11th, Napoleon writes Letourneur, President of the Directory, of his
marriage with the "citoyenne Tascher Beauharnais," and tells him that
he has already asked Barras to inform them of the fact. "The
confidence which the Directory has shown me under all circumstances
makes it my duty to keep it advised of all my actions. It is a new
link which binds me to the fatherland; it is one more proof of my
fixed determination to find safety only in the Republic."[41]
No. 2.
"_Our good Ossian._"--The Italian translation of Ossian by Cesarotti
was a masterpiece; better, in fact, than the original. He was a friend
of Macpherson, and had learnt English in order to translate his work.
Cesarotti lived till an advanced age, and was sought out in his
retirement in order to receive honours and pensions from the Emperor
Napoleon.
"Our good Ossian" speaks, like Homer, of the joy of grief.
No. 4.
"_Chauvet is dead._"--Chauvet is first mentioned in Napoleon's
correspondence in a letter to his brother Joseph, August 9, 1795.
Mdme. Junot, _Memoirs_, i. 138, tells us that Bonaparte was very fond
of him, and that he was a man of gentle manners and very ordinary
conversation. She declares that Bonaparte had been a suitor for the
hand of her mother shortly before his marriage with Josephine, and
that because the former rejected him, the general had refused a favour
to her son; this had caused a quarrel which Chauvet had in vain tried
to settle. On March 27th Bonaparte had written Chauvet from Nice that
every day that he delayed joining him, "takes away from my operations
one chance of probability for their success."
No. 5.
St. Amand notes that Bonaparte begins to suspect his wife in this
letter, while the previous ones, especially that of April 3rd, show
perfect confidence. Napoleon is on the eve of a serious battle, and
has only just put his forces into fighting trim. On the previous day
(April 6th) he wrote to the Directory that the movement against Genoa,
of which he does not approve, has brought the enemy out of their
winter quarters almost before he has had time to make ready. "The army
is in a state of alarming destitution; I have still great difficulties
to surmount, but they are surmountable: misery has excused want of
discipline, and without discipline never a victory. I hope to have all
in good trim shortly--there are signs already; in a few days we shall
be fighting. The Sardinian army consists of 50,000 foot, and 5000
horse; I have only 45,000 men at my disposal, all told. Chauvet, the
commissary-general, died at Genoa: it is a heavy loss to the army, he
was active and enterprising."
Two days later Napoleon, still at Albenga, reports that he has found
Royalist traitors in the army, and complains that the Treasury had not
sent the promised pay for the men, "but in spite of all, we shall
advance." Massena, eleven years older than his new commander-in-chief,
had received him coldly, but soon became his right-hand man, always
genial, and full of good ideas. Massena's men are ill with too much
salt meat, they have hardly any shoes, but, as in 1800,[42] he has
never a doubt that Bonaparte will make a good campaign, and determines
to loyally support him. Poor Laharpe, so soon to die, is a man of a
different stamp--one of those, doubtless, of whom Bonaparte thinks
when he writes to Josephine, "Men worry me." The Swiss, in fact, was a
chronic grumbler, but a first-rate fighting man, even when his men
were using their last cartridges.
"_The lovers of nineteen._"--The allusion is lost. Aubenas, who
reproduces two or three of these letters, makes a comment to this
sentence, "Nous n'avons pu trouver un nom a mettre sous cette
fantasque imagination" (vol. i. 317).
"_My brother_," viz. Joseph.--He and Junot reached Paris in five days,
and had a great ovation. Carnot, at a dinner-party, showed Napoleon's
portrait next to his heart, because "I foresee he will be the saviour
of France, and I wish him to know that he has at the Directory only
admirers and friends."
No. 6.
_Unalterably good._--"C'est Joseph peint d'un seul trait."--Aubenas
(vol. i. 320).
