Part 12
_My Dear_,--I have your letter. Eugene will give you tidings of my journey and of the Empress. I am very glad that you are going to the waters. I trust they may do you good.
I wish very much to see you. If you are at Malmaison at the end of the month, I will come to see you. I expect to be at St. Cloud on the 30th of the month. My health is very good ... it only needs to hear that you are contented and well. Let me know in what name you intend to travel.
Never doubt the whole truth of my affection for you; it will last as long as I. You would be very unjust if you doubted it.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_July 1st.--Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland, abdicates in favour of his son._
No. 4.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT THE WATERS OF AIX, IN SAVOY.
_Rambouillet, July 8, 1810._
_My Dear_,--I have your letter of July 8th. You will have seen Eugene, and his presence will have done you good. I learn with pleasure that the waters are beneficial to you. The King of Holland has just abdicated the throne, while leaving the Regency, according to the Constitution, in the hands of the Queen. He has quitted Amsterdam and left the Grand Duke of Berg behind.
I have reunited Holland to France, which has, however, the advantage of setting the Queen at liberty, and that[38] unfortunate girl is coming to Paris with her son the Grand Duke of Berg--that will make her perfectly happy.
My health is good. I have come here to hunt for a few days. I shall see you this autumn with pleasure. Never doubt my friendship; I never change.
Keep well, be cheerful, and believe in the truth of my attachment.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_July 9th._--Holland incorporated with the French Empire.
_July 10th._--Ney takes Ciudad Rodrigo, after twenty-five days open trenches.
No. 5.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT THE WATERS OF AIX, IN SAVOY.
_St. Cloud, July 20, 1810._
_My Dear_,--I have received your letter of July 14th, and note with pleasure that the waters are doing you good, and that you like Geneva. I think that you are doing well to go there for a few weeks.
My health is fairly good. The conduct of the King of Holland has worried me.
Hortense is shortly coming to Paris. The Grand Duke of Berg is on his way; I expect him to-morrow.
Adieu, dear.
NAPOLEON.
No. 6.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT THE WATERS OF AIX, IN SAVOY.
_Trianon, August 10, 1810._
Your letter to hand. I was pained to see what a risk you had run. For an inhabitant of the isles of the ocean to die in a lake would have been a fatality indeed!
The Queen is better, and I hope her health will be re-established. Her husband is in Bohemia, apparently not knowing what to do.
I am fairly well, and beg you to believe in my sincere attachment.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_August 21st._--Swedes elect Marshal Bernadotte Crown Prince of Sweden.
_August 27th._--Massena takes Almeida.
No. 7.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT THE WATERS OF AIX, IN SAVOY.
_St. Cloud, September 14, 1810._
_My Dear_,--I have your letter of September 9th. I learn with pleasure that you keep well. There is no longer the slightest doubt that the Empress has entered on the fourth month of her pregnancy; she is well, and is much attached to me. The young Princes Napoleon are very well; they are in the Pavillon d'Italie, in the Park of St. Cloud.
My health is fairly good. I wish to learn that you are happy and contented. I hear that one of your _entourage_ has broken a leg while going on the glacier.
Adieu, dear. Never doubt the interest I take in you and the affection that I bear towards you.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_September 27th.--Battle of Busaco._ Like Ebersburg, another of Massena's expensive and unnecessary frontal attacks. He loses 5000 men, but next day turns the position of Wellington, who continues to retire.
No. 8.
TO THE EMPRESS, AT MALMAISON.
_Paris, this Friday._
_My Dear_,--Yours to hand. I am sorry to see that you have been ill; I fear it must be this bad weather.
Madame de la T---- is one of the most foolish women of the Faubourg. I have borne her cackle for a very long time; I am sick of it, and have ordered that she does not come again to Paris. There are five or six other old women that I equally wish to send away from Paris; they are spoiling the young ones by their follies.
I will name Madame de Makau Baroness since you wish it, and carry out your other commissions.
My health is pretty good. The conduct of B---- appears to me very ridiculous. I trust to hear that you are better.
Adieu, dear.
