Part 4
_July 6th.--Sortie from Mantua: Austrians fairly successful._
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Roverbella, July 6, 1796._
I have beaten the enemy. Kilmaine will send you the copy of the despatch. I am tired to death. Pray start at once for Verona. I need you, for I think that I am going to be very ill.
I send you a thousand kisses. I am in bed.
BONAPARTE.
* * * * *
_July 9th.--Bonaparte asks Kellermann for reinforcements._
_July 14th._--Frankfort on the Main captured by Kleber.
_July 16th.--Sortie from Mantua: Austrians defeated._
No. 2.
_July 17th.--Attempted coup de main at Mantua: French unsuccessful._
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Marmirolo_, _July 17, 1796_, 9 P.M.
I got your letter, my beloved; it has filled my heart with joy. I am grateful to you for the trouble you have taken to send me news; your health should be better to-day--I am sure you are cured. I urge you strongly to ride, which cannot fail to do you good.
Ever since I left you, I have been sad. I am only happy when by your side. Ceaselessly I recall your kisses, your tears, your enchanting jealousy; and the charms of the incomparable Josephine keep constantly alight a bright and burning flame in my heart and senses. When, free from every worry, from all business, shall I spend all my moments by your side, to have nothing to do but to love you, and to prove it to you? I shall send your horse, but I am hoping that you will soon be able to rejoin me. I thought I loved you some days ago; but, since I saw you, I feel that I love you even a thousand times more. Ever since I have known you, I worship you more every day; which proves how false is the maxim of La Bruyere that "Love comes all at once." Everything in nature has a regular course, and different degrees of growth. Ah! pray let me see some of your faults; be less beautiful, less gracious, less tender, and, especially, less kind; above all never be jealous, never weep; your tears madden me, fire my blood. Be sure that it is no longer possible for me to have a thought except for you, or an idea of which you shall not be the judge.
Have a good rest. Haste to get well. Come and join me, so that, at least, before dying, we could say--"We were happy for so many days!!"
Millions of kisses, and even to Fortune, in spite of his naughtiness.
BONAPARTE.
No. 3.
_July 18th.--Trenches opened before Mantua._
_July 18th._--Stuttgard occupied by Saint-Cyr, who, like Kleber, is under Moreau.
_July 18th._--Wurtzburg captured by Klein and Ney (acting under Jourdan).
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Marmirolo, July 18, 1796_, 2 P.M.
I passed the whole night under arms. I ought to have had Mantua by a plucky and fortunate coup; but the waters of the lake have suddenly fallen, so that the column I had shipped could not land. This evening I shall begin a new attempt, but one that will not give such satisfactory results.
I got a letter from Eugene, which I send you. Please write for me to these charming children of yours, and send them some trinkets. Be sure to tell them that I love them as if they were my own. What is yours or mine is so mixed up in my heart, that there is no difference there.
I am very anxious to know how you are, what you are doing? I have been in the village of Virgil, on the banks of the lake, by the silvery light of the moon, and not a moment without dreaming of Josephine.
The enemy made a general sortie on June 16th; it has killed or wounded two hundred of our men, but lost five hundred of its own in a precipitous retreat.
I am well. I am Josephine's entirely, and I have no pleasure or happiness except in her society.
Three Neapolitan regiments have arrived at Brescia; they have sundered themselves from the Austrian army, in consequence of the convention I have concluded with M. Pignatelli.
I've lost my snuff-box; please choose me another, rather flat-shaped, and write something pretty inside, with your own hair.
A thousand kisses as burning as you are cold. Boundless love, and fidelity up to every proof. Before Joseph starts, I wish to speak to him.
BONAPARTE.
No. 4.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Marmirolo, July 19, 1796._
I have been without letters from you for two days. That is at least the thirtieth time to-day that I have made this observation to myself; you are thinking this particularly wearisome; yet you cannot doubt the tender and unique anxiety with which you inspire me.
