In the
great historical events which have shaken nations, it is really of
little importance if, under the light which illumines and brings out
such events, a shadow should fall and darken an individual. Even the
hatred and scorn with which a nation, trodden down in the dust,
curses a tyrant, and endeavors to take vengeance on his fame, ask
not if the stone flung at the hated one falls upon other heads than
the one aimed at.
Not Josephine, but Bonaparte, did they wish to injure when stating
she had been the beloved of Barras. It was Bonaparte whom they
wished to humble and mortify, when historians published that, not to
his merits, but to the petitions of his wife, he was indebted for
his commission as general of the army in Italy.
But truth justifies not this calumny; and when with the light of
truth the path of the widow of General Beauharnais is lighted, it
will be found that this path led to solitude and quietness; that at
none of the great and brilliant banquets which Barras then gave, and
which in the Moniteur are described with so much pomp, not once is,
the name of Viscountess de Beauharnais mentioned; that in the
numerous pasquinades and lampoons which then appeared in Paris and
in all France, and in which all private life was fathomed, not once
is the name of Josephine brought out, neither is there any indirect
allusion to her.
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