The Court of the Empress Josephine by Imbert de Saint-Amand, Arthur Léon, baron, 1834-1900, Perry, Thomas Sergeant

71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81

A word from our supporters: File extension EML

Ii. Journey To The Banks Of The Rhine

Iii. The Pope's Arrival At Fontainebleau.

Iv. The Preparations For The Coronation.

V. The Coronation.

Vi. The Distribution Of Flags.

Vii. The Festivities.

Viii. The Etiquette Of The Imperial Palace.

Ix. Household Op The Empress.

X. Napoleon's Gallantries.

Xi. The Pope At The Tuileries.

Xii. The Journey In Italy.

Xiii. The Coronation At Milan.

Xiv. The Festivities At Genoa.

Xv. During The Campaign Of Austerlitz.

Xvi. The Marriage Of Prince Eugene.

Xvii. Paris In The Beginning Of 1806.

Xviii. The Marriage Of The Prince Of Baden.

Xix. The New Queen Of Holland.

Xx. The Empress At Mayence.

Xxi. The Return Of The Empress To Paris.

Xxii. The Death Of The Young Napoleon.

Xxiii. The End Of The War.

Xxiv. The Emperor's Return.

Xxv. The Court At Fontainebleau.

Xxvi. The End Of The Year, 1807.

XIX. THE NEW QUEEN OF HOLLAND.

At the beginning of 1804, Napoleon regarded himself the absolute master of fortune. His twofold title of Emperor of the French and King of Italy no longer sufficed him; he yearned for that of Emperor of the West. He created kings, grand dukes, sovereign princes. He made his brother Joseph King of the Two Sicilies; his brother-in-law Murat Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves; his sister Pauline Princess of Guastalla; he conferred the principality of Massa upon his sister Elisa, who was already in possession of the Duchy of Lucca; his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Talleyrand, became Prince of Benevento; his Major-General, Berthier, Prince of Neufchatel; and his brother Joseph's brother-in-law, Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte Corvo. He also elevated members of his wife's family as well as of his own to high positions. Josephine's son was Viceroy and son-in-law of a king. Josephine's daughter was about to become a queen.

France, which, fourteen years before, had wanted to convert every monarchy into a republic, was now endeavoring to turn the oldest republics into monarchies. The illustrious republics of Genoa and Venice had become an integral part, the one of the French Empire, the other of the Kingdom of Italy. The Batavian Republic was about to be transformed into the Kingdom of Holland. When it became known in Paris that this new kingdom was to be created by the Emperor's will, people wondered who was to fill the throne; some were betting on Louis Bonaparte; others on his brother Jerome; still others on Murat. The Emperor, however, had settled the question, and without even consulting him, had decided that Louis was to be King of Holland.

This new monarch, who was born September 2, 1778, was then twenty-seven years old. Four years before he had married Josephine's daughter, Hortense de Beauharnais, but the marriage had been an unhappy one. As he himself wrote, his marriage was celebrated in sadness. The author of a very remarkable study, _Holland and King Louis_, M. Albert Reville, says with great truth: "Like Hortense, Louis had literary tastes; but there the resemblance ceases. It was not that there was nothing romantic in Hortense's character; she was among the first to become interested in the Middle Ages, the Gothic revival, the imitation of the troubadours; but her romanticism was wholly different from that of her husband. Her ideal was, perhaps, a young and handsome soldier, pensive when away from the lady of his thoughts, but not when in her company." M. Reville goes on: "Such a character could not understand the sensitiveness, the shrinking, morbid melancholy of the husband thrust upon her. Her gaiety, her devotion to pleasure, the frivolity of her talk, could only pain more and more a man of a gloomy temperament, who took the greatest care of his health, who fretted himself over the most trivial details, and whose distrust amounted to injustice."