However, it was known very soon that the hunting party and the breakfast at Grosbois were mere pretexts, and that the Emperor's object was to terminate in person with the Pope the differences which still existed between His Holiness and His Majesty. Everything having been prepared and agreed, the Emperor and the Pope signed, on the 25th, an arrangement, under the name of Concordat, of which the following is the text:
"His Majesty the Emperor and King and His Holiness, desiring to put an end to the differences which have arisen between them, and to provide for the difficulties that have supervened in several affairs of the Church, agreed upon the following articles as a suitable basis for a definitive arrangement.
"ART. I. His Holiness will exercise the pontificate in France and in the kingdom of Italy in the same manner and the same forms as his predecessors.
"2. The ambassadors, ministers, charges d'affaires of the powers near the Holy Father, and the ambassadors, ministers, or charges d'affaires whom the Pope may have near foreign powers, shall enjoy the immunities and privileges enjoyed by the members of the diplomatic corps.
"3. The dominions which the Holy Father possessed, and which are not alienated, shall be exempt from every sort of tax; they shall be administered by his agents or charges d'affaires. Those which will be alienated shall be replaced to the extent of two million francs of revenue.
"4. Within the six months that follow the customary notification of nominations by the Emperor to the archbishoprics of the empire and kingdom of Italy, the Pope will give canonical institution, conformably with the concordats and in virtue of the present indult. The preliminary information will be given by the metropolitan. The six months expiring without the Pope having granted the institution, the metropolitan, or, in default of him when there is question of the metropolitan, the oldest bishop of the province shall proceed to the institution of the bishop nominated, so that a see shall never be vacant for more than a year.
"5. The Pope will nominate, either in France or in the kingdom of Italy, to ten bishoprics which will be subsequently designated in concert.
"6. The six suburbicarian bishoprics shall be re-established. They will be appointed to by the Pope. The actually existing properties will be restored, and measures taken for those that have been sold. On the death of the bishops of Anagni and Rieti, their dioceses will be reunited to the said six bishoprics, conformably to the concert which will exist between His Majesty and the Holy Father.
"7. With regard to the bishops of the Roman states, absent from their dioceses through force of circumstances, the Holy Father may exert in their favor his right of giving bishoprics in partibus. A pension, equal to the income they enjoyed, will be given them, and they may be replaced in vacant sees, whether of the empire or the kingdom of Italy.
"8. His Majesty and His Holiness will concert together at an opportune time on the reduction to make, if there is occasion for it, in the bishoprics of Tuscany and the territory of Genoa, and also on the bishoprics to be established in Holland and the Hanseatic departments.
"9. The propaganda, the penitentiary, the archives shall be established in the Holy Father's place of residence.
"10. His Majesty will restore to favor the cardinals, bishops, priests, and laics who have incurred his disfavor in consequence of actual events.
"11. The Holy Father resorts to the above arrangements through consideration for the existing state of the Church, and in the confidence inspired in him by His Majesty that the latter will grant his powerful protection to the very numerous needs of religion in our times.
Having been notified by the Bishop of Nantes, the Pope was expecting His Majesty. As the important points had been agreed upon and regulated beforehand, there was nothing now in question but certain clauses accessory to the principal end of the Concordat; hence it is impossible that the interview should not have been amicable. This verity will become increasingly evident to those who will reflect on the excellent dispositions of the Holy Father toward the Emperor, their mutual friendship, and the admiration inspired in the Pope by the great genius of Napoleon. I affirm then, because I think I can do so, that everything passed off in an honorable way, and that the Concordat was signed freely and without constraint by His Holiness in the presence of the cardinals assembled at Fontainebleau. It is an atrocious calumny to have dared assert that, on the reiterated refusals of the Pope, the Emperor put a pen dipped in ink into his hand, and seizing him by the arm and the hair, forced him to sign by saying that he ordered him to do so, and that his disobedience would be punished by perpetual imprisonment. One must have had little knowledge of the Emperor's character to lend credence to this absurd story.