NAPOLEON.
No. 9.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT GENEVA.
_Fontainebleau, October 1, 1810._
I have received your letter. Hortense, whom I have seen, will have told you what I think. Go to see your son this winter; come back to the waters of Aix next year, or, still better, wait for the spring at Navarre. I would advise you to go to Navarre at once, if I did not fear you would get tired of it. In my view, the only suitable places for you this winter are either Milan or Navarre; after that, I approve of whatever you may do, for I do not wish to vex you in anything.
Adieu, dear. The Empress is as I told you in my last letter. I am naming Madame de Montesquiou governess of the Children of France. Be contented, and do not get excited; never doubt my affection for you.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_October 6th._--Wellington reaches the lines of Torres Vedras.
_November 9th._--Opening of St. Quentin Canal at Paris.
No. 10.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT NAVARRE.
_Fontainebleau, November 14, 1810._
_My Dear_,--I have received your letter. Hortense has spoken to me about it. I note with pleasure that you are contented. I hope that you are not very tired of Navarre.
My health is very good. The Empress progresses satisfactorily. I will do the various things you ask regarding your household. Take care of your health, and never doubt my affection for you.
NAPOLEON.
No. 11.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT NAVARRE.
I have your letter. I see no objection to the marriage of Mackau with Wattier, if he wishes it; this general is a very brave man. I am in good health. I hope to have a son; I shall let you know immediately.
Adieu, dear. I am very glad that Madame d'Arberg[39] has told you things which please you. When you see me, you will find me with my old affection for you.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_December 3rd._--English take Mauritius.
FOOTNOTES
[38] So _Collection Didot_, followed by Aubenas. St. Amand has "ton infortunee fille."
[39] Josephine's chief maid-of-honour.
SERIES O
1811
"Nun steht das Reich gesichert, wie gegruendet, Nun fuehlt er froh im Sohne sich gegruendet.
* * * * *
Und sei durch Sie dies letzte Glueck beschieden-- Der alles wollen kann, will auch den Frieden."
--GOETHE (_Ihro der Kaiserin von Frankreich Majestaet_).
SERIES O
(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 311-312.)
LETTER PAGE
No. 1. _The New Year_ 311 _More women than men_ 311 _Keep well_ 311
No. 2. Birth of the King of Rome 311 _Eugene_ 311
No. 4. _As fat as a good Normandy farmeress_ 312
No. 1.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT NAVARRE.
_Paris, January 8th, 1811._
I have your New Year's letter. I thank you for its contents. I note with pleasure that you are well and happy. I hear that there are more women than men at Navarre.
My health is excellent, though I have not been out for a fortnight. Eugene appears to have no fears about his wife; he gives you a grandson.
Adieu, dear; keep well.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_February 19th._--Soult defeats Spaniards at the Gebora, near Badajoz.
_February 28th._--French occupy Duchy of Oldenburg, to complete the line of the North Sea blockade against England. This occupation embitters the Emperor of Russia and his family.
_March 10th._--Mortier captures Badajoz after a siege of 54 days.
_March 20th._--Birth of the _King of Rome_--"a pompous title buried in the tomb of the Ostrogoths."
No. 2.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT NAVARRE.
_Paris, March 22nd, 1811._
_My Dear_,--I have your letter. I thank you for it.
My son is fat, and in excellent health. I trust he may continue to improve. He has my chest, my mouth, and my eyes. I hope he may fulfil his destiny. I am always well pleased with Eugene; he has never given me the least anxiety.
NAPOLEON.
_April 4th._--Battle of Fuentes d'Onoro. Massena attacks English, and is repulsed.
_June 18th._--Wellington raises siege of Badajoz, and retires on Portugal.
_June 29th._--French storm Tarragona, whereupon Suchet created Marshal.
No. 3.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.
_Trianon, August 25th, 1811._
I have your letter. I see with pleasure that you are in good health. I have been for some days at Trianon. I expect to go to Compiegne. My health is very good.
