Transcriber’s Notes: Superscripted characters are preceded by a caret
symbol: y^e. Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_. Other notes may
be found at the end of this eBook.
CARICATURE AND SATIRE
ON
NAPOLEON I.
VOL. II.
WORKS BY JOHN ASHTON.
A HISTORY OF THE CHAP-BOOKS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. With
nearly 400 Illustrations, engraved in facsimile of the
originals. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 7_s._ 6_d._
SOCIAL LIFE IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE. From Original Sources.
With nearly 100 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 7_s._
6_d._
HUMOUR, WIT, AND SATIRE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. With nearly
100 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. cloth extra, 7_s._ 6_d._
London: CHATTO & WINDUS, Piccadilly.
ENGLISH
CARICATURE AND SATIRE
ON
NAPOLEON I.
BY
JOHN ASHTON
AUTHOR OF ‘SOCIAL LIFE IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE’ ETC.
[Illustration]
WITH 115 ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR
IN TWO VOLUMES--VOL. II.
London
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1884
_All rights reserved_
LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
PAGE
INVASION SQUIBS--CADOUDAL’S CONSPIRACY--EXECUTION OF THE DUC
D’ENGHIEN--CAPTAIN WRIGHT 1
CHAPTER XXXIX.
NAPOLEON PROCLAIMED EMPEROR--THE FLOTILLA--INVASION SQUIBS 12
CHAPTER XL.
NAPOLEON’S CORONATION 23
CHAPTER XLI.
NAPOLEON’S LETTER TO GEORGE THE THIRD--NAVAL VICTORIES--CROWNED
KING OF ITALY--ALLIANCE OF EUROPE--WITHDRAWAL OF THE ‘ARMY OF
ENGLAND’ 35
CHAPTER XLII.
SURRENDER OF ULM--BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR--PROPOSALS FOR PEACE--
DANIEL LAMBERT 45
CHAPTER XLIII.
NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE--DEATH OF FOX--NAPOLEON’S VICTORIOUS
CAREER--HIS PROCLAMATION OF A BLOCKADE OF ENGLAND 57
CHAPTER XLIV.
NAPOLEON’S POLISH CAMPAIGN--BATTLE OF EYLAU--MEETING OF THE
EMPERORS AT TILSIT--CAPTURE OF THE DANISH FLEET 65
CHAPTER XLV.
FRENCH ENTRY INTO PORTUGAL--BLOCKADE OF ENGLAND--FLIGHT OF THE
PORTUGUESE ROYAL FAMILY--THE PENINSULAR WAR--FLIGHT OF KING
JOSEPH 75
CHAPTER XLVI.
PENINSULAR WAR, _continued_--MEETING AT ERFURT 87
CHAPTER XLVII.
RETREAT TO CORUNNA--THE BROKEN BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE--WAGRAM--
JOSEPHINE’S DIVORCE 96
CHAPTER XLVIII.
FAILURE OF EXPEDITIONS TO SPAIN, PORTUGAL, AND HOLLAND--NAPOLEON’S
WOOING OF, AND MARRIAGE WITH, MARIA LOUISA--BIRTH OF THE KING OF
ROME--NAPOLEON IN THE NURSERY 110
CHAPTER XLIX.
A NAVAL ENGAGEMENT--NAPOLEON’S TOUR IN GERMANY--DECLARATION OF
WAR WITH RUSSIA--ENTRY INTO WILNA--SMOLENSKO--BORODINO--ENTRY
INTO MOSCOW--BURNING OF THE CITY--NAPOLEON’S RETREAT 123
CHAPTER L.
REJOICINGS IN ENGLAND OVER THE RESULT OF NAPOLEON’S RUSSIAN
CAMPAIGN--THE EMPEROR’S RETURN TO FRANCE 138
CHAPTER LI.
THE ARMISTICE--BATTLE OF VITTORIA--DEFEAT AT LEIPSIC--THE BRIDGE
BLOWN UP 150
CHAPTER LII.
NAPOLEON’S RETURN TO PARIS--HIS RECEPTION 164
CHAPTER LIII.
L’HOMME ROUGE--NAPOLEON’S SUPERSTITION 172
CHAPTER LIV.
NAPOLEON AGAIN TAKES THE FIELD--HIS DEFEATS--THE ALLIES AT
PARIS--NAPOLEON ABDICATES--HIS ATTEMPT TO POISON HIMSELF 181
CHAPTER LV.
NAPOLEON LEAVES FOR ELBA--HIS RECEPTION THERE 194
CHAPTER LVI.