A person who was present at this interview, the circumstances of which have been so maliciously distorted, related them all to me; it is in conformity with his account that I am speaking. As soon as he arrived at Fontainebleau, the Emperor paid a visit to the Holy Father, who returned it the following day. This visit lasted for at least two hours; during which time His Majesty's countenance was, in truth, invariably calm and firm, yet full of kindliness and respect for the venerable person of the Pope. Some stipulations of the treaty alarmed the conscience of the Holy Father. The Emperor perceived it, and, without waiting for complaints, declared that he abandoned them. This proceeding conquered what remaining scruples there may have been in the mind of His Holiness, a secretary was called, and drew up the articles of the treaty, which the Pope approved, one after another, with a truly paternal bounty.
January 26, the Concordat having been definitively agreed upon, the Holy Father entered the apartments of Her Majesty the Empress. The two contracting parties seemed equally satisfied; an additional proof that there had been neither trickery nor violence. The Concordat was signed by the august personages in the midst of a magnificent circle of cardinals, bishops, military men, etc. Cardinal Doria acted as grand master of ceremonies, and it was he who received the signatures.
I could not describe the ensuing multitude of felicitations offered and received, the favors asked and granted, the relics, decorations, rosaries, snuffboxes distributed on either side. Cardinal Doria received the gold eagle of the Legion of Honor from His Majesty's own hand. The grand eagle was also given to Cardinal Fabricio-Ruffo. Cardinal Maury, the Bishop of Nantes, and the Archbishop of Tours received the grand cross of the order of the Reunion; finally, the Cardinal of Bayonne and the Bishop of Evreux were made senators by His Majesty. Doctor Porta, the Pope's physician, was given a pension of twelve thousand francs, and the ecclesiastical secretary, who had come into the cabinet to transcribe the articles of the Concordat, was presented with a magnificent ring in brilliants.
His Holiness had scarcely signed the Concordat when he repented of it. It was in this fashion that the Emperor described the matter to Marshal Kellermann when he was with him at Mayence toward the end of April:
"The Pope was to dine in public with me on the day after the signing the famous Concordat of Fontainebleau; but during the night he was ill, or pretended to be so. He was really a lamb, a thoroughly good man, a truly virtuous man whom I esteem, whom I greatly love, and who returns my feeling somewhat, I am sure.
"Would you believe," continued His Majesty, "that he wrote me eight days afterwards that he was very sorry that he signed, that his conscience reproached him for it, and that he urgently requested me to consider the Concordat as null and void? That is because, as soon as I left him, he fell back into the hands of his habitual counsellors, who made a frightful bugbear out of what he had just agreed upon. If we had been alone, I could have done what I pleased about it. I answered him that what he asked was contrary to the interests of France, that, moreover, being infallible, he could not have made a mistake, and that his conscience was too ready to take the alarm.
"As a matter of fact, what was ancient Rome, and what was it now? Injured by the imperative consequences of the Revolution, could it retrieve and maintain itself? A government vicious in the political order had succeeded to the ancient Roman legislation which, without being perfect, was yet capable of forming great men of every kind. Modern Rome has applied to the political order principles which may be worthy of respect in the religious order, and has given them an extension fatal to the welfare of peoples. . . .
"Thus charity is the most perfect of Christian virtues. . . . Hence charity must be given to those who ask it. That is the reasoning which has made Rome the receptacle of the scum of all nations. There you see assembled (so I am told, for I have never been there) all the drones of the earth, who come thither for refuge, certain to find abundant nourishment and considerable gifts. So it is that the papal territory, destined by nature to produce immense riches by its position under a fortunate sky, by the multitude of the streams that water it, and yet more by the fertility of the soil, is languishing for want of cultivation. Berthier has often told me that you may traverse considerable regions without perceiving the imprint of man's hand. Even the women, who are regarded as the most beautiful in Italy, are indolent, and their minds are incapable of any activity for the ordinary cares of life: it is the softness of Asiatic manners.
