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Makers of History
Joseph Bonaparte
BY
JOHN S. C. ABBOTT
WITH ENGRAVINGS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
1902
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
HARPER & BROTHERS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for
the Southern District of New York.
Copyright, 1897, by SUSAN ABBOTT MEAD.
PREFACE.
The writer trusts that he may be pardoned for relating the following
characteristic anecdote of President Lincoln, as it so fully illustrates
the object in view in writing these histories. In a conversation which
the writer had with the President just before his death, Mr. Lincoln
said:
"I want to thank you and your brother for Abbotts' series of Histories.
I have not education enough to appreciate the profound works of
voluminous historians, and if I had, I have no time to read them. But
your series of Histories gives me, in brief compass, just that knowledge
of past men and events which I need. I have read them with the greatest
interest. To them I am indebted for about all the historical knowledge I
have."
It is for just this purpose that these Histories are written. Busy men,
in this busy life, have now no time to wade through ponderous folios.
And yet every one wishes to know the general character and achievements
of the illustrious personages of past ages.
A few years ago there was published in Paris a life of King Joseph, in
ten royal octavo volumes of nearly five hundred pages each. It was
entitled "_Memoires et Correspondance, Politique et Militaire, du Roi
Joseph, Publies, Annotes et Mis en Ordre par A. du Casse, Aide-de-camp
de S. A. I. Le Prince Jerome Napoleon._" These volumes contained nearly
all the correspondence which passed between Joseph and his brother
Napoleon from their childhood until after the battle of Waterloo. Every
historical statement is substantiated by unequivocal documentary
evidence.
From this voluminous work, aided by other historical accounts of
particular events, the author of this sketch has gathered all that would
be of particular interest to the general reader at the present time. As
all the facts contained in this narrative are substantiated by ample
documentary proof, the writer can not doubt that this volume presents an
accurate account of the momentous scenes which it describes, and that it
gives the reader a correct idea of the social and political relations
existing between those extraordinary men, Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte.
It is not necessary that the historian should pronounce judgment upon
every transaction. But he is bound to state every event exactly as it
occurred.
No one can read this account of the struggle in Europe _in favor of
popular rights_ against the old dynasties of _feudal oppression_,
without more highly appreciating the admirable institutions of our own
glorious Republic. Neither can any intelligent and candid man carefully
peruse this narrative, and not admit that Joseph Bonaparte was earnestly
seeking the welfare of the _people_; that, surrounded by dynasties
strong in standing armies, in pride of nobility, and which were
venerable through a life of centuries, he was endeavoring to promote,
under monarchical forms, which the posture of affairs seemed to
render necessary, the abolition of _aristocratic usurpation_, and the
establishment of _equal rights for all men_. Believing this, the writer
sympathizes with him in all his struggles, and reveres his memory.
The universal brotherhood of man, the fundamental principles of
Christianity, should also be the fundamental principles in the State.
Having spared no pains to be accurate, the writer will be grateful to
any critic who will point out any incorrectness of statement or false
coloring of facts, that he may make the correction in subsequent
editions.
This volume will soon be followed by another, "The History of Queen
Hortense," the daughter of Josephine, the wife of King Louis, the mother
of Napoleon III.
JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.
FAIR HAVEN, CONN.,
May, 1869.
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. SCENES IN EARLY LIFE 13
II. DIPLOMATIC LABORS 36
III. JOSEPH THE PEACE-MAKER 67
IV. JOSEPH KING OF NAPLES 93
V. THE CROWN A BURDEN 135
VI. THE SPANISH PRINCES 166
VII. JOSEPH KING OF SPAIN 199
VIII. THE SPANISH CAMPAIGN OF NAPOLEON 229
IX. THE WAR IN SPAIN CONTINUED 264
X. THE EXPULSION FROM SPAIN 291
XI. LIFE IN EXILE 319
XII. LAST DAYS AND DEATH 365
ENGRAVINGS.
