The Portland daily press., 1882-02-18
Count Mot de Melito.
A Sober Diarist of the Napoleonio Epoch.

| graphic dispatches from Europe. The memoirs
of Mot de Melito, in respect to general reada-
bleness, stand between those of Nine. de Re
| musat and of the old Metternich. The prurient
reader will look in vain through them for the
scandalous tidbits given or lent to the ex-Lady
in Waiting to the Empress Josephine, and eag-
erly snapped up by those Frenchmen Of the
| present day who have very wholesome and
| natural horror of a return to Bonapartist rule.
! The historian may be equally disappointed at
| the absence of the extensive series Of pieces
justtfcatiues which render the Metternich vol
umes anything but juicy reading to the COM
mon herd. Mot de Melito had much contact
| with Napoleon, but that contact was neither in
the manner Of an opponent nor as an important
functionary directing great issues, like Talley-
rand, Carnot, Fouche, Berthier, &c, nor even
as a subordinate in very close personal rela-
| tions with the Emperor, like Las Cases. His
| situation was much better for q sober and COM
mon sense view of the great man. While he
was to a certain extent in his employ, the places
| he occupied were not of the greatest magnitude,
| and the services he rendered in return re-
moved entirely any feeling of undue obligation
| to a benefactor at the same time that they left
| him without grievance. Perhaps he would
| have been quite as candid and balanced had he
held other relations to Napoleon. THERE'S some
| warrant for the inference in the style Of the
memoirs which never betray vanity, over-esti-
nation of himself or under-estimation of others,
| even when those others were hostile to him.
He strikes the note of sobriety and truthful
ness to facts in his first chapter, where the
| events at Versailles preceding the days OF ter
ror are described only as Re himself saw them.
The scene is greatly shorn Of its tragedy and
| fury particularly in regard to the mob which
wrecked a part of the palace. According to
| Mot this mob was not large and by no means
formidable; its brutal excuses were only possi-
| BILE owing to the sloth and indecision OF the
King and the species of panic which occurs
| when no one knows what is going to happen or
| whence the blow is to fall. The only body Of
people who knew their own minds was this
| relative Insignificant mob; it wanted plunder
| and blood, and while the court driveled and
| the citizen soldiery wavered it took what II
| wanted. about o'clock, !" he says, describ-
| ing the transferral OF the irresolute Bourbon
| and his Court to Paris, 'the cortege began TO
move. A strong advance guard was formed Of
| several battalions OF the National Guard OF
| Paris. Tipsy women were seated on the gun
| carriages, SINGING and waving aloft boughs
which they had torn from the trees But did
| not see the heads carried on pixies, OF which
mention has been made in certain narratives.
| The men who took those horrible spoils of q
| night of crime back to Paris were already far
| away, The Kings carriages came next; they
| were surrounded by several of the body guard;
some seated on the box, or on the shafts OF tho
coaches, and looking much more as though
they had sought refuge there than as though
| they were occupying post OF defense. A great
many o. them still wore the grenadiers' caps"
(giyen them by the National Guard on the spe-
cies of surrender in the morning,) "and all dis
played the tricolored cockade. As have said
we lined the way, and from my position In
front of the men, (he was then Adjutant in the
National Guard of Versailles) 81 conld easily
II Ksw.rw1o F~nA wxxAa
quite unchanged, but the countenance OF the
Queen betrayed agoniziDg grief, notwithstand-
ing the strong efforts which she made to repress
the outward signs of her feelings Monsieur's
carriage followed that OF the King, and the
others were occupied by persons OF the house.
hold. There were ten or twelve carriages in
ALL M. de la Fayette was on horseback, now
at the side of the Kings carriage, anon riding
forward to give orders Two ranks OF National
Guards marched in parallel lines with the car
riages; the remainder of that numerous body
formed the rear guard / followed this strange
procession with my eyes until 1t reached the
turn into the Avenue de Paris, where at length
it disappeared" Miot'S account OF the tn1udi-
| cious treatment of the soldiers at the training
camp formed at st. Omer is highly curious; at
this critical time in the history Of the French
monarchy theoretical commanders tried to In
troduce into the Army the system OF Frederick
of Prussia. They only embittered and made
insubordinate force the officers and soldiers OF
which hated the system both because OF ma
tional inaptitude and from its association with
traditional foe.
command of France, diplomatic career offer
ed itself to Mot in 1895, then in his thirty
second year He had the choice Of the United
States or Florence, and chose the latter. In
June he first met Gen. Buonaparte at Brescia.