Put some order into your affairs. Spend only L60,000, and save as much every year; that will make a reserve of L600,000 in ten years for your grandchildren. It is pleasant to be able to give them something, and be helpful to them. Instead of that, I hear you have debts, which would be really too bad. Look after your affairs, and don't give to every one who wants to help himself. If you wish to please me, let me hear that you have accumulated a large fortune. Consider how ill I must think of you, if I know that you, with L125,000 a year, are in debt.
Adieu, dear; keep well.
NAPOLEON.
No. 4.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.
_Friday_, 8 A.M., 1811.
I send to know how you are, for Hortense tells me you were in bed yesterday. I was annoyed with you about your debts. I do not wish you to have any; on the contrary, I wish you to put a million aside every year, to give to your grandchildren when they get married.
Nevertheless, never doubt my affection for you, and don't worry any more about the present embarrassment.
Adieu, dear. Send me word that you are well. They say that you are as fat as a good Normandy farmeress.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_October 25th-26th._--Battle of Murviedro and capture of Sagunto: Blake and O'Donnell heavily defeated by Suchet.
_December 20th._--Senatus Consultus puts 120,000 conscripts (born in 1792) at disposal of Government for 1812.
_December 26th._--Suchet defeats Spanish, and crosses Guadalaviar.
SERIES P
1812
"'Tis the same landscape which the modern Mars saw Who march'd to Moscow, led by Fame, the siren! To lose by one month's frost, some twenty years Of conquest, and his guard of grenadiers."
--BYRON (_Don Juan_, canto x. stanza 58).
SERIES P
(For subjoined Notes to this Series see pages 312-315.)
LETTER PAGE
No. 1. Konigsberg 312
No. 2. _Gumbinnen_ 313
1812.
Montgaillard sums up his tirade against Napoleon for the Russian campaign by noting that it took the Romans _ten_ years to conquer Gaul, while Napoleon "would not give _two_ to the conquest of that vast desert of Scythia which forced Darius to flee, Alexander to draw back, Crassus to perish; where Julian terminated his career, where Valerian covered himself with shame, and which saw the disasters of Charles XII."
_January 9th._--Suchet captures Valencia, 18,000 Spanish troops, and 400 cannon. The marshal is made Duke of Albufera.
_January 15th._--Imperial decree ordains 100,000 acres to be put under cultivation of beetroot, for the manufacture of indigenous sugar.
_January 19th._--Taking of Ciudad Rodrigo by Wellington.
_January 26th._--French, under General Friand, occupy Stralsund and Swedish Pomerania.
_February 24th._--Treaty of alliance between France and Prussia; the latter to support France in case of a war with Russia.
_March 13th._--Senatus Consultus divides the National Guards into three bans, to include all capable men not already in military service. They are not to serve outside France. A hundred cohorts, each 970 strong, of the first ban (men between 20 and 26), put at disposal of Government.
_March 14th._--Treaty between France and Austria; reciprocal help, in need, of 30,000 men and 60 guns. The integrity of European Turkey mutually guaranteed.
_March 26th._--Treaty between Russia and Sweden. Bernadotte is promised Norway by Alexander.
_April 7th._--The English take Badajoz by assault. "The French General, Philippon, with but 3000 men, has been besieged thrice within thirteen months by armies of 50,000 men" (_Montgaillard_).
_April 24th._--Alexander leaves St. Petersburg, to take command of his Grand Army.
_May 9th.--Napoleon leaves Paris for Germany._
_May 11th._--Assassination of English Prime Minister, Perceval.
_May 17th-28th.--Napoleon at Dresden; joined there by the Emperor and Empress of Austria, and a fresh_ "parterre _of kings"._
_May 28th._---Treaty of Bucharest, between Turkey and Russia. The Pruth as boundary, and Servia restored to Turkey. This treaty, so fatal to Napoleon, and of which he only heard in October, was mainly the work of Stratford de Redcliffe, then aged twenty-five. Wellington, thinking the treaty his brother's work, speaks of it as "the most important service that ever fell to the lot of any individual to perform."
No. 1.
_June 12th._--Suchet defeats an Anglo-Spanish army outside Tarragona.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.