"_If you want a place for any one, you can send him here. I will give
him one._"--Bonaparte was beginning to feel firm in the saddle,
while at Paris Josephine was treated like a princess. Under date
April 25th, Letourneur, as one of the Directory, writes him, "A vast
career opens itself before you; the Directory has measured the
whole extent of it." They little knew! The letter concludes by
expressing confidence that their general will never be reproached
with the shameful repose of Capua. In a further letter, bearing
the same date, Letourneur insists on a full and accurate account of
the battles being sent, as they will be necessary "for the history of
the triumphs of the Republic." In a private letter to the Directory
(No. 220, vol. i. of the _Correspondence_, 1858), dated Carru, April
24th, Bonaparte tells them that when he returns to camp, worn-out,
he has to work all night to put matters straight, and repress
pillage. "Soldiery without bread work themselves into an excess of
frenzy which makes one blush to be a man."[43]... "I intend to make
terrible examples. I shall restore order, or cease to command these
brigands. The campaign is not yet decided. The enemy is desperate,
numerous, and fights well. He knows I am in want of everything, and
trusts entirely to time; but I trust entirely to the good genius of
the Republic, to the bravery of the soldiers, to the harmony of the
officers, and even to the confidence they repose in me."
No. 7.
Aubenas goes into ecstasies over this letter, "the longest, most
eloquent, and most impassioned of the whole series" (vol. i. 322).
Facsimile of Letter dated April 24, 1796.
_June 15._--Here occurs the first gap in the correspondence, but
his letters to the Directory between this date and the last letter
to Josephine extant (April 24) are full of interest, including his
conscientious disobedience at Cherasco, and the aura of his destiny
to "ride the whirlwind and direct the storm" which first inspired him
after Lodi. On April 28th was signed the armistice of Cherasco, by
which his rear was secured by three strong fortresses.[44] He writes
the Directory that Piedmont is at their mercy, and that in making the
armistice into a definite peace he trusts they will not forget the
little island of Saint-Pierre, which will be more useful in the
future than Corsica and Sardinia combined. He looks upon northern
Italy as practically conquered, and speaks of invading Bavaria
through the Tyrol. "Prodigious" is practically the verdict of the
Directory, and later of Jomini. "My columns are marching; Beaulieu
flees. I hope to catch him. I shall impose a contribution of some
millions on the Duke of Parma: he will sue for peace: don't be in a
hurry, so that I may have time to make him also contribute to the
cost of the campaign, by replenishing our stores and rehorsing our
waggons at his expense." Bonaparte suggests that Genoa should pay
fifteen millions indemnity for the frigates and vessels taken in the
port. Certain risks had to be run in invading Lombardy, owing to want
of horse artillery, but at Cherasco he secured artillery and horses.
When writing to the Directory for a dozen companies, he tells them
not to entrust the execution of this measure "to the men of the
bureaus, for it takes them ten days to forward an order." Writing to
Carnot on the same day he states he is marching against Beaulieu,
who has 26,000 foot out of 38,000 at commencement of campaign.
Napoleon's force is 28,000, but he has less cavalry. On May 1st, in a
letter dated Acqui to Citizen Faipoult, he asks for particulars of
the pictures, statues, &c., of Milan, Parma, Placentia, Modena, and
Bologna. On the same day Massena writes that his men are needing
shoes. On May 6th Bonaparte announces the capture of Tortona, "a very
fine fortress, which cost the King of Sardinia over fifteen
millions," while Cherasco has furnished him with twenty-eight guns.
Meanwhile Massena has taken possession of Alessandria, with all its
stores. On May 9th Napoleon writes to Carnot, "We have at last
crossed the Po. The second campaign is begun; Beaulieu ... has
fool-hardiness but no genius. One more victory, and Italy is ours." A
clever commissary-general is all he needs, and his men are growing
fat--with good meat and good wine. He sends to Paris twenty old
masters, with fine examples of Correggio and Michael-Angelo. It is
pleasant to find Napoleon's confidence in Carnot, in view of Barras'
insinuations that the latter had cared only for Moreau--his type
of Xenophon. In this very letter Napoleon writes Carnot, "I owe you
my special thanks for the care that you have kindly given to my wife;
I recommend her to you, she is a sincere patriot, and I love her to
distraction." He is sending "a dozen millions" to France, and hopes
that some of it will be useful to the army of the Rhine. Meanwhile,
and two days before Napoleon's letter to Carnot just mentioned, the
latter, on behalf of the Directory, suggests the division of his
command with the old Alsatian General Kellermann. The Directory's
idea of a gilded pill seems to be a prodigiously long letter. It is
one of those heart-breaking effusions that, even to this day,
emanate from board-rooms, to the dismay and disgust of their
recipients. After plastering him with sickening sophistries as to
his "sweetest recompense," it gives the utterly unnecessary
monition, "March! no fatal repose, there are still laurels to
gather"! Nevertheless, his plan of ending the war by an advance
through the Tyrol strikes them as too risky. He is to conquer the
Milanais, and then divide his army with Kellermann, who is to guard
the conquered province, while he goes south to Naples and Rome. As an
implied excuse for not sending adequate reinforcements, Carnot adds,
"The exaggerated rumours that you have skilfully disseminated as to
the numbers of the French troops in Italy, will augment the fear
of our enemies and almost double your means of action." The
Milanais is to be heavily mulcted, but he is to be prudent. If Rome
makes advances, his first demand should be that the Pope may order
immediate public prayers for the prosperity and success of the French
Republic! The sending of old masters to France to adorn her National
Galleries seems to have been entirely a conception of Napoleon's. He
has given sufficiently good reasons, from a patriotic point of view;
for money is soon spent, but a masterpiece may encourage Art among
his countrymen a generation later. The plunderers of the Parthenon of
1800 could not henceforward throw stones at him in this respect. But
his real object was to win the people of Paris by thus sending them
Glory personified in unique works of genius.
