Austria. There were times later when heshowed signs of regret and said:
"I have had no luck since I gave up Josephine!"
Marie Louise was of importance for a time--the short time when sheentertained her husband and delighted him by giving birth to the littleKing of Rome. Yet in the end she was but an episode; fleeing from herhusband in his misfortune, becoming the mistress of Count Neipperg, andletting her son--l'Aiglon--die in a land that was far from France.
Napoleon's sister, Pauline Bonaparte, was the third woman who comes tomind when we contemplate the great Corsican's career. She, too, is anepisode. During the period of his ascendancy she plagued him with herwanton ways, her sauciness and trickery. It was amusing to throw himinto one of his violent rages; but Pauline was true at heart, and whenher great brother was sent to Elba she followed him devotedly and gavehim all her store of jewels, including the famous Borghese diamonds,perhaps the most superb of all gems known to the western world. Shewould gladly have followed him, also, to St. Helena had she beenpermitted. Remaining behind, she did everything possible in conspiringto secure his freedom.
But, after all, Pauline and Marie Louise count for comparatively little.Josephine's fate was interwoven with Napoleon's; and, with his Corsicansuperstition, he often said so. The fourth woman, of whom I am writinghere, may be said to have almost equaled Josephine in her influence onthe emperor as well as in the pathos of her life-story.
On New-Year's Day of 1807 Napoleon, who was then almost Emperor ofEurope, passed through the little town of Bronia, in Poland. Riding withhis cavalry to Warsaw, the ancient capital of the Polish kingdom, heseemed a very demigod of battle.
True, he had had to abandon his long-cherished design of invading andoverrunning England, and Nelson had shattered his fleets and practicallydriven his flag from the sea; but the naval disaster of Trafalgar hadspeedily been followed by the triumph of Austerlitz, the greatest andmost brilliant of all Napoleon's victories, which left Austria andRussia humbled to the very ground before him.
Then Prussia had dared to defy the over-bearing conqueror and had putinto the field against him her armies trained by Frederick the Great;but these he had shattered almost at a stroke, winning in one day thedecisive battles of Jena and Auerstadt. He had stabled his horses inthe royal palace of the Hohenzollerns and had pursued the remnant of thePrussian forces to the Russian border.
As he marched into the Polish provinces the people swarmed by thousandsto meet him and hail him as their country's savior. They believed downto the very last that Bonaparte would make the Poles once more a freeand independent nation and rescue them from the tyranny of Russia.
Napoleon played upon this feeling in every manner known to his artfulmind. He used it to alarm the Czar. He used it to intimidate the Emperorof Austria; but more especially did he use it among the Poles themselvesto win for his armies thousands upon thousands of gallant soldiers, whobelieved that in fighting for Napoleon they were fighting for the finalindependence of their native land.
Therefore, with the intensity of patriotism which is a passion among thePoles, every man and every woman gazed at Napoleon with something likeadoration for was not he the mighty warrior who had in his gift whatall desired? Soldiers of every rank swarmed to his standards. Princesand nobles flocked about him. Those who stayed at home repeatedwonderful stories of his victories and prayed for him and fed the flamewhich spread through all the country. It was felt that no sacrifice wastoo great to win his favor; that to him, as to a deity, everything thathe desired should be yielded up, since he was to restore the liberty ofPoland.
And hence, when the carriage of the emperor dashed into Bronia,surrounded by Polish lancers and French cuirassiers, the enormous crowdsurged forward and blocked the way so that their hero could not passbecause of their cheers and cries and supplications.
In the midst of it all there came a voice of peculiar sweetness from thethickest portion of the crowd.
"Please let me pass!" said the voice. "Let me see him, if only for amoment!"
The populace rolled backward, and through the lane which they made abeautiful girl with dark blue eyes that flamed and streaming hair thathad become loosened about her radiant face was confronting the emperor.Carried away by her enthusiasm, she cried:
"Thrice welcome to Poland! We can do or say nothing to express our joyin the country which you will surely deliver from its tyrant."
The emperor bowed and, with a smile, handed a great bouquet of roses tothe girl, for her beauty and her enthusiasm had made a deep impressionon him.
"Take it," said he, "as a proof of my admiration. I trust that I mayhave the pleasure of meeting you at Warsaw and of hearing your thanksfrom those beautiful lips."
In a moment more the trumpets rang out shrilly, the horsemen closed upbeside the imperial carriage, and it rolled away amid the tumultuousshouting of the populace.
The girl who had so attracted Napoleon's attention was Marie Walewska,descended from an ancient though impoverished family in Poland. When shewas only fifteen she was courted by one of the wealthiest men in Poland,the Count Walewska. He was three or four times her age, yet her darkblue eyes, her massive golden hair, and the exquisite grace of herfigure led him to plead that she might become his wife. She had acceptedhim, but the marriage was that of a mere child, and her interest stillcentered upon her country and took the form of patriotism rather thanthat of wifehood and maternity.