Page
JOSEPH AND NAPOLEON--TOUR IN CORSICA 28
JOSEPH GIVING HIS CLOAK TO HIS BROTHER LOUIS 41
CORNWALLIS AND JOSEPH 88
JOSEPH AT MALMAISON 98
JOSEPH ON HIS NEAPOLITAN TOUR 155
QUEEN JULIE LEAVING NAPLES 187
JOSEPH RECEIVING THE ADDRESSES OF THE SPANISH
SENATE 198
JOSEPH ENTERING MALAGA 261
SACK OF CIUDAD RODRIGO 286
ANGUISH OF MARIA LOUISA 314
DEATH OF THE DUKE OF REICHSTADT 363
JOSEPH BONAPARTE.
CHAPTER I.
SCENES IN EARLY LIFE.
1768-1793
Corsica.--Parentage.--Birth of Joseph Bonaparte.--Journey to
France.--Fraternal Attachment.--Character of Joseph.--Prince of
Conde.--Anecdote.--Letter to Napoleon.--Return to Corsica.--Death
of his Father.--Letitia.--Her Character.--Madame Permon.--Lucien.
--Habits of Napoleon.--Studies of the Brothers.--Mirabeau.--Joseph
studies Law.--Commences Practice.--Treatise of Napoleon.--Testimony
of Joseph.--Ambition of Napoleon.--Foresight of Napoleon.--Constituent
Assembly.--Gratitude of Napoleon.--Anecdote.--Tour in Corsica.
--Characteristics.--Testimony of Louis Napoleon.--Death of Mirabeau.
--French Revolution.--Anecdote.--The Emigrants.--The Republicans.
--Paoli.--His Appreciation of Napoleon.--Corsican Peasantry.--Flight
of the Bonapartes.--Their Arrival in France.
The island of Corsica, in the Mediterranean Sea, sixty miles from the
coast of Tuscany, is about half as large as the State of Massachusetts.
In the year 1767 this island was one of the provinces of Italy. There
was then residing, in the small town of Corte, in Corsica, a young
lawyer nineteen years of age. He was the descendant of an illustrious
race, which could be traced back, through a succession of distinguished
men, far into the dark ages. Charles Bonaparte, the young man of whom
we speak, was tall, handsome, and possessed strong native powers of
mind, which he had highly cultivated. In the same place there was
a young lady, Letitia Raniolini, remarkable for her beauty and her
accomplishments. She also was of an ancient family. When but sixteen
years of age Letitia was married to Charles Bonaparte, then but
nineteen years old.
About a year after their marriage, on the 7th of January, 1768, they
welcomed their first-born child, Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte. In nineteen
months after the birth of Joseph, his world-renowned brother Napoleon
was born. But in the mean time the island had been transferred to
France. Thus while Joseph was by birth an Italian, his brother Napoleon
was a Frenchman.
Charles Bonaparte occupied high positions of trust and honor in
the government of Corsica, and his family took rank with the most
distinguished families in Italy and in France. Joseph passed the first
twelve years of his life upon his native island. He was ever a boy of
studious habits, and of singular amiability of character. When he was
twelve years of age his father took him, with Napoleon and their elder
sister Eliza, to France for their education. Leopold, the grand duke
of Tuscany, gave Charles Bonaparte letters of introduction to Maria
Antoinette, his sister, who was then the beautiful and admired Queen
of France.
Leaving Joseph at the college of Autun, in Burgundy, the father
continued his journey to Paris, with Napoleon and Eliza. Eliza was
placed in the celebrated boarding-school of St. Cyr, in the metropolis,
and Napoleon was taken to the military school at Brienne, a few miles
out from the city. The father was received as a guest in the gorgeous
palace of Versailles. Joseph and Napoleon were very strongly attached
to each other, and this attachment continued unabated through life.
When the two lads parted at Autun both were much affected. Joseph,
subsequently speaking of it, says:
"I shall never forget the moment of our separation. My eyes were flooded
with tears. Napoleon shed but one tear, which he in vain endeavored to
conceal. The abbe Simon, who witnessed our adieus, said to me, after
Napoleon's departure, 'He shed only one tear; but that one testified to
as deep grief in parting from you as all of yours.'"
The two brothers kept up a very constant correspondence, informing each
other minutely of their studies, and of the books in which they were
interested. Joseph became one of the most distinguished scholars in the
college of Autun, excelling in all the branches of polite literature. He
was a very handsome young man, of polished manners, and of unblemished
purity of life. His natural kindness of heart, combined with these
attractions, rendered him a universal favorite.