NAPOLEON AT ELBA--HIS OCCUPATIONS WHILST THERE--FAITH BROKEN WITH
HIM--THE VIOLET--GENERAL REJOICINGS AT HIS EXILE 203
CHAPTER LVII.
NAPOLEON’S ESCAPE FROM ELBA--UNIVERSAL CONSTERNATION--FLIGHT OF
THE BRITISH FROM FRANCE--CARICATURES ON HIS RETURN 214
CHAPTER LVIII.
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR--THE SHORT CAMPAIGN--WATERLOO--NAPOLEON’S
ABDICATION 225
CHAPTER LIX.
NAPOLEON A PRISONER--SENT TO THE ISLE OF AIX--NEGOTIATIONS FOR
SURRENDER--GOES ON BOARD THE ‘BELLEROPHON’ 233
CHAPTER LX.
NAPOLEON ON BOARD THE ‘BELLEROPHON’--ARRIVAL AT TORBAY--CURIOSITY
OF THE PEOPLE--THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT DETERMINE TO SEND HIM TO
ST. HELENA 239
CHAPTER LXI.
NAPOLEON IS SENT ON BOARD THE ‘NORTHUMBERLAND’--HE PROTESTS
AGAINST HIS EXILE--PUBLIC OPINION AS TO HIS TREATMENT 250
CHAPTER LXII.
VOYAGE TO ST. HELENA--CESSATION OF CARICATURES 259
INDEX 269
ENGLISH CARICATURE AND SATIRE
ON
NAPOLEON THE FIRST.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
INVASION SQUIBS--CADOUDAL’S CONSPIRACY--EXECUTION OF THE DUC
D’ENGHIEN--CAPTAIN WRIGHT.
The Volunteer movement was well shown in a print by A. M., November
1803: ‘Boney attacking the English Hives, or the Corsican caught
at last in the Island.’ There are many hives, the chief of which
has a royal crown on its top, and is labelled ‘Royal London Hive.
Threadneedle Street Honey’--which Napoleon is attacking, sword in hand.
George the Third, as Bee Master, stands behind the hives, and says,
‘What! what! you plundering little Corsican Villain, have you come to
rob my industrious Bees of their Honey? I won’t trust to your oath.
Sting, Sting the Viper to the heart my good Bees, let Buz, Buz be the
Word in the Island.’ The bees duly obey their master’s request, and
come in clouds over Napoleon, who has to succumb, and pray, kneeling,
‘Curse those Bees they sting like Scorpions. I did not think this
Nation of Shopkeepers could sting so sharp. Pray good Master of the
Bees, do call them off, and I will swear by all the three creeds which
I profess, Mahometan, Infidel, and Christian, that I will never disturb
your Bees again.’
‘Selling the Skin before the Bear is caught, or cutting up the Bull
before he is killed,’ is by I. Cruikshank (December 21, 1803), and
represents a Bull reposing calmly on the English shore, whilst on
the opposite or French coast is Bonaparte, Talleyrand, and several
Generals. Bonaparte, pointing to the Bull, says: ‘I shall take the
Middle part, because it contains the Heart and Vitals--Talley, you may
take the head, because you have been accustomed to take the Bull by the
horns.’ Britannia stands, fully armed, behind the Bull, by an ‘alarm
post,’ on which hangs a bell, ‘British Valor,’ which she is preparing
to ring: ‘When these Mounseers have settled their plan, I will just
rouse the Bull, and then see who will be cut up first.’
‘New Bellman’s Verses for Christmas 1803!’ is an extremely inartistic
work of an unknown man (December 1803); the only thing worth quoting
about it are these verses:--
This little Boney says he’ll come
At Merry Christmas time,
But that I say is all a hum,
Or I no more will rhyme.
Some say in wooden house he’ll glide,
Some say in air Balloon,
E’en those who airy schemes deride,
Agree his coming soon.
Now honest people list to me,
Though Income is but small,
I’ll bet my Wig to one Pen--ney,
He does not come at all.
‘More than expected, or too many for Boney’ (artist unknown, December
1803), shows him as an Ass, on whose back is John Bull, Russia,
Prussia, and Germany. Says Russia, ‘We all depend upon you Mr.
Bull--give him a little more spurring, and we’ll soon make him feel
the Rowels.’ John mildly expostulates with his quadruped: ‘Come--come,
don’t be sulky--if you won’t go in a snaffle, you must be forced to go
in a curb.’
Dean Swift’s immortal book did yeoman’s service to the caricaturists,
and we find it again employed in a print by West, December 1803: ‘The
Brobdingnag Watchman preventing Gulliver’s landing.’ It is very feeble,
and merely consists of George the Third as a watchman turning the light
of the ‘Constitutional Lanthorn’ upon Bonaparte and his companions, who
are attempting a landing.