It was for this reason that the young Countess had visited Bronia. Shewas now eighteen years of age and still had the sort of romantic feelingwhich led her to think that she would keep in some secret hiding-placethe bouquet which the greatest man alive had given her.
But Napoleon was not the sort of man to forget anything that had givenhim either pleasure or
the reverse. He who, at the height of his cares,could recall instantly how many cannon were in each seaport of Franceand could make out an accurate list of all his military stores; he whocould call by name every soldier in his guard, with a full remembranceof the battles each man had fought in and the honors that he had won--hewas not likely to forget so lovely a face as the one which had gleamedwith peculiar radiance through the crowd at Bronia.
On reaching Warsaw he asked one or two well-informed persons aboutthis beautiful stranger. Only a few hours had passed before PrincePoniatowski, accompanied by other nobles, called upon her at her home.
"I am directed, madam," said he, "by order of the Emperor of France,to bid you to be present at a ball that is to be given in his honorto-morrow evening."
Mme. Walewska was startled, and her face grew hot with blushes. Did theemperor remember her escapade at Bronia? If so, how had he discoveredher? Why should he seek her out and do her such an honor?
"That, madam, is his imperial majesty's affair," Poniatowski told her."I merely obey his instructions and ask your presence at the ball.Perhaps Heaven has marked you out to be the means of saving our unhappycountry."
In this way, by playing on her patriotism, Poniatowski almost persuadedher, and yet something held her back. She trembled, though she wasgreatly fascinated; and finally she refused to go.
Scarcely had the envoy left her, however, when a great company of noblesentered in groups and begged her to humor the emperor. Finally her ownhusband joined in their entreaties and actually commanded her to go; soat last she was compelled to yield.
It was by no means the frank and radiant girl who was now preparingagain to meet the emperor. She knew not why, and yet her heart was fullof trepidation and nervous fright, the cause of which she could notguess, yet which made her task a severe ordeal. She dressed herself inwhite satin, with no adornment save a wreath of foliage in her hair.
As she entered the ballroom she was welcomed by hundreds whom she hadnever seen before, but who were of the highest nobility of Poland.Murmurs of admiration followed her, and finally Poniatowski came to herand complimented her, besides bringing her a message that the emperordesired her to dance with him.
"I am very sorry," she said, with a quiver of the lips, "but I reallycannot dance. Be kind enough to ask the emperor to excuse me."
But at that very moment she felt some strange magnetic influence; andwithout looking up she could feel that Napoleon himself was standing byher as she sat with blanched face and downcast eyes, not daring to lookup at him.
"White upon white is a mistake, madam," said the emperor, in hisgentlest tones. Then, stooping low, he whispered, "I had expected a fardifferent reception."
She neither smiled nor met his eyes. He stood there for a moment andthen passed on, leaving her to return to her home with a heavy heart.The young countess felt that she had acted wrongly, and yet there was aninstinct--an instinct that she could not conquer.
In the gray of the morning, while she was still tossing feverishly, hermaid knocked at the door and brought her a hastily scribbled note. Itran as follows:
I saw none but you, I admired none but you; I desire only you. Answer atonce, and calm the impatient ardor of--N.
These passionate words burned from her eyes the veil that had hiddenthe truth from her. What before had been mere blind instinct became anactual verity. Why had she at first rushed forth into the very streetsto hail the possible deliverer of her country, and then why had sheshrunk from him when he sought to honor her! It was all clear enoughnow. This bedside missive meant that he had intended her dishonor andthat he had looked upon her simply as a possible mistress.
At once she crushed the note angrily in her hand.
"There is no answer at all," said she, bursting into bitter tears at thevery thought that he should dare to treat her in this way.
But on the following morning when she awoke her maid was standing besideher with a second letter from Napoleon. She refused to open it andplaced it in a packet with the first letter, and ordered that both ofthem should be returned to the emperor.
She shrank from speaking to her husband of what had happened, and therewas no one else in whom she dared confide. All through that day therecame hundreds of visitors, either of princely rank or men who had wonfame by their gallantry and courage. They all begged to see her, but tothem all she sent one answer--that she was ill and could see no one.
After a time her husband burst into her room, and insisted that sheshould see them.
"Why," exclaimed he, "you are insulting the greatest men and thenoblest women of Poland! More than that, there are some of the mostdistinguished Frenchmen sitting at your doorstep, as it were. Thereis Duroc, grand marshal of France, and in refusing to see him you areinsulting the great emperor on whom depends everything that our countrylongs for. Napoleon has invited you to a state dinner and you have givenhim no answer whatever. I order you to rise at once and receive theseladies and gentlemen who have done you so much honor!"
