At Navarre, Joséphine found herself entirely out of touch with everything and everybody. The day after her arrival she sent her daughter the following letter, the last one which we have in the collection of Queen Hortense:

To Queen Hortense (at Chartres)

Hardly was this letter written and despatched when a courier arrived from Hortense, with the news that Paris had capitulated, and that the Emperor was at Fontainebleau; then Hortense herself suddenly appeared, with her children.

After much hesitation, as to whether to leave Paris or to remain, at nine o’clock on the night of the 29 March, under the threat of Louis to take her children, Hortense had decided to set out, and rejoin Marie-Louise. She spent the first night at Glatigny, near Versailles; the next morning, at an early hour, she went to the Trianon; and later, proceeded to Rambouillet. There she found her brothers-in-law, Joseph and Jérôme, and spent the night. The following morning she received a courier from Louis bearing a formal order from the Regent to rejoin her at Blois. In this Hortense saw another instance of her husband’s “persecutions.” She notified Louis, Marie-Louise, and the Emperor, of her refusal to obey; ordered her carriage, and started for Navarre. At Maintenon she found an escort, and after dark arrived at a château belonging to a member of her household. At five o’clock the next morning, the first of April, she again started out, and, ten miles from Navarre, was met by M. de Pourtalès with some horses sent by her mother.

During the night of the second-third April a representative of the Duc de Bassano arrived as bearer of definite news from Fontainebleau. He recounted the treason of Marmont, the occupation of Paris, and the despair of the Emperor. The scene related by Mlle. Cochelet is entirely imaginary. No one had then heard of any plan to send Napoleon to Elba, and Joséphine could hardly have exclaimed: “But for his wife, I would go to join him in his captivity.”

After this, several days passed without further news. On the 7 April Joséphine wrote to an old friend, the Comtesse Caffarelli: “Our hearts are broken at all that is happening, and particularly at the ingratitude of the French. The papers are full of the most horrible abuse. If you have not read them, do not take the trouble, for they will hurt you.”

In the meantime, at Fontainebleau, during these days of supreme agony, Napoleon, “with an admirable lucidity and an admirable justice,” was making what may be termed his political testament, and arranging the future of his entire family. In the treaty signed on the 11 April by the ministers of the allied powers, by the marshals in the name of the Emperor, and by all the members of the provisional government—this treaty which was the price of his abdication—the Beauharnais received the greatest consideration. To the princes and princesses of the Imperial family was attributed a revenue of two millions and a half of francs, entirely apart from what property they might possess, either real or personal. Of this sum, Louis was allowed two hundred thousand francs; Madame, Elisa and Pauline, each three hundred thousand; Hortense, four hundred thousand; and Joseph and Jérôme each five hundred thousand. The allowance of the Empress Joséphine was reduced to a million francs, and she too was permitted to retain all of her property.

By another article it was provided that Prince Eugène, Viceroy of Italy, should receive a “suitable establishment outside of France.”

The night of the 12 April, Napoleon sought by poison the death from which he had escaped on so many fields of battle, but in vain. “God does not wish it!” he said, and the following morning he in turn signed the treaty.

That same day the Duc de Berry landed at Cherbourg, and en route for Paris he sent one of the gentlemen who accompanied him, to Malmaison, “to offer to Joséphine a guard of honor and to assure her that he would be charmed to do everything in his power to be agreeable to her, as he had for her as much respect as admiration.” But Joséphine had already left Navarre for Malmaison. The 16 April the Journal des Débats stated: “The mother of Prince Eugène has returned to Malmaison.” Joséphine was far from being pleased with this form of announcement.

Alexander immediately sent one of his attendants to announce his visit for the following day, and promptly at one-thirty o’clock he arrived. It was evident that he had called to see Hortense rather than her mother, but he was full of courtesy and deference for Joséphine, and gave her all of her titles. After a long call, he left just at the moment that Hortense arrived with her sons. “She, who was usually so amiable, was hardly so with him; she remained cold, very dignified, and made no reply to the offers which the Czar made for herself and her children.” As for the Empress Joséphine, “her goodness, her kindness, her frankness, all charmed him.”

During the past few weeks Joséphine, in her trouble, for once had forgotten to order new gowns, but now her old desire to please and to charm returned with full force, and she commanded a number of summer frocks, in batiste and embroidered muslin, such as she formerly wore in the “beaux jours” at Malmaison.

