Instead of making Metternich a present at the Prague Congress of a snuff-box which cost 30,000 francs, as a token of friendship, Fouche, who always had his mind well stored with ideas of corruption, suggested to the Emperor that, if it was intended to buy Austria off, he ought to make it millions.  If Napoleon had been a man after his own heart, this might have been a successful solution for a time, but only for a time.  Meneval says that the Emperor, who had a horror of corruption, replied to him with a gesture of disgust.

In the early part of 1812, when war with Russia had become imminent, Napoleon carried out a promise that Josephine should see the King of Rome.  The meeting took place at Bagatelle.  She hugged and kissed the child with motherly affection, and her tears flowed with profusion.  The scene was touching, and proved to be the everlasting farewell.  Strange as it may appear, Josephine formed an enduring affection for Napoleon’s natural son, afterwards Count Colonna (Alexander Walewska), and for his mother, Marie Walewska.  She loved the child and treated him with the same indulgence as she did her own grandchildren.  The mother was a regular visitor, and no one was more welcome at Malmaison than she.  These incidents of magnanimity, characteristic of Josephine, would make her not only attractive but lovable, were it not there are also left on record flaws which show that she was seriously lacking in probity and fidelity to him to whom she owed everything.  Her maternal affection and loving care of her children are without reproach, and her generosity to worthy and unworthy people was extraordinary.  She loved Napoleon with peculiar eccentricity.  His honour and interests were never a consideration.  She allowed herself to be surrounded at Malmaison during the Russian campaign with Royalist plotters and treachery of the most implacable character.  She poured out her woes to them with acceptable results, and nothing that would damage him and draw sympathy to herself was left uncommunicated.  Her whole thought was of herself.  She did not intend to be false or cruel to him, and yet she was both cruel and false.

As soon as the Allied Armies had taken possession of Paris, the irrepressible Madame de Stael made a call on Josephine to ascertain how she stood now towards her former husband.  She promptly asked her whether she still loved him.  Josephine resented the impertinence, so the Duchesse de Reggio relates, and told some of her visitors that she had never ceased to love the Emperor in the days of his prosperity, and it was unthinkable that she should cease to do so in his adversity.  Unhappily for Josephine, she adopted a most astounding course of showing her devotion by agreeing to the visits, first, of the Emperor of Russia, and then the other sovereigns and foreign dignitaries.  She gave balls and treated the enemies of France, and especially the Tsar, as though they were the real descendants of the builders of the Temple to Jehovah.  She and Hortense walked about the grounds linked to Alexander’s arms during frequent visits, which was indicative of strongly formed affection.