In her memoirs she says that she and her husband excited general envy by the high position the First Consul had given them.  She was first Lady in Waiting, and subsequently Lady of the Household, her husband being “attached to Napoleon’s household.”  She says that she was witty and of a refined mind, and though she was less “good-looking” than her companions, she had the advantage of being able to “charm his mind,” and she was almost the only woman with whom he condescended to converse.  She relates residing in the camp at Boulogne “and having breakfast and dinner daily with Bonaparte.”  In the evenings they used to “discuss philosophy, literature, and art, or listen to the First Consul relating about the years of his youth and early achievements.”

No doubt the young Madame de Remusat became assured in the same way as Madame de Stael that she would one day be raised to heights of glory unequalled in history, and the disappointment embittered her.  She admits that she “suffered on account of blighted hopes and deceived affections and the failure of her calculations.”  Moreover, Josephine had an eye on the lady whose husband in evil times sought her influence with Napoleon to stretch out a helping hand and save them from the poverty by which they were beset.  Napoleon’s big heart spontaneously responded to the appeal of his fascinating spouse, the result being that favours were heaped upon M. de Remusat and his wife from time to time, and Josephine’s goodness was repaid by seeing Madame in feline fashion purring at her Imperial master’s affections, and on the authority of Madame de Remusat she “becomes cold and jealous.”  Finding that Napoleon did not appreciate her love-making, she, like Madame de Stael under similar circumstances, took to intriguing, which got her quickly into disgrace.  She is anxious to make her fall as light as possible in the public eye, so relates that he told her that “his desire was to make her a great lady, but he could not be expected to do this unless she showed devotion.”  But in spite of the wife’s defection, as is always Napoleon’s way, he does not visit her sins on the husband, but raises him to the important posts of Grand Master of the Robes, High Chamberlain, and then Superintendent of Theatres, and in addition gave him large sums to keep up his status, and notwithstanding Josephine’s cause for “cold jealousy,” Madame de Remusat was generously kept in her service after Marie Louise had become Empress.  M. de Remusat remained in the Emperor’s service until the fall of the Empire, and then went over to Louis XVIII.  Both of these sycophants were content to accept the favours of the Imperial couple and eat their bread and cringe at their feet while they plotted with the plotters for the Emperor’s downfall.

Unhappily for the veracity and probity of Madame Remusat as a history writer, her letters containing notes jotted down day by day as they occurred have been published, and the memoirs put side by side with these throbbings of the heart reveal an incomparable baseness that makes one wonder at the reckless, blind partisanship which induced her descendants to give the memoirs to an intelligent public.