Napoleon and the Corsican Volunteers
(1791-1792)
Napoleon again had a companion on his return voyage to France in the
person of his brother Louis, a bright little fellow twelve and a half
years old. If the latter could not be expected to take any intelligent
interest in the many schemes for advancement which were now coursing
through Napoleon’s super-active brain, he was at least a living link
with the family in Ajaccio. The young lieutenant’s political ambitions
which had received so marked an incentive in Corsica were not allowed
to sink to zero, as is so frequently the case when one is away from the
whirl and excitement of their practical influence. Rather were they
nourished and fed by the sights and scenes Napoleon beheld as the two
made their way to Auxonne after they had landed. The fact that he had
exceeded his leave of absence worried him not at all, the penalty of
six months’ imprisonment, should his excuse be deemed invalid, being
dismissed from his mind as an unlikely sequel. In his pocket were
certificates from the Directory of the district of Ajaccio setting
forth in glowing terms the services Napoleon had rendered to Corsica,
and stating that his had been an enforced absence from duty owing to
the unfavourable weather precluding the vessel from leaving. These
credentials proved sufficient; he did not so much as lose a sou of his
pay.
Napoleon quickly returned to his old habits of hard work, and his
democratic opinions were voiced with greater vehemence to his
fellow-officers, many of whom failed to agree with him and were not
afraid to say so. Polite discussions frequently led to less gentlemanly
arguments.
The room which the two Bonapartes occupied was almost as poorly
furnished as was Chatterton’s garret. Facing the window was a table
loaded with books, papers, and writing utensils. There was a chair
apiece: should a visitor come, either Napoleon or Louis had to sit on
the edge of the bed, the younger brother being accommodated at night on
a mattress in an adjoining apartment, which was in reality a part of
the room and scarcely larger than a cupboard. If at a later period of
his career Napoleon showed a desire for lavish display, he certainly
was not able to indulge in luxury at Auxonne. He paid for everything
required by Louis, clothed him, educated him, and thrashed him when he
was disobedient or particularly dense in the matter of lessons. The
younger Bonaparte soon became a general favourite, both in and outside
the regiment. Napoleon writes with a certain amount of satisfaction
that “all the women are in love with him.” His faults seem to be summed
up in the comprehensive but cynical phrase, “All he needs is knowledge.”
In the middle of June 1791, Napoleon bade farewell to Auxonne and
set out for Valence, where the Fourth Regiment was in garrison, he
having been made first lieutenant of the first company of the second
battalion. His brother accompanied him, lodging elsewhere, as it was
not found convenient for Louis to remain in the same house. By way
of recreation, frequent visits were paid to Madame de Colombier, but
politics more and more absorbed Napoleon. He entered with great zest
into the doings of the Society of the Friends of the Constitution, an
avowedly revolutionary and republican gathering, and soon became so
popular with its members that he was elected secretary and librarian.
The Academy of Lyons having offered a handsome prize, amounting to
about £50, for the best essay on “What Truths and what Sentiments is it
most Important to impress upon Men for their Happiness?” Napoleon found
further scope for his literary gifts. “By sentiment,” he assures us in
his competitive composition, “we enjoy ourselves, nature, our country,
and the men who surround us,” and in support of the statement he draws
on his own experience. “You return to your country,” he writes; “after
four years of absence, you visit the spots where you played in your
earliest age, where you first experienced the knowledge of men and
the awakening of the passions. In a moment you live the life of your
childhood, you enjoy its pleasures, you are fired with the love of
your country, you have a father and a tender mother, sisters still
innocent, brothers who are like friends; too happy man, run, fly, do
not lose a moment. If death stop you on your way you will never have
known the delights of life, of sweet gratitude, of tender respect, of
sincere friendship. These are the real pleasures of life, and they
are greater if you have a wife and children.” He says hard things of
immoderate ambition, the very disease which was to prove his own ruin,
and calls it “a violent unreflecting madness, which only ceases with
life--a conflagration, fanned by a pitiless wind, which does not end
till it has consumed everything.” We wonder whether the Emperor, in
his hours of introspection on the island of St Helena, when he was
proving the truth of the above statement, ever thought of his essay. It
did not gain the prize--Napoleon’s name was last but one on the list of
competitors.
Yet another leave of absence was requested and granted. It seems little
short of extraordinary that, when France was at white heat, holidays
should have been granted to soldiers, but such was the case. Napoleon
and Louis saw the blue mountains of Corsica and their family in
September 1791, a few weeks before the death of Archdeacon Lucien. It
almost seemed, from Napoleon’s point of view, as though Fate invariably
had an unpleasant surprise for him when he visited Ajaccio, but Letizia
always regarded her second son’s homecoming as an act of Providence.
Fortunately, his venerable relative left a handsome sum of money to the
Bonapartes, a certain amount of which was invested by Napoleon in the
purchase of a house in Ajaccio and two properties some little distance
away.
It looked for a time as though the tide of fortune was beginning
to turn in their favour. Joseph was elected a member of the
Directory, the executive committee of the island, and on the 22nd
February 1792, Napoleon was appointed Adjutant-Major of the Corsican
Volunteers at Ajaccio. Some six weeks later, he was elected second
lieutenant-colonel, a position which allowed him to absent himself from
his French regiment but made for him an enemy in Pozzo di Borgo, a man
who afterwards rose to distinction at the Russian Court, and had much
to do with his successful rival’s fall in after years.
Napoleon’s opportunity for action soon came. Revolutionary principles
regarded religion as of little consequence, and it was decided that
the convents in the four most important towns of Corsica should be
suppressed. This was not to be achieved without difficulty, and as
strife and possibly bloodshed were thought highly probable, it was
decided that a number of volunteers should be on hand at Ajaccio.
On Easter Day 1792, a disturbance occurred in one of the streets. A
dozen volunteers marched out to end it, only to make the disorder more
general. Napoleon felt it his duty to interfere, but was obliged to
take refuge after one of the men had been killed. The action of the
volunteers was, of course, illegal, as they had acted on their own
responsibility. Napoleon defended them, and in company with Quenza,
his senior in command, endeavoured to persuade Colonel Maillard, the
commander of the fortress, to deliver it into their hands. The Colonel,
however, would have nothing to do with them beyond giving food for
their men.
Early the following morning another band of volunteers entered the
Seminary, fired indiscriminately, and angered the inhabitants. Disorder
increased to such an extent as the day began to wane that it became
necessary to proclaim martial law--in other words, the regular military
were given absolute control until order should be restored. Various
outrages on the part of the volunteers, of which Napoleon was by no
means innocent, followed during the night. He endeavoured to corrupt
the regular soldiers without success, and thus began that scheme of
lying and plotting which he was to pursue even after he had been
elected Emperor of the French. He was absolutely unscrupulous when, as
always, he had his own ends to serve. In the case under consideration,
he undertook that his men should be kept under restraint, the
authorities promising that they would see that the people did not
interfere with the volunteers. Napoleon’s intention may have been
good, but his men certainly continued to behave in a most disgraceful
manner. Eventually order was restored, and a rebuke administered to
Napoleon by his battalion being ordered to retire to Corte.
The part he had played did not increase his popularity, and he thought
it well to return to the French capital a month after war had been
declared against Austria. As he himself said, “The beginning of a
revolution was a fine time for an enterprising young man!”