preme
contempt for his sister-in-law. But as he was silent, he was
believed to be gentle; and as he was severe by character, he was
believed to be upright. Madame Louis told me afterwards that at the
news of this arrangement she experienced violent grief. Not only
was she forbidden to think of the man she loved, but she was about
to be given to another of whom she had a secret distrust" (Remusat,
tome i. p. 156). For the cruel treatment of Hortense by Louis see
the succeeding pages of Remusat. As for the vile scandal about
Hortense and Napoleon, there is little doubt that it was spread by
the Bonapartist family for interested motives. Madame Louis became
enceinte soon after her marriage. The Bonapartists, and especially
Madame Murat (Caroline); had disliked this marriage because Joseph
having only daughters, it was forseen that the first son of Louis
and the grandson of Madame Bonaparte would be the object of great
interest. They therefore spread the revolting story that this was
the result of a connection of the First Consul with his
daughter-in-law, encouraged by the mother herself. "The public
willingly believed this suspicion.' Madame Murat told Louis," etc.
(Remusat, tome i, p. 169). This last sentence is corroborated by
Miot de Melito (tome ii. p. 170), who, speaking of the later
proposal of Napoleon to adopt this child, says that Louis
"remembered the damaging stories which ill-will had tried to spread
among the public concerning Hortense Beauharnais before he married
her, and although a comparison of the date of his marriage with
that of the birth of his son must have shown him that these tales
were unfounded, he felt that they would be revived by the adoption
of this child by the First Consul." Thus this wretched story did
harm in every way. The conduct of Josephine mast be judged with
leniency, engaged as she was in a desperate straggle to maintain
her own marriage,--a struggle she kept up with great skill; see
Metternich, tome ii. p. 296. "she baffled all the calculations,
all the manoeuvres of her adversaries." But she was foolish enough
to talk in her anger as if she believed some of the disgraceful
rumours of Napoleon. "Had he not seduced his sisters, one after
the other?" (Remusat, tome i. p. 204). As to how far this scandal
was really believed by the brothers of Napoleon, see Iung's Lucien
(tome
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