CHAPTER VII

RELIGIOUS NOTIONS OF NAPOLEON

In contrast with members of the oligarchy, who threw all moral restraints to the winds, Napoleon towers above them.  Take any grounds—­administrative, strategical, religious, domestic—­he was preeminent above his contemporaries.  On religious grounds alone, those thoughts of his which have been recorded not only disclose the insight of a man of affairs, but reveal the thinking mind of a deeply religious being.  His conversations with Gourgaud on religious subjects, some of which are quoted in Lord Rosebery’s admirable book, “The Last Phase,” are so contradictory that they cannot be taken as authentic beliefs.  It greatly depended to whom he was talking as to the line he took.

It is evident that the Emperor took a delight in arguing with and contradicting the devout Catholic for sheer intellectual exercise.  At one time he declares to his refractory companion, “If I had to choose a religion, I would worship the sun, because the sun gives to all things life and fertility.”  At another time he torments the Count, after tying him into a knot and exposing his superficial knowledge, by saying that “the Mohammedan religion is the finest of all.”  But when his mind seriously dwells on sacred things, he declares “that religion lends sanctity to everything.”  “The remission of sins is a beautiful idea.”  “It makes the Christian religion so attractive that it will never perish.  No one can say ’I do not believe and I never shall believe.’”

Montholon is more to the writer’s liking than Gourgaud, even though Gourgaud’s authenticity is backed by Lord Rosebery, and we shall see later what he says about his Emperor’s religious beliefs.  It was he who endeavoured to mitigate his master’s mental and physical sufferings, and it was he whom he desired should close his eyes in death when the nefarious assassination had been completed.  It was he, too, who got himself locked up in the fortress of Ham for seven years by adhering steadfastly to the cause of the great exile’s nephew.  Gourgaud was loyal and devoted on a sort of sliding scale, which led him to do great injustice to the stricken hero.  Montholon’s devotion was consistent and abiding under all circumstances, while Gourgaud’s fluctuated with his moods.

None of Napoleon’s companions in exile were admitted to such close intimacy with the illustrious warrior-statesman as was Count Montholon, not even Bertrand or Marchand.  It was he who had won confidence by the most amazing attachment that one human being could give to another, and it was natural that the big soul of Napoleon should respond to what amounted to fanatical fidelity.  He was the beloved companion of the Emperor for six years, and during the last forty-two nights of his life he was with him in the death-chamber, and at his request he kept vigil and witnessed, his spirit pass away.