napoleon returns to france—josephine’s unhappiness—napoleon’s view of a divorce—the way in which the divorce was effected
unhappily for the empress, her reunion with napoleon was marred by a delay which irritated the emperor no little. josephine was at st. cloud when she received a note, about october 24th or 25th, from napoleon, saying he would be at fontainebleau on the 26th or 27th, and that she had better go there with her suite. a later courier set the evening of the 27th as the time of his arrival. what was josephine’s terror on having a messenger ride rapidly in from fontainebleau on the afternoon of the 26th, saying the emperor had arrived that morning and there had been no one but the concierge to meet him! it could not be denied that such a reception was a poor one for a conquering emperor who now for the first time in six months set foot in his kingdom. josephine feared, with reason, that napoleon would be irritated, and now of all times when she needed so much to please him!
post haste she drove to fontainebleau. the emperor did not come to meet her, and she was forced to mount to his library, where his scant welcome chilled her to the heart. he meant to announce the divorce then. she soon found, however, that it was the emperor’s resentment at what he considered her fault in failing to meet him that caused his coldness. a trembling explanation, a few tears, and he was appeased, and they passed a happy evening.
414napoleon had taken quite another means, and a most disquieting one, to hint to josephine that the divorce was under consideration. the apartments of the emperor and empress at fontainebleau, as at other places, were connected by a private staircase. when josephine looked about her suite, which had been newly decorated, she discovered that this passage had been sealed up. in consternation, she sought a friend of hers in napoleon’s household, and asked why this had been done, by whose orders. she could get no satisfaction, nothing but evasive answers, halting explanations. alarmed, yet fearing to approach the emperor, she showed a troubled face and tear-stained eyes. now, nothing ever had disturbed napoleon more than to see josephine in sorrow. the sight, and the knowledge of the cause, unnerved him now. he took a course characteristic of an autocratic man, accustomed to implicit obedience from associates, when he has determined to force some one he loves to do a distasteful act; he avoided josephine’s presence, scarcely ever exchanged a word with her that the etiquette of the court did not require, rarely met her gaze. the empress felt that his coldness could mean but one thing. she soon began to hear whispers of the decision in the court, for the emperor had made his resolution known to several persons, and the necessary preparations were already making. josephine could not but see, at the same time, that her enemies—the bonaparte family and their allies—and those about her who were mere time-servers had changed materially in their attitude toward her. there was more than one lord or lady who did not hesitate to neglect, even slight, the empress. she was a person whom it was no longer necessary to cultivate; and, besides, might not the emperor take it as a compliment to his judgment to see that she whom he was to discard was ignored by his followers?
415josephine’s uncertainty as to precisely what the divorce meant made her alarm the greater. she undoubtedly saw in it at this time nothing but a disgrace and a punishment. she was to be cast out—her honors stripped from her, her friends driven away, her luxury at an end. not only must she be separated from the emperor, whom she loved and to whose happiness and success she believed superstitiously that she was necessary; but no doubt she would be driven from france. she saw herself in exile, poor, friendless, alone,—she who had been the empress of france, the consort of napoleon. and her children: her downfall meant theirs. hortense, whose happiness had been wrecked by her marriage, what now would become of her? and eugène, whom the emperor had so loved and trusted and honored, what of him?
but josephine’s idea of the divorce as a disgrace and punishment was not napoleon’s. that he had never explained to her what he meant, was due to his own cowardice. in 1807, he had succumbed entirely, when the subject came up, and put the thought aside. now he clung to his decision, but lacked courage to break it to her. he feigned irritation and coldness to hide his own faint-heartedness.
as a matter of fact, napoleon regarded the divorce as a great state affair. to perpetuate france’s peace, stability, glory, an heir was necessary; therefore he and josephine who loved each other parted. they suffered that france might live. the divorce then, was to be regarded as a sacrificial rite, and josephine was to be placed before the country as a noble victim to whom the greatest honor then and ever should be shown. such was napoleon’s idea, and quietly, in this month after his return from sch?nbrunn, he was preparing a ceremony which would put the affair in this light to the country. it was for this reason he summoned all the members of the bonaparte and beauharnais families from far and near; that he gathered in france all that was great in the empire and among his allies; that he made fontainebleau a veritable court of kings. to poor josephine all of this looked like a cruel device to parade her grief and dishonor.
