1822.] Historical Memoranda, by Napoleon. 629 
his people in the sense of their interests 
and of their genius. This is morally 
true for all other princes; but it will 
not be denied that the case was 
very different with respect to my bro¬ 
thers. Certainly had the new kings of 
Spain. Naples, and Holland, wished 
to govern conformably to the wishes 
and to tire tastes of their people, they 
would immediately have broken off 
with me; even, perhaps, had they been 
forced to make common cause with my 
enemies. What, then, would have be¬ 
come of their thrones, which they could 
only have possessed so long as they could 
be supported by the strength and the 
glory of mine ? It would have ex¬ 
perienced the fate of the throne of Na¬ 
ples, when Murat abandoned my cause 
in order to please his subjects. If is 
thus that in politics two and two do 
not always make four. 
Tile war in Spain was prolonged; I 
thought I should thus tire out the 
patience of the Spaniards ; but I was de¬ 
ceived. This people, (I only render it 
justice) in its misfortune, showed itself 
superior to all other nations, ancient 
and modern ; there never was but one 
opinion on that subject. Among this 
people an unanimous and natural des¬ 
peration was diffused into all classes of 
both sexes. A virgin and a prostitute, an 
honest man and a robber, all united, 
without repugnance, in killing aFrench- 
man: this effected more than ten armies. 
Had the French, in 1S14, only been 
one half inspired in a similar manner, 
the allies would never have returned 
to their homes. This is the more true, 
as independent of our desperation, we 
should have had more than what the 
Spaniards had, viz. an army of old sol¬ 
diers ready to form itself from the re¬ 
mains of our armies. On the other 
hand the idea of an invasion had united 
all hearts among the Spaniards; but 
the French became disunited at the ap¬ 
proach of the allies: this was, it is 
true, the work of some men whom his¬ 
tory will either proclaim traitors or ho¬ 
nest men. Perhaps also, and to be 
just towards the French, power is not 
given to every nation to arm them¬ 
selves with equal desperation; to make 
abnegation of every thing, of their pro¬ 
perty, of their lives, of their dearest 
affections, in fine, to burn their houses 
in order to throw fire-brands at the 
heads of their enemies; all this has been 
done by the Spaniards. 
Then follows a fragment, entitled 
u Josephine and Marie-Louise.” It is 
Monthly Mag. No. 362. 
valuable from the tribute paid to tile 
former. 
The mortal whom events, and per¬ 
haps, also, the eternal decrees, call to 
the government of nations, is, without 
contradiction, the man who belongs 
the least to himself. I was, more than 
all others on a throne, a man of this 
character; I owed more to the French 
than my royal predecessors; I was 
elected by the people, and not its mas¬ 
ter, by birthright; I had placed France 
in the first rank of European powers. 
This was imposing; but, in order to 
secure its stability, I required an heir, 
and, in this respect, Josephine was 
hopeless. 
I do not believe that in the whole 
universe there was a woman who suited 
me better than my first consort. She 
knew how to mingle with my tastes, 
my habitudes, my principles, my hu¬ 
mour, and my will; all this was na¬ 
tural to her; she was the person of her 
sex with whom I most delighted to 
live—with whom I have experienced 
more of domestic happiness. These 
truths, which our separation would 
seem to contradict, are not the less 
as immutable as the light. Had my 
first consort given me an heir, how¬ 
ever important it was for my glory and 
the illustration of my family, to ally 
myself with the daughter of kings, 
that alliance would never have taken 
place. This acknowledgement I owe 
to the memory of a woman whom the 
French have not sufficiently known,*' 
and which my interest, perhaps, has 
consigned to the tomb. 
Had it not formed part of my character 
to shew myself superior to every kind of 
disappointment, I would, at the time of 
my separation from Josephine, have 
proved to the French that it was on my 
part a great sacrificemade to their happi¬ 
ness and future tranquillity. I only spoke 
of it slightly, ajid this trait of character 
and of firmness has unjustly placed me 
in the rank of the ungrateful, by those 
men who date my troubles from the 
day in which I divorced my first con¬ 
sort. This is one more reproach from 
which my conscience entirely absolves 
me. 
. My union with the daughter of Fran¬ 
cis II. satisfied at the same time my 
* Bonaparte had only himself to blame, 
if the excellent counsels which his consort 
gave him are not come to the knowledge 
of the public. He never would permit her 
name to appear any where. 
3 X 
policy 
