What a commission he gave to Savary!  You know I do not like the general, because he is one of those whose flatteries will contribute to ruin Bonaparte.  Well!  I pitied Savary when he came yesterday to fulfil a commission which the Due d’Enghien had entrusted to him.  Here,” added Josephine, “is his portrait and a lock of his hair, which he has requested me to transmit to one who was dear to him.  Savary almost shed tears when he described to me the last moments of the Duke; then, endeavouring to resume his self-possession, he said:  ’It is in vain to try to be indifferent, Madame!  It is impossible to witness the death of such a man unmoved!’”

Josephine afterwards informed me of the only act of courage which occurred at this period—­namely, the resignation which M. de Chateaubriand had sent to Bonaparte.  She admired his conduct greatly, and said:  “What a pity he is not surrounded by men of this description!  It would be the means of preventing all the errors into which he is led by the constant approbation of those about him.”  Josephine thanked me for my attention in coming to see her at such an unhappy juncture; and I confess that it required all the regard I cherished for her to induce me to do so, for at that moment I should not have wished to see the First Consul, since the evil was irreparable.  On the evening of that day nothing was spoken of but the transaction of the 21st of March, and the noble conduct of M. de Chateaubriand.  As the name of that celebrated man is for ever written in characters of honour in the history of that period, I think I may with propriety relate here what I know respecting his previous connection with Bonaparte.

I do not recollect the precise date of M. de Chateaubriand’s return to France; I only know that it was about the year 1800, for we were, I think, still at the Luxembourg:  However, I recollect perfectly that Bonaparte began to conceive prejudices against him; and when I one day expressed my surprise to the First Consul that M. de Chateaubriand’s name did not appear on any of the lists which he had ordered to be presented to him for filling up vacant places, he said:  “He has been mentioned to me, but I replied in a way to check all hopes of his obtaining any appointment.  He has notions of liberty and independence which will not suit my system.  I would rather have him my enemy than my forced friend.  At all events, he must wait awhile; I may, perhaps, try him first in a secondary place, and, if he does well, I may advance him.”

The above is, word for word, what Bonaparte said the:  first time I conversed with him about M. de Chateaubriand.  The publication of ‘Atala’ and the ‘Genie du Christianisme’ suddenly gave Chateaubriand celebrity, and attracted the attention of the First Consul.  Bonaparte who then meditated the restoration of religious worship:  in France, found himself wonderfully supported by the publication of a book which excited the highest interest, and whose superior