416
the divorce of napoleon and josephine.
417about the middle of november, the court came to paris; but still the emperor delayed, he could not say the word. the constraint between the two became constantly greater; the suffering of both, it was evident to all their intimate friends, was increasing. at last, on november 30th, after a silent and wretched dinner, napoleon led josephine into a salon, dismissed their followers, and told her of his decision. josephine grasping nothing in his broken words but that they were to be separated, burst into tears, and fell upon a couch, where she lay sobbing aloud. she was carried to her apartment, where her attendants vainly sought to check her wild grief. nor was her calm restored until late in the evening, when hortense came to her with an explanation of the situation, which seems to have been entirely new to her mind. the emperor, overwhelmed by josephine’s outburst, had strengthened his own mind by summoning immediately to his side certain advisors who favored the divorce. after talking with them, he had sent for hortense, and begun rather brutally by telling her that tears would do no good, that he had made up his mind that the divorce was necessary to the safety of the empire, and that she and her mother must accept it as inevitable. hortense replied with dignity that the empress, whatever her grief, would obey his will, and that she and eugène would follow her into exile; that none of them would complain at their disgrace, that all would remember his past kindness. this seems to have been napoleon’s first glimmer of the idea of the divorce which the beauharnais entertained. he began to weep. “what!” he cried, “do you and eugène mean to 418desert me? you must not do it, you must stay with me. your position, the future of your children, require it. however cruel the divorce for both your mother and me, it must be consummated with the dignity which the circumstances require.” everything which could be done to soften the situation for josephine should be done, he said. she should remain the first in rank after the empress on the throne. she should receive the honors due her sacrifice; she should remain in france. her income should be fit for her rank, she should be given palaces, a retinue—all that a grateful france could do, in short, should be done. as for hortense and eugène, he looked upon them as his children, and should do for them as he would for his own.
this new idea of her fate had great effect on josephine; and when her friends came to her to console her, weep as she might, she defended napoleon, and presented the divorce as a sacrifice which they were together making for france. “the emperor is as nearly heart-broken as i am,” she sobbed. “it cannot be helped. there must be an heir to consolidate the empire.”
now that josephine knew his decision, napoleon’s reserve and coldness passed. he gave her every attention, tried to anticipate every wish, enveloped her in tenderness. this change of demeanor surprised and confused the court, where as yet the divorce was a matter of conjecture to all save napoleon’s confidential advisors. had he changed his mind? as they saw the empress smilingly going through the great fêtes, they began to say that after all he had not had the courage to make the separation. napoleon’s kindly attitude seems to have given josephine a hope that he had changed his mind. but a week after her interview with him, eugène arrived in paris, and she knew soon that divorce was inevitable and that the first steps were already taken to consummate it. another distressing interview between 419herself and the emperor followed, at which eugène was present, and here again napoleon promised her his care, his affection, a continued interest in her children. when she left this interview, she knew that in a few days more the court, paris, france, would know of her fate. overwhelmed as she was, weak with constant weeping in private, a prey to a hundred unreasonable fears as to her future, josephine nevertheless went through her duties in these last days with a brave face and a sweet smile. never did she win more favor from the better part of the court; never did she deserve it more than for her courage at this moment.
