Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-02-28
IMPEREALIsm DIsRORED.

century an lnnumeraDIe series VI
esa1aenaoiresD relating to the first
French revolution made their ap-
pearance. One after another of the
emigrant mobiles ofthe ancieyl regime,
trueulent leaders in the committee
of public safety, officers of TIE sans
cuyoae army who astonished the
enai0res and their Prussian allies at
Valmy and Jemappes, ladies of the
Faubourg st. Germaine who held
aloof in sullen disdain from the
6ourgeoiSe splendors of the first en-
pire, and ladies of the military
courtiers who Haunted their rouge
and diamonds spitefully in the faces
of the former; typical specimens OF
all these continued to rush into
print for fifty years after the grdnde
6ouIeUersme,lt, eager to describe the
revolutionary days each from his or
her peculiar point of view. And it
was well. We would not dispense
with the lightest or most frivolous
or even the dullest of them. That
vast and chaotic phenomenon was
at once so immense and so compll-
Gated that no one spectator could
give more than a very partial ac-
count even of its details, and no
one for a long time even attempted
to give a comprehensive and con-
sistent portraiture of it as a whole
no one even yet has succeeded in
doing so. We are glad therefore to
get even so much light as the least
intelligent observer may be able to
let in upon the frantic struggles and
commissions which prepared the
way for the France of the present
day, and, provided the writer was
an actual spectator, the nlenaOire is
always welcome to the historical
student.
The period, however, OF the revo-
lutionary struggle has been much
more copiOusly illustrated in this
manner than that of the military
despotism which was built upon its
ruins; and perhaps the harvest-time
of imperial memories is only just
beginning. Certain it is that two
of the most eagerly expected of these
have been given to the press within
the last six months. These are the
Memoirs of Madame de Remusat,
chief lady of the palace to the EN-
press Josephine, and Memoirs of
Prince Metternich, for many years
Chancellor of the Austrian Empire
and chosen confidential adviser of
its Emperors.
We have here at least diversity
in the points of view. The lady
saw most of the man, the statesman
saw most of the Emperor; the lady
saw Bonaparte in his dressing-gOwn
and slippers, the gentleman saw his
majesty when starched up to the
extreme of diplomatic reserve; yet
it is not improbable that Metternich
saw more of the real Napoleon than
Madame, sharp as her eyes were.
For, in truth, there was not much
diplomatic reserve about Napoleon;
he aimed more at carrying matters
by the vehement assertion of his
imperiOus will than by the arts of
diplomatic. fReSSe; and, on the other
hand, his extreme contempt of
women and a certain infiexibility of
character prevented him from dis
closing much of his inner personal
ity in the domestic circle. In fact,
he had no domestic circle, and
when in other company than that
of soldiers and statesmen, his soul,
instead of expanding, simply went
to sleep; he was soldier or sovereign
or he was nothing. Moreover, Met
ternich was a more dispassiOnate
observer. He was one of those cold,
wary diplomatists who no more
thought of throwing any passion
into his negotiations than a first
class chess player thinks of getting
mad at an unexpected coup of his
antagonist-it is just the thing
which makes the game interesting
to him, and Metternich studied
Bonaparte just as Paulsen may be
supposed to have studied our bril-
liant young Murphy, equally in his
play whether he was beaten or had
the advantage.
Not so with Madame de Remusat.
She is sometimes dazzled, some
times spiteful, sometimes scared,
sometimes perplexed with observ-
ing the startling meteor which has
crossed her horizon, and hence
though always keen and sharp
witted, she forms varying estimates
of the phenomenon according to the
humOr of the day. The family de
Remusat was the first Of the old
houses which allied
itself with the court of Napoleon;
they incurred the angry contempt
of the rest of the nOGLeSse by the
step and evidently forfeited some Of
their self-respect. They were soon,
however, countenanced by Access
sions from the Faubourg st. Ger
main to the salons and corridors of
the Tuileries. When it was seen |
how splendidly the new Emperor |
his adherents, it suddenly |
Ilawned upon the minds of the de-
5cendants of the Crusaders that after
all the court of the upstart Emperor
was a place where "thrift might |
follow fawning," and soon the once
proud RO6leSse and their naughty |
matrons were elbOwing their way /
along the avenues of court prefer
ment as vigorously as the newly |
endowed field marshals and their |
loud and pushing wives.
Among themselves these blue
blooded grandees elevated their
noses high in the air while they |