"I was quite astonished at his appearance.
Nothing could be more unlike the idea my i'm
agination had formed of him. In the midst OF
a numerous staff saw man below the mid
- - aIxro HerslR0
His powdered hair, oddly cut and falling
squarey below the ears, reached DOWN to his
shoulders. He was dressed in straight coat,
buttoned up to the chin, and edged with very
narrow gold embroidery, and he wore tri-
colored feather in his hat. At first sight he
did not strike me as handsome; but his strong
ly marked features, his quick and piercing eyes,
his brusque and animated gestures, revealed
an ardent spirit, while his wide and thought
full brow was that Of profound thinker: He
made me sit near him, and we talked OF Italy
He spoke in short sentences, and at that time
of life, very incorrectly" In this and other
interviews he wished it distinctly understood
that he thought little of pleasing the Directory.
Nevertheless, this was the period, as We know,
when he was sending money, jewels, and pic
lures into France to appease the Unsuitable
sslawyers" at Paris for whom he expressed con-
tempt AS to the attitude observed by his
Generals toward him before his great victories:
EVERY one maintained toward him an atti-
tude of respect, and, may say, even OF admi-
ration L saw none OF JnOSo udfks OIL lalnll-
iarity between him and his companions that
had observed in other cases and which was
consonant with republican equality He had
already assumed his own place and set others
at distance" Mot speaks OF Nine. Buona-
parte with all the admiration shown by her
Lady-in- Waiting, Nine. de Remusat, but with
cut the additional particulars by which she un-
did all the good impression made oy her
sketches of Josephine Beauharnais. II had
met her in society at Paris, but not often, and
I had formed an estimate of her which my in
creased intimacy with her during her stay at
Florence only served to confirm. Never has
any woman united greater kindness OF heart
with greater natural grace; never has any
woman done more good with more pleasure
than she. She honored me with her friend
ship, and the recollection of the kindness she
showed me until the last moments OF her too
brief existence will never be erased from my
heart" The relationship of husband and wife
in the early days OF Nspoleon's fame appears
to have been all that could be wished. We
find strong traces in Napoleon OF that frank
ness in expressing his affection which Nine. de
Remusat found so indelicate. He spoke the
garrison French of an Italian, and treated his
wife like good Italian husband of the middle
classes. Mot made pleasure trip with them
and Berthier to Lago Maggiore and staid on
Isola Bella. "I had place in Buonaparte's
carriage with his wife and Berthier: During
the drive he was gay and animated, told us
several anecdotes of his youth, and said he had
just completed his twenty-ninth year: tie was
taking little conjugal liberties that rather em.
barrassed Berthier and me; but his free and
easy manners were so full Of affection and ten
derness toward a woman as lovable as she was
good that they might easily be excused. In
October of 1897 Buonaparte was transferred
from the scene of his remarkable victories to
the command of the Army OF England as
sembled on the coast of France, change die
tated by fear of his ambition. 1t boded i'll to
the King of Sardinia, who felt that only the
conqueror could protect him from the machin-
ations of republican agitators and the ill-will
of the Directory. On his way to France the
young General stopped with Mot in Turin,
but would go nowhere, and showed delicacy
ana a sense of honor in his dealings with the
Sandman Government which have never been
recognized by the historians who love to revile
his memory:
.'Day had hardly dawned when crowd, attracted
by curiosity and the desire OF seeing so famous
General assembled before my house. The King
sent one OF hs;princpal officers with compliments
on the part of his Majesty. Bonaparte afterward
Received the Ministers, and welcomed NJ. de Saint
Marsan with special fervor. He also received the
Generals and superior officers who were in Turin, as
well as some private individuals, who tried to in
duce him to favor a revolution in Piedmont. But
he gave no heed to these suggestions In the