As Joséphine had expected, Alexander soon returned, but she perceived that the visit was for Hortense, who again held herself aloof, and treated him “as one should receive the conquerors of her country.” This resistance, however, only served to increase the desire of Alexander to win her, and he redoubled his attentions.

On the 17 April, when he received news of the events at Paris, Eugène, who up to that time had held the Austrians in check, signed an agreement for a suspension of hostilities, and took the route for the Alps with the French troops in his army. In a final proclamation, which did not mention the name of the Emperor, he made an appeal which can only be considered as a personal bid for popular support: “A people, good, generous, faithful, has rights upon the remainder of my existence, which for ten years past I have consecrated to its service. As long as I am permitted to occupy myself with its happiness, which was always the dearest concern of my life, I ask for myself no other future.”

At the same time Eugène persuaded the Italian troops under his orders, to send a deputation in his favor to Paris. But during his absence from Milan, three separate factions had developed: one favorable to Murat, a second purely Italian, and a third, the strongest and richest, for Austria. There was an émeute at the capital, accompanied by pillage, and finally a massacre.

When this news reached Mantua, the army acclaimed Eugène as King of Italy, and wished to march on Milan, but the Viceroy realized that there was no chance against a capital in revolt, and Austria, which would send her troops there. “I do not wish,” he said, “to impose myself upon a country which does not desire me, ... adding a civil war with all its accompanying evils.... The country refuses my support. It is enough.” On the 23 April he signed another convention with the Austrians in which he surrendered everything, and departed for Munich with his wife, and her baby who was only nine days old.

Eugène now had little to expect except under the provisions of the Treaty of Fontainebleau, and the gratitude of Austria, fortified by the support of Alexander. As soon as Joséphine knew that he was at Munich, she wrote to urge him to come to Paris, and on the 9 May he arrived.

In the meantime the relations between the Czar and Hortense had become more cordial. He was almost a daily visitor at Malmaison, and was now on terms of intimate friendship with Joséphine and her daughter. He had offered to procure for the Queen an independent position in France, with an adequate revenue; the guardianship of her children; and a ducal title, the highest that the King could confer. His thought was to separate her interests entirely from any dependence on the Emperor or his family. The letters patent, dated by the King in the eighteenth year of his reign, conferred the title of Duchesse de Saint-Leu, not on Madame Louis Bonaparte, nor on the Queen of Holland, but on Mademoiselle de Beauharnais! Hortense refused to accept this formula. “I think that it is my duty,” she said, “not to allow people to forget that I have been a queen, although I do not make it a point of being so called.” It was finally arranged that she should be designated as Madame de Beauharnais, and her susceptibilities were satisfied.

There is little doubt that Joséphine wished to be confirmed in her title of Duchesse de Navarre, but she refused to sign the letter to the King prepared for her by Madame de Rémusat. There is reason to think, however, that she wrote another, in which she asked for Eugène the dignity of constable, the highest military gift in the power of the King to bestow.

Eugène also had neglected nothing to conciliate the Bourbons. On his departure from Munich, he wrote the King to announce his visit, for as he said to his wife, “I could not think of arriving at Paris, without at once presenting myself to him.” He had hardly reached Malmaison, and embraced his mother and sister, before he received a summons to appear at the Tuileries.

When Eugène was announced, under the title of Marquis de Beauharnais, it is reported that the King arose from his chair, and advanced to meet him, cordially extending his hand. He then exclaimed to the person who had presented the Viceroy: “Say, His Highness Prince Eugène, Monsieur, and add Constable of France, if such is his good pleasure!” This report rests upon the authority of the editor of the Mémoires du Prince Eugène, and may be true: it is certain that the Bourbons did everything in their power to detach the Beauharnais from their adhesion to the Emperor.

On the 14 May the Czar came informally to dine with Hortense, who was now settled at Saint-Leu. Joséphine was present, but there were no strangers except Caulaincourt and the wife of Marshal Ney. During the drive in open carriages through the park, the Czar was very kind and amiable, and expressed himself both to Eugène and Hortense as desirous of doing everything in his power to assure their future.