Autun was in the province of Burgundy, of which the Prince of Conde,
grandfather of the celebrated Duke d'Enghien, was governor. The prince
attended an exhibition at the college, to assist in the distribution of
the prizes. Joseph acquitted himself with so much honor as to attract
the attention of the prince, and he inquired of him what profession he
intended to pursue.
Joseph, in the following words, describes this eventful incident:
"The solemn day arrived. I performed my part to admiration, and when we
afterward went to receive the crown, which the prince himself placed on
our heads, I was the one whom he seemed most to have noticed. The Bishop
of Autun's friendship for our family, and no doubt also the curiosity
which a little barbarian, recently introduced into the centre of
civilization inspired, contributed to attract the prince's attention. He
caressed me, complimented me on my progress, and made particular
inquiries as to the intentions of my family with respect to me. The
Bishop of Autun said that I was destined for the Church, and that he had
a living in reserve, which he would bestow upon me as soon as the time
came.
"'And you, my lad,' said the prince, 'have you your own projects, and
have you made up your mind as to what you wish?'
"'I wish,' said I, 'to serve the king.' Then seeing him disposed to
listen favorably to me, I took courage to tell him that it was not at
all my wish, though it was that of my family, that I should enter the
Church, but that my dearest wish was to enter the army.
"The Bishop of Autun would have objected to my project, but the prince,
who was colonel-general of the French infantry, saw with pleasure these
warlike dispositions on my part, and encouraged me to ask for what I
wanted. I then declared my desire to enter the artillery, and it was
determined that I should. Imagine my joy. I was proud of the prince's
caresses, and rejoiced more in his encouragement than I have since in
the two crowns which I have worn.
"I immediately wrote a long letter to my brother Napoleon, imparting my
happiness to him, and relating in detail all that had passed; concluding
by begging him, out of friendship for me, to give up the navy and devote
himself to the artillery, that we might be in the same regiment, and
pursue our career side by side. Napoleon immediately acceded to my
proposal, abandoned from that moment all his naval projects, and replied
that his mind was made up to dedicate himself, with me, to the
artillery--with what success the world has since learned. Thus it was to
this visit of the Prince of Conde that Napoleon owed his resolution of
entering on a career which paved the way to all his honors."
In 1784, Joseph, then sixteen years of age, returned to Corsica. During
his absence he had entirely forgotten the Italian, his native language,
and could neither speak it nor understand it. After a few months at
home, during which time he very diligently prosecuted his studies, his
father, whose health was declining, found it necessary to visit Paris to
seek medical advice. He took his son Joseph with him. Arriving at
Montpellier, after a tempestuous voyage, he became so ill as to be
unable to proceed any farther. After a painful sickness of three months,
he died of a cancer in the stomach, on the 24th of February, 1785. The
dying father, who had perceived indications of the exalted powers and
the lofty character of his son Napoleon, in the delirium of his last
hours repeatedly cried out,
"Napoleon! Napoleon! come and rescue me from this dragon of death by
whom I am devoured."
Upon his dying bed the father felt great solicitude for his wife, who
was to be left, at the early age of thirty-five, a widow with eight
children, six of whom were under thirteen years of age. Joseph willingly
yielded to his father's earnest entreaties to relinquish the profession
of arms and return to Corsica, that he might solace his bereaved mother
and aid her in her arduous cares. Napoleon says of this noble mother:
"She had the head of a man on the shoulders of a woman. Left without a
guide or protector, she was obliged to assume the management of affairs,
but the burden did not overcome her. She administered every thing with a
degree of sagacity not to be expected from her age or sex. Her
tenderness was joined with severity. She punished, rewarded all alike.
The good, the bad, nothing escaped her. Ah, what a woman! where shall we
look for her equal? She watched over us with a solicitude unexampled.
Every low sentiment, every ungenerous affection was discouraged and
discarded. She suffered nothing but that which was grand and elevated to
take root in our youthful understandings. She abhorred falsehood, and
would not tolerate the slightest act of disobedience. None of our faults
were overlooked. Losses, privations, fatigue had no effect upon her. She
endured all, braved all. She had the energy of a man combined with the
gentleness and delicacy of a woman."