We attacked Mantua yesterday. We warmed it up from two batteries with red-hot shot and from mortars. All night long that wretched town has been on fire. The sight was horrible and majestic. We have secured several of the outworks; we open the first parallel to-night. To-morrow I start for Castiglione with the Staff, and I reckon on sleeping there. I have received a courier from Paris. There were two letters for you; I have read them. But though this action appears to me quite natural, and though you gave me permission to do so the other day, I fear you may be vexed, and that is a great trouble to me. I should have liked to have sealed them up again: fie! that would have been atrocious. If I am to blame, I beg your forgiveness. I swear that it is not because I am jealous; assuredly not. I have too high an opinion of my beloved for that. I should like you to give me full permission to read your letters, then there would be no longer either remorse or apprehension.
Achille has just ridden post from Milan; no letters from my beloved! Adieu, my unique joy. When will you be able to rejoin me? I shall have to fetch you myself from Milan.
A thousand kisses as fiery as my soul, as chaste as yourself.
I have summoned the courier; he tells me that he crossed over to your house, and that you told him you had no commands. Fie! naughty, undutiful, cruel, tyrannous, jolly little monster. You laugh at my threats, at my infatuation; ah, you well know that if I could shut you up in my breast, I would put you in prison there!
Tell me you are cheerful, in good health, and very affectionate.
BONAPARTE.
No. 5.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Castiglione, July 21, 1796_, 8 A.M.
I am hoping that when I arrive to-night I shall get one of your letters. You know, my dear Josephine, the pleasure they give me; and I am sure you have pleasure in writing them. I shall start to-night for Peschiera, for the mountains of ----, for Verona, and thence I shall go to Mantua, and perhaps to Milan, to receive a kiss, since you assure me they are not made of ice. I hope you will be perfectly well by then, and will be able to accompany me to headquarters, so that we may not part again. Are you not the soul of my life, and the quintessence of my heart's affections?
Your proteges are a little excitable; they are like the will-o'-the-wisp. How glad I am to do something for them which will please you. They will go to Milan. A little patience is requisite in everything.
Adieu, _belle et bonne_, quite unequalled, quite divine. A thousand loving kisses.
BONAPARTE.
No. 6.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Castiglione, July 22, 1796._
The needs of the army require my presence hereabouts; it is impossible that I can leave it to come to Milan. Five or six days would be necessary, and during that time movements may occur whereby my presence here would be imperative.
You assure me your health is good; I beg you therefore to come to Brescia. Even now I am sending Murat to prepare apartments for you there in the town, as you desire.
I think you will do well to spend the first night (July 24th) at Cassano, setting out very late from Milan; and to arrive at Brescia on July 25th, where the most affectionate of lovers awaits you. I am disconsolate that you can believe, dear, that my heart can reveal itself to others as to you; it belongs to you by right of conquest, and that conquest will be durable and for ever. I do not know why you speak of Madame T., with whom I do not concern myself in the slightest, nor with the women of Brescia. As to the letters which you are vexed at my opening, this shall be the last; your letter had not come.
Adieu, _ma tendre amie_, send me news often, come forthwith and join me, and be happy and at ease; all goes well, and my heart is yours for life.
Be sure to return to the Adjutant-General Miollis the box of medals that he writes me he has sent you. Men have such false tongues, and are so wicked, that it is necessary to have everything exactly on the square.
Good health, love, and a prompt arrival at Brescia.
I have at Milan a carriage suitable alike for town or country; you can make use of it for the journey. Bring your plate with you, and some of the things you absolutely require.
Travel by easy stages, and during the coolth, so as not to tire yourself. Troops only take three days coming to Brescia. Travelling post it is only a fourteen hours' journey. I request you to sleep on the 24th at Cassano; I shall come to meet you on the 25th at latest.
Adieu, my own Josephine. A thousand loving kisses.
BONAPARTE.
