Napoleon dishes to an English viscount on Elba
This short book is very good, the whole thing is quotable.
--I attacked his detention of the English travellers: which he justified on the score of retaliation, for our making prizes at sea before declaration of war. replied, that this had been in a manner sanctioned by long use. He said, "Yes, to you who gain, but not to others who suffer from it; and if you make new laws of nations, I have a right to do the same. Je suis sûr que vous croyez en Angleterre qu'au fond j'avois raison, puisque j'ai montré du caractère en ça. Eh! je suis un peu corsaire comme vous autres." [I'm sure you in England believe that deep down I was right, since I showed some character in this matter. Eh! I'm a bit of a privateer like you all.]
--On my expressing my surprise at the admirable sang froid with which he bore the change of his situation, he said, "C'est que tout le monde en a été, je crois, plus étonné que moi : je n'ai pas une trop bonne opinion des hommes, et je me suis toujours méfié de la fortune : d'ailleurs j'ai peu joui: mes frères ont été beaucoup plus rois que moi. [It's because everyone has been, I think, more astonished than I: I don't have a very high opinion of men, and I've always been wary of fortune: besides, I've had little enjoyment: my brothers have been much more kings than I.]They have had the enjoyments of royalty, whilst I have had little but its fatigues." He asked if I knew his brother Lucien, and what success his poem had had? said he was a clever man, but doubted his understanding sufficiently the "finesses" of the French language for an epic poet. “C'est de tous mes frères celui qui a le plus de talent; mais c'est un homme qui m'a fait beaucoup de mal: son mariage étoit pour moi, qui voulois fonder une dynastie, une chose terrible—d'aller se marier avec une femme du peuple, une jolie femme de Paris, &c." [Of all my brothers, the one who has the most talent; but he was a man who did me a lot of harm: his marriage was, for me, who wanted to found a dynasty, a terrible thing—to go and marry a common woman, a pretty woman from Paris, etc."] He had done everything to prevent it, "mais il a toujours eu un travers pour les femmes." [he always had a weakness for women.]
--On my mentioning Naples, he said, "Vous verrez donc sûrement le Roi de Naples—c'est un bon militaire; c'est un des hommes les plus brillants que j'ai jamais vu sur un champ de bataille. Pas d'un talent supérieur, sans beaucoup de courage moral, assez timide même pour le plan des opérations—mais le moment qu'il voyoit l'ennemi, tout cela disparoissoit—c'étoit alors le coup d'œil le plus rapide, une valeur vraiment chevaleresque—D'ailleurs un bel homme, grand, bien mis, et avec beaucoup de soin: quelque fois un peu fantasquement—Enfin un magnifique Lazzarone." ["You will surely see the King of Naples—he is a good soldier; he is one of the most brilliant men I have ever seen on a battlefield. Not of superior talent, without much moral courage, rather timid, even, in the planning of operations—but the moment he saw the enemy, all that disappeared—then was the quickest glance, a truly chivalrous valor—Moreover a handsome man, tall, well dressed, and with great care: sometimes a little fancifully—In short, a magnificent Lazzarone."] I asked if he did not make a fine charge with the cavalry at the battle of Leipsic, on the first day? He replied, “Parbleu, il les menoit toujours méme trop bien, il les faisoit trop tuer—et toujours en avant lui-même—C'étoit vraiment un superbe spectacle de le voir dans les combats à la tête de la cavalerie." [“Parbleu, he always led them, even too well, he makes them kill too much—and always in front, himself—It was truly a magnificent sight to see him in battle at the head of the cavalry.”] He shewed more animation in speaking on this than on any other topic in the whole course of conversation, and seemed quite to dwell on it with pleasure. He said, “Vous verrez aussi la Reine; c'est une belle personne, et très-fine." ["You will also see the Queen; she is a beautiful person, and very fine."]
Memorandum of two conversations between the Emperor Napoleon and Viscount Ebrington at Porto Ferrajo, on the 6th and 8th of December, 1814, published in 1823.
hathitrust
