The Conversation Read online

  BONAPARTE

  Joséphine! I loved her so very much. Now she’s making problems for me, serious problems, by not giving me an heir. And then meaningless things, with which she harangues me all day long. Have you heard about this business of the shawl?

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  No. What shawl?

  BONAPARTE

  It would appear that about two weeks ago an Armenian merchant called upon my sister Caroline with a cashmere shawl, embroidered with red and gold, and covered with enormous flowers. A garish thing, but strange and rather extraordinary and therefore outrageously expensive.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  I wonder what price Madame Murat would consider “outrageous.”

  BONAPARTE

  Fifteen-thousand francs.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Ah. That is a hefty price.

  BONAPARTE

  That’s what Caroline thought. She told the Armenian, “That’s too costly. I won’t buy it.” Then she added almost immediately, “My god but it is handsome. I would offer you ten thousand.” To which the Armenian replied, “Fifteen thousand and not a sou less.” This angered Caroline, who told him he was out of his mind and to leave immediately.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  To her very great credit.

  BONAPARTE

  It didn’t end there. It wasn’t the Armenian but Caroline who was out of her mind. She dreamed of the shawl. She happened to run into my stepdaughter Hortense and went on and on about it. Hortense immediately went to Joséphine, her mother, and told her about this Wonder of the East. Joséphine was immediately seized with the desire to possess it. She moved heaven and earth to find the Armenian merchant and first offered him twelve thousand, then thirteen, and finally bought the shawl for fifteen-thousand francs.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Did you reproach her?

  BONAPARTE

  I reproach her nothing. But the story still isn’t finished. A few days later my sister Élisa went to have dinner with my wife. The minute Élisa arrived she saw that her sister-in-law was wearing the famous shawl. She had never seen it herself but Caroline had described it with such emotion in her voice that she recognized it immediately. The very next day she had nothing better to do than to hurry over and inform her sister that she had lost the shawl forever. Caroline was furious. She told her husband Murat that Joséphine had only bought it to spite her and that she would never speak to her again.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Good heavens. I can see how painful this would be for any family, but for yours . . .

  BONAPARTE

  My mother and Joseph’s wife, who is a good person, went to Joséphine and asked whether she would be willing to give the shawl to Caroline, putting an end to this discord. Joséphine replied that it was hers and that she intended to keep it. Voices were raised. Tears flowed. Caroline demanded that her sister-in-law give her the shawl for what she paid for it. My wife replied that she would burn it first. My mother, Murat, my brother Joseph, Élisa, and Hortense were involved in the battle. The Tuileries became a hell.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Where did you come down on it all?

  BONAPARTE

  Weary of all the fuss and tears and pouting, I decided that Joséphine could keep the shawl but that she could not wear it. And I gave Caroline a very fine string of pearls.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  A decision worthy of Solomon.

  BONAPARTE

  One that took more painful effort than a two week military campaign or than negotiating for peace with the Austrians or the English.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  All families have their squabbles. Dazzled by the greatness that you shine on all corners, yours is more demanding than others. But may I be permitted to offer you a word of advice?

  BONAPARTE

  Of course, of course.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Don’t let yourself get caught up in them.

  BONAPARTE

  My heart is no less soft than that of other men. I am generous with my family. But I also respond to their demands and pleas by means of the Eternal Me. Make no mistake. I know perfectly well that I have a destiny, and I will not let myself be distracted from it by squabbles and whining.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Thank heaven for that. That is the leader the Republic needs.

  BONAPARTE

  I will tell you something I have told no one else. I have never had a master plan for my life. I have always been governed by circumstances. But I have always taken advantage of these circumstances and been their master. Nothing has happened that I did not foresee and seek out, and therefore I am the only one not to be surprised by what I have accomplished. I can even foresee the future and will get to where I plan to go. When my political wagon has begun to move nothing will stop it, and woe to him who falls under its wheels.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  And this wagon, which is also the wagon of the French Republic, where is it headed?

  BONAPARTE

  It’s about that that I wanted to speak with you, my dear colleague. For the first time in ages, power in France is being wielded by a man who understands the country’s needs and who matches what the people want: order, glory, peace, respect for religion, the national good. I am that man. Anyone can see what I have accomplished in Italy, in the East, in France. Do you believe that all this is purely for the glory of gossips and lawyers? Death means nothing. Living without glory means dying each and every day. I am telling you, Cambacérès, I can no longer simply obey. I have tasted command and cannot now give it up.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Three-and-a-half million Frenchman against eight thousand three hundred have chosen to make you Consul for Life, with the right to freely choose your successor. In the Vendée—the Vendée! Counter-Revolutionary capital of France—there were six no’s and seventeen thousand yes’s. All power now resides with you. What more can you hope for?

  BONAPARTE

  I have not forgotten the role you played in the passage of the vote to make me Consul for Life, and I am grateful to you. You are an invaluable man. Still, what would happen if I disappeared? That is the question.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Why would you disappear? You are thirty-four years old.

