purposely evaded the Eastern Question. On this subject Savary
writes (vol. ii. 297):--"Since Tilsit, Napoleon had sounded the
personal views of his ambassador at Constantinople, General
Sebastiani, as to this proposition of the Emperor of Russia (_i.e._
the partition of Turkey). This ambassador was utterly opposed to
this project, and in a long report that he sent to the Emperor on his
return from Constantinople, he demonstrated to him that it was
absolutely necessary for France never to consent to the dismemberment
of the Turkish Empire; the Emperor Napoleon adopted his views." And
these Talleyrand knew. The whirligig of time brings about its
revenges, and in less than fifty years Lord Palmerston had to seek
an alliance with France and the house of Napoleon in order to
maintain the fixed policy that sent Napoleon I. to Moscow and to
St. Helena. "Alexander, with justice," says Alison, "looked upon
Constantinople as the back-door of his empire, and was earnest that
its key should be placed in his hands." "Alexander," Napoleon told
O'Meara, "wanted to get Constantinople, which I would not allow,
as it would have destroyed the equilibrium of power in Europe. I
reflected that France would gain Egypt, Syria, and the islands,
which would have been nothing in comparison with what Russia would
have obtained. I considered that the barbarians of the north were
already too powerful, and probably in the course of time would
overwhelm all Europe, as I now think they will. Austria already
trembles: Russia and Prussia united, Austria falls, and England
cannot prevent it."
_Erfurt_ is the meridian of Napoleon's first thirteen years
(1796-1808)--each more glorious; henceforward (1809-1821) ever faster
he "rolls, darkling, down the torrent of his fate."
SERIES K
No. 5.
Written from Aranda.
No. 6.
Written from the Imperial Camp outside Madrid. Neither Napoleon[67]
nor Joseph entered the capital, but King Joseph took up his abode at
the Prado, the castle of the Kings of Spain, two miles away; while the
Emperor was generally at Chamartin, some five miles distant. He had
arrived on the heights surrounding Madrid on his Coronation Day
(December 2nd), and does not fail to remind his soldiers and his
people of this auspicious coincidence. The bulletin concludes with a
tirade against England, whose conduct is "shameful," but her troops
"well disciplined and superb." It declares that Spain has been treated
by them as they have treated Holland, Sardinia, Austria, Russia, and
Sweden. "They foment war everywhere; they distribute weapons like
poison; but they shed their blood only for their direct and personal
interests."
_Parisian weather of the last fortnight in May._--In his bulletin of
the 13th, he says: "Never has such a month of December been known in
this country; one would think it the beginning of spring." But ten
days later all was changed, and the storm of Guadarrama undoubtedly
saved Moore and the English army. "Was it then decreed," groans
Thiers, "that we, who were always successful against combined Europe,
should on no single occasion prevail against those implacable foes?"
No. 8.
Other letters of this date are headed Madrid.
_Kourakin._--Alexander Kourakin was the new Russian Ambassador at
Paris, removed thence from Vienna to please Napoleon, and to replace
Tolstoi, who, according to Savary, was always quarrelling with French
officers on military points, but who could hardly be so narrow-minded
a novice on these points as his namesake of to-day. This matter had
been arranged at Erfurt.
No. 9.
_The English appear to have received reinforcements._--Imagine a
Transvaal with a population of ten millions, and one has a fair idea
of the French difficulties in Spain, even without Portugal. The
Spaniards could not fight a scientific battle like Jena or Friedland,
but they were incomparable at guerilla warfare. The Memoirs of Barons
Marbot and Lejeune have well demonstrated this. The latter, an
accomplished linguist, sent to locate Moore's army, found that to pass
as an Englishman the magic words "Damn it," won him complete success.
No. 10.
_Benavente._--Here they found 600 horses, which had been hamstrung by
the English.
_The English flee panic-stricken._--The next day Napoleon writes
Fouche to have songs written, and caricatures made of them, which are
also to be translated into German and Italian, and circulated in
Germany and Italy.
_The weather is very bad._--Including 18 degrees of frost. Savary says
they had never felt the cold so severe in Poland--and that they ran a
risk of being buried in the snow. The Emperor had to march on foot and
was very much tired. "On these occasions," adds Savary, "the Emperor
was not selfish, as people would have us believe ... he shared his
supper[68] and his fire with all who accompanied him: he went so far
as to make those eat whom he saw in need of it." Napier gives other
details: "Napoleon, on December 22nd, has 50,000 men at the foot of
the Guadarrama. A deep snow choked the passes of the Sierra, and after
twelve hours' toil the advanced guards were still on the wrong side:
the general commanding reported the road impracticable, but Napoleon,
dismounting, placed himself at the head of the column, and amidst
storms of hail and driving snow, led his soldiers over the mountain."
