Produced by David WidgerMEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF ST CLOUDBy Lewis GoldsmithBeing Secret Letters from a Gentleman at Paris to a Nobleman in LondonPUBLISHERS NOTEThe present work contains particulars of the great Napoleon not to befound in any other publication and forms an interesting addition to theinformation generally known about himThe writer of the Letters whose name is said to have been Stewarton andwho had been a friend of the Empress Josephine in her happier if lessbrilliant days gives full accounts of the lives of nearly all NapoleonsMinisters and Generals in addition to those of a great number of othercharacters and an insight into the inner life of those who formedNapoleons CourtAll sorts and conditions of men are dealt withadherents who have comeover from the Royalist camp as well as those who have won their wayupwards as soldiers as did Napoleon himself  In fact the work aboundswith anecdotes of Napoleon Talleyrand Fouche and a host of others andastounding particulars are given of the mysterious disappearance of thosepersons who were unfortunate enough to incur the displeasure of NapoleonLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSAt Cardinal CaprarasCardinal FeschEpisode at Mme MiotsNapoleons GuardA Grand DinnerChaptalTurreauxCarrierBarrereCambaceresPauline BonaparteSECRET COURT MEMOIRSTHE COURT OF ST CLOUDINTRODUCTORY LETTERPARIS November 10th 1805MY LORDThe Letters I have written to you were intended for the privateentertainment of a liberal friend and not for the general perusal of asevere public  Had I imagined that their contents would have penetratedbeyond your closet or the circle of your intimate acquaintance severalof the narratives would have been extended while others would have beencompressed the anecdotes would have been more numerous and my ownremarks fewer some portraits would have been left out others drawn andall better finished  I should then have attempted more frequently toexpose meanness to contempt and treachery to abhorrence should havelashed more severely incorrigible vice and oftener held out to ridiculepuerile vanity and outrageous ambition  In short I should then havestudied more to please than to instruct by addressing myself seldomer tothe reason than to the passionsI subscribe nevertheless to your observation that the late long warand short peace with the enslaved state of the Press on the Continentwould occasion a chasm in the most interesting period of modern historydid not independent and judicious travellers or visitors abroad collectand forward to Great Britain the last refuge of freedom some materialswhich though scanty and insufficient upon the whole may in part rendthe veil of destructive politics and enable future ages to penetrateinto mysteries which crime in power has interest to render impenetrableto the just reprobation of honour and of virtue  If therefore myhumble labours can preserve loyal subjects from the seduction oftraitors or warn lawful sovereigns and civilized society of the alarmingconspiracy against them I shall not think either my time thrown away orfear the dangers to which publicity might expose me were I only suspectedhere of being an Anglican author  Before the Letters are sent to thepress I trust however to your discretion the removal of everything thatmight produce a discovery or indicate the source from which you havederived your informationAlthough it is not usual in private correspondence to quote authoritiesI have sometimes done so but satisfied as I hope you are with myveracity I should have thought the frequent productions of any betterpledge than the word of a man of honour an insult to your feelings  Ihave besides not related a fact that is not recent and well known inour fashionable and political societies and of ALL the portraits I havedelineated the originals not only exist but are yet occupied in thepresent busy scene of the Continent and figuring either at Courts incamps or in CabinetsLETTER IPARIS August 1805MY LORDI promised you not to pronounce in haste on persons and eventspassing under my eyes thirtyone months have quickly passed away since Ibecame an attentive spectator of the extraordinary transactions and ofthe extraordinary characters of the extraordinary Court and Cabinet ofSt Cloud  If my talents to delineate equal my zeal to inquire and myindustry to examine if I am as able a painter as I have been anindefatigable observer you will be satisfied and with your approbationat once sanction and reward my laboursWith most Princes the supple courtier and the fawning favourite havegreater influence than the profound statesman and subtle Minister andthe determinations of Cabinets are therefore frequently prepared indrawingrooms and discussed in the closet  The politician and thecounsellor are frequently applauded or censured for transactions whichthe intrigues of antechambers conceived and which cupidity and favourgave power to promulgateIt is very generally imagined but falsely that Napoleon Bonapartegoverns or rather tyrannizes by himself according to his own capacitycaprices or interest that all his acts all his changes are the soleconsequence of his own exclusive unprejudiced will as well as unlimitedauthority that both his greatness and his littleness his successes andhis crimes originate entirely with himself that the fortunate hero whomarched triumphant over the Alps and the dastardly murderer thatdisgraced human nature at Jaffa because the same person owed victory tohimself alone and by himself alone commanded massacre that the samegenius unbiased and unsupported crushed factions erected a throne andreconstructed racks that the same mind restored and protectedChristianity and proscribed and assassinated a DEnghienAll these contradictions all these virtues and vices may be found inthe same person but Bonaparte individually or isolated has no claim tothem  Except on some sudden occasions that call for immediate decisionno Sovereign rules less by himself than Bonaparte because no Sovereignis more surrounded by favourites and counsellors by needy adventurersand crafty intriguersWhat Sovereign has more relatives to enrich or services to recompensemore evils to repair more jealousies to dread more dangers to fearmore clamours to silence or stands more in need of information andadvice  Let it be remembered that he who now governs empires andnations ten years ago commanded only a battery and five years ago wasonly a military chieftain  The difference is as immense indeed betweenthe sceptre of a Monarch and the sword of a general as between the wiselegislator