The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-01-17
The Remusat Memoirs.
What the Second Volume Reveals.

.
in review There is graphic picture of well
known scene-the successful pleading OF Nine.
de Polgnac for her husbands life, in describ-
ing which in the official paper next day Talley-
ranGsndid not dwell as maliciously upon the
ceaseess iteration of Nine. Danlau (who had
accompanied her distracted niece), "Sire, am
the daughter of Helvetius," as he did when
telling it to Nine. de Remusat Josephine's
lady-in-waiting, who was instrumental In
bringing about the interview, recounts her
meeting Nine. de Polignac after the Restora-
tion, when she was chilled by the air of indif-
ference and constraint with which the Duchess,
who at first affected not to know her. received
her. Josephne's successful intercession brought
numberless suitors to her door, and the Bona
parte princesses, unwilling to have it go abroad
that she was the sole power at court, went into
the interceding business with much zeal, parad-
their protegGes in their carriages.
With the foundation of the empire came the
establishment of rigid ceremonial, the incon-
veniences of which were increased by the EN-
peror's character. Half of his courtierS were
new to the ways of court, and more than
half lived in perpetual apprehension of him, so
that the palace was gloomy as well as splendid.
Nine. de Remusat comments accutely on the
experience of the Royalist mobiles that had raj
lied to the empire, and who, on finding them
selves amid titles, orders and all the style and
ceremony of royal household, had just begun
70 put on some of their old time airs and graces
when suddenly something occurred that re-
yealed to them the existence of master aS
practical as he was absolute, whereon they
utterly lost, their heads. The cou-tiers meth
ods with Bonaparte did not pay. AS they led
to nothing they were speedily abandoned, and
as it was risky work TO play the man every
body found it the simplest and easiest course
to be servant.
An episode is recounted which recalls jose
t,l; - Iva ,trtra fha CT Of
leries with Nine. de Remusat in the day OF
Mile. Georges. Napoleon having taken fan
cy to lady of the court, his wife, in an access
of jealousy, stormed the apartment in which
they were seated. The lady ordered her horses
and fled, and Bonaparte made scene with Jo-
sephine, smashing the furniture and assuring
her of his fixed determination to have d.
vorce forthwith. "My mother" said Hortense,
''will lose her crown, but she will have rest.
Other women are less fortunate" Speaking
of Hortense, Nine. de Remusat, by the way,
gives in detail on Corvisart's authority, the
story that it was attempted to cure Hortenses
husband, Louis, of persistent disease by what
the specialist in the story, who wasn't much
| on postules but death on fits" called "clrcui-
| tous treatment"-to wit, by wrapping him, be-
| meath the silk and gold of his splendid bed In
| the shirt and SHEETS OF beggar afflicted with
cutaneous disorder. After the scene OF the
| rupture above alluded to, Josephine's tears and
| submissyeness won the day, as usual. and
| there was a reconciliation in which Napoleon,
| himself weeping, foretold very clearly the ul-
innate necessity for her yielding to his policy
| and leaving him to wed a woman capable OF
assuring the succession to the throne. jose
| phine's taste for luxury and society," says Nine.
| de Remusat, would have made it impossible
| for her 10 make the best of q bad bargain by
| voluntarily sacrificing herself: she remained
| unable to influence her own fate, ready 10
obey but declaring positively that she insisted
| on direct orders.
| 1t was long, however, ere the quarrel was IL
IL, Lxrp 0rtQ
| night that the Pope would shortly visit Paris
and that she was to prepare for the coronation.
| He had not manifested any Discrimination TO
accede to her frequent requests for religious
| marriage averring only that it would be dlfh-
| cult to have priest unite them so secretly tnat
| il would not come out that their union had not
| previously been blessed by the Church. Mme
| de Remusat or her editorial grandson, (whose
| finger grows more and more apparent in the
| book seems to lean to the belief that the EN-
| peror purposely put her off so as to have 1t In
| his power to break the marriage at any time.