  BONAPARTE

  Yes, of course. The bullet that will kill me has not yet been forged. But there have already been several attempts on my life. There will be others, perpetrated either by the Jacobins or the Royalists. It is rumored that the Count d’Artois maintains sixty assassins in Paris. Enghien is plotting in Baden. And the madmen of the Terror have not been disarmed. In the eyes of many, on either side, I am a kind of dog and whoever gets to me first can bludgeon me with impunity. Three years ago, on Christmas evening, on Rue Saint-Nicaise, just a few steps from your home, I was nearly killed. Had I been killed it would have taken guts to restore order and pick up the reins of power, and you’re a little wobbly in the stirrups. I like you a great deal, Cambacérès, but you know as well as I that everything rides on me. I founded a new era and now I must make it stick. Dramatic change means nothing unless it lasts. Do you not think that we should rise above a regime in which I am only the first magistrate of a republic that is still vulnerable and threatened?

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  I knew from the beginning of this conversation that behind it was the end of the Republic. Like you, I’ve seen for some time, and with justification, that things are tending toward that.

  BONAPARTE

  I never doubted it, my dear friend. You are a man of discernment.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  The key is to know when the pear is ripe. If it is, you must not hesitate to pick it. The only question I would ask is this: do you think that the French are still attached to the idea of a republic, at least in name?

  BONAPARTE

  I know the French and their flightiness, the ease with which they can change their minds. The Republic is a chimera with which they are infatuated, but the infatuation will pass, just as others ha
ve. I am persuaded that in the country’s heart lies the willingness for a return to the ways of monarchy.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  The word still strikes fear.

  BONAPARTE

  My dear colleague, it would not be reestablished for the benefit of the Bourbons.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Heaven preserve us from a return of the Bourbons, with all of their prejudices, favorites, and their priests. They would immediately make themselves as hated as before.

  BONAPARTE

  Yet they dream of nothing but returning to their throne. The pretender who sometimes call himself the Count of Lille and sometimes Louis the Eighteenth sent me a letter, begging me to save the French from themselves and returning to them their king, such that future nations would bless my memory.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  As if you needed to restore the Bourbon yoke to be celebrated by those who will come after you!

  BONAPARTE

  My response to him consisted of five lines, essentially informing him that he should not dream of returning to this country. He would first have to walk across a hundred-thousand dead bodies. I will never play the role of Monk. I do not want to play it and I do not want others to play it. None of us has any interest in seeing the Bourbons return.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  You especially, Citizen First Consul.

  BONAPARTE

  Nor you, Citizen Second Consul. You should even be more afraid than me at the thought of their restoration. As I remember you voted in favor of the death of the king.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  With reservations. With reservations!

  BONAPARTE

  Your reservations won’t count for much in their eyes. My poor Cambacérès, I’m afraid it’s abundantly clear that should the Bourbons ever return, it would be the end of you. There would be nothing I could do about it.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Then may they stay where they are! To rid them of any hope of a return—and, since you put it that way, to give me some sense of peace—I am ready to help in the establishment of any royal line other than theirs.

  BONAPARTE

  I’m going to surprise you, Cambacérès, but I do not want a royalty that the last Bourbons had shrunk to such an extent that now it matches their size. The other day, one of a throng of courtesans addressed me in language designed for a king. I informed him that I was First Consul of the Republic, and that using or acceding to feudal forms of address was a crime.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  But if you do not want to be king, what will become of us?

  BONAPARTE

  I understand you, Cambacérès. No longer is it a matter of saving principles but of saving people. The era of opinions has been replaced by that of interests. You can be sure that I am perfectly able to defend both people and interests.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  You have already proved as much.

  BONAPARTE

  I will prove it again. Nevertheless I will never be content merely to substitute one elite for another. After the monarchic heredity and Jacobin egalitarian leveling, I have found a third way—that of merit. “To each according to his birth and his rank” and “Equality or death” will be replaced by “To each according to his talents.” I don’t repent the Revolution, but I always detested its crimes. I want to complete the Revolution in both senses of the word—both to fulfill it and to bring it to a conclusion.

  I erased the memories of January 21, and August 10, and 9 Thermidor. I forbade debauchery and public exposure. I reinstituted Sundays, Carnival, and New Year’s, ladies in waiting, livery, etiquette, breeches, and silk stockings. All the great names—the Périgords, Brissacs, Rochefoucaulds, Montesquious, Maillys, Ségurs, and the Narbonnes—are my equals. But Murat, my brother-in-law, was the son of an innkeeper. Ney is the son of a cooper, Augerau was a mason, Lanne was a stable-boy, Lefebre was a cabinet-maker, and his wife was a washerwoman. I want us all to start on a new footing. I want the world to live in peace. But, and I’m not jesting, I would like people to have fun. I will chase from the Tuileries the first man or woman who feels they can make a scene or simply raise their voice. Those who are displeased by some people and who come here each night to express their displeasure have no business here. I have a republican imagination and a monarchic instinct. I want to establish a republican monarchy. And the Republic that is mine is Roman, military, warrior-like, and all-conquering. My model isn’t Versailles, My model is Rome. My model is not the Bourbons. My model is Caesar.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Caesar! The name has been uttered. Like him you set a term to the Republic. And like him you refuse the royal crown.