* * * * *
_July 29th.--Advance of Wurmser, by the Adige valley, on Mantua, and of Quesdonowich on Brescia, who drives back Massena and Sauret._
_July 31st.--Siege of Mantua raised._
_August 3rd.--Bonaparte victorious at Lonato._
_August 5th.--Augereau victorious at Castiglione, completing the Campaign of Five Days, in which 10,000 prisoners are taken._
_August 8th.--Verona occupied by Serrurier._
_August 15th._--(Moreau arrives on the Danube) _Wurmser retreats upon Trent, the capital of Italian Tyrol_.
_August 18th._--Alliance, offensive and defensive, between France and Spain.
_September 3rd._--Jourdan routed by Archduke Charles at Wurtzburg.
No. 7.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Brescia, August 30, 1796._
Arriving, my beloved, my first thought is to write to you. Your health, your sweet face and form have not been absent a moment from my thoughts the whole day. I shall be comfortable only when I have got letters from you. I await them impatiently. You cannot possibly imagine my uneasiness. I left you vexed, annoyed, and not well. If the deepest and sincerest affection can make you happy, you ought to be.... I am worked to death.
Adieu, my kind Josephine: love me, keep well, and often, often think of me.
BONAPARTE.
No. 8.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Brescia, August 31, 1796._
I start at once for Verona. I had hoped to get a letter from you; and I am terribly uneasy about you. You were rather ill when I left; I beg you not to leave me in such uneasiness. You promised me to be more regular; and, at the time, your tongue was in harmony with your heart. You, to whom nature has given a kind, genial, and wholly charming disposition, how can you forget the man who loves you with so much fervour? No letters from you for three days; and yet I have written to you several times. To be parted is dreadful, the nights are long, stupid, and wearisome; the day's work is monotonous.
This evening, alone with my thoughts, work and correspondence, with men and their stupid schemes, I have not even one letter from you which I might press to my heart.
The Staff has gone; I set off in an hour. To-night I get an express from Paris; there was for you only the enclosed letter, which will please you.
Think of me, live for me, be often with your well-beloved, and be sure that there is only one misfortune that he is afraid of--that of being no longer loved by his Josephine. A thousand kisses, very sweet, very affectionate, very exclusive.
Send M. Monclas at once to Verona; I will find him a place. He must get there before September 4th.
BONAPARTE.
* * * * *
_September 1st.--Bonaparte leaves Verona and directs his troops on Trent. Wurmser, reinforced by 20,000 men, leaves his right wing at Roveredo, and marches via the Brenta Gorge on Verona._
No. 9.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Ala, September 3, 1796._
We are in the thick of the fight, my beloved; we have driven in the enemy's outposts; we have taken eight or ten of their horses with a like number of riders. My troops are good-humoured and in excellent spirits. I hope that we shall do great things, and get into Trent by the fifth.
No letters from you, which really makes me uneasy; yet they tell me you are well, and have even had an excursion to Lake Como. Every day I wait impatiently for the post which will bring me news of you--you are well aware how I prize it. Far from you I cannot live, the happiness of my life is near my gentle Josephine. Think of me! Write me often, very often: in absence it is the only remedy: it is cruel, but, I hope, will be only temporary.
BONAPARTE.
* * * * *
_September 4th.--Austrian right wing defeated at Roveredo._
_September 5th.--Bonaparte enters Trent, cutting off Wurmser from his base. Defeats Davidowich on the Lavis and leaves Vaubois to contain this general while he follows Wurmser._
_September 6th.--Wurmser continues his advance, his outposts occupy Vicenza and Montebello._
_September 7th.--Combat of Primolano: Austrians defeated. Austrian vanguard attack Verona, but are repulsed by General Kilmaine._
_September 8th.--Battle of Bassano: Wurmser completely routed, and retires on Legnago._
No. 10.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Montebello, Noon, September 10, 1796._
_My Dear_,--The enemy has lost 18,000 men prisoners; the rest killed or wounded. Wurmser, with a column of 1500 cavalry, and 500 infantry, has no resource but to throw himself into Mantua.