Joséphine had come only upon the urgent request of Hortense; she was sad and discouraged. She had but little confidence in the promises of the Czar, and felt that after his departure the Bourbons would do nothing. She realized better than her children how little confidence could be placed in royal promises. When she read two days later in the official journal that the Emperor of Russia had gone to Saint-Leu to dine with “Prince Eugène, his mother and sister,” her comments were very bitter. There seemed to be a deliberate intention to deny her the position and rank which had been accorded her.

This visit to Saint-Leu was the beginning of Joséphine’s illness, which was to terminate fatally exactly two weeks later. She took a severe cold, which she refused to care for, saying that it was nothing. In the evening she descended for dinner, clad in one of her lightest décolleté gowns. After breakfast the following morning she returned to Malmaison.

Monday, the 23 May, the King of Prussia came to call at Malmaison, and remained for dinner. He was accompanied by his two sons, of whom one was later to be known as the Emperor William. The following day Joséphine had to receive the Russian grand-dukes, Nicholas and Michel. These official receptions, these visits of ceremony, fatigued her terribly. In the evening she came to dinner as usual. Later there was a dance, and she opened the ball with the Czar; then they went into the park, where they promenaded for a long time, and she took more cold.

Wednesday, the 25 May, a small eruption appeared all over her body, but principally upon her arms and chest. Eugène and Hortense, who were themselves both suffering from colds, were vaguely disturbed, but far from anticipating a fatal result. He wrote Augusta that day: “Our mother has been suffering for two days, and this morning she has considerable fever; the doctor says that it is only catarrh, but I do not think she is at all well.” The following night her regular physician found her tongue affected and her whole head congested, and applied a blister to her neck.

Friday, the 27 May, Alexander was to have dined with Joséphine for the last time before leaving for London. On his arrival with several other guests, he found both Joséphine and Eugène ill in bed, and only Hortense able to receive the party, who all left early except the Czar.

Saturday, the illness of the Empress became so grave that there was a consultation of physicians. Eugène wrote his wife that he did not think his mother would live through the day. That night Joséphine begged Hortense, who was nearly worn out, to retire and get a little rest.

Sunday, the 29 May, which was Whit Sunday, it was evident that Joséphine was dying. Her features had sensibly changed, and her respiration was short and difficult. Hortense sent for Eugène, and at noon Joséphine expired in their arms. Just before her death the sacraments were administered by the Abbé Bertrand, tutor of Hortense’s children, as Joséphine’s almoner was absent. According to legend, the last delirious words of the Empress were: “Napoleon ... Elba!”

On Monday the body was embalmed and placed in a lead coffin enclosed in oak. The public were now admitted to Malmaison, and it is estimated that more than twenty thousand people passed before the bier.

The funeral took place on Thursday, the 2 June, when the coffin was taken to the church at Rueil. All of the sovereigns present at Paris were represented, and there was a large crowd at the church. The military honors were furnished by a detachment of the Russian Imperial Guards.

Joséphine’s tomb is at the right hand of the choir of the church. It is of white marble, with a kneeling figure of the Empress in her coronation robes. The inscription runs simply:

A
JOSEPHINE
EUGENE ET HORTENSE
1825

There was nothing mysterious about the death of Joséphine: no indication, and no suspicion of poison; nevertheless there were rumors that such was the cause of her death. The autopsy left no doubts as to the origin and the progress of the malady: a cold, not cared for, and aggravated by her imprudence.

Two hours after the death of Joséphine, in compliance with sovereign etiquette, Eugène and Hortense left Malmaison for Saint-Leu, and were not present at the funeral. Although they sent out the usual notices of the death of their mother, neither one of them seems to have taken the trouble to inform Napoleon of the event. He learned the news through a paper sent him from Genoa by a valet whom he had sent to France, charged with commissions for several persons, including Joséphine herself. “At the news of her death,” writes an eye-witness, “he appeared profoundly afflicted; he shut himself up in his room, and saw no one except the grand marshal.”

A year later, before leaving Paris for the fatal campaign of Waterloo, Napoleon wished to visit Malmaison, and was met there by Hortense, who had not had the courage to return since the fatal day. For an hour he walked with Hortense in the garden, talking only of Joséphine. Then he visited one by one the different rooms, ending with the chamber where Joséphine had died. Here he remained for a long time alone, and came out with his eyes filled with tears. “Poor Joséphine,” he said to Hortense, “she may have had her faults, but she at least would never have abandoned me!”