december 15th was set for the first act in the official part of the drama. at nine o’clock in the morning, josephine went to the salon of the emperor, accompanied by eugène and hortense. here she found assembled all of the members of the bonaparte family, who were in paris, napoleon, king louis, king jerome, king murat and the queens of spain, naples, and westphalia, together with the french arch-chancellor and the minister of state. the ceremony was opened at once by napoleon. if any of the bonapartes hoped to see josephine humiliated at last, they must have been grievously disappointed. every word of the emperor was intended to place her in the eyes of france as its chief benefactor and friend—the woman who sacrificed herself for the country’s good. napoleon’s remarks to the little company show exactly the interpretation he wished placed on the act, and there is no reason to believe that he was not sincere in what he said at this time. in a voice broken by agitation, he announced that he and the empress had resolved to have their marriage annulled. addressing the arch-chancellor, he said:
“i sent you a sealed letter dated to-day, directing you to come to my study, in order to make known to you the resolution that the empress, my most dear wife, and i have 420taken. i am glad that the kings, queens, and princes, my brothers and sisters, my brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, my step-daughter and my step-son, my son by adoption, as well as my mother, are present at the interview. my politics, the interest and need of my people, which have always guided my actions, make it necessary that i should leave children behind me, heirs of my love for this people and of this throne where providence has placed me. however, i have abandoned all hope now for several years of having children by my beloved wife, the empress josephine. it is this which has led me to sacrifice the sweetest affections of my heart and to listen only to the idea of the good of the state, and consequently to dissolve our marriage. arrived at the age of forty years, i dare hope that i shall live long enough to rear, according to my own ideas, the children that it shall please providence to give me. god knows how much this resolution has cost me; but there is no sacrifice that is beyond my courage when i am convinced that it will be useful to france. i must add, that far from ever having had any reason to complain of my wife, i can only praise her love and tenderness. for fifteen years she has been the ornament of my life. the recollection will always remain engraved on my heart; she has been crowned by my hand, and i mean that she shall preserve the rank and title of empress, and i hope that above all she will never doubt my feelings toward her and that she will always consider me her best and truest friend.”
when the emperor ceased to speak, josephine attempted to read the little address which had been prepared for her, but her voice failed her, and she passed her paper to one of the party:—
“with the permission of my august and dear husband,” so her speech read, “i declare that having given up all hope of bearing the children which would satisfy the political 421needs and the welfare of france, i am glad to give to him the greatest proof of attachment and devotion which has ever been given in this world. all that i have i hold because of his goodness; it was his hand which crowned me, and from my throne i have received only affection and love from the french people. i believe i am showing my gratitude for these benefits by consenting to the dissolution of a marriage which henceforth is an obstacle to the welfare of france, which deprives her of the happiness of being one day governed by the descendants so evidently raised up by providence to wipe out the evils of a terrible revolution and re?stablish the altar, throne, and social order; but the dissolution of my marriage can never change the feelings of my heart. in me the emperor will always have his best friend. i know how much this act, demanded by politics and by high interests, has wounded his heart, but we both glory in the sacrifice that we make for the good of the country.”
the day following this scene, the necessary formalities were gone through in the senate. eugène, then viceroy of italy, took the oath of senator that day, and later spoke on the divorce. the interpretation he gave of the separation was that which napoleon had devised. “you have just listened to the reading of the project which the senate submits to you for deliberation,” eugène said. “under the circumstances, i think that it is my duty to express to you the feelings of my family. my mother, my sister, and myself owe everything to the emperor; he has been a veritable father to us; he will find in us at all times devoted children and submissive subjects. it is essential to the happiness of france that the founder of this fourth dynasty should be surrounded by direct descendants who will be a guarantee to everybody, a safeguard of the people, of the country. when my mother was crowned before the whole nation by the hands of her august husband, she contracted 422the obligation to sacrifice all her affections to the good of france; she has fulfilled her duty with courage, nobility, and dignity; her heart has often been wrung by the painful struggles of a man accustomed to conquer fortune and to march forward always with a firm step toward the accomplishment of great designs. the tears that this resolution has cost the emperor are sufficient to glorify my mother. in her new situation she will not be a stranger to the new prosperity that we expect, and it will be with a satisfaction mingled with pride that she will look upon the happiness that her sacrifices have brought to the country and to the emperor.”
the articles annulling the marriage and fixing josephine’s future state were passed at the same session. they read:—
article i. the marriage contracted between the emperor napoleon and the empress josephine is hereby dissolved.
article ii. the empress josephine will preserve the title and the rank of a crowned empress.
article iii. her annual income is fixed at two million francs [$400,000], to be paid from the treasury of the state.
article iv. all the obligations taken by the emperor for the empress josephine out of the public treasury are obligatory upon his successors.
article v. the present senatus-consulte shall be sent by a messenger to her majesty, the empress queen.
that afternoon napoleon, after a heart-breaking scene with josephine, left the tuileries for the trianon. a few hours later josephine, exhausted by weeping, entered her carriage, and in a heavy storm was driven to malmaison.