Never have we had successes so unvarying and so great. Italy, Friuli, the Tyrol, are assured to the Republic. The Emperor will have to create a second army: artillery, pontoons, baggage, everything is taken.
In a few days we shall meet; it is the sweetest reward for my labours and anxieties.
A thousand fervent and very affectionate kisses.
BONAPARTE.
* * * * *
_September 11th.--Skirmish at Cerea: Austrians successful. Bonaparte arrives alone, and is nearly captured._
No. 11.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Ronco, September 12, 1796_, 10 A.M.
_My dear Josephine_,--I have been here two days, badly lodged, badly fed, and very cross at being so far from you.
Wurmser is hemmed in, he has with him 3000 cavalry and 5000 infantry. He is at Porto-Legnago; he is trying to get back into Mantua, but for him that has now become impossible. The moment this matter shall be finished I will be in your arms.
I embrace you a million times.
BONAPARTE.
* * * * *
_September 13th.--Wurmser, brushing aside the few French who oppose him, gains the suburbs of Mantua._
_September 14th.--Massena attempts a surprise, but is repulsed._
_September 15th.--Wurmser makes a sortie from St. Georges, but is driven back._
_September 16th.--And at La Favorite, with like result._
No. 12.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Verona, September 17, 1796._
_My Dear_,--I write very often and you seldom. You are naughty, and undutiful; very undutiful, as well as thoughtless. It is disloyal to deceive a poor husband, an affectionate lover. Ought he to lose his rights because he is far away, up to the neck in business, worries and anxiety. Without his Josephine, without the assurance of her love, what in the wide world remains for him. What will he do?
Yesterday we had a very sanguinary conflict; the enemy has lost heavily, and been completely beaten. We have taken from him the suburbs of Mantua.
Adieu, charming Josephine; one of these nights the door will be burst open with a bang, as if by a jealous husband, and in a moment I shall be in your arms.
A thousand affectionate kisses.
BONAPARTE.
* * * * *
_October 2nd._--(Moreau defeats Latour at Biberach, but then continues his retreat.)
_October 8th._--Spain declares war against England.
_October 10th.--Peace with Naples signed._
No. 13.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Modena, October 17, 1796_, 9 P.M.
The day before yesterday I was out the whole day. Yesterday I kept my bed. Fever and a racking headache both prevented me writing to my beloved; but I got your letters. I have pressed them to my heart and lips, and the grief of a hundred miles of separation has disappeared. At the present moment I can see you by my side, not capricious and out of humour, but gentle, affectionate, with that mellifluent kindness of which my Josephine is the sole proprietor. It was a dream, judge if it has cured my fever. Your letters are as cold as if you were fifty; we might have been married fifteen years. One finds in them the friendship and feelings of that winter of life. Fie! Josephine. It is very naughty, very unkind, very undutiful of you. What more can you do to make me indeed an object for compassion? Love me no longer? Eh, that is already accomplished! Hate me? Well, I prefer that! Everything grows stale except ill-will; but indifference, with its marble pulse, its rigid stare, its monotonous demeanour!...
A thousand thousand very heartfelt kisses.
I am rather better. I start to-morrow. The English evacuate the Mediterranean. Corsica is ours. Good news for France, and for the army.
BONAPARTE.
* * * * *
_October 25th._--(Moreau recrosses the Rhine.)
_November 1st.--Advance of Marshal Alvinzi. Vaubois defeated by Davidovich on November 5th, after two days' fight._
_November 6th.--Napoleon successful, but Vaubois' defeat compels the French army to return to Verona._
No. 14.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Verona, November 9, 1796._
_My Dear_,--I have been at Verona since the day before yesterday. Although tired, I am very well, very busy; and I love you passionately at all times. I am just off on horseback.
I embrace you a thousand times.
BONAPARTE.
* * * * *
_November 12th.--Combat of Caldiero: Napoleon fails to turn the Austrian position, owing to heavy rains. His position desperate._
_November 15th.--First battle of Arcola. French gain partial victory._
_November 16th and 17th.--Second battle of Arcola. French completely victorious "Lodi was nothing to Arcola" (Bourrienne)._
_November 17th._--Death of Czarina Catherine II. of Russia.