The Directory, already jealous of his fame, endeavour to neutralise
the effect of his initiative by hearty concurrence, and write, "Italy
has been illumined and enriched by their possession, but the time is
now come when their reign should pass to France to stablish and
beautify that of Liberty." The despatch adds somewhat naively that the
effects of the vandalism committed during their own Republican orgies
would be obliterated by this glorious campaign, which should "join to
the splendour of military trophies the charm of beneficent and restful
arts." The Directory ends by inviting him to choose one or two artists
to select the most valuable pictures and other masterpieces.
Meanwhile, the Directory's supineness in pushing on the war on the
Rhine is enabling the Austrians to send large reinforcements against
Napoleon. Bonaparte, who has recently suffered (Jomini, vol. viii.
113) from Kellermann's tardiness in sending reinforcements at an
important moment, replies to the letters of May 7th a week later, and
writes direct to Citizen Carnot from Lodi, as well as to the Executive
Directory. "On the receipt of the Directory's letter of the 7th your
wishes were fulfilled, and the Milanais is ours. I shall shortly
march, to carry out your intentions, on Leghorn and Rome; all that
will soon be done. I am writing the Directory relatively to their idea
of dividing the army. I swear that I have no thought beyond the
interest of my country. Moreover, you will always find me straight
(_dans la ligne droite_).... As it might happen that this letter to
the Directory may be badly construed, and since you have assured me
of your friendship, I take this opportunity of addressing you, begging
you to make what use of it your prudence and attachment for me may
suggest.... Kellermann will command the army as well as I, for no one
is more convinced than I am that the victories are due to the courage
and pluck of the army; but I think joining Kellermann and myself in
Italy is to lose everything. I cannot serve willingly with a man who
considers himself the first general in Europe; and, besides, I believe
one bad general is better than two good ones. War is like government:
it is an affair of tact. To be of any use, I must enjoy the same
confidence that you testified to me in Paris. Where I make war, here
or there, is a matter of indifference. To serve my country, to deserve
from posterity a page in our history, to give the Government proofs of
my attachment and devotion--that is the sum of my ambition. But I am
very anxious not to lose in a week the fatigues, anxieties, and
dangers of two months, and to find myself fettered. I began with a
certain amount of fame; I wish to continue worthy of you." To the
Directory he writes that the expeditions to Leghorn, Rome, and Naples
are small affairs, but to be safely conducted must have one general in
command. "I have made the campaign without consulting a soul; I should
have done no good if I had had to share my views with another. I have
gained some advantages over superior forces, and in utter want of
everything, because, certain of your confidence, my marches have been
as quick as my thoughts." He foretells disaster if he is shackled with
another general. "Every one has his own method of making war. General
Kellermann has more experience, and will do it better than I; but both
together will do it very badly." With Barras he knew eloquence was
useless, and therefore bribed him with a million francs. On May 10th
was gained the terrible battle of the Bridge of Lodi, where he won
promotion from his soldiers, and became their "little corporal," and
where he told Las Cases that he "was struck with the possibility of
becoming famous. It was then that the first spark of my ambition was
kindled." On entering Milan he told Marmont, "Fortune has smiled on me
to-day, only because I despise her favours; she is a woman, and the
more she does for me, the more I shall exact from her. In our day no
one has originated anything great; it is for me to give the example."
