Napoleon The End Of Glory

[Karri Weston]

MarieHenri Beyle (1783-1842), known to the world as Stendhal, became one of the modern age's most important literary figures. [1] Living as he did in the transitional period from the ancien rgime through the age of Napoleon and into the period of the return of the monarchy and the July Revolution, Stendhal witnessed France's and Europe's movement into the modern era.

The dominant personality of this age was, of course, Napoleon Bonaparte. His career serves today as an inspiration to many, and it was no less a marvel in his own time. Many careers were made in the footsteps of Napoleon's glory, including Henri Beyle's. It is impossible to read any of Stendhal's important novels without being struck by the central role played by Napoleon in the lives of his characters, and this is no accident. Stendhal's career in many ways parallels that of Napoleon. Like Napoleon, he was able to use important contacts to get himself started on his career. And once this process began, Stendhal's career would rise and fall with the fortunes, lifetime and posthumous, of Napoleon Bonaparte. Indeed, in his autobiographical work The Life of Henry Brulard he states "I fell when Napoleon did in April 1814." [2]

Stendhal did not write his novels until long after Napoleon left power. His characters, however, reflect both his own Napoleonic career and his great unhappiness with Napoleon's fate after his defeat at Waterloo. Both the student of Napoleonic era history, political and literary, as well as the reader of Stendhal's works will benefit from a knowledge of the strong connection between Stendhal's career and Napoleon's. This paper will trace that connection, with a particular eye toward Stendhal's own commentaries on the subject. [3]

Stendhal, a native of Grenoble, grew to hate his existence in that city, and longed for the adventures of Paris. He was to admit later that his longing for Paris was strongly influenced by his disgust for Grenoble. Here he felt hemmed in by his dominating father and the religious teachings of his tutor, as well as by the general provincialism of Grenoble. Thus, when he moved to Paris in November of 1799, the day after Napoleon seized power with the coup d'tat de Brumaire (November 9), he was filled with great hopes for a new, more exciting life.

In spite of his high hopes, he soon became disillusioned with Paris and with his stated desire to further his studies in math. Paris, it seemed, was not the key to untold excitement that he had expected. He was unable to bring himself to complete his studies, and his health took a turn for the worse. Fortunately for him, his father had a cousin named Nol Daru living in Paris. Daru had been important politically in both Grenoble and Paris, with connections throughout the government, including to Talleyrand. [4] The elder Daru and his sons Pierre and Martial would serve as Stendhal's benefactors throughout the Napoleonic period of his life.

For a time, Stendhal sought only art, literature, and love, with varying degrees of success. Pierre Daru sought to make an educated man out of him, while Martial served as a role model for a dandy about the streets of Paris. Like many young men of any epoch, Stendhal no doubt preferred to emulate Martial, though it would be the efforts of Pierre that would ultimately do Stendhal the most good. In 1799, not long after having taken in their jobless, disillusioned, and ill cousin Stendhal, the Darus arranged to find Stendhal a position as one of several hundred clerks in the Ministry of War, where Pierre Daru served the new government as Secretary General. This was quite a change for the young Stendhal.

In a vast room with gilded panels at the War Ministry, the younger Daru toiled night and day; Napoleon roared at him, and Pierre Daru, in turn, roared like a bull at the people who worked under him...

By all accounts, Stendhal was miserable in his new post. At age seventeen, full of idealism and hope for an exciting love and literary life, the rigors of the War Ministry were a big let-down. Moreover, he was not even very good at his work, making mistakes that earned him sharp criticism. In Brlard, Stendhal writes "Everyone at the War Ministry used to shudder as they went into M. Daru's office, for my part I was scared even to look at the door." [6] In his most famous statement on his conditions of work he writes "... he [Daru] was in mortal dread of Napoleon and I was in mortal dread of him." [7]

But, as would so often happen, Stendhal's fortunes would change, tied, as they were, to the kindness and sense of familial responsibility of the Darus and the rising star of Napoleon. The future Emperor was preparing to attack the Austrians in Italy by taking a northern route through the Alps and the now famous Great Saint Bernard Pass. Pierre Daru had been appointed Inspector of Reviews, and left for Italy with Napoleon. When he offered Stendhal the chance to accept a commission as a second lieutenant in the 6th Dragoons and join his staff in Italy, Stendhal was overjoyed. Here, finally, was a chance to see the world while playing the role of a heroic and gallant soldier.