She could not refuse. Presently she appeared in her drawing-room, whereshe was at once surrounded by an immense throng of her own countrymenand countrywomen, who made no pretense of misunderstanding thesituation. To them, what was one woman's honor when compared withthe freedom and independence of their nation? She was overwhelmed byarguments and entreaties. She was even accused of being disloyal to thecause of Poland if she refused her consent.
One of the strangest documents of that period was a letter sent to herand signed by the noblest men in Poland. It contained a powerful appealto her patriotism. One remarkable passage even quotes the Bible to pointout her line of duty. A portion of this letter ran as follows:
Did Esther, think you, give herself to Ahasuerus out of the fulness ofher love for him? So great was the terror with which he inspired herthat she fainted at the sight of him. We may therefore conclude thataffection had but little to do with her resolve. She sacrificed her owninclinations to the salvation of her country, and that salvation it washer glory to achieve. May we be enabled to say the same of you, to yourglory and our own happiness!
After this letter came others from Napoleon himself, full of themost humble pleading. It was not wholly distasteful thus to have theconqueror of the world seek her out and offer her his adoration anymore than it was distasteful to think that the revival of her own nationdepended on her single will. M. Frederic Masson, whose minute studiesregarding everything relating to Napoleon have won him a seat in theFrench Academy, writes of Marie Walewska at this time: Every forcewas now brought into play against her. Her country, her friends, herreligion, the Old and the New Testaments, all urged her to yield; theyall combined for the ruin of a simple and inexperienced girl of eighteenwho had no parents, whose husband even thrust her into temptation, andwhose friends thought that her downfall would be her glory.
Amid all these powerful influences she consented to attend the dinner.To her gratification Napoleon treated her with distant courtesy, and, infact, with a certain coldness.
"I heard that Mme. Walewska was indisposed. I trust that she hasrecovered," was all the greeting that he gave her when they met.
Every one else with whom she spoke overwhelmed her with flattery andwith continued urging; but the emperor himself for a time acted as ifshe had displeased him. This was consummate art; for as soon as she wasrelieved of her fears she began to regret that she had thrown her poweraway.
During the dinner she let her eyes wander to those of the emperor almostin supplication. He, the subtlest of men, knew that he had won. Hismarvelous eyes met hers and drew her attention to him as by an electriccurrent; and when the ladies left the great dining-room Napoleon soughther out and whispered in her ear a few words of ardent love.
It was too little to alarm her seriously now. It was enough to makeher feel that magnetism which Napoleon knew so well how to evoke andexercise. Again every one crowded about her with congratulations. Somesaid:
"He never even saw any of US. His eyes were all for YOU! They flas
hedfire as he looked at you."
"You have conquered his heart," others said, "and you can do what youlike with him. The salvation of Poland is in your hands."
The company broke up at an early hour, but Mme. Walewska was asked toremain. When she was alone General Duroc--one of the emperor's favoriteofficers and most trusted lieutenants--entered and placed a letter fromNapoleon in her lap. He tried to tell her as tactfully as possible howmuch harm she was doing by refusing the imperial request. She was deeplyaffected, and presently, when Duroc left her, she opened the letterwhich he had given her and read it. It was worded thus:
There are times when all splendors become oppressive, as I feel but toodeeply at the present moment. How can I satisfy the desires of a heartthat yearns to cast itself at your feet, when its impulses are checkedat every point by considerations of the highest moment? Oh, if youwould, you alone might overcome the obstacles that keep us apart. MYFRIEND DUROC WILL MAKE ALL EASY FOR YOU. Oh, come, come! Your every wishshall be gratified! Your country will be dearer to me when you take pityon my poor heart. N.
Every chance of escape seemed to be closed. She had Napoleon's own wordthat he would free Poland in return for her self-sacrifice. Moreover,her powers of resistance had been so weakened that, like many women, shetemporized. She decided that she would meet the emperor alone. She wouldtell him that she did not love him, and yet would plead with him to saveher beloved country.
As she sat there every tick of the clock stirred her to a newexcitement. At last there came a knock upon the door, a cloak was thrownabout her from behind, a heavy veil was drooped about her golden hair,and she was led, by whom she knew not, to the street, where a finelyappointed carriage was waiting for her.
No sooner had she entered it than she was driven rapidly through thedarkness to the beautifully carved entrance of a palace. Half led, halfcarried, she was taken up the steps to a door which was eagerly openedby some one within. There were warmth and light and color and the scentof flowers as she was placed in a comfortable arm-chair. Her wrappingswere taken from her, the door was closed behind her; and then, asshe looked up, she found herself in the presence of Napoleon, who waskneeling at her feet and uttering soothing words.
