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Updated: May 21, 2025
I could judge from the terror of de Meneval, as well as from the scene which I had witnessed with Admiral Bruix, what the influence was which the Emperor exercised over those who were around him.
The Emperor was absent-minded, and often forgot where he had put the petitions which were handed to him, and thus they were sometimes left in his coats, and when I found them there I carried them to his Majesty's cabinet and handed them to M. de Meneval or M. Fain; and often, too, the, papers for which he was hunting were found in the apartments of the Empress.
Meneval says that Waterloo was won by the French in the middle of the day of that fateful battle, but a caprice of fortune the arrival of Bulow's corps and Blucher's army, and the absence of Grouchy's corps snatched from Napoleon's hands the triumph which was within his grasp.
But I saw that for some time past M. de Meneval had begun to supersede me, and the First Consul only wanted such an opportunity as this for coming to a rupture with me. Such is a true statement of the circumstances which led to my separation from Bonaparte.
Sometimes, also, the Emperor wished notes to be taken while he was in bed or in his bath, and said to me, "Constant, take a pen and write;" but I always refused, and went to summon M. de Meneval.
She had regarded the Emperor of the French with peculiar aversion, but when his power was broken and he became the victim of persecution, this good woman forgot her prejudices, sent for Meneval, and said to him that she had had cause to regard Napoleon at one time as an enemy, but now that he was in trouble she forgot the past.
For my part, I found the crown of France lying upon the ground, and I lifted it upon my sword-point. 'You have lifted France with your sword also, Sire, said Talleyrand, who stood at his elbow. Napoleon looked at his famous minister, and I seemed to read suspicion in his eyes. Then he turned to his secretary. 'I leave Monsieur de Laval in your hands, de Meneval, said he.
General Corbineau a few moments after received an order from his Majesty, and not finding some money he wished at Monsieur de Meneval's quarters, came to me, and I gave it to him from the Emperor's private purse; at the end of a few hours I met Monsieur de Meneval, to whom I rendered an account of General Corbineau's request, and the sum I had lent him.
"The orders for the departure for Trianon," writes the Baron Meneval, Napoleon's private secretary, "had been previously given. When in the morning the Emperor was informed that his carriages were ready, he took his hat and said, 'Meneval, come with me. I followed him by the little winding staircase which, from his cabinet, communicated with the apartment of the Empress.
Lucien tendered his resignation, which was accepted, and he departed for Spain. This diplomatic mission turned to his advantage. It was necessary that one should veil the Machiavellian invention of the 'Parallel. See Meneval, tome iii. p. 105. Whoever wrote it Napoleon certainly planned its issue. See also Lanfrey, tome ii. p. 208; and compare the story in Iung's Lucien, tome ii. p. 490.
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