At the passage of the Esla Moore escapes Napoleon by twelve hours.
Marbot, as usual, gives picturesque details. Officers and men marched
with locked arms, the Emperor between Lannes and Duroc. Half-way up,
the marshals and generals, who wore jack-boots, could go no further.
Napoleon, however, got hoisted on to a gun, and bestrode it: the
marshals and generals did the same, and in this grotesque order they
reached, after four hours' toil, the convent at the summit.
_Lefebvre._--As they neared Benavente the slush became frightful, and
the artillery could not keep pace. General Lefebvre-Desnouette went
forward, with the horse regiment of the Guard, forded the Esla with
four squadrons, was outnumbered by the English (3000 to 300), but he
and sixty (Lejeune, who escaped, says a hundred) of his chasseurs were
captured. He was brought in great triumph to Sir John Moore. "That
general," says Thiers, "possessed the courtesy characteristic of all
great nations; he received with the greatest respect the brilliant
general who commanded Napoleon's light cavalry, seated him at his
table, and presented him with a magnificent Indian sabre."
No. 11.
Probably written from Astorga, where he arrived on January 1st, having
brought 50,000 men two hundred miles in ten days.
_Your letters._--These probably, and others received by a courier,
decided him to let Soult follow the English to Corunna--especially as
he knew that transports were awaiting the enemy there. He himself
prepares to return, for Fouche and Talleyrand are in league, the slim
and slippery Metternich is ambassador at Paris, Austria is arming, and
the whole political horizon, apparently bright at Erfurt, completely
overcast. Murat, balked of the Crown of Spain, is now hoping for that
of France if Napoleon is killed or assassinated. It is Talleyrand and
Fouche who have decided on Murat, and on the ultimate overthrow of the
Beauharnais. Unfortunately for their plans Eugene is apprised by
Lavalette, and an incriminating letter to Murat captured and sent
post-haste to Napoleon. This, says Pasquier, undoubtedly hastened the
Emperor's return. Ignoring the complicity of Fouche, the whole weight
of his anger falls on Talleyrand, who loses the post of High
Chamberlain, which he had enjoyed since 1804. For half-an-hour this
"arch-apostate," as Lord Rosebery calls him, receives a torrent of
invectives. "You are a thief, a coward, a man without honour; you do
not believe in God; you have all your life been a traitor to your
duties; you have deceived and betrayed everybody: nothing is sacred to
you; you would sell your own father. I have loaded you down with
gifts, and there is nothing that you would not undertake against me.
Thus, for the past ten months, you have been shameless enough, because
you supposed, rightly or wrongly, that my affairs in Spain were going
astray, to say to all who would listen to you that you always blamed
my undertaking there, whereas it was yourself who first put it into my
head, and who persistently urged it. And that man, _that unfortunate_
(he was thus designating the Duc d'Enghien), by whom was I advised of
the place of his residence? Who drove me to deal cruelly with him?
What then are you aiming at? What do you wish for? What do you hope?
Do you dare to say? You deserve that I should smash you like a
wine-glass. I can do it, but I despise you too much to take the
trouble." This we are assured by the impartial Pasquier, who heard it
from an ear-witness, and second-hand from Talleyrand, is an abstract
of what Napoleon said, and to which the ex-Bishop made no reply.
No. 12.
_The English are in utter rout._--Still little but dead men and horses
fell into his hands. Savary adds the interesting fact that all the
(800) dead cavalry horses had a foot missing, which the English had
to show their officers to prove that they had not sold their horses.
Scott, on barely sufficient evidence perhaps, states, "The very
treasure-chests of the army were thrown away and abandoned. There was
never so complete an example of a disastrous retreat." The fact seems
to have been that the soldiership was bad, but Moore's generalship
excellent. Napier writes, "No wild horde of Tartars ever fell with
more license upon their rich effeminate neighbours than did the
English troops upon the Spanish towns taken by storm." What could be
expected of such men in retreat, when even Lord Melville had just said
in extenuation of our army that the worst men make the best soldiers?
NOS. 13 AND 14.
Written at Valladolid. Here he received a deputation asking that his
brother may reside in Madrid, to which he agrees, and awaits its
arrangement before setting out for Paris.
