178 Constant's Memoirs of Buonaparte. QAuo. 



Notwithstanding all these manoeuvres, Jerome found it impossible to evade 

 the will and pleasure of the first consul, and was reluctantly compelled to 

 embark. On the morning to which I have already alluded, after some conver- 

 sation and remonstrance, as usual on the subject of the navy, Jerome at 

 length observed to his brother : ' Instead of sending me to sea, where I shall 

 infallibly die of the horrors, you ought to make me one of your aides-de-camp ?' 

 ' You ! Blanc-bee !' replied the first consul, sharply ; f wait till a few 

 bullets have furrowed your beardless face, and then we shall see ;' at the same 

 time pointing to Colonel Lacuee, who blushed crimson deep, and hung down 

 his head. That the reader may duly appreciate the force of the compliment 

 conveyed to the gallant aide-de-camp in the first consul's answer, it is neces- 

 sary to observe that the colonel's face was marked with a deep scar. The loss 

 of this brave officer, who was killed in 1805, was long and severely felt by 

 Napoleon." 



We have an account of a tolerably ludicrous interview between the 

 conqueror of Italy and his quondam writing-master, shortly after the 

 former's return from Lyons, whither he had proceeded to meet the depu- 

 ties of the Cisalpine Republic, assembled for the election of a presi- 

 dent: 



" Soon after the first consul's return to Malmaison, an individual in most 

 unpretending attire solicited a private audience. He was instantly ushered 

 into the cabinet of Napoleon, who demanded his name. ' General/ replied 

 the solicitor, somewhat intimidated by his presence, f I had formerly the 

 honor of giving you lessons in writing at the college of Brienne.' ' And a 

 respectable penman you have made of me/ exclaimed the first consul, inter- 

 rupting him sharply ; ' your pupil's progress does you infinite credit !' Then 

 laughing at his own hastiness, he addressed the good man in a kinder tone, to 

 make amends for his first sally, the abruptness of which had considerably 

 augmented the timidity of the calligraphic professor. In a few days the 

 writing-master received from unquestionably the worst of all his former pupils 

 at Brienne, (Napoleon's scarcely legible hand writing was proverbial,) a pen- 

 sion sufficient for his humble wants." , 



Buonaparte's notions on the subject of religion are generally known ; 

 he considered it merely as an engine of government, and, if Constant's 

 as well as Bourrienne's statements be correct, made little scruple of 

 proclaiming his opinion. For true religion and unaffeected piety, we 

 profess the most unfeigned respect ; but we confess we infinitely prefer 

 the ex-emperor's candid exposition of his religious, or, if it so please the 

 reader, irreligious creed, to the odious hypocritical cant with which the 

 saints we mean the saints terrestrial so ingeniously and so conveniently 

 conciliate the service of " God and Mammon." Every friend to order 

 must admit that Buonaparte essentially promoted the interests of true 

 religion by opposing his inflexible authority to the desolating atheistical 

 principles of the Revolution, and by re-establishing the ancient calendar, 

 and the ancient form of divine worship. Constant's statement on this 

 point differs not a jot in substance from that of M. Bourrienne, whom, 

 by the way, the valet- de-chambre takes every opportunity of palavering 

 in most antichamber-like phrase : 



" On the day of the proclamation issued by the first consul with regard to 

 the law on divine worship, he rose early, and during the operation of his 

 toilette, Joseph Buonaparte, and the second consul, Cambaceres, entered his 

 chamber. ' Well,' observed the first consul to his colleague, ' we are going 

 to witness the celebration of mass; what do the good Parisians think on that 

 subject?' 