_November 18th.--Napoleon victoriously re-enters Verona by the Venice gate, having left it, apparently in full retreat, on the night of the 14th by the Milan gate._
No. 15.
From BOURRIENNE'S "LIFE OF NAPOLEON," vol. i. chap. 4.
_Verona, November 19th, Noon._
_My Adored Josephine_,--Once more I breathe freely. Death is no longer before me, and glory and honour are once more re-established. The enemy is beaten at Arcola. To-morrow we will repair Vaubois' blunder of abandoning Rivoli. In a week Mantua will be ours, and then your husband will clasp you in his arms, and give you a thousand proofs of his ardent affection. I shall proceed to Milan as soon as I can; I am rather tired. I have received letters from Eugene and Hortense--charming young people. I will send them to you as soon as I find my belongings, which are at present somewhat dispersed.
We have made five thousand prisoners, and killed at least six thousand of the enemy. Good-bye, my adored Josephine. Think of me often. If you cease to love your Achilles, if for him your heart grows cold, you will be very cruel, very unjust. But I am sure you will always remain my faithful mistress, as I shall ever remain your fond lover. Death alone can break the chain which sympathy, love, and sentiment have forged. Let me have news of your health. A thousand and a thousand kisses.
No. 16.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT MILAN.
_Verona, November 23, 1796._
I don't love you an atom; on the contrary, I detest you. You are a good for nothing, very ungraceful, very tactless, very tatterdemalion. You never write to me; you don't care for your husband; you know the pleasure your letters give him, and you write him barely half-a-dozen lines, thrown off anyhow.
How, then, do you spend the livelong day, madam? What business of such importance robs you of the time to write to your very kind lover? What inclination stifles and alienates love, the affectionate and unvarying love which you promised me? Who may this paragon be, this new lover who engrosses all your time, is master of your days, and prevents you from concerning yourself about your husband? Josephine, be vigilant; one fine night the doors will be broken in, and I shall be before you.
Truly, my dear, I am uneasy at getting no news from you. Write me four pages immediately, and some of those charming remarks which fill my heart with the pleasures of imagination.
I hope that before long I shall clasp you in my arms, and cover you with a million kisses as burning as if under the equator.
BONAPARTE.
No. 17.
_Verona, November 24, 1796._
I hope soon, darling, to be in your arms. I love you to distraction. I am writing to Paris by this courier. All goes well. Wurmser was beaten yesterday under Mantua. Your husband only needs Josephine's love to be happy.
BONAPARTE.
No. 18.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT GENOA.
_Milan_, _November 27, 1796_, 3 P.M.
I get to Milan; I fling myself into your room; I have left all in order to see you, to clasp you in my arms.... You were not there. You gad about the towns amid junketings; you run farther from me when I am at hand; you care no longer for your dear Napoleon. A passing fancy made you love him; fickleness renders him indifferent to you.
Used to perils, I know the remedy for weariness and the ills of life. The ill-luck that I now suffer is past all calculations; I did right not to anticipate it.
I shall be here till the evening of the 29th. Don't alter your plans; have your fling of pleasure; happiness was invented for you. The whole world is only too happy if it can please you, and only your husband is very, very unhappy.
BONAPARTE.
No. 19.
TO JOSEPHINE, AT GENOA.
_Milan_, _November 28, 1796_, 8 P.M.
I have received the courier whom Berthier had hurried on to Genoa. You have not had time to write me, I feel it intuitively. Surrounded with pleasures and pastimes, you would be wrong to make the least sacrifice for me. Berthier has been good enough to show me the letter which you wrote him. My intention is that you should not make the least change in your plans, nor with respect to the pleasure parties in your honour; I am of no consequence, either the happiness or the misery of a man whom you don't love is a matter of no moment.
For my part, to love you only, to make you happy, to do nothing which may vex you, that is the object and goal of my life.