On May 15th, thirty-five days after the commencement of the campaign,
he entered Milan, under a triumphal arch and amid the acclamations of
the populace. On the previous evening he was guilty of what Dr.
Johnson would have considered a fitting herald of his spoliation of
picture-galleries--the perpetration of a pun. At a dinner-table the
hostess observed that his youth was remarkable in so great a
conqueror, whereat he replied, "Truly, madam, I am not very old at
present--barely twenty-seven--but in less than twenty-four hours I
shall count many more, for I shall have attained Milan" (_mille
ans_).
On May 22nd he returned to Lodi, but heard immediately that Lombardy
in general, and Pavia in particular, was in open revolt. He makes a
terrible example of Pavia, shooting its chief citizens, and, for the
only time, giving up a town to three hours' pillage. The Directory
congratulates him on these severe measures: "The laws of war and the
safety of the army render them legitimate in such circumstances." He
writes them that had the blood of a single Frenchman been spilt, he
would have erected a column on the ruins of Pavia, on which should
have been inscribed, "Here was the town of Pavia."
On May 21st, Carnot replies to the letter from Lodi: "You appear
desirous, citizen general, of continuing to conduct the whole series
of military operations in Italy, at the actual seat of war. The
Directory has carefully considered your proposition, and the
confidence that they place in your talents and republican zeal has
decided this question in the affirmative.... The rest of the military
operations towards the Austrian frontier and round Mantua are
absolutely dependent on your success against Beaulieu. The Directory
feels how difficult it would be to direct them from Paris. It leaves
to you in this respect the greatest latitude, while recommending the
most extreme prudence. Its intention is, however, that the army shall
cross into the Tyrol only after the expedition to the south of
Italy."
This was a complete victory for Bonaparte (Bingham calls it the
Directory's "abject apology"), and, as Scott points out, he now
"obtained an ascendency which he took admirable care not to
relinquish; and it became the sole task of the Directory, so far as
Italy was concerned, to study phrases for intimating their approbation
of the young general's measures."
He had forged a sword for France, and he now won her heart by gilding
it. On May 16th the Directory had asked him to supply Kellermann with
money for the army of the Alps, and by May 22nd he is able to write
that six or eight million francs in gold, silver, ingots, or jewels is
lying at their disposal with one of the best bankers in Genoa, being
superfluous to the needs of the army. "If you wish it, I can have a
million sent to Bale for the army of the Rhine." He has already helped
Kellermann, and paid his men. He also announces a further million
requisitioned from Modena. "As it has neither fortresses nor muskets,
I could not ask for them."
Henceforth he lubricates the manifold wheels of French policy with
Italian gold, and gains thereby the approbation and gratitude of the
French armies and people. Meanwhile he does not neglect those who
might bear him a grudge. To Kellermann and to all the Directors he
sends splendid chargers. From Parma he has the five best pictures
chosen for Paris--the Saint Jerome and the Madonna della Scodella,
both by Correggio; the Preaching of St. John in the Desert, a Paul
Veronese, and a Van Dyck, besides fine examples of Raphael, Caracci,
&c.
The Directory is anxious that he shall chastise the English at
Leghorn, as the fate of Corsica is somewhat dependent on it, whose
loss "will make London tremble." They secretly dread a war in the
Tyrol, forgetting that Bonaparte is a specialist in mountain fighting,
educated under Paoli. They remind him that he has not sent the plans
of his battles. "You ought not to lack draughtsmen in Italy. Eh! what
are your young engineer officers doing?"
On May 31st Carnot writes to urge him to press the siege of Mantua,
reasserting that the reinforcements which Beaulieu has received will
not take from that army its sense of inferiority, and that ten
battalions of Hoche's army are on the way. It approves and confirms
the "generous fraternity" with which Bonaparte offers a million francs
to the armies on the Rhine. On June 7th he tells the Directory that
Rome is about to fulminate a bull against the French Royalists, but
that he thinks the expedition to Naples should be deferred, and also a
quarrel with Venice--at least till he has beaten his other enemies; it
is not expedient to tackle every one at once. On June 6th he thanks
Carnot for a kind letter, adding that the best reward to sweeten
labour and perils is the esteem of the few men one really admires. He
fears the hot weather for his men: "we shall soon be in July, when
every march will cost us 200 sick." The same day he writes General
Clarke that all is flourishing, but that the dog-star is coming on at
a gallop, and that there is no remedy against its malign influence.