At Valladolid he met De Pradt, whom he mistrusted; but who, like
Talleyrand, always amused him. In the present case the Abbe told him
that "the Spaniards would never thank him for interfering in their
behalf, and that they were like Sganarelle in the farce, who
quarrelled with a stranger for interfering with her husband when he
was beating her" (Scott's "Napoleon").
He leaves Valladolid January 17th, and is in Paris on January 24th. He
rode the first seventy miles, to Burgos, in five and a half hours,
stopping only to change horses.[69] Well might Savary say, "Never had
a sovereign ridden at such a speed."
_Eugene has a daughter._--The Princess Eugenie-Hortense, born December
23rd at Milan; married the hereditary Prince of Hohenzollern
Hechingen.
_They are foolish in Paris_--if not worse. Talleyrand, Fouche, and
others were forming what amounted to a conspiracy, and the Empress
herself, wittingly or unwittingly, had served as their tool. For the
first time she answers a deputation of the Corps Legislatif, who come
to congratulate her on her husband's victories, and says that
doubtless his Majesty would be very sensible of the homage of an
assembly _which represents the nation_. Napoleon sees in this remark a
germ of aggression on behalf of his House of Commons, more especially
when emphasised by 125 blackballs against a Government Bill. He takes
the effective but somewhat severe step of contradicting his wife in
the _Moniteur_, or rather declaring that the Empress knew the laws too
well not to know that the Emperor was the chief representative of the
People, then the Senate, and last the Corps Legislatif.
"It would be a wild and even criminal assertion to try to represent
the nation before the Emperor."
All through the first half of 1809 another dangerous plot, of which
the centre was the Princess of Tour and Taxis, had its threads far and
wide. Many of Soult's generals were implicated, and in communication
with the English, preventing their commander getting news of
Wellesley's movements (Napier). When they find Soult cannot be
traduced, they lend a willing ear to stirring up strife between the
Emperor and Soult, by suggesting that the latter should be made King
of Portugal. Madame d'Abrantes, who heard in 1814 that the idea had
found favour with English statesmen, thinks such a step would have
seriously injured Napoleon (vol. iv. 53).
FOOTNOTES
[67] Napoleon visited Madrid and its Palais Royal incognito, and (like
Vienna) by night (Bausset).
[68] With Lejeune on one occasion.
[69] _Biographie Universelle._ Michaud says _ponies_.
SERIES L
1809.
The dangers surrounding Napoleon were immense. The Austrian army,
320,000 strong (with her Landwehr, 544,000 men) and 800 cannon, had
never been so great, never so fitted for war. Prussia was already
seething with secret societies, of which as yet the only formidable
one was the Tugendbund, whose headquarters were Konigsburg, and whose
chief members were Stein, Stadion, Blucher, Jahn. Perhaps their most
sensible scheme was to form a united German empire, with the Archduke
Charles[70] as its head. The Archduke Ferdinand invaded the Duchy of
Warsaw, and had he taken Thorn with its park of 100 cannon, Prussia
was to join Austria. In Italy the Carbonari and Adelphes[71] only
waited for the French troops to go north to meet the Austrians to
spread revolt in Italy. Of the former the head lodge was at Capua and
its constitutions written in English, since England was aiding this
_chouanerie religieuse_ as a lever against Napoleon. England had an
army of 40,000 men ready to embark in any direction--to Holland,
Belgium, Naples, or Biscay, while the French troops in Portugal were
being tampered with to receive Moreau as their leader, and to march
with Spaniards and English for the Pyrenees. At Paris Talleyrand was
in partial disgrace, but he and Fouche were still plotting--the
latter, says Pelet, forwarding daily a copy of the private bulletin
(prepared for Napoleon's eye alone) to the Bourbons. After Essling and
the breaking of the Danube bridge, he hesitated between seizing
supreme power himself or offering it to Bernadotte.