Wisely, the emperor used no violence. He merely argued with her; he toldher over and over his love for her; and finally he declared that for hersake he would make Poland once again a strong and splendid kingdom.
Several hours passed. In the early morning, before daylight, there camea knock at the door.
"Already?" said Napoleon. "Well, my plaintive dove, go home and rest.You must not fear the eagle. In time you will come to love him, and inall things you shall command him."
Then he led her to the door, but said that he would not open it unlessshe promised to see him the next day--a promise which she gave the morereadily because he had treated her with such respect.
On the following morning her faithful maid came to her bedside witha cluster of beautiful violets, a letter, and several daintily mademorocco cases. When these were opened there leaped out strings andnecklaces of exquisite diamonds, blazing in the morning sunlight. Mme.Walewska seized the jewels and flung them across the room with an orderthat they should be taken back at once to the imperial giver; butthe letter, which was in the same romantic strain as the others, sheretained.
On that same evening there was another dinner, given to the emperor bythe nobles, and Marie Walewska attended it, but of course without thediamonds, which she had returned. Nor did she wear the flowers which hadaccompanied the diamonds.
When Napoleon met her he frowned upon her and made her tremble with thecold glances that shot from his eyes of steel. He scarcely spoke to herthroughout the meal, but those who sat beside her were earnest in theirpleading.
Again she waited until the guests had gone away, and with a lighterheart, since she felt that she had nothing to fear. But when she metNapoleon in his private cabinet, alone, his mood was very different fromthat which he had shown before. Instead of gentleness and considerationhe was the Napoleon of camps, and not of courts. He greeted her bruskly.
"I scarcely expected to see you again," said he. "Why did you refusemy diamonds and my flowers? Why did you avoid my eyes at dinner? Yourcoldness is an insult which I shall not brook." Then he raised his voiceto that rasping, almost blood-curdling tone which even his hardiestsoldiers dreaded: "I will have you know that I mean to conquer you. YouSHALL--yes, I repeat it, you SHALL love me! I have restored the name ofyour country. It owes its very existence to me."
Then he resorted to a trick which he had played years before in dealingwith the Austrians at Campo Formio.
"See this watch which I am holding in my hand. Just as I dash it tofragments before you, so will I shatter Poland if you drive me todesperation by rejecting my heart and refusing me your own."
As he spoke he hurled the watch against the opposite wall with terrificforce, dashing it to pieces. In terror, Mme. Walewska fainted. When sheresumed consciousness there was Napoleon wiping away her tears with thetenderness of a woman and with words of self-reproach.
The long siege was over. Napoleon had conquered, and this girl ofeighteen gave herself up to his caresses and endearments, thinking that,after all, her love of country was more than her own honor.
Her husband, as a matter of form, put her away from him, though at hearthe approved what she had done, while the Polish people regarded her asnothing less than a national heroine. To them she was no minister to thevices of an emperor, but rather one who would make him love Poland forher sake and restore its greatness.
So far as concerned his love for her, it was, indeed, almost idolatry.He honored her in every way and spent all the time at his disposalin her company. But his promise to restore Poland he never kept, andgradually she found that he had never meant to keep it.
"I love your country," he would say, "and I am willing to aid in theattempt to uphold its rights, but my first duty is to France. I cannotshed French blood in a foreign cause."
By this time, however, Marie Walewska had learned to love Napoleon forhis own sake. She could not resist his ardor, which matched the ardorof the Poles themselves. Moreover, it flattered her to see the greatestsoldier in the world a suppliant for her smiles.
For some years she was Napoleon's close companion, spending long hourswith him and finally accompanying him to Paris. She was the mother ofNapoleon's only son who lived to manhood. This son, who bore the name ofAlexandre Florian de Walewski, was born in Poland in 1810, and laterwas created a count and duke of the second French Empire. It may be saidparenthetically that he was a man of great ability. Living down to 1868,he was made much of by Napoleon III., who placed him in high officesof state, which he filled with distinction. In contrast with the Ducde Morny, who was Napoleon's illegitimate half-brother, Alexandre deWalewski stood out in brilliant contrast. He would have nothing to dowith stock-jobbing and unseemly speculation.
"I may be poor," he said--though he was not poor--"but at least Iremember the glory of my father and what is due to his great name."
As for Mme. Walewska, she was loyal to the emperor, and lacked the greedof many women whom he had made his favorites. Even at Elba, when hewas in exile and disgrace, she visited him that she might endeavor toconsole him. She was his counselor and friend as well as his earnestlyloved mate. When she died in Paris in 1817, while the dethroned emperorwas a prisoner at St. Helena, the word "Napoleon" was the last upon herlips.