This word _quits_ reminds me of a characteristic trait of the Emperor, which must be noticed here.
A General had been guilty of irregularities in his department, which, had they been brought before the tribunals, must have cost him his honour, and perhaps his life. Now, this general had rendered the most important services to Napoleon on the day of Brumaire. The Emperor sent for, and reproached him with his misconduct. “However,” said he, “you have laid me under obligations, which I have not forgotten. I am perhaps about to transgress the laws, and to fail in my duty. I pardon you, Sir; begone; but know that from this day forward we are _quits_. Take care of yourself for the future, I shall look sharply after you.”
THE GOVERNOR OF JAVA.—DOCTOR WARDEN.—FAMILIAR CONVERSATION OF THE EMPEROR RELATIVE TO HIS FAMILY.
19th.—Doctor Warden breakfasted with me to-day. The Governor of Java (Sir Stamford Raffles) and his staff, who had touched at St. Helena on their way to Europe, arrived at Longwood while we were at breakfast. Governor Raffles was well acquainted with all the Dutch gentlemen, whom I had seen in 1810, during my mission to Amsterdam. The Emperor told me that he would probably receive his visitors about three or four o’clock. In the mean time, I conversed for several hours with Doctor Warden, whom I furnished with some explanations on historical facts relating to the Emperor, about which I supposed he intended to write.[12]
I was sorry to find, on perusing the Doctor’s work, that he has totally neglected the observations and corrections with which I furnished him; and has strangely misrepresented the particulars which I communicated.
About three o’clock the Emperor received in the garden the English gentlemen who had come from Java. He afterwards took a drive in the calash.
On his return, about six o’clock, he desired me to follow him to his study. He sent for the Grand Marshal and his Lady, and conversed familiarly, until dinner time, on various subjects relating to his family and his minutest domestic affairs during the period of his power. He dwelt particularly on the Empress Josephine. “They lived together,” he said, “like a private citizen and his wife. They were most affectionate and united, having for a long period occupied but one chamber and one bed. These are circumstances,” said the Emperor, “which exercise great influence over the happiness of a family, securing the reputation of the wife and the confidence of the husband, and preserving union and good conduct on both sides. A married couple,” continued he, “may be said never to lose sight of one another, when they pass the night together; otherwise they soon become estranged. Thus, as long as this practice was continued, none of my thoughts or actions escaped the notice of Josephine. She observed, seized, and comprehended every thing. This circumstance was sometimes not altogether without its inconvenience to myself and to public affairs: but, while we were at the camp of Boulogne, a moment of ill-humour put an end to this state of things.” Certain political events which had occurred at Vienna, together with the report of the coalition which took place in 1805, had occupied the attention of the First Consul throughout the whole of the day, and a great part of the night. He retired to bed not in very good spirits, and he found Josephine in a violent rage at his long absence. Jealousy was the real or pretended cause of this ill-humour. Napoleon grew angry in his turn, threw off the yoke of subjection, and could never be brought to submit to it again. At the time of his second marriage, the Emperor was fearful, he said, “lest Maria Louisa might exact similar obedience, for in that case he must have yielded. It is the true right and privilege of a wife,” he observed.