"Modern Rome has confined itself to maintaining a certain pre-eminence by the marvels of art which it contained. But we have somewhat lessened that pre-eminence; the museum is enriched with all those masterpieces of which it was so vain; and before long the beautiful monument of the Bourse, which is being erected in Paris, will surpass all those of Europe, ancient or modern.
"France before all.
"To return to the political order, what could the papal government amount to in its actual condition, in presence of the great sovereignties of Europe? Old and petty sovereigns ascend the pontifical throne at an age when one no longer aspires to anything but repose. At that period of life all is routine, all is habit; all they think of is to enjoy their grandeur and make it reflect upon their family. A pope does not arrive at sovereign power but with a mind contracted by long recourse to intrigue, and with the fear of making powerful enemies who, in the end, may avenge themselves upon his family; for his successor is always unknown. In fine, all he desires is to live and die tranquilly. For one Sixtus Fifth, how many popes have there not been who occupied themselves with trifles only, as uninteresting from the truly religious point of view as they are calculated to inspire contempt for such a government? But this would carry us too far." 1
Since his return from Moscow, His Majesty had been devoting himself with unparalleled activity to the means to be taken for preventing the invasion of the Russians, who, having joined the Prussians since the defection of General Yorck, were forming a most formidable mass. New levies had been decreed; and, during two months, there had been received and utilized innumerable offers of horses and riders, made by all the cities of the Empire, administrations, rich individuals nearly connected with the court, etc. The imperial guard was reorganized by the brave Duc de Frioul, who was, alas! to be taken away from his numerous friends a few months later.
Amidst these serious occupations His Majesty did not lose sight of his favorite plan, — that of making Paris the most beautiful city in the world. Not a week passed without architects and engineers being admitted to present him with their designs, make their reports, etc.
"It is a shame," the Emperor said one day to M. Fontaine, while looking at the barracks of the guard, a sort of black and smoky outhouse, "it is a shame to construct buildings as frightful as those of Moscow. I ought never to have allowed such work to be done; are not you my first architect?" Thereupon M. Fontaine excused himself by calling His Majesty's attention to the fact that he had nothing to do with the constructions of Paris, that he had, indeed, the honor of being the Emperor's first architect, but merely for the Tuileries and the Louvre. "That is true," replied His Majesty; "but could there not be constructed in place of that wooden dockyard, which makes a frightful effect here, "pointing to the quay," a hotel for the Italian minister?" M. Fontaine replied that the thing was very feasible, but would cost between three and four millions. Whereupon the Emperor seemed to abandon that idea, and thinking of the Tuileries garden, possibly on account of General Mallet's conspiracy, he told him to arrange all the fastenings of the palace in such a way that one key would answer for all the locks. "This key," added His Majesty, "must be remitted to the grand marshal every evening after the doors are closed."
Some days after this conversation with M. Fontaine, the Emperor sent to him, for himself and M. Costaz, the subjoined note, a copy of which has fallen into my hands. His Majesty had gone that morning to examine the buildings of Chaillot.
"There will be time to discuss the construction of the palace of the King of Rome.
"I am unwilling to be dragged into foolish expenses; I want a palace smaller than that of Saint-Cloud and larger than that of the Luxembourg.
"I want to be able to live in it by the time the sixteenth million shall have been expended; that would be a medium which I could enjoy; if, instead of this, pretentious things are made for me, it will be as it is with the Louvre, which has never been completed.
"You will have to begin with the plantations, determine the space to be enclosed, and enclose it.
"I want this palace to be a little finer than that of the Elysée; now the Elysee did not cost eight millions to build; and yet it is one of the finest palaces in Paris.
"That of the King of Rome will be the second palace after the Louvre, which is a large palace. It will be, so to say, merely a country seat for Paris; for people will always prefer to spend the winter at the Louvre or the Tuileries.