Gallant soldier he may have wanted to be, but gallant soldier he most certainly was not. Nothing in his background had prepared him for such a role (assuming that a great imagination is not actual preparation!); he knew neither the art of fighting nor the art of horsemanship. Fortunately, Pierre had assigned a man to accompany his eager but hopeless young cousin, and to teach him certain necessary skills along the way. The trip through the Alps would leave Stendhal with a greater ability in both of these areas, as well as a more realistic vision of soldiering. After a visit to Jean-Jacques Rousseau's house in Geneva, Stendhal and his new protector set out for Italy. Stendhal followed Napoleon's footsteps, only slightly delayed from Napoleon's own passage through the Alps, even including a stop for refreshment at the Hospice of Saint Bernard. His experience of most note was centered on the only real military problem encountered by the French army, Fort Bard. This fort, to the east of the Great St. Bernard Pass, threatened to seriously delay Napoleon's march forward. Stubborn to the end, the defenders of the fort refused to surrender to Napoleon, who then simply went around them. While this move was successful, there was a danger, as the soldiers were forced to pass within range of the fort's cannons. They had to pass along a platform, with cannon balls bouncing fairly close at hand. In Brulard Stendhal describes his experience "I can remember that I went close to the edge of the platform so as to be more exposed, and when he [his companion] started off along the road I lingered a few minutes to show my courage. That's how I came under fire the first time. This was a kind of virginity which had weighed as heavily on me as the other sort." [8] He would write his sister Pauline:

Stendhal was not alone in finding humor in the difficult pass through the Alps. Napoleon himself wrote of his trip down the eastern side of the St. Bernard: "The First Consul descended from the top of the Saint-Bernard by sliding on the snow and water-courses and leaping over precipices." [10]

Stendhal's trip through the Saint Bernard was not without its disillusionment. It was on this trip that he first learned that not all soldiers were the heroic figures he hoped to become. They were more than willing to steal from their fellow soldiers and he came to see them as rough men of unkind disposition who begrudged any benefits that might befall their comrades, such as having a horse to ride rather than being on foot. Still, the thrill of his participation in this great crusade, led by the ultimate man of action, would never leave Stendhal. His love of Napoleon must surely have started here. These feelings are best expressed in the opening lines of The Charterhouse of Parma where he notes(using an earlier campaign) "On 15 May 1796, General Bonaparte made his entry into Milan at the head of that youthful army which but a short time before had crossed the Bridge of Lodi, and taught the world that after so many centuries Caesar and Alexander had a successor." [11]

Caesar and Alexander may have had a successor, but that successor was by no means alone in the attentions of Stendhal. Stendhal's earlier idealistic image of Paris was replaced with one of Milan in particular, and Italy in general. The art, the music, the enthusiastic crowds and, most importantly, the beautiful women -- all became the subjects of Stendhal's affections. And it was in the theater in Milan that he first saw his hero and indirect benefactor, the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte himself. [12]

At first, Stendhal was wildly in love with Milan and Italy. And who could be surprised at that? He was quartered in the Adda Palace, where he lived and worked (as an aide to General Ptiet, the paymaster of the army of Italy) in an atmosphere that would overwhelm even the most worldly of persons, to say nothing of an idealistic youth. He later moved to the Casa Bovara, still working for Claude Ptiet, now Ambassador and Minister Extraordinary of the French Republic. In the evenings, Milanese society would mingle with the top levels of the French military and diplomatic corps. The young Henri, no doubt a bit awed by it all, was able to mix with a social level of the very highest order. [13]

Stendhal was also able to enjoy life during the day. His job, while important, by no means consumed his entire day. He was able to visit historical sights, monuments, and other delightful aspects of life in Milan. His efforts at romance are well known to his biographers and students, as are his efforts at reading. Indeed, it seems that he must have spent an enormous amount of time reading, and his descriptions of what he had read take a large amount of space in his writings. For example, his journal entry for April 18, 1801 notes "Since I've stopped thinking of Signora Martin, now Saladini, I've read a great deal of La Harpe. I've read Volumes I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII of his Lyce. [14]

3a8082e126