"Luckless beings that we are! Our position with nature is merely
observation, without control." He holds that the only safe way to end
the campaign without being beaten is not to go to the south of Italy.
On the 9th he thanks Kellermann for the troops he sends, and their
excellent discipline. On the 11th--always as anxious to help his
generals as himself--he urges the Directory to press the Swiss
Government to refund La Harpe's property to his children.
"_Presentiment of ill._"--Marmont tells us what this was. The glass of
his wife's portrait, which he always carried with him, was found to be
broken. Turning frightfully pale, he said to Marmont, "My wife is
either very ill, or unfaithful." She left Paris June 24th. Marmont
says, "Once at Milan, General Bonaparte was very happy, for at that
time he lived only for his wife.... Never love more pure, more true,
more exclusive, has possessed the heart of any man."
No. 8.
Between June 15th and the renewal of Josephine's correspondence a
glance at the intervening dates will show that Bonaparte and his army
were not wasting time. The treaty with Rome was a masterpiece, as in
addition to money and works of art, he obtained the port of Ancona,
siege-guns with which to bombard Mantua, and best of all, a letter
from the Pope to the faithful of France, recommending submission to
the new government there. In consideration of this, and possibly
yielding to the religious sentiments of Josephine, he spared Rome his
presence--the only capital which he abstained from entering, when he
had, as in the present case, the opportunity. It was not, however,
until February 1797 that the Pope fulfilled his obligations under this
Treaty, and then under new compulsion.
_Fortune._--Josephine's dog (see note to Letter 2, Series B).
FOOTNOTES
[41] No. 89 of Napoleon III.'s Correspondence of Napoleon I., vol. i.,
the last letter signed Buonaparte; after March 24 we only find
Bonaparte.
[42] Compelled to surrender Genoa, before Marengo takes place, he
swears to the Austrian general he will be back there in
fourteen days, and keeps his word.
[43] Two days later he evidently feels this letter too severe, and
writes: "All goes well. Pillage is less pronounced. This first
thirst of an army destitute of everything is quenched. The poor
fellows are excusable; after having sighed for three years at
the top of the Alps, they arrive in the Promised Land, and wish
to taste of it."
[44] Bingham, with his customary ill-nature, remarks that Bonaparte,
"in spite of the orders of the Directory, took upon himself to
sign the armistice." These orders, dated March 6th, were
intended for a novice, and no longer applicable to the
conqueror of two armies, and which a Despatch on the way, dated
April 25th, already modified. Jomini admits the wisdom of this
advantageous peace, which secured Nice and Savoy to France, and
gave her all the chief mountain-passes leading into Italy.
SERIES B
No. 1.
_July 6, Sortie from Mantua of the Austrians._--According to Jomini
the French on this occasion were not successful (vol. viii. 162). In
one of his several letters to the Directory on this date is seen
Bonaparte's anxiety for reinforcements; the enemy has already 67,000
men against his available 40,000. Meanwhile he is helping the
Corsicans to throw off the British yoke, and believes that the French
possession of Leghorn will enable the French to gain that island
without firing a shot.
No. 2.
_Marmirolo._--On July 12th he writes to the Directory from Verona that
for some days he and the enemy have been watching each other. "Woe to
him who makes a false move." He indicates that he is about to make a
_coup de main_ on Mantua, with 300 men dressed in Austrian uniforms.
He is by no means certain of success, which "depends entirely on
luck--either on a dog[45] or a goose." He complains of much sickness
among his men round Mantua, owing to the heat and miasmata from the
marshes, but so far no deaths. He will be ready to make Venice
disgorge a few millions shortly, if the Directory make a quarrel in
the interim.
On the 13th he was with Josephine, as he writes from Milan, but leaves
on the 14th, and on the 17th is preparing a _coup de_ _main_ with 800
grenadiers, which, as we see from the next letter, fails.