"I find difficulty in believing that it cost sixteen millions to build Saint-Cloud.
"Before seeing the plan, I wish to have it well discussed and settled by the building committee, so that I shall have the assurance that this sum of sixteen millions will not be surpassed; I do not want a chimera but a real thing for me, and not for the amusement of the architect. The completion of the Louvre will be enough for his fame. When the plan is once adopted, I will carry it forward very fast.
"The Elysée does not please me, and the Tuileries are uninhabitable. Nothing can please me unless it is extremely simple, and built in accordance with my tastes and manner of life. Then this palace will be useful to me. I would like to have it a more substantial Sans-souci. I especially desire to have it an agreeable palace rather than a fine garden, two conditions which are incompatible; that it should be between court and garden, like the Tuileries; that from my apartment I can go and promenade in the garden and park, as at Saint-Cloud; but at Saint-Cloud there is the inconvenience of having no park for the house.
"The exposure must be studied also, in order that my apartment shall lie to north and south, so that I can change my room according to the temperature.
"My dwelling room must be that of a rich private individual, like that of my small apartment at Fontainebleau.
"My apartment must be very near that of the Empress and on the same floor.
"In fine, I must have a convalescent's palace or habitation for a man in the decline of life. I want a small theatre, a small chapel, etc.; and, above all, take care that there is no stagnant water around the palace."
The taste for building was, at this time, pushed to excess by the Emperor, he was like a more active architect, one more in haste to execute his plans, more jealous of his ideas than all the architects in the world.
And still, the notion of putting the palace of the King of Rome on the heights of Chaillot was not altogether his; M. Fontaine might claim the better part of it. On the first occasion mention had been made of the palace of Lyons, which, to have a fine appearance, said M. Fontaine, needed to be situated on an eminence that might dominate the city, as, for example, the heights of Chaillot dominate Paris. The Emperor did not seem to notice what M. Fontaine had just said; two or three days before he had given orders to have the château of Meudon put into condition to receive his son. But one morning he summoned the architect, and told him to prepare a plan for the embellishment of the Bois de Boulogne, adding to it a pleasure house built on the top of Mount Chaillot. "What do you think of it?" he added, smiling; "do you think the site well chosen?"
One morning in March the Emperor had his son taken to a grand review held in the Champ-de-Mars. There was an indescribable enthusiasm, the sincerity of which could not be doubted, for it was easy to see that the shouts proceeded from the heart; hence the Emperor was much affected by it. He re-entered the Tuileries in the most charming mood; he caressed the King of Rome, covered him with kisses, calling M. Fontaine's attention and mine to the precocious intelligence displayed by this dear child. "He was not afraid of anything," said His Majesty; "he seemed to know that all those brave fellows were acquaintances of mine." That day he chatted for a long time with M. Fontaine, playing, meanwhile, with his son, whom he held in his arms. The conversation happening to turn on Rome, M. Fontaine spoke of the Pantheon with the most profound admiration. The Emperor asked whether he had ever lived in Rome, and on M. Fontaine's replying that when he went there first he remained three years, "It is a city I have not seen," continued His Majesty; "I will surely go there some day. It is the city of the King's people." And as he said it his eyes were fixed upon the King of Rome with all the pride of paternal tenderness.
When M. Fontaine had departed, the Emperor made a sign for me to approach, and began by pulling my ears, as was his habit when in good humor. After some personal questions, he asked me what my salary was. "Sire, six thousand francs." — "And M. Colin, how much has he?" "Twelve thousand francs."— "Twelve thousand francs! That is not just; you ought not to have less than M. Colin; I will see about that." His Majesty did, in fact, have the kindness to make inquiries at once, but he was told that the accounts of the year were made. Whereupon the Emperor told me that until the end of the year it would be Baron Fain who would give me five hundred francs monthly, out of his privy purse, wishing, so he said, that my salary should equal that of M. Colin.