Another print, by West (December 1803), shows ‘Mr. and Mrs. Bull giving
Buonaparte a Christmas Treat!’ The latter is bound to a post in sight
of, but beyond reach of, the national fare of this festival. John Bull
says, holding up a piece of beef, in derision, ‘Yes, yes--the Beef
is very good, so is the pudding too--but the deuce a morsel do you
get of either, Master Boney.’ Mrs. Bull too, who is drinking from a
frothing tankard, says: ‘Your health Master Boney, wishing you a merry
Christmas,’ but offers him none.
An unknown artist gives an undated picture of ‘a Cock and Bull Story.’
Napoleon, as the Gallic Cock, on his side of the Channel, sings
Cock a dudle doo, I shall come over to you.
I’ll fight true game, and crow my Fame,
And make you all look blue.
John Bull, who is peacefully reposing in his pastures rejoins:--
You impertinent Cock, I’ll have you to know
On this side the Brook, you never shall Crow,
And if you’re not quick, and give up your jaw,
I’ll teach you the nature of English Club Law.
In 1803 was published an amusing squib, in which the names of various
plays are very ingeniously made into a patriotic address:--
THE GREEN ROOM OPINION
OF THE
THREATENED INVASION.
Should the Modern _Tamerlane_ revive the tragedy of _England
Invaded_, and, in the progress of his _Wild goose Chace_,
escape the _Tempest_, he will find that, with us, it is
_Humours of the Age_ to be _Volunteers_. He will prove that we
have many a _Plain Dealer_, who will tear off _the Mask_, under
which _the Hypocrite_, this _Fool of Fortune_, this _Choleric
man_, has abused a credulous world. Should he, to _a Wonder_,
attempt a _Trip to Scarborough_, to set them _all alive at
Portsmouth_, or to get _on both sides of the gutter_, he will
assuredly meet a _Chapter of Accidents_ on his _Road to Ruin_;
for _Britannia and the Gods are in Council_, to make him a
_Castle Spectre_: he will, too late, discover _the Secret_ of
_Who’s the Dupe_; and that it is _the Custom of the Country_ of
_John Bull_, to shew _the Devil to pay_ to any _Busybody_, who
seeks to enforce on us _Reformation_.
This _Double Dealer_, who has excited dismay _Abroad and at
Home_, and gained _Notoriety_ by the magnitude of the mischiefs
he has achieved, still presumes, by _the Wheel of Fortune_,
like another _Pizarro_, to satiate his _Revenge_, and to learn
_How to grow Rich_, by renewing the distressing scenes of
_the Siege of Damascus_; until amongst the desolated ruins of
our City, he should establish himself like _a London Hermit_.
That _he Would if he Could_, is past all doubt; but if he will
take _a Word to the Wise_, from _a Man of the World_, he will
believe _He’s much to blame_, and _All in the Wrong_; for _the
Doctor and the Apothecary_ are in _the Committee_; and by good
_Management_, are forward in _the Rehearsal_ of the lively
Comedy of _the Way to keep Him_ under _Lock and Key_. They may
not be able to produce for him _a Cure for the Heartache_, or
for _the Vapourish Man_, but they will shew him at least _Cheap
Living_, and prove that he has sown his _Wild Oats_, in a
_Comedy of Errors_.
_The Poor Soldier_, whose generous heart expands to render
_Love for Love_, is like the gallant and gay Lothario, armed
for either field, and prepared to give _Measure for Measure_;
and to convert the _Agreeable Surprize_, which the Acre
_Runaway_ anticipates in _the Camp_, from _the Beaux Stratagem_
into _a Tale of Mystery_. _Appearances are against him_, as
well as _the Chances_; but he is a desperate _Gamester_; and
although his schemes of Conquest will end in _Much ado about
Nothing_, like a _Midsummer’s night’s Dream_, or _a Winter’s
Tale_, yet he is _Heir at Law_ to our hate; and _Every one has
his Fault_, if he does not unite to revive the splendid scenes
of _Edward the Black Prince_, and _Henry the Fifth_, when
France trembled beneath our arms at Cressy and Agincourt; and
give to this unprincipled _Bajazet_ an exit corresponding with
his crimes.
A NEW SONG OF OLD SAYINGS.
Bonaparte the Bully resolved to come over,
With flat-bottomed Wherries, from Calais to Dover;
No perils to him in the billows are found,
‘_For if born to be hang’d, he can never be drown’d_.’
From a Corsican dunghill this fungus did spring,
He was soon made a Captain and would be a King;
But the higher he rises the more he does evil,
‘_For a Beggar, on horseback, will ride to the Devil_.’