Madame Permon, mother of the Duchess of Abrantes, a Corsican lady of
fortune who resided at Montpellier, immediately after the death of
Charles Bonaparte, took Joseph, the orphan boy, into her house. Madame
Permon and Letitia Raniolini had been companions and intimate friends in
their youthful days. "She was to me," says Joseph, "an angel of
consolation; and she lavished upon me all the attentions I could have
received from the most tender and affectionate of mothers."
Joseph soon returned to Corsica. Napoleon had just before been promoted
to the military school in Paris, in which city Eliza still continued at
school. Lucien, the next younger brother, had also now been taken to the
Continent, where he was pursuing his education. The four remaining
children were very young.
"My mother," says Joseph, "moderated the expression of her grief that
she might not excite mine. Heroic and admirable woman! the model of
mothers; how much thy children are indebted to thee for the example
which thou hast given them!"
Joseph remained at home about a year, devoting himself to the care of
the family, when Napoleon obtained leave of absence, and, to the great
joy of his mother, returned to Corsica. He brought with him two trunks,
a small one containing his clothing, and a large one filled with his
books. Seven years had now passed since the two affectionate brothers
had met. Napoleon had entirely forgotten the Italian language; but, much
chagrined by the loss, he immediately devoted himself with great energy
to its recovery. "His habits," says Joseph, "were those of a young man
retiring and studious." For nearly a year the two brothers prosecuted
their studies vigorously together, while consoling, with their filial
love, their revered mother. After some months Napoleon left home again,
to rejoin his regiment at Valence. During this brief residence on his
native island, with his accustomed habits of industry, he employed the
hours of vacation in writing a history of the revolutions in Corsica. At
Marseilles he showed the manuscript to the abbe Raynal. The abbe was so
much pleased with it that he sent it to Mirabeau. This distinguished man
remarked that the essay indicated a genius of the first order.
Joseph decided, being the eldest brother, to remain at home with his
mother, to study law, and commence its practice in Ajaccio, where his
mother then resided. He accordingly went to Pisa to attend lectures in
the law school connected with the celebrated university in that place.
His rank and character secured for him a distinguished reception, and he
was presented by the French minister to the grand duke. Here Joseph
became deeply interested in the lectures of Lampredi, who boldly
advocated the doctrine, then rarely heard in Europe, of the _sovereignty
of the people_. There were many illustrious patriots at Pisa, and many
ardent young men, whose minds were imbued with new ideas of political
liberty. Freely and earnestly they discussed the themes of aristocratic
usurpation, and of the equal rights of all men. Joseph, with enthusiasm,
embraced the cause of popular freedom, and became the unrelenting foe
of that feudal despotism which then domineered over all Europe. His
associates were the most illustrious and cultivated men of the liberal
party. At that early period Joseph published a pamphlet advocating the
rights of the people.
Having finished his studies and taken his degree, Joseph returned to
Corsica. He was admitted to the bar in 1788, being then twenty years of
age, and commenced the practice of law in Ajaccio. Upon this his return
to Corsica he met his brother Napoleon again, who, a few days before,
had landed upon the island. Napoleon was then intensely occupied in
writing a treatise upon the question, "What are the opinions and the
feelings with which it is necessary to inspire men for the promotion of
their happiness?"
"This was the subject of our conversations," says Joseph, "in our daily
walks, which were prolonged upon the banks of the sea; in sauntering
along the shores of a gulf which was as beautiful as that of Naples, in
a country fragrant with the exhalations of myrtles and oranges. We
sometimes did not return home until night had closed over us. There will
be found, in what remains of this essay, the opinions and the
characteristic traits of Napoleon, who united in his character qualities
which seemed to be contradictory--the calm of reason, illumined with the
flashes of an Oriental imagination; kindliness of soul, exquisite
sensibility; precious qualities which he subsequently deemed it his duty
to conceal, under an artificial character which he studied to assume
when he attained power, saying that men must be governed by one who is
fair and just as law, and not by a prince whose amiability might be
regarded as weakness, when that amiability is not controlled by the most
inflexible justice.
"He had continually in view," continues Joseph, "the judgment of
posterity. His heart throbbed at the idea of a grand and noble action
which posterity could appreciate.