| We hear great deal of the repeated attempts
| to get from Josephine the written attestatlon
| given her by Cardinal Fesch when ne per-
| formed the ceremony in the presence OF Napo-
| Icons aides two days before the coronation
| The Cardinal advised the ex-Empress after her
| divorce not to give this paper up and she foi-
lowed his advice, though distracted by fears
| that the uncle and nephew were in league
| against her and desired only to provoke scam
dal that would afford a pretext for packing her
| out of France The scene OF the coronation
| has often been described. Nine. de Remusat
tells us of the pleasing episode of the Bona
| parte princesses, who, having reluctantly con-
| sented to bear Josephine's train brought her
| suddenly to anchor, and holding fast re-
fused to let her go from the altar 70 tne throne
| till the Emperor himself gave them a small
| but vigorous piece of his mind. With this and
| with sausages of garlic at Marie Louises we'd
! ding it must be admitted that Napoleon had
bad luck with his pageants
| H., N,DO ha1 not a
memory and ''What is your name?" was his
very frequent salutation. "Gretry, as usual,
| SIRE" was the response of an eminent musician,
| Justly annoyed at the regular repetition OF the
| uuery OF the splendor of his feteS and court
life generally Nine. de Remusat is competent
| if reluctant witness, and she adds that the Sun
! King himself never received tithe OF the ad-
| ulation lavished on Bonaparte, over whose
throne the authorities OF Paris inscribed III gold
| letters 81 Am That Am" without anyone De-
| ing impressed with the irreyerence of the eu-
| logy There is a delightful story of his telling
the ladies of his household at bI eakfast one day
| all that the irreconcilable fashionables said OF
them, and of his determination TO resent any
slander of them as an attack upon himself,
having, apparently, in spite of everybody's vls-
iole embarrassment, no idea that it was at all
awkward to remark 'Mme. A., they say that
your lover is M. de b., ''>and SO on down the
whole list of those present. Il will have 1t un-
derstood" said the Emperor in conclusion and
| warmly, "that whoever attacks my court at
tacks me" chivalrous declaration which did
not prevent one of the ladies from remarklng
that one more such defense would be fetal.
OF the imperial household we are given some
very interesting details. Napoleon's income
was about 81, 100000 year, exclusive OF what
he took from the secret service funds, the po-
lice funds, the. theatrical funds an and the con,
tributions' levied in war time. His household
budgets were carefully drawn up, and pecula-
ton was as impossible as extravagance-some-
thing over S3,00o,000 year was the sum they
called for. The Emperor allowed himself
$4,000 year for his dress; 1t is well known
that if an article of clothing did not suit him
exactly either in make o, material, 1t was
| condemned, and that he was greatly. gwen TO
| linking or greasing his white breeches and TO
burning his boots by using his boot for poker,
especially when he was angry or excited. He
usually rose at 7-if he wakened in the night
he frequently bathed ate or worked before go
| ing to sleep again--he suffered from foul
stomach and often fancied that he had been
poisoned. 1t took M. de Remusat long time
to teach him to shave himself: the chamber
lain was moved to this through Napoleon's
visible uneasiness when in the BARRIERS hands
If garment did not please him 1t was torn OH
and thrown on the floor or into the fire; IN
trimming his nails, of which he was vain, he
used countless pairs of scissors that were
smashed off-hand if they were not sharp; the
only perfume he was partial to was cologne, OF
| which he required sixty bottles a month. He
ate and drank little, though he was very fond
of coffee: at dinner he had everything served
at once and fed at hazard, often taking cream
or dish of sweets before touching the entrees
He was ''shivery' sleeper within doors, and
so found himself unequaly mated with his sec
ond wife, who was sworn foe to warm ROOM
Detailing his morning talks with Corvisart he
always went to the point and if the physician
said "So-and-so is sick, - "Will he die?" was
the instant question, any reply to which but
"yes' or mo- seemed to impress him unfavor-
ably with medicine as science 1t is worth
saying here that Mme de Remusat tells the
story upon Corvsarts authority of Napoleon
having suggested to Josephine that she should
feign to be brought to bed of an heir whenever
he 1onld secure son by one of his mistresses;
at the time of the birth of the King of Rome
the gossips did not fail to allege that some such
substitution had been made.
Josephine had $1200O0 a year and $4,000
for her benefactions, an allowance twice as
large as that made to her successor. who, how
ever, had no poor relations to support. Liberal
as the allowance was she was always in debt.
She had mania for miniatures and portraits,
and bought everything that was offered to her
without asking the price. She changed her
linen thrice day and never wore pair OF
| txv;oa ba had AOO cashmere Sha wis