To seize all that we have and then clap us in jail,
To devour our victuals, and drink all our ale,
And to grind us to dust is the Corsican’s will--
‘_For we know all is grist that e’er comes to his mill_.’
To stay quiet, at home, the First Consul can’t bear
Or, mayhap, ‘_he would have other fish to fry there_’;
So, as fish of that sort does not suit his desire,
‘_He leaps out of the frying pan, into the fire_.’
He builds barges and cock boats, and craft without end
And numbers the boats which to England he’ll send;
But in spite of his craft, and his barges and boats
‘_He still reckons, I think, without one of his hosts_.’
He rides upon France and he tramples on Spain,
And holds Holland and Italy tight in a Chain;
These he hazards for more, though I can’t understand,
‘_How one bird in the bush is worth two in the hand_.’
He trusts that his luck will all danger expel,
‘_But the pitcher is broke that goes oft to the well_’;
And when our brave soldiers this Bully surround,
‘_Though he’s thought_ Penny Wise, _he’ll be foolish in_ Pound.’
France can never forget that our fathers of yore,
Used to pepper and baste her at sea and at shore;
And we’ll speedily prove to this mock-Alexander,
‘_What was sauce for the goose, will be sauce for the Gander_.’
I have heard and have read in a great many books,
Half the Frenchmen are Tailors, and t’other half Cooks;--
We’ve fine Trimmings in store for the Knights of the Cloth,
‘_And the Cooks that come here, will but spoil their own broth_.’
It is said that the French are a numerous race,
And perhaps it is true--for ‘_ill weeds grow apace_’;
But come when they will, and as many as dare,
‘_I expect they’ll arive a day after the fair_.’
To invade us more safely these warriors boast
They will wait till a storm drives our fleet from the Coast,
That ’twill be an ‘_ill wind_,’ will be soon understood,
For a wind _that blows_ Frenchmen, ‘_blows nobody good_.’
They would treat Britain worse than they’ve treated Mynheer,
But they’ll find ‘_they have got the wrong sow by the ear_.’
Let them come then in swarms, by this Corsican lead,
And I warrant ‘_we’ll hit the right nail on the head_.’
The year 1804 was a most eventful one for Napoleon. With all his hatred
of England, and his wish for her invasion, he was powerless in that
matter, and had plenty to employ him at home. The English had got
used to their bugbear the flotilla, and the caricaturist had a rest.
Napoleon had his hands full. First and foremost was that conspiracy
against his life and government, in which Georges Cadoudal, Moreau, and
Pichegru figure so prominently, and which entailed the execution of the
Duc d’Enghien.
The Bourbon house he so detested,
He had the Duke d’Enghien arrested;
A sort of trial then took place,
And sentence passed--the usual case.
’Tis said that Boney chose a spot,
To see the gallant fellow shot.
Whatever may have been Napoleon’s conduct in this affair, these two
last lines are undoubtedly false. The duke had been residing at
Ettenheim, in the duchy of Baden, and was thought to be there in
readiness to head the Royalists in case of need, that his hunting
was but a pretext to cover flying visits to Paris, and that he was
the person whom Georges Cadoudal and his fellow conspirators always
received bareheaded. He was seized, brought to Paris, and lodged in the
Château de Vincennes. A few hours’ rest, and he was roused at midnight
to go before his judges. It was in vain he pleaded the innocence of his
occupations, and begged to have an interview with the First Consul; yet
he declared he had borne arms against France, and his wish to serve in
the war on the English side against France; and owned that he received
a pension of one hundred and fifty guineas a month from England. He
was found guilty and condemned to death, and two hours afterwards
was led out into the ditch of the fortress, and there shot, a priest
being refused him. O’Meara, describing a conversation with Napoleon on
this subject, says: ‘I now asked if it were true that Talleyrand had
retained a letter written by the Duc d’Enghien to him until two days
after the duke’s execution? Napoleon’s reply was, “It is true; the
duke had written a letter offering his services, and asking a command
in the Army from me, which that _scelerato_, Talleyrand, did not make
known until two days after his execution.” I observed that Talleyrand,
by his culpable concealment of the letter, was virtually guilty of the
death of the duke. “Talleyrand,” replied Napoleon, “is a _briccone_,
capable of any crime. I,” continued he, “caused the Duc d’Enghien to
be arrested in consequence of the Bourbons having landed assassins in
France to murder me. I was resolved to let them see that the blood
of one of their princes should pay for their attempts, and he was
accordingly tried for having borne arms against the republic, found
guilty, and shot, according to the existing laws against such a crime.”’