"'I would wish to be myself my posterity,' he said to me one day, 'that
I may myself enjoy the sentiments which a great poet, like Corneille,
would represent me as feeling and uttering. The sentiment of duty, the
esteem of a small number of friends, who know us as we know ourselves,
are not sufficient to inspire noble and conscientious actions. With
such motives one can make sages, but not heroes. If the movement now
commenced continue in France, she will draw upon herself the entire of
Europe. She can only be defended by men passionate for glory, who will
be willing to die to-day, that they may live eternally. It is for an end
remote, indeterminate, of which no definite account is taken, that the
inspired minority triumphs over the inert masses. Those are the motives
which have guided the legislators, who have influenced the destinies of
the world.'"
It is remarkable that at so early a period Napoleon so clearly foresaw
that the opinions of political equality, then struggling for existence
in Paris, and of which he subsequently became so illustrious an
advocate, would, if successful, combine all the despots of Europe in a
warfare against regenerated France. Joseph and Napoleon both warmly
espoused the cause of popular liberty, which was even then upheaving the
throne of the Bourbons.
At this time, June, 1789, the Constituent Assembly commenced its
world-renowned session in Paris. As soon as the liberal constitution,
which it adopted, was issued, Joseph, who was then president of the
district in Ajaccio, published an elementary treatise upon the
constitution both in French and Italian, for the benefit of the
inhabitants of his native island. This work conferred upon him much
honor, and greatly increased his influence.
The mayor of the city, Jean Jerome Levie, was a very noble man, and a
particular friend of the Bonapartes. Very liberally he contributed of
his large fortune to aid the poor. "Napoleon," says Joseph, "honored him
at Saint Helena in his last hour, and left him a hundred thousand
francs. This proves the truth of what I have often said of the kindness
and tenderness of Napoleon's heart. It was this which led him in his
last moments to remember the abbe Recco, Professor of the Royal College
of Ajaccio, who in our early childhood, before our departure for the
Continent, kindly admitted us to his class, and devoted to us his
attention. I recall the incident when the pupils were arranged facing
each other upon the opposite sides of the hall under an immense banner,
one portion of which represented the flag of Rome, and the other that of
Carthage. As the elder of the two children, the professor placed me by
his side under the Roman flag.
[Illustration: JOSEPH AND NAPOLEON--TOUR IN CORSICA.]
"Napoleon, annoyed at finding himself beneath the flag of Carthage,
which was not the conquering banner, could have no rest until he
obtained a change of place with me, which I readily granted, and for
which he was very grateful. And still, in his triumph, he was disquieted
with the idea of having been unjust to his brother, and it required all
the authority of our mother to tranquilize him. This abbe Recco was also
remembered in his will."
On one occasion Napoleon accompanied Joseph on horseback to a remote
part of the island, to attend a Convention, where Joseph was to address
the assembly.
"Napoleon was continually occupied," says Joseph, "in collecting heroic
incidents of the ancient warriors of the country. I read to him my
speech, to which he added several names of the ancient patriots. During
the journey, which we made quite slowly, without a change of horses, his
mind was incessantly employed in studying the positions which the troops
of different nations had occupied, during the many years in which they
had combatted against the inhabitants of the island. My thoughts ran in
another direction. The singular beauty of the scenery interested me much
more."
Louis Napoleon, in an article which he wrote while a prisoner at Ham,
upon his uncle, King Joseph, just after his death, says:
"Joseph was born to embellish the arts of peace, while the spirit of his
brother found itself at ease only amid events which war introduces. From
their earliest years this difference of capacity and of inclination was
clearly manifested. Associated in the college at Autun with his brother,
Joseph aided Napoleon in his Latin and Greek compositions, while
Napoleon aided Joseph in all the problems of physics and mathematics.
The one made verses, while the other studied Alexander and Caesar."[A]
[Footnote A: Quelques Mot sur Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte; Oeuvres de
Napoleon III., tome ii. p. 452.]
During the meeting of the Convention at Bastia, above alluded to, the
tidings came of the death of Mirabeau. By the request of the President,
Joseph Bonaparte announced the event to the Convention in an appropriate
eulogy. The two brothers had but just returned to Ajaccio when the
grand-uncle of the Bonaparte children died. He had been a firm friend of
the family, and was greatly revered by them all. A few moments before
his death he assembled them around his dying bed, and took an
affectionate leave of each one. Joseph was now a member of the
Directory of the department. We have the testimony of Joseph that the
dying uncle said to his sobbing niece,
"Letitia, do not weep. I am willing to die since I see you surrounded by
your children. My life is no longer necessary to protect the family of
Charles. Joseph is at the head of the administration of the country; he
can therefore take care of the interests of the family. You, Napoleon,
you will be a great man."
