The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-06-23
NAPOLEON. A. Seen
by His Associates
ZONE OF NAPOLEONS MISTAKES"
copyright, 1904. by G. L. Kilmer-]


rand. Fouche needed intrigue as he
needed air to breathe.
ct might have been said that Fouche
held Napoleon under the effects Of
charm, for with the best reasons for
, dismissing him the emperor still hest
tated. One day, at st. Cloud, having,
according to very usual custom OF
his, come and seated himself Oh cor
ner of my writing table, Napoleon said
to me, after some words Of no impOr-
lance and with a brusque change Of
subject, 'Meneval, l have a mind to
dismiss FOuche' | could not prevent
myself from exclaiming, Sire | eX-
Dected this, and l am only surprised at
one thing, and that is that you haven't
sent him away before He rose slow!
without answering NE, took one or two
turns in the study with his hands be-
hind his back and then occupied him
self with some other matter"
DR.. O'AIeara reports Il remark OF Ma
poleOn's at st. Helena i'll which he at
| tempted to justify his relations with
Fouche. Said he:
| "As q man who had been a Terrorist
and chief Of Jacobins l employed
| him as an instrument to discover and
! get rid of the Jacobins, SeptembriZers
| and others of his old friends. BY
means of him l was enabled to send
| into Punishment to the Isle of France
200 of his old associates. Septembri1cT;
who disturbed the tranquility Of
France He betrayed and sacrificed
, his old comrades
| Caulaincourt. general ana ambassa-
| dor under Nap0leOns consulate. says,
'FOuche was one of NapOleons great
mistakes" and Prince Metternich. the
Austrian minister, grouping Fouche and
Talleyrand, another notorious plotter in
NapoleOns cabinet, says that the pair
'never had any communications with
one another except wien they were
Matching some plot against the estab-
.lished order of things and CHANGED to
meet"
At last Napoleon saw his influence
+, undermined ny the ruling spirit in
Paris while he was absent on the bat
| ticfield and vacated the throne Of
France. Among his opponents Fouche
was conspicuous, and Napoleon declar-
ed at the time:
Il ought TO have had him hanged. |
| leave that for the BourbuAs to do
But the Bourbons didn't hang Fouche,
although lee had voted to send their
| king, Louis NVI. to the scaffold. Il fact
lie once boosted of to Napoleon, saying,
THAT is the first service l had the hap
piness Of rendering your majesty"
The new Bourbon king, Louis NVIII.,
made use of Fouche, but the escape of
| Napoleon from Eliza and his triumphal
| return to Paris placed his former adj
herent under suspicion, and the kings
agents came to Pouches house to arrest
| him. Slipping out the back door, he
made his way TO the house of Queen
| Hortense, Napoleon's stepdaughter. and
coolly let the Bonapartists assume that
he was ready to serve their cause
afresh. How he did so is revealed in
his own confession:
81 wished to have nothing further to
do with Napoleon, yet if he should be
victorious l should be compelled to sub
nit to his yoke. On the otner hand, l
| Hiu engagements WITH LOUIS AN1ll.-
not that l was inclined to his restora-
ton, but prudence required that l
should procure for myself beforehand
something in the shape of guarantee.
My agents, moreover, to Nj. de Meter
mich, the Austrian minister, and Lord
Wellington had promised mountains
and marvels. The generalissimo, at
least, expected that should divulge to
him the plan of the campaign"
AS ostensible supporter Of Napoleon
he obtained copy of his plan for the
| Waterloo campaign and dispatched it
by woman confederate to Yelling
toms camp.
"At the same time l occasioned i'm
pediments on the part of the frontier
which she was to pass in such Il man
ner as to prevent her reaching the head
quarters Of Wellington till after the re-
suit
So he kept the letter if not the spirit
Of his compact with Napoleon's foes
and landed at last in the arms of the
restored Bourbons.
GEORGE L. KILMER.