Ansell (June 2, 1804) gives us ‘The Cold Blooded Murderer, or the
Assassination of the Duc d’Enghien,’ in which the duke is represented
as being bound to a tree, a soldier on either side holding a torch,
whilst Napoleon is running his sword into his heart. D’Enghien bravely
cries out, ‘Assassin! your Banditti need not cover my Eyes, I fear
not Death, tho’ perhaps a guiltless countenance may appall your
bloodthirsty soul.’ Napoleon, whilst stabbing his victim, says: ‘Now
de whole World shall know de courage of de first grand Consul, dat I
can kill my enemies in de Dark, as well as de light, by Night as well
as by Day,--dare--and dare I had him--hark, vat noise was dat? ah!
’tis only de Wind--dare again, and dare--Now I shall certainly be made
Emperor of de Gulls.’[1] Devils are rejoicing over the deed, and are
bearing a crown. They say: ‘This glorious deed does well deserve a
Crown, thus let us feed his wild ambition, untill some bold avenging
hand shall make him all our own.’
A Captain Wright figures in this plot; and, as he was an Englishman,
and his name is frequent both in the caricature and satire of the day,
some notice of him must be given. He was a lieutenant in the Royal
Navy, and somehow got mixed up with this conspiracy. He took Georges
Cadoudal and others on board either at Deal or Hastings, and crossed
over to Beville, where there was a smuggler’s rope let down from an
otherwise inaccessible cliff. By means of this they were drawn up, and
went secretly to Paris. The plot failed, and they were thrown into
prison, Wright being afterwards captured at sea. Cadoudal went to the
scaffold, Pichegru was found strangled in his cell; and Wright, the
English said, after being tortured in prison, to compel him to give
evidence against his companions, was assassinated by order of Napoleon.
The latter, however, always indignantly denied it, saying that Captain
Wright committed suicide. In O’Meara’s book he denies it several times,
and an extract or two will be worth noting. ‘In different nights of
August, September, and December 1803 and January 1804, Wright landed
Georges, Pichegru, Rivière, Costa, St. Victor, La Haye, St. Hilaire,
and others at Beville. The four last named had been accomplices in the
former attempt to assassinate me by means of the infernal machine, and
most of the rest were well known to be chiefs of the Chouans,’ &c.
‘There was something glorious in Wright’s death. He preferred taking
away his own life, to compromising his government.’ ‘Napoleon in very
good spirits. Asked many questions about the horses that had won at
the races, and the manner in which we trained them; how much I had won
or lost; and about the ladies, &c. “You had a large party yesterday,”
continued he. “How many bottles of wine? Drink, your eyes look like
drink,” which he expressed in English. “Who dined with you?” I
mentioned Captain Wallis amongst others. “What! is that the lieutenant
who was with Wright?” I replied in the affirmative. “What does he say
about Wright’s death?” I said, “He states his belief that Wright was
murdered by orders of Fouché, for the purpose of ingratiating himself
with you. That six or seven weeks previous, Wright had told him that
he expected to be murdered like Pichegru, and begged of him never to
believe that he would commit suicide; that he had received a letter
from Wright, about four or five weeks before his death, in which he
stated that he was better treated, allowed to subscribe to a library,
and to receive newspapers.” Napoleon replied, “I will never allow that
Wright was put to death by Fouché’s orders. If he was put to death
privately, it must have been by my orders, and not by those of Fouché.
Fouché knew me too well. He was aware that I would have had him hanged
directly, if he attempted it. By this officer’s own words, Wright was
not _au secret_, as he says he saw him some weeks before his death,
and that he was allowed books and newspapers. Now, if it had been in
contemplation to make away with him, he would have been put _au secret_
for months before, in order that people might not be accustomed to see
him for some time previous, as I thought this * * * intended to do in
November last. Why not examine the gaolers and turnkeys? The Bourbons
have every opportunity of proving it, if such really took place. But
your ministers themselves do not believe it. The idea I have of what
was my opinion at that time about Wright, is faint; but, as well as
I can recollect, it was that he ought to have been brought before a
military commission, for having landed spies and assassins, and the
sentence executed within forty-eight hours. What dissuaded me from
doing so, I cannot clearly recollect. Were I in France at this moment,
and a similar occurrence took place, the above would be my opinion, and
I would write to the English Government: ‘Such an officer of yours has
been tried for landing brigands and assassins on my territories. I have
caused him to be tried by a military commission. He has been condemned
to death. The sentence has been carried into execution. If any of my
officers in your prisons have been guilty of the same, try, and execute
them. You have my full permission and acquiescence. Or, if you find,
hereafter, any of my officers landing assassins on your shores, shoot
them instantly.’”’