The French Revolution was now in full career. Napoleon returned to
Paris, and witnessed the awful scenes of the 10th of August, 1792, when
the palace of the Tuileries was stormed, the royal family outraged, and
the guard massacred. He wrote to Joseph,
"If the king had shown himself on horseback at the head of his troops,
he would have gained the victory; at least so it appeared to me, from
the spirit which that morning seemed to animate the groups of the
people.
"After the victory of the Marseillaise, I saw one of them upon the
point of killing one of the body-guard; 'Man of the South,' said I,
'let us save the poor fellow.' 'Are you from the South?' said he.
'Yes,' I replied. 'Very well,' he rejoined, 'let him be saved then.'"
The French monarchy was destroyed. France, delivered from the despotism
of kings, was surrendered to the still greater despotism of irreligion
and ignorance. Faction succeeded faction in ephemeral governments, and
anarchy and terror rioted throughout the kingdom. Thousands of the
nobles fled from France and joined the armies of the surrounding
monarchies, which were on the march to replace the Bourbons on the
throne. The true patriots of the nation, anxious for the overthrow of
the intolerable despotism under which France had so long groaned, were
struggling against the coalition of despots from abroad, while at the
same time they were perilling their lives in the endeavor to resist
the blind madness of the mob at home. With these two foes, equally
formidable, pressing them from opposite quarters, they were making
gigantic endeavors to establish republican institutions upon the basis
of those then in successful operation in the United States. Joseph and
his brother Napoleon with all zeal joined the Republican party. They
were irreconcilably hostile to despotism on the one hand, and to
Jacobinical anarchy upon the other. In devotion to the principles of
republican liberty, they sacrificed their fortunes, and placed their
lives in imminent jeopardy. Anxious as they both were to see the
bulwarks of the old feudal aristocracy battered down, they were still
more hostile to the domination of the mob.
"I frankly declare," said Napoleon, "that if I were compelled to choose
between the old monarchy and Jacobin misrule, I should infinitely prefer
the former."
General Paoli had been appointed by Louis XVI. lieutenant-general of
Corsica. This illustrious man, disgusted with the lawless violence which
was now dominant in Paris, and despairing of any salutary reform from
the revolutionary influences which were running riot, through an error
in judgment, which he afterward bitterly deplored, joined the coalition
of foreign powers who, with fleets and armies, were approaching France
to replace, by the bayonet, the rejected Bourbons upon the throne. Both
Joseph and Napoleon were exceedingly attached to General Paoli. He was a
family friend, and his lofty character had won their reverence. Paoli
discerned the dawning greatness of Napoleon even in these early years,
and on one occasion said to him,
"O Napoleon! you do not at all resemble the moderns. You belong only to
the heroes of Plutarch."
Paoli made every effort to induce the young Bonapartes to join his
standard; but they, believing that popular rights would yet come out
triumphant, resolutely refused. The peasantry of Corsica, unenlightened,
and confiding in General Paoli, to whom they were enthusiastically
attached, eagerly rallied around his banner. England was the soul of the
coalition now formed against popular rights in France. Paoli, in loyalty
to the Bourbons, and in treason to the French people, surrendered the
island of Corsica to the British fleet.
The Bonaparte family, in wealth, rank, and influence, was one of the
most prominent upon the island. An exasperated mob surrounded their
dwelling, and the family narrowly escaped with their lives. The house
and furniture were almost entirely destroyed. At midnight Madame
Bonaparte, with Joseph, Napoleon, and all the other children who were
then upon the island, secretly entered a boat in a retired cove, and
were rowed out to a small vessel which was anchored at a short distance
from the shore. The sails were spread, and the exiled family, in
friendlessness, poverty, and dejection, were landed upon the shores of
France. Little did they then dream that their renown was soon to fill
the world; and that each one of those children was to rise to grandeur,
and experience reverses which will never cease to excite the sympathies
of mankind.