_June 12th, 1812._
_My Dear_,--I shall always receive news from you with great interest.
The waters will, I hope, do you good, and I shall see you with much pleasure on your return.
Never doubt the interest I feel in you. I will arrange all the matters of which you speak.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_June 16th._--Lord Liverpool Prime Minister of England.
_June 18th._--United States declares war against England concerning rights of neutrals.
_June 19th._--The captive Pope (Pius VII.) brought to Fontainebleau.
No. 2.
TO THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE, AT MALMAISON.
_Gumbinnen, June 20th, 1812._
I have your letter of June 10th. I see no obstacle to your going to Milan, to be near the Vice-Reine. You will do well to go _incognito_. You will find it very hot.
My health is very good. Eugene is well, and is doing good work. Never doubt the interest I have in you, and my friendship.
NAPOLEON.
* * * * *
_June 22nd.--Napoleon from his headquarters, Wilkowyszki, declares war against Russia. His army comprised 550,000 men and 1200 cannon, and he held sway at this epoch over 85,000,000 souls--half the then population of Europe._
_June 24th._--French cross the Niemen, over 450,000 strong.[40] Of these 20,000 are Italians, 80,000 from Confederation of the Rhine, 30,000 Poles, 30,000 Austrians, and 20,000 Prussians. The Russian army numbers 360,000.
_June 28th._--French enter Wilna, the old capital of Lithuania. _Napoleon remains here till July 16th, establishing a provisional government, and leaving his Foreign Minister, Maret, there._
_July 12th._--Americans invade Canada.
_July 18th._--Treaty of peace between England and Sweden; and between Russia and the Spanish Regency at Cadiz.
_July 22nd._--_Battle of Salamanca_ (Arapiles). Marmont defeated by Wellington, and badly wounded. French lose nearly 8000 men and 5000 prisoners; English loss, 5200. The Spanish Regency had decided to submit to Joseph Bonaparte, but this battle deters them. French retire behind the Douro.
_July 23rd._--Combat of Mohilow, on the Dneiper. Davoust defeats Bagration.
_July 28th._--French enter Witepsk.
_August 1st._--Treaty of alliance between Great Britain and Russia. English fleet henceforward guards the Gulf of Riga. Combat of Obaiarzma, on the bank of the Drissa. Marshal Oudinot defeats Wittgenstein. Russians lose 5000 men and 14 guns.
_August 9th._--Battle of Brownstown (near Toronto). Americans defeated; surrender August 16th with 2500 men and 33 guns to General Brock.
_August 12th._--Wellington enters Madrid.
_August 17th-18th.--Battle and capture of Smolensk. Napoleon defeats Barclay de Tolly; Russians lose 12,000, French less than half._
_August 18th._--Battle of Polotsk, fifty miles from Witepsk, down the Dwina. St. Cyr defeats Wittgenstein's much larger army, and takes 20 guns. (St. Cyr made marshal for this battle, August 27th.)
_August 19th._--Combat of Volontino-Cova, beyond Smolensk. Ney defeats Russians.
_August 27th._--Norway guaranteed Sweden in lieu of Finland by Russia.
_August 28th._--Interview at Abo, in Finland, between Alexander, Bernadotte, and Lord Cathcart (English ambassador). Decided that Sweden shall join the crusade against France, and that Moreau be imported from U.S.A. to command another army.
_August 29th._--Viazma, burnt by Russians, entered by the French.
_September 7th._--Battle of Borodino (_La Moskowa_). Nearly all the Russian generals are present: Barclay de Tolly, Beningsen, Bagration (who is killed), all under Kutusoff. Russians lose 30,000 men, French 20,000, including many generals who had survived all the campaigns of the Revolution. The French, hungry and soaked in rain, have no energy to pursue.
_September 14th._--Occupation of Moscow; fired by emissaries of Rostopchin, its late governor. Of 4000 stone houses only 200 remain, of 8000 wooden ones 500. Over 20,000 sick and wounded burnt in their beds. Fire lasts till September 20th.
