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Consequently Madame Leclerc was forcibly placed in an arm-chair which was borne by four soldiers, while a grenadier marched by her side, carrying in his arms the general's son. During this scene of flight and terror the child, already worthy of its mother, played with the plume of the soldier who was carrying him.
"It is fortunate, then, for all parties," said he, "that future struggles are avoided. We are friends. Let it go abroad through the whole island that we are friends." Toussaint made no reply. Leclerc continued "You, General, and your troops, will be employed and treated like the rest of my army. With regard to yourself, you desire repose." Looking round, he repeated the words emphatically.
The adjutant-general, Leclerc, became her suitor; and, despite his obscure birth and meagre talents, speedily gained her as his bride. Bonaparte granted her 40,000 francs as her dowry; and significant fact the nuptials were privately blessed by a priest in the chapel of the Palace of Montebello. There, too, at Montebello was Josephine.
A grain of mustard-seed is the kingdom of heaven in a figure; the wandering winds a symbol of the Pentecostal power: a dove did signify the descent of God to man. This poor chamber, so pent in, and so lowly, so obscure, has its significance. Here has a life been lived; and not the least does it import, that walls are rough and the ceiling low. But the life of John Leclerc was not to be limited.
But still she refused to go on board the flag-ship. Leclerc expostulated and pleaded, but the lovely witch laughed in his face and still persisted that she would never go. Word was brought to Napoleon. He made short work of her resistance. "Bring a litter," he said, with one of his steely glances. "Order six grenadiers to thrust her into it, and see that she goes on board forthwith."
The fatal result of the enterprise is well known, but we are never to be cured of the folly of such absurd expeditions. In the instructions given to Leclerc everything was foreseen; but it was painful to know that the choice of one of the youngest and least capable of all the generals of the army left no hope of a successful result. The expedition to St.
Joan did not enjoy the concert as much as the others. She said the pianoforte playing was very indifferent she wondered what Captain Leclerc, who sat in the front row next to Clara Whigham, thought of it. The 28th was fixed for the concert at Mrs. Dobson's.
In the month of April 1803 Prince Borghese, who was destined one day to become Bonaparte's brother-in-law by marrying the widow of Leclerc, was introduced to the First Consul by Cardinal Caprara. About the end of June Bonaparte proceeded, with Josephine, on his journey to Belgium and the seaboard departments.
He was passionately in love with his wife, whose giddiness, to put it mildly, afflicted him sorely, and threw him into a deep and habitual melancholy painful to witness. I am sure that with his simple tastes and quiet disposition General Leclerc would have preferred less distinction and more peace. The First Consul required his sister to accompany her husband to San Domingo.
But at the end of two years both she and her husband fell ill. He was stricken down by the yellow fever, which was decimating the French army. Pauline was suffering from the results of her life in a tropical climate. Leclerc died, the expedition was abandoned, and Pauline brought the general's body back to France.
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