Up to the last--up to March 27th--the _Correspondence_ proves that
Napoleon had hoped that war would be averted through the influence of
Russia. "All initiative," he declared, "rested on the heads of the
court of Austria." "Menaced on all sides; warned of the intentions of his
enemies by their movements and by their intercepted correspondence;
seeing from that moment hostilities imminent, he wishes to prove to
France and Europe that all the wrongs are on their side, and awaits in his
capital the news of an aggression that nothing justifies, nothing
warrants. Vain prudence! Europe will accuse him of having been the
instigator on every occasion, even in this."[72] On April 8th the
Austrians violated Bavarian territory, and during his supreme command for
the next five days Berthier endangered the safety of the French empire
in spite of the most elaborate and lucid instructions from Napoleon, which
he failed to comprehend. "Never," says Pelet, "was so much written, never
so little done. Each of his letters (Berthier's) attests the great
difference which existed between his own correspondence and that which
was dictated to him." An ideal chief of staff, he utterly lacked the
decision necessary for a commander-in-chief. The arrival of Napoleon
changed in a moment the position of affairs. "The sudden apparition of the
Emperor produced the effect of the head of Medusa, and paralysed the
enemy."[73] Within five days the Austrians were four times defeated, and
Ratisbon, the _passe-partout_ of Southern Germany and half-way house
between Strasburg and Vienna, is once more in the hands of France and her
allies. Pelet considers these operations as the finest which have been
executed either in ancient or modern times, at any rate those of which the
projects are authentically proved. He foretells that military men from
every country of Europe, but specially young Frenchmen, will religiously
visit the fields of the Laber. They will visit, with Napoleon's
_Correspondence_ in their hands, "much more precious than every other
commentary, the hills of Pfaffenhofen, the bridge of Landshut, and that
of Eckmuehl, the mill of Stangl, and the woods of Roking." A few days
later the Archduke Charles writes a letter to Napoleon, which is a fair
type of those charming yet stately manners which made him at that
moment the most popular man in Europe. "Sire," he writes, "your
Majesty's arrival was announced to me by the thunder of artillery, without
giving me time to compliment you thereon. Scarcely advised of your
presence, I was made sensible of it by the losses which you have caused
me. You have taken many of my men, Sire; my troops also have made some
thousands of prisoners in places where you did not direct the
operations. I propose to your Majesty to exchange them man for man, grade
for grade, and if that offer is agreeable to you, please let me know your
intentions for the place destined for the exchange. I feel flattered,
sire, in fighting against the greatest captain of the age. I should be
more happy if destiny had chosen me to procure for my country the
benefit of a lasting peace. Whichsoever they be, the events of war or
the approach of peace, I beg your Majesty to believe that my desires
always carry me to meet you, and that I hold myself equally honoured in
finding the sword, or the olive branch, in the hand of your Majesty."
No. 1.
_DONAUWERTH._--
n the same day napoleon writes almost an identical
letter to cambaceres, adding, however, the news that the tyrolese are
in full revolt.
On april 20th he placed himself at the head of the wurtembergers and
bavarians at abensberg. he made a stirring speech (no. 15,099 of
_correspondence_), and lejeune tells us that the prince royal of
bavaria translated into german one sentence after another as the
emperor spoke, and officers repeated the translations throughout the
ranks.
On april 24th is issued from Ratisbon his proclamation to the
army:--"Soldiers, you have justified my expectations. You have made
up for your number by your bravery. You have gloriously marked the
difference between the soldiers of Caesar and the armed cohorts of
Xerxes. In a few days we have triumphed in the pitched battles of
Thann, Abensberg, and Eckmuehl, and in the combats of Peising,
Landshut, and Ratisbon. A hundred cannon, forty flags, fifty thousand
prisoners.... before a month we shall be at Vienna." It was within
three weeks! He was specially proud of Eckmuehl, and we are probably
indebted to a remark of Pasquier for his chief but never divulged
reason. "A noteworthy fact in connection with this battle was that
the triumphant army was composed principally of Bavarians and
Wurtembergers. Under his direction, these allies were as greatly to be
feared as the French themselves." At St. Helena was written: "The
battle of Abensberg, the manoeuvres of Landshut, and the battle of
Eckmuehl were the most brilliant and the most skilful manoeuvres of
Napoleon." Eckmuehl ended with a fine exhibition of a "white arm"
melee by moonlight, in which the French proved the superiority of
their double cuirasses over the breastplates of the Austrians.
Pelet gives this useful abstract of the campaign of five days:--
_April 19th._--Union of the french army whilst fighting the Archduke,
whose base is already menaced.
_April 20th._--Napoleon, at Abensberg and on the banks of the Laber,
breaks the Austrian line, totally separating the centre from the left,
which he causes to be turned by Massena.
_April 21st._--He destroys their left wing at Landshut, and captures
the magazines, artillery, and train, as well as the communications of
the enemy's grand army, fixing definitely his own line of operations,
which he already directs on Vienna.
_April 22nd._--He descends the Laber to Eckmuehl, gives the last blow
to the Archduke's army, of which the remnant takes refuge in
Ratisbon.