_September 18th._--Russian Army of the Danube under Admiral Tschitchagow joins the Army of Reserve.
_September 26th._--Russian troops from Finland disembark at Riga.
_September 30th.--Napoleon finds a copy of Treaty of Bucharest at Moscow._
_October 11th._--Admiral Tschitchagow with 36,000 men reaches Bresc, on the Bug, threatening the French communications with Warsaw.
_October 17th-19th._--Second combat of Polotsk. Wittgenstein again defeated by St. Cyr, who is wounded.
_October 18th._--Combat of Winkowo; Kutusoff defeats Murat. Americans defeated at Queenston Heights, on the Niagara, and lose 900 men.
_October 19th._--Commencement of the Retreat from Moscow.
_October 22nd._--Burgos captured by Wellington.
_October 23rd._--Conspiracy of Malet at Paris; Cambaceres to the rescue. Evacuation of Moscow by Mortier after forty days' occupation. The French army now retreating has only half its original strength, and the best cavalry regiments boast only 100 horses.
_October 24th.--Battle of Malo-Jaroslavitz. Eugene with 17,000_ _men defeats Kutusoff with 60,000; but Napoleon finds the enemy too strong and too tenacious to risk the fertile Kaluga route._
_November 3rd._--Battle of Wiazma. Rearguard action, in which Ney and Eugene are distinguished.
_November 9th.--Napoleon reaches Smolensk and hears of Malet conspiracy._
_November 14th._--Evacuation of Smolensk.
_November 16th._--Russian Army (of the Danube) takes Minsk, and cuts off the French from the Niemen.
_November 16th-19th._--Combat of Krasnoi, twenty-five miles west of Smolensk. Kutusoff with 30,000 horse and 70,000 foot tries to stop the French, who have only 25,000 effective combatants. Magnificent fighting by Ney with his rearguard of 6000.
_November 21st._--Russians seize at Borizow the bridges over the Beresina, which are
_November 23rd._--Retaken by Oudinot.
_November 26th-28th._--French cross the Beresina, but lose 20,000 prisoners and nearly all their cannon (150).
_November 29th.--Napoleon writes Maret he has heard nothing of France or Spain for fifteen days._
_December 3rd._--Twenty-ninth bulletin dated Malodeczna, fifty miles west of Borisow.
_December 5th.--Napoleon reaches Smorgoni, and starts for France._
_December 10th._--Murat, left in command, evacuates Wilna. French retreat in utter rout; "It is not General Kutusoff who routed the French, it is General Morosow" (the frost), said the Russians.
_December 14th.--Napoleon reaches Dresden, and_
_December 18th.--Paris._
_December 19th._--Evacuation of Kovno and passage of the Niemen.
_December 20th.--Napoleon welcomed by the Senate in a speech by the naturalist Lacepede: "The absence of your Majesty, sire, is always a national calamity."_
_December 30th._--Defection of the Prussian General York and Convention of Taurogen, near Tilsit, between Russia and Prussia. This defection is the signal for the uprising of Germany from the Oder to the Rhine, from the Baltic to the Julienne Alps.
1813.
_January 5th._--Konigsberg occupied by the Russians.
_January 13th._--Senatus Consultus calls up 250,000 conscripts.
_January 22nd._--Americans defeated at Frenchtown, near Detroit, and lose 1200 men.
_January 25th.--Concordat at Fontainebleau between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII., with advantageous terms for the Papacy. The Pope, however, soon breaks faith._
_January 28th.--Murat deserts the French army for Naples, and leaves Posen. "Your husband is very brave on the battlefield, but he is weaker than a woman or a monk when he is not face to face with an enemy. He has no moral courage"_ (_Napoleon to his sister Caroline, January 24, 1813._ Brotonne, 1032). _Replaced by Eugene (Napoleon's letter dated January 22nd)._
_February 1st._--Proclamation of Louis XVIII. to the French people (dated London).
_February 8th._--Warsaw surrenders to Russia.
_February 10th._--Proclamation of Emperor Alexander calling on the people of Germany to shake off the yoke of "one man."
