France -- Civilization; France -- Politics and government; France -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
[Footnote 1142: Observe the various features of the same mental and
moral structure among different members of the family. (Speaking of his
brothers and sisters in the "Memorial" Napoleon says): "What family
as numerous presents such a splendid group?"--"Souvenirs", by PASQUIER
(Etienne-Dennis, duc), chancelier de France, in VI volumes, Librarie
Plon, Paris 1893. Vol. I. p. 400. (This author, a young magistrate under
Louis XVI., a high functionary under the Empire, an important political
personage under the restoration and the July monarchy, is probably the
best informed and most judicious of eye-witnesses during the first half
of our century.): "Their vices and virtues surpass ordinary proportions
and have a physiognomy of their own. But what especially distinguishes
them is a stubborn will, and inflexible resolution.... All possessed
the instinct of their greatness." They readily accepted "the highest
positions; they even got to believing that their elevation was
inevitable.... Nothing in the incredible good fortune of Joseph
astonished him; often in January, 1814, I heard him say over and over
again that if his brother had not meddled with his affairs after the
second entry into Madrid, he would still be on the throne of Spain.
As to determined obstinacy we have only to refer to the resignation
of Louis, the retirement of Lucien, and the resistances of Fesch; they
alone could stem the will of Napoleon and sometimes break a lance with
him.--Passion, sensuality, the habit of considering themselves outside
of rules, and self-confidence combined with talent, super abound
among the women, as in the fifteenth century. Elisa, in Tuscany, had
a vigorous brain, was high spirited and a genuine sovereign,
notwithstanding the disorders of her private life, in which even
appearances were not sufficiently maintained." Caroline at Naples,
"without being more scrupulous than her sisters," better observed the
proprieties; none of the others so much resembled the Emperor; "with
her, all tastes succumbed to ambition"; it was she who advised and
prevailed upon her husband, Murat, to desert Napoleon in 1814. As to
Pauline, the most beautiful woman of her epoch, "no wife, since that
of the Emperor Claude, surpassed her in the use she dared make of her
charms; nothing could stop her, not even a malady attributed to the
strain of this life-style and for which we have so often seen her
borne in a litter."--Jerome, "in spite of the uncommon boldness of his
debaucheries, maintained his ascendancy over his wife to the last."--On
the "pressing efforts and attempts" of Joseph on Maria Louise in 1814,
Chancelier Pasquier, after Savary's papers and the evidence of M. de
Saint-Aignan, gives extraordinary details.--"Mes souvenirs sur Napoléon,
346, by the count Chaptal: "Every member of this numerous family
(Jérôme, Louis, Joseph, the Bonaparte sisters) mounted thrones as if
they had recovered so much property."]
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