_april 23rd._--He takes that strong place, and forces the Archduke to
take refuge in the mountains of Bohemia.
No. 2.
_May 6th._--On May 1st Napoleon was still at Braunau, waiting for news
from Davoust. Travelling by night at his usual speed he reached
Lambach at noon on May 2nd, and Wels on the 3rd. The next morning he
heard Massena's cannon at Ebersberg, but reaches the field at the fall
of night--too late to save the heavy cost of Massena's frontal attack.
The French lost at least 1500 killed and wounded; the Austrians (under
Hiller) the same number killed and 7000 prisoners. Pelet defends
Massena, and quotes the bulletin of May 4th (omitted from the
_Correspondence_): "It is one of the finest feats of arms of which
history can preserve the memory! The traveller will stop and say, 'It
is here, it is here, in these superb positions, that an army of 35,000
Austrians was routed by two French divisions'" (Pelet, ii. 225).
Lejeune, and most writers, blame Massena, referring to the Emperor's
letter of May 1st in Pelet's Appendix (vol. ii.), but not in the
_Correspondence_.
Between April 17th and May 6th there is no letter to Josephine
preserved, but plenty to Eugene, and all severe--not so much for
incapacity as for not keeping the Emperor advised of what was really
happening. On May 6th he had received no news for over a week.
_The ball that touched me_--_i.e._ at Ratisbon. This was the second
time Napoleon had been wounded in battle--the first time by an
English bayonet at Toulon. On the present occasion (April 23rd)
Meneval seems to be the best authority: "Napoleon was seated on a
spot from which he could see the attack on the town of Ratisbon. He
was beating the ground with his riding-whip,[74] when a bullet,
supposed to have been fired from a Tyrolean carbine, struck him on the
big toe (Marbot says 'right ankle,' which is correct). The news of
his wound spread rapidly[75] from file to file, and he was forced
to mount on horseback to show himself to his troops. Although his
boot had not been cut the contusion was a very painful one," and in
the first house he went to for a moment's rest, he fainted. The next
day, however, he saw the wounded and reviewed his troops as usual,
and Lejeune has preserved a highly characteristic story, somewhat
similar to an experience of the Great Frederick's: "When he had
reached the seventh or eighth sergeant the Emperor noticed a
handsome young fellow with fine but stern-looking eyes and of
resolute and martial bearing, who made his musket ring again as he
presented arms. 'How many wounds?' inquired the Emperor. 'Thirty,'
replied the sergeant. 'I am not asking you your age,' said the Emperor
graciously; 'I am asking how many wounds you have received.' Raising
his voice, the sergeant again replied with the one word, 'Thirty.'
Annoyed at this reply, the Emperor turned to the colonel and said,
'The man does not understand; he thinks I am asking about his
age.' 'He understands well enough, sire,' was the reply; 'he has been
wounded thirty times.' 'What!' exclaimed the Emperor, 'you have been
wounded so often and have not got the cross!' The sergeant looked
down at his chest, and seeing that the strap of his cartridge-pouch
hid his decoration, he raised it so as to show the cross. He said
to the Emperor, with great earnestness, 'Yes, I've got one; but I've
merited a dozen!' The Emperor, who was always pleased to meet
spirited fellows such as this, pronounced the sacramental words,
'I make you an officer!' 'That's right, Emperor,' said the new
sub-lieutenant as he proudly drew himself up; 'you couldn't have
done better!'"
No. 3.
Almost an exact duplicate of this letter goes on to Paris to
Cambaceres, as also of No. 4. The moment the Emperor had heard that
the Archduke had left Budweiss and was going by the circuitous route
_via_ Krems to Vienna, he left Enns (May 7th) and reached Moelk the
same evening. Seeing a camp of the enemy on the other side of the
river he sends Marbot with a sergeant and six picked men to kidnap a
few Austrians during the night. The foray is successful, and three are
brought before Napoleon, one weeping bitterly. The Emperor asked the
reason, and found it was because he had charge of his master's girdle,
and would be thought to have robbed him. The Emperor had him set free
and ferried across the river, saying, "We must honour and aid virtue
wherever it shows itself." The next day he started for Saint-Polten
(already evacuated by Hiller). On his way he saw the ruins of
Dirnstein Castle, where Richard Coeur de Lion had been imprisoned. The
Emperor's comments were interesting, but are now hackneyed, and are in
most histories and memoirs--the parent source being Pelet (vol. ii.
246).
No. 4.