_February 28th._--Sixth Continental Coalition against France. Treaty signed between Russia and Prussia at Kalisch.
_March 3rd._--New treaty between England and Sweden at Stockholm: Sweden to receive a subsidy of a million sterling and the island of Guadaloupe in return for supporting the Coalition with 30,000 men.
_March 4th._--Cossacks occupy Berlin. Madison inaugurated President U.S.A.
_March 9th._--Eugene removes his headquarters to Leipsic.
_March 12th._--French evacuate Hamburg.
_March 21st._--Russians and Prussians take new town of Dresden.
_April 1st._--France declares war on Prussia.
_April 10th._--_Death of Lagrange, mathematician_; _greatly bemoaned by Napoleon, who considered his death as a "presentiment"_ (D'Abrantes).
_April 14th._--Swedish army lands in Germany.
_April 15th.--Napoleon leaves Paris; arrives Erfurt (April 25th)._ Americans take Mobile.
_April 16th._--Thorn (garrisoned by 900 Bavarians) surrenders to the Russians. Fort York (now Toronto) and
_April 27th._--Upper Canada taken by the Americans.
_May 1st._--Death of the Abbe Delille, poet. Opening of campaign. French forces scattered in Germany, 166,000 men; Allies' forces ready for action, 225,000 men. Marshal Bessieres killed by a cannon-ball at Poserna.
_May 2nd.--Napoleon with 90,000 men defeats Prussians and Russians at Lutzen (Gross-Goerschen) with 110,000; French loss, 10,000. Battle won_ _chiefly by French artillery. Emperor of Russia and King of Prussia present._
_May 8th.--Napoleon and the French reoccupy Dresden._
_May 18th._--Eugene reaches Milan, and enrols an Italian army 47,000 strong.
_May 19th-21st.--Combats of Konigswartha, Bautzen, Hochkirch, Wuerschen. Napoleon defeats Prussians and Russians; French loss, 12,000; Allies, 20,000._
_May 23rd.--Duroc (shot on May 22nd) dies. "Duroc," said the Emperor, "there is another life. It is there you will go to await me, and there we shall meet again some day."_
_May 27th._--Americans capture Fort George (Lake Ontario) and
_May 29th._--Defeat English at Sackett's Harbour.
_May 30th._--French re-enter Hamburg and
_June 1st._--Occupy Breslau. British frigate _Shannon_ captures _Chesapeake_ in fifteen minutes outside Boston harbour.
_June 4th.--Armistice of Plesswitz, between Napoleon and the Allies._
_June 6th._--Americans (3500) surprised at Burlington Heights by 700 British.
_June 15th.--Siege of Tarragona raised by Suchet; English re-embark, leaving their artillery. "If I had had two marshals such as Suchet, I should not only have conquered Spain, but I should have kept it"_ (_Napoleon in_ Campan's Memoirs).
_June 21st._--Battle of Vittoria; total rout of the French under Marshal Jourdan and King Joseph. In retreat the army is much more harassed by the guerillas than by the English.
_June 23rd._--Admiral Cockburn defeated at Craney Island by Americans.
_June 24th._--Five hundred Americans surrender to two hundred Canadians at Beaver's Dams.
_June 25th._--Combat of Tolosa. Foy stops the advance of the English right wing.
_June 30th.--Convention at Dresden. Napoleon accepts the mediation of Austria; armistice prolonged to August 10th._
_July 1st._--Soult sent to take chief command in Spain.
_July 10th._--Alliance between France and Denmark.
_July 12th.--Congress of Prague. Austria, Prussia, and Russia decide that Germany must be independent, and the French Empire bounded by the Rhine and the Alps; "but to reign over 36,000,000 men did not appear to Napoleon a sufficiently great destiny"_ (Montgaillard). _Congress breaks up July 28th._
_July 26th._--Moreau arrives from U.S., and lands at Gothenburg.
_July 31st._--Soult attacks Anglo-Spanish army near Roncesvalles in order to succour Pampeluna. Is repulsed, with loss of 8000 men.
_August 12th._--Austria notifies its adhesion to the Allies.