Toward the close of the year 1799, Napoleon occupied the palace of the Luxembourg. Several courtiers thought that a palace in the country should also be allotted to his use. He had lived at Malmaison, but this was considered unsuitable for the abode of the chief of a great republic and it was decided that St. Cloud should be offered him. This he chose to decline.

In August, 1802, Napoleon was made consul for life. The court then became such as it had been at Versailles under the Bourbons. A French writer says, that when at the Tuileries, “he found it a tiresome abode; there he had no freedom—no liberty. His happiest days were spent at Malmaison. Great in himself, he appeared still greater in that charming retreat.”

Having formerly refused St. Cloud at the hands of the people, he now took it on his own authority. There he had less leisure than at Malmaison, as etiquette was augmented in proportion to the grandeur of his establishment.

Josephine suffered more from this new state of things than any other individual. She was much attached to Malmaison; it was there she had spent many happy hours with her dearest friends. She was often heard to say, “How all this excitement fatigues and wearies me! I have not a moment to myself! I ought to have been the wife of an humble cottager.”