  BONAPARTE

  I refuse the royal crown. Talleyrand wants to make me king. I don’t want to be. I am not refusing all crowns. I have become accustomed to the laurel wreath that the French people gave me after Rivoli, Marengo, and my other victories. They want to return to a monarchy? If they express their desire with enough force behind it, I will assume a title that will strike France and Europe as more solemn, more imposing, more august than that of king. It will be a new title with ancient roots—that of the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Emperor?

  BONAPARTE

  Why not? The Republic would be confided to an emperor. After all, Monsieur Cambacérès, it is only to royalty that we have all sworn our hatred.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  That is true. We have never said a word against the empire.

  BONAPARTE

  The title of emperor will not shock republicans and fully satisfy those inclined to a monarchy. I believe that it would be the best thing to replace what we currently have. I would renounce without any regret the royalty of Hugues Capet and his successors, and I will reconstitute Charlemagne’s empire. Rather than succeed to Philippe August, or Henry the Fourth, or Louis the Fourteenth, I will succeed Charlemagne. I will reattach myself to the Holy Roman Empire. I would be Caesar lifted above the king, call myself the supreme leader of the Italy of which I am already President. I would have supremacy over the crowned heads and the protectorate over Germany, and I would reassume the rights attached to the Western Empire.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  It is an idea with powerful appeal. Yet in adopting the forms of Charlemagne’s empire and that of Rome, what will you do with those forms of the Roman Republic already in place, such as the Senate, the tribunals, the quaestors, and the prefects? I have to be honest and say that I perceive a difficulty and feel a sense of unease.

  BONAPARTE

  Difficulty? Unease?

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  France would accord you the title of emperor, I am sure of it, and with the same enthusiasm that I myself feel. But if you become emperor, Citizen First Consul, would you retain the two other consuls, one in charge of finances, meaning Lebrun, and the other running the bureaucracy, meaning, well, me?

  BONAPARTE

  The real difficulty, and actually the scandal of it all, was the existence of three consuls of which I was without doubt the first but only the first. The title of Consul today is nearly as absurd today as Director was yesterday. It will disappear.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Disappear.

  BONAPARTE

  Yes, disappear. For you as for me the real glory consists of putting oneself above one’s state. In peace as in war, I was always above my state. By becoming emperor, I would once more put myself above my state. By fulfilling the prediction made once upon a time by a magician in Martinique that she would someday be more than queen, I would put Joséphine above the state. You as well, I would put above yours. I am a soldier who has made it and who will help you make it. I have planned for everything. The title of Prince Archtreasurer would go to Lebrun, and that of Prince Archchancellor of the Empire to you, replacing resoundingly the consul titles.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Archchancellor. Talleyrand will make fun of me.

  BONAPARTE

  No one will mak
e fun of you. Nor of me. The French will find it charming to have their own emperor surrounded by princes. They may laugh the first day, less so the second, and by the third they will be used to it all. Talleyrand will make a few witty remarks. He will say “Look! the Archchancellor is archriding around his archwagon.” As with Fouché and the others, I will make him a prince or a duke of something, with a hundred-thousand francs per year, and that will take care of it. Let me win a few more battles and I will take care of everything.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  Even the Jacobins?

  BONAPARTE

  What caused the Revolution? Vanity. What will bring it to an end? Vanity again. It is with rattles that one draws men. I would never say that before a tribunal, but between us it can be said. Ten years of revolution have not changed the French. They still want glory, distinctions, and rewards. The Jacobins will be given the titles of barons or counts and go to mass right behind me. Fouché and Talleyrand set an example last year. All of them, even the most rabid among them, will follow suit. There are still twelve or fifteen metaphysicians who need to be tossed into the water, vermin caught up in my clothes, and it has sometimes been necessary to shoot or deport them. I have always known how to rid myself of these. I am not going to allow myself to be attacked like Louis the Sixteenth. I am a soldier, a child of the Revolution, and as I come from the people I will not permit anyone to insult me like a king.

  CAMBACÉRÈS

  And the royalists?

  BONAPARTE

  The royalists are my problem. They will throng around this new Caesar, this Charlemagne reborn, only too happy to retain their old privileges and their new allocations. There will be some foot-draggers, some among them who are fearful and ashamed. Sooner or later they will all come around. Many of them are already looking on admiringly, and the distance from admiration to submission is short. The nobility would have been content with the Directory or the Consulate. It is hard to imagine that an empire won’t satisfy them. If they prove skittish and it proves necessary to smite them, good and hard, then so be it. I will smite them. I will always be careful to balance the Jacobins and the royalists.