646 



Mad&me de Sta'el's Ten Years' Exile. 



peaceful countries, which the majestic 

 boundary of tlie Alps ought to shelter 

 from political storms. In these beau- 

 tiful summer evenings, on tlie borders 

 of the lake of Geneva, I was almost 

 ashamed, in the presence of that beau- 

 tiful sky and pure water, of the dis- 

 quietude I felt respecting the affairs of 

 this world : but it was impossible for 

 me to overcome my internal agitation : 

 / could not help wishing that Bonaparte 

 might be beaten, as that seemed the 

 only means of stopping the progress of 

 his tyianny. I durst not, however, avow 

 this wish, and the prefect of the Leman, 

 M. Eymar (an old deputy to the Con- 

 stituent Assembly,) recollecting the 

 period when we cherished together the 

 hope of liberty, was continually send- 

 ing me couriers to inform me of (he pro- 

 gress of tlie French in Italy. It would 

 have been difficult for me to make M. 

 Eymar (who was in other respects a 

 most interesting character,) compre- 

 hend that the liappiness of France re- 

 quired that her army should then meet 

 with reverses, and I received the sup- 

 posed good news which he sent me, 

 with a degree of restraint which was 

 very little in unison with my character. 



TOUSSAINT-LOUVERTURE. 



It Mas at this period that Bonaparte 

 sent General Leclercto Saint Domingo, 

 and designated him in his decree our 

 brother-in-law. This first royal we, 

 which associated the French with the 

 prosperity of this family, was a most 

 bitter pill to me. He obliged his 

 beautiful sister to accompany her hus- 

 dand to Saint Domingo, where her 

 health was completely ruined ; a sin- 

 gular act of despotism for a man who 

 IS not accustomed to great severity of 

 principles in those about his person; 

 but he makes use of moi-ality only to 

 harass some and dazzle others. A 

 peace was in the sequel concluded with 

 the chief of the negroes, Toussaint- 

 Louverfure. This man was, nodonbt, 

 a great criminal, but Bonaparte had 

 signed conditions with him, in com- 

 plete violation of which Toussaint v/as 

 conducted to the prison of Joux, in 

 France, where he ended his days in the 

 most miserable manner. 



HEU BANISHMENT. 



Aiadame Recamier, so celebrated for 

 f her beauty, and whose character is even 

 expressed in her beauty, proposed to 

 me to come and live at her country seat 

 ''at St. Brice, at two leagues from Paris. 

 I accepted her offer, for I had no idea 

 that I could thereby injure a person so 



much a stranger to political affairs; ( 

 believed her protected s^jainst every 

 tiling, notwithstanding the generosity 

 of her character. I found coUectea 

 tliere a most delightful society, and 

 there I enjoyed for the last time, all 

 that I was about to quit. It was during 

 this stormy period of my existence, 

 that I received the speech of Mr. Mack- 

 intosh ; there I read those pages, where 

 he gives us the portrait of a jacobin^ 

 who had made himself an object of ter- 

 ror during the revolution to children, 

 women and old men, and who is now 

 bending himself double under the rod 

 of the Corsican, who ravishes from him, 

 even to the last atom of that liberty, 

 for which he pretended to have taken 

 arms. This morceau of the finest elo- 

 quence touched me to my very soul ; 

 it is the privilege of superior ^vrite^s 

 sometimes, unwittingly, to solace the 

 unfortunate in all countries, and all 

 times. France was in a state of sucl* 

 complete silence around me, that this 

 voice, which suddenly responded to my 

 soul, seemed to me to come down from 

 heaven ; it came from a land of liberty* 

 After having passed a few days with 

 Madame Recamier, without bearing 

 my banishment at all spoken of, 1 per- 

 suaded myself that Bonaparte had re- 

 nounced it. Nothing is more commo» 

 than to tranquillize ourselves against a 

 threatened danger, when we see no 

 symptoms of it around us. I felt sa 

 little disposition to enter into any hos- 

 tile plan or action against this man, 

 that I thought it impossible for him not 

 to leave -me in peace ; and after some 

 days longer, I returned to my own 

 coimtry seat, satisfied that he had ad- 

 journed his resolution against me, and 

 was contented with having frightened 

 me. In truth I had been sufficiently 

 so, not to make me change my opinion, 

 or oblige me to deny it, but to repress 

 completely that remnant of republican 

 habit which had led me the year before, 

 to speak with too much openness. 



I was at table with three of -my 

 friends, in a room which coiumanded 

 a view of the high road, and the en- 

 trance gate; it was now the end of 

 September. M four o'clock, a man in 

 a brown coat, on horseback, stops at 

 the gate and rings : I was then certain 

 of my fate. He asked for me, and I 

 went to receive him in the garden. In 

 walking towards him, tlie perfume 

 of the flowers, and the beauty of the 

 sun particularly struck me. How